oroner's jury
declared that Septimus May, as his son before him, had died by the Hand
of God. Later in the day the dead man was conveyed to his own parish,
and two days later Sir Walter and Mary, with her cousin, attended the
funeral.

Meantime, the detectives began their serious work. They proceeded with
system and upon their own plan. They omitted to question not the least
of the persons who dwelt at Chadlands, and inquired also privately
concerning every member of the house party there assembled when Tom
May died. Into the sailor's private life they also searched, and so
gradually investigated every possible line of action and point of
approach to his death. The cause of this they were content to disregard,
arguing that if an assassin could be traced, his means of murder would
then be learned; but, from the first, no sort of light illumined their
activities, and nothing to be regarded as a clue could be discovered,
either in Tom May's relations with the world, or in the history and
character of anyone among the many who were subject for inquiry.

Concerning the house party, only Ernest Travers and his wife had met the
sailor before, on the occasion of his wedding; while as to the staff at
Chadlands, nothing transpired to indicate that any had ever had occasion
to feel affronted by an act of his. They were, moreover, loyal to a man
and woman. They furnished no peculiarities, and gave no ground for the
least suspicion. The case, in Frith's opinion, was unique, because,
despite the number of persons it was necessary to study and consider, in
none of their relations with the family involved could there be found a
shadow of unfriendly intercourse, a harbored grudge, or a suggestion of
ill-feeling. The people were all simple and ingenuous. They declared and
displayed nothing but regard for their employer, and many of them had
succeeded their own parents in their present employment. It was a large
household, very closely united by ties of tradition and affection. Henry
Lennox also proved above suspicion, though his former attachment to Mary
was not concealed. It needed no great student of character, however,
to appreciate his transparent honesty under examination, a remark that
extended to Dr. Mannering, whose incautious advent in the corridor on
the night of their vigil had offended the watchers.

For three weeks they worked industriously--without vision, but to
the best of their experience and intellectual powers. In th