Waterbury Democrat., 1901-09-09
The Eyes of the Woman
 By EDGAR WILTON COOLEY.
coopyrisht. 1901. by Authors syndicate.)

| trial she had been present in the | courtroom. She had listened to every word of the evidence and had mar veled that men could so ight-heart- l edly give utterance to words that were to end brothers life.
 | She was not handsome; hardly pretty, but her eyes were like twin i daggers, for they seemed to pierce one through and through. She was a slender woman, small and young and delicate, and her trim figure was l gowned in somber black from head to foo@
 Day after day she sat in the same rear seat, emotionless, calm, dispas- sionate, and rested her eyes upon the ! face of a man who sat opposite to her. Not once did she remove her gaze from his face; not once did she cease her cold, constant stare at his | features.
 He was big, broad-shouldered fel- low, with a bronzed face and mass of hair. He kept his eyes riveted upon the court and the jury and the pris- oner. He hung upon every word that was uttered, leaning anxiously for ward, rigid and motionless. But at intervals he turned his face towards the woman in black, only to be transfxed by the gleam of her eyes. Then he would start, turn shade paler and grasp the arms of his | chair.
 The prisoner was young man with | fine. clear cut features and blue eyes, as beardless as boy and as stoical as a graven image. Although he knew ! his life was in the hands of the 12 men 1 at his right hand, not once did the ex- pression of indifference leave his face, though against him was given the most damaging testimony. l Twice only, each day, did he show l any interest in his surroundings. At the opening of each session, when he entered the courtroom handcuffed to the sheriff, he cast one quick, search 1 ing glance towards the rear of the | room. His glance met that of the woman in black, and for brief in- stant softer gleam shone in the eyes of each.
 Tightly and relent1ess1y was he bound with an unbroben chain of cir cumstantial evidence. Not link was l missing. Every movement, every ut 1 terance of his on the night of the mur- l der were described in detail. From l the moment that he had quarreled with the man who was afterwards murdered, to the hour when he was arrested, every step he had taken was ] traced.
 | It was shown that he had followed l his victim with murder gnawing at his heart; that, in the presence of nu- merous witnesses. he had sworn to 1 take the mans life; that after the 1 quarrel the man who was slain had | turned his steps towards his home, l taking a roundabout route; that the | prisoner had made use of a short cut and had lain in wait behind thicket; 1 that he had suddenly leaped upon him and had stabbed him to the heart with knife that was afterwards found in i the prisoners possession, the blade still scarlet with blood, and that he was later seen running away from the scene of the murder.
 | Against this awful array of evi- dence, the defense made no resist 1 ance, introduced no testimony. The arguments were made. The attorney | for the state welded anew the chain of guilt; the counsel for the defense | weakly attacked the reliability of evil dence purely circumstantial, and begged that the jury be slow to hang a man when all direct evidence of his guilt was lacking. Then the jury re- ] tired.
 The sheriff unlocked the door and entered the cell. The prisoner was sitting on the edge of his cot. He had not been asleep. He had been l pacing back and forth between the window and the door and had taken a seat only when he heard the off cer's footsteps in the corridor.
 ''Well?" he said.
 ''The jury has agreed" replied the sheriff. "Come''
 The prisoner held out his right arm. The officer snapped handcuff on his wrist. Then they walked side by side out of the dark cell and along \ the half-iltumined hall. When they reached the outer door, the sheriff | pulled a bunch of keys from his coat l pocket, inserted one in the lock and turned back the bolt. Then they stepped out into the night, and the officer locked the door behind them.
 The courthouse was across the street from the jail. A new moon threw an unnatural light upon the | earth, and here and there a lamp f1ickered in window. The hands on the illuminated dial of the clock in the courthouse tower pointed to Is minutes to midnight. The prisoner glanced upward at the star-spangled sky. The air was soft and pleasant, and drowsy quiet hung everywhere.
 "What a beautiful night,' said he, in voice steady, strong and emo tionless.
 "Yes," replied the sheriff, "a fine night.''
 Turning to their right they en- tered the courtroom. Two lights on central chandelier sent feeble rays staggering through the darkness. The attorneys, newspaper reporters and bailif were seated inside the rail- ing.
 The prisoner, through force of habit, threw a glance towards the back ofethe room. The woman in
 black was in her accustomed seat, and opposite fo her was the man