ay back to his lodgings in the village.

"The gentleman gave the alarm, miss," said the servant, describing the
event, as it had been related to him, "and the man--a huge, big old
man--was carried to the inn. The landlord identified him; he had taken
lodgings at the inn that day, and the constable found valuable property
on him--a purse of money and a gold watch and chain. There was nothing
to show who the money and the watch belonged to. It was only when my
master and the doctor got to the inn that it was known whom he had
robbed and tried to murder. All he let out in his wanderings before they
came was that some person had set him on to do it. He called the person
'Captain,' and sometimes 'Captain Goward.' It was thought--if you
could trust the ravings of a madman--that the fit took him while he
was putting his hand on Sir Joseph's heart to feel if it had stopped
beating. A sort of vision (as I understand it) must have overpowered
him at the moment. They tell me he raved about the sea bursting into the
church yard, and a drowning sailor floating by on a hen-coop; a sailor
who dragged him down to hell by the hair of his head, and such like
horrible nonsense, miss. He was still screeching, at the worst of the
fit, when my master and the doctor came into the room. At sight of one
or other of them--it is thought of Mr. Turlington, seeing that he came
first--he held his peace on a sudden, and then fell back in convulsions
in the arms of the men who were holding him. The doctor gave it a
learned name, signifying drink-madness, and said the case was hopeless.
However, he ordered the room to be cleared of the crowd to see what he
could do. My master was reported to be still with the doctor, waiting to
see whether the man lived or died, when I left the village, miss, with
the gentleman's answer to your note. I didn't dare stay to hear how it
ended, for fear of Mr. Turlington's finding me out."

Having reached the end of his narrative, the man looked round restlessly
toward the window. It was impossible to say when his master might not
return, and it might be as much as his life was worth to be caught in
the house after he had been locked out of it. He begged permission to
open the window, and make his escape back to the stables while there
was still time. As he unbarred the shutter they were startled by a voice
hailing them from below. It was Launce's voice calling to Natalie. The
servant disappeared, and Natalie was in Launce