beautifully
modulated, repeated the words of the oath, with her right hand raised
the while. Noticing her agitation, the President mitigated somewhat the
harshness of the tone in which he generally spoke to witnesses.

"Pray compose yourself, madame. I am sorry to be obliged to subject you
to this examination, but the interests of Justice require it. Come now:
you are Lady Beltham, widow of the late Lord Beltham, of English
nationality, residing in Paris, at your own house in Neuilly?"

"Yes."

"Will you kindly turn round, madame, and tell me if you know the
prisoner in the dock?"

Lady Beltham obeyed mechanically; she glanced at Gurn, who paled a
little, and answered the President.

"Yes, I know the prisoner; his name is Gurn."

"Very good, madame. Can you tell me first of all how you came to be
acquainted with him?"

"When my husband was in South Africa, at the time of the Boer War, Gurn
was a sergeant in the regular army. It was then that I first met him."

"Did you know him well at that time?"

Lady Beltham seemed to be unable to prevent herself from casting long
glances at the prisoner; she appeared to be almost hypnotised and
frightened by his close proximity.

"I saw very little of Gurn in the Transvaal," she answered. "It was just
by chance that I learned his name, but of course the difference between
his own rank and my husband's position made the relations that I could
have with a mere sergeant very limited indeed."

"Yes, Gurn was a sergeant," the President said. "And after the war,
madame, did you see the prisoner again?"

"Yes, immediately after the war; my husband and I went to England by the
same boat on which Gurn went home."

"Did you see much of him on board?"

"No; we were first-class passengers, and he, I believe, went second. It
was just by accident that my husband caught sight of him soon after the
boat sailed."

The President paused and made a note.

"Were those all the relations your husband had with the prisoner?"

"They are at any rate all the relations I had with him," Lady Beltham
replied in tones of some distress; "but I know that my husband employed
Gurn on several occasions, to help him in various affairs and matters of
business."

"Thank you," said the President; "we will return to that point
presently. Meanwhile there is one question I should like to ask you. If
you had met the prisoner in the street a few months ago, should you have
recognised him? Was his face