"Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know.
"A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicionswhen you returned on hearing the cry and found your fatherfatally injured?
"Witness: Nothing definite.
"The Coroner: What do you mean?
"Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out intothe open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. YetI have a vague impression that as I ran forward something layupon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to besomething grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps.When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it wasgone.
"'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?'
"'Yes, it was gone.'
"'You cannot say what it was?'
"'No, I had a feeling something was there.'
"'How far from the body?'
"'A dozen yards or so.'
"'And how far from the edge of the wood?'
"'About the same.'
"'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozenyards of it?'
"'Yes, but with my back towards it.'
"This concluded the examination of the witness."
"I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coronerin his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy.He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about hisfather having signalled to him before seeing him, also to hisrefusal to give details of his conversation with his father, andhis singular account of his father's dying words. They are all,as he remarks, very much against the son."
Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out uponthe cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at somepains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points
in theyoung man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give himcredit for having too much imagination and too little? Toolittle, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which wouldgive him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved fromhis own inner consciousness anything so outre as a dyingreference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No,sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that whatthis young man says is true, and we shall see whither thathypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, andnot another word shall I say of this case until we are on thescene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall bethere in twenty minutes."
It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing throughthe beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn,found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. Alean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting forus upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat andleather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rusticsurroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, ofScotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where aroom had already been engaged for us.
"I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cupof tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not behappy until you had been on the scene of the crime."
"It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "Itis entirely a question of barometric pressure."
Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said.
"How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloudin the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which needsmoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual countryhotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that Ishall use the carriage to-night."
Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formedyour conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is asplain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainerit becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such avery positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have youropinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothingwhich you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless mysoul! here is her carriage at the door."
He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of themost lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Herviolet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon hercheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in heroverpowering excitement and concern.
"Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to theother of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition,fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. Ihave driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it.I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it,too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known eachother since we were little children, and I know his faults as noone else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such acharge is absurd to anyone who really knows him."
"I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes."You may rely upon my doing all that I can."
"But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion?Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourselfthink that he is innocent?"
"I think that it is very probable."