a new dawn; and then there was a chirruping of birds over the heath, and the first shafts of the sunlight ran along the surface of the sea, and lit up the white wavelets that were breaking on the beach.  The new day struck upon him with a strange sense of wonder.  Where was he?  Whither had gone the wild visions of the night, the feverish dread, the horrible forebodings?  The strong mental emotion that had driven him out now produced its natural reaction:  he looked about in a dazed fashion at the revelation of light around him, and felt himself trembling with weakness.  Slowly, blindly and hopelessly he set to walk back across the island, with the sunlight of the fresh morning calling into life ten thousand audible things of the moorland around him.

And who was this who stood at the porch of the house in the clear sunshine?  Not the pale and ghastly creature who had haunted him during those wild hours, but Sheila herself, singing some snatches of a song, and engaged in watering the two bushes of sweetbrier at the gate.  How bright and roseate and happy she looked, with the fine color of her face lit up by the fresh sunlight, and the brisk breeze from the sea stirring now and again the loose masses of her hair!  Haggard and faint as he was, he would have startled her if he had gone up to her then.  He dared not approach her.  He waited until she had gone round to the gable of the house to water the plants there, and then he stole into the house and up stairs, and threw himself upon the bed.  And outside he still heard Sheila singing lightly to herself as she went about her ordinary duties, little thinking in how strange and wild a drama her wraith had that night taken part.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

[Footnote 12:  Pronounced Argyud-chark; literally, “hen-money.”]

MEDICAL EXPERT EVIDENCE.

There is scarcely any position of more responsibility than that of the medical expert in cases of alleged poisoning.  Often he stands with practically absolute power between society and the accused—­the former looking to him for the proof of the crime and for the protection which discovery brings; the latter relying upon him for the vindication of his innocence.  How profound and complete, then, should be his knowledge! how thorough his skill! how pure and spotless his integrity! how unimpeachable his results!  Yet recently the humiliating spectacle has been repeatedly presented of expert swearing against expert, until the question at issue was apparently degraded into one of personal feeling or of professional reputation.  So far has this gone that both judicial and public opinion seems to be demanding the abolition of expert testimony.  The medical expert must, however, remain an essential feature in our criminal procedures, partaking as he does of the functions of the lawyer, inasmuch as he has, to some extent, the right to argue before the jury, partaking also of the judicial character in that it is his duty to express an opinion upon evidence, but differing from both judge and advocate in that as a witness he testifies to facts.  Were the attempt made to do away with his functions, there would be an end to just convictions in the class of cases spoken of, because no one would be qualified to say whether any given death had been produced by poison or by a natural cause.