till we emerged on the high road to
Saxmundham. We could hardly hope to
overtake the man and woman before they got
into the town, but we kept on. A toll gate-
keeper told us that a tinker had passed
through there nearly an hour before; "he
had not noticed any woman with him," he
said. But we came to a public-house a little
higher up the road; and there we found the
tinker's portable fire-place, standing beside
the door.

"We've got him now," said Cole. "Hush!"
He crept into the passage, and looked through
the crack of the door of the tap-room, where
there was a noise of men's voices. " That's
him sitting apart in the corner," said Cole.
"I could have picked the villain out among a
thousand. Follow me!"

"Do you belong to that fire outside,
Mister? " said my companion.

"Ye-e-s," replied the tinker, yawning and
stretching himself.

" That trick won't do," said Cole. " Men
don't feel sleepy after such a day's work as
you've being doing. Come, you've got a book
somewhere about you."

'' Me! " exclaimed the tinker. " What do
you mean by comin' and bullyin' a man like
that? I've got no book."

"What do you call that? " said my
companion thrusting his hand into his side-pocket
and drawing out a thick volume. " Isn't that
a book?"

"And s'pose it is? " said the tinker,
apparently quite unabashed at the exposure.

"You're a cool rascal," said Cole, as he
opened it, and we both read the name of
Captain Bland on the title page. " Where did
you get this?"

"I found it," said the tinker.

"You'll come along with us, and tell that
story to the police," said Cole.

"I won't, though," replied the man.
"Where's your authority? Shew me your
staff. I'm sure these gen'l'men won't sit
quiet, and see a poor man dealt with like
that." But the gentlemen referred to did sit
quiet; and seemed to be well acquainted with
the proverb about interfering in strangers'
quarrels.

"Come; it's no use," continued my companion.
"Where's the woman that was with you?"

"With me! " exclaimed the man. "Nobody
can say they saw any woman with me,
to-day."

"But I can, though," said I, coming forward.
"I heard what you were talking about too."

"Where might that have been, now?"
asked the tinker, with the same coolness.

"On the road, along the cliff near Parley."

"I ain't been near Parley," said the tinker.
"Say Blyborough or Yoxford, and I grant it
you!"

"Come," said Cole, who had been over the
house, and ascertained that the woman was
not there. " You must go with us to
Saxmundham; " upon which the tinker coolly
knocked the ashes out of his pipe, and went
with us without speaking a word. At the
watchhouse, he persisted in saying that he
had found the book that morning, and that I
was mistaken in saying I had met him with
a woman. Captain Bland, however, came the
next day before the magistrate, and stated
the book had only left his library the evening
before; and I was able to swear to the
tinker's voice being the same as that of the
man who had passed me at Parley. Nothing
more was found upon the man. The
magistrate remarked that the woman might
perhaps have been sent to dispose of the
remainder of the property, and directed a
search to be made for her: his hypothesis
was rendered more probable when we learned
that the woman had inquired for the man at
the public-house soon after we left, and had
not been heard of since. A surgeon, who had
examined the body, stated that the wound
on the head might have been inflicted by some
blunt instrument, similar to the soldering iron
which the tinker carried with him. No spots
of blood, however, or any marks of a struggle
were found upon him. On the following day,
the tinker begged to see the magistrate, to
whom he confessed that the stories he had
told were false: but he still persisted that he
knew nothing of the murder. He accounted
for the possession of the book, by saying that
as he was walking along the road near
Borsted, some time after dark on the night
of the murder, he saw by the light of his fire
a man standing at the corner of a lane, with
several packs and bundles on the ground
beside him, as if he had been carrying them
and were resting awhile; that the man begged
him hurriedly to give him a lift with them,
promising to pay him for his trouble; and
that he then left the woman in charge of his
fire and went up the lane with the stranger,
carrying two of the packs; that the stranger
told him he had expected a friend to come
and help him on with his load, but that he
was in a hurry and couldn't wait for him;
and that in this way they carried the packs
about two miles, the man urging him
continually to hasten, to a spot where he put
them in a chaise cart, which was waiting
there, paying the tinker two shillings for his
trouble. He stated further that when he
returned to the woman she showed him a
book, which she admitted having taken out
of one of the bundles while the stranger was
talking to him, and that it was of this book
that they were talking when they passed me
at Parley: for the woman not being able to
read was asking him about the nature of the
book. The woman, he said, had been
travelling with him; and being tired with
walking and carrying the pack, he had sent
her with one of the shillings to a village at
some distance to buy some meat: bidding her
join him at the little public-house. He could
not say what had become of her; but he
supposed she had heard of his being " in