"It will affect my work to this
extent. I shall not accept any brief unless, after reading the
evidence, I feel convinced that the accused is innocent."
"That's all very well," Wilmore observed, "but you know what it
will mean, don't you? Lawyers aren't likely to single you out
for a brief without ever feeling sure whether you will accept it
or not."
"That doesn't worry me," Francis declared. "I don't need the
fees, fortunately, and I can always pick up enough work to keep
me going by attending Sessions. One thing I can promise you--I
certainly shall not sit in my rooms and wait for things to
happen. Mine is a militant spirit and it needs the outlet of
action."
"Action, yes, but how?" Wilmore queried. "You can't be always
hanging about the courts, waiting for the chance of defending
some poor devil who's been wrongfully accused--there aren't
enough of them, for one thing. On the other hand, you can't walk
down Regent Street, brandishing a two-edged sword and hunting for
pickpockets."
Francis smiled.
"Nothing so flamboyant, I can assure you, Andrew," he replied;
"nor shall I play the amateur detective with his mouth open for
mysteries. But listen," he went on earnestly. "I've had some
experience, as you know, and, notwithstanding the Oliver
Hilditch's of the world, I can generally tell a criminal when I
meet him face to face.
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