conversation?"

"I went immediately to my room, and there found that it lacked only
ten minutes of one."

"Did you hear any unusual sound afterwards?"

"I did not. I heard no one in the halls; and Mr. Mainwaring's
apartments were so remote from the general sleeping-rooms that no
sound from there, unless very loud, could have reached the other
occupants of the house."

Further questions failed to develop any evidence of importance, and
the witness was temporarily dismissed. Glancing at his watch, the
coroner remarked,

"It is nearly time to adjourn, but if Mr. Hardy has returned we
will first hear what he has to report."

As the valet again came forward, Dr. Westlake asked, "Were you able
to learn anything concerning the strangers who were here yesterday?"

"Not very much, sir," was the reply. "I went to the Arlington first
and inquired for Mr. J. Henry Carruthers, and they told me there
was no such person registered there; but they said a man answering
that description, tall and wearing dark glasses, came into the
hotel last evening and took dinner and sat for an hour or so in the
office reading the evening papers. He went out some time between
seven and eight o'clock, and they had seen nothing more of him."

"Was Richard Hobson at the Arlington?"

"No, sir; but I went to the Riverside, and found R. Hobson
registered there. They said he came in in the forenoon and ordered
a carriage for Fair Oaks. He came back to lunch, but kept his room
all the afternoon. He had a man with him in his room most of the
afternoon, but he took no meals there. After dinner Hobson went
out, and nobody knew when he came back; but he was there to
breakfast, and took the first train to the city. I made some
inquiries at the depot, and the agent said there was a tall man,
in a gray ulster and with dark glasses, who took the 3.10 train
this morning to the city, but he didn't notice him particularly.
That was all I could learn."

As the hour was late, the inquest was then adjourned until ten
o'clock the next morning. Every one connected with the household
at Fair Oaks was expected to remain on the premises that night; and,
dinner over, the gentlemen, including Mr. Whitney, locked themselves
within the large library to discuss the inevitable contest that
would arise over the estate and to devise how, with the least
possible delay, to secure possession of the property.

Later in the evening Harry Scott came down from his ro