“And I believe that he’s right; Mr. Moor certainly had something to
hide, and it could have been nothing, without it was evidence. All
that Daly gathered from the servant girl goes to show that there was
something of the kind. I believe that Mr. Moor would have gone straight
home after he had done the deed, if he had dared to do so, and he
would have dared, without he had some signs of what he had done upon
him. What signs of the deed could he have had about him, if it was not
blood spattered on his clothes? Now, if we can find that he has hidden
any of his clothes in some out-of-the-way place, we’ll have a great
point gained, won’t we?”
“We will, indeed.”
“Has Daly any notion of where they were hidden?”
“No.”
“Have you?”
“Not I.”
“What’s Daly going to do about it?”
“His idea is to hunt in all the likely places near at hand on the
chance of finding them. He says that they can’t be far away, because
Mr. Moor was such a short time gone; only half an hour.”
“That’s very true, but, without he has something to guide him in his
search, it’ll be like hunting for a needle in a hay-stack.”
“Have you any notion about it, Tom?”
“Not yet,” said Tom; “let me think.” He buried his face in his hands,
and sat for a long time without moving. At last, he opened the note
that Daly had sent him, and looked at it again. Presently he spoke:
“Now, Will, let’s start from the time that he was supposed to have
struck the blow, and let’s trace him as well as we can. After he had
struck Isaac down, and saw that he had killed him, and also saw that
there were signs upon him what might point to his having done the deed,
he wouldn’t go out either into the turnpike or the mill road, for he
would be afraid of some one meeting him. He would go into the woods,
and would hide there until dark. He must have suffered horribly in
the woods at night, with the thought of what he had done fresh upon
his heart—of course, it would unfit him for any cool and collected
thinking, and therefore we have an advantage over him. At last he comes
home. Try to put yourself in his place, and conceive of the terrible
state of mind that he must have been in at the time. There would be
blood upon his clothes, and his first thought would be to get rid of
them as soon as possible. If he had been cool, he would have waited
until the next day, but he did not think of any such thing at the time.
‘Where shall I hide them?’ he would say to himself; ‘not at home, not
about the house, for who knows how soon they may be found?’ Then he
would go over a number of places in his mind. He would not be collected
enough to think of some out-of-the-way spot; he would think of some
place that he had seen before, and that would be remarkable enough for
him to remember it, even at such a moment. Now, let’s see what he did,
according to that which the servant girl told Daly. He doesn’t see the
servant girl when he first comes into the house, but, after he had
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account