hen
I took them in I found him unpacking a small carpet-bag, which was the
only luggage he had brought with him. He still kept silence, and did
not appear to take any notice of me. I left him immediately without our
having so much as exchanged a single word.

So far as I could tell, the night passed quietly. The next morning I
heard that my mistress was suffering so severely from a nervous attack
that she was unable to rise from her bed. It was no surprise to me to be
told that, knowing as I did what she had gone through the night before.

About nine o'clock I went with the hot water to the Red Room. After
knocking twice I tried the door, and, finding it not locked, went in
with the jug in my hand.

I looked at the bed--I looked all round the room. Not a sign of Mr.
James Smith was to be seen anywhere.

Judging by appearances, the bed had certainly been occupied. Thrown
across the counterpane lay the nightgown he had worn. I took it up and
saw some spots on it. I looked at them a little closer. They were spots
of blood.

CHAPTER V.

THE first amazement and alarm produced by this discovery deprived me of
my presence of mind. Without stopping to think what I ought to do
first, I ran back to the servants' hall, calling out that something had
happened to my master.

All the household hurried directly into the Red Room, Josephine among
the rest. I was first brought to my senses, as it were, by observing the
strange expression of her countenance when she saw the bed-gown and the
empty room. All the other servants were bewildered and frightened. She
alone, after giving a little start, recovered herself directly. A look
of devilish satisfaction broke out on her face, and she left the room
quickly and quietly, without exchanging a word with any of us. I saw
this, and it aroused my suspicions. There is no need to mention what
they were, for, as events soon showed, they were entirely wide of the
mark.

Having come to myself a little, I sent them all out of the room except
the coachman. We two then examined the place.

The Red Room was usually occupied by visitors. It was on the ground
floor, and looked out into the garden. We found the window-shutters,
which I had barred overnight, open, but the window itself was down. The
fire had been out long enough for the grate to be quite cold. Half the
bottle of brandy had been drunk. The carpet-bag was gone. There were no
marks of violence or struggling anywhere about the b