The Captain of the Polestar, and Other TalesDoyle, Arthur Conan
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The Captain of the Polestar, and Other Tales
Doyle, Arthur Conan
Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Short stories, English
“Sad Occurrence on the Isle of May.--The Isle of May has been the scene
of a sad disaster. Mr. John Barrington Cowles, a gentleman well known
in University circles as a most distinguished student, and the present
holder of the Neil Arnott prize for physics, has been recruiting his
health in this quiet retreat. The night before last he suddenly left his
friend, Mr. Robert Armitage, and he has not since been heard of. It
is almost certain that he has met his death by falling over the cliffs
which surround the island. Mr. Cowles’ health has been failing for some
time, partly from over study and partly from worry connected with family
affairs. By his death the University loses one of her most promising
alumni.”
I have nothing more to add to my statement. I have unburdened my mind of
all that I know. I can well conceive that many, after weighing all
that I have said, will see no ground for an accusation against Miss
Northcott. They will say that, because a man of a naturally excitable
disposition says and does wild things, and even eventually commits
self-murder after a sudden and heavy disappointment, there is no reason
why vague charges should be advanced against a young lady. To this,
I answer that they are welcome to their opinion. For my own part, I
ascribe the death of William Prescott, of Archibald Reeves, and of John
Barrington Cowles to this woman with as much confidence as if I had seen
her drive a dagger into their hearts.
You ask me, no doubt, what my own theory is which will explain all these
strange facts. I have none, or, at best, a dim and vague one. That Miss
Northcott possessed extraordinary powers over the minds, and through the
minds over the bodies, of others, I am convinced, as well as that her
instincts were to use this power for base and cruel purposes. That some
even more fiendish and terrible phase of character lay behind this--some
horrible trait which it was necessary for her to reveal before
marriage--is to be inferred from the experience of her three lovers,
while the dreadful nature of the mystery thus revealed can only be
surmised from the fact that the very mention of it drove from her those
who had loved her so passionately. Their subsequent fate was, in my
opinion, the result of her vindictive remembrance of their desertion of
her, and that they were forewarned of it at the time was shown by the
words of both Reeves and Cowles. Above this, I can say nothing. I lay
the facts soberly before the public as they came under my notice. I have
never seen Miss Northcott since, nor do I wish to do so. If by the words
I have written I can save any one human being from the snare of those
bright eyes and that beautiful face, then I can lay down my pen with the
assurance that my poor friend has not died altogether in vain.
ELIAS B. HOPKINS, THE PARSON OF JACKMAN’S GULCH.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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