The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1905-12-22
CHAPTER 1.

nowhere save in mid March New York,
and on' tempers had suffered accord
mgly- | had found Il cab unObtainable,
aud there was. of course. the inevitable
5jIm ON the elevated, with the trains
MANY minutes behind the schedule. /
WAS some half hour late in conse-
Juerrce. and when | entered the inner
office l was surprised to find Mr. Gra-
Aaru. our senior, already at his desk.
He nodded good morning little CURLY.
Il wish you'd look over these papers
a tue Hurd case, Lester" he said,
and pushed them toward me.
took them and sat down, and just
dIen the outer door slammed with a
violence extremely unsual
had never seen Mr.. Royce, our jun
Dr, so deeply shaken, so visibly dis
hacted, as he was when he burst in
gpon Us Il moment LATER a newspaper
III his hand Mr. Graham, startled by
die noise of his entrance, wheeled
around from his desk and stared at
Aim in astMrishment.
why, upon my word, John" he be-
gan, ''you look all done up. What's
the natter
Matter enough, sir" and Mr.. Royce
spread out tire paper on the desk be-
Gore him You haven't seen the morn
ing papers, of course. Well, look at
THAR and he indicated with a trem-
bling finger the article which occupied
the first column of the first page, the
place of honor.
| saw our seniors face change as
he read the headlines, and he seemed
positively horror stricken as he ran
capidly through the story which fol
lowed.
why, this is the most remarkable
thing ever read" he burst out ut last
''RemarkA blew cried the other why,
as an outrage. sir. The idea that Il
gentle, cultured girl like Frances Hol
snday would deliberately murder her
OWL father, strike him down in cold
blood, is too monstrous, too absolute
lY prcposterouS too-toO''- And he |
stopped. fairly choked by his emotion. |
The words brought me upright in my
chair. Frances Holiday accused Of
Well, no wonder our junior was up
Set!
But Mr.. Graham was reading through |
Me article again more carefully, and,
while he nodded sympathetically to
show that he fully assented to the |
others words. Il straight, deep line of
which | had come to recog
aize, formed between his eyebrows.
"Plainly," he said at last, the whole
saSe hinges on the evidence of this man
Rogers. Holidays confidential clerk,
and from what l know of Rogers |
should say that he'd be the last man
IL the world to make willful mis-
statement He says that Miss Holla-
day entered her fathers office late yes
ierday afternoon, stayed there ten
minutes and then came out hurrie lily.
A few minutes later Rogers went into
the office and found his employer dead
That's the whole case, but it'll be a
hard one TO break
Wei it NUT be broken" rctortcd
HE other, pulling himself together
with Il supreme EFFORT. "Cf course III
Elke the case"
OF course"
Miss Holiday probably sent for me
East night. but was ont at Eabylon,
Fou know, looking up that witness i'll
the Hul7l affair. Hell be al right,
aud his evidence VIII give IL the ease.
Our answer in the brown ill., elton
ran wait TIL tomorrow. That's al,
think"
The chief nodded.
"Ges. I sec the inquest is to begin at
~ o'clock. You haven't much time"
mo, ia like to have II good man with
me" and he glanced i'll my direction.
Can Won spare me Lester?'
My heart gave a jump. 1t was just
the question l was hoping he would
zSk-
why. yes, of course" answered the
chief readily. I'm Il case like this,
Let me hear from you in
HE course of the day"
Mr. Royce nodded as he started for
HE door.
Il will Well find some flaw in that
fellows story, depend upon it. Come /
OH. Lester"
snatched up pen and paper and fol
Dwed him to the elevator. In a mo-
ment we were in the street. There
were cabs in plenty now, disgorging
siieir loads and starting back uptown
aglin. We hailed one and in another
moment were rafting along toward
sur destination with such speed as the
storm permitted There We're many
questions surging through my brain to
which should have welcomed an an
swer The storm had cut off my pa
per that morning, and | regretted now
that had not made more determined
effort to get another. A glance at my
showed me the folly of at
tempting to secure any information
from him. so | contented myself with
reviewing what already knew of the
histor of the principals.
knew Hiram w. Holiday. the muir.
Irred inln. quite well. not only rs cy.
Ey New Yorker knew that nal iMii