'"O, ye for whom I have prayed, for whom I have struggled to obtain a blessing,--ye whom I have loved so,--do ye desert me thus?" she cried. '"You have deserted us," answered a voice. '"I have not." '"You have," cried Black Andy, pushing to the front. 'You love that Mitchell! Deny it if you dare!' 'There was an irrepressible murmur, then a sudden hush. The angry suspicion, the numbing certainty had found voice at last; the secret was out. All eyes, which had at first closed with the shock, were now fixed upon the solitary woman before them; they burned like coals. '"Do I?" murmured the Lady, with a strange questioning look that turned from face to face,--"do I?--Great God! I do." She sank upon her knees and buried her face in her trembling hands. "The truth has come to me at last,--I do!" 'Her voice was a mere whisper, but every ear heard it, and every eye saw the crimson rise to the forehead and redden the white throat. 'For a moment there was silence, broken only by the hard breathing of the men. Then the Doctor spoke. '"Go out and bring him in," he cried. "Bring in this Mitchell! It seems he has other things to do,--the blockhead!" 'Two of the men hurried out. '"He shall not have her," shouted Black Andy. "My knife shall see to that!" And he pressed close to the platform. A great tumult arose, men talked angrily and clinched their fists, voices rose and fell together. "He shall not have her,--Mitchell! Mitchell!" '"The truth is, each one of you wants her himself," said the Doctor. 'There was a sudden silence, but every man eyed his neighbor jealously. Black Andy stood in front, knife in hand, and kept guard. The Lady had not moved; she was kneeling with her face buried in her hands. '"I wish to speak to her," said the Doctor, advancing. '"You shall not," cried Andy, fiercely interposing. '"You fool! I love her this moment ten thousand times more than you do. But do you suppose I would so much as touch a woman who loved another man?" 'The knife dropped; the Doctor passed on and took his place on the platform by the Lady's side. The tumult began again, for Mitchell was seen coming in the door between his two keepers. '"Mitchell! Mitchell!" rang angrily through the church. '"Look, woman!" said the Doctor, bending over the kneeling figure at his side. She raised her head and saw the wolfish faces below. '"They have had ten months of your religion," he said. 'It was his revenge. Bitter, indeed; but he loved her. 'In the mean time the man Mitchell was hauled and pushed and tossed forward to the platform by rough hands that longed to throttle him on the way. At last, angry himself, but full of wonder, he confronted them, this crowd of comrades suddenly turned madmen! "What does this mean?" he asked. '"Mean! mean!" shouted the men; "a likely story! He asks what this means!" And they laughed boisterously. 'The Doctor advanced. 'You see this woman,' he said. '"I see our Lady."