nds o' Castle Lone."

"At what time were you there?"

"Frae ten till twal o' the clock."

"Were you alone?"

"For a guid part of the time I waur my lane i' the castle court."

"What took you out on the castle grounds alone at so late an hour?"

"I went there to keep my tryste with the Markis of Arondelle," answered
the witness, with a sly, malignant glance at the young nobleman whose
name she thus publicly profaned!

The Duke of Hereward started, and fixed his eyes sternly and inquiringly
upon the bold, handsome face of the witness.

Her eyes did not for an instant quail before his gaze. On the contrary,
they opened wide in a bold, derisive stare, until she was recalled by the
questions of the examiner.

"Witness! Do you mean to say, upon your oath, that you went to Castle
Lone at midnight to meet the Marquis of Arondelle?"

"Aye, that I do. I went to the castle to keep tryste wi' his lairdship,
the Marquis of Arondelle. He wha was troth-plighted to the heiress o'
Lone. Ae wha is noo ca'd his grace the Duk' o' Harewood!" said the
witness, emphatically, triumphantly.

The statement fell like a thunderbolt on the whole assembly.

When Rose Cameron first said that she went to the castle to keep tryste
with the Marquis of Arondelle, those who heard her distrusted the
evidence of their own ears, and turned to each other, inquiring in
whispers:

"What did she say?"

Or answering in like whispers:

"I don't know."

But now that she had reiterated her statement with emphasis and with
triumph, they asked no more questions, but gazed in each other's faces
in awe-struck silence.

And as for the Duke of Hereward! What on earth could a gentleman have
to say to a charge as absurd as it was infamous, thus made upon him by
a disreputable person in open court?

Why, to notice it even by denial would seem to be an infringement of his
dignity and self-respect.

The Duke of Hereward, after his first involuntary start and stare of
amazement, controlled himself absolutely, and sat back in his chair,
perfectly silent and self-possessed under this ordeal.

Not so the senior counsel for the defence.

Rising in his place, he addressed the bench:

"My lord, we object to the question put to the witness, which, while it
tends to compromise a lofty personage of this realm, can, in no manner,
concern the case in hand. My lord, we are not trying his grace the Duke
of Hereward."

"The bench has already instructed the coun