both of the two lawyers whose names he had mentioned, she marched
quickly away, wagging her head and looking back as she went, as much as
to say: "You have hushed me up for this time, young man, but don't
congratulate yourself too much. I have still a tongue in my head, and
the day may come when I can use it without any fear of being stopped by
you."

Mr. Byrd, who was not very well pleased with himself or the way he had
managed this interview, watched her till she was out of sight, and then
turned thoughtfully toward the court-house. The fact was, he felt both
agitated and confused. In the first place, he was disconcerted at
discovering the extent of the impression that had evidently been made
upon him by the beauty of Miss Dare, since nothing short of a deep,
unconscious admiration for her personal attributes, and a strong and
secret dread of having his lately acquired confidence in her again
disturbed, could have led him to treat the insinuations of this babbling
old wretch in such a cavalier manner. Any other detective would have
seized with avidity upon the opportunity of hearing what she had to say
on such a subject, and would not only have cajoled her into confidence,
but encouraged her to talk until she had given utterance to all that was
on her mind. But in the stress of a feeling to which he was not anxious
to give a name, he had forgotten that he was a detective, and remembered
only that he was a man; and the consequence was that he had frightened
the old creature, and cut short words that it was possibly his business
to hear. In the second place, he felt himself in a quandary as regarded
Miss Dare. If, as was more than possible, she was really the innocent
woman the coroner considered her, and the insinuations, if not threats,
to which he had been listening were simply the result of a wicked old
woman's privately nurtured hatred, how could he reconcile it to his duty
as a man, or even as a detective, to let the day pass without warning
her, or the eminent lawyer who honored her with his regard, of the
danger in which she stood from this creature's venomous tongue.

As he sat in court that afternoon, with his eye upon Mr. Orcutt, beneath
whose ordinary aspect of quiet, sarcastic attention he thought he could
detect the secret workings of a deep, personal perplexity, if not of
actual alarm, he asked himself what he would wish done if he were that
man, and a scandal of a debasing character threatened the peace