Thomas's. As to the amount--
'Oh, yes, certainly, seven pounds.'
Moreover she had posted it herself.
Then came the cross-examination,
'Had she seen the draft before posting it?'
'Well--she really did not remember exactly.'
'How did she know the amount then?'
'Well, I think--yes--I think Dolores told me so.'
'You think,' he said, in a sort of sneer. 'On your oath. Do you
know?'
'Yes, yes, yes. She assured me! I know something was said about
seven.'
'Then you cannot swear to the contents of the envelope you forwarded?'
'I don't know. It was all such a confusion and hurry.'
'Why so?'
'Oh! because it was a secret.'
The counsel of course availed himself of this handle to elicit that the
witness had conducted a secret correspondence between the prisoner and
her young friend without the knowledge of the child's natural
protectors. 'A perfect romance,' he said, 'I believe the prisoner is
unmarried.'
Perhaps this insinuation would have been checked, but before any one
had time to interfere, Constance, blushing crimson, exclaimed, 'Oh! Oh!
I assure you it was not that. It was because she said he was her uncle
and that they ill-used him.'
This brought upon her the searching question whether the last witness
had stated the prisoner to be really her uncle, and Constance replied,
rather hotly, that she had always understood that he was.
'In fact, she gave you to understand that the prisoner was actually
related to her by blood.
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