So it looked as if the only one who
knew the truth must be the dead man, and he was gone beyond recall. They
found he'd been shot by an army revolver with a ball of the usual pattern,
and more they didn't know; and when Sir Walter pointed out that my
revolver was loaded in all chambers and hadn't been fired, all the police
said was I'd had plenty of time to fire it and clean it and load it again
afore I gave it to him.
And the next thing that happened to me was that I was locked up, tried
afore the justices and committed for trial at the Assizes for the murder
of Tom Bond.
Of course nobody who knew me believed such a fearful thing, but seeing how
it stood and how the details looked to the public, I didn't blame any for
doubting except Joshua Owlet; and even in my nasty fix I couldn't but
admire the devilish craft of that man. Of course I knew from the first
he'd done the trick; and more I knew, because I'd seen his far-reaching
reasons and his cunning, to use Bond against me and so plot that we should
wipe out each other and leave Jenny free. I could see it all; and when Sir
Walter had one of the big swells from Scotland Yard to investigate the
murder from the beginning, and when that man heard all I'd got to say, he
saw it too.
A mean little build of chap, but properly bursting with intellect, was
Detective-Inspector Bates; and after hearing Sir Walter and after hearing
me, he never felt no doubt himself about my innocence.
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