“By the time that you discovered me upon the moor I had acomplete knowledge of the whole business, but I had not a casewhich could go to a jury. Even Stapleton’s attempt upon Sir Henrythat night which ended in the death of the unfortunate convictdid not help us much in proving murder against our man. Thereseemed to be no alternative but to catch him red-handed, and todo so we had to use Sir Henry, alone and apparently unprotected,as a bait. We did so, and at the cost of a severe shock to our clientwe succeeded in completing our case and driving Stapleton to hisdestruction. That Sir Henry should have been exposed to this is,I must confess, a reproach to my management of the case, but wehad no means of foreseeing the terrible and paralyzing spectaclewhich the beast presented, nor could we predict the fog whichenabled him to burst upon us at such short notice. We succeededin our object at a cost which both the specialist and Dr. Mortimerassure me will be a temporary one. A long journey may enable ourfriend to recover not only from his shattered nerves but also fromhis wounded feelings. His love for the lady was deep and sincere,and to him the saddest part of all this black business was that heshould have been deceived by her.
“It only remains to indicate the part which she had playedthroughout. There can be no doubt that Stapleton exercisedan influence over her which may have been love or may havebeen fear, or very possibly both, since they are by no meansincompatible emotions. It was, at least, absolutely effective. Athis command she consented to pass as his sister, though he foundthe limits of his power over her when he endeavoured to make herthe direct accessory to murder. She was ready to warn Sir Henryso far as she could without implicating her husband, and againand again she tried to do so. Stapleton himself seems to have beencapable of jealousy, and when he saw the baronet paying court tothe lady, even though it was part of his own plan, still he could nothelp interrupting with a passionate outburst which revealed thefiery soul which his self-contained manner so cleverly concealed.
By encouraging the intimacy he made it certain that Sir Henrywould frequently come to Merripit House and that he wouldsooner or later get the opportunity which he desired. On the dayof the crisis, however, his wife turned suddenly against him. Shehad learned something of the death of the convict, and she knewthat the hound was being kept in the out-house on the eveningthat Sir Henry was coming to dinner. She taxed her husbandwith his intended crime, and a furious scene followed in whichhe showed her for the first time that she had a rival in his love.
Her fidelity turned in an instant to bitter hatred and he saw thatshe would betray him. He tied her up, therefore, that she mighthave no chance of warning Sir Henry, and he hoped, no doubt,that when the whole countryside put down the baronet’s death tothe curse of his family, as they certainly would do, he could winhis wife back to accept an accomplished fact and to keep silentupon what she knew. In this I fancy that in any case he made amiscalculation, and that, if we had not been there, his doom wouldnone the less have been sealed. A woman of Spanish blood doesnot condone such an injury so lightly. And now, my dear Watson,without referring to my notes, I cannot give you a more detailedaccount of this curious case. I do not know that anything essentialhas been left unexplained.”
“He could not hope to frighten Sir Henry to death as he haddone the old uncle with his bogie hound.”
“The beast was savage and half-starved. If its appearance didnot frighten its victim to death, at least it would paralyze theresistance which might be offered.”
“No doubt. There only remains one difficulty. If Stapleton cameinto the succession, how could he explain the fact that he, theheir, had been living unannounced under another name so closeto the property? How could he claim it without causing suspicionand inquiry?”
“It is a formidable difficulty, and I fear that you ask too muchwhen you expect me to solve it. The past and the present arewithin the field of my inquiry, but what a man may do in thefuture is a hard question to answer. Mrs. Stapleton has heard herhusband discuss the problem on several occasions. There werethree possible courses. He might claim the property from SouthAmerica, establish his identity before the British authorities thereand so obtain the fortune without ever coming to England at all;or he might adopt an elaborate disguise during the short time thathe need be in London; or, again, he might furnish an accomplicewith the proofs and papers, putting him in as heir, and retaininga claim upon some proportion of his income. We cannot doubtfrom what we know of him that he would have found some wayout of the difficulty. And now, my dear Watson, we have had someweeks of severe work, and for one evening, I think, we may turnour thoughts into more pleasant channels. I have a box for ‘LesHuguenots.’ Have you heard the De Reszkes? Might I trouble youthen to be ready in half an hour, and we can stop at Marcini’s for alittle dinner on the way?”
