"No, sir; he wanted to know what he wanted."

"What _did_ he want?"

"I don't know, sir; he couldn't speak English hardly at all--he was
French, I think."

Goldberger looked down at the body again and nodded.

"Go ahead," he said.

"And he was so excited," Parks added, "that he couldn't remember what
little English he did know."

"What made you think he was excited?"

"The way he stuttered, and the way his eyes glinted. That's what
makes me think he just come in here to kill hisself quiet like--I
shouldn't be surprised if you found that he'd escaped from
somewhere. I had a notion to put him out without bothering Mr.
Vantine--I wish now I had--but I took his card up, and Mr. Vantine
said for him to wait; so I come downstairs again, and showed the man
in here, and said Mr. Vantine would see him presently, and then
Rogers and me went back to our lunch and we sat there eating till the
bell rang, and I came in and found Mr. Vantine here."

"Do you mean to say that you and Rogers went away and left this
stranger here by himself?"

"The servants' dining-room is right at the end of the hall, sir. We
left the door open so that we could see right along the hall, clear
to the front door. If he'd come out into the hall, we'd have seen
him."

"And he didn't come out into the hall while you were there?"

"No, sir."

"Did anybody come in?"

"Oh, no, sir; the front door has a snap-lock. It can't be opened from
the outside without a key."

"So you are perfectly sure that no one either entered or left the
house by the front door while you and Rogers were sitting there?"

"Nor by the back door either, sir; to get out the back way, you have
to pass through the room where we were."

"Where were the other servants?"

"The cook was in the kitchen, sir. This is the housemaid's afternoon
out."

The coroner paused. Godfrey and Simmonds had both listened to this
interrogation, but neither had been idle. They had walked softly
about the room, had looked through a door opening into another room
beyond, had examined the fastenings of the windows, and had ended by
looking minutely over the carpet.

"What is the room yonder used for?" asked Godfrey, pointing to the
connecting door.

"It's a sort of store-room just now, sir," said Parks. "Mr. Vantine
is just back from Europe, and we've been unpacking in there some of
the things he bought while abroad."

"I guess that's all," said Goldberger, after a moment. "Send in Mr.