"It seems probable, then, that the murderer knew of that," remarked
Dr. Diplock, again writing with his scratchy quill. Turning to the
solicitor, he asked, "Have you any questions to put to the witness?"
"None," was the response.
And then the woman whom I had loved so fervently and well, turned and
re-seated herself. She glanced across at me. Did she read my thoughts?
Her glance was a glance of triumph.
Medical evidence was next taken, Sir Bernard Eyton being the first
witness. He gave his opinion in his habitual sharp, snappy voice,
terse and to the point.
In technical language he explained the disease from which his patient
had been suffering, and then proceeded to describe the result of the
post-mortem, how the wound inside was eight times larger than the
exterior incision.
"That seems very remarkable!" exclaimed the coroner, himself a surgeon
of no mean repute, laying down his pen and regarding the physician
with interest suddenly aroused. "Have you ever seen a similar wound in
your experience, Sir Bernard?"
"Never!" was the reply. "My friends, Doctor Boyd and Doctor Farmer,
were with me, and we are agreed that it is utterly impossible that the
cardiac injuries I have described could have been caused by the
external wound."
"Then how were they caused?" asked the coroner.
"I cannot tell."
There was no cross-examination. I followed, merely corroborating what
my chief had said. Then, after the police surgeon had given his
evidence, Dr. Diplock turned to the twelve Kew tradesmen who had been
"summoned and sworn" as jurymen, and addressing them said:
"I think, gentlemen, you have heard sufficient to show you that this
is a more than usually serious case. There are certain elements both
extraordinary and mysterious, and that being so I would suggest an
adjournment, in order that the police should be enabled to make
further enquiries into the matter. The deceased was a gentleman whose
philanthropy was probably well known to you all, and we must all
therefore regret that he should have come to such a sudden and tragic
end. You may, of course, come to a verdict to-day if you wish, but I
would strongly urge an adjournment--until, say, this day week."
The jury conferred for a few moments, and after some whispering the
foreman, a grocer at Kew Bridge, announced that his fellow jurymen
acquiesced in the coroner's suggestion, and the public rose and slowly
left, more puzzled than ever.
Ambler Jevons had been present, sitting at the back of the room, and
in order to avoid the others we lunched together at an obscure
public-house in Brentford, on the opposite side of the Thames to Kew
Gardens. It was the only place we could discover, save the hotel where
the inquest had been held, and we had no desire to be interrupted, for
during the inquiry he had passed me a scrap of paper upon which he had
written an earnest request to see me alone afterwards.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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