The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-12-04
CHAPTER XIII.

CHAPTER XIII.
"HE appearance Of this witness
had undergone q change since
she last stood before US. She
was shamefaced still. but her
manner showed resolve and q feverish
determine ton to face the situa ton
which could but awaken In the breasts
Of those who had Mr.. Jenrey's honor
and personal welfare at heart q name
less dread, as If they already foresaw
the dark shadow which minute by min
ute was slowly sinking over a house
hold which up to a week ago had been
the envy and admiration Of all Wash
ington society.
The first answer she made revealed
both the cause Of her shame and the
reason OF her nrmness. 1t was in re-
spouse to the question whether she,
Loretta, had seen Miss futile before
she Went out on the walk she was said
to have taken Immediately after Mrs
Je6rey's ANAL departure from the
house
Her words were these:
II did. sir. do not think Miss Tut
tie knows 1T, but I saw her in Mrs.
Je6rey's room. 1 am not especially
proud OF what I did that night. but
was led into it by degrees, and I am
sure l beg the lady's pardon" And
then she went on to relate how after
she had seen Mrs. Jeffrey leave the
house she went into her room with the
intention OF putting 1t to rights As
this was no more than her duty, no
fault could be found with her. but she
owned that when she had finished this
task and removed all evidence Of Mrs
Jeffrey's frenzied condition she had NO
business to Inger at the table turning
over the letters she found lying there.
: Her cheeks were burning now, for
she had found herself obliged to admit
that she had read enough Of these let
tiers to be sure that they had no refer
ence to the quarrel then pending be-
tween her mistress and Mr.. jeffrey.
Her eyes fell and she looked seriously
distressed as she went on to say that
she was as conscious then as now OF
having no business with these papers:
SO conscious, indeed. that when she
heard Miss Tuttle's step ut the door,
her one idea was to hide herself.
That she could stand and face that
lady never 30 much as occurred to her.
Her own guilty consciousness made
her cheeks too hot for her to wish to
meet an eye which had never rested
on her any too kindly; so noticing how
straight the curtains fell over one Of
the windows on the opposite side Of
the room, she dashed toward it and
slipped in out Of sight just as Miss
Tuttle came in. This window was one
seldom used, owing to the fact that it
an adjoining wall, SO she
had no fear Of Miss futile approach
ing it. Consequently. she could stand
there quite Mt her ease, and, az the
curtains in falling behind her had not
come quite together, she really could
not help seeing what that lady did.
Here the witness paused with every
appearance Of looking for some token
Of disapprobation from the crowd.
But she encountered nothing there
but eager anxiety for her to proceed,
question. she added in SO many words:
"She went first to the bookshelves."
We had expected it: but yet a gen
eraI movement took place. and few
suppressed ordinations could be
heard.
'And what did she do there?"
Took down a book, after looking
up and down the shelves"
'What color Of bookr'
"a green one with red figures on it.
could see the cover plainly as she
look 1t down"
Like this oner'
Exactly like that one"
"And what did she do with this
,ook 2?
Opened it. but not to read ii. She
was too quick In closing it for that"
Ibid she take the book away"
"No; she put it back on the shelf"
AFTER opening and closing it:'
Yes, sir"
Ibid you see whether she put any
hing into the book
81 cannot swear that she did. but
hen her back was to me, aud l could
lot have seen il if she had
The implied suggestion caused some
excitement. but the coroner, frowning
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