— — —The witnesses were taken into the yard, which was high- walled, bleak and grey, cut out, a square of open, paved space in the midst of a huddle of houses with roofs sloping at different angles and chimney-pots of different heights, with odd-shaped cowls and hoods spinning in the wind and above all, a sky the colour of vinegar and ashes, from which a few flakes of snow were falling. In their unsuitable finery the women hunched their shoulders sullenly.
Mr. Matchwell bade them all observe a procession that would soon come through the door opposite. He had scarcely spoken before this was opened and ten men, walking close together, entered the yard, of whom only one — Sergeant Harris, who was assisting Superintendent Matchwell in the investigation of the case — was known to the witnesses
