And perhaps the worst aspect of it all was that
there had been not simply a blow,--but blows. The constables had
declared that the murdered man had been struck thrice about the head,
and that the fatal stroke had been given on the side of his head
after the man's hat had been knocked off. That Finn should have
followed his enemy through the street, after such words as he had
spoken, with the view of having the quarrel out in some shape,
did not seem to be very improbable to any of them except Lord
Cantrip;--and then had there been a scuffle, out in the open path, at
the spot at which the angry man might have overtaken his adversary,
it was not incredible to them that he should have drawn even such a
weapon as a life-preserver from his pocket. But, in the case as it
had occurred, a spot peculiarly traitorous had been selected, and the
attack had too probably been made from behind. As yet there was no
evidence that the murderer had himself encountered any ill-usage. And
Finn, if he was the murderer, must, from the time he was standing at
the club door, have contemplated a traitorous, dastardly attack.
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