"Come now, Mrs. Collister," said Janet. But having reached the door, the old woman turned her wet face, and seeing the portrait of Stowell's mother on the wall, and mistaking it for that of Fenella, she said, "They're telling me you're to be married soon, your Honour. May the Lord give you peace and love in your own home, and that's better than gold or lands, Sir." Stowell tried to reply, but he could only wave his hand and turn to the window as the old woman left the room. Why not? What sin against God would it be to unite this suffering woman to her suffering daughter, if he could do so without wronging Justice? A moment afterwards Janet came back wiping her eyes. "Oh, these mothers! They're fit enough to break one's heart, Victor." III Stowell was in the dining-room next day when he heard the clatter of a horse's hoofs on the drive, and, a moment later, a voice in the hall, saying, "The Deemster will see _me_, Jane." It was Alick Gell. His tall figure was more bent than usual; his hair was disordered; his eyes glittered; he was deeply agitated. "Excuse me, old fellow. You know why I've not been here before. It's Bessie. I'm busy every hour, getting up her case. Awful, isn't it? I can't make myself believe it even yet. Sometimes in the middle of the night I hear myself crying 'Good God, it can't be true!'" Stowell could scarcely find voice to reply. He remembered what he had advised Fenella to get Gell to do. Had Bessie told him?" "I received Fenella's letter and of course I am taking up the defence. I've seen Bessie, too, and arranged everything. She's innocent and I'll fight for her to the last breath in my body. But look here--read this," he said, dragging a crumbled newspaper from his pocket, and handing it to Stowell with a trembling hand. It was a copy of the day's insular paper containing a paragraph which said that the continued illness of the new Deemster would probably prevent him from presiding at the forthcoming sitting of the Court of General Gaol Delivery. "That's the first edition. When it was published at twelve o'clock I couldn't wait until the afternoon train, so I hired a horse from Fargher, the jobmaster, and I've galloped all the way. Don't tell me it's true." Stowell answered in a low tone that perhaps it might have to be, whereupon Gell made a cry of dismay. "Then God help my poor girl! It will be Taubman, and she'll not have a dog's chance with him." Taubman was a brute--especially in cases of this kind. What did people say about him--that when he saw a woman in the dock he was like a cat who had seen a rat? It was true. He was always bullying the juries who showed humanity to girls in trouble. "The infernal old blockhead! He has rheumatism in the legs, they say. I wish to heaven he had it in his throat, and it would choke him."