A minute search of the house of the innkeeper followed; but none of
the stolen articles were at first discovered, and indeed nothing that
could excite suspicion, except a larger amount of money than might
perhaps have been expected. At last, as the search was on the point of
being given up, there was found in one of the drawers a
memorandum-book. This was one of the articles mentioned in the list of
Madame Andrecht's effects; and, on inspection, there could be no doubt
that this was the one referred to--for several pages bore private
markings in her own handwriting, and in a side-pocket were found two
letters bearing her address. Beyond this, none of the missing,
articles could be traced in the house.
The persons apprehended were severally examined. Nicholas
D---- answered every question with the utmost frankness and unconcern.
He admitted the truth of the woolspinner's story of his courtship, his
nightly scrambles over the hedge, and his subsequent visits to his
intended by means of the forage-boat. The handkerchief he admitted to
be his property. When and where he had lost it he could not say. It
had disappeared about six months before, and he had thought no more
about it. When the pocket-book which had been found was laid before
him, he gave it back without embarrassment, declared he knew nothing
of it, had never had it in his possession, and shook his head with a
look of surprise and incredulity when told where it had been found.
The other members of his household appeared equally unembarrassed:
they expressed even greater astonishment than he had done, that the
pocket-book, with which they declared themselves entirely
unacquainted, should have been found in the place where it was. The
young wife burst out into passionate exclamations: she protested it
was impossible; or if the book was really found on the spot, that it
was inexplicable to her how it came there. The Saturday before, (her
apprehension having taken place on a Thursday,) she had brushed out
the press from top to bottom--had cleared out the contents, and
nothing of the kind was then to be found there.
The behaviour of the married pair and their inmates made, on the
whole, a favourable impression on the judge who conducted the inquiry.
Their calmness appeared to him the result of innocence; their
character was good; their house was orderly and quiet, and none of the
articles of value had been discovered in their possession. True, they
might have disposed of them elsewhere; but the articles were numerous,
and of a kind likely to lead to detection. Why should they have
preserved the comparatively worthless article found in the drawer,
instead of burning or destroying it? Why, above all, preserve it in a
spot so likely to be discovered, if they had so carefully made away
with every trace of the rest?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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