The judge-advocate leaned forward, wrote swiftly, then read in a tantalizing tone, as of one who has a clincher in reserve:—
"Now was not that a mere feminine subterfuge? You know you could hardly be sure that you will never marry again—at your age."
Once more the president cleared his throat, but he spoke this time.
"Do you desire to push this line of investigation farther?" he said, objection eloquent in his deep, full voice.
"One moment, sir." The judge-advocate had been feeling his way very cautiously, but he was flustered by the interruption, and he was conscious that he put his next question less adroitly than he had intended.
"Why are you so sure, if I may ask?"
There was a tense silence. She said to herself that this was no time or place for finical delicacy. A man's life, his honor, all he held dear, were in jeopardy, and it had fallen to her to say words that must needs affect the result. She answered steadily. "My reply to Captain Baynell was not actuated by any objections to him. I know nothing of him but what is greatly to his credit." She hesitated for a moment. She had grown very white, and her eyes glittered, but her voice was still firm as she went on:——
"There is no reason why I should not speak freely under these circumstances, for every one knows—every one who is cognizant of our family affairs—that my married life was extremely wretched. I was very unhappy, and I told Captain Baynell that I would never marry again."
Dead silence reigned for a moment. They had all heard the story of her hard fate. The discussion as to whether a chair had been merely broken over her head, or she had been dragged about her home one woful midnight by the masses of her beautiful hair, was insistently suggested as the sunlight lay athwart it now, and the breeze moved its tendrils caressingly. The eyes of the court-martial looked at the judge-advocate with fiery reproach, and the heart of the court-martial beat for her for the moment with chivalric partisanship.
For the first time Baynell seemed to lose his composure. His face was scarlet, his hands trembled. He was biting his under lip violently in an effort at self-control; he was experiencing an agony of sympathy and regret that this should be forced upon her, of helpless fury that he could be of no avail.