. Mr. Lester will assure you
that the woman was in no way connected with the death either of
Drouet or of Mr. Vantine."

Goldberger did think it over; he realised the danger of trying to
punish a paper so powerful as the _Record_, and he finally decided to
accept Godfrey's statement as a mitigation of his refusal to answer.

"That is only one of the details which Commissioner Grady has
missed," Godfrey added, pleasantly.

"That will do," Goldberger broke in, and Godfrey left the stand.

I was recalled to confirm his story. I, also, of course, refused to
give the woman's name, explaining to Goldberger that I had learned it
professionally, that I was certain she had been guilty of no crime,
and that to reveal it would seriously embarrass an entirely innocent
woman. With that statement, the coroner was compelled to appear
satisfied.

Grady did not go on the stand; he was not even at the inquest. In
fact, since the first day, he had not appeared publicly in connection
with the case at all; and I had surmised that he did not care to be
identified with a mystery which there seemed to be no prospect of
solving, and from which no glory was to be won. The case had been
placed in Simmonds's hands, and it was he who testified on behalf of
the police, admitting candidly that they were all at sea. He had made
a careful examination of the Vantine house, he said, particularly of
the room in which the bodies had been found, and had discovered
absolutely nothing in the shape of a clue to the solution of the
mystery. There was something diabolical about it; something almost
supernatural. He had not abandoned hope, and was still working on the
case; but he was inclined to think that, if the mystery was ever
solved, it would be only by some lucky accident or through the
confession of the guilty man.

Goldberger was annoyed; that was evident enough from the nervous way
in which he gnawed his moustache; but he had no theory any more than
the police; there was not a scintilla of evidence to fasten the crime
upon any one; and the end of the hearing was that the jury brought in
a verdict that Philip Vantine and Georges Drouet had died from the
effects of a poison administered by a person or persons unknown.

Godfrey joined me at the door as I was leaving, and we went down the
steps together.

"I was glad to hear Simmonds confess that the police are up a tree,"
he said. "Of course, Grady is trying to sneak out of it, and blame
some on