ught? or would you like
to have it still further amplified?"

"What I suppose you mean," said the Major, "is that this judge of yours
may possibly recognise Miss King as Mrs. Lorimer."

"Precisely."

"Well, he won't. So you can make your mind easy about that. And if he
did--"

"Have you any reasons to adduce in support of your assertion," said
Meldon; "or are you simply contradicting me for the sake of being
disagreeable?"

"I have one good reason."

"Then trot it out. I shall be delighted to hear it, if it really is a
good reason. Nothing appeals to me more strongly than a convincing
argument. But don't waste my time and your own with some foolish
theory which wouldn't carry conviction to an audience of politicians at
an election meeting."

"Mine is a good reason, the best possible. It is--"

"It must be very good indeed if it is to get over the fact that Mrs.
Lorimer's features are burned into that judge's brain, owing to his
having been obliged to stare at her for ten whole days."

"It's this," said the Major. "He can't recognise Miss King as Mrs.
Lorimer, because she isn't Mrs. Lorimer. I'm convinced of that."

"I'm trying," said Meldon, "to be as patient with you as I can. Many
men would throw something heavy at your head for saying that. I don't.
In spite of the fact that I spent hours proving to you by absolutely
irrefragable evidence that Miss King is Mrs. Lorimer, I am still
prepared to listen quietly to what you have to say. What convinces you
that Miss King isn't Mrs. Lorimer?"

"The woman herself. I know she isn't a murderess. She can't possibly
be, and no amount of evidence will make me think she is."

"You've seen her twice," said Meldon; "once on Sunday afternoon when
she had just been to church, and was in a chastened and gentle mood
owing to the effect of my sermon on her, when the lethal side of her
character was temporarily in abeyance. You couldn't form much of an
opinion about her real character at a time like that. The other
occasion on which you saw her was when she was sea-sick, and no woman
is her true self when she's profoundly humiliated. Yet, on the
strength of these two interviews, you are apparently prepared to
contradict the result of a careful induction of mine and the lady's own
express statement. I don't know how you manage to work yourself into a
frame of mind in which that is possible."

"As a matter of fact," said the Major, "I've seen her three time