spired the toast at many a gallant feast! They
had their charm yet, if the heightened color observable on many a
cheek there was a true index to the quickening heart below.

"How are you connected with the deceased Mrs. Jeffrey?"

"I am the child of her mother by a former husband. We were
half-sisters."

No bitterness in this statement, only an infinite sadness. The
coroner continued to question her. He asked for an account of her
childhood, and forced her to lay bare the nature of her relations
with her sister. But little was gained by this, for their relations
seemed to have been of a sympathetic character up to the time of
Veronica's return from school, when they changed somewhat; but how
or why, Miss Tuttle was naturally averse to saying. Indeed she
almost refused to do so, and the coroner, feeling his point gained
more by this refusal than by any admission she might have made, did
not press this subject but passed on to what interested us more: the
various unexplained actions on her part which pointed toward crime.

His first inquiry was in reference to the conversation held between
her and Mr. Jeffrey at the time he visited her room. We had
listened to his account of it and now we wished to hear hers. But
the cue which had been given her by this very account had been
invaluable to her, and her testimony naturally coincided with his.
We found ourselves not an inch advanced. They had talked of her
sister's follies and she had advised patience, and that was all she
could say on the subject--all she would say, as we presently saw.

The coroner introduced a fresh topic.

"What can you tell us about the interview you had with you sister
prior to her going out on the night of her death?"

"Very little, except that it differed entirely from what is generally
supposed. She did not come to my room for conversation but simply
to tell me that she had an engagement. She was in an excited mood
but said nothing to alarm me. She even laughed when she left me;
perhaps to put me off my guard, perhaps because she was no longer
responsible."

"Did she know that Mr. Jeffrey had visited you earlier in the day?
Did she make any allusion to it, I mean?"

"None at all. She shrugged her shoulders when I asked if she was
well, and anticipated all further questions by running from the room.
She was always capricious in her ways and never more so than at that
moment. Would to God that it had been different! Would to G