"Take a look at that person and tell me if you have ever seen her before," said Perry Mason.

Claude Drumm jumped to his feet.

"Your Honor," he said, "I object to this form of testing the recollection of the witness. It is not a proper test; nor is it proper crossexamination."

"Do you intend to connect it up, Counselor?" asked Judge Markham of Perry Mason.

"I will do better than that," said Perry Mason. "I will withdraw the question, as it was asked, and ask you, Samuel Marson, if it is not a fact that this woman who is now standing in the courtroom is not the woman who called for the handkerchief on the evening of October 17th of this year, and the woman to whom you gave the handkerchief which had been left in the taxicab?"

"No, sir," said Samuel Marson, pointing toward the defendant, "that was the woman."

"There's no chance you're mistaken?" asked Perry Mason.

"No, sir."

"And if you are mistaken as to the identity of the woman who called for the handkerchief, you might also be mistaken as to the identity of the woman who was taken by you to that house on Milpas Drive?"

"I ain't mistaken about either of 'em, but if I was mistaken on one, I could be mistaken on the other," said Marson.

Perry Mason smiled triumphantly.

"That," he said, "is all."

Claude Drumm was on his feet.

"Your Honor," he said, "may I ask for a recess until tomorrow morning?"

Judge Markham frowned and nodded his head slowly.

"Yes," he said, "the Court will adjourn until ten o'clock tomorrow morning. During the recess, the jury are admonished not to talk about the case among themselves; nor to permit it to be discussed in their presence."

Judge Markham banged his gavel, arose and stalked majestically toward his chambers in the rear of the courtroom. Perry Mason noticed Claude Drumm glance significantly at two deputies, and saw these deputies push their way through the crowd to the side of Mae Sibley. Perry Mason also pushed his way through the crowd, his shoulders squared, chin outthrust. He reached the young woman's side but a few moments after the deputies had closed in on her.

"Judge Markham wants to see all three of you in his chambers," he said.

The deputies looked surprised.

"This way," said Perry Mason, and, turning, started pushing his way back toward the space within the bar.

"Oh, Drumm," he called, raising his voice.

Claude Drumm, who was about to leave the courtroom, paused.

"Would you mind stepping into the chambers of Judge Markham with me?" asked Perry Mason.

Drumm hesitated a moment, then nodded.

Together, the two attorneys entered the chambers. Behind them came the two deputies and Mae Sibley.

The Judge's chambers were lined with law books. A huge desk in the center of the room was littered with an orderly array of papers and law books that were held open. Judge Markham looked up.

"Judge," said Perry Mason, "this young woman is a witness of mine. She is under subpoena for the defense. I noticed that at a signal from the deputy district attorney, two deputies have approached her. May I ask the Court to instruct the witness that she needs to talk to no one until she is called as a witness, and to instruct the deputies that they are not to annoy her?"

Claude Drumm flushed, walked back and kicked the door shut.

"Now, then," he said, "since you've brought this subject up, and since court isn't in session, we'll settle it right here and now."

Perry Mason glared at him belligerently.

"All right," he said, "go ahead and settle it."

"What I intended to do," said Claude Drumm, "was to find out from this young woman if she had been paid to impersonate the defendant. I wanted to find out if an arrangement had been made with her to approach this taxicab driver and claim that she was the person who had hired the taxicab earlier in the day, and who had left a handkerchief in the cab."

"All right," said Perry Mason, "suppose she said yes to all of that; then what did you intend to do?"

"I intended to discover the identity of the person who had paid her to make such false representations and to get a warrant for his arrest," said Claude Drumm.

"All right," said Perry Mason in an ominous drawl, "I'm the person. I did it. What are you going to do about it?"

"Gentlemen," said Judge Markham, "it seems to me this discussion is getting somewhat beyond the subject."

"Not a bit of it," said Mason. "I knew this was coming and I want to have it settled right here and now. There's no law against a woman impersonating another. It's no crime to claim to be the owner of lost property, unless the claim is made for the purpose of obtaining the possession of that lost property."

"That was exactly the purpose of this deception," shouted Claude Drumm.

Perry Mason smiled.

"You'll remember, Drumm," he said, "that I rang up the authorities and turned the handkerchief over to them, just as soon as it had been given to me, and that Miss Sibley gave it to me just as soon as she received it from the taxi driver. What I was doing was testing the recollection of the taxi driver. I knew blamed well that by the time you got done coaching him, he'd be so positive of the identity of the defendant, that no amount of crossexamination would shake him. I crossexamined him first, and by an object lesson, rather than by questions, that's all. I was within my rights."

Judge Markham looked at Perry Mason, and there was a twinkle in his eyes.

"Well," he said, "the Court isn't called upon at this time to pass upon the ethics of the question, and it isn't called upon to pass upon the question of whether there was a larceny of a handkerchief. The Court is only called upon to pass upon your request, Counselor, that your witnesses be allowed to give their testimony in court, and that the officers do not seek to intimidate them."

"That's all I want," said Perry Mason, but his eyes remained fastened on Claude Drumm. "I know what I'm doing, and I'm responsible for what I do, and I don't want any woman terrified by a lot of bullies."

"What you've done will get you before the grievance committee of the Bar Association!" shouted Claude Drumm.

"That's fine," Perry Mason told him. "I'll be only too glad to discuss the matter with you there. But in the meantime, you keep your hands off my witnesses."

"Gentlemen, gentlemen," snapped Judge Markham, getting to his feet. "I'm going to insist upon order. Counselor Mason has presented a request. You should know, Mr. Drumm, that the request is in order. If this person is a witness subpoenaed by the defense, you will refrain from seeking to intimidate her."

Claude Drumm gulped and colored visibly.

"Very well," he said.

"This way," said Perry Mason, smiling, and taking Mae Sibley's arm, took her from the chambers.

As he opened the door into the courtroom, there was a vivid flash of light, a sudden "poof."

The girl screamed and covered her face.

"Don't get excited," Perry Mason told her. "It's just newspaper photographers taking your picture."

Claude Drumm pushed his way to Mason's side. His face was white, his eyes blazing.

"You deliberately engineered that whole thing!" he said. "Just to get a dramatic story on the front page of the newspapers!"

Perry Mason grinned at him.

"Any objections?" he asked.

"Lots of them!" blazed Claude Drumm.

"All right," said Perry Mason slowly and ominously, "be damn careful how you make them."

For a long moment the two men glared at each other, Claude Drumm, white with fury, but impotent against the rugged strength of the criminal lawyer, stared into the steady eyes and knew that he was licked. Still white with fury, he turned on his heel and walked away.

Perry Mason turned to Mae Sibley.

"I didn't want you talking to the deputies," he said, "but there's no reason why you can't talk with the newspaper reporters."