“Now, Bill,” the lawyer went on gently as to a child, “Louie’s got some sense; not much. He learned how to open registered envelopes, when he started in to be a mail clerk, by watching the post-office inspectors rolling a pen handle under the flap; and he learned to feel for money in the envelope before he opened it. The post-office inspectors taught him that. Louie had sense enough to learn it. He learned it well. He can tell the feel of a bill through the thickest envelope that was ever mailed. But you are a fool, Bill; Lansky told me that. Nobody but a fool, after he robbed the Norristown bank, would have hidden the money in the loft of an abandoned schoolhouse, with a trail of cinders leading from the window up to the trap in the ceiling. Anybody but a fool would have wiped his feet off before he climbed in the window.” The whole court room was convulsed with laughter; even the judge smiled. Nothing could have been more of the essence of comedy than these passages between the attorney and his client. The big lawyer turned again to the witness. “Now, Mr. Barkman,” he said, “what did they do when Bill got back with the money?” “They finished the job,” replied the witness. “Well,” said the attorney, “what did they do?” “It is clear what they did,” replied the detective; “they killed Mr. Halloway with the fire poker, then they hid the two handkerchiefs they had over their faces when they came in, and then they got out of town.” The witness sat back in his chair as though he had finished with his testimony. The big attorney stood up. The whole aspect of the man, as by the snap of a switch, had undergone a transformation. The huge bulk of him was vital. His heavy slack face was firm. “Mr. Barkman,” he said, “why did the men who killed Hiram Halloway wear no masks on their faces?” “They did wear masks on their faces—they’re on the table before you.” The lawyer did not look down at the articles before him. His voice was now hard and accurate like the point of a steel tool. “Take it as a hypothetical question then. Suppose they wore no masks. What would that fact indicate?” The attorney for the State rose. “I object,” he said. “There must be evidence in the case tending to support the assumed facts in a hypothetical question.” “The evidence shall be presently indicated,” replied the lawyer. The judge passed on the objection at once. “The Colonel promises to point out the evidence later. He may go on; the witness has been introduced as an expert.” The lawyer again faced the man in the chair. He repeated his question. The witness seemed doubtful. “I don’t know,” he said. “You don’t know! Reflect, Mr. Barkman. Would it not mean that the person or persons who accomplished this criminal act felt that they were so well known to Hiram Halloway that no ordinary disguise could conceal their identity?” The witness did not immediately reply, and the lawyer went on: “And is not this the reason why Hiram Halloway was killed?”