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Page 38
Q. Has he the habit of biting his finger nails?
A. I not know he has, Sahib.
This completed the list of questions which I had desired to ask him,
so, after once more receiving his assurance that he would meet me in
the evening with his friend Scindia, I left him. As you know, I am
not wont to draw conclusions until all the evidence is in, but I must
confess that, looking at the whole matter from start to finish, there
seems to have fallen upon Ragobah a net of circumstantial evidence
so strong, and with a mesh of detail so minute, that it does not seem
possible a mosquito could escape from it. Look at it a moment from
this standpoint. Ragobah alone, so far as we know, has a motive for
the murder. His victim has related the feud existing between them
and foretold, with an air of the utmost assurance, just such an
outcome thereof. Add to this that this man leaves India on a mission
which those about him do not hesitate to pronounce one of vengeance,
at just such a time as would enable him to reach Boston just a little
before the commission of the murder; that this mission is the
culmination of twenty years of unremitting search for revenge; that
this malignity is supposed to be directed against some rival in his
wife's affections, and the chain of circumstantial evidence
possesses, so far as it extends, no weak link. Then, too, Ragobah
has very small hands, a deformed left foot, and a limping gait,--
everything almost which we had already predicted of the assassin.
So sure am I that Ragobah is the guilty man that I shall ask for his
arrest upon his arrival day after to-morrow should he return then,
a thing which, I regret to say, does not impress me as altogether
likely. Should he not come I shall cable you to institute a search
for your end of the line. The next thing in order which I have to
relate is my interview with Moro Scindia. I had engaged an
interpreter, but was able to dismiss him as my guest spoke English
with more ease and fluency than he, being an intelligent and
well-to-do member of the Vaisya caste. I thought it wise to see the
venerable Scindia alone, and accordingly sent Parinama out of the
room with the interpreter. As before; I give you what passed between
us as I jotted it down in my notebook.
Q. You are a friend of Rama Ragobah, are you not?
A. No, Sahib; he has no friends.
Q. You speak as if you disliked him.
A. It is not Mono Scindia's habit to play the hypocrite. I have good
reason to hate him.
Q. You would not, then, had he committed a crime, assist him to escape
justice?
A. I would track him like a bloodhound to the ends of the earth.
Q. You knew Ragobah's wife?
A. She was my cousin, Sahib.
Q. Were your relations friendly?
A. They were more than friendly. I loved her dearly, and would have
tried to win her had I not been so much her senior.
Q. Did she live happily with Ragobah?
A. No, Sahib.
Q. Why?
A. I cannot answer. I have sworn to reveal the last experiences of
my cousin to but one person.
Q. And that person is?
A. I must decline to answer that also, Sahib.
Q. If I succeed in naming him will you acknowledge it?
A. You will not succeed, Sahib.
Q. But if I should?
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