re
walking on the course.'

'Did he look like a gentleman?' I inquired, as I dare say, other young
ladies would.

'He looked like a Jew, my dear. He had a horrid brown coat with a velvet
cape, curling black hair over his collar, and great whiskers, very high
shoulders, and he was puffing a cigar straight up into the air. I was
shocked to see Silas in such company.'

'And did his keys discover anything?' I asked.

'On opening his travelling desk and a small japanned box within it a vast
deal less money was found than was expected--in fact, very little. Your
uncle said that he had won some of it the night before at play, and
that Charke complained to him when tipsy of having had severe losses to
counterbalance his gains on the races. Besides, he had been paid but a
small part of those gains. About his book it appeared that there were
little notes of bets on the backs of letters, and it was said that
he sometimes made no other memorandum of his wagers--but this was
disputed--and among those notes there was not one referring to Silas. But,
then, there was an omission of all allusion to his transactions with two
other well-known gentlemen. So that was not singular.'

'No, certainly; that was quite accounted for,' said I.

'And then came the question,' continued she, 'what motive could Mr. Charke
possibly have had for making away with himself.'

'But is not that very difficult to make out in many cases?' I interposed.

'It was said that he had some mysterious troubles in London, at which he
used to hint. Some people said that he really was in a scrape, but others
that there was no such thing, and that when he talked so he was only
jesting. There was no suspicion during the inquest that your uncle Silas
was involved, except those questions of Mr. Manwaring's.'

'What were they?' I asked.

'I really forget; but they greatly offended your uncle, and there was a
little scene in the room. Mr. Manwaring seemed to think that some one had
somehow got into the room. Through the door it could not be, nor down the
chimney, for they found an iron bar across the flue, near the top in the
masonry. The window looked into a court-yard no bigger than a ball-room.
They went down and examined it, but, though the ground beneath was moist,
they could not discover the slightest trace of a footprint. So far as they
could make out, Mr. Charke had hermetically sealed himself into his room,
and then cut his throat with his own razor.'

'Y