Ah! here was something tangible as well as important. I began to fear the police understood themselves only too well; and so did the whole crowd of persons there assembled. A groan in one direction was answered by a sigh in another, and it needed all the Coroner's authority to prevent an outbreak.
Meanwhile Mr. Van Burnam stood erect and unwavering, though his eye showed the suffering which these demonstrations awakened. He did not turn in the direction of the room where we felt sure his family was gathered, but it was evident that his thoughts did, and that most painfully. The Coroner, on the contrary, showed little or no feeling; he had brought the investigation up to this critical point and felt fully competent to carry it farther.
"May I ask," said he, "where the transference of these keys took place?"
"I gave them to him in our office last Tuesday morning. He said he might want to go into the house before his father came home."
"Did he say why he wanted to go into the house?"
"No."
"Was he in the habit of going into it alone and during the family's absence?"
"No."
"Had he any clothes there? or any articles belonging to himself or his wife which he would be likely to wish to carry away?"
"No."