They passed into the tea-shop and found an empty corner.  Ledsam hung up his hat and gave an order.  The woman slowly began to remove her gloves.  When she pushed back her veil, her vis-a-vis received almost a shock.  She was quite as good-looking as he had imagined, but she was far younger—­she was indeed little more than a girl.  Her eyes were of a deep shade of hazel brown, her eyebrows were delicately marked, her features and poise admirable.  Yet her skin was entirely colourless.  She was as pale as one whose eyes have been closed in death.  Her lips, although in no way highly coloured, were like streaks of scarlet blossom upon a marble image.  The contrast between her appearance and that of her companion was curiously marked.  Francis Ledsam conformed in no way to the accepted physical type of his profession.  He was over six feet in height, broad-shouldered and powerfully made.  His features were cast in a large mould, he was of fair, almost sandy complexion, even his mouth was more humourous than incisive.  His eyes alone, grey and exceedingly magnetic, suggested the gifts which without a doubt lay behind his massive forehead.

“I am anxious to avoid any possible mistake,” she began.  “Your name is Francis Ledsam?”

“It is,” he admitted.

“You are the very successful criminal barrister,” she continued, “who has just been paid an extravagant fee to defend Oliver Hilditch.”

“I might take exception to the term ’extravagant’,” Ledsam observed drily.  “Otherwise, your information appears to be singularly correct.  I do not know whether you have heard the verdict.  If not, you may be interested to know that I succeeded in obtaining the man’s acquittal.”

“I know that you did,” the woman replied.  “I was in the Court when the verdict was brought in.  It has since occurred to me that I should like you to understand exactly what you have done, the responsibility you have incurred.”

Ledsam raised his eyebrows.

“Responsibility?” he repeated.  “What I have done is simple enough.  I have earned a very large fee and won my case.”

“You have secured the acquittal of Oliver Hilditch,” she persisted.  “He is by this time a free man.  Now I am going to speak to you of that responsibility.  I am going to tell you a little about the man who owes his freedom to your eloquence.”

It was exactly twenty minutes after their entrance into the teashop when the woman finished her monologue.  She began to draw on her gloves again.  Before them were two untasted cups of tea and an untouched plate of bread and butter.  From a corner of the room the waitress was watching them curiously.

“Good God!” Francis Ledsam exclaimed at last, suddenly realising his whereabouts.  “Do you mean to affirm solemnly that what you have been telling me is the truth?”

The woman continued to button her gloves.  “It is the truth,” she said.