The Heart of a Mystery

by T. W. Speight

The first witness called was Clement Hazeldine, who identified the body of the deceased as that of his father.

The next witness was John Brancker, who deposed to deceased having left the Bank during the forenoon of the previous day, with the intention of going to London to change notes to the amount of about twelve hundred pounds for gold. When he left the Bank he took with him the black bag which was always made use of on such occasions. It was not often, witness went on to say, that Mr. Hazeldine himself went to London to obtain change; that was a duty which more frequently devolved upon him, witness; still, it sometimes happened that deceased had other business to transact in town, in which case he would bring back the gold himself.

David Measom, the railway booking-clerk, deposed to having sold deceased a first-class return ticket to London and back by the ten-thirty train on the previous day.

Obed Sweet, night-watchman, deposed to the events as detailed in a previous chapter:--To seeing Mr. Hazeldine enter the Bank about half-past eight P.M., carrying his black bag; to hearing, as he believed, the front door shut about half-past ten, and to finding, to his surprise when he went upstairs, that deceased was still at work; to waiting until half-past eleven before going upstairs again, and to finding the office at that time in darkness, and Mr. Hazeldine, to all appearance, gone. Witness then went on to state that the noise he had heard about half-past ten had since been accounted for, by the fact of Mr. Brancker having come back to the Bank to fetch his umbrella.

In reply to a question by the Coroner, it was stated that both deceased and Mr. Brancker had pass-keys, by means of which they could let themselves into the Bank after ordinary business hours without troubling Sweet, unless the front door had been finally bolted for the night.

"Does anyone know whether the pass-key belonging to deceased has been found?" asked the Coroner of Mr. Mace.

"It was found in one of his pockets," was the answer.

The next witness was Amanda Sweet, the nightwatchman's wife, who deposed to finding the door of Mr. Hazeldine's room locked and the key outside, as it was said to have been left by last witness, when she went at half-past seven A.M. to sweep out and dust the office as usual. The first thing she did was to draw up the blinds, after which, on turning round, she saw the body of deceased lying right across the hearthrug with a foreign-looking knife a little distance away from it. Being asked what she did next, she replied that she screamed and fainted right away.

Peggy Lown, charwoman, deposed to being sent by Obed Sweet in search of a constable; to encountering Mr. Judd a short distance from the Bank, and telling him what had happened, and to finding a constable a few minutes afterwards.

Ephraim Judd deposed that, in consequence of what last witness told him, he hurried to the Bank, and there found Sweet and his wife by the dead body of Mr. Hazeldine.