Hewitt was on his feet. "Your Lordship," he said,

"a small request before we begin."

"Yes, Sir Leslie?"

"We have a long day ahead of us; I wonder if the prisoner might have a chair?"

Stone's stomach lurched at hearing Allison so described.

"Of course, Sir Leslie. The bailiff will provide a chair for the prisoner." The bailiff found a chair and set it in the dock for Allison, who thanked him sweetly, eliciting an unexpected smile.

Stone hoped that was a harbinger of things to come.

"The court will come to order," the judge said. "I will hear from the minister of justice."

Sir Winston stood, cleared his throat, and spoke. "Your Lordship, today we hear the case of the people of St. Marks against the prisoner Allison Manning, on a charge of murder. We are ready for Your Lordship to select the jury." He sat down.

"Call the first juror," the judge said.

"Call the first juror!" the bailiff cried.

A door opened at the rear of the courtroom and a entered. He was elderly and thin and he was wear-a three-piece wool suit that fit him very well. He the first seat in the jury box.

"State your name and occupation," the bailiff said. "I am Charles Kimbrough," the man said. "I am a by trade, and I am recently retired."

"Mr. Kimbrough," the judge said, "are you in good and of sound mind?"

"I believe I am, Your Lordship."

"Are you acquainted with the prisoner or any member-of the court?"

"I am acquainted with Sir Leslie Hewitt and yourself, Your Lordship, as I have made suits for both of you in the past."

"Anyone else?" .,

"I know Sir Winston, though I have never had the pleasure of his custom."

"Yes. Have you heard anything about this case?"

"Oh, yes, Your Lordship," the man said. ".".I have read all about it in the newspapers."

"Have you formed an opinion of the prisoner's guilt or innocence?"

"Well, Your Lordship, I think she might have done it, but then again, she might not have."

"He's okay with me," Stone murmured.

"Keep your seat, Mr. Kimbrough," the judge said. "You're the foreman of this jury."

Kimbrough sat down, and another man was brought in. He was not so finely dressed, but he was clean and neat. He was a bartender at a local hotel, and he was soon seated. He was followed by a taxi driver, an apprentice shoemaker, who could not have been more than twenty, a street vendor, and a white merchant, all of whom were briefly questioned and rapidly seated. "We have a jury," the judge said.

"Only six?" Stone asked Hewitt.

"It is all we need," the barrister replied.

Stone was dissatisfied with only the taxi driver, who looked at Allison with something like contempt, as if he had seen her kind before, but only in his rearview mirror. But on the whole, he thought, he had tried cases before worse juries.

"The foreman is good for us," Hewitt whispered. "He is a very kind man and will not hang a woman lightly. The others will respect his opinion because he is so well dressed."

Stone hoped so.

"The bailiff will read the charges," the judge said. The bailiff stood and read from a single sheet of paper. "The prisoner, Mrs. Allison Manning, is charged with murder, willfully taking the life of Mr. Paul Manning, her husband, on a date unknown between January first of this year and the present day, on the high seas, having departed the port of Puerto Rico, in the Canary Islands, a Spanish possession, and not yet having arrived at the port of English Harbour, in St. Marks. Be it known to all present that the crime of murder is a capital offense in St. Marks, and that if convicted, the prisoner will suffer death in the prescribed manner, which is hanging." He sat down.

Short, but not very sweet, Stone thought.

"Now," the judge said, addressing the jurors, "I will explain how we will proceed in this courtroom. The pros aio

barrister, Sir Winston, will make an opening of his case, then he will be followed by Sir who will make an opening statement in defense of prisoner. Thereafter, Sir Winston will call witnesses question them, followed by a cross-examination by Leslie. When the government has completed its case, Leslie may call witnesses and question them, and Sir may cross-examine them. Items may be entered evidence by either side. When the defense has con-eluded its case, Sir Leslie will make a closing statement,

statement from Sir Winston. When he has concluded I will charge the jury, and the jury will retire to the jury room to consider their verdict, which be a majority verdict. While we are in the courtroom bench will make all rulings on the admissibility of and other evidence, and the decisipn of the bench will be final in all matters. Is there any one of you who does not understand what will take place?"

No member of the jury moved, let alone spoke.

"In that case, we will begin with the opening statement of the people of St. Marks, who are represented by Sir Winston Sutherland. Sir Winston?"

Sir Winston rose, smoothed his robes, adjusted his wig, shot his cuffs, cleared his throat, and began to speak.

CHAPTER.

Sir Winston bowed to the bench, and his voice boomed over the courtroom, stentorian and didactic. He might have been instructing the jury without waiting for the judge to do so. "Gentlemen of the jury,"

he began, though he was looking at the packed gallery rather than at the jurors, "we come here this day to avenge the death of a human being. Paul Manning was a gentleman in the prime of life who had made for himself a successful career, becoming famous and rich. He owned a large house; he owned an expensive yacht; he owned a life insurance policy with a death benefit of twelve million dollars. It was for this wealth that he was murdered by his wife." He gestured dramatically at Allison in the dock.

"You might not think that she looks the part of the murderess, being demure in appearance, but we will show today how she took the life of her husband, how cruelly and heartlessly consigned him to the depths of the ocean and watched him die as his yacht sailed away from him. You will hear Paul Manning speak from the grave," he intoned, and the apprentice shoemaker's became large and round. "His words recorded in ii his own handwriting." He held up the leather-bound t, and the juror looked relieved.

hear how she plotted his death over many biding her time until the moment came when he was helpless, and then she took his life." He paused and looked witheringly at Allison, as though his eyes were

Sufficient to punish her. Allison returned his gaze and shook her head slowly.

Good girl, Stone thought. '

"When you have heard the evidence against Allison Manning," Sutherland continued, "you will reach-the only verdict that the evidence will permit: you will find her guilty of willful and deliberate murder." Sir Winston bowed to the bench and sat down.

The judge turned toward the defense table. "Sir Leslie Hewitt will make the opening statement for the defense," he said.

Stone turned and looked at Hewitt. The little man appeared to be dozing. "Leslie!" Stone whispered sharply.

Hewitt's eyes popped open. "Eh?"