Robert says the creature--I won't call him a man--must be humored
and kept deceived about poor Mary's end, in order that we may
discover and bring to justice the monster whose drunken blow was
the death of her. I shall know no ease of mind till her murderer
is secured, and till I am certain that he will be made to suffer
for his crimes. I wanted to go with Robert to the Mews, but he
said it was best that he should carry out the rest of the
investigation alone, for my strength and resolution had been too
hardly taxed already. He said more words in praise of me for what
I have been able to do up to this time, which I am almost ashamed
to write down with my own pen. Besides, there is no need; praise
from his lips is one of the things that I can trust my memory to
preserve to the latest day of my life.
May 3d. Robert was very long last night before he came back to
tell me what he had done. He easily recognized the hunchback at
the corner of the Mews by my description of him; but he found it
a hard matter, even with the help of money, to overcome the
cowardly wretch's distrust of him as a stranger and a man.
However, when this had been accomplished, the main difficulty was
conquered. The hunchback, excited by the promise of more money,
went at once to the Red Lion to inquire about the person whom he
had driven there in his cab.
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