“As part of the preparation for the future on the stage that Mr. Monteagle was to help me get,” she said, dispassionately, “I have taken gymnasium work to build up my system. You can see it was no extraordinary thing for me to let myself down by the double rope, pulling the window shut after I climbed out. I left it open enough so that the rope could run free when I pulled it after me. I threw the rope in a street garbage tin. I was at the theatre, remarkable as it may seem, in time for my act at ten o’clock, although I missed the first show. I have been in a daze since; I was in a trance after I did the stabbing. I have known I must be found out. I am glad that it is all over. I have made no attempt to escape. I am absolutely indifferent to my fate.” The sister, recovered from her swoon, was weeping softly, her head bowed in the other’s lap. “Tell me,” said Lanagan curiously to her, “why did you telephone to Monteagle?” She gasped, and it appeared for the moment that she was about to swoon again. Finally she faltered, while her own sister looked at her strangely: “I--was afraid sister meant him harm--I didn’t think of it until I got home--and then something about her face came back to me--I wanted to warn Mr. Monteagle not to arouse her--I finally succeeded in getting him at his club before he left for his office and--he only laughed--” “Yes,” said La Pattini bitterly, “he told me so--and laughed--and snapped his fingers when he spoke about you--that was just before he struck me ... and then I killed him.” The sudden fresh sobs of the younger girl, smothered as they were in her sister’s lap, seemed to wrench her very being. Lanagan glanced at Leslie; Leslie averted his eyes. There was a prolonged pause, broken only by the agonised, stifled sobbing, while she of crime threw her arms shelteringly around the weaker vessel. But her own deathly calm she preserved. Finally Leslie arose slowly and said simply: “I am sorry. I have no recourse. My duty is clear.” “So is mine,” said Lanagan quickly, “and it is this: I will guarantee you, Miss Northrup, the support of the _Enquirer_, and I will secure for you as counsel my personal friend, Mr. William Hadden, the ablest man in the West, to present your case to a jury in the proper manner to secure the acquittal that you are entitled to.” It was then after one o’clock. We left Leslie at the house to bring the girl to the city prison after she had an opportunity of parting from her family. Leslie was to contrive not to book her before half-past two to save our “exclusive.” By that time the _Times_ and the _Herald_ would be gone to press.