e, dark man with a thin mouth in a deeply lined face,--Twyning. The
hunchbacked man beside them twisted about in his chair and stared long
and narrowly at Sabre, a very faint smile playing about his mouth; a
rather hungry sort of smile, as though he anticipated a bit of a game
out of Sabre.

They led Sabre to a seat on the front of the benches.

V

From a door behind the central dais a large, stout man entered and took
his seat. Whispers about the court said, "Coroner." Some one bawled
"Silence."

The coroner fiddled with some papers, put pince-nez on his nose and
stared about the court. He had a big, flat face. He stared about. "Is
the witness Sabre in attendance?"

The coroner's officer said, "Yes, sir."

Some one jogged Sabre. He stood up.

The coroner looked at him. "Are you legally represented?"

Sabre's mind played him the trick of an astoundingly clear recollection
of the officer at the recruiting station who had asked him, and at whom
he had wondered, "Any complaints?" He wondered now. He said,
"Represented? No. Why should I be represented?"

The coroner turned to examine some papers. "That you may perhaps
discover," he remarked drily.

The court tittered. The hunchbacked man, little more than whose huge
head appeared above the table, laughed out loud and rubbed his hands
between his knees and made a remark to Twyning. He seemed pleased that
Sabre was not legally represented.

A man seated not far from the hunchback rose and bowed and said, "I am
watching the interests of Mrs. Sabre."

Sabre started. Mrs. Sabre! Mabel!

The hunchback sprang to his feet and jerked a bow. "I represent Mr.
Bright, the father of the deceased."

The coroner bowed to each. The hunchback and the solicitor representing
the interests of Mrs. Sabre leaned back in their chairs and exchanged
whispers behind the men seated between them.

The jury shuffled up from their seats and were sworn in and shuffled
back again.... The coroner was speaking. "... and you will hear the
evidence of the witnesses who will be brought before you ... and I
propose to take first the case of the deceased child ... two deaths ...
and it will be found more convenient to dispose first of the case of the
child.... First witness!"

CHAPTER V

I

Hapgood said:

"Did I say to you last time, after that Brighton business, that the man
had crashed, that the roof had fallen in on him? Did I say that? May I
never again use superlatives til