rt time, if unable to sleep. Having measured and prepared the dose in
the dressing room, the servant went on to say, he had knocked at his
master's door, and receiving no answer, had entered the room, and partly
unclosed the shutters. He perceived the blood on the carpet, and on
opening the curtains, saw his master lying with his mouth and eyes open,
perfectly dead, and weltering in gore. He had stretched out his hand, and
seized that of the dead man, which was quite stiff and cold; then, losing
heart, he had run to the door communicating with the passage, but found
it locked, and turned to the other entrance, and ran down the
back-stairs, crying "murder." Mr. Hughes, the butler, and James Carney,
another servant, came immediately, and they all three went back into the
room. The key was in the outer door, upon the inside, but they did not
unlock it until they had viewed the body. There was a great pool of blood
in the bed, and in it was lying a red-handled case knife, which was
produced, and identified by the witness. Just then they heard Mr. Marston
calling for admission, and they opened the door with some difficulty, for
the lock was rusty. Mr. Marston had ordered them to leave the things as
they were, and had used very stern language to the witness. They had then
left the room, securing both doors.

This witness underwent a severe and searching examination, but his
evidence was clear and consistent.

In conclusion, Marston produced a dagger, which was stained with blood,
and asked the man whether he recognized it.

Smith at once stated this to have been the property of his late master,
who, when traveling, carried it, together with his pistols, along with
him. Since his arrival at Gray Forest, it had lain upon the
chimney-piece in his bedroom, where he believed it to have been upon the
previous night.

James Carney, one of Marston's servants, was next sworn and examined. He
had, he said, observed a strange and unaccountable agitation and
depression in Merton's manner for some days past; he had also been
several times disturbed at night by his talking aloud to himself, and
walking to and fro in his room. Their bedrooms were separated by a thin
partition, in which was a window, through which Carney had, on the night
of the murder, observed a light in Merton's room, and, on looking in, had
seen him dressing hastily. He also saw him twice take up, and again lay
down, the red-hafted knife which had been found in the be