Wesley Corpus

In the morning, a gardener which I employed coming in, I asked him, “Do you know such a house in Hackney?’ He answered, ‘Sir, I am going to trim the trees in the garden next to it; and I will make any inquiries which you desire, and bring you back the best account I can. The account he gave me the next morning was this:--When I went to work, I saw over a low hedge a gardener trimming the trees in the other garden; and I asked him, ‘Pray, who lives in that house?” On his answering, ‘A mad Doctor; I asked, “Has he many patients?” He said, ‘I do not know, though I dine in the house; for he never suffers any to see them.’ I said, ‘I will give you a pot of beer, if you can find the name of a young lady that came in a day or two ago. He answered, ‘I cannot promise; but I will do my best when I go in to dinner. When I saw him again, he said, ‘No patient in the house dares speak to any one; and I could get no pen, ink, and paper; but I got a pin and a card, on which a young woman has pricked her name: Here it is.’ I took A REMAIt RA13 Ll. PROVIDENCE. 497 the card, and knew the name. The next day I went to her father, and asked, ‘Sir, where is your daughter?” He said, ‘She is lately married to a very worthy man, and is gone with her husband into the country.’ I then told him the story, and we went together to the Lord Chief Justice. Early in the morning we went to the Doctor's house, and knocked at the door. He looked through a little grate, and bade us go on our way; we had no business with him. I answered, ‘Here is the Lord Chief Justice's warrant, and his tip-staff. Open the door, or we shall break it open. He then opened it, and I asked, ‘Where is the young lady that was brought in hither three days ago?” He answered, ‘There is no such person in my house; you may search it from top to bottom. We did so; but could not find any trace of her.