“So it appears,” said Barker.
“What do you mean by ‘appears’? You know it as a fact.”
The man seemed confused and undecided. “When I said ‘appears’ I meant that it was conceivable that he had himself taken off the ring.”
“The mere fact that the ring should be absent, whoever may have removed it, would suggest to anyone’s mind, would it not, that the marriage and the tragedy were connected?”
Barker shrugged his broad shoulders. “I can’t profess to say what it means,” he answered. “But if you mean to hint that it could reflect in any way upon this lady’s honour”—his eyes blazed for an instant, and then with an evident effort he got a grip upon his own emotions—“well, you are on the wrong track, that’s all.”
“I don’t know that I’ve anything else to ask you at present,” said MacDonald, coldly.
“There was one small point,” remarked Sherlock Holmes. “When you entered the room there was only a candle lighted on the table, was there not?”
“Yes, that was so.”
“By its light you saw that some terrible incident had occurred?”
“Exactly.”
“You at once rang for help?”
“Yes.”
“And it arrived very speedily?”
“Within a minute or so.”
“And yet when they arrived they found that the candle was out and that the lamp had been lighted. That seems very remarkable.”
Again Barker showed some signs of indecision. “I don’t see that it was remarkable, Mr. Holmes,” he answered after a pause. “The candle threw a very bad light. My first thought was to get a better one. The lamp was on the table; so I lit it.”