ng."

When two hearts charged with love begin to exchange confidences, it is
impossible to foretell what revelations will be forthcoming. And the
chances are that had Beard been allowed sufficient time, he would have
unburdened himself of the heavy load that was pressing on his heart. But
unfortunately for Britz, the hour for exercising the prisoners confined
on the tier had arrived, and a deputy warden cut short the interview
between Beard and Miss Burden. She was escorted to the street, while
Beard joined the other inmates for a half hour of exercise and fresh air
in the courtyard.

With Beard's intimation of Mrs. Collins's complicity in the murder
reiterating itself in his mind, Britz left the Tombs and proceeded
toward the Federal Building. The detective had seen, had interviewed
Mrs. Collins. It was impossible to reconcile her artless, engaging
personality with an impulse so base as to lead to murder.

Besides, Beard's remarks were open to more than one interpretation. It
was entirely possible that he was endeavoring to shield her name from
the befouling suspicion of having yielded to Whitmore, a suspicion which
the general public would be quick to convert into an unalterable belief,
once it learned that she had transferred her love from her husband to
the slain merchant. Should the murderer be discovered and brought to
trial the dissensions in the Collins household would be paraded
unsparingly in the public press. Innocent as the relations between
Whitmore and Mrs. Collins were, they would take on a guilty aspect in
the eyes of a world that is ever ready to discern its own debasing
impulses reflected in the conduct of one who has been regarded hitherto
as unstained.

Reviewing all the circumstances of the case, Britz concluded that
Beard's statement was not to be accepted as an intimation of Mrs.
Collins's guilt. For, had he not accused Collins in even stronger terms
in the very presence of his murdered employer?

It was not to be forgotten, too, that a favorite dodge of guilty persons
is to adopt the pose of a martyr. And, in lieu of an adequate defense,
to create a favorable doubt by insinuating that they are accepting
punishment in order to shield a woman. When artfully worked, this deceit
may always be relied upon to create undeserved sympathy.

Were there nothing else to absolve Mrs. Collins from the suspicion that
she was responsible for Whitmore's death, the absence of motive would
have proclaimed he