Page:The Millbank Case - 1905 - Eldridge.djvu/186

 it? The public is an unreasoning brute. Look at poor Oldbeg!"

"Poor Oldbeg!" repeated Matthewson. "What in the name of thunder makes you so tender of Oldbeg?"

"It is Charles more than I," Hunter said, referring to his brother. "He insists that the man is innocent; that there's not a scintilla of proof against him, and he won't consent that the unreasoning whim of the people shall do such injustice; and in fact, when I think that our time may come at any moment, I can't help feeling a good deal that way myself."

In the shrubbery outside the window a man, who had followed Hunter from Millbank, listened and watched. He could hear nothing and see as little, but hour after hour he kept his post, with dogged patience, using a night to catch a single hint. Had Hunter known how closely he was followed and watched, he would have been still more uneasy and disturbed.

"What is it about this new corpse that's been found at Millbank?" Matthewson asked.