'No! I don't think the past can help the present, Mr Tinkler. But what is your candid opinion about this case?' 'I think it is a mystery, Mr Cargrim, sir, and is likely to remain one.' 'You don't anticipate that the murderer will be found?' 'No!' replied Mr Inspector, gruffly. 'I don't.' 'Cannot Mosk, with whom Jentham was lodging, enlighten you?' Tinkler shook his head. 'Mosk said that Jentham owed him money, and promised to pay him this week; but that I believe was all moonshine.' 'But Jentham might have expected to receive money, Mr Inspector?' 'Not he, Mr Cargrim, sir. He knew no one here who would lend or give him a farthing. He had no money on him when his corpse was found!' 'Yet the body had been robbed!' 'Oh, yes, the body was robbed sure enough, for we found the pockets turned inside out. But the murderer only took the rubbish a vagabond was likely to have on him.' 'Were any papers taken, do you think, Mr Inspector?' 'Papers!' echoed Tinkler, scratching his head. 'What papers?' 'Well!' said Cargrim, shirking a true explanation, 'papers likely to reveal his real name and the reason of his haunting Beorminster.' 'I don't think there could have been any papers, Mr Cargrim, sir. If there had been, we'd ha' found 'em. The murderer wouldn't have taken rubbish like that.' 'But why was the man killed?' persisted the chaplain. 'He was killed in a row,' said Tinkler, decisively, 'that's my theory. Mother Jael says that he was half seas over when he left the camp, so I daresay he met some labourer who quarrelled with him and used his pistol.' 'But is it likely that a labourer would have a pistol?' 'Why not? Those harvesters don't trust one another, and it's just as likely as not that one of them would keep a pistol to protect his property from the other.' 'Was search made for the pistol?' 'Yes, it was, and no pistol was found. I tell you what, Mr Cargrim,' said Tinkler, rising in rigid military fashion, 'it's my opinion that there is too much tall talk about this case. Jentham was shot in a drunken row, and the murderer has cleared out of the district. That is the whole explanation of the matter.' 'I daresay you are right, Mr Inspector,' sighed Cargrim, putting on his hat. 'We are all apt to elevate the commonplace into the romantic.' 'Or make a mountain out of a mole hill, which is plain English,' said Tinkler. 'Good-day, Mr Cargrim.' 'Good-day, Tinkler, and many thanks for your lucid statement of the case. I have no doubt that his lordship, the bishop, will take your very sensible view of the matter.'