The Lady Sleuths MEGAPACK TM(299)

                “This is a very serious statement you are making, doctor. If she did not die from the wounds inflicted by the objects which fell upon her, from what cause did she die? Can you say that her death was a natural one, and that the falling of the shelves was merely an unhappy accident following it?”

                “No, sir; her death was not natural. She was killed, but not by the falling cabinet.”

                “Killed, and not by the cabinet? How then? Was there any other wound upon her which you regard as mortal?”

                “Yes, sir. Suspecting that she had perished from other means than appeared, I made a most rigid examination of her body, when I discovered under the hair in the nape of the neck, a minute spot, which, upon probing, I found to be the end of a small, thin point of steel. It had been thrust by a careful hand into the most vulnerable part of the body, and death must have ensued at once.”



                             This was too much for certain excitable persons present, and a momentary disturbance arose, which, however, was nothing to that in my own breast.

                So! so! it was her neck that had been pierced, and not her heart. Mr. Gryce had allowed us to think it was the latter, but it was not this fact which stupefied me, but the skill and diabolical coolness of the man who had inflicted this death-thrust.

                After order had been restored, which I will say was very soon, the Coroner, with an added gravity of tone, went on with his questions:

                “Did you recognize this bit of steel as belonging to any instrument in the medical profession?”

                “No; it was of too untempered steel to have been manufactured for any thrusting or cutting purposes. It was of the commonest kind, and had broken short off in the wound. It was the end only that I found.”

                “Have you this end with you—the point, I mean, which you found imbedded at the base of the dead woman’s brain?”

                “I have, sir”; and he handed it over to the jury. As they passed it along, the Coroner remarked:

                “Later we will show you the remaining portion of this instrument of death,” which did not tend to allay the general excitement. Seeing this, the Coroner humored the growing interest by pushing on his inquiries.

                “Doctor,” he asked, “are you prepared to say how long a time elapsed between the infliction of this fatal wound and those which disfigured her?”

                “No, sir, not exactly; but some little time.”

                Some little time, when the murderer was in the house only ten minutes! All looked their surprise, and, as if the Coroner had divined this feeling of general curiosity, he leaned forward and emphatically repeated:

                “More than ten minutes?”



                             The doctor, who had every appearance of realizing the importance of his reply, did not hesitate. Evidently his mind was quite made up.

                “Yes; more than ten minutes.”

                This was the shock I received from his testimony.

                I remembered what the clock had revealed to me, but I did not move a muscle of my face. I was learning self-control under these repeated surprises.

                “This is an unexpected statement,” remarked the Coroner. “What reasons have you to urge in explanation of it?”