The Valley of Fear Part 3 (1/2)
”I've had a good look, Mr Holn that anyone has landed--but why should he leave any sign?”
”Exactly Why should he? Is the water always turbid?”
”Generally about this colour The streas down the clay”
”How deep is it?”
”About two feet at each side and three in thebeen drowned in crossing”
”No, a child could not be drowned in it”
We walked across the drawbridge, and were adnarled, dried-up person, as the butler, A froeant, a tall, foril in the roo fresh, Sergeant Wilson?” asked White Mason
”No, sir”
”Then you can go hoh We can send for you if ant you The butler had better wait outside Tell hilas, and the housekeeper that we entleive you the views I have formed first, and then you will be able to arrive at your own”
He irip of fact and a cool, clear, common-sense brain, which should take him some way in his profession Holn of that impatience which the official exponent too often produced
”Is it suicide, or is it entlemen, is it not? If it were suicide, then we have to believe that thisit; that he then caown, traive the idea someone had waited for him, opened the , put blood on the--”
”We can surely dismiss that,” said MacDonald
”So I think Suicide is out of the question Then a murder has been done What we have to determine is, whether it was done by someone outside or inside the house”
”Well, let's hear the argument”
”There are considerable difficulties both ways, and yet one or the other it must be We will suppose first that soot thiswas still and yet no one was asleep They then did the deed with the queerest and noisiest weapon in the world so as to tell everyone what had happened--a weapon that was never seen in the house before That does not seem a very likely start, does it?”
”No, it does not”
”Well, then, everyone is agreed that after the alariven only a minute at the most had passed before the whole household--not Mr Cecil Barker alone, though he claims to have been the first, but Ames and all of theuilty person ed to make footmarks in the corner, open the ,off the dead er, and all the rest of it? It's impossible!”
”You put it very clearly,” said Holree with you”
”Well, then, we are driven back to the theory that it was done by so difficulties; but anyhow they have ceased to be iot into the house between four-thirty and six; that is to say, between dusk and the tie was raised There had been so to prevent hilar, or he las Since Mr Douglas has spent un seerudge is the more likely theory He slipped into this room because it was the first he came to, and he hid behind the curtain There he relas entered the room It was a short interview, if there were any interview at all; for Mrs Douglas declares that her husband had not left her more than a few minutes when she heard the shot”
”The candle shows that,” said Holmes
”Exactly The candle, which was a new one, is not burned more than half an inch He must have placed it on the table before he was attacked; otherwise, of course, it would have fallen when he fell This shows that he was not attacked the instant that he entered the room When Mr Barker arrived the candle was lit and the lah”
”Well, noe can reconstruct things on those lines Mr Douglas enters the room He puts down the candle A un He de--Heaven only knohy, but so it ave it up Then either in cold blood or in the course of a struggle--Douglas ripped the halas in this horrible way He dropped his gun and also it would seem this queer card--VV 341, whatever that h theand across thethe cri, but just a little unconvincing”
”Man, it would be absolute nonsense if it wasn't that anything else is even worse!” cried MacDonald ”Somebody killed the man, and whoever it was I could clearly prove to you that he should have done it so his retreat to be cut off like that? What does he un when silence was his one chance of escape? Coive us a lead, since you say Mr White Mason's theory is unconvincing”
Hol discussion,to right and to left, and his forehead wrinkled with speculation
”I should like a few et so far as a theory, Mr Mac,” said he, kneeling down beside the body ”DearCan we have the butler in for a moment? Ames, I understand that you have often seen this very unusual las's forearm?”
”Frequently, sir”
”You never heard any speculation as to what it reat pain when it was inflicted It is undoubtedly a burn Now, I observe, Ale of Mr Douglas's jaw Did you observe that in life?”
”Yes, sir, he cut hi”
”Did you ever know hi before?”
”Not for a very long tiestive!” said Holmes ”It may, of course, be a mere coincidence, or it may point to some nervousness which would indicate that he had reason to apprehend danger Had you noticed anything unusual in his conduct, yesterday, Ames?”
”It struck me that he was a little restless and excited, sir”
”Ha! The attack may not have been entirely unexpected We do seeress, do we not? Perhaps you would rather do the questioning, Mr Mac?”
”No, Mr Holmes, it's in better hands than mine”
”Well, then, ill pass to this card--VV 341 It is rough cardboard Have you any of the sort in the house?”
”I don't think so”
Holmes walked across to the desk and dabbed a little ink fro paper ”It was not printed in this room,” he said; ”this is black ink and the other purplish It was done by a thick pen, and these are fine No, it was done elsewhere, I should say Can youof the inscription, A”
”What do you think, Mr Mac?”
”It gives me the impression of a secret society of soe upon the forearm”
”That's my idea, too,” said White Mason
”Well, we can adopt it as a working hypothesis and then see how far our difficulties disappear An agent from such a society las, blows his head nearly off with this weapon, and escapes by wading thea card beside the dead man, which will, when mentioned in the papers, tell other eance has been done That all hangs together But why this gun, of all weapons?”
”Exactly”