Did you mean that, sir?"
"I meant nothing; but I felt sure you had not told all you could
about that fatal ten minutes. You came back. It is quite a walk
from the road. The man whose shadow you saw must have reached the
bridge by this time. What did you see then or--hear?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing, judge. I was intent on finding the
baby's pail, and having found it I hurried back home all the
faster."
"And tragedy was going on or was just completed, in plain sight
from this gap!"
"I have no doubt, sir; and if I had looked, possibly John might
have been saved."
The silence following this was broken by a crash and a little cry.
Peggy's house had tumbled down.
The small incident was a relief. Both assumed more natural
postures.
"So the shadow is your great and only point," remarked the judge.
"It is sufficient for me."
"Ah, perhaps."
"But not enough for the public?"
"Hardly."
"Not enough for you, either?"
"Madam, I have already told you that, in my opinion, John Scoville
was a guilty man."
"And this fact, with which I have just acquainted you, has done
nothing to alter this opinion?"
"I can only repeat what I have just said."
"Oh, Reuther! Oh, Oliver!"
"Do not speak my son's name. I am in no mood for it. The boy and
girl are two and can never become one. I have other views for her-
-she is an innocent victim and she has my sympathy. You, too,
madam, though I consider you as following a will-o'-the-wisp which
will only lead you hopelessly astray.
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