What should he do?  He was terribly hungry, and the sight of the food on the table was tantalizing.

“I’ll go in, as the door is open,” he decided, “and sit down to the table and eat.  Somebody will be along before I get through, and I’ll pay whatever is satisfactory, for eat I must.”

He entered, seated himself, and ate heartily.  Still no one appeared.

“I don’t want to go off without paying,” thought Carl.  “I’ll see if I can find somebody.”

He opened the door into the kitchen, but it was deserted.  Then he opened that of a small bedroom, and started back in terror and dismay.

There suspended from a hook—­a man of middle age was hanging, with his head bent forward, his eyes wide open, and his tongue protruding from his mouth!

CHAPTER VIII.

Carl falls under suspicion.

To a person of any age such a sight as that described at the close of the last chapter might well have proved startling.  To a boy like Carl it was simply overwhelming.  It so happened that he had but twice seen a dead person, and never a victim of violence.  The peculiar circumstances increased the effect upon his mind.

He placed his hand upon the man’s face, and found that he was still warm.  He could have been dead but a short time.

“What shall I do?” thought Carl, perplexed.  “This is terrible!”

Then it flashed upon him that as he was alone with the dead man suspicion might fall upon him as being concerned in what might be called a murder.

“I had better leave here at once,” he reflected.  “I shall have to go away without paying for my meal.”

He started to leave the house, but had scarcely reached the door when two persons—­a man and a woman—­entered.  Both looked at Carl with suspicion.

“What are you doing here?” asked the man.

“I beg your pardon,” answered Carl; “I was very hungry, and seeing no one about, took the liberty to sit down at the table and eat.  I am willing to pay for my dinner if you will tell me how much it amounts to.”

“Wasn’t my husband here?” asked the woman.

“I—­I am afraid something has happened to your husband,” faltered Carl.

“What do you mean?”

Carl silently pointed to the chamber door.  The woman opened it, and uttered a loud shriek.

“Look here, Walter!” she cried.

Her companion quickly came to her side.

“My husband is dead!” cried the woman; “basely murdered, and there,” pointing fiercely to Carl, “there stands the murderer!”

“Madam, you cannot believe this!” said Carl, naturally agitated.

“What have you to say for yourself?” demanded the man, suspiciously.

“I only just saw—­your husband,” continued Carl, addressing himself to the woman.  “I had finished my meal, when I began to search for some one whom I could pay, and so opened this door into the room beyond, when I saw—­him hanging there!”