"I bar only one thing in what you have said, Alfred. I did _not_ walk out with him arm-in-arm. I met him quite accidentally at Victoria. I told you I should be here at the inquest. I was on my way here. I no more expected to see him than the man in the moon. He pounced on me suddenly, and rushed me. As a rule, I can take care of myself, but I admit I am no match for Blake. I am not sure I ever met his match. Look here, Pringle; I know you're a first-rate fellow at your work. You're not as old as you might be, but you're one of the best men in England for this kind of a job. However, if you have to tackle Tom Blake, he'll give you as much as you want." Jerry O'Brien spoke with heightened colour, and in a tone of intense irritation. This opinion was not unwelcome to Pringle's ears, for he knew that, no matter how big a scoundrel Blake might be, he would say nothing to inculpate Mrs. Davenport. "What is this Blake's manner?" asked Pringle. "Perfectly self-possessed, cool and audacious." "Is he venturesome? "He'd play for his boots or his shirt, and then for his skin." "Do you think, O'Brien, he'll get out of this with a whole skin?" "He may, for you are not his lawyer," said O'Brien, with a laugh. "It is an old form of joke," said the attorney, with a smile. "Do you know if he has got legal assistance?" "Legal assistance!" cried O'Brien, scornfully. "Not he. He laughed when telling me some fellows said he ought to get legal assistance. Why, my dear Pringle, he'd give the best of you thirty out of a hundred, and win the game by making you give misses. When is this thing to begin?" "Presently. Have you any notion of what he is going to say at the inquest?" "I asked him. I told him the paper found in the handwriting of the deceased would be very awkward." "What did he say?" "That it looked very awkward, no doubt; but that many people got into awkward positions and got out of them again." "I asked him had he been summoned as a witness, and he said naturally he had, as he was the last person who saw the dead man alive." "By Jove, O'Brien! Go on." "I asked him how he thought the death occurred. He said that was beyond him to say. He had no doubt it was accidental, and that the memorandum on the piece of paper written under the influence of delirium might be an idea created by chloroform, or while suffering from a relapse of the old disease which seized him at Florence years ago." "The same story identically. Did he say anything more?" "Yes. I asked him did anything unpleasant occur between himself and Mr. Davenport that night?" "What did he say to that?" eagerly asked the attorney. "He looked at me doubtfully for a moment. 'O'Brien,' he said, 'you know more about this than the outside public. You are interested in it?' I said I was interested in it very indirectly. 'Very well, then,' said he, 'I'm going to the inquest. You come with me and then you shall hear the truth as far as I know it.'"