the great room and went
directly to the witness chair, God himself walked at her side and held
her hand.

"Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou
dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou
goest."

Through the mind of that same white-haired man in the clerical garb
ran these words as he watched the girl move silently across the room.
She seemed to have taken on a new meaning to him since the previous
day. And as he looked, his eyes grew moist, and he drew out his
handkerchief.

But his were not the only eyes that had filled then. Hitt and Haynerd
bent their heads, that the people might not see; Miss Wall and the
Beaubien wept silently, and with no attempt to stay their grief; Jude
buried her head in her hands, and rocked back and forth, moaning
softly. Why they wept, they knew not. A welter of conflicting emotions
surged through their harassed souls. They seemed to have come now to
the great crisis. And which way the tide would turn rested with this
lone girl.

For some moments after she was seated the silence remained unbroken.
And as she sat there, waiting, she looked down at the man who sought
to destroy what he might not possess. Some said afterward that as she
looked at him she smiled. Who knows but that the Christ himself smiled
down from the cross at those who had riven his great heart?

But Ames did not meet her glance. Somehow he dared not. He was far
from well that morning, and an ugly, murderous mood possessed him. And
yet, judged by the world's standards, he had tipped the crest of
success. He had conquered all. Men came and went at his slightest nod.
His coffers lay bursting with their heavy treasure. He was swollen
with wealth, with material power, with abnormal pride. His tender
sensibilities and sympathies were happily completely ossified, and he
was stone deaf and blind to the agonies of a suffering world. Not a
single aim but had been realized; not a lone ambition but had been
met. Even the armed camp at Avon, and the little wooden crosses over
the fresh mounds there, all testified to his omnipotence; and in them,
despite their horrors, he felt a satisfying sense of his own great
might.

The clerk held up the Bible for the girl to give her oath. She looked
at him for a moment, and then smiled. "I will tell the truth," she
said simply.

The officer hesitated, and looked up at the judge. But the latter sat
with his eyes fixed upon the girl. The cle