The Washington times., 1920-05-23

nate that he took the evioonce OF
my uncle arst. for uncle sah In .
light wayne was perfectly COL
lected all through the ordsAl-that
he supposed he and mis- vile had
been pretty much like the average
OF married couples: they had had
their differences. and 30 on. The
coroner did not press him to the
point Of asking whether there had
been any particular subject Of dis
agreement between them of late. ]
realized that he might have made
his questions very mach more
searching and vexing had he %
wished.
say 1t was lucky that Uncle
Ralph's evidence was heard flrSt.
because the servants. an sure,
took their cue from It and said. in
effect, just what he had In this 70
gard. ! trembled when the exam
ination OF Celeste began, but she
went docilely with Uncle Ralph
and Granger and Susan-just
slight disagreements. there may
have been, between monsieur and
her ladyship. Was 1t not ever 80
with married peopief She did not
knov-this with q shrug OF her
shoulders. Perhaps monsieur
("monsieur' on this occasion was
the coroner) was himself married
and was better able to Judge.
A smile went round the court 1t
this manner Of Celeste's carrying
the war OF questions against the
coroner himself. l think that he
was rather glad to dismiss her and
be quit Of her overreadiness. to
Offer evidence and unsolicited sug-
gestions. and that ne WAS q little
terrified - to what she might say
next.
1t was q terror that myself was
very conscious Of, 80 perhaps only
imagined 1t in him. At all events,
she did not say much that she con-
ceivably might have said about the
acute recent trouble between my
uncle and aunt. Nor did she say
anything about that story which
she had told the sergeant Of seeing
my uncle leave the Summer-house,
or, at least, come from its direc-
ton, when she was in the shrub
berry with Jim Heasden. And Heas-
den. when his turn to be questioned
came, said nothing about 1t either.
At that time l knew nothing OF
the tale that Celeste had told the
sergeant, so naturally was not ex.
pecting or fearing to hear 1t, but !
suppose that the sergeant may
have been, though, Of course, all
the importance had been taken out
of any statement Of the kind by
the doctors evidence az to the
hour at which the death must have
taken place. Celeste probably
would have been quite clever
enough to realize this, and prob
ably had whispered to Heasden,
who was standing quite near her
and who might or might not have
appreciated the point, that their
story no longer had the value
which they had attributed to it.
At the same time the doctors
evidence served Jim Heasdan no
less we'll, for his presence In the
neighborhood Of the Summer-house
at eleven-thirty or some such hour
could not possibly be SUPPOSED to
have anything to do with q crime
committed two hours earlier. The
whole aspect Of the problem had
been altered by this unexpected
evidence on the doctors part, and
1t took a little while to readjust
ones point of view toward 1t.
There was IN adjournment for
luncheon or dinner. whichever
meal one happened to take about
the middle OF the day, soon after
twelve O'Clock, and when the court
reassembled the coroner, ny the
mouths of various witnesses, fol-
lowed all the course OF the story,
so far as they could tell II. much
on the lines that I have written,
and when he had gone through all
the witnesses on, his list and had
considered, for q few minutes, the
case as q whole. he prepared to
sum up and lay II, In his own lam
gsass and ~ clearly ~ might be,
before the jury. Before he did so,
however. and more ~ q matter OF
form than anything else. he said,
addressing the audience generally:
Now has anyone else anything
that he or she can tell the court
anything that may have any pos
sible bearing on the case? There
is no piece OF evidence SO small but
what II may be of possible assis.
lance. shall be very glad II any
one who thinks he can add any.
thing to what the court already
knows will tell u.s."
He looked about che large room
with very little expectation OF any
response to his appeal. Nor was
response at all readily forth coming.
Only, far back, there was a certain
shuffling Of feet, certain inter-
change of hoarse whispers, One
could see in q moment What II
meant-one OF the rustics had
some Information which he did not.