of bracelets, three rings, and a lot of lace
pocket-handkerchiefs--is that what you said?"

"Yes, sir."

"Your mistress will describe them particularly, and I will take the
right steps the first thing to-morrow morning. Good-evening, William,
and keep up your spirits. It shan't be my fault if you don't soon see
the quadroon in the right place for her--at the prisoner's bar."

With that farewell he went out.

The days passed, and I did not see him again until the period of my
remand had expired. On this occasion, when I once more appeared before
the justice, my mistress appeared with me. The first sight of her
absolutely startled me, she was so sadly altered. Her face looked so
pinched and thin that it was like the face of an old woman. The dull,
vacant resignation of her expression was something shocking to see. It
changed a little when her eyes first turned heavily toward me, and she
whispered, with a faint smile, "I am sorry for you, William--I am very,
very sorry for you." But as soon as she had said those words the blank
look returned, and she sat with her head drooping forward, quiet, and
inattentive, and hopeless--so changed a being that her oldest friends
would hardly have known her.

Our examination was a mere formality. There was no additional evidence
either for or against us, and we were remanded again for another week.

I asked the lawyer, privately, if any chance had offered itself of
tracing Mr. James Smith. He looked mysterious, and only said in answer,
"Hope for the best." I inquired next if any progress had been made
toward fixing the guilt of the robbery on Josephine.

"I never boast," he replied. "But, cunning as she is, I should not be
surprised if Mr. Dark and I, together, turned out to be more than a
match for her."

Mr. Dark! There was something in the mere mention of his name that gave
me confidence in the future. If I could only have got my poor mistress's
sad, dazed face out of my mind, I should not have had much depression of
spirits to complain of during the interval of time that elapsed between
the second examination and the third.

CHAPTER VI.

ON the third appearance of my mistress and myself before the justice,
I noticed some faces in the room which I had not seen there before.
Greatly to my astonishment--for the previous examinations had been
conducted as privately as possible--I remarked the presence of two of
the servants from the Hall, and of three or four of the tena