The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1911-07-01
The House
of the
Whispering
Pines
By ANNA KATHARINE GREEN
Copyright. 1910, by Anna Katharine
Rohlfs
CHAPTER XVII.
ALL THIS STOOD.

CHAPTER XVII.
ALL THIS STOOD.
r SHALL spare you the opening
details Of the trial, also much o1
preliminary testimony. Enough
that at the close of the sixth day
the outlook was serious one for Ar
thur Cumberland. The prosecution ap-
peared to be making good it's claims.
The quiet and Unexpectedly dignif1ed
way in which at the beginning the
defendant had faced the whole antag-
onistic courtroom with the simple
plea of mot guilty" was being slowly
but surely forgotten in the accumulat-
ed proofs of his disconnected life under
his sisters dominating influence. his
desire for independence and free use
of the money held in trust for him by
this sister under their fathers will,
the quarrels which such a situation
would naturally evoke between charac-
tiers cast in such different molds and
actuated by such opposing tastes and
principles. and the final elimination
Of the same at the dinner table when
Adelaide forced him. as 1t were. to sub
scribe to her prohibition of all further
use of liquor in their house Follow
ing this evidence of motive came the
still more damaging one Of oppor-
tunity. He was shown to have been
in the clubhouse at or near the time of
Adelaide's death. The matter Of the
bottles was gone into and the event In
Cuthbert road. Then l was called to
the stand and my testimony asked for.
l had prepared myself for the ordeal
and faced it unfinchingly. That /
sary to Carmel's safety I met my in
quisitOrs now, as before, with the ut
most candor in all other respects. In
deed. In one particular l was even
more exact in my details than at any
previous examination. l acknowledged
what l had hitherto concealed. that in
my first entrance into the clubhouse l
had come upon mans derby hat and
coat hanging in the lower hall, and
when questioned more minutely on the
subject allowed it to appear that it
was owing to the disappearance Of
these articles during my stay upstairs
that l had been led into saying that
some one had driven away from the
Whispering Pines before the coming
of the police.
This. as you will see, was In open
contradiction of my former statements
that l had seen an unknown party
thus attired driving away through the
upper gateway just as l entered by
the lower. But it was q contradiction
which. while noted by Mr.. Moffat.
Arthur's lawyer. failed to injure me
with the jury and much 'Ncs with the
spectators. That / shoulc nrev ar1cate
even to my own detriment =. a pre-
liminary examination only to tell the
truth openly and like a man when in
court and under the sanc1ty Of an
oath was. in the popular estimation,
something =, my credit, and Mr.. Moi
fat. who's chief recommendation as
counsel lag in his quick appreciation
of the eugencies of the moment, did
not press me too sharply on this point
when he came to his cross examina
ton.
But in other respects he drove me
hard. An effort was made by him
first Of all to discredit me as a wit
ness. My lack of appreciation for
Adelaide and my secret but absorbing
love for Carmel were inexorably
brought out; also the easy. happy-go-
lucky tenor of my life and my logged
persistence in any course I thought
consistent with my happiness. My
character was well known in this
town OF my birth, and it would have
been folly for me to attempt to gloss
it over. 1 had mot even the desire to
do so. If my sins exacted penance
would pay it here and now and to the
full. Only Carmel should not suffer-
/ refused to admit that she had given
any evidences Of returning my reck-
less passion. My tongue would not
speak the necessary words. and it was
not made to. 1t was not her charac-
ter. but mine. which Mr.. Moffat was
endeavoring to assail.
But though l was thus shown up
for what l was. in a manner most
public and undesirable. neither the
rulings of the court nor the attitude
of the jury betrayed any loss of con-
fidence in me as credible witness.
and. seeing this. the willy lawyer shift
ed his ground and confined himself to
an endeayor to shake me on certain
definite and important points concern
ing my finding of the body. Then he
branched off into q less narrowing
topic and cross examined me in re-
gard to the ring. l had So y that it
was on her hand when baue soodby
to her in her own hous and that 1t
was not there when l came upon her
dead Had the fact made me curious
to examine the hand: No. Then |
could not tell whether the finger on
which she wore it gave any evidence
of this ring having been pulled off
with violence: No. l could not swear
that in my opinion it was? I could
not
The small flask of cordial and the
three glasses, one clean and the 9th
ers showing signs of having been used.
were next taken up. but with no re-
suit for the defense | had told all
knew about these in my direct exami-
nation: also about such matters as the
bottles found on the kitchen table. the
leaving of my keys at the Cumberland
house and the fact. we'll known. that
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