lan alone, but of Alan's friends. "Is there no hope of his being
acquitted altogether?"

"How could there be? The evidence is only too clear. The landlady heard
them quarrelling and struggling together, then there was a loud scream,
and just as she entered the room the poor wretch was falling to the
ground. Walcott had his hand on the dagger, which was still in his
wife's breast. Then the other lodger came in, and he declares that he
heard Walcott say he was a murderer. It seems as plain as it could
possibly be."

"But think of the two, as we know them to have been, and the relations
which have existed between them for years past. Surely that must tell in
his favor?"

"We are not the jury, remember. And, as for that, it would only go to
show a motive for the crime, and make a conviction all the more certain.
No doubt it might induce them to call it manslaughter instead of murder,
and the judge might pass a lighter sentence."

"I do hope she will not die. It would be terrible to have her death on
his conscience."

"Well, of course, death is an ugly word, and no one has a right to wish
that another might die. At the same time, I should say it would be a
happy release for such a creature, who can have nothing but misery
before her. But it will make little difference to him. He is entirely
ruined, so far as his reputation is concerned. He could never hold his
ground in England again, though he might have a second chance at the
other side of the world. What Britain can't forget, Australia forgives.
Heaven created the Antipodes to restore the moral balance of Europe."

"That is a poor satisfaction," said Clara, "to a man who does not want
to live out of his own country."

"Unfortunately, my dear, we cannot always choose our lot, especially
when we have had the misfortune to kill or maim somebody in a fit of
passion."

"I cannot believe that it is even so bad as that. It must have been an
accident."

"I wish I could think so; but if it is, no doubt the man may have the
courage of his conscience, and then there will be nothing to prevent him
from trying to live it down in London. I should not care for that sort
of thing myself. I confess I depend too much on other people's
opinions."

"It would be a terrible fight to live it down in London--terrible, both
for him and his friends."

"Ah," said Graham, quickly, "it is a good thing that he has nobody in
particular depending on him, no specially intimate friends that