The Lost Casebooks of Sherlock Holmes by Donald Thomas Read Free Book Online Page B

world. Physicians, lawyers, public men all protested against the hanging of Thomas Smethurst on such evidence as this. There was a petition to the Home Office and another to Her Majesty the Queen for a free pardon. Sir George, caught in this fix, summoned the one man in England who could explain the predicament in which he found himself, Mr Sherlock Holmes.
    VII
    It was the first time that my friend had ever visited the Home Office but it was by no means the last. The day appointed for the execution of Thomas Smethurst was little more than a weekend away. Indeed, it was very nearly too late to save him. Men were customarily hanged in public on a Monday morning but just then a new law of Sabbath-day observance was being debated. It was objected that the men who erected the gallows on the roof of Horsemonger Lane gaol would have to work on Sunday. The question was whether Thomas Smethurst should be hanged early, on Friday, or late, on Tuesday. They gave him until Tuesday and so saved his neck.
    Sir George Lewis was a grave scholarly man, a former editor of the famous Edinburgh Review and author of Observation and Reasoning in Politics . There was never a Home Secretary more ready to be persuaded by logic and rational argument. On that summer evening he sat with his back to the Venetian window of his office, a view of the colliers and penny steamers on the Thames behind him, facing his visitor across the desk. The conversation had reached that point where Holmes felt confident enough to reveal his secret.
    â€˜I have always preferred to shave with Occam’s Razor,’ he said equably. ‘The precept that when you have discarded all impossibilities, whatever is left, however unexpected, must be true. In the case of Thomas Smethurst, I confess I was also troubled by an absence of sufficient motive. He is a rogue, a cheat, a seducer. But, while I have known of men who have killed for gain, I have never known such a man who killed a woman when she was worth several times more to him alive than dead.’
    â€˜All that has been accounted for, Mr Holmes. It is only the matter of arsenic which remains at issue.’
    â€˜Very well,’ Holmes said, ‘I listened to the evidence that was given in court. When Dr Taylor tested the solution he looked only for arsenic. He did not need to test for chlorate of potass. He assumed that, if it was there, it had been used to flush out any trace of noxious substance from the poor woman’s body. If he had any doubts, of course, they were soon settled. The chlorate of potass attached itself first to the copper gauze, corroding it. By using three pieces of the wire gauze, he was able to exhaust the chlorate. On the third piece, he collected a good deal of arsenic.’
    â€˜And this would happen if there was arsenic in the body?’ Sir George said sympathetically.
    â€˜Indeed,’ said Holmes, ‘and it would happen even if there was no arsenic in the body.’
    The Home Secretary shifted uncomfortably in his leather chair. ‘I think you had better explain that.’
    â€˜When there is merely arsenic, Sir George, the experiment is infallible. That is the case ninety-nine times out of every hundred. Dr Taylor had never encountered one that was otherwise. This time there was also chlorate of potass. He was right in thinking that the chlorate of potass must be exhausted before arsenic would gather on the copper gauze. It was after this that he made his error.’
    â€˜Dr Taylor’s reputation stands high, Mr Holmes. He is one of our foremost chemical analysts.’
    Holmes inclined his head. ‘Dr Taylor is all that you say. However, as students, our paths diverge. He is the scholar, I am merely an inquisitive amateur. For some months I pursued researches into mineralogy with a view to improving the apparatus used in detecting murder by poison. I studied not only the chemicals that were tested but the constituents of the materials used to test