“‘“Do you believe me innocent of the awful crime of which I am charged?” she asked.
“‘“Believe you innocent, my loved one? I would as soon suspect an angel from Heaven as you! Nay, I would risk my soul’s salvation on your innocence! If I had a hundred thousand lives, I’d risk them all on your honor! If a legion of witnesses were to swear you are guilty, I would not believe it! Viola, can you forgive the past? Will you allow me to hope that you ever will love me? I cannot endure this miserable torture.”
“‘“Harry, would you be willing to accept my hand while this dark cloud of disgrace is hovering over me?”
“‘“Yes, yes, darling! ten thousand times yes!”
“‘She nestled her face into my bosom and burst into tears; then, Ed, I knew she was mine, and my joy was unutterable. I suppose, however, you know all about such feelings. When she became composed she promised to marry me when her innocence should be made manifest to the world. Now you know all, and can readily appreciate my feelings.’
CHAPTER XVI.
“It was on the morning of the fourth day after my return from Philadelphia that I went to Harry’s office for the purpose of holding a consultation with him in regard to Miss Bramlett’s case. I was anxious to know what progress had been made by the detectives in their investigations. I had been devoting all my time to the business, and was more mystified at the end of four days than I was at the beginning. I had spent some time in making a survey of the buildings and premises where the murder had been committed; this I had been advised to do by Mr. Rockland, who had manifested considerable interest in the case. I had great confidence in the cool judgment of Mr. Rockland, as well as unlimited faith in him as a skillful criminal lawyer; and he told me that a thorough investigation of the house and its contents was a matter that ought by no means to be neglected; therefore I had undertaken that job as my part of the work. I had taken great pains to make a correct diagram of the house and grounds—including the kitchen, servants’ rooms, stables, garden, with all the entrances by which persons could get into the inclosure. I was very much gratified when I presented my diagram to Mr. Rockland, for he examined it carefully, and then observed, ‘that the work was satisfactory, and had been very skillfully executed.’
“‘If I am not very much mistaken, Mr. Demar,’ he said, ‘you will find that this map will be of invaluable service to you before this affair is finally disposed of. If it should turn out, as you seem to think, that the crime has been the work of some other person, you may expect to find secret entrances to the grounds—but I regret to say that I fear you will find no little difficulty in establishing Miss Bramlett’s innocence. I have no hesitation, understand me, in asserting that I have always regarded Miss Bramlett as a pure, honest young lady; but, judging from the reports that have reached me in regard to her strange conduct, I am led to believe that her mind has not been altogether right. If it comes to the worst, I shall advise the plea of insanity to be filed. I am well aware of the fact that pleas of that sort are becoming quite common of late, and that the courts are inclined to view them with suspicion, yet in this case I have no doubt that the evidence will be so full as to overcome all doubt. You may depend on me, Mr. Demar, so far as my humble ability may be concerned, because I deeply sympathize with this unfortunate young lady; and then her father was my true friend, and I should be an ungrateful wretch if I did not put forth all my energy and influence in behalf of his daughter.’
“It was indeed with a sorrowful heart beating in my bosom that I separated from Mr. Rockland at the close of the interview just related. I had watched Miss Bramlett closely during the frequent visits I had made to the jail, and my observations convinced me that, notwithstanding her mind was sad and unsettled, she had complete control of her reason. Then, in the second place, I knew that if we succeeded in proving her insane, it would be a fatal blow to Harry’s happiness. The room in which young Harry Bramlett died was a small square bedroom on the second floor, in the south-west corner of Mr. Ragland’s house, and adjacent to the one that had been occupied by Miss Bramlett. There was a partition door in the wall that separated the two rooms. Miss Bramlett’s room was a larger one than that occupied by her young brother, and had two windows and one door besides the door that was in the partition wall. One of the windows was in the front overlooking the street—the other in the side overlooking a small flower garden that lay on the south side of the building. The furniture of Miss Bramlett’s room, which remained just as it was when her brother died, consisted of a marble-top bureau, a small mahogany bedstead, with canopy hung with pink silk, a large rosewood wardrobe, a marble-top wash-stand, a low sofa with green cushions, an easy-chair with red plush cushions, a cane bottom rocking-chair, three large trunks and four common cane bottom chairs. A life-size portrait of Mr. Bramlett swung by a red twisted cord against the south wall of the room, while Mrs. Bramlett’s picture, in a large gold frame, hung just above the bed. A photograph of Miss Bramlett and her little brother, both in the same frame, hung near the partition door. As I gazed on Miss Bramlett’s picture, with one hand clasped in that of her little brother, I was then and there convinced that she never had murdered him. Such an expression of purity beamed forth from the beautiful face as to prove to my mind that no secret thoughts of murder ever had lurked in her breast. I was informed that not an article in the rooms had been moved since the night when the little boy died—no one had been permitted to enter either one of the rooms after the corpse had been removed, until Mr. Dabbs had arrived. A guard had been placed at the entrance, with positive orders not to allow any one to enter the rooms; this had been done at Harry’s request.
“When I arrived at Harry’s office I found him alone; but while he and I were engaged in examining my diagram Dabbs and Tadpoddle came into the inner room from the back entrance, and informed us that they had important facts to communicate. This was the first time that I ever had laid my eyes on Mr. Tadpoddle, and if it had not been for the seriousness of the business in which we were engaged, I should have laughed outright as soon as I saw him. The comical expression of his features—the peculiar shape of his nose, the fantastic style of his dress, and the singular disproportion which the length of his legs bore to the size of his body, all combined to produce a ridiculous object. To undertake to describe him would be a failure. He was neither man, beast, fowl nor fish, but in some respects resembled all. His right ear was near the back of his beard. The place where his nose should have been looked like a toad-stool on a sapling. His left eye was large and very white, the other small and three-cornered; the little one seemed to be afraid of the big one—they were continually playing hide and seek with each other, and at no time were both on duty at the same moment. When the big one was awake, the little one was asleep. I noticed that when the big one would retire from duty, the little one would come to the front cautiously and gaze over to see if the other had certainly gone; and if any movement was made by the big one, the little one would dart back into his hole. It was clear to my mind that nature did not intend to make a man when Tadpoddle was commenced; but the whole concern seemed to convey the idea that nature intended him for a huge joke.