THE FULL DRAWER


This gentleman had some information to give. It seems that at an
early hour of this same night he had gone by this house on his way
home from the bedside of a sick parishioner. As he was passing the
gate he was run into by a man who came rushing out of the yard, in
a state of violent agitation. In this man's hand was something
that glittered, and though the encounter nearly upset them both,
he had not stopped to utter an apology, but stumbled away out of
sight with a hasty but infirm step, which showed he was neither
young nor active. The minister had failed to see his face, but
noticed the ends of a long beard blowing over his shoulder as he
hurried away.

Philemon was a clean-shaven man.

Asked if he could give the time of this encounter, he replied that
it was not far from midnight, as he was in his own house by half-
past twelve.

"Did you glance up at these windows in passing?" asked Mr. Fenton.

"I must have; for I now remember they were both lighted."

"Were the shades up?"

"I think not. I would have noticed it if they had been."

"How were the shades when you broke into the house this morning?"