Page 56 of The Fortunes of Ashmore Castle

The coroner looked impatient. ‘I am not questioning your expertise, sir. I am merely trying to establish whether there was some other or additional cause of death, or whether the blow itself was sufficient.’

‘The blow was the cause of death. In my opinion.’

‘And how was such a blow acquired?’

‘That is beyond my knowledge, sir. I was at the scene only some time after death.’

More impatience. ‘Was the damage to the cranium consistent with deceased hitting his head on the lamppost by which he was lying?’

‘Yes, sir. In my opinion.’

The coroner glanced at his watch, and instead of returning it to his pocket he placed it on the desk beside his glass of water. Sebastian thought this a good sign: he wanted to get the business done and perhaps would not ask too many questions.

The next witness, a large, red-faced man who gave his name as Bryson and his occupation as carter, said that he had just come out of the Three Tuns on the corner of Hog Lane and saw ‘that posh gent over there’ talking to Shoddy Jack outside his shop.

‘By Shoddy Jack, you mean deceased? How do you know him?’’ the coroner asked.

‘Bless you, sir, everybody at the Tuns knows him,’ Bryson said. ‘In there every day. I seen him a-dun-a-many times.’

The coroner looked as if he didn’t much like being blessed by the likes of Bryson. ‘What were you doing in a public house at that time of the morning?’

‘Delivering beer, sir,’ the carter replied smartly, with a look that said, You don’t catch me that way.

The coroner sniffed. ‘Continue,’ he said. ‘You saw them talking. What then?’

‘I see Jack grab the gent by his coat, and the gent shoves him away. Then Jack gets out a knife. He goes for the gent, the gent shoves him back again, then he clouts him with his stick – the gent does – and Jack falls backwards and cracks his head on the lamppost. That musta done for him, for he doesn’t get up again.’

‘Very well. You may sit down.’

Then it was Sebastian’s turn. There was a murmur of interest as he stood up. In steady tones he said he had paused outside the shop to look at the clothes in the window, and deceased had come to the door and demanded to know what he wanted. Then he had grabbed hold of him in a threatening manner. He had managed to disengage himself, and deceased had come at him with a knife, wounding him.

‘You sustained a wound?’ the coroner asked.

‘Yes, sir. A long cut across my ribs and midriff. It required six stitches.’

‘Very well. Continue.’

‘He came at me again, and I struck at him with my cane. He staggered, took a step backwards, caught his heel on the kerb and fell, striking his head against the lamppost.’

‘When you struck him, you believed he was intending to do you more harm?’

‘I am certain of it.’

‘So you struck him to defend yourself?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Did you strike him upon the head?’

‘No, sir. The blow fell on his shoulder.’

‘Very well. What was your relationship with deceased?’

‘None, sir,’ Sebastian said carefully and truthfully. ‘I had never seen him before in my life.’

‘If that is the case, why do you suppose he attacked you?’

This was trickier. ‘I cannot explain it, sir, except to say that he was evidently drunk.’