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1"'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "This concluded the examination of the witness." "I see," said I as I glanced down
2the column, "that the coroner in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. He calls attention, and
3with reason, to the discrepancy about his father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his refusal to give
4details of his conversation with his father, and his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, as he
5remarks, very much against the son." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon the cushioned seat.
6"Both you and the coroner have been at some pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the young man's
7favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too little,
8if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from
9his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth.
10No, sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what this young man says is true, and we shall see
11whither that hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and not another word shall I say of this case
12until we are on the scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be there in twenty minutes." It was
13nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming
14Severn, found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was
15waiting for us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and leather-leggings which he wore in deference
16to his rustic surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the
17Hereford Arms where a room had already been engaged for us. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a
18cup of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be happy until you had been on the scene of the
19crime." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It is entirely a question of barometric
20pressure." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind,
21and not a cloud in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need smoking, and the sofa is very much superior
22to the usual country hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I shall use the carriage to-night."
23Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The
24case is as plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer it becomes. Still, of course, one can't
25refuse a lady, and such a very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your opinion, though I repeatedly
26told her that there was nothing which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my soul! here is her
27carriage at the door." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the most lovely young women that I
28have ever seen in my life. Her violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her cheeks, all thought of her
29natural reserve lost in her overpowering excitement and concern. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one
30to the other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you
31have come. I have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. I know it, and I want you to start upon
32your work knowing it, too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each other since we were little
33children, and I know his faults as no one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a charge is absurd
34to anyone who really knows him." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "You may rely upon my
35doing all that I can." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? Do you not see some loophole,
36some flaw? Do you not yourself think that he is innocent?" "I think that it is very probable." "There, now!" she cried,
37throwing back her head and looking defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." Lestrade shrugged his
38shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "But he is
39right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the reason
40why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because I was concerned in it." "In what way?" asked Holmes. "It is
41no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious
42that there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always loved each other as brother and sister; but of
43course he is young and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he naturally did not wish to do anything like
44that yet. So there were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in
45favour of such a union?" "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in favour of it." A quick blush
46passed over her fresh young face as Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "Thank you for this
47information," said he. "May I see your father if I call to-morrow?" "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "The
48doctor?" "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for years back, but this has broken him down
49completely. He has taken to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his nervous system is shattered.
50Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Ha! In Victoria! That is
51important." "Yes, at the mines." "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner made his money." "Yes,
52certainly." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to me." "You will tell me if you have any news
53to-morrow. No doubt you will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do tell him that I know him to be
54innocent." "I will, Miss Turner." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if I leave him.
55Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we
56heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity
57after a few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of
58heart, but I call it cruel." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said Holmes. "Have you an order to
59see him in prison?" "Yes, but only for you and me." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have
60still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "Ample." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will
61find it very slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours."
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