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court-room the light was going out. It was a hot sunny day outside — the papers kept on referring to the heat — but in that horrible crowded room Marion and Geoffrey were watching the light go out.
    The Coroner: ‘You were present when your husband was rung up on the evening of the sixteenth?’
    Marion Grey: ‘Yes.’
    The Coroner: ‘Did you notice the time?’
    Marion Grey: ‘Yes — the clock was striking eight. He waited for it to finish striking before he lifted the receiver.’
    The Coroner: ‘What did you hear?’
    Marion Grey: ‘I heard Mr. Everton asking my husband to come down to Solway Lodge.’
    The Coroner: ‘Do you mean that you could actually hear what Mr. Everton was saying?’
    Marion Grey: ‘Oh yes, I could hear him quite plainly. He wanted him to come down and see him at once. He repeated that — “At once, my boy.” And when my husband asked if anything was the matter he said, “I can’t talk about it on the telephone. I want you to come down here as quickly as you can.” Then my husband hung up the receiver and said, “That’s James. He wants me to go down there at once.” And I said, “I know — I heard him.” My husband said, “He sounds properly upset. I can’t think why.” ’
    After that she was asked about the pistol. She said she had never seen it before.
    The Coroner: ‘You never saw it in your husband’s possession?’
    Marion Grey: ‘No.’
    The Coroner: ‘How long have you been married?’
    Marion Grey: ‘A year and a week.’
    The Coroner: ‘You never saw the pistol during that time?’
    Marion Grey: ‘No.’
    The Coroner: ‘You live in a flat in Maudslay Road?’
    Marion Grey: ‘Yes.’
    The Coroner: ‘You have lived there ever since your marriage?’
    Marion Grey: ‘Yes.’
    The Coroner: ‘It is not a large flat?’
    Marion Grey: ‘No, quite small — four rooms.’
    The Coroner: ‘If the pistol had been there, you would have seen it?’
    Marion Grey: ‘It couldn’t possibly have been there without my seeing it.’
    The Coroner: ‘There were no locked cupboards or boxes?’
    Marion Grey: ‘No.’
    The Coroner: ‘And you did not see the pistol at all?’
    Marion Grey: ‘I have never seen it before — anywhere.’
    The Coroner let her go after that.
    Hilary turned a page.
    CHAPTER FIVE
    Bertie Everton was called.
    The Coroner: ‘You are Bertram Everton?’
    Bertram Everton: ‘Oh, yes, certainly.’
    The Coroner: ‘You are a nephew of the deceased?’
    Bertram Everton: ‘Oh, yes.’
    The Coroner: ‘When did you see him last?’
    Bertram Everton: ‘Well, you know, I dined with him the very night before it happened. Most extraordinary thing, you know, because we weren’t in the way of seeing one another what you might call constantly. But there it is — ’
    The Coroner: ‘Do you mean that you were not on good terms with your uncle?’
    Bertram Everton: ‘Oh, well, I don’t know that I should go as far as that, you know. Just happier apart and all that sort of thing.’
    The Coroner: ‘Was there any quarrel between you?’
    Bertram Everton: ‘Not at all. I don’t quarrel with people, you know.’
    The Coroner: ‘You disagreed perhaps?’
    Bertram Everton: ‘Just about life and that sort of thing. My uncle was a business man. Earnest, hard-working fellows business men. Personally I collect china. We didn’t see eye to eye about it at all.’
    The Coroner: ‘But you dined with him on the evening of Monday the fifteenth?’
    Bertram Everton: ‘Yes — as I told you.’
    The Coroner: ‘You had been staying in Scotland?’
    Bertram Everton: ‘In Edinburgh.’
    The Coroner: ‘You came all the way down from Scotland to dine with an uncle with whom you were not on particularly friendly terms?’
    Bertram Everton: ‘Oh, come —that’s a bit rough! It wasn’t quite like that.’
    The Coroner: ‘Perhaps you will tell us what it was like, Mr. Everton.’
    Bertram Everton: ‘Well, it was this way. I collect china, and when I’m in