How he got into the water was not known.
Once in the water, the blow was easy enough to receive; he might have struck against the estrade.
There is almost sure to be some miserable coincidence in these cases to render them doubly unfortunate.

For three weeks past, as the miller testified--a respectable man named Floyd--his mill had not been deserted; some one, man, boy, or woman, had always been there.

On this afternoon it was closed, mill and cottage too, and all were away.

What might have been simply a slight accident, had help been at hand, had terminated in an awful death for the want of it.
It was eleven o'clock before anything like order was restored at Hartledon, and the house left in quiet.

The last person to quit it was Dr.Ashton.Hedges, the butler, had been showing him out, and was standing for a minute on the steps looking after him, and perhaps to cool, with a little fresh air, his perplexed brow--for the man was a faithful retainer, and the affair had shocked him in no common degree--when he was accosted by Pike, who emerged stealthily from behind one of the outer pillars, where he seemed to have been sheltering.
"Why, what have you been doing there ?" exclaimed the butler.
"Mr.Hedges, I've been waiting here--hiding, if you like to call it so," was the answer; and it should be observed that the man's manner, quite unlike his usual rough, devil-may-care tone, was characterized by singular respect and earnestness.