and restored to the common
experiences of life. But in another instant her former dread returned,
and she found herself quaking at the prospect of passing around the foot
of the bed into that part of the room which was as yet hidden from her
eyes.

But the desperation which comes with great crises finally drove her from
her retreat; and, creeping slowly forward, she cast one glance at the
floor before her, when she found her worst fears realized by the sight
of the dead body of her husband lying prone before the open doorway,
with a bullet-hole in his forehead.

Her first impulse was to shriek, but, by a powerful exercise of will,
she checked herself, and ringing frantically for the servants who
slept on the top floor of the house, flew to the nearest window and
endeavoured to open it. But the shutters had been bolted so securely by
Mr. Hasbrouck, in his endeavour to shut out all light and sound, that by
the time she had succeeded in unfastening them, all trace of the flying
murderer had vanished from the street.

Sick with grief and terror, she stepped back into the room just as the
three frightened servants descended the stairs. As they appeared in the
open doorway, she pointed at her husband's inanimate form, and then, as
if suddenly realizing in its full force the calamity which had befallen
her, she threw up her arms, and sank forward to the floor in a dead
faint.

The two women rushed to her assistance, but the old butler, bounding
over the bed, sprang to the window, and shrieked his alarm to the
street.

In the interim that followed, Mrs. Hasbrouck was revived, and the
master's body laid decently on the bed; but no pursuit was made, nor any
inquiries started likely to assist me in establishing the identity of
the assailant.

Indeed, everyone both in the house and out, seemed dazed by the
unexpected catastrophe, and as no one had any suspicions to offer as to
the probable murderer, I had a difficult task before me.

I began in the usual way, by inspecting the scene of the murder. I found
nothing in the room, or in the condition of the body itself, which added
an iota to the knowledge already obtained. That Mr. Hasbrouck had been
in bed; that he had risen upon hearing a noise; and that he had been
shot before reaching the door, were self-evident facts. But there was
nothing to guide me further. The very simplicity of the circumstances
caused a dearth of clues, which made the difficulty of procedure as
gr