Naturally the first person at whom the young man looked was the
prisoner in the dock, and he mentally confessed that _The Daily
Mirror_ photograph had not done her justice. It could scarcely do so
in mere black and white, as Miss Chent needed vivid tints to convey
her peculiar charm. She was one of those rare blondes who embody
sunshine in hair and eyes: a dragon-fly of humanity, all radiance and
glow. Since she was on trial for her life, Prelice quite expected to
see a white-faced, terrified creature, worn out with shame and
suffering. But Miss Chent might have been in an opera-box, for
all the emotion she displayed. Prelice had more experience of
women than was good for him, but he never beheld so perfectly dressed,
or so perfectly serene a girl. It would be absurd to say that so
level-headed a young man fell in love with this attractive criminal at
first sight; but he certainly felt drawn to her. She looked like a
captive angel, and without knowing the rights or wrongs of the case,
Prelice mentally pronounced her to be entirely innocent. Her calmness,
if not her beauty, acquitted her, as his susceptible heart decided,
for no woman with an unclean conscience could have faced judge and
jury with such manifest confidence. Prelice thought of Joan of Arc on
trial for sorcery; of Mary Stuart before a prejudiced tribunal; of
Marie Antoinette; and of the Vestal, who proved her innocence by
drawing Tiber water in a sieve. He might also have recalled the
Marquise de Brinvilliers, likewise calm, beautiful, and--guilty. But
he did not.
The Court was filled with more or less fashionable people, who came to
make a Roman holiday of Sir Oliver Lanwin's violent death, and Miss
Chent's position. Doubtless she had been well known in Society, and
those who had been her friends were here to watch her in the new role
of an accused criminal. Prelice was disgusted at the heartless conduct
of some ladies, who whispered and tittered, and used opera-glasses to
stare at the unfortunate girl. He internally commended his aunt for
having had the good taste to remain absent, and then turned his eyes
on the array of barristers to search for Ned Shepworth.