The keenness of his scrutiny relaxed. Possibly he deemed it wiser to pretend that he was satisfied, even if he was not. "If I can get you a ticket, you shall have one. I think I have read somewhere that, on a question of taste, there is no room for disputation." He smiled--his natural smile once more. "And now, dear Mrs. Carruth, let me assure you that I am very sensitive of the compliment which you have paid me and of the still greater honour which you would do me. Of my own unworthiness I am but too conscious. But I would ask you to let me tell you frankly--since frankness is the order of the day--that, were it not for the ramifications and complications of my unfortunate position, I should long ere this have been at your feet, upon my knees. I protest that, more than once when in your presence, I have experienced the greatest difficulty in keeping myself upstanding." I laughed. How the man could lie! With what a grace! We parted the best of friends. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE PRISONER COMES INTO COURT. I got the ticket, and I went to the trial. I travelled in the same train with the judge. At Victoria, as I was standing at the carriage door, a little old gentleman, of the beer-barrel type of architecture, went toddling by. He wore gold spectacles, he had a very red face, a double chin, and big, pursy lips--the sort of old gentleman one would have liked to have smacked on the back. Another old gentleman was standing near me. He was tall and thin. When the little old gentleman went toddling by this other old gentleman moved his head in the toddler's direction and his arms in mine. "Judge Hunter." I was most benign. "Indeed! Is that Judge Hunter?" "Going down to Lewes Assizes; been spending a day in town." That was a Monday. Of course, the day before had been Sunday. But what the man meant is more than I can say. The thin old gentleman and I shared a compartment. He fed me with scraps of information by the way. "Good judge, Hunter. He has one qualification which a good judge ought to have." "What is that?" "Been a bit of a rogue himself." "Is that a qualification which goes to the making of a good judge? Then what a number of good judges there must be." The thin old gentleman smiled. "I don't mean in a criminal sense, you understand. He's not been in prison, and that kind of thing. But Hunter has not lived exactly the life of a saint. In the case of a judge a fellow-feeling ought to make one wondrous kind." "I see." It was a delightful journey. The sun was shining; the air was warm and sweet; the country through which we passed seemed lovely. Perhaps I was in the mood! As we rattled through Three Bridges Junction the thin old gentleman recommenced his process of feeding me with titbits of information. "This is where the murder took place." "Is that so?" How different it looked in the sunshine!