Gastineau gave a little impatient head-shake. “My dear Geof, I sometimes think I shall never teach you to look at a case and a witness from the other side’s point of view. Now, which do you suppose Macvee, or any counsel with a head on his shoulders, would go for in this case, the evidence or the man?” “The man, no doubt, seeing that his evidence, as we take it, can scarcely be shaken. It does not, however, necessarily follow that poverty and perjury go together.” “There is a certain bond of union between them, though, especially in a case like this, where such evidence as this fellow proposes to give would, if unshaken, clear the reputation of a wealthy woman.” “He has asked for nothing.” “No,” Gastineau rejoined cynically, “that will, in the order of things, come afterwards. He would at least have a strong claim on the lady’s gratitude. No, my dear Geoffrey, we must walk warily in this new development, and not jump at the conclusion that our case is already won. I have seen too many of these dramatic surprises not to mistrust them.” Herriard laughed, a little uncomfortably. “You are inclined to be pessimistic, Gastineau.” “Pessimism is just experience’s drag-chain on man’s natural sanguineness,” Gastineau returned with his knowing shrug. “An habitual optimist makes a fine explorer but a poor lawyer. Certainly the practice of our profession does not conduce to optimism. But here I am only counselling caution and warning you to look all round this new evidence.” “Old John Bowyer is long-headed enough; he has sifted it pretty finely, and relies upon it,” Herriard urged, somewhat vexed at the douche of cold water which his friend seemed so unaccountably inclined to play upon the important discovery. “John Bowyer is shrewd enough,” Gastineau agreed, “but he is at his wits’ end as to how he is going to win this case. I wonder, my dear boy, that you have not yet discovered how widely the two branches of the profession are apt to differ in their estimates of the value of any given piece of evidence. A solicitor somehow never seems to get outside the law, beyond the purely legal aspect of a question or a deposition: he seems to lack the counsel’s faculty of forecasting the effect upon the judge, the jury, and, above all, on the other side.” “So you think,” Herriard suggested, almost in disgust, “that we ought to set no value on this man’s evidence?” “I don’t say that, Geof; but I can’t help seeing several weak spots in it. Properly handled by the other side, and it is the kind of nut Macvee loves to crack, it might very easily break down and go for nothing.” “I should be sorry if it did miss fire,” Herriard said gravely. “It would be a heavy blow for the Countess Alexia. She thinks her case is won now; and, of course, it means everything to her.”