The sexton rested on his shovel and looked after him for a few moments, and then began banking up the mound.
In those short minutes of treading in the dead man Barnet had formed a design, but what it was the inhabitants of that town did not for some long time imagine.

He went home, wrote several letters of business, called on his lawyer, an old man of the same place who had been the legal adviser of Barnet's father before him, and during the evening overhauled a large quantity of letters and other documents in his possession.

By eleven o'clock the heap of papers in and before Barnet's grate had reached formidable dimensions, and he began to burn them.

This, owing to their quantity, it was not so easy to do as he had expected, and he sat long into the night to complete the task.
The next morning Barnet departed for London, leaving a note for Downe to inform him of Mrs.Barnet's sudden death, and that he was gone to bury her; but when a thrice-sufficient time for that purpose had elapsed, he was not seen again in his accustomed walks, or in his new house, or in his old one.

He was gone for good, nobody knew whither.