"I had an appointment," he answered, not without considerable hesitation, "and was proceeding to keep it." "Did you know Miss Bridson?" "We had met on several occasions." The detective from Scotland Yard bent across the table and uttered some words, after which the Coroner, addressing George, said,-- "Inspector Swayne desires to ascertain whether it was with the deceased you had an appointment?" "No," he replied promptly. Again the Coroner and the inspector exchanged some hurried words. "Who was the person you intended to meet?" the Coroner asked, looking inquiringly at the witness. "A lady." "Am I right in presuming that it was Miss Brooker?" George paused for an instant, bit his lip in displeasure at being thus compelled to publicly acknowledge his clandestine meetings with Liane, and then nodded in the affirmative. "Then you were about to meet Miss Brooker, but instead, found Miss Bridson lying in the roadway dead?" the Coroner observed. "I did." "Are you aware that Miss Brooker wrote to you expressing her inability to keep the appointment?" the Coroner asked. "She has told me so," he answered. "The letter was given, I believe, to the unfortunate young lady to post, but I have not received it." "There appears to be some mystery about that letter," the Coroner said, turning to the jury. "I have it here. It was discovered in fragments yesterday by the police, thrown into a ditch at the roadside not far from where the body was found;" and taking from among his papers a sheet of foolscap whereon the pieces of Liane's letter had been pasted together, he handed it to the jury for their inspection. At that instant a sudden thought occurred to George. This last fact pointed alone to one conclusion, namely, that Nelly being given the letter by Liane, and knowing its contents, kept the appointment herself, desiring to speak to him alone upon some subject the nature of which he could not, of course, guess. This would not only account for her presence at the spot where he found her, but also for her dismounting and resting at the gateway where they had discovered the curious marks in the dust, and for the fragments of the letter being recovered near. A similar theory appeared to suggest itself to the minds of the jury, for a moment later the foreman asked-- "Would the deceased have any definite object in seeking an interview with you?" "None whatever," he promptly replied, puzzled nevertheless that the remains of Liane's note should have been recovered in Cross Lane. "You assisted the police to search the road for any traces of the assassin, I believe, Mr Stratfield," continued the Coroner. "Did you discover anything?"