e to have a name removed. It had been tattooed over
her heart."

"You removed it?"

"Not at once. I tried fading the marks with goat's milk, but she was
impatient. On the third visit to my office she demanded that the name
be cut out."

"You did it?"

"Yes. She refused a general anesthetic and I used cocaine. The name
was John--I believe a former husband. She intended to marry again."

A titter ran over the court room. People strained to the utmost are
always glad of an excuse to smile. The laughter of a wrought-up crowd
always seems to me half hysterical.

"Have you seen photographs of the scar on the body found at Sewickley?
Or the body itself?"

"No, I have not."

"Will you describe the operation?"

"I made a transverse incision for the body of the name, and two
vertical ones--one longer for the _J_, the other shorter, for the
stem of the _h_. There was a dot after the name. I made a half-inch
incision for it."

"Will you sketch the cicatrix as you recall it?"

The doctor made a careful drawing on a pad that was passed to him. The
drawing was much like this.

Line for line, dot for dot, it was the scar on the body found at
Sewickley.

"You are sure the woman was Jennie Brice?"

"She sent me tickets for the theater shortly after. And I had an
announcement of her marriage to the prisoner, some weeks later."

"Were there any witnesses to the operation?"

"My assistant; I can produce him at any time."

That was not all of the trial, but it was the decisive moment. Shortly
after, the jury withdrew, and for twenty-four hours not a word was
heard from them.

CHAPTER XV

After twenty-four hours' deliberation, the jury brought in a verdict
of guilty. It was a first-degree verdict. Mr. Howell's unsupported
word had lost out against a scar.

Contrary to my expectation, Mr. Holcombe was not jubilant over the
verdict. He came into the dining-room that night and stood by the
window, looking out into the yard.

"It isn't logical," he said. "In view of Howell's testimony, it's
ridiculous! Heaven help us under this jury system, anyhow! Look at the
facts! Howell knows the woman: he sees her on Monday morning, and
puts her on a train out of town. The boy is telling the truth. He has
nothing to gain by coming forward, and everything to lose. Very
well: she was alive on Monday. We know where she was on Tuesday and
Wednesday. Anyhow, during those days her gem of a husband was in jail.
He was freed Thur