low quietly.

The coroner and the jury drew aside and began a whispered consultation.
In the vitiated atmosphere of that overcrowded room, heavy as it was
with the stifling heat and palpably dense with the escaping smoke from
the cracked wood-stove, men coughed nervously with every breath they
drew, but their sense of physical discomfort was unheeded in their tense
interest in the developments of the last few moments. The jury's
deliberation was brief and then the coroner announced its verdict.

North heard the doctor's halting words without at once grasping their
meaning. A long moment of silence followed, and then a man coughed, and
then another, and another; this seemed to break the spell, for suddenly
the room buzzed with eager whisperings.

North's first definite emotion was one of intense astonishment. Were
they mad? But the faces turned toward him expressed nothing beyond
curiosity. His glance shifted to the official group by the table. These
good-natured commonplace men who, whether they liked him or not, had
invariably had a pleasant word for him, instantly took on an air of grim
aloofness. Conklin, the fat jolly sheriff; the coroner; Moxlow, the
prosecuting attorney in his baggy trousers and seam-shining coat,--why,
he had known these men all his life, he had met them daily,--what did
they mean by suspecting him! The mere suspicion was a monstrous wrong!
His face reddened; he glanced about him haughtily.

Now at a sign from the coroner, Conklin placed his fat hands on the arms
of his chair and slowly drew himself out of its depths, then he crossed
to North. The young fellow rose, and turned a pale face toward him.

"John," said the sheriff gently, "I have an unpleasant duty to perform."

In spite of himself the pallor deepened on North's face.

"I understand," he said in a voice that was low and none too steady.

During this scene Moxlow's glance had been centered on North in a fixed
stare of impersonal curiosity, now he turned with quick nervous decision
and snatching up his shabby hat from the table, left the room.

Langham had preceded him by a few moments, escaping unobserved when
there were eyes only for North.

"I am ready, Conklin."

And a moment later North and the sheriff passed out into the twilight.
Neither spoke until they came to the court-house Square.

"We'll go in this way, John!" said the sheriff in a tone that was meant
to be encouraging, but failed.

They ascended the court-hou