to take the oath. He burst into
tears. At that moment the sympathy felt for the mother was generally
extended to the unhappy son.

Examined by the Dean of Faculty, Mrs. Macallan the elder gave her
answers with remarkable dignity and self-control.

Questioned as to certain private conversations which had passed between
her late daughter-in-law and herself, she declared that Mrs. Eustace
Macallan was morbidly sensitive on the subject of her personal
appearance. She was devotedly attached to her husband; the great anxiety
of her life was to make herself as attractive to him as possible.
The imperfections in her personal appearance--and especially in her
complexion--were subjects to her of the bitterest regret. The witness
had heard her say, over and over again (referring to her complexion),
that there was no risk she would not run, and no pain she would not
suffer, to improve it. "Men" (she had said) "are all caught by outward
appearances: my husband might love me better if I had a better color."

Being asked next if the passages from her son's Diary were to be
depended on as evidence--that is to say, if they fairly represented
the peculiarities in his character, and his true sentiments toward his
wife--Mrs. Macallan denied it in the plainest and strongest terms.

"The extracts from my son's Diary are a libel on his character," she
said. "And not the less a libel because they happen to be written by
himself. Speaking from a mother's experience of him, I know that he
must have written the passages produced in moments of uncontrollable
depression and despair. No just person judges hastily of a man by the
rash words which may escape him in his moody and miserable moments. Is
my son to be so judged because he happens to have written _his_ rash
words, instead of speaking them? His pen has been his most deadly enemy,
in this case--it has presented him at his very worst. He was not happy
in his marriage--I admit that. But I say at the same time that he was
invariably considerate toward his wife. I was implicitly trusted by both
of them; I saw them in their most private moments. I declare--in
the face of what she appears to have written to her friends and
correspondents--that my son never gave his wife any just cause to assert
that he treated her with cruelty or neglect."

The words, firmly and clearly spoken, produced a strong impression.
The Lord Advocate--evidently perceiving that any attempt to weaken
that impression wou