Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-02-21
7.
A Bolt from the Blue.

wa downtown through such IL storm
or wind. SNOW, slush and sleet as is
TO be found nowhere save in mid
March New York. and our tempers
had suffered accordingly. l had found
u cab understandable. and there was, of
course, the inevitable jam on the ele-
waited. with the trains many minutes
behind the schedule. | was some half
hour late, in consequence. and when |
entered the inner office / was sur
prised to find MIR. Graham, our enior.
already at his desk. He nodded good
morning a little cuYtly.
Il wish you'd look OYER these papers
in the Hurd case. Lester he said, and
pushed them toward me.
l took them and sat down. and just
then the outer door slammed with ii
violence extremely unusual.
1 had never seen Mr.. Royce. our jul
nior, so deeply shaken. SO visibly dis
tracted. as he was when he burst in
upon us Il moment later, a newspaper
In his hand. MIR. Graham. startled by
the noise of his entrance, wheeled
around from his desk and stared at him
in establishment.
why, upon my word. john he be-
gan, you look all lone No.. What's
the Natter"
Matter enough. s!r," and Mr.. Royce
spread out the paper on the desk be
fore him. You haven't seen the norm
ing papers. OF course. we'll. look at
that" and he indicated with q trem-
bling finger the article which occupied
the first column OF tho first page-the
of honor.
| saw our seniors face change as he
read the headlines. and he seemed pos
ttiHely horror stricken as he ran rap
idly through the story which followed.
Why. this is the most remarkable,
thing l ever cad, he burst out at last.
"Remarkable," cried the other. why.
it's a damnable outrage. sir The idea
that a gentle, cultured girl like Fran
ces Holiday would deliberately muir
der her own father-strike him down
In cold blood is too monstrous. too
absolutely prepos,e.ous. oo-too-"
and he stopped. fairly choked by his
emotion.
The words brought me upright in
my chair. Frances Holiday accused
of-well.=no wonder ou,, Junior was
upset!
But Mr.. Graham was reading through
the article again more carefully. and
while he nodded sympathetically to
show that he fully assented to the
others words. a straight. deep line of
perplexity, which l had come to rec
ognize. formed between his eyebrows.
Evidently" he said at last. the
whole case hinges on the evidence OF
this man Observation-Disclosures confiden-
tial clerk-and from what 1 know of
Rogers I should say that he'd be the
AGoN Itihl ~ ~ W HAM IL WIIIlUl
misstatement. He says that Miss Hol-
laday entered her fathers office late
yesterday afternoon. stayed there ten
minutes. and then came out hurriedly.
A few minute 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
Well. IT must be broken." retorted
the other. pulling himself together
with a supreme effort. "Of course. I'll
take the case"
Miss Holiday probably sent for me
last night. but l was ont at Babylon.
you know. looking UP that witness in
the Hurd affair. He'll be all right, and
his evidence VIII give us the case. Our
answer in the Brown injunction can
wait TIL tomorrow. That's all, / think
The chief nodded
'yes-I see the inquest is to begin at
10 O'Clock. You haven't much time
"No-I'd like 10 have a good man
With me- ard he glanced in my direc-
ton. car You spare me Lester"
My heart gave a jump. 1t was just
the question ! vas hoping he would
ask.
why, YES. OF course" answered the
chief readily. In a case like this. GER
tainly. Let me hear from you In the
course of the day
Mr.. Royce nodded as he started for
the door.
Il will: Well find some flaw In that
fellows story. depend upon 1t. Come
on, Lester
gathered up pen and paper and fol-
lowed linn to the elevator. In q mo-
,nent we We're In the street: there were
cabs In silently now. disgOrging their
loads and starting back uptown again.
We hailed one. and in another moment
were ra;tling along toward our desti-
nation with such speed as the storm
SHS,vn,ittn1 TNt,nrN y-arn ~ O N,,g
surging through my brain to which 1
should have welcomed an answer. The
storm had cut off my paper that morn
ing. and ] regretted now that l had not
made a more determined effort to get
another. A glance at my companion
showed ms tie folly Of attempting To
secure any Information from him, so
I contcnted myself With reviewing what
I already knew Of the history of the
principals.
knew Hiram w Holiday. the muir
dered man, quite veil. not only as ev-
cry New Yorker knew tina multi-mil-
+. ~i!oraire as one OF the most successful
operators in Wall street. but personally
as wel!. since no had been a client of
Graham & 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 re-
markably we'll: his wife had been long
dead. and he had only one child, his
daughter. Frances. who must have been
about twenty-five. She had been born
abroad. and spent the first years OF
her life there with her mother, who had
fingered on the Riviera and among the
hills Of Italy and Switzerland In the
hope of regaining a health which had
been failing. so I understood, ever since
her daughters birth. She had come
home at last. bringing the black-eyed
Child with her, and within the year was
dead.
Holladay's affections from that mo-
snent seemed to grow and center about
his daughter. who developed into a tall
IL