till as marble, was
now, though still colorless, so transfigured, so uplifted, so beautiful
in its pure sacrifice, that men leaned forward to see her more closely,
to print, as it were, that exquisite image upon their memories forever.

Then the crowd took its breath again audibly; the sight was over. Anne
had sunk down and covered her face with her hands, and Miss Teller, much
agitated, was sending her a glass of water.

Even the law is human sometimes, and there was now a short delay.

So far, while the testimony of the new witness had been dramatic, and in
its interest absorbing, it had not proved much, or shaken to any great
extent the theory of the prosecution. On the contrary, more than ever
now were people inclined to believe that this lovely young girl was in
reality the wife's rival. Men whispered to each other, significantly,
"Heathcote knew what he was about. That is the most beautiful girl I
ever saw in my life; and nothing can alter _that_."

"But now the tide turned. The examination proceeded, and the two
unfinished sentences which Bagshot had repeated were read. Anne
corrected them.

"'You can not conquer hate,'" read the lawyer.

"Mrs. Heathcote did not say that," began Anne; but her voice was still
tremulous, and she paused a moment in order to control it.

"We wish to remark here," said one of Miss Teller's lawyers, "that while
the witness named Minerva Bagshot is possessed of an extraordinary
memory, and while she has also repeated what she overheard with a
correctness and honesty which are indeed remarkable in a person who
would deliberately open a door and _listen_, in this instance her
careful and conscientious ears will be found to have been mistaken."

He was not allowed to say more. But as he had said all he wished to say,
he bore his enforced silence with equanimity.

"Mrs. Heathcote wished me to come and live with her," continued Anne.
"She said, not what Mrs. Bagshot has reported, but, 'You can not conquer
_fate_.' And then she added, 'We two _must_ be together, Anne; we are
bound by a tie which can not be severed, even though we may wish it. You
must bear with me, and I must suffer you. It is our fate.'"

This produced an effect; it directly contradicted the impression made by
Bagshot's phrase, namely, that the two women had parted in anger and
hate, the wife especially being in a mood of desperation. True, it was
but Anne's word against Bagshot's, and the strange tendency toward