“It’s no longer a question of reasoning. At last I have the explanation for the crimes; and I know the meaning of the ‘Bishop’ signature to the notes. I’ll show you a piece of amazing and incontrovertible evidence very soon.”
A few minutes later we reached his apartment, and he led us straight to the library.
“The evidence has been here within arm’s reach all the time.”
He went to the shelves where he kept his dramas, and took down Volume II of the collected works of Henrik Ibsen.[38] The book contained “The Vikings at Helgeland” and “The Pretenders”; but with the first of these plays Vance was not concerned. Turning to “The Pretenders” he found the page where the dramatis personæ were given, and laid the book on the table before Markham.
“Read the cast of characters of Arnesson’s favorite play,” he directed.
Markham, silent and puzzled, drew the volume toward him; and I looked over his shoulder. This is what we saw:
Håkon Håkonsson, the King elected by the Birchlegs.
Inga of Varteig, his mother.
Earl Skule.
Lady Ragnhild, his wife.
Sigrid, his sister.
Margrete, his daughter.
Guthorm Ingesson.
Sigurd Ribbung.
Nicholas Arnesson, Bishop of Oslo.
Dagfinn the Peasant, Hakon’s marshal.
Ivar Bodde, his chaplain.
Vegard Væradal, one of his guard.
Gregorius Jonsson, a nobleman.
Paul Flida, a nobleman.
Ingeborg, Andres Skialdarband’s wife.
Peter, her son, a young priest.
Sira Viliam, Bishop Nicholas’s chaplain.
Master Sigard of Brabant, a physician.
Jatgeir Skald, an Icelander.
Bård Bratte, a chieftain from the Trondhiem district.
But I doubt if either of us read beyond the line:
Nicholas Arnesson, Bishop of Oslo.
My eyes became riveted on that name with a set and horrified fascination. And then I remembered. . . . Bishop Arnesson was one of the most diabolical villains in all literature—a cynical, sneering monster who twisted all the sane values of life into hideous buffooneries.