'It has been laid down by the authority of Lord Hale, which your lordship will find quoted on page 276 of _Archbold_ that no man should ever be convicted of murder or manslaughter on circumstantial evidence alone, unless the body has been found; and in a comparatively recent case--_Regina v. Hopkins_----' 'Yes, I know that is the law, Mr. Tressamer,' said the judge, interrupting him; 'but how do you say the body has not been found? The prosecution have identified the hand.' 'I submit that is not sufficient, my lord.' 'The coroner's inquest was held upon it,' called out the counsel for the prosecution, who was decidedly taken by surprise at this unusual objection. Tressamer treated the interruption with contempt. 'The coroner is hardly an authority to quote to this court. Your lordship sees my point is this. Of course the finding of the hand is some evidence of some crime. But it is nowise decisive. The deceased, or, rather, the person said to be deceased, might have cut off her own hand. We have no _conclusive_ evidence that she is really dead.' 'But what do you want? Do you mean that in every case the entire body should be found?' 'Oh no, my lord. If some vital part were discovered, and sufficiently identified, I should say that was enough to go upon. But what Lord Hale means, I take it, is this: that where you are going upon circumstantial evidence--as in this case--where no one saw the crime committed at all, then you must have conclusive evidence from some other source, namely, the dead body.' 'But that is not conclusive. That might be the result of suicide.' 'Still, it affords a very strong presumption. In any case, there is the rule, laid down by Lord Hale, and acted upon ever since.' 'I know, Mr. Tressamer; I am not disputing the law. The only question in my mind is whether this case is not taken out of it by the production of what is part of the body. Of course, I will leave it to the jury to say whether they are satisfied that this is the deceased's hand, if that is any use to you.' 'No, my lord, I don't know that I can hope to contest that. But this is a case of life and death, and I certainly would strongly urge your lordship to consider my point.' The judge got up. 'I will just go and ask my brother Wiseman what he thinks,' he said. 'Personally, I am afraid I cannot go with you.' He went out, and Tressamer sat down in a state of intense agitation. He dared not look round at the dock; but others did, and saw, to their surprise, that the prisoner seemed indifferent to what had just passed. Eleanor did not want to get off on a law point. Without a real, full acquittal her life, as she had told Tressamer, would be too wretched to be worth preserving. And even an acquittal would not be enough while the mystery of her friend's death was left unexplained. Only the full clearing up of the whole story, only the exposure of the real criminal, could bring peace back into her life.