nce of the valet; that the strong guard placed over
the treasures in the lighted drawing-room had saved them from robbery;
that the robbers, disappointed of their first expectations, next went,
with the farther connivance of the valet, to the bedchamber of Sir Lemuel
Levison, for the purpose of emptying his strong box; that being detected
in their criminal designs by the wakeful banker, they had silenced him by
one fatal blow on the head; that they had then accomplished the robbery
of the strong box, and of the person of the deceased banker; and had been
secretly let out of the castle by the valet.

Finally, it was thought that the man and the woman discovered under the
balcony by Cuddie McGill on the night of the murder, were confederates
in the crime, and the woman was the midnight passenger to whom Donald
McNeil sold the second-class railway ticket to London, and that the heavy
black bag she carried contained the booty taken from the castle.

On the evening of the third day of the unsatisfactory inquest a verdict
was returned to this effect.

That the deceased Sir Lemuel Levison, Knight, had come to his death by
a blow from a heavy bronze statuette held in the hands of some person
unknown to the jury. And that Peters, the valet of the deceased banker,
was accessory to the murder.

A coroner's warrant was immediately issued, and the valet was arrested,
and confined in jail to await the action of the grand jury.

An experienced detective officer was sent upon the track of the
mysterious, vailed woman, with the heavy black bag, who on the night
of the murder had taken the midnight train from Lone to London.

Then at length the coroner's jury adjourned, and Castle Lone was cleared
of the law officers and all others who had remained there in attendance
upon the inquest.

And the preparations for the funeral of the deceased banker were allowed
to go on.

In addition to the long train of servants there remained now in the
castle but seven persons:

The young lady of the house, who lay prostrate and unconscious upon the
bed of extreme illness or death; Lady Belgrade, who in all this trouble
had nearly lost her wits; the Marquis of Arondelle, who had been
requested to take the direction of affairs; the old Duke of Hereward,
who had been brought to the castle in a helpless condition; the family
physician, who had turned over all his other patients to his assistant,
and was now devoting himself to the care of the unha