"
"And you won't try to show that the other man might have done it?"
"I think not. Next to an alibi that breaks down;--you know what an
alibi is, Madame Goesler?"
"Yes, Mr. Wickerby; I know what an alibi is."
"Next to an alibi that breaks down, an unsuccessful attempt to affix
the fault on another party is the most fatal blow which a prisoner's
counsel can inflict upon him. It is always taken by the jury as so
much evidence against him. We must depend altogether on a different
line of defence."
"What line, Mr. Wickerby?"
"Juries are always unwilling to hang,"--Madame Goesler shuddered
as the horrid word was broadly pronounced,--"and are apt to think
that simply circumstantial evidence cannot be suffered to demand
so disagreeable a duty. They are peculiarly averse to hanging a
gentleman, and will hardly be induced to hang a member of Parliament.
Then Mr. Finn is very good-looking, and has been popular,--which
is all in his favour. And we shall have such evidence on the score
of character as was never before brought into one of our courts.
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