om the
way in which the crime was committed and the body found, there is no
reason to suppose that it had been planned beforehand. The mode in which
death was inflicted showed, on the other hand, that it was not the
result of a hasty or chance blow--but really a murder, though
unpremeditated. Quite near to the place where the body lay, a man was
found hidden among the bushes. His hands and clothes were marked with
blood; he had by him a hatchet which had all the appearance of having
been used to inflict the wounds on the murdered man, and a heavy stick
which might well have given the first blow. His being but clumsily
hidden is accounted for easily, for he was evidently intoxicated; and
lastly, he is known to have been connected with a party of smugglers who
used to land their goods on Beaver Creek, and who had reason to dislike
Doctor Morton."

A deeper breath, a slight relaxing of the closed lips, were the only
signs from either mother or daughter how this brief and clear account,
riveting as it did upon their minds the certainty of guilt, had been
endured as people endure the necessary torture of the surgeon's knife.
Neither spoke, but waited for what was to follow.

Mr. Strafford's tone changed. "I have told you what you will have to
hear from others," he said; "and, without doubt a stronger case would be
difficult to find. Unless something new should come to light, I do not
think many people will even feel the least uncertainty on the subject.
But I do."

He paused, and then went on; not, however, without keeping an anxious
watch on the faces opposite to him, lest his touch, however gentle,
should press too hardly upon their quivering nerves.

"In the first place it appears that there is a man on whom, if this
prisoner could be cleared, suspicion would naturally fall. This man,
Clarkson, I dare say you know by repute far better than I do, who never
heard of him till to-day; but he appears to have so bad a character that
no one would be shocked or surprised to hear that he was the murderer.
He had also a much stronger ill-will against Doctor Morton than any one
else, either Indian or white man, can be shown to have had. But yet
there is such an entire absence of any proof whatever that he did commit
the crime, that unless I wanted you to understand _all_ my reasons for
uncertainty, I would not speak of him even here in connection with it.

"My next reason seems almost as shadowy as this; but it has considerable