He was a short fat man, with an extremely red face and bulging eyes,
which watered very much and apparently required to be constantly mopped
with a handkerchief which he carried in his hand. This peculiarity gave
Mr. Evans the appearance of a man perpetually in mourning, and this
effect was heightened by a species of incipient palsy which had seized on
his lower facial muscles, and caused his lips to tremble violently. He
was bald in the front of the head but not on the top. The baldness over
the temples had joined hands and left isolated over the centre of the
forehead a small tuft of hair, which, with the playfulness of second
childhood, showed a tendency to curl.
"Yes, you're quite right," he repeated huskily, as though some one had
doubted the statement. "Evans is my name and I'm not ashamed of it."
"He came to me this morning and told me that Hill gave false evidence at
the inquest yesterday," Inspector Seldon explained. "So I brought him
along to see you."
"False evidence--Hill?" exclaimed Inspector Chippenfield, with keen
interest. "Let us hear about it."
"Well, you will remember Hill said he was at home on the night of the
murder," pursued Inspector Seldon. "I looked up his depositions before I
came away and what he said was this: 'I took my daughter to the Zoo in
the afternoon. We left the Zoo at half past five and went home and had
tea. My wife then took the child to the picture-palace and I remained at
home. I did not go out that night. They returned about half-past ten, and
after supper we all went to bed.' But Evans tells me he saw Hill in his
bar at three o'clock on the morning of the 19th of August. He has an
early license for the accommodation of the Covent Garden traffic. He can
swear to Hill. A man who goes to bed at half-past ten has no right to be
wandering about Covent Garden at 3 a. m. And besides, Hill told us
nothing about this. So I brought Evans along to see what you make of it."
Inspector Chippenfield had taken up a pencil and was making a few notes.
"Very interesting indeed," he said. Then he turned to Evans and asked,
"Are you sure you saw Hill in your bar at three a. m.? There is no
possibility of a mistake?"
"He is the man who was knocked down outside by a porter running into
him," said Mr. Evans, mopping his eyes. "I could bring half a dozen
witnesses who will swear to him."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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