As I walked to "the corner of the next street" I could not help smiling at the idea of Dr. Cooper being so considerate as to pass his time in a public house, within convenient hail of his place of business, in case he might be "called in anywhere"; but I pitied those who needed his assistance in a case of sickness. He was not at the George, and I was advised to try the Green Dragon; he was not at the Green Dragon, and I was advised to try the Britannia; and at the Britannia I found him. He was a washed-out, weedy man, with an inflamed countenance, and when I presented myself he was in the act of clinking pewter pots with some boon companions, who, according to my judgment, were standing treat to him. He drained his pot to the dregs, and turned it upside down on the counter, with a thirsty air about him notwithstanding the long draught he had just taken. I am not a teetotaler, nor an advocate of teetotalism, but it has always been a matter of regret to me that the persevering search for enlightenment on the part of the British public at the bottom of pewter pots does not lead to more encouraging results. At the moment of my entrance he and his companions were discussing a criminal case which had excited great interest and had largely occupied the newspapers for several days past. It was a supposed case of poisoning, and the person charged--it was a woman--had been acquitted after a long trial. Her husband had been the victim; but the medical evidence was inconclusive, and she had been given the benefit of the doubt. The woman and her husband had been on proved bad terms, and she had much to gain by his death. There was a man in the case, the woman's lover, and there was a strong suspicion that he was implicated; but, guilty or not guilty, he was not arraigned because no direct evidence could be brought against him. Only on the previous night had the case been concluded, and the result was published in the Sunday morning's papers, the jury having been locked up for eight hours before they arrived at their verdict. "She's escaped by the skin of her teeth," said one of the topers. "If I'd been on the jury she'd have had the rope." "Law's law," said a half-tipsy Solon, "and justice is justice. I don't believe in hanging a woman upon presumption. My opinion is that he poisoned himself to get rid of her." "That's a queer way of getting rid of a nuisance," was the reply. "Besides, there was no poison found in the body." "You're all at sixes and sevens," said a third speaker. "The doctors disagreed, and the weight of evidence was in favor of the woman. She's as artful as you make 'em; but that's no reason for hanging her." "The man was killed," persisted the first speaker. "He didn't die a natural death." "Nothing was proved," said the third speaker, "and when nothing's proved you can't bring anyone in guilty. This is a free country, I believe."