The Argosy — page 125: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

112 The Sapphire Cross. insignificant, and related principally to his mode of life and to the im- probability suggested by his antecedents of his having committed a murder. The people with whom Guiseppe Baroni had formerly lodged de- clared that Guido had testified an apparently genuine surprise on hearing that the old copyist had changed his abode, and then Lucia was called. She had been sitting in the room reserved for witnesses, bearing as she could the twofold torture of the crawling hours and of her com- panions’ inquisitive sympathy. Her mind was filled not so much with the thought of Guido as with one fixed vision of him. For six months she had not looked upon his face, and the absorbing desire to see him rendered her conscious but of his presence, as she entered the crowded court. Her eyes travelled straight to the dock and met his. What her long glance of unutterable yearning said, let those tell who have known the dagger-thrust of recognition caused by a beloved, familiar face seen once more after months of agony, and seen across the chasm set by suffering and by change! Twice was she addressed before awaking with a start to a sense of her position. ‘Then the recollection that she was there for Guido re- stored her to perception and to calm, andin her usual clear tones she answered the questions put to her. With the simplicity of perfect truth, she related all the facts of her acquaintance with Guido, and her introduction of him to the Countess. The object of the prosecution, of course, was to invalidate ‘os evidence by casting as much doubt as possible upon the purity of her relations with the painter, and to this end the interrogation plainly tended. lLucia’s pale cheeks flushed painfully at the insulting in- ference of many of the questions, but her gentle self-possession re- mained unshaken, and the firmness of her answers on the subject of the sapphire cross produced its effect. Guido’s counsel brightened visibly, and the Public Prosecutor interfered frequently to drive some point home. “You consequently affirm,” said the President, “‘that the prisoner, who was, you say, on no terms of peculiar intimacy with you, and who until a day or two before had been in a state of abject poverty, preferred to give you fifty francs out of his own pocket rather than pawn a jewel which you had given him for that purpose.” « *T do affirm it,” replied Lucia, steadily. “Can you account in any way for such a choice on his part ?” For a moment she hesitated ; then answered,‘ No.” “On no hypothesis ?” persisted the Judge. “On none,” repeated Lucia, feeling all the impossibility of con- veying to her interrogators the subtle essence of the motives which she felt had influenced Guido, and which her own womanly intuition had alone divined. ‘You yourself are, or were, poor,” continued the President. ‘ And CONNIE DOO KS (E(@)