The Weight of the Evidence by Michael Innes Read Free Book Online

unfortunate minority of bad men who get themselves generally reprobated and disliked. This, perhaps, was a judgment of a somewhat a priori sort, the presumed axiom – one widely current in such universities as Nesfield – being that a Vice-Chancellor, ipso facto , cannot be a good man. Sir David, in fact, was conceivably a man much traduced. And some will hold that the effect which he produced with his bookcase and his hair and his expression of benevolent power ought to be accounted towards righteousness. For one might wander the length and breadth of Nesfield University without coining upon a single other such contrived effect. The professors never framed themselves against anything at all – unless it were haphazardly and unconsciously against shelves which were a tumble of battered books and jumbled papers, with here and there a dusty picture hanging slightly askew on a nail. If there is innocent pleasure and even something of edification in a little careful dressing-up, then in one particular at least Sir David Evans deserved well of the institution over which he presided.
    A slender shaft of sunlight, filtering through the well-combed mane of Sir David, spotlit the polished leather spine of Observations on Man , his Frame , his Duty , and his Expectations . And gropingly Sir David was endeavouring to do a little of this observing on his own account; before him lay a letter to which he was applying himself with scholarly concentration for the second time:
     
    MY DEAR SIR DAVID,
    I am most distressed to hear of an occurrence which may cause annoyance to the dear Duke and considerable anxiety to yourself. The death of Mr Pluckrose is (doubtless) a loss to science; and must be, moreover, an occasion of sober reflection to us all. For he has been snatched away unprepared and, knowing him as we did, is it not a point of some nicety to determine whether our mourning may be tempered by a pious hope? As my father (the late Sir Horace Dearlove, KCMG) used to remark with the peculiar forcefulness characterizing all his utterances: In the midst of life we are in death.
    As you know, Mr Pluckrose has been a member of my household for nearly fifteen years and I may fairly claim an almost intimate knowledge of his habits and connexions . I wonder if I can help in any way?
     
    With kind regards,
    Yours sincerely,
     
    VIRGINIA CAROLINE DEARLOVE
     
    PS – My housekeeper – a most dependable person – tells me that there is outstanding the sum of thirty-eight pounds eleven shillings and fourpence. Who are the solicitors?
    VCD
     
    The sunbeam, creeping diagonally towards the ceiling, had reached An Essay concerning Human Understanding . A mathematician – say Mr Crunkhorn or Mr Church – might have found considerable beguilement in calculating where it would arrive in ten minutes’ time. Would it be An Essay concerning Toleration ? Or The Reasonableness of Christianity ? And surely it would not be so undiscriminating as to miss A Treatise of Human Nature ? But Sir David, immobile at his desk, was without thought of his sainted and Caledonian namesake. Miss Dearlove absorbed his attention, and continued to do so until there came a knock at the door. Whereupon Sir David put the letter in a drawer, slightly shifted his chair so as to recapture the requisite aureole of sunlight, and called to come in.
    Hobhouse introduced Appleby. Sir David, without budging, extruded so pungent a benevolence that the effect was rather that of coming unawares upon a skunk. Appleby said conventionally that this was an unfortunate business. Sir David, by silence, indicated that philosophers do not form these hasty conclusions; at the same time he continued to show that he held his visitors in the highest charitable regard. Appleby and Hobhouse decided that they might as well sit down. Whereupon Sir David stood up and walked to a window. Appleby and Hobhouse stood up and Hobhouse contrived to trip over his bowler hat. Sir David, not too