the
three of us being joined daily by Billy Deuceace, whom I love to the
minute of this writing for his devotion to my lad.

Nancy's appearance in court was naturally looked upon as the most
exciting point of the trial, and the morning she was to be called the
crowd was dense to suffocation, the court-officers busy, dashing to and
fro, trying to keep some orderliness among the women, who jostled each
other and gave vent to loud exclamations of annoyance in their efforts
to get places from which the best view might be obtained. It is curious
to note the way some trivial vexation will linger in the mind, for in
recalling this scene it is the annoyance I had from Mrs. MacLeod, mine
landlady of the Star and Garter, that stands out clearest in my memory
of that dreadful waiting time.

She sat well to the front, giving herself important airs, and I could
hear her going back and forth in whispers over the story of Nancy's
visiting the duke at her house to obtain the pardon of Timothy Lapraik.
Wagging her head to and fro, applying her smelling-salts vigorously,
and assuming the manner of an intimate sufferer in the cause, she
exasperated us to such an extent that Billy Deuceace was for throwing
her out of a window.

When Nancy entered every eye in that immense throng was fixed upon her,
and as she stood, so fair to see, in her black hat and gown, waiting to
take the oath, Mrs. MacLeod's feelings overcame her entirely, and she
cried out, in a loud voice: "Ah, the beauty! 'Tis her that should hae
been a duchess!" immediately falling into strong hysterics, upon which
the macers summarily ejected her, to our great satisfaction, and Billy
Deuceace all but cheered.

Danvers's bearing changed at the mere sound of Nancy's name, and the
look of adoration that he cast upon her as she came near him was as
unwise a piece of conduct as could well be imagined, and one which
would have gone far toward convincing an onlooker of his willingness to
die or to murder for her protection, if necessary. The look had no
weight with the one for whom it was intended, however, for she let her
eyes pass over rather than encounter his, turning from him, with what
might easily seem a bit of disdain, to the business in hand.

As I gazed at her I noted with astonishment that the little creature's
face seemed to have taken on something of Pitcairn's expression, and
from the first moment to the clear end it was toward Pitcairn she
gazed, her eyes tutored