he party 'is
lordship wouldn't see 'im. 'E said: "Oh! it doesn't matter," and went
away quite quiet like.'

"'Do you recollect at all at what time that was?' asked one of the jury.

"'Yes, sir, while I was waiting to speak to 'is lordship I looked at
the clock, sir; it was twenty past ten, sir.'

"There was one more significant fact in connection with the case, which
tended still more to excite the curiosity of the public at the time, and
still further to bewilder the police later on, and that fact was
mentioned by Chipps in his evidence. The knife, namely, with which
Charles Lavender had been stabbed, and which, remember, had been left in
the wound, was now produced in court. After a little hesitation Chipps
identified it as the property of his master, Lord Arthur Skelmerton.

"Can you wonder, then, that the jury absolutely refused to bring in a
verdict against George Higgins? There was really, beyond Lord Arthur
Skelmerton's testimony, not one particle of evidence against him,
whilst, as the day wore on and witness after witness was called up,
suspicion ripened in the minds of all those present that the murderer
could be no other than Lord Arthur Skelmerton himself.

"The knife was, of course, the strongest piece of circumstantial
evidence, and no doubt the police hoped to collect a great deal more now
that they held a clue in their hands. Directly after the verdict,
therefore, which was guardedly directed against some person unknown, the
police obtained a warrant and later on arrested Lord Arthur in his own
house."

"The sensation, of course, was tremendous. Hours before he was brought
up before the magistrate the approach to the court was thronged. His
friends, mostly ladies, were all eager, you see, to watch the dashing
society man in so terrible a position. There was universal sympathy for
Lady Arthur, who was in a very precarious state of health. Her worship
of her worthless husband was well known; small wonder that his final and
awful misdeed had practically broken her heart. The latest bulletin
issued just after his arrest stated that her ladyship was not expected
to live. She was then in a comatose condition, and all hope had perforce
to be abandoned.

"At last the prisoner was brought in. He looked very pale, perhaps, but
otherwise kept up the bearing of a high-bred gentleman. He was
accompanied by his solicitor, Sir Marmaduke Ingersoll, who was evidently
talking to him in quiet, reassuring tones.