re they began their game, and that, at the least calculation, would
make the time as early as a quarter to twelve."

"Well," the fierce looks of the other seemed to say, "and what if it
was?"

"Mr. Hildreth," continued the coroner, "if you were in this house at a
quarter to twelve and did not leave it till two minutes before, and the
interview was as you say a mere interchange of a dozen words or so, that
could not possibly have occupied more than three minutes; _where were
you during all the rest of the time_ that must have elapsed after you
finished your interview and the moment you left the house?"

It was a knock-down question. This aristocratic-looking young gentleman
who had hitherto held himself erect before them, notwithstanding the
humiliating nature of the inquiries which had been propounded to him,
cringed visibly and bowed his head as if a stroke of vital force had
descended upon it. Bringing his fist down on the table near which he
stood, he seemed to utter a muttered curse, while the veins swelled on
his forehead so powerfully that more than one person present dropped
their eyes from a spectacle which bore so distinctly the stamp of guilt.

"You have not answered," intimated the coroner, after a moment of silent
waiting.

"No!" was the loud reply, uttered with a force that startled all
present, and made the more timid gaze with some apprehension at his
suddenly antagonistic attitude. "It is not pleasant for a gentleman"--he
emphasized the word bitterly--"for a _gentleman_ to acknowledge himself
caught at a time like this in a decided equivocation. But you have
cornered me fairly and squarely, and I am bound to tell the truth.
Gentlemen, I did not leave the widow's house as immediately as I said. I
stayed for fully five minutes or so alone in the small hall that leads
to the front door. In all probability I was there when the tramp passed
by on his way to the kitchen-door, and there when he came back again."
And Mr. Hildreth fixed his eyes on the coroner as if he dared him to
push him further.

But Dr. Tredwell had been in his present seat before. Merely confronting
the other with that cold official gaze which seems to act like a wall of
ice between a witness and the coroner, he said the two words: "What
doing?"

The effect was satisfactory. Paling suddenly, Mr. Hildreth dropped his
eyes and replied humbly, though with equal laconism, "I was thinking."
But scarcely had the words left his lips, than