A SENSATIONAL CASE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9157, 3 August 1908, Page 2

A SENSATIONAL CASE.

M FLORENCE WARDEN,

CHAPTER 11.-Continued

The Jew turned once more to his neighbour '*lt's lucky for the lady the insurance offices didn't, prosecute!" said he. "As it is, I suppose, sir, they'll have to pay up iMhe jury bring it guilty'?" '*More likely to compromise it, I think. For it seems to be known that the Daxes were hard up. And if they ldt him off on the graver charge, they would be all the more likely to convict on the lesser one, just to keep the balance even," said the Jew shrewdly. 4 The murmur, of voices in the court was gradually increasing to a hubbub. The female spectator, all of whom, to a woman, thought the prisoner less guilty , than his .wife* becamj less guarded in their speech,and exchanged innuendoes concerning the cost of Mrs Dax's dress and the means whereby it was paid for. Yet at the same time they were indulgent recognising the fact that Liverpool had been proud of her, as one of the Sost creditable of the local'products. ad she not moved in the best society of Liverpool? And what could be better than Liverpool's best? , Suddenly the hum of these pretty bees ceased, and in a dead silence the judge returned to his sent on the bench, the jury filed in pnd took their places in! the box, and the prisoner, who was by this time as pale as death and in a half-fainting condition, was half-led, half-carried into the dock. At the same moment the prisoner's wife, with her vail down,' walked with a dignified and erect carriage into court, and resumed her old seat', 'with a graceful bend of the head to / the lawyer, who made way for her. There was a moment's hush, so that a man, shutting his eyes, 1 might have fancied himself on a desert island. Then the judge addressed the jury in the well-known words: ' "Gentlemen, have you agreed Upon a verdict?" "We have, my lord," replied the foreman. "Do you find the prisoner guilty, or not guilty?" "Not guilty, my lord." And while the prisoner burst into tears and sobbed liks a woman, the buzz in the court began again.. The"pri 3oner ' s w »f e » her veil, but she did not lopk at her husband. She seemed to be listening, listening ' to the hum around her, to the babble of indistinguishable words. Then, whan the ushers called fcr "Silence!" she looked at them. And finally her glance fell upon one of her friends, who, from the end of the bench near , the jury-box, was nodding .and smiling congratulations. ' And the prisoner's wife smiled back. - ''How well she bears up!" thought the men. '*> How brazen she is!" thought the women. ' There was silence while the -judge addressed a few words of rather ambiguous congratulations to the acquitted man, and the crowd begnn to flow out, still discussing with excitement the verdict just given. The prisoner had hardly disappeared when a rush was made from the other end of the court into the street, with the object of getting a look at the released man as he left the building. Jn the meantime Mr 3 Dax was surrounded by a crowd of congratulating friends, who insisted, some on shaking hands only, some on giving her the meaningless feminine kiss. "So glad it's all over!- Not that there was any real need to be anxious, of courss; but still it was most dreadfully trying, especially for you, dear!" "Thank you so-+-so much! much! Yes, it was very dreadful, of course, only 1 was so'sure his innocence must be proved," said Mrs Dax, who had lifted her veil, displaying a handsome, dark skinned face, brilliant black eyes, and cheeks bright with the colour brought by intvnas excitement. \ "Ah, my dear," croaked an elJerly lady who thought Mrs Dax was getting off a great deal too easily, "but even innocent persons are convicted sometimes. I think you take the matter altogether too lightly, and that you ought to,be humly giving thanks for your—l mean for your husband's escape. 1 • Just for two seconds the right colour in the face of Mrs Dux faded a little. * "I am thankful, indeed," she said, in a voice that trembled slightly. Another lady, with more feeling or morj tact, broke in: "Of course, she's thankful, only she doesn't want to make a scene fur the benefit of the ■jurirs. Jt wouldn't do for you to N break down when yr/u have poor Linley to . comfort, would it, Netalka?" Mrs Dax started. "I —I must go to him!" she fal-te-ed, with a sudden scared look. And withdrawing her.tdf with a final , hiiity handshake from the gossiping gi-oupy Mrs Dax walked quickly out ot the court, everybody nuking, way for her as she went. The remaining ladies looked at, each other. "I shouldn't like to have a? much on my conscience ay she . hasl" murmured one of them with piously uplifted eye?. "Sh—sh! it isn't fair to say that," intsrrupteJ another lady, with a moving sense that Mrs Dax was not given fair play. "I hope we should hone of us have shaken hands with her if we really belieVed anything „—like that!" she ended, with convenient vagueness. "I don't know. It's nice to be able to say you've shaken hands with a real " She stopped at the word which was on her lips, and finished with a gentle v sigh: "Poor Linley!" Then the woman who had been the

CHAPTER 111

Author of " The Lady in Black," "An Infamous Fraud." v !'»r Love o£ Jack," "A Terrible Family," "The House on the Mur-'i." etc. etc. - '

only rival worth speaking of in dress and appearance to Mis Pax srjoke for the first time. She could afford to be generous now.

"If all of it that people hinted had been true," said she gravely, "I for one should have shaken hands with her just the same." And thus, some with real feeling in their hearts, and some with only the feigned expression of it on their lips, the group of well-dressed women melted away, as one by one they got into their broughams and drove home to dinner. Mrs Dax found the carriage of the woman who had been her rival waiting for her outside. . The footman came up to her with the message from his mistres3 that -it was at the service of Mr and Mrs Dax as long £s they pleased. Her lip trembled, and for the first time that day her handsome eyes grew moist as she * steppe,d»inside the landau. She drew back hastily, as there WBs a rush of roughs, well dressed and otherwise arrayed to the door of the carriage. A crowd of faces, agape with coarse, hideous curiosity, instantly blocked the window. With a gesture of passionate fierce indignation, Netelka threw herself back into the corner, hiding herself as well as she could. A horrible sound, a sort of growl of' execaration and of baffled curiosity, reached her ears. 1 And than this, words insulting, coarse, angry, the expression of the pent-up feeling of the crowd. "Ar-r-r-r-Tr! She does well to hide her face! The hussy! It's her - they ought to put in the dock! Bah! the thief! The murderess!" .Netelka heard these words; they fell upon her eara like bullets out of a cloud of smoke. She sat up again, panting, with startling eyeballs. "Dq they say that? That?" She clenched her hands; she set her teeth; for no one could deny this woman the attribute of courage; she was game to the last. But before she could do more than face her enemies the carriage drove on. Then Netelka drew back again as the landau passed through the gates, by direction of •the police, to the prisoners' entrance. Here the carriage door was quickly opened by two stalwart officers. In, rather than on their arms they were supporting the shivering helpless form of the released prisoner, her husband. They put him into the carriage, shut the door quickly, and told the coachman to drive on. And for the first time since the arrest of Linley Dax, husband and wife were alone together.

HUSBAND AND WIFE. ,

The sky was darkening toward night, and the weather was turning colder as Linley Dax, a free man ence more, drove with his wife through the streets of Liverpool. Ever since they had left the gates of St. George's Hall there had been dead silence between - them,, he leaning back in his corner of the r,oomy carriage, she sitting upright and motionless in hers!!" "What are we going?" she said at last. At the question, Linley gave a little sob. "I thought you were never going to speak to me!" he cried piteously. "I thought, Netta, that you hadn't a word of kindness for me, after all I've gone through!" , (To be continued.)