Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1904-09-23

made for the front door. saying that
she must be taken directly to her sis
ter"
And did no one 80 up: Was no at
tempt made to see if the pistol was or
was not in the drawer:''
"YcS; the officer went UP with NE.
pointed out the place where 1t was
kept, and he rumlnaged all through it,
but found no pistol. l didn't expect
him to- Here the witness paused
and bit her lip. adding confusedly,
Mr.. Jeffrey had taken it, you see"
The jurors. who sat very much in the
shadow. had up to this point attracted
but little attention. But now they be-
gan to make their presence felt, per-
haps because the break In the witness
words had been accompanied by a sly
look at jimmy. Possibly warned by
this that something lay back Of this
hitherto timid witness sudden volu-
bility, one of them now spoke up.
I'm what room did you say this pis-
tol was kept?"
I'm Mr.. and Mrs. Jeffrey's bedroom.
sir; the room opening out Of the sit
ting room where Mrs. Jeffrey had kept
herself shut up all day"
Does this bedroom Of which you
speak communicate with the hall as
well as with the sitting room"
mo. sir; 1t is the defect Of the house.
Mr.. and Mrs. jeffrey often spoke Of it
as a great annoyance. You had to pass
through the little boudoir in order to
reach It,"
The juryman sank back, evidently
satisfied with her replies, but We who
marked the visible excitement with
which the witness had answered this
seemingly unimportant question Won
dered what special interest surrounded
that room and the pistol to warrant
the heightened color with which the
girl answered this new interlocutor.
We were not destined to know at this
time, for the coroner, when he spoke
again, pursued a different subject.
How long was this before Mr.. JEFF
frey came in?"
'Only few minutes. l was terribly
frightened at being left there alone
and was on my way to ask one Of the
other girls to come up and stay with
me when I heard his key in the lock
and came back. He had entered the
house and was standing near the door
talking to an officer, who had evidently
come in with him. 1t was different
officer from the one who had gone
away with Miss Tuttle. Mr.. jeffrey
was saying: What's that? My wife
hurt! Dead, sir" blurted out the
man. l had expected to see Mr.. JEFF
frey terribly shocked. but not in so
awful way. 1t really frightened me
to see him and l turned to run, but
found that l couldn't and that l had
to stand still and look whether want
ed to or not. Yet he didn't say word
or ask question"
What did he do, LOrettaw
Il cannot say. He was on his knees
and was white-oh, how white! Yet
he looked up when the man described
how and where Mrs. jeffrey had been
found and even turned toward me
when l said something about his wife
having left q message for him when
she went out. This message, which I
almost hesitated to give after the aw-
full news of her death, was about the
ending Of some story. as you remem-
Der, and it seemed heartless to speak
Of 1t at a moment like this, but as she
had told me to didn't dare to disobey
her. So, with the man listening to my
every word, and Mr.. jeffrey looking as
If he would fall to the ground before l
could finish, I repeated her words to
him and was surprised enough when
he suddenly started upright and went
flying upstairs. But I was more sur.
prised yet when, at the top Of the first
flight. he stopped and, looking over the
balustrade, asked in a very strange
voice where Miss futile was. For he
seemed Just then to want her more than
anything else in the world and looked
beaten and wild when told him that
she was already gone to Waverley ave
nue.. But he recovered himself beforo
the man could draw near enough to see
bis face, and rushed into the sitting
room above and shut the door behind
him. leaving the officer ana me stand
ing down by the front door.
'As l didn't know what to say to
man like him, and he didn't know wha
TO say to me, the time seemed Ions
but 1t couldn't have been very man,
minutes before Mr.. Jeffrey came bacl
with slip Of paper in his hand an
very much relieved look on his face
The deed was premeditatedv he cried
My unfortunate wife has misundel
stood my affection for herr And iron
being a very much broken down maj
he stood up straight and tall and pre-
pared himself very quietly to 60 to tn
Moore house. That is all l can tel
about the way the news was receive,
by him."
Were these details necessary? Man,
appeared to regard them as futile an,
uncalled for, but Coroner z. was neve
known to waste time on trivialties, an,
if he called for these facts those VIII
knew him best felt certain that the,
were meant as preparation for MI
Jeffrey's testimony, which was nov
called for.