"I am not impartial; but I am well informed. It was my view which affected the judge, and ultimately the Home Office. And since the trial--in quite recent years--I have received a strange confirmation of it which has never been made public. Did Oliver report this to you?" "He told me certain facts," said Lady Lucy, unwillingly; "but I did not see that they made much difference." "Perhaps he did not give them the right emphasis," said Sir James, calmly. "Will you allow _me_ to tell you the whole story?--as it appears to me." Lady Lucy looked distressed. "Is it worth while," she said, earnestly, "to give yourself so much pain? I cannot imagine that it could alter the view I take of my duty." Sir James flushed, and sternly straightened himself. It was a well-known gesture, and ominous to many a prisoner in the dock. "Worth while!" he said. "Worth while!--when your son's future may depend on the judgment you form." The sharpness of his tone called the red also to Lady Lucy's cheek. "Can anything that may be said now alter the irrevocable?" she asked, in protest. "It cannot bring the dead to life; but if you are really more influenced in this matter by the heinousness of the crime itself, by the moral infection, so to speak--that may spring from any kinship with Juliet Sparling or inheritance from her--than by any dread of social disgrace or disadvantage--if that be true!--then for Oliver's sake--for that poor child's sake--you _ought_ to listen to me! There, I can meet you--there, I have much to say." He looked at her earnestly. The slight, involuntary changes of expression in Lady Lucy, as he was speaking, made him say to himself: "She is _not_ indifferent to the social stigma--she deceives herself!" But he made no sign of his perception; he held her to her word. She paused, in evident hesitation, saying at last, with some coldness: "If you wish it, Sir James, of course I am quite ready to listen. I desire to do nothing harshly." "I will not keep you long." Bending forward, his hands on his knees, his eyes upon the ground, he thought a moment. When he began to speak, it was in a quiet and perfectly colorless tone.