"Our good friend, the serjeant," he said, speaking to the younger lawyer, "thought he had made a hit this morning in regard to the gipsey boy; but he was doing our work for us. We must endeavour, my dear Sir, to-morrow, instead of shaking the boy's testimony, to render it as precise as possible, so as to leave not the slightest doubt that the murder was committed between ten minutes or a quarter past five and half-past five; and we must endeavour to get from the old woman--Humphries, I think, is her name," and he looked at his notes--"an admission that Mr. Winslow might have left the cottage some minutes before five. For these two objects we must try, more than for anything else." "I almost think that the game is rash," said the junior; "but you know best." "We are positively precluded," replied the great barrister, "from the straightforward course of defence. I, individually, am placed in the most awkward position as the friend of the prisoner. I believe I ought not to have seen him at all; but my regard for him overcame my prudence; and when I did see him, he made communications to me which, while they left no doubt of his innocence greatly embarrassed me, under the circumstances, as to the defence. Those circumstances I cannot explain, even to you, my dear friend, all legal etiquettes, notwithstanding; but you will forgive me when you know that he bound me by a solemn promise not to reveal them to any one." The conference did not terminate till late; and the little solicitor was in a mighty fuss from having found that the general opinion of the bar was decidedly against his client; a matter of no slight importance, be it remarked; for the bar is very seldom wrong.