"Where  is  the  'phone  down  here  ?  Come  and  show  me  the
switch,  one  of  you.  I  don't  want  to  talk  from  the  exten-
sion."

Matilde  did  not  even  turn,  but  Jenny  complied,  and  the
stern  voice,  softened  now  and  almost  fatherly,  came  once
more  to  their  ears :

"Hello?  Chief  Burke  talking.  I  want  to  speak  to  Paul
.  .  .  Hello,  Paul,  feel  well  enough  to  take  on  another


WHAT  THE  DAWN  BROUGHT  37

case  right  away?  .  .  .  Good  boy!  .  .  .  Number  one
thirty-nine  West  Farragut  Street  .  .  .  Big  thing,  all  right,
the  biggest  in  years.  Looked  like  a  plain  suicide  at  first,
but  it's  a  clear  case  of  murder  ...  In  ten  minutes?
Goodbye."

Rose  scarcely  heard  when  the  Chief  of  Police  hung  up
the  receiver  and  started  once  more  up  the  stairs,  for  at  the
word  "murder"  Matilde  swayed,  caught  vainly  at  the  cur-
tains to  save  herself,  and  fell  in  a  crumpled  unconscious
heap  upon  the  floor.
Chapter  IV.
QUESTIONS.
IT  was  within  the  allotted  ten  minutes  that  a  modest
green  runabout  drew  up  at  the  curb  behind  the  Coroner's
sedan  and  the  Chief's  impressive  twelve-cylinder,  be-
fore the  little  house  whose  dicreetly  curtained  windows
veiled  a  tragedy.
The  humming  of  the  motor  ceased  abruptly  and  a  young
man  sprang  from  behind  the  wheel  and  darted  up  the  steps,
through  the  crowd  of  excited,  curious  bystanders  which  had
already  gathered  about  the  door.
He  was  a  tall,  slender  young  man  with  a  splendid  breadth
of  shoulder  and  strong,  clean-cut  features.  One  looked
twice  before  noting  the  slight  halting  limp  and  the  shadows
of  ever-present  suffering  about  the  deep  brown  eyes.
