CHAPTER IV.
"I concede that point. Your lover is amply endowed with brains, andmoreover has a vast amount of shrewdness, all that is requisite tosecure success and eminence in his profession; but to-day, it seems asmuch a matter of astonishment to me--as it certainly was six monthsago, when first you told me of your engagement--that you, Leo Gordon,could ever fancy just such a man as Lennox Dunbar."
"I am very sorry, Aunt Patty, that he finds no favor in your eyes, andI think he is aware of the fact that he is not in your good graces. Youboth look so vaguely uncomfortable when thrown into each other'spresence; but for my sake you must try to like Lennox."
Miss Gordon bent her pretty head over a square of ruby velvet, whereonshe was embroidering a wreath of pansies, and the delicate flush on herfair face, deepened to a vivid carnation.
"My likes or dislikes are a matter of moonshine, in comparison withyour happiness. Because you are an orphan, I feel a sort ofresponsibility; and sometimes I am not exactly easy over the account ofmy stewardship I must render to my poor dead Marcia. The more I see ofyour lover, the more I dread your marriage. A man who makes noprofession of religious belief, is an unsafe guardian of any woman'speace of mind. You who have been reared almost in the shadow of thealtar, accustomed to hearing grace at your meals, to family prayers, tostrict observance of our ritual, will feel isolated indeed, whentransplanted to the home of a godless man, who rarely darkens the doorof the sanctuary. 'Be ye not unequally yoked together withunbelievers.'"
Miss Patty Dent took off her spectacles, wiped them with the string ofher white muslin cap, and adjusting them firmly on her nose, pluckednervously at the fluted lace ruffles around her wrists.
"Auntie, you are scarcely warranted in using such strong language.Because a man refrains from the public avowal of faith, incident tochurch membership, he is not necessarily godless; nor inevitably devoidof true religious feeling. Mr. Dunbar has a strong, reticent nature,habituated to repression of all evidences of emotion, but of the depthand earnestness of his real feeling, I entertain no doubt."
"I fear your line and plummet will never sound his depth. You oftenspeak of his strength; but, Leo, hardness is not always strength; andhe is hard, hard. I never saw a man with a chin like his, who was nottyrannical, and idolatrous of his own will. My dear, such men are asuncomfortable to live in the same house with, as a smoky chimney, or awoman with shattered nerves, or creaking doors, or draughty windows.They are a sort of everlasting east wind that never veers, blowingalways to the one point, attainment of their own ends, mildewing allelse. Ugh!"
Miss Patty shivered, and her companion smiled.
"What a grewsome picture, Auntie dear! Fortunately human taste is asdiverse and catholic as the variety of human countenances. For example:Clara Morse raves over Mr. Dunbar's 'clear-cut features, so immenselyclassical'; and she pronounces his offending 'chin simply perfect! fitfor a Greek God!'"
"A very thin and gauzy partition divides Clara Morse's brains fromidiocy. In my day, all such feeble watery minds as hers were regardedas semi-imbecile, pitied as intellectual cripples, and wisely kept inthe background of society; but, bless me! in this generation they skipand prance to the very edge of the front, pose in indecent garmentswithout starch, or crinoline, or even the protection of pleats andgathers; and insult good, sound, wholesome common sense with thesickening affectations they are pleased to call 'aesthetics.' Don'twaste your time, and dilute your own mind by quoting the silly twaddleof a poor girl who was turned loose too early on society, who falls onher knees in ecstasies before a hideous broken-nose tea-pot from somefilthy hovel in Japan; and who would not dare to admire the loveliestbit of Oiron pottery, or precious old Chelsea claret-colored china inKensington Museum, until she had turned it upside down, and hunted thepotter's mark with a microscope. I say Mr. Dunbar has a domineering andtyrannical chin, and five years hence, if you do not agree with me, itwill be because 'Ephraim is joined to his idols'--clay feet and all."
"Then follow the Bible injunction to 'let him alone.' I see Lennoxthrough neither Clara's rosy lenses, nor your jaundiced glasses; andthese circular discussions are as fruitless as they are unpleasant. Letus select some more agreeable topic. I gave you Leighton's letter. Whatthink you of his scheme?"
"That it is admirable, worthy of the brain that conceived it. What awonderful man he is, considering his age? Such a devout and ferventspirit, and withal such a marvel of executive ability. Ah! happy thewoman who can command his wise guardianship, and renew her aspirationsafter holiness, in his spiritual society. I honor, even more than Ilove, Leighton Douglass."
"So do I, Aunt Patty. He is quite my ideal pastor, and when he marries,I hope his wife will be worthy of him in every respect. Only a verynoble woman would suit my cousin."
A bright spot burned on Miss Dent's wrinkled cheek, and she knitted herbrows, and shook her head.
"He is so absorbed in his holy work that he has no leisure for suchtrifles as love-making; but if he should ever honor a woman by theoffer of his consecrated hand, it must be one of large fortune, whowill dedicate herself and her money to the accomplishment of hisecclesiastical schemes."
The corners of Miss Gordon's mouth twitched mutinously, but shecontrived to throw much innocent surprise and questioning into thehandsome brown eyes, which she lifted from her gold-hearted pansies, toher Aunt's face.
"Could you possibly associate mercenary motives with any step which hemight take? Such a supposition would be totally incompatible with myestimate of his character."
"When a man dedicates himself to a solemn mission, he is lifted farabove the ordinary plane, can dispense with sentimentalconventionalities, and must learn to regard all human relations asmerely means to an end. Want of money has palsied many an arm lifted toadvance the good of the Church; and zeal without funds, accomplishes aslittle as rusty machinery stiff from lack of oil. If Dr. Douglass couldonly control even a hundred thousand dollars, what shining monuments hewould leave to immortalize him! Indeed, it passes my comprehension howpersons who could so easily help him, deliberately turn a deaf ear tothe 'cry from Macedonia'."
"There is far more eclat in trips to Macedonia, but the God ofrecompense does not forget the steady, tireless help and sympathyextended to the needy, who dwell within sight of our own doors.Organized society work is good, but individual self-sacrifice and laborare much better; and if every unit did full duty, co-operative systemswould not be so necessary; still, Leighton's scheme commends itself toevery woman's heart, and when I answered his letter, I expressedcordially my approbation."
"Did you prove your faith by your works, and send him a large check?"
"Auntie, dear, do you expect me to stultify all your training, bothyour example and precept--for lo! these many years--by setting my lefthand to gossip about my right? I am very sure."
"Well, Andrew, what is it?"
"A boy from Mr. Dunbar's office has just galloped up, and says I am totell you he can't ride to the Falls to-day, as he expected, because ofsome pressing business; and he wants to know if the Judge will comeinto town right away? Mr. Dunbar will explain when he comes late thisevening."
"Very well. Tell Daniel I shall not want 'Rebel' saddled; and say tothe messenger that my Uncle is not at home. Aunt Patty, do you knowwhere he has gone?"
"Doubtless to his office; where else should he be? He said he had apile of tiresome papers to examine to-day."
Miss Gordon folded up her work, laid it away in a dainty basket linedwith blue satin and flounced with lace; and after pausing a moment topet her Aunt's white Maltese cat which lay dozing In the sunshine,walked away toward a Small hot-house, built quite near the dining-room,and connected with it by an arcade, covered in summer by vines, inwinter by glass.
Twenty-four years before that day, when a proud, fond young motherpuffed and tucked the marvel of lace and linen cambric, which wasintended as a christening robe for her baby, and laid it away withspicery of rose leaves and sachet of lavender and deer tongue, to waituntil a "furl
ough" allowed the child's father to be present at thebaptism, she had supposed that its delicate folds would one day adorn adimpled rosy-faced infant, for whom the name Aurelia Gordon had longbeen selected. Fate cruelly vetoed all the details of the programme,carefully arranged by maternal affection; and the lurid sun that set inclouds of smoke on one of the most desperate battles of theConfederacy, saw Colonel Gordon's brave, patriotic soul released onthat long "furlough" which glory granted her heroes; saw his devotedwife a wailing widow. The red burial of battle had precluded thesolemnization of baptismal rites at the sacred marble font; and whenfour days after Colonel Gordon's death, his frail young wife welcomedthe summons to an everlasting re-union, she laid her cold hands on herbaby's golden head, and died, as she whispered:
"Name her Leo, for her father."
So it came to pass, that the clergyman who read the burial servicebeside the mother's coffin, lifted the cooing infant in the midst of aweeping funeral throng, and with a faltering voice baptized her, in thepresence of the dead, Leo Gordon.
To the care of her sister Patty, and of her widowed brother, JudgeDent, Mrs. Gordon had consigned her child; and transplanted so early toher uncle's house, the orphan knew no other home.
When the problem of vast numerical preponderance had solved itself inaccordance with the rules of avoirdupois, and history--fond like allgarrulous old crones of repeating even her inglorious episodes--hadtriumphantly inscribed on her bloody tablets, that once more the Fewwere throttled and trampled by the Many, then the fabled "Ragnarok" ofthe Sagas described only approximately the doom of the devastatedSouth. In the financial and social chaos that followed the invasion by"loyal" hordes, rushing under "sealed orders" on the mission of"Reconstruction," and eminently successful in "reconstructing" theirindividual fortunes, an anomaly presented itself for the considerationof political economists. The wealthy classes of ante bellum days werethe most destitute paupers that the newly-risen Union sun shone upon.
The French Revolution and its subsequent eruptions of Communism failedto destroy the value of land; and the emancipation of Russian serfs mayhave stimulated agricultural activity, but that political and socialCommunism which the Pandora of "reconstruction" let loose throughoutthe conquered States of the South, accomplished all that the victorscould have desired.
Abandoned by the laborers God had fitted to endure toil under climaticconditions peculiar to the soil, vast silent fields of weeds staredblankly, and the richer a man found himself in ancestral acres, themore hopelessly was he manacled by taxes. "Reconstructionists" mostthoroughly inoculated with "Loyal" rabies, held in lofty disdain theclaims of widows and orphans, and the right of minors was as dead asthat of secession. In the general maelstrom, Colonel Gordon's largeestate went to pieces; but after a time, Judge Dent took lessons fromhis new political masters in the science of wrecking, and by degrees,as fragments and shreds stranded, he collected and secreted them.Certain mining interests were protected, and some valuable plantationsin distant sugar belts, were secured. As guardian of his sister'sdaughter, he changed, or renewed investments in stocks which rapidlyincreased in value, until an unusually large fortune had accumulated:and verifying figures justified his boast, that his niece and ward wasthe wealthiest heiress in the State.
Reared in a household which consisted of an elderly uncle and aunt, anda middle-aged governess, Leo Gordon had never known intimateassociation with younger people; and while her nature was gentle andtranquil, she gradually imbibed the grave and rather prim ideas whichwere in vogue when Miss Patty was the reigning belle of her county.Although petted and indulged, she had not been spoiled, and remainedsingularly free from the selfishness usually developed in the characterof an only child, nurtured in the midst of mature relatives. Wheneighteen years old, Leo, accompanied by her governess, Mrs. Eldridge,had been sent to New York and Boston for educational advantages, whichit was supposed that her own section of the country could not supply;and subsequently the two went abroad, gleaning knowledge in the greatcentres of European Art. During their sojourn in Munich, Mrs. Eldridgedied after a very brief illness; and returning to her southern home,Leo found herself the object of social homage.
Thoroughly well-bred, accomplished, graceful and pretty, she commandeduniversal admiration; yet her manner was marked by a quiet, gravedignity, and a peculiar reticence, at variance with the prevailing typeof young ladyhood, now alas! too dominant; whose premature emancipationfrom home rule, and old-fashioned canons of decorum renders "Americangirlhood" synonymous with flippant pertness. Moulded by two women whowere imbued with the spirit of Richter's admonition: "Girls like thepriestesses of old, should be educated only in sacred places, and neverhear, much less see, what is rude, immoral or violent"; the pate tendreof Leo's character showed unmistakably the potter's marks.
She shrewdly surmised that the knowledge of her unusual wealthcontributed to swell the number of her suitors, and she was twenty-fouryears old when Lennox Dunbar, for whom she had long secretly cherisheda partiality, succeeded in placing his ring on her fair, slender hand.In character they differed widely, and the deep and tender love thatfilled her heart, found only a faint echo in his cold and more selfishnature, which had carefully calculated all the advantages derivablefrom this alliance.
He cordially admired and esteemed his brown-eyed fair-haired fiancee,considered her the personification of feminine refinement and delicacy;and congratulated himself warmly on his great good fortune in winningher affection; but tender emotions found little scope for exercise inhis intensely practical, busy life, which was devoted to the attainmentof eminence in his profession; and the merely dynamic apparatus whichdid duty as his heart, had never been disturbed by any feelingsufficiently deep to quicken his calm, steady pulse.
There were times, when Leo wondered whether all accepted lovers were asundemonstrative as her own, and she would have been happier had heoccasionally forgotten professional aspirations, in the charm of herpresence; but her confidence in the purity and fidelity of hisaffection was unshaken, even by the dismal predictions of Miss Patty,who found it impossible to reconcile herself to the failure of herdarling scheme, that Leo should marry her second cousin, LeightonDouglass, D.D., and devote her fortune to the advancement of his church.
To-day, as she sought pleasant work in arranging the ferns andcarnations of her conservatory, her thoughts reverted to the previousevening, which Mr. Dunbar had spent with her; and she could not avoidindulging regret, that he should have allowed business affairs tointerfere with their engagement for horseback riding, but her reveriewas speedily interrupted by the excited tones of her aunt's voice.
"Leo! Leo! Where do you hide yourself?"
"Here, Auntie, in the conservatory."
"Oh! my child, such dreadful news! Such a frightful tragedy!"
Pale and panting, Miss Patty ran down the arcade, and stumbled over abarricade of potted plants on the threshold of the door.
"What is the matter? Is it my Uncle, or--or Lennox?"
Leo sprang to her feet, and caught her aunt's arm.
"Horrible! horrible! General Darrington was robbed, and then mostbrutally murdered last night!"
"Murdered! Can it be possible? Murdered--by whom?"
"How should I know? The whole town is wild about it. My brother is atElm Bluff, with the body, and I shall take the carriage and drive overthere at once. Dear me; I am so nervous I can't stand still, and myteeth chatter like a pair of castanets."
"Perhaps there may be some mistake. How did you hear it?"
"Your Uncle Mitchell sent a boy to tell me why he was detained. Therehas been a coroner's inquest, and of course, as an old and intimatefriend of General Darrington's, Mitchell feels he must do all he can.Poor old gentleman! So proud and aristocratic! To be murdered in hisown house, like any common pauper! Positively it makes me sick. May theLord have mercy on his soul."
"Amen!" murmured Leo.
"Will you go with me to Elm Bluff?"
"Oh, no! Not for worlds. Why should I? Women will only
be in the way;and who could desire to contemplate so horrible a spectacle? It willmerely harrow your feelings, Aunt Patty, and you can do no good."
"It is my Christian duty as a neighbor; and I was always very fond ofthe first Mrs. Darrington, Helena Tracey. What is this wicked worldcoming to? Robbery and murder stalking bare-faced through the land. Itwill be a dreadful blow to Mitchell, because he and Luke Darringtonhave been intimate all their lives. I see the carriage coming round, soI must get my bonnet and wrap."
"I presume Mr. Dunbar is engaged in the same melancholy details whichoccupy my uncle."
"Doubtless he is, because his father was General Darrington's attorneyuntil his health failed; and Lennox is now his lawyer and businessagent. It is a thousand pities that Prince is away in Europe."
Two hours after the carriage had disappeared on the road leading to ElmBluff, Leo crossed the grassy lawn, and sat down near the gate, on arustic bench under a cluster of tall lilacs, which gave their name toher uncle's home.
A keen north wind whistling through neighboring walnut tree tops, drovethe dying leaves like frightened flocks before it, and ever and anonthe ripened nuts pattered down, hiding themselves under the drift ofyellow foliage, that had sheltered them in cool greenery during summerheats. Overhead a red squirrel barked and frisked, and across thepale-blue sky, feathered nomads, teal or mallard, moved swiftly enechelon, their quivering pinions flashing like silver, as they fledsouthward. On a distant hillside cattle browsed, and sheep wandered;and the drowsy tinkle of bells, as the herd wended homeward, seemed anocturne of rest, for the closing day.
How serene, harmonious and holy all nature appeared; and yet a fewmiles distant, into what a fierce seething whirlpool of conflictingpassions, of hatred and bloodthirsty vengeance, had human crime plungedan entire community. We plume ourselves upon nineteenth centurycivilization, upon ethical advancement, upon Christian progress; weadorn our cathedrals, build temples for art treasures, and museums forscience, and listen to preludes of the "music of the future;" and weshudder at the mention of vice, as at the remembrance of the torturesof Regulus, but will the Cain type ever become extinct, like the dodo,or the ichthyosaurus? When will the laws of heredity, and the by-lawsof agnation result in an altruism, where human bloodshed is an unknownhorror?
The apostles of Evolution tell us, that in the genealogical ages duringwhich man has struggled upward, from the lower stages of vertebrate andmammal to the genus of catarrhine apes, he has gradually thrown offbestial instincts, and that the tiger taint will ultimately be totallyeliminated; that "original sin is neither more nor less than the bruteinheritance which every man carries with him, and that Evolution is anadvance toward true salvation." Meanwhile what becomes of the "Survivalof the Fittest", which is only a euphemism for the strangling of thefeeble by the strong? We can understand how perfection, or permanenceof type, individual and national, demands carnage, and entails all thedire catalogue of human woes, but wherein is altruism evolved? How manyaeons shall we wait, to behold the leopard and the lamb pasturingtogether in peace?
Pondering this problem, as he rode along the public road outside theboundary of Judge Dent's lawn, Mr. Dunbar caught a glimpse of hisbetrothed, sitting behind the hedge of lilacs, and he lifted his hat,hoping that she would meet him at the entrance; but although she bowedin recognition, he was forced to open the gate and admit himself.Throwing the bridle rein over one of the iron spikes of the fence, andtaking off his gloves, he approached the bench.
"Dare I flatter myself, that my queen deigns to meet me half way?"
He took her outstretched hand, and kissed it softly, while his glancenoted every detail of her handsome fawn-colored dress, with its jabotof creamy lace, and the cluster of crimson carnations in her belt. Thetouch of his lips on her fingers, deepened the flush in her cheeks,and, making room for him beside her, she replied:
"Sit down, and tell me if this dreadful news about General Darringtonbe indeed true? I have hoped there might be some mistake, someexaggeration."
"Some horrors exceed the possibility of verbal exaggeration, and lastnight's tragedy is one of that class. General Darrington was mostbrutally murdered."
"Poor old gentleman! How incredible it seems that such awful crimes canbe committed in our quiet neighborhood? who could have been so guilty;and what motive could have prompted such a fiendish act?"
"The one all-powerful evil passion of mankind--greed of gold; lust offilthy lucre. He was first robbed, then murdered by the thief, to avoiddetection and punishment. There is unmistakable evidence that theGeneral was chloroformed while asleep; but he must have awakened intime to discover the robber, with whom he struggled desperately, and bywhom he was struck down. The coroner's inquest developed some startlingfacts."
"Has any clue been discovered which would indicate the murderer?"
"A handful of clues."
"Then you have a theory concerning the person who perpetrated thisawful crime?"
"My dear Leo, not a theory, but a conviction; I might almost say anabsolute knowledge."
"Would it be pardonable for me to ask whom you suspect; would it be aviolation of professional etiquette for you to tell me?"
"Certainly, my dearest, you can ask me anything, only--" he paused amoment; and she put her hand quickly on his arm.
"I see. Do not tell me mere suspicions; they might cruelly wrong aninnocent person; and I ought not to have asked the question."
"My hesitation arose from a totally different source, and I was merelywondering whether you, my sweet saint, could believe that a womancommitted the bloody deed."
"Oh, Mr. Dunbar, impossible! A woman guilty of taking that old man'slife? The supposition is as horrible as the crime itself."
Passing his hand lightly over her crimped fair hair, and looking downinto her eyes, as brown as the back of a thrush, her lover replied:
"I find that the nobler and purer a woman's heart is, the less shecredits the existence of vice and the possibility of crime among herown sex. You doubtless consider the Brinvilliers, Fredegonds, Fulviasand Faustinas, quite as fabulous as Centaurs, Sirens and Were-wolves;and I feel as reluctant to shake your fair faith in womanhood, as todash the dew from a rose-bud, or rudely brush the bloom a cluster oftempting grapes; but the grim truth must be told, that our old friendwas robbed and murdered by a woman."
"One of his servants? They all seemed devotedly attached to him."
"No, by his granddaughter, a young and very beautiful woman; BerylBrentano, the child of General Darrington's daughter Ellice, whom hehad disowned on account of her wretched marriage with a foreigner, whotaught her music and the languages. Of course you have heard from youraunt and uncle all the details of that family episode. Yesterday thisgirl Beryl suddenly presented herself at Elm Bluff, and demanded moneyfrom her grandfather; alleging that her mother's life was in danger forwant of it. I learn there was a stormy interview, part of theconversation having been overheard by two persons; and the General, whowas as vindictive as a Modoc, or a Cossack, drove the young ladythrough a door leading down to the rosery. This occurred in theafternoon, immediately after I left Elm Bluff, where I went to obtainhis signature to a deed to some lands recently sold in Texas. I saw thegirl sitting on the front steps, and when she rose and looked at me,her superb physique impressed me powerfully. She is as beautiful andstately as some goddess stepping out of the Norse 'Edda', andaltogether a remarkable looking person. It will appear in evidence,that the General harshly refused her pleadings, and made a point ofassuring her that his will, already prepared, would forever debar hermother and herself from any inheritance at his death; as he hadbequeathed his entire estate to his adopted son Prince. Unfortunately,she learned where the will was kept, as during the interview, personsin the next room distinctly heard the peculiar noise made by thesliding door of the iron vault, where General Darrington kept all hisvaluable papers. She disappeared from Elm Bluff about sunset, goingtoward town; and last night at ten o'clock, when I left you and rodehome, I saw her lurking in the pi
ne woods not very far from the bridgeover the branch, near the park gate. She was evidently hiding, as shesat on the ground half screened by a tree; but my horse shied andplunged badly, and when she rose, the full moon showed her face andfigure distinctly. There was something so mysterious in her movements,that I asked her if she had lost her way; to which she curtly repliedthat she had not. I learn from Burk, the station agent, that heractions aroused his suspicion, and that instead of leaving town, as shesaid she intended, by the 7:15 train, she hung about the station, andfinally took the 3:05 express this morning. He said she had beggedpermission to stay in the waiting-room, but that at 2:30 A.M., when hewent back to open the ticket office, she was nowhere to be found; andthat later, he saw her coming down the railroad track. She must havegone back to Elm Bluff after I passed her on the road, and effected anentrance through the window on the front piazza, as it was found open;and the awful work of robbery and murder was accomplished during thestorm, which you know was so frightful that it drowned all minorsounds. This morning when the General did not ring for his hot water atthe usual time, it was supposed that he was sleeping late, but finallyold Bedney knocked. Unable to arouse his master, he opened the door,and found our old friend lying on the floor, near the fireplace. He hadbeen dead for hours, and close to his head was a heavy brass andiron,which evidently had been snatched from the hearth by the murderess, whomust have dealt the fatal blow with it, as there was a dark spot on histemple, and also on the left side near the heart. The room was indisorder, and two glass vases on the mantel were shivered, as thoughsome missile had struck them--probably a heavy ledger which was foundon the floor."
"How horrible! But no woman could have overpowered a man like GeneralDarrington."
"Physically, his granddaughter was more than a match for him,especially since his last illness; and I assure you she looks like somedaughter of the Vikings. She certainly is a woman of grand proportions,and wonderfully symmetrical."
"What is her age?"
"About eighteen, I should think; though her size and a certain majesticbearing might convey the impression that she was older."
"How can you connect so dreadful a crime with a young and beautifulwoman, of whom you know absolutely nothing?"
"My theory is, that she intended merely to get possession of the will,the contents of which had been made known to her--and of the money,that she knew or surmised was kept in the vault. When the effect of thechloroform wore off, and the General waked to find her at the vault; astruggle evidently took place, and in desperation at the thought ofbeing detected, she killed him. You do not understand all the bearingsof even slight circumstances in a case like this, but we who make astudy of such sad matters, know the significance of the disappearanceof the will; the destruction of which could benefit only her mother andherself. The vault was open; the gold, silver, some valuable jewelry,and the will are missing from the tin box. All the other papers wereleft, even a package of bonds, amounting to thousands of dollars. Sheseemed to know that the bonds might lead to detection, hence she didnot take them. On the floor, and in the bottom of the tin box werefound two twenty-dollar gold pieces. We are collecting all theevidence, and it constitutes a powerful array of proof."
"We? Do you mean that you are hunting down a woman?"
Miss Gordon withdrew her hand from her lover's, and instinctively movedfarther from him.
"I am most diligently hunting down the author of a foul and awfulcrime; and it is my duty to my friend and client to use every possibleexertion, in discovering and bringing to punishment the person whorobbed and murdered him--be it man, woman or child. Feminine youth andbeauty are no aegis against the barbed javelins of justice and theDistrict Solicitor (Mr. Churchill) and I, have no doubt of the guilt ofthe woman, who will soon be put on trial here for her monstrous andunnatural crime."