The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Part 13 (2/2)
”The London press has not had very full accounts I have just been looking through all the recent papers in order to ather, to be one of those simple cases which are so extremely difficult”
”That sounds a little paradoxical”
”But it is profoundly true Singularity is almost invariably a clue The more featureless and co it home In this case, however, they have established a very serious case against the son of the murdered man”
”It is a murder, then?”
”Well, it is conjectured to be so I shall take nothing for granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into it I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have been able to understand it, in a very feords
”Bosob Valley is a country district not very far froest landed proprietor in that part is a Mr John Turner, who o to the old country One of the farms which he held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr Charles McCarthy, as also an ex-Australian The men had known each other in the colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to settle down they should do so as near each other as possible
Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terether McCarthy had one son, a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the sa They appear to have avoided the society of the neighbouring English fah both the McCarthys were fond of sport and were frequently seen at the race-hbourhood McCarthy kept two servants--a irl
Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the least That is as ather about the families Now for the facts
”On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the Bosob Pool, which is a s out of the stream which runs down the Bosob Valley He had been out with his serving- at Ross, and he had told the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of importance to keep at three From that appointment he never came back alive
”From Hatherley Farm-house to the Bosob Pool is a quarter of a round One was an old woman, whose naame-keeper in the employ of Mr Turner Both these witnesses depose that Mr McCarthy alking alone The ga Mr
McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr Jaun under his arht at the tiht no edy that had occurred
”The two McCarthys were seen after the tiht of them The Bosob Pool is thickly wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the edge A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of the lodge-keeper of the Bosob Valley estate, was in one of the woods picking flowers She states that while she was there she saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr
McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a violent quarrel She heard Mr McCarthy the elder using very strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his hand as if to strike his father She was so frightened by their violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached ho near Bosob Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to fight She had hardly said the words when young Mr McCarthy cae to say that he had found his father dead in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper He was ht hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood On following hirass beside the pool The head had been beaten in by repeated blows of soht very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the body Under these circu man was instantly arrested, and a verdict of 'wilfulbeen returned at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the istrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next assizes Those are the main facts of the case as they came out before the coroner and the police-court”
”I could hardly i case,” I remarked ”If ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so here”
”Circu,” answered Holht to one thing, but if you shi+ft your own point of view a little, youentirely different It rave against the young man, and it is very possible that he is indeed the culprit There are several people in the neighbourhood, however, and a landowner, who believe in his innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in his interest Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the case toard at fiftytheir breakfasts at home”
”I am afraid,” said I, ”that the facts are so obvious that you will find little credit to be gained out of this case”
”There is nothing”Besides, we may chance to hit upon some other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to Mr Lestrade You knowwhen I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by , or even of understanding To take the first example to hand, I very clearly perceive that in your bedrooht-hand side, and yet I question whether Mr Lestrade would have noted even so self-evident a thing as that”
”How on earth--”
”My dear fellow, I know you well I know the military neatness which characterises you You shave every ht; but since your shaving is less and less coet farther back on the left side, until it becole of the jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuine a ht and being satisfied with such a result I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and inference Therein lies my metier, and it is just possible that it ation which lies before us There are one or two ht out in the inquest, and which are worth considering”
”What are they?”
”It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after the return to Hatherley Far him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts
This observation of his had the natural effect of reht have remained in the minds of the coroner's jury”
”It was a confession,” I ejaculated
”No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence”