p and
pick them up, and she did, for we slid into a dark shadow made by a
projecting stoop and watched her. Is that too simple a method for
disposing of certain encumbering bundles, to be believed, sir?"

"That is for the jury to decide," answered the Coroner, stiffly. "But
why were you so anxious to dispose of these articles? Were they not
worth some money, and would it not have been simpler and much more
natural to have left them at the hotel till you chose to send for them?
That is, if you were simply engaged in playing, as you say, a game upon
your father, and not upon the whole community?"

"Yes," Mr. Van Burnam acknowledged, "that would have been the natural
thing, no doubt; but we were not following natural instincts at the
time, but a woman's _bizarre_ caprices. We did as I said; and laughed
long, I assure you, over its unqualified success; for the old woman not
only grabbed the packages with avidity, but turned and fled away with
them, just as if she had expected this opportunity and had prepared
herself to make the most of it."

"It was very laughable, certainly," observed the Coroner, in a hard
voice. "_You_ must have found it very ridiculous"; and after giving the
witness a look full of something deeper than sarcasm, he turned towards
the jury as if to ask them what they thought of these very forced and
suspicious explanations.

But they evidently did not know what to think, and the Coroner's looks
flew back to the witness who of all the persons present seemed the least
impressed by the position in which he stood.

"Mr. Van Burnam," said he, "you showed a great deal of feeling this
morning at being confronted with your wife's hat. Why was this, and why
did you wait till you saw this evidence of her presence on the scene of
death to acknowledge the facts you have been good enough to give us this
afternoon?"

"If I had a lawyer by my side, you would not ask me that question, or if
you did, I would not be allowed to answer it. But I have no lawyer here,
and so I will say that I was greatly shocked by the catastrophe which
had happened to my wife, and under the stress of my first overpowering
emotions had the impulse to hide the fact that the victim of so dreadful
a mischance was my wife. I thought that if no connection was found
between myself and this dead woman, I would stand in no danger of the
suspicion which must cling to the man who came into the house with her.
But like most first impulses, it was