第47章

He demanded whether a poor man like himself would have left so much wealth as lay scattered abroad in that house--gold repeaters, massy plate, gold snuff boxes--untouched? That argument certainly weighed much in his favor.And yet again it was turned against him; for a magistrate asked him how HE happened to know already that nothing had been touched.True it was, and a fact which had puzzled no less than it had awed the magistrates, that, upon their examination of the premises, many rich articles of bijouterie, jewelry, and personal ornaments, had been found lying underanged, and apparently in their usual situations; articles so portable that in the very hastiest flight some might have been carried off.In particular, there was a crucifix of gold, enriched with jewels so large and rare, that of itself it would have constituted a prize of great magnitude.Yet this was left untouched, though suspended in a little oratory that had been magnificently adorned by the elder of the maiden sisters.There was an altar, in itself a splendid object, furnished with every article of the most costly material and workmanship, for the private celebration of mass.This crucifix, as well as everything else in the little closet, must have been seen by one at least of the murderous party; for hither had one of the ladies fled; hither had one of the murderers pursued.She had clasped the golden pillars which supported the altar--had turned perhaps her dying looks upon the crucifix; for there, with one arm still wreathed about the altar foot, though in her agony she had turned round upon her face, did the elder sister lie when the magistrates first broke open the street door.And upon the beautiful parquet, or inlaid floor which ran round the room, were still impressed the footsteps of the murderer.These, it was hoped, might furnish a clew to the discovery of one at least among the murderous band.They were rather difficult to trace accurately; those parts of the traces which lay upon the black tessellae being less distinct in the outline than the others upon the white or colored.Most unquestionably, so far as this went, it furnished a negative circumstance in favor of the negro, for the footsteps were very different in outline from his, and smaller, for Aaron was a man of colossal build.And as to his knowledge of the state in which the premises had been found, and his having so familiarly relied upon the fact of no robbery having taken place as an argument on his own behalf, he contended that he had himself been among the crowd that pushed into the house along with the magistrates; that, from his previous acquaintance with the rooms and their ordinary condition, a glance of the eye had been sufficient for him to ascertain the undisturbed condition of all the valuable property most obvious to the grasp of a robber that, in fact, he had seen enough for his argument before he and the rest of the mob had been ejected by the magistrates; but, finally, that independently of all this, he had heard both the officers, as they conducted him, and all the tumultuous gatherings of people in the street, arguing for the mysteriousness of the bloody transaction upon that very circumstance of so much gold, silver, and jewels, being left behind untouched.

In six weeks or less from the date of this terrific event, the negro was set at liberty by a majority of voices among the magistrates.In that short interval other events had occurred no less terrific and mysterious.In this first murder, though the motive was dark and unintelligible, yet the agency was not so;ordinary assassins apparently, and with ordinary means, had assailed a helpless and unprepared family; had separated them;attacked them singly in flight (for in this first case all but one of the murdered persons appeared to have been making for the street door); and in all this there was no subject for wonder, except the original one as to the motive.But now came a series of cases destined to fling this earliest murder into the shade.Nobody could now be unprepared; and yet the tragedies, henceforward, which passed before us, one by one, in sad, leisurely, or in terrific groups, seemed to argue a lethargy like that of apoplexy in the victims, one and all.The very midnight of mysterious awe fell upon all minds.

Three weeks had passed since the murder at Mr.Weishaupt's--three weeks the most agitated that had been known in this sequestered city.We felt ourselves solitary, and thrown upon our own resources; all combination with other towns being unavailing from their great distance.Our situation was no ordinary one.Had there been some mysterious robbers among us, the chances of a visit, divided among so many, would have been too small to distress the most timid; while to young and high-spirited people, with courage to spare for ordinary trials, such a state of expectation would have sent pulses of pleasurable anxiety among the nerves.