When I returned to the
inn, the constable was there--and he and the police took the matter into
their own hands."

"You have nothing more to tell us?"

"Nothing more."

CHAPTER XXV. "J. B."

Mr. Rook having completed his evidence, the police authorities were the
next witnesses examined.

They had not found the slightest trace of any attempt to break into
the house in the night. The murdered man's gold watch and chain were
discovered under his pillow. On examining his clothes the money was
found in his purse, and the gold studs and sleeve buttons were left in
his shirt. But his pocketbook (seen by witnesses who had not yet been
examined) was missing. The search for visiting cards and letters had
proved to be fruitless. Only the initials, "J. B.," were marked on his
linen. He had brought no luggage with him to the inn. Nothing could be
found which led to the discovery of his name or of the purpose which had
taken him into that part of the country.

The police examined the outhouse next, in search of circumstantial
evidence against the missing man.

He must have carried away his knapsack, when he took to flight, but
he had been (probably) in too great a hurry to look for his razor--or
perhaps too terrified to touch it, if it had attracted his notice. The
leather roll, and the other articles used for his toilet, had been
taken away. Mr. Rook identified the blood-stained razor. He had noticed
overnight the name of the Belgian city, "Liege," engraved on it.

The yard was the next place inspected. Foot-steps were found on the
muddy earth up to the wall. But the road on the other side had been
recently mended with stones, and the trace of the fugitive was lost.
Casts had been taken of the footsteps; and no other means of discovery
had been left untried. The authorities in London had also been
communicated with by telegraph.

The doctor being called, described a personal peculiarity, which he
had noticed at the post-mortem examination, and which might lead to the
identification of the murdered man.

As to the cause of death, the witness said it could be stated in
two words. The internal jugular vein had been cut through, with such
violence, judging by the appearances, that the wound could not have been
inflicted, in the act of suicide, by the hand of the deceased person. No
other injuries, and no sign of disease, was found on the body. The one
cause of death had been Hemorrhage; and the one peculiarity which