"What! Found?" To the great surprise of the prosecutor no emotions other than joy and relief were visible on the woman's face.
"Laurie has been found!" she went on. "Thank heaven! I'm so glad—now he must come back home."
"I had thought," said the prosecutor, in even, business-like tones, "that the news of his arrest would—would have been an unpleasant shock to you ... I find that the shock is yet to come."
Quick as a flash Miriam Challoner read the truth in the man's face.
"You don't mean—you can't mean that——"
Murgatroyd bowed.
"I have already told Miss Bloodgood that the report was a mistake. Your husband was not arrested in Chicago."
At that Mrs. Challoner really broke down. She sobbed silently on the shoulder of the girl beside her. "Oh, Laurie, Laurie, then you're not coming home!" she cried. "Most three weeks, Shirley, he's been away!"
Murgatroyd waited patiently until she had recovered, never once forgetting that he was the servant of the people. His was a double duty. He must apprehend the guilty, and so do it as to save the community great expense. Of late murders had been expensive luxuries. Murgatroyd knew that in this case he would be hampered by lack of funds.
"Mrs. Challoner," he said with simple directness, "the whole substance of the matter is this: I believe—we believe that Mr. Challoner has not left the East, and that he may still be here in town—in this house even." He had reseated himself, but suddenly rose again.