Crone had been found lying in a deep pool in the River Till; but the medical testimony showed that he had met his fate by a blow from some sharp instrument, the point of which had penetrated the skull and the frontal part of the brain in such a fashion as to cause instantaneous death.

The man in the dock had been apprehended with Crone's purse in his possession--therefore, said the police, he had murdered and robbed Crone.

As I say, Mr.Murray and all of them--as you could see--were quite of the opinion that this was sufficient; and I am pretty sure that the magistrates were of the same way of thinking.

And the police were not over well pleased, and the rest of the folk in court were, to say the least, a little mystified, when Mr.Lindsey asked a few questions of two witnesses--of whom Chisholm was one, and the doctor who had been fetched to Crone's body the other.

And before setting down what questions they were that Mr.Lindsey asked, I will remark here that there was a certain something, a sort of mysterious hinting in his manner of asking them, that suggested a lot more than the mere questions themselves, and made people begin to whisper amongst each other that Lawyer Lindsey knew things that he was not just then minded to let out.
It was to Chisholm that he put his first questions--casually, as if they were very ordinary ones, and yet with an atmosphere of meaning behind them that excited curiosity.
"You made a very exhaustive search of the neighbourhood of the spot where Crone's body was found, didn't you ?" he inquired.
"A thorough search," answered Chisholm.
"You found the exact spot where the man had been struck down ?" "Judging by the marks of blood--yes." "On the river-bank--between the river and a coppice, wasn't it ?" "Just so--between the bank and the coppice." "How far had the body been dragged before it was thrown into the river ?" "Ten yards," replied Chisholm promptly.
"Did you notice any footprints ?" asked Mr.Lindsey.
"It would be difficult to trace any," explained Chisholm.