ared him. Doctor John may have overheard Lloyd when he told Symonds
that he had absolute proof of her guilt. He attends several of Mrs.
Lane's boarders professionally, and may have been in the house at that
time."

"Hold on, hold on; not so fast, man," cautioned Warren. "It is not
likely Doctor John went about carrying poison in his pocket, and how
was it possible for him to be there at the psychological moment?"

"You forget his office is next door to Mrs. Lane's; it would not have
taken him five minutes to get the poison and reenter the boarding
house. Secondly," as Warren still stared at him with unbelieving eyes,
"Doctor John disappeared that night and has not been heard of since."

CHAPTER XXV

A THUNDERBOLT

The court-room was crowded when Colonel Andrews called the court to
order on Wednesday morning. Goddard's arrest had stirred interest in
the trial to fever heat, and the authorities had been besieged by
requests for cards of admission.

Mrs. Warren was late in arriving, having stopped in her carriage to
pick up Mrs. Arnold and Mrs. Bennett, and she found that every seat was
occupied. But the orderly at a whispered word from the judge advocate
placed extra chairs for them near the center table. After thanking the
judge advocate for his courtesy, Mrs. Warren turned and looked
anxiously at Nancy.

The strain of the past two days had told on the girl. She looked
haggard and worn, and her eyes were heavy from lack of sleep. She
caught Mrs. Warren's eye, and smiled bravely in response to a friendly
wave of the hand. She showed far more composure than either of her
counsel. Mr. Dwight was visibly nervous, and Warren preoccupied.

He and Doctor Ward had talked far into the early hours of the morning,
without coming to any decision except that it would be best to ask a
stay of proceedings on the plea that new and vital evidence in Nancy's
behalf could be procured. Warren hesitated even to do that. He realized
all too clearly that he was between the horns of a dilemma. If it
chanced that Doctor Boyd's motive for killing Captain Lloyd was to
secure that despatch and thus protect Nancy, it would but establish her
guilt as a rebel spy. No one would be likely to believe Boyd had
committed such a murder unless he _knew_, and feared the despatch would
incriminate her if allowed to fall into Union hands.

Since seven o'clock Warren had been scouring the city in search of a
clue as to Doctor Boyd's whereabout