im without analysis or thought of self. It
never entered her mind at this moment to wonder if he were guilty or
not guilty, if he was capable or not of committing a crime to gain his
own ends. All that troubled her was his misery, which she would have
given her very soul to alleviate, and the hopelessness in him which
she had given the world to console.

The mystery troubled her, not the sin: the marble-like rigidity of his
face, not the possibility of the crime.

For the moment, however, she was brought back quickly enough to
present realities. The coroner--satisfied with Frederick Power's
answers--was giving him a moment's breathing space. The grating of
fountain pens against paper was heard from that corner of the room
where sat the journalists: the crowd waited silent and expectant,
for--unversed though most people there present were in proceedings of
this kind--yet instinctively every one felt that one great crucial
moment was just about to come; one great, leading question was just
about to be put.

The coroner had fingered the papers before him for the space of a few
seconds, then he looked up once more at the witness, his elbow resting
on the table, his fleshy chin buried in his hand, in an attitude which
obviously was habitual to him.

"This visitor," he said speaking loudly and clearly, "who called the
night before last at the Veterans' Club and had an interview with the
deceased, you saw him well, of course?"

"Yes, sir," was the prompt reply.

"You would know him again?"

"Certainly, sir."

"Looking round this room now, should you say that he was present?"

The man looked across the room straight at Luke and said pointing to
him:

"Yes, sir; the gentleman sitting there, sir."

As every one had expected the reply, no one seemed astonished. The
many pairs of eyes that turned on Luke now expressed a certain measure
of horrified compassion, such as might be bestowed on some dangerous
animal brought to earth by a well-aimed gun shot.

The coroner made no comment. He turned to the jury, glancing along
either row of solemn faces, on both sides of the long table. Then he
said:

"Would any of you gentlemen like to ask this witness a question?"

Receiving no reply, he added:

"Next witness, please!"

CHAPTER XXVII

AND PEOPLE WENT OUT TO LUNCHEON

And now it was Luke de Mountford's turn at last. A wave of excitement
swept over the crowd, every neck was craned forward, every eye fixed