rom the observatory
when the girl came for her on the morning of the murder?"

"Yes, sir."

"A strong corroborative fact, if true?"

"Yes, sir."

"But is it true? In the explanation which Miss Dare gave me last night
of this affair, she uttered statements essentially different from those
she made in court to-day. She then told me she _was_ in the observatory
when the girl came for her; that she was looking through a telescope
which was behind a high rack filled with charts; and that---- Why do you
start?"

"I didn't start," protested Hickory.

"I beg your pardon," returned Mr. Ferris.

"Well, then, if I did make such a fool of myself, it was because so far
her story is plausible enough. She was in that very position when _I_
visited the observatory, you remember, and she was so effectually
concealed I didn't see her or know she was there, till I looked behind
the rack."

"Very good!" interjected Mr. Ferris. "And that," he resumed, "she did
not answer the girl or make known her presence, because at the moment
the girl came in she was deeply interested in watching something that
was going on in the town."

"In the town!" repeated Byrd.

"Yes; the telescope was lowered so as to command a view of the town, and
she had taken advantage of its position (as she assured me last night)
to consult the church clock."

"The church clock!" echoed Byrd once more. "And what time did she say it
was?" breathlessly cried both detectives.

"Five minutes to twelve."

"A critical moment," ejaculated Byrd. "And what was it she saw going on
in the town at that especial time?"

"I will tell you," returned the District Attorney, impressively. "She
said--and I believed her last night and so recalled her to the stand
this morning--that she saw Craik Mansell fleeing toward the swamp from
Mrs. Clemmens' dining-room door."

Both men looked up astonished.

"That was what she told me last night. To-day she comes into court with
this contradictory story of herself being the assailant and sole cause
of Mrs. Clemmens' death."

"But all that is frenzy," protested Byrd. "She probably saw from your
manner that the prisoner was lost if she gave this fact to the court,
and her mind became disordered. She evidently loves this Mansell, and as
for me, I pity her."

"So do I," assented the District Attorney; "still----"

"Is it possible," Byrd interrupted, with feeling, as Mr. Ferris
hesitated, "that you do doubt her innocence? After the