that
Miss Fewbanks and Mrs. Holymead had risen and were making their way to
the door. The fashionably-dressed women in the court stared with much
interest at the daughter of the murdered man, whom most of them knew, in
order to see how she was taking the disclosures about her dead father's
private life.

"And sometimes there were quarrels between your late master and these
visitors, were there not?" continued Holymead.

"Quarrels, sir?"

"Surely you know that under the influence of wine some people become
quarrelsome?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, did your late master's nocturnal visitors ever become
quarrelsome?"

"Sometimes, sir."

"In the exercise of your confidential duties did you sometimes see
quarrelsome ladies off the premises?"

"Sometimes, sir."

"And it was no uncommon thing for them to say things to you about your
master, eh?"

"Sometimes they didn't care what they said."

"Quite so," commented Counsel drily. "They indulged in threats?"

"Not all of them," replied Hill, who at length saw where the
cross-examination was tending.

"I do not suggest that all of them did--only that the more violent of
them did so."

"Quite so, sir."

"So we may take it that the quarrel between your late master and
Miss Fanning was not the only quarrel of the kind which came under
your notice?"

"There were not many others," said Hill.

"It was not the only one?" persisted Counsel.

"No, sir."

"In your evidence-in-chief you said nothing about Miss Fanning using
threats against your master when you were showing her out?"

"No, sir."

"She did not use any?"

"Not in my hearing, sir."

There was a pause at this stage while Mr. Holymead consulted the notes he
had made of Mr. Walters's cross-examination of the witness.

"What o'clock was it when you left Riversbrook on the 18th of August
after your master's return from Scotland?"

"About half-past seven, sir."

"And what time did Sir Horace arrive home?"

"About seven o'clock, sir."

"What were you doing between seven and seven-thirty?"

"I unpacked his bags and got his bedroom ready. I took him some
refreshment up to the library."

"And he told you he wouldn't want you again until the following night
about eight o'clock?"

"Yes, sir. He said he thought he would be going back to Scotland by the
night express, and I was to get his bag packed and lock up the house."

"You told Counsel for the prosecution in the course of your evidence
that you we