on they will, when I make my charge t' th' jury--"

"Certainly," murmured Fanny absently, as she gazed at her husband and
the judge.

She couldn't help wondering why her Wesley was speaking so earnestly
to the Judge, yet in such a provokingly low tone of voice.

"I had become so accustomed to thinking of her as Lydia Orr," she
finished hastily.

"Well, I don't b'lieve in givin' out a name 'at ain't yourn," said
Lois Daggett, sharply. "She'd ought t' 'a' told right out who she
was, an' what she come t' Brookville _for_."

Judge Fulsom and the minister had moved still further away. Fanny,
with some alarm, felt herself alone.

"I don't think Miss Orr meant to be deceitful," she said nervously.

"Well, o' course, if she's a-goin' t' be in th' family, it's natural
you sh'd think so," said Lois Daggett, sniffing loudly.

Fanny did not answer.

"I sh'd _hope_ she an' Jim was engaged," proclaimed Miss Daggett. "If
they ain't, they'd ought t' be."

"Why should you say that, Miss Lois?" asked Fanny hurriedly. "They
are very good friends."

Miss Daggett bent forward, lowering her voice.

"The's one thing I'd like t' know f'r certain," she said: "Did Jim
Dodge find that body?"

Fanny stared at her inquisitor resentfully.

"There were a good many persons searching," she said coldly.

Miss Daggett wagged her head in an irritated fashion.

"Of course I know _that_," she snapped. "What I want t' know is
whether Jim Dodge--"

"I never asked my brother," interrupted Fanny. "It all happened so
long ago, why not--"

"Not s' terrible long," disagreed Miss Daggett. "It was th' first o'
November. N' I've got a mighty good reason f'r askin'."

"You have?" murmured Fanny, flashing a glance of entreaty at her
husband.

"Some of us ladies was talkin' it over," pursued the spinster
relentlessly, "an' I says t' Mis' Deacon Whittle: 'Who counted th'
money 'at was found on Andrew Bolton's body?' I says. 'W'y,' s' she,
'th' ones 'at found him out in th' woods where he got lost, I
s'pose.' But come t' sift it right down t' facts, not one o' them
ladies c'd tell f'r certain who 't was 'at found that body. The' was
such an' excitement 'n' hullaballoo, nobody 'd thought t' ask. It
wa'n't Deacon Whittle; n'r it wa'n't th' party from th' Brookville
House; ner Hank Simonson, ner any o' the boys. _It was Jim Dodge, an'
she was with him!"_

"Well," said Fanny faintly.

She looked up to meet the minister's eyes, with a sense of st