United States or Hong Kong ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Merton's eccentric conduct of late had become so generally remarked and discussed among the servants, that Sir Wynston's man was by no means surprised at the oddity of the visit he had just had; nor, after the first few moments of doubt, before the appearance of blood had been accounted for, had he entertained any suspicions whatever connected with the man's unexpected presence in the room.
And now, sir, you have the story of Sir Wynston's murder." Dr. Danvers groaned in spirit, being wrung alike with fear and sorrow. With hands clasped, and head bowed down, in an exceeding bitter agony of soul, he murmured only the words of the Litany "Lord, have mercy upon us; Christ, have mercy upon us; Lord, have mercy upon us."
He mentioned also the fact, that on hearing the alarm in the morning, he had hastened from his own chamber to Sir Wynston's, and found, on trying to enter, that the door opening upon the passage was secured on the inside. This circumstance showed that the murderer must have made his egress at least through the valet's chamber, and by the back-stairs. Marston's evidence went no further.
This weapon was stained with blood; and some hair, which was found to correspond in color with Sir Wynston's, was sticking in the crevice between the blade and the handle. "It appears very strange that one man should have employed two distinct instruments of this kind," observed Mervyn, after a pause. A silence followed. "Yes, strange; it does seem strange," said Marston, clearing his voice.
Well knowing that, except at the usual hours, or in obedience to Sir Wynston's bell, nothing more displeased his master than his presuming to enter his sleeping-apartment while he was there, the servant quietly retreated, and, perfectly satisfied that all was right, composed himself to slumber, and was soon beginning to dose again. The adventures of the night, however, were not yet over.
"Which was Sir Wynston's bedroom?" asked the young man. "The room that old Lady Mostyn had the room with the portrait of Grace Hamilton in it." "I know I know," said the young man, much excited. "I should wish to see it."
He stated, that from the moment when Sir Wynston's servant had casually mentioned the circumstance of his master's usually sleeping with his watch and pocketbook under his pillow, the idea of robbing him had taken possession of his mind. He had contended against these haunting and growing solicitations of Satan, with an earnest agony.
Sometimes, again, he would sit for hours in the room which had been Sir Wynston's, and, with a kind of horrible resolution, often loiter there till after nightfall.
He then described, as Smith had already done, the scene which presented itself in the morning, on his accompanying him into Sir Wynston's bedchamber. The next witness examined was a little Irish boy, who described himself as "a poor scholar." His testimony was somewhat singular.
Word Of The Day