Читать книгу A Study in Sherlock - Raymond G. Farney - Страница 12

The Boscombe

Valley Mystery

 Publication & Dates:Strand, October 1891The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. (4th story) 1892Illustrations: Sidney Paget (10)Conan Doyle’s 6th storyHolmes’ 22nd case

 Story Introduction:We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes, and ran in this way:“Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. Leave Paddington by the 11:15.”“What do you say, dear?” said my wife, looking across to me. “Will you go?”“I really don’t know what to say. I have a fairly long list at present.”“Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking a little pale lately. I think that the change will do you good, you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes’ cases.”“I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained through one of them,” I answered. “But if I am to go I must pack at once, for I have only half an hour.”My experience of camp life in Afghanistan at least had the effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock Holmes was pacing up-and-down the platform, his tall, gaunt figure made even gaunter and taller by his long gray traveling cloak, and close-fitting cloth cap.“It is really very good of you to come, Watson,” said he. “It makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless or else biased. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall get the tickets.”We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of papers which Holmes brought with him. Among these he rummaged and read, with intervals of note-taking and meditation, until we passed Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a gigantic ball, and tossed them up onto the rack.“Have you heard anything of the case?” he asked.“Not a word. I have not seen the paper for some days.”“The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those simple cases which are so extremely difficult.”“I never heard of such a case as this that I do not think of Baxter’s words, and say ‘There but for the grace of God goes Sherlock Holmes.’”Case Information

 Date:Morning.

 Duration:2 Days

 Crime:Blackmail.Murder.

 Client:Miss Alice Turner, John Turner’s daughter.

 Victims:Mr. John Turner, blackmailed by Charles McCarthy.Mr. Charles McCarthy, murdered by John Turner.

 Crime Scene:Boscombe Pool, Boscombe Valley, “a country district not far from Ross, in Herefordshire.” — “which is a little reed-girt sheet of water some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the Hatherley Farm and the private oak of the wealthy Mr. Turner.”

 Criminals:Mr. Charles McCarthy for years blackmailed and lived off Turner.Mr. John Turner. “The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of decrepitude, and yet hard, deep-lined craggy features, and his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual strength of body and character. His tangled beard, grizzled hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air of dignity and power to his appearance but his face was of an ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were tinged with a shade of blue.”“I am a dying man,” said old Turner. “I have had diabetes for years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a month.”“Just tell us the truth, I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall not use it unless it is absolutely needed.”“Farewell, then,” said the old man, solemnly. “Your own death-beds, when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace which you have given to mine.”Black Jack of Ballarat (Mr. John Turner) Ballarat Gang “an elderly man, I presume? About sixty.”Holmes’ Analysis at the Crime Scene of the Criminal“The murderer is a tall man, left handed, limps with the right leg, wears thick-soled shooting boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian cigars, and uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt penknife.”

 Punishment:None“I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It would break her heart—it will break her heart when she hears that I am arrested.” “It may not come to that,” said Holmes.“I am a dying man,” said old Turner. “I have had diabetes for years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a month.”“Just tell us the truth, I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall not use it unless it is absolutely needed.”“Farewell, then,” said the old man, solemnly. “Your own death-beds, when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace which you have given to mine.”

 Official Police:Inspector Lestrade. “We have got to the deductions and the inferences,” said Lestrade, winking at me.“I find it hard enough to tackle the facts, Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies.”“You are right,” said Holmes, demurely; “you do find it very hard to tackle the facts.”

 Characters:James McCarthy, 18 years old, “he is not a very quick-witted youth, though comely to look at, and I should think, sound at heart.”Daughter, Miss Turner, 18 years old, “violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her cheeks.”William Crowder, gameskeeper for Mr. Turner.Patience Moran, 14 years old, daughter of lodge-keeper.Maid, Hatherley Farm, showed us the boots of her master.

 Others Mentioned:Anstruther, doctor who filled in for Watson while he was with Holmes.McCarthy’s maid.John Cobb, groom.Dr. Willows, Turner’s doctor.George Meredith, English poet and novelist who Holmes wanted to talk about.

 Locations:Reading, along train route, Holmes had stayed silent until they passed.Ross, past Stroud ValleyHereford, where James McCarthy was being held in jailHatherley Farm, McCarthy home, given him rent-free by Turner. Widespread, comfortable-looking building, two-storied, slate roofed, with great yellow blotches of lichen upon the grey walls.

 Locations Mentioned:Afghanistan, referring to Watson’s ability to promptly ready for travel.Australia, where John Turner & Charles McCarthy first met.Regent-Street, where in London Turner & McCarthy met again.Bristol, where young McCarthy had been for three days before the murder.Swindon, where Holmes & Watson planned to lunch.Victoria, where Turner & McCarthy met working gold mines.Bermuda Docks, where young Turner’s first wife’s real husband worked.Rotterdam, where Turner’s cigars are rolled.A gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne.

 Evidence & Clues:informing him that he was a prisoner he remarked that he was not surprised to hear it and that it was no more than he deserved—it was followed by a protestation of innocence.McCarthy’s dying reference to a rat.The three days James was away before his father’s murder, he spent in Bristol with his bigamist barmaid wife.“I would call your attention very particularly to two points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with someone at the Pool, and that someone could not have been his son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry, ‘Cooee!’ before he knew that his son had returned. Those are crucial points upon which the case depends.”Holmes’ request, “showed us the boots which her master wore at the time of his death and also a pair of the son’s,” not the pair he had then had. Having measured these very carefully from seven or eight different points.“twice he was walking, and once he ran swiftly so that the soles are deeply marked, and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his story.”Marks in the ground, the butt end of the gun as the son stood listening.“What have we here? Tip-toes! Tip-toes! Square, too quite unusual boots! They come they go, they come again—of course that was for the cloak.”“A jagged stone was lying among the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained.”“The murder was done with it.” (jagged stone) “How do you know?” “The grass was growing under it.”

 Motive:“There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more afraid of her knowing my past than the police. Whatever he wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing which I could not give. He asked for Alice.” (To marry his son James)

 Timeline:Early 1860s Turner meets McCarthy at the gold diggings in Australia. “His grip has been me these twenty years.”The previous three days, young McCarthy was in Bristol.Morning, young McCarthy returns to Boscombe Valley from Bristol.3:00 p.m. Monday last, June 3, McCarthy leaves his house at Hatherley and walks about a quarter of a mile down to Boscombe Pool.That morning young McCarthy returns from three days in Bristol.June 4, Tuesday, an inquest is held and a verdict of Wilful Murder is returned on McCarthy.June 5, Wednesday, he is brought before the magistrates at Ross.1st Day11:15 a.m. Holmes & Watson take the train from Paddington Station for Boscombe Valley.Watson, “But if I am to go I must pack at once, for I only have a half an hour.”4:00 p.m., Holmes & Watson arrive at the pretty little town of Ross.It is late before Sherlock Holmes returns from seeing McCarthy in jail at Hereford.2nd Day9:00 a.m., “Lestrade called for us with a carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe Pool.”Leaving Lestrade and Boscombe Pool, Holmes and Watson return to their hotel for lunch.Mr. John Turner visits Holmes & Watson in their hotel sitting-room. Confesses that it was he who murdered McCarthy and signs a confession. Knowing Turner is dying Holmes promises not to use it unless it is absolutely necessary.Evening train, Holmes and Watson return to London.Seven months later, Mr. John Turner dies.

 Story Conclusion:“James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes, on the strength of a number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes, and submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily together, in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their past.”

 Weather:1st day, “at Boscombe Valley, 29 barometric pressure, no wind, and not a cloud in the sky.”“It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able to go over the ground.”

 Payment:None Mentioned.

 Quotes:“I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy.”“I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It would break her heart—it will break her heart when she hears that I am arrested.” “It may not come to that,” said Holmes.“I never hear of such a case as this that I do not think of Baxter’s words, and say ‘There but for the grace of God goes Sherlock Holmes.’”Crime and Deduction“It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those simple cases which are so extremely difficult.”“Singularity is almost invariably a clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more difficult is it to bring home.”“Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing, it may seem to point very straight to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely different.”“My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness which characterizes you. You shave every morning, and in this season you shave by the sunlight, but since your shaving is less and less complete as we get further back on the left side, until it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less well illuminated than the other.”“I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before us.”“You know my method. It is founded upon the observance of trifles.” (5)“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”Holmes“It is really very good of you to come, Watson,” said he. “It makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on whom I can thoroughly rely.”“Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of Baker Street would fail to recognize him. His face flushed and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell unheard upon his ears, or at the most, only provoked a quick, inpatient snarl in reply.”Holmes’ Observations of Watson“My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness which characterizes you. You shave every morning, and in this season you shave by the sunlight, but since your shaving is less and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less well illuminated than the other.”

 Notes:“my pocket Petrarch,” an Italian 14th century poet Holmes read on the train to Boscombe Valley.Watson married and not living at Baker St.