'Signor,' I said in answer, 'I apologise for the insult I offered you just now. But in this matter I am resolute. If it be the will of God that I suffer innocently, I suffer. I am not anxious on that score. It is not at all a matter for my consideration. I do not care whether I am acquitted or found guilty.' 'Is it your wish that I should consult the other prisoner's interest at all?' I looked at him blankly, whilst my heart stood still. 'The other prisoner?' I asked. 'The other prisoner,' he answered calmly. 'Is it he whom you desire to shield?' 'Who is he?' The advocate drew forth a bundle of memoranda, and turned them over carefully and at his leisure. I did not dare to question him further, and waited in an agony of suspense. 'That is the name,' he said--'an English name.' He placed his thumb and leisurely turned round the paper to me on the table which stood before us. I tried to read, but all my pulses seemed throbbing round my eyes, and I was dazzled and blind. He took the paper up again, but I reached out my hand for it. 'I did not read the name,' I said. 'Permit me once more.' He passed the paper again towards me, and I read-- 'John Baker. Claims to be an Englishman, and speaks in English only. Is believed to be by birth an Italian, but a naturalised British subject. A person of notoriously evil character.' This at least was not Arthur. I breathed again, and for a moment a wild hope sprang up in my heart. It died again directly. Ah, if I could have believed that he was innocent! But the evidence of which I was the sole repository was beyond all doubt, beyond all hope. 'No,' I said. 'I know nothing of this man. What is the evidence against him?' 'The evidence against him is the knowledge that he was poor until the night of the murder, and has since suddenly become rich. Further, that a pocket-book found in his possession was smeared with blood. The book contains a large sum of money in English notes, and is believed to have belonged to the murdered man.' I had never supposed that Arthur had robbed the body of his dead enemy. 'If this be proved, Signor l'Avvocato,' I said, after some time of silence, 'what punishment will fall upon this man?' 'The salt mines will not be enough for him,' the advocate answered. 'He will probably be shot. You see, signor, he has denied his nationality, and that of itself will embitter the national feeling against him.' 'Then,' I answered, 'these suspicions must not be bolstered by false proofs. This man has, perhaps, robbed a dead body, but he has not committed murder.'