loor
of which the coroner's office is situated. They found Coroner Hart in
his private room, engrossed in the routine of his work.

"Just a word, coroner!" Britz called him aside.

The two held a whispered consultation, after which the coroner returned
to his desk. Britz and Ward occupied chairs at the farther end of the
room, near the window. Half an hour passed, in which neither of them
spoke. Presently an attendant entered and whispered to the coroner.

"Bring Horace Beard over from the Tombs!" the coroner said aloud.

Ward began to display signs of uneasiness.

"Must I meet him?" he inquired.

"It won't do any harm," Britz replied.

A moment later the door opened again, and was held ajar by the
attendant. Ward tried to avert his gaze from the swinging portal, but
his eyes insensibly wandered back to the spot through which his
successful rival in love must enter. Suddenly the banker leaped out of
his seat and stood stiffly erect, gazing tensely at the attractively
slim figure of Josephine Burden.

"Joe!" he called, advancing timorously.

She shrank back toward the door.

"I didn't expect to see you here," he said, halting half a dozen feet
from where she stood.

"Where is Mr. Beard?" she inquired, an expression of alarm written on
her pale face.

"He'll be here in a minute or two," the coroner informed her. "Sit
down!"

She came forward hesitantly and seated herself on the edge of a chair.

"Josephine!" Ward appealed to her. "Don't you see the mess you are
getting into?"

"What mess?" she inquired innocently.

"Why--the notoriety!" He edged closer to her chair. "You're mad to come
down here! These officers have induced you to come."

"No, I came of my own accord," she said quietly. "I came to see Mr.
Beard."

Ward looked anxiously from Britz to the coroner and back again to the
detective. They understood the silent appeal of his glance--he was
pleading to be let alone with the girl. But they did not see fit to
grant his wish.

"This is no time for you to break the engagement," Ward said to her in
an undertone. "Why don't you think it over? You've been carried away by
sympathy. You've mistaken pity for love."

She shook her head sadly.

"No, I understand the urging of my heart," she answered. "It is useless
for us to discuss it."

The conversation ended abruptly with the entrance of Beard. He was
escorted into the room by a guard from the Tombs, who placed himself at
the prisoner's elbow