Natalia turned away quickly.
"I don't want to take any of them, Aunt Maria," she said, tears coming into her eyes. "I don't want to go away. It has all been terrible—these last days—but I still love this old place better than any in the world. But I must do it for Morgan's sake. He would be miserable here."
The old lady put down her package carefully, then went to Natalia and gathered her in her arms.
"You'll forget all about it after a while," she said gently. "And some day you both will be coming back here, happier than ever. Now tell me," wiping her eyes and returning to matters of the moment, "when will you be married—to-night or in the morning?"
"To-morrow morning," Natalia answered slowly.
Just then Dicey brought a tray on which a steaming cup of coffee and hot rolls were displayed temptingly.
"Now, you'se got ter drink hit, honey," she insisted, making a great fuss over placing it before Natalia. "'Cause we ain' gwine hab no dinnah, fer de Jedge done jes' send word fer us ter be in town fo' two o'clock."
The Court House yard was crowded. Along the fence and beneath the protection of the trees was the gathering of carriages and wagons which always told that something unusual was taking place within the old brick building.
When the carriage containing Natalia, Millicent and Mrs. Houston had stopped before the gate, Natalia looked silently at the building, feeling almost as if she were viewing it through the eyes of another person. That within it, her lover was being tried for his life, and defended by the man who had given up everything for her, seemed to enhance the feeling of aloofness and helplessness which had taken possession of her since the day before. She felt that she no longer lived in the same sphere with those about her; that she had reached a vague, uninhabited world where her surroundings were only dreams and weirdly haunting words and fiery tongues of conscience that moved in an endless circle and crushed her with their fearful cries.
She had not heard the words addressed to her during the long drive; and it was only when Judge Houston came towards the carriage and spoke to them, that she awakened from the lethargy. Even then, as he told her that it was time to go into the court room, she seemed to be only half conscious of his words.