Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-09-10

patience, lost countenance for a mo- ment, but, remembering that in his of hcial capacity he was more than a match for the elegant gentleman, who under other circumstances would have found it only too easy to put him to the blush, he observed with dignity:
 3Mr. Jeffrey, you are on oath. We certainly have no reason for not be- lieving you"
 Mr Jeffrey bowed. He was prob ably sorry for his momentary loss of self control, and gravely, but with eyes bent downward, answered with the ab- rupt phrase:
 Well, then, will say mo-"
 The coroner shifted his ground
 t'Will you make the same reply when shown toward your wifes name in the conversation you had with Miss TuttIe Immediately afterward?"
 Miss Futile was Mrs. Jeffrey's half sister. The bond between them was strong. Would she-would I-be apt to speak Of my young wife with bit terness?''
 on hst r is Jearey P2t sp ansTe MEst to ueg my more positive reply"
 'sThere were no recriminations ut tered. Mrs. Jeffrey had displeased me. and I said so, but I did not forget that was speaking of my wife and to her sister,
 As this was in the highest degree noncommittal, the coroner could be ex- cused for persisting.
 .'The conversation, then, was about your WifeT'
 t'It was.''
 ''In criticism of her conduct?v
 "Yes''
 "At the ambassadors ball?''
 "Yes.''
 Mir. Jeffrey was poor hand at lying. That last ..yes'' came with great effort.
 The coroner waited, possibly for the echo of this last yes to cease; then he remarked with a coldness which lifted at once the veil from his hitherto we'll disguised antagoniSm to this wit ness:
 If you will recount to us anything which your wife said or did on that evening which, in your mind, was worthy of all this coil, it might help us to understand the situation"
 But the witness made no attempt to do so, and while many of us were ready to pardon him this show of del icacy others felt that under the circum- stances it would have been better had he been more open.
 Among the latter was the coroner himself, who from this moment threw aside all hesitation and urged forward his inquiries in way to press the wit ness closer and closer toward the net he was secretly holding out for him. First, he obliged him to say that his conversation with Miss Futile had not tended to smooth matters, that no rec onciliation with his wife had followed 1t and that in the thirty-six hours which elapsed before he returned home again he had made no attempt to soothe the feelings of one who, accord ing to his own story, he considered hardly responsible for any extrava- gances in which she might have in- | dulged. rs1ei, Then when this inconsistency had been given time to sink into the minds of the jury Coroner z. increased the l effect produced by confronting Jeffrey with witnesses who testified to the friendly, if not loverlike, relations which had existed between himself and Miss Futile prior to the appearance of his wife upon the scene, closing with I question which brought out the de nial, by no means new, that an en- gagement had ever taken place be | tween him and Miss Futile and hence that bond had been cancelled by his marriage with Miss Moore l Some hint of what the coroner con templated had already escaped him in the persistent and seemingly incense l quent questions to which he had sub jected this witness But the time had l now come for q more direct attack, and the interest rose correspondingly I high when the coroner, lifting again to sight the scrap of paper containing I the few piteous lines so often quoted, asked of the now anxious and agitated witness if he had ever noticed any similarity between the handwriting of his wife and that of Miss Futile.
 An indignant "Now was about to pass his lips when he suddenly checked himself and said more mildly: "There may have been similarity I hardly know. I have seen too little of Miss Tuttle's hand to judge.' I This occasioned diversion. Speci- mems of Miss Tuttle's handwriting were produced, which, after having been duly proved, were passed down to the jury along with the communication professelly signed by Mrs. Jeffrey. The grunts of astonishment which en- sued as the knowing heads drew near over these several papers caused MT. Jeffrey to flush and finally to cry out with startling emphasis:
 sI know that those words were writ ten by my wife"
 I But when the coroner asked him his reasons for this conviction he could or would not state them.
 T have said" he stolidly repeated l w FNZRW sS