SKAGGS'S THEORY
though. I am something of a psychologist, and I often find the smallest and most insignificant-appearing details pregnant with suggestion. Won't you let me hear the story, Colonel?"
"Why, yes, though there's little in it save that I am one of the few men who have come to believe that the negro, Berry Hamilton, is not the guilty party."
"Nonsense! nonsense!" said Talbot; "of course Berry was guilty, but, as I said before, I don't blame him. The negroes———"
"Total depravity," said Davis. "Now look at my dog———"
"If you will retire with me to the further table I will give you whatever of the facts I can call to mind."
As unobtrusively as they could, they drew apart from the others and seated themselves at a more secluded table, leaving Talbot and Davis wrangling, as of old, over their theories. When the glasses were filled and the pipes going, the Colonel be-
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