that
kept me out of this room on that fatal morning. Had I seen the woman's
face, this horrid crime would at least been spared its triumph. But I
was obliged to send Hetty, and she saw nothing strange in the woman,
though she received money from her hand, and--"

"Where is Hetty?" interrupted the doctor.

"She is married, and lives in the next town."

"So, so. Well, we must hunt her up to-morrow, and see what she has to
say about the matter now."

But we soon found ourselves too impatient to wait till the morrow, so
after we had eaten a good supper in a cheerful room, Dr. Kenyon mounted
his horse, and rode away to the farm house where Hetty lived. While he
was gone, Mr. Tamworth summoned up courage to re-enter that cave of
horror, and bring out the contents of the oak chest we had seen there.
These were mostly stuffs in a more or less good state of preservation,
and all the assistance they lent to the understanding of the tragedy
that mystified us was the fact that the chest contained nothing, nor the
room itself, of sufficient substance to help the wicked Urquhart in
giving weight to the box which he had emptied of its living freight.
This is doubtless the reason he resorted to the garden for the sand and
stone he found there.

Dr. Kenyon returned about midnight, and was met at the door by Mr.
Tamworth and myself.

"Well?" I cried, in great excitement.

"Just as I supposed," he returned. "She did not see the lady's face
either. The latter was in bed, and the girl took it for granted that the
arm and hand which reached her out a silver piece from between the bed
curtains were those of Mrs. Urquhart."

"My house is cursed!" was my sudden exclamation. "It has not only lent
itself to the success of the most demoniacal scheme that ever entered
into the heart of man, but it has kept its secret so long that all hope
of explaining its details or reaching the guilty must be abandoned."

"Not so," quoth Mr. Tamworth. "Though an old man, I dedicate myself to
this task. You will hear again of the Urquharts."

CHAPTER V.

AN INTERIM OF SUSPENSE.

MAY 5, 1791.

[Illustration: H]

How fearful! To hear a spade in the night and know that this spade is
digging a grave! I sit at my desk and listen to hear if any one in the
house has been aroused or is suspicious, and then I turn to the window
and try to pierce the gloom to see if anything can be discerned, from
the house, of the grewsome act now being p