"Very well,"said he. "But tell us, please, what happened after you reached home last night and saw your father, so unexpectedly."
"I was angry,"said the young artist "I asked him what he was doing here."
"And then what?"
"He merely jeered at me. I looked at my sister; she seemed very ill, and I understood the cause of it at once, and tried to cross toward her."
"You tried to cross the room,"said Osborne. "What was to prevent you?"
"My father tried to!"said the young man. "It was a way he had—I remember it from a boy—a love of threatening people—a desire to mock, a kind of joy in persecution. But he had forgotten that I had grown into a man, and I threw him out of my way as soon as he stepped into it."
"Well?"asked the questioner, after a pause.
"I saw that my sister had undergone a severe strain; she has been in bad health for some years. So I took her at once to her room."
"Your father remained in the sitting-room?"
"Yes. At least I suppose so. For when I returned, perhaps a quarter of an hour later, I found him lying upon the floor, just as he is now; the blood from a wound in his head was soaking into a rug and he was quite dead."
"A quarter of an hour elapsed between your leaving the room and your return?"
"Yes."
"During that time you heard no unusual sounds?"
"No."
"What other occupants are there here, beside you two?"
"A maid, who also does the cooking. And there is a nurse who has been attending my sister for some time past."
"Bring them here,"said Dr. Shower to the policeman who had been standing at the room door during the greater part of this examination. As the man departed the assistant coroner turned his glance toward the sick girl.
"How long was your father here before your brother arrived?"
"I am not sure,"she replied in her low voice. "It may have been an hour—perhaps it was more."
The nurse and the maid had evidently not been far away, for the policeman now led them into the room. The maid was an exceedingly black negro girl, and obviously frightened; the nurse wore her trim uniform well; her face was calm and her eyes were level and serene; apparently long training in the hospitals had not been wasted in her case.
"What's your name?"inquired Dr. Shower, of the maid.
"Rosamond Wyat, suh,"replied the girl. And, then, eagerly: "But, deedy, boss, I don't know nothing about this killing! I was back in that yeah kitchen, and——"
"Answer my questions, please,"said the assistant coroner, severely. "You were present in the house last night?"
"Yes, suh. I done lef' dat man in. But that's all I know——"
"Had you ever seen him before that?"
"I declah I never did, suh! And I was mighty s'prised when he tole me he was Miss Ma'y's fathah. I never knowed she had a fathah."
"Did you hear nothing later? No loud talking—the noise, or shock of a fall?"
"No, suh."
The inquisitor now turned to the nurse.
"Now, Miss——"
"Wheeler,"she said, quietly. "Susan Wheeler."
"Tell us what you know of this matter, if you please, Miss Wheeler."
"Miss Burton had been feeling rather better all day yesterday,"said the nurse, "and as the evening went on she said I could go to bed, as she meant to wait up for her brother."
"And did you do so?"
"No, sir,"replied the nurse. "Miss Burton once or twice before had overestimated her strength, and ever since then I have been careful never to be too far away. Instead of going to bed I came into this room, got a book and began to read."
Osborne coughed behind his hand; the eyes of the assistant coroner snapped with appreciation. But Bat Scanlon gave his attention to young Burton and his sister; the girl had sat up with sudden, unlooked-for strength, and was regarding the quiet young nurse with dilated eyes. The face of the brother had gone gray; he held to the heavy frame of his sister's chair, and the big trainer noted that he swayed slightly.
"And were you in this room when the man, now dead, was shown into the one across the hall?"
"I was,"replied the nurse, with the calm impersonal manner of her kind. "I heard the ring and heard what he said to the maid; and, like her, I was surprised to hear that it was Miss Burton's father. However, I paid little attention, but went on with my reading."
"Did you hear any of the conversation?"
"I heard voices—or to be more correct, I heard a voice. The father did all the talking as far as I could hear; but, as I have said, I was interested in my book."
"You don't recall any scraps of talk—a detached phrase?—anything?"
The nurse shook her head.
"The only clear impression I have is of the man's laugh; there was something irritating about it, and I wished he'd stop."
"When the younger Mr. Burton came home—what then?"
"The voices rose suddenly; but the two doors were closed and I could only catch a word here and there. But I did hear young Mr. Burton call his father a rascal and order him to leave the house. Just about then I thought of the maid and went back to the kitchen to tell her she might go to bed. But she had already gone. There were a few things I had to do in the kitchen and I remained there until I had finished them. Then I came back here."
"Well?"
"They were still talking in the sitting-room—rather loudly, I thought."
"Did you hear any sound like a struggle?"
The maid stood with her rather thin lips pressed tightly together for a moment; then she said, reluctantly:
"Yes."
"Anything more?"Dr. Shower's fingers were now twisted in the trimmed beard, eagerly.
"Miss Burton cried out. Then there was a sudden jar that made everything shake."
"Like some one falling?"
"Yes,"replied the nurse, with lowered head.
"Ah!"This was a low, long-drawn exclamation and came from Osborne; and it was followed by a deep silence during which the rapid ticking of a small clock upon a writing table seemed to suddenly swell into an overwhelming volume of sound.
It was the sick girl who spoke first. She threw out her frail, white hands in a gesture of protection toward her brother.
"Frank!"she cried. "Do you hear?"
The young man, ashen of face, and with eyes wide open, had been staring at the nurse. But at the sound of his sister's voice he roused himself, and said hurriedly:
"All right, Mary. All right, my dear!"Then to the assistant coroner he added: "Very likely what Miss Wheeler says is true. There was a struggle, though not much of a one, and perhaps my sister was frightened and did cry out."
"But what of the sudden jar—'as though some one had fallen'?"asked Osborne.
"It must have been when my father struck the wall as I pushed him aside,"said the young man as he passed one hand across his face. "That is the only way I can account for it."
"What more was there, Miss Wheeler?"
"A few moments later, Mr. Burton took his sister up-stairs to her room. I expected to be called, but was not. In a little while Mr. Burton came down once more and I heard him go into the sitting-room. There was a pause after this; then he called my name. I went out at once. He was standing