To all this the board listened with profound attention, while the chairman presided and the secretary took notes.  I then produced the cigar-case.  It was passed from hand to hand, and recognized by all.  There was not a man present who did not remember that plain cigar-case with its silver monogram, or to whom it seemed anything less than entirely corroborative of my evidence.  When at length I had told all that I had to tell, the chairman whispered something to the secretary; the secretary touched a silver hand-bell; and the guard, Benjamin Somers, was ushered into the room.  He was then examined as carefully as myself.  He declared that he knew Mr. John Dwerrihouse perfectly well; that he could not be mistaken in him; that he remembered going down with the 4.15 express on the afternoon in question; that he remembered me; and that, there being one or two empty first-class compartments on that especial afternoon, he had, in compliance with my request, placed me in a carriage by myself.  He was positive that I remained alone in that compartment all the way from London to Clayborough.  He was ready to take his oath that Mr. Dwerrihouse was neither in that carriage with me, nor in any compartment of that train.  He remembered distinctly to have examined my ticket at Blackwater; was certain that there was no one else at that time in the carriage; could not have failed to observe a second person, if there had been one; had that second person been Mr. John Dwerrihouse, should have quietly double-locked the door of the carriage, and have at once given information to the Blackwater station-master.  So clear, so decisive, so ready, was Somers with this testimony, that the board looked fairly puzzled.

“You hear this person’s statement, Mr. Langford,” said the chairman.  “It contradicts yours in every particular.  What have you to say in reply?”

“I can only repeat what I said before.  I am quite as positive of the truth of my own assertions as Mr. Somers can be of the truth of his.”

“You say that Mr. Dwerrihouse alighted at Blackwater, and that he was in possession of a private key.  Are you sure that he had not alighted by means of that key before the guard came round for the tickets?”

“I am quite positive that he did not leave the carriage till the train had fairly entered the station, and the other Blackwater passengers alighted.  I even saw that he was met there by a friend.”

“Indeed!  Did you see that person distinctly?”

“Quite distinctly.”

“Can you describe his appearance?”

“I think so.  He was short and very slight, sandy-haired, with a bushy mustache and beard, and he wore a closely fitting suit of gray tweed.  His age I should take to be about thirty-eight or forty.”

“Did Mr. Dwerrihouse leave the station in this person’s company?”

“I cannot tell.  I saw them walking together down the platform, and then I saw them standing aside under a gas-jet, talking earnestly.  After that I lost sight of them quite suddenly; and just then my train went on, and I with it.”