I had forborne to satisfy myself on this point in order to be able to ask the question with easy unconcern.
“Accidental death.”
I was astonished, but the country bumpkins on the jury had, I imagined, made up their minds before the inquest that he had been kicked by his horse.
“Were the letters read in court?”
“No. They were considered unnecessary, and no one thought they bore on the issue.”
“Do you think they did?”
“Decidedly I do,” answered Mr. Gascoyne. “Depend upon it, there was foul play. I talked to the doctor who would not admit the horse theory, after the case was over, and he was quite positive the injuries could not have been inflicted by a horse’s hoof.”
“Who was the girl?” I asked.
“Well, I do not think it is quite right to disclose her name. I had a talk with her father, who was very distant and said the matter would be best settled by saying nothing more about it. I don’t know what he meant.”
“Was the girl’s name by any chance Janet Gray?”