Speaker 1: The Blue Sequin by R. Austin Freeman. Thorndyke stood looking
Speaker 1: up and down the platform with anxiety that increased as
Speaker 1: the time drew near for the departure of the train.
Speaker 1: This is very unfortunate, he said, reluctantly, stepping into an
Speaker 1: empty smoking compartment as the guard executed a flourish with
Speaker 1: his green flag. I am afraid we have missed our friend.
Speaker 1: He closed the door, and as the train began to move,
Speaker 1: thrust his head out of the window. Now, I wonder
Speaker 1: if that will be he he continued. If so, he
Speaker 1: has caught the train by the skin of his teeth
Speaker 1: and is now in one of the rear compartments. The
Speaker 1: subject of Thorndyke's speculation was mister Edward Stopford of the
Speaker 1: firm of Stopford and Myers of Portugal Street Solicitors, and
Speaker 1: his connection with us at present arose out of a
Speaker 1: telegram that had reached our chambers on the preceding evening.
Speaker 1: It was a reply paid and ran, thus, when you
Speaker 1: come here tomorrow to direct defense important case, all costs
Speaker 1: undertaken by us Stopford admirers. Thorndike's reply had been in
Speaker 1: the affirmative and early on this present morning, a further telegram,
Speaker 1: evidently posted overnight, had been delivered. Shall leave for Woolhurst
Speaker 1: by eight twenty five from charing Cross. We'll call for
Speaker 1: you if possible, Edward Stopford. It had not called, however,
Speaker 1: and since he was unknown personally to us both we
Speaker 1: could not judge whether or not he had been among
Speaker 1: the passengers on the platform. It is most unfortunate, Thorndyke repeated,
Speaker 1: for it deprives us of that preliminary consideration of the
Speaker 1: case which is so invaluable. He filled his pipe thoughtfully, and,
Speaker 1: having made a fruitless inspection of the platform at London Bridge,
Speaker 1: took up the paper that he had bought at the bookstall,
Speaker 1: and began to turn over the leaves, running his eye
Speaker 1: quickly down the columns, unmindful of the journalistic bates paragraph
Speaker 1: or article. It is a great disadvantage, he observed, while
Speaker 1: still glancing through the paper, to come plump into an
Speaker 1: inquiry without preparation, to be confronted with the details before
Speaker 1: one has a chance of considering the case in general terms.
Speaker 1: For instance, he paused, leaving the sentence unfinished, and as
Speaker 1: I looked up inquiringly, I saw that he had turned
Speaker 1: over another page and was now reading attentively. This looks
Speaker 1: like our case, Jervis, he said, presently handing me the
Speaker 1: paper and indicating a paragraph at the top of the page.
Speaker 1: It was quite brief and was headed terrible murder in Kent,
Speaker 1: the account being as follows, A shocking crime was discovered
Speaker 1: yesterday morning at the little town of Wolhurst, which lies
Speaker 1: on the Branch line from Howbury Junction. The discovery was
Speaker 1: made by a porter who was inspecting the carriages of
Speaker 1: the train which had just come in. On opening the
Speaker 1: door of a first class compartment, he was horrified to
Speaker 1: find the body of a fashionably dressed woman stretched upon
Speaker 1: the floor. Medical aid was immediately summoned, and on the
Speaker 1: arrival of the Divisional Surgeon, Doctor Morton, it was ascertained
Speaker 1: that the woman had not been dead more than a
Speaker 1: few minutes. The state of the corpse leaves no doubt
Speaker 1: that a murder of a most brutal kind has been perpetuated,
Speaker 1: the cause of death being a penetrating wound of the
Speaker 1: head inflicted with some pointed implement, which must have been
Speaker 1: used with terrible violence, since it has perforated the skull
Speaker 1: and entered the brain. That robbery was not the motive
Speaker 1: of the crime is made clear by the fact that
Speaker 1: an expensively fitting dressing bag was found on the rack,
Speaker 1: and that the dead woman's jewelry, including several valuable diamond rings,
Speaker 1: was untouched. It is rumored that an arrest has been
Speaker 1: made by the local police. A gruesome affair, I remarked
Speaker 1: as I handed back the paper. But the report does
Speaker 1: not give us much information. It does not. Thorndyke agreed,
Speaker 1: and yet it gives us something to consider. Here is
Speaker 1: a perforating wound of the skull inflicted with some pointed implement.
Speaker 1: That is, assuming that it is not a bullet wound.
Speaker 1: Now what kind of implement would be capable of inflicting
Speaker 1: such an injury? How would such an implement be used
Speaker 1: in the confined space of a railway carriage, and what
Speaker 1: sort of person would be in possession of such an implement.
Speaker 1: These are preliminary questions that are worth considering, and I
Speaker 1: commend them to you, Together with the further problems of
Speaker 1: the possible motive, excluding robbery and any circumstances other than
Speaker 1: murder which might account for the injury, The choice of
Speaker 1: suitable implements is not very great, I observed, it is
Speaker 1: very limited, and most of them, such as a plasterer's
Speaker 1: pick or a geological hammer, are associated with certain definite occupations.
Speaker 1: You have a note book, I had, and, accepting the hint,
Speaker 1: I produced it and pursued my further the reflections in silence,
Speaker 1: while my companion, with his note book also on his knee,
Speaker 1: gazed steadily out of the window, And thus he remained
Speaker 1: wrapped in thought, jotting down an entry now and again
Speaker 1: in his book until the train slowed down at Halbury Junction,
Speaker 1: where we had to change on to a branch line.
Speaker 1: As we stepped out, I noticed a well dressed man
Speaker 1: hurrying up the platform from the rear and eagerly scanning
Speaker 1: the faces of the few passengers who had alighted. Soon
Speaker 1: he espied us, and, approaching, quickly asked as he looked
Speaker 1: from one of us to the other. Doctor Thorndyke Yes,
Speaker 1: replied my colleague, adding, and you, I presume are mister
Speaker 1: Edward Stopford. The solicitor bowed. This is a dreadful affair,
Speaker 1: he said in an agitated manner. I see you have
Speaker 1: the paper. A most shocking affair, I am immensely relieved
Speaker 1: to find you here. Nearly missed the train and feared
Speaker 1: I should miss you. There appears to have been an arrest.
Speaker 1: Thorndyke began, Yes, my brother, terrible business. Let us walk
Speaker 1: up the platform. Our train won't start for a quarter
Speaker 1: of an hour. Yet we deposited our joint Gladstone and
Speaker 1: Thorndyke's traveling case in an empty first class compartment, and then,
Speaker 1: with a solicitor between us, strolled up to the unfrequented
Speaker 1: end of the platform. My brother's position, said, mister Stopford
Speaker 1: fills me with dismay. But let me give you the
Speaker 1: facts an order, and you shall judge for yourself. This
Speaker 1: poor creature who has been murdered so brutally was a
Speaker 1: miss Edith Grant. She was formerly an artist's model, and
Speaker 1: as such was a good deal employed by my brother,
Speaker 1: who is a painter. Harold Stopford. You know Ara now,
Speaker 1: I know his work very well, and charming work it is,
Speaker 1: I think so too well. In those days he was
Speaker 1: quite a youngster, about twenty, and he became very intimately
Speaker 1: Miss Grant in quite an innocent way, though not very discreet.
Speaker 1: But she was a nice, respectable girl, as most English
Speaker 1: models are, and no one thought any harm. However, a
Speaker 1: good many letters passed between them, and some little presence,
Speaker 1: amongst which was a beaded chain carrying a locket, and
Speaker 1: in this he was fool enough to put his portrait
Speaker 1: and the inscription Edith from Harold. Later on, Miss Grant,
Speaker 1: who had a rather good voice, went on the stage
Speaker 1: in the comic opera line, and in consequence her habits
Speaker 1: and associates changed somewhat. And as Harold had meanwhile become engaged,
Speaker 1: he was naturally anxious to get his letters back, and
Speaker 1: especially to exchange the locket for some less compromising gift.
Speaker 1: The letters she eventually sent him, but refused absolutely to
Speaker 1: part with the locket. Now. For the last month Harold
Speaker 1: has been staying at Hawbury, making sketching excursions into the
Speaker 1: surrounding country, and yesterday morning he took the train to Shinglehurst,
Speaker 1: the third station from here and the one before Wolhurst.
Speaker 1: On the platform here he met Miss Grant, who had
Speaker 1: come down from London and was going on to Worthy.
Speaker 1: They entered the branch train together, having a first class
Speaker 1: compartment to themselves. It seems she was wearing his locket
Speaker 1: at the time, and he made another appeal to her
Speaker 1: to make an exchange, which she refused. As before, the
Speaker 1: discussion appears to have become rather heated and angry on
Speaker 1: both sides. For the guard and a porter at Munsden
Speaker 1: both noticed that they seemed to be quarreling. But the
Speaker 1: upshot of the affair was that the lady snapped the
Speaker 1: chain and tossed it together with the locket, to my brother,
Speaker 1: and they parted quite amiably. At Shinglehurst where Harold got out.
Speaker 1: He was then carrying his full sketching kit, including a
Speaker 1: large Holland umbrella, the lower joint of which is an
Speaker 1: ash staff fitted with a powerful steel spike for driving
Speaker 1: into the ground. It was at about half past ten
Speaker 1: when he got out at Shinglehurst. By eleven he had
Speaker 1: reached his pit and got to work, and he painted
Speaker 1: steadily for three hours. Then he packed up his traps
Speaker 1: and was just starting on his way back to the
Speaker 1: station when he was met by the police and arrested,
Speaker 1: and now observed the accumulation of circumstantial evidence against him.
Speaker 1: He was the last person seen in company with the
Speaker 1: murdered woman, for no one seems to have seen her
Speaker 1: after they left Munsden. He appeared to be quarreling with
Speaker 1: her when she was last seen alive, and he had
Speaker 1: a reason for possibly wishing for her death. He was
Speaker 1: provided with an implement, a spiked staff capable of inflicting
Speaker 1: the injury which caused her death, and when he was
Speaker 1: searched there was found in his possession the locket and
Speaker 1: broken chain, apparently removed from her person with violence. Against
Speaker 1: all of this is of course his known character. He
Speaker 1: is the gentlest and most amiable of men, and his
Speaker 1: subsequent conduct imbecile to the last degree if he had
Speaker 1: been guilty. But as a lawyer, I can't help seeing
Speaker 1: that the appearances are almost hopelessly again against him. We
Speaker 1: won't say hopelessly, replied Thorndyke, as we took our places
Speaker 1: in the carriage, though I expect the police are pretty
Speaker 1: cock sure. When does the inquest open to day at four?
Speaker 1: I haven't obtained an order from the corner for you
Speaker 1: to examine the body and be present at the post mortem?
Speaker 1: Do you happen to know the exact position of the wound? Yes,
Speaker 1: it is a little above and behind the left ear,
Speaker 1: a horrible round hole with a ragged cut or tear
Speaker 1: running from it to the side of the forehead. And
Speaker 1: how is the body lying right along the floor with
Speaker 1: the feet close to the off side door. Was the
Speaker 1: wound on the head the only one? No, There was
Speaker 1: a long cut or bruise on the right cheek, a
Speaker 1: contused wound, the police surgeon called it, which he believes
Speaker 1: to have been inflicted with a heavy and rather blunt weapon.
Speaker 1: I have not heard of any other wounds or bruises.
Speaker 1: Did anyone enter the train yesterday at Shinglehurst, Thorndyke asked.
Speaker 1: No one entered the train after it had left Halbury.
Speaker 1: Thorndyke considered these statements in silence, and presently fell into
Speaker 1: a brown study, from which he roused only as the
Speaker 1: train moved out of the Shinglehurst station. It would be
Speaker 1: about here that the murder was committed, said mister Stopford,
Speaker 1: at least between here and Wolhurst. Thorndyke nodded rather abstractedly,
Speaker 1: being engaged at the moment in observing with great attention
Speaker 1: the objects that were visible from the windows. I notice,
Speaker 1: he said, presently, a number of chips scattered about between
Speaker 1: the rails, and some of the chair wedges looked new.
Speaker 1: Have there been any plate layers at work lately? Yes,
Speaker 1: answered Stopford. They are on the line now, I believe
Speaker 1: at least. I saw a game working near Woldhurst yesterday,
Speaker 1: and they are said to have set a rick on fire.
Speaker 1: I saw it smoking when I came down. Indeed, and
Speaker 1: this middle line of rails is I suppose a sort
Speaker 1: of sighting. Yes. They shunt the goods train and empty
Speaker 1: trucks onto it. There are the remains of the wreck
Speaker 1: still smoldering, you see. Thorndyke gazed absently at the blackened
Speaker 1: heap until an empty cattle truck in the middle track
Speaker 1: hid it from view. This was succeeded by a line
Speaker 1: of goods wagons, and these by a passenger coach, one
Speaker 1: compartment of which first class was closed up and sealed.
Speaker 1: The train now began to slow down rather suddenly, and
Speaker 1: a couple of minutes later we brought up in Woldhurst station.
Speaker 1: It was evident that rumors of Thorndyke's advent had preceded us.
Speaker 1: For the entire staff. Two porters, an inspector and the
Speaker 1: station master were waiting expectantly on the platform, and the
Speaker 1: latter came forward, regardless of his dignity, to help us
Speaker 1: with the luggage. Do you think I could see the carriage,
Speaker 1: Thorndyke asked the solicitor. Not the inside, sir, said the
Speaker 1: station master, on being appealed to the police of fielded up.
Speaker 1: You would have to ask the inspector. Well, I can
Speaker 1: look at the outside, I suppose, said Thorndyke, And to
Speaker 1: this the station master readily agreed and offered to accompany us.
Speaker 1: What are their first class passengers? Were there? Thorndyke asked, none, sir,
Speaker 1: There was only one first class coach and the deceased
Speaker 1: was the only person in it. It has given us
Speaker 1: all a dreadful turn, this affair has, he continued, as
Speaker 1: we set off up the line. I was on the
Speaker 1: platform when the train came in. We were watching a
Speaker 1: rick that was burning up the line and a rare
Speaker 1: blaze it made too and I was just saying that
Speaker 1: we should have to move the cattle truck that was
Speaker 1: on the mid track, because you see, sir, the smoke
Speaker 1: and sparks were blowing across and I thought it would
Speaker 1: frighten the poor beasts. And mister Felton, he don't like
Speaker 1: his beasts handled roughly. He says it spoils the meat.
Speaker 1: No doubt he is right, said Thorndyke. But now tell
Speaker 1: me do you think it is possible for any person
Speaker 1: to board or leave the train on the off side unobserved?
Speaker 1: Could a man, for instance, enter a compartment on the
Speaker 1: off side at one station and drop off as the
Speaker 1: train was slowing down at the next without being seen?
Speaker 1: I doubt it, replied the station master. Still I wouldn't
Speaker 1: say it is impossible, thank you. Oh, and there's another question.
Speaker 1: You have a gang of men at work on the line,
Speaker 1: I see now. Do those men belong to the district? No, sir,
Speaker 1: they are strangers everyone, and pretty rough diamonds, some of
Speaker 1: them are. But I shouldn't say there was any real
Speaker 1: harm in them. If you are suspecting any of them
Speaker 1: being mixed up in this, I am not, interrupted Thorndyke
Speaker 1: rather shortly. I suspect nobody, but I wish to get
Speaker 1: all the facts of the case at the outset. Naturally, sir,
Speaker 1: replied the abashed official. And we pursued our way in silence.
Speaker 1: Do you remember, by the way, said Thorndyke, as we
Speaker 1: approached the empty coach whether the off side door of
Speaker 1: the compartment was closed and locked when the body was discovered,
Speaker 1: It was closed, sir, but not locked. Why, sir, did
Speaker 1: you think nothing? Nothing? The sealed compartment is the one,
Speaker 1: of course. Without waiting for a reply, he commenced his
Speaker 1: survey of the coach, while I gently restrained our two
Speaker 1: companions from shadowing him, as they were disposed to do.
Speaker 1: The off side footboard occupied his attention specially, and when
Speaker 1: he had scrutinized minutely the part opposite the fatal compartment,
Speaker 1: he walked slowly from end to end, with his eyes
Speaker 1: but a few inches from its surface, as though he
Speaker 1: was searching for something Near what had been the rear end.
Speaker 1: He stopped and drew from his pocket a piece of paper. Then,
Speaker 1: with a moistened fingertip, he picked up from the footboard
Speaker 1: some evidently minute object, which he carefully transferred to the paper,
Speaker 1: folding the ladder and placing it in his pocket book.
Speaker 1: He next mounted the footboard, and, having peered in through
Speaker 1: the window of the sealed compartment, produced from his pocket
Speaker 1: a small in suff later or powder blower, with which
Speaker 1: he blew a stream of impalpable smoke like powder onto
Speaker 1: the edges of the middle window, bestowing the closest attention
Speaker 1: on the irregular dusty patches in which it settled, and
Speaker 1: even measuring one on the jam of the window with
Speaker 1: a pocket rule. At length, he stepped down, and, having
Speaker 1: carefully looked over the near side footboard, announced that he
Speaker 1: had finished for the present. As we were returning down
Speaker 1: the line, we passed a working man who seemed to
Speaker 1: be viewing the chairs and sleepers with more than casual interest.
Speaker 1: That I suppose is one of the plate layers, Thorndike
Speaker 1: suggested to the station master. Yes, the foreman of the gang.
Speaker 1: Was the reply, I'll just step back and have a
Speaker 1: word with him, if you will walk on slowly, and
Speaker 1: my companion turned back briskly and overtook the man, with
Speaker 1: whom he remained in conversation for some minutes. I think
Speaker 1: I see the police inspector on the platform, remarked Thorndyke
Speaker 1: as we approached the station. Yes, there he is, said
Speaker 1: our guide. Come down to see what you are after, sir,
Speaker 1: I expect, which was doubtless the case, although the officer
Speaker 1: professed to be there by the merest chance, you would
Speaker 1: like to see the weapon, sir, I suppose, he remarked,
Speaker 1: when he had introduced himself the umbrella spike. Thorndyke corrected, yes,
Speaker 1: if I may. We are going to the mortuary now,
Speaker 1: then you'll pass the station on the way, so if
Speaker 1: you care to look in, I will walk up with you.
Speaker 1: This proposition being agreed to, we all proceeded to the
Speaker 1: police station, including the station master, who is on the
Speaker 1: very tiptoe of curiosity. There you are, sir, said the inspector,
Speaker 1: unlocking his office and ushering us in. Don't say we
Speaker 1: haven't given every facility to the defense. There are all
Speaker 1: the effects of the accused, including the very weapon the
Speaker 1: deed was done with. Come, come, protested Thorndyke. We mustn't
Speaker 1: be premature. He took the stout ash staff from the officer, and,
Speaker 1: having examined the formidable spike through a lens, drew from
Speaker 1: his pocket a steel caliper gage, with which he carefully
Speaker 1: measured the diameter of the spike and the staff to
Speaker 1: which it was fixed. And now, he said, when he
Speaker 1: had made a note of the measurements in his book,
Speaker 1: we will look at the color box and the sketch. Hah,
Speaker 1: a very orderly man, your brother, mister Stopford, tubes in
Speaker 1: all their places. Pallet knives wiped clean, pallet cleaned off
Speaker 1: and rubbed. Bright brushes wiped. They ought to be washed
Speaker 1: before they stiffened. All this is very significant. He unstrapped
Speaker 1: the sketch from the blank canvas to which it was pinned, and,
Speaker 1: standing on a chair in a good light, stepped back
Speaker 1: to look at it. And you tell me that is
Speaker 1: only three hours work, he exclaimed, looking at the lawyer.
Speaker 1: It is really a marvelous achievement. My brother is a
Speaker 1: very rapid worker, replied Stopford dejectedly. Yes, but this is
Speaker 1: not only amazingly rapid, it is in his very happiest vein,
Speaker 1: full of spirit and feeling. But we mustn't stay to
Speaker 1: look at it longer. He replaced the canvas on its pins, and,
Speaker 1: having glanced at the locket and some other articles that
Speaker 1: lay in a drawer, thanked the inspector for his courtesy,
Speaker 1: and withdrew. That sketch and the color box appear very
Speaker 1: suggestive to me, he remarked. As we walked up the
Speaker 1: street to me, also said Stopford gloomily, for they are
Speaker 1: under lock and key like their owner, poor old fellow.
Speaker 1: He sighed heavily, and we walked on in silence. The
Speaker 1: mortuary keeper had evidently heard of our arrival, for he
Speaker 1: was waiting at the door with the key in his hand, and,
Speaker 1: on being shown the coroner's order, unlocked the door and
Speaker 1: we entered together. But after a momentary glance at the
Speaker 1: ghostly shrouded figure lying upon the slate table, Stopford turned
Speaker 1: pale and retreated, saying that he would wait for us
Speaker 1: outside with the mortuary keeper. As soon as the door
Speaker 1: was closed and locked. On the inside, Thorndyke glanced curiously
Speaker 1: round the bare, whitewashed building. A stream of sunlight poured
Speaker 1: in through the skylight and fell upon the silent form
Speaker 1: that lay so still under its covering sheet, and one
Speaker 1: stray beam glanced into a corner by the door, where
Speaker 1: on the row of pegs and a deal table, the
Speaker 1: dead woman's clothing was displayed. There is something unspeakily sad
Speaker 1: in these poor relics, Jervis, said Thorndyke, as we stood
Speaker 1: before them. To me, they are more tragic, more full
Speaker 1: of pathetic suggestion than the corpse itself. See the smart
Speaker 1: jaunty hat, and the costly skirts hanging there so desolate
Speaker 1: and forlorn, the dainty lingerie on the table, neatly folded
Speaker 1: by the mortuary man's wife. I hope the little French
Speaker 1: shoes and open worked silk stockings, how pathetically eloquent they are,
Speaker 1: of harmless womanly vanity, and the gay, careless life snapped
Speaker 1: short at the twinkling of an eye. But we must
Speaker 1: not give way to sentiment. There is another life threatened,
Speaker 1: and it is in our keeping. He lifted the hat
Speaker 1: from its peg and turned it over in his hand.
Speaker 1: It was, I think, what is called a picture hat,
Speaker 1: a huge, flat, shapeless mass of gauze and ribbon and feather,
Speaker 1: spangled over freely with dark blue sequins. In one part
Speaker 1: of the brim was a ragged hole, and from this
Speaker 1: the glittering sequence dropped off in little showers. When the
Speaker 1: hat was moved. This will have been worn tilted over
Speaker 1: on the left side, said Thorndyke, judging by the general
Speaker 1: shape and the position of the hole. Yes, I agreed,
Speaker 1: like that of the Duchess of Devonshire in Gainsborough's portrait exactly.
Speaker 1: He shook a few of the sequins into the palm
Speaker 1: of his hand, and replacing the hat on its peg,
Speaker 1: dropped the little disks into an envelope on which he
Speaker 1: wrote from the hat and slipped it into his pocket. Then,
Speaker 1: stepping over to the table, he drew back the sheet
Speaker 1: reverently and even tenderly from the dead woman's face, and
Speaker 1: looked down at it with grave pity. It was a
Speaker 1: comely face, white as marble, serene and peaceful in expression,
Speaker 1: with half closed eyes, and framed with a mass of
Speaker 1: brassy yellow hair. But its beauty was marred by a long,
Speaker 1: linear wound, half cut, half bruise, running down the right
Speaker 1: cheek from the eye to the chin. A handsome girl,
Speaker 1: Thorndyke commented, a dark haired blonde, What a sin to
Speaker 1: have disfigured herself so with that horrible peroxide. He smoothed
Speaker 1: the hair back from her forehead, and added, she seems
Speaker 1: to have applied the stuff last about ten days ago.
Speaker 1: There is about a quarter of an inch of dark
Speaker 1: hair at the roots. What do you make of that
Speaker 1: wound on the cheek. It looks as if she had
Speaker 1: struck some sharp angle in falling, though as the seats
Speaker 1: are padded in first class carriages. I don't see what
Speaker 1: she could have struck. No, and now let us look
Speaker 1: at the other wound. Will you note down the description?
Speaker 1: He handed me his notebook, and I wrote down as
Speaker 1: he dictated. A clean punched circular hole and skull an
Speaker 1: inch behind and above margin of left ear diameter an
Speaker 1: inch in seven sixteenth starred fracture of parietal bone, membranes
Speaker 1: perforated and brain entered. Deeply ragged scalp wound extending forward
Speaker 1: to margin of left orbit. Fragments of gauze and sequins
Speaker 1: and edges of wound. That will do for the present.
Speaker 1: Doctor Morton will give us further details if we want them.
Speaker 1: He pocketed his calipers and rule drew from the bruised
Speaker 1: scalp one or two loose hairs, which he placed in
Speaker 1: the envelope with a sequence, and, having looked over the
Speaker 1: body for other wounds or bruises, of which there were none,
Speaker 1: replaced a sheet and prepared to depart. As we walked
Speaker 1: away from the mortuary, Thorndyke was silent and deeply thoughtful,
Speaker 1: and I gathered that he was piecing together the facts
Speaker 1: that he had acquired at length. Mister Stopford, who had
Speaker 1: several times looked at him curiously, said, the post morte
Speaker 1: Wali take place at three, and it is now only
Speaker 1: half past eleven. What would you like to do next? Thorndike,
Speaker 1: who in spite of his mental preoccupation, had been looking
Speaker 1: about him in his usual keen attentive way, halted. Suddenly,
Speaker 1: your reference to the post mortem, said, he reminds me
Speaker 1: that I forgot to put the ox gall into my case.
Speaker 1: Ox Gall, I exclaimed, endeavoring vainly to connect this substance
Speaker 1: with the technique of the pathologist. What were you going
Speaker 1: to do with but here? I broke off, remembering my
Speaker 1: friend's dislike of any discussion of his methods before strangers.
Speaker 1: I suppose, he continued. There would hardly be an artist's
Speaker 1: colorman in a place of this size, I should think not,
Speaker 1: said Stopford. But couldn't you get the stuff from a butcher?
Speaker 1: There's a shop just across the road, so there is
Speaker 1: agreed Thorndyke, who had already observed the shop. The gall ought,
Speaker 1: of course to be prepared, but we can filter it ourselves.
Speaker 1: That is, if the butcher has any we will try
Speaker 1: him at any rate. He crossed the road towards the shop,
Speaker 1: over which the name Felton appeared in gilt lettering, and
Speaker 1: addressing himself to the proprietor who stood at the door,
Speaker 1: introduced himself and explained his wants. Ox Gall said the butcher, No, sir,
Speaker 1: I haven't any just now, but I am having a
Speaker 1: beast killed this afternoon, and I can let you have
Speaker 1: some then. In fact, he added, after a pause, as
Speaker 1: the matter is of importance, I can have one killed
Speaker 1: at once if you wish it. That is very kind
Speaker 1: of you, said Thorndyke, and it would greatly oblige me.
Speaker 1: Is the beast perfectly healthy. They're in splendid condition, Sir.
Speaker 1: I picked them out of the herd myself. But you
Speaker 1: shall see them hi, and choose the one you'd like killed.
Speaker 1: You are really very good, said Thorndyke warmly. I will
Speaker 1: just run into the chemists next door and get a
Speaker 1: suitable bottle, and then I will avail myself of your
Speaker 1: exceedingly kind offer. He hurried in the chemist shop, from
Speaker 1: which he presently emerged carrying a white paper parcel, and
Speaker 1: we then followed the butcher down a narrow lane by
Speaker 1: the side of his shop. It led to an enclosure
Speaker 1: containing a small pin, in which we can find three
Speaker 1: handsome steers, whose glossy black coats contrasted in a very
Speaker 1: striking manner with their long, grayish white, nearly straight horns.
Speaker 1: These are certainly very fine beasts, mister Felton, said Thorndyke,
Speaker 1: as we drew up beside the pin, and in excellent
Speaker 1: condition too. He leaned over the pin and examined the
Speaker 1: beasts critically, especially as to their eyes and horns. Then,
Speaker 1: approaching the nearest one, he raised his stick and bestowed
Speaker 1: a smart tap on the underside of the right horn,
Speaker 1: followed by a similar tap on the left one, a
Speaker 1: proceeding that the beasts viewed with stolid surprise. The state
Speaker 1: of the horns, explained Thorndyke, as he moved on to
Speaker 1: the next steer, enables one to judge to some extent
Speaker 1: of the bee health. Lord bless you, sir, laughed mister Felton.
Speaker 1: They haven't got no feeling in their horns. Else, what
Speaker 1: good of their horns be to 'em? Apparently he was right,
Speaker 1: for the second steer was as indifferent to a sounding
Speaker 1: rap on either horn as the first. Nevertheless, when Thorndyke
Speaker 1: approached the third steer, I unconsciously drew nearer to watch,
Speaker 1: and I noticed that as the stick struck the horn,
Speaker 1: the beast drew back an evident alarm, and that when
Speaker 1: the blow was repeated it became manifestly uneasy. He doesn't
Speaker 1: seem to like that, said the butcher. Seems as if hello,
Speaker 1: that's queer. Thorndyke had just brought his stick up against
Speaker 1: the left horn, and immediately the beast had winced and
Speaker 1: started back, shaking his head and moaning. There was not, however,
Speaker 1: room for him to back out of reach, and Thorndyke,
Speaker 1: by leaning into the pin, was able to inspect the
Speaker 1: sensitive horn, which he did with the closest attention, while
Speaker 1: the butcher looked on with obvious perturbation. You don't think
Speaker 1: there is anything wrong with this beast, I hope, said he.
Speaker 1: I can't say without a further examination, replied Thorndyke. It
Speaker 1: may be the horn only that is affected. If you
Speaker 1: will have it sawn off close to the head and
Speaker 1: sent up to me at the hotel, I will look
Speaker 1: at it and tell you, and by way of preventing
Speaker 1: any mistakes, I will mark it and cover it up
Speaker 1: to protect it from injury. In the slaughter house, he
Speaker 1: opened his parcel and produced from it a wide mouthed
Speaker 1: bottle labeled ox gull, a sheet of gut of perch,
Speaker 1: a tissue, a roller bandage, and a stick of ceiling wax.
Speaker 1: Handing the bottle to mister Felton, he encased a distal
Speaker 1: half of the horn in a covering by means of
Speaker 1: the tissue in the bandage, which he fixed together with
Speaker 1: the ceialing wax. I'll saw the horn off and bring
Speaker 1: it up to the hotel myself with the ox gull,
Speaker 1: said mister Felton. You shall have them in half an hour.
Speaker 1: He was as good as his word For an half
Speaker 1: an hour. Thorndyke was seated at a small table by
Speaker 1: the window of our private sitting room in the Black
Speaker 1: Bull Hotel. The table was covered with newspaper, and on
Speaker 1: it lay the long gray horn and Thorndyke's traveling case,
Speaker 1: now open and displaying a small microscope and its accessories.
Speaker 1: The butcher was solidly seated in an armchair, waiting with
Speaker 1: a half suspicious eye on Thorndyke for the report. And
Speaker 1: I was endeavoring by cheerful talk to keep mister Stopford
Speaker 1: from sinking into utter despondency. Though I too kept a
Speaker 1: furtive watch on my colleague's rather mysterious proceedings. I saw
Speaker 1: him unwind the bandage and apply the horn to his ear,
Speaker 1: bending it slightly to and fro. I watched him as
Speaker 1: he scanned the surface closely through a lens, and observed
Speaker 1: him as he scraped some substance from the pointed end
Speaker 1: onto a glass slide, and, having applied a drop of
Speaker 1: summery agent, began to tease out the scraping with a
Speaker 1: pair of mounted needles. Presently, he placed a slide under
Speaker 1: the microscope, and, having observed it attentively for a minute
Speaker 1: or two, turned round sharply, Come and look at this,
Speaker 1: Jervis said he. I wanted no second bidding, being on
Speaker 1: tenter hooks of curiosity, but came over and applied my
Speaker 1: eye to the instrument. Well, what is it, he asked?
Speaker 1: A multipolar nerve corpuscle, very shriveled but unmistakable. And this
Speaker 1: he moved the slide to a fresh spot. Two pyramidal
Speaker 1: nerve corpuscles, and some portions of fibers. And what do
Speaker 1: you say the tissue is cortical brain substance. I should say,
Speaker 1: without a doubt, I entirely agree with you. And that
Speaker 1: being so, he added, turning to mister Stopford, we may
Speaker 1: say that the case for the defense is practically complete.
Speaker 1: What in Heaven's name do you mean? Exclaimed Stopford, starting up,
Speaker 1: I mean that we can now prove when and where
Speaker 1: and how Miss Grant met her death. Come and sit
Speaker 1: down here and I will explain. No, you needn't go away,
Speaker 1: mister Felton, we shall have to subpoena you. Perhaps, he continued,
Speaker 1: we had better grow over the facts and see what
Speaker 1: they suggest. And first we note the position of the body,
Speaker 1: lying with the feet close to the off side door,
Speaker 1: showing that when she fell, the deceased was sitting or
Speaker 1: more probably standing, close to that door. Now there is this,
Speaker 1: He drew from miss pocket, a folded paper which he opened,
Speaker 1: displaying a tiny blue disc. It is one of the
Speaker 1: sequins with which her hat was trimmed. And I have
Speaker 1: in this envelope several more which I took from the
Speaker 1: hat itself. This single sequin I picked up on the
Speaker 1: rear end of the off side footboard, and its presence
Speaker 1: there makes it nearly certain that at some time Miss
Speaker 1: Grant had put her head out of the window on
Speaker 1: that side. The next item of evidence I obtained by
Speaker 1: dusting the margins of the off side window with a
Speaker 1: light powder, which we made visible a greasy impression three
Speaker 1: and a quarter inches long on the sharp corner of
Speaker 1: the right hand jam right hand from the inside. I mean,
Speaker 1: and now as to the evidence furnished by the body.
Speaker 1: The wound in the skull is behind and above the
Speaker 1: left ear is roughly circular and measures one inch and
Speaker 1: seven sixteenth at most, and a ragged scalp wound runs
Speaker 1: from it toward the left eye. On the right cheek
Speaker 1: is a linear, contused wound three and a quarter inches long.
Speaker 1: There are no other injuries. Our next facts are furnished
Speaker 1: by this. He took up the horn and tapped it
Speaker 1: with his finger, while the solicitor and mister Felton stared
Speaker 1: at him in speechless wonder. You notice it is a
Speaker 1: left horn, and you remember that it was highly sensitive. Now,
Speaker 1: if you put your ear to it while I strain it,
Speaker 1: you will hear the grating of a fracture in the
Speaker 1: bony core. Now look at the point at end, and
Speaker 1: you will see several deep scratches running lengthwise. And where
Speaker 1: those scratches end, the diameter of the horn is, as
Speaker 1: you see by the caliber gage, one inch and seven sixteenth.
Speaker 1: Covering the scratches is a dry blood stain, and at
Speaker 1: the extreme tip is a small mass of a dried
Speaker 1: substance which doctor Jervis and I have examined with the
Speaker 1: microscope and are satisfied as brain tissue. Good God, exclaimed Stopford.
Speaker 1: Eagerly you mean to say, let us finish with the facts,
Speaker 1: mister Stopford, Thorndyke interrupted. Now if you look closely at
Speaker 1: that blood stain, you will see a short piece of
Speaker 1: hair stuck to the horn, and through this lens you
Speaker 1: can make out the root bulb. It is a golden hair,
Speaker 1: you notice, but near the root it is black, and
Speaker 1: our caliber gage shows us that the black portion is
Speaker 1: fourteen sixty fourths of an inch long. Now in this
Speaker 1: envelope are some hairs that are removed from the dead
Speaker 1: woman's head. They are also golden hairs, black at the roots,
Speaker 1: and when I measure the black pors, I find it
Speaker 1: to be fourteen sixty fourths of an inch long. Then
Speaker 1: finally there is this. He turned the horn over and
Speaker 1: pointed to a small patch of dry blood. Embedded in
Speaker 1: it was a blue sequin. Mister Stopford and the butcher
Speaker 1: both gazed at the horn in silent amazement. Then the
Speaker 1: former drew a deep breath and looked up at Thorndyke.
Speaker 1: No doubt, said he, You can explain this mystery, But
Speaker 1: for my part, I am utterly bewildered. Though you are
Speaker 1: filling me with hope, and yet the matter is quite simple,
Speaker 1: returned Thorndyke, even with these few facts before us, which
Speaker 1: are only a selection from the body of evidence in
Speaker 1: our possession. But I will state my theory and you
Speaker 1: shall judge. He rapidly sketched a rough plan on a
Speaker 1: sheet of paper and continued. These were the conditions when
Speaker 1: the train was approaching Walhurst. Here is the passenger coach,
Speaker 1: here is the burning rick, and here was a cattle truck.
Speaker 1: This steer was in that truck. Now, my hypothesis is
Speaker 1: that at the time, as Grant was standing with her
Speaker 1: head out of the off side window watching the burning rick,
Speaker 1: her wide hat worn on the left side hid from
Speaker 1: her view the cattle truck which she was approaching, and
Speaker 1: then this is what happened. He sketched another plan to
Speaker 1: a larger scale. One of the steers, this one had
Speaker 1: thrust its long horn out through the bars. The point
Speaker 1: of that horn struck the deceased head, driving her face
Speaker 1: violently against the corner of the window, and then, in disengaging,
Speaker 1: plowed its way through the scalp and suffered a fracture
Speaker 1: of its core from the violence of the wrench. This
Speaker 1: hypothesis is inherently probable. It fits all the facts, and
Speaker 1: those facts admit of no other explanation. The solicitor sat
Speaker 1: for a moment, as though dazed. Then he rose impulsively
Speaker 1: and seized Thorndyke's hands. I don't know what to say
Speaker 1: to you, he exclaimed, huskily, except that you have saved
Speaker 1: my brother's life, and for that may God reward you.
Speaker 1: The butcher rose from his chair with a slow grin.
Speaker 1: It seems to me, said he as if that ox
Speaker 1: gall was what you might call a blind eh sir,
Speaker 1: and Thorndyke smiled an inscrutable smile. When we returned to
Speaker 1: town on the following day, we were a party of
Speaker 1: four which included mister Harold Stopford. The verdict of death
Speaker 1: by misadventure, promptly returned by the coroner's jury, had been
Speaker 1: shortly followed by his release from custody, and he now
Speaker 1: sat with his brother and me, listening with rapt attention
Speaker 1: to Thorndyke's analysis of the case. So you see, the
Speaker 1: latter concluded, I had six possible theories of the cause
Speaker 1: of death worked out before I reached Hawbury, and it
Speaker 1: only remained to select the one that fitted the facts.
Speaker 1: And when I had seen the cattle truck, had picked
Speaker 1: up that sequin, had heard the description of the steers,
Speaker 1: and had seen the hat and the wounds, there was
Speaker 1: nothing left to do but filling in of details. And
Speaker 1: you never doubted my innocence, asked Harold Stopford. Thorndyke smiled
Speaker 1: at his quondam client. Not after I had seen your
Speaker 1: color box and your sketch, said he to say nothing
Speaker 1: of the spike end of the blue Sequin