The small, deep set, quick, black eyes of the little old Frenchwoman, scintillated with cunning malignity, as she came forward. The oath was duly administered and she commenced her deposition. First, she identified the accused as Estelle, the wife of Victoire L’Orient, and then in polished French but broken English she testified to having witnessed the marriage of her son, Victoire L’Orient, and her pupil, Estelle Morelle, in the church of St. Etienne, at Paris, on the 13th day of November, 18—: and, further, to the fact of the said Victoire and Estelle having lived together as man and wife, for the period of one year, under her roof, at No. 31 Rue St. Genevieve, Paris. While this witness was giving in her evidence, Lord Dazzleright whispered his client, “If there is any point in her testimony, to which you take exception, let me know it!” “The marriage was a private one, and unless I was grossly deceived, she knew nothing of it at the time,” murmured Estelle, struggling against the death-like despair that threatened the annihilation of her faculties. “One moment, if you please,” said Lord Dazzleright, as the witness was about to retire from her position, “this alleged marriage is understood to have been a strictly private one—how then did it happen, Madame, that you witnessed it?” “I suspect the children of their intention. I follow, I pursue, I enter the chapel of St. Etienne. I witness the marriage.” No cross-questioning could drive the woman from this point; but on the contrary, only tended to consolidate and confirm her in her loose-jointed evidence. The next witness called was the little old French priest, who, having been duly sworn, first identified the accused, and then testified to having both witnessed and assisted at the marriage of Estelle Morelle and Victoire L’Orient, which was solemnized on the 13th of November, 18—, by the Abbe Pierre Leroux, in the church of St. Etienne, Paris. The cross-questioning of this witness elicited nothing to throw discredit upon his testimony. The certificate was then exhibited. And the fact of the first marriage seemed established. The next proceeding was to prove the identity of Victoire L’Orient, as the living husband, and consequently as the legal obstacle to the second nuptial. This was easily done by the testimony of the mother and the priest. The next and final fact to establish, on the part of the prosecution, was that of the second and so called felonious marriage, that day celebrated at the parish church of Hyde. This was formally proved by the testimony of the same witnesses. Then Lord Dazzleright, with a smile of encouragement, stooped and spoke aside to his client. “Reassure yourself, Lady Montressor! This was from first to last a series of conspiracies; I shall easily overthrow them with their own weapons; hoist these engineers with their own petard——” Then turning to the magistrate, his smile of benevolence changed to one of flashing scorn, as he said,—