leave all minor matters until to-morrow.
There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke bright
and cloudless. At nine o clock Lestrade called for us with the
carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe Pool.
There is serious news this morning, Lestrade observed. It is said
that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is despaired of.
An elderly man, I presume? said Holmes.
About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life
abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This business
has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend of McCarthy s,
and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I have learned that he
gave him Hatherley Farm rent free.
Indeed! That is interesting, said Holmes.
Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody about
here speaks of his kindness to him.
Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this
McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have been
under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of marrying his son
to Turner s daughter, who is, presumably, heiress to the estate, and
that in such a very cocksure manner, as if it were merely a case of a
proposal and all else would follow? It is the more strange, since we
know that Turner himself was averse to the idea. The daughter told us
as much. Do you not deduce something from that?
We have got to the deductions and the inferences, said Lestrade,
winking at me. I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Holmes, without
flying away after theories and fancies.
You are right, said Holmes demurely; you do find it very hard to
tackle the facts.
Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it difficult to
get hold of, replied Lestrade with some warmth.
88