The Holladay Case

oil T

ould see how my chief's face turned livid. He had driven another rivet in the chain-just the one it needed to hold it firmly together. My head was whirling. Could it be po

g woman on the stand. It needed only that-her identification of that square of cambric-to complete the evidence. He hesitated a moment, said another word or two to

ther, Mr. Roy

hoarsely. I think he was just beginning f

temporarily," said the coroner. "We

oom on the verge of hysteria, and Gold

coachman, and perhaps a little testimony in rebuttal. If you w

any opportunity to pull himself together an

journ till two o'clock," a

ord with you, sir

tain

a few moments in private. We wish,

moment with eyes in which just

ing. I feel that, in a way, we haven't been quite fair to you, though I don't see how delay could have altered matters, and, in a case of this kind, prompt action is important. I had no intent

solutely complete, and yet I'm convinced-as every sane man must be-that there is in it some fatal flaw, w

d, Mr. Royce," observed Singleton w

etorted our junior. "I hope to show yo

district attorney. "I'd be glad to

d to me. "Lester, you'd better go and

better still, have a meal ready for you in ha

, I think, had not th

ing done up yourself. Perhaps you can persuade Miss

ter," he said, "and a lunch we can bring back with us. I'll

o read. Its one great item of news was the Holladay case, and I grew hot with anger, as I saw how unquestioningly, how complacently, it accepted the theory of the da

rally have used those very words? After all, did not the black eyes, the full lips, the deep-colored cheeks bespeak a strong and virile temperament, depth of emotion, capacity for swift and violent anger? But what cause could there be for a quarrel so bitter, so fierce, that it should lead to such a tragedy? What cause? And

recalled the many stories I had heard of their devotion; I reflected how her whole life, so far as I knew it, pointed to a nature singularly calm and self-controlled, charitable and loving. As to

only to prove an alibi! And the next witness would do it. Her coachman had only to tell where he had driven her, at what places she had stopped, and the whole question would be settled. At the hour the crime

t the chair just behind me had been taken by a man who was also reading an account of the crime. He l

ce him closely. I got an impression of a florid face, of

, I am much inter-rested in your processes of law. This morning I was present at the trial-I

test. I glanced at him again, and saw that his eyes wer

ted, loth to talk, yet not

e continued eagerly. "The-what you c

I was in no humor

aning forward, "but concer-rning one point I should like

over to the grand

will be plac

cour

your law, she may be

; "not in a case of this kind,

ot be again released until after she shall have been

six months-a

ed a glass of absinthe he had been to

, and I noted the strength o

our had gone. I waited fifteen minutes longer, ate what I could, and, taking a box-lunch under my arm, hurried back to the coroner's office. As I entered i

htness I could muster. "The proceedings will commence in ha

moment, and then beg

ured. "Wouldn't I better get you a g

d listlessly, and I hur

or back to his cheeks, and he b

ch for Miss Holla

"She said she d

e. Plainly, he had received s

ve only to prove an alibi to knock

agreed. "But suppose w

I faltered. "

itively refuses to say where s

tand the-the nec

as clearly as I could.

eginning to doubt, matt

sighed, after a moment's

st beli

he coa

, I fear, won't help us

rowning man from whose grasp the saving rope

e--" I began

in that

other way out," I

ling round upon me fiercely. "Is there another wa

ving to convince myself. "There must be; only,

will be remanded! Think what t

, the weak spot in the chain, required, I felt, a better

esides, at worst, I think Miss Holladay will change her mind. Whatever her secret, it were better to reveal it than to spend a sin

r the room began to fill again. At last the coroner and distri

id, "with the examination of John

the squalid French quarter. He had lost sight of her in a moment, and had driven slowly about for more than two hours before she reappeared. She had ordered him to drive home as rapidly as he could,

day from the coil woven about her. If she persisted in silence, there was no ho

oner. "Will you cross-exami

ead silently, and Br

and Singleton wh

Holladay's maid," sai

in a moment, calmer than sh

iefs marked in any way?" Goldb

her initials, in the form of a m

e?" and he handed her the

woman looked it over, turni

d emphatically, as sh

sess any handkerchiefs

cambric handkerchief of good q

of relief; here, at lea

ve you any quest

junior sho

dded the coroner. "Have you

e hesitate to put her on the stand, to give her opportunity to defend herself, to enable her to shatter, in a few words, this chain of circumstance so

. "Go to Miss Holladay, and tel

man pushed his way forward from the rear of

t this a moment ago

the superscription an

ou, Mr. Roy

t the add

Mr.

for the

He read it through a second time, then held out the paper to m

e woman who was with Hollad