together. The effect of this arrangement was, that every convulsive motion of his lower limbs, and every effort to place his feet upon the floor, drew the knot tighter at the neck." "But could he have bound himself in this way?" "I see no impossibility in the case. He had but to tie his ankles, then bending his knees, to place the slip-knot around his throat; finally, having secured the other extremity and surely, the will being made up, there was no difficulty in all this-then to roll from the bed." "It is possible, I admit," said the doctor; "but let us look about us a little." So saying, as it was now broad day, he extinguished the light, and walking to the window, drew aside the curtain. "Ha! what's this?" he exclaimed, pointing as he spoke to the plain impression of a muddy foot frozen on the piazza roof upon which the window opened. "But I discover no similar prints inside. Ah, now I see it all; the villain removed his boots for fear of the noise. And look here, on the window-sill, where the two boots were put down together until his return. A large foot he had too; let us take the dimensions: twelve inches by four. Come, suppose we go below now." As they passed the door of the adjoining room, Middleton paused a moment. "How is the Colonel, Mrs. Montgomery?" "He opened his eyes a few minutes ago, doctor, looked around, but is now fallen into a gentle slumber." Going along further, they met a young lady. 66 Ah, doctor," she exclaimed, "what is all this stir about?" "An attempt has been made, Miss Lucy, to kill the Colonel." "To kill my uncle! And my mother?" "You will find her nursing him in the room adjoining his own; but we must endeavor to trace the murderer." With this, Mercer, Skinner and he bowed and walked on. Along the bottom of the piazza, by one of whose columns the assassin seemed to have descended, was a grass walk. Here they were at first at fault. Mercer and Skinner followed what they thought a track leading towards the front of the house, but they had just lost it when they were drawn back by the calls of Middleton, who had taken, as the most natural course, a walk which intersected the other at right angles, and led by the wall of the old grave-yard to a corn-field. At the edge of the latter he perceived plain footsteps answering in size to those on the roof. The crust formed by the frost had evidently been broken no long time previous. They followed the trail thus gained across the wide corn-field, then over a narrow meadow to the edge of a small stream, and along this to a public road; here they were again at fault. Mercer thought the track turned to the right, and Middleton assented, but Skinner remarked that these footprints were probably those of some chance traveller that morning, and the supposition was confirmed when they perceived them also on the left side of the run, and leading in the same direction as on the other. Middleton suggested that the man might not have got into the road here, but kept along the inside of the fence; and clambering back to make investigation, found a spot where he thought the assassin in the darkness had walked directly through the water. His companions came to the place, but were not satisfied of his correctness until they discovered on the opposite side the impression of one large foot in a bank of sand which the water did not cover. Yes, we have it now," exclaimed young Skinner; "that's the right foot; the other must have been put on this flat stone. And see! here the steps go along the narrow turning-row next the fence." With renewed zeal they now proceeded onward, following the footprints in this direction for a distance of two or three hundred yards, then crossing the fence, up the road a few yards more, and after that into another corn-field on the opposite side. Through this the track was very plainly marked, though pursuing a rather winding course. It terminated at a broad fence which formed the inclosure of a yard in the rear of a small frame house. There was a shed at the side of the yard, and in the corner of this shed they found a pair of large boots carelessly thrown together. The boots were heavily incrusted with mud, and corresponded with the dimensions taken by the doctor on Colonel Trenchard's window-sill. There was no one yet stirring in the house, and the party, leaving the boots, withdrew to the outside for consultation. cer. "Whose house is this?" asked Mr. Mer- the fairer portion of the assembly as to the masculine, "Young Randolph's," replied Skinner; "Stephen Randolph's-Colonel Trenchard's nephew." "This deed cannot, of course, have been done with his connivance," said Mercer. "Why, I don't know," rejoined the over"These are his boots, for I have seen him wear them." seer. Jack Stephen Randolph made his greetings rapidly and with a tone in keeping with the boisterous mirth that prevailed, and then turning to the host, he said, "So, Dave, my old fellow, your son Jack's not here?" "No, he hasn't got home yet." "Hurrah! then I've won the bet! and I were determined to have a share of your sport, and left Fuller's-away back of Jumping Run,' you know-just an hour and forty minutes after midnight; he took "the upper road, and I the lower. As we started, he bet me ten dollars he would be here first. But, pshaw! he hadn't my Nancy to ride. I have been to my house, and have walked up from there here quite a step." "I am unwilling to suspect Mr. Randolph," observed Middleton; "yet it is but too true that Colonel Trenchard and he had an angry conversation together, and Randolph is"Violent in temper, you would say," interrupted Mercer. "I know it; but this very impetuosity is incompatible with the cool, cowardly malignity of such an act as this." "Yet this present evidence," suggested Middleton. "True," answered the other; "it cannot be denied that even if inconclusive, it affords ground for very grave suspicion. Young Randolph is Trenchard's nearest relative." "He is," said the doctor, "and unless cut off by a will, his heir." Well," said Mercer, after a long pause, "I see not what else we can do, than go to a magistrate and get a warrant for his arrest. Who is nearest ?" "Squire Selden," answered Skinner. "He will do very well. And the sooner we are off the better. Come." CHAPTER II. IN David Chapman's house, which stood at the upper end of the little village of Delviton, the fiddle was going merrily all night. In those lusty old days, when gentlemen and ladies were men and women, the parties or frolics-the more appropriate term for those lively merry-makings-commenced in the afternoon ere candles were needed, and oftentimes lasted until the morning sun had long mocked their feeble glimmer. At Chapman's, persons were coming and going all night. One of those who arrived latest was a young man whose fine person and handsome countenance, though dashed, the one with a certain careless freedom of motion, and the other with a wild and sometimes dare-devil expression, seemed to make him an object of much attention, as well to "You have been smart, indeed," said Chapman; "it must be full fifteen miles from Fuller's, and very uncertain riding till the moon rose." I "You didn't cross the 'deep ford' surely in the dark?" This was spoken by a third person, a short, substantially-built man, with a rubicund face, whose features seemed put together to represent the very ideal of jollity and fun. "Ah, Sandy Leach, is that you? But I did take the short-cut, and through the deep ford too. It was plaguy dark, and the boiling hole below croaked mightily, as if it wanted to give me a shake; but I can't be drowned, you know-I hope I'm not born to be hung. Here's Jack Chapman, however. Well, sir, you have that change ready, I suppose." "You've beat me, sure enough, Steve," said the young man who now entered; "but you mustn't give your mare Nancy all the credit of it. My saddle-girth broke as I was galloping down the Toilsome,' and I had a nice pitch against the rocks. I'd have been later than this if a big darkey-what's-hisname's Jim-hadn't caught my horse. But I'll be into dad's till to-morrow,-I give the old man fair notice, you see, I'll open the till and make free with an X. So you may consider our account settled up square in preparation for another race, and, if you choose, another bet." "Ah, Steve," cried that laughing individual, Sandy Leach, "you will soon be rich at this rate. And doubly lucky you are too, The lady, when this explanation was confirmed by Randolph in person, accepted the offered partner very graciously, and as he took her hand, smiled upon him with evident pleasure. "Hold, Miss Ellen," cried Leach; "that sweet smile, and the still sweeter words that are going to follow it, belong to me. Stephen has made you over in full, surrendered all right and title; but I'll be liberal”—a graceful wave of the hands attended this declaration-"I'll be very liberal, and allow him this one cotillion with you." for all the girls are setting their caps for you. | "I will, Steve, on condition that if she refuses me, you will allow me to ask for you." "Well, you may." 66 "Go around, then," said Leach, "into the little back room, and you can overhear the dialogue without being noticed." "Come, Steve," said Jack Chapman, taking his arm, "let's see what the old chap is after." "I am hardly certain that it would be right," replied Randolph, without yielding to his gesture of solicitation. "It is well enough to joke about the matter among ourselves, but we should not trifle with the girl's feelings." แ "Heigho! then you really have the vanity to believe her in love with you?" "Pshaw!" said Randolph, his composure a little disturbed; "go ahead, I'll follow." When they had reached their station, Leach was standing before the young lady. "Lovely Miss Ellen, you seem to be lonesome," he commenced, with a simper; "may I have the honor to invite you to dance the next cotillion?" "Dance with you, sir?" said she, turning up her pretty nose contemptuously; "I must first be certain that you know how to dance. Come, let us have a forward-two on the floor here. Look, girls; see Mr. Leach practise his steps." "You mistake, Miss Mills," answered Sandy Leach, pretending to blush; "I come to engage your hand for Mr. Randolph, who will be here presently. Ah, there he is now. Come, Steve." 66 How, Mr. Randolph ?" said Ellen quite sharply, for old Leach was not much in error when he said she was attached to the dashing young man; "have you been giving 66 all my Not so, Miss Mills; I only gave interest with you. I was well aware that this was nothing at all; had it been equal to the weight of a straw, I should have sought a worthier person to bestow so valuable a present upon than an incorrigible old scamp like Alexander Leach." The general manner with which this was said seemed to express merely a lively jest, but there was something in the tone that rung out like earnest. And afterwards, when he led the pretty girl towards the position they were to occupy in the dance, the few expressions which he had time for, though they were spoken with the utmost consideration and courtesy, served to teach his companion in time that if she should cherish an affection for him, she could not hope that it would be reciprocated. An artist who had witnessed the scene would have pronounced it one well worthy of his pencil; and Randolph, distinguished not more by his splendid person than by an air of native dignity from the unpolished throng around him, whilst the consciousness of a generous and manly purpose gave an expression of nobleness to his countenance, might easily have been taken as the realization of the most poetic conception of the Gentleman. The cotillion was over, and the couples composing it were mingled together through the room, when a constable, named Forcer, entered, and advancing indirectly to Stephen Randolph, laid his hand upon his arm as if to arrest him. The young man laughed good-humoredly and said: "This is the best joke yet; but you ought to have had a warrant ready filled out, with the signature of Justice | the young man more calmly. "I will walk Shallow." "I am sorry, sir, but my warrant is a more real one," replied the constable, extending a paper. "Pretty well acted indeed, most forcible Forcer," said Randolph, without looking at the document; "but Sandy (for I suppose he made up the joke) ought to have got some one else to play the constable: you are so practised in the trade that the prosy tone will stick to you. You don't mouth'it off with the sonorous bluster that the Englishman Dunlap gave it at the Richmond theatre last winter. But what's the amount? If it is not excessive, I may coax these liberal people to give me the benefit of a collection. Or suppose I pay it with a check on a bank? You may name any one from Boston to New-Orleans, for I believe I have equal credit in all." "But, Mr. Randolph, I assure you there is no jesting in the matter. You know that your uncle's life has been attempted." "The mischief I do! But what then?" "You have been charged with committing the act; this warrant is issued by Mr. Selden, to whose house you will please accompany ine." "Sir!" said Randolph fiercely, "do you call me a murderer-the murderer of my uncle?-a pitiful wretch like you call Stephen Randolph murderer ?" "Remember, sir, that I am but the instrument of the law. You are my prisoner." As he spoke, the constable renewed the hold which he had relinquished during the con versation. But Randolph, exerting his prodigious strength, seized the man with one hand by the collar, and, first raising him clear from the floor, hurled him contemptuously away. "Gentlemen!" exclaimed Forcer, who was a resolute fellow, advancing a second time, "Gentlemen, I call upon you all to render your assistance." Randolph glared around. "Let him touch me that dares. Forcer! come not forward one step, for as sure as you are at this moment a breathing man, it will be at the peril of your life!" "Come, Stephen," said old Chapman soothingly, "it is the law, you know. Don't do violence. We'll all go along and see you fairly treated." แ "I won't be dragged as a felon," replied to Selden's of my own accord to examine intò this infamous accusation; but a finger's weight shall not be laid upon me." He took his hat and strode along in dogged silence, with the constable following close behind, and the crowd covering both sides. Just before they entered the magistrate's room, our acquaintance Mercer, who had come up the street from the opposite direction, also hurried in. We must explain that immediately after he and Middleton had made their deposition, and seen the warrant issued, they left Skinner in the Justice's office, and hurried away to visit Trenchard.. When they arrived, the old gentleman was sitting up, and greeted them thus: 66 'Ah, Mercer, my old friend, how do you do? Lucy tells me that you have been hunting on the fellow's track that tried to make me kick the bucket in so rascally a way this morning. Pah! any death before hanging; it makes me choke to think of it. But did you and the doctor find out any thing?" 66 Yes, sir; we have traced up the footprints to the house of Mr. Randolph, Trenchard's countenance altered a little at the mention of this name,] and have ascertained that they were made by some one wearing a pair of boots which belong to him and were found on his premises." "Well, has any thing further been done?" "A warrant has been issued for his arrest." "What! a nephew of mine charged with murder? But, sir, I beg you instantly to hasten to whatever magistrate has taken cognizance of the matter, and stay all future proceedings in it. It was a black man that did this outrage. I had time to observe that most distinctly." 66 But, my dear sir," said Dr. Middleton, "had not the law better take its regular course? Though another hand may have committed the act, is it not possible that he may be implicated?" and I "No, it is not possible, for he has the blood of the Trenchards in him. He's a wild, wasteful spendthrift, to be sure, sometimes reprove him severely-perhaps too severely-for his faults; but a deed like this-it is not in him, sir. Who is the magistrate ?" "Selden." "Run then to him, my dear Mercer, or if have replied with a name-Lucy Montgomery. If a stranger had sought to know why the florid beauty of the buxom village maidens seemed no longer to be held in highest esteem by their rustic beaux, not usually as fastidious, he would have ceased to wonder when he learned that their taste had been refined by the contemplation of a model of that highest style of beauty which is both material and spiritual, and, unlike either the voluptuousness of the Medicean Venus or the severity of the "Greek Slave," combines the perfections of both. Such beauty is synony mous with loveliness; and this word would best describe Lucy Montgomery. Ir has been mentioned, or ought to have been, that amidst the barbarous innovations and tokens of neglect that surrounded the The venerable pastor of Delviton once mansion of Trenchard, there were for all asked a little girl in the Sunday-school what about it gleams of correct taste. So much sort of beings angels are. Her reply was, of the once spacious lawn as had not been she thought they must be like her teacher irrecoverably devoted to cabbages and tobac--Miss Lucy Montgomery. The old man smiled at the answer, and the lady blushed, but joined in the sinile. We believe the child was not singular in the opinion. But Lucy was not perfect, and that she was aware of this is the best proof of her approach to perfection. co, was neatly fenced off to prevent the depredations of cattle and hogs, straying from the adjoining pasture. In the rear of the piazza, upon the floor of which the long windows of the sitting-room opened, was a pretty labyrinth of walks, with grassy margins, separating trimly-dressed beds, furnished with flowers and shrubbery appropriate to each season. In this little paradise were trellises and arbors, rudely made indeed, for old Ichabod was the builder, but so contrived that their very roughness and irregularity, contributed to the beauty of the whole effect, and seemed the result of design. Many other things there were incongruous with the prevailing spirit of the place; some remarkable, and noticed by the most ordinary beholder; others more minute, and requiring true taste and discrimination to distinguish them. If one had inquired to whom these charming improvements were owing, the unvarying answer would have been-Lucy Montgomery. Notwithstanding the air of loneliness that surrounded the mansion, it was frequented by many a visitor; and though Colonel Trenchard, when in the best spirits, was never a very entertaining companion, and though no drawing-room centre-table, strewed with an ever new variety of magazines and engravings, nor library, to feed the literary palate with a more substantial and sober abundance, relieved the tediousness of the day, no guest found his hours to drag heavily. If you had asked one of them to account for his enjoyment, he would only Frederick Montgomery died three years previous to the date at which we have chosen to commence our narrative, and left his widow and only child, as well as his small property, to the charge of his old friend, Colonel Trenchard. Before the latter, however, had time to enter upon his duties as executor, that property, by a fall in the stock in which it was invested, was annihilated. Trenchard, with his characteristic generosity, at once insisted that Mrs. Montgomery and Lucy should consider his house their home. What made the arrangement more natural was the fact that Colonel Trenchard's wife, who had been dead a number of years, was a sister of Mrs. Montgomery, and on this ground the old gentleman required Lucy to style him uncle. It is not to be supposed that so charming a person as Miss Montgomery could be without suitors. There were two who were thought to throw the rest into the shadeone the handsome, dashing Stephen Randolph, the other the quiet Dr. Middleton, who was supposed to be compensated for the personal advantages of his rival by more consummate skill. There was another who would have been an aspirant for her hand, had not constitutional timidity prevented his making known |