"Of whom were you afraid?"

"Of my husband."

"Why were you afraid of your husband?"

"Because he had strangled my little dog."

Another smile must have passed around the court-room: in days
when any nobleman had a right to hang his peasants--and most of
them exercised it--pinching a pet animal's wind-pipe was nothing
to make a fuss about.

At this point one of the Judges, who appears to have had a
certain sympathy for the accused, suggested that she should be
allowed to explain herself in her own way; and she thereupon made
the following statement.

The first years of her marriage had been lonely; but her husband
had not been unkind to her. If she had had a child she would not
have been unhappy; but the days were long, and it rained too
much.

It was true that her husband, whenever he went away and left her,
brought her a handsome present on his return; but this did not
make up for the loneliness. At least nothing had, till he
brought her the little brown dog from the East: after that she
was much less unhappy. Her husband seemed pleased that she was
so fond of the dog; he gave her leave to put her jewelled