The book in question was produced and handed to the jury and the judge.

“That is all, Mrs. Assheton.”

She stepped into the box, and smiled at Morris.  There was no murmur of sympathy, no rustling; the whole thing was too tense.

“You returned home on June 24th last, from a visit to town?”

“Yes.”

“At what time?”

“I could not say to the minute.  But about eleven in the morning.”

“You found letters waiting for you?”

“Yes.”

“Anything else?”

“A parcel.”

“What did it contain?”

“A blotting-book.  It was a present from my son on my birthday.”

“Is this the blotting-book?”

“Yes.”

“What did you do with it?”

“I opened it and placed it on my writing table in the drawing-room.”

“Thank you; that is all.”

There was no cross-examination of this witness, and after the pause, the counsel for the defence spoke again.

“Superintendent Figgis.”

“You searched the house of Mrs. Assheton in Sussex Square?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What did you take from it?”

“A leaf from a blotting-book, sir.”

“Was it that leaf which has been already produced in court, bearing the impress of a letter dated June 21st?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where was the blotting-book?”

“On the writing-table in the drawing-room, sir.”

“You did not examine the blotting-book in any way?”

“No, sir.”

Counsel opened the book and fitted the torn out leaf into its place.

“We have here the impress of a letter dated June 21st, written in a new blotting-book that did not arrive at Mrs. Assheton’s house from the shop till June 24th.  It threatens—­threatens a man who was murdered, supposedly by the prisoner, on June 23d.  Yet this threatening letter was not written till June 24th, after he had killed him.”

Quiet and unemotional as had been the address for the Crown, these few remarks were even quieter.  Then the examination continued.

“You searched also the flat occupied by the deceased, and you found there this envelope, supposedly in the handwriting of the prisoner, which has been produced by the prosecution?”

“Yes, sir.”

“This is it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you.  That is all.”

Again there was no cross-examination, and the superintendent left the witness box.

Then the counsel for the defence took up two blank envelopes in addition to the one already produced and supposedly addressed in the handwriting of the prisoner.

“This blue envelope,” he said, “is from the stationery in Mrs. Assheton’s house.  This other envelope, white, is from the flat of the deceased.  It corresponds in every way with the envelope which was supposed to be addressed in the prisoner’s hand, found at the flat in question.  The inference is that the prisoner blotted the letter dated June 21st on a blotting pad which did not arrive in Mrs. Assheton’s house till June 24th, went to the deceased’s flat and put it an envelope there.”