Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/101

 "It takes only a few minutes longer, and there is a finer view."

"Was it, then, because you desired to see the view, that you went by the upper path that leads past the Tower?"

"My wife said that she wanted to go by the Tower."

"When you reached the Tower, did you and Lady Hereward walk on together?"

"No. I went on alone."

Every eye in the room was fixed on the ex-soldier, and it seemed strange to no one that his face should pale to the ash-gray which is the only pallor a colour less, bronzed skin can show.

"Why did you leave Lady Hereward?" the merciless-seeming voice of the coroner continued. It was merciless only in seeming, however. There did not live a more kindly-natured man than little Mr. Samways, and never had he disliked doing his duty as coroner more than he disliked it to day. He knew how agonizing these memories must be to Sir Ian Hereward, whom he respected and admired. He knew how this hero of many battles must be reproaching himself because, though all unwittingly, he had gone away and left a beloved woman undefended, to meet a ghastly fate.

Again there was a slight pause before the witness answered. When he did speak, he spoke slowly, and in a low, though clear voice.