“Yes,” said the woman. “She expected him to do for Joe.”
“Did n't she ever say,” and the lawyer looked round at James,—“did n't you ever hear her say that she was worried sometimes for fear her father would not be careful enough about the boy?”
The woman hesitated a moment. “Yes,” she said, “I have heard her say so, but that 's what every mother says.”
“What reason did you ever hear her give,” the lawyer asked, “why she would rather have him stay over there than to go and be brought up by his grandfather Pelham?”
The woman looked around timidly at the judge. “Be I obliged to answer?” she said.
The judge nodded.
The woman looked toward Captain Pelham with an embarrassed air. He was the best friend she had in the world.
“I rather not say nothing about that,” she said; “it 's no account, anyway.”
“Oh, tell us what she said,” said Mr. Baker.
He felt that he had made some progress up to that point with his cross-examination.