against a post by
the harbour, or lounging outside a waterside tavern in earnest and
amicable conversation with sundry nautical characters.

On the afternoon of the day before the opening of the proceedings we
had two new visitors. One of them, a grey-haired spectacled man, was a
stranger to me, and for some reason I failed to recall his name,
Copland, though I was sure I had heard it before. The other was Anstey,
the barrister who usually worked with Thorndyke in cases that went into
Court. I saw very little of either of them, however, for they retired
almost immediately to the loft, where, with short intervals for meals,
they remained for the rest of the day, and, I believe, far into the
night. Thorndyke requested me not to mention the names of his visitors
to anyone, and at the same time apologized for the secrecy of his
proceedings.

"But you are a doctor, Jervis," he concluded, "and you know what
professional confidences are; and you will understand how greatly it is
in our favour that we know exactly what the prosecution can do, while
they are absolutely in the dark as to our line of defence."

I assured him that I fully understood his position, and with this
assurance he retired, evidently relieved, to the council chamber.

The proceedings, which opened on the following day, and at which I was
present throughout, need not be described in detail. The evidence for
the prosecution was, of course, mainly a repetition of that given at the
inquest. Mr. Bashfield's opening statement, however, I shall give at
length, inasmuch as it summarized very clearly the whole of the case
against the prisoner.

"The case that is now before the Court," said the counsel, "involves a
charge of wilful murder against the prisoner Alfred Draper, and the
facts, in so far as they are known, are briefly these: On the night of
Monday, the 27th of September, the deceased, Charles Hearn, dined with
some friends on board the yacht _Otter_. About midnight he came ashore,
and proceeded to walk towards Sundersley along the beach. As he entered
St. Bridget's Bay, a man, who appears to have been lying in wait, and
who came down the Shepherd's Path, met him, and a deadly struggle seems
to have taken place. The deceased received a wound of a kind calculated
to cause almost instantaneous death, and apparently fell down dead.

"And now, what was the motive of this terrible crime? It was not
robbery, for nothing appears to have been taken from the