They told how Lord Verner was the first witness examined, and how his solicitor, Montagu Masters, Esq. (of the firm of Masters & Filmer of Brazencrook), watched the proceedings in the interests of the family. They repeated that story of the deceased’s arrival and his going out to walk, which is already fully known to our readers. Then they gave the evidence of Jones the groom, and finally the somewhat remarkable statement of Lionel Hammerton, which was the most interesting portion of the inquiry, seeing that the coroner cautioned the Captain in unusually solemn terms that what he said would be taken down in writing, and as he was unfortunately with the deceased when Jones came up, that circumstance might possibly prove inconvenient and troublesome to him, to say the least. Mr. Montagu Masters had quite a battle royal over this point with the coroner; but her Majesty’s representative finally put the lawyer down by intimating that he was only permitted to be present in this court by courtesy, and that he (the coroner) would conduct this inquiry in his own way. This most effectually prejudiced the minds of the jury against Lionel Hammerton, who certainly gave his evidence in a hesitating and dubious manner, which seemed fully to justify the suspicion of the police that he had murdered the deceased. In the midst of Lionel’s examination the groom was recalled. “How long after the Captain gave you his horse was it that you heard the noise which induced you to go to the ruin?” “About a quarter of an hour,” was the reply. “Did the Captain go straight in that direction when he left the stable yard?” “He went the shortest road.” “Was he in the habit of taking a walk in that direction after riding?” “I can’t say.” Then the surgeon was recalled. “The bruise upon the right hand is recent, you say?” “Yes.” “Supposing the deceased had shot himself, it would have been almost impossible that he could have fired the pistol with his left hand?” “Quite impossible, I should say, and considering the position of the wound there would have been some little difficulty with the right; but of course he could have used both hands; the wound is quite compatible with the supposition of suicide.”