judicial tone of the inquiry.

"How did you leave the stable-door?"

"Open."

"Can you tell us what time it was when you started?"

"No. I did not look. Time meant nothing to me. I drove as fast as I
could, straight down the hill, and out towards The Whispering Pines. I
had seen Adelaide in her window as I went flying by the house, but not a
soul on the road, nor a sign of life, near or far. The whistle of a train
blew as I stopped in the thicket near the club-house door. If it was the
express train, you can tell--"

"Never mind the _if_" said Mr. Moffat. "It is enough that you heard the
whistle. Go on with what you did."

"I tied up my horse; then I went into the house. I had used Mr.
Ranelagh's key to open the door and for some reason I took it out of the
lock when I got in, and put the whole bunch back into my satchel. But I
did not lock the door. Then I lit my candle and then--I went upstairs."

Fainter and fainter the words fell, and slower and slower heaved the
youthful breast under her heavily pressing palm. Mr. Moffat made a sign
across the court-room, and I saw Dr. Carpenter get up and move nearer to
the witness stand. But she stood in no need of his help. In an instant
her cheek flushed; the eye I watched with such intensity of wonder that
apprehension unconsciously left me, rose, glowed, and fixed itself at
last--not on the judge, not on the prisoner, not even on that prisoner's
counsel--but on _me_; and as the soft light filled my soul and awoke awe,
where it had hitherto awakened passion, she quietly said:

"There is a room upstairs, in the club-house, where I have often been
with Adelaide. It has a fireplace in it, and I had seen a box there,
half filled with wood the day before. This is the room I went to, and
here I built a fire. When it was quite bright, I took out something I
had brought in my satchel, and thrust it into the flame. Then I got up
and walked away. I--I did not feel very strong, and sank on my knees
when I got to the couch, and buried my face in my arms. But I felt
better when I came back to the fire again, and very brave till I caught
a glimpse of my face in the mirror over the mantelpiece. That--that
unnerved me, and I think I screamed. Some one screamed, and I think it
was I. I know my hands went out--I saw them in the glass; then they fell
straight down at my side, and I looked and looked at myself till I saw
all the terror go out of my face, and when it was quite calm again,