Morris tribune., 1904-06-18

tie at the word pistol clapped he
hands to her ears and for a momen
looked quite distracted, so that h
thought better of worrying her an.
more and only demanded to know i
Mr.. Jeffrey kept any such weapon.
Miss Tuttle's face grew very strang'
at this. Mr.. jeffrey! Was he there
she asked. The man looked surprised
They are searching for Mr. Jeffrey,
he replied. Isn't he hereY No. cam.
both from her lips and mine. The maj
acted very impertinently. You haven
told me whether pistol was kept here
or not said he. Miss futile tried tt
compose herself, but 1 saw that
should have to speak If any one did, sc
told him that Mr.. Jeffrey did have 6
pistol, which he kept in one Of his bu
reau drawers. But when the Officer
wanted Miss Tuttle to go up and see il
1t was there she shook her head and
made for the front door, saying that
she must be taken directly to her sis
ter"
"And did no one go up? Was no at.
tempt made to see if the pistol was or
was not in the drawer?'
Eyes; the officer went up with me. 1
pointed out the place where it was
kept, and he rummaged all through it,
but found no pistol. 1 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; it is the defect Of the house.
Mr.. and Mrs. Jeffrey often spoke of it
as 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
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 different subject.
How long was this before Mr.. JEFF
frey came in?"
"Only few minutes. 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 l 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 a different
officer from the one who had gone
away with Miss Tuttle. Mr.. Jeffrey
was saying: What's that? My wife
hurt! Dead, sirv blurted out the
man. I had expected to see Mr.. JEFF
frey terribly shocked, but not in so
awful a way. 1t really frightened me
to see him and 1 turned to run, but
found that 1 couldn't and that had
to stand still and look whether want
ed to or not. Yet he didn't say word
or ask a question"
What did he do, Loretta"
II cannot say. He was on his knees
and was white-oh, how white! Yet
be looked up when the man described
how and where Mrs. Jeffrey had been
found and even turned toward me
when 1 said something about his wife
Che went out. This message, which
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 it at moment like this, but as she !
had told me to didn't dare to disobey |
ler. So, with the man listening to my |
every word, and Mr.. Jeffrey looking as
f he would fall to the ground before
could finish repeated her words to
him and was surprised enough when
ne suddenly started upright and went
lying upstairs. But was more sur
lrised yet when, at the top Of the first
light. he stopped and, looking over the
asked in a very strange
7oice where Miss futile was. For he
seemed just then to want her more than
lnything else in the world and looked
beaten and wild when I told him that
The was already gone to Waverley ave-
lue. But he recovered himself before
he man could draw near enough to see
lis face, and rushed into the sitting
Dom above and shut the door behind
him, leaving the officer and me stand
Ing down by the front door.