Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-11-23
CHAPTER I.
ME atmosphere of the office that
morning was a shade less gen.
ial than usual. We had all

town through such storm Of wind.
snow. slush and sleet az Ia to he found
nowhere save in mid. March New York,
and our tenpers had suffered accord
figly. had found cab unobtainable,
and there was. Of course. the inevitable
jam on the elevated, with the trains
many minutes behind the schedule.
was some half hour late in conse-
quence. and when entered the inner
once I was surprised to find Mr.. Ora
ham. our senior, already ut his desk.
He nodded good morning a little CURLY.
81 wish you'd look over these papers
IN the Hurd case. Lester" he said,
and pushed them toward me.
took them and sat down, and just
then the outer door slammed with u
violence extremely unusual.
had never seen Mr.. Royce, our jun.
Tor, so deeply shaken, SO visibly dis
tracted, as he was when he burst in
upon Us a moment later. a newspaper
in his hand. Mr. Graham, startled by
the noise Of his entrance, wheeled
him In astonishment
why, upon my word. john" he be-
gan, you look all done UP. What's
the mattsr?"
Matter enough, sir" and Mr.. Royce
spread out the paper on the desk be-
fore him. You haven't seen the morn
ing papers, Of course Well look Mt
1hat.' and he indicated with n trem-
oling finger the article which occupied
che nrst 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
rapidly through the story which fol-
lowed.
"Why, this is the most remarkable
thing ever read" he burst out at last
"Remarka ble"' cried the other why,
it's an outrage, sir. The idea that a
gentle, cultured girl like Frances Hol
laday would deliberately murder her
own father, strike him down in cold
blood, Is too monstrous, too absolute
~ preposterous. 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
the article again more carefully. aud,
while he nodded alphabetically to
show that he fully assented to the
others words, a straight. deep line Of
perplexity, which had come to recog.
nize, formed between his eyebrows.
PLAINLY" he said at last, "the whole
case hinges on the evidence of this man
Rogers. Holidays confidential clerk,
and from what I know Of Rogers
should say that he'd be the last man
in the world to make willful mis-
statement. He says that Miss Holla-
day entered her fathers Office late yes
terday afternoon, stayed there ten
minutes and then came out hurriedIy.
A few minutes later Rogers went into
the Office and found his employer dead.
That's the whole case. but it'll be q
hard one to break"
We'll. 1t must be broken rctorted
the other, pulling himself together
with a supreme effort. "Of course I'll
take the case"
"Of course!'
Miss Holiday probably sent for me
last night. but was out at Babylon,
you know, looking up that witness in
the Hurd affair. He'll be all right,
and his evidence will give us the case.
Our answer in the Brown Injunction
can wait till tomorrow. That's all, ]
think"
The chief nodded.
Eyes. see the inquest is TO begin at
40 o'clock. You haven't much time"
mo, I'd like to have good man with
me-" and he glanced in my direction.
"Can you spare me Lester?"
My heart gave a jump. 1t was just
the question was hoping he would
ask.
why, yes, Of course" answered the
chief readily. "ln case like this.
certainly. Let me hear from you in
the course Of the day"
Mr.. Royce nodded as he started for
the door.
81 will. Wen ind some flaw in that
fellows story, depend upon it. Come
on, Lester"
snatched up pen and paper and fol-
lowed him to the elevator. In a mo-
ment We were in the street. There
were cabs In plenty now, dlsgorging
their loads and starting back uptown
again. We hailed one, and In another
moment were rafting along toward
our destination with such speed as the
storm permitted. There were many
questions surging through my brain 10
which ] should have welcomed an an
Swer. The storm had cut of my ma
ger that morning, and l regretted now
mat had not made more determined
effort to get another. A glance at my
companion showed me the folly of at.
tempting to secure any informal ton
from him, so contented myself with
reviewing what ] already knew OF the
History Of the principals.
knew Hiram W. Holiday, the MUIR
dsred man. quite well, not only as ev.
cry New Yorker knew that multinlil-
7ionaire as one of the most successful
operators In Wall street. but personal
" as well, since he had been 4 client
Of Graham e. Royce for twenty years
and more. He was at that time we'll
on toward seventy years Of age,
should say. though he carried his years
remarkably we'll His wife had been