“Full of asses!� snapped Jacob. “I fancy that you don’t know that Diana Royall got up on the witness-stand and made a public exhibition of herself to clear him?�
“Diana?� Mrs. Eaton could not believe her ears.
“Yes, Diana,� mocked her son, “our Diana. She went on the stand and created a sensation, took the court by storm and the city. Good Lord! Her name’s in every club in the place.�
“I—I can’t believe it!� gasped his mother: “it’s incredible—Diana Royall?�
“Incredible?� He rose, his face was white with fury. “Is it incredible? Do you remember her mother?�
Mrs. Eaton collapsed. “Jacob!� she breathed, “don’t! It makes me shiver to think you might have married her.�
“By God, I would to-day!� he cried, unable to restrain himself, “if only to break her spirit, to make her pay for this!�
“I can’t see what she knew,� Mrs. Eaton protested, “she—a young girl—and all this awful scandal about Jean Bartlett in the papers. In my day, a young girl would have been ashamed to show her face in the court.�
“Well, she wasn’t,� said Jacob dryly; “she appeared and told the court that at the hour of the shooting she was alone with Caleb Trench in the prisoners’ cage!�
“Merciful heavens!� ejaculated Mrs. Eaton faintly, “was David crazy to let her do it?�