Ford looked pained. "What in Heaven's name is wrong with calling a spade a spade?"
Cooper said, "Well, try to keep your language a little more elevated, Mr. Ford."
"Certainly, Your Honor. I have no more questions for this infanticide."
As Ford turned away to sit down, Auguste saw a quick little smile crease Judge Cooper's face, then disappear. He began to feel hope stirring in a heart that had been heavy ever since he came to Victor. This trial would not be conducted according to Lynch's law.
But he still burned with hatred for Armand Perrault. He turned to watch Perrault go back to his seat.
And his skin tingled. Just past the gaunt-faced Lieutenant Davis, Nancy was sitting, only two rows of chairs away. Her deep blue eyes widened as she looked at him. Her smile was, as Cooper's had been, just a brief shadow, but her face flushed, and she shook her head almost imperceptibly.
Auguste understood. As Ford had said, if Nancy were to testify in his behalf, people must never know what they had been to each other. All their hatred for red men would come boiling up, and they would hang him for having intercourse with a white woman, if for nothing else. He nodded ever so slightly, tore his eyes away from hers.
Woodrow was sitting beside Nancy, holding her hand. He had no need to hide his feelings, and gave Auguste a big grin. Auguste smiled back at him, but at the sight of Woodrow, longing for Eagle Feather was a knife in his heart.
I don't even know whether Eagle Feather is alive.
And grief for poor little Floating Lily crushed him.