Litchfield enquirer., 1873-03-06

hurry-and hurry is generally needless proyokes distrust The case must be looked into, but very quietly.
 .In suspicious cases'-
 ssMind, don't say that this is suspi- cious as yet" interrupted MT. Merdock.
 ssLet me continue. In suspicious cases what we have to inquire is, who is the person who benefits by the death of the insured ? If wrongs been done, there must be an inducement, a motive for it.. Find out that, and''-
 "My dear Pixley. hadn't you better leave it all to me? Don't keep dog and bark yourself. I'll attend to it. I'm go- ing to the funeral on the 27th.''
 "You are? Then I've nothing more to say; only keep me informed of every thing"
 "Of everything: And mind you do the same towards me"
 That night Mr. Merdock left London. On the morning of the 27th of Novem- Der carriage from Lupton Manor was l waiting at the Andover station to meet the early train from London. Mir. Mer- dock, however. stood on the platform of the station some time before the arrival .oJ the train. He was dressed in deep black, and looked worn and anxious. Among the passengers brought down from town was Mir. Pixley. MT. Merdock l hastened towards him, and drew him aside.
 ''You got my letter, of course? Now be very careful, Pixley. Don't say. a word more than you can help. There's a car riage waiting to take us to Lupton, a l pleasant drive over the Hampshire downs. The drivers been resting at the Andover Arms; he only drew up to the station when the train was in sight. He supposes that we both came down by the train. You're understood to be my clerk You would come, and you must accept that position. But be very careful what you say. Not word more now You're from Lupton, coachman? To meet a gentle man from London? Quite right
 They entered the carriage, and were driven from the station.
 "Pull up that window, Pixley. That fellow mustn't hear us. This is a delicate matter. and we must proceed very eau- tiously"
 "Well? And what's been done ?''
 'Ive not been idle, but, I'll own, I've but poor case as yet. can't get much beyond suspicion. cannot arrive at proof. Still, I've set two or three at work, and something may come out at any mo- ment. couldn't appear actively in the matter myself, for many reasons. We must Hull suspicion as much as possible The criminal, if there is one-and, mind, I won't yet say that there is one-will then grow bolder, imprudent, perhaps, and then we have chance"
 ''The funeral will proceed ?' l "Not too loud Yes. You know, or, | rorhonc vo1 1on'% Lrou r,lo& are. And we've scarcely pretext for de- handing an inquest. The doctor, a local practitioner, sticks to his aneurismal hy- pertrophy. What can we do in the face of his certificate? The servants have been got at, not by mel did not dare go near-the house-and questioned skilfully enough without awakening their suspi- cions. Something has been gathered that may be of importance. A hint of physic | bottles destroyed immediately after the death of MT. Delpratt. But it's nothing like clear enough at present, and there may be nothing in it.
 But if the funeral'- 'sThe funeral doesn't matter If we've any evidence to go upon, we can obtain from the Home Office an order for disin- terment. Never mind about the funeral. Get that over quietly; it may be all the better for us"
 "But the other doctor. who gave hint l to the ofice"-
 "I've seen him, and it only comes to | this-he suspects, He was dismissed | from attendance upon the deceased three ! weeds ago; 80, you know, he couldn't have seen poor Delpratt during his last fortnight of life. Still, he mentioned some facts that were worth noting. At | tnn l>o l.. charged with being aetuated by profes- incompetence; that's how it would be put to jury" s'But what does he suspect % r Suspicious, mind, amount to nothing, unless you can support them with evi- dence of facts, and that We can't do at present. But he suspects-bend your head;" Mir. Merdock clutched his com prnion by the forearm, and whispered into his ear-'he suspects that the medi- cines were tempered with, and that death resulted from the administration of-poi- son-probably arsenic, in small but ire quent doses. That could only have been done by some one in constant attendance upon the deceased" "And we know that Ernest Delpratt had opportunities of that kind.'' ''Yes: that we know. He sat up some nights with the deceased, was with him, continually, except on the day of his death; then he was absent, out all day hunting, he told me. He lied. I've as- certained that. He did go to the meet. But there was but 8 poor days sport, short run with young fox and a kill in Darlington Plantations, only few miles from'Lupton. He might have been home by two o'clock. But he stayed drinking in a little public-house on the Purham road. So, you see, he lied. That doesn't surprise me; he was always liar, as his father before him. It looks like adminis- tering the last fatal dose, and then keep ing out of the way of the last closing scene, to avoid suspicion. On the other hand, an innocent man might have put up at the public, and afterwards, being ashamed of himself, have given a false account of his conduct for the sake of de- cency" He was on good terms with the de- ceased ?''
 ''Yes. Not so good as he'd make out, but still on good terms He'd been for given, and made welcome to the manor l ing to like him, and, on the whole, the young man had behaved pretty we'll of late. It had been different formerly. In truth, Ernest was as bad as Delamere had been. Dismissed from the army before he was twenty for disgraceful conduct cheating at cards-been guilty of what's called, in plain terms, at the Old Bailey, forgery. But the th1ng was hushed up, and the young man was packed of to Australia. Poor Delpratt, always feeling acutely his own position, and doing his best to serve the legitimate members of the family, gave him up then as bad job. But he probably softened towards him of late years, believed in his reform, and viewed him even afectionately.'
 Who was with him at the time of his l death ?''
 sNoone. There we're weak. He had cer- tainly heart disease of considerable stand ing-suficient, perhaps, to account for his death. There's only this to add He is known to have complained of the | -k..n 4z~ 1R l.so os,> -R