visibly waning, or, as was more
likely, may have been the unconscious expression of a secret if hitherto
well concealed embarrassment, asked the witness whether the keys to his
father's front door had any duplicates.

The answer came in a decidedly changed tone. "No. The key used by our
agent opens the basement door only."

The Coroner showed his satisfaction. "No duplicates," he repeated; "then
you will have no difficulty in telling us where the keys to your
father's front door were kept during the family's absence."

Did the young man hesitate, or was it but imagination on my part--"They
were usually in my possession."

"Usually!" There was irony in the tone; evidently the Coroner was
getting the better of his embarrassment, if he had felt any. "And where
were they on the seventeenth of this month? Were they in your possession
then?"

"No, sir." The young man tried to look calm and at his ease, but the
difficulty he felt in doing so was apparent. "On the morning of that
day," he continued, "I passed them over to my brother."

Ah! here was something tangible as well as important. I began to fear
the police understood themselves only too well; and so did the whole
crowd of persons there assembled. A groan in one direction was answered
by a sigh in another, and it needed all the Coroner's authority to
prevent an outbreak.

Meanwhile Mr. Van Burnam stood erect and unwavering, though his eye
showed the suffering which these demonstrations awakened. He did not
turn in the direction of the room where we felt sure his family was
gathered, but it was evident that his thoughts did, and that most
painfully. The Coroner, on the contrary, showed little or no feeling; he
had brought the investigation up to this critical point and felt fully
competent to carry it farther.

"May I ask," said he, "where the transference of these keys took place?"

"I gave them to him in our office last Tuesday morning. He said he might
want to go into the house before his father came home."

"Did he say why he wanted to go into the house?"

"No."

"Was he in the habit of going into it alone and during the family's
absence?"

"No."

"Had he any clothes there? or any articles belonging to himself or his
wife which he would be likely to wish to carry away?"

"No."

"Yet he wanted to go in?"

"He said so."

"And you gave him the keys without question?"

"Certainly, sir."

"Was that not opposed to your usual principles--to your