ck in
the evening and return in the morning at seven. On the morning of
the third of February, when the butler entered the house, as he was
accustomed to do at eight o'clock in the morning, he found his master
dead.

The woman continued with her narrative, speaking slowly. Every detail
was vividly impressed upon her memory and she gave it accurately,
precisely.

There was a narrow passage or hall, not more than three feet in width,
leading from the butler's pantry into a little dining-room. This
dining-room the old man had fitted up as a sort of library. It was
farther than any other room from the noises of the city. His library
table was placed with one end against the left wall of the room and he
sat with his back toward the passage into the butler's pantry. On the
morning of the third of February he was found dead in his chair. He had
been stabbed in the back, on the left side, where the neck joins to
the shoulder. A carving-knife had been used and a single blow had
accomplished the murder.

It was known that on the evening before the old banker had taken from a
safety-deposit vault the sum of $20,000, which it was his intention
to invest in some securities. This money, in bills of very large
denominations, was in the top drawer on the right side of the desk. The
dead man had apparently not been touched after the crime, but the drawer
had been pried open and the money taken. An ice-pick from the butler's
pantry had been used to force it. The assassin had left no marks,
finger-prints or tell-tale stains. The victim had been instantly killed
with the blow of the knife which lay on the floor beside him.

The butler had been arrested, charged with the crime, and his trial was
now going on in the Criminal Court. Circumstantial evidence was strong
against him. The woman spoke as though she echoed the current comment of
the courtroom without realizing how it affected her. She had done what
she could. She had employed an attorney at the recommendation of a
person who had come to interview her. She did not know who the person
was nor why she should have employed this attorney at his suggestion,
except that some one must be had to defend her husband, and uncertain
what to do, she had gone to the first name suggested.

The girl listened, putting now and then a query. She spoke slowly,
careful to use only English words. And while the woman talked she made
a little drawing on the blank back of a menu card. Now she began to