That gentleman gave a gasp as he laid eyes
upon it.
"Identical with this one, which belongs to the prisoner!" he said--almost
excitedly.
"Exactly. The same colonial French make, you see. This particular one
belongs, by the way, to Miss Brellier."
"_Miss Brellier!_"
Something like a thrill ran through the crowded courtroom. In the silence
that followed you could have heard a pin drop.
"That is correct. She will tell you that she always kept it in an unused
drawer in her secretaire locked away with some papers. She had not looked
at it for months, until the other day when she happened to examine one of
those papers, and therefore went to the drawer and unlocked it. The
revolver lying there drew her attention. Knowing that it was the same as
the one owned by her fiance, Sir Nigel Merriton, and figuring so largely
in this case, she took it out and idly examined it. One of the bullets
was missing! This rather aroused her curiosity, and when I questioned her
afterward about it, when the inquest was over, and she had brought it
forward and shown it to the coroner, who--quite naturally--after the
explanation given by Mr.
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