CHAPTER 25The Old Bailey was staged for the trial of Sir John and Lady Burslem, the most talked-of murder trial of recent times. It had been decided by the prosecution not to put them in the dock together. Sir John was to be tried first. Then his wife was to be indicted as an accessory after the crime.
That Sir John would be found guilty was certain, in the opinion of the public. But with regard to Lady Burslem people were divided, some holding that she was little less guilty than Sir John, others opining that she had only done her duty in standing by her husband as a loyal wife should.
An enormous crowd had assembled round the Old Bailey long before the trial was timed to begin. Inside the court itself there was not standing?scarcely even breathing?room. Among the sea of faces turned to
