Reginald: "Thank you, Mr. Coroner, I prefer to stand." "As you please. We understand that you went to your father's house in Catchpole Square to see the body of the deceased?" "Yes, I went there on Sunday." "You saw the body?" "Yes." "And identified it?" "Yes. It was my father's body." "In the teeth of the conflicting evidence that has been given, you are positive?" "I am positive. I wish with all my heart and soul that there was room for doubt." "We recognise that your position is a painful one, and we should, of course, wish to hear all the evidence it is in your power to give, but I consider it right to say that you are not compelled to answer every question put to you." "There is no question that I shall decline to answer. I am a willing witness in a most unhappy tragedy." "When did you last see your father alive?" "On Friday the 1st of March." "Before that day were you in the habit of visiting him regularly?" "Before that day I had not seen him for two years. I regret to say we were not on friendly terms." The Juror: "What was the cause of the disagreement between you?" The Coroner: "We cannot have that at this point of the inquiry." The Juror: "The witness states that there is no question that he will decline to answer, and the inquiry will be incomplete unless we arrive at all the facts of the case." Reginald: "I am willing to answer everything." The Coroner: "We will proceed in something like order. The last time you saw your father alive was on Friday the 1st of March. Did the interview take place in his house in Catchpole Square?" "Yes, on that day I paid two visits to the house, the first in the afternoon, the second at night." The Juror: "How did you obtain admittance in the afternoon?" The Coroner (to the Juror): "I must request you not to make these frequent interruptions; they tend to confuse the issue." The Juror: "With all due respect, sir, it is the jury who have to return the verdict"---- The Coroner: "Under my guidance and direction." The Juror: "Not entirely. We are not simply machines. You can advise us, and clear up knotty points, but you cannot dictate to us. Otherwise you might as well hold this inquiry without our aid. The question I put to the witness is a very simple one." The Coroner: "Very well." (To Reginald.) "Did you obtain admission into your father's house on Friday afternoon in the usual way?" Reginald: "No. I knocked at the door two or three times, and receiving no answer, admitted myself with a private latchkey I had in my pocket." The Juror: "You see, Mr. Coroner, I had an object in asking the question." The Coroner: "How did you become possessed of the latchkey?" Reginald: "It was one I used when I lived in Catchpole Square with my father. When I left the home I took it with me." "Having let yourself in, what then did you do?" "I went upstairs to the office in the expectation of seeing my father. He was not at home. The only person in the house was his clerk, Abel Death."