The persons who did it came for the purpose of robbing the house; they entered by the back of the house and went out at the front door.[16] The servants in the house, only a man and a maid, never heard anything, and the maid, when she came down to her master's door in the morning, found the horrid deed perpetrated....
[Footnote 15: The murder of Lord William Russell by his valet, Courvoisier, in Norfolk Street, Park Lane.] [Footnote 16: This was the original theory.] [Pageheading: MURDER OF LORD WILLIAM RUSSELL] _Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._ _6th May 1840._ Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty.

Since he wrote to your Majesty, he has seen Mr Fox Maule,[17] who had been at the house in Norfolk Street.

He says that it is a most mysterious affair.

Lord William Russell was found in his bed, quite dead, cold and stiff, showing that the act had been perpetrated some time.

The bed was of course deluged with blood, but there were no marks of blood in any other part of the room; so that he had been killed in his bed and by one blow, upon the throat, which had nearly divided his head from his body.