on has described."

"Did she bring her hand-bag to your house?"

"Yes, and left it there. We found it in her room after she was gone."

"Indeed! And how do you account for that?"

"She was preoccupied. I saw it in her cheerfulness, which was forced and
not always well timed."

"And where is that bag now?"

"Mr. Van Burnam has it. We kept it for a day and as she did not call for
it, sent it down to the office on Wednesday morning."

"Before you had heard of the murder?"

"O yes, before I had heard anything about the murder."

"As she was your guest, you probably accompanied her to the door?"

"I did, sir."

"Did you notice her hands? Can you say what was the color of her
gloves?"

"I do not think she wore any gloves on leaving; it was very warm, and
she held them in her hand. I remembered this, for I noticed the sparkle
of her rings as she turned to say good-bye."

"Ah, you saw her rings!"

"Distinctly."

"So that when she left you she was dressed in a black and white plaid
silk, had a large hat covered with flowers on her head, and wore rings?"

"Yes, sir."

And with these words ringing in the ears of the jury, the witness sat
down.

What was coming? Something important, or the Coroner would not look so
satisfied, or the faces of the officials about him so expectant. I
waited with great but subdued eagerness for the testimony of the next
witness, who was a young man by the name of Callahan.

I don't like young men in general. They are either over-suave and
polite, as if they condescended to remember that you are elderly and
that it is their duty to make you forget it, or else they are pert and
shallow and disgust you with their egotism. But this young man looked
sensible and business-like, and I took to him at once, though what
connection he could have with this affair I could not imagine.

His first words, however, settled all questions as to his personality:
He was the order clerk at Altman's.

As he acknowledged this, I seemed to have some faint premonition of what
was coming. Perhaps I had not been without some vague idea of the truth
ever since I had put my mind to work on this matter; perhaps my wits
only received their real spur then; but certainly I knew what he was
going to say as soon as he opened his lips, which gave me quite a good
opinion of myself, whether rightfully or not, I leave you to judge.

His evidence was short, but very much to the point. On the seventeenth
of Septemb