“‘And did he?’ I asked.
“‘Not that I know of. He never told us that. But then he is such a terrible liar I never believe a word he says.’
“Here we arrived at Milson’s Point, and the clerk left me, but what he had said caused me to think more seriously of these Germans, particularly the elder one, Jacob. As you said yourself, Bell, the knife is not a woman’s weapon, and more than that, with the exception of a few sailors who carry a sheath knife, it is not an Englishman’s weapon. With many foreigners, on the other hand, it is their common mode of attack. Here we have a man stabbed in a house, probably by an inmate of that house. Two of these residents are foreigners, and one of them has an avowed passion for the wife of the murdered man. What is more likely than that he should be the criminal?”
“Of course, Tom, it’s as clear as daylight; it’s that Jacob! That’s the man!”
“Not so fast, Bell, not so fast. How did he open and close the locked and bolted door?”
“Why? why! she must have done it for him!”
“Then she is as guilty as he is, and we had decided she was innocent! Besides, how does this explain the robbery of Mr. Booth’s safe in Sydney? For, in spite of the newspapers, I am convinced there is some connection between the two events. Reviewing the evidence carefully, I think with the Germans it is so far a case of suspicion only. Another boarder was Professor Norris. He, you will remember, was the first to break open the door and enter the room. And mark this, he is an old friend of Mrs. Booth. I went to his shop in Park Street, where he appears to carry on a fortune-telling or character-reading business. As I expected, he was not there; but I found him at Mrs. Delfosse’s. He talked very freely, and I must admit seemed very straightforward in all he said. He may be a bit eccentric in his opinions, but I am bound to say appears as little like a murderer as any man I ever met. This is what he said, in answer to my questions—He had known Mrs. Booth about four years, when he first employed her to assist him in his lectures on phrenology and clairvoyance, which he gave in various towns of the colony. He finally gave up this work, because Mrs. Booth, who was a Miss Summerhayes at that time, got tired of the business, and preferred a life in Sydney. Here she took a place as barmaid, and after a time, against his advice, married the late Mr. Booth. Their married life, he said, was fairly happy, so far as it had gone; nevertheless, he still believes the match was an unsuitable one, and that later on it would have led to dissensions and misery. He is fairly convinced that Mrs. Booth had no hand in her husband’s death. She was still, he said, very fond of him. He could think of no enemy who could desire, or would have benefited in any way by Booth’s death; but he expressed the opinion that all men connected with horse-racing are more or less rogues, and Mr. Booth’s acquaintances were all of that class.
“I asked concerning Mrs. Booth’s relations to the German boarders. He said they were on no more than just speaking terms. They met sometimes at meals, but Mrs. Booth had often told him that she did not like their manners. ‘They ate their food like hogs,’ that was her expression. So that latterly she had done no more than nod to them. The Professor felt positive they had had no hand in the crime.
“‘Who has then?’ I asked. ‘Whom do you suspect?’ He said, ‘I have no suspicions. I have thought of nothing else for the last two days, day and night, and I cannot even form a theory, even a stupid theory, as to either how the crime was done, or who did it. I am pretty well acquainted, by reading, with the history of mysterious crimes, but this, so far as I know, is without a parallel. If I did not know Bertha—that is Mrs. Booth—so well, I should incline to the view that she must have had a hand in it; but I can assure you positively, that I would rather believe it was I myself did it say when I was asleep than that she ever dreamed of such a thing. I know her so well. She would not harm a fly, and the sight of blood at any time would make her faint right away. No, decidedly no, it was not Bertha, and who it was I cannot imagine.’
“With this I left him. The man may be a skilful liar, but I think not. It is not the action of a criminal to try and avert suspicion from others—the Germans, for instance. In Mrs. Booth’s case it might be understood. It is not the action of the criminal to leave no theory to explain his crime. So that I am inclined to believe the Professor, and rule him out, and for that matter, accepting his evidence, rule out Jacob Schnider.”