"Did he put the blotting paper over it to prevent you seeing it, do you suppose, Mr. Greatorex?" "I do not know. I thought he was only afraid it might get blotted. The ink was wet." "Did any one come in while you were with him?" "No. I wished him goodnight, intending to see him in the morning, and was shown out by some young man." "Do you know to whom that note was written?" "I have not the slightest idea. Neither do I know to what it alludes." "Then--your theory, I presume, is--that he added that blotted concluding line after your departure? In fact, just when he was on the point of committing the rash act?" "I do not see what else can be believed. The pen lay across the words when found, as if thrown there after writing them, and appeared to have caused the blots." "Did he say anything to you about any appointment he had kept that afternoon?" "Not anything." "And now about the pistol, Mr. Greatorex. Did you see one on the table!" "Yes." "Did it not strike you as singular that it should be there?" "Not at all. Mr. Ollivera never travelled anywhere without a pistol; it was a fancy he had. Some years ago, when in a remote part of Spain, he was attacked in his chamber at night, robbed, and rather seriously hurt; since then he has when travelling taken a pistol with him. I asked him what brought it on the table, and he said he had been putting a drop of oil on the lock. "Did you know that it was loaded?" "I did not. I really did not think much about it one way or the other. We were busy over the business on which I came down: and I knew as I have said, that he used to carry a pistol with him when travelling." "Then--in point of fact, Mr. Greatorex, you can throw no positive light on this affair for us?" The witness shook his head. "I wish I could. I have told you all I know." "Do you think there can be any reasonable doubt--any doubt whatever--that he committed suicide?" "I fear there can be none," replied Mr. Greatorex, in a low tone, and he shivered perceptibly as he gave it. It was a crime which Bede Greatorex had always held in shrinking, pitying abhorrence. "One question more, and then we will release you and thank you for the clear manner in which you have given your evidence," said the coroner. "Did you see cause to suspect in that last interview that his mind was otherwise than in a sane state?" "Oh no; certainly not." "It was calm and clear as usual, for all you saw?" "Quite so." "Stay. There is one other point. Was the deceased in any kind of embarrassment, so far as your cognizance goes, pecuniary, or else?" "I feel quite sure that he was in no pecuniary embarrassment whatever," returned the witness warmly, anxious to do justice to his cousin's memory. "As to any other kind of embarrassment, I cannot speak. I am aware of none; and I think he was one of the least likely men to get into any."