"I've no fault to find with you, Mr. Prosecutor; it had to come to
this."
"But I won't forget this--not for a moment, Prosecutor Murgatroyd," said
Thorne grandiloquently, as he stalked out of the door, followed by the
prisoner and his guards.
After the men had left Murgatroyd paced the floor for a while in deep
meditation. Something in the prisoner's attitude had moved him, puzzled
him. "There's a discrepancy somewhere," he told himself; "and yet where
the deuce is it?--Challoner killed this man as sure as fate. The motive,
the opportunity, were there.... And then there's his confession....
But--" He pushed a button; and when McGrath answered the call he was
ordered to have Pemmican sent down from the house of detention, his
order ending with: "I wish to see him at once."
"Yes, sir." The officer then placed a card upon the prosecutor's desk
and added: "That's a party who wants to see you, sir."
Murgatroyd picked up the card negligently and glanced at it out of the
corner of his eye. Instantly a dull flush mounted to his face, and
rising to his feet, he said:--
"Tell the lady to come in, please."