“There had been a man by the name of Goodwin drowned that day. The doctor took me into the boat, and rowed down to the cliff, where he had found the body wedged in among the rocks. We conveyed it back to the beach. We then went to the doctor’s office, where I wrote the letter to Dorning, and he wrote something--I don’t know what. He gave me a suit of his clothes, and a draft on New York for three thousand dollars, the first instalment of the reward. I put on the clothes, and we returned to the beach. The garments were removed from the corpse, and mine substituted for them. My wallet, porte-monnaie, and all the contents of my pockets were left upon the body. Even the rings upon my fingers were transferred to the hand of the dead man. “To my horror the doctor cut off the head of the corpse, tied it up in his handkerchief, and put it into the boat. He said this was to prevent any one from supposing the remains were not mine. We then took the body out into the channel a little way, fastened a fifty-six pound weight we found in the boat to it, and sunk it with a rope. He fastened a stone to the end of the rope, and threw it overboard.” “What was that for?” “Dr. Lynch said after the body had laid there a month or so, there could be no possibility that any friend of the deceased would recognize it. He intended to make everything perfectly sure. He meant to fish up the rope some night, and let the body be found, and it would satisfy all that I was dead. When all this was done, we left the island, landing near the Point. I left him there, and walked ten miles before morning. At East Summerville I hired a boy to drive me to Newington, in his father’s wagon. At this place I took the morning train for Boston, keeping out of sight in the cars, to avoid being recognized by any one from Poppleton. I took the first steamer for Liverpool, and made my way to Italy, where I resided most of the time till my return two months ago.” The absorbing interest of these narratives had thrown the eminent trustees entirely into the shade; but when they were finished, Mr. Lester proceeded to hand the securities to Eugene, which he did with the utmost precision and formality. “Mr. Lester, as a thank offering for the blessings this night has confirmed to me, not the least of which is my wife, I purpose to carry out the original intentions of my uncle, so far as the charitable institutions are concerned,” said Eugene. “You astonish me, Mr. Hungerford!” exclaimed the chairman of the trustees, who might, with entire truth, have added that he believed Eugene was crazy.