Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Mystery fiction
Before retiring to rest, the two gentlemen had paid the bill--intending
to leave the inn the first thing in the morning. The traveler with the
knapsack paid his share in money. The other unfortunate gentleman looked
into his purse, and found only a shilling and a sixpence in it. He asked
Mrs. Rook if she could change a bank-note. She told him it could be
done, provided the note was for no considerable sum of money. Upon that
he opened his pocketbook (which the witness described minutely) and
turned out the contents on the table. After searching among many Bank
of England notes, some in one pocket of the book and some in another, he
found a note of the value of five pounds. He thereupon settled his bill,
and received the change from Mrs. Rook--her husband being in another
part of the room, attending to the guests. She noticed a letter in an
envelope, and a few cards which looked (to her judgment) like visiting
cards, among the bank-notes which he had turned out on the table. When
she returned to him with the change, he had just put them back, and
was closing the pocketbook. She saw him place it in one of the breast
pockets of his coat.
The fellow-traveler who had accompanied him to the inn was present all
the time, sitting on the opposite side of the table. He made a remark
when he saw the notes produced. He said, “Put all that money back--don’t
tempt a poor man like me!” It was said laughing, as if by way of a joke.
Mrs. Rook had observed nothing more that night; had slept as soundly as
usual; and had been awakened when her husband knocked at the outhouse
door, according to instructions received from the gentlemen, overnight.
Three of the guests in the public room corroborated Mrs. Rook’s
evidence. They were respectable persons, well and widely known in that
part of Hampshire. Besides these, there were two strangers staying
in the house. They referred the coroner to their employers--eminent
manufacturers at Sheffield and Wolverhampton--whose testimony spoke for
itself.
The last witness called was a grocer in the village, who kept the
post-office.
On the evening of the 30th, a dark gentleman, wearing his beard, knocked
at the door, and asked for a letter addressed to “J. B., Post-office,
Zeeland.” The letter had arrived by that morning’s post; but, being
Sunday evening, the grocer requested that application might be made for
it the next morning. The stranger said the letter contained news, which
it was of importance to him to receive without delay. Upon this, the
grocer made an exception to customary rules and gave him the letter.
He read it by the light of the lamp in the passage. It must have been
short, for the reading was done in a moment. He seemed to think over it
for a while; and then he turned round to go out. There was nothing to
notice in his look or in his manner. The witness offered a remark on the
weather; and the gentleman said, “Yes, it looks like a bad night”--and
so went away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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