第38章 Volume 2(2)

Both parties seemed determined to avail themselves of their suitability during the brief stay which Mr.Tisdall had promised;the consequence was,that they shut themselves up in Sir Arthur's private room for nearly all the day and the greater part of the night,during the space of nearly a week,at the end of which the servant having one morning,as usual,knocked at Mr.Tisdall's bed-room door repeatedly,received no answer,and,upon attempting to enter,found that it was locked;this appeared suspicious,and,the inmates of the house having been alarmed,the door was forced open,and,on proceeding to the bed,they found the body of its occupant perfectly lifeless,and hanging half-way out,the head downwards,and near the floor.One deep wound had been inflicted upon the temple,apparently with some blunt instrument which had penetrated the brain;and another blow,less effective,probably the first aimed,had grazed the head,removing some of the scalp,but leaving the skull untouched.The door had been double-locked upon the INSIDE,in evidence of which the key still lay where it had been placed in the lock.

The window,though not secured on the interior,was closed--a circumstance not a little puzzling,as it afforded the only other mode of escape from the room;it looked out,too,upon a kind of courtyard,round which the old buildings stood,formerly accessible by a narrow doorway and passage lying in the oldest side of the quadrangle,but which had since been built up,so as to preclude all ingress or egress;the room was also upon the second story,and the height of the window considerable.

Near the bed were found a pair of razors belonging to the murdered man,one of them upon the ground,and both of them open.The weapon which had inflicted the mortal wound was not to be found in the room,nor were any footsteps or other traces of the murderer discoverable.

At the suggestion of Sir Arthur himself,a coroner was instantly summoned to attend,and an inquest was held;nothing,however,in any degree conclusive was elicited;the walls,ceiling,and floor of the room were carefully examined,in order to ascertain whether they contained a trap-door or other concealed mode of entrance --but no such thing appeared.

Such was the minuteness of investigation employed,that,although the grate had contained a large fire during the night,they proceeded to examine even the very chimney,in order to discover whether escape by it were possible;but this attempt,too,was fruitless,for the chimney,built in the old fashion,rose in a perfectly perpendicular line from the hearth to a height of nearly fourteen feet above the roof,affording in its interior scarcely the possibility of ascent,the flue being smoothly plastered,and sloping towards the top like an inverted funnel,promising,too,even if the summit were attained,owing to its great height,but a precarious descent upon the sharp and steep-ridged roof;the ashes,too,which lay in the grate,and the soot,as far as it could be seen,were undisturbed,a circumstance almost conclusive of the question.

Sir Arthur was of course examined;his evidence was given with clearness and unreserve,which seemed calculated to silence all suspicion.He stated that,up to the day and night immediately preceding the catastrophe,he had lost to a heavy amount,but that,at their last sitting,he had not only won back his original loss,but upwards of four thousand pounds in addition;in evidence of which he produced an acknowledgment of debt to that amount in the handwriting of the deceased,and bearing the date of the fatal night.

He had mentioned the circumstance to his lady,and in presence of some of the domestics;which statement was supported by THEIR respective evidence.

One of the jury shrewdly observed,that the circumstance of Mr.Tisdall's having sustained so heavy a loss might have suggested to some ill-minded persons accidentally hearing it,the plan of robbing him,after having murdered him in such a manner as might make it appear that he had committed suicide;a supposition which was strongly supported by the razors having been found thus displaced,and removed from their case.Two persons had probably been engaged in the attempt,one watching by the sleeping man,and ready to strike him in case of his awakening suddenly,while the other was procuring the razors and employed in inflicting the fatal gash,so as to make it appear to have been the act of the murdered man himself.It was said that while the juror was making this suggestion Sir Arthur changed colour.

Nothing,however,like legal evidence appeared against him,and the consequence was that the verdict was found against a person or persons unknown;and for some time the matter was suffered to rest,until,after about five months,my father received a letter from a person signing himself Andrew Collis,and representing himself to be the cousin of the deceased.This letter stated that Sir Arthur was likely to incur not merely suspicion,but personal risk,unless he could account for certain circumstances connected with the recent murder,and contained a copy of a letter written by the deceased,and bearing date,the day of the week,and of the month,upon the night of which the deed of blood had been perpetrated.Tisdall's note ran as follows:

'DEAR COLLIS,'I have had sharp work with Sir Arthur;he tried some of his stale tricks,but soon found that _I_was Yorkshire too:

it would not do--you understand me.We went to the work like good ones,head,heart and soul;and,in fact,since I came here,I have lost no time.I am rather fagged,but I am sure to be well paid for my hardship;I never want sleep so long as I can have the music of a dice-box,and wherewithal to pay the piper.As I told you,he tried some of his queer turns,but I foiled him like a man,and,in return,gave him more than he could relish of the genuine DEAD KNOWLEDGE.