The Holladay Case | Page 9

I leaned my head back against the wall with a little sigh of relief. What
a fool I had been! Of course, we should find it! Mr. Royce had spoken

the words, the district attorney had pointed out the way. We had only to
prove an alibi! And the next witness would do it. Her coachman had
only to tell where he had driven her, at what places she had stopped,
and the whole question would be settled. At the hour the crime was
committed, she had doubtless been miles away from Wall Street! So
the question would be settled--settled, too, without the necessity of
Miss Holladay undergoing the unpleasant ordeal of cross-examination.
"It is a most extraor-rdinary affair," said a voice at my elbow, and I
turned with a start to see that the chair just behind me had been taken
by a man who was also reading an account of the crime. He laid the
paper down, and caught my eye. "A most extraor-rdinary affair!" he
repeated, appealing to me.
I nodded, merely glancing at him, too preoccupied to notice him
closely. I got an impression of a florid face, of a stout, well-dressed
body, of an air unmistakably French.
"You will pardon me, sir," he added, leaning a little forward. "As a
stranger in this country, I am much inter-rested in your processes of law.
This morning I was present at the trial--I per-rceived you there. It
seemed to me that the young lady was in--what you call--a tight place."
He spoke English very well, with an accent of the slightest. I glanced at
him again, and saw that his eyes were very bright and that they were
fixed upon me intently.
"It does seem so," I admitted, loth to talk, yet not wishing to be
discourteous.
"The ver' thing I said to myself!" he continued eagerly. "The--what you
call--coe-encidence of the dress, now!"
I did not answer; I was in no humor to discuss the case.
"You will pardon me," he repeated persuasively, still leaning forward,
"but concer-rning one point I should like much to know. If she is
thought guilty what will occur?"

"She will be bound over to the grand jury," I explained.
"That is, she will be placed in prison?"
"Of course."
"But, as I understand your law, she may be released by bondsmen."
"Not in a capital case," I said; "not in a case of this kind, where the
penalty may be death."
"Ah, I see," and he nodded slowly. "She would then not be again
released until after she shall have been proved innocent. How great a
time would that occupy?"
"I can't say--six months--a year, perhaps."
"Ah, I see," he said again, and drained a glass of absinthe he had been
toying with. "Thank you, ver' much, sir."
He arose and went slowly out, and I noted the strength of his figure, the
short neck----
The waiter came with bread and butter, and I realized suddenly that it
was long past the half-hour. Indeed, a glance at my watch showed me
that nearly an hour had gone. I waited fifteen minutes longer, ate what I
could, and, taking a box-lunch under my arm, hurried back to the
coroner's office. As I entered it, I saw a bowed figure sitting at the table,
and my heart fell as I recognized our junior. His whole attitude
expressed a despair absolute, past redemption.
"I've brought your lunch, Mr. Royce," I said, with what lightness I
could muster. "The proceedings will commence in half an hour--you'd
better eat something," and I opened the box.
He looked at it for a moment, and then began mechanically to eat.
"You look regularly done up," I ventured. "Wouldn't I better get you a
glass of brandy? That'll tone you up."

"All right," he assented listlessly, and I hurried away on the errand.
The brandy brought a little color back to his cheeks, and he began to eat
with more interest.
"Must I order lunch for Miss Holladay?" I questioned.
"No," he said. "She said she didn't wish any."
He relapsed again into silence. Plainly, he had received some new blow
during my absence.
"After all," I began, "you know we've only to prove an alibi to knock to
pieces this whole house of cards."
"Yes, that's all," he agreed. "But suppose we can't do it, Lester?"
"Can't do it?" I faltered. "Do you mean----?"
"I mean that Miss Holladay positively refuses to say where she spent
yesterday afternoon."
"Does she understand the--the necessity?" I asked.
"I pointed it out to her as clearly as I could. I'm all at sea, Lester."
Well, if even he were beginning to doubt, matters were indeed serious!
"It's incomprehensible!" I sighed, after a moment's confused thought.
"It's----"
"Yes--past believing."
"But the coachman----"
"The coachman's