"Troth, I'm afeard he did, sir," answered the man, gloomily.

"And has made his escape?" continued Charles.

"Yes, sir; he stole away in the night-time," replied the servant, "after
the murder was done" (and he glanced fearfully toward the bed); "God
knows where he's gone."

"The villain!" muttered Charles; "but what was his motive? why did he do
all this--what does it mean?"

"I don't know exactly, sir, but he was very queer for a week and more
before it," replied the man; "there was something bad over him for a
long time."

"It is a terrible thing," said Charles, with a profound sigh; "a terrible
and shocking occurrence."

He hesitated again at the door, but his feelings had sustained a terrible
revulsion at sight of the corpse, and he was no longer disposed to
prosecute his purposed examination of the chamber and its contents; with
a view to conjecturing the probable circumstances of the murder.

"Observe, Hughes, that I have moved nothing in the chamber from the place
it occupied when we entered," he said to the servant, as they withdrew.

He locked the door, and as he passed through the hall, on his return, he
encountered his father, and, restoring the key, said--

"I could not stay there; I am almost sorry I have seen it; I am