"On the other hand," Mr. Basket continued, "if we take the darker view, that this man had entered the fish-pond not for purposes of rescue, but--dreadful thought--to hold the victim under water, why should he have exposed himself to detection by coming to the theatre? Why, in fine, should he desire to communicate at all with me?" "Perhaps," suggested Mrs. Basket, who had been listening while she knitted, "his conscience pricked him." "My dear Maria!" began her husband testily. But at this moment the house rang with an alarm upon the front-door bell. The poor lady stood up fluttering, white in the face. "You must answer it, Elihu! I couldn't, not if you was to offer me twice the reward at this moment--and him standing there, perhaps, or his ghost, like Peter out of prison!" But their visitor proved to be the Chief Constable himself. He, too, was pale with excitement, and he held in his hand a copy of the Sherborne _Mercury_. "Your friend--" he began. "Well?" "He is dead. The mystery is not, indeed, explained, but the issue of it appears too certain. I was walking along old Town Street when the Sherborne Rider came along. He gave me my copy, and see here!"--The Chief Constable spread the paper under the lamp and pointed to this paragraph: "_Operations off Boulogne_. By advices received from Admiral Lord Keith, the first experiment made with the new engines of destruction (of which so much was hoped) against the vessels moored off Boulogne pier, has not resulted in an unqualified success. On the 15th ult. one of these catamarans, as they are called, was launched against the foe from the _Vesuvius_ bomb. The machinery had been set in motion, and the bomb's boat, having towed it into range, was preparing to return to the ship, when a shot from the shore batteries, falling close, precipitated our gallant fellows into the water. We are happy to add that they were all picked up by the boats of the squadron with the exception of one seaman, recently shipped at Plymouth. His name is given as Hymen; and the Captain of the _Vesuvius_ reports that he joined as a volunteer. "We need hardly remind our readers that the name of Hymen has figured prominently for a fortnight past in our advertisement columns. If this gallant but unfortunate man should prove to be none other than Solomon Hymen, Esquire, Chief Magistrate of Troy, Cornwall, whose recent mysterious disappearance has cast a gloom over the small borough, we commiserate our friends in the West while envying them this exemplar of an unselfish patriotism. _Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori_."