believing the worst, which is often seen at criminal trials, inclined
most minds toward the elder woman's story. Still, the lawyers for the
defense were hopeful.

The last sentence, or portion of a sentence, was now read: "'If he had
lived, one of us must have died.'"

It had been decided that Anne should here give all that Helen had said,
without omission, as she had given it to Dexter.

"Yes," she answered; "Mrs. Heathcote used those words. But it was in the
following connection. When we had said good-by, and I had promised to
come again after the funeral, she went with me toward the door. 'If he
had lived,' she said, 'one of us must have died.' Then she paused an
instant, and her voice sank. 'Changed or died,' she added. 'And as we
are not the kind of women who change, it would have ended in the wearing
out of the life of one of us--the one who loved the most. And people
would have called it by some other name, and that would have been the
end. But now it is _he_ who has been taken, and--oh! I can not bear
it--I can not, can not bear it!'"

She repeated these words of Helen's with such realistic power that tears
came to many eyes. Rachel Bannert for the first time veiled her face.
All the feeling in her, such as it was, was concentrated upon Heathcote,
and Helen's bitter cry of grief, repeated by Anne, had been the secret
cry of her own heart every minute since danger first menaced him.

Anne's words had produced a sensation; still, they were but her
unsupported words.

But now something else was brought forward; proof which, so far as it
went, at least, was tangible. Anne was testifying that, before she went
away, Helen had taken from her own neck a locket and given it to her as
a token of renewed affection; and the locket was produced. The defense
would prove by Bagshot herself that this locket on its chain was round
her mistress's neck on the morning of that day, and Mrs. Heathcote must
therefore have removed it herself and given it to the present witness,
since the latter could hardly have taken it from her by force without
being overheard, the door being so very conveniently ajar.

And now the next proof was produced, the hurried note written to Anne by
Helen, after the tidings of her husband's safety had been received.
After the writing had been identified as Helen's, the note was read.

* * * * *

"DEAR ANNE,--Ward is safe. It was a mistake. I have just received a
dispa