Part 2 (2/2)

Again, the girl made her formal response in the affirmative, then left the room.

Gilder brought forth a box of cigars from a drawer of the desk, opened it and thrust it toward the waiting lawyer, who, however, shook his head in refusal, and continued to move about the room rather restlessly.

Demarest paid no attention to the other's invitation to a seat, but the courtesy was perfunctory on Gilder's part, and he hardly perceived the perturbation of his caller, for he was occupied in selecting and lighting a cigar with the care of a connoisseur. Finally, he spoke again, and now there was an infinite contentment in the rich voice.

”Three years--three years! That ought to be a warning to the rest of the girls.” He looked toward Demarest for acquiescence.

The lawyer's brows were knit as he faced the proprietor of the store.

”Funny thing, this case!” he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. ”In some features, one of the most unusual I have seen since I have been practicing law.”

The smug contentment abode still on Gilder's face as he puffed in leisurely ease on his cigar and uttered a trite condolence.

”Very sad!--quite so! Very sad case, I call it.” Demarest went on speaking, with a show of feeling: ”Most unusual case, in my estimation.

You see, the girl keeps on declaring her innocence. That, of course, is common enough in a way. But here, it's different. The point is, somehow, she makes her protestations more convincing than they usually do. They ring true, as it seems to me.”

Gilder smiled tolerantly.

”They didn't ring very true to the jury, it would seem,” he retorted.

And his voice was tart as he added: ”Nor to the judge, since he deemed it his duty to give her three years.”

”Some persons are not very sensitive to impressions in such cases, I admit,” Demarest returned, coolly. If he meant any subtlety of allusion to his hearer, it failed wholly to pierce the armor of complacency.

”The stolen goods were found in her locker,” Gilder declared in a tone of finality. ”Some of them, I have been given to understand, were actually in the pocket of her coat.”

”Well,” the attorney said with a smile, ”that sort of thing makes good-enough circ.u.mstantial evidence, and without circ.u.mstantial evidence there would be few convictions for crime. Yet, as a lawyer, I'm free to admit that circ.u.mstantial evidence alone is never quite safe as proof of guilt. Naturally, she says some one else must have put the stolen goods there. As a matter of exact reasoning, that is quite within the measure of possibility. That sort of thing has been done countless times.”

Gilder sniffed indignantly.

”And for what reason?” he demanded. ”It's too absurd to think about.”

”In similar cases,” the lawyer answered, ”those actually guilty of the thefts have thus sought to throw suspicion on the innocent in order to avoid it on themselves when the pursuit got too hot on their trail.

Sometimes, too, such evidence has been manufactured merely to satisfy a spite against the one unjustly accused.”

”It's too absurd to think about,” Gilder repeated, impatiently. ”The judge and the jury found no fault with the evidence.”

Demarest realized that this advocacy in behalf of the girl was hardly fitting on the part of the legal representative of the store she was supposed to have robbed, so he abruptly changed his line of argument.

”She says that her record of five years in your employ ought to count something in her favor.”

Gilder, however, was not disposed to be sympathetic as to a matter so flagrantly opposed to his interests.

”A court of justice has decreed her guilty,” he a.s.serted once again, in his ponderous manner. His emphasis indicated that there the affair ended.

Demarest smiled cynically as he strode to and fro.

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