"Mr. Ferris is a reasonable man," said the coroner. "If his consent is all that is necessary——"
"But it is not, sir. I must have orders from New York."
"Oh, as to that, I will telegraph at once."
But still the young man hesitated, lounging in his easy way against the table by which he had taken his stand.
"Dr. Tredwell," he suggested, "you must have men in this town amply able to manage such a matter as this. A woman struck in broad daylight and a man already taken up on suspicion! 'Tis simple, surely; intricate measures are not wanted here."
"So you still think it is the tramp that struck her?" quoth the coroner, a trifle baffled by the other's careless manner.
"I still think it was not the man who sat in court all the morning and held me fascinated by his eye."
"Ah, he held you fascinated, did he?" repeated the other, a trifle suspiciously.
"Well, that is," Mr. Byrd allowed, with the least perceptible loss of his easy bearing, "he made me look at him more than once. A wandering eye always attracts me, and his wandered constantly."
"Humph! and you are sure he was in the court every minute of the morning?"