We
are in the presence, therefore, of a deliberate conspiracy upon
the part of the two people who heard the gunshot--of the man
Barker and of the woman Douglas. When on the top of this I am
able to show that the blood mark on the windowsill was
deliberately placed there by Barker, in order to give a false
clue to the police, you will admit that the case grows dark
against him.
"Now we have to ask ourselves at what hour the murder actually
did occur. Up to half-past ten the servants were moving about
the house; so it was certainly not before that time. At a
quarter to eleven they had all gone to their rooms with the
exception of Ames, who was in the pantry. I have been trying
some experiments after you left us this afternoon, and I find
that no noise which MacDonald can make in the study can penetrate
to me in the pantry when the doors are all shut.
"It is otherwise, however, from the housekeeper's room. It is
not so far down the corridor, and from it I could vaguely hear a
voice when it was very loudly raised. The sound from a shotgun
is to some extent muffled when the discharge is at very close
range, as it undoubtedly was in this instance.
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