"
"So you told Mrs. Venables the day she came to tell us Mr. Steel was
married, and so I told her again this afternoon. However, that is not
her main point, and there is another thing I am still surer you would
never do. If a person had been put upon her trial, and found not guilty
in open court, you would not treat her as though she had been found
guilty, would you--even though the verdict had come as a surprise?"
"Of course I would not, Morna; no decent Christian would, I should hope!
But do you mean to tell me that Mrs. Steel has been tried for
something?"
"Yes; and by Justice Gibson!"
"Poor thing," said Hugh Woodgate, after a pause.
Morna took his hand.
"My dear, she is, or rather she was, Mrs. Minchin!"
"What! The woman who was tried for murdering her husband?"
"Yes--and acquitted."
"Good heavens!" exclaimed the vicar, and for a minute that was all.
"Well," he continued, "I didn't read the case, and I am glad that I
didn't, but I remember, of course, what was said about it at the time.
But what does it matter what is said? I imagine the jury knew what they
were about; they listened to the evidence for a week, I believe, which
other people read in a few minutes.
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