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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
necessary for two, or even for three; so I determined, from the
first, to remain single. A man has only to be firm, and he may
set Cupid at defiance. It is not so with women, I do believe; it is
part of their nature to love, else would no woman admire you,
at your time of life.”
“I don’t know thatI am by no means sure of that. Each time
I had the misfortune to become a widower, I was just as determined to pass the remainder of my days in reflecting on the
worth of her I had lost, as you can be to remain a bachelor;
but somehow or other, I don’t pretend to account for it, not
a year passed before I have found inducements to enter into
new engagements. It is a blessed thing, is matrimony, and I am
resolved not to continue single an hour longer than is necessary.”
Dunscomb laughed out, at the earnest manner in which
his friend spoke, though conversations, like this we have been
relating, were of frequent occurrence between them.
“The same old sixpence, Ned! A Benedict as a boy, a Bene-
dict as a man, and a Benedict as a dotard” “Dotard! My good
fellow, let me tell you”
“Poh! I don’t desire to hear it. But as you came on business
connected with the law, and that business is not a marriage –
settlement, what is it? Does old Kingsborough maintain his
right to the Harlem lot?”
“No, he has given the claim up, at last. My business, Tom, is
of a very different nature. What are we coming to, and what is
to be the end of it all!”
As the doctor looked far more than he expressed, Dun-
scomb was struck with his manner. The Siamese twins scarce
31
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
understand each other’s impulses and wishes better than these
two men comprehended each other’s feelings; and Tom saw at
once that Ned was now very much in earnest.
“Coming to?” repeated Dunscomb. “Do you mean the new
code, or the `Woman – hold – the – Purse Law,’ as I call it?
I don’t believe you look far enough ahead to foresee all the
damnable consequences of an elective judiciary.”
“It is not thatthis, or thatI do not mean codes, constitu-
tions, or pin – money. What is the country coming to, Tom
Dunscomb that is the question, I ask.”
“Well, and has the country nothing to do with constitu-
tions, codes, and elective judges? I can tell you, Master Ned
McBrain, M. D., that if the patient is to be saved at all, it must
be by means of the judiciary, and I do not like the advice that
has just been called in.”
“You are a croaker. They tell me the new judges are reason-
ably good.”
“`Reasonably’ is an expressive word. The new judges are old
judges, in part, and in so much they do pretty well, by chance.
Some of the new judges are excellent but one of the very best
men on the whole bench was run against one of the worst men
who could have been put in his place. At the next heat I fear
the bad fellow will get the track. If you do not mean what I
have mentioned, what do you mean?”
“I mean the increase of crime the murders, arsons, robber-
ies, and other abominations that seem to take root among us,
like so many exotics transplanted to a genial soil.”
“`Exoties’ and `genial’ be hanged! Men are alike everywhere.
No one but a fool ever supposed that a republic is to stand, or
fall, by its virtue.”
32
THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
“Yet, the common opinion is that such must be the final
test of our institutions.”
“Jack has just been talking nonsense on this subject, and
now you must come to aid him. But, what has your business
with me, this morning, to do with the general depreciation in
morals?”
“A great deal, as you will allow, when you come to hear my
story.”
Dr. McBrain then proceeded forthwith to deliver himself
of the matter which weighed so heavily on his mind. He was
the owner of a small place in an adjoining county, where it was
his custom to pass as much time, during the pleasant months,
as a very extensive practice in town would allow. This was not
much, it is true, though the worthy physician so contrived
matters, that his visits to Timbully, as the place was called, if
not long, were tolerably numerous. A kind – hearted, as well
as a reasonably – affluent man, he never denied his professional services to his country neighbours, who eagerly asked
his advice whenever there was need of it. This portion of the
doctor’s practice flourished on two accounts, one being his
known skill, and the other his known generosity. In a word,
Dr. McBrain never received any compensation for his advice,
from any in the immediate neighbourhood of his country residence. This rendered him exceedingly popular; and he might
have been sent to Albany, but for a little cold water that was
thrown on the project by a shrewd patriot, who suggested that
while the physician was attending to affairs of state, he could
not be administering to the ailings of his Timbully neighbours.
This may have checked the doctor’s advancement, but it did
not impair his popularity.
33
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
Now, it happened that the bridegroom – expectant had
been out to Timbully, a distance of less than fifteen miles from
his house in Bleecker street, with a view to order matters for
the reception of the bride, it being the intention of the couple
that were soon to be united to pass a few days there, immediately after the ceremony was performed. It was while at his
place, attending to this most important duty, that an express
came from the county town, requiring his presence before the
coroner, where he was expected to give his evidence as a medical man. It seems that a house had been burned, and its owners, an aged couple, had been burnt in it. The remains of the
bodies had been found, and an inquest was about to be held on
them. This was pretty much all that the messenger could tell,
though he rather thought that it was suspected the house had
been set on fire, and the old people, consequently, murdered.
As a matter of course, Dr. McBrain obeyed the summons.
A county town, in America, is often little more than a hamlet,
though in New York they are usually places of some greater
pretensions. The state has now near a dozen incorporated cities, with their mayors and aldermen, and with one exception,
we believe these are all county towns. Then come the incorporated villages, in which New York is fast getting to be rich,
places containing from one to six or seven thousand souls, and
which, as a rule, are steadily growing into respectable provincial
towns. The largest of these usually contain “the county buildings,” as it is the custom to express it. But, in the older counties,
immediately around the great commercial capital of the entire
republic, these large villages do not always exist; or when they
do exist, are not sufficiently central to meet the transcenden-
34
THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
tal justice of democratic equality a quality that is sometimes of
as exacting pretension, as of real imbecility; as witness the remarks of Mr. Dunscomb, in our opening chapter.
The county buildings of happen to stand in a small village,
or what is considered a small village, in the lower part of the
state. As the events of this tale are so recent, and the localities so familiar to many persons, we choose to call this village
“Biberry,” and the county “Dukes.” Such was once the name of
a New York county, though the appellation has been dropped,
and this not from any particular distaste for the strawberry
leaves; “Kings,” “Queens,” and “Duchess” having been wisely
retained wisely, as names should be as rarely changed as public convenience will allow.
Dr. McBrain found the village of Biberry in a high state of
excitement; one, indeed, of so intense a nature as to be far from
favourable to the judicial enquiry that was then going on in
the court – house. The old couple who were the sufferers in
this affair had been much respected by all who knew them; he
as a common – place, well – meaning man, of no particular
capacity, and she as a managing, discreet, pious woman, whose
greatest failing was a neatness that was carried somewhat too
near to ferocity. Nevertheless, Mrs. Goodwin was, generally,
even more respected than her husband, for she had the most
mind, transacted most of the business of the family, and was
habitually kind and attentive to every one who entered her
dwelling; provided, always, that they wiped their feet on her
mats, of which it was necessary to pass no less than six, before
the little parlour was reached, and did not spit on her carpet,
or did not want any of her money. This popularity added great-
35
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
ly to the excitement; men, and women also, commonly feeling a stronger desire to investigate wrongs done to those they
esteem, than to investigate wrongs done to those concerning
whom they are indifferent.
Doctor McBrain found the charred remains of this unfortu-
nate couple laid on a table in the court – house, the coroner in
attendance, and a jury empanelled. Much of the evidence concerning the discovery of the fire had been gone through with,
and was of a very simple character. Some one who was stirring
earlier than common had seen the house in a bright blaze, had
given the alarm, and had preceded the crowd from the village,
on the road to the burning dwelling. The Goodwins had resided in a neat, retired cottage, at the distance of near two miles
from Biberry, though in sight from the village; and by the time
the first man from the latter reached the spot, the roof had
fallen in, and the materials were mostly consumed. A dozen, or
more, of the nearest neighbours were collected around the ruins, and some articles of household furniture had been saved;
but, on the whole, it was regarded as one of the most sudden
and destructive fires ever known in that part of the country.
When the engine arrived from the village, it played briskly
on the fire, and was the means of soon reducing all within the
outer walls, which were of stone, to a pile of blackened and
smouldering wood. It was owing to this circumstance that any
portion of the remains of the late owners of the house had
been found, as was done in the manner thus described, in his
testimony, by Peter Bacon, the person who had first given the
alarm in Biberry.
36
THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
“As soon as ever I seed it was Peter Goodwin’s house that
made the light,” continued this intelligent witness, in the
course of his examination, “I guv’ the alarm, and started off on
the run, to see what I could do. By the time I got to the top of
Brudler’s Hill, I was fairly out of breath, I can tell you, Mr. Coroner and Gentlemen of the Jury, and so I was obliged to pull
up a bit. This guv’ the fire a so much better sweep, and when
I reached the spot, there was little chance for doing much
good. We got out a chest of drawers, and the young woman
who boarded with the Goodwins was helped down out of the
window, and most of her clothes, I b’lieve, was saved, so far as
I know.”
“Stop,” interrupted the coroner; “there was a young woman
in the house, you say.”
“Yes; what I call a young woman, or a gal like; though other
some calls her a young woman. Waal, she was got out; and her
clothes was got out; but nobody could get out the old folks. As
soon as the ingyne come up we turned on the water, and that
put out the fire about the quickest. Arter that we went to diggin’, and soon found what folks call the remains, though to my
notion there is little enough on ‘em that is left.”
“You dug out the remains,” said the coroner, writing; “in
what state did you find them?” “In what I call a pretty poor
state; much as you see ‘em there, on the table.”
“What has become of the young lady you have mentioned?”
enquired the coroner, who, as a public functionary, deemed it
prudent to put all of the sex into the same general category.
“I can’t tell you, ‘squire; I never see’d her arter she was got
out of the window.”
37
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“Do you mean that she was the hired – girl of the family,
or had the old lady no help?”
“I kinder think she was a boarder, like; one that paid her
keepin’,” answered the witness, who was not a person to draw
very nice distinctions, as the reader will have no difficulty in
conceiving, from his dialect. “It seems to me I heer’n tell of
another help in the Goodwin family a sorter Jarman, or Irish
lady.”
“Was any such woman seen about the house this morning,
when the ruins were searched?”
“Not as I’ner. We turned over the brands and sticks, until
we come across the old folks; then everybody seemed to think
the work was pretty much done.”
“In what state, or situation, were these remains found?”
“Burnt to a crisp, just as you see ‘em, ‘squire, as I said afore; a
pretty poor state for human beings to be in.” “But where were
they lying, and were they near each other?”
“Close together. Their heads, if a body can call them black
lookin’ skulls heads, at all, almost touched, if they did n’t quite
touch, each other; their feet lay further apart.”
“Do you think you could place the skeletons in the same
manner, as respects each other, as they were when you first
saw them? But let me first enquire, if any other person is present, who saw these remains before they had been removed?”
Several men, and one or two women, who were in atten-
dance to be examined, now came forward, and stated that they
had seen the remains in the condition in which they had been
originally found. Selecting the most intelligent of the party,
after questioning them all round, the coroner desired that the
38
THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
skeletons might be laid, as near as might be, in the same relative positions as those in which they had been found. There
was a difference of opinion among the witnesses, as to several
of the minor particulars, though all admitted that the bodies,
or what remained of them, had been found quite close together;
their heads touching, and their feet some little distance apart.
In this manner, then, were the skeletons now disposed; the
arrangement being completed just as Dr. McBrain entered the
court – room. The coroner immediately directed the witnesses
to stand aside, while the physician made an examination of the
crisped bones.
“This looks like foul play!” exclaimed the doctor, almost as
soon as his examination commenced. “The skulls of both these
persons have been fractured; and, if this be anything near the
positions in which the skeletons were found, as it would seem,
by the same blow.”
He then pointed out to the coroner and jury, a small frac-
ture in the frontal bone of each skull, and so nearly in a line as
to render his conjecture highly probable. This discovery gave
an entirely new colouring to the whole occurrence, and every one present began to speculate on the probability of arson
and murder being connected with the unfortunate affair. The
Goodwins were known to have lived at their case, and the good
woman, in particular, had the reputation of being a little miserly. As everything like order vanished temporarily from the
court – room, and tongues were going in all directions, many
things were related that were really of a suspicious character,
especially by the women. The coroner adjourned the investigation for the convenience of irregular conversation, in order to
obtain useful clues to the succeeding enquiries.
39
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“You say that old Mrs. Goodwin had a good deal of spe-
cie?” enquired that functionary of a certain Mrs. Pope, a widow
woman who had been free with her communications, and who
very well might know more than the rest of the neighbours,
from a very active propensity she had ever manifested, to look
into the affairs of all around her. “Did I understand you, that
you had seen this money yourself.”
“Yes, sir; often and often. She kept it in a stocking of the
old gentleman’s, that was nothing but darns; so darny, like,
that nobody could wear it. Miss Goodwin was n’t a woman to
put away anything that was of use. A clusser body wasn’t to be
found, anywhere near Biberry.’
“And some of this money was gold, I think I heard you
say. A stocking pretty well filled with gold and silver.” “The
foot was cramming full, when I saw it, and that wasn’t three
months since. I can’t say there was any great
matter in the leg. Yes, there was gold in it, too. She showed
me the stocking the last time I saw it, on purpose to
ask me what might be the valie of a piece of gold that was
almost as big as half a – dollar.” “Should you know that piece
of gold, were you to see it, again?”
“That I should. I didn’t know its name, or its valie, for I nev-
er seed so big a piece afore, but I told Miss Goodwin I thought
it must be ra’al Californy. Them’s about now, they tell me, and
I hope poor folks will come in for their share. Old as I am that
is, not so very old neither but such as I am, I never had a piece
of gold in my life.”
“You cannot tell, then, the name of this particular coin?”
“I couldn’t; if I was to have it for the telling, I couldn’t. It
wasn’t a five dollar piece; that I know, for the old lady had a
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