|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 23
"The clever and cunning villain who planned this thing," I said, "has
overstepped himself, as you say, Gatton. If the murder was planned
artistically, in his attempt to throw the onus of the crime upon
innocent shoulders he has been guilty of a piece of very mediocre
work. It would not deceive a child."
"No, I agree with you there. The discovery of that photograph has done
more to convince me of the innocence of Miss Merlin than any amount of
testimonials to her good character could ever have done. You see," he
added, smiling whimsically, "all sorts of people hitherto unsuspected
by their closest friends of criminal tendency, develop that taint, so
that I am never surprised to find a convicted thief or assassin
possessed of credentials which would do justice to an Archbishop. But
when I see an obviously artificial clew I recognize it a mile off.
Real clews never stare you in the face like that."
Coming out of the front door, we walked down the leaf-strewn drive to
find that the constable on duty at the gate had been joined by a
plain-clothes man who was evidently waiting to speak to the Inspector.
"Yes?" said Gatton eagerly, at sight of the newcomer.
"We have her, sir," he reported tersely.
"Does he refer to Marie?" I asked.
Gatton nodded.
"I think, Mr. Addison," he said, "I will proceed immediately to Bow
Street, where she has been taken to be interrogated. Will you come
with me or are you otherwise engaged?"
I hesitated ere I replied:
"I do not particularly want to confront this woman, but I should be
much indebted if you could let me know the result of your
examination."
"I shall do that without fail," said Gatton, "and some time to-day I
should be obliged if you could provide me with the facts concerning
the little cat-images which you said you had in your possession."
"Certainly," I agreed. "You are still of the opinion that the mark
upon the crate and the image of the cat-woman have an important
bearing upon the crime?"
"I don't doubt it," was the reply. "If the photograph clew is a false
one, the cat clew is a true one and one to be followed up. Perhaps,"
he added, "it would be as well if you returned now and looked out the
points which you think would be of interest, as when I come I may not
have long to stay."
"I will do so," I said, "although I think I can lay my hands upon the
material almost immediately."
Accordingly Gatton set off with the detective who had brought the news
of Marie's arrest and I, turning in the opposite direction, proceeded
towards my cottage in such a state of mental tumult respecting what
the end of all this would be and what it might mean for Isobel, that I
found myself unable to think connectedly; and needless to say I failed
to conjure up by any stretch of the imagination a theory which could
cover this amazing and terribly sequence of events.
CHAPTER VII
THE CAT OF BUBASTIS
"She belongs to the innumerable family of cats which suddenly came
forth from the ruins of Tell Bastah in 1878," I wrote, Sir Gaston
Maspero's "Egyptian Art" lying before me on the table, "and were in a
few years scattered over the whole world."
"She is B�st, a goddess of good family, the worship of whom flourished
especially in the east of the delta, and she is very often drawn or
named on the monuments, although they do not tell us enough of her
myths or her origin. She was allied or related to the Sun, and was now
said to be his sister or wife, now his daughter. She sometimes filled
a gracious and beneficent r�le, protecting men against contagious
diseases or evil spirits, keeping them off by the music of her
sistrum: she had also her hours of treacherous perversity, during
which she played with her victim as with a mouse, before finishing him
off with a blow of her claws. She dwelt by preference in the city that
bore her name, Poubastit, the Bubastis of classical writers. Her
temple, at which Cheops and Chephren had worked while building their
pyramids, was rebuilt by the Pharaohs of the 22nd Dynasty, enlarged by
those of the 26th; when Herodotus visited it in the middle of the
fifth century B.C. he considered it one of the most remarkable he had
seen in the parts of Egypt through which he had traveled.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|