The magic casket
“I take it,” Miller said reflectively, “that you never suspected
Bilsky?”
“I did at first. But when Mrs. Manford and the solicitor told their
tale I realized that he was the victim and that Manford must be the
murderer.”
“Let us have the argument,” said I. “It is obvious that I have been a
blockhead, but I don’t mind our old friend here knowing it.”
“Not a blockhead, Jervis,” he corrected. “You were half asleep that
night and wholly uninterested. If you had been attending to the
matter, you would have observed several curious and anomalous
appearances. For instance, you would have noticed that the body was,
in parts, completely charred and brittle. Now we saw the outbreak of
the fire and we found it extinguished when we reached the building.
Its duration was a matter of minutes; quite insufficient to reduce a
body to that state. For, as you know, a human body is an extremely
incombustible thing. The appearance suggested the destruction of a
body which had been already burnt; and this suggestion was emphasized
by the curiously unequal distribution of the charring. The right hand
was burnt to a cinder and blown to pieces. The left hand was only
scorched. The right foot was utterly destroyed, but the left foot was
nearly intact. The face was burned away completely, and yet there were
parts of the head where the hair was only singed.
“Naturally, with these facts in mind, I scrutinized those remains
narrowly. And presently something much more definite and sinister came
to light. On the left hand, there was a faint impression of another
hand--very indistinct and blurred, but still unmistakably a hand.”
“I remember,” said I, “the inspector pointed it out as evidence that
the deceased had been standing with his hands clasped before or behind
him; and I must admit that it seemed a reasonable inference.”
“So it did--because you were both assuming that the man had been alone
and that it must therefore have been the impression of his own hand.
For that reason, neither of you looked at it critically. If you had,
you would have seen at once that it was the impression of a left
hand.”
“You are quite right,” I confessed ruefully. “As the man was stated to
have been alone, the hand impression did not interest me. And it was
a mere group of smudges, after all. You are sure that it was a left
hand?”
“Quite,” he replied. “Blurred as the smudges were, one could make out
the relative lengths of the fingers. And there was the thumb mark at
the distal end of the palm, but pointing to the outer side of the
hand. Try how you may, you can’t get a right hand into that position.
“Well, then, here was a crucial fact. The mark of a left hand on a
left hand proved the presence of a second person, and at once raised a
strong presumption of homicide, especially when considered in
conjunction with the unaccountable state of the body. During the
evening, a visitor had come and gone, and on him--Bilsky--the
suspicion naturally fell. But Mrs. Manford unwittingly threw an
entirely new light on the case. You remember she told us that her
husband had opened a new bottle of hair dye on the very morning before
the explosion and had applied it with unusual care. Then his hair was
dyed. But the hair of the corpse was not dyed. Therefore the corpse
was not the corpse of Manford. Further, the presumption of murder
applied now to Manford, and the body almost certainly was that of
Bilsky.”
“How did you deduce that the hair of the corpse was not dyed?” I
asked.
“I didn’t deduce it at all. I observed it. You remember a little patch
of hair above the right ear, very much singed but still recognizable
as hair? Well, in that patch I made out distinctly two or three white
hairs. Naturally, when Mrs. Manford spoke of the dye, I recalled those
white hairs, for though you may find silver hairs among the gold, you
don’t find them among the dyed. So the corpse could not be Manford’s
and was presumably that of Bilsky.
“But the instant that this presumption was made, a quantity of fresh
evidence arose to support it. The destruction of the body was now
understandable. Its purpose was to prevent identification. The parts
destroyed were the parts that had to be destroyed for that purpose:
the face was totally unrecognizable, and the right hand and right foot
were burnt and shattered to fragments. But these were Bilsky’s
personal marks. His right hand was mutilated and his right foot
deformed. And the fact that the false teeth found were undoubtedly
Manford’s was conclusive evidence of the intended deception.
“Then there were those very queer financial transactions, of which my
interpretation was this: Manford borrowed two thousand pounds from
Clines. With this he opened an account in the name of Elliott. As
Elliott, he lent himself two thousand pounds--with which he repaid
Clines--subject to an insurance of his life for that amount, taken out
in Elliott’s name.”
“Then he would have gained nothing,” I objected.
“On the contrary, he would have stood to gain two thousand pounds on
proof of his own death. That, I assumed, was his scheme: to murder
Bilsky, to arrange for Bilsky’s corpse to personate his own, and then,
when the insurance was paid, to abscond--in the company of some
woman--with this sum, with the valuables that he had taken from
Bilsky, and the five hundred pounds that he had withdrawn from the
bank.
“But this was only theory. It had to be tested; and as we had
Elliott’s address, I did the only thing that was possible. I employed
our friend, ex-sergeant Barber, to watch the house. He took lodgings
in a house nearly opposite and kept up continuous observation, which
soon convinced him that there was someone on the premises besides Mrs.
Elliott. Then, late one night, he saw a man come out and walk away
quickly. He followed the man for some distance, until the stranger
turned back and began to retrace his steps. Then Barber accosted him,
asking for a direction, and carefully inspecting him. The man’s
appearance tallied exactly with the description that I had given--I
had assumed that he would probably shave off his beard--and with the
photograph; so Barber, having seen him home, reported to me. And that
is the whole story.”
“Not quite the whole,” said Miller, with a sly grin. “There is that
smoke-rocket. If it hadn’t been for the practical joker who slipped
that through the letter-slit, we could never have got into that house.
I call it a most remarkable coincidence.”
“So do I,” Thorndyke agreed, without moving a muscle; “but there is a
special providence that watches over medical jurists.”
We were silent for a few moments. Then I remarked:
“This will come as a terrible shock to Mrs. Manford.”
“I am afraid it will,” Thorndyke agreed. “But it will be better for
her than if Manford had absconded with this woman, taking practically
every penny that he possessed with him. She stood to lose a worthless
husband in either event. At least we have saved her from poverty. And,
knowing the facts, we were morally and legally bound to further the
execution of justice.”
“A very proper sentiment,” said the superintendent, “though I am not
quite clear as to the legal aspects of that smoke-rocket.”
THE END
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
The edition hosted on Fadedpage was consulted for most of the changes
listed below.
Minor spelling inconsistencies (e.g. notepaper/note-paper,
tattoed/tattooed, writing-table/writing table, etc.) have been
preserved.
Alterations to the text:
Punctuation: fix some quotation mark pairings, and a few missing
periods and commas.
[I. THE MAGIC CASKET]
Change “we heard his brisk _step_ on the stairs” to _steps_.
[II. THE CONTENTS OF A MARE’S NEST]
“and I suppose that to a toxicologist, there is nothing like an”
delete the comma.
“Yet teeth are far more _resistent_ to fire than bones” to
_resistant_.
[III. THE STALKING HORSE]
“I am starting for Folkestone in _re_ Burnham deceased.”
italicize _in_.
“but do not _re-act_ in this way on cellulose paper” to _react_.
[IV. THE NATURALIST AT LAW]
“Who had a motive for killing Cyrus Pedley? and Who had the
opportunity and the means.” change the period to a question mark.
[V. MR. PONTING’S ALIBI]
“But since the trouble about the will, he is hardly on speaking terms
with them?” change the question mark to a period.
[VI. PANDORA’S BOX]
“opening it and opening _another’s_ man’s box” to _another_.
[VII. THE TRAIL OF BEHEMOTH]
“I became aware of quick footsteps descending the _staris_ behind us”
to _stairs_.
[VIII. THE PATHOLOGIST TO THE RESCUE]
Change “is in the custody of the robbery and no murder.” to “is in the
custody of the police, charged with robbery and murder.”
(“Yes,” Thorndyke replied. “I am in a position to give important and
material evidence?”) change the question mark to a period.
“I get back to de ship jus’ before dey ring two bells in _the_ middle
watch.” to _de_.
[IX. GLEANINGS FROM THE WRECKAGE]
“in the palm, just between the roots of the third and fourth _finger_”
to _fingers_.
“in a full beard and moustache, both apparently jet-_back_” to _black_.
[End of text]