“Did you see Mr. Scott leave the library?”

“I did not.”

“Can you state about what time you heard this conversation?”

“I went immediately to my room, and there found that it lacked only ten minutes of one.”

“Did you hear any unusual sound afterwards?”

“I did not.  I heard no one in the halls; and Mr. Mainwaring’s apartments were so remote from the general sleeping-rooms that no sound from there, unless very loud, could have reached the other occupants of the house.”

Further questions failed to develop any evidence of importance, and the witness was temporarily dismissed.  Glancing at his watch, the coroner remarked,

“It is nearly time to adjourn, but if Mr. Hardy has returned we will first hear what he has to report.”

As the valet again came forward, Dr. Westlake asked, “Were you able to learn anything concerning the strangers who were here yesterday?”

“Not very much, sir,” was the reply.  “I went to the Arlington first and inquired for Mr. J. Henry Carruthers, and they told me there was no such person registered there; but they said a man answering that description, tall and wearing dark glasses, came into the hotel last evening and took dinner and sat for an hour or so in the office reading the evening papers.  He went out some time between seven and eight o’clock, and they had seen nothing more of him.”

“Was Richard Hobson at the Arlington?”

“No, sir; but I went to the Riverside, and found R. Hobson registered there.  They said he came in in the forenoon and ordered a carriage for Fair Oaks.  He came back to lunch, but kept his room all the afternoon.  He had a man with him in his room most of the afternoon, but he took no meals there.  After dinner Hobson went out, and nobody knew when he came back; but he was there to breakfast, and took the first train to the city.  I made some inquiries at the depot, and the agent said there was a tall man, in a gray ulster and with dark glasses, who took the 3.10 train this morning to the city, but he didn’t notice him particularly.  That was all I could learn.”

As the hour was late, the inquest was then adjourned until ten o’clock the next morning.  Every one connected with the household at Fair Oaks was expected to remain on the premises that night; and, dinner over, the gentlemen, including Mr. Whitney, locked themselves within the large library to discuss the inevitable contest that would arise over the estate and to devise how, with the least possible delay, to secure possession of the property.

Later in the evening Harry Scott came down from his room for a brief stroll through the grounds.  A bitter smile crossed his face as he noticed the brightly illumined library and heard the eager, excited tones within, remembering the dimly-lighted room above with its silent occupant, unloved, unmourned, unthought of, in marked contrast to the preceding night, when Hugh Mainwaring lavished upon his guests such royal entertainment and was the recipient of their congratulations and their professions of esteem and regard.