The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-05

 and hard working, whose positions and good character were attacked by David Pollock"
 For moment the judge hesitated, and the court held its breath-aggres- sive, even antagonistic at the mere thought of losing the gay little witness who was looking from the judge to Lang6on with such childishly startled eyes. Then his Honor said slowly: sI cannot sustain your objection to the testimony as irrelevant, sir. con- slider all that has a bearing upon the curious relations existing between MT. Pollock and Miss Page as of paramount importance. At the same time," he added, turning to Langdon, T would suggest that you instruct your witness to conf1ne her testimony to mere state- ments of fact"
 The entire courtroom, not excepting the jury, heaved sigh of relief, and Langdon's face showed a flush of tri- umph as he asked:
 "How long did your engagement in "A Woman's Pledge last, Miss Barton?"
 "Six weeks. but we only got salary for four"
 "Where did the tour end?"
 "It didn't end. It blew up in a one- tank rube town called Prindleville. It was one of those towns that have the railroad station on one side of Main Street, the hotel and 'Opry' house at the other and the rest of the buildings scattered about wherever they happen ed to drop"
 Again a gust of laughter lifted through the dingy room, but Langdon drowned and shook his head at Amy.
 Never mind descriptions" he said more sharply than he had spoken so far, for he feared that the judge in a revulsion of feeling might stop his wit ness before she had told the story that meant so much in the case for the de- fence. But Amy, far from being awed by his sternness, pouted at him with a gay little moue and went on with her story in her own fashion.
 We were all feeling pretty grouchy when we hit Prindleville, because it had been a losing tour, the ghost hadn't walked for a month, and nobody knew whether we'd ever get back to New York or not"
 Did you give the performance that night?" broke in Langdon impatiently.
 "Well, we started to, but it never got beyond the ticket-taking stage, for the sheriff blew in with badge as big as a saucer and said that he'd been order ed to hold all our trunks and props for unpaid board bills in the last four towns, and that meant that we were stranded with Broadway doing the Sheridan act many miles away"
 What did you do?"
 "We did what company always does we went back to the hotel and said what we thought of the producer and tried to borrow carfare from the hotel proprietor. That was when we saw David Pollock again"
 "Do you mean that MT. Pollock was in the hotel when you got there?"
 "No. but he arrived in town by the last train, and walked into the lobby while we were there."
 Did he speak to you?"
 "Yes. He came over and said he was going through the town on a business trip, and seeing Mary's name on an eight sheet-you know-big poster-he had jumped off on Impulse. He said he was awfully sorry that the tour had ended so unfortunately. and begged her to let him arrange for our return to New York;"
 Did Miss Page accept?"
 "No. She refused absolutely"
 "Did she seem much agitated at see- ing him?"
 "Yes. She-she looked as if she would scream if he touched her. She held onto my arm 50 tight 1t made a black and blue spot; and you could see the pulse in her throat jumping the way 1t does before woman dissolves into mysteries"
 Had you noticed that extreme nerv- ousness in Miss Page before?'
 "Yes. The day we saw MT. Pollock at the Prentiss Agency" ~
 "Now. Miss Barton. having refused to accept MT. Pollock's offer. how did you secure a nights lodging?"
 ''The proprietor of the place was a and soft heart that wore the makeup of grouch. and when Mary offered him ring that had been her mothers, as a pledge for our board. he kind of gulped and handed over the key to our room without a word."
 s'You say our room. That means that you remained with Miss Pager"
 Why. of course." she said in obvious SuIpI1So. IOu uOu SupPObo Q 6O back on Mary. do you?"
 Langdon smiled. I'm not supposing anything" he said gently. "But want to make everything quite clear for the court, and in order to do that may ask a good many unnecessary ques- tions. So will you tell us. please. ex- actly what you and Miss Page did after the hotel proprietor had given you the key to your room?"
 We went upstairs and had a little cry" she said whimsically. a furtive dimple showing as she spoke. "Then. having powdered our noses and cheer ed up, left Mary resting while went to the head of the stairs to see what was doing in the office. and what had happened to the rest of the bunch"
 "Could you see those in the office from the stairway?"
 Plainly, by going down to the first landing and looking through the ban isters."
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