The prisoners were on their trial, the one for the diamond-robbery, and the other for being accessory after the fact. On the morrow they were to take their trial for the suspected murder of Hilton Riddell. Somehow, however, the proofs which had been deemed so overwhelming by Harley’s friends, did not appear as if they were going to be sufficient to compass the conviction of Hugh Stavanger for the robbery. There was plenty of proof that he had had a great many diamonds in his possession, and his evident desire to evade observation argued guilt on his part. But there was no one who could or would prove that the jewels in Hugh Stavanger’s possession were the jewels that had been stolen. Both his father and his uncle had suddenly disappeared, and their evidence was unavailable. This disappearance confirmed everybody’s moral conviction that Hugh Stavanger was guilty. But moral conviction is not proof, and without proof no man may be judged. Accused’s counsel began to be very hopeful. Presumably everything would have turned upon Hilton Riddell’s evidence, and, curiously enough, the lack of evidence was likely not merely to fail in proving Stavanger’s guilt, but to be the actual means of proving his innocence. It was fully explained why he had joined the “Merry Maid.” But although he might have gained important evidence, he had not returned with it, and was, therefore, useless as a witness. It being impossible to prove that Mr. Hilton Riddell was possessed of any information likely to be detrimental to Mr. Hugh Stavanger or to Captain Cochrane, it naturally followed that a motive for his supposed murder was wanting. Given no motive, only absolute proof that the men had been seen to commit the murder would be sufficient to secure their committal upon the capital charge, and though all the world felt morally convinced of their guilt, the men had capital counsel who knew, none better, how to make black look like white, and whose professional reputation was staked upon the winning of such a desperate looking case.