“On making this terrible discovery, what was your immediate action?”
“I sent for my prospective father-in-law, Sir Vivian Devereux, and for the police officer in charge of Detwich. It was at once agreed that we should communicate with the authorities and that I should render them all the assistance in my power.”
“Pardon my touching upon such a matter, but I believe you are about to be married, Mr. Henderson?” said the coroner.
“I hope to be married on Thursday next,” said Godfrey.
“I do not think I need trouble you any further,” the coroner then remarked.
The next witness was a police officer, who informed the Court that inquiries had been made in Naples concerning the man Dardini, with the result that it was discovered that he had been arrested for assault upon a foreigner a fortnight before the deceased’s return to England, and that he was still in prison. This effectually disposed of his association with the crime, and added an even greater air of mystery to it than before.
When this witness had stepped down, Mr. Victor Fensden was called. He stated that he was also an artist, and a friend of Mr. Godfrey Henderson. It was he who had first discovered the deceased, and he had recommended her to his friend for the picture of which she was afterward the principal figure. She had always struck him as being a quiet and respectable girl. When asked why she had received her notice of dismissal, Victor answered that it was because his friend, Mr. Henderson, had suddenly made up his mind to travel.
“I understand you to say suddenly,” said the superintendent in charge of the case. “Why was it Mr. Henderson suddenly made up his mind to go abroad?”
“I do not know that this question is at all relevant to the case,” said Victor, appealing to the coroner. “It was purely a private matter on Mr. Henderson’s part.”