They parted at the pier, and Eugene, sending his horse up to the stable by Dick, pulled over to The Great Bell. CHAPTER XVIII. EVIDENCE WANTED. Mr. Richard Birch was not a philosopher in the worldly sense of the term. He was too sensitive and high-spirited to be a philosopher. Undoubtedly he would have been more comfortable and contented if he had been. The suspicions of Eugene Hungerford had annoyed him almost beyond endurance; and although common sense assured him that his friend was still a friend, and that there was abundant cause for doubt, he was not willing to accept the alternative; he was not willing that any one should think it possible for him to have selfish motives, and to be acting an underhanded part. Mr. Birch, therefore, was not satisfied. Though Eugene had been convicted of his error, though he had banished every suspicion that haunted his mind, Mr. Birch felt that he had not yet made the triumphant vindication of the integrity of his purpose which his sensitiveness demanded. Not only in the partial eyes of his friend, but in those of all the world, must he be spotless and unsuspected. If Mr. Richard Birch had been a philosopher, he might have been content to believe himself that he was without reproach, and leave to time and circumstances the work of removing the stain which rested upon his good name. He drove Eugene’s horse up to the hotel stable, and left him there. He was thinking what evidence he could procure to establish the two facts that he was not the person with Buckstone just before the murder, and that Dr. Bilks was the person. These two points were as clear in his own mind as though all the solid men of the county had sworn to them in open court. It would be very tedious to follow Mr. Birch in his patient and laborious search after facts during the remainder of that day, and all of that evening, because he spoke with more than a hundred persons, and examined every foot of the shore from the Port to the Point. If Mr. Richard Birch was not a philosopher, he was sometimes a logician, and he had a prejudice in favor of beginning at the root of a matter. It was evident to his discerning and logical mind, that Mr. Buckstone must have come into Poppleton before he was murdered within its territorial limits; and if he did come into the town, somebody saw him, or ought to have seen him there. Thus far no such individual had been seen or heard from. Ross Kingman and Mary appeared to be the only persons--besides the stranger--to whom the murdered man had manifested himself. The diligent and interested inquirer into the truth was not willing to accept this conclusion, which is another proof that he was not a philosopher.