Samuel Boyd of Catchpole Square: A MysteryFarjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
General
Samuel Boyd of Catchpole Square: A Mystery
Farjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
Detective and mystery stories; London (England) -- Fiction
"Returning to my argument concerning Mr. Samuel Boyd's movements
within his house on the night in question, we behold him still alone
at about eleven o'clock, his office business finished, the visit of
Mr. Abel Death disposed of, and he preparing for bed. And here Mr.
Reginald Boyd comes into the picture.
"We have heard from his lips his account of what took place during his
interview with his father, and we have to accept or reject it. They
were alone together, there were no witnesses, and we have only Mr.
Reginald Boyd's word to go upon. You must not allow this to militate
against him. In the circumstances of the case it is hardly possible
that there could have been witnesses to corroborate the account he
gave, and I have no hesitation in declaring that his bearing in the
witness box bore the impress of truth. It has been objected to that in
the course of this inquiry private domestic affairs have been dragged
into the light which seemingly had no connection with it, but painful
as this must have been to certain of the witnesses, it has established
more than one point which, in the opinion of some of you, may be of
importance--such, for instance, as the nature of the relations which
existed between Mr. Samuel Boyd and his son, and the fact that the
latter was in extremely straitened circumstances. I do not think that
any blame is to be attached to the son for having renounced the name
of Boyd two years ago, when the strained relations between him and his
father led to his leaving, or being turned from, his home in Catchpole
Square. It is not an instance without parallel; men have changed their
names for motives less powerful than this. Mr. Reginald Boyd's bearing
while giving his evidence here, was that of a high-spirited,
independent young gentleman, who held in abhorrence the business
tactics and practices of his father, and it is not unnatural, when the
connection was severed, that he should resolve to be quit of a name
which carried with it a disreputable stigma.
"Nor was it unnatural that Mr. Reginald Boyd should have believed
himself to have been tricked out of the fortune his mother left him,
and that, being now a married man, anxious to provide a home for his
wife, he should have made an effort to obtain restitution. In my
reference to these matters I am not wandering from the issue, for what
you have to consider is, not one incident, circumstance, or act, apart
from the others, but all the incidents, circumstances, and acts in
relation to each other. What in the former case may seem suspicious
may, in the latter case, be robbed of its suspicious complexion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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