The figure arose, slight, graceful, elegant; hesitated a moment, and then slipped a lissom shadow through the crowd, as a trout glides through a shallow, and before the swaying, moving mass had settled to astonished rest, stood upon the witness-stand. Then with a quick dexterous movement she put aside the veil, that after the Spanish fashion was both bonnet and veil, and revealed a face so exquisitely beautiful and gracious, that even Manuela and Sal were awed into speechless admiration. She took the oath with downcast lids, whose sweeping fringes were so perfect that this very act of modesty seemed to the two female critics as the most artistic coquetry, and then raised her dark eyes and fixed them upon Gabriel. Colonel Starbottle waved his hand with infinite gallantry. "What is--er--your name?" "Grace Conroy." "Have you a brother by the name of Gabriel Conroy?" "I have." "Look around the Court and see if you can recognise him." The witness with her eyes still fixed on Gabriel pointed him out with her gloved finger. "I do. He is there!" "The prisoner at the bar?" "Yes." "He is Gabriel Conroy?" "He is." "How long is it since you have seen him?" "Six years." "Where did you see him last, and under what circumstances?" "At Starvation Camp, in the Sierras. I left there to get help for him and my sister." "And you have never seen him since?" "Never!" "Are you aware that among the--er--er--unfortunates who perished, a body that was alleged to be yours was identified?" "Yes." "Can you explain that circumstance?" "Yes. When I left I wore a suit of boy's clothes. I left my own garments for Mrs. Peter Dumphy, one of our party. It was her body, clothed in my garments, that was identified as myself." "Have you any proof of that fact other than your statement?" "Yes. Mr. Peter Dumphy, the husband of Mrs. Dumphy, my brother Gabriel Conroy, and"---- "May it please the Court" (the voice was Arthur Poinsett's, cool, quiet, and languidly patient), "may it please the Court, we of the defence--to save your Honour and the jury some time and trouble--are willing to admit this identification of our client as Gabriel Conroy, and the witness, without further corroboration than her own word, as his sister. Your Honour and the gentlemen of the jury will not fail to recognise in the evidence of our client as to his own name and origin, a rash, foolish, and, on behalf of myself and my colleague, I must add, unadvised attempt to save the reputation of the wife he deeply loves from the equally unadvised and extraneous evidence brought forward by the prosecution. But we must insist, your Honour, that all this is impertinent to the real issue, the killing of Victor Ramirez by John Doe, _alias_ Gabriel Conroy. Admitting the facts just testified to by the witness, Grace Conroy, we have no cross examination to make."