Coroner Black reached forward and picked up the razor he had shown Vera Deane.
“Does this razor belong to Dr. Noyes?” he asked.
A dead silence prevailed as Murray took the razor and examined the open blade with its reddish stains. He shook his head.
“No, sir, it is not Dr. Noyes’ razor.”
CHAPTER IV
MORE TESTIMONY
CORONER BLACK took the razor from the footman and laid it carefully back on the table.
“You are excused,” he announced, and, as Murray rose with alacrity, he added, “Inform Mrs. Porter that we will be obliged by her presence here.”
“Yes, sir; certainly, sir,” and Murray backed from the room, but before going upstairs to find Mrs. Porter he bolted into the pantry and mopped his white face which was damp with perspiration, then, refreshing himself with a glass of port, he went on his belated errand.
Inside the library the jurors whispered to one another, and at a muttered request the foreman picked up the razor, passed it to his neighbor, and each man at the table in turn examined the stained blade and handle with absorbed interest, while the coroner and McPherson compared notes in an undertone. The opening of the hall door brought them all to attention, and Mrs. Porter’s entrance was greeted by a lengthened silence.
Hardly deigning to listen to Coroner Black’s explanation of the formalities to be gone through, she laid a bejeweled hand on the Bible presented to her by McPherson, and repeated the oath in an expressionless monotone.