rate murder. The
crime, if there WAS a crime (which we do not admit), must therefore have
been wholly unpremeditated."

I bowed my head. "For us who knew Hugo that goes without saying."

She leaned forward eagerly. "Dr. Sebastian has pointed out to me a line
of defence which would probably succeed--if we could only induce poor
Hugo to adopt it. He has examined the blade and scabbard, and finds that
the dagger fits its sheath very tight, so that it can only be withdrawn
with considerable violence. The blade sticks." (I nodded again.) "It
needs a hard pull to wrench it out.... He has also inspected the
wound, and assures me its character is such that it MIGHT have been
self-inflicted." She paused now and again, and brought out her words
with difficulty. "Self-inflicted, he suggests; therefore, that THIS may
have happened. It is admitted--WILL be admitted--the servants overheard
it--we can make no reservation there--a difference of opinion, an
altercation, even, took place between Hugo and Clara that evening"--she
started suddenly--"why, it was only last night--it seems like ages--an
altercation about the children's schooling. Clara held strong views on
the subject of the children"--her eyes blinked hard--"which Hugo did not
share. We throw out the hint, then, that Clara, during the course of the
dispute--we must call it a dispute--accidentally took up this dagger and
toyed with it. You know her habit of toying, when she had no knitting or
needlework. In the course of playing with it (we suggest) she tried to
pull the knife out of its sheath; failed; held it up, so, point upward;
pulled again; pulled harder--with a jerk, at last the sheath came off;
the dagger sprang up; it wounded Clara fatally. Hugo, knowing that they
had disagreed, knowing that the servants had heard, and seeing her
fall suddenly dead before him, was seized with horror--the Le Geyt
impulsiveness!--lost his head; rushed out; fancied the accident would be
mistaken for murder. But why? A Q.C., don't you know! Recently married!
Most attached to his wife. It is plausible, isn't it?"

"So plausible," I answered, looking it straight in the face, "that... it
has but one weak point. We might make a coroner's jury or even a common
jury accept it, on Sebastian's expert evidence. Sebastian can work
wonders; but we could never make--"

Hilda Wade finished the sentence for me as I paused: "Hugo Le Geyt
consent to advance it."

I lowered my head. "You have said i