s, Collins or Ward a
single question, for anything they say may be used against them. But if
Mr. Luckstone cares to present any facts tending to establish the
innocence of the accused, I am ready to listen and to give due
consideration to anything that he might offer."

The judicial attitude adopted by the coroner surprised and gratified the
lawyer. Evidently here was a conscientious official who was not to be
precipitated into hasty action at the behest of the police.

"Coroner," said the lawyer, moving his chair forward, "this police
officer has been endeavoring to create an atmosphere of guilt about my
clients. But in this age prosecutors are compelled to offer something
more substantial than atmosphere on which to base their accusations. I
realize fully the gravity of the situation as regards my clients. They
are absolutely innocent and there will be no difficulty in establishing
their innocence before a jury. But we are not anxious to proceed to a
public trial, with all the useless suffering which it must entail. In my
experience before the bar I have found coroners and committing
magistrates invariably predisposed toward the police. They will commit
on the flimsiest kind of evidence, content to leave the judicial
determination of the case to the higher courts. But the law invests you
with a wide discretion in homicide cases. And if you are prepared to
scrutinize the evidence carefully before accepting the accusations made
by Lieutenant Britz, then I believe I can convince you in short order
how absolutely baseless his charges are."

"I have no desire to commit an innocent man or woman to prison,"
answered the coroner. "I am not an agent of the police. I am a judicial
officer and as such I am prepared to protect the innocent to the limit
of my powers."

Britz had so arranged the chairs in his office as to compel those in the
room to resolve themselves into two separate groups, like opposing sides
in a judicial proceeding. Behind the detective's flat-top desk sat the
coroner, while about him were ranged Britz, Manning and Greig. Facing
the desk, at a distance of a dozen feet, sat Mrs. Collins, Ward, Beard
and Collins, with Luckstone occupying a chair in the middle.

The sincerity of tone in which the coroner expressed his willingness to
consider the evidence of both sides, encouraged the lawyer to proceed.

"Mr. Whitmore was found dead in his office at the hour when his clerks
prepared to go to lunch," he bega