to Miss Teller.

"Oh, Anne, dear child!" she cried, embracing the young girl warmly; "I
never dreamed it was you. And you have come all this way to help us! I
do not in the least understand how; but never mind--never mind. God
bless you!" She sobbed as she spoke. Then seeing Dexter, who was
standing at some distance, she called him to her, and blessed him also.
He received her greeting in silence. He had brought Anne, but he was in
no mood to appreciate benedictions.

And now the lawyers stepped forward, arranging chairs at the table in a
suggestive way, opening papers, and consulting note-books. Anne looked
toward Dexter for directions; his eyes told her to seat herself in one
of the arm-chairs. He then withdrew to another part of the large room,
and Miss Teller, having vainly endeavored to beckon him to her side, so
that he might be within reach of her tearful whispers and
sympathy-seeking finger, resigned herself to excited listening and
silence.

When Anne Douglas appeared on the witness-stand in the Heathcote murder
trial, a buzz of curiosity and surprise ran round the crowded
court-room.

"A young girl!" was the first whisper. Then, "Pretty, rather," from the
women, and "Beautiful!" from the men.

Isabel grasped Rachel's arm. "Is that Anne Douglas?" she said, in a
wonder-struck voice. "You remember her--the school-girl, Miss Vanhorn's
niece, who was at Caryl's that summer? Helen always liked her; and Ward
Heathcote used to talk to her now and then, although Mr. Dexter paid her
more real attention."

"I remember her," said Rachel, coldly; "but I do not recollect the other
circumstances you mention."

"It _is_ Anne," continued Isabel, too much absorbed to notice Rachel's
manner. "But older, and a thousand times handsomer. Rachel, that girl is
beautiful!"

Anne's eyes were downcast. She feared to see Heathcote, and she did not
even know in what part of the room he was placed. She remained thus
while she was identified by Bagshot and Simpson, while she gave her
name, and went through the preliminary forms; when at last she did raise
her eyes, she looked only at the lawyers who addressed her.

And now the ordeal opened. All, or almost all, of that which she had
told Gregory Dexter she was now required to repeat here, before this
crowded, listening court-room, this sea of faces, these watching
lawyers, the judge, and the dreaded jury. She had never been in a
court-room before. For one moment, when she first