That does not look like accident, but crime." Yet as the Coroner uttered this acknowledgment, he realized as plainly as Mr.Gryce how many incongruous elements lay in the way of any such solution of the mystery.

If they accepted the foreigner's account of himself,--which for some reason neither seemed ready to dispute,--into what a maze of improbabilities it at once led them! A stranger just off ship! The victim a mere schoolgirl! The weapon such an unusual one as to be _outre_ beyond belief.

Only a madman--But there! Travis had less the appearance of a lunatic than Mrs.Taylor.It must have been an accident as Gryce said; and yet-- If there is much virtue in an _if_, there is certainly a modicum of the same in a _yet_, and the Coroner, in full recognition of this stumbling-block, remarked with unusual dryness: "I agree with you that some half-dozen questions are necessary before we wade deeper into this quagmire.

Where shall we go to have it out ?" "The Curator will allow us to use his office.

I will see that Mr.Travis joins us there." "See that he comes before he has a chance to fall into one of his reveries." But quickly as Mr.Gryce worked, he was not speedy enough to prevent the result mentioned.