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

| hands to her ears and for a momen,
looked quite distracted, so that he
thought better OF worrying her any
more and only demanded to know ii
| Mr.. Jeffrey kept any such weapon.
! Miss Tuttle's face grew very strange
! at this Mr.. jeffrey. Was he there z
| she asked. The man looked surprised.
| They are searching for Mr.. Jeffrey,
| he replied. Isn't he here!' No. came
both from her lips and mine. The man
| acted very impertinently. You haven't
| told me whether pistol was kept here
or NOT said he. Miss futile tried to
compose herself, but / saw that
| should have to speak il any one did, so
! told him that Mr.. Jeffrey did have a
pistol, which he kept in one of his bu-
reau draw But when the officer
wanted Miss futile to go up and see il
it was there she shook her head and
made for the front door, saying that
she must be taken directly to her Sis
ter"
And did no one go up: Was no at
tempt made to see If the pistol was or
was not in the drawer?"
Yes: the officer went up with me. I
pointed out the place where it was
kept, and he rummagsd all through it,
but found no pistol. I didn't expect
him to- Here the witness paused
and bit her lip. adding confusediy,
Mr.. jeffrey had taken it, you see.''
The jurors, who sat very much'in the
shadow. had up to this point attracted
but little attention. But now they be-
gan to make their presence felt, per-
haps because the break in the witness
look at jimmy. Possibly warned by
this that something lay back of this
hitherto tinid witness sudden volu-
bility, one Of them now spoke up.
I'm what room did you say this pis-
toll was kept?"
I'm Mr.. and Mrs. Jeffrey's bedroom.
sir; the room opening out of the sit
ting room where Mrs. jeffrey had kept
herself shut up all day"
Does this bedroom of which you
speak communicate with the hall as
well as with the sitting room Pr
mo, sir; it is the defect of the house.
Mr.. and Mrs. Jeffrey often spoke of it
az great annoyance. You had to pass
through the little boudoir in order to
reach it,
The juryman sank back, evidently
satisfied with her replies, but we who
marked the visible excitement with
which the witness had answered this
seemingly unimportant question won
dered what special interest surrounded
that room and the pistol to warrant
the heightened color with which the
hfc s,o%n
We were not destined to know at this
time, for the coroner, when he spoke
again, pursued a different subject.
How long was this before Mr.. JET
frey came in?'
"Only few minutes. / was terribly
frightened at being left there alone
and was on my way to ask one of the
other girls to come up and stay with
me when I heard his key in the lock
and came back. He had entered the
house and was standing near the door |
talking to an officer, who had evidently
come in with him. 1t was q different |
officer from the one who had gone |
away with Miss Tuttle. Mr.. jeffrey |
was saying: What's that? My wife I
hurtr Dead, SIR blurted out the
man. / had expected to see Mr.. JEFF I
frey terribly shocked, but not in so
awful way. 1t really frightened me 1
to see him and l turned to run, but
found that I couldn't and that I lad
to stand still and look whether / want
ed to or not. Yet he didn't say a word
or ask question"
What did he do, Loretta?'
Il cannot say. He was on his knees
and was white-oh, how white! Yet
he looked up when the man described
how and where Mrs jeffrey had been
found and even turned toward me
when 1 said something about his wife
having left a message for him when
she went out. This message, which /
almost hesitated to give after the aw-
full news of her death, was about the
ending Of some story, as you remem-
Der, and 1t seemed heartless to speak
{ it at moment like this. but as she
had told me to didn't dare to disobey
her. So, with the man listening to my
every word. and Mr. Jeffrey looking as
If he would fall to the ground before I
could finish, I repeated her words to
him and was surprised enough when
ne suddenly started upright and went
dying upstairs. But I was more sur
Drised vet when, at the top of the first
dight. he stopped and, looking over the
asked in a very strange
roice where Miss Tuttle was. For he
seemed just then to want her more than
anything else in the world and looked
beaten and wild when l told him that
she was already gone to Waverley ave-
hue. But he recovered himself before
he map could draw near enough TO see
MS face. and rushed into the sitting
'oom above and shut the door behind
him, leaving the officer and me stand
ng down by the front door.
''As l didn't know what to say to a
nan like him, and he didn't know what
o say to me. the time seemed long,
)ut couldn't have been very many
minutes before Mr.. jeffrey came back
With slip of paper in his hand and
very much relieved look on his face.
The deed was premeditatedr he cried.
My unfortunate wife has misunder
TODD my affection for herr And from
,eing very much broken down man