"Then the assassin must have gone out by the door," he said
weakly.

"Then I don't know how he got out," cried Eliza Flight, "for I
was up at six and the front and back doors of the hotel were
locked. And after six I was about in passages and rooms doing my
work, and master and missus and others were all over the place.
How could the murderer walk out, sir, without some of us seeing
him?"

"Perhaps you did, and took no notice?"

"Oh, sir, if a stranger was around we should all have taken
notice."

This concluded the evidence, which was meagre enough. Widow Anne
was indeed recalled to see if Miss Flight could identify her as
the woman who, had been talking to Bolton, but witness failed to
recognize her, and the widow herself proved, by means of three
friends, that she had been imbibing gin at home on the night and
at the hour in question. Also, there was no evidence to connect
this unknown woman with the murder, and no sound--according to
the unanimous testimony of the inmates of the Sailor's Rest--had
been heard in the bedroom of Bolton. Yet, as the Coroner
observed, there must have been some knocking and hammering and
ripping going on. But of this nothing could be proved, and
although several witnesses were examined again, not one could
throw light on the mystery. Under these circumstances the jury
could only bring in a verdict of wilful murder against some