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(a) Why was Prescott wearing brown shoes?
(b) Why had the dagger13 been used as well as the lace?
(c) Had Prescott dressed himself—because his handkerchief was up his right-hand sleeve—and his one laced shoe had been tied in a most peculiar14 manner—I only discovered this by actually handling it.
(d) Why was he there—what had brought him?
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The question of the handkerchief was unobserved by Cunningham—yet it was the first slip he had made! The lace business he realized, for he spotted15 me looking at it closely. I will try to describe its peculiarity16. The lace of the shoe had been tied in a bow over a reef-knot. I had never seen a lace tied quite like that before, and it was only by an accident I noticed it, for it wasn’t exactly obvious to a casual observer. Well, these two facts suggested a train of thought in my mind—had Prescott been murdered—then dressed or partially17 dressed—and brought to the billiard room? Had he been brought there from the garden? For there was mud on his shoes but no mud on the billiard room floor—despite glaringly obvious signs of a struggle and disturbance18! With that idea I paid a visit to Prescott’s bedroom. I observed there were nine stairs to be negotiated—not an impossible distance to carry a dead body—for a very powerful man. My idea you see was beginning to take shape. Prescott’s bedroom told me something else. While there, I was able to make a deduction19 of which I am secretly rather proud! It will be remembered that the dressing20 space of the room was between the entrance-door and the bed, that is to say on the right of a person lying in the bed on his back. Now when a person gets out of bed he invariably turns the bedclothes away from the side where he gets out. For example, a person leaving this bed, to dress the side of the entrance-door would undoubtedly21 fling the clothes away to his left—yet these clothes were all lying and trailing on the side by the door. Baddeley took this as evidence that the bed had been slept in—to me it was conclusive22 evidence in the other direction. I was not concerned for the moment with the missing money. I was reconstructing the crime. The next stage was the garden—the footprints under the billiard room window. For a long time these disconcerted me. There were the four sets and the two kinds. Who had been Prescott’s companion? Did Prescott come from the billiard room into the garden? Had he climbed up into the billiard room from the garden? Had the footprints any relation at all to the billiard room? Then the amazing truth hit me. There was no sign of a descent from the billiard room—the earth below was clear. The shoes didn’t show a trace of scraping—yet why on earth had Prescott put them on, and not his ordinary dress-shoes? They were on Prescott’s feet because the murderer wished us to see them there—the footprints were faked—Prescott had not been outside at all—the murderer had worn them himself. It was at this stage that Lady Considine’s pearls made their appearance or rather their disappearance23, and once again the job of unraveling the two skeins presented itself. Just as I had convinced myself they were dissociated from each other, came that startling discovery of the shoe-lace in Webb’s pocket. To my mind this was Cunningham’s second slip—he managed to get it into the pocket during the struggle that preceded Webb’s arrest—but it can be argued that it might very easily have served to hang Webb. I tried hard to persuade myself that Webb must and should be the murderer, but my instinct was always in conflict and I felt that the robbery was just a coincidence. It was hard to place accurately24 the evidence of the noises in the night—hard, that is, at this stage of the inquiry25. I will attempt to explain them later. But so far, I had gone a long way towards sorting out the conditions of the crime, but had found no direct evidence against anybody in particular. But the finding of this shoe-lace opened my eyes a bit, and began to narrow down my field of suspicion. The next point was the discovery of the I.O.U., given to Prescott by Barker. How had that got into the billiard-table pocket? For a long time I was uncertain—then once again the solution came to me. By reason and by memory. It had been put there with deliberation! Nobody had used that room—we knew—till Cunningham and I went there—by “used” I mean—played billiards26 there. The servants gave it a wide berth27 for transparent28 reasons. I cast my mind back to the morning Prescott had been discovered—I visualized29 the entire scene—what had struck me about the “billiards” part of it? I had it! The three balls were lying in the pocket near the murdered man’s hand—and the red ball was on top. The splash of color it had made against Prescott’s white hand had been vivid to me. Yet when I knocked the balls from the same pocket to commence our game—the spot ball was on top—they had been moved—surely for the secretion30 of the Barker I.O.U.—since the murder. This caused me to eliminate Barker from my list of “suspects” and I began to grow uneasy. I decided upon that second visit to Prescott’s bedroom for I realized I had made a mistake. I hadn’t examined the inner apartment. Here I ran across the “stub” of the cigar—my idea had almost become a certainty! Then I began to appreciate the horror of the affair to me—what had come to Bill Cunningham? Yet I clung to the hope that my trail would lead to somebody else at the end, and I dared not let him know what I suspected! Here came Cunningham’s third slip! The letter fragments he found were his own. He was getting desperate now and out to involve as many people as he possibly could—why not confuse matters more? He had an old letter from Mary Considine in his letter-case—probably retained for sentimental31 reasons—written years before and quite innocent. “She would meet him somewhere—the station probably—in the ‘Bean’—the car they had at the time.” He suddenly realized the significance of the time she mentioned in the letter—“faked” it to appear relevant to the murder and “discovered” it under Prescott’s bed. I saw through this very quickly—strangely, Mary can’t remember ever having written it. Still, I determined32 to be certain so I popped up to see Mrs. Prescott. Alas33! my terrible theory received no shaking. Her son was not ambidextrous34 and therefore not likely to wear his handkerchief in his wrong sleeve. Also as far as she knew, he was no fancy knot-tier. Running into Baddeley there, was remarkable35, and of course he was on a wild-goose chase; Barker and Hornby were merely visiting Mrs. Prescott in the hope that she would accept payment of Lieutenant36 Barker’s debt of honor. He told me this next morning. I made some more investigations37 that day that revealed the fact to me that Cunningham’s grandfather had committed suicide after making a ferocious38 and entirely39 uncalled-for attack upon a Roman Catholic priest residing in his neighborhood. This decided me. Any thought that to arrest Cunningham might savor40 of treachery towards a friend—was dispelled41. I owed it to the community to put him away where he could wreak42 no more harm and I arrived home that night only to hear of his attack upon Jack43. The rest is known. Now this is the matter of the murder! Cunningham’s jealousy44 of Prescott, born of the loss of his Cricket “blue” had been fanned into a blazing flame by the invitation of Prescott for the Considine “week” and his strenuous45 attentions to Mary. He felt that Prescott intended a proposal and how he hated him for what he called his cursed presumption46! Prescott’s success during the week and his own failures brought matters to a climax47. He’d kill him and he’d also set Anthony Bathurst a nice little problem. He borrowed the shoes from Prescott’s bedroom immediately after dinner, and when the others first adjourned48 to the drawing-room he constructed the “footprints,” returned the shoes and kept one of the laces. He intended to hide in the inner bedroom before Prescott came to bed and then strangle him from behind by taking him unawares. Things went well for him—he saw Barker’s I.O.U. passed over and noted49 it. Also he noticed Hornby fingering the Venetian dagger, so he removed that—wearing gloves—when he went up to bed—it had Hornby’s finger-prints—and also might be useful if it came to a “rough house” with Prescott. Against this, however, Dennis had seen him in the garden—without, of course, recognizing him, and Mary had been conscious of the “espionage” that was connected with the “smell of a cigar.” As a matter of fact his jealousy had caused him to follow Prescott and Mary several times before—as she told us. Arrived in Prescott’s bedroom he sought a hiding-place in the bathroom, and was there when Barker went along to bed. When the latter was being questioned by Baddeley as to the people that were upstairs when he went to bed, Cunningham stated that he answered Barker’s “good-night.” He did not, because he was in Prescott’s bedroom and not in his own. When Prescott came to bed he naturally began to undress—probably sitting on the bed with his back towards Cunningham. Waiting for a favorable opportunity the latter sprang on his victim and strangled him with the lace—leaving a cigar stub in the inner room. His fourth mistake!
Prescott, no doubt, had previously50 removed his coat, vest, tie, collar and shoes. In the struggle the bed-clothes were disarranged, and subsequently pushed on to the floor by Cunningham.
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He then abstracted Barker’s I.O.U. and collected all Prescott’s spare cash. All he had to do now was to dress Prescott again—which he did, making the two mistakes alluded51 to—wait till the whole house was quiet—and then carry him downstairs to the billiard room—the brown shoes of course being used for the purpose that I have shown to give the affair an “outside” connection. Everybody was asleep, and he probably went in his stockinged feet—it was a thousand to one nobody would hear him. But Jack Considine heard him shut his own bedroom door upon his return. Whitney, the motorist, saw the light go up in the billiard room when Cunningham entered with his ghastly burden—but that was all he could see. Cunningham probably wore gloves all the time—there were no finger-marks. But he knew that Major Hornby’s finger-marks would show on the dagger which he had had no occasion to use. So he used it—driving it into Prescott’s dead body. It would cause the police much mystification, and throw suspicion on Hornby.
The noises that Arkwright and his wife heard were consequent upon the visit of the “Spider”—about an hour after the actual murder and say an hour or so before the descent to the billiard room. The attack on Jack Considine I can only attempt to explain. But my conjecture52 is that Cunningham’s jealousy had reached such extreme limits that he was infuriated by Jack’s praise of Prescott at breakfast that morning. He used the lumber53 shed to fire from—that was how I told Jack the exact spot of the outrage54. He had used the shed before to hide behind when following Mary and Prescott. Even then I made him convict himself—I felt that I must remove all shred55 of doubt before telling Sir Charles and getting Baddeley to act. I arranged with Mary to play Cunningham the eighteen holes of golf—fearing the possible consequences of a refusal on her part as he was by that time in a dangerous state. I arranged for her shoe-lace to come undone—and that she should get Cunningham to tie it for her. He was excited—he forgot himself—he tied it exactly as he had tied Prescott’s shoe! I had arranged with Baddeley to give him the signal if my worst fears were confirmed. I did so. When the time came we acted quickly.
I try to forget it all—and now, having written this account of it, am going to try all the harder. For then I can think of him as he was before that dreadful madness turned his brain, and after all—
“There—but for the Grace of God—goes—any one of us!”
THE END
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1
circuitous
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| adj.迂回的路的，迂曲的，绕行的 | |
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2
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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3
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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4
stifle
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| vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止 | |
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5
detention
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| n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下 | |
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6
manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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maniac
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| n.精神癫狂的人；疯子 | |
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8
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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9
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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10
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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11
omission
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| n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长 | |
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12
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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13
dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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14
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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15
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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16
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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17
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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18
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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19
deduction
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| n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎 | |
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20
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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21
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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22
conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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23
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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24
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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25
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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26
billiards
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| n.台球 | |
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27
berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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28
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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29
visualized
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| 直观的，直视的 | |
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30
secretion
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| n.分泌 | |
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31
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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32
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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33
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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34
ambidextrous
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| adj.双手很灵巧的，熟练的，两面派的 | |
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35
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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36
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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37
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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38
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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39
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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savor
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| vt.品尝，欣赏；n.味道，风味；情趣，趣味 | |
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41
dispelled
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| v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
wreak
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| v.发泄；报复 | |
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43
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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44
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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45
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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46
presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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47
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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48
adjourned
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| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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50
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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51
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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53
lumber
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| n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动 | |
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54
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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55
shred
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| v.撕成碎片，变成碎片；n.碎布条，细片，些少 | |
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