"No, we did not. I was thinking—well of other, things," and here he allowed the ghost of a smile to flit suggestively across his firm-set lips. "And Mr. Van Burnam seemed preoccupied also, for, as far as I know, he did not even look my way."
"And you did not stop?"
"No, he did not look like a man to be disturbed."
"And this was at four on the morning of the eighteenth?"
"At four."
"You are certain of the hour and of the day?"
"I am certain. I should not be standing here if I were not very sure of my memory. I am sorry," he began again, but he was stopped as peremptorily as before by the Coroner.
"Feeling has no place in an inquiry like this." And the witness was dismissed.
Mr. Stone, who had manifestly given his evidence under compulsion, looked relieved at its termination. As he passed back to the room from which he had come, many only noticed the extreme elegance of his form and the proud cast of his head, but I saw more than these. I saw the look of regret he cast at his friend Howard.
A painful silence followed his withdrawal, then the Coroner spoke to the jury: