The San Francisco call., 1910-08-21

alone in front of me. 1t was then l
noticed how his hands were awkward
ly carried in front of him, held by two
steel bands around his wrists, with a
chain like a bracelet chain swinging
between. The sight of it affected me
strangely. / had new bracelet which
also had two bands with a chain be
tween, but they were of gold, and both
were worn on the one hand.
The chief of police came and stood
beside me, and said, Look at this per
son. Miss Fenwick;. and / had been
looking at him all the tinls, as if by
doing that l could, make hi1n. under
stand how terribly j wished ! had
never seen him. Can you take your
aatll-could you take your oath in
open court that he is the Inang"
The chiefs voice. sounded solemn.
and those words oath" and "open
court" made me feel frighten1d. But
j saw he held up his hand. palm out,
and mechanically, T held up mime.
Yes" / repeat ted after him, Il can
take my oath in open court
Then the chief OF police nodded at
the policeman and said. That will dos,
But before. the man could move forward
the prisoner had walked straight up
to the rail, and standing there scarcely
two feet from rue, in such a, low voice
that only l could hear, Il am sorrg ]
frightened you this morning" he said.
IF ] had known yeu were passing 1
should have managed 1t differently.'
This ali happened so quickly that I
had hardly seen how dark his eyes
were before father thrust between us,
and / heard his voice, sounding very
low, and saying, something about in
fernal impudence and not presgfning
to come near me. The policeman
touched the dark mans elbow. He
started, half turnedton the man, made
a movement witl1s his hands: but then
he felt the jerk of the chain. The
blood rushed to his face With the
policeman holding his arm he walked
away across the room, and 1 wondered
what sort of place he was being taken
to. 1t wasn't until the door had closed
upon him that i realized how angry
father was. Mr.. Dingley was saying
that prisoners ought not to be per-
mitted to speak without permission,
but the chief leaned over his desk,
smiling at me, and asked What did
the prisoner say to you?"
HE apologized for frightening me-
I answered.
Still smiling. as if he were coaxing
child, Exactly what words did he
use. Miss Fenwick?"
[ could have repeated them exactly,
but / hesitated, for the last words he
had let slip had sounded oddly in nay
!
! should have managed it differently"
He seemed to make himself so abso-
lutely responsible for what had hap
pened. And when / thought how Mr..
Dingley had twisted my words about
l was afraid-afraid that if | ted
the ones THAT this man had spoken
they would somehow get twisted into
a meaning-perhaps not. the true one
that would be bad for him. / was
so upset. said, and SO startled by the
mans speaking to me at all I hardly
thought l could repeat them word for
word
Father put my coat around me and
said: Z hope that is ALL" very coldly
Yes" the chief said, except that
this young lady must understand tha
she is not to speak of what she saw
this morning.
Remember, Ellie" father said, .it
your friends talk to you about it you
have heard and seen nothing"
/ murmured, "Of course" and fol-
lowed father out of the prison with a
very strong conviction that nothing
was real.
AS we walked home again all the fa-
miliar surroundings seemed dreamlike
to me-the plaza with its high iron
railing and the shops facing upon il
and our own green palm farther ur
the street. futtering on the sky. Father
himself, so silent and walking on with
out ever turning his head to look al