Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-23

with keen dismay. The agony of the or
deal itself, he thought, could not be greater
than that of Waiting for it through more
than an hour, during which the lawyer
would be so arranging his questions that
not even a secret surnise of the doctors
would escape scrutiny.
The doctor had had little sleep during the
night for thinking about the inquest he
had considered every possible question ana
had prepared his answer for it; II he could
not give a truthful answer, 1t was MS IN
tention to remain silent and suHer sucn
punishment as the court M1ght IMPOSE LII
contempt. That this In itsen Wouia oE
damaging to the professor he was wen
aware but he could see no other possiple
course He dreaded now the sensatioi s .na.
his action would cause, ana the propapi ~
that the shrewd lawyer Wouio atranSe h; =,
came to a critical one no answer "oulu NC
as convincing as one categorically gwen o..
He turned with forced cheerfuiness 10
Louise as the people began 10 GloMo
NV a change in her spirit and demeaaor.
She had not been altogether unalectsu 10y
Starkweather'S strange oeath; qhch ~
take alarm, she could be as quickly paci-
fed and her mind dwelt perslstently upon
the pleasant side of things; hence her ap-
narent dismissal of the gruesome topic
from her thoughts as soon as the Hrst sIed.
shock was passed. followed, as 1t was 100
by matters of lively and real interest-fnli,
bricks adventure, the doctors proposal ana
the coming of Mrs. Williams to FalrVieW.
Nevertheless she had not once set 1901 IN
the corridor where StarkWeather Iell SINGS
that fatal day, and she had not yet prougnt
herself to sleep alone. She had snudoereo
so when Amelia suggested that they re-
sumo the former habit of occupying sepa-
rate chambers that her cousin withdrew
the suggestion without argument.
II want somebody near me- said Louise.
"a
part of her character. She needed compan-
ionship, and her attention was so easily
taken by people around her that there was
TO room for morbid thoughts or unpleasant
reflections CompaniOnship she had had In
abundance ever since the day of Stark
weather's death, and as that subject was
seldom or never mentioned In her presence,
and as she never invited 1t, the first i'm
pressions of tragedy and mystery had
faded away. They were ali brought back
by the scene in Squire Taylor's court, for
which the doctors kindly forethought had
I'll prepared her.
But it was not only that the witnesses re-
called the shocking features of the tragedy
and the apparently unfathomable mystery
that attended it; the spectators themselves,
by their side glances at her and their half
suppressed remarks, gave her a glimpse of
the matter that had not heretofore so much
as come to her in the guise OF dream
fantasy. AS the light began to break she
shut her eyes to 1t, she would not have IT,
1t was horrible. wicked. impossible. Her
father-but this was light that defied all
barriers; 1t was flame that burned its way
to the consciousness, and at last, when De-
los Hawkins asked his suggestive question
she and understood it all. She knew
then that these villagers had damned them
selves into the stufy court room from more
than morbid curiosity about the death Of a
man almost unknown to them. They be-
ieved that murder had been committed 1t
was no comfort that technically no charge
had been or could be made as yet her faith
or was accused Of the crime as clearly now
- II he had been called to the bar to plead