name was Brewer, was a brother of the late Mrs. Manton. Under a
beneficent law of the State relating to property which has been for a
certain period abandoned by an owner whose residence cannot be
ascertained, the sheriff was legal custodian of the Manton farm and
appurtenances thereunto belonging. His present visit was in mere
perfunctory compliance with some order of a court in which Mr. Brewer
had an action to get possession of the property as heir to his
deceased sister. By a mere coincidence, the visit was made on the
day after the night that Deputy King had unlocked the house for
another and very different purpose. His presence now was not of his
own choosing: he had been ordered to accompany his superior and at
the moment could think of nothing more prudent than simulated
alacrity in obedience to the command.

Carelessly opening the front door, which to his surprise was not
locked, the sheriff was amazed to see, lying on the floor of the
passage into which it opened, a confused heap of men's apparel.
Examination showed it to consist of two hats, and the same number of
coats, waistcoats and scarves, all in a remarkably good state of
preservation, albeit somewhat defiled by the dust in which they lay.
Mr. Brewer was equally astonished, but Mr. King's emotion is not of
record. With a new and lively interest in his own actions the
sheriff now unlatched and pushed open a door on the right, and the
three entered. The room was apparently vacant--no; as their eyes
became accustomed to the dimmer light something was visible in the
farthest angle of the wall. It was a human figure--that of a man
crouching close in the corner. Something in the attitude made the
intruders halt when they had barely passed the threshold. The figure
more and more clearly defined itself. The man was upon one knee, his
back in the angle of the wall, his shoulders elevated to the level of