Page:Adventures of Susan Hopley (Volume 1).pdf/308

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SUSAN HOPLEY.
293

she had called her fellow servant and searched vainly for the key—that they had first supposed it was their master that was speaking to them—but that on finding the house door ajar, they were satisfied some one had got in during the night; and they had therefore both ran off to the town instantly for assistance, neither having courage to stay behind.

"The police officers then related, how, on receiving the summons, they had hastened to the spot and broken open the bedroom door—that there were evident marks of an attempt to force the lock, and part of the blade of a clasp-knife was found on the floor.

"Here the clerk interrupted the evidence to suggest that the prisoner should have been searched at the commencement of the investigation. This omission being repaired, they found on Valentine's person, a purse containing a few franks, a silk pocket handkerchief, a note book containing memoranda of the business he had to do, and a clasp-knife, the broken blade of which exactly fitted the fragment the officers had picked up.

"Though Valentine had himself avowed his attempt to make his escape by picking the lock, yet, on the adjustment of the fragments, every