punctually at two o'clock, the hour appointed, Mr
Johnson made his appearance, and was ushered into his Lordship's study.
Unknown to him, Lord Ferrers had sent away his housekeeper and his
menservants on various pretexts; and, apart from the Earl and the
steward (the spider and the fly), there was no one in all the great
house but three maidservants, whose chief anxiety was to keep as far
away as possible from their mad master.

With a courteous greeting Lord Ferrers invited Mr Johnson to take a
seat; and then, placing before him a document, which proved to be a
confession of fraud and dishonesty in his office of receiver, he
commanded his steward to sign his name to it.

On reading the confession which he was ordered to sign, Mr Johnson
indignantly refused to comply with such an outrageous demand. "You
refuse to sign?" asked the Earl with ominous calmness. "I do," was the
emphatic reply. "Then," continued his lordship, producing a pistol, "I
command you to kneel." Mr Johnson, now alarmed and awake to his danger,
looked first at the stern, cold eyes bent on him, and then at the pistol
pointed at his heart, and sank on one knee. "Both knees!" insisted the
Earl. Mr Johnson subsided on the other knee, looking calmly at his
would-be murderer, though beads of perspiration were standing on his
forehead. A moment later a shot rang out in the silent room, and the
steward fell to the floor mortally wounded. Laying down the smoking
weapon, Lord Ferrers opened the door and called loudly for assistance.
The horrified servants, who had heard the report, came, huddled and
fearful, at his bidding. One he despatched for a doctor, and, with the
assistance of the other two, he carried the fast-dying man to a bedroom.
When the doctor arrived he found the Earl standing by the bedside,
trying to stop the flow of blood which was ebbing from the steward's
chest; but the victim was beyond all human aid. He had but a few hours
at the most to live. An hour later Lord Ferrers was lying dead drunk on
the floor of his bedroom, while Mr Johnson's life was ebbing out in
agony at his house, a mile away.

"As soon as it became known," to quote the account given
by an eye-witness in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, "that
Mr Johnson was really dead, the neighbours set about
seizing the murderer. A few persons, armed, set out for
Staunton, and as they entered the hall-yard they saw the
Earl going towards the stable, as they ima