the handkerchiefs and stood looking at them before returning one to his
pocket and the other to its place in the gentleman's hat. Nor was Mr.
Byrd at all astonished to observe that the stand which his
fellow-detective took, upon resettling himself, was much nearer the
unseen gentleman than before, or that in replacing the hat, he had taken
pains to put it so far to one side that the gentleman would be obliged
to rise and come around the corner in order to obtain it. The drift of
the questions propounded to the witness at this moment opened his eyes
too clearly for him to fail any longer to understand the situation.

"Now at the hotel?" the coroner was repeating. "And came yesterday? Why,
then, did you look so embarrassed when I mentioned his name?"

"Oh--well--ah," stammered the man, "because he was there once before,
though his name is not registered but once in the book."

"He was? And on what day?"

"On Tuesday," asserted the man, with the sudden decision of one who sees
it is useless to attempt to keep silence.

"The day of the murder?"

"Yes, sir."

"And why is his name not on the book at that time if he came to your
house and put up?"

"Because he did not put up; he merely called in, as it were, and did not
take a meal or hire a room."

"How did you know, then, that he was there? Did you see him or talk to
him?"

"Yes, sir."

"And what did you say?"

"He asked me for directions to a certain house, and I gave them."

"Whose house?"

"The Widow Clemmens', sir."

Ah, light at last! The long-sought-for witness had been found! Coroner
and jury brightened visibly, while the assembled crowd gave vent to a
deep murmur, that must have sounded like a knell of doom--in one pair of
ears, at least.

"He asked you for directions to the house of Widow Clemmens. At what
time was this?"

"At about half-past eleven in the morning."

The very hour!

"And did he leave then?"

"Yes, sir; after taking a glass of brandy."

"And did you not see him again?"

"Not till yesterday, sir."

"Ah, and at what time did you see him yesterday?"

"At bedtime, sir. He came with other arrivals on the five o'clock train;
but I was away all the afternoon and did not see him till I went into
the bar-room in the evening."

"Well, and what passed between you then?"

"Not much, sir. I asked if he was going to stay with us, and when he
said 'Yes,' I inquired if he had registered his name. He replied 'No.'
At which I poin