The answer appeared to create some stir. A late hour for a sober little Quakeress to confess to.
"Was he spending the evening with your friends?"
"No."
"Did they not know he was there?"
"No."
"It was a clandestine visit to yourself, then? Where were they?"
A pause, and a very trembling answer. "They were in bed."
"Oh! You were entertaining him by yourself, then?"
She burst into tears. The judge let fall his glasses as though under the pressure of some annoyance, every feature of his fine face expressive of compassion: it may be, his thoughts had flown to daughters of his own. The crowd stood with open mouths, gaping with undisguised astonishment, and the burly Queen's counsel proceeded.
"And so he prolonged his visit until one o'clock in the morning?"