Summary

The arrest, arraignment and attendant side-shows including Margot absconding to Corfu—but making arrangements for gourmet meals to be delivered to Paul—are front-page news, but his actual conviction is “a lame conclusion.”

He initially pleads guilty to all charges, then retracts when he learns of the punishment this conviction would bring. Potts’ role is revealed when he steadfastly testifies for the prosecution, for which he is commended by the judge. There is no defense offered for Paul, except past good behavior. Mrs. Beste-Chetwynde is kept out of the proceedings and the judge denounces Paul for callously planning to join his sullied name to that of this honorable member of society.

He has to endure a long diatribe on the judge’s opinion of “human vampires who prey on the degradation of their species,” or effectively, White Slavers, which is the crime he is convicted...