CHAPTER IV.

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 24, 26 February 1881, Page 245

CHAPTER IV.

In a fortnight more, Mrs. Zebedee had sufficiently recovered to make the necessary statements—after the preliminary caution addressed to persons in such cases. The surgeon had no hesitation, hoaa', in reporting her to be a sane Avoman. Her station in life had been domestic service. She had lived for four years in her last place, as lady's maid Avith a family residing in Dorsetshire. The one objection to her, had been the occasional infirmity of sleep-Avalking, which made it necessary that some ofthe other female servants should sleep in the same room, with the door locked ancl the key under her pilloAV. In all other respects, the lady's maid Avas described by her mistress as a "perfect treasure." In the last six months of her service, a young man, named John Zebedee, entered the 'house (with an excellent character) as footman. He soon fell in love Avith the nice little lady's maid ; and she heartily returned the feeling. They might have waited for years before tliey were in a pecuniary position to marry, but for the death of Zebedee's uncle, avlio left him a little fortune of two thousand pounds. They Avere iioav, for persons in their station, rich enough to please themselves ; and they Avere married from the house in which they had served together the little daughters of the family showing their affection for Mrs. Zebedee by acting as her bridesmaids. The young husband was a careful man. He decided to employ his small capital to the best advantage, by sheep farming in Australia. His Avife made no objection • she Avas ready to go Avherever John went Accordingly, they spent their short honeymoon m London, so as to see for themselves the vessel in Avhich their passage Avas to be taken. They went to Mrs. Crosschapel's lodging-house, because Zebedee's uncle had ahvays stayed there Avhen he Avas in London Ten days Avere to pass before the day of embarkation arrived. This gave the young couple a welcome holiday, and a prospect of amusino*

themselves to tlieir heart's content among the sights ancl shows of the great city. On their first evening in London they Avent to the theatre. They Avere both accustomed to the fresh air of the country, and they felt half stiffled by the heat and the gas. HoAvever, they Avere so pleased with an amusement Avhich was neAV to them, that they went to another theatre on the next evening. On this second occasion, John Zebedee found the heat unendurable. They left the theatre, and got back to their lodgings toward ten o'clock. Let the rest be told in the Avords used by Mrs. Zebedee herself. She said : "We sat talking for a little AA'hile in our room ; ancl John's headache getting Avorse ancl worse. I persuaded him to go to bed ; and I put out the candle (the fire giving sufficient light to undress by) so that he might the sooner fall asleep. But he Avas too restless to sleep. He asked me to read him something. Books ahvays made him drowsy, at the best of times. " I had not myself begun to undress. So I lst the candle again, ancl I opened the only book I had. John had noticed it at a railway bookstall, by the name of * The World of Sleep.' He used to joke Avith me about my being a sleep-Avalker • and he said, ' Here's something that's sure to interest you ' — ancl made me a present of the book. "Before I had read to him for more than half an hour, he aa\is fast asleep. Not feeling that way inclined, I Avent on reading to myself. "The book did indeed interest me. There was one terrible story which took hold of my mmd — the story of a man, aa'lio stabbed his oavii Avife in a sleep-Avalking dream I thought of putting cloavii my book after that, and then changed my mind again ancl Avent on. The next chapters Avere not so interesting • they were full of learned accounts of Avhy Aye fall asleep, and Avhat our brains do in that state, and such like. It ended in my falling asleep, too, in my arm-chair by the fireside. " I don't knoAv AA'hat o'clock it Avas, Avhen I went to sleep. I don't knoAv lioav long I slept, or AA'hether 1 dreamed or not. The candle had burnt out and the fire had burnt out, ancl it AA'as quite dark Avhen I aAvoke. I can't eA'en say Avhy I Avoke — unless it Avas the coldness of the room. " There AA'as a spare candle on the chimneypiece. I found the match- box, ancl got a light. Then, for the first time, I turned round toAvard the bed ; and I saAV " The unfortunate creature fainted at the bare remembrance of that dreadful sight — her husband stretched dead on the bed, with the knife in his heart. The proceedings Avere adjourned. She received every possible care and attention ; the chaplain looking after her Avelfare as Avell as the surgeon. I haA'e said nothing of the evidence of the landlady and the servants. It Avas taken, as a mere formality. What little they kncAV proA'ed nothing against Zebebee. The police again kneAV nothing that supported her frantic accusation of herself. Her master and mistress, ■where she had been last in sen-ice, spoke of her in the highest terms. We Avere at a complete deadlock. It had been thought best not to surprise IVIr. Deluc, as yet, by citing him as a Avitness. The action of the laAV Avas, hoAveA'er, hurried, in this case, by a prh'ate communication receiA'ed from the chaplain. After tAvice seeing, and speaking Avith, Mrs. Zebedee, the reverend gentleman Avas firmly persuaded that she had no more to do than himself Avith the murder of her husband. He did not consider he Avas justified in repeating a confidential conversation Avith the prisoner — he would only recommend that Mr. Deluc should be summoned to appear at the next examination. This advice Avas immediately j folloAved. The police had no evidence against Mrs. | Zebedee, Avhen the inquiry Avas reneAved. To j assist the ends of justice, she Avas iioav put into the Avitness-box. The discovery of her murdered husband, Avhen she lit the candle in the small hours of the morning, Avas passed over as rapidly as possible. Only three questions of importance Avere put to her : First. — The knife Avas produced. Had she ever seen it in her husband's possession ? Never. Did she knoAA* anything about it ? Nothing AvhateA'er. Secondly. — Did she, or did her husband, lock the bedroom door Avhen they returned from the theatre? No. Did she lock the door herself before she fell asleep in her chair ? No. Thirdly. — Had she any sort of reason to give for supposing that she had murdered her husband in a sleep- Avalking dream ? No reason, except that she Avas beside herself at the time, ancl the book put the thought into her head. After this, the other Avitnesses Avere sent out of court. The motiA'e for the chaplain's communication iioav appeared. Mrs. Zebedee Avas asked if anything unpleasant had occurred betAveen Mr. Deluc and herself. Yes. He had caught her alone on the stairs at the lodging-house ; had presumed to make loA r e to her ; ancl had carried the insult still further by attempting to kiss her. She had slapped his face, ancl had declared that her husband should knoAV of it, if his misconduct Avas repeated. He Avas in a furious rage at having his face slapped, and he said to her, " Madam, you will live to regret this." After consultation, ancl at the request of our inspector, it Avas decided to keep Mr. Deluc in ignorance of Mrs. Zebedee's statement for the present. When the Avitnesses Avere recalled, he gave the same evidence AA'hich he had already given to the inspector, and he Avas then asked if he kneAV anything of the knife. He looked at it Avithout any guilty signs in his face, and swore that he had never seen it until that moment. The resumed inquiry ended; and still nothing had been discovered. But Aye kept an eye on Mr. Deluc. Our next effort Avas to try if Aye could associate him with the purchase of the knife. Here again (there really did seem to be a sort of fatality in this case) Aye reached no useful result. It Avas easy enough to find out the Avholesale cutlers, who had manufactured the knife at Sheffield, by tlieir mark on the blade. But they made tens of thousands of thousands of such knives, ancl disposed of them to all retail dealers all over Great Britain — to

say nothing of foreign parts. As to finding out the person who had engraved the imperfect inscription (Avithout knoAving Avhere, or by whom, the knife had been purchased), Aye might as Avell have looked for the proverbial needle in the bundle of hay. Our last resource AA'as to haA'e the knife photographed, with the inscribed side uppermost, ancl to send copies to every police station in the kingdom. At the same time Aye reckoned up Mr. Deluc I mean that Aye made investigations into his past life — on the chance that he and the murdered man might have knoAvn each other, ancl might have had a quarrel, or a rivalry about a Avoman, on some former occasion. No such discoA r ery rewarded us. We found Deluc to have led a dissipated life, ancl to have mixed Avith Aery bad company. But he had kept out of reach of the laAV. A man may be a profligate vagabond ; may insult a lady ; 'may say threatening Avoids to her, in the first stinging sensation of having his face slapped — but it cloesn't f olloav from these blots on his character that he has murdered her husband in the dead of night. Once more, then, Avhen Aye Avere called upon to report ourselves, Aye had no evidence to produce. The photographs failed to identify the knife ancl its interrupted inscription. Poor Mrs. Zebedee Avas alloAved to go back to her friends, on the formal understanding that she Avas to appear again if called upon. Articles in the ncAvspapers began to inquire lioav many more murderers Avould succeed in baffling the police. The authorities at the Treasury offered a reward of a hundred pounds for the necessary information. Ancl the Aveeks passed, and nobody claimed the reAvard. | Our inspector Avas not a man to be easily beaten. More inquiries ancl examinations folloAvecl. It is needless to say anything about them. We were defeated— and, there, so far as the police and the public Avere concerned, Avas an end of it. The assassination of the poor young husband soon passed out of notice, like other undiscovered murders. One obscure person only Avas foolish enough, in his leisure hours, to persist in trying to solve the problem of Who Killed Zebedee ? He felt that he might rise to the highest position in the police force, if he succeeded Avhere his elders ancl betters had failed — ancl he held to his oavii ambition, though everybody laughed at him. In plain English, j I Avas the man. ] [pCo be continued. _]