It was from this address in Poplar that, some ten months before the
murder, she had married young Hepworth. What had become of Martin
was not known. The natural assumption was that, his money being
exhausted, he had returned to his calling, though his name, for some
reason, could not be found in any ship's list.
That he was one and the same with the man that Jetson had watched
till the door of the Hepworths' house had closed upon him there
could be no doubt. Jetson described him as a thick-set,
handsome-looking man, with a reddish beard and moustache. Earlier
in the day he had been seen at Hampstead, where he had dined at a
small coffee-shop in the High Street. The girl who had waited on
him had also been struck by the bold, piercing eyes and the curly
red beard. It had been an off-time, between two and three, when he
had dined there, and the girl admitted that she had found him a
"pleasant-spoken gentleman," and "inclined to be merry." He had
told her that he had arrived in England only three days ago, and
that he hoped that evening to see his sweetheart. He had
accompanied the words with a laugh, and the girl thought--though, of
course, this may have been after-suggestion--that an ugly look
followed the laugh.
One imagines that it was this man's return that had been the fear
constantly haunting young Hepworth.
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