the basest
and cruelest of men, declares that he deliberately killed her--with all
his pecuniary interests pointing to the preservation of her life!

"It is useless to ask me whether I noticed anything in the conduct of
the prisoner and Mrs. Beauly which might justify a wife's jealousy. I
never observed Mrs. Beauly with any attention, and I never encouraged
the prisoner in talking to me about her. He was a general admirer of
pretty women--so far as I know, in a perfectly innocent way. That he
could prefer Mrs. Beauly to his wife is inconceivable to me, unless he
were out of his senses. I never had any reason to believe that he was
out of his senses.

"As to the question of the arsenic--I mean the question of tracing that
poison to the possession of Mrs. Eustace Macallan--I am able to give
evidence which may, perhaps, be worthy of the attention of the Court.

"I was present in the Fiscal's office during the examination of
the papers, and of the other objects discovered at Gleninch. The
dressing-case belonging to the deceased lady was shown to me after
its contents had been officially investigated by the Fiscal himself. I
happen to have a very sensitive sense of touch. In handling the lid of
the dressing-case, on the inner side I felt something at a certain
place which induced me to examine the whole structure of the lid
very carefully. The result was the discovery of a private repository
concealed in the space between the outer wood and the lining. In that
repository I found the bottle which I now produce."

The further examination of the witness was suspended while the
hidden bottle was compared with the bottles properly belonging to the
dressing-case.

These last were of the finest cut glass, and of a very elegant
form--entirely unlike the bottle found in the private repository, which
was of the commonest manufacture, and of the shape ordinarily in use
among chemists. Not a drop of liquid, not the smallest atom of any
solid substance, remained in it. No smell exhaled from it--and, more
unfortunately still for the interests of the defense, no label was found
attached to the bottle when it had been discovered.

The chemist who had sold the second supply of arsenic to the prisoner
was recalled and examined. He declared that the bottle was exactly like
the bottle in which he had placed the arsenic. It was, however, equally
like hundreds of other bottles in his shop. In the absence of the label
(on which he had hims