use of crying?" she said. "Ha! Ha! It's almost a joke.
You're sorry, my father-in-law is sorry, and I suppose my mother-in-law
is shedding tears for me, too. You're all sorry and you're all wearing
crape for us, but why can't some of you _do_ something?"

The lawyer said nothing. He still stared at her in a strange,
absent-minded kind of way, until finally she lost patience. Boldly she
said:

"Well, you sent for me. What do you want to see me about, judge?"

"I want to tell you that you mustn't come here again," he answered.

"Anything else?" she exclaimed.

The judge began to fuss with the papers on his desk, as he usually did
when embarrassed for words.

"Of course," he stammered, "you will be amply compensated."

"Of course," she cried. Rising from her chair, she shrugged her
shoulders, and said:

"Oh, well, this is not my lucky day. They wouldn't let me into the
prison to see Howard to-day. Captain Clinton doesn't like me. He has
always tried to prevent my seeing Howard, but I'll see him to-morrow,
captain or no captain. He can make up his mind to that!"

The lawyer looked up at her.

"Poor girl--you are having a hard time, aren't you?"

"Things have been better," she replied, with a tremor in her voice.
"Howard and I were very happy when we first----" A sob choked her
utterance, and she forced a laugh, saying: "Here, I must keep off that
subject----"

"Why do you laugh?" demanded the lawyer.

Already hysterical, Annie had great difficulty in keeping back her
tears.

"Well, if I don't laugh," she sobbed, "I'll cry; and as I don't want to
cry--why--I just laugh. It's got to be one or the other--see----?"

He said nothing, and she continued:

"Well, I guess I'll go home--home--that's the worst part of
it--home----"

She stopped short, she could go no further. Her bosom was heaving, the
hot tears were rolling down her cheeks. The old lawyer turned away his
head so that she might not see the suspicious redness in his eyes.
Moving toward the door, she turned around.

"Well, you have your own troubles, judge. I'll go now, but I'll come
again to-morrow. Perhaps you'll have better news for me."

The lawyer waved her back to her seat with a commanding gesture she
could not resist. There was determination around his mouth; in his face
was an expression she had not seen there before.

"Sit down again for a moment," he said sharply. "I want to ask you a
question. How do you account for Howard's confes