"Pooh! pooh! We're all animals, doctor," laughed the Coroner, "and you are all butchers, whether you are called so or not. Come, now, at what time did Mr. Jarvis Alpenny meet his death?"
"I cannot be sure of that--I cannot commit myself to an exact opinion," said the little doctor doubtfully. "I should say the crime was committed between eight and nine of the previous night But, as I say, I cannot be quite certain."
"Between eight and nine of the previous night," wrote the Coroner, and called the next witness.
This was Mrs. Snow, who gave her evidence with much volubility. She had called on Miss Hedge to ask for money in order to get the spire of Hurstable Church mended. Miss Hedge had stated that her stepfather was from home, but she--witness--had glanced into the railway carriage which was called the counting-house of Mr. Alpenny. There she had seen the deceased--dead, lying in a pool of blood. At once she gave the alarm, and Durban, the servant, burst open the door with a beam.
"The door of the carriage was locked, then?"
"Oh yes," assented Mrs. Snow. "I tried it myself. I expect the assassin killed poor Mr. Alpenny, and after robbing the safe, went out with his plunder, and locked the door after him. He had the keys."
"One moment," said Durban, rising in the body of the room. "My master carried the keys--all the keys, including that of the counting-house, on a single ring. The keys were in the safe, and----"
"We'll hear you later," said the Coroner sharply.--"Go on, Mrs. Snow."
"I have nothing further to say," said the vicar's wife, trying to convey a sympathetic look in her eyes, "save that I am sorry for Miss Hedge. And I may add," she continued, after a moment of hesitation, "that Colonel Hall was murdered at Convent Grange twenty-five years ago, in the same way."
"I remember the case," said the Coroner, who was an old resident of the neighbourhood. "And what do you infer?"