"Meanwhile, the whole county was discussing, with awe-struck eyes, the
extraordinary event. Who could have perpetrated the act? Who could have
waylaid and murdered a man so universally popular? Who was safe, if
such a state of things could exist in a peaceful community,--if a good
citizen could not ride to see a neighbor, or to the county seat,
without danger of being murdered?
"Grief, indignation, horror, were the universal sentiments. Some one
must be discovered upon whom to lay the crime. And that some one was
the individual before you, colonel!"
XX.
THE KNIFE.
"Let me continue, I beg," continued General Davenant, gloomily. "Your
look of astonishment is quite natural; you feel the indignation of a
gentleman at my words; but allow me to go on with my narrative.
"Poor George Conway was buried on the day after the discovery of his
body, and an immense concourse accompanied him to his grave. The
funeral procession was a mile long, for the notoriety attached to the
event had drawn people from far and near; and when the body reached the
grave-yard, the crowd nearly filled the small enclosure.
"I was present in my carriage with my wife, and my son Charles yonder,
then a child in arms. You will understand, colonel, that I had not the
heart to be absent.
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