Part 60 (2/2)

The Jew, perceiving that suspicion rested on the notary as well as on himself, caught at Lady Rety's hint, and, throwing himself on his knees, confessed that he only came to steal. ”Miss Etelka has many precious jewels,” said he, entreatingly. ”I saw them on her when I was repairing the windows the other day. I am a very poor and unfortunate man; and I thought to myself, if I could get some of them, it would help me. I knew Miss Etelka was not at home, and I tried to steal them. I hope your ladys.h.i.+p will have compa.s.sion on me, I will never do so again; I will ever be an honest man from this time.”

”Fiddlesticks!” interposed the justice, with a sneer; ”I dare say you'd like to be mistaken for a thief; you think that would save your neck: but it won't do! it's too evident that you at least had a part in the murder.”

”Oh, I entreat you,” cried the Jew, still on his knees, ”I am innocent of the murder. Mr. Catspaw said so, for he shook his head when I was brought to him; and how was it possible for a weak man like me to kill a strong man like Mr. Catspaw?”

”Jew!” said Mr. Skinner, sarcastically, ”that story won't do; you must find another plea: this is the first time in my life I have heard of Mr.

Catspaw's strength.”

”And was it likely,” continued the Jew, imploringly, ”that I should have gone without a weapon if I had any intention of committing murder?”

”We found a large carving-knife in the chimney,” interposed the cook.

”I swear I know nothing about it,” cried Jants.h.i.+; ”somebody in the house must have put it there and forgotten to remove it.”

”Yes, we know very well it belongs to the house,” said the cook; ”you stole it the day before yesterday.”

”Oh, indeed, Mister Cook, I did not; and was the knife which you saw b.l.o.o.d.y? And should I not be b.l.o.o.d.y if I had killed the attorney?”

Here the steward remarked that ”Jews were great conjurors. One of their tribe came to the house a day or two ago,” continued he, ”and made us all sign our names on a piece of paper, and in the twinkling of an eye he made them disappear again. And who knows but what this Jew has learnt the art from him; and all the world knows, that n.o.body is so expert at getting out blood stains as Jews.”

This reasoning of the steward impressed n.o.body but the servants.

”Considering the quant.i.ty of blood the attorney lost,” said Lady Rety, ”it's quite incomprehensive to me how the murderer should escape without staining his clothes. However,” said she, turning to the Jew, ”if you did not partic.i.p.ate in the actual deed, at least you know everything that pa.s.sed; you must know the murderer!”

”I heard everything,” said Jants.h.i.+, sighing; ”I heard everything from the beginning to the end, and I shudder still when I think of it!--I wanted to jump out to help the poor man, but I was so frightened; and then I thought, too, if any thing dreadful should happen, and I should be found there; and then I became so frightened that I had no power to move.”

”Well, what did you hear?” inquired Lady Rety, encouragingly; ”you surely must know whether it was Tengelyi, as the justice suspects, or not? Now sit down and tell us all about it,” said she, meeting at the same moment the glance which her husband cast at her when she mentioned Tengelyi.

”If you think,” said the sheriff, turning to the Jew, ”to exculpate yourself by cunningly involving an innocent man, you shall find yourself mistaken; you may say what you will, the strongest suspicion must always remain attached to you.”

The Jew was too cunning to make any reply, and merely said that ”he could not tell who the murderer was, as he spoke in a suppressed voice; but,” said he, ”I heard Tengelyi mentioned several times, and I heard papers demanded, and the murderer took papers away with him; but as I said before, I don't know who he was; those who followed him ought to know.”

Ferko, the coachman, who had hitherto been a quiet listener, was now asked to give a circ.u.mstantial account of what he knew. There are people who are very eager to do any thing but their duty: Ferko was one of them. When the house was first alarmed by the attorney's a.s.sa.s.sination, Ferko was the first to leave his stables and to pursue the murderer, accompanied by the servants, who showed no less zeal than himself. But when the pursuit led to a very different result from what he had expected, and when, instead of taking the robber, he followed the track to Tengelyi's house, where he saw the notary, his zeal vanished, and it struck him that not to have seen any thing was by far the most prudent way of managing the matter. Perhaps he suspected the notary; but he was not inclined to endanger his own safety by giving evidence against a man whose rank in life was so far above his own. He resolved to give no evidence against Tengelyi; and as this resolution was unconditionally approved of by his best friend, to wit, by Peti the gipsy, he stated, in reply to the sheriff's questions, that he had pursued the robber to the banks of the Theiss, where he had lost his track. Afterwards, he and his friends had proceeded to the notary to inform him of what had happened.

This account would have been quite satisfactory, but for the evidence of the servant who had accompanied the coachman on his expedition; and who, merely for the sake of varying the lesser features of the evidence, stated that they had picked up a stick on the field, and that the said stick was in the ferryman's possession. That person was called in and examined: the result was, that all the unfavourable circ.u.mstances which spoke against Tengelyi were gradually elicited from the trio, in spite of the obstinate defence which they made of the notary's innocence.

”But where is the stick you talk of?” said Mr. Skinner, with evident satisfaction at the turn which the examination took.

”With your wors.h.i.+p's permission,” replied the ferryman--”that is to say, begging your wors.h.i.+p's pardon--that is to say, I hope your wors.h.i.+p will excuse me, we found the stick in the middle of the road, on our way from the Theiss to the notary's. We all saw it as it lay on the ground.”

”Where is it?” asked Mr. Skinner, sharply.

”Please your wors.h.i.+p, I have left it in the kitchen, for I could not presume to come to your wors.h.i.+p with a stick.”

”Bring it here instantly!” cried the justice. The ferryman left the room, and returned with a black stick with a bra.s.s fokosh at the end.

Everybody was startled. Mr. Skinner took the stick and showed it to the sheriff, who clasped his hands in utter amazement.

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