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Ghost Story:
'Say nothing to any of the servants, and particularly to Morris, of what we have
discovered. As soon as you have breakfasted, Eames, go at once to the village and bring the
constables.'
When the constables arrived and Morris was summoned to them and accused, he at first
denied the accusation. But when they led him out to the oak, he broke down and confessed. It
had happened as Harris had deduced. He had had two accomplices, when he had let into the
house by the side door; the boy had disturbed them and one of the men had attacked him and
killed him; all three of them had buried the body under the oak. When they had done this, they
talked for a time about what they should do now, and hit upon the plan of gagging Morris and
binding him to the chair.
They were to have taken the sliver to Plymouth and there disposed of it, sending the butler
his share of the proceeds. But they had crossed him; he had heard no word from them.
Morris was found guilty at the next Exeter assizes, sentenced to death and hanged. His
accomplices were never found, however, nor any trace discovered of the stolen property.
Every detail of this story is based on the transcript of Morris's trial, at which Harris gave
evidence, avowing most solemnly his belief that Richard Tarwell had returned to avenge his own
death.
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