Hand and Ring

of order, could have hushed the storm, had not the spectators become mute with expectation at seeing Mr. Ferris and Mr. Orcutt, summoned by a sign from the Judge, advance to the front of the bench and engage in an earnest conference with the Court. A few minutes afterward the Judge turned to the jury and announced that the disclosures of the morning demanded a careful consideration by the prosecution, that an adjournment was undoubtedly indispensable, and that the jury should refrain from any discussion of the case, even among themselves, until it was finally given them under the charge of the Court. The jury expressed their concurrence by an almost unanimous gesture of assent, and the crier proclaimed an adjournment until the next day at ten o’clock.

Imogene, still sitting in the witness chair, saw the prisoner led forth by the jailer without being able to gather, in the whirl of the moment, any indication that her dreadful sacrifice⁠—for she had made wreck of her life in the eyes of the world whether her confession were true or false⁠—had accomplished anything save to drive the man she loved to the verge of that doom from which she had sought to deliver him.

XXXV

Pro and Con

Hamlet	Do you see yonder cloud that’s almost in shape of a camel?
Polonius	By the mass, and ’tis like a camel indeed.
Hamlet	Methinks it is like a weasel.
Polonius	It is back’d like a weasel.

Hamlet

Shortly after the adjournment of court, Mr. Ferris summoned the two detectives to his office.

“We have a serious question before us to decide,” said he. “Are we to go on with the prosecution or are we to stop? I should like to hear your views on the subject.”

Hickory was, as usual, the first to speak.

“I should say, stop,” he cried. “This fresh applicant for the honor of having slain the Widow Clemmens deserves a hearing at least.”

“But,” hurriedly interposed Byrd, “you don’t give any credit to her story now, even if you did before the prisoner spoke? You know she did not commit the crime herself, whatever she may choose to declare in her anxiety to shield the prisoner. I hope, sir,” he proceeded, glancing at the District Attorney, “that you have no doubts as to Miss Dare’s innocence?”

But Mr. Ferris, instead of answering, turned to Hickory and said:

“Miss Dare, in summoning you to confirm her statement, relied, I suppose, upon the fact of your having been told by Professor Darling’s servant-maid that she⁠—that is, Miss Dare⁠—was gone from the observatory when the girl came for her on the morning of the murder?”

“Yes, sir.”

“A strong corroborative fact, if true?”

“Yes, sir.”

“But is it true? In the explanation which Miss Dare gave me last night of this affair, she uttered statements essentially different from those she made in court today. She then told me she was in the observatory when the girl came for her; that she was looking through a telescope which was behind a high rack filled with charts; and that⁠—Why do you start?”

“I didn’t start,” protested Hickory.

“I beg your pardon,” returned Mr. Ferris.

“Well, then, if I did make such a fool of myself, it was because so far her story is plausible enough. She was in that very position when I visited the observatory, you remember, and she was so effectually concealed I didn’t see her or know she was there, till I looked behind the rack.”

“Very good!” interjected Mr. Ferris. “And that,” he resumed, “she did not answer the girl or make known her presence, because at the moment the girl came in she was deeply interested in watching something that was going on in the town.”

“In the town!” repeated Byrd.

“Yes; the telescope was lowered so as to command a view of the town, and she had taken advantage of its position (as she assured me last night) to consult the church clock.”

“The church clock!” echoed Byrd once more. “And what time did she say it was?” breathlessly cried both detectives.

“Five minutes to twelve.”

“A critical moment,” ejaculated Byrd. “And what was it she saw going on in the town at that especial time?”

“I will tell you,” returned the District Attorney, impressively. “She said⁠—and I believed her last night and so recalled her to the stand this morning⁠—that she saw Craik Mansell fleeing toward the swamp from Mrs. Clemmens’ dining-room door.”

Both men looked up astonished.

“That was what she told me last night. Today she comes into court with this contradictory story of herself being the assailant and sole cause of Mrs. Clemmens’ death.”

“But all that is frenzy,” protested Byrd. “She probably saw from your manner that the prisoner was lost if she gave this fact to the court, and her mind became disordered. She evidently loves this Mansell, and as for me, I pity her.”

“So do I,” assented the District Attorney; “still⁠—”

“Is it possible,” Byrd interrupted, with feeling, as Mr. Ferris hesitated, “that you do doubt her innocence? After the acknowledgments made by the prisoner too?”

Rising from his seat, Mr. Ferris began slowly to pace the floor.

“I should like each of you,” said he, without answering the appeal of Byrd, “to tell me why I should credit what she told me in conversation last night rather than what she uttered upon oath in the courtroom today?”

“Let me speak first,” rejoined Byrd, glancing at Hickory. And, rising also, he took his stand against the mantelshelf where he could partially hide his face from those he addressed. “Sir,” he proceeded, after a moment, “both Hickory and myself know Miss Dare to be innocent of this murder. A circumstance which we have hitherto kept secret, but which in justice to Miss Dare I think we are now bound to make known, has revealed to us the true criminal. Hickory, tell Mr. Ferris of the deception you practised upon Miss Dare in the hut.”

The surprised, but secretly gratified, detective at once complied. He saw no reason for keeping quiet about that day’s work. He told how, by