The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1907-02-14
CHAPTER I.
a Bolt from the Blue.

I usual We had all OF us fought Out
way downtown through such a storm
| OF wind. snow. slush and siect as Il
/ To be found nowhere save In mid
March New York. and our tempers
had suffered accordingly. I had found
cab unobtaina bile. and there was. oi
| course. the Inevitable jam ON the ele-
waited. with the trains many minutes
behind the schedule. I was some half
| hour ate, In consequence. and when
| entered the inner ONCE I was sur
/ prised 90 ind Mr.. Graham. our senior
alrt ady at his desk. He nodded good
| morning n little CURLY.
| II wish you'd look over these papers
| Ia the Hurd case Lester" he said. and
! pushed them toward me.
I took them and sat down. and just
! then tho outer door slammed with a
/ violence extremely unusual.
had never seen Mr.. Royce. our Ju-
| nior 30 deeply shaken. so visibly dis
tracted. as he WAS when he burst In
upon Va a moment later. q newspaper
In his hand. Mr.. Graham. startled BY
the noise Of his entrance. wheeled
around from his desk and stared nj him
| In astonishment.
why. upon my word. John" he be-
gan. you look all done up. What's
| the natter
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 n trcm-
bling finger the article which occupied
the first column OF the first page--the
place OF honor.
l saw our seniors face change ms he
read the headlines. and he seemed pos
itlvely horror stricken as he ran rap
idly through the story which followed.
Why this Is the most remarka BILE
. Ia la..R
"Remarknble!" cried the other. why.
It's dBmnablc outrage. sir! The idea
that n gentle. cultured girl like Fran
ces Holiday would deliberately muir
der her own father-strike him down
In cold blood-ls too monstrous. too
! absolutely preposterous. too--too----''
and ho stopped. fairly choked by his
emotion.
The words brought me upright In
my chair. Frances Holiday accused
of-well!-no wonder our junior was
upset!
But Mr.. Graham was reading through
the article again more carefully. aud
while he nodded sympatheiically TO
show that he fully assented to the
others words. n straight. deep line OF
pcrplcxity. which ] 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 Hoiladay's confiden-
tial clerk-and from what I know OF
Rogers I should say that he'd be the
last man In the world to make a willful
misstatement. He says that Miss Hoi-
laday entered her fathers Office late
yesterday afternoon, stayed there ten
minutes. and then came out hurriedly.
A few minutes later Rogers went into
the ONCE and found his employer
dead. That's the whole case. but i'm
h.. Aa, "A
Well. Il must be broken!" retortcd
the other. pulling himself together
with a supreme effort. ''of course. I'll
take the case"
"Of COURSE
Miss Holiday probably sent for me
last night, but was out nj Babylon.
you know. looking up that witness I'm
his evidence viii give us the case. our
answer In the Brown injunction can
wait Till tomorrow. That's all, think"
The chief nodded.
"Yes-I see the inquest In 10 begin at
10 O'Clock. You haven't much time"
Nod like TO have a good man
with me. and he glanced In my direc-
ton. Can you spare me Lester"
My heart gave a jump. IL was just
the question / was hoping lie would
ask.
why. YES. OF course" answered the
chief readily. I'm "A case like this. GER
tainly. Let me hear from you IN the
course OF the day
Mr. Royce nodded rs he started for
the door
II viii: well md some flaw In that
fellows story. depend upon II. Come
OF. Lester"
/ gathered M pen and paper and fol-
lowed him TO the elevator. In "A mo-
meut we were I'm the street: there were
ha In fNta hai
loads and starting back uptown again:
we hailed one. and In another moment
were rattllng along toward our desti-
nation with such speed AN the storm
permitted. There were many questions
surging through my brain to which I
should have welcomed an answer. The
storm had cut OF my paper that morn
Ing. and I regretted now that 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
contcnted myself with reviewing what
I already knew OF the history OF the
principals
/ knew Hiram W. Holiday. the muir
dcrcd man. quite well. not only as ev-
cry New Yorker knew that multi-mil-
Iionalre rs one of the most successful
operators in Wall street. but personally
as well. since he had been client OF
bFAnAln a royce TWENTY years anu
more. He was nj that time well OF
toward seventy years OF age. should
say. though lac carried his years re-
:narknbly we'll. his wife had been long
dead aud lac mad only one child. his
daughter, Fra ccs. who must have been
about twenty-five. She had been born
abroad. aud spent the first years OF
her life there with her mother. who had
fingered on tie Riviera and among the
hills OF Italy and Switzerland In the
hop. 81 reguiuinE n health which had
beer failing. so understood. ever since
her daughters birth. She had come
home nj 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 n tall
and beautiful EiTl-too beautiful. as
WAS soon apparent. for our Junior part
ner's peace of mind. He had met her
FIRST I'm n business way. and afterwards
socially, and all OF us who had eyes
could see how lac was eating his heart
out ut the knowledge that she was far
beyond reach. for IL was evident that
her father deemed her worthy OF a bril-
liant marriages.. indeed. she was.
sometimes thought that she held her
self ut "A like value. for though there
was about her n constant crowd OF
suitors. none OF them. seemingly. could
tt.Fn ntnIfa ~ ha