"Ah, I thought you'd say so," cried the other; "but that won't do. Where's the murderer?" "Vy, I committed him." "Where's the prisoner, Dancy Parkins?" "Vy, I committed him along mit the other." "Where's the informant, that vagabond--(I reckon, he'll be a witness for the Commonwealth)--that stripe-coat fellow, Stirk--Stick,--no,--Sterling's his name?" "Vy, I committed him, too." "The devil you did? Well, where are the officers, the soldiers, the volunteers, and all the rest that were present?" "Vy, chasing the refugees, to pe sure." "Well, so I thought. Now, I'll tell you what you'll have to do: just send off as fast as you can for that fellow Sterling, and Dancy, and half a dozen others, and adjourn till they come; which will give me time to run down to the Traveller's Rest, and administer on old Elsie Bell's estate, or see what there is to administer on." "Administer on old Elsie? fat the tyfel! is the old fitch teadt?" "As dead as a herring," said Affidavy; "and there's another job for you. They say, some one told her, the defunct here, Colonel Falconer's son, was shot by young Gilbert; and the harridan screeched, and fell dead with fright." "Mine soul!" said the justice, "they're all tying. There's the Captain's daughter here,--they say she's tying too. I vant to take her teposition; but Dr. Muller says she can n'ither speak nor hear." "Well," said the attorney, "you see there's nothing to be done here at present. So, adjourn's the word, and down to hold an inquest on old Elsie. She has been looking up in the world lately, and they say she'll leave something. I intend therefore to administer, or see about it--and by the way, Squire, we may discover something there in relation to the murderer. He lived in her house; and, there's no doubt, the tories made it a place of rendezvous. We can come up here and finish afterwards." "Fell, I don't know," said Schlachtenschlager; "it's all vone, except for the trouple of going and coming. But fere's Jake Musser?" he added, in sudden alarm; "I declare ve're not all here!--Fy, Jake, fere have you peen?" he continued, as the individual, whose absence he had just discovered, entered the apartment. "Vy, at Elsie Pell's;--I stopped a moment to get a trink; but old Elsie vas sick, and the plack girl vas in a fear, and"---- "Sick!" cried Affidavy, "a'n't the old goose dead? 'Pshaw! why then we'll go on with the inquest, and say no more about it. I thought there was a job there for somebody; but, it seems, it is only for the doctor. Well, Squire, are you ready?" "Yes," said the official; "but now, Mr. Affidafy, fat shall we do for witnesses?" "Tush," said the man of law, "that's neither here nor there." "Fy, you said, it wouldn't do mitout 'em!" "Oh, that's according to circumstances, and here we have circumstances enough to hang the whole county."