The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle (ereader manga TXT) ๐
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- Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Read book online ยซThe Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle (ereader manga TXT) ๐ยป. Author - Arthur Conan Doyle
โThe Valley of Fear,โ the lady answered. โThat was an expression he has used when I questioned him. 'I have been in the Valley of Fear. I am not out of it yet.'โ'Are we never to get out of the Valley of Fear?' I have asked him when I have seen him more serious than usual. 'Sometimes I think that we never shall,' he has answered.โ
โSurely you asked him what he meant by the Valley of Fear?โ
โI did; but his face would become very grave and he would shake his head. 'It is bad enough that one of us should have been in its shadow,' he said. 'Please God it shall never fall upon you!' It was some real valley in which he had lived and in which something terrible had occurred to him, of that I am certain; but I can tell you no more.โ
โAnd he never mentioned any names?โ
โYes, he was delirious with fever once when he had his hunting accident three years ago. Then I remember that there was a name that came continually to his lips. He spoke it with anger and a sort of horror. McGinty was the nameโBodymaster McGinty. I asked him when he recovered who Bodymaster McGinty was, and whose body he was master of. 'Never of mine, thank God!' he answered with a laugh, and that was all I could get from him. But there is a connection between Bodymaster McGinty and the Valley of Fear.โ
โThere is one other point,โ said Inspector MacDonald. โYou met Mr. Douglas in a boarding house in London, did you not, and became engaged to him there? Was there any romance, anything secret or mysterious, about the wedding?โ
โThere was romance. There is always romance. There was nothing mysterious.โ
โHe had no rival?โ
โNo, I was quite free.โ
โYou have heard, no doubt, that his wedding ring has been taken. Does that suggest anything to you? Suppose that some enemy of his old life had tracked him down and committed this crime, what possible reason could he have for taking his wedding ring?โ
For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman's lips.
โI really cannot tell,โ she answered. โIt is certainly a most extraordinary thing.โ
โWell, we will not detain you any longer, and we are sorry to have put you to this trouble at such a time,โ said the inspector. โThere are some other points, no doubt; but we can refer to you as they arise.โ
She rose, and I was again conscious of that quick, questioning glance with which she had just surveyed us. โWhat impression has my evidence made upon you?โ The question might as well have been spoken. Then, with a bow, she swept from the room.
โShe's a beautiful womanโa very beautiful woman,โ said MacDonald thoughtfully, after the door had closed behind her. โThis man Barker has certainly been down here a good deal. He is a man who might be attractive to a woman. He admits that the dead man was jealous, and maybe he knew best himself what cause he had for jealousy. Then there's that wedding ring. You can't get past that. The man who tears a wedding ring off a dead man'sโWhat do you say to it, Mr. Holmes?โ
My friend had sat with his head upon his hands, sunk in the deepest thought. Now he rose and rang the bell. โAmes,โ he said, when the butler entered, โwhere is Mr. Cecil Barker now?โ
โI'll see, sir.โ
He came back in a moment to say that Barker was in the garden.
โCan you remember, Ames, what Mr. Barker had on his feet last night when you joined him in the study?โ
โYes, Mr. Holmes. He had a pair of bedroom slippers. I brought him his boots when he went for the police.โ
โWhere are the slippers now?โ
โThey are still under the chair in the hall.โ
โVery good, Ames. It is, of course, important for us to know which tracks may be Mr. Barker's and which from outside.โ
โYes, sir. I may say that I noticed that the slippers were stained with bloodโso indeed were my own.โ
โThat is natural enough, considering the condition of the room. Very good, Ames. We will ring if we want you.โ
A few minutes later we were in the study. Holmes had brought with him the carpet slippers from the hall. As Ames had observed, the soles of both were dark with blood.
โStrange!โ murmured Holmes, as he stood in the light of the window and examined them minutely. โVery strange indeed!โ
Stooping with one of his quick feline pounces, he placed the slipper upon the blood mark on the sill. It exactly corresponded. He smiled in silence at his colleagues.
The inspector was transfigured with excitement. His native accent rattled like a stick upon railings.
โMan,โ he cried, โthere's not a doubt of it! Barker has just marked the window himself. It's a good deal broader than any bootmark. I mind that you said it was a splay-foot, and here's the explanation. But what's the game, Mr. Holmesโwhat's the game?โ
โAy, what's the game?โ my friend repeated thoughtfully.
White Mason chuckled and rubbed his fat hands together in his professional satisfaction. โI said it was a snorter!โ he cried. โAnd a real snorter it is!โ
Chapter 6โA Dawning Light
The three detectives had many matters of detail into which to inquire; so I returned alone to our modest quarters at the village inn. But before doing so I took a stroll in the curious old-world garden which flanked the house. Rows of very ancient yew trees cut into strange designs girded it round. Inside was a beautiful stretch of lawn with an old sundial in the middle, the whole effect so soothing and restful that it was welcome to my somewhat jangled nerves.
In that deeply peaceful atmosphere one could forget, or remember only as some fantastic nightmare, that darkened study with the sprawling, bloodstained figure on the floor. And yet, as I strolled round it and tried to steep my soul in its gentle balm, a strange incident occurred, which brought me back to the tragedy and left a sinister impression in my mind.
I have said that a decoration of yew trees circled the garden. At the end farthest from the house they thickened into a continuous hedge. On the other side of this hedge, concealed from the eyes of anyone approaching from the direction of the house, there was a stone seat. As I approached the
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