Evening star., 1928-11-25

CHAPTER XLI.
T HIS time there was no need of
the bailiff's gavel. In the
amazed silence that filled the
room the telegraph instrument
sounded suddenly loud. The
breaking of a pencil point by one of
the @ and A twins came as tiny,
sharp explosion of sound.
The district attorney mopped his
brow and leaned back with sigh of
relief.
THAT is ALL Mrs. Kane"
"You may cross-eXamine.
The young defense attorney eyed the
figure in the witness chair as If he
were lion tanner entering the cage
of an unknown and highly tempera-
had grown perceptibly paler. But he
scraped his chair back from the table
and advanced to the attack.
Mrs Kane" he said ''is it not some
what unusual for a lady to conflde her
intimate personal affairs to her maid?"
"Ive nothing to do with whether 1t is
unusual or not Miss O'Shay did it,"
will the witness kindly answer the
question:"
Your honor I object. The question
is purely rhetorical. The witness can
not be expected to testify as to what
is or is not unusual"
objection sustained"
Mrs Kane, can you explain how
Mrs. Ellsworth came to conf1de her
marital and other affairs to you?"
''Yes. It was because / loved her"
The face with its slipping teeth and its
sausage roll of polished black hair was
no longer funny. It was grim, and in
strange way majestic. Miss O'Shay
was foolish, headstrong woman, but
loved her like my own daughter, and
she knew it. was the one person in
the world who never flattered her, to
whom she could always turns in the
scrapes she was forever getting into.
God knows I did my best to keep her
out of trouble. She didn't take my ad-
vice, not very often she didn't. She was
always Wild always took what she
wanted and never mind the conSe-
quences. And that I'd do my best to
keep the consequences from hurting
1er-too much. Always she got what
she wanted, and always it hurt her In
the end-till the very end of all"
The sunken mouth twisted, the sharp
eyes squinted shut. holding back the
tears. One of them SplaShed down on
the back of her cotton glove, and she
wiped it off with the other hand. She
was nothing but a WayWard girl all
those years, a wayward girl. spoiled by
all the attention she got playing with
fire and thinking it woui 1n't burn.
Why wouldn't know, I, who took care
of her from the time when I kept
boarding house and she was hardly
more than child, half starved, tramp
ing the agencies hunting a job in the
chorus!"
Graham gripped the table before him
with both hands.
Your honor. ask that the last re-
marks Of the witness be stricken from
the record as unresponsive. The char
acter of Mrs. Ellsworth as interpreted
by Mrs. Kane is beside the point"
THE witness answered your question.
She has right to explain her answer.
The remarks may stand"
why, If you were so devoted to Mrs
Ellsworth, did you withhold this vital
information? Why did you refuse to
cooperate with DR.. Cavanaugh in his
efforts to identify the body?" Graham
pounced.
Your honor!' The district attor-
neY was panied and reproachful. IT
object! The question is complex"
IT will reframe the question"
Graham had himself in hand now. He
faced the old woman in the chair with
an air of solemn triumph. Mrs. Kane,
why did you refuse to give DR.. Cava-
naugh hair of Mrs. Ellsworth's to
compare with the hair of the body
found in the rl1arsh?"