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The Exeter Advocate, 1895-11-16, Page 6F1T r' 1 i" -NR A lee TECTrve $TettY' "By proving that some one else did it," she said. "Have you some one else in your miud?„ I asked quickly. She hesitated a moment and then said: "No, but there must be some one. else. Is that not your first and only task?" She was standing in front of me. The two beautiful children were clinging, one on either sine, to her dress, She reached down and put her hands ozi their. heads. It was a lovely groap of innocence, and made a touching appeal. ",> I feel sure that you will do it, she added. When I came away, I felt that in some way my visit had been a fail:uo. I had meant to place the obdurate facts before her and ask her to assist me in working out the alibi or establishing her husband's tendency to emotional insanity. She had looked upon both suggestions with a dig- nified contempt and asked ine to find the person who really committed the deed, I made up my mind that Iwas to get no practical assistance from the wife, and in eny extremity I sent for Amos Daryl, who was then employed in the secret service in Washington. I had not seen him in several years, but he owed his position to me and he was the only detective I knew for whose abili- ties I had a profound respeeet. Luckily he was able to get away, and• he reale to New York promptly to see me. Daryl was a great, brawny, raw-boned fellow with a child's simple mindedness; one of those men who deceive you com- pletely in appearance and manner. He might easily have been mistaken for an Adriondack guide on a visit to the city. But he was well-known to the police authorities and most of the criminal law- yers. He listened to me as I went over all the details of the affair, and I don't think he spoke once till I told him what Mrs. Clarkson had said; then he smiled, put his long hands in his pockets, and stretch- ing out his interminable legs remarked: "A good idea." "I have told you all that there is to it. What is your opinion?" "My opinion is that Mrs. Clarkson sus- pects some one else and hasn't told you. Give me a card to Mrs. Prineveau, and three or faux day's time." Just before he left, he said: "You'd hotter give me a card to Mr. Greve while you are about it. I want to see that bul- let, and I shall have to get an order from After two days' time he came back. It was about ten o'clock in the morning and he sauntered into my study in his careless manner.imlimbered himself in a big chair, and then as usual waited for me to open the conversation. "Well, Antos," I said, throwing down my pen and wheeling round, "you've come back a little sooner than I expected. Have you got anything to say to me?" "Not much." He said this with his aggravating vacu- ity, and stopped. One hand was thrust "I THINK I KNOW WHO COMMITTED THAT 11. RDER." into his pocket, the other supported his head in an easy, indolent, sprawling posi- tion. "I suppose youhave made up your mind; it is a waste of time trying to save that man. Well, I about made up mind to that myself, some time ago." "Do you mind. telling me how you go into this case?" he asked. "As that is a private matter and you are not disposed to take any share in the case, I don't see why I should make you a con-• fidant. " "Did Mrs. Prineveau ask you to defend Clarkson?" "Ah ! Mr. Greve told your' "No he didn't." "Then, Mn. Prineveau?" "Mrs. Prineveau would not talk to me. I soared her." "Scared her? you must have lost your tact." "No, I haven't." "Look here, Daryl," I said, a little net- tled. "You are one of the cleverest men in a particular line I ever met, This whole thing is in a nutshell. Either that man Clarkson shot Mr. Prineveau or he didn't, If he didn't shoot him he must have been somewhere at the time, He says he was drunk and if so some one must have seen him at some resort far away from the scene of the crime. It's a plain piece of work to finch out the man's resorts and get hold of the .persons who saw linin there on that day. That's all there is to it, and I don't mind telling you that I haven't a bit of faith in the task, but there's a chalice." Daryl did not say anything for a mo- ment, He worked his big list in his poc- ket mechanically, and looked down at his heavy boots as if he were at a complete loss. Presently he said, drawlingly: "Yee, that would be a waste of time. "Then you have made up your mind that Clarkson is guilty." "No—o. I've made up my mind he is innocent." "Have you seen him? "Ye -••••s. Saw his wife, too." "And he convinced you that he was in- nocent?" "N --'o. His wife oonvineed me." I laughed . "You're more susceptible than I supposed," I said. "She would have convinced me, too, if,I hadn't kept tiny wits about arae." Daryl theeW his head back and pulled at b iy iron -gray whiskers a moment. Then he said in a schoolboy way: "/ think I know who . cofznnittod that tnttedet, old fellow," "Do you? Who?" "Mrs, I'rinovcau !" If be told um that he thought I bad committed it, I don't think. I could have been more astonished. I gave an bawd. Watts start. "I wish you'd. give me the leets ' upon which you have built that quiete and --pardon rue for saying it—that preposterous conclusion." "1• haven't got a single fact yet," h replied.. "ru look for the faets if yo like, later ou." ""What in heaven's inane, the,, have y ,rot to warraut such a COM:1usi=zi?" "Kinde'r got the truth. It's difl'eren ricin facts. C'a•u't foot it res, but you fee it all the saute. I alters l,re+fer it to fact -••to begin with, for the facts kinder fi into it easy 1'ike., "' I got up and took a turn or two. M allied did not easily adjust itself to thi possibility. Daryl reached out his Ion arm and played with the paper weight o my' table contentedly, "Amos," I said, "I don't know what to make of this, and I think that you ought to tell nit exactly how this notion got into your blind."' He toyed with the paper wight, and did not look at me. I could see that he was somewhat at a loss how to explain himself, "Well," ell, he finally said, I ain't good at tracking my own notions, as you call 'em, and I don't mind saying in a general way that the truth slips into some people's system without their kuowin' how. As a rale it's'a woman's system, and ten to one it's a woman like Mrs. Clarkson, Why, if her husband had murder on his clothes she'd smell it over night. :She knows every turn of his big lubberly heart. She knows he hasn't killed anybody, and I'd take her word for it. A woman knows a lot of things that a man don't." ""Yes," I said, "she knows how to play OD a man's susceptibilities." "Mrs. Prineveau don't want to play on Ivy susceptibilities, does slue? You saw her, didn't you?" ""Yes, I did." "And she struck you as a conscientious, self-respectiug, kindly old party, didn't she?" ""She certainly impressed me as a woman who had nothing to conceal and was anxious that justice should be tem- pered with mercy." "Very cool, and col- lected, and dignified." "Most assuredly." "Well, when she met me, she gave a start. 'Who brought you into the case?' she said. 'Not you, madam, of course,' says I, and she gave a little twitch. `I wanted,' says I, `to take a look at that bullet.' She snatched at the back of the chair, and laid in a big breath. 'You had better go to my lawyer. I don't think he will let you see it.' `I'm not sure that he has it, madam,' I said, 'i have seen it, and it was never made for a pistol barrel.' ""Say, old fell, that's a great woman, and she'll beat us in the end if we don't use a woman's tactics. She just braced herself and began to act, but it was too Iate. `Ah,' says she, 'you have some new theory in the case or some new light. I wish you would go to my lawyer with it and if you wish any material assistance why you can come to mo afterward.' ""I call that simply prodigious; she says to herself: `Here's a dangerous man. I'll get Mr. Greve to handle him and I'll han- dle Mr. Greve, and I'll throw out a hint of money at tke same time.' " Then Amos Daryl struck the paper- weight that he held in his hand emphatic- ally on the table, and, turning round, said: "My friend, that woman had no sooner clapt her eyes on me than she un- dekstood the truth; and the truth was this: that somebody had arrived that she couldn't hoodwink. I tell you, a woman's thinking apparatus is lightning some- times." I sat down in front of Daryl, "You amaze me," I said. "Suppose you turn to the facts now. The bullet was not made for a pistol barrel." "No. The pistol is a little French play- thing. There are not twenty-five of them in. the country, for we make those things better here. But it was made at a French factory where the cartridges are all mould- ed. The bullet from Mr. Prineveau's body was not moulded. It was cut from a piece of lead and shaped with an instru- ment. You can see the marks of a fine file on if it you use a glass.". "But," I observed, "the bullet entered Dir. Prineveau's side through his cloth- ing, the hole was found in his vest. It must have been fired from that side, and Mrs. Prineveau was on the other side." "See here," said. Daryl, getting up sud- denly. "I don't mind being a little rash just for once, and P11 bet you the trip ticket to Florida, where you can see my little orange grove, after this case is de- cided, that Mr. Prineveau didn't wear the vest with the hole in it when he was killed in the carriage. Have you been up to Sixty-sixth street and Fourth avenue to look the ground over?" "No." "Well, I have. It was five o'clock when Mr. Prineveau was killed, and there was a steady stiff wind blowing from the northeast with plenty of snow, but it was light enough to see westward across the open lots to the Fifth avenue. If there had been anybody within a thousand feet the coachman or Mrs. Prineveau could have seen him. To suppose that a little French pistol could have carried further than that straight to Mr. Prineveau's heart is one of those yarns that would make a marine sick. My dear fellow, I've talked more• to -day than I have in six months. But Mrs. Clarkson was dead right when she said the thing to do is to prove that some one else committed the crime." ""Can we do it?" "We can find that person, but to • prove it—well, to toll you the truth, I don't be- lieve we will, for that person is as clever as four lawyers and eight ordinary detec- tives, and has had taho start of us for a year or mono." "Where are you going now?" "I'm going over to take some things to that woman in Varick street. I don't be- lieve she is comfortable,and I'm dead sure she hasn't any friends. I'll see you - in the morning with some facts, if I run across 'em," Priileveait heti givoA inc a five hundred dollar retaining, fee, • IIe said 1.z felt sure OfEtl''' i• and ACa iso I d as l oto sQ d'i' t u . t a 1ilrs. Clai ksou if It hurt me, "",ttld who is to pay you?" I asked. "I don't think tailor you on I will get any pay. out of this," he milled. •"But we are into it &rid we might as well carry o it through, 1. azo af.raid,.' .1: said, ""that we have ui undertaken a• hopeless task, Let's divide it" up, cu "Yoe. find out Mrs. Prineveau's antece- dents autl I will find out if Mia Prineveaat t wore that vest with the Bolo in it when e1 he was killed. It he didn't who made s the holo in it and for what purpose?" "Rather narrow ground," I said, somei, what hopelessly, Y"0, I've been on narrower and more s . slippery, and pulled out, " g "Hitt tell ane what kind. of a tlaeoa can n you iuv out that will enable Mrs. thew CHAPTIele IV. This interview, when I came to think it over, took the conceit out of me, and the retaining fee of five hundred dollars had an ugly look. Daryl, it was true, might be mistaken, but there was something in ane that respected his opinions. Why did. Mrs. Prineveau have suoli eonfidonco iu me and such distrust in Daryl? 'Why was I sent to her to be sized up, as it were. :Evidently the kind of woman Daryl had insisted she was. She had counted on just the stupidity that I had shown. This re- flection made myprofessional vanity a little vin�diotive. So, so, I said to my - Rolf, "I ata retained to defend Clarkson. Very well. He shall' be defended to the best of my ability." , When Daryl wane mo to gee methe ,text evening I told hurt frankly that Mrs. THE RETAINING FEE 0E $500 HAD AN UGLY LOOK. veau to kill her husband with a bulleton her left side, while she is sitting on his right?" Daryl fell into his vacuous attitude, stretched out his legs, thrust his heads into his pockets, and choked off a yawn. "Did you read all the testimony at the coroner's examination?" he asked. • "Yes, all of it. " "Did you notice anytliinglieeuliar in the elements of time that entered into it?" "No, I didn't." then pinup it nt her and watch vita results. The moment site suspeetsthat we have gee the whole secret --site will go to pieces," '.i'liree weeks of the month of. April passed by and very little was done Daryl. went to Wnshiugton and to all ap. pea ranoos had made up his mind to let things rest ort his ear -fetched hypothesis.. Gradually I fell into the belief that it was a hopeless ease of defense. I had learned nothing to strengthen Daryl's theory. Tho proseention openly avowed that they had as clear ease, My friend Jolla Grove ;?atronizingdy° told me, to do the best I could, and reminded isle that there was no cliarign in making a good fight in a forlorn hope. I called upon Mrs.Prineveau once and site received ane with the utmost candor, without a sign of perturbation and offered to give isle any assistance in her power. I felt when I cane away that Daryl had made a great mistake, As the day of the trial approached the newspapers referred to Claxksou as the murderer whose guilt was unmistakable, and Clark- son himself In ono ar two luterviews had talked wildly and desperately and Burt his own case irremediably. I think it was ea the 26th at April when got au absurd verybrief letter r front I.► ando Daryl in Washington. This was all it Said: "If your got discouraged go and see Airs. Clarkson. Will be ou with a fact or two on Monday." The letter did not stimulate me, but the visit to Mrs. Clarkson did. I found her in improved but modest quarters up town and much more hopeful than I expected. She seized me by the hands and said; "I pray for you night and morning—that Heaven will preserveyou till this is over. I tremble to think something might hap- pen to you. 0, Sir, we never Can pay you; but wheu you see that poor dear with his children in his arms once more I am sure you will feel that you have not been wholly unpaid," ' I tried to let down the pegs of this strain as softly as I could and toll that it would not do to be oversanguine of the result, but, she said, with calm assurance, that she had no fea?eofthe result now,and shortly afterwards her two winsome chil- dren announced to me with pitiable im- portance that papa was coming home again. So when Daryl arrived on Monday I He pulled out of his pocket a portion of told hint that I felt as if I were the only the verbatim report. "Let Inc read you gitily party in. the an est triable womancase. build up allowed a portion of it. This is the girl Rose Ken - he most ny s testimony; unwarranted hopes only to cruelly des - 'Q. What time was it when your mas- troy them in the end. ter and mistress left the house to ride?" Daryl paid no attention whatever to "A. Eight minutes of three. this. I have got an important fact," he "Q. What makes youso particular as said. The Prineveaus were abroad in . to the time? "A. I heard Mrs. Prineveau call to Mr. Prineveau and that was the time just as they went out. "Q. Wasn't there a clock in the room? "A. No, sir. The clock is in the din- ing -room. "There the question of time stops. Now listen to Mrs. Prineveau's testimony. "Q. What time was it when the shot was fired? "A. Five minutes past five—suddenly correcting herself—or about that. - "Does it occur to you that this pastime laxity of time is unusual?" "Yes; somewhat. But what is its sig- nificance?" "This—that something may have been arranged to occur at a particular time, and Mrs. Prineveau had charged her mind with it. Here is the coachman's testimony "Q. Can you fix the exact time of the death of Mr. Prineveau? "A. It was five o'clock. "Q. Do you carry a watch? "A. No. "Q. Did Mrs. Prineveau have a watch with her? "A. No, sir. "Q. How then did you fix the time? "A. Mrs. Prineveau looked at Mr. Prin- evesau's watch when we were turning intro Fourth avenue and said it i• five o'clock, and that I must hurry. "Now here the matter is dropped by the t examination just as it is getting warns. Let's recapitulate, " and Amos Daryl picked up my paper weight for illustra- tion: "First, Dir. Prineveau carries a watch," and Amos Daryl put the weight down; "second, Mrs. Prineveau knew to a minute when they left the hou9 i." Mr. Daryl picked- up the mucilage' jar and placed it by the side of tee paper weight; "third," and he picked up a match re- ceiver, "she was anxious to know the exact time just before they reached the fatal spot." He put the match box down alongside the paper weight and reached for an ash receiver; "fourth, she ascer- tained the time by looking at Mr. Prin- eveau's watch." Down went the ash re- ceiver; "fifth," and he picked up the ink bottle, "if she ascertained the exact time by looking at Mr Prineveau's watch, and that watch was carried in the usual place on his breast, then• her fingers were at his heart just before the murder occurred," and down went the ink bottle. The us- ually scattered utensils of my desk were now in a little group covered by the mas- sive paw of my friend Daryl. "It is an interesting and startling theory," I said," "and I see now to what it leads." "I doubt that, " replied Daryl. "Let me tell you to what it leads—insuperable diffi- culties, for the woman has all the clews in her own hands, and willbafiie us at every step of the search, and have public sym- pathy in doing it." "Then if we cannot got hold of the facts to substantiate your theory, we are on a wild-goose chase." "Not altogether." "Why, we haven't a leg to go on with- out the facts. " ' "0, yes; one leg." "What is it?" "The truth." I shrugged any shonhdors. "The truth will develop its own facts, and that is where Mrs. Prineveau, like all merely cunning people, is a little super- ficial. Suppose we set out to ascertain if Mr. ilneroau did not have two waist coats of the same material, one of which it was alleged was punctured by a bullet anti the other was not, and we wish to learn if Mrs. Prineveau dict not have the opportunity when the body arrived Home, to change the waistcoats, we shall be baffled by her, for sho has arranged for just such a contingency." "And away go our facts." "Yes, but in comes our truth. Why deer Mrs. Prineveau object to our search- ing for that waistcoat?" Daryl gave his legs a stretch, rammed his big fists into his pockets, and then continued: "Look here, old fellow, x ata right; that calm, self-possessed woman is living with a slow burning hell inside, for Clear somebody unfit 1,eleg an intuition into this ease and 10 ,01,: P. IA t ti,e facts that she has arranged ta, tee: ;to !It that she can't atter. • "I've got a everting.. leepoihe,i.i that. fits every circurnetiat•".as acease weave gat to do is to keep this aoaten beau see peet- ing it till she gots on the witness stand, 1877, and staid two weeks in Geneva, I never should have known this but for Mrs. Clarkson,' who Minted up a letter front. Mr. Prineveau to Mr. Clarkson that had contained a remittance, and this sen- tence: 'We have been detained here a week over our time by Mrs. P., who has been making purchases.' " "What do you see in that?" "Geneva is celebrated for its watch- makers. I sent a cablegram from the Washington bureau to the department of justice there asking them to find out if Mrs. Prineveau purchased a watch while there. Here is the answer, translated. Don't read the official verbiage look at that sentence. What is it? 'Yes, Dime. I FELT DARYL HAD MADE A GREAT MISTAKE. Prineveau purchased a large silver watch of Bringdat Frere, who was closing out business. Number and description .of watch unattainable.' " After reading this we both laid back and looked at each other in silence a mo- ment. "It is your sane opinion, Daryl, that Prineveau was killed by a watch." • "Just as sure of it as Clarkson's wife is that you will free her husband from this charge," "But we haven't got a scintilla of proof." we'll snake Mrs. Prineveau fur- nish it on the witness stand," Do you know what I said to Daryl? It's a rather a humilatiug confession, but I was considerably younger then ,than I am now. "Daryl, said I, "you are the senior counsel for the defense. I might as well putt myself in your hands and go it blindly." He pulled out his brawny and hairy hands as if to let me see that they were big and strong enough to take care of me. But he only said : "Good. I shouldn't wonder if I pulled you out of it with a good deal of honor. Pen counting on one little thing that you don't think of." "What is it?" "That Mrs, Prineveau retained you for the deeense. ": "Is that sarcasm?" "No, Inspiration. Don't you know why she rettaiued you?". "Because she thought • I'd make the worst possible defense." "That was a secondary Motive. The primary one was compunction. She's a woman and she couldn't help feeling sorry for Clarkson, who was smell a help- less victim of her conspiracy. So she eased up her couscience by providing hire with a lawyer. She felt safe in doing it., She tried to steer you into the insanity plea. Now all that shows that there is a weak spot in her. We'll go to court and lie in wait for her and jump on it sud- denly, and then you'll see something dramatic." CHAPTER V. The day of the trial arrived in May. Daryl and I had arranged our plan care- fully. We were to let the prosecution sail along with only a perfunctory show of objections and the most careless of cross- exe minatio;ns and waist for Mrs. Prineveau to ;got on the stand. Daryl kept out of taurt, aad'the state had everything its own way. The killing was shown, the piss, -mortem gone over and the bullet and pistol show.°: and identified, and the own, "rviiip established. I lee each witness go by without an .attempt . to confuse or in, validate his teatimony,,and ouly oross-ex, unitised the gur1, Boxy, in acacrdauee with Dazyl's suggestion. "One moment, Miss Kenny," Isaid, :as She was leaving the stand. "You have testified that Mrs, Prineveau alone assisted Dir, Prinet�catu to dress for the rider?'' Rosy—'Yes, sir; she always helped him. to drew.„ "When you came into the room Was he completely dressed?” "No,: sir; leo had. his waistcoat on, but not his Roat, and he was going into his owii room to get it." "And. Mrs, Pier:mou palled after him to hurry, as it was eight minutes of three?" Yes,sir, " "Now, Miss Kenny. try renal r y and 1m Y Mrs. Prineveau did not say anything else before they left the house?" "0, yes, sir. She called back to me on the ,stairs and told ane to keep her door looked, as there were strange mete work- ing ou the roof." "What were they doing there?" "Fixity' the tin." "How many of diem?" "Two or three, I guess." "Thant will do, Miss IK:enny." So transparently puerile and nude of an Mark was all this y l ustoJhn John Greve , that he cane to me at recess and in his larba. patronizing way said, as he laid his hand on any shoulder: "Harry, my dear fellow, you'll have to get up some steam and make a show of earning your retainer. By Jove, I rs- commendod you!". Daivi on the other hand was in the best of humor when we met in my study. "Capital, capital," said lie, ''Couldn't be better. ° The two or three men on the roof is a surprise. The evening papers are playing into our hands beautifully. "One of them says: '"The counsel for the defense had to be waked up at intervals and asked to say a few words and them, went to sleep again.' That's a godsend, "If Mrs. Prineveau is not lulled into a profound souse of security by this time then I'm an Injin. Keep your eye on her when I come into, court and sit down- by your side." Tho next day, after a good deal of medi- cal testimony about the aorta and billet wounds, all of which I lot go without a word, Mrs. Prineveau was called. It was rather late in the afternoon. She came forward richly but plainly dressed, looked every inch a dignified but sorrowful widow and won everybody's sympathy at once. When she had seated herself in the witness box with calm and prepossessing candor, John Daryl came in through the crowd and sat down at my side. I was watching her closely, and saw plainly enough the muscles of her anouth twitch and her, glance turn involuntarily toward John Greve for reassurance. But neither John Greve nor anybody else but myself saw anything. Her testimony, given in a clear, direct manner and with the low, soft convincing tones of a lady, was merely corroborative of what we already knew. She was car- ried over the facts and restated them. When the examination, without a single exception on my part,hadbeen concluded, I began the cross-examination. "Madame," I said, "it is in evidence that there was no clock in your dressing room, and that when you had put Mr. Prineveau's vest upon, milia and he had gone into his room, you called after him and asked him to hurry as it was eight minutes of three. Will you kindly tell the jury how you knew at that moment the exact time" The full import of this question, very rapidly put, came upon her all at once. According to Daryl's theory she had looked at the silver watch before putting it into Mr. Prineveau's vest pocket, and this was the first intimation she had re- ceived that we were in full cry after the watch. There was a dead silence in the court room, caused by the curiosity of the list- eners to find out what this question had to do with the murder. I saw her hand tighten on the rail in front of her and her eyes dart from Daryl to me with a quick 'gleam of alarm. It was a critical moment for her, and she and the two men in front of her alone knew it. Then, to my astonishment and chagrin, she seemed to . recover herself, and with the same placid and candid voice as before she said: "The clock on the church tower of St. Mary's is visible from my window, and I saw the time on that. It was eight minutes of throe." "Adjouuir the cross - examination," whispered Daryl, hoarsely, to me. "Your honor," I,.•aid, ""it is now fifteen minutes of the hour of adjournment, and the witness is fatigued. I ask you to lot the further cross-examination of the wit- ness go over till morning." I heard the suppressed laugh that went round the counsel table and was echoed by the listeners in the court room. But the adjourmnent was taken, and the mo- ment I got Daryl alone, I said: "Well, you see your theory didn't work. What are we going to do now?" To my surprise Daryl betrayed some- thing like excitement. "I told you," he said, "that she was a smart woman. But I'll beat her now or hang myself. Go to your rooms and leave orders so that I can see you any time before daybreak to- morrow. ru be back there, sure." "What are you going to do?" "Find those men that were working on the roof." And with that he darted off, and had a sickly kind of feeling that if he kept his word he would hang himself. About three o'clock the next morning he woke me up with an outrageous ting- ing of the door gong. I slipped on my dressing gown, rubbed a wet towel over THAT WOMAN NEVER SAW THE (MOOR: my head and face and went down. His long' legs were stretched out in the study. "Now, look here," he began, at once. "Let me give you this as straight and briefly as possible. That woman never saw the church clock that day, for it was impossible. She deliberately lied, and that lie is her doom:., "Between her hoose and the church tower, Which is on Twenty-second street, there lo on the other side of Twenty- second street, nearest 09 'her house, a building called Hibernia hall. There air t poles two p 1 on either lzer end of its cornice, and oat the 1.70L of March, which is St, Pat- mak,s da..y, there was a, big banner stretched between them and nobody in Mrs. k'rineveen's house eouId see the ellprch °lock. The men on, the roof could- n't tell when the dinner hour Came, on moonlit of it. I've got the two men, and theywill swear positively, and so will the Tuan who keeps the hall, Go back to bed; get your rest and tackle her to -morrow just where you left off." When the Bonet opened John Grover with the privileged sarcasm of an old lawyer, said: "The witness Is palm, counselor, You can new, investigate that church clock." 'This was an unlucky speech. "Madame, a' I said . to Mrs. Prineveau, '`at my learned brother's suggestion we will go back to the church clock. Now why did you say you saw the bine on that church clock when it was impossible to see it from your House on that day?" She was taken unawares and repeated after moa "Impossible?" . "Yes," I said, "impossible. - There was a large stationary banner stretched ou St, Pattie ' k s day between your house and the leu c zchtt oyer She showed some signs of distress and half turned towards her counsel. He was on his feet in a moment, "Your honor," he said, "while I am perfectly willing to allow every latitude to my learned young friend in this inter- esting diversion, I submit that the time of this court cannot be taken up altogether With matters that aro obviously irrele vast. The witness may . have seen the time by a watch or computed it by the sun." This was my chance. The witness did see the time on a watch. I said: "But she will not acknowledge it. I now ask you, madame: Did you not see that it was eight minutes of three by a watch?" Daryl had come in now and his big cavernous eyes were fixed on her. She hesitated a moment and then said: "I may have done so; I do not remem- ber." emem-ber." A i'YistOnnt, Doctor --Why, any dear sir, I see four empty wins bottle standing there, and yet I only gave you permission to drink one bottle. Patient—Ala 1 doctor I am afraid I rade a mistake in counting. -Le Petit Macdonald. Perhaps. St. Toter—'Viae don't seem to be getting many bicycle riders hero. Gabriel—Perhaps they wa►i0 to go where they can scorch, ,"Do you mean to say that you fixed the time to a, minute and do nob remember hoev you did it?" "I do not romeanbee." "Then why did you swear yesterday that you fixed it hy the chi -lath clock?" ' wicceInhianyllelybereonomin, the habit of so doing "But now' ydu say you may have doue I heard Daryl whisper at this moment, hard and fast DOW: ‘`Don't let her think. " "Was it a silver watch made by Bring- dat Frere, Geneva?' ' A look of weariness shot across her face. Her lids came down a, little tremulously. She made a movement, very slight, of distress. Sohn Greve jumped to his feet to protest, and some one gave her a glass of water. "The counsel is simply wearying out the witness, said Greve, 'with incomprehen- sible auestions. On behalf of the lady, who is distressed and ill. I protest." "And on behalf of justice," .I replied, "I ask the jury to observe that the ques- tious about a watch distress both witness and counsel. "Madame, was ib not your husband's silver watch by which you saw the time when you put it in his waistcoat pocket, to be worn over that spot wrhere the bul- let hole was made?" Here the prosecuting attorneys were all on their feet, of course, shouting exaep- tions. But I kept my eye ort the witness. I knew that there was a profotuad sensa- tion in the court room. I cOuld feel it against ray back like a ne emetic wave. But I never took my eyes off the woman. "Youx honor," I said, without turning my head toward the bench, "this is a question of life or death to an innocent man. His fate lies in the answers of this witness. She has deliberately lied in say- ing that she saw, the time from a church clock; and she did it to conceal some- thing. It will save the state and any - learned friends a, great deal of futile labor tompverm,, it the cross-examination to go on "If the counsel will frame his questions to fall within the evidence there can be no objection," said the judge. "Madame, your husband cazried a wed her head. e buy that watch or did you.?" "I may have done. so. I have made many purchases for hbo." "Can you. produce that watch?" "I suppose so." "Could you identify it if I produced it?" She did' not immediately answer this question. I could see that a weird change was coming over her. She was making up her mind that Daryl and I knew the whole dire histou of her crime, and were merely playing with her. The evemy look became more pronounced. Daryl saw this, too, and whispered to me not to forget the waistcoat. "I ask you, could you identify the watch if we produced it?" the bullet that fitted into the back of it?" I stood still. evhile the indignant voices of the prosecution rang out. For I saw what was coming. During the wrangle of objections, she toppled over in a dead faint and struck her head on the bar of that I distinctly heard in the conthsion that followed WaS Daryl's husky whisper : "Look out neve that she don't kill herself before she makes a, con- fession. The jig's up. ran going over to tell Mrs. Clarkson." But he didn't gc; tc 11frs. Clark -son's till the next day. He got shunted off quite unexpectedly. As soon as he learned that Prineveau had been taken from the court room to a neighboring hospital, he went straight to the house and, getting in by some means, ransacked the whole es•-. 4ablishment with one of the coutral office men, until he found the watch. It was the most ingenious piece of me- chanism I over saw. If you sot it of eight minutes of three it fired off a fulminating cap and drove the silver-plated bullet in the back with sufficient force to bed itself for half au inch in a, soft piece of wood, for we saw it tried in Superintendent Byrnes' office. (rile vsno