d be adhered to. He declared that Sir Horace would remain at home at
least a fortnight, and perhaps longer. His master was a sound sleeper, he
said, and if Birchill waited until he went to bed there would be no
danger of awakening him. She contradicted many details of Hill's evidence
as to what took place when the prisoner returned from breaking into
Riversbrook. It was untrue, she said, that there was a spot of blood on
Birchill's face or that his hands were smeared with blood. He was a
little bit excited when he returned, but after one glass of whisky he
spoke quite calmly of what had happened.

The next witness was a representative of the firm of Holmes and Jackson,
papermakers, who was handed the plan of Riversbrook which Hill had drawn.
He stated that the paper on which the plan was drawn was manufactured by
his firm, and supplied to His Majesty's Stationery Office. He identified
it by the quality of the paper and the watermark. In reply to Mr. Walters
the witness was sure that the paper he held in his hand had been
manufactured by his firm for the Government. It was impossible for him to
be mistaken. Other firms might manufacture paper of a somewhat similar
quality and tint, but it would not be exactly similar. Besides, he
identified it by his firm's watermark, and he held the plan up to the
light and pointed it out to the court.

Counsel for the defence called two more witnesses on this point--one to
prove that supplies of the paper on which the plan was drawn were issued
to legal departments of the Government, and an elderly man named Cobb,
Sir Horace Fewbanks's former tipstaff, who stated that he took some of
the paper in question to Riversbrook on Sir Horace's instructions. And
then, to the astonishment of junior members of the bar who were in court
watching his conduct of the case in order to see if they could pick up a
few hints, he intimated that his case was closed. It seemed to them that
the great K.C. had put up a very flimsy case for the defence, and that in
spite of the fact that the prosecutor's case rested mainly on the
evidence of a tainted witness Holymead would be very hard put to it to
get his man off.

"Isn't my learned friend going to call the prisoner?" suggested Mr.
Walters, with the cunning design of giving the jury something to think of
when they were listening to his learned friend's address.

"It's scarcely necessary," said Mr. Holymead, who saw the trap, and
replied in a tone which in