"When I saw the deceased he was dead. I should think about half an hour had elapsed since respiration ceased. The room appeared in perfect order, and there was no sign whatever of foul play. On making a cursory examination I found one of the hands contracted, the fingers bent in towards the palm. This morning I made a post-mortem at the mortuary, and on opening the hand I discovered this within it," and from his vest pocket he took a piece of white tissue paper, which he opened. Every neck was craned in Court to catch sight of what had been discovered, and I standing near him saw as he handed it to the Coroner that it was a tiny piece of soft black chiffon about half an inch square, evidently torn from a woman's dress. The Coroner took it, and then remarked-- "This would appear to prove that the deceased had a visitor immediately before his death, and that his visitor was a lady." "That is what I surmise," observed the doctor. "My examination has proved one or two things." There was a stir in Court, followed by a dead and eager silence. "I found no external mark of violence whatsoever," the doctor continued in a clear tone, "and the clenched hand with the piece of muslin within did not point to death from any unnatural cause. The only external marks were two very curious ones which are entirely unaccountable. On each elbow I found a strange white scar, the remains of some injury inflicted perhaps a year ago. The eyes, too, were discoloured in a manner altogether unaccountable. On further examination, I found no trace whatever of any organic disease. The deceased was a strong athletic man, and was suffering from no known malady which could have resulted fatally." "Did you make an examination of the stomach?" inquired the Coroner. "I did. Suspecting suicide by poison, I made a most careful analysis, assisted by Dr Leverton, of King's College Hospital, but we failed to discover any trace of poison whatsoever." "Then you cannot assign any cause for death in this instance?" observed the Coroner, looking up sharply in surprise. "No," answered the doctor. "I cannot." "Have you a theory that deceased died from the effects of poison?" "Certain appearances pointed to such a conclusion," the doctor responded. "Personally, before making the post-mortem, I suspected prussic acid; but all tests failed to detect any trace of such deleterious matter." "Of course," said the Coroner, who was also a medical man of wide experience, clearing his throat, as he turned to the jury, "the presence of poison can be very easily discovered, and the fact that the analyses have failed must necessarily add mystery to this case." "Having failed to find poison," continued the doctor, "we naturally turned our attention to other causes which might result fatally." "And what did you find?" inquired the Coroner eagerly, his pen poised in his hand. "Nothing!" the witness answered. "Absolutely nothing."