Page:Frank Packard - Greater Love Hath No Man.djvu/66



OUR days had passed.

The scene with Mrs. Merton, though a contretemps to the intention in visiting the house, had, to the district attorney's mind, at least, accomplished the object sought in a more positive manner than he had perhaps hoped for. Varge was guilty.

To Marston it seemed less positive, and he still wavered.

Berley Falls, ignorant of what had transpired, held doggedly to its first impressions and watched the formal, routine progress of the law—the finding of the coroner's inquest against Varge; the finding, the next morning, by the grand jury, then in session, of a "true bill"; Varge's arraignment in the afternoon before Judge Crosswaite—with the confident expectation that at the actual trial it would be vindicated in its belief. To Varge, as a sort of compensation for the ordeal to which he had been so unwittingly subjected, bringing a measure of relief, had been the attitude then adopted by the district attorney. Believing him guilty, Lee would make quick and summary work of the case without further sifting and probing of details. But in this, at the arraignment following the grand jury's indictment, he had been met with a new turn that had not only dissipated entirely the relief thus experienced, but had brought him a fresh anxiety.