Chapter VIII. Carl Falls Under Suspicion.

Driven From Home

by Horatio Alger

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 night 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!"

"Don't believe him, the red-handed murderer!" broke out the
woman, fiercely. "He is probably a thief; he killed my poor husband,
and then sat down like a cold-blooded villain that he is, and gorged
himself."

Things began to look very serious for poor Carl.

"Your husband is larger and stronger than myself," he urged,
desperately. "How could I overpower him?"

"It looks reasonable, Maria," said the man. "I don't see how the
boy could have killed Mr. Brown, or lifted him upon the hook, even if
he did not resist."

"He murdered him, I tell you, he murdered him!" shrieked the
woman, who seemed bereft of reason. "I call upon you to arrest
him."

"I am not a constable, Maria."

"Then tie him so he cannot get away, and go for a constable. I
wouldn't feel safe with him in the house, unless he were tied fast.
He might hang me!"

Terrible as the circumstances were, Carl felt an impulse to
laugh. It seemed absurd to hear himself talked of in this way.

"Tie me if you like!" he said. "I am will- ing to wait here
till some one comes who has a little common sense. Just remember
that I am only a boy, and haven't the strength of a full-grown
man!"

"The boy is right, Maria! It's a foolish idea of yours."

"I call upon you to tie the villain!" insisted the woman.

"Just as you say! Can you give me some rope?"

From a drawer Mrs. Brown drew a quantity of strong cord, and the
man proceeded to tie Carl's hands.

"Tie his feet, too, Walter!"

"Even if you didn't tie me, I would promise to remain here. I
don't want anybody to suspect me of such a thing," put in Carl.

"How artful he is!" said Mrs. Brown. "Tie him strong,
Walter."

The two were left alone, Carl feeling decidedly uncomfortable.
The newly-made widow laid her head upon the table and moaned,
glancing occasionally at the body of her husband, as it still hung
suspended from the hook.

"Oh, William, I little expected to find you dead!" she groaned.
"I only went to the store to buy a pound of salt, and when I come
back, I find you cold and still, the victim of a young ruffian! How
could you be so wicked?" she demanded fiercely of Carl.

"I have told you that I had nothing to do with your husband's
death, madam."

"Who killed him, then?" she cried.

"I don't know. He must have committed suicide."

"Don't think you are going to escape in that way. I won't rest
till I see you hung!"

"I wish I had never entered the house," thought Carl,
uncomfortably. "I would rather have gone hungry for twenty four
hours longer than find myself in such a position."

Half an hour passed. Then a sound of voices was heard outside,
and half a dozen men entered, including besides the messenger, the
constable and a physician.

"Why was he not cut down?" asked the doctor, hastily. "There
might have been a chance to resuscitate him."

"I didn't think of it," said the messenger. "Maria was so
excited, and insisted that the boy murdered him."

"What boy?"

Carl was pointed out.

"That boy? What nonsense!" exclaimed Dr. Park. "Why, it would
be more than you or I could do to overpower and hang a man weighing
one hundred and seventy-five pounds."

"That's what I thought, but Maria seemed crazed like."

"I tell you he did it! Are you going to let him go, the
red-handed murderer?"

"Loose the cord, and I will question the boy," said Dr. Park,
with an air of authority.

Carl breathed a sigh of relief, when, freed from his bonds, he
stood upright.

"I'll tell you all I know," he said, "but it won't throw any
light upon the death."

Dr. Park listened attentively, and asked one or two
questions.

"Did you hear any noise when you were sitting at the table?" he
inquired.

"No, sir."

"Was the door closed?"

"Yes, sir."

"That of itself would probably prevent your hearing anything.
Mrs. Brown, at what hour did you leave the house?"

"At ten minutes of twelve."

"It is now five minutes of one. The deed must have been
committed just after you left the house. Had you noticed anything
out of the way in your--husband's manner?"

"No, sir, not much. He was always a silent man."

"Had anything happened to disturb him?"

"He got a letter this morning. I don't know what was in it."

"We had better search for it."

The body was taken down and laid on the bed. Dr. Park searched
the pockets, and found a half sheet of note paper, on which these
lines were written:

"Maria:--I have made up my mind I can ive no longer. I have
made a terrible discovery. When I married you, I thought my first
wife, who deserted me four years ago, dead. I learn by a letter
received this morning that she is still living in a town of Illinois.
The only thing I can do is to free you both from my presence. When
you come back from the store you will find me cold and dead. The
little that I leave behind I give to you. If my first wife should
come here, as she threatens, you can tell her so. Good-by.

"William."

The reading of this letter made a sensation. Mrs. Brown went
into hysterics, and there was a scene of confusion.

"Do you think I can go?" Carl asked Dr. Park.

"Yes. There is nothing to connect you with the sad event."

Carl gladly left the cottage, and it was only when he was a mile
on his way that he remembered that he had not paid for his dinner,
after all.