CHAPTER EIGHT
THE INQUEST
Until he and Ayscough walked into this particular one, Lauriston hadnever been in a Coroner's Court in his life. He knew very little aboutwhat went on in such places. He was aware that the office of Coroner isof exceeding antiquity; that when any person meets his or her deathunder suspicious circumstances an enquiry into those circumstances isheld by a Coroner, who has a jury of twelve men to assist him in hisduties: but what Coroner and jury did, what the procedure of thesecourts was, he did not know. It surprised him, accordingly, to findhimself in a hall which had all the outward appearance of a court ofjustice--a raised seat, on a sort of dais, for the Coroner; a box forthe jury; a table for officials and legal gentlemen; a stand forwitnesses, and accommodation for the general public. Clearly, it wasevident that when any one died as poor old Daniel Multenius had died,the law took good care that everybody should know everything about it,and that whatever mystery there was should be thoroughly investigated.
The general public, however, had not as yet come to be greatlyinterested in the death of Daniel Multenius. Up to that moment theaffair was known to few people beyond the police, the relations of thedead man, and his immediate neighbours in Praed Street. Consequently,beyond the interested few, there was no great assemblage in the courtthat morning. A reporter or two, each with his note-book, lounged atthe end of the table on the chance of getting some good copy out ofwhatever might turn up; some of the police officials whom Lauriston hadalready seen stood chatting with the police surgeon and a sharp-eyedlegal looking man, who was attended by a clerk; outside the open door,a group of men, evidently tradesmen and householders of the district,hung about, looking as if they would be glad to get back to theirbusinesses and occupations. Melky, coming in a few minutes afterLauriston had arrived, and sitting down by him, nudged his elbow as hepointed to these individuals.
"There's the fellows what sits on the jury, mister!" whispered Melky."Half-a-crown each they gets for the job--and a nice mess they makes ofit, sometimes. They've the power to send a man for trial for his life,has them chaps--all depends on their verdict. But lor' bless yer!--theytakes their tip from the Coroner--he's the fellow what you've got towatch."
Then Melky looked around more narrowly, and suddenly espied thelegal-looking man who was talking to the police. He dug his elbow intoLauriston.
"Mister!" he whispered. "You be careful what you say when you get intothat there witness-box. See that man there, a-talking to thedetectives?--him with the gold nippers on his blooming sharp nose?That's Mr. Parminter!--I knows him, well enough. He's a lawyer chap,what the police gets when there's a case o' this sort, to ask questionsof the witnesses, d'ye see? Watch him, Mr. Lauriston, if he startsa-questioning you!--he's the sort that can get a tale out of a deadcod-fish--s'elp me, he is! He's a terror, he is!--the Coroner ain't init with him--he's a good sort, the Coroner, but Parminter--Lord loveus! ain't I heard him turn witnesses inside out--not half! And here isthe Coroner."
Lauriston almost forgot that he was an important witness, and wastempted to consider himself nothing but a spectator as he sat andwitnessed the formal opening of the Court, the swearing-in of thetwelve jurymen, all looking intensely bored, and the preliminarieswhich prefaced the actual setting-to-work of the morning's business.But at last, after some opening remarks from the Coroner, who said thatthe late Mr. Daniel Multenius was a well-known and much respectedtradesman of the neighbourhood, that they were all sorry to hear of hissudden death, and that there were circumstances about it whichnecessitated a careful investigation, the business began--andLauriston, who, for professional purposes, had heard a good many legalcases, saw, almost at once, that the police, through the redoubtableMr. Parminter, now seated with his clerk at the table, had carefullyarranged the presenting of evidence on a plan and system of their own,all of which, so it became apparent to him, was intended to eitherincriminate himself, or throw considerable suspicion upon him. Hisinterest began to assume a personal complexion.
The story of the circumstances of Daniel Multenius's death, as unfoldedin the witness-box into which one person went after another, appearedto be the fairly plain one--looked at from one point of view: there wasa certain fascination in its unfolding. It began with Melky, who wasfirst called--to identify the deceased, to answer a few generalquestions about him, and to state that when he last saw him, a fewhours before his death, he was in his usual good health: as good, atany rate, as a man of his years--seventy-five--who was certainlygrowing feeble, could expect to be in. Nothing much was asked of Melky,and nothing beyond bare facts volunteered by him: the astute Mr.Parminter left him alone. A more important witness was thepolice-surgeon, who testified that the deceased had been dead twentyminutes when he was called to him, that he had without doubt beenviolently assaulted, having been savagely seized by the throat and bythe left arm, on both of which significant marks were plainly visible,and that the cause of death was shock following immediately on thisundoubted violence. It was evident, said this witness, that the old manwas feeble, and that he suffered from a weak heart: such an attack asthat which he had described would be sufficient to cause death, almostinstantly.
"So it is a case of murder!" muttered Melky, who had gone back to sitby Lauriston. "That's what the police is leading up to. Be careful,mister!"
But there were three witnesses to call before Lauriston was calledupon. It was becoming a mystery to him that his evidence was kept backso long--he had been the first person to find the old man's dead body,and it seemed, to his thinking, that he ought to have been called at avery early stage of the proceedings. He was about to whisper hisconvictions on this point to Melky, when a door was opened and Zillahwas escorted in by Ayscough, and led to the witness-box.
Zillah had already assumed the garments of mourning for hergrandfather. She was obviously distressed at being called to giveevidence, and the Coroner made her task as brief as possible. Itwas--at that stage--little that he wanted to know. And Zillah toldlittle. She had gone out to do some shopping, at half-past-four on theprevious afternoon. She left her grandfather alone. He was then quitewell. He was in the front shop, doing nothing in particular. She wasaway about an hour, when she returned to find Detective-SergeantAyscough, whom she knew, and Mr. Lauriston, whom she also knew, in theshop, and her grandfather dead in the parlour behind. At this stage ofher evidence, the Coroner remarked that he did not wish to ask Zillahany further questions just then, but he asked her to remain in court.Mrs. Goldmark had followed her, and she and Zillah sat down near Melkyand Lauriston--and Lauriston half believed that his own turn would nowcome.
But Ayscough was next called--to give a brief, bald, matter-of-factstatement of what he knew. He had gone to see Mr. Multenius on abusiness affair--he was making enquiries about a stolen article whichwas believed to have been pledged in the Edgware Road district. He toldhow Lauriston ran into him as he entered the shop; what Lauriston saidto him; what he himself saw and observed; what happened afterwards. Itwas a plain and practical account, with no indication of surprise,bias, or theory--and nobody asked the detective any questions arisingout of it.
"Ain't nobody but you to call, now, mister," whispered Melky. "Mindyour p's and q's about them blooming rings--and watch that Parminter!"
But Melky was mistaken--the official eye did not turn upon Lauristonbut, upon the public benches of the court, as if it were seeking someperson there.
"There is a witness who has volunteered a statement to the police,"said the Coroner. "I understand it is highly important. We had betterhear him at this point. Benjamin Hollinshaw!"
Melky uttered a curious groan, and glanced at Lauriston.
"Fellow what has a shop right opposite!" he whispered. "S'elpme!--what's he got to say about it?"
Benjamin Hollinshaw came forward. He was a rather young, ratherself-confident, self-important sort of person, who strode up to thewitness-box as if he had been doing things of importance and moment allhis life, and was taking it quite as a matter of course that he sh
oulddo another. He took the oath and faced the court with something of anair, as much as to imply that upon what he was about to say moredepended than any one could conceive. Invited to tell what he knew, hetold his story, obviously enjoying the telling of it. He was atradesman in Praed Street: a dealer in second-hand clothing, to beexact; been there many years, in succession to his father. Heremembered yesterday afternoon, of course. About half-past-five o'clockhe was standing at the door of his shop. It was directly facing DanielMultenius's shop door. The darkness had already come on, and there wasalso a bit of a fog in the street: not much, but hazy, as it were.Daniel Multenius's window was lighted, but the light was confined to acouple of gas-jets. There was a light in the projecting sign over theside entrance to the pawnshop, down the passage. For the first fewminutes while he stood at his door, looking across to Multenius's, hedid not see any one enter or leave that establishment. But he then sawa young man come along, from the Edgware Road direction, whose conductrather struck him. The young man, after sauntering past Multenius'sshop, paused, turned, and proceeded to peer in through the top panel ofthe front door. He looked in once or twice in that way. Then he went tothe far end of the window and looked inside in the same prying fashion,as if he wanted to find out who was within. He went to various parts ofthe window, as if endeavouring to look inside. Finally, he stepped downthe side-passage and entered the door which led to the compartmentsinto which people turned who took things to pledge. He, Hollinshaw,remained at his shop door for some minutes after that--in fact, untilthe last witness came along. He saw Ayscough enter Multenius's frontdoor and immediately pause--then the door was shut, and he himself wentback into his own shop, his wife just then calling him to tea.
"You saw the young man you speak of quite clearly?" asked the Coroner.
"As clearly as I see you, sir," replied the witness.
"Do you see him here?"
Hollinshaw turned instantly and pointed to Lauriston.
"That's the young man, sir," he answered, with confidence.
Amidst a general craning of necks, Melky whispered to Lauriston.
"You'd ought to ha' had a lawyer, mister!" he said. "S'elp me, I'm ablooming fool for not thinking of it! Be careful--the Coroner'sa-looking at you!"
As a matter of fact, every person in the court was staring atLauriston, and presently the Coroner addressed him.
"Do you wish to ask this witness any questions?" he enquired.
Lauriston rose to his feet.
"No!" he replied. "What he says is quite correct. That is, as regardsmyself."
The Coroner hesitated a moment; then he motioned to Hollinshaw to leavethe box, and once more turned to Lauriston.
"We will have your evidence now," he said. "And--let me warn you thatthere is no obligation on you to say anything which would seem toincriminate you."