"You have seen the blood-stains on the floor of the office where you and Mr. Brancker generally work; you have seen the marks inside the drawer, and the smears outside; have you any knowledge whatever as to how they came there?" For a moment Ephraim's lips twitched curiously, but the answer when it came was clear and distinct. "I have no knowledge whatever on the point." "Did you see or speak to the deceased at all last evening?" "I neither saw him, nor spoke to him, after his departure for London the previous forenoon." "Then how do you know that he was at the Bank last evening?" "Sweet, the night-watchman, told Mr. Brancker and me that he had returned; and I saw that his office was lighted up when I left." "We have been informed that you met Mr. Brancker accidentally about half-past ten. Tell the jury what passed between you and him on that occasion." Witness having given him an account of the interview which tallied with John's account, went on to say that after bidding Mr. Brancker good-night, he walked as far as the newsroom, and after sitting there for half an hour he went home to bed. The Coroner had one more question to put. "Can you tell the jury of your own knowledge how long Mr. Brancker remained at the Bank after he left you for the purpose of fetching his umbrella?" Again there was a momentary hesitation before the answer came. "I did not see Mr. Brancker again after leaving him," was the reply. The Coroner dismissed him with a nod. Ephraim squeezed his way through the crowd to a quiet corner, and there wiped his perspiring forehead, and waited while his flurried nerves grew calm again. Scarcely had Ephraim Judd resumed his seat before Mr. Edward Hazeldine was seen shouldering his way through the crowd at the lower end of the room. People made way for him readily, and he became at once the focus of a hundred eyes. He looked very pale, but the hard, resolute expression of his face was in nowise changed. "I am sorry to have been obliged to send for you, Mr. Hazeldine," said the Coroner, "but as you were one of the last persons who saw your father alive, I shall require a little formal evidence from you in order to complete the depositions, as far as it is possible to do so today." "I am entirely at your service," said Mr. Hazeldine, who was then sworn in the usual way. His evidence simply went to prove that deceased had seemed to be in his usual health and spirits on his return from London the previous evening; that he mentioned the fact of his having been to town to obtain the requisite gold for the Bank's requirements on the morrow; and that he also informed witness of his intention to work late at the office. "Pardon the question," said the Coroner, "but does it not strike you as somewhat strange that Mrs. Hazeldine should not have noticed the fact of her husband's non-arrival at home, and have been alarmed thereby, and have at once caused inquiry to be made?"