The jury, fascinated by the sweet voice of the speaker, as well as the mystery about the vessel and its unwitnessed disappearance, leant forward in their seats with strained and breathless attention.

My mother could not take her eyes off the stranger's face.

As he hesitated over the name of the ship, her very lips grew white in agonised suspense, but when the coroner read "the _James and Elizabeth_," she sank back in her seat with a low "Thank God!" that told me what she had dreaded, and how terribly.
I myself knew not what to think, nor if my ears had heard aright.
Part of the tale I knew to be a lie; but how much?
And what of the _Mary Jane ?_ I looked round about.

A hush had succeeded the closing words of Rhodojani.

Even the coroner was puzzled for a moment; but improbable as the evidence might seem, there was none to gainsay it.
I alone, had they but known it, could give this demon the lie--I, an unnoticed child.
The coroner put a question or two and then summed up.