Christopher Quarles: College Professor and Master DetectiveBrebner, Percy James
General
Christopher Quarles: College Professor and Master Detective
Brebner, Percy James
College teachers -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories
"It might be were there no evidence to support it. Let me tell the
story as I imagine it. The twin brothers were much attached to each
other. Few people knew them well; they kept altogether to themselves.
From Coleman's statement it would seem that Peter took the lead. It
was he who went for the money. He appears to have managed all the
money transactions. It may have been merely a division of labor, but
there may have been another reason. Perhaps Simon's temperament was to
waste money, and to keep him out of temptation Peter kept the key of
the treasury."
"Still a little fantastic, I fancy," I said somewhat contemptuously.
"Quite true, and we will go a little farther on the same road. We will
assume that the sight of gold was not good for the moral welfare of
Simon Judd. So long as he did not see gold he was content to go on
his simple way, but the sight of it set him desiring possession. The
nephew came, and twenty sovereigns were fetched from the treasury
chest and displayed before Simon's gloating eyes. There was a sudden
desire to possess gold himself. Peter had the key, had a hiding-place
for it, probably; and on this night, thinking of his nephew, was not
careful enough to conceal that hiding-place from his brother, or it
may be he was forgetful, and left the key on the mantelshelf. In the
night he remembered it, or was aroused by some noise, and went down to
find Simon, who was fully dressed, taking the key. Some words may have
been spoken; Peter may have reasoned with him, but Simon was beyond
reason. He attacked his brother, and killed him. The shock of such a
thing may well have had something to do with Peter's death, as the
doctor suggests. Would shock have had such effect upon him, do you
suppose, had he been attacked by Gilson, an innocent imbecile?"
I did not answer.
"Simon at once realized his position. Suspicion must fall upon him
unless he was murdered too. So he laid the trail, shreds of his
pajamas here and there, and the old slipper. The well would be an
excellent grave for him. He remembered that Gilson saw Coleman arrive;
suspicion would fall upon Coleman. Conscience was dead now, he could
take the gold. So he left Cross Roads Farm, being careful to dress
himself in clothes that probably only his brother knew he possessed,
and left his ordinary clothes on the chair in his room."
"And Gilson?" I asked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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