Evening star., 1927-06-13
CHAPTER XIII.

" HE ceremonies which had pre
ceded Howard Warrington
incarceration were of the sim
Il plest.
He was taken before the
desk of the police sergeant in the base
ment of the city hall, booked as a sus
picious character, and after a super
| ficial search was placed in a cell. one
of dozen or so, along a small cement
! f1oored corridor--an interior cell, light
ed only indirectly from the windows
by the sergeant's desk outside.
AS a place of detention it was ad
mirable; as sanctuary for rest anC
thought it was beyond words. There
was a constant movement along the
cement floor of the corridor outside
and in the cubicle next to him little
| Italian, brought in with q demiiohr
| of wine, alternately walled and chat
tered to himself.
Police of various ranks came and
went, their heavy voices echoing and
re-echoing. Men mopped the floor
ratified brass cuSpidorS and dragged
| chairs about.
Over all was the thick odor of un.
washed human bodies, poor sanitary
| arrangements, carbolic acid and dead
cigar ends.
He sat down on his bench-bed and
lighted a cigarette, and almost imme.
diately men all about him began to beg
for tobacco.
He tossed a half dozen or so across
the passage, but one of them fell short,
and there ensued a struggle between
two negroes to reach it.
There was no humor in their efforts,
but grim and desperate resolutions;
they stretched and painted, grunted
and cursed and on this strange con-
test a dozen other men gaZed, their
faces pressed against the bars.
Toward night he began to suffer
from claustrophobia; the cell seemed
to be closing in on him and the air to
be heavy and unbreathable; he was
covered with cold sweat.
But he knew the claustrophobia was
only reflex of his own mental condi-
ton, his inner conviction that he was
trapped and done for.
Men did not suffer this ignominy to
have it forgotten. They went on
through life marked men, shamed men.
And who was there to eXonerate
him? Mrs. Bayne. Suppose he broke
his promise to Holly and told them
that? How could he prove it?
And what would Holly do? He knew
quite well what she would do. She
would simply repeat that she had
taken the bond herself and given it to
him to sell.
Round and round. Round and
round.
The Italian walled and babbled.
Drunks came in. were showed along
the corridor and locked away.
Then there was a scuffie going on
outside and a voice that seemed to
echo out OF some troubled dream.
He sat up and listened to it. 1t
was truculent, drunken and familiar
You leggo me- it was saying.
I'm all right. Wha' you doin any.
how? Leggo, I tell you"
1t was James Cox. Honest James
Cox.
They dragged him past the cell and
on to any empty one, farther along.
Warrington heard the metallic
crash as they closed and locked him
in, heard James stumble to his bed
and drop on it, still thickly mutter-
ing, and later on, heard his heavy
breathing as he slept.
Early in the morning the cells were
evacuated and shuffling line of men
moved out along the corridor for
hearings, sentences and fines.
JdHiSS SoA WAS among ln6n, MS
head bowed. his gait unsteady. AS
he passed Warrington saw the be-
wilderment in his face.
At 3 o'clock they took Warrington
back to the district attorneys office.
He had not shaved for two days, and
he felt less a man for the dark stub
bic on his face.
His linen, bad enough the morning
before, was in deplorable condition,
and opposed to him the district attor-
ney, newly shaven, rested and care
fully dressed, had an advantage he
was quick to feel.
'All right, Warrington. Come in'
And, when he had sat down well,
you've had time to think. How
about it?"
1--WE had time to think, but that's
about ALL"
I'VE don't claim TO run a first-class