The Boscombe Valley Mystery
001. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TSUzY1vuUAy_KLuIXJ8_Qgb9idYbkJo3/view?usp=sharing
We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran in this way:
002. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YJzCZj4_7EiKUjLrt_ys46fGcwk5ZvAK/view?usp=sharing
“Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. Leave Paddington by the 11:15.”
003. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pN4svzRIj99nD6MtItlOc1CrVKjFlbwY/view?usp=sharing
“What do you say, dear?” said my wife, looking across at me. “Will you go?”
“I really don’t know what to say. I have a fairly long list at present.”
004. https://drive.google.com/file/d/14BYwUHCNaU-G-cZ1vX2Zg2eZfVq0riWr/view?usp=sharing
“Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes’ cases.”
005. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E92SS0-iksDzSgfsYSkSsLI83xgTx_Cm/view?usp=sharing
“I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained through one of them,” I answered. “But if I am to go, I must pack at once, for I have only half an hour.”
006. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M3-_YzTFFMlOruvffPjVlIVGdcPtrF6R/view?usp=sharing
My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station.
007. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q3LaO8mx9zivzCUcFsXr3TMZLZxvxj0X/view?usp=sharing
Sherlock Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap.
008. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ly69QborXHLExbvWM-9mJbNVTZSN6z0N/view?usp=sharing
“It is really very good of you to come, Watson,” said he. “It makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall get the tickets.”
009. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UbETmzoxkhLvQ9824139MioOJQLVwPRq/view?usp=sharing
We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until we were past Reading.
010. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n9nCpOrJbi42DWrUEFeO_waIFoQu7Qh8/view?usp=sharing
Then he suddenly rolled them all into a gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack.
011. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oIbib8ZdlgIFJpMWd2YMQ0ZZRDcYIe9v/view?usp=sharing
“Have you heard anything of the case?” he asked.
“Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days.”
012. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bVPGo-UJyXiDuOywQ7swXd8SYKmqmMQo/view?usp=sharing
“The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those simple cases which are so extremely difficult.”
“That sounds a little paradoxical.”
013. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bQRBwkxPC56qlU86OAm8JpxantunhwwZ/view?usp=sharing
“But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they have established a very serious case against the son of the murdered man.”
014. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nffY4RT_7L26B4WppnusXfDn8cGUNZvs/view?usp=sharing
“It is a murder, then?”
“Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have been able to understand it, in a very few words.
015. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vbFVG90jWOZt7_vm8xbsihr3g48XNOAt/view?usp=sharing
“Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned some years ago to the old country.
016. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fBsrGtdWE0VdGjwH27Y1AZQ_aqKAoR2G/view?usp=sharing
One of the farms which he held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to settle down they should do so as near each other as possible.
017. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fhDfNK23xn9U3CQd14o1ra1ItpcYVSy1/view?usp=sharing
Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect equality, as they were frequently together.
018. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AF9_hSmbgrolgoV-A7rbQbx5M3fIFk1w/view?usp=sharing
McCarthy had one son, a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same age, but neither of them had wives living.
019. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pvFaMb7ZAerkzfl1hWf_rJ7D2LYWfhMG/view?usp=sharing
They appear to have avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the neighbourhood.
020. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IjXOjCeK1VwHSs1xaZTaCzXg8_i_4IhZ/view?usp=sharing
McCarthy kept two servants—a man and a girl. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the families. Now for the facts.
021. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cSSsL5RAjFT9jgOy2LU5PpMpzCin2OWb/view?usp=sharing
“On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley.
022. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x3XVGAW1KR2EG0GI8KV36cxiAP6jTtM-/view?usp=sharing
He had been out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came back alive.
023. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ndwW_kSTTNuW_pYcoAFCbTPOZPsJ3IO3/view?usp=sharing
“From Hatherley Farmhouse to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner.
024. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tAhEXyWw7s175vlGq4Wz0Sv2lpGH7dtR/view?usp=sharing
Both these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the same way with a gun under his arm.
025. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nGlfUpHCGKdFaFEmmH0hCNCRq_vPuK_q/view?usp=sharing
To the best of his belief, the father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in the evening of the tragedy that had occurred.
026. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1stdNK8LnDKODHKrBtboz1YdUNs64T0OY/view?usp=sharing
“The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the edge.
027. https://drive.google.com/file/d/10azLqC43m5iApgA6bAERDgcbiXd1j2GT/view?usp=sharing
A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the woods picking flowers.
028. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ceHhOkW2uTQT4K3YGLyNu8GnV91VK8vF/view?usp=sharing
She states that while she was there she saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a violent quarrel.
029. https://drive.google.com/file/d/19kJWPnPbuqQv8Rsy4d8UPlKPSUZEJSd5/view?usp=sharing
She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his hand as if to strike his father.
030. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qqnPkeM-VjnV1OzPTHCvQx9j1__x5XlJ/view?usp=sharing
She was so frightened by their violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to fight.
031. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HFguiRfLvltaBAe9SL_FQZ4qXonnSmSL/view?usp=sharing
She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper.
032. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RIDUUhl8Frt7H1Uyct3f_iz93MGEhMM7/view?usp=sharing
He was much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the grass beside the pool.
033. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l3Q7UeCjcIa5ZcuQivs2W1JNZecOsYvg/view?usp=sharing
The head had been beaten in by repeated blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son’s gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the body.
034. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yFiuUyIt_9_BiMx5LICWD8X657ArzNWC/view?usp=sharing
Under these circumstances the young man was instantly arrested, and a verdict of ‘wilful murder’ having been returned at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next Assizes.
035. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-kHa7oYiZ6ROvbvoLFwywuNi-lm_FudU/view?usp=sharing
Those are the main facts of the case as they came out before the coroner and the police-court.”
036. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lNVNSxR37dChO0p34ozHzFBUZmWJswA5/view?usp=sharing
“I could hardly imagine a more damning case,” I remarked. “If ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so here.”
037. https://drive.google.com/file/d/19hPIUXSQ6y37HYfDJOq-uXE6YPKEBioT/view?usp=sharing
“Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing,” answered Holmes thoughtfully. “It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely different.
038. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ooO88fMyVWBL8skSr3CTR1PgKcnIJScj/view?usp=sharing
It must be confessed, however, that the case looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very possible that he is indeed the culprit.
039. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RYsGzw2MZU_NiG5hu4KLsVYaLbNexnN8/view?usp=sharing
There are several people in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in his interest.
040. https://drive.google.com/file/d/13AI45yKyds4R2JxGipla2mjHQAivbzZS/view?usp=sharing
Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly digesting their breakfasts at home.”
041. https://drive.google.com/file/d/17sgorPizNsjMaabKLfDhOOEZWo7ENS_o/view?usp=sharing
“I am afraid,” said I, “that the facts are so obvious that you will find little credit to be gained out of this case.”
042. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jUMxW9oF2dj8AX6czFrVDD92T-3fkYSv/view?usp=sharing
“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact,” he answered, laughing. “Besides, we may chance to hit upon some other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to Mr. Lestrade.
043. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UoPKvOaP-nTkliasROp3D84MdgTUcdlZ/view?usp=sharing
You know me too well to think that I am boasting when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of understanding.
044. https://drive.google.com/file/d/155ZhgQFQ1vbNcVIUv_mgqh8lPy7lk-lV/view?usp=sharing
To take the first example to hand, I very clearly perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted even so self-evident a thing as that.”
045. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cxu_XCGTShQjrsKnbXKROJ_hlhRtTJQv/view?usp=sharing
“How on earth—”
046. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cFCiR-EQH8ITERYX4vQMn0IleomG_SUn/view?usp=sharing
“My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness which characterises you.
047. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hi7UZDplAiaB6rASHV6KhT8lTRpOyiKW/view?usp=sharing
You shave every morning, and in this season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated than the other.
048. https://drive.google.com/file/d/14IDxLMEyyEJ4rGxnDVNO-7YWdOSGwtAT/view?usp=sharing
I could not imagine a man of your habits looking at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and inference.
049. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wHWc1LiegV3FuZ_w8LIchBRy-TwFw1JE/view?usp=sharing
Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in the inquest, and which are worth considering.”
050. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iA6Ob3eMO19rYUwFriXYyDd4VrpK-C2K/view?usp=sharing
“What are they?”
051. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QEpn66fJ0N6E65VypFh45CgU04GxPhl6/view?usp=sharing
“It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts.
052. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W_H7cKiBgXsQa3ar4rp8LkRYhO4p-LTR/view?usp=sharing
This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the coroner’s jury.”
053. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xAEdBHbplHvzcQMAowm3iU3ErKmafssq/view?usp=sharing
“It was a confession,” I ejaculated.
“No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence.”
“Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at least a most suspicious remark.”
054. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MCoTtZYa8Fa4t2j-lqiaiMFXTw3LGw7i/view?usp=sharing
“On the contrary,” said Holmes, “it is the brightest rift which I can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the circumstances were very black against him.
055. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k_QujEsldYYnMhw_nHF2spl0yl_2aVUM/view?usp=sharing
Had he appeared surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man.
056. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dwsdapkgAoKxcHTG_fmahaOWZ8wB5Urh/view?usp=sharing
His frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and firmness.
057. https://drive.google.com/file/d/151A1rSS9S77QfVb-smCRoFlvMRw112nz/view?usp=sharing
058. https://drive.google.com/file/d/11dldswAiKkFJ1-WgFxMjz48f8fj7lyFg/view?usp=sharing
As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so important, to raise his hand as if to strike him.