Page:The achievements of Luther Trant - Balmer and MacHarg - 1910.djvu/39

Rh ward look he burst from the room and, running down the steps, left the campus.

It was five o'clock that afternoon, when Trant rang the bell at Dr. Joslyn's door. He saw that Mr. Branower and Dr. Reiland had been taken into the president's private study before him; and that the manner of all three was less stern toward him than he had expected.

"Dr. Reiland and Mr. Branower have come to hear the coroner's report to me," Joslyn explained. "The physicians say Lawrie did not die from asphyxiation. An autopsy to-morrow will show the cause of his death. But, at least, Trant—you made accusations this morning which can have no foundation in truth, but in part of what you said you must have been correct; for obviously some other person was in the room."

"But not Harrison," Trant replied. "I have just come from Elgin, where, though I was not allowed to speak with him, I saw him in the hospital."

"You doubted he was there?" Branower asked.

"I wanted to make sure, Mr. Branower. And I have traced the notes, too," the young man continued. "All were made out as usual, signed regularly by Dr. Lawrie and paid by him personally, upon maturity, from the university reserve. So I have made only more certain that the man in the room must have been one of Dr. Lawrie's closest friends. I came back and saw Margaret Lawrie."

Reiland's eyes filled with tears. "This terrible thing, with her unfortunate presence with us at the