e
about it that can be put on the record. I see Mr. Krevin Crood there--I
believe Mr. Crood is as big an authority on Hathelsborough as anybody
living--perhaps he'll oblige me by coming forward."

Krevin Crood, sitting at the front of the densely-packed mass of
spectators, rose and walked into the witness-box. The Coroner leaned
confidentially in his direction.

"Mr. Crood," he said, "I think you're perfectly familiar with St.
Lawrence Lane--in its relation to the immediately surrounding property?"

"I am, sir," replied Krevin. "Every inch of it!"

"Just describe it to us, as if we knew nothing about it," continued the
Coroner. "You know what I want, and what I mean."

"Certainly, sir," assented Krevin. "St. Lawrence Lane is a narrow
thoroughfare, about eighty to ninety yards in length which lies at the
back of Mr. Mallett's house--I mean the bank premises--the Moot Hall,
and Dr. Wellesley's house. It's north entrance, at the corner of the
bank, is in Woolmarket; its south in Strand Lane. On its west side there
is a back door to the bank house; another into Bunning's rooms on the
basement of the Moot Hall; a third into the Police Office, also in that
basement; a fourth into the rear of Dr. Wellesley's house. On the
opposite side of the lane--the east--there is nothing but St. Lawrence's
Church and churchyard. St. Lawrence's church tower and west end faces
the back of the Moot Hall; there is a part of the churchyard opposite
the bank premises--the rear premises; the rest of the churchyard faces
Dr. Wellesley's house--the back of it, of course."

"Is the lane much frequented?"

"No, sir; it is very little used. Except by tradesmen going to Mr.
Mallett's or to Dr. Wellesley's back doors, and by people going to the
Police Office, it is scarcely used at all. There is no traffic along it.
On Sundays, of course, it is used by people going to the services at St.
Lawrence."

"Would it be likely to be quiet, unfrequented, of an evening?"

"Emphatically--yes."

"Do you think it likely that any person wishing to enter the Moot Hall
unobserved and seeing Mrs. Bunning go away from her rooms and round the
corner to the _Chancellor_ Vaults--as we've just heard she did--could
slip in unseen?"

"Oh, to be sure!" affirmed Krevin. "The easiest thing in the world! If I
may suggest something----?"

"Go on, go on!" said the Coroner, waving his spectacles. "Anything that
helps--suggest whatever you like."

"Well," said Krevin,