Updated: Mar 4 1998 9:39AM

WASHINGTON: Kenneth Starr's grand jury takes the day off Wednesday -- a sensible rest to take between two days of marathon testimony from Vernon Jordan. The legendary Washington lawyer and Clinton confidant gave exactly the kind of performance you'd expect Tuesday: cool, calm and collected. Jordan told reporters he had answered the grand jury's questions "truthfully, completely and to the best of my ability" -- just as he said he would way back on the second day of the Lewinsky scandal.

Jordan: Fighting the crowds. BRIAN K. DIGGS/AP

As for what those answers were, and what they will be when Jordan resumes testimony Thursday, no one's quite sure. One thing is certain -- it's all Lewinsky-related. Jordan is not answering questions on the Webster Hubbell matter, for which he is also still under Starr's microscope. The current White House staff is playing the danger of Jordan's evidence for all it's worth. But Jack Quinn, a former White House counsel, told CNN: "I've not heard anything that suggests he would testify in a way that would be damaging to the President." When all is said and done, Jordan is unlikely to do any harm to his old friend Bill Clinton.

-- Chris Taylor