-

"The next day I went to the court-house; and, after being kept waiting
for a long time in a dark passage, I was brought before the magistrate.
He was an elderly man, with hard features and piercing eyes, who
received me almost brutally, as if I had been a criminal. But, when I
had shown him the letters which you have just read, his manner suddenly
changed, pity got the better of him; and I thought I saw a tear in his
eye. Ah! I shall be eternally grateful to him for the words he said when
I left his office,--

"'Poor, poor young girl! Justice bows reverently before your innocence.
Would to God that the world could be made to do the same!'"

She fixed her eyes, trembling with fear and hope, upon Daniel, and
added, in a voice of supplication and touching humility,--

"The world has been more cruel than justice itself but you, sir, will
you be harder than the magistrate?"

Alas! Daniel was sorely embarrassed what to answer. He felt as if all
his senses were in an uproar and in utter confusion.

"Sir!" begged Miss Brandon again. "M. Champcey!"

She continued to fix her eyes upon him. He turned his head aside,
feeling as if, under her obstinate gaze, his mind left him, his energy
evaporated, and all the fibres of his strong will were breaking.

"Great God!" exclaimed Miss Brandon, with grieved surprise; "he still
doubts me. Sir, I pray you, speak! Do you doubt the authenticity of
these letters? Ah, if you do, take them; for I do not hesitate to
confide them, the only proofs of my innocence, to your honor. Take them
and show them to the other clerks who have been sitting for twenty years
in the same office with Malgat; and they will tell you that it is his
handwriting; that he has signed his own condemnation. And, if that is
not enough for you, go to the magistrate who examined me; his name is
Patrigent."

And she waited, waited, but not a word came forth.

Daniel had sunk, undone, into a chair; and his elbow resting on a small
stand, his brow in his hands, he endeavored to think, to reason. Then
Miss Brandon rose, came gently up to him, and taking his hand, said
softly,--

"I beseech you!"

But as if suddenly electrified by the touch of this soft, warm hand,
Daniel rose so hastily, that he upset the chair; and, trembling with
mysterious terror, he cried out,--

"Kergrist!"

It was as if a fearful insult had set Miss Brandon on fire. Her face
turned crimson, and then, almost instantly, livid; and, steppin