Fairbrother did so in the present case.
"It is not necessary to waste the time of the Court, my Lord since the
King's Counsel thinks it worth while to object to the form of my
question, I will shape it otherwise.--Pray, young woman, did you ask your
sister any question when you observed her looking unwell?--take
courage--speak out."
"I asked her," replied Jeanie, "what ailed her."
"Very well--take your own time--and what was the answer she made?"
continued Mr. Fairbrother.
Jeanie was silent, and looked deadly pale. It was not that she at any one
instant entertained an idea of the possibility of prevarication--it was
the natural hesitation to extinguish the last spark of hope that remained
for her sister.
"Take courage, young woman," said Fairbrother.--"I asked what your sister
said ailed her when you inquired?"
"Nothing," answered Jeanie, with a faint voice, which was yet heard
distinctly in the most distant corner of the Court-room,--such an awful
and profound silence had been preserved during the anxious interval,
which had interposed betwixt the lawyer's question and the answer of the
witness.
Fairbrother's countenance fell; but with that ready presence of mind,
which is as useful in civil as in military emergencies, he immediately
rallied.--"Nothing? True; you mean nothing at _first_--but when you asked
her again, did she not tell you what ailed her?"
The question was put in a tone meant to make her comprehend the
importance of her answer, had she not been already aware of it.
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