of her
immediate engrossing interest in the horrible sight of the corpse.
Grodman alone was positive that the key was in the door when he burst it
open. No, he did not remember picking it up from the floor and putting
it in. And he was certain that the staple of the bolt was not broken,
from the resistance he experienced in trying to shake the upper panels
of the door.

By the Prosecution: "Don't you think, from the comparative ease with
which the door yielded to your onslaught, that it is highly probable
that the pin of the bolt was not in a firmly fixed staple, but in one
already detached from the woodwork of the lintel?"

"The door did not yield so easily."

"But you must be a Hercules."

"Not quite; the bolt was old, and the woodwork crumbling; the lock was
new and shoddy. But I have always been a strong man."

"Very well, Mr. Grodman. I hope you will never appear at the
music-halls." (Laughter.)

Jessie Dymond's landlady was the next witness for the prosecution. She
corroborated Wimp's statements as to Constant's occasional visits, and
narrated how the girl had been enlisted by the dead philanthropist as a
collaborator in some of his enterprises. But the most telling portion of
her evidence was the story of how, late at night, on December 3d, the
prisoner called upon her and inquired wildly about the whereabouts of
his sweetheart. He said he had just received a mysterious letter from
Miss Dymond saying she was gone. She (the landlady) replied that she
could have told him that weeks ago, as her ungrateful lodger was gone
now some three weeks without leaving a hint behind her. In answer to his
most ungentlemanly raging and raving, she told him it served him right,
as he should have looked after her better, and not kept away for so
long. She reminded him that there were as good fish in the sea as ever
came out, and a girl of Jessie's attractions need not pine away (as she
had seemed to be pining away) for lack of appreciation. He then called
her a liar and left her, and she hoped never to see his face again,
though she was not surprised to see it in the dock.

Mr. Fitzjames Montgomery, a bank clerk, remembered cashing the check
produced. He particularly remembered it, because he paid the money to a
very pretty girl. She took the entire amount in gold. At this point the
case was adjourned.

Denzil Cantercot was the first witness called for the prosecution on the
resumption of the trial. Pressed as to whether