slowly and thoughtfully, "if I may put it in my own
way. Suppose that there is somebody in the town who is desirous of
finding the late Mayor alone in the Mayor's Parlour, being also
cognizant of the fact--well known to many people--that the late Mr.
Wallingford was to be found there every evening? Suppose, too, that that
person was well acquainted with the geography of St. Lawrence Lane and
the Moot Hall? Suppose further that he or she was also familiar with the
fact that Mrs. Bunning invariably went out every evening to fetch the
supper beer from the _Chancellor_ Vaults? Such a person could easily
enter the Bunnings' back door with an absolutely minimum risk of
detection. The churchyard of St. Lawrence is edged with thick shrubs and
trees, anybody could easily hide amongst the shrub--laurel, myrtle,
ivy--watch for Mrs. Bunning's going out, and, when she had gone, slip
across the lane--a very narrow one!--and enter the door which, as she
says, she left open. It would not take two minutes for any person who
knew the place to pass from St. Lawrence Churchyard to the Mayor's
Parlour, or from the Mayor's Parlour to St. Lawrence Churchyard."

A murmur of comprehension and understanding ran round the court: most of
the people present knew St. Lawrence Lane and the Moot Hall as well as
Krevin Crood knew them; his suggestion appealed to their common sense.
And Tansley, with a sudden start, turned to Brent.

"That's done it!" he whispered. "Everybody tumbles to that! We've been
going off on all sorts of side-tracks all the morning, now Wellesley,
now Mrs. Mallett, and now--here's another! Access to the Mayor's
Parlour--there you are! Easy as winking, on Krevin Crood's theory. Lay
you a fiver to a shilling old Seagrave won't go on any farther."

Herein Tansley was quickly proved to be right. The Coroner was showing
unmistakable symptoms of his satiety for the time being. He thanked
Krevin Crood punctiliously for his assistance, and once again toying
restlessly with his spectacles, turned to the jury, who, on their part,
looked blank and doubtful.

"Well, gentlemen," he said, "it seems to me that the entire complexion
of this matter is changed by the evidence we have heard since Mrs.
Mallett broke in so unexpectedly upon what I was saying to you. I don't
propose now to say any more as regards the evidence of either Dr.
Wellesley or Mrs. Mallett: since we heard what they had to say we have
learnt a good deal which I think will