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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter eighteen of As a Thief in the Night by R.
Austin Freeman. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
The final proof we now Thorndyke resumed enter the final
stage of the inquiry. Hitherto we have dealt with purely
scientific evidence which would have had to be communicated to
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the jury, in which they would have had to take
on trust with no convincing help from their own eyes.
We had evidence conclusive to ourselves that monk House had
been murdered by means of a poisoned candle, but we
could not produce the candle or any part of it.
We had nothing visible or tangible to show to the
jury to give them the feeling of confidence and firm
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conviction which they rightly demand when they have to decide
an issue involving the life or death of the accused.
It was this something that could be seen and handled,
that I sought and sought in vain until that momentous
evening when I called at your chambers to return your diet.
I remembered that as I entered the room and cast
my eyes over the things that were spread out on
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the table, I received quite a shock. For the first
glance showed me that amongst those things were two objects
that exactly fulfilled the conditions of the final test. There
was the wax mold, a part and the greater part
of one of the suspected candles. And there was the
trust of hair, a portion of the body of the
person suspected to have been poisoned. With these two objects,
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it was possible to determine with absolute certainty whether that
person had or had not been poisoned with arsenic and
if she had, whether the candle had or had not
been the medium by which the poison was administered. But
I said, you knew from the diary of the existence
of the wax mold. I knew that it had existed,
but I naturally supposed that the cast had been taken
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and the mold destroyed years ago, though I had intended
to ask you about it. However, here it was miraculously
preserved against all probabilities, still awaiting completion. Of course, I
recognized it instantly and began to cast about in my
mind for some means of making the necessary examination without
disclosing my suspicions. For you will realize that I was
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unwilling to say anything to you about Stella's death until
the question was settled one way or the other. If
the examination had shown no arsenic, either in the candle
or in the hair, it would not have been necessary
to say anything to you at all. But while I
was debating the matter, the problem solved itself. As soon
as I came to look at Stella's unfinished works, I
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saw that they cried aloud to be completed, and that
Polton was the proper person to carry out the work.
I made the suggestion, which I should have made in
any case, and when you adopted it, I decided to
say nothing, but to apply the tests when the opportunity offered.
I am glad, said I to hear you say that
you would have made the suggestion in any case. It
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looked at first like a rather cold blooded pretext to
get possession of the things. But you are speaking of
the hair. Can you depend on finding recognizable traces of
arsenic and the hair of a person who has been poisoned?
Certainly you can, he replied. The position is this. When
arsenic is taken, it becomes diffused throughout the whole body,
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including the blood, the bones, and the skin. But as
soon as the dose of arsenic is taken, the poison
begins to be eliminated from the body, and if no
further dose is taken, the whole of the poison is
thrown off in a comparatively short time, until none remains
in the tissues, with one exception. That exception is the
epidermis or outer skin, with its appendages, the finger and toe, nails,
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and the hair. These structures differ from all others, and
that instead of growing interstitially in being alive throughout, they
grow at a certain growing point and then become practically
dead structures. Thus, the hair grows at the growing point
where the bulk joins the true skin. Each day a
new piece of hair is produced at the living room,
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But when once it has come into being, it grows
no more, but is simply pushed up from below by
the next portion. Thenceforward it undergoes no change, excepting that
it gradually moves upwards as new portions are add it
at the root. It is virtually a dead, unchanging structure. Now,
suppose a person to take a considerable dose of arsenic.
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That arsenic becomes diffused throughout all the living tissues and
is for a time deposited in them. The growing point
of the hair is a living tissue, and of course
the arsenic becomes deposited in it. Then the process of
elimination begins and the arsenic is gradually removed from the
living tissues. But in twenty four hours what was the
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growing point of the hair has been pushed up about
the fiftieth of an inch and is no longer a
growing structure. It is losing its vitality, and as it
ceases to be a living tissue, it ceases to be
affected by the process of elimination. Hence, the arsenic, which
was deposited in it when it was a living tissue,
is never removed. It remains as a permanent constituent of
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that part of the hair, slowly moving up as the
hair grows from below, until at last it is snipped
off by the barber, or if the owner is a
long haired woman, it continues to creep along until the
hair is full grown and drops out. Then the arsenic
remains always in the same spot. Yes, it is a
local deposit at a particular point in the hair, and
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this may field is a most important fact, as you
will see presently, for observe what follows. Hair grows at
a uniform rate roughly a fiftieth of an inch and
twenty four hours. It is consequently possible by measurement to
fix nearly exactly the age of any given point on
a hair. Thus, if we have a complete hair, and
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we find at any point in it at the posit
of arsenic, by measuring from that point to the root,
we can fix, within quite narrow limits the date on
which that those of arsenic was taken. But is it
possible to do this, I asked, Not in the case
of a single hair, he replied, but in the case
of a tress, in which all the hairs are of
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the same age, It is perfectly possible. You will see
the important bearing of this. Presently, to return now to
my investigation, I had the bulk of a candle and
a truss of Stella's hair. The questions to be settled
were one was there arsenic in the candle? And two
had Stella been poisoned with arsenic? I began by trimming
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the wax mold and readiness for casting, and then I
made an analysis of the trimmings. The result was the
discovery of considerable quantities of arsenic in the wax that
answered the first question. Next, as the tress of hair
was larger than was required for your purpose, I ventured
to sacrifice a portion of it for a preliminary test.
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That test also gave a positive result. The quantity of
arsenic was, of course very minute, but still it was
measurable by the delicate method that are possible in dealing
with arsenic, and the amount that I found pointed either
to one large dose or to repeat its smaller ones.
The two questions were now answered definitely. It was certain,
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and the certainty could be demonstrated to a jury that
Stella had been poisoned by arsenic, and that the arsenic
had been administered by means of poisoning candles. The complete
proof in this case lent added weight to the less
complete proof in the case of Monkhouse, and the two
cases served to corroborate one another in pointing to Barbara
as the poisoner, for she was the common factor in
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the two cases. The other persons Wallingford, Madeleine and the
others who appeared in the Monk House case made no
appearance in the case of Stella, and the persons who
were associated with Stella were not associated with Monkhouse, but
Barbara was associated with both, and her absence from home
was no answer to the charge if death was caused
by candles, which he admittedly supplied. But complete as the
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proof was, I wished, if possible, to make it yet
more complete, to associate Barbara still more definitely with the crime.
In the case of Monkhouse, it was clear that the
poisoning always occurred when she was absent from home, but
this was not so clear in the case of Stella.
Your diary showed that Stella's relapses coincided pretty regularly with
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Barbara's absences, but it was not certain, though obviously probable,
that the relapses coincided with the periods of poisoning. If
it could be proved that they did coincide, that proof
would furnish corroboration of the greatest possible weight. It would
show that the two cases were parallel in all respects.
But could it be proved If the trust of Stella's
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hair had been at my disposal. I had no doubt
that I could have decided the question, But the trust
was yours and it had to be preserved. Whatever was
to be done must be done without destroying or injuring
the hair, and I set myself the task of finding
some practicable method. Eventually, I decided, without my such hope
of success, to try the X rays. As arsenic is
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a fairly dense metal, and the quantity of it in
the deposits quite considerable, it seemed to me possible that
it might increase the density of the hairs at those
points sufficiently to affect the X ray shadow at any rate,
I decided to give the method a trial. Accordingly, Polton
and I set to work at it. First, in order
to get the densest shadow possible, we made the tress
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up into a close cylinder, carefully arranging it so that
all the cut ends were in exactly the same plane.
Then we made a number of graduated exposures on process plates,
developing and intensifying with the object of getting the greatest
possible degree of contrast. The result was unexpectedly successful. In
the best negative, the shape of the tress was fairly
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visible and was soon to be crossed by a number
of perfectly distinct pale bands. Those bands were the shadows
of the deposits of arsenic. There could be no doubt
on the subject, apart from the fact that there was
nothing else that they could be. Their appearance agreed exactly
with one what would have expected. Each band presented a sharp,
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distinct edge towards the tips of the hairs, and faded
away imperceptibly towards the roots. The sharp edge corresponded to
the sudden appearance of arsenic in the blood when the
poisoning began. The gradual fading away corresponded to the period
of elimination, when the poisoning had ceased and the quantity
of arsenic in the blood was becoming less and less
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from day to day. Now, since hair grows at a
known uniform rate, it was possible to convert the distances
between these are cynical bands into periods of time, not
with perfect exactness, because the rate of growth varies slightly
in different persons, but with sufficient exactness for our present purpose.
As soon as I looked at those bands, I saw
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that they told the whole story. But let us follow
the method of proof. Assuming the rate of growth to
be one fiftieth of an inch and twenty four hours,
which was probably correct for a person of Stella's age,
I measured off on the photographs seven inches and a
quarter from the cut ends, as representing the last year
of her life. Of course, I did not know how
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close to the head the hair had been cut, but
judging by the bands, I assumed that it had been
cut quite close to the skin, within a quarter of
an inch. I happened to know that you were quite right,
said I. But I can't imagine how you arrived at
your conclusion. It is quite as simple inference, he replied,
as you will see presently. But to return to the
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photograph of the measured space of seven inches and a quarter,
I took a tracing on sheet celluloid, marking the sharp
edges of the bands, the points at which the fading began,
and the points at which the band ceased to be visible.
This tracing, I transferred to paper ruled in tenths of
an inch, a tenth of an inch representing five days,
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and I joined the points where the fading began and
ended by a sloping line. I now had a diagram
or chart which showed, with something approaching to accuracy, the
duration of each administration of arsenic and the time which
elapsed between the success of poisonings. This is the chart.
The sloping line showed the fading of the bands. He
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had in me a paper which he had just taken
from a drawer, and I looked at it curiously but
with no great interest. As I returned it after a
brief inspection, I remarked, it is quite clear and intelligible,
but I don't quite see why you took the considerable
trouble of making it. Does it show anything that could
not be stated in a few words? Not by itself,
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he replied, But you remember that I mentioned having made
two other charts, one showing the fluctuations in Stella's illness
and the other showing Barber's absences from home during the
same period. Here are those other two charts, and now
if you put the three together, your eye can take
in at a glance of fact, the fundamental importance, which
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is that the relapses, the absences, and the poisoning it
all coincide in time. The periodicity is strikingly irregular, but
it is identical in all three charts. I made these
to hand to the jury, and I think they would
have been quite convincing, since any juryman could check them
by the dates given in evidence and by the inspection
of the radiograph of the hair. Please note the reader
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now pauses the narration to describe the appearance of three
charts embedded in the chapter. They are labeled A, B,
and C. All three charts are graphs which depict the
months of one year, from November to the following October.
Charts A and B are marked with lines spanning those months,
while Chart C is marked with solid bars depicting time
periods within those same months. The narration now continues as
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follows explanation of the charts. Chart A shows the fluctuations
in the illness of Stella Keene during the year preceding
or death in October, divided into intervals of five days.
Chart B shows the distribution of the arsenical bends in
Stella Kane's hair. The steep sides of the curves towards
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the tips of the hairs show the sudden appearance of
the deposit, and the sloping sides towards the roots of
the hairs represent its more gradual fading. Each of the
narrow divisions represents five days growth. Chart C shows the
periods during which Barbara was absent from home, each absence
being represented by a black column, divided into intervals of
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five days. I gazed at the three charts and was
profoundly impressed by the convincing way in which they demonstrated
the connection between Barber's movements and the results of her
diabolical activities. But what impressed me still more was the
amazing ingenuity with which Thorndyke had contrived to build up
a case of the most deadly precision and completeness out
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of what seemed, even to my trained intelligence, no more
than a few chance facts, apparently quite trivial and irrelevant.
It seems, I said, that, so far as you were concerned,
learn the exhumation was really unnecessary. Quite, he replied, it
proved nothing that was not already certain. Still, the commissioner
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was quite right. For the purposes of a trial, evidence
obtained from the actual body of the victim is of
immeasurably more weight than indirect scientific evidence, no matter how complete.
An ordinary juryman might have difficulty in realizing that the
hair is part of the body, and that proof of
arsenical deposit in the hair is proof of arsenic in
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the body. But the mistake that he made, as events
turned out, was in refusing to make the arrest until
my statements had been confirmed by the autopsy and the
analysis that delay allowed the criminal to escape, not that
I complained to me personally. Her suicide came as a
blessed release from an almost intolerable position. But if I
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had been in his place, I would have taken no chances.
She would have gone to trial and to the gallows. Yes,
I admitted that was what justice demanded. But I cannot
be thankful enough for the delay that led her escape.
Fiend as she was, it would have been a frightful
thing to have had to give the evidence that would
have hanged her. It would, he agreed, and the thought
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of it was a nightmare to me. However, we have
escaped that, and after all justice has been done. We
were silent for a few minutes, during which Thorndyke smoked
his pipe with a certain air of attention, as if
he expected me to put some further questions. And in
fact there were one or two questions that I wanted
to have answered. I began with the simplest. I am
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still a little puzzled by some of the circumstances in
this case. The infernal machine I happened to know to
have been sent by Barbara, though I don't understand why
she sent it, But Wallingford's proceedings are a complete mystery
to me. What do you suppose induced him to keep
a watch on you in that extraordinary fashion? And who
was the man who shadowed him? There certainly was such
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a man, for I saw him myself, and the same
man had been shadowing Miss Norris. What do you make
of it? All? One can only reason from past experiences,
he replied. It seems to be a rule that a
person who has committed a crime cannot remain quiet and
let things take their course. There appears to be an
irresistible impulse to lay down false clues and create misleading appearances.
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It is always a mistake unless the false clues are
laid down in advance, and even then it is apt
to fail and unexpectedly furnish a real clue. Now Barbara,
with all her astonishing cleverness, made that mistake. She laid
down a false clue in advance by her absences from home,
and the tricks certainly worked successfully at the inquest. But
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it was precisely those absences that put me on the
track of the candle, which otherwise might have passed unsuspected.
The faked medicine was another false clue, which attracted my
attention and added to my suspicion concerning the candle. Then,
after the event came these other endeavors to mislead. They
did neither harm nor good, as it happened, since I
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had already marked her down as the principal suspect. But
if I had been in doubt, I should have followed
up those clues and found her at the end of them.
As to Wallingford, I imagined that she led him to
believe that I was employed by you to fix the
crime on him, and that he was advised to watch
me and be ready to anticipate any move on my part,
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her actual object being to cause him to behave in
such a manner as to attract suspicious attention. The function
of the private detective, for that is what he must
have been, would be to keep Wallingford's nurse and Miss
Norris's too, in such a state that they would appear
anxious and terrified intend to attract attention. The infernal machine
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was primarily intended, I think, to cast suspicion on one
or both of them. That was what I inferred from
the total absence of finger prints and the flagrantly indefinable
character of the pistol in the wool. But the greatest,
the most fatal mistake that Barber made was the one
that is absolutely characteristic of the criminal. She repeated the
procedure of a previous crime that had been successful. It
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was that repetition that was her undoing. Either crime separately
might have been difficult to fix on her, as it was,
each crime was proof of the other. Once more, we
fell silent and still. Thorndyke had the air of expecting
some further question from me. I looked at him nervously,
for there was something that I wanted to ask, and
yet I hardly dare to put it into words. For
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as I had looked at those charts, a horrid suspicion
had taken hold of me. I feared to have it confirmed,
and yet I could not let it rest. At last,
I summoned courage enough to put the question Thorndyke. I said,
I want you to tell me something I expect you
know what it is. He looked up and nodded gravely.
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You mean about Stella, said he yes. How long would
she have lived if she had not been poisoned? He
looked away for a few moments, and impassive as his
face was, I could see that he was deeply moved.
At length, they replied, I was afraid you were going
to ask me that, But since you have I can
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only answer you honestly, so far as I can judge.
But for that accursed ghoul, the poor girl might have
been alive and well. At this moment, I stared at
him in amazement. Do you mean, I demanded, that she
was not really suffering from consumption at all? That is
what it amounts to. He replied. There were signs of
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old tubercular trouble, but there was nothing recent. Evidently she
had good powers of resistance, and the disease had not
only become stationary, but was practically extinct. The old legions
had undergone complete repair, and there is no reason to
suppose that any recurrence would have taken place under ordinary conditions.
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But I exclaimed, hardly able to believe that the disaster
had been so overwhelmingly complete. What about the cough? I
note that she always had a more or less troublesome cough.
So had Monkhows, he replied, and so would any one
have had whose lungs were periodically irritated by inhaling particles
of arcinious acid. But the tubercular mischief was quite limited,
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and recovery must have commenced early, and Barbara, watching eagerly
the symptoms of the disease which was to rid her
of her rival, must have noted with despair of the
signs of commencing recovery, and at last resolved to do
for herself what nature was failing to do. Doubtless, the
special method of poisoning was devised to imitate the symptoms
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of the disease, which it did well enough to deceive
those whose minds were prepared by the antecede and illness
to receive the suggestion. It was a horribly fiendishly ingenious crime, calmly,
callously devised, and carried out to its appalling end with
the most hideous efficiency. After he had finished speaking, I
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remained gazing at him, dumbly, stupefied, stunned by the realization
of the enormity of this frightful thing that had befallen.
He too seemed quite overcome, for he sat silently, grasping
his extinct pipe and looking sternly and fixedly into the fire.
At length, he spoke, but without removing his gaze from
the bright embers. I am trying, Mayfield, he said gently,
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to think of something to say to you. But there
is nothing to say. The disaster is too complete, too irretrievable.
This terrible woman has so far wrecked your life. And
I recognize that you will carry the burden of your
loss so long as you live. It would be a
mere impertinence to utter futile and banal condolences. You know
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what I, your friend, am feeling, and I need say
no more than that. And I have too much confidence
in your wisdom and courage to think of exhortations. But
though you have been robbed of the future that might
have been, there is still a future that may be.
It remains to you now only to shoulder your fardel
and begin your pilgrimage anew. And if the road shall
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seem at first a dreary one, you need not travel
it alone. You have friends, and one of them will
think it a privilege to bear you company and try
to hearten you. By the way he held out his
hand and grasped it silently with a full heart. And
the closer friendship that was inaugurated in that hand clasp
was endured through the passing years, ever more precious and
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more helpful. End of Chapter eighteen. End as a Thief
in the Night by R. Austin Freeman