The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 359: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“ ¥¢ is indeed very terrible—-very shocking,” ob- served Lady Saxondale. “ It quite makes one shudder.” CHAPTER LXXIIL THE INQUEST. At s publie-house on the outskirts of Gainsborough nesrest to the point whence the mournful procession had started with the two dead bodies on the pre- are Aan yydiarsteeg-enpalalry.-gor Geir mate mid-day. Asmight be expected, the tragedy had produced the utmost consternation throughout the town and neighbourhood; and the public-house where the corpses had been sted, was sur- rounded from an early hour in the morning by a crowd of persone, all anxious to obtain any ad- ditional that might At twelve o'clock, as above stated, the coroner arrived; and the ings were opened in the jury was speedily sworn in; and the various wit- nesses were hept together in an adjoining apartment, —Mr. Gunthorpe, Deveril, and the peasant being amongst them. The coroner and jury, having viewed the two bodies,—which were in a third room, and had in the meantime undergone a surgical examination,— commenced the proceedings. The first witness called, was the landlord of an hotel in the town. He deposed that the deceased lady, accompanied by her maid, had arrived at his establishment at about three o'clock on the pre- ceding day. They had travelled post from Lincoln ; aad on the lady’s box was the name of Mademoiselle D’Alembert: but she appeared to be an English woman by her speech and accent. She had dined THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. night. The peasant, in answer to the coroner, stated that it was perfectly evident that Mr. Gunthorpe and Mr. Deveril were totally unknown to the two females previous to meeting them there, as he gathered from the conversation which be- tween them at the time. The lady and her mail took their departure : but no one inside the cottage waited perhaps ten minutes longer, and gave hic (the peasant’s) mother five sovereigns on account of the kind treatment one of them had experienced, as previously described, at the cottage. It was per haps three quarters of an hour afterwards that Mr. Deveril came rushing back with horrified looks, bearing the intelligence that the two females were murdered, and ordering him (the peasant) to pro» eced at once to Gainsborough and give the alarm. He stated that he had arrived with his friend Mr. Gunthorpe at Gains on the day, and that in the evening they set out along the bank of the river for the purpose of to Saxon- dale Castle. He then described how he and Mr. Gun- thorpe had called at the cottage—how they met the two deceased females there—how one of them had introduced herself ag Mademoiselle D’Alembert, of the Italian Opera—and how she had likewise men- tioned her knowledge of Lord Saxondale and Lord Harold Staunton. Here the coroner asked Deveril if there were any reason to suppose that the deceased were on their way to Sexondale Castle: but our hero could not hazard a conjecture on the uch leas speak with any degree of certainty. He then proceeded to describe how himself and Mr. Gun- thorpe, after leaving the cottage, had heard the pistol-shote and the scream. There was an interva: of not more than a few moments between the shots; and it was immediately after the first that the cry by herself in a private room at abont five o'clock, | was heard,—the inference being that on one female her maid having previously partaken of refresh- | being suddenly shot dead, the other had screamed ments in the servants’ room of the hotel. At seven . o'clock Mademoiselle D’Alembert had tea; shortly after which she and her servant went out together, Mademoiselle intimating to the landlady that they Were going to visit some friends whom she had in and that they might not be home till eleven o’clock. The landlord had noticed that the maid carried a large broWn paper percel in her | hand: but what it contained he did not know, and had not given the matter a thought at the time. From that moment he had not seen the deceased fom agen peasant was that at about nine o'clock the lady and her approached the cottage where he dwelt with ther and sister; and as he was standing out- | for a little while, as they had The stated maid his mo arr nariar the mitted to sit down taken « longer walk and were tired. eat down; and was the next witness called in. He. out and the next moment met her death likewise. Thee William Deveril detailed how he had sped tc the cottage to give the alarm, and had subsequently rejoined Mr. Gunthorpe to keep watch until the authorities shuuld come. It appeared that they both noticed that the parcel which the maid bad The coroner having heard Deveril’s evidence, thought that the jury might dispense with that of Mr. Gunthorpe, as it would merely prove a ro- petition of the testimony just given. The magistrate who had proceeded to the spot where the murder was committed, was the next witness called in; and he to the circum- ' stance of being summoned thither, and finding the bodies in the condition in which they were almost im- time, they asked him to be per- | mediately afterwards removed to the' public-house at Gainsborough. He had subsequently superintended than they had at first intended, tho search which was made about the persons of the They were invited to enter: they deceased, and had secn that their money end their such refreshments as the cottage trinkets were all safe about them—seo that the mur- afforded, were offered, of which they partook. Soon derer or murderers had not rifled the victims of afterwards two gentlemen came to the cottage, one their property, beyond the large parcel which had having been there before some few days previously. been proved to be missing. The peasant then described how Mr. Deveril saved , The head constable of Gainsborough was next &@ woman from drowning on the oceasiun to which examined. He depused that he had visited tne be referred, and how that circumstance had ren- scene of the y with some of his men on the desed him an mmate of the cottage for a whole preveding night, and that he had returned thither COMM (G OO) CO