ten minutes after five
The jury had been viewing the body , and the proceedings were to take place in the large low dining-room , where the southern windows poured in a flood of light on the faces of the persons crowded together , and the reflections from the rippling water danced on the ceiling . Dr. May had a chair given him near the coroner , and keenly watched the two nephews -- one seated next to him , the other at some distance , nearly opposite . Both young men looked haggard , shocked , and oppressed : the eye of Axworthy was unceasingly fixed on an inkstand upon the table , and never lifted , his expression never varied ; and Leonard 's glance flashed inquiringly from one speaker to another , and his countenance altered with every phase of the evidence . The first witness was Anne Ellis , the young maid-servant , who told of her coming down at ten minutes after five that morning , the 6th of July , and on going in to clean the rooms , finding her master sunk forward on the table . Supposing him to have had a fit , she had run to the window and screamed for help , when Master Hardy , the foreman , and Mrs. Giles , the housekeeper , had come in . James Hardy deposed to having heard the girl 's cry while he was unlocking the mill door . Coming in by the low sash-window , which stood open , he had gone up to his master , and had seen the wound on the head , and found the body quite cold , Mrs. Giles coming in , they had carried it to the bed in the next room ; and he had gone to call the young gentlemen , but neither was in his room .