Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 434 | Page 9

quite frighten one.'
'Then you and I, your sister, and that thrice-accursed Bedford, did not,

on the 7th of August 1821, go for a sail on the piece of water at
Lowfield, and the skiff was not, in the deadly, sudden, jealous strife
between him and me, accidentally upset? But I know how it is: it is this
brat, and the memories he recalls, that'----
Mrs Irwin screamed, and I stepped sharply into the room. The grasp of
the lunatic was on the child's throat. I loosed it somewhat roughly,
throwing him off with a force that brought him to the ground. He rose
quickly, glared at me with tiger-like ferocity, and then darted out of the
room. The affair had become serious, and the same night I posted a
letter to Yorkshire, informing Mr Oxley of what had occurred, and
suggesting the propriety of his immediately coming to London.
Measures were also taken for securing Mrs Irwin and her son from
molestation.
But the cunning of lunacy is not easily baffled. On returning home the
fourth evening after the dispatch of my letter, I found the house and
immediate neighbourhood in the wildest confusion. My own wife was
in hysterics; Mrs Irwin, I was told by half-a-dozen tongues at once, was
dying; and the frightful cause of all was, that little George Irwin, a
favourite with everybody, had in some unaccountable manner fallen
into the river Lea, and been drowned. This, at least, was the general
conviction, although the river had been dragged to no purpose--the poor
child's black beaver-hat and feather having been discovered floated to
the bank, a considerable way down the stream. The body, it was
thought, had been carried out into the Thames by the force of the
current.
A terrible suspicion glanced across my mind. 'Where is Mr Renshawe?'
I asked. Nobody knew. He had not been seen since five o'clock--about
the time, I soon ascertained, that the child was missed. I had the house
cleared, as quickly as possible, of the numerous gossips that crowded it,
and then sought a conference with Dr Garland, who was with Mrs Irwin.
The distracted mother had, I found, been profusely bled and cupped,
and it was hoped that brain-fever, which had been apprehended, would
not ensue. The physician's suspicions pointed the same way as mine;
but he declined committing himself to any advice, and I was left to act

according to my own discretion. I was new to such matters at that
time--unfortunately so, as it proved, or the affair might have had a less
painful issue.
Tomlins and I remained up, waiting for the return of Mr Renshawe; and
as the long, slow hours limped past, the night-silence only broken by
the dull moaning, and occasional spasmodic screams of poor Mrs Irwin,
I grew very much excited. The prolonged absence of Mr Renshawe
confirmed my impressions of his guilt, and I determined to tax him
with it, and take him into custody the instant he appeared. It was two in
the morning before he did so; and the nervous fumbling, for full ten
minutes, with his latch-key, before he could open the door, quite
prepared me for the spectral-like aspect he presented on entering. He
had met somebody, it afterwards appeared, outside, who had assured
him that the mother of the drowned child was either dead or dying. He
never drank, I knew, but he staggered as if intoxicated; and after he had
with difficulty reached the head of the stairs, in reply to my question as
to where he had been, he could only stutter with white trembling lips:
'It--it--cannot be--be true--that Lau--that Mrs Irwin is--dying?'
'Quite true, Mr Renshawe,' I very imprudently replied, and in much too
loud a tone, for we were but a few paces from Mrs Irwin's bedroom
door. 'And if, as I suspect, the child has been drowned by you, you will
have before long two murders on your head.'
A choking, bubbling noise came from the wretched man's throat, and
his shaking fingers vainly strove to loosen his neck-tie. At the same
moment, I heard a noise, as of struggling, in the bedroom, and the
nurse's voice in eager remonstrance. I instantly made a movement
towards Mr Renshawe, with a view to loosen his cravat--his features
being frightfully convulsed, and to get him out of the way as quickly as
possible, for I guessed what was about to happen--when he, mistaking
my intention, started back, turned half round, and found himself
confronted by Mrs Irwin, her pale features and white night-dress
dabbled with blood, in consequence of a partial disturbance of the
bandages in struggling with the nurse--a terrifying, ghastly sight even
to me; to him utterly overwhelming, and scarcely needing her frenzied

execrations on the murderer of her child to