said one of the officials the man said the certainly not said the other and the first his statement but how can it be otherwise asked the or why was he so terrified at sight o the singing instrument of the law here he related the strange behaviour of the third stranger on entering the house can t understand it said the officer coolly all i know is that it is not the condemned man he s quite a different character from this one a fellow with dark hair and eyes rather good looking and with a musical bass voice that if the three strangers you heard it once you d never mistake as long as you lived why souls � twas the man in the what said the magistrate coming forward after inquiring particulars from the shepherd in the background haven t you got the man after all well sir said the he s the man we were in search of that s true and yet he s not the man we were in search of for the man we were in search of was not the man we wanted sir if you understand my way for twas the man in the chimney comer a pretty kettle of fish altogether said the magistrate you had better start for the other man at once the prisoner now spoke for the first time the mention of the man in the chimney comer seemed to have moved him as nothing else could do sir he said stepping forward to the magistrate take no more trouble about me the time is come when i may as well speak i have done nothing my crime is that the condemned man is my brother early this afternoon i left home at to tramp it all the way to to bid him farewell i was and called here to rest and ask the way when i opened the door i saw before me the very man my brother that i thought to see in the condemned cell at he was in this chimney comer and close to him so that the three strangers he could not have got out if he had tried was the who d come to take his life singing a song about it and not knowing that it was his victim who was close by joining in to save appearances my brother looked a glance of agony at me and i knew he meant don t reveal what you see my life depends on it i was so terror struck that i could hardly stand and not knowing what i did i turned and hurried away the s manner and tone had the stamp of truth and his story made a great impression on all around and do you know where your brother is at the present time asked the magistrate i do not i have never seen him since i closed this door i can testify to that for we ve been between ye ever since said the where does he think to fly to � what is his occupation he s a watch and clock maker sir a said a was a � a wicked rogue said the the wheels o and watches he meant no doubt said shepherd i thought his hands were for s trade well it appears to me that nothing can be gained by retaining this poor man in said the magistrate your business lies with the other unquestionably and so the little man was released off hand but he looked nothing the less sad on that account it the three strangers being beyond the power of magistrate or to out the written troubles in his brain for they concerned another whom he regarded with more solicitude than himself when this was done and the man had gone his way the night was found to be so far advanced that it was deemed useless to renew the search before the next morning next day accordingly the quest for the clever sheep became general and keen to all appearance at least but the intended punishment was cruelly to the and the sympathy of a great many country folk in that district was strongly on the side of the fugitive moreover his marvellous coolness and daring under the circumstances of the shepherd s party won their admiration so that it may be questioned if all those who made themselves so busy in exploring woods and fields and lanes were quite so thorough when it came to the private examination of their own and stories were afloat of a mysterious figure being occasionally seen in some old overgrown or other remote from roads but when a search was in any of these suspected quarters nobody was found thus the days and weeks passed without tidings in brief the bass man of the chimney corner was never some said that he went across the sea others that he did not but buried himself in the depths of a city at any rate the gentleman in grey never did his the three strangers morning s work at nor met an at all for business purposes the comrade with whom he had passed an hour of in the lonely house on the the grass has long been green on the graves of shepherd and his wife the guests who made up the party have mainly followed their to the tomb the baby in whose honour they all had met is a matron in the and yellow leaf but the arrival of the three strangers at the shepherd s that night and the details connected is a story as well known as ever in the country about higher thomas hardy the black i have set myself the task of relating in the course of this story without or a single detail the most painful and humiliating episode in my life i do this not because it will give me the least pleasure but 