in her eyes which had greeted our junior disprove that,
at once and forever? Certainly, there was some fatal flaw in the
evidence, and it was for us to find it.

I leaned my head back against the wall with a little sigh of relief.
What a fool I had been! Of course, we should find it! Mr. Royce had
spoken the words, the district attorney had pointed out the way. We
had only to prove an alibi! And the next witness would do it. Her
coachman had only to tell where he had driven her, at what places she
had stopped, and the whole question would be settled. At the hour the
crime was committed, she had doubtless been miles away from Wall
Street! So the question would be settled--settled, too, without the
necessity of Miss Holladay undergoing the unpleasant ordeal of
cross-examination.

"It is a most extraor-rdinary affair," said a voice at my elbow, and I
turned with a start to see that the chair just behind me had been
taken by a man who was also reading an account of the crime. He laid
the paper down, and caught my eye. "A most extraor-rdinary affair!" he
repeated, appealing to me.

I nodded, merely glancing at him, too preoccupied to notice him
closely. I got an impression of a florid face, of a stout,
well-dressed body, of an air unmistakably French.

"You will pardon me, sir," he added, leaning a little forward. "As a
stranger in this country, I am much inter-rested in your processes of
law. This morning I was present at the trial--I per-rceived you there.
It seemed to me that the young lady was in--what you call--a tight
place."

He spoke English very well, with an accent of the slightest. I glanced
at him again, and saw that his eyes were very bright and that they
were fixed upon me intently.

"It does seem so," I admitted, loth to talk, yet not wishing to be
discourteous.

"The ver' thing I said to myself!" he continued eagerly. "The--what
you call--coe-encidence of the dress, now!"

I did not answer; I was in no humor to discuss the case.

"You will pardon me," he repeated persuasively, still leaning forward,
"but concer-rning one point I should like much to know. If she is
thought guilty what will occur?"

"She will be bound over to the grand jury," I explained.

"That is, she will be placed in prison?"

"Of course."

"But, as I understand your law, she may be released by bondsmen."

"Not in a capital case," I said; "not in a case of this kind, where
the penalty may be death."

"Ah, I see," and he