afterwards discovered to be Sir Philip Derval.

He said that he himself had only arrived at the town a few hours before; a
stranger to L----, and indeed to England, having come from the United
States of America, where he had passed his life from childhood. He had
journeyed on foot to L----, in the hope of finding there some distant
relatives. He had put up at a small inn, after which he had strolled
through the town, when the storm had driven him to seek shelter. He had
then failed to find his way back to the inn, and after wandering about in
vain, and seeing no one at that late hour of night of whom he could ask
the way, lie had crept under a portico and slept for two or three hours.
Waking towards the dawn, he had then got up, and again sought to find his
way to the inn, when he saw, in a narrow street before him, two men, one
of whom he recognized as the taller of the two to whose conversation he
had listened under the arch; the other he did not recognize at the moment.
The taller man seemed angry and agitated, and he heard him say, "The
casket; I will have it." There then seemed to be a struggle between these
two persons, when the taller one struck down the shorter, knelt on his
breast, and he caught distinctly the gleam of some steel instrument. That
he was so frightened that he could not stir from the place, and that
though he cried out, he believed his voice was not heard. He then saw the
taller man rise, the other resting on the pavement motionless; and a
minute or so afterwards beheld policemen coming to the place, on which he,
the witness, walked away. He did not know that a murder had been
committed; it might be only an assault; it was no business of his, he was
a stranger. He thought it best not to interfere, the police having
cognizance of the affair. He found out his inn; for the next few days he
was absent from L---- in search of his relations, who had left the town,
many years ago, to fix their residence in one of the neighbouring
villages.