“It would be a breach of trust which would greatly disturb me.  I want nobody on my grounds, nobody at all.  Has not my long life of solitude within these walls sufficiently proved this?  I want to feel that these men of yours would no more climb my fence than they would burst into my house without a warrant.”

Judge, I will be one of the men.  You can trust me.”

“Thank you, sergeant; I appreciate the favour.  I shall rest now as quietly as any man can who has met with a great loss.  The coroner’s inquiry has decided that the injuries which Bela received in the street were of a fatal character and would have killed him within an hour, even if he had not exhausted his strength in the effort he made to return to his home and die in my presence.  But I shall always suffer from regret that I was not in a condition to receive his last sigh.  He was a man in a thousand.  One seldom sees his like among white or black.”

“He was a very powerfully built man.  It took a sixty horse-power racing machine, going at a high rate of speed, to kill him.”

A spasm of grief or unavailing regret crossed the judge’s face as his head sank back again against the high back of his chair.

“Enough,” said he; “tread softly when you go by the sofa on which he lies.  Will you fill your glass again, sergeant?”

The sergeant declined.

“Not if my watch is to be effective to-night,” he smiled, and rose to depart.

The judge, grown suddenly thoughtful, rapped with his finger-tips on the table-edge.  He had not yet risen to show his visitor out.

“I should like to ask a question,” he finally observed, motioning the other to re-seat himself.  “You were not at the inquiry this afternoon, and may not know that just as Bela and the crowd about him turned this corner, they ran into a woman leading a small child, who stopped the whole throng in order to address him.  No one heard what she said; and no one could give any information as to who she was or in what direction she vanished.  But I saw that woman myself, earlier.  She was in this house.  She was in this room.  She came as far as that open space just inside the doorway.  I can describe her, and will, if you will consent to look for her.  It is to be a money transaction, sergeant, and if she is found and no stir made and no talk started among the Force, I will pay all that you think it right to demand.”

“Let me hear her description, your honour.”  The judge, who had withdrawn into the shadow, considered for a moment, then said: 

“I cannot describe her features, for she was heavily veiled; neither can I describe her figure except to say that she is tall and slender.  But her dress I remember to the last detail, though I am not usually so observant.  She wore purple; not an old woman’s purple, but a soft shade which did not take from her youth.  There was something floating round her shoulders of the same