Evening star., 1918-07-14

ieit convinced tnat II ene hao not peeh
cident, she certainly had become SO
since. He still held to his theory that
her story, fantastic and out of char
acter as 1t seemed, was true In all
its essentials. and that 1t was the
received of her husbands death.
rather than what had taken place
under her eyes. which had caused her
such/ extreme suffering and tempor-
arily laid her reason low.
With the full appreciation Of the
his idea. Mr. Gryce began the sitting
process by which he hoped to discover
the one witness he wanted.
To subject to further durance such
persons as from their position at the
moment OF tragedy could have no in
formation to give bearing in any way
upon their investigation was mani
testify unfair. The old woman who
had been found in room A was of
this class. and accordingly was al
as had been within twenty feet or
more of the main entrance. These
eliminated ut was curious to see how
loath these few chosen ones were to
depart, now that the opportunity was
given them). Mr. Gryce settled down
come forward.
She, as you will see by consulting
the chart. answered to the person
marked "2." A little, dried-up, eager
woman rose from the bench on which
were collected the few people still re-
naming, and met his inquiring look
with o nervous smile. She, of all the
persons moving about on, the main
floor at the moment Of alarm, had
been in the, best position for seeing
of the victim in section H.. Had she
seen them? The continued jigging Of
the small. wiry curls hanging out
from either side Of her old-fashioned
bonnet would seem to betray an inner
tae nasat,ye oi some
all events Mr.. Gryce allowed himself
this hope and was most bland and
encouraging in his manner as he
showed her the place which hAd-been
assigned her on the chart drawn up
by SweetwAter. and asked II the posi-
tton given her was correct. ~. :.
Perhaps q ready reply was too much
to- expecH-women Of her stamp not
knowing, as q rule, very much about
charts; But when he saw her hasten:
sweetwaterl he took heart and with
suggestive glance at the gallery in
timated that he would be very glad
to hear what she had seen there. Her
surprise was evident, much too evil
dent for his satisfaction. The little
= NuhA6 JA4e Q0 dOOuk 1uOIoH luAH 0FCEp
and her checks grew quite pink as
she answered hastily: =: ::
Il didn't see anything. wasn't
locking. DID you think saw any,
II hoped you had" he smiled. "If.
your eyes had chanced to be turned
toward that end of the gallery
But I was going the other way
My back was to 1t. not my face]ike
this" And, wheeling herself about.
walking toward the rear Of the build
ing rather than advancing toward the
front. 4 ,ae, - ~
HIS disappointment was great; but
1t would have been greater IL he had
not realised that under these con-
ditions she was in the precise position
to meet face to face any person
emerging into the court from the foot
of the small staircase II she could
tell him Of having seen any such per-
son, and closely enough to be able to
give description of this persons APP
pearance, then she might prove to bel
his prime witness, after ALL But she
could not satisfy him on this point
She had been on her way out, and was
too busy searching in her bag for her
there were people about her or not.
She had not found it when the great
shout came.& '''
" And then"
On. tnen She was SO frightened and
so shocked that everything swan be-
fore her eyes and she nearly fell!
Her heart was not strong one and
sometimes missed a beat or two, and
she thought 1t must have done so
then. for when her head steadied
again she found herself cinging to
the balustrade OF the great staircase.
Then you have nothing whatever
to add to what the others have told2" .
Her mo-" II a shaky one, was de-
cistve, and, seeing no reason for de-
tanning her further, he gave her per-
mission to depart.
Disturbed in his calculations, but
not disheartened, Mr.. Gryce next pro-
ceeded to tnterrogate the doorman ut
this end Of the building. From his
position. facing as he did the ap-
proach from the small staircase, he
should be able TO- say IL the old lady
could not, whether any one had crossed
the open strip Of court toward which
she had been advancing. But Mr..
on this point than she. He was the
Oldest man connected with the mu-
scum. and had been very much sha ken
up BY what had occurred Really. he
could not say whether any one had
passed across his line of vision al
that time or not. All he could be sure
OF was that no attempt had been made
py any one to reach the door after he
had been bidden to close it.
So this clte ended like the rest in
no thoroughfare. Would he have anv
better luck with the subject Of his
next inquiry? The young lady tabu
lated as No. 13 was where she could
nave seen the upper edge of the