Page:Henry Northcote (IA henrynorthcote00snairich).pdf/195

 better acquainted with her had I not seen her at all."

"Come, my dear fellow, you can surely recall a word or two of what she said? She is an enigma; and she is said not to have spoken six words since she was first remanded in custody."

"That certainly makes the volubility in which she indulged this afternoon the more astonishing."

"Indeed it does. Would you say that she expects an acquittal?"

"Well, now you come to mention that, I would say she does."

"It is an extraordinary thing that they are all so sanguine. It hardly ever seems to occur to any of them that by any possibility they can meet with their deserts. Indeed, one might say the bigger the criminal, the greater their confidence that they will escape."

"I am going to ask you what opinion you have formed of her," said Northcote.

"It follows the lines of your own. When I have come into personal contact with her, I have been able to make rather less than nothing of her. At first I thought she seemed sullen, and quite reconciled to her position, indeed, that she was too callous to care about anything; but upon seeing her to-day, I was rather struck by the fact that her attitude had undergone a change."

"How long has she been in prison?"

"Nearly three months. She is an odd sort of creature—her former associates are agreed upon that—and doubtless some sort of change has taken place in her. I am more than ever convinced that