'Mr. Dewberry,' Jenny laid her hand upon his arm. 'Understand me. I have been kept down, all my life, by my origin. As soon as this business is over I shall try in some way or other to get clear away from them all--Oh! what an origin it is! Oh, how I have always envied the children of honest parents. Why--my father----' 'Dear lady, do not speak of these things.' 'Well, then, my cousins--I mean those of them who are not yet hanged--live in the courts and blind alleys of St. Giles's. I have no longer any patience with them--it makes me wretched to think of them, and it humiliates me to go among them because I have to become again one of them and I do it so easily. Well, Sir, I am what I am: yet strange as it may seem to you--I will not lend my help to getting my mother and sister hanged.' Mr. Dewberry took her hand and kissed it. 'Proceed, Madame,' he said gravely. 'If, then, I plead Guilty, the woman's evidence will be received without any dispute or discussion, and when sentence is passed, the case will be closed. No one, afterwards, will venture to charge my mother with that crime.' 'I suppose not. But the sentence, Madame, the sentence!' She shuddered. 'I know what the sentence will be. But I am not afraid. I have friends who will come to my assistance.' In fact one of them appeared at that very moment. He was a gentleman of a singularly sweet and pleasant countenance, on which kindness, honour, and loyalty were stamped without the least uncertainty. He was dressed very finely in a satin coat and waistcoat, and he wore a sash and a star. 'Divine Jenny!' he said, taking her hand and kissing it. 'Is it possible that I find thee in such a place and in such a situation as this?' Jenny suffered her hand to remain in his. When I think of her and of her behaviour at this juncture I am amazed at her power of acting. She represented, not her own feelings, which were those of the greatest disgust towards her nearest relations (to whom one is taught to pay respect), but the feelings which she wished Lord Brockenhurst, and, through him, the world at large, should believe of her. In her left hand she held a white lace handkerchief, scented with some delicate perfume: the woman was one of those who are never without some subtle fragrance which seemed to belong to her, naturally. This handkerchief she applied to her eyes--from time to time: they were dry, to my certain knowledge but the act was the outward semblance of weeping. 'My Lord,' said Jenny, 'this gentleman is my cousin--not of St. Giles's--my husband's cousin--My husband, however, I cannot suffer to approach me. This other gentleman is Mr. Dewberry, of Great St. Thomas Apostle in the City of London, attorney at Law. They are considering my case with me. By your Lordship's permission we will renew our conference in your presence. If, on the other hand, you would prefer to hear, alone, what I have to state, they will leave us.'