Seeing the prisoner start at this, Imogene lifted her head still higher. Evidently this former lover of hers knew little of her movements since they parted so many weeks ago. "And how long is it since you supported yourself in this way?" asked the District Attorney. "For a few weeks only. Formerly," she said, making a slight inclination in the direction of the prisoner's counsel, "I lived in the household of Mr. Orcutt, where I occupied the position of assistant to the lady who looks after his domestic affairs." And her eye met the lawyer's with a look of pride that made him inwardly cringe, though not even the jealous glance of the prisoner could detect that an eyelash quivered or a flicker disturbed the studied serenity of his gaze. The District Attorney opened his lips as if to pursue this topic, but, meeting his opponent's eye, concluded to waive further preliminaries and proceed at once to the more serious part of the examination. "Miss Dare," said he, "will you look at the prisoner and tell us if you have any acquaintance with him?" Slowly she prepared to reply; slowly she turned her head and let her glance traverse that vast crowd till it settled upon her former lover. The look which passed like lightning across her face as she encountered his gaze fixed for the first time steadily upon her own, no one in that assemblage ever forgot. "Yes," she returned, quietly, but in a tone that made Mansell quiver and look away, despite his iron self-command; "I know him." "Will you be kind enough to say how long you have known him and where it was you first made his acquaintance?" "I met him first in Buffalo some four months since," was the steady reply. "He was calling at a friend's house where I was staying." "Did you at that time know of his relation to your townswoman, Mrs. Clemmens?" "No, sir. It was not till I had seen him several times that I learned he had any connections in Sibley." "Miss Dare, you will excuse me, but it is highly desirable for the court to know if the prisoner ever paid his addresses to you?" The deep, almost agonizing blush that colored her white cheek answered as truly as the slow "Yes," that struggled painfully to her lips. "And--excuse me again, Miss Dare--did he propose marriage to you?" "He did." "Did you accept him?" "I did not." "Did you refuse him?" "I refused to engage myself to him." "Miss Dare, will you tell us when you left Buffalo?" "On the nineteenth day of August last." "Did the prisoner accompany you?" "He did not." "Upon what sort of terms did you part?" "Good terms, sir." "Do you mean friendly terms, or such as are held by a man and a woman between whom an attachment exists which, under favorable circumstances, may culminate in marriage?" "The latter, sir, I think." "Did you receive any letters from the prisoner after your return to Sibley?" "Yes, sir." "And did you answer them?" "I did."