Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 100: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ad — ‘““Upon ze evidence, of course, mademoi- Selle, a’ bon droit—” “Will you have friends with you, madame? Are your people in this coun- try?” There was a full minute’s hesita- tion, then Janet caught the answer. ‘J am alone in zis countree!” A weary little smile played about the corners of her mouth and Janet knew she was studying the effect of this answer upon her ques- tioner. Then wearily: “It is imposseeble, mademoiselle—this mob ”—indicating with a shrug of her expressive shoulders her feeling for her associates—‘ I weesh I might spik wiz you in private, but, no—it is not permit. Please excuse. I am _ sorry. Merci!” Janet watched the trim figure move down the corridor. Once she turned and the small red lips parted in a smile, She cer- tainly did not look the criminal. More, she had the air of a philosopher who awaits the opportune moment to confound her per- secutors—her judges—the Wades of the world—as an afterthought. “Well, at least I'll keep an open mind,” decidéd Janet. ‘‘ The French, when they do turn to crime, make unusually clever criminals. stuff—be careful about forming any snap judgments.” Janet’s story made the last edition—just a report of the interview with a generous dash of atmosphere to cover the sparsity of real news, but Wade was pleased. “Good stuff, Miss Murdock,” he volun- teered. ‘‘ Glad you didn’t lay on the mush. That woman’s guilty. You go along with Briscom in the morning. He’s doing the trial from the news end, but I’d like a fea- ture story every day. Size her up in your own way and give the women of New York a chance to see what crimes one of their own sex is capable of. If you handle it as well as you did this one, we ought to put on twenty thousand in two weeks.” Janet’s thoughts went back to that slen- der dark-eyed girl so palpably an alien to her hideous surroundings, and she was on the verge of telling Wade just what she thought of him and his cruel convictions. -But a job was a job and she had plenty of use for hers, so all she said was: I'll go easy on the sympathy Remember, she’s innocent until they prove her guilty!” | ‘“ Well, it won’t take ’em jong to do that,” he chuckled as he moved away. Il. JANET was early in the court room the following morning and awaited with some interest the arrival of Mme. Le Montague. When she was brought in all eyes were at attention, She came swinging down the in- closure, her well-poised head, sleek and simply coiffed, turning neither to the right nor left. She seemed unconscious of her sur- roundings until she took her seat at her counsel’s table; then she sent swift, darting glances about her. When her eyes chanced to rest upon Janet, her lips parted in a smile and she gave a quick nod of pleased recognition. All stood for the entrance of the judge and the trial was under way. As the selec- tion of the jury proceeded, Janet found herself as interested in the type of man selected as Mme. Le Montague herself ap- peared to be. The Frenchwoman held whis- pered conversation from time to time with her counsel and Janet noticed that it was after one of these that the prospective juror was usually challenged. Apparently, she had much to say in the choice of her jury. It was an interesting pastime when one had nothing at stake and Janet fell to picking the men with whom she would care to trust her fate. Evidentiy her ideas did not always conform to the ideas of Mme. Le Montague, for on two occasions her attorney challenged the men on whom Janet had looked with favor. “Wonder what she feared in them?” Janet mused. “ They look like men with open minds.” Finally it was accomplished; the jury box was full. The district attorney opened - for the people. Janet listened to the flow of oratory as he brought home his conten- tions to the jury. The State would prove, was his contention, that the defendant— pointing: an accusing finger at the slender ~ girl seated just ahead of Janet—this de- fendant had been an accessory to the theft comichooks com