"I do not know a better place to get up my brief for the defence, Mrs. Berners, than here on the scene of the tragedy and the imputed crime."
The tone and manner of the lawyer were very cheerful, and at once restored Sybil's composure.
"I have heard your explanation of the circumstances that led you to the bed-side of Rosa Blondelle, at the moment in which her murderer had left her, but I heard it at second hand. I would now hear it from yourself," said Mr. Sheridan.
Sybil began and related the whole story, which the lawyer took down from her lips.
"Now," he said, "Mr. Berners, I would have your statement, commencing from the moment the deceased rushed into the library."
Lyon Berners related the circumstances attending Rosa Blondelle's death, as far as he knew them.
"And now I would like to minutely examine the room in which the crime was committed," said Mr. Sheridan.
"Come, then," answered Lyon Berners. And he led the lawyer to the rooms lately occupied by Rosa Blondelle.
"A man might easily have escaped by these windows an instant after having committed the crime. They close with a spring catch. The fact of their having been found fastened when the room was examined, proves nothing whatever against my client. The murderer could in an instant unfasten one of them from within, jump through, and clap it to behind him, when it would be as fast as if secured by a careful servant within," said the lawyer, after the examination was complete.
Then they all returned to the library, where Mr. Sheridan summed up his brief for the defence.