"I must speak now from the law's point of view. You and I believe that, sane or insane, Mrs. Berners never committed that murder. But the jury says she did. Now if she can be proved to be insane at this time, her present insanity will 'argue a foregone conclusion;' namely, that she was insane at the time she is said to have committed the crime; and if insane, then she was therefore irresponsible for her action, and unamenable to the laws. Let this be satisfactorily proved, and properly set before the governor, and I have little doubt that the result will be a full pardon."
"You give me hope, where I thought hope was impossible. If we can only obtain this pardon, and get my dear wife out of her horrible position, I will take her at once to some foreign country, where, far from all these ghastly associations, she may live in peace, and possibly recover her reason, and where she may have some little share of earthly happiness even yet," sighed Lyon Berners.
"And if it can be shown that there has been insanity in her family, it will make our argument much stronger. Has such ever been the case?" earnestly inquired Ishmael Worth.
"Ah, no! unless the most violent passions roused at times to the most ungovernable fury, and resulting in the most heinous deeds, can be called insanity, there is none in her family," said Mr. Berners sadly, shaking his head.
"That is also insanity certainly," said the philosophical Ishmael Worth, "but scarcely of the sort that could be brought forward in her favor."
"Nor is it the type of her present mental malady, which is very, very gentle."
"However, we have ground enough to go upon. Our case is very strong. We must lose no time. The first step to be taken will be to procure an order to have the lady examined by physicians competent to form a judgment, and make a report upon her condition. Their report must go up to the governor, with the petition for her pardon. And now, Mr. Berners, if you will go home and seek the rest you need, and leave this business in my hands, I will set about it immediately," said Ishmael Worth, kindly.
"Thank you! I thank you from my soul! I will confidently leave her fate in your hand. I know I could not leave it in any better under heaven! But, tell me, when shall I see you again?"
"To-morrow morning, after your visit to the prison, you can call here if you please, and I shall be able to report some progress," said Mr. Worth, rising from his chair.
Lyon Berners then shook hands with him, and left the room.