Mrs. Bunting, listening attentively, realised that it was very much from what this witness had said that the official description of The Avenger had been composed—­that description which had brought such comfort to her, Ellen Bunting’s, soul.

This witness spoke quietly, confidently, and her account of the newspaper parcel the man was carrying was perfectly clear and positive.

“It was a neat parcel,” she said, “done up with string.”

She had thought it an odd thing for a respectably dressed young man to carry such a parcel—­that was what had made her notice it.  But when pressed, she had to admit that it had been a very foggy night —­so foggy that she herself had been afraid of losing her way, though every step was familiar.

When the third woman went into the box, and with sighs and tears told of her acquaintance with one of the deceased, with Johanna Cobbett, there was a stir of sympathetic attention.  But she had nothing to say throwing any light on the investigation, save that she admitted reluctantly that “Anny” would have been such a nice, respectable young woman if it hadn’t been for the drink.

Her examination was shortened as much as possible; and so was that of the next witness, the husband of Johanna Cobbett.  He was a very respectable-looking man, a foreman in a big business house at Croydon.  He seemed to feel his position most acutely.  He hadn’t seen his wife for two years; he hadn’t had news of her for six months.  Before she took to drink she had been an admirable wife, and—­and yes, mother.

Yet another painful few minutes, to anyone who had a heart, or imagination to understand, was spent when the father of the murdered woman was in the box.  He had had later news of his unfortunate daughter than her husband had had, but of course he could throw no light at all on her murder or murderer.

A barman, who had served both the women with drink just before the public-house closed for the night, was handled rather roughly.  He had stepped with a jaunty air into the box, and came out of it looking cast down, uneasy.

And then there took place a very dramatic, because an utterly unexpected, incident.  It was one of which the evening papers made the utmost much to Mrs. Bunting’s indignation.  But neither coroner nor jury—­and they, after all, were the people who mattered—­ thought a great deal of it.

There had come a pause in the proceedings.  All seven witnesses had been heard, and a gentleman near Mrs. Bunting whispered, “They are now going to call Dr. Gaunt.  He’s been in every big murder case for the last thirty years.  He’s sure to have something interesting to say.  It was really to hear him I came.”

But before Dr. Gaunt had time even to get up from the seat with which he had been accommodated close to the coroner, there came a stir among the general public, or, rather, among those spectators who stood near the low wooden door which separated the official part of the court from the gallery.