that any of the stable hands had witnessed such a quarrel. I wondered where the coroner had obtained this information.
I waited, suddenly uncomfortable. If Sebastian had lied to me, I could not help him.
'He makes a mistake,' Sebastian said weakly.
The coroner looked displeased. 'Mr. Middleton left the stables at about ten o'clock,' the coroner went on. 'Said he was heading for the public house in Sudbury. At a little past ten, you yourself left the stables, according to the other lads. Where did you go?'
Sebastian wet his lips. His black hair glistened in the chunk of sunlight that slanted through a tall window. 'I went for a walk. Along the canal.'
'Along the canal. In which direction?'
'South. Toward Great Bedwyn.'
'And you returned, according to your statement, at two o'clock?'
'Yes.'
'A long walk, Mr… er… D'Arby, wouldn't you say?'
'I visited my family.'
'Yes, so you said. Interesting that the constable has not been able to find a trace of your family, on the canal or off it.'
Sebastian's eyes flickered. 'They move all the time. They could be in Bath by now.'
'Be assured, we are still looking. Now, did anyone see you on this walk? Did you speak to anyone who would remember you walking about between the hours of ten and two?'
Sebastian glanced once at me. I kept my expression neutral. 'I saw no one.'
The coroner looked pleased. 'And so you walked back to the stables and went to bed.'
'Yes. And rose in the morning as usual.'
'Whereupon you learned of the death-yes, you told the constable.' He shuffled papers again. 'When you walked along the canal, did you go anywhere near Lower Sudbury Lock?'
Sebastian looked startled. 'Of course. I had to walk past it to reach the stables.'
'And you saw nothing amiss?'
'No.'
'Very well, Mr. D'Arby, you may sit down.'
The room rustled as listeners stirred and whispered to their neighbors. The coroner took his time about calling the next witness, giving everyone, including the jury, plenty of time to speculate.
The next witness proved to be the stable hands called Thomas Adams, who claimed he'd heard an argument between Sebastian and Middleton. 'Tell us, in your own time, Mr. Adams, what you heard when the gypsy and Mr. Middleton argued,' the coroner said smoothly.
The stable hand was about fifty years old with iron-gray hair. He looked uncomfortable standing up in front of the coroner and magistrate as well as the rest of the men crowded into the hall. 'I was just going up the stairs to me bed, in the loft,' he said, carefully pronouncing each word. 'I heard Middleton down in the stable yard, shouting. He said, 'I don't care what you do, I'm quit of you.' Then the other fellow said, 'Where are you going?' Middleton, he says, 'Down pub. Where I can drink with real men.'' Thomas cleared his throat, looked nervously at the magistrate. 'Then the Romany man, he says, 'No, you're going to hell.''
The coroner perked up. 'And what did Mr. Middleton say to that?'
Thomas looked apologetic. 'Mr. Middleton said, in so many words, that Sebastian should fornicate himself. A might more vulgar than that, you understand, sir.'
The coroner nodded. 'And then?'
'Middleton stormed across the yard and out of the gate to the lane. A few minutes later, I see Sebastian also let himself out the gate. I figured they would shout at each other all the way to Sudbury, and I went to bed.'
The coroner nodded and dismissed him. As the man shuffled back to his bench, Sebastian sprang to his feet. 'He is lying. I never said these things to Mr. Middleton. I never shouted at him.'
'Mr. D'Arby, you have had time to tell your story. Sit down.'
Sebastian remained standing, quivering. Several of the jury looked alarmed. I caught his eye, made a sit down, for God's sake motion with my hand. Sebastian saw me, lowered himself reluctantly to the bench once again.
The coroner turned to the jury. 'Now, gentleman,' he began.
He was finished. No more witnesses. The coroner, I could see, had made up his mind. I rose to my feet. 'May I speak?'
The coroner looked at me, surprised and slightly irritated. 'Yes, Mr… ' he peered at me shortsightedly, then realized he did not know me.
'Captain,' I said. 'Captain Lacey.'
'Yes, Captain Lacey?'
'I would like to point out that I knew this man, Middleton, in London. He used to work for a gentleman called James Denis.'
I do not know what I expected. Gasps, perhaps. The magistrate and the coroner simply looked at me.
Rutledge, on the other hand, reacted. He flushed until his face grew mottled, his brows thunderous.
'And how long ago was this?' the magistrate asked.
'Before he came here. Last summer, at the least.'
'Last summer? Eight months ago? I beg your pardon, Captain, but I hardly understand how can it be connected with what happened here.'
'This Mr. Denis is a dangerous man,' I said. 'I am suggesting that a connection in London, possibly one through Denis, caused Middleton's death. Perhaps some person followed him down here from London and killed him.'
The coroner considered this. He took his time. 'And why do you suppose that this person, whoever he is, waited eight months?'
'I have no idea,' I said. 'It is merely a suggestion.'
'A suggestion.' The coroner wrote something on the ivory colored paper before him. 'And I have noted it. Thank you, Captain.'
He turned his back and prepared to address the jury. I remained standing a few seconds longer, then realized there was no point. I sat down as the coroner began his summing up and instructing the gentlemen on their duty.
I waited in the chill room with everyone else while the jury conferred in low voices in a corner. I felt Rutledge's glare on me, but I did not acknowledge him. I simply coughed into my handkerchief, the dampness getting the better of me.
The jury at last returned, and their verdict was no surprise. They found that Oliver Middleton, head groom to the stables of the Sudbury School, had been deliberately murdered, and they named Sebastian D'Arby, a Romany, as the one who should be examined by the magistrate for the crime.
The constable came for him. Sebastian, on his feet, clenched his fists and shouted, 'I did not kill him. I did not!'
The constable and another large man subdued him and led him away. The magistrate would try him, and very probably hold him until the assizes, where he would face a criminal trial. The inquest was at an end.
Chapter Six
I found myself plagued on all sides the rest of that day and into the next. I rode back to the school, annoyed at what I'd learned at the inquest, that Sebastian had quarreled with Middleton. I wondered why Sebastian had omitted this crucial fact when he'd told me his story, and I wondered why I had not heard the stable hands speaking of it. I supposed the stable hand could have invented the quarrel-Sebastian had seemed surprised and adamant that it had not happened. But why should the man, Thomas Adams, invent the altercation? I had no answer. I also had no satisfactory answer as to why Sebastian had not told me of it.
