His Other Wife: A Novel — page 319: what you’re looking at

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

ARRAIGNED. apne a8 fe I ‘‘Hours later, the family, with whom Mr. and Mrs. Croft are boarders, are awakened with the announcement of Mrs. Croft's death. It is only a little more sudden than they had any reason to expect, and no one seems surprised. The inquest pronounces on the body its ver- dict that the deceased had.come to her death from bodily derangements duly attested by her attending physician. By the urgent request of the landlady, the body is re- moved to the chapel at the cemetery, the time being mid- summer, and the locality liable to infectious diseases, that a corpse lying under a tin roof on an August day might generate. Ata late hour of the ensuing evening the ob- sequies of the deceased are performed, and within twenty- four hours after the bereaved husband had quitted the city forever, leaving his rooms and effects in charge of the landlady, with directions to have his things cared for until she received his instructions concerning them. These, gentlemen, are the facts as they appear on the face of the evidence. It remains for them, and their underly- ing horrors, to be developed before your eyes by the testimony that has been accumulated, and will be evolved for your consideration. Justice demands that you sift this man’s intentions thereby. We shall, with the permission of the court, proceed to array the witnesses in due course and form.” The counsel for the prosecution was silent for, a few moments, and all eyes examined the face of the prisoner. It was calm and intrepid as ever, but under the bristling. Eomicbooks.c¢o