"An old friend; a friend of her early
days; do you not remember?"

"I do not."

His tormentors went no further. Why harass him for an item of knowledge
which the morrow would certainly bring to light. Instead, they hurried
through the remaining formalities, adding to the reading already made a
capitulation of such answers as he had given to their questions, and
witnessing, while he signed both papers.

This done, he was left for a moment in peace, while the two officials
drew aside into the embrasure of the window for a momentary conference.

He seemed to notice the hush, for he roused from the torpor into which
he was again about to sink, and glanced cautiously about him. The
stenographer was busy with his papers, and the other two stood with their
backs to him. If help was to come it must come now. This he realized,
with a sudden graying of his face which took from it the last vestige
of that youthfulness which had been its distinguishing feature; and the
finger which had fumbled from time to time in his vest-pocket stole
thither once more, bringing forth a little vial which in another moment
he raised to his lips.

Was there no one to see? No one to stop him?

No, the stenographer was closing up his bag; and the two officials deep
in conversation. He could drain the last drop unseen.

But the sound of the little vial crashing upon the hearthstone whither he
had flung it broke the quiet and startled the District Attorney forward
in a doubt bordering upon terror.

"What is that?" he asked, pointing to the fragments that had just missed
the ash heap.

"It contained oblivion," was the answer given him in steady tones. "Do
you wonder that I sought it? Nothing can save me. I have two minutes
before me. I would dedicate them to _her_."

His head fell forward on his hands. The clock on the mantel struck. Could
it be that when the second hand had circled its small disc twice--

This was the thought of the District Attorney, but not of the Chief
Inspector. He had advanced to the desk where Mr. Roberts was still
sitting, and remarked with a gravity exceeding any he had hitherto shown:

"Mr. Roberts, I have a great disappointment for you. This little vial
of yours which held poison yesterday contained nothing but a few drops
of harmless liquid to-day. The change was made in the night, by one
suspicious of your intention. You will have to face the full consequences
of your crime."

Carleton Roberts' arms collapse