Even with no previous reason to imagine that Carleton did not love Madeleine, the tragic message proved it beyond all possible doubt⁠—and yet it was but natural for the man to deny it.

Doctor Hills spoke next.

“I think, Coroner Benson,” he said, as he rose to his feet, “we are missing the point. If Miss Van Norman took her life in fulfilment of her own decision, the reasons that brought about that decision are not a matter for our consideration. It is for us to decide whether she did or did not bring about her own death, and as a mode of procedure may I suggest this? Doctor Leonard and myself hold, that, in view of the absence of any stain on Miss Van Norman’s hands, she could not have handled the stained dagger that killed her. A refutation of this opinion would be to explain how she could have done the deed and left no trace on her fingers. Unless this can be shown, I think we can not call it a suicide.”