[Gutenberg 14249] • Half A Chance

Excerpt: PART TWO CHAPTER I THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE LONDON, in the spring Sunshine; the Thames agleam with silver ripples, singing as it flows; red sails Joyous London that has emerged from fogs and basks beneath blue skies Thoroughfares that give forth a glad hum; wheels singing, too; whips that crack in sprightly arpeggios. On the streets, people, not shadows, who walk with a swing; who really seem to breath and not slink uncannily by Eyes that regard you with human expression; faces that seem capable of emotion; figures adorned in keeping with the bright realities of the moment. London; old London young again; grimy, repulsive London now bright, shimmering, beautiful In such a London, on such a day, about ten o'clock in the morning1, three persons whose appearance distinguished them from the ordinary passers-by, turned into a narrow thoroughfare not far from the Strand. " Quite worth while going to hear John Steele conduct for his client, I assure you " observed one, a tall, military-looking man, who walked with a slight limp and carried a cane. " He's a new man, but he's making his mark. When he asked to be admitted to the English bar, he surprised even his examiners. His summing-up in the Doughcrtie murder case was, I heard his lordship remark, one of the most masterly efforts he ever listened to. Just tore the circumstantial evidence to pieces and freed his man Besides his profession at the bar, he is an unusually gifted criminologist; takes a strong ...