_ CHAPTER XI
Unable to control herself any longer, Annie broke down completely and burst into tears. When the door opened and she saw her husband led away, pale and trembling, between those two burly policemen, it was as if all she cared for on earth had gone out of her life forever. Captain Clinton laid his hand gently on her shoulder. With more sympathy in his face than was his custom to display, he said:
"Now, little woman--t'ain't no kind of use carrying on like that! If you want to help your husband and get him out of his trouble you want to get busy. Sitting there crying your eyes out won't do him any good."
Annie threw up her head. Her eyes were red, but they were dry now. Her face was set and determined. The captain was right. Only foolish women weep and wail when misfortune knocks at their door. The right sort of women go bravely out and make a fight for liberty and honor. Howard was innocent. She was convinced of that, no matter how black things looked against him. She would not leave a stone unturned till she had regained for him his liberty. With renewed hope in her heart and resolution in her face, she turned to confront the captain.
"What has he done?" she demanded.
"Killed his friend, Robert Underwood."
He watched her face closely to see what effect his words would have on her.
"Robert Underwood dead!" exclaimed Annie with more surprise than emotion.
"Yes," said the captain sternly, "and your husband, Howard Jeffries, killed him."
"That's not true! I'd never believe that," said Annie promptly.
"He's made a full confession," went on the captain.
"A confession!" she echoed uneasily. "What do you mean?"
"Just what I say. Your husband has made a full confession, in the presence of witnesses, that he came here to Underwood's rooms to ask for money. They quarreled. Your husband drew a pistol and shot him. He has signed a confession which will be presented to the magistrate this morning."
Annie looked staggered for a moment, but her faith in her husband was unshakable. Almost hysterically she cried:
"I don't believe it. I don't believe it. You may have tortured him into signing something. Everybody knows your methods, Captain Clinton. But thank God there is a law in the United States which protects the innocent as well as punishes the guilty. I shall get the most able lawyers to defend him even if I have to sell myself into slavery for the rest of my life."
"Bravo, little woman!" said the captain mockingly. "That's the way to talk. I like your spunk, but before you go I'd like to ask you a few questions. Sit down."
He waved her to a chair and he sat opposite her.
"Now, Mrs. Jeffries," he began encouragingly, "tell me--did you ever hear your husband threaten Howard Underwood?"
By this time Annie had recovered her self-possession. She knew that the best way to help Howard was to keep cool and to say nothing which was likely to injure his cause. Boldly, therefore, she answered:
"You've no right to ask me that question."
The captain shifted uneasily in his seat. He knew she was within her legal rights. He couldn't bully her into saying anything that would incriminate her husband.
"I merely thought you would like to assist the authorities, to----" he stammered awkwardly.
"To convict my husband," she said calmly. "Thank you, I understand my position."
"You can't do him very much harm, you know," said the captain with affected jocularity. "He has confessed to the shooting."
"I don't believe it," she said emphatically.
Trying a different tack, he asked carelessly:
"Did you know Mr. Underwood?"
She hesitated before replying, then indifferently she said:
"Yes, I knew him at one time. He introduced me to my husband."
"Where was that?"
"In New Haven, Conn."
"Up at the college, eh? How long have you known Mr. Underwood?"
Annie looked at her Inquisitor and said nothing. She wondered what he was driving at, what importance the question had to the case. Finally she said:
"I met him once or twice up at New Haven, but I've never seen him since my marriage to Mr. Jeffries. My husband and he were not very good friends. That is----"
She stopped, realizing that she had made a mistake. How foolish she had been! The police, of course, were anxious to show that there was ill feeling between the two men. Her heart misgave her as she saw the look of satisfaction in the captain's face.
"Ah!" he exclaimed. "Not very good friends, eh? In fact, your husband didn't like him, did he?"
"He didn't like him well enough to run after him," she replied hesitatingly.
The captain now started off in another direction.
"Was your husband ever jealous of Underwood?"
By this time Annie had grown suspicious of every question. She was on her guard.
"Jealous? What do you mean? No, he was not jealous. There was never any reason. I refuse to answer any more questions."
The captain rose and began to pace the floor.
"There's one little thing more, Mrs. Jeffries, and then you can go. You can help your husband by helping us. I want to put one more question to you and be careful to answer truthfully. Did you call at these rooms last night to see Mr. Underwood?"
"I!" exclaimed Annie with mingled astonishment and indignation. "Of course not."
"Sure?" demanded the captain, eyeing her narrowly.
"Positive," said Annie firmly.
The captain looked puzzled.
"A woman called here last night to see him," he said thoughtfully, "and I thought that perhaps----"
Interrupting himself, he went quickly to the door of the apartment and called to some one who was waiting in the corridor outside. A boy about eighteen years of age, in the livery of an elevator attendant, entered the room. The captain pointed to Annie.
"Is that the lady?"
The boy looked carefully, and then shook his head:
"Don't think so--no, sir. The other lady was a great swell."
"You're sure, eh?" said the captain.
"I--think so," answered the boy.
"Do you remember the name she gave?"
"No, sir," replied the boy. "Ever since you asked me----"
Annie arose and moved toward the door. She had no time to waste there. Every moment now was precious. She must get legal assistance at once. Turning to Captain Clinton, she said:
"If you've no further use for me, captain, I think I'll go."
"Just one moment, Mrs. Jeffries," he said.
The face of the elevator boy suddenly brightened up.
"That's it," he said eagerly. "That's it--Jeffries. I think that was the name she gave, sir."
"Who?" demanded the captain.
"Not this lady," said the boy. "The other lady. I think she said Jeffries, or Jenkins, or something like that."
The captain waved his hand toward the door.
"That's all right--go. We'll find her all right."
The boy went out and the captain turned round to Annie.
"It'll be rather a pity if it isn't you," he said, with a suggestive smile.
"How so?" she demanded.
The captain laughed.
"Well, you see, a woman always gets the jury mixed up. Nothing fools a man like a pretty face, and twelve times one is twelve. You see if they quarreled about you--your husband would stand some chance." Patronizingly he added, "Come, Mrs. Jeffries, you'd better tell the truth and I can advise you who to go to."
Annie drew herself up, and with dignity said:
"Thanks, I'm going to the best lawyer I can get. Not one of those courtroom politicians recommended by a police captain. I am going to Richard Brewster. He's the man. He'll soon get my husband out of the Tombs." Reflectively she added: "If my father had had Judge Brewster to defend him instead of a legal shark, he'd never have been railroaded to jail. He'd be alive to-day."
Captain Clinton guffawed loudly. The idea of ex-Judge Brewster taking the case seemed to amuse him hugely.
"Brewster?" he laughed boisterously. "You'd never be able to get Brewster. Firstly, he's too expensive. Secondly, he's old man Jeffries' lawyer. He wouldn't touch your case with a ten-foot pole. Besides," he added in a tone of contempt, "Brewster's no good in a case of this kind. He's a constitution lawyer--one of them international fellers. He don't know nothing----"
"He's the only lawyer I want," she retorted determinedly. Then she went on: "Howard's folks must come to his rescue. They must stand by him--they must----"
The captain grinned.
"From what I hear," he said, "old man Jeffries won't raise a finger to save his scapegrace son from going to the chair. He's done with him for good and all."
Chuckling aloud and talking to himself rather than to his vis-a-vis, he muttered:
"That alone will convince the jury. They'll argue that the boy can't be much good if his own go back on him."
Annie's eyes flashed.
"Precisely!" she exclaimed. "But his own won't go back on him. I'll see to it that they don't." Rising and turning toward the door, she asked: "Have you anything more to say to me, captain?"
"No," replied the captain hesitatingly. "You can go. Of course you'll be called later for the trial You can see your husband in the Tombs when you wish."
No man is so hard that he has not a soft spot somewhere. At heart Captain Clinton was not an unkind man. Long service in the police force and a mistaken notion of the proper method of procedure in treating his prisoners had hardened him and made him brutal. Secretly he felt sorry for this plucky, energetic little woman who had such unbounded faith in her good-for-nothing husband, and was ready to fight all alone in his defense. Eyeing her with renewed interest, he demanded:
"What are you going to do now?"
Annie reached the door, and drawing herself up to her full height, turned and said:
"I'm going to undo all you have done, Captain Clinton. I'm going to free my husband and prove his innocence before the whole world. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I'll do it. I'll fight you, captain, to the last ditch, and I'll rescue my poor husband from your clutches if it takes everything I possess in the world."
Quickly she opened the door and disappeared. _