"What time elapsed between Mr. Dunbar and the deceased leaving the cathedral yard, and Mr. Dunbar returning alone?" The verger scratched his head, and looked doubtfully at Henry Dunbar. That gentleman was looking straight before him, and seemed quite unconscious of the verger's glance. "I can't quite exactly say how long it was, sir," the old man answered, after a pause. "Why can't you say exactly?" "Because, you see, sir, I didn't keep no particular 'count of the time, and I shouldn't like to tell a falsehood." "You must not tell a falsehood. We want the truth, and nothing but the truth." "I know, sir; but you see I am an old man, and my memory is not as good as it used to be. I _think_ Mr. Dunbar was away an hour." Arthur Lovell gave an involuntary start. Every one of the jurymen looked suddenly at Mr. Dunbar. But the Anglo-Indian did not flinch. He was looking at the verger now with a quiet steady gaze, which seemed that of a man who had nothing to fear, and who was serene and undisturbed by reason of his innocence. "We don't want to know what you _think_," the coroner said; "you must tell us only what you are certain of." "Then I'm not certain, sir." "You are not certain that Mr. Dunbar was absent for an hour?" "Not quite certain, sir." "But very nearly certain. Is that so?" "Yes, sir, I'm very nearly certain. You see, sir, when the two gentlemen went through the yard, the cathedral clock was chiming the quarter after four; I remember that. And when Mr. Dunbar came back, I was just going away to my tea, and I seldom go to my tea until it's gone five." "But supposing it to have struck five when Mr. Dunbar returned, that would only make it three quarters of an hour after the time at which he went through the yard, supposing him to have gone through, as you say, at the quarter past four." The verger scratched his head again. "I'd been loiterin' about yesterday afternoon, sir," he said; "and I was a bit late thinkin' of my tea." "And you believe, therefore, that Mr. Dunbar was absent for an hour?" "Yes, sir; an hour—or more." "An hour, or more?" "Yes, sir." "He was absent more than an hour; do you mean to say that?" "It might have been more, sir. I didn't keep no particular 'count of the time." Arthur Lovell had taken out his pocket-book, and was making notes of the verger's evidence. The old man went on to describe his having shown Mr. Dunbar all over the cathedral. He made no mention of that sudden faintness which had seized upon the Anglo-Indian at the door of one of the chapels; but he described the rich man's manner as having been affable in the extreme. He told how Henry Dunbar had loitered at the door of the cathedral, and afterwards lingered in the quadrangle, waiting for the coming of his servant. He told all this with many encomiums upon the rich man's pleasant manner.