“You deny absolutely having purchased strychnine from Albert Mace on Monday last?”

“I do.”

“Do you also deny this ?”

The Coroner handed him the register in which his signature was inscribed.

“Certainly I do. The handwriting is quite different from mine. I will show you.”

He took an old envelope out of his pocket, and wrote his name on it, handing it to the jury. It was certainly utterly dissimilar.

“Then what is your explanation of Mr. Mace’s statement?”

Alfred Inglethorp replied imperturbably: