Mr. White would never say much to him, but just give him
the money and be kind to him, and tell him to come again when he needed
more; and indeed it seemed to me he was always coming, sir, and it used
to bother Mr. White, I am sure, for he seemed worried and out of sorts
after Mr. Winters had been there." He paused for a moment and then went
on. "That is all I wanted to say, but I thought I ought to tell you,
sir. I tried to see you after the trial, but you got away too soon, and
so I thought I would wait until you got through your dinner, and had
time to see me. So I came around now."

He had rattled on till he was out of breath, and now stood in some
embarrassment waiting for what I might have to say.

I sat looking at him. I was puzzled as to his character. Either the man
was simple and straightforward in nature and worked up at the moment to
a high pitch of nervous and pleasurable excitement over the murder, as
is apt to be the case with his class; or else he was a worse man and a
deeper one than I had conceived him to be.

"Sit down, Benton," I said at last, pointing to a chair opposite me;
"what you have told me is of much importance, and I want to talk to you
further about it."

"Yes, sir," he said, and sat down obediently. I felt I had a delicate
task in hand. I must on no account alarm him or in any way arouse his
suspicion, and yet the opportunity of questioning him was too good to
lose.

"It is very important," I continued, "that I should learn all I can of
Mr. White's habits. I knew him well, of course, but as his servant, you
knew more about him than any one else. How long, now, had you lived with
him?"

"More than a year," he answered.

"Did you know this Miss Stanton, who testified to-day?" I continued.

"Yes, sir, I did; he had been going with her ever since I knew him."

"Do you know whether he was in the habit of visiting her house often
late in the evening?"

"I think so, sir, but I do not know just how often. I used to take notes
for him to her house, and sometimes she would come to his rooms and take
supper with him."

"Did she have any key to his rooms?" was my next question.

He said he did not think so, because she always rang for admission when
he was there.

I inquired then if he knew of any one who had keys to White's room.

He said he did not think any one had except, probably, the landlady and
himself.

"I think," I said, "you testified that you found the door unlatched w