The Coroner glanced at his watch. It was six o’clock. Neither of the solicitors was permitted to address the court, and he made up his mind to conclude the inquiry forthwith.
“There is one matter which might be cleared up,” he said. “Where is Marshall, the groom?”
It was discovered that the man had left the court half an hour ago. He had not returned. P.C. Benson was sent to find him. The two came back in five minutes. Their arrival was heralded by loud shouts and laughter outside. When they entered the schoolroom Marshall presented a ludicrous spectacle. He was dripping wet, and not from rain, for his clothes were covered with slime and mud.
It transpired that he had gone to a public house for a pint of beer. Several men and youths who could not gain admittance to the court took advantage of the absence of the police and amused themselves by ducking him in a convenient horse pond.
The Coroner, having expressed his official annoyance at the incident, asked the shivering man if he followed Betsy into the garden.
No; he saw her go out through the back door.
“Then the threats you heard were uttered while she was in the passage of the hotel or in the kitchen?”
Yes; that was so.
“It is noteworthy,” said the Coroner, “that none of the children heard this young woman going toward the couple. She must have run swiftly and silently down the path, and the witnesses were so absorbed in the fight that she passed them unheard and unseen.”
Mr. Stockwell frowned. If this gave any indication of the Coroner’s summing-up, it was not favorable to his client.