The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1907-02-14
CHAPTER /
A Sois Sran, .f,e Blue.

a Sois from tae Sine-
The atElasphere of she office tina
s}aratas was a shade less genial thai
usual, We had si Of US fought gu
Nay downtown through such a storm
Of Mind, SssoW, slush and sieet as Il
10 he found nowhere save in mid
March New York. and our temper.
Aa2 suffered ~accoTSsngly, I had foup,
a CAB GGoetSsnahge. ard there was. o
course, he Inevitable Jam on the ele,
waited with the trains many minute:
behind he sche6@aa, was some half,
hour s8ts ~ Consequences, and when
entered the inner Office I was sur
pylsed To and Mr., Graham, our senior
ALREADY II MS desk, He nodded good
morning D little CURLY.
I wish you'5 looG over these papers
II ne Iur8 case. Lester" he said. and
pushed tae-i toward ne.
! lock them and sat down. and just
tEfrs. he outer door slammed With s
Reieaee extremely unusual
had never seen Mr., Royce. our ju-
EtoT, SO deeply shaken, so visihly dis
U-acte9, n he was when he burst in
upon us 9 moment later. a newspaper
IN his hand, Mr.. Graham. startled by
the noise Of his entrance, wheeled
a.o@a6 from his desk and stared at hin,
Ia establishment
Why. upon my word, John" he be-
san. You look al. done up. What's
The natter
Matter enough, sir" and Mr.. Royce
spread opt the paper on the desk be-
aoET ssiGEz. fiav seen the MORN
Ing papers, OF course. well, look at
THAI. ard he indicated with a trem-
bling finger h article which occupied
We aFSt column OF the first page-the
place OF honor,
! saw our seniors face change as he
read the headlines, and he seemed pos
iIiEeiy horror stricken DIS he ran rap
idly through the story which followed.
Why. this IS the most remarkable
thing ever read." he burst out at last.
Remarkable" cried the other why.
It's a dalnnable outrage, sir The idea
that a gentle. cultured girl like Fran
oes Holiday would deliberately muir
der her Own father-strike him down
IN cold biood-is too nonstrous, too
absolutely preposterous, too-too-'
and he stopped. fairly choked by his
emotion.
The words brought me upright in
my chair Frances Holiday accused
of-wel.-no wonder our junior was
upset.
But Mr. Graham was reading through
the article again more carefully, and
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 Rogers-Holladay's confiden-
tiai clerk-and from what l know of
Rogers I should say that he'd be the
last man in the world to make a willful
mlsstatement. He says that Miss Hol-
laday entered her ather's office late
yesterday afternoon, stayed there ten
minutes, and then came out hurriedly.
A few minutes later Rogers went into
| the nffna and found bio n,o~1o,,a.
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. o course, I'll
take the case"
"Of course!"
Miss Holiday probably sent for me
last night. but l 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
walt TIL tomorrow. That's all, I 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 to have a good man
with me, and he glanced in my direc-
ton. Ca you spare me Lester?"
MY heart gave a jump. It was just
the question l was hoping he would
ask.
Why. yes. OF course answered the
chief readily. In a case like this, Ger
ta1niy. Let me hear from you in the
course of the day"
Mr.. Royce nodded as he started for
the door.
Il Will; we'll find some flaw in that
fellows story. depend upon it. Come
on. Lester
I gathered up pen and paper and fol-
lowed him to the elevator. In a mo-
ment we We're In the street; there were
cabs In plenty now, disgorg1ng their
loads n starting back uptown again;
We hailed one, and in another moment
were rafting along toward our desti-
nation with such speed as the storm
permitted, There were many questions
surging through my brain to which I
should have welcomed an answer. The
storm had cut off my paper that morn
ing, and | regretted now that I had not
made a more determined effort to get
another. A glance at my companion
showed me the folly Of attempting to
secure any information from him, SO
L contented myself with reviewing what
I already knew OF the history of the
principals.
! knew Hiram w. Holiday. the muir
dered man, quite we'll; not only as ev-
cry New Yorker knew thai multi-mil-
lionaire as n of the most successful
operators in Wall street, but personally
rs We'll, since he naQ Deen q 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-
,narkably well; his wife had been long
dead. n 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 regailing al health which, had
been failing. so / 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-
mcnt seemed to grow and center about
his daughter, who developed into q tail
and beautiful girl-too beautiful. a.
was soon apparent, for our junior part
ner5s peace OF mind. Heshad met her
hrst In q business way, and afterwards
socially. and all OF US who had ewes
could see o he was eating his hear ~
out at n knowledge that she was far
beyond reach: for 1t was evident that
ner father deemed her worthy OF a brill
liant MARRIAGES., indeed, she was. i
sometimes thought that she held her
sell at 9 like value, for though there
was Q her q constant crowd al
| SuitOrS. none Of thnrn coou,9r rI,, $500.