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THAT ROYLE GIRL

Calvin nodded.

"Where are they?"

"That," said Calvin, "is an affair of the state's attorney's office."

"But you do not deny that you have them in custody. Have you arraigned them before any magistrate?"

"Not yet."

"Have you entered against them any charge of crime?"

"That will be done in its time."

"Have you regarded their constitutional right to summon and consult with counsel?"

"Why do you ask this?"

"Because you are holding them outside the law. I demand their immediate release."

"Whose?" Calvin asked suddenly. "Ketlar's or Miss Royle's?"

"Both."

"You want him out, do you, after he has killed his wife?"

"I want," said Hoberg, weakening, "to see the law obeyed in his case. If you have evidence against him, hold him, prosecute him, and put him in jail. I want her out, now."

"What do you know of her innocence or guilt?"

"I'll find out what you know or don't know," Hoberg threatened, offensively, "by exactly ten o'clock to-morrow morning. I'd smoke you out now, if there was a judge sitting—if it wasn't Sunday. As it is, at ten o'clock to-morrow morning my lawyer will be in court with a habeas corpus writ for Miss Royle, and you will hand her over to me, I think!" Hoberg ended, very hotly.

Outwardly Calvin remained cool until Hoberg was gone; but the heat of his antagonism to the man amazed him, and especially its persistence when he was alone again.