looks at Ray.

"But Mr. Vandyck, sir?" he begins.

"Mr. Vandyck will see Doctor Heath too, sir," interrupts Ray, with much
decision. "And you won't find it to your interest, Corliss, to hunt up
too many scruples."

It filters into the head of the constable that the wealthiest and most
popular of W----'s lawyers, and the bondsman and firm friend of the
absent sheriff, are hardly the men to baffle, and so, for the safety of
his own official head, he takes his keys and conducts them to Doctor
Heath.

The jail is new and clean and comfortable, more than can be said of many
in our land, and the prisoner has a cell that is fairly lighted, and not
constructed on the suffocation plan.

They find him sitting by his small table, his head resting upon his
hand, his eyes fixed upon the floor, seemingly lost in thought.
Evidently he is glad to see his visitors, for a smile breaks over his
face as he rises to greet them.

It is not a time for commonplaces, and O'Meara, who sees that time is of
value, is in no mood for a prologue to his task; so he begins at the
right place.

"Heath, I'm sorry enough that you, almost a stranger among us, should be
singled out as a victim in this case. It don't speak well for the
judgment of our citizens. However, we are bound to set you right, and
I've come to say that I shall esteem it a privilege to defend you--that
is, if you have not a more able friend to depend upon."

The prisoner smiles as he replies:

"You are very good, O'Meara, and you are the man I should choose to
defend me; but--you will have to build your case; I can't make one for
you, and--you heard the evidence."

"Hang the evidence!" cries the lawyer, drawing from his pocket a small
note book.

"We'll settle their evidence; just you give me a few items of
information, and then I will let Vandyck talk; he wants to, terribly."

The prisoner turns slowly in his chair, and looks steadfastly first at
one, then at the other, and then he says:

"Do you really believe, O'Meara, that I had no hand in this murder?"

"I do," emphatically.

"And you, Ray?"

"I! You deserve to be kicked for asking. I'll tell _just_ what I
_think_, a little later; I know you didn't kill Burrill."

Clifford Heath withdraws his gaze from the faces of his visitors, and
seems to hesitate; then he says slowly:

"I am deeply grateful for your confidence in me; but, I fear my actions
must belie my words. My friends, the evidence is more than I ca