Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1906-03-02
CHATTER |.

ial than usual. We la all
Of Us fought our way down
town through such Il storm of wind.
snow, slush and sleet az is To BE- found
nowhere save In mid March New York,
and our tcInpers had suffered accord
fngly. had found cab understandable.
and there was, of course. the inevitable
lam Oh the elevated. with the trains
many minutes behind the schedule.
was some half hour late in conse-
quence and when ! entered the inner
office was surprised to find Mr.. Ora
ham. our senior. already at his desk.
lie nodded good morning little CURLY.
Il wish you'd look over these papers
In the lIurd case, Lester" he said,
pnd pushed them toward me.
took them and sat down, and just
then the outer door slammed with a
violence extremely unsual.
/ had never seen Mr. Royce. our jun
Tor. SO deeply shaken. SO visibly dis
tractcd, as he was when he burst in
upon us n moment later, a newspaper
III his hand. Mr.. Graham, startled by
the noise of his entrance, wheeled
around from his desk and stared Mt
him In establishment
why. upon my word. john" he be-
gan, "you look all done up. What's
the matter?"
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 at
that" 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 US he ran
rapidly through the story which fol-
lowed.
"Why, this Is the most remarkable
thing ever read!" he burst out at last
Remarkable" 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, and,
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, 1.-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 a 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 hurrledly.
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"
"Well, it must be brokenw retorted
the other, pulling himself together
with a supreme effort. "Of course I'll
take the case"
"Of coursew
Miss Holiday probably sent for mo
last night, but I was out at Babylon.
you know, looking up that witness In
the Hurd affair. He'll be al 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, I see the inquest Is to begin at
10 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. It was Just
the question I was hoping he would
ask.
why. yes. Of course" answered the
chief readily. I'm q case like this,
certainly. Let me hear from you in
the course Of the day"
Mr.. Royce nodded az he started for
the door.
II will. Well find 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 q mo-
ment we were In the street. There
were cabs In plenty now, disgorging
dheir 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 to
which I should have welcomed an an
swer. The storm had cut OF my pa
per that morning, and regretted now
that had not made q more determined
effort to get another. A glance at my
companion showed me the folly of at.
tempting to secure any Information
from him. 80 I contented myself with
reviewing what already knew Of the
history Of the principals.
knew Hiram W. Holiday, the muir.
dered man, quite well, not only as ev-
cry New Yorker knew that multimil.
Aonaire as one of the most successful
operators In Wall street, but personal
ly as well, since he had been a client
Of Graham & Royce for twenty year,
and more. He was ut that time vel
on toward seventy years Of age,
should say, though he carried his years
remarkably well. His wife had beer
long dead. and he had only one child
his daughter Frances, who must have
been about twenty five. She had beer
born abroad and had spent the frs,
years Of her life there with her moth
er, who had fingered on the Rviers
and among the hills Of Italy and Swift
zerlard in the hope Of regaining Z
health which had been failing. SO
understood, ever since her daughter
birth. She had come home at last
bringing the black eyed child with her
and within the year was dead
Holidays affections from that mo
ment seemed to grow and center absut
his daughter. who developed into a
tall and beautiful girl-too beautiful
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