was. For he seemed just then to want her more than anything else
in the world and looked beaten and wild when I told him that she
was already gone to Waverley Avenue. But he recovered himself
before the man could draw near enough to see his face, and rushed
into the sitting-room above and shut the door behind him, leaving
the officer and me standing down by the front door. As I didn't
know what to say to a man like him, and he didn't know what to
say to me, the time seemed long, but it couldn't have been very
many minutes before Mr. Jeffrey came back with a slip of paper
in his hand and a very much relieved look on his face. 'The deed
was premeditated,' he cried. 'My unfortunate wife has misunderstood
my affection for her.' And from being a very much broken-down man,
he stood up straight and tall and prepared himself very quietly to
go to the Moore house. That is all I can tell about the way the
news was received by him."

Were these details necessary? Many appeared to regard them as
futile and uncalled for. But Coroner Z. was never known to waste
time on trivialities, and if he called for these facts, those who
knew him best felt certain that they were meant as a preparation for
Mr. Jeffrey's testimony, which was now called for.




XII

THRUST AND PARRY