cide; a supposition which was strongly
supported by the razors having been found thus displaced and removed
from their case. Two persons had probably been engaged in the attempt,
one watching by the sleeping man, and ready to strike him in case of
his awakening suddenly, while the other was procuring the razors and
employed in inflicting the fatal gash, so as to make it appear to have
been the act of the murdered man himself. It was said that while the
juror was making this suggestion Sir Arthur changed colour. There
was nothing, however, like legal evidence to implicate him, and the
consequence was that the verdict was found against a person or persons
unknown, and for some time the matter was suffered to rest, until,
after about five months, my father received a letter from a person
signing himself Andrew Collis, and representing himself to be the
cousin of the deceased. This letter stated that his brother, Sir
Arthur, was likely to incur not merely suspicion but personal risk,
unless he could account for certain circumstances connected with
the recent murder, and contained a copy of a letter written by the
deceased, and dated the very day upon the night of which the murder
had been perpetrated. Tisdall's letter contained, among a great deal
of other matter, the passages which follow:--

"I have had sharp work with Sir Arthur: he tried some of his stale
tricks, but soon found that _I_ was Yorkshire, too; it would not
do--you understand me. We went to the work like good ones, head,
heart, and soul; and in fact, since I came here, I have lost no time.
I am rather fagged, but I am sure to be well paid for my hardship; I
never want sleep so long as I can have the music of a dice-box, and
wherewithal to pay the piper. As I told you, he tried some of his
queer turns, but I foiled him like a man, and, in return, gave him
more than he could relish of the genuine _dead knowledge_. In short,
I have plucked the old baronet as never baronet was plucked before; I
have scarce left him the stump of a quill. I have got promissory notes
in his hand to the amount of ----; if you like round numbers, say
five-and-twenty thousand pounds, safely deposited in my portable
strong box, alias, double-clasped pocket-book. I leave this ruinous
old rat-hole early on to-morrow, for two reasons: first, I do not
want to play with Sir Arthur deeper than I think his security would
warrant; and, secondly, because I am safer a hundred miles away from
Si