the event. For it is a remarkable fact, and one that illustrates the
singular inconsistency of this villain, who, being often so superfluously
subtle, was in other directions so reckless and improvident, that at this
very moment, standing amongst corpses that had deluged the little parlor
with blood, Williams must have been in considerable doubt whether he had
any sure means of egress. There were windows, he knew, to the back; but
upon what ground they opened, he seems to have had no certain information;
and in a neighborhood so dangerous, the windows of the lower story would
not improbably be nailed down; those in the upper might be free, but then
came the necessity of a leap too formidable. From all this, however, the
sole practical inference was to hurry forward with the trial of further
keys, and to detect the hidden treasure. This it was, this intense
absorption in one overmastering pursuit, that dulled the murderer's
perceptions as to all around him; otherwise, he must have heard the
breathing of the young man, which to himself at times became fearfully
audible. As the murderer stood once more over the body of Mrs. Williamson,
and searched her pockets more narrowly, he pulled out various clusters of
keys, one of which dropping, gave a harsh gingling sound upon the floor.
At this time it was that the secret witness, from his secret stand,
noticed the fact of Williams's surtout being lined with silk of the finest
quality. One other fact he noticed, which eventually became more
immediately important than many stronger circumstances of incrimination;
this was, that the shoes of the murderer, apparently new, and bought,
probably, with poor Marr's money, creaked as he walked, harshly and
frequently. With the new clusters of keys, the murderer walked off to the
hidden section of the parlor. And here, at last, was suggested to the
journeyman the sudden opening for an escape. Some minutes would be lost to
a certainty trying all these keys; and subsequently in searching the
drawers, supposing that the keys answered--or in violently forcing them,
supposing that they did _not_. He might thus count upon a brief interval