The Classic Mystery Collection - Arthur Conan Doyle [5817]
Again the prisoner had scored, and again the audience exchanged approving glances which plainly said: "He's clever enough for them all!"
Then the Court continued the examination.
Q. Were you upon the Darrow estate when Mr. Darrow met his death?
A. Yes, your Honour.
Q. Where?
A. Just outside the eastern parlour-window, your Honour.
Q. Did you strike the blow which caused Mr. Darrow's death?
A. No, your Honour.
Q. What! Have you not said you are responsible for his murder?
A. Yes, your Honour.
Q. Ah, I see! You had some other person for an accomplice?
A. No, your Honour.
Q. Look here, sir! Do you propose to tell us anything of your own accord, or must we drag it out of you piecemeal?
A. No power can make me speak if I do not elect to, and I only elect to answer questions. Commission for contempt will hardly discipline a man in my position, and may lead me to hold my peace entirely.
The Court turned away with an expression of disgust and engaged Jenkins and Maitland in a whispered conversation. The prisoner had again scored. There is enough of the bully in many judges to cause the public to secretly rejoice when they are worsted. It was plain to be seen that the audience was pleased with Latour's defiance.
Maitland now resumed the examination with his accustomed ease. One would have thought he was addressing a church sociable,--if he judged by his manner.
Q. You have testified to being responsible for the death of John Darrow. The instrument with which he was killed was directly or indirectly your handiwork, yet you did not strike the blow, and you have said you had no other person for an accomplice. Am I substantially correct in all this?
A. You are quite correct.
Q. Very good. Did John Darrow's death result from a poisoned wound made by the instrument you have described?
A. It did.
This reply seemed to nonplus us all with the exception of Maitland and Godin. These two seemed proof against all surprises. The rest of us looked helplessly each at his neighbour as if to say, "What next?" and we all felt,--at least I did and the others certainly looked it,--as if the solution of the enigma were farther away than ever.
Maitland proceeded in the same methodical strain.
Q. A blow was given, yet neither you nor any person acting as your accomplice gave it. Did Mr. Darrow himself give the blow?
A. No, sir.
Q. I thought not. Did any person give it?
A. No, sir.
The audience drew a deep inspiration, as if with one accord! They had ceased to reason. Again and again had we been brought, as we all felt sure, within a single syllable of the truth, only to find ourselves at the next word more mystified than ever. It would hardly have surprised us more if the prisoner had informed us that Mr. Darrow still lived. The excitement was so intense that thought was impossible, so we could only listen with bated breath for someone else to solve the thing for our beleaguered and discouraged minds. After a word with his colleague, Maitland resumed.
Q. A blow was given, yet no person gave it. Was it given by anything which is alive?
A. It was not.
You could have heard a pin drop, so silent was the room during the pause which preceded Maitland's next question.
Q. Did you arrange some inanimate object or objects outside the eastern window, or elsewhere, on the Darrow estate so that it or they might wound Mr. Darrow?
A. No,--no inanimate object other than the hypodermic syringe already referred to.
Q. To my question: "A blow was given, yet no person gave it. Was it given by anything which is alive?" you have answered: "It was not." Let me now ask: Was it given by anything which was at that time alive?
A. It was.
There was a stir all over the court-room. Here at last was a suggestive admission. The examination was approaching a crisis!
Q. And you have said it was not a person. Was it not an animal?
A. It was.
"An animal!" we all ejaculated with the unanimity