"And you stated, too, I believe, that you could have heard no sound of
an altercation in the private office, had one occurred?"

"No, sir; I could have heard nothing."

"You have been with Mr. Holladay a long time, I believe, Mr. Rogers?"

"Over thirty years, sir."

"And you are intimately acquainted with his affairs?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now, Mr. Rogers, have you ever, in all these years, ran across
anything--any item of expenditure, any correspondence, anything
whatever--which would lead you to think that Mr. Holladay was a victim
of blackmail, or that he had ever had a liaison with a woman?"

"No, sir!" cried the witness. "No, sir! I'm willing to swear that such
a thing is not possible. I should inevitably have found it out had it
existed."

"That will do for the present," said Mr. Royce. "I shall want to
recall the witness, however, sir."

The coroner nodded, and Rogers stepped down, still trembling from the
effects of his last outburst. I confess that, for my part, I thought
we were very deep in the mire.

The office-boy was called next, but added nothing to the story. He
had gone to the chute to mail some letters; the woman must have
entered the office while he was away. He saw her come out again, but,
of course, did not see her face. He had been employed recently, and
did not know Miss Holladay.

Then the physicians who had attended the dead man were called, and
testified that the knife-blade had penetrated the left carotid artery,
and that he had bled to death--was dead, indeed, before they reached
him. It would take, perhaps, ten minutes to produce such an effusion
of blood as Rogers had noticed--certainly more than five, so that the
blow must have been struck before the woman left the inner office.

The policeman who had responded to the alarm testified that he had
examined the windows, and that they were both bolted on the inside,
precluding the possibility of anyone swinging down from above or
clambering up from below. Nothing in the office had been disturbed.
There was other evidence of an immaterial nature, and then Miss
Holladay's maid was called.

"Was your mistress away from home yesterday afternoon?" asked the
coroner.

"Yes, sir; she had the carriage ordered for three o'clock. She was
driven away shortly after that."

"And what time did she return?"

"About six, sir; just in time to dress for dinner."

"Did you notice anything unusual in her demeanor when she returned?"

The mai