Ten o'clock
As he paced slowly up and down the avenues , his thoughts were not of the present , but of the past and future . At the earliest opportunity that day he had returned to the city , ostensibly , to attend to some telegraphic despatches , but his main errand had been to consult with an eminent lawyer whom he knew by reputation , and in whom both Hugh Mainwaring and Mr. Whitney , in numerous legal contests , had found a powerful and bitter opponent . To him Scott had intrusted his own case , giving him the fullest details , and leaving in his possession for safe keeping the proofs which were soon to play so important a part ; and Mr. Sutherland , the attorney retained by Scott , had been present at the inquest , apparently as a disinterested spectator , but , in reality , one of the most intensely interested of them all . Ten o'clock found an eager crowd assembled in and about the large library at Fair Oaks , drawn by reports of the sensational features developed on the preceding day . The members of the household occupied nearly the same positions as on the preceding afternoon , with the exception of the secretary , who had entered the room a little in advance of the others and had seated himself near the coroner . Notwithstanding the glances of doubt and distrust which Scott encountered , and his own consciousness that suspicion against himself would deepen as all the facts in the case became known , he was as impassive as ever . Even Mr. Whitney was wholly at a loss to account for the change in the bearing of the secretary .