"I killed him by a trick--he was the best swordsman of the two." This confession was so horrible that I could only attribute it to an insane delusion.

On pressing my inquiries, I found that the same idea must have occurred to the poor wretch's relations, and to the doctors who signed the certificates for placing him under medical care.

This conclusion (as I afterward heard) was greatly strengthened by the fact that Mr.Varleigh's body had not been found on the reported scene of the duel.

As to the servant, he had deserted his master in London, and had never reappeared.

So far as my poor judgment went, the question before me was not of delivering a self-accused murderer to justice (with no corpse to testify against him), but of restoring an insane man to the care of the persons who had been appointed to restrain him.
I tried to test the strength of his delusion in an interval when he was not urging his shocking entreaties on Miss Laroche.