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SEVENTH EDITION

Database System Concepts

Abraham Silberschatz
Henry F. Korth
S. Sudarshan
DATABASE
SYSTEM CONCEPTS
S ES V
IXET
NHT HE D
E IDTI ITOI N
ON

Abraham Silberschatz
Yale University

Henry F. Korth
Lehigh University

S. Sudarshan
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

TM
DATABASE SYSTEM CONCEPTS, SEVENTH EDITION
Published by McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. Copyright © 2020 by
McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Previous
editions © 2011, 2006, and 2002. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in
any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written
consent of McGraw-Hill Education, including, but not limited to, in any network or other
electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.
Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers
outside the United States.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
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ISBN 978-0-07-802215-9 (bound edition)
MHID 0-07-802215-0 (bound edition)
ISBN 978-1-260-51504-6 (loose-leaf edition)
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of the copyright page.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Silberschatz, Abraham, author. | Korth, Henry F., author. | Sudarshan, S., author.
Title: Database system concepts/Abraham Silberschatz, Yale University, Henry F. Korth,
Lehigh University, S. Sudarshan, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
Description: Seventh edition. | New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, [2020] | Includes bibliographical
references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018060474 | ISBN 9780078022159 (alk. paper) | ISBN 0078022150 (alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Database management.
Classification: LCC QA76.9.D3 S5637 2020 | DDC 005.74—dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2018060474

The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The inclusion of
a website does not indicate an endorsement by the authors or McGraw-Hill Education, and
McGraw-Hill Education does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented at these sites.

mheducation.com/highered
To meine schatzi, Valerie
her parents and my dear friends, Steve and Mary Anne
and in memory of my parents, Joseph and Vera

Avi Silberschatz

To my wife, Joan
my children, Abigail and Joseph
my mother, Frances
and in memory of my father, Henry

Hank Korth

To my wife, Sita
my children, Madhur and Advaith
and my mother, Indira

S. Sudarshan
About the Authors
Abraham (Avi) Silberschatz is the Sidney J. Weinberg Professor of Computer Science
at Yale University. Prior to coming to Yale in 2003, he was the vice president of the
Information Sciences Research Center at Bell Labs. He previously held an endowed
professorship at the University of Texas at Austin, where he taught until 1993. Silber-
schatz is a fellow of the ACM, a fellow of the IEEE, and a member of the Connecticut
Academy of Science and Engineering. He received the 2002 IEEE Taylor L. Booth Ed-
ucation Award, the 1998 ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award, and
the 1997 ACM SIGMOD Contribution Award. Silberschatz was awarded the Bell Lab-
oratories President’s Award three times, in 1998, 1999 and 2004. His writings have
appeared in numerous journals, conferences, workshops, and book chapters. He has
obtained over 48 patents and over 24 grants. He is an author of the textbook Operating
System Concepts.

Henry F. (Hank) Korth is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and co-
director of the Computer Science and Business program at Lehigh University. Prior to
joining Lehigh, he was director of Database Principles Research at Bell Labs, a vice
president of Panasonic Technologies, an associate professor at the University of Texas
at Austin, and a research staff member at IBM Research. Korth is a fellow of the ACM
and of the IEEE and a winner of the 10-Year Award at the VLDB Conference. His numer-
ous research publications span a wide range of aspects of database systems, including
transaction management in parallel and distributed systems, real-time systems, query
processing, and the influence on these areas from modern computing architectures.
Most recently, his research has addressed issues in the application of blockchains in
enterprise databases.

S. Sudarshan is currently the Subrao M. Nilekani Chair Professor at the Indian Insti-
tute of Technology, Bombay. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in
1992, and he was a member of the technical staff at Bell Labs before joining IIT Bom-
bay. Sudarshan is a fellow of the ACM. His research spans several areas of database
systems, with a focus on query processing and query optimization. His paper on key-
word search in databases published in 2002 won the IEEE ICDE Most Influential Paper
Award in 2012, and his work on main-memory databases received the Bell Laborato-
ries President’s Award in 1999. His current research areas include testing and grading
of SQL queries, optimization of database applications by rewriting of imperative code,
and query optimization for parallel databases. He has published over 100 papers and
obtained 15 patents.
Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Database-System Applications 1 1.7 Database and Application Architecture 21
1.2 Purpose of Database Systems 5 1.8 Database Users and Administrators 24
1.3 View of Data 8 1.9 History of Database Systems 25
1.4 Database Languages 13 1.10 Summary 29
1.5 Database Design 17 Exercises 31
1.6 Database Engine 18 Further Reading 33

PART ONE RELATIONAL LANGUAGES

Chapter 2 Introduction to the Relational Model

2.1 Structure of Relational Databases 37 2.6 The Relational Algebra 48
2.2 Database Schema 41 2.7 Summary 58
2.3 Keys 43 Exercises 60
2.4 Schema Diagrams 46 Further Reading 63
2.5 Relational Query Languages 47

Chapter 3 Introduction to SQL

3.1 Overview of the SQL Query Language 65 3.7 Aggregate Functions 91
3.2 SQL Data Definition 66 3.8 Nested Subqueries 98
3.3 Basic Structure of SQL Queries 71 3.9 Modification of the Database 108
3.4 Additional Basic Operations 79 3.10 Summary 114
3.5 Set Operations 85 Exercises 115
3.6 Null Values 89 Further Reading 124

vii
viii Contents

Chapter 4 Intermediate SQL

4.1 Join Expressions 125 4.6 Index Definition in SQL 164
4.2 Views 137 4.7 Authorization 165
4.3 Transactions 143 4.8 Summary 173
4.4 Integrity Constraints 145 Exercises 176
4.5 SQL Data Types and Schemas 153 Further Reading 180

Chapter 5 Advanced SQL

5.1 Accessing SQL from a Programming 5.5 Advanced Aggregation Features 219
Language 183 5.6 Summary 231
5.2 Functions and Procedures 198 Exercises 232
5.3 Triggers 206 Further Reading 238
5.4 Recursive Queries 213

PART TWO DATABASE DESIGN

Chapter 6 Database Design Using the E-R Model

6.1 Overview of the Design Process 241 6.8 Extended E-R Features 271
6.2 The Entity-Relationship Model 244 6.9 Entity-Relationship Design Issues 279
6.3 Complex Attributes 249 6.10 Alternative Notations for Modeling
6.4 Mapping Cardinalities 252 Data 285
6.5 Primary Key 256 6.11 Other Aspects of Database Design 291
6.6 Removing Redundant Attributes in Entity 6.12 Summary 292
Sets 261 Exercises 294
6.7 Reducing E-R Diagrams to Relational Further Reading 300
Schemas 264

Chapter 7 Relational Database Design

7.1 Features of Good Relational Designs 303 7.7 More Normal Forms 341
7.2 Decomposition Using Functional 7.8 Atomic Domains and First Normal
Dependencies 308 Form 342
7.3 Normal Forms 313 7.9 Database-Design Process 343
7.4 Functional-Dependency Theory 320 7.10 Modeling Temporal Data 347
7.5 Algorithms for Decomposition Using 7.11 Summary 351
Functional Dependencies 330 Exercises 353
7.6 Decomposition Using Multivalued Further Reading 360
Dependencies 336
 Contents ix

PART THREE APPLICATION DESIGN AND

DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 8 Complex Data Types

8.1 Semi-structured Data 365 8.5 Summary 394
8.2 Object Orientation 376 Exercises 397
8.3 Textual Data 382 Further Reading 401
8.4 Spatial Data 387

Chapter 9 Application Development

9.1 Application Programs and User 9.7 Application Performance 434
Interfaces 403 9.8 Application Security 437
9.2 Web Fundamentals 405 9.9 Encryption and Its Applications 447
9.3 Servlets 411 9.10 Summary 453
9.4 Alternative Server-Side Frameworks 416 Exercises 455
9.5 Client-Side Code and Web Services 421 Further Reading 462
9.6 Application Architectures 429

PART FOUR BIG DATA ANALYTICS

Chapter 10 Big Data

10.1 Motivation 467 10.5 Streaming Data 500
10.2 Big Data Storage Systems 472 10.6 Graph Databases 508
10.3 The MapReduce Paradigm 483 10.7 Summary 511
10.4 Beyond MapReduce: Algebraic Exercises 513
Operations 494 Further Reading 516

Chapter 11 Data Analytics

11.1 Overview of Analytics 519 11.5 Summary 550
11.2 Data Warehousing 521 Exercises 552
11.3 Online Analytical Processing 527 Further Reading 555
11.4 Data Mining 540
x Contents

PART FIVE STORAGE MANAGEMENT AND

INDEXING

Chapter 12 Physical Storage Systems

12.1 Overview of Physical Storage Media 559 12.6 Disk-Block Access 577
12.2 Storage Interfaces 562 12.7 Summary 580
12.3 Magnetic Disks 563 Exercises 582
12.4 Flash Memory 567 Further Reading 584
12.5 RAID 570

Chapter 13 Data Storage Structures

13.1 Database Storage Architecture 587 13.7 Storage Organization in Main-Memory
13.2 File Organization 588 Databases 615
13.3 Organization of Records in Files 595 13.8 Summary 617
13.4 Data-Dictionary Storage 602 Exercises 619
13.5 Database Buffer 604 Further Reading 621
13.6 Column-Oriented Storage 611

Chapter 14 Indexing
14.1 Basic Concepts 623 14.8 Write-Optimized Index Structures 665
14.2 Ordered Indices 625 14.9 Bitmap Indices 670
14.3 B+ -Tree Index Files 634 14.10 Indexing of Spatial and Temporal Data 672
14.4 B+ -Tree Extensions 650 14.11 Summary 677
14.5 Hash Indices 658 Exercises 679
14.6 Multiple-Key Access 661 Further Reading 683
14.7 Creation of Indices 664

PART SIX QUERY PROCESSING AND

OPTIMIZATION

Chapter 15 Query Processing

15.1 Overview 689 15.7 Evaluation of Expressions 724
15.2 Measures of Query Cost 692 15.8 Query Processing in Memory 731
15.3 Selection Operation 695 15.9 Summary 734
15.4 Sorting 701 Exercises 736
15.5 Join Operation 704 Further Reading 740
15.6 Other Operations 719
 Contents xi

Chapter 16 Query Optimization

16.1 Overview 743 16.5 Materialized Views 778
16.2 Transformation of Relational 16.6 Advanced Topics in Query
Expressions 747 Optimization 783
16.3 Estimating Statistics of Expression 16.7 Summary 787
Results 757 Exercises 789
16.4 Choice of Evaluation Plans 766 Further Reading 794

PART SEVEN TRANSACTION MANAGEMENT

Chapter 17 Transactions
17.1 Transaction Concept 799 17.8 Transaction Isolation Levels 821
17.2 A Simple Transaction Model 801 17.9 Implementation of Isolation Levels 823
17.3 Storage Structure 804 17.10 Transactions as SQL Statements 826
17.4 Transaction Atomicity and Durability 805 17.11 Summary 828
17.5 Transaction Isolation 807 Exercises 831
17.6 Serializability 812 Further Reading 834
17.7 Transaction Isolation and Atomicity 819

Chapter 18 Concurrency Control

18.1 Lock-Based Protocols 835 18.8 Snapshot Isolation 872
18.2 Deadlock Handling 849 18.9 Weak Levels of Consistency in
18.3 Multiple Granularity 853 Practice 880
18.4 Insert Operations, Delete Operations, and 18.10 Advanced Topics in Concurrency
Predicate Reads 857 Control 883
18.5 Timestamp-Based Protocols 861 18.11 Summary 894
18.6 Validation-Based Protocols 866 Exercises 899
18.7 Multiversion Schemes 869 Further Reading 904

Chapter 19 Recovery System

19.1 Failure Classification 907 19.8 Early Lock Release and Logical Undo
19.2 Storage 908 Operations 935
19.3 Recovery and Atomicity 912 19.9 ARIES 941
19.4 Recovery Algorithm 922 19.10 Recovery in Main-Memory Databases 947
19.5 Buffer Management 926 19.11 Summary 948
19.6 Failure with Loss of Non-Volatile Exercises 952
Storage 930 Further Reading 956
19.7 High Availability Using Remote Backup
Systems 931
xii Contents

PART EIGHT PARALLEL AND DISTRIBUTED

DATABASES

Chapter 20 Database-System Architectures

20.1 Overview 961 20.6 Transaction Processing in Parallel and
20.2 Centralized Database Systems 962 Distributed Systems 989
20.3 Server System Architectures 963 20.7 Cloud-Based Services 990
20.4 Parallel Systems 970 20.8 Summary 995
20.5 Distributed Systems 986 Exercises 998
Further Reading 1001

Chapter 21 Parallel and Distributed Storage

21.1 Overview 1003 21.6 Distributed File Systems 1019
21.2 Data Partitioning 1004 21.7 Parallel Key-Value Stores 1023
21.3 Dealing with Skew in Partitioning 1007 21.8 Summary 1032
21.4 Replication 1013 Exercises 1033
21.5 Parallel Indexing 1017 Further Reading 1036

Chapter 22 Parallel and Distributed Query Processing

22.1 Overview 1039 22.7 Query Optimization for Parallel
22.2 Parallel Sort 1041 Execution 1064
22.3 Parallel Join 1043 22.8 Parallel Processing of Streaming Data 1070
22.4 Other Operations 1048 22.9 Distributed Query Processing 1076
22.5 Parallel Evaluation of Query Plans 1052 22.10 Summary 1086
22.6 Query Processing on Shared-Memory Exercises 1089
Architectures 1061 Further Reading 1093

Chapter 23 Parallel and Distributed Transaction Processing

23.1 Distributed Transactions 1098 23.6 Replication with Weak Degrees of
23.2 Commit Protocols 1100 Consistency 1133
23.3 Concurrency Control in Distributed 23.7 Coordinator Selection 1146
Databases 1111 23.8 Consensus in Distributed Systems 1150
23.4 Replication 1121 23.9 Summary 1162
23.5 Extended Concurrency Control Exercises 1165
Protocols 1129 Further Reading 1168
 Contents xiii

PART NINE ADVANCED TOPICS

Chapter 24 Advanced Indexing Techniques
24.1 Bloom Filter 1175 24.5 Hash Indices 1190
24.2 Log-Structured Merge Tree and 24.6 Summary 1203
Variants 1176 Exercises 1205
24.3 Bitmap Indices 1182 Further Reading 1206
24.4 Indexing of Spatial Data 1186

Chapter 25 Advanced Application Development

25.1 Performance Tuning 1210 25.5 Distributed Directory Systems 1240
25.2 Performance Benchmarks 1230 25.6 Summary 1243
25.3 Other Issues in Application Exercises 1245
Development 1234 Further Reading 1248
25.4 Standardization 1237

Chapter 26 Blockchain Databases

26.1 Overview 1252 26.6 Smart Contracts 1269
26.2 Blockchain Properties 1254 26.7 Performance Enhancement 1274
26.3 Achieving Blockchain Properties via 26.8 Emerging Applications 1276
Cryptographic Hash Functions 1259 26.9 Summary 1279
26.4 Consensus 1263 Exercises 1280
26.5 Data Management in a Blockchain 1267 Further Reading 1282

PART TEN APPENDIX A

Appendix A Detailed University Schema 1287
Index 1299

PART ELEVEN ONLINE CHAPTERS

Chapter 27 Formal Relational Query Languages
Chapter 28 Advanced Relational Database Design
Chapter 29 Object-Based Databases
Chapter 30 XML
Chapter 31 Information Retrieval
Chapter 32 PostgreSQL
Other documents randomly have
different content
CHAPTER VI
 THE CORONER SITS
Two days later, Mr. Fransemmery summoned to discharge the
functions of a juror at that ancient institution, a Coroner’s inquest,
found himself acting as foreman of twelve good men and true in the
old dining-hall of Markenmore Court. That venerable apartment had
been specially prepared and fitted up for the occasion; it was the
first time, observed Braxfield mournfully, that it had ever been used
since the grand state dinner which Sir Anthony had given to his
friends and neighbours when Guy came of age. It was a room of
vast size: baronial in appearance, and in its time there had been
many gay and striking scenes in it. But never, since its first building
by a dead and gone Markenmore, had it been so filled with folk of
various degree as on this bright spring morning. There were jurymen
and police and witnesses; there was Chilford, representing the
family, and another solicitor representing Harborough; there was a
London barrister in charge of the case as it presented itself to the
authorities; there were officials of many sorts; there were reporters
from the local Press, and two or three representatives sent specially
from London newspapers. But all these were as nothing to the
crowd of spectators—village folk; county family folk; folk from near
and far. Already, decided Mr. Fransemmery, as he adjusted his gold-
rimmed spectacles and looked around him, the Markenmore problem
bade fair to be a cause célèbre.
Mr. Fransemmery at that moment could truly say that he and his
fellow-jurymen brought open, unbiassed, and uninformed minds to
that important enquiry. During the forty-eight (to be exact, fifty-two)
hours which had elapsed since the discovery of Guy Markenmore’s
dead body, nothing further had leaked out to the general public.
Much had been going on. Police had been drafted into the usually
quiet village in considerable numbers; they had been searching
woods, towns, all the immediate surroundings of the crime. Blick,
with two or three lesser satellites, had been pursuing enquiries all
round the neighbourhood; there was scarcely a soul in a side area
round Markenmore that had not been questioned for news.
But all through these investigations those who made them had
preserved an unusually strict silence, and outside the police there
was not a soul in the big dining-hall, now transformed into a court,
who had the faintest notion of what was about to be revealed. Yet
one thing was known. Mrs. Tretheroe had not been content with her
denunciation of John Harborough before the brother and sister and
the men assembled in the morning-room. She had denounced him
again—to the Vicar; to the village folk; to other people; it was
already well and widely known that she firmly believed that
Harborough had killed Guy Markenmore. Naturally, therefore, she
was the object of great interest as she sat near the big tables
arranged in the centre of the room, attired, somewhat theatrically, in
deep mourning. She was not alone; although her house-party had
dispersed on the day of the tragedy, two of her friends had remained
with her; one, a Mrs. Hamilton, a middle-aged woman of fashion:
the other, a Baron von Eckhardstein, a handsome and well-preserved
man of fifty who was said to be a great European financier. These
two sat on either side of Mrs. Tretheroe; a little distance away
Harborough sat, grave and imperturbable, by the side of Mr.
Walkinshaw, his solicitor.
Mr. Fransemmery and his eleven companions went automatically
through the usual dismal preliminaries: and the gruesome duty of
viewing the dead man’s body. They listened respectfully to the
Coroner’s opening remarks, conscious all the time that this was
routine—the real thing to be considered was the evidence. And
suddenly the Coroner brought his remarks to an abrupt conclusion,
and jury and spectators settled down to the real business—the
hearing of what could be said towards clearing up, one way or
another, the all-important problem: Who killed Guy Markenmore?
The first stages of the enquiry yielded little that was new or exciting.
Harry Markenmore identified the body as that of his elder brother,
Guy, who, he said, was thirty-five years of age. He was not aware if
Guy was married or not. Guy had left Markenmore Court seven years
before, and had never been seen or heard of by his family since,
until the evening before the murder, when he had turned up
unexpectedly. He detailed the doings of the short visit, and said that
his brother had left the house at about half-past ten. He had spoken
of having an appointment in the neighbourhood, and had mentioned
that supper would be awaiting him where he was going. He had no
idea whatever as to where Guy then went. He did not return to
Markenmore Court—no one there ever saw him again until his dead
body was carried in, early next morning.
Hobbs, the ploughman, gave evidence as to finding the dead man,
whom he had at once recognized, and detailed what he had done to
get assistance. He had seen no one about in that part of the downs,
nor noticed anything suspicious near the scene of the crime.
The village policeman spoke as to the investigations made round
about Markenmore Hollow: there was no sign whatever of any
struggle, and there were no footprints—the turf, thereabouts, he
said, was very wiry, close-knit, and full of spring: there had been no
recent rain, and the closest examination had failed to yield anything
in the shape of such prints. No weapon of any sort had been found
near the place, nor in the adjacent undergrowth. This witness, too,
gave evidence as to the examination of the dead man’s clothing,
made when the body was brought down to the Court. There was a
considerable sum of money in notes, gold, and silver. There was a
gold watch, chain, and locket. There were three rings—two of them
set with diamonds. There were several small items—a silver cigar-
case, silver match-box, and so on; and there were two pocket-
books. All these were now in possession of the police. He was sure
that, when he was brought to the Hollow by the last witness, the
body had not been interfered with in any way, and that the clothing,
and the various objects he had just mentioned, had not been
touched. From these facts and from the additional fact that the dead
man had a large sum of money on him, he had at once formed the
impression that the murder had not been committed for the sake of
robbery.
There was more interest in the evidence of the police-surgeon. It
was, he said, about twenty minutes to seven o’clock when he, with
the Chief Constable and Detective-Sergeant Blick, reached
Markenmore Hollow. He saw at once that Guy Markenmore had been
shot dead, and his impression was that he had then been dead
between two or three hours—nearer three than two. His opinion
remained unaltered—he should fix the actual time of death at about
four o’clock. Death had been instantaneous. From a subsequent
post-mortem examination he had ascertained that the bullet—
produced—fired, in his opinion, at close quarters from a revolver,
had entered the head at the right temple, passed through the brain
in a curving downward direction and finally lodged in the muscles a
little below the left ear.
“This,” suggested the Coroner, “could have been a self-inflicted
wound?”
“Certainly,” replied the witness.
“But in that case, the weapon would have been found close at
hand?”
“In that case, I should have expected to find him still grasping the
weapon. The probability in such case is that a man who shoots
himself grips his revolver very tightly in the act, and his fingers
would tighten their grip as the shot took effect.”
“As there was no revolver near, you came to the conclusion that this
was a case of murder?”
“Yes—murder!”
“Did you come to any conclusion as to how it was done?”
“Yes, I did. An opinion, that is, I think that the murderer and his
victim were walking side by side, probably in close conversation, the
victim on the left. I think the murderer brought his right hand,
armed with a revolver, suddenly round across his own body, and
shot his victim at literally close quarters, the victim being absolutely
unconscious that he was to be attacked. The revolver must have
been placed close to the temple—the skin and the fine hair about it
were burnt.”
The Coroner looked round at the jury.
“The sun rises at about ten minutes to five, just now,” he observed.
“At four o’clock, then, it would be fairly light. This is an important
point, gentlemen. You must keep it in mind, in view of what you
have just heard.”
None of the legal practitioners had any questions to put to the
police-surgeon; he stepped down, and a whispered consultation took
place between the Coroner and one of his officials. Then came the
moment for which the crowded court had waited with suppressed
eagerness.
“Mrs. Veronica Tretheroe!”
Mrs. Tretheroe rose from between her supporting friends, and
walked slowly forward to the witness-box. Evidently well coached as
to what she was to do, she drew off the glove from her right hand
and threw back her thick veil. Taking the Testament in her ungloved
hand she repeated the words of the oath in a low voice, and turned
a very pale, but perfectly self-possessed face on the Coroner, who
bent towards her with an expression of sympathetic consideration.
Amidst a dead silence he began his preliminary questions.
“Mrs. Tretheroe, I believe you knew the late Mr. Guy Markenmore?”
“Yes.”
“You knew him well, one may say?”
“Yes—very well—once!”
“How long had you known him?”
“I knew him from the time my father came to Markenmore, as vicar
of this parish, when I was a girl of seventeen or eighteen, until Guy
left this house, about seven years ago.”
“How old were you then, Mrs. Tretheroe?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Then your acquaintanceship with him at that period lasted about
four or five years?”
“About that.”
“You were then Miss Veronica Leighton?”
“Yes.”
“I think you married the late Colonel Tretheroe just after Mr. Guy
Markenmore left home—seven years ago?”
“Yes.”
“And went with your husband to India?”
“I did.”
“You have only recently returned from India—where Colonel
Tretheroe, I think, died last year?”
“Quite recently.”
The Coroner leaned a little forward from his desk—sure sign,
thought Mr. Fransemmery, that his questions were nearing a most
particular stage.
“Now. Mrs. Tretheroe, during those seven years, did you ever see
Guy Markenmore?
“Never!”
“Did you ever hear from him?”
“Never!—nor of him!”
“For seven years you neither saw him, nor heard of him, nor heard
from him. When did you next see him again?”
“On Monday evening last—two—or three—days ago.”
“You met him—for the first time for seven years?”
“Yes, for the first time for seven years.”
“Just tell me, Mrs. Tretheroe, how the meeting came about?”
Mrs. Tretheroe folded her hands on the ledge of the witness-box and
distributed her glances alternately between the Coroner and the
twelve jurymen. By that time she had regained her colour; her eyes
had begun to sparkle; she looked as if she was beginning to feel
some extraordinary interest in the proceedings.
“In this way,” she said, in quiet, even tones. “During Monday
evening, after dinner, I had occasion to give some orders to my
coachman, Burton. When he was going away, he mentioned that he
had just seen Mr. Guy Markenmore; he had seen him, he said, going
up to the Court. I thought Burton must be mistaken, but he was
positive—and, of course, I knew he had known Guy since boyhood.
So——”
Here Mrs. Tretheroe paused. Her fingers began to tap the ledge
before her; she looked at the Coroner and the jury with a slightly
embarrassed expression.
“What happened, if you please?” asked the Coroner in matter-of-fact
tones.
“Well—I wanted to see Guy!” continued Mrs. Tretheroe suddenly.
“And so—not just then, but after a while—about half-past ten, I
think—I put on a coat over my dinner dress and ran across the park
to the Court—there’s a path, a short cut. I came here—I saw
Braxfield, the butler, and Valencia Markenmore. I told Valencia that
I’d heard Guy had come home. She said he’d gone. Then I thought
that, perhaps, hearing I was at the Dower House, he’d come down
there to see me, so I went away, thinking I might find him waiting
for me.”
“Did you find him?”
“No—but—I met him. He had been to my house. I met him at the
gate.”
“What happened then?”
“He went back to my house with me.”
“I believe you were entertaining a house-party, Mrs. Tretheroe?”
“Yes.”
“A large one?”
“Eight, altogether.”
“Did you introduce Mr. Guy Markenmore to your guests when you
took him in?”
“No, I didn’t. They were playing bridge, some of them—some were
playing billiards. He didn’t see any of them.”
“Where did you and he go, in your house?”
“We went up to my boudoir.”
The Coroner leaned still nearer.
“We have heard—from Sir Harry Markenmore—that his brother
spoke of an appointment, which he hurried away to keep? Now—was
that appointment with you?”
“No—certainly not!”
“Did he mention any appointment to you?”
“Yes—merely to say that he had one—close by.”
“Close by? Did he say with whom, or where?”
“No, he did not. He merely mentioned the fact—casually. I didn’t
question him about it.”
“And—how long did he stay with you at the Dower House?”
Mrs. Tretheroe hesitated—obviously, not from uncertainty.
“The question is a highly important one,” said the Coroner.
“Well, he stayed until a quarter to twelve,” answered Mrs. Tretheroe.
“Then he was with you about an hour?”
“About an hour—yes.”
“Alone—all the time?”
“Yes.”
“Did any of your guests—or any of your servants—see him, coming
or going?”
“No one saw him. He and I entered the house by a side door, of
which I have the key always in my possession. We went straight up
to my boudoir. I let him out of the house in the same way. No—
nobody saw him.”
“You let Guy Markenmore out of your house, yourself, at a quarter to
twelve. Did you notice which way he went when he left?”
“Yes. As a matter of fact, I walked down the drive with him, to the
entrance gate. He went along the main road, towards the village.”
“And, after that, you never saw him again?”
Mrs. Tretheroe shook her head, and for a moment those about her
thought that she was about to burst into tears. But she suddenly
controlled herself, and there was an almost defiant expression in her
eyes as she answered the last question.
“I never saw him again—until I saw him yesterday dead—
murdered!”
The Coroner drew back in his chair: clearly, he had got at what he
particularly wanted to know: the glance that he gave the jurymen
was obviously intended to remind them that they now knew that
from half-past ten to a quarter to twelve o’clock of the night before
his death Guy Markenmore had been with Mrs. Tretheroe, alone in
her boudoir, unknown to any one. From the jury he turned to the
men of law, sitting at the table beneath his raised desk.
The barrister who had been instructed by the police authorities
slowly rose to his feet, and turned himself to the witness.
“I believe it is pretty well known, Mrs. Tretheroe,” he said in bland,
half-apologetic tones, “that before your marriage to your late
husband, you had a good many suitors.”
“Yes!” answered Mrs. Tretheroe readily. “At least—I don’t know what
you mean by well known. But I had—certainly.”
“Mr. Guy Markenmore was one of them?”
“Yes.”
“A particularly favoured one?”
“Well—yes, I think so.”
“There was, in fact, at one time, some prospect of marriage between
you?”
“We were certainly very fond of each other.”
“We will pass from that for the moment—nothing came of it then.
You married Colonel Tretheroe. But, I may take it, you—you still
retained some of the old feeling for Guy Markenmore.”
Mrs. Tretheroe hesitated. When she spoke again, her voice was
lower in tone.
“I—I didn’t know of it until—until I met him again, the other night,”
she said.
“But, you realized it then?”
“I suppose I did. I was very pleased to see him.”
“And he to meet you again, I suppose?”
“Yes—indeed he was.”
“Now, Mrs. Tretheroe, in the interest of justice, we want to get at
the truth. When Guy Markenmore was with you alone, in your
house, on Monday night, did he ask you to marry him?”
“Yes—he did.”
“And you replied—what?”
“I promised him that I would,” answered Mrs. Tretheroe.
CHAPTER VII
 MRS. BRAXFIELD SUPPORTS
Amidst the ripple of murmured interest that ran round the room, the
questioner looked significantly at the twelve jurymen, as much as to
tell them to keep their ears well open; from them he turned once
more to his witness.
“You accepted his offer of marriage, then. Did you arrange when it
was to be?”
“Yes, we did.”
“When?”
“Almost at once. For this reason—he told me that he was obliged to
go over to New York on most important business within the next
week or two. I decided to go with him. So we arranged that he
should get a special license and we would be married straight off.”
“Any particular date?”
“Yes. Next Monday morning—at Southampton.”
“We may take it, then, that you and Guy Markenmore, as old lovers,
on meeting once more, and you being free, fell in love with each
other again, and decided to marry without further delay?”
“Yes—I suppose so.”
“Very well. Now, Mrs. Tretheroe, I want you to let your mind go back
to the days when you were Miss Leighton. You have admitted that
you had a good many suitors. Is it not a fact that out of the many
there were two young gentlemen of this neighbourhood who were
specially favoured by you, and that one was Mr. Guy Markenmore,
and the other Mr. John Harborough, of Greycloister?”
Mrs. Tretheroe showed no hesitation in answering this question.
“They came first—in those days—certainly,” she admitted.
“So much so, that it was commonly said, hereabouts, that you
couldn’t make up your mind between them?”
“I daresay that was said.”
“Now, how was it that, in the end, you didn’t marry either, but did
marry somebody else.”
“There were reasons.”
“What reasons? All this is important to the issue before the jury.
What were the reasons.”
“Well—they became terribly jealous of each other. From being great
friends they became bitter enemies. Or, rather, Harborough
conceived a terrible, wicked enmity towards Guy. Harborough got an
idea that Guy had poisoned my mind against him.”
“Had Guy Markenmore poisoned your mind?”
“No, he had not! But Harborough was always jealous and suspicious,
and he became so—so violent about things that—well, I dismissed
him.”
“And—what then as regards his rival?”
Mrs. Tretheroe began to finger her rings.
“Well,” she answered after a pause. “I—the fact is, I got a bit sick of
the squabble, so I told Guy it wouldn’t do—and I accepted Colonel
Tretheroe.”
“I see. You got rid of both the youthful suitors, and married one who
was older and more sensible. Very good. But now, Mrs. Tretheroe, I
think something had happened before that. You said just now that
Harborough conceived a terrible, wicked enmity towards Guy
Markenmore. Now, is it a fact that Harborough threatened his rival in
your presence?”
“Yes—it is.”
“When? On what occasion?”
“It was one day when he met Guy and myself coming home from
hunting. There was a scene—high words, Harborough lost his
temper. He told Guy that he’d settle him. And I know for a fact that
he afterwards threatened him again—he said he’d kill him.”
“How do you know that for a fact?”
“Because Guy told me of it.”
“Was he afraid of Harborough?”
“I think he was. Harborough had a very black, ugly temper—when
crossed.”
“And he threatened to kill his rival because of—what, exactly?”
“Well, as I said just now, he’d got it into his head that Guy had said
things about him to me, and that his chances with me had been
destroyed by that.”
“Then I take it that Harborough, at that period, had asked you to
marry him?”
Mrs. Tretheroe arched her eyebrows in a glance of surprise.
“Lots of times!” she answered. “He was always asking me to marry
him.”
“And—did you give him any decided answer?”
“I don’t know about decided answer. At one time—perhaps I would:
then I used to think that I wouldn’t. No—I don’t think I ever said I
would or I wouldn’t, definitely.”
“And all this time, I suppose, Guy Markenmore was in the running,
also.”
“Yes.”
“Was he asking you to marry him, too?”
“Oh, yes. They were always teasing me—both of them.”
“And in the end Harborough got the idea that his rival was
undermining him?”
“Yes—he certainly did. He said so.”
“And later—you—shall we say, dismissed both, and accepted Colonel
Tretheroe?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever see either of them again after becoming engaged to
Colonel Tretheroe?”
“I never saw Guy Markenmore. I saw Harborough once. I met him
one afternoon, near here, accidentally.”
“Anything take place?”
“Yes. He went into one of his passions. He reproached me bitterly.
He said I’d led him on for three years and then thrown him aside.
And he finished up by repeating that he knew he’d Guy Markenmore
to thank for it, and that if he ever came across him again, however
long it might be, he’d shoot him like a dog.”
When the sensation caused by this reply had died down, the
questioner gave Mrs. Tretheroe a searching look.
“You swear that he said this—on your oath?”
“On my oath!”
“Harborough said—to you—that it was due to Guy Markenmore that
he, Harborough, had lost his chance with you, and that if he ever
met Guy again, however long it might be, he’d shoot him like a
dog?”
“Yes. That is precisely what he said.”
“I take it, then, that at that time Harborough was passionately in
love with you?”
“Madly, I believe!” murmured Mrs. Tretheroe. “He acted like a
madman. I was afraid of him.”
“When this threat was made had Guy Markenmore gone away from
here?”
“Oh, yes—some little time before.”
“And did Harborough go soon after?”
“He went away a few days before I was married.”
“Now, during the seven years of your marriage—six years, rather, I
think—did you ever meet Harborough?”
“Never!”
“Ever hear from him?”
“No.”
“Or of him?”
“I heard—just once—from a friend of mine in Selcaster that he was
still travelling abroad, and that Greycloister had then been shut up
for some years.”
“Very well. In time your husband died, and you came back to
England and took the Dower House here. And last Monday Mr.
Harborough returned to Greycloister. Now, Mrs. Tretheroe, I want to
ask you a most important question. Did you meet John Harborough
last Monday?”
A dead silence fell on the room. For Mrs. Tretheroe hesitated in her
answer. Every neck was craned forward. At last she spoke.
“Yes!”
“Where?—and at what time?”
“Just outside his own gates, at Greycloister, about five o’clock in the
afternoon.”
“Were you alone?”
“I was. I had gone out for a short walk by myself, with my dogs.”
“The meeting was accidental?”
“Certainly. I had no idea he’d come home.”
“Was there any—shall we call it embarrassment?”
“Well, yes. I was surprised. He seemed taken aback—agitated. Of
course we shook hands and talked a little. Mere talk.”
“Any reference to your former relations?”
“No.”
“Just a mere polite exchange of—nothing in particular?”
“Just that. But he asked if—or, rather, when—he might come and see
me.”
“And what did you reply?”
“I replied—well, that he might come whenever he liked. What else
could I reply?”
“He knew that you were free?—that Colonel Tretheroe was dead?”
“Oh, yes—I mentioned that myself.”
“And then, I suppose, you parted?”
“Yes.”
“Where did you next see him?”
“On the following morning, in the morning-room here, when I came
in to offer my condolences about Sir Anthony, and heard that Guy
was dead.”
“And I believe that you immediately denounced John Harborough as
his murderer?”
“I did.”
The barrister paused in his examination, hesitated a while; and then,
as if satisfied, suddenly dropped back in his seat, and pulling out a
snuff-box, tapped it thoughtfully before helping himself to a
substantial pinch. A murmur of excitement had run round the
spectators when Mrs. Tretheroe gave her last decided answer; it had
scarcely died away before Harborough’s solicitor, Mr. Walkinshaw,
rose at the table. He looked fixedly at the witness.
“I want to ask you a very pointed question,” he said. “And I want a
very definite answer. Do you honestly believe that Mr. John
Harborough killed Guy Markenmore? Think!”
“I have thought!” retorted Mrs. Tretheroe defiantly. “I do!”
“You believe that Mr. Harborough nursed his desire for revenge—if
he ever really had any—for seven years, and took the first
opportunity of gratifying it?”
“I think he shot Guy Markenmore,” said Mrs. Tretheroe, with some
show of sullenness.
“You think that Mr. Harborough returned home still in love with you?
Answer!”
“I think it’s possible. He used to swear that he could never love
anybody else. And he certainly hadn’t married.”
“I will put this to you. Mr. Harborough met you on Monday
afternoon. Let us suppose that all his old passion was revived at the
mere sight of you—let us suppose, still further, that he made up his
mind to once more become a suitor for your hand. Do you think it
very likely that he would begin matters by shooting a man?”
“I’m not going to suppose anything. I believe he did shoot Guy. They
met—accidentally—and Harborough shot him.”
“You are a ready hand at making assertions, Mrs. Tretheroe! You
calmly assert they met. What! at four o’clock in the morning—at
Markenmore Hollow?”
Mrs. Tretheroe looked round. Up to then she had confined her
occasional glances to the Coroner and the jury, but this time she
took a comprehensive view of the crowded room. And as she turned
to face Mr. Walkinshaw again, it was with a smile that signified
contempt for his insinuation.
“I know that John Harborough was up there at Markenmore Hollow
at four o’clock that morning,” she retorted boldly. “And, I know, too,
that he was seen!”
Walkinshaw paused, abruptly. He looked round at his client; so, too,
did everybody in the room. Once more a murmur of surprise rippled
round. Walkinshaw went back to Harborough, who sat unmoved and
silent; the solicitor whispered rapidly to him; Harborough did no
more than nod, almost unconcernedly. A moment later Mrs.
Tretheroe had been dismissed from the witness-box and another
witness had been called into it.
“Elizabeth Braxfield!”
Mr. Fransemmery and his eleven companions felt a new interest arise
in their hearts as they stared at the ex-landlady of the Sceptre.
Eleven of them were already wondering what she could tell. But Mr.
Fransemmery, knowing what he did of Mrs. Braxfield’s early habits,
began to anticipate.
The Coroner left the examination of this witness to the barrister who
appeared for the police authorities. He lost no time in getting to the
point.
“I believe, Mrs. Braxfield, that you were formerly Mrs. Wrenne, of
the Sceptre Inn, and that before you were Mrs. Wrenne, you were a
Miss Rawlings, a daughter of Thomas Rawlings, who kept the
Sceptre Inn before your late husband, Peter Wrenne, had it?”
“Quite correct, sir,” answered Mrs. Braxfield.
“Then you have lived all your life in Markenmore, and know all the
people in it?”
“Yes, sir—and for a good many miles round.”
“Do you know Mr. John Harborough?”
“Yes, sir—known him ever since he was a boy.”
“Did you see him on Tuesday morning last?”
“I did.”
“What time?”
“Ten minutes past four o’clock.”
“Where?”
“Near my house, sir.”
“Where is your house?”
“Up on the downs, sir—Woodland Cottage; about two hundred yards
from Markenmore Hollow.”
“How came you to see him—or anybody—at that early hour?”
“Nothing unusual in that, sir. I often get up at four o’clock—that is
when the mornings get light. I keep a lot of fowls, and I get up to
attend to them.”
“Was it light that morning—Tuesday?”
“Light enough, sir.”
“Light enough to see—how far?”
“Well, sir, when I looked out of my window I could see a lot. The
Court here—the village—all that’s in front—and Withersley Beacon
on one side and Pole Clump on the other. The morning was a
particularly clear one—very fine.”
“And you saw Mr. Harborough?”
“I did, sir.”
“From your window?”
“From my window.”
“Where was he when you saw him?”
“Coming down the hill-side from the direction of Markenmore
Hollow, sir. He was walking along the side of a fence.”
“How far away from you?”
“About a hundred yards.”
“Mr. Harborough, until the day before, had been away from
Markenmore for seven years. Weren’t you very much surprised to
see him there?”
“No, sir, I wasn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’d heard that he’d got home again—heard it the night
before. I’d been down to the village and everybody knew he’d got
home.”
“And you are certain that the man you saw was Mr. Harborough?”
“Perfectly certain, sir. I couldn’t be mistaken about that.”
“Well, where did he go?”
“Down the slope in the direction of his house, sir—Greycloister.”
“How far is Greycloister from Woodland Cottage?”
“Half a mile, sir.”
“Was Mr. Harborough walking quickly when you saw him?”
“No, sir—he was just going along at the ordinary pace—sauntering,
you might say.”
“And you are sure of your time—ten minutes past four o’clock in the
morning?”
“Certain, sir. I have a very good clock in my bedroom—never gains
or loses. I looked at it just before I saw Mr. Harborough.”
The barrister nodded to Mrs. Braxfield and sat down, and as no one
else rose to ask her any questions she left the box. The Coroner
bent over to some officials; while he was whispering with them,
Walkinshaw rose and approached the table again.
“Mr. Harborough desires to go into that box and give evidence, sir,”
he said. “I suggest that now—following upon the evidence you have
just heard—is a favourable stage for hearing him.”
The Coroner, an elderly man, leant back in his chair, took off his
spectacles, and glanced at Walkinshaw and from him to his client.
“I suppose that Mr. Harborough fully understands that he is not
bound to answer any questions that—answered in a certain fashion
—might incriminate him?” he suggested. “Of course, if he wishes to
make a statement.”
“What my client desires to do, sir,” interrupted Walkinshaw, “is to tell
you and the jury the plain truth about himself and his movements in
relation to this enquiry. He has nothing to conceal and he has
everything to gain by telling the truth.”
“Very well,” said the Coroner. “Let us have his evidence now.”
Walkinshaw turned to Harborough and motioned him to go into the
box.
CHAPTER VIII
 THE INCRIMINATING LETTER
But before Harborough reached the witness-box a new development
arose. The Chief Constable who, since Mrs. Tretheroe stepped down,
had been in close conversation with the detective, Blick, left his seat
and going over to the barrister who had examined her, made some
whispered communication to him. Presently the barrister rose and
turned to the Coroner.
“If, as I understand, sir, Mr. Harborough wishes to make a
statement, which, I suppose, will amount to giving evidence about
his movements on the morning of Guy Markenmore’s death,” he
said, “I should like to suggest that before you hear it you should
take the evidence of Detective-Sergeant Blick, who has had this case
in hand since the discovery of the crime. Sergeant Blick will produce
some evidence on which I should like to examine Mr. Harborough. I
submit that this course will be most convenient to everybody,
especially to Mr. Harborough himself and to his legal adviser.”
The Coroner looked at Walkinshaw, who bowed his assent.
“Let us have Detective-Sergeant Blick, then,” said the Coroner.
In company with the rest of the people there he looked with some
curiosity at the detective as he stepped into the box. Most of the folk
present in that room had never seen a detective in their lives. Blick,
they thought, was certainly not at all like what they had conceived
men of his calling to be. He might be thirty years old, but he looked
younger. He had a somewhat cherubic, boyish countenance,
rendered more juvenile still by the fact that he was clean-shaven; he
was very smartly and fashionably dressed in a blue serge suit,
traversed by thin lines of a lighter blue; his linen and neck-wear
proclaimed him a bit of a dandy; his carefully brushed hair, golden in
hue, matched admirably with the pretty glow of his cheeks; his
bright blue eyes, keen and alert, were as striking as the firm lines of
his lips and the square, determined chin beneath them. Altogether,
Blick looked more like a smart young army officer than a policeman,
and the people who had gained their notions of detectives from
sentimental fiction began to feel that somebody had deceived them.
Blick and the barrister confronted each other with glances of mutual
understanding.
“Detective-Sergeant Charles Blick, of the Criminal Investigation
Department, New Scotland Yard, I believe,” said the barrister.
“I am,” answered Blick.
“Tell the Court how you came to be associated with this case.”
“I came down to Selcaster some days ago, in connection with
another matter,” said Blick. “I had to remain in the city—at the Mitre
Hotel. On Tuesday morning, very early, the Chief Constable sent an
officer of his force to me, saying that he had just received news of a
probable murder at a place close by, and asking me to dress and go
with him. I drove with him, the police-surgeon, and a constable, to
Markenmore Hollow. There we found the dead body of a man whom
some of those present recognized as Mr. Guy Markenmore. The Chief
Constable requested me to take charge of matters; since then he
has obtained permission from my Department for me to take this
case in hand.”
“With a view of finding the murderer?”
“With that object, certainly.”
“You have heard the evidence of the previous witnesses, Blick?—I
refer especially to that of Hobbs, of the Markenmore policeman, and
of the doctor?”
“I have.”
“All correct.”
“Quite correct.”
“After taking charge of matters, did you accompany the body here to
Markenmore Court?”