, playwrights,
literary men of all sorts had fought for admission to study for
themselves the various phases and faces in connection with the case.
Mrs. Morton was not present when the prisoner, quiet and self-possessed,
was brought in and placed in the dock. His solicitor was with him, and a
sensational defence was expected.

"Presently there was a stir in the court, and that certain sound, half
rustle, half sigh, which preludes an expected palpitating event. Mr.
Morton, pale, thin, wearing yet in his hollow eyes the stamp of those
five days of suffering, walked into court leaning on the arm of his
doctor--Mrs. Morton was not with him.

"He was at once accommodated with a chair in the witness-box, and the
magistrate, after a few words of kindly sympathy, asked him if he had
anything to add to his written statement. On Mr. Morton replying in the
negative, the magistrate added:

"'And now, Mr. Morton, will you kindly look at the accused in the dock
and tell me whether you recognize the person who took you to the room in
Russell House and then assaulted you?'

"Slowly the sick man turned towards the prisoner and looked at him; then
he shook his head and replied quietly:

"'No, sir, that certainly was not the man.'

"'You are quite sure?' asked the magistrate in amazement, while the
crowd literally gasped with wonder.

"'I swear it,' asserted Mr. Morton.

"'Can you describe the man who assaulted you?'

"'Certainly. He was dark, of swarthy complexion, tall, thin, with bushy
eyebrows and thick black hair and short beard. He spoke English with
just the faintest suspicion of a foreign accent.'

"The prisoner, as I told you before, was English in every feature.
English in his ruddy complexion, and absolutely English in his speech.

"After that the case for the prosecution began to collapse. Every one
had expected a sensational defence, and Mr. Matthew Quiller, counsel
for Skinner, fully justified all these expectations. He had no fewer
than four witnesses present who swore positively that at 9.45 a.m. on
the morning of Wednesday, March 17th, the prisoner was in the express
train leaving Brighton for Victoria.

"Not being endowed with the gift of being in two places at once, and Mr.
Morton having added the whole weight of his own evidence in Mr. Edward
Skinner's favour, that gentleman was once more remanded by the
magistrate, pending further investigation by the police, bail being
allowed this time in two sureties