“Of course, my dear boy, you shall have the best I can give you. Although it strikes me you can almost run alone now.” “Not I,” Herriard protested, wondering whether he detected a note of unwillingness in the other’s speech. “Some cases, naturally, are plain sailing, and I have gained experience and profited immensely under your guidance; but here, I am sure, I should be utterly at sea without you. It will be a terribly delicate case to handle, and the slightest mistake in tactics may make all the difference.” “No doubt,” Gastineau agreed. “Yet practically the _onus probandi_ will be on the other side. If the Countess has nothing to fear from cross-examination, you ought not to have a very difficult task in getting a verdict. Always supposing, as I say, that she is keeping nothing back.” “Bowyer is positive. She has at any rate convinced him. And he is no fool.” “No, old John Bowyer can see farther into a client’s mind than most of his sort. Well, we shall see. Only don’t forget, my dear Geof, that a presumably innocent woman, with as fair and frank an appearance as this Countess Alexia, can be deeper than you and I and all the tribe of Bowyers put together. I am thinking,” he added quickly, “of your reputation. It would be bad for it if you made a mistake now.” “Under your auspices I don’t think I shall. It looks like being the case of the century. Fancy the Duke in the box under fire from Macvee.” “The other side have him?” “So Bowyer thought. The Duke will have a bad quarter of an hour on the subject of the hushing up of the result of the post-mortem.” “Lucky for Blaydon that he is dead.” “Yes. He has escaped his Nemesis.” “It is the only way to escape our Nemesis,” Gastineau returned meaningly. CHAPTER IX ALEXIA’S DENIAL Suddenly it became known that the venue of the sensational Vaux House case was to be changed from a civil to a criminal court. The reasons for this were obvious. The one meant a summary trial, the other involved vexatious delays which, considering the very odious position in which Countess Alexia was placed by the scandal, were not to be endured. Then the alleged libel was, if unjustified, of a particularly cruel and damning character; and so it was not a question of damages but of punishment. Perhaps the writers who had been so quick to jump at conclusions, and, when seized upon, to elaborate doubtful facts into flamingly sensational “copy,” began to share with the editors who accepted them, certain misgivings that they had asserted more than they could prove. They had been unfortunately precipitate; still they must make a stiff fight in justification, and at the worst there was always a grand advertisement to be sure of. So it came to pass that the responsible editors of the _Daily Comet_ and the _Mayfair Gazette_ were cited to appear at the Police Court to answer charges of criminal libel at the instance of Countess Alexia von Rohnburg.