his hurt hound. He was disappointed that
she took little Jane's misfortunes so coolly. "Of course this sort of
crime is unappreciable in the courts. But society, Virginia society,
knows how to deal with it."

"I happen to know," said Waring, "that Laidley's will was made a year
ago, leaving the whole property to Miss Swendon."

"And he knows that in the mean time she is barely able to keep herself
and her father alive. Pah-h!"

"Really, Jane has quite a dramatic history, and you are precisely the
person to tell it with effect, judge," said Miss Fleming, smiling
good-humoredly, with that peculiar affable intonation which always numbs
the hearer into a conviction that his too excessive emotion is being
humored as the antics of an ill-disciplined child.

The judge grew red.

"Yes," continued Miss Fleming, her eyes upon him, "Jane _is_ pretty.
Your zeal is excusable." The road was muddy at this point, and she
passed on in front of them, picking her steps.

"Damn it!" said the judge, "they're all alike! No woman can be just to a
pretty face. I thought this girl had sense enough to lift her above such
petty jealousy."

"She is not jealous," said Waring, looking critically at her back as he
arranged his thin tow-colored moustache. "She is an Arab among her own
sex. It's a common type in this part of the country. She fraternizes
with men, horses and Nature, and sneers at other women as she would at
artificial flowers and perfumery. I don't know Miss Fleming, but I know
her class very well."

The Virginian, whose blood revolted at this censure of a lady, rushed to
the rescue: "She's honest, at any rate. No mean feminine tricks about
her. She's offensively truthful. And, after all, she's right: Swendon is
a good-for-nothing, a well-born tramp; and Jane is hardly a subject for
pity. She's a remarkably healthy girl; a little dull, but with more
staying power in her than belongs to a dozen of those morbid,
strong-minded women of yours in the North. I suppose I do let my
sympathy run away with me."

They joined Cornelia and entered the broken gate. The door of the house
swung open at a touch. Within were bare halls and rooms covered with
dust, the floors of which creaked drearily under their tread. Following
the sound of stifled voices, they went up to a large upper chamber. The
walls of this room were stained almost black; a thick carpet deadened
the floor; the solid wooden shutters were barred and heavily curtained.
The