balance is largely against suicide; looking at the
physical aspects, suicide is well nigh impossible. Putting the two
together, the case against suicide is all but mathematically complete.
The answer, then, to our first question, Did the deceased commit
suicide? is, that he did not."

The coroner paused, and everybody drew a long breath. The lucid
exposition had been followed with admiration. If the coroner had stopped
now, the jury would have unhesitatingly returned a verdict of "murder."
But the coroner swallowed a mouthful of water and went on.

"We now come to the second alternative--was the deceased the victim of
homicide? In order to answer that question in the affirmative it is
essential that we should be able to form some conception of the _modus
operandi_. It is all very well for Dr. Robinson to say the cut was made
by another hand; but in the absence of any theory as to how the cut
could possibly have been made by that other hand, we should be driven
back to the theory of self-infliction, however improbable it may seem to
medical gentlemen. Now, what are the facts? When Mrs. Drabdump and Mr.
Grodman found the body it was yet warm, and Mr. Grodman, a witness
fortunately qualified by special experience, states that death had been
quite recent. This tallies closely enough with the view of Dr. Robinson,
who, examining the body about an hour later, put the time of death at
two or three hours before, say seven o'clock. Mrs. Drabdump had
attempted to wake the deceased at a quarter to seven, which would put
back the act to a little earlier. As I understand from Dr. Robinson,
that it is impossible to fix the time very precisely, death may have
very well taken place several hours before Mrs. Drabdump's first attempt
to wake deceased. Of course, it may have taken place between the first
and second calls, as he may merely have been sound asleep at first; it
may also not impossibly have taken place considerably earlier than the
first call, for all the physical data seem to prove. Nevertheless, on
the whole, I think we shall be least likely to err if we assume the time
of death to be half-past six. Gentlemen, let us picture to ourselves No.
11 Glover Street at half-past six. We have seen the house; we know
exactly how it is constructed. On the ground floor a front room tenanted
by Mr. Mortlake, with two windows giving on the street, both securely
bolted; a back room occupied by the landlady; and a kitchen. Mrs.
Drabdump d