and had some hay in it.
So I made my way to it through a gate, and carried the children."

"What happened while you were there?--quick, woman, let us get to the
wicked fact itself."

"We stayed there all day, and when the night came on I covered the
little ones in the hay, and they cried themselves to sleep."

The tears were standing in the woman's eyes. The eyes of others were
wet.

"Yes, yes, but what _occurred?_" said counsel, to whom the weeping of
outcast babes was obviously less than an occurrence.

"_I_ could not sleep," said the woman hoarsely; and lifting her voice
to a defiant pitch, she said, "Would that the dear God had let me
sleep that night of all nights of my life!"

"Come, good woman," said counsel more soothingly, "what next?"

"I listened to the footsteps that went by on the road, and so the
weary hours trailed on. At last they had ceased to come and go. It was
then that I heard a horse's canter far away to the north."

The witness was speaking in a voice so low as to be scarcely audible
to the people, who stood on tiptoe and held their breath to hear.

"My little boy cried in his sleep. Then all was quiet again."

Sim shuddered perceptibly. He felt his flesh creep.

"The thought came to me that perhaps the man on the horse could give
me something to do the boy good. If he came from a distance, he would
surely carry brandy. So I labored out of the barn and trudged through
the grass to the hedge. Then I heard footsteps on the road. They were
coming towards me."

"Was it dark?"

"Yes, but not very dark. I could see the hedge across the way. The man
on foot and the man on the horse came together near where I stood."

"How near--twenty paces?"

"Less. I was about to call, when I heard the man on foot speak to the
other, who was riding past him."

"You saw both men clearly?"

"No," replied the woman firmly; "not clearly. I saw the one on the
road. He was a little man, and he limped in his walk."

In the stillness of the court Ralph could almost hear the woman
breathe.

"They were quarrelling, the two men; you heard what they said?" said
counsel, breaking silence.

"It's not true," cried the witness, in a hurried manner, "_I_ heard
nothing."

"This is no suborned witness, my lords," said counsel in a cold voice,
and with a freezing smile. "Well, woman?"

"The tall man leapt off his horse, and there was a struggle. The
little man was swearing. There was a heavy fall, and all was