Having measured and prepared the dose in the dressing room, the servant went on to say, he had knocked at his master’s door, and receiving no answer, had entered the room, and partly unclosed the shutters.  He perceived the blood on the carpet, and on opening the curtains, saw his master lying with his mouth and eyes open, perfectly dead, and weltering in gore.  He had stretched out his hand, and seized that of the dead man, which was quite stiff and cold; then, losing heart, he had run to the door communicating with the passage, but found it locked, and turned to the other entrance, and ran down the back-stairs, crying “murder.”  Mr. Hughes, the butler, and James Carney, another servant, came immediately, and they all three went back into the room.  The key was in the outer door, upon the inside, but they did not unlock it until they had viewed the body.  There was a great pool of blood in the bed, and in it was lying a red-handled case knife, which was produced, and identified by the witness.  Just then they heard Mr. Marston calling for admission, and they opened the door with some difficulty, for the lock was rusty.  Mr. Marston had ordered them to leave the things as they were, and had used very stern language to the witness.  They had then left the room, securing both doors.

This witness underwent a severe and searching examination, but his evidence was clear and consistent.

In conclusion, Marston produced a dagger, which was stained with blood, and asked the man whether he recognized it.

Smith at once stated this to have been the property of his late master, who, when traveling, carried it, together with his pistols, along with him.  Since his arrival at Gray Forest, it had lain upon the chimney-piece in his bedroom, where he believed it to have been upon the previous night.

James Carney, one of Marston’s servants, was next sworn and examined.  He had, he said, observed a strange and unaccountable agitation and depression in Merton’s manner for some days past; he had also been several times disturbed at night by his talking aloud to himself, and walking to and fro in his room.  Their bedrooms were separated by a thin partition, in which was a window, through which Carney had, on the night of the murder, observed a light in Merton’s room, and, on looking in, had seen him dressing hastily.  He also saw him twice take up, and again lay down, the red-hafted knife which had been found in the bed of the murdered man.  He knew it by the handle being broken near the end.  He had no suspicion of Merton having any mischievous intentions, and lay down again to rest.  He afterwards heard him pass out of his room, and go slowly up the back-stairs leading to the upper story.  Shortly after this he had fallen asleep, and did not hear or see him return.  He then described, as Smith had already done, the scene which presented itself in the morning, on his accompanying him into Sir Wynston’s bedchamber.