himself enough to warrant his being held.
Norvallis arrests him. He can easily juggle things along until the
ballots have dropped in the box--meanwhile demonstrating that he's an
active, zealous and conscientious officer!"

"You've hit it," declared Bolt. "He's that kind."

"But that's--_vile_!" cried Miss Ocky.

"We'll give him the benefit of one doubt," said Creighton. "He
probably would not do that to a man he believed innocent; undoubtedly
he is convinced that Maxon is guilty and will fight tooth-and-nail to
convict."

"Well--is he right?" asked Bolt slowly. A dull red flushed his cheeks.
"Did Maxon do it?"

"I'm confident that he did not," said Creighton. A pressure of his arm
against his breast brought a crackle of paper and the comfortable
assurance that his chip from the blade of the dagger was safe. "Don't
press me for reasons yet, Mr. Bolt."

"I won't." Jason rose as Bates came around the corner to say the
inquest had opened. "Take your time, sir, but get me that notebook!"

The proceedings went swiftly and smoothly from beginning to end.
Whether or not he was a particularly good coroner--and Creighton felt
some doubt of that--Merton was certainly expert in the technique of his
job. He handled his witnesses capably, with deftness and dispatch,
extracting facts from them with the easy grace of a headwaiter pulling
corks, and each time a fact popped out he beamed benignly at his jury.

No mention was made of the police theory, and from the way Merton
neatly headed off one or two witnesses who came close to trespassing on
that forbidden ground, Creighton reckoned that Norvallis had persuaded
him to mark time "in the interests of justice." The crowd that had
come for a thrill were rewarded by the tale of the black monk, most of
which was told by Miss Ocky. Her soft, clear voice carried to every
ear, and her cool, matter-of-fact tones seemed rather to accentuate the
dramatic values of her testimony than otherwise. It was the highlight
of the whole picture, more interesting even than the verdict with its
orthodox tag of "person or persons unknown."

"Norvallis hasn't shown his hand," murmured Jason Bolt, who was sitting
next to Creighton.

"It'll make a louder splash in the papers to-morrow," retorted the
detective cynically.

He had taken care to seat himself at the beginning of the inquest in
such a way that he could watch the faces of the spectators who had come
to this macabre entertai