"A brute; is he? We'll get him into the box and make him say as much for himself. She's uncommonly pretty, isn't she?"
"She is a pretty woman."
"And interesting? It will all tell, you know. A widow with one son, isn't she?"
"Yes, and she has done her duty admirably since her husband's death. You will find too that she has the sympathies of all the best people in her neighbourhood. She is staying now at the house of Sir Peregrine Orme, who would do anything for her."
"Anything, would he?"
"And the Staveleys know her. The judge is convinced of her innocence."
"Is he? He'll probably have the Home Circuit in the summer. His conviction expressed from the bench would be more useful to her. You can make Staveley believe everything in a drawing-room or over a glass of wine; but I'll be hanged if I can ever get him to believe anything when he's on the bench."
"But, Chaffanbrass, the countenance of such people will be of great use to her down there. Everybody will know that she's been staying with Sir Peregrine."
"I've no doubt she's a clever woman."
"But this new trouble has half killed her."