"
"Exactly. She does not shine as a wife even in her own account
of what occurred. I am not a whole-souled admirer of womankind,
as you are aware, Watson, but my experience of life has taught me
that there are few wives, having any regard for their husbands,
who would let any man's spoken word stand between them and that
husband's dead body. Should I ever marry, Watson, I should hope
to inspire my wife with some feeling which would prevent her from
being walked off by a housekeeper when my corpse was lying within
a few yards of her. It was badly stage-managed; for even the
rawest investigators must be struck by the absence of the usual
feminine ululation. If there had been nothing else, this
incident alone would have suggested a prearranged conspiracy to
my mind."
"You think then, definitely, that Barker and Mrs. Douglas are
guilty of the murder?"
"There is an appalling directness about your questions, Watson,"
said Holmes, shaking his pipe at me. "They come at me like
bullets. If you put it that Mrs. Douglas and Barker know the
truth about the murder, and are conspiring to conceal it, then I
can give you a whole-souled answer.
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