xposed to danger,
but equally likely to contain articles of value. The same confusion
which enabled him to enter and conceal himself would have also enabled
him to withdraw and introduce his accomplice. This notion was rendered
probable by his insisting so strongly on my not opening the packet
within a certain time; had I opened it immediately, I might have
perceived that a deceit had been practised, and not have hoarded it in
that place of security which it was the villain's object to discover.
Hence, too, in opening the escritoire, he would naturally retake the
packet (which other plunderers might not have cared to steal), as well
as things of more real price,--naturally retake it, in order that his
previous imposition might not be detected, and that suspicion might
be cast upon those who would appear to have an interest in stealing a
packet which I believed to be so inestimably important.

What gave a still greater colour to this supposition was the fact that
none of the servants had seen Oswald leave the house, though many had
seen him enter. And what put his guilt beyond a doubt in the opinion of
many, was his sudden and mysterious disappearance. To my mind, all
these circumstances were not conclusive. Both the men seemed taller than
Oswald; and I knew that that confusion which was so much insisted upon,
had not--thanks to my singular fastidiousness in those matters--existed.
I was also perfectly convinced that Oswald could not have been hidden
in my room while I locked up the packet; and there was something in
the behaviour of the murderer utterly unlike that of a common robber
actuated by common motives.

All these opposing arguments were, however, of a nature to be deemed
nugatory by the world; and on the only one of any importance in their
estimation, namely, the height of Oswald being different from that
of the robbers, it was certainly very probable that, in a scene so
dreadful, so brief, so confused, I should easily be mistaken. Having
therefore once flowed in this direction, public opinion soon settled
into the full conviction that Oswald was the real criminal, and against
Oswald was the whole strength of inquiry ultimately, but still
vainly, bent. Some few, it is true, of that kind class who love family
mysteries, and will not easily forego the notion of a brother's guilt
for that of a mere vulgar housebreaker, still shook their heads and
talked of Gerald; but the suspicion was vague and partial, and it w