y repelled his attempts
to learn the truth concerning the crime that had been committed. He
resorted to familiar artifices for entangling one questioned.

"Oh, I see!" he said, in a tone of conviction. "Now, let's go back a
little. Burke says you told him last night that you had persuaded your
wife to come over to the house, and join you there. Is that right?"

"Yes." The monosyllable was uttered indifferently. "And, while the two
of you were talking," Demarest continued in a matter-of-fact manner. He
did not conclude the sentence, but asked instead: "Now, tell me, Dick,
just what did happen, won't you?"

There was no reply; and, after a little interval, the lawyer resumed his
questioning.

"Did this burglar come into the room?"

Dick nodded an assent.

"And he attacked you?"

There came another nod of affirmation.

"And there was a struggle?"

"Yes," Dick said, and now there was resolution in his answer.

"And you shot him?" Demarest asked, smoothly.

"Yes," the young man said again.

"Then," the lawyer countered on the instant, "where did you get the
revolver?"

Dick started to answer without thought:

"Why, I grabbed it----" Then, the significance of this crashed on his
consciousness, and he checked the words trembling on his lips. His eyes,
which had been downcast, lifted and glared on the questioner. "So," he
said with swift hostility in his voice, "so, you're trying to trap me,
too!" He shrugged his shoulders in a way he had learned abroad. "You!
And you talk of friendship. I want none of such friendship."

Demarest, greatly disconcerted, was skilled, nevertheless, in
dissembling, and he hid his chagrin perfectly. There was only reproach
in his voice as he answered stoutly:

"I am your friend, Dick."

But Burke would be no longer restrained. He had listened with increasing
impatience to the diplomatic efforts of the District Attorney, which had
ended in total rout. Now, he insisted on employing his own more drastic,
and, as he believed, more efficacious, methods. He stood up, and spoke
in his most threatening manner.

"You don't want to take us for fools, young man," he said, and his big
tones rumbled harshly through the room. "If you shot Griggs in mistake
for a burglar, why did you try to hide the fact? Why did you pretend
to me that you and your wife were alone in the room--when you had _that_
there with you, eh? Why didn't you call for help? Why didn't you
call for the police, as any ho