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Las aventuras de Sherlock Holmes
The Boscombe Valley Mystery
Capítulo 4, Página 3
“Boscombe
Valley
is
a
country
district
not
very
far
from
Ross,
in
Herefordshire.
The
largest
landed
proprietor
in
that
part
is
a
Mr.
John
Turner,
who
made
his
money
in
Australia
and
returned
some
years
ago
to
the
old
country.
One
of
the
farms
which
he
held,
that
of
Hatherley,
was
let
to
Mr.
Charles
McCarthy,
who
was
also
an
ex-Australian.
The
men
had
known
each
other
in
the
colonies,
so
that
it
was
not
unnatural
that
when
they
came
to
settle
down
they
should
do
so
as
near
each
other
as
possible.
Turner
was
apparently
the
richer
man,
so
McCarthy
became
his
tenant
but
still
remained,
it
seems,
upon
terms
of
perfect
equality,
as
they
were
frequently
together.
McCarthy
had
one
son,
a
lad
of
eighteen,
and
Turner
had
an
only
daughter
of
the
same
age,
but
neither
of
them
had
wives
living.
They
appear
to
have
avoided
the
society
of
the
neighbouring
English
families
and
to
have
led
retired
lives,
though
both
the
McCarthys
were
fond
of
sport
and
were
frequently
seen
at
the
race-meetings
of
the
neighbourhood.
McCarthy
kept
two
servants—a
man
and
a
girl.
Turner
had
a
considerable
household,
some
half-dozen
at
the
least.
That
is
as
much
as
I
have
been
able
to
gather
about
the
families.
Now
for
the
facts.”
“On
June
3rd,
that
is,
on
Monday
last,
McCarthy
left
his
house
at
Hatherley
about
three
in
the
afternoon
and
walked
down
to
the
Boscombe
Pool,
which
is
a
small
lake
formed
by
the
spreading
out
of
the
stream
which
runs
down
the
Boscombe
Valley.
He
had
been
out
with
his
serving-man
in
the
morning
at
Ross,
and
he
had
told
the
man
that
he
must
hurry,
as
he
had
an
appointment
of
importance
to
keep
at
three.
From
that
appointment
he
never
came
back
alive.”
“From
Hatherley
Farmhouse
to
the
Boscombe
Pool
is
a
quarter
of
a
mile,
and
two
people
saw
him
as
he
passed
over
this
ground.
One
was
an
old
woman,
whose
name
is
not
mentioned,
and
the
other
was
William
Crowder,
a
game-keeper
in
the
employ
of
Mr.
Turner.
Both
these
witnesses
depose
that
Mr.
McCarthy
was
walking
alone.
The
game-keeper
adds
that
within
a
few
minutes
of
his
seeing
Mr.
McCarthy
pass
he
had
seen
his
son,
Mr.
James
McCarthy,
going
the
same
way
with
a
gun
under
his
arm.
To
the
best
of
his
belief,
the
father
was
actually
in
sight
at
the
time,
and
the
son
was
following
him.
He
thought
no
more
of
the
matter
until
he
heard
in
the
evening
of
the
tragedy
that
had
occurred.”
“The
two
McCarthys
were
seen
after
the
time
when
William
Crowder,
the
game-keeper,
lost
sight
of
them.
The
Boscombe
Pool
is
thickly
wooded
round,
with
just
a
fringe
of
grass
and
of
reeds
round
the
edge.
A
girl
of
fourteen,
Patience
Moran,
who
is
the
daughter
of
the
lodge-keeper
of
the
Boscombe
Valley
estate,
was
in
one
of
the
woods
picking
flowers.
She
states
that
while
she
was
there
she
saw,
at
the
border
of
the
wood
and
close
by
the
lake,
Mr.
McCarthy
and
his
son,
and
that
they
appeared
to
be
having
a
violent
quarrel.
She
heard
Mr.
McCarthy
the
elder
using
very
strong
language
to
his
son,
and
she
saw
the
latter
raise
up
his
hand
as
if
to
strike
his
father.
She
was
so
frightened
by
their
violence
that
she
ran
away
and
told
her
mother
when
she
reached
home
that
she
had
left
the
two
McCarthys
quarrelling
near
Boscombe
Pool,
and
that
she
was
afraid
that
they
were
going
to
fight.
She
had
hardly
said
the
words
when
young
Mr.
McCarthy
came
running
up
to
the
lodge
to
say
that
he
had
found
his
father
dead
in
the
wood,
and
to
ask
for
the
help
of
the
lodge-keeper.
He
was
much
excited,
without
either
his
gun
or
his
hat,
and
his
right
hand
and
sleeve
were
observed
to
be
stained
with
fresh
blood.
On
following
him
they
found
the
dead
body
stretched
out
upon
the
grass
beside
the
pool.
The
head
had
been
beaten
in
by
repeated
blows
of
some
heavy
and
blunt
weapon.
The
injuries
were
such
as
might
very
well
have
been
inflicted
by
the
butt-end
of
his
son’s
gun,
which
was
found
lying
on
the
grass
within
a
few
paces
of
the
body.
Under
these
circumstances
the
young
man
was
instantly
arrested,
and
a
verdict
of
‘wilful
murder’
having
been
returned
at
the
inquest
on
Tuesday,
he
was
on
Wednesday
brought
before
the
magistrates
at
Ross,
who
have
referred
the
case
to
the
next
Assizes.
Those
are
the
main
facts
of
the
case
as
they
came
out
before
the
coroner
and
the
police-court.”
“I
could
hardly
imagine
a
more
damning
case,”
I
remarked.
“If
ever
circumstantial
evidence
pointed
to
a
criminal
it
does
so
here.”
“Circumstantial
evidence
is
a
very
tricky
thing,”
answered
Holmes
thoughtfully.
“It
may
seem
to
point
very
straight
to
one
thing,
but
if
you
shift
your
own
point
of
view
a
little,
you
may
find
it
pointing
in
an
equally
uncompromising
manner
to
something
entirely
different.
It
must
be
confessed,
however,
that
the
case
looks
exceedingly
grave
against
the
young
man,
and
it
is
very
possible
that
he
is
indeed
the
culprit.
There
are
several
people
in
the
neighbourhood,
however,
and
among
them
Miss
Turner,
the
daughter
of
the
neighbouring
landowner,
who
believe
in
his
innocence,
and
who
have
retained
Lestrade,
whom
you
may
recollect
in
connection
with
the
Study
in
Scarlet,
to
work
out
the
case
in
his
interest.
Lestrade,
being
rather
puzzled,
has
referred
the
case
to
me,
and
hence
it
is
that
two
middle-aged
gentlemen
are
flying
westward
at
fifty
miles
an
hour
instead
of
quietly
digesting
their
breakfasts
at
home.”
“I
am
afraid,”
said
I,
“that
the
facts
are
so
obvious
that
you
will
find
little
credit
to
be
gained
out
of
this
case.”
“There
is
nothing
more
deceptive
than
an
obvious
fact,”
he
answered,
laughing.
“Besides,
we
may
chance
to
hit
upon
some
other
obvious
facts
which
may
have
been
by
no
means
obvious
to
Mr.
Lestrade.
You
know
me
too
well
to
think
that
I
am
boasting
when
I
say
that
I
shall
either
confirm
or
destroy
his
theory
by
means
which
he
is
quite
incapable
of
employing,
or
even
of
understanding.
To
take
the
first
example
to
hand,
I
very
clearly
perceive
that
in
your
bedroom
the
window
is
upon
the
right-hand
side,
and
yet
I
question
whether
Mr.
Lestrade
would
have
noted
even
so
self-evident
a
thing
as
that.”
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Las aventuras de Sherlock Holmes — C1 Inglés | Cuentana