an,
it looked as if there had been some secret in his life which had placed
him in the power of the syndicate, and the inspector wondered whether
this might not be connected with his leaving the engineering works.
At all events inquiries there seemed to suggest a new line of attack,
should such become necessary.

Willis then turned to the events of the past few days. It appeared that
about a fortnight earlier, Mr. Coburn announced that he was crossing to
London for the annual meeting of the syndicate, and, as he did not
wish his daughter to be alone at the clearing, it was arranged that she
should accompany him. They travelled by the Girondin to Hull, and coming
on to London, put up at the Peveril. Mr. Coburn had been occupied off
and on during the four days they had remained there, but the evenings
they had spent together in amusements. On the night of the murder, Mr.
Coburn was to have left for Hull to return to France by the Girondin,
his daughter going by an earlier train to Eastbourne, where she was to
have spent ten days with an aunt. Except for what Mr. Coburn had said
about the meeting of the syndicate, Madeleine did not know anything of
his business in town, nor had she seen any member of the syndicate after
leaving the ship.

Having taken notes of her statements, Willis spoke of the inquest and
repeated the instructions he had given Merriman as to the evidence. Then
he told her of the young man's visit, and referring to his anxiety on
her behalf, asked if he might acquaint him with her whereabouts. She
thankfully acquiesced, and Willis, who was anxious that her mind should
be kept occupied until the inquest, pushed his good offices to the
extent of arranging a meeting between the two.

The inquest elicited no further information. Formal evidence of
identification was given, the doctors deposed that death was due to a
bullet from an exceedingly small bore automatic pistol, the cab driver
and porter told their stories, and the jury returned the obvious verdict
of murder against some person or persons unknown. The inspector's
precautions were observed, and not a word was uttered which could have
given a hint to any member of the Pit-Prop Syndicate that the bona fides
of his organization was suspected.

Two days later, when the funeral was over, Merriman took Miss Coburn
back to her aunt's at Eastbourne. No word of love passed his lips, but
the young girl seemed pleased to have his company, and before parting