"Why not?"
"Because," said Marriott, "the rules of evidence are designed to keep out the truth."
"But can't Archie tell it?"
"I don't dare to let him take the stand."
"Why?"
"Because he'll be convicted if he does."
"And if he doesn't?"
"The same result--he'll be convicted. He's convicted now--the mob has already done that; the trial is only a conventional formality."
"What mob?"
"The newspapers, the preachers, the great moral, respectable mob that holds a man guilty until he proves himself innocent, and, if he asserts his innocence, looks even on that as a proof of his guilt."