“Why was he not cut down?” asked the doctor, hastily. “There might have been a chance to resuscitate him.”
“I didn’t think of it,” said the messenger. “Maria was so excited, and insisted that the boy murdered him.”
“What boy?”
Carl was pointed out.
“That boy? What nonsense!” exclaimed Dr. Park. “Why, it would be more than you or I could do to overpower and hang a man weighing one hundred and seventy-five pounds.”
“That’s what I thought, but Maria seemed crazed like.”
“I tell you he did it! Are you going to let him go, the red-handed murderer?”
“Loose the cord, and I will question the boy,” said Dr. Park, with an air of authority.
Carl breathed a sigh of relief, when, freed from his bonds, he stood upright.
“I’ll tell you all I know,” he said, “but it won’t throw any light upon the death.”