Then that recreant nobleman,
in whose breast there was no touch of nobility, in whose heart was no
spark of mercy, made a second statement,--to this effect--that his
first wife had not died at all. His reason for this it is hardly for
us to seek. He may have done so, as affording a reason why he should
not go through a second marriage ceremony with the lady whom he had
so ill used. But that he did make this statement is certain,--and
it is also certain that he allowed an income to a certain woman as
though to a wife, that he allowed her to be called the Countess,
though he was then living with another Italian woman; and it is also
certain that this woman is still living,--or at least that she was
living some week or two ago. We believe her to have been an elder
sister of her who was the first wife, and whose death occurred before
the second marriage. Should it be proved that this living woman was
the legitimate wife of the late Earl, not only would the right be
barred of those two English ladies to whom all our sympathies are now
given, but no portion of the property in dispute would go either to
them or to my client. I am told that before his lordship, the Chief
Justice, shall have left the case in your hands, an application will
be made to the court on behalf of that living lady. I do not know how
that may be, but I am so informed. If such application be made,--if
there be any attempt to prove that she should inherit as widow,--then
will my client again contest the case. We believe that the Countess
Lovel, the English Countess, is the widow, and that Lady Anna Lovel
is Lady Anna Lovel, and is the heiress. Against them we will not
struggle. As was our bounden duty, we have sent not once only, but
twice and thrice, to Italy and to Sicily in search of evidence which,
if true, would prove that the English Countess was no Countess. We
have failed, and have no evidence which we think it right to ask a
jury to believe. We think that a mass of falsehood has been heaped
together among various persons in a remote part of a foreign country,
with the view of obtaining money, all of which was grounded on
the previous falsehoods of the late Earl. We will not use these
falsehoods with the object of disputing a right in the justice of
which we have ourselves the strongest confidence. We withdraw from
any such attempt.

"But as yet I have only given you the preliminaries of my story." He
had, in truth, told his story. He had, at lea