it behind me. I guessed he must be around an' would be back
in a few minutes."

"Just exactly what did you do?"

"I waited by the table in the living-room for a few minutes. There was
a note there signed by S. Horikawa."

"We have that note. What happened next? Did your uncle return?"

"No. I had a feelin' that somethin' was wrong. I looked into the
bedroom an' then opened the door into the small smoking-room. The odor
of chloroform met me. I found the button an' flashed on the light."

Except the sobbing breath of an unnerved woman no slightest sound could
be heard in the court-room but Lane's quiet, steady voice. It went on
evenly, clearly, dominating the crowded room by the drama of its
undramatic timbre.

"My uncle was sittin' in a chair, tied to it. His head was canted a
little to one side an' he was lookin' up at me. There was a bullet
hole in his forehead. He was dead."

The veiled woman in black gasped for air. Her head sank forward and
her slender body swayed.

"Look out!" called the witness to the woman beside her.

Before Kirby could reach her, the fainting woman had slipped to the
floor. He stooped to lift her head from the dusty planks--and the odor
of violet perfume met his nostrils.

"If you'll permit me," a voice said.

The cattleman looked up. His cousin James, white to the lips, was
beside him unfastening the veil.

The face of the woman in black was the original of the photograph Kirby
had seen in his uncle's room, the one upon which had been written the
words, "Always, Phyllis."

CHAPTER XIV

A FRIEND IN NEED

The rest of the coroner's inquest was anticlimax. Those who had come
to tickle their palates with excitement tasted only one other moment of
it.

"According to your own story you must have been in your uncle's
apartment at least a quarter of an hour, Mr. Lane," said the
prosecuting attorney. "What were you doing there all that time?"

"Most of the time I was waitin' for him to return."

"Why did you not call up the police at once, as soon as you found the
crime had been committed?"

"I suppose I lost my head an' went panicky. I heard some one at the
door, an' I did not want to be found there. So I ran into the bedroom,
put out the light, an' left by the fire escape."

"Was that the conduct one would expect of an innocent man?"

"It was the action of an innocent man."

"You don't look like a man that would lose his head, Mr. Lane."

A smile