er may be his failings so far as liquor is
concerned, I wholly acquit him of all guilty knowledge of my nephew and
umbrella."

Too apoplectic with suffocating emotions to speak, Mr. DIBBLE foamed
slightly at the month and tore out a lock or two of his hair.

"And I believe that my unhappy pupil, Mr. PENDRAGON, is as guiltless,"
responded the puzzled Gospeler. "I do not deny that he had a quarrel
with Mr. DROOD, in the earlier part of their acquaintance; but, as you,
Mr. BUMSTEAD, yourself, admit, their meeting at the Christmas-Eve dinner
was amicable; as I firmly believe their last mysterious parting to have
been."

The organist raised his fine head from the shadow of his right hand, in
which it had rested for a moment, and said, gravely: "I cannot deny,
gentlemen, that I have had my terrible distrusts of you all. Even now,
while, in my deepest heart, I release Mr. DIBBLE and Mr. PENDRAGON from
all suspicion, I cannot entirely rid my mind of the impression that you,
Mr. SIMPSON, in an hour when, from undue indulgence in stimulants, you
were not wholly yourself, may have been tempted, by the superior
fineness of the alpaca, to slay a young man inexpressibly dear to us
all."

"Great heavens, Mr. BUMSTEAD!" panted the Gospeler, livid with horror,
"I never--"

--"Not a word, sir!" interrupted the Ritualistic organist,--"not a word,
Reverend sir, or it may be used against you at your trial."

Pausing not to see whether the equally overwhelmed old lawyer followed
him, the horribly astounded Gospeler burst precipitately from the house
in wild dismay, and was presently hurrying past the pauper
burial-ground. Whether he had been drawn to that place by some one of
the many mystic influences moulding the fates of men, or because it
happened to be on his usual way home, let students of psychology and
topography decide. Thereby he was hurrying, at any rate, when a shining
object lying upon the ground beside the broken fence, caused him to stop
suddenly and pick up the glittering thing. It was an oroide watch,
marked E.D.; and, a few steps further on, a coppery-looking seal-ring
also attracted the finder's grasp. With these baubles in his hand the
genial clergyman was walking more slowly onward, when it abruptly
occurred to him, that his possession of such property might possibly
subject him to awkward consequences if he did not immediately have
somebody arrested in advance. Perspiring freely at the thought, he
hurried to his