No, no! I believe him to be a man of honor.

The false play, if there has been any, has been against him.' "'Against him ?' I could but respond, with increasing surprise.

Then a suspicion of the truth flashed into my mind.
"'He had been drinking too much that morning,' said my friend.

'That was the meaning of his strange and defective management of the case, and of his confusion of ideas when he made his closing argument to the jury.' "It was clear to me now, and I wondered that I had not thought of it before.

'But,' I asked, 'what has this to do with foul play?
You don't mean to intimate that his liquor was drugged ?' "'No.