of an eyewitness;
and not one murderer in ten could be convicted without the help
of circumstantial evidence.

"The next link, however, is taken up by an ear-witness; and, in
some cases, the ear is even better evidence than the eye,--for
instance, as to the discharge of firearms,--for, by the eye
alone, we could not positively tell whether a pistol had gone
off or had but flashed in the pan. Well, then, gentlemen, a few
minutes after Mr. Gaunt was last seen alive,--which was by
Thomas Hayes,--Mrs. Ryder, who had retired to her bedroom,
heard the said Gaunt distinctly cry for help; she also heard a
pistol-shot discharged. This took place by the side of a lake
or large pond near the house, called the mere. Mrs. Ryder
alarmed the house, and she and the other servants proceeded to
her master's room. They found it bolted from the inside. They
broke it open. Mr. Gaunt had escaped by the window, as I have
already told you.

"Presently in comes the prisoner from out of doors. This was at
one o'clock in the morning. Now she appears to have seen at
once that she must explain her being abroad at that time, so
she told Mrs. Ryder she had been out--praying."

(Here some people laughed harshly, but were threatened severely, and
silenced.)

"Is that credible? Do people go out of doors at one o'clock in
the morning, to pray? Nay, but I fear it was to do an act that
years of prayer and penitence cannot efface.

"From that moment Mr. Gaunt was seen no more among living men.
And what made his disappearance the more mysterious was that he
had actually at this time just inherited largely from his
namesake, Mr. Gaunt of Biggleswade; and his own interest, and
that of the other legatees, required his immediate presence.
Mr. Atkins, the testator's solicitor, advertised for this
unfortunate gentleman; but he did not appear to claim his
fortune. Then plain men began to put this and that together,
and cried out, 'Foul play!'

"Justice was set in motion at last, but was embarrassed by the
circumstance that the body of the deceased could not be found.

"At last, Mr. Atkins, the solicitor, being unable to get the
estate I have mentioned administered, for want of proof of
Griffith Gaunt's decease, entered heartily in this affair, on
mere civil grounds. He