This woman--did this woman
then see Erris Boyne die? Was she present when the deed was done? If
so, why was she not called to give evidence at the trial. But yes, she
was called to give evidence. She remembered it now, and the evidence had
been that she was in her own home when the killing took place.
"How did he die?" she asked in a whisper.
"One stroke did it--only one, and he fell like a log." She made a motion
as of striking, and shuddered, covering her eyes with trembling hands.
"You tell me you saw Dyck Calhoun do this to an undefended man--you tell
me this!"
Sheila's anger was justified in her mind. That Dyck Calhoun should
"I did not see Dyck Calhoun strike him," gasped the woman. "I did not
say that. Dyck Calhoun did not kill Erris Boyne!"
"My God!--oh, my God!" said Sheila with ashen lips, but a great light
breaking in her eyes. "Dyck Calhoun did not kill Erris Boyne! Then who
killed him?"
There was a moment's pause, then--"I killed him," said the woman in
agony. "I killed him."
A terrible repugnance seized Sheila. After a moment she said in
agitation: "You killed him--you struck him down! Yet you let an innocent
man go to prison, and be kept there for years, and his father go to his
grave with shame, with estates ruined and home lost--and you were the
guilty one--you--all the time.
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