It was this
latter conviction that prevented me from turning back to the wood. You
will perhaps blame me, but the fact is I feared that if I went there
suspicion might fall upon me, now that the real culprit had so
ingeniously escaped.
If the victim were dead, what aid could I render? A knife had, I
believed, been used, for my foot caught against it when I had started
off after the fugitive. The only doubt in my own mind was whether the
unfortunate woman was actually dead, for if she were not then my
disinclination to return to the scene of the tragedy was culpable.
Whether or not I acted rightly in remaining away from the place, I leave
it to you to judge in the light of the amazing truth which afterwards
transpired.
I decided to walk straight back to my uncle's, and dinner was over
before I had had my tub and dressed. I therefore ate my meal alone,
Davis, the grave old butler, serving me with that stateliness which
always amused me. I usually chatted with him when others were not
present, but that night I remained silent, my mind full of that strange
and startling affair of which I alone held secret knowledge.
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