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Deerham
assumed that Rachel, from some reasons which they could not fathom, had
taken the lonely road home that night, had met with somebody or other
with whom had ensued a quarrel and scuffle, and that, accidentally or by
intent, she had been pushed into the pond, the coward decamping.
"Villainy enough! even if 'twas but an accident!" cried wrathful
Deerham.
Villainy enough, beyond all doubt, had this been the extent. But,
Deerham had to learn that the villainy had had a beginning previous to
that.
The inquest had been summoned in due course. It sat two days after the
accident. No evidence, tending to further elucidate the matter, was
given, than had been elicited that first night before Mr. Verner; except
the medical evidence. Dr. West and a surgeon from a neighbouring town,
who had jointly made the post-mortem examination, testified that there
was a cause for Rachel Frost's unevenness of spirits, spoken to by her
father and by Mrs. Verner. She might possibly, they now thought, have
thrown herself into the pool; induced to it by self-condemnation.


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