The Blotting Book

n that the first case to be tried was the murder of which all Brighton and a large part of England had been talking so much since Morris Assheton had been committed for tri

t six, and to have driven home along the Falmer Road in his car an hour or so later. And in a copse close by to where the body of the murdered man was found had been discovered a thick bludgeon of a stick, broken it would seem by some violent act, in

ather to Morris, and while Miss Madge Templeton was young and had the spring and elasticity of youth, so that, though all this was indeed terrible enough, she might be expected to get over it, Mr. Taynton was advanced in years and it seemed that he was utterly broken by the shock. He had not been in Brighton on the day on which Morris was brought before the police-court magistrates, and the news had reached him in London after his young friend had been committed. It was said he had fainted straight off, and there had been much difficulty in bringing him round. But since then he had worked day and night on behalf of the accused. But certain fresh evidence which had turned up a day or two before the Assizes seemed to have taken the heart out of

hom would have shuddered to see a dog beaten, or a tired hare made to go an extra mile, settled themselves in their places with a rustle of satisfaction at the thought of seeing a man brought before them in the shame of suspected murder, and promised themselves an interesting and thrilling couple of days in observing the gallows march nearer him, and in watching his mental agony. They who would, and perhaps did, subscribe to

evoid of all emotional appeal, laid before the court the facts h

ner in an abominable manner, and the prosecution were not intending for a moment to attempt to establish the truth of his slander. But this slander they put forward as a motive that gave rise to a murderous impulse on the part of the prisoner. The jury would hear from one of the witnesses, an old friend of the prisoner's, a

on the Thursday. On the Wednesday the prisoner became cognisant of the fact that Mr. Godfrey Mills had-he would not argue over it-wantonly slandered him to Sir Richard Templeton, a marriage with the daughter of whom was projected in the prisoner's mind, which there was reason to suppose, might have taken place. Should the jury not be satisfied on that point, witnesses would b

and crowded court at this; it was just these heart

at he learned for certain from the lips of the man to whom they had been made, who was the author of them. The author was Mr. Godfrey Mills. He had thereupon motored back from Falmer Park, and informed Mr. Taynton of this, and had left again for Falmer an hour later to make an appointment for Mr. Taynton to see Sir Richard. He knew, too, this would be proved, that Mr. Godfrey Mills pro

to London next morning to seek him there. He had not, of course, found him, and he returned to Brighton that afternoon. In connection with this return, another painful passage lay before them, for it would be shown by one of the witnesses that again on the Friday afternoon the prisoner had visited the scene of the crime. Mr. Taynton, in fact, still unsuspicious of anything being wrong had walked over the Downs that afternoon from Brighton to Falmer, and had sat down in view of the sta

d of his. Hitherto his face had been hidden in his hands, as this terribly logical tale went on. But here he raised it, and

ssing money. No money, at least, had been found on the body; it was reasonable to refer to it as "missing." But here again, the motive of self-preservation came in; the whole thing had been carefully planned; the prisoner, counsel suggested, had, just as he had gone up to town to find Mr. Mills the day af

of justice, not revengeful, not seeking for death, but merely stating the case as it might be stated by some planet or remote fixed star

d, "more evidence of an utterly unexpected, but to us convincing kind has been discov

was taken. It was taken from a blotting book in the drawing-room of Mrs. Assheton's house in Sussex Square. An expert in handwriting will soon tell the gentlemen of the jury in whose hand he without doubt considers

ooked up fr

his discovery

Sergeant Wilkinson, my lord. T

the judge had

aid, "from the negative, so to

ne

FREY MI

ng back to Brighton to-morrow, and are getting out at Fal

S ASSH

mane ladies and gentlemen who had fought for sea

g is that of the prisoner. No letter was found in the deceased man's room corresponding to this envelope, but the jury will observe that what I have called the negative of the letter on the blotting-paper was dated June 21st, the day that the prisoner suspected the slander that had been levelled at him. The suggestion is that the deceased opened this before

*

followed, for the vultures and carrion crows who crowded the court were finding themselves quite beautifully thrilled,

chased toward the gallows, and they followed his progress there with breathless interest. Step by step all that was laid down in the opening speech for the prosecution was inexorably proved, all, that is to say, except the affair of the stick. But from what a certain witness (Mr. Taynton) swore to, it was clear that this piece of circumstantial evidence, which indeed was of the greatest importance since the Crown's case was that the murder had been

a similar

n replied in t

urt th

*

ationally, and drag out dreadful secrets (which had nothing to do with the case) about their private lives, in order to show that they seldom if ever spoke the truth. Indeed, witness after witness was allowed to escape without any cross-examination at all; there was no atte

ad come back uneasily and of an unquiet conscience. If that was so, Mr. Taynton's presence there, who had been the witness who proved the presence of the other, was suspicious also. What had he come there for? In order to throw the broken pieces of Morris's stick into the bushes? These inferences were of course but suggested in the questi

to bear only on the business relations between the prisoner and the witness. Then suddenly like the d

of the prisoner's priv

es

ondon and North-Western Debentures, ￡6,000 in Conso

bt those figur

bought ￡8,000 of Lo

Consols, ￡7,000 in Gov

tra

lips to speak, but no

nswer the

followed the suggestions about the stick, a silence far more palpable

or the prosec

questions are irrelev

tly show, my lord,

tion," said the judge. "I see tha

tion was

l," said the counsel f

eft the w

tly calm and collected, a circumstance which the spectators put down to the callousness with which they kindly credited h