cquaintance of a young and handsome Sicilian waiter, a distant
cousin, and a native of the village in which she was born. So friendly
did they become in time that he had confided to her many of the secrets
of his life, and, amongst others, one that had weighed very heavily upon
his mind. Some time previously, when employed at a well-known
refreshment hall, on the coast of Lombardy, he had waited upon a
distinguished young gentleman of considerable means, and had overheard
him whisper to a chance acquaintance, seated at the next table, that a
friend of his, a tall dark man, had met a young lady at a whist-party,
whose greatest friend had an aunt, formerly engaged to a well-meaning
curate, who averred that his brother knew for certain that IT WAS DONE
QUITE INTENTIONALLY BY ---- Here the waiter was called away to another
client, and did not hear the rest of the sentence.

'Now the Sicilian char-woman, on hearing this from her good friend, was
much puzzled, and not knowing to whom the words might refer, made a
mental note of it at the time. On reading of the arrest of the doctor,
however, and of what he was accused, she concluded that there must be
some connection between him and the man mentioned by the brother of the
well-meaning curate formerly engaged to the aunt of the greatest friend
of the young lady who was met at the whist party by the tall dark friend
of the young gentleman of considerable means who, as you know, was
waited upon by the Sicilian waiter at the well-known refreshment hall in
Lombardy, so she had hastened from Sicily to tell her tale. At the
conclusion of her evidence a murmur of admiration was heard all over the
court, and the Lord Mayor was so charmed with her and the really
pleasant way in which she had told her tale, that he lightly threw a
half-crown to her across the hall, which she very neatly caught. She
then sat down, amidst the cheers of the crowd.

'The principal witness for the defence was a young journeyman tailor,
who stated that on cleaning out the pockets of an old coat which had
been left at his house for repairs by a dark gentleman of mysterious
appearance, he had discovered an old envelope upon which he could just
trace the figures 56--6.30 A.M. The coat was never called for, and the
tailor pondered over the envelope, but could make nothing of it. He
showed it to every policeman of his acquaintance, but not one could
unravel the mystery, and, as a last resource, he procured an
int