further, that on arriving at Hertford, Cowper
called on the Stouts as before mentioned,
directly on entering the town; and returned
to dine; and that when asked, on his leaving
again, whether he would lie there that
night, he replied, that he would.

In continuation of the case it was stated
that between the hours of nine and ten he
supped with Miss Stout and her mother, and
then, having requested writing materials,
engaged himself upon a letter to his wife. That,
at about a quarter to eleven o'clock, Miss
Stout rang the bell, and directed the
maidservant to warm the bed for him, and to
prepare his chamber. That Mr. Cowper offered
no observation or objection on this order
being given, and that the servant proceeded
to obey it, leaving Mr. Cowper and Miss Stout
together: the mother not being then present.
That, a few minutes after going up stairs, the
servant, Sarah Walker, heard the front door,
which always closed with a loud noise, clap
to—and, wondering who had gone out,
concluded that it was Mr. Cowper, who had
gone to the post with the letter she had seen
him writing. On her returning to the room
shortly after eleven o'clock, to say the
bedchamber was ready, the maid found neither
her young mistress nor Mr. Cowper there.
She and the mother (the case for the
prosecution went on to state), utterly at a loss
what to do, or how to account for this strange
disappearance, remained sitting up throughout
the night, expecting the reappearance of
the absent persons, every moment; but hour
after hour passed. The young Quakeress
was never again seen alive.

The circumstances attending the discovery
of the body were next recapitulated; and the
king's counsel proposed to produce evidence
to show, that from the position in which it
was found floating in a depth of some five
or six feet of water, and from the state of
the body at the time of finding, it was
impossible to conclude that she could have
been alive when she first plunged into the
water. He also dwelt strongly ou the facts
that Mr. Cowper was the last person seen iu
her company; that his conduct in leaving the
house after it had been so clearly understood
he was to sleep there, was extremely
singular; and, what was still more remarkable,
that he who had been so long on terms
of friendship with the family, should, after
the catastrophe, never have gone to the
house to make any enquiries. Instead of
doing that, he sent the ostler of the inn to
fetch his horse, and left the town without
taking any notice whatever of the matter.

With respect to the other prisoners, it was
proved by the Guneys, at whose house they
lodged, that Ellis Stevens and William
Rogers, who had engaged the lodging in the
afternoon of the thirteenth of March, returned
to it at eleven o'clock: the other prisoner,
John Marson, being with them. That
they desired to have a fire lighted in their
apartment, and that while Guney's sister was
lighting it, she and Mistress Guney going
backwards and forwards to the room,
overheard the conversation of the prisoners,
which related altogether to Miss Sarah
Stout.

They also observed that on Marson's
removing his peruke, his head recked, and that
his face was hot and flushed. They noticed,
too, that his boots were wet and muddy.
One of the others said to him, speaking of
Miss Stout, "She was an old sweetheart of
yours?" to which he replied, "That she had
turned him off, but that a friend of his was
even with her." According to the testimony
of the same witnesses, Marson said further,
"Her business is settled;" and, laying down
a small bundle on the bed, he exclaimed,
"Mistress Stout's courting days are over."

They talked, too, of money; and one of
them remarked that Marson's share was
forty or fifty pounds: upon which he pulled
out a handful of gold and silver, and vowed
he would spend it all for joy because the
business was finished. That they then
ordered wine, and invited the landlord, John
Guney, to drink with them; and that, while
so doing, their principal conversation was
about Miss Stout, concerning whom they
made several inquiries. Finally, it was
deposed, that after their departure the next
morning, Mistress Guney picked up from the
foot of the bed a piece of rope, which she
could not account for, and believed must
have been left by the prisoners. It was
proved also that during Tuesday the three
last-named prisoners were observed by many
persons, at various times, in close and earnest
conversation with the accused man Cowper.

All these statements were fully proved
by different witnesses. Sarah Walker, on
cross-examination, most emphatically adhered
to her evidence, that Cowper said at dinner-
time, "He would lie there that night;" and,
in reply to a question of the prisoner's,
"Whether her mistress was not melancholy
at times?" acknowledged that she was,
imputing it to a long illness she had had.

Mistress Guney, on her cross-examination,
in answer to a question as to why she had
not come forward on the inquest with the
evidence now offered, confessed that she had
wished to do so, but her husband had overruled
her, fearing it might bring them into trouble.
However, the matter had been since then so
much on her mind as to hinder her from
resting night or day.

A main point in the case was, of course, to
establish the fact that a murder had been
committe; for this purpose the surgeon
was produced who had, with difficulty, been
induced by Mrs. Mary Stout, the deceased's
mother, to re-examine the remains of her
child, with the view to clear her character
from certain aspersions that had been cast
upon it, by way of discovering a motive
for the assumed act of self-destruction. He