west entrance I found the door open--swinging to and fro
slowly in the fresh morning breeze. I had myself locked and bolted that
door after admitting my fair friend at eleven o'clock. A vague dread of
something wrong stole its way into my mind. I hurried back to the stables.

I looked into my own room. It was empty. I went to the harness room. Not a
sign of the woman was there. I returned to my room, and approached the
door of the Englishman's bedchamber. Was it possible that she had remained
there during my absence? An unaccountable reluctance to open the door made
me hesitate, with my hand on the lock. I listened. There was not a sound
inside. I called softly. There was no answer. I drew back a step, still
hesitating. I noticed something dark moving slowly in the crevice between
the bottom of the door and the boarded floor. Snatching up the candle from
the table, I held it low, and looked. The dark, slowly moving object was a
stream of blood!

That horrid sight roused me. I opened the door. The Englishman lay on his
bed--alone in the room. He was stabbed in two places--in the throat and in
the heart. The weapon was left in the second wound. It was a knife of
English manufacture, with a handle of buckhorn as good as new.

I instantly gave the alarm. Witnesses can speak to what followed. It is
monstrous to suppose that I am guilty of the murder. I admit that I am
capable of committing follies: but I shrink from the bare idea of a crime.
Besides, I had no motive for killing the man. The woman murdered him in my
absence. The woman escaped by the west entrance while I was talking to my
mistress. I have no more to say. I swear to you what I have here written
is a true statement of all that happened on the morning of the first of
March.

Accept, sir, the assurance of my sentiments of profound gratitude and
respect.

JOSEPH RIGOBERT.

LAST LINES.--ADDED BY PERCY FAIRBANK

Tried for the murder of Francis Raven, Joseph Rigobert was found Not
Guilty; the papers of the assassinated man presented ample evidence of the
deadly animosity felt toward him by his wife.

The investigations pursued on the morning when the crime was committed
showed that the murderess, after leaving the stable, had taken the
footpath which led to the river. The river was dragged--without result. It
remains doubtful to this day whether she died by drowning or not. The one
thing certain is--that Alicia Warlock was never seen again.

So-