hey were
perfectly convinced, and to the casual observer the question as to the
time or even the day when that interview took place could make but
little difference in the ultimate issue.

"Now I took in, in a moment, the entire drift of Sir James Fenwick's
defence of Edith Crawford. When Mr. Macfarlane left the witness-box, the
second victim of the eminent advocate's caustic tongue, I could read as
in a book the whole history of that crime, its investigation, and the
mistakes made by the police first and the Public Prosecutor afterwards.

"Sir James Fenwick knew them, too, of course, and he placed a finger
upon each one, demolishing--like a child who blows upon a house of
cards--the entire scaffolding erected by the prosecution.

"Mr. Campbell's and Mr. Macfarlane's identification of the accused with
the lady who, on some date--admitted to be uncertain--had tried to sell
a pair of diamond earrings, was the first point. Sir James had plenty of
witnesses to prove that on the 25th, the day after the murder, the
accused was in London, whilst, the day before, Mr. Campbell's shop had
been closed long before the family circle had seen the last of Lady
Donaldson. Clearly the jeweller and his clerk must have seen some other
lady, whom their vivid imagination had pictured as being identical with
the accused.

"Then came the great question of time. Mr. David Graham had been
evidently the last to see Lady Donaldson alive. He had spoken to her as
late as 8.30 p.m. Sir James Fenwick had called two porters at the
Caledonian Railway Station who testified to Miss Crawford having taken
her seat in a first-class carriage of the 9.10 train, some minutes
before it started.

"'Was it conceivable, therefore,' argued Sir James, 'that in the space
of half an hour the accused--a young girl--could have found her way
surreptitiously into the house, at a time when the entire household was
still astir, that she should have strangled Lady Donaldson, forced open
the safe, and made away with the jewels? A man--an experienced burglar
might have done it, but I contend that the accused is physically
incapable of accomplishing such a feat.

"'With regard to the broken engagement,' continued the eminent counsel
with a smile, 'it may have seemed a little heartless, certainly, but
heartlessness is no crime in the eyes of the law. The accused has stated
in her declaration that at the time she wrote to Mr. David Graham,
breaking off her engagement, she