He hesitated again at the door, but his feelings had sustained a terrible revulsion at sight of the corpse, and he was no longer disposed to prosecute his purposed examination of the chamber and its contents; with a view to conjecturing the probable circumstances of the murder.

“Observe, Hughes, that I have moved nothing in the chamber from the place it occupied when we entered,” he said to the servant, as they withdrew.

He locked the door, and as he passed through the hall, on his return, he encountered his father, and, restoring the key, said—­

“I could not stay there; I am almost sorry I have seen it; I am overpowered; what a determined, ferocious murder it was; the place is all in a pool of gore; he must have received many wounds.”

“I can’t say; the particulars will be elicited soon enough; those details are for the inquest; as for me, I hate such spectacles,” said Marston, gloomily; “go now, and see your sister; you will find her there.”

He pointed to the small room where we have first seen her and her fair governess; Charles obeyed the direction, and Marston proceeded himself to his wife’s sitting room.

The young man, dispirited and horrified by the awful spectacle he had just contemplated, hurried to the little study occupied by his sister.  Marston himself ascended, as we have said, the great staircase leading to his wife’s private sitting room.

“Mrs. Marston,” he said, entering, “this is a hateful occurrence, a dreadful thing to have taken place here; I don’t mean to affect grief which I don’t feel; but the thing is very shocking, and particularly so, as having occurred under my roof; but that cannot now be helped.  I have resolved to spare no exertions, and no influence, to bring the assassin to justice; and a coroner’s jury will, within a few hours, sift the evidence which we have succeeded in collecting.  But my purpose in seeking you now is, to recur to the conversation we yesterday had, respecting a member of this establishment.”

“Mademoiselle de Barras?” suggested the lady.

“Yes, Mademoiselle de Barras,” echoed Marston; “I wish to say, that, having reconsidered the circumstances affecting her, I am absolutely resolved that she shall not continue to be an inmate of this house.”

He paused, and Mrs. Marston said—­

“Well, Richard, I am sorry, very sorry for it; but your decision shall never be disputed by me.”

“Of course,” said Marston, drily; “and, therefore, the sooner you acquaint her with it, and let her know that she must go, the better.”

Having said this, he left her, and went to his own chamber, where he proceeded to make his toilet with elaborate propriety, in preparation for the scene which was about to take place under his roof.