He had grown fat and lazy, but I shall miss him.
Yesterday a riverman fell off a barge along the water-front and was
drowned. They dragged the river for his body, but they did not find
him. But they found something--an onyx clock, with the tattered
remnant of a muslin pillow-slip wrapped around it. It only bore out
the story, as we had known it for five years.
The Murray girl had lived long enough to make a statement to the
police, although Mr. Holcombe only learned this later. On the
statement being shown to Ladley in the jail, and his learning of the
girl's death, he collapsed. He confessed before he was hanged, and his
confession, briefly, was like this:
He had met the Murray girl in connection with the typing of his play,
and had fallen in love with her. He had never cared for his wife, and
would have been glad to get rid of her in any way possible. He had not
intended to kill her, however. He had planned to elope with the Murray
girl, and awaiting an opportunity, had persuaded her to leave home and
to take a room near my house.
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