He shuddered, dropping his face in his hands, and the girl by his side, encircling his shoulder with a protecting arm, murmured something in his ear. Presently he recovered.
“He wasn't quite dead. I heard him murmur something but I wasn't able to distinguish what he said. I went straight to the village and told the constable and had the body removed.”
T. X. rose from the table and walked to the door and opened it.
“Come in, constable,” he said, and when the man made his appearance, “I suppose you were very careful in removing this body, and you took everything which was lying about in the immediate vicinity'?”
“Yes, sir,” replied the man, “I took his hat and his walkingstick, if that's what you mean.”
“And the revolver!” asked T. X.
The man shook his head.
“There warn't any revolver, sir, except the pistol which Mr. Lexman had.”
He fumbled in his pocket and pulled it out gingerly, and T. X. took it from him.
“I'll look after your prisoner; you go down to the village, get any help you can and make a most careful search in the place where this man was killed and bring me the revolver which you will discover. You'll probably find it in a ditch by the side of the road. I'll give a sovereign to the man who finds it.”