over the sofa. 'Oh, Mrs. Bolster; the witness!' she said, when Mrs. Moulder went through some little ceremony of introduction. And from the tone of her voice it appeared that she was not quite satisfied that Mrs. Bolster should be there as a companion for herself.
'Yes, ma'am. I was the witness as had never signed but once,' said Bridget, getting up and curtsying. Then she sat down again, folding her hands one over the other on her lap.
'Oh, indeed!' said Mrs. Smiley. 'But where's the other witness, Mrs. Moulder? He's the one who is a deal more interesting to me. Ha, ha, ha! But as you all know it here, what's the good of not telling the truth? Ha, ha, ha!'
'John's here,' said Mrs. Moulder. 'Come, John, why don't you show yourself?'
'He's just alive, and that's about all you can say for him,' said Moulder.
'Why, what's there been to kill him?' said Mrs. Smiley. 'Well, John, I must say you're rather backward in coming forward, considering what there's been between us. You might have come and taken my shawl, I'm thinking.'
'Yes, I might,' said Kenneby gloomily. 'I hope I see you pretty well, Mrs. Smiley.'
'Pretty bobbish, thank you. Only I think it might have been Maria between friends like us.'
'He's sadly put about by this trial,' whispered Mrs. Moulder. 'You know he is so tender-hearted that he can't bear to be put upon like another.'
'But you didn't want her to be found guilty; did you, John?'
'That I'm sure he didn't,' said Moulder. 'Why it was the way he gave his evidence that brought her off.'
'It wasn't my wish to bring her off,' said Kenneby; 'nor was it my wish to make her guilty. All I wanted was to tell the truth and do my duty. But it was no use. I believe it never is any use.'
'I think you did very well,' said Moulder.
'I'm sure Lady Mason ought to be very much obliged to you,' said Kantwise.
'Nobody needn't care for what's said to them in a court,' said Snengkeld. 'I remember when once they wanted to make out that I'd taken a parcel of teas———'
'Stolen, you mean, sir,' suggested Mrs. Smiley.
'Yes; stolen. But it was only done by the opposite side in court, and I didn't think a halfporth of it. They knew where the teas was well enough.'
'Speaking for myself,' said Kenneby, 'I must say I don't like it.'
'But the paper as we signed,' said Bridget, 'wasn't the old gentleman's will,—no more than this is;' and she lifted up her apron. 'I'm rightly sure of that.'
