"But it is of a striking-looking man, your Honor."
"What next?"
Pen said slowly: "Talley was never seen alive after that."
"What!" exclaimed Judge Stockman, "you charge a second murder! ... Go on."
"For many days we could get no further," Pen said. "Finally one of Talley's friends volunteered to break into that house to look for evidence."
"But this is burglary!"
"The witness, known as Babe Riordan, is prepared to waive immunity when he goes on the stand. If a charge is laid against him he will stand his trial."
"Did he find anything in the house?"
"He found the square, cut-glass whiskey bottle on the sideboard. It had been emptied, but we took it to a chemist, our next witness, who is prepared to testify that it contained well defined traces of cyanide."
His Honor frowned. "Dubious evidence!" he said. "Even suppose a jury were inclined to believe the chemist, how would they know but that the last witness, a self-confessed burglar, remember, did not put the poison in the bottle himself?"