There was something mysterious about the
affair, something suggesting that Inspector Badger was in possession of
private information of some kind. But what information could he have?
And whence could he have obtained it? These were questions to which I
could find no answer, and I was still fruitlessly revolving them when I
arrived at the modest inn where the inquest was to be held, and where I
proposed to fortify myself with a correspondingly modest lunch as a
preparation for my attendance at that inquiry.
CHAPTER XIII
THE CROWNER'S QUEST
The proceedings of that fine old institution, the coroner's court, are
apt to have their dignity impaired by the somewhat unjudicial
surroundings amidst which they are conducted. The present inquiry was to
be held in a long room attached to the inn, ordinarily devoted, as its
various appurtenances testified, to gatherings of a more convivial
character.
Hither I betook myself after a protracted lunch and a meditative pipe,
and, being the first to arrive--the jury having already been sworn and
conducted to the mortuary to view the remains--whiled away the time by
considering the habits of the customary occupants of the room by the
light of the objects contained in it.
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