e said, taking the sixpence he gave her.

Throughout the rest of the day he sat alone, still thinking and
brooding. When evening came he looked impatiently at his watch. He was
anxious to see the evening newspapers.

The old woman did not come till seven o'clock.

"Here are the papers," she said; "anything you want me to do?"

"Yes, go out and buy a chop, and then bring it back and grill it."

The woman took the money for the chop, nodded, and went away without a
word. Leicester opened one of the newspapers eagerly.

He had no need to search long for what he wanted to find. Almost the
first paragraph which caught his eye was about himself. He laughed aloud
as he read it. Truly, it was a grim joke.

"This morning, at early dawn, as a police constable was passing over
Blackfriars Bridge, he looked over the parapet and saw something which
appeared to him as a strange-looking object lying on one of the steps
which lead down to the river. On going nearer, he found it was the body
of a dead man, which to all appearance had been in the river some time,
and had been carried to the steps by the outgoing tide, and left
stranded there. The constable whistled, and was immediately joined by
two others. The body was taken to the ---- mortuary. On examination, two
proofs of the man's identity were found. The first was a letter, and the
other a handkerchief bearing the deceased's name in the corner. But for
these two things it would have been impossible to identify him, as the
face is distorted and swollen beyond all recognition. It is with great
regret that we have to state that both the letter and the handkerchief
bore the name of Radford Leicester. Many of our readers will have known
Mr. Radford Leicester by repute. After a brilliant career at Oxford, he
eventually became Parliamentary candidate for Taviton, and many
prophesied that his splendid abilities would take him high in the
councils of the nation. He became engaged to a charming young lady of
wealth and position, but although the wedding-day was fixed, the
marriage never took place. Whatever the reason for this, it is believed
that it unhinged the late gentleman's mind. Since the sad circumstances
which took place in Taviton, and which were recorded in the daily press
some time ago, Mr. Leicester has not been seen, and until the sad
discovery of this morning, no one had any idea of his whereabouts. The
deceased gentleman was a man of few friends, and until his engageme