"Had you any private information that led you to search this particular neighbourhood?" the cobbler asked.
"We had no private information whatever," replied Badger.
"Now I put it to you," pursued the juryman, shaking a forensic, and very dirty, forefinger at the inspector; "here are certain remains found at Sidcup; here are certain other remains found at St. Mary Cray, and certain others at Lee. All those places are in Kent. Now isn't it very remarkable that you should come straight down to Epping Forest, which is in Essex, and search for those bones and find 'em?"
"We were making a systematic search of all likely places," replied Badger.
"Exactly," said the cobbler, with a ferocious grin, "that's just my point. I say, isn't it very funny that, after finding remains in Kent some twenty miles from here with the River Thames between, you should come here to look for the bones and go straight to Staple's Pond, where they happen to be--and find 'em?"
"It would have been more funny," Badger replied sourly, "if we'd gone straight to a place where they happened not to be--and found them."
A gratified snigger arose from the other eleven good men and true, and the cobbler grinned savagely; but before he could think of a suitable rejoinder the coroner interposed.
"The question is not very material," he said, "and we mustn't embarrass the police by unnecessary inquiries."
"It's my belief," said the cobbler, "that he knew they were there all the time."
"The witness has stated that he had no private information," said the coroner; and he proceeded to take the rest of the inspector's evidence, watched closely by the critical juror.
The account of the finding of the remains having been given in full, the police-surgeon was called and sworn; the jurymen straightened their backs with an air of expectancy, and I turned over a page of my note-book.
"You have examined the bones at present lying in the mortuary and forming the subject of this inquiry?" the coroner asked.
"I have."
"Will you kindly tell us what you have observed?"
"I find that the bones are human bones, and are, in my opinion, all parts of the same person. They form a skeleton which is complete with the exception of the skull, the third finger of the left hand, the knee-caps, and the leg-bones--I mean the bones between the knees and the ankles."
"Is there anything to account for the absence of the missing finger?"
"No. There is no deformity and no sign of its having been amputated during life. In my opinion it was removed after death."
"Can you give us any description of the deceased?"