accompanied by three men of very suspicious
appearance. "In short, Sir," said the man, lowering his voice to a
whisper, "I knew one of them by sight; he was Mr. S., the Bowstreet
officer; with these men, Sir Reginald left the house, merely saying, in
his usual quiet manner, that he did not know when he should return."

I concealed my perturbation, and endeavoured, as far as I was able,
to quiet the evident apprehensions of the servant. "At all events,
Seymour," said I, "I know that I may trust you sufficiently, to warn you
against mentioning the circumstance any farther; above all, let me beg
of you to stop the mouths of those idle loiterers in the hall--and,
be sure, that you do not give any unnecessary alarm to Lady and Miss
Glanville."

The poor man promised, with tears in his eyes, that he would obey my
injunctions; and with a calm face, but a sickening heart, I turned away
from the house. I knew not where to direct my wanderings; fortunately,
I recollected that I should, in all probability, be among the first
witnesses summoned on Glanville's examination, and that, perhaps, by
the time I reached home, I might already receive an intimation to that
effect; accordingly, I retraced my steps, and, on re-entering my hotel,
was told by the waiter, with a mysterious air, that a gentleman was
waiting to see me. Seated by the window in my room, and wiping his
forehead with a red silk pocket-handkerchief, was a short, thickset man,
with a fiery and rugose complexion, not altogether unlike the aspect
of a mulberry; from underneath a pair of shaggy brows, peeped two
singularly small eyes, which made ample amends by their fire, for their
deficiency in size--they were black, brisk, and somewhat fierce in their
expression; a nose, of that shape, vulgarly termed bottle, formed the
"arch sublime," the bridge, the twilight as it were, between the purple
sun-set of one cheek, and the glowing sun-rise of the other. His
mouth was small, and drawn up on each corner, like a purse--there was
something sour and crabbed about it; if it was like a purse, it was the
purse of a miser: a fair round chin had not been condemned to single
blessedness--on the contrary, it was like a farmer's pillion, and
carried double; on either side of a very low forehead, hedged round by
closely mowed bristles, of a dingy black, were two enormous ears, of the
same intensely rubicund colour as that inflamed pendant of flesh which
adorns the throat of an enraged t