"No, but a search is being made for it and also for the murderer."
"On that point we are agreed. There is no shadow of doubt that the missing man is guilty."
"There can be none," said the magistrate.
"And yet," urged Doctor Louis, in a gentle tone, "to condemn a man unheard is repugnant to justice."
"There are circumstances," said the magistrate, "which point so surely to guilt that it would be inimical to justice to dispute them. By the way," he continued, addressing me, "did not the landlord of the Three Black Crows mention something to the effect that you were at his inn last night after you left Dr. Louis's house, and that you and he had a conversation respecting the strangers, who were at that time in the same room as yourselves?"
"If he did," I said, "he stated what is correct. I was there, and saw the strangers, of whom the landlord entertained suspicions which have been proved to be well founded."
"Then you will be able to identify the body, already," added the magistrate, "identified by the landlord. Confirmatory evidence strengthens a case."
"I shall be able to identify it," I said.
We went to the inner room, and I saw at a glance that it was one of the strangers who had spent the evening at the Three Black Crows, and whom I had afterwards watched and followed.
"The man who has escaped," I observed, "was hump backed."