Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/119

 yesterday," she tried to be sure, yet she called upon her soul to stand firm.

As she rose to go to the witness's chair where Sir Ian had sat, and Mrs. Barnard and Kate Craigie, the door was opened by the guardian policeman outside. A visiting-card with something written upon it in pencil was passed in, and up to the coroner. A whispered discussion followed among the officials assembled at the table, and presently an answer went back to the door. Some one was admitted, and the questioning of Miss Ricardo was delayed until the slight disturbance should be over. Terry did not turn her head to look at the door. She stood, ready to go to the coroner's table when she should be wanted, but that would not be quite yet, for the coroner's clerk had got up, and was talking to the person who had come in. Then the clerk returned, and spoke with the coroner, handing him a piece of paper, which might have been a leaf torn from a note-book. There was a little more conferring, and then Miss Ricardo was requested to take her place in the chair by the coroner. As she obeyed, she saw the face of the newcomer, who had been given a seat. He was looking at her, and their eyes met. His were of yellowish brown, like the thin hair and stubby moustache, which was turning gray—a dirty, unattractive gray. His complexion was yellowish too, and there were baggy wrinkles under the cold eyes.