od that
she had shown herself to be a suffering woman! Then I might have
reached her heart and this tragedy would have been averted."

The coroner favored the witness with a look of respect, perhaps
because his next question must necessarily be cruel.

"Is that all you have to say concerning this important visit, the
last you held with your sister before her death?"

"No, sir, there is something else, something which I should like to
relate to this jury. When she came into my room, she held in her
hand a white ribbon; that is, she held the two ends of a long satin
ribbon which seemed to come from her pocket. Handing those two ends
to me, she asked me to tie them about her wrist. 'A knot under and
a bow on top,' she said, 'so that it can not slip off.' As this was
something I had often been called on to do for her, I showed no
hesitation in complying with her request. Indeed, I felt none. I
thought it was her fan or her bouquet she held concealed in the folds
of her dress, but it proved to be--Gentlemen, you know what. I pray
that you will not oblige me to mention it."

It was such a stroke as no lawyer would have advised her to make,--I
heard afterward that she had refused the offices of a dozen lawyers
who had proffered her their services. But uttered as it was with a
noble air and a certain dignified serenity, it had a great effect upon
those about her and turned in a moment the wavering tide of favor in
her direction.

The coroner, who doubtless was perfectly acquainted with the
explanation with which she had provided herself, but who perhaps did
not look for it to antedate his attack, bowed in quiet acknowledgment
of her request and then immediately proceeded to ignore it.

"I should be glad to spare you," said he, "but I do not find it
possible. You knew that Mr. Jeffrey had a pistol?"

"I did."

"That it was kept in their apartment?"

"Yes."

"In the upper drawer of a certain bureau?"

"Yes."

"Now, Miss Tuttle, will you tell us why you went to that drawer--if
you did go to that drawer--immediately after Mrs. Jeffrey left the
house?"

She had probably felt this question coming, not only since the
coroner began to speak but ever since the evidence elicited from
Loretta proved that her visit to this drawer had been secretly
observed. Yet she had no answer ready.

"I did not go for the pistol," she finally declared. But she did
not say what she had gone for, and the coroner did not pre