May Churchill and her father were there before them, and after the jury had viewed the body, May was the first witness called. She gave her evidence clearly and simply, and her remarkable beauty as she did so excited great admiration. When he first heard her sweet low-toned voice a thrill passed through Henderson's whole frame, and for some moments he could not find courage to look in her face, as she spoke of her ghastly discovery in Fern Dene. Not so John Temple! He could not take his eyes away from this fair girlish witness, and once May looked at him when she described meeting him after she found poor Elsie. John Temple corroborated her words, and then her father. After this James Wray, the landlord, gave his evidence with deep emotion, and then Alice, the barmaid. She had waited up for her young mistress, who had never returned, and she had waited for Elsie on previous occasions. "Did you know who she went to meet?" one of the jurymen asked. The barmaid hesitated, and then glanced at Henderson's changing face. "I understood it was Mr. Henderson," she answered. "Did she ever tell you so?" "No," replied the girl, and then she detailed how the groom from Stourton Grange had brought a letter for Miss Wray in the afternoon, and how her mistress had seemed greatly upset at receiving it, and how she had gone into the bar and said to Reid, the groom, "Tell him I will be there." Reid then gave his evidence, saying that his master had given him this letter to take to Miss Wray and that he had delivered it into her own hands. "Have you ever taken other letters to Miss Wray?" he was asked. "Yes, once or twice," replied the groom. "From your master, Mr. Henderson?" "Yes." "Did Miss Wray seem upset when she gave you the message for your master?" "She seemed a bit flurried like, I thought," answered Jack. After this Henderson himself was called, and every eye in the room was fixed on his tall, stalwart form and handsome face as he went forward. He was cautioned in the usual manner, but with a great mental effort he said calmly enough: "I do not wish to conceal anything." "You wrote the letter that your groom delivered to Miss Wray, and which was found in her room after her death?" "I did." The letter was then handed to the jury, and after they had read it Henderson's examination was continued. "You asked her to go and meet you on the ridge above Fern Dene?" "I did, but afterward I made up my mind not to go. I got frightened," answered Henderson, in a low tone, and with downcast eyes. "There had been some talk of a marriage between us, as you may see by what I wrote to her, and I wished to be done with it, that was why I wrote. But I thought afterward I would write again the next day instead of going--I was afraid to meet her." "Were you out during the evening of Miss Wray's death?" "Yes, for a short time; I went down to the stables." "And you never went near Fern Dene?"