“I will answer your questions, sir, without any hesitation,” the accused replied, with a degree of steadiness that Dunscomb deemed astonishing. “How long has this piece of gold been in your possession, if you please, Miss?” “About a twelvemonth. I began to collect the gold I have, very nearly a year since.” “Has it been in your possession, uninterruptedly, all that time?” “So far as I know, sir, it has. A portion of the time, and a large portion of it, it has not been kept in my purse; but I should think no one could have meddled with it, when it has been elsewhere.” “Have you anything to remark on the testimony just given?” “It is strictly true. Poor Mrs. Goodwin certainly had the store of gold mentioned by Mrs. Pope, for she once showed it to me. I rather think she was fond of such things; and had a pleasure in counting her hoards, and showing them to other persons. I looked over her coins; and finding she was fond of those that are a little uncommon, I gave her one or two of those that I happened to own. No doubt, Mrs. Pope saw the counterpart of this piece, but surely not the piece itself.” “I understand you to say, then, that Mrs. Goodwin had a gold coin similar to this, which gold coin came from yourself. What did Mrs. Goodwin allow you in the exchange?” “Sir?” “How much did you estimate the value of that Italian piece at, and in what money did Mrs. Goodwin pay you for it? It is necessary to be particular in these cases.” “She returned me nothing for the coin, sir. It was a present from me to her, and of course not to be paid for.” This answer met with but little favour. It did not appear to the people of Biberry at all probable that an unknown, and seemingly friendless young woman, who had been content to dwell two months in the “garret-room” of the “old Goodwin house,” faring none of the best, certainly, and neglecting so many superior tenements and tables that were to be met with on every side of her, would be very likely to give away a piece of gold of that unusual size. It is true, we are living in a marvellous age, so far as this metal is concerned; but the Californian gold had not then arrived in any great quantity, and the people of the country are little accustomed to see anything but silver and paper, which causes them to attach an unwonted value to the more precious metal. Even the coroner took this view of the matter; and Dunscomb saw that the explanation just made by his client was thought to prove too much. “Are you in the habit, Miss, of giving away pieces of gold?” asked one of the jurors. “That question is improper,” interposed Mr. Dunscomb. “No one can have a right to put it.”