he ground
above that the body was found. The passage was almost as near a way
as any from the club to Mr. Bonteen's house in St. James's Place;
but the superintendent declared that gentlemen but seldom used the
passage after dark, and he was disposed to think that the unfortunate
man must have been forced down the steps by the ruffian who had
attacked him from the level above. The murderer, so thought the
superintendent, must have been cognizant of the way usually taken
by Mr. Bonteen, and must have lain in wait for him in the darkness
of the mouth of the passage. The superintendent had been at work on
his inquiries since four in the morning, and had heard from Lady
Eustace,--and from Mrs. Bonteen, as far as that poor distracted
woman had been able to tell her story,--some account of the cause
of quarrel between the respective husbands of those two ladies. The
officer, who had not as yet heard a word of the late disturbance
between Mr. Bonteen and Phineas Finn, was strongly of opinion that
the Reverend Mr. Emilius had been the murderer. Mr. Gresham, of
course, coincided in that opinion. What steps had been taken as to
the arrest of Mr. Emilius? The superintendent was of opinion that Mr.
Emilius was already in custody. He was known to be lodging close to
the Marylebone Workhouse, in Northumberland Street, having removed to
that somewhat obscure neighbourhood as soon as his house in Lowndes
Square had been broken up by the running away of his wife and his
consequent want of means. Such was the story as told to the Prime
Minister at seven o'clock in the morning.

At eleven o'clock, at his private room at the Treasury Chambers, Mr.
Gresham heard much more. At that time there were present with him two
officers of the police force, his colleagues in the Cabinet, Lord
Cantrip and the Duke of Omnium, three of his junior colleagues in the
Government, Lord Fawn, Barrington Erle, and Laurence Fitzgibbon,--and
Major Mackintosh, the chief of the London police. It was not exactly
part of the duty of Mr. Gresham to investigate the circumstances of
this murder; but there was so much in it that brought it closely home
to him and his Government, that it became impossible for him not to
concern himself in the business. There had been so much talk about
Mr. Bonteen lately, his name had been so common in the newspapers,
the ill-usage which he had been supposed by some to have suffered
had been so freely discussed, and his quarrel, not only