Mr. Moor was so white that the magistrate asked him if he was ill.
“I do feel sick,” said he. “I haven’t felt well since yesterday morning. Maybe it’s the closeness of the room that makes me feel sick now.”
He wiped his face with his bandana handkerchief as he spoke, for it was wet with the sweat that ran trickling down his cheeks.
“I’m sorry you feel so sick, Mr. Moor,” said the magistrate.
“If you have no more use for me, I’d like to go,” said Mr. Moor.
Mr. Morrow said that he might leave now, if he wished, so he worked his way through the crowd in the office, looking neither to the right nor to the left, and so went into the street.
The next witness called was Patty Penrose, and she stood up, resting her hand on the top of her chair as she did so. There was not a particle of color in her face as she stood before the magistrate. A strand of hair had fallen across her brow, but she did not brush it back, or seem to notice it. Tom’s heart bled for her as he stood looking at her.
“Will you swear or affirm?” said the magistrate.
“I affirm,” she answered, in a low voice. Then she repeated after him the words of affirmation: “I do most solemnly affirm—that what I tell—is the truth—the whole truth—and nothing but the truth.”
“But what time was it—at what time in the afternoon was it that you saw him?”
She did not answer immediately, and Tom, as he looked at her, saw that she was swaying, as though she was about to fall.
“Perhaps the witness had better sit down while she gives her evidence,” said Mr. Morrow.
Patty did not seem to understand him, and her father spoke to her in a low voice. Then she sat down mechanically, as though she did not know what she was doing.
“Take courage, Patty!” burst out Tom. “God knows I am innocent of this! God knows I am!”
“The prisoner must be silent!” said the magistrate, rapping on the desk before him with his knuckles. Then, speaking to Patty again: “At what hour in the afternoon was it that you saw him?”
Patty looked up and her eyes met Tom’s. He tried to smile. “Speak out, Patty, and tell everything,” said he.
“What was said between you?” said the magistrate.
There was a pause of dead silence, every one listening to catch the answer. At last the magistrate, after waiting a while for her to speak, repeated: