LITERATURE.
■-■■■BEAN '■ (Gpriianneii) f ' ' ,- In those days of -unutterable amazement, SSverard began ito. dqubt hia own identity. s po. jbhe-jirßJt day,of^e;'in(quest. he received an affectionate letter, from Cyril^ treating the.affair of his imprisonment as a mistake, .which a, brief investigation would speedily oleatvp. . • • ■ Then- came the Buccession of surprises which. &c inquest brought, as witness after Vitaaees came forward and swore to actions of his which he had never so much as contemplated in imagination. \ After the evidenoe of those who discovered poor Lee, and that of the surgeon, Mrs Lee .was .the first witness. , She last saw her husband alive at dinner-time, after ■which he left her. to return to the stables, She said. She left tho Temple for Mai(bourne soon after three, and on returning through the fields at about a quarter to 'five sheeawDr Everard spring over a hurdle leading into. the fatal copse, and ■walk hurriedly along towards Malbourne. the moon was but just risen, she poade him out distinctly by his grey suit. He had no stick in his hand, and, though he passed within' halffardoxen ' yards, did not appear to see her, and took no notice of her salutation. Her husband was a steady and sober man, £>ob had of late been much depressed on Recount of family troubles ; had been (especially vexed at dinner-time, and had ieaten little. When asked what had distressed Lee, she replied that he had some difference with his daughter, whom he had discovered with Dt Everard at mid-day. S^Sir Lionel Swaynestohe stated that he tad last eeen Lee at eleven in the foreLoon; had known him all his life as a Hjber and industrious man and good lervant. ■ r T udkins described the hour and manner \ tis finding Lee's body. He had last seen hiro alive at three o'clock, when Lee iold him that Dr Everard would be somewhere near the Temple that afternoon, and i hat he intended, if possible, to meet him, md threaten him with exposure unless he 1 xmsented to repair the wrong he had done bis child, / Everard's solicitor here interposed to ask ihe nature of that wrong, and Lee's grounds fat suspecting Everard of it, when, to his own deep amazement, as well as Everard's, he was told that Everard and Alma had been eeen together in the copse by both Lee and Judkins on the very morning of Lee's death ; and, further, that he, Judkins, had witnessed several clandestine meetings "between them during Mrs Lee's illness in the spring. In the subsequent examination before the magistrates, Judkins further witnessed to meetings at specified times, and to gifts of flowers exchanged between Everard and Alma. A book of poems, found in Everard'a room at the Bectory, waa produced, inscribed: "For Alma Lee, with best New Tear's wishes, from H.E." Jndkina also swore that letters had passed between them. V The solicitor having asked Judkins if Lee had not threatened violence towards '.Everard, he replied that lie only threatened to assault the prisoner in case he refused to do justice to his daughter. . Judkins further deposed that, on return-' ing from the downs with some horses he had been exercising at a little after four on the fatal afternoon, he had seen the prisoner enter the copse. On being subsequently asked by Everard how he had missed Mr Swaynestone, who was riding towards the downs at the same time, he replied that he had drawn np for some minutes behind a screen of hazels, while Mr Swaynestone was passing in the open. He did not until the trial add that he did this to watch tho meeting of the grey figure with Alma. John Nobbs, a stable-help, deposed to parting with Lee on the high road outside the gate at three o'clock; the witness was starting for Oldport on foot. Lee walked up the Meadow towards his home. Lee carried no stick, and was quite sober. Several Swaynestone servants witnessed having seen Leo about the. place before three o'clock; after which hour no one appeared to have Been him alive. Ingram Swaynestone bore witness to Lee's character ; he last saw him alive at the stables at two o'clock. At twenty minutes past four, or thereabouts, Ingram rode across the. meadow in which the Temple stood, at a canter, on his way across the downs to Shotover, when he saw Everard walking quietly along a hedgerow in the direction of Temple CopEe. He was dreesed in grey, carried a Btick, and made no reply to Swayneatone's shouted greeting, beyond a wave of his hand. On returning through Malbourne, at ten minutes to five, Swaynestone again saw Everard walking in the moonlight across a field, at the corner of which the Malbourne sign-post stood. He reined in his horse, and called out to him ; but Everard went hurriedly on, not appearing to see or hear him. The road was some fifty yards from the path Everard was pursuing, and the field was higher than the road. William Grove had seen Everard at the same place and time. He expressed wonder to Jim, his mate, that Dr Everard, at the sound of the waggon-bells— since he was then returning from Oldport with his team —and bis own " Good-night, doctor," did not come to receive a paxcel the waggoner was bringing him from Oldport, and respecting the instant delivery of which he had been most solicitous. All this Jim Downer corroborated. Stevens, the sextop, said that about sunset, or later, he was in the churchyard, and saw a figure 'in a grey suit, which he recognised as Dr Everard's, leave the back premises of the Rectory and ascend the hill in the direction of Swaynestone. He carried a stick. Straun, the blacksmith, on the other hand, swore that he saw Everard pass through the village Btreet by the forge at that hour, or a little before. He was uncertain about his clothes, but swore to the stick. A. Swaynestone keeper saw Everard a little later in a plantation on the upland. He described his grey suit and stick ; he was not near enough to speak to him. A shepherd, cutting turnips in a field near, swore that Everard passed him at four o'clock, and stopped a ujoment to chat with him. He was not sure about, his clothes; thought they were grey. Everard had a stick, also some very good tobacco, of which ho gave him some. He told the shepherd that he waa going across the downs to Widow Dove's. Dr Everard wondered that two lone women should live up there in the solitary cottage, he said. Eliza, the parlour- maid, bore witness that Everard was at the Bectory between three and four; ho wa3 in the drawingroom with her mistress when she showed gome visitors in. Sho caw him no more til] about five, when he entered softly and hurriedly by the back door, and ran across the back hall in the dusk. Miss Maitland was leaving the kitchen at that timcj and also saw Dr Everard, whose figure was clearly shown by the light issuing from the kitchen. Miss MaitLond called tc him : " Henry, was Mrs Dove at home ?" but he made no answer, ran upstairs, an<] locked himself in. The cook aIBO saw Di Everard at that hour, and heard Miss Maitland speak to him. Misa Maitland waß rebuking the witness for not having lighted the hall lamp. Eliza next saw Everard ar hour later. He came into the kitchen witl hia-hand to his face, and asked the cookf ox
come raw meat \to* botS h Jin f ipm 1 a Taiiok ' : ] eye. .Martha, the hocaemaiSi said;: 1 "Ofa^ J eir, what an eye you wiU^Have ?"■"*;£ He're-.I v' plied « "I hope nofc^; ;fhere'iß<npthlng'li^e'] Taw meat." Cook laughed and said-i *--:Ojfce-S ■would think you had been^iiitihe: warß,jiß^ Have you had a fall?'* He seemed confuse^, and said ; " I don't know. At least,'l rah' ■up against a tree in the dark." At ditmsr lie told Mr Maitland that: he knocked 'Mb face.agaiDst a door, and made ei^ns to Misa ■■ \ Winnie pot to tell. , When. he camie into the j kitchen Eliza heard him say 'something. to: r j Miss Winnie about not telling.'. . , He seem&cL excited and . confused •■': at {dinner. This ' evidence of Eliza's, given briefly sfe &$ inquest, only came out in full at , the trial •in OldportTownv Hall, when 'it was' j corroborated by the '■ other maids; ' • j Granfer was produced on the second day ! of the inquiry, and with an irrepressible circumlocution which nearly drove the jury beßide'themselves, witnessed meeting Henry j at the wheelwright's corner at fire o'clock; I he was inclined to believe that he wore tho fatal grey suit, since he and Straun and I Eeveral others had seen and commented on it iix the forenoon. . What bewildered Everard most was the evidence of things against him. The house- s : maid witnessed, with, tears,, to- finding bloody water in his hand-basin, and seeing the garments hanging to dry. The suit ! was produced, and bore other stains, whiob Henry had not observed by candle light. He 6&w stains of earth, as well as those darker marks; bits of moss and dead leaves caught in' the rough woollen material; the badly sponged spot he had seen, at mid-day; and, more surprising still, a slight rent at the armhole, as if lie sleeve had been torn in a struggle. Buried among dead leaves and moss, the police found a handkerchief of Everard'e, bearing the ominous crimson stains. . Farther off, among thick holly-bushes, they found a Btick, which the doctor said might have dealt the fatal blow. Mr Maitland identified the stick— a thick bamboo, with a loaded top — as his property. It remained, usually in the hall, and was used by the family generally. Everard had taken it in the forenoon on his walk with the twins, as many people could witness. In Lee's pocket they, found the two halves of the letter Alma had dropped in the forenoon. It was written on good note paper, from the top of which an embossed heading had been hastily torn, so hastily that some of the end letters remained thus : OE J' Similar paper was taken from a blotting 1--case, used chiefly by visitors, with the full address, " The Kectory, Malbourne." The handwriting, evidently feigned, was afterwards submitted to an expert, and compared with various specimens of Everard'a. writing. Lee's watch, purse, &c, were found upoa him ; and what puzzled Everard strangely, a leather bag, containing £50 in gold, which had been stamped upon by a heavy foot, was found upon the hard path some yards from the body. It was impossible to identify this, as it had no marks, and was one of those commonly used by bankers to serve their customers with gold; it was evidently from its dull grey colour, an old one, which had passed through many hands. At the subsequent trial it was suggested that this money, so carefully arranged to defy identification, had been offered to Lee as the price of his silence, and by him indignantly rejected, and had been forgotten by the criminal in his agitation after the deed. (To be continued.)
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Bibliographic details
Star (Christchurch), Issue 6047, 1 October 1887, Page 1
Word Count
1,865LITERATURE. Star (Christchurch), Issue 6047, 1 October 1887, Page 1
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