|
||||||||
I stabbed him to the heart. It would have been the same in any case, for Providence would never have allowed his guilty hand to pick out anything but the poison. I have little more to say, and its as well, for I am about done up. I went on cabbing it for a day or so, intending to keep at it until I could save enough to take me back to America. I was standing in the yard when a ragged youngster asked if there was a cabby there called Jefferson Hope, and said that his cab was wanted by a gentleman at 221B, Baker Street. I went round suspecting no harm, and the next thing I knew, this young man here had the bracelets on my wrists, and as neatly shackled as ever I saw in my life. Thats the whole of my story, gentlemen. You may consider me to be a murderer; but I hold that I am just as much an officer of justice as you are. So thrilling had the mans narrative been and his manner was so impressive that we had sat silent and absorbed. Even the professional detectives, blasé as they were in every detail of crime, appeared to be keenly interested in the mans story. When he finished, we sat for some minutes in a stillness which was only broken by the scratching of Lestrades pencil as he gave the finishing touches to his shorthand account. There is only one point on which I should like a little more information, Sherlock Holmes said at last. Who was your accomplice who came for the ring which I advertised? The prisoner winked at my friend jocosely. I can tell my own secrets, he said, but I dont get other people into trouble. I saw your advertisement, and I thought it might be a plant, or it might be the ring which I wanted. My friend volunteered to go and see. I think youll own he did it smartly. Not a doubt of that, said Holmes, heartily. Now, gentlemen, the inspector remarked gravely, the forms of the law must be complied with. On Thursday the prisoner will be brought before the magistrates, and your attendance will be required. Until then I will be responsible for him. He rang the bell as he spoke, and Jefferson Hope was led off by a couple of warders, while my friend and I made our way out of the station and took a cab back to Baker Street. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
Copyright: All texts on Bibliomania are © Bibliomania.com Ltd, and may not be reproduced in any form without our written permission. See our FAQ for more details. | ||||||||