The Judas Window

'You might.'

'And consequently, when you wound up the bow, I suggest to you that these teeth on the revolving drum would catch the end of the feather and grip it?'

'I don't know anything about cross-bows.'

'But I'm showin' one to you. Here it is. Finally,' roared H.M., before counsel could make any objection, I suggest that the only way a clean break could have been made in that feather - a clean break like the one there - was when the weight of a Toledo-steel catapult flew out and snapped it in two?’

He released the trigger of the cross-bow. There was a vicious snap, and the cords banged across the head of the bow.

‘Where is that feather?' enquired H.M.

'Sir Henry,' said the judge, 'you will please question: not argue.'

'If yrludshippleases,' growled H.M.

'I further take it that these questions have some relevancy?'

‘We think so,' said H.M., unmasking his batteries. 'At the proper time we're goin' to produce the cross-bow with which we'll suggest that the crime was really committed.'

An epidemic of creaking seemed to have afflicted the yellow furniture in the court. Someone coughed. Mr Justice Rankin remained looking steadily at H.M. for a short space; then he peered back at his notes, and the pen in his plump hand continued to travel. Even the prisoner was looking at H.M., but as though startled and only half 'interested.

H.M. turned back to Inspector Mottram, who was waiting quietly.

'Take this arrow itself. You examined it as soon as you arrived at Grosvenor Street?'

'I did,' answered the Inspector, clearing his throat.

'You've testified, too, that the dust on the arrow wasn't smudged except where you found the finger- prints?'

'That is correct.'

'Look at photograph Number 3 in the book, and tell me if you were speakin' the literal truth. What about that pretty thin vertical line that runs down the shaft of the arrow - blurred a little - where there's no dust?'

'I said that there were no other marks in the dust. That was true. There never was any dust in the mark you refer to. That was where the arrow had hung against the wall, and accumulated no dust. Like the back of a picture hanging flat against the wall, you know.'

'Like the back of a picture, you say. Did you at any time see this arrow when it was hanging against the wall?'

'Naturally not.'

'Oh? But you heard the witness Dyer testify that this arrow did not hang flat and dead against the wall; you heard him say it was set out a little on the staples?'

Pause. 'I know from my own observation that the other two arrows were flat against the wall.'

'Yes. They were two sides to a triangle; they had to be held upright and flat so that they'd stay like that. But what about this one that was the base of the triangle?'

'I do not understand your question.'

'Lemme put it like this. Two sides of that triangle were flat on the wall, hey? The third side, the base, crossed the bases of the other two arrows. Consequently, it was supported against those arrows and was about a quarter of an inch or more out from the wall. Will you accept Dyer's statement about that?'

'If my lord has admitted it as evidence, I accept it, yes.'

'Exactly,' rumbled H.M. 'But if it was a quarter of an inch out from the wall, it wouldn't be protected from dust, would it?'

'Not entirely.'

'Not entirely? You agree it wasn't against the wall? Yes. Then the whole shaft of that arrow would 'a' been covered with dust, wouldn't it?'

'It is a difficult question.'

'It is. And the whole shaft of the arrow wasn't covered with dust, was it?' 'No.'

'There was a thin vertical line smudged all the way down.the shaft?' ‘Yes.'

'I put it to you,' said H.M., holding out the cross-bow, 'that the only way a mark like that could 'a' been caused would have been if it had been put into the groove of a cross-bow and fired?'

Still holding out the cross-bow, he drew one finger down the groove in the bow, looked so malevolently round the court that we could see his face, and then sat down.

'Bah,'said H.M.

There was a slight sign of released breath in the court. The old bear was not yet blind with blood, and he had made an impression. Inspector Mottram, a quite sincere witness, had been given a bad time. It had not shaken him unduly; it had only solidified the lines of his jaw, and given him a look as though he wished for a give-and-take with claws on more equal terms; but he seemed anxious to receive the Attorney-General's questions in re- examination.

'We have heard several times,' began Sir Walter abruptly, 'about the 'only way' a certain effect could have been produced. I call your attention to certain evidence in the photographs. It is clear to you that, when the arrow was snatched off the wall, it was jerked violently from left to right? You have already testified as to that?' 'Yes, sir.'

'Wrenched so violently that the staples were pulled out?' 'That is so.'

'If you were making a motion like that, you would wrench and shake the arrow, and then pull it sideways?'

'Yes, that is what would be done.'

'Consequently, you would pull the arrow along the wall - and make a mark like the one indicated?'

'Yes, you would.'

Mr Justice Rankin looked down over his spectacles. 'There seems to be some confusion here, Sir Walter. According to my notes, there was first no dust at all. Now ' we hear that the dust might have been scraped off. Which of these two alternatives are you suggesting?'

'The matter is simple, my lord. Like my learned friend with his cross-bow, I was illustrating. My learned friend insists on speaking of the only way a thing could have been done. He can hardly object if I give him way upon way ... Now, Inspector. In your own home, I presume, there are pictures on the wall?'

'Pictures, sir? Plenty of pictures.'

They do not hang absolutely flat against the wall, do they?'

'No, they have to be hung up.'

'And yet,' said the other, glancing towards the women on the jury, 'they accumulate practically no dust at the back of the frame?'

'Very little, I should say.'

'Thank you. With regard to the only way - the only way in the world a feather can be torn in half,' counsel went on, with rich and sardonic politeness, ‘I understand that in preparing this case you acquired some information about archery?'

'I did.'

'Yes. I believe that the guide-feather of an arrow - in this case, the one broken off - receives much more wear and tear than the others? What I wish to suggest to you is that it guides the end of the arrow to the string; and is therefore more apt to be chafed and damaged by hand or bow-string?'

'That is so. They have often to be replaced.'

'Is it impossible that in a struggle for this arrow between two men, one of them fighting for his life, the central feather should have been broken off?'

'Not at all impossible, I should say; though I will admit -'

'That is all,' snapped Sir Walter. He allowed an impressive pause while the witness left the box, and then turned to the judge. 'That, my lord, with the accused's statement, concludes the evidence for the Crown.'

The worst was over. Despite this re-examination, there had been a very slight lessening of the case against the prisoner: more a feeling of wonder than anything else. But wonder is the beginning of the reasonable doubt.