Here the Coroner presided in the drawing-room over twelve good and lawful men. There was no mystery about the murder, as everyone was perfectly satisfied that Alfred Osip was guilty. But it was necessary to collect all evidence to reveal how Osip had committed the crime, and to gather any clues together which might lead to his capture. The two Bairds were present with Ackworth and Dr. Jerce. Before the proceedings began, Clarice took the opportunity to ask the latter if he had discovered the reason for Horran's mysterious disease, which had baffled him and everyone else for so many years. "Yes," whispered Jerce, calmly, but with a look of triumph in his eye, "and I was right in my surmise, as to what was the matter. My poor friend would have died of the disease had he not been murdered." "What was the disease?" asked Clarice, curiously. "You would not understand if I explained," said Jerce, shrugging; "the description would be too technical." "But I want to know." "Well," said the great physician, "when I removed the skull-cap, I found a cyst had formed under the membranes and was pressing on the brain. The probable cause of the cyst was cystic degeneration of an old blood-clot, the result of intracranial hæmorrhage." Clarice shook her head. The death by the assegai was easier to understand. CHAPTER X A CHANCE WHISPER The Coroner, a stolid old country doctor of sixty, with a ruddy face, shrewd eyes, and a beard which would have done credit to a Christmas card Santa Claus, opened the proceedings after the jury had inspected the corpse. His few brief remarks regarding the nature of the death, and the heinousness of the crime, introduced fussy Inspector Tick, with a sheaf of notes, dealing with up-to-date evidence. Tick described the appearance of the dead man, described the state of the room, hinted at the open window, and laid before the jury the deadly assegai, with which the death wound had, in all human probability, been inflicted. Then the Inspector reverted to the appearance of the man in grey at the Savoy Hotel, under the name of Alfred Osip, and related what Dr. Jerce had said about the struggle on the terrace. Afterwards he mentioned the finding of the envelope containing the representation of the purple fern, and the discovery by Miss Baird of the gold box. He finished by again drawing the attention of the jury to the fact of the open window, and to the finding of the dead man by Chalks. Not being an orator, Inspector Tick spoke with hesitation, and set forth his facts dryly; but these were so interesting, that the lack of ornamentation was not apparent.