The Other Side of the Door

been taking possession of my mind, that for the moment I could only stupidly gaz

, but just the plain fact that Johnny Montgomery, seen once dancing at a ball, and ever after to me the model of all romantic heroes, was a murderer. It was dreadful to think that it was through me he had been taken, because I had remembered so well his beautiful black eyebrows, and the little white scar near his mouth; but nothing that had followed had been so terrible as that first sight of him, when he rushed out of the door, with all the horror of what had just happene

le tired and languid-but the aching misery, the black hopelessness, that had fallen on me the nig

e must be mistaken. It could not have been Johnny Montgomery who had shot a man, or, if he had, it must have

eft a glass of milk and a clean tucker and sleeves on my chair. I swallowed the milk, and hurried into my clothes, but I descended rather slowly to the hall. I had always confided in Hallie, and I knew she wou

were a little too much for me, and I was all ready for flight when Hallie pounced upon me. She is such an imposing person, wears so many tucks and

how pale you look still! I am afraid

ething about b

ncing out on you like that!" She laughed her deep throaty chuckle. "But I supposed

what I had seen. This was what they meant; this was the meaning of the carriage, the alley and the back door of the prison; all my part in the business had been kept secret. I wondered what in the wor

de her. She was too full of her subject to notice how oddly I must hav

and unfolding the crumpled sheet she had been carrying rolled up

I couldn't seem to make sense of it. The only thing that stood out in the jumble was a name nearly at the bottom of the sheet, Carlotta

la crossed her arms on her waist, and drew herself up, exactly as her mother does when she thinks some one is beneath her. "You see," Hallie went on,

d last night that the sh

n eyes, "doesn't say the Spanish Woman had anything to do with the shooting. So you see, no one does know exactly what it's about. It's really the most mysterious thing! They found Mr. Rood lying there quite dead," she continued breathlessly, "and they went to Johnny Montgomery's house, but he wasn't there. Then some one told Mr. Dingley they had seen a man run down Washington Street, so they followed that t

makes it sound like a romance. But now I was too anxious to enjoy it. I felt I had to ask one question more, though every word that came out of my mout

green feathers nodded again, "but he was suspected immediately. What they

. "Why, his family was one of the best in the city. Just think, Hallie, your

le boy," she said angrily. "I wouldn't think of bowing to him on t

ays been in love with Johnny Montgomery. Lily West kept his picture in a satin case hidden among her party clothes for

for at her words there rushed back to me, with humiliating clearness, my own hysterics of the night

o him, Ellie?" Estrella ask

sponse out of my mouth; "but she saw him once-don't you

es, I rem

t that memory, "and for a while it was said that they were engaged, though she was three years older than he was. But he was terribly in debt then, and of course she had lots of

y society, and how beautifully he had put women's shawls around them, when he was in prison wait

y eyes I had felt the warm flowing of the blood in my veins. Had it been these strange qualities of his that had made nice girls fall in love with him? I peeped into my mirror to see if my face looked as queer as my feelings felt. I whispered the words again, "To fall in love." What could that be like? To make Laura Burnet faint away at just the news of his arrest-what a great and terrible feeling it must be! When I th

?ora Mendez with him. He looked worried and tired,

t up from the table she lingered a moment, saying something to father about taking some one's mind off somet

man just behind me said in a loud voice, "Do the rebels think they can shoot us all down as Wilkes Booth shot the president?" And then, again, at another shop where we were looking at lace, the clerk said, "This is a terrible thing for the city, Madam, the loss of such a valuable citizen." But Se?ora Mendez seemed not to hear him, and went on explai

the carriage door with her. The one with yellow gloves said, "This is a bad business. It's a good thing poor old

he smiled and looked most easy and pleasant over it, and all the way up the street she chatted right along as if nothing serious had ever happened. But when we stopped at the house, just as I was leaving

adn't she spoken kindly of Johnny Montgomery as a nice boy? But it was the last good word I was to

ter, and not only were all the Montgomerys dyed-in-the-wool Alabamians, but some of the relatives had fought on the Southern side. Rumors flew about the city of a mob attacking the prison. There was a guard of soldiers around it the first night, and when they took him from there to the jail on Broadway

ough, on the other hand, it called Mr. Rood our esteemed and lamented citizen, which was puzzling to me, for he was only a gambling-house keeper whom none of the best men in town was friendly with. But the papers spoke very warmly of him; called Mrs. Rood, Senior, his sorrowing mother, and then they mentioned the Spanish Woman. They said she had been in love with Rood, and that he had expected to marry her. That recalled a memory of what father had told me when I first asked him about the Spanish Woman-that she had money, and influence in high places

y was set for the last week of May. I glanced down the column and a sentence caught my eye. "It is said the prosecution is in possession of sensational evi

"do you think that Mr. Mon

e of his which is most serious. "My

ious and pernicious influence in the community'; and the papers are printing such dreadful things about Johnny Montgomery! They are telling all so

But you see he would go into the deal in spite of the advice of the executor of the estate, antagonized all his father's friends-plucked the Roman senators by the beards, as it were;-so of course they were ready to believe the worst of him. Then he went badly

s and began to open t

. Montgomery has been engag

nd laughed-I can never tell

tence he was almost grave again. "I know where you got that information." He shook the paper-knife at me. "Women's goss

th all the comfort his explanation had brought me. I did no

loth; then, "How would you like to go down

e?" I

se, will be there all the while. The colts are to be broken in next week

g the door and drawing the curtains close because I did not want even my climbing white rose to see me, I took out my new bracelet, and clasped it-one gold band around e