cating, and in her
ears the surging as of an ocean tide, drowned the accents of the
magistrate. At first the words were as meaningless as some Sanskrit
formula, but gradually her attention grasped and comprehended. In a
strident incisive voice he read from a paper on the desk before him:

"At an inquisition held at X---, T---county, on the twenty-seventh day
of October, before me, Jeremiah Bateman, Coroner of said county, on the
body of Robert Luke Darrington, there lying dead, by the jurors whose
names are hereto subscribed; the said jurors upon their oath do say
that Robert Luke Darrington came to his death on the night of Thursday,
October twenty-sixth, by a murderous assault committed upon him by
means of a heavy brass andiron. And from all the evidence brought
before them, the jury believe that the fatal blow was feloniously given
by the hand of his granddaughter, Beryl Brentano.

"In testimony whereof, the said jurors have hereunto set their hands,
this twenty-seventh day of October, A.D., 18--.

"Signed------

"Attest,

"JEREMIAH BATEMAN, Coroner."

"In consequence of this verdict, and by virtue of a warrant issued at
the request of the District Solicitor, Governor Glenbeigh made a prompt
requisition for the arrest and detention of the said Beryl Brentano,
who has been identified and returned to this city, to answer the
charges brought against her. The prisoner will unveil and stand up.

"Beryl Brentano, you are charged with the murder of Robert Luke
Darrington, by striking him with a brass andiron. Are you guilty, or
not guilty?"

"Not guilty." Her voice was unsteady, but the words were distinct.

Mr. Dunbar, Mr. Burk, and a middle-aged woman lean as Cassius, came
nearer to the platform, and after a leisurely survey of the girl's face
and figure, pronounced her the person whom they had severally accused
of the crime of causing the death of General Darrington.

The canons that govern psychical phenomena are as occult as the
abstraction of the "fourth division of space"; and they defy the
realism of common-place probability, mock all analysis, and annihilate
distance. When Beryl had first met the keen scrutiny of Mr. Dunbar's
glittering blue eyes, their baleful influence made her shiver slightly;
and now at the instant in which he approached, and inspected her
closely, she forgot that she was on trial for her life, became
temporarily oblivious of her dismal entourage, and stood once more
before a marb