Year: 1879

manner of the mans death was so peculiar
as to call for a coroner's inquiry and post
mortem examination. The body, therefore,
was at once removed to the inn, and sever4l
hours after its removal the two principal
doctors of the town were on their way,
armed with the. implements necessary for
their work. On their arrival at the inn
novel scene awaited them. The people hav-
ing at length solved the meaning of the aw-
full words, ''pOst-mortem examination" had
risen up in arms and declared that no such
desecration of the dead should be allowed.
Before Tony Monaghan became land agent
he had been one of themselves, and though
he had been little hard upon them of late,
there wasn't one man among them put
would raise his voice against having the poor
boys body cut up like beasts. The conse-
quence was-a riot The police were over
powered, the doctors sent packing, the inn
taken by storm. For two nights the body
lay in state, being walked by its wild com
rades At the end of that time, the authori-
ties, only too eager to bring matters to
peaceful issue, allowed it to be quietly bur
led. As the grave closed above it popular
excitement seemed to die away.


Blu if the people were satisfied the author
tiles were not. Everybody believed that a
murder had been committed, and that the
subsequent riot was only an effort to prevent
the discovery of the murderer. No sooner,
therefore, was the unfortunate man buried,
than the doctors received an order authoriz-
ing them to eXhume the body and make a
post-mortem examination in secret. One
night, two nights after the funeral, they set
ont on their mission with hopeful hearts. 1t
was bitter Winter weather. The night was
black dark; the ground was frozen hard and
thiclzly covered with snow. Making straight
for the graveyard, the doctors employed
themselves in opening up the grave. For
several hours they worked with pck-axe and
spade; at last they came to the coffin, raised
it up, and opened the lid


1t was empty.


At this piece of audacity on the part Of
some persons unknown, everybody was more
amazed than ever, and again came the con-
victon, stronger than before. that murder
had been done. But try as they would, they
could discover nothing. The whole country
was thrown into a tumult, and popular ex-
citement at its height, when | unwittingly
solved the terrible secret by finding the body
in the bog


CHAPTER III.


Having sworn Shawn to secresy, as
sisted him to RENTER the box, and forthwith
sent word of the discovery to the magistrate.
The box was at once removed, the post-mor-
TEN examination concluded, and the discov-
cry made that the unfortunate man had died
Of heart disease. Again everybody was
amazed, and this time the wonder was mixed
with shame. After the examination was
made, the coroner's inquiry was hurried
over, and once more, in solemn pomp and
with all the rites of the church, the agent
was laid in his grave.


Amidst the solemn concourse which at
tended the second funeral noticed the wild
wan face which had haunted me ever since
that day when I had seen it by the frozen
window of the inn-the face Of the very man
whom in my own mind [ had accused of
murder! For moment l hung back
ashamed; then walked boldly forward and
pressed bank-note into the wretched crea-
ture's hand. He looked from it to me in
dazed amazement, then the sight of one of
his ragged children seemed to make him
realize what the money would do. He
cllitched it closer, and with one last look
down the open grave he crept across. the
bogs towards his home.


BY whose hand the corpse was conveyed
from the church-yard to the bog was never
discovered. 1t was generally believed how
ever, that news of the intended examination
had been whispered abroad, and that the
agent was exhumed and hidden solely with
view to preventing his body being "cut
up''