CHAPTER III
The Coil Tightens
From the breathless silence that followed her answer, she saw that shehad somehow dealt her mistress a heavy blow, and the sobs burst outbeyond control, choking her. I could see how my chief's face turnedlivid. He had driven another rivet in the chain--just the one itneeded to hold it firmly together. My head was whirling. Could it bepossible, after all, that this gentle, cultured girl was really such afiend at heart that she could strike down.... I put the thought fromme. It was monstrous, unbelievable!
The coroner and the district attorney were whispering together, and Isaw the former glance from the blood-stained handkerchief on the deskbefore him to the sobbing woman on the stand. It needed only that--heridentification of that square of cambric--to complete the evidence.He hesitated a moment, said another word or two to Singleton, thenstraightened up again in his chair. Perhaps he thought the chain wasstrong enough; perhaps he saw only that the witness was in nocondition to go on.
"Anything further, Mr. Royce?" he asked.
"Not at present, sir," answered our junior hoarsely. I think he wasjust beginning fully to realize how desperate our case was.
"We will dismiss the witness, then, temporarily," said the coroner."We shall probably recall her later on."
The maid was led back to the witness room on the verge of hysteria,and Goldberg looked over the papers on his desk.
"We have one more witness," he said at last, "Miss Holladay'scoachman, and perhaps a little testimony in rebuttal. If you wish toadjourn for lunch, Mr. Royce, I'm quite ready to do so."
"Thank you, sir," said my chief, welcoming any opportunity to pullhimself together and prepare a plan of defense. "I _do_ wish it."
"Very well, then; we'll adjourn till two o'clock," and he pushed backhis chair.
"May I have one word with you, sir?" asked Mr. Royce.
"Certainly."
"I should like to see Miss Holladay a few moments in private. We wish,of course, to arrange our rebuttal."
The coroner looked at him for a moment with eyes in which just a tingeof curiosity flickered.
"I'll be very glad to allow you to see her in private," he answeredreadily. "I regret greatly that we couldn't find you last night, sothat you could have opportunity to prepare for this hearing. I feelthat, in a way, we haven't been quite fair to you, though I don't seehow delay could have altered matters, and, in a case of this kind,prompt action is important. I had no intention of placing MissHolladay on the witness stand, so I thought it best to proceed at oncewith the inquest. You must admit, sir, that, as the case stands,there's only one course open to me."
"I fear so," assented the other sadly. "It's a most incomprehensiblecase. The chain of evidence seems absolutely complete, and yet I'mconvinced--as every sane man must be--that there is in it some fatalflaw, which, once discovered, will send the whole structure tottering.It must be my business to find that flaw."
"Strange things happen in this world, Mr. Royce," observed Singletonwith a philosophy born of experience.
"The impossible never happens, sir!" retorted our junior. "I hope toshow you that this belongs in that category."
"Well, I hope you will," said the district attorney. "I'd be glad tofind that someone else is guilty."
"I'll do my best," and Mr. Royce turned to me. "Lester, you'd bettergo and get some lunch. You look quite done up."
"Shall I bring you something?" I asked. "Or, better still, have a mealready for you in half an hour? Rotin's is just around the corner."
He would have refused, I think, had not the coroner interfered.
"You'd better go, Mr. Royce," he said. "You're looking done upyourself. Perhaps you can persuade Miss Holladay to eat something. I'msure she needs it."
"Very well, then; have two meals ready in half an hour, Lester," hesaid, "and a lunch we can bring back with us. I'll go to Miss Holladaynow, and then come direct to Rotin's."
He hurried away after the coroner, and I walked slowly over to Rotin'sto give the necessary orders. I chose a table in a snug corner, pickedup a paper, and tried to read. Its one great item of news was theHolladay case, and I grew hot with anger, as I saw how unquestioningly,how complacently, it accepted the theory of the daughter's guilt.Still, I asked myself, was it to blame? Was anyone to blame forthinking her guilty after hearing the evidence? How could one escapeit? Why, even I----
Preposterous! I tried to reason calmly; to find an opening in the net.Yet, how complete it was! The only point we had gained, so far, wasthat the mysterious visitor had asked for Mr. Holladay, not for herfather--and what an infinitesimal point it was! Supposing there hadbeen a quarrel, an estrangement, would not she naturally have usedthose very words? After all, did not the black eyes, the full lips,the deep-colored cheeks bespeak a strong and virile temperament, depthof emotion, capacity for swift and violent anger? But what cause couldthere be for a quarrel so bitter, so fierce, that it should lead tosuch a tragedy? What cause? And then, suddenly, a wave of light brokein upon me. There could be only one--yes, but there _could_ be one!Capacity for emotion meant capacity for passion. If she had a lover,if she had clung to him despite her father! I knew his reputation forseverity, for cold and relentless condemnation. Here was anexplanation, certainly!
And then I shook myself together angrily. Here was I, reasoning alongthe theory of her guilt--trying to find a motive for it! I rememberedher as I had seen her often, driving with her father; I recalled themany stories I had heard of their devotion; I reflected how her wholelife, so far as I knew it, pointed to a nature singularly calm andself-controlled, charitable and loving. As to the lover theory, didnot the light in her eyes which had greeted our junior disprove that,at once and forever? Certainly, there was some fatal flaw in theevidence, and it was for us to find it.
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 hadspoken the words, the district attorney had pointed out the way. Wehad only to prove an alibi! And the next witness would do it. Hercoachman had only to tell where he had driven her, at what places shehad stopped, and the whole question would be settled. At the hour thecrime was committed, she had doubtless been miles away from WallStreet! So the question would be settled--settled, too, without thenecessity of Miss Holladay undergoing the unpleasant ordeal ofcross-examination.
"It is a most extraor-rdinary affair," said a voice at my elbow, and Iturned with a start to see that the chair just behind me had beentaken by a man who was also reading an account of the crime. He laidthe paper down, and caught my eye. "A most extraor-rdinary affair!" herepeated, appealing to me.
I nodded, merely glancing at him, too preoccupied to notice himclosely. 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 astranger in this country, I am much inter-rested in your processes oflaw. 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 tightplace."
He spoke English very well, with an accent of the slightest. I glancedat him again, and saw that his eyes were very bright and that theywere fixed upon me intently.
"It does seem so," I admitted, loth to talk, yet not wishing to bediscourteous.
"The ver' thing I said to myself!" he continued eagerly. "The--whatyou 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 isthought 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, wherethe penalty may be death."<
br />
"Ah, I see," and he nodded slowly. "She would then not be againreleased until after she shall have been proved innocent. How great atime 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 hadbeen 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 itwas long past the half-hour. Indeed, a glance at my watch showed methat nearly an hour had gone. I waited fifteen minutes longer, atewhat I could, and, taking a box-lunch under my arm, hurried back tothe coroner's office. As I entered it, I saw a bowed figure sitting atthe table, and my heart fell as I recognized our junior. His wholeattitude expressed a despair absolute, past redemption.
"I've brought your lunch, Mr. Royce," I said, with what lightness Icould muster. "The proceedings will commence in half an hour--you'dbetter 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 youa 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 toeat 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 blowduring my absence.
"After all," I began, "you know we've only to prove an alibi to knockto 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 spentyesterday 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 evidence, I fear, won't help us much--rather thereverse."
I actually gasped for breath--I felt like a drowning man from whosegrasp the saving rope had suddenly, unaccountably, been snatched.
"In that case----" I began, and stopped.
"Well, in that case?"
"We must find some other way out," I concluded lamely.
"_Is_ there another way, Lester?" he demanded, wheeling round upon mefiercely. "_Is_ there another way? If there is, I wish to God you'dshow it to me!"
"There must be!" I protested desperately, striving to convince myself."There must be; only, I fear, it will take some little time to find."
"And meanwhile, Miss Holladay will be remanded! Think what that willmean to her, Lester!"
I had thought. I was desperate as he--but to find the flaw, the weakspot in the chain, required, I felt, a better brain than mine. I waslost in a whirlwind of perplexities.
"Well, we must do our best," he went on more calmly, after a moment."I haven't lost hope yet--chance often directs these things. Besides,at worst, I think Miss Holladay will change her mind. Whatever hersecret, it were better to reveal it than to spend a single hour in theTombs. She simply _must_ change her mind! And thanks, Lester, foryour thoughtfulness. You've put new life into me."
I cleared away the debris of the lunch, and a few moments later theroom began to fill again. At last the coroner and district attorneycame in together, and the former rapped for order.
"The inquest will continue," he said, "with the examination of JohnBrooks, Miss Holladay's coachman."
I can give his evidence in two words. His mistress had driven directlydown the avenue to Washington Square. There she had left the carriage,bidding him wait for her, and had continued southward into the squalidFrench quarter. He had lost sight of her in a moment, and had drivenslowly about for more than two hours before she reappeared. She hadordered him to drive home as rapidly as he could, and he had notstopped until he reached the house. Her gown? Yes, he had noticed thatit was a dark red. He had not seen her face, for it was veiled. No,he had never before driven her to that locality.
Quaking at heart, I realized that only one person could extricateFrances Holladay from the coil woven about her. If she persisted insilence, there was no hope for her. But that she should still refuseto speak was inconceivable, unless----
"That is all," said the coroner. "Will you cross-examine the witness,Mr. Royce?"
My chief shook his head silently, and Brooks left the stand.
Again the coroner and Singleton whispered together.
"We will recall Miss Holladay's maid," said the former at last.
She was on the stand again in a moment, calmer than she had been, butdeadly pale.
"Are your mistress's handkerchiefs marked in any way?" Goldberg asked,as she turned to him.
"Some of them are, yes, sir, with her initials, in the form of amonogram. Most of them are plain."
"Do you recognize this one?" and he handed her the ghastly piece ofevidence.
I held my breath while the woman looked it over, turning it withtrembling fingers.
"No, sir!" she replied emphatically, as she returned it to him.
"Does your mistress possess any handkerchiefs that resemble this one?"
"Oh, yes, sir; it's an ordinary cambric handkerchief of good qualitysuch as most ladies use."
I breathed a long sigh of relief; here, at least, fortune favored us.
"That is all. Have you any questions, Mr. Royce?"
Again our junior shook his head.
"That concludes our case," added the coroner. "Have you any witnessesto summon, sir?"
What witnesses could we have? Only one--and I fancied that the jurymenwere looking at us expectantly. If our client were indeed innocent,why should we hesitate to put her on the stand, to give heropportunity to defend herself, to enable her to shatter, in a fewwords, this chain of circumstance so firmly forged about her? If shewere innocent, would she not naturally wish to speak in her ownbehalf? Did not her very unwillingness to speak argue----
"Ask for a recess," I whispered. "Go to Miss Holladay, and tell herthat unless she speaks----"
But before Mr. Royce could answer, a policeman pushed his way forwardfrom the rear of the room and handed a note to the coroner.
"A messenger brought this a moment ago, sir," he explained.
The coroner glanced at the superscription and handed it to my chief.
"It's for you, Mr. Royce," he said.
I saw that the address read,
For Mr. Royce, Attorney for the Defense.
He tore it open, and ran his eyes rapidly over the inclosure. He readit through a second time, then held out the paper to me with anexpression of the blankest amazement. The note read:
The man Rogers is lying. The woman who was with Holladay wore a gown of dark green.