e you are giving her unnecessary pain."

He had a very tender heart, had the old judge, where a young and pretty
woman was concerned--otherwise he was a Tartar.

"My lud, it is absolutely necessary to prove that my client's passion
was reciprocated. Did you ever return one of these many kisses, Miss
Trevethick?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Did you ever meet him alone at night in a place, I believe, called the
Fairies' Bower?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Yes," repeated Mr. Balais, recapitulating these facts upon his fingers;
"you were left alone with him all day; you met him alone at night, away
from your father's roof; you returned his kisses; and all this without
the slightest suspicion--if we are to believe his evidence--being
aroused upon the part of your parent. Now, Miss Trevethick, you were
aware that your father kept a large sum of money--these two thousand
pounds--in his strong-box, were you not?"

"I was, Sir."

"Did you ever speak to the prisoner at the bar about it?"

"I think--yes, I did, Sir, on one occasion," and here Harry's voice
fluttered and faltered. No one noticed it, however, except the prisoner;
if any neighbor eyes had watched him narrowly--but they were all fixed
upon the witness--they would have seen his face whiten, and his brow
grow damp. Why should she have laid that stress upon "on one occasion?"

"You told him that the two thousand pounds were in the box in the
cupboard in your bedroom?"

"I did, Sir."

"The fastening of the box was not an ordinary lock, I believe. It was
what is called a letter padlock?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Did you ever open it?"

"No, Sir."

A great bell seemed to be suddenly set tolling in Richard's brain--it
was the knell of all his hopes.

"You had never opened it at that time, eh?" continued Mr. Balais,
cheerfully. "But you learned the secret afterward?"

"I--yes--I did."

"Do you remember the letters that did open it?"

"Yes, Sir."

"What were they?"

"B, N, Z."

"Very good. We have heard from the counsel for the prosecution that they
were so; and that Mr. Trevethick kept a memorandum of them on a piece of
paper that fitted into his watch-case. Did he always carry that watch
about with him?"

"Not always. When he went out to market, and was likely to be late, he
sometimes left it at home."

"In his own room, I suppose, where you or any body else could get at
it?"

"I suppose so, Sir."

"You _suppose_? You know he did, do you not? Did you not open the
watch-