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Page 80
All eyes were turned upon M. Godin. He was very pale, yet his jaw
was firmly set and something akin to a defiant smile played about
his handsome mouth. To say that the audience was amazed is to convey
no adequate idea of their real condition. We felt prepared for
anything. I almost feared lest some sudden turn in the case might
cast suspicion upon myself, or even Maitland. Without apparently
noticing M. Godin's discomfiture, George continued:
"M. Godin has testified that he sometimes plays cards, but only for
a small stake--just enough, he says, to make it interesting. I
shall show you that he is a professional gambler as well as a
detective.
"The morning after the murder was committed I made a most careful
examination of the premises, particularly of the grounds near the
eastern window. As the result of my observations, I informed Miss
Darrow that I had reason to believe that her father had been murdered
by a person who had some good motive for concealing his footprints,
and who also had a halting gait. The weight of this person I was
able to estimate at not far from one hundred and thirty-five pounds,
and his height as about five feet and five inches. I also stated it
as my opinion that the person who did the deed had the habit of
biting his finger nails, and a particular reason for sparing the
nail of the little finger and permitting it to grow to an abnormal
length. This was not guesswork on my part, for in the soft soil
beneath the eastern window I found a perfect impression of a closed
hand. Here is the cast of that hand. Look well at it. Notice the
wart upon the upper joint of the thumb, and the crook in the third
finger where it has evidently been broken. M. Godin says he never
entered the yard of the Darrow estate, except on the night of the
murder in company with Messrs. Osborne and Allen, and that then he
merely passed up and down the front walk on his way to and from the
house, yet the paint-mark on this slip of glass was made by his
thumb, and the glass itself was cut by me from the eastern window
of the Darrow house--the window through which the murder was
committed. This plaster cast was taken from an impression in the
soil beneath the same window on the morning after the murder. The
hand is the hand of M. Godin. You will note that one of this
gentleman's feet is deformed and that he habitually halts in his
walk."
We all glanced at M. Godin to verify these assertions, but that
gentleman folded his arms in a way to conceal his hands and thrust
his feet out of sight beneath the chair in front of him, while he
smiled at us with the utmost apparent good nature. He would be
game to the last, there was no doubt of that.
Maitland recalled our attention by saying:
"Officer, you will please arrest M. Godin!"
An excited whisper was heard from every corner, and many were the
half-audible comments that were broken off by the imperative fall
of the crier's gavel. So tense had been the strain that it was some
time before complete order could be restored. When it was again
quiet Maitland continued:
"Your Honour and Gentlemen of the Jury: We will rest our case here
for to-day. To-morrow, or rather on Monday, we shall show the
strange influence which M. Godin exercised over M. Latour, as well
as M. Latour's reasons for his confession. We shall endeavour to
make clear to you how M. Latour was actually led to believe he had
murdered John Darrow, and how he was bribed to confess a crime
committed by another. Of the hypnotic power of M. Godin over M.
Latour I have indisputable proof, though we shall see that M. Godin
by no means relied wholly upon this power. We shall show you also
that sufficient time elapsed to enable M. Godin, by great skill
and celerity, to make away with the evidences of his guilt in time
to enable him to be present with Messrs. Osborne and Allen at the
examination. In short, we shall unravel before you a crime which,
for cleverness of conception and adroitness of execution, has never
been equalled in the history of this community."
Maitland having thus concluded his remarks by dropping into a
courteous plural in deference to Mr. Jenkins, the court adjourned
until Monday, and I left Gwen in Maitland's charge while I hurried
home, fearful lest I should not be the first to bring to Jeannette
the glad news of her father's innocence, for I had not the slightest
doubt of Maitland's ability to prove conclusively all he had
undertaken.
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