jury brought in a verdict that the deceased had been violently done to
death by some person or persons unknown, the twelve good men and true
stated the full extent of knowledge gained by Justice in her futile
scramble after clues. Berwin--so called--was dead, his assassin had
melted into thin air, and the Silent House had added a second legend to
its already uncanny reputation. Formerly it had been simply haunted, now
it was also blood-stained, and its last condition was worse than its
first.

The dead man had been found stabbed to the heart by some long, thin,
sharp-pointed instrument which the murderer had taken away with him--or
perhaps her, as the sex of the assassin, for obvious reasons, could not
be decided. Mrs. Kebby swore that she had left the deceased sitting over
the fire at eight o'clock on Christmas Eve, and that he had then been
fairly well, though far from enjoying the best of health. When she
returned, shortly after nine, on Christmas morning, the man was dead and
cold. Medical aid was called in at the same time as the police were
summoned; and the evidence of the doctor who examined the body went to
prove that Berwin had been dead at least ten hours; therefore, he must
have been assassinated between the hours of eleven and twelve of the
previous night.

Search was immediately made for the murderer, but no trace could be
found of him, nor could it be ascertained how he had entered the house.
The doors were all locked, the windows were all barred, and neither at
the back nor in the front was there any outlet left open whereby the
man--if it was a man who had done the deed--could have escaped.

Blinders, the policeman on duty at the entrance of the square, gave
evidence that he had been on duty there all night, and that although
many servants and owners of houses belonging to the square had passed in
from their Christmas marketings, yet no stranger had entered. The
policeman knew every one, even to the errand-boys of the neighbourhood,
who brought parcels of Christmas goods, and in many cases had exchanged
greetings with the passers-by; but he was prepared to swear, and, in
fact, did swear at the inquest, that no stranger either came into or
went out of Geneva Square.

Also he deposed that when the traffic died away after midnight he had
walked round the square, and had looked at every window, including that
of No. 13, and had tried every door, also including that of No. 13, only
to find that all was s