"Any objection on the part of the Defense?" Judge Pennymaker asked.

"We'll make our objections at the proper time," Mason said, "as the questions themselves come up."

"I'm not trying to limit Counsel," Truslow said, "I merely wanted to explain our position to the Court. I thought perhaps I might eliminate some objections by the Defense in stating my position."

"Proceed with the case," Pennymaker said. "The defendant is in court?"

"He is coming in now, your Honor," Truslow said.

A deputy led Douglas Keene into the courtroom. He looked somewhat pale, but his head was back and his chin held high. Mason crossed to him, squeezed his arm reassuringly. "Sit down, lad," he said, "and keep your head. It won't be long now until the whole thing is cleared up."

"The first witness on behalf of the prosecution," Truslow said, "is Tom Glassman."

Glassman came forward, was sworn, testified that he was an attache of the district attorney's office; that on the evening of the twentythird instant he had gone to the apartment of Edith DeVoe; that in the apartment a woman lay sprawled on the floor, there were wounds on her head, and nearby lay a club; that the club was smeared with blood.

"I show you a photograph," Truslow said, "merely for the purpose of identification, and ask you if that is a photograph showing the features of the young woman you saw lying on the floor at that time."

"It is."

"We'll connect up the photograph and introduce it later," Truslow said. "We would now like to have it marked for identification."

He asked several more perfunctory questions and said to Perry Mason, "You may crossexamine."

"On that bit of club which you found by the body of the unconscious woman," Mason said, "there was a fingerprint, was there not?"

"There was."

"You photographed that fingerprint?"

"I did."

"Was that a fingerprint made by the defendant?"

"It was not."

"Was it a fingerprint of Sam Laxter, Frank Oafley, or any of the servants in the Laxter household?"

"It was not."

"Naturally, you made an attempt to identify that fingerprint?"

"Naturally."

"You were unable to do so?"

"That's right."

"You had been to the Laxter residence earlier in the evening, had you not?"

"I had."

"And you there found the body of Charles Ashton, the caretaker?"

"I did."

"That body was lying on the bed of Ashton's room?"

"It was."

"Ashton was dead, was he not? And death was due to strangulation inflicted by a cord which had been thrown around his neck and drawn taut?"

"That is correct."

"And there were cat tracks up and down the bed?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did you make any attempt to ascertain whether those cat tracks had been made before or after the death of Charles Ashton?"

"I did."

"When were they made—before or afterwards?"

Truslow's face showed surprise at this line of interrogation.

"Afterwards."

"I thought," Truslow said, with a slightly nervous laugh, "that we were going to have quite a fight to get this evidence in, but I see you are bringing it out. While it probably isn't proper crossexamination, strictly speaking, I certainly am making no objection."

"I want to get all the facts in," Perry Mason said. And, turning to the witness, went on, "When you arrived at the Laxter house, Samuel Laxter was not there?"

"He was not."

"He showed up later on?"

"That is right."

"His automobile was damaged and his right arm was injured?"

"That is correct."

"But Frank Oafley was there?"

"Yes, sir."

"Where was he when you drove up?"

"I don't know where he was when we drove up, because we stopped in the garage to make a search of the automobiles, but when we reached the main terrace on which the house is situated, we noticed a man digging in the ground near a corner of the house. We turned our flashlights on him, and it was Mr. Oafley."

"That's all the crossexamination I have," Mason said.

Truslow, looking rather puzzled, remarked, "I think we'll get the corpus delicti definitely established, your Honor."

Mason slumped back into his chair with the manner of a man who has no further interest in the proceedings. Nor did he ask so much as a question while Truslow called the autopsy surgeon, then put on witnesses who identified the dead woman; who identified the club as having been sawed from a crutch; witnesses who testified to the type of crutch used by Charles Ashton and who stated that, to the best of their belief, the bloodstained club which was offered in evidence by Truslow, was part of Ashton's crutch, or, at least, a crutch similar in appearance.

Truslow brought Babson the cabinetmaker to the stand, who positively identified the section of the crutch, due to certain scratches which appeared on it, and testified how Ashton had employed him to hollow a receptacle into the crutch, and line that receptacle with chamois skin. Then, by other witnesses, Truslow brought out the value of the Koltsdorf diamonds, the fact that Peter Laxter was very much attached to them and never let them out of his possession.

"Call Samuel Laxter," Truslow announced at length.

Samuel Laxter took the witness stand.

"Your name is Samuel Laxter, you reside in the Laxter household?"

"That is correct."

"You are a grandson of Peter Laxter, deceased? You resided in what was known as the country house for several months prior to the time it burned, and then you took up your residence in what is known as the town house?"

"Correct."

"You were acquainted with Edith DeVoe?"

"Yes, sir."

"You saw her body in the morgue?"

"Yes, sir."

"She was dead?"

"That is right."

"And the body you saw was the same as that pictured in the photograph, People's Exhibit No. 1?"

"That is correct."

"And that was Edith DeVoe?"

"That is right."

"Where were you on the evening of the twentythird between the hours of nine o'clock in the evening and approximately eleventhirty at night?"

"I refuse to answer."

Truslow smiled. "You can't refuse to answer," he said, "without being guilty of contempt of court. That story about protecting some mysterious woman won't go here, Laxter. You're in a court of justice—you've got to answer."

Nat Shuster came bustling forward.

"If the court please," he said, "it now appears that an attempt is being made to malign the character of this witness by extraneous questions. He is not accused of the murder and if he was not accused of the murder, it makes no difference where he was unless he was present at the place where the murder was being committed."

"You're appearing for Mr. Laxter?" Judge Pennymaker asked.

"Yes, your Honor."

"I," Mason observed, "am making no objection to the question."

"I am going to order the witness to answer the question," Judge Pennymaker stated.

"I refuse to answer."

Judge Pennymaker's face clouded.

Shuster leaned across the counsel table. "Go on," he said; "say the rest of it."

"Upon the ground that the answer might tend to incriminate me," Laxter said, after the manner of one who has learned his speech by heart.

Shuster smiled, and turned toward the Court.

"I want the Court to understand," he said, "that the answer would not tend to incriminate him, so far as any crime under discussion is concerned, but I believe there is a city ordinance which might have been violated by this witness, and, inasmuch as we are technically able to back up our position on such grounds, I have instructed my client to protect the good name of the young woman involved in the case."

"Bosh and nonsense and grandstand!" Mason said.

Judge Pennymaker pounded with his gavel.

"That will do, Counselor. You have no right to make any such statement."