haps
you allude to one by the name of Carwin. I will anticipate your
curiosity by saying, that since these disasters, no one has seen or
heard of him. His agency is, therefore, a mystery still unsolved."

I readily complied with his request, and related as distinctly as
I could, though in general terms, the events transacted in the
summer-house and my chamber. He listened without apparent surprize
to the tale of Pleyel's errors and suspicions, and with augmented
seriousness, to my narrative of the warnings and inexplicable vision,
and the letter found upon the table. I waited for his comments.

"You gather from this," said he, "that Carwin is the author of all this
misery."

"Is it not," answered I, "an unavoidable inference? But what know you
respecting it? Was it possible to execute this mischief without witness
or coadjutor? I beseech you to relate to me, when and why Mr. Hallet was
summoned to the scene, and by whom this disaster was first suspected
or discovered. Surely, suspicion must have fallen upon some one, and
pursuit was made."

My uncle rose from his seat, and traversed the floor with hasty steps.
His eyes were fixed upon the ground, and he seemed buried in perplexity.
At length he paused, and said with an emphatic tone, "It is true; the
instrument is known. Carwin may have plotted, but the execution was
another's. That other is found, and his deed is ascertained."

"Good heaven!" I exclaimed, "what say you? Was not Carwin the assassin?
Could any hand but his have carried into act this dreadful purpose?"

"Have I not said," returned he, "that the performance was another's?
Carwin, perhaps, or heaven, or insanity, prompted the murderer; but
Carwin is unknown. The actual performer has, long since, been called
to judgment and convicted, and is, at this moment, at the bottom of a
dungeon loaded with chains."

I lifted my hands and eyes. "Who then is this assassin? By what means,
and whither was he traced? What is the testimony of his guilt?"

"His own, corroborated with that of a servant-maid who spied the murder
of the children from a closet where she was concealed. The magistrate
returned from your dwelling to your brother's. He was employed in
hearing and recording the testimony of the only witness, when the
criminal himself, unexpected, unsolicited, unsought, entered the hall,
acknowledged his guilt, and rendered himself up to justice.

"He has since been summoned to the bar. The audience was comp