ry scrap I sent up. Aunt Dinah brought the tray down
stairs with her when she came back from telling the captain that
Symonds wished to see him. There wasn't a morsel of food left on the
plates."

"That is all," announced Warren; and at a signal from the judge
advocate, Mrs. Lane left her chair and hastened out of the room.

Mrs. Warren, who had come with Mrs. Bennett, was sick at heart. It was
obvious to all that her husband was fighting against heavy odds. A
whisper here, a look there, showed that every spectator in the room
thought Nancy guilty.

Mrs. Lane's place was taken by Mrs. Lewis, a frail, old lady whose
timorous voice could hardly be heard as the judge advocate administered
the oath to her.

"Now, Mrs. Lewis, will you please speak louder in answering my
questions?" requested the judge advocate. "Do you board at Mrs.
Lane's?"

"Yes, sir."

"Where is your room?"

"On the third floor, front."

"Do you know the accused?"

"I do." Mrs. Lewis wiped her eyes; she was easily moved to tears.

"When did you last see her, and where?"

"On the sixth of March, last----"

"Go on, madam," urged the judge advocate, as her voice died away.

"I finished my dinner--I did not stay for dessert--and went upstairs to
my room. I stopped a moment when I reached the second floor to rest--my
breath is short these days--and I saw Miss Newton coming toward me from
the back hall----"

"Well, what then?" impatiently.

"I--I--know her aunt very well, and Nancy stopped to ask how I was."

"Did she state what she was doing there?"

"Yes, sir. She told me she was waiting for Alice Cary, and had run down
the back stairs to look for her dog, Misery, who she thought had
probably sneaked down to the kitchen. We went upstairs together, and I
went on to my room alone."

"Did the accused find her dog?"

"I reckon she did, though he wasn't in the hall then, because shortly
after she rapped at my door to ask me to tell Alice Cary she couldn't
wait any longer for her, and Misery came into my room while we were
talking."

The judge advocate cleared his throat, and spoke impressively.

"Did the accused have a bottle and a pocket book in her hands?"

"I--I--can't say positively," stammered Mrs. Lewis, doubtfully. "It--it
was dark in the hall, and I am quite near-sighted."

"How was the accused dressed when you saw her the first time?"

"She had on her hat, but no coat. The last time I saw her she was
dressed for the street