"I cannot say. Some person or persons had been there before me, as is proved by a broken window at the back of the house through which I obtained entrance, but whether after or before the death of Mr. Boyd is unknown to me." "It appears, however, to have been a recent entrance?" "It appears so." "You have no knowledge of these persons?" "None whatever." "Having obtained entrance into the house, what next did you do?" "I went through a passage, and up a staircase to another passage which leads to the street door. In this passage are doors opening into various rooms. I looked into these rooms without making any discovery, until I came to one which seems to have been used as an office. There are two doors in this office, one opening into a small room in which I saw nothing to arouse my suspicions, the other opening into a larger room which I found was a sleeping apartment." "Examine this plan of the rooms, and tell us whether it is accurate?" "Quite accurate, so far as my memory serves." "The room on the right is the sleeping apartment?" "Yes." "Mr. Samuel Boyd's bedroom?" "I do not know. There was a bed in it, and the usual appointments of a bedroom. I stepped up to the bed, and saw it was occupied. Examining closer, I discovered that the person in it was dead." "By the person you mean Mr. Samuel Boyd?" "I do not. I have never seen Mr. Boyd in his lifetime, and I could not therefore identify the body. But from the fact of the house being his, and from certain rumours of foul play which had reached me, I assumed that it was he." "You examined the body?" "Yes, and I observed marks on the throat which favoured the presumption that the man had been murdered." "In his sleep?" "I cannot vouch for that." "Were there any signs of a struggle?" "None. The limbs were composed, and what greatly surprised me was the orderly condition of the bedclothes." "How long did you remain in the house?" "About two hours." "During that time were you quite alone?" "Quite alone." "Were there any indications of a robbery having been committed?" "I observed none. The clothes of the deceased were on a chair, and there was no appearance of their having been rifled. There is a safe fixed to the wall; it did not seem to have been tampered with." "Having completed your examination, what next did you do?" "I left the house, and proceeded to the Bishop Street Police Station to give information of my discovery." "And after that?" "I went to the office of 'The Little Busy Bee,' and wrote an account of what I had seen and done, which, being published, was the first information the public received of the murder--if murder it was." "Had any orders been given to you to take action in this matter?" "None. I acted entirely on my own initiative." "What impelled you?"