"No, sir. That is Erma Lawson, daughter of the Hon. Mr. Lawson, Ex-Governor of Virginia, and Ex-Minister to Germany."
The blood forsook the face of the Ex-Governor, and he looked first to Dolly and then to Erma in a dazed sort of way. The eyes of the auditors flashed from Erma to the Ex-Governor and back again, evidently making comparisons. The audience was of one mind in believing that Dolly had spoken the truth, only a cursory glance being needed to see, after the suggestion had been once made, that Ex-Governor Lawson and Erma were father and child. They were astonished that they had not made the comparison on their own initiative.
"Are you acquainted with the prisoner at the bar?" resumed the lawyer.
"I am."
"State the circumstances under which you formed his acquaintance."
Dolly now entered into a detailed statement of all her dealings with Lawson, setting forth his purposes with regard to Erma.
"Who wrote those letters read here to-day?"
"I wrote them. Erma knew nothing of them until she heard them in this trial."
"Erma, then, has not been a party to the inveiglement of this young man?"
"No, sir. On the contrary, he endeavored to make a victim out of her, and he has been victimized."