A crowd is the most volatile thing in the world. It can laugh and sigh and groan and weep, as well as shout and storm, with the ease of an infant, and then immediately regain its immobility and fixed attention. With Ollie's simple statement a sound rose from it which was a denunciation and a curse upon the ashes of old Isom Chase. It was as if a sympathetic old lady had shaken her head and groaned: "Oh, shame on you--shame!" Hammer gave the jury a wide-sweeping look of satisfaction, and made a note on the tumbled pile of paper which lay in front of him. The prosecutor was a man with congressional aspirations, and he did not care to prejudice his popularity by going too far in baiting a woman, especially one who had public sympathy in the measure that it was plainly extended to Ollie. He eased up, descending from his heights of severity, and began to address her respectfully in a manner that was little short of apology for what his stern duty compelled him to do. "Now I will ask you, Mrs. Chase, whether your husband and this defendant, Joe Newbolt, ever had words in your hearing?" "Once," Ollie replied. "Do you recall the day?" "It was the morning after Joe came to our house to work," said she. "Do you remember what the trouble was about and what said?" "Well, they said a good deal," Ollie answered. "They fussed because Joe didn't get up when Isom called him." Joe felt his heart contract. It seemed to him that Ollie need not have gone into that; it looked as if she was bent not alone on protecting herself, but on fastening the crime on him. It gave him a feeling of uneasiness. Sweat came out on his forehead; his palms grew moist. He had looked for Ollie to stand by him at least, and now she seemed running away, eager to tell something that would sound to his discredit. "You may tell the jury what happened that morning, Mrs. Chase." Hammer's objection fell on barren ground, and Ollie told the story under the directions of the judge. "You say there was a sound of scuffling after Isom called him?" asked the prosecutor. "Yes, it sounded like Isom shook him and Joe jumped out of bed." "And what did Joe Newbolt say?" "He said, 'Put that down! I warned you never to lift your hand against me. If you hit me, I'll kill you in your tracks!'" "That's what you heard Joe Newbolt say to your husband up there in the loft over your head?" The prosecutor was eager. He leaned forward, both hands on the table, and looked at her almost hungrily. The jurymen shuffled their feet and sat up in their chairs with renewed interest. A hush fell over the room. Here was the motive at the prosecutor's hand. "That's what he said," Ollie affirmed, her gaze bent downward. She told how Isom had come down after that, followed by Joe. And the prosecutor asked her to repeat what she had heard Joe say once more for the benefit of the jury. He spoke with the air of a man who already has the game in the bag.