"I thanked him, and he drove on, as if he had no time to lose in gossip, while I was untying the string of my parcel.
"By the time my father and I reached Gould's farm, the doctor had arrived from B., and we heard he was examining the body in the parlour, where it had been laid by the labourers who found it. The chaise, too, was standing near the door, just as it had been wheeled up, and the mare, they told us, had been found in a neighbouring field, with the harness hanging about her, and unhurt, except on the forehead, where she appeared to have had a violent blow. The farm men, standing about, said, that she had no doubt taken her head, and ran foul of something, and so pitched out Mr. Gould, and overturned the chaise; which seemed likely enough.
"My father said, he should like to see Mr. Wills, the surgeon; so we stood about outside till he came. When he did, he looked very grave, as, indeed, befitted the occasion; but in answer to my father's inquiries, he said, that he could give no decided opinion of the cause of death till he had investigated the case further; and then he proceeded to examine the chaise, and next the horse. He then walked with us down to the spot where the thing had happened, and narrowly surveyed the ground; but he was very uncommunicative, which, as we knew him well, rather surprised us. He hurried away, saying, that he must prepare for the inquest on the following day.
"My father went to the inquest; and I should have liked to go, too, but I was engaged to play a match at cricket with a few of my young neighbours. However, I was home first, for the inquest lasted a long time, and took a very unexpected turn.
"It appeared that Mr. Wills, who was by marriage a connexion of Gould's wife, had suspected on the first examination of the body that the farmer had not come fairly by his end. It so happened that Gould had dined with him the last day he was at B., and had mentioned to him that he had 'at last got that seventy pounds that he was afraid he should never see;' alluding to some money that had been long owing to him; and as he spoke, he drew from his pocket a bundle of notes, some of which appeared to be of the Bank of England, and some of country banks. As soon, therefore, as Wills had arrived at certain conclusions, he inquired of Mrs. Gould if she had found his money safe.
"In her grief and surprise it had not occurred to her to search—and indeed she was not aware of his having any sum of importance about him. They proceeded immediately to examine his pockets, but no notes were there; a few shillings, a silver watch, and some unconsidered trifles, were all that was found about him. Mr. Wills made inquiries at the banker's and others, at B., and by the time the inquest sat he was prepared to say, that there was every reason to think that Mr. Gould had had this money in his waistcoat pocket, where he had seen him deposit it, at the time he left to return home.
"This presented quite a new view of the case to the coroner, who had come there without the slightest suspicion of anything beyond an accident. The labourers were examined as to the attitude in which they had discovered the body, which, they all agreed, was lying on its face; and indeed there were some stains from the dirt of the road, which testified to this being the case; yet, according to Mr. Wills, death had been occasioned by a terrible blow on the back of the head which had fractured the skull; and which, in his opinion, was inflicted by a heavy bludgeon. The man's hair was very thick behind; but on dividing it a wound was visible, from which a small quantity of blood had oozed and dried up.
"After a long investigation, the inquest was adjourned for a few days in order that further evidence might be collected. We were all much excited about this affair; it formed the staple of conversation at our dinner party, and various were the conjectures formed as to who was the criminal, if criminal there were; for some thought it possible that Gould had fallen on his back in the first instance, and then got upon his legs, and fallen a second time on his face; but Mr. Wills was confident the death wound was not the result of a fall; and besides, where was the money? Then all agreed, that if he had been robbed, it was by no ordinary thief; it must have been by some one who knew the sum he had in his pocket, and who did not care for the loose silver and the watch.
"'No doubt,' said my father, 'they will find out if anybody was present when the money was paid to him, or he may have told somebody of it, as he told Wills.'
"We had so many things provided for the party, that for two or three days we wanted nothing of Healy and did not see him; but the servants having mentioned that they wanted soap for the next week's washing, my mother sent a note to the cottage, where he always stopt to enquire for orders, desiring him to bring some on his return, and also a barrel of beer for the use of the kitchen.