conviction in every word he said; he looked the district attorney
in the eye, and once when our glances crossed he even smiled at me
faintly. But I saw why he had tried to find Jennie Brice, and had
dreaded testifying. Not a woman in that court room, and hardly a man,
but believed when he left the stand, that he was, or had been, Jennie
Brice's lover, and as such was assisting her to leave her husband.

"Then you believe," the district attorney said at the end,--"you
believe, Mr. Howell, that Jennie Brice is living?"

"Jennie Brice was living on Monday morning, March the fifth," he said
firmly.

"Miss Shaeffer has testified that on Wednesday this woman, who you
claim was Jennie Brice, sent a letter to you from Horner. Is that the
case?"

"Yes."

"The letter was signed 'Jennie Brice'?"

"It was signed 'J.B.'"

"Will you show the court that letter?"

"I destroyed it."

"It was a personal letter?"

"It merely said she had arrived safely, and not to let any one know
where she was."

"And yet you destroyed it?"

"A postscript said to do so."

"Why?"

"I do not know. An extra precaution probably."

"You were under the impression that she was going to stay there?"

"She was to have remained for a week."

"And you have been searching for this woman for two months?"

He quailed, but his voice was steady. "Yes," he admitted.

He was telling the truth, even if it was not all the truth. I believe,
had it gone to the jury then, Mr. Ladley would have been acquitted.
But, late that afternoon, things took a new turn. Counsel for the
prosecution stated to the court that he had a new and important
witness, and got permission to introduce this further evidence. The
witness was a Doctor Littlefield, and proved to be my one-night tenant
of the second-story front. Holcombe's prisoner of the night before
took the stand. The doctor was less impressive in full daylight; he
was a trifle shiny, a bit bulbous as to nose and indifferent as to
finger-nails. But his testimony was given with due professional
weight.

"You are a doctor of medicine, Doctor Littlefield?" asked the district
attorney.

"Yes."

"In active practise?"

"I have a Cure for Inebriates in Des Moines, Iowa. I was formerly in
general practise in New York City."

"You knew Jennie Ladley?"

"I had seen her at different theaters. And she consulted me
professionally at one time in New York."

"You operated on her, I believe?"

"Yes. She came to m