At length I ventured softly to withdraw the bolt, to open and to advance within the room.

Nothing could exceed the horror of my expectation; yet I was startled by the scene that I beheld.
In a chair, whose back was placed against the front wall, sat Welbeck.
My entrance alarmed him not, nor roused him from the stupor into which he was plunged.

He rested his hands upon his knees, and his eyes were riveted to something that lay, at the distance of a few feet before him, on the floor.

A second glance was sufficient to inform me of what nature this object was.

It was the body of a man, bleeding, ghastly, and still exhibiting the marks of convulsion and agony! I shall omit to describe the shock which a spectacle like this communicated to my unpractised senses.