mist, and grew apparent to him in a lurid light that did not seem
the light of day. He saw the eager looks at her of the ladies in the
privileged places, the whispers that were exchanged among them. He saw
underneath the witness-box, almost within reach of her, John Tatham,
with an anxious look on his face. And then he saw, what was the most
extraordinary of all, the man--who had been the centre of his interest
till now--the man whose name was Philip Compton, like his own; he who
fixed the last witness with the stare of his opera-glass, who had kept
it in perpetual use. He had put it down now on the table before him, his
arms were folded on his breast, and his head bent. Philip thought he
detected now and then a furtive look under his brows at the motionless
witness awaiting through the storm of words the moment when her turn
would come; but though he had leant forward all the time, following
every point of the proceedings with interest, he now drew back, effaced
himself, retired as it were from the scene. What was there between these
two? Was there any link between them? What was the drama about to be
played out before Pippo's innocent and ignorant eyes? At last the storm
and wrangling seemed to come to an end, and there came out low but clear
the sound of her voice. It seemed only now, when he heard his mother
speak, that he was certified that so inconceivable a thing as that she
should be here was a matter of fact: his mother here! Philip fixed his
whole being upon her--eyes, thoughts, absorbed attention, he scarcely
seemed to breathe except through her. Could she see him, he wondered,
through all that crowd? But then he perceived that she saw nothing with
those eyes that looked steadily in front of her, not turning a glance
either to the right or left.

For some time Philip was baffled completely by the questions put, which
were those to which the counsel on the other side objected as not
evidence, and which seemed, even to the boy's inexperienced mind, to be
mere play upon the subject, attempts to connect her in some way with the
question as to Brown's guilt or innocence. Something in the appearance,
at this stage, of a lady so unlike the other witnesses, seemed to
exercise a certain strange effect, however, quickening everybody's
interest, and when the examining counsel approached the question of the
date which had already been shown to be so momentous, all interruptions
were silenced, and the court in general, lik