ers
came upon the scene, and people from adjoining rooms helped to swell
the numbers. Everyone was talking at once.

The form of Wicks, motionless and broken, lay far below the window, on
the pavement of an air and light shaft, formed like a niche in the
building. Garrison sent Dorothy to her lodgings, promising to visit
her soon. There was nothing she could do in such a place, and he felt
there was much she should be spared.

Pike, young Barnes, and Foster Durgin remained, the two former as
witnesses of what had occurred, Durgin by Garrison's request. All
others were presently closed out of the office, and the body of Wicks
was removed.

The hour that followed, an hour of answering questions, making
statements, proving who he was and what, was a time that Garrison
disliked exceedingly, but it could not be escaped. Reporters had
speedily gathered; the story would make a highly sensational sequel to
the one already printed.

The guilt of Wicks had been confessed. Corroborative testimony being
quite abundant, and every link in the chain complete, the affair left
no possible suspicion resting upon either Scott or any of Hardy's
relatives; and Garrison and Durgin refused to talk of Dorothy's
marriage or anything concerning the will.

The story used before was, of course, reviewed at length. Despite the
delays of the investigation immediately undertaken, Garrison managed at
last to secure the freedom of Pike and Will Barnes, in addition to that
of himself and Foster Durgin. As good as his word, he took the
disciple of Walton to a first-class dealer in sportsmen's articles and
bought him a five-dollar rod. Barnes and the coroner of Branchville
started somewhat late for their town.

The evening was fairly well advanced when at length young Durgin and
Garrison found themselves enabled to escape officials, reporters, and
the merely curious, to retire to a quiet restaurant for something to
eat and a chat.

Durgin, as he sat there confronting his host, presented a picture to
Garrison of virtues mixed with hurtful tendencies. A certain look of
melancholy lingered about his eyes. His mouth was of the sensitive
description. His gaze was steady, but a boyish expression of defiance
somewhat marred an otherwise pleasant countenance.

He showed both the effects of early spoiling and the subsequent
intolerance of altered conditions. On the whole, however, he seemed a
manly young fellow in whom regeneration was more