The Valley of Fear Part 5 (1/2)
”Man,” he cried, ”there's not a doubt of it! Barker has just ood deal broader than any bootmark I mind that you said it was a splay-foot, and here's the explanation But what's the gaahtfully
White Mason chuckled and rubbed his fat hands together in his professional satisfaction ”I said it was a snorter!” he cried ”And a real snorter it is!”
Chapter 6
--A Dawning Light
The three detectives had many matters of detail into which to inquire; so I returned alone to ourso I took a stroll in the curious old-world garden which flanked the house Rows of very ancient yew trees cut into strange designs girded it round Inside was a beautiful stretch of laith an old sundial in theand restful that it elcoled nerves
In that deeply peaceful atet, or rehture on the floor And yet, as I strolled round it and tried to steep e incident occurred, which brought edy and left a sinister impression in my mind
I have said that a decoration of yew trees circled the garden At the end farthest froe On the other side of this hedge, concealed fro from the direction of the house, there was a stone seat As I approached the spot I are of voices, some remark in the deep tones of a hter
An instant later I had colas and the man Barker before they were aware of -roorief had passed away fro, and her face still quivered with amusement at some remark of her companion He sat forward, his hands clasped and his forear smile upon his bold, handsome face In an instant--but it was just one instant too late--they resuure came into view A hurried word or two passed between them, and then Barker rose and came towardsDr Watson?”
I boith a coldness which showed, I dare say, very plainly the impression which had been produced upon ht that it was probably you, as your friendshi+p with Mr Sherlock Hol to Mrs Douglas for one instant?”
I followed him with a dour face Very clearly I could see in ure on the floor Here within a few hours of the tragedy were his wife and his nearest friend laughing together behind a bush in the garden which had been his I greeted the lady with reserve I had grieved with her grief in the dining rooaze with an unresponsive eye
”I fear that you think ed my shoulders ”It is no business of mine,” said I
”Perhaps some day you will do me justice If you only realized--”
”There is no need why Dr Watson should realize,” said Barker quickly ”As he has himself said, it is no possible business of his”
”Exactly,” said I, ”and so I will beg leave to resume my walk”
”Onevoice ”There is one question which you can ansith more authority than anyone else in the world, and it reat difference to me You know Mr Holmes and his relations with the police better than anyone else can Supposing that a e, is it absolutely necessary that he should pass it on to the detectives?”
”Yes, that's it,” said Barker eagerly ”Is he on his own or is he entirely in with them?”
”I really don't know that I should be justified in discussing such a point”
”I beg--I implore that you will, Dr Watson! I assure you that you will be helping us--helping uide us on that point”
There was such a ring of sincerity in the woot all about her levity and was moved only to do her will
”Mr Holator,” I said ”He is his own ment directed At the same time, he would naturally feel loyalty towards the officials orking on the sa which would help the a cri, and I would refer you to Mr Hol I raisedthee I looked back as I rounded the far end of it, and saw that they were still talking very earnestly together, and, as they were gazing after me, it was clear that it was our interview that was the subject of their debate
”I wish none of their confidences,” said Holmes, when I reported to him what had occurred He had spent the whole afternoon at the Manor House in consultation with his two colleagues, and returned about five with a ravenous appetite for a high tea which I had ordered for hihty aard if it comes to an arrest for conspiracy and murder”
”You think it will come to that?”
He was in his most cheerful and debonair hug I shall be ready to put you in touch with the whole situation I don't say that we have fatho dumb-bell--”
”The dumb-bell!”
”Dear me, Watson, is it possible that you have not penetrated the fact that the case hangs upon thedumb-bell? Well, well, you need not be downcast; for between ourselves I don't think that either Inspector Mac or the excellent local practitioner has grasped the overwhel importance of this incident One dumb-bell, Watson! Consider an athlete with one dumb-bell! Picture to yourself the unilateral develop, Watson, shocking!”
He sat with hiswith ht of his excellent appetite was an assurance of success; for I had very clear recollections of days and nights without a thought of food, when his baffled er features became more attenuated with the asceticism of completein the inglenook of the old village inn he talked slowly and at random about his case, rather as one who thinks aloud than as one who reat, big, thu lie--that's whatpoint The whole story told by Barker is a lie But Barker's story is corroborated by Mrs Douglas Therefore she is lying also They are both lying, and in a conspiracy So noe have the clear proble, and what is the truth which they are trying so hard to conceal? Let us try, Watson, you and I, if we can get behind the lie and reconstruct the truth
”How do I know that they are lying? Because it is a clumsy fabrication which siiven to us, the assassin had less than a , which was under another ring, fro which he would surely never have done--and to put that singular card beside his victim I say that this was obviously iue--but I have toomay have been taken before the man was killed The fact that the candle had been lit only a short tilas, from e hear of his fearless character, aat such short notice, or could we conceive of his giving it up at all? No, no, Watson, the assassin was alone with the dead man for some time with the launshot was apparently the cause of death Therefore the shot must have been fired some time earlier than we are told But there could be no mistake about such a matter as that We are in the presence, therefore, of a deliberate conspiracy upon the part of the two people who heard the gunshot--of the las When on the top of this I am able to show that the blood mark on the sill was deliberately placed there by Barker, in order to give a false clue to the police, you will adainst him
”Noe have to ask ourselves at what hour the murder actually did occur Up to half-past ten the servants wereabout the house; so it was certainly not before that tione to their rooms with the exception of A some experiments after you left us this afternoon, and I find that no noise which MacDonald can make in the study can penetrate to me in the pantry when the doors are all shut
”It is otherwise, however, from the housekeeper's roouely hear a voice when it was very loudly raised The sound froe is at very close range, as it undoubtedly was in this instance It would not be very loud, and yet in the silence of the night it should have easily penetrated to Mrs Allen's room She is, as she has told us, somewhat deaf; but none the less shelike a door slaiven Half an hour before the alariven would be a quarter to eleven I have no doubt that what she heard was the report of the gun, and that this was the real instant of the murder
”If this is so, we have now to deter that they are not the actualfroht the the bell and su, and why did they not instantly give the alarm? That is the question which faces us, and when it has been answered we shall surely have gone some way to solve our problem”
”I a between those two people Sheat some jest within a few hours of her husband's murder”
”Exactly She does not shi+ne as a wife even in her own account of what occurred I am not a whole-souled admirer of womankind, as you are aware, Watson, but ht ard for their husbands, ould let any man's spoken word stand between them and that husband's dead body Should I ever marry, Watson, I should hope to inspirewalked off by a housekeeper whenwithin a few yards of her It was badly stage-ators must be struck by the absence of the usual fe else, this incident alone would have suggested a prearranged conspiracy to my mind”
”You think then, definitely, that Barker and Mrs Douglas are guilty of thedirectness about your questions, Watson,” said Hol his pipe at me ”They colas and Barker know the truth about the ive you a whole-souled answer I am sure they do But your more deadly proposition is not so clear Let us for a moment consider the difficulties which stand in the way
”We will suppose that this couple are united by the bonds of a guilty love, and that they have deteret rid of the e supposition; for discreet inquiry a servants and others has failed to corroborate it in any way On the contrary, there is a good deal of evidence that the Douglases were very attached to each other”
”That, I a of the beautiful save that impression However, ill suppose that they are an extraordinarily astute couple, who deceive everyone upon this point, and conspire to murder the husband He happens to be a s--”
”We have only their word for that”
Hol out a theory by which everything they say fro to your idea, there was never any hidden menace, or secret society, or Valley of Fear, or Boss MacSoeneralization Let us see what that brings us to They invent this theory to account for the cri this bicycle in the park as proof of the existence of some outsider The stain on the sill conveys the saht have been prepared in the house That all fits into your hypothesis, Watson But noe co bits which won't slip into their places Why a cut-off shotgun of all weapons--and an American one at that? How could they be so sure that the sound of it would not bring someone on to them? It's a mere chance as it is that Mrs Allen did not start out to inquire for the slauilty couple do all this, Watson?”
”I confess that I can't explain it”
”Then again, if a wo to advertise their guilt by ostentatiously re after his death? Does that strike you as very probable, Watson?”