“A good idea.  Thanks, my lord.  We will summon the agent who happened to be on duty at that hour,” said the coroner.

And a messenger was immediately dispatched to Lone to bring the railway official in question.

In the interim, several of the household servants were examined, but without bringing any new facts to light.

After an absence of two hours, the messenger returned accompanied by Donald McNeil, the ticket-agent who had been in the office for the midnight train of the preceding day.

He was a man of middle age and medium size, with a fair complexion, sandy hair and open, honest countenance.  He was clothed in a suit of black and white-checked cloth.

He was duly sworn and examined.  He gave his name as Donald McNeil, his age forty years, and his home in the hamlet of Lone.

“You are a ticket-agent at the Railway Station at Lone?” inquired the coroner’s clerk.

“I am, sir.”

“You were on duty at that station last night, between twelve midnight and one, morning?”

“I was, sir.”

“Does the train for London stop at Lone at that hour?”

“The up-train stops at Lone, at a quarter past twal, sir, and seldom varies for as muckle as twa minutes.”

“It stopped last night as usual, at a quarter past twelve?”

“It did, sir, av coorse.”

“Did any passengers get on that train from Lone?”

“One passenger did, sir; whilk I remarked it more particularly, because the passenger was a young lass, travelling her lane, and it is unco seldom a woman tak’s that train at that hour, and never her lane.”

“Ah! there was but one passenger, then, that took the midnight train from Lone for London?”

“But one, sir.”

“And she was a woman?”

“A young lass, sir.”

“Did she take a through ticket?”

“Ah, sir, to London.”

“What class?”

“Second-class.”

“Had she luggage?”

“An unco heavy black leather bag, sir, that was a’.”

“How do you know the bag was heavy?”

“By the way she lugged it, sir.  The porter offered to relieve her o’ it, but she wad na trust it out o’ her hand ae minute.”

“Ah!  Was it a large bag?”

“Na, sir, no that large, but unco heavy, as it might be filled fu’ o’ minerals, the like of whilk the college lads whiles collect in the mountains.  Na, it was no’ large, but unco heavy, and she wad na let it out o’ her hand ae minute.”

“Just so.  Would you know that young woman again if you were to see her?”

“Na, I could na see her face.  She wore a thick, dark vail, doublit over and over her face, the whilk was the moir to be noticed because the nicht was sae warm.”

“You say her face was concealed.  How, then, did you know her to be a young woman?”

“Ou, by her form and her gait just, and by her speech.”