They also declared,
however, that he seemed in a terrible fright, and said twice, "It's
behind me; it's behind me!"
Within an hour of the signing of the will the testator was found dead,
apparently from the effects of fear, but the niece was not in the room
at the time of death. The only other remarkable circumstance in the case
was that the disreputable lover of the niece had been seen hanging about
the house at dusk, the testator having died at ten o'clock at night.
There was also a further fact. The son, on receiving a message from
the niece that his father was seriously worse, had hurried with
extraordinary speed to the house, passing some one or something--he
could not tell what--that seemed to be running, apparently from the
window of the sick man's room, which was on the ground floor, and
beneath which footmarks were afterwards found. Of these footmarks two
casts had been taken, of which photographs were forwarded with the
brief. They had been made by naked feet of small size, and in each
case the little joint of the third toe of the right foot seemed to be
missing.
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