The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-05-22
q WILL TAKE YOUR CASE"

] WILL YOUR CASE.
 ings, forgot the claims of my dear, dead mother and even those or my own future. Such passion and snch devotion merited consideration from the man who had called them forth. I would no: slight the claims of my dead mother, but I would give this young girl chance for her life. Let others ferret out the fact that she had visited the clubhouse with her sister; l would not proclaim it. It was enough for me to proclaim my innocence.
 I was in this frame of mind when Charles Clifton called and was allowed to see me. I had sent for him in one of mS discouraged moods. He was my friend, but he was also my legal advis- CT. and 1t was as such I had summon ed him. and it was as such he had now come. Cordial as our relations had bees. noted no instinctive outstretch- ing of his hand and so did not reach out mine. I was the first to speak.
 "I am an innocent man so far as the attack made upon Miss Cumberland goes I had no hand in her murder, if murder it is found out to be. My story which you have read in the papers and which I felt forced to give out, possi- ply to my own shame and that of an other whom I would fain have saved. is an absolutely true one. l did not arrive at the Whispering Pines until after Miss Cumberland was dead. To this I am ready to swear, and it is upon this fact you must rely in any defense you may hereafter be called upon to make in my regard"
 But I saw that I had made no i'm pression on bis convictions. He re- garded me as guilty man and. what was more to the point no doubt, as one for whom no plea could be made or any rational defense undertaken.
 You don't believe me-" I went on. still without any great bitterness. 'I am not surprised at it after what the man Clarke has said of seeing me with my hands on her throat. But, Charles, to you I will confess that I did this out of a wild desire to see if those marks were really the marks of stran- gling fingers. You shall believe me Eou must,' I insisted as I perceived his hard gaze remain unsoftened. T don't ask 1t of the rest of the world 2 But you. if you are to act as my coun sel, must take this denial from me as gospel truth. She was dead before l touched her. Had the police spy whose testimony is likely to hang me climbed the tree a moment sooner than he did he would have seen that. Are you ready to take my caseY'
 Clifton is a fair fellow, and I knew If he once accepted the fact l thus urged upon him he would work for me with all the skill and ability my desperate situation demanded I was conscious of great leap of heart as the set expression of his fea atures re- faxed and he responded almost warm ly:
 'I will take your case. Ranelagh God he.p me to make it good against all cdJ5
 was conscious of few hopes, but some of the oppression under which ! labored lifted at those words. had assured one man of my innocence! He was ready to speak before i was "Thea you had not been long on the scene of crime when the police arriy- ed?'
 T had been in the room but few minutes. I do not know how long was searching the house."
 ''The police say that fully twenty minutes elapsed between the time they received Miss Cumberland's appeal for help and their arrival at the clubhouse. AL@%
 ''I cannot say. Moments are hours at such crisis I"-
 My emotions were too much for me and I confusedly stopped. He was surveying me with the old distrust. In a moment saw why.
 You are not open with me-" he protested. "Why should moments be hours to you previous to the instant when you stripped those pillows from the couchT'
 This was a poser. I had laid my self open to suspicion by one thought less admission, and, what was worse, it was but the beginning in all prob ability of many other possible mis- takes. I had never taken the trouble to measure my words, and, the whole truth being impossible. l necessarily must make a slip now and then. He had better be warned of this. I did not wish him to undertake my cause bindfolded. He must understand its difficulties while believing in my inno-- cence. Then if he chose to draw back we'll and good. I should have to face the situation alone