would no doubt play prominent parts, and
from which they involuntarily shrank, made their appearance at the
table heavy-eyed and sorrowful.

As the morning advanced, hundreds of the villagers, prompted by idle
curiosity and that inherent love of excitement which characterizes
all communities, visited the scene of the murder, and as they gazed
vacantly around, or pointed out the place where the body had been
found, many and varied opinions were expressed as to the manner in
which the deed was committed, and of the individuals who were
concerned in the perpetration of the crime.

A rumor, vague at first, but assuming systematic proportions as the
various points of information were elucidated, passed through the
crowd, and was eagerly accepted as the solution of the seeming
mystery.

It appeared that several loungers around the depot at Stamford, a
town about eight miles distant, on the night previous had observed
two conspicuous-looking foreigners, who had reached the depot at
about ten o'clock. They seemed to be exhausted and out of breath, as
though they had been running a long distance, and in broken English,
scarcely intelligible, had inquired (in an apparently excited
manner), when the next train was to leave for New York. There were
several cabmen and hangers-on who usually make a railroad depot their
headquarters about, and by them the two men were informed that there
were no more trains running to New York that night. This information
seemed to occasion them considerable annoyance and disappointment;
they walked up and down the platform talking and gesticulating
excitedly, and separating ever and anon, when they imagined
themselves noticed by those who happened to be at the station.

Soon after this an eastern-bound train reached the depot, and these
same individuals, instead of going to New York, took passage on this
train. They did not go into the car together, and after entering took
seats quite apart from each other. The conductor, who had mentioned
these circumstances, and who distinctly remembered the parties, as
they had especially attracted his attention by their strange
behavior, recollected that they did not present any tickets, but paid
their fares in money. He also remembered that they were odd-looking
and acted in an awkward manner. They both left the train at New
Haven, and from thence all trace of them was lost for the present.

Upon this slight foundation, a wonderful edifice of speculation