He knew very little about what went
on in such places. He was aware that the office of Coroner is of exceeding
antiquity; that when any person meets his or her death under suspicious
circumstances an enquiry into those circumstances is held by a Coroner,
who has a jury of twelve men to assist him in his duties: but what Coroner
and jury did, what the procedure of these courts was, he did not know. It
surprised him, accordingly, to find himself in a hall which had all the
outward appearance of a court of justice--a raised seat, on a sort of
dais, for the Coroner; a box for the jury; a table for officials and legal
gentlemen; a stand for witnesses, and accommodation for the general
public. Clearly, it was evident that when any one died as poor old Daniel
Multenius had died, the law took good care that everybody should know
everything about it, and that whatever mystery there was should be
thoroughly investigated.
The general public, however, had not as yet come to be greatly interested
in the death of Daniel Multenius. Up to that moment the affair was known
to few people beyond the police, the relations of the dead man, and his
immediate neighbours in Praed Street.
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