But the coroner, intent upon his duty, released not one jot of the steady hold he had taken upon his victim. "Mr. Hildreth," said he, "your position as the only person who acknowledges himself to have been in this house during the half-hour that preceded the assault, makes every thing you can tell us in reference to your visit of the highest importance. Was the widow alone, do you think, or did you see any thing--pause now and consider well--_any thing_ that would lead you to suppose there was any one beside her and yourself in the house?" It was the suggestion of a just man, and Mr. Byrd looked to see the witness grasp with all the energy of despair at the prospect of release it held out. But Mr. Hildreth either felt his cause beyond the reach of any such assistance, or his understanding was so dulled by misery he could not see the advantage of acknowledging the presence of a third party in the cottage. Giving a dreary shake of the head, he slowly answered: "There may have been somebody else in the house, I don't know; but if so, I didn't hear him or see him. I thought we were alone." The frankness with which he made the admission was in his favor, but the quick and overpowering flush that rose to his face the moment he had given utterance to it, betrayed so unmistakable a consciousness of what the admission implied that the effect was immediately reversed. Seeing that he had lost rather than gained in the opinions of the merciless inquisitors about him, he went back to his old bravado, and haughtily lifted his head. "One question more," resumed the coroner. "You have said that Mrs. Clemmens was a spirited woman. Now, what made you think so? Any expression of annoyance on her part at the interruption in her work which your errand had caused her, or merely the expression of her face and the general way she had of speaking?" "The latter, I think, though she did use a harsh word or two when she showed me the door." "And raised her voice?" "Yes, yes." "Mr. Hildreth," intimated the coroner, rising, "will you be kind enough to step with me into the adjoining room?" With a look of wonder not unmixed with alarm, the young man prepared to comply. "I should like the attention of the jury," Dr. Tredwell signified as he passed through the door. There was no need to give them this hint. Not a man of them but was already on his feet in eager curiosity as to what their presiding officer was about to do. "I wish you to tell me now," the coroner demanded of Mr. Hildreth, as they paused in the centre of the sitting-room, "where it was you stood during your interview with Mrs. Clemmens, and, if possible, take the very position now which you held at that time." "There are too many persons here," the witness objected, visibly rebelling at a request of which he could not guess the full significance. "The people present will step back," declared the coroner; "you will have no trouble in taking your stand on the spot you occupied the other day."