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Book, page 81 / 161 For half the night, I lay awake, thinking of what had occurred, and settling in my mind the course of proceeding to adopt in the morning. I was up long before sunrise--in fact, long before anybody else was stirring--awaiting the appearance of the landlord, to whom it was my intention to give information of the dreadful deed that had been committed. Full an hour elapsed before he made his appearance. I immediately drew him aside. "There has been a death in the house," said I. "Yes," he replied. "The poor sick child that was brought here by the Eastern stage last evening died in the night. I did not suppose it would live till morning. To me, it seemed in a dying state when its parents arrived." "There has been foul play," said I, with emphasis. "That child has not died a natural death." "How so? What do you mean?" asked the landlord, with a look of surprise. "I mean what I say," was my reply. "As sure as I am a living man, that child has been murdered." I then related all I had heard, to the horror and astonishment of the landlord. "A deed like this must not go unpunished," he said, sternly and angrily. "It is horrible to think of it." After talking over the matter for some time, it was determined to call a council of half a dozen of the regular boarders in the house, as soon as breakfast was over, and decide upon the steps best to be taken. Accordingly, after breakfast, a few of us assembled in a private parlour, and I again related, with minuteness, all that I had heard. After sundry expressions of horror and indignation, a gentleman said to me--"Are you sure it was grains or granules of aconite and arsenic that were given to the child?" "Grains, sir," I replied, promptly.
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