The Lady Sleuths MEGAPACK TM(301)

                “Because Mr. Gryce requested me to. Because the family as well as the young man himself had evinced some apprehension lest the deceased might prove to be his missing wife, and this seemed a likely way to settle the question.”



                             “And did it? Did he acknowledge it to be a mark he remembered to have seen on his wife?”

                “He said she had such a scar, but he would not acknowledge the deceased to be his wife.”

                “Did he see the scar?”

                “No; he would not look at it.”

                “Did you invite him to?”

                “I did; but he showed no curiosity.”

                Doubtless thinking that silence would best emphasize this fact, which certainly was an astonishing one, the Coroner waited a minute. But there was no silence. An indescribable murmur from a great many lips filled up the gap. I felt a movement of pity for the proud family whose good name was thus threatened in the person of this young gentleman.

                “Doctor,” continued the Coroner, as soon as the murmur had subsided, “did you notice the color of the woman’s hair?”

                “It was a light brown.”

                “Did you sever a lock? Have you a sample of this hair here to show us?”

                “I have, sir. At Mr. Gryce’s suggestion I cut off two small locks. One I gave him and the other I brought here.”

                “Let me see it.”

                The doctor passed it up, and in sight of every one present the Coroner tied a string around it and attached a ticket to it.

                “That is to prevent all mistake,” explained this very methodical functionary, laying the lock aside on the table in front of him. Then he turned again to the witness.

                “Doctor, we are indebted to you for your valuable testimony, and as you are a busy man, we will now excuse you. Let Dr. Jacobs be called.”

                As this gentleman, as well as the witness who followed him, merely corroborated the statements of the other, and made it an accepted fact that the shelves had fallen upon the body of the girl some time after the first wound had been inflicted, I will not attempt to repeat their testimony. The question now agitating me was whether they would endeavor to fix the time at which the shelves fell by the evidence furnished by the clock.




CHAPTER X

                IMPORTANT EVIDENCE

                Evidently not; for the next words I heard were: “Miss Amelia Butterworth!”

                I had not expected to be called so soon, and was somewhat flustered by the suddenness of the summons, for I am only human. But I rose with suitable composure, and passed to the place indicated by the Coroner, in my usual straightforward manner, heightened only by a sense of the importance of my position, both as a witness and a woman whom the once famous Mr. Gryce had taken more or less into his confidence.

                My appearance seemed to awaken an interest for which I was not prepared. I was just thinking how well my name had sounded uttered in the sonorous tones of the Coroner, and how grateful I ought to be for the courage I had displayed in substituting the genteel name of Amelia for the weak and sentimental one of Araminta, when I became conscious that the eyes directed towards me were filled with an expression not easy to understand. I should not like to call it admiration and will not call it amusement, and yet it seemed to be made up of both. While I was puzzling myself over it, the first question came.