aid I, "what is the news?"

"The inquest says drowning or blows on the head administered by a party
or parties unknown," he answered gravely. "John Chalmers, the husband,
acts like a heeled snake--violent and sinuous by turns. His lawyer has
waived all preliminary proceedings and, as luck will have it, we have a
clear docket to go to trial with a jury."

By afternoon the town was filled with reporters who had come up on the
midday train. From the back windows you could see them walking along the
banks of the river and talking with a man in a red shirt. And later I
learned he was the one who had gone out in a rowboat and found the poor
woman's silly hat, that, with its wet yellow roses and lavender veil,
had floated around amongst a clump of rushes. With night the city papers
came, full of accounts of the actress and how she had played in
melodramas, until finally she had played her farewell in a tragedy of
real life. One said her husband was going to prove an _alibi_; another
said he had no memory whatever of where he had been or what he had done
that evening; and still another paper said the woman had been seen to
quarrel with him and join a mysterious stranger, who was described as
being a hunchback of terrible ugliness. All three of those I saw said
the mystery might never be solved, but that new developments were
expected every minute by both the state police and the chief of the
local department.

"Margaret," said the Judge that evening at supper, as I was waiting on
him, "you must not be talking of this murder with any one. Remember that
you are employed in my home. Furthermore, I have old-fashioned notions,
and so, from now on, I have stopped the 'Morning Chronicle' from coming
to the house and I don't want any newspapers brought in until the trial
is over."

"And when will that be?" I asked.

"Soon, I hope," he answered. "The district attorney, I understand, has
conferred with the police again this afternoon, and believes he has
enough evidence to hang Chalmers and that no more can be gathered. For
some reason the defense is equally satisfied. Do you understand now?"

"Yes, sir," I said. "There won't be much delay."

"Not much delay," he repeated over after me, and his voice shook as I
never heard it shake before that minute.

"The beast!" I said.

"Hush," said he. "He must be found guilty first. But if he is--"

He stopped there, but I saw the light in his eyes and his long,
tight-clenched fingers t