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“It only remains to indicate the part which she had played throughout.
There can be no doubt that Stapleton exercised an influence over her which may
have been love or may have been fear, or very possibly both, since they are by
no means incompatible emotions. It was, at least, absolutely effective. At his
command she consented to pass as his sister, though he found the limits of his
power over her when he endeavoured to make her the direct accessory to murder.
She was ready to warn Sir Henry so far as she could without implicating her
husband, and again and again she tried to do so. Stapleton himself seems to
have been capable of jealousy, and when he saw the baronet paying court to the
lady, even though it was part of his own plan, still he could not help
interrupting with a passionate outburst which revealed the fiery soul which his
self-contained manner so cleverly concealed. By encouraging the intimacy he
made it certain that Sir Henry would frequently come to Merripit House, and
that he would sooner or later get the opportunity which he desired. On the day
of the crisis, however, his wife turned suddenly against him. She had learned
something of the death of the convict, and she knew that the hound was being
kept in the outhouse on the evening that Sir Henry was coming to dinner. She
taxed her husband with his intended crime, and a furious scene followed, in
which he showed her for the first time that she had a rival in his love. Her
fidelity turned in an instant to bitter hatred, and he saw that she would
betray him. He tied her up, therefore, that she might have no chance of warning
Sir Henry, and he hoped, no doubt, that when the whole countryside put down the
baronet’s death to the curse of his family, as they certainly would do, he
could win his wife back to accept an accomplished fact, and to keep silent upon
what she knew. In this I fancy that in any case he made a miscalculation, and
that, if we had not been there, his doom would none the less have been sealed.
A woman of Spanish blood does not condone such an injury so lightly. And now,
my dear Watson, without referring to my notes, I cannot give you a more
detailed account of this curious case. I do not know that anything essential
has been left unexplained.”
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« Quel rôle a joué Mme Stapleton ? Il est incontestable que,
soit par l’amour, soit par la crainte — peut-être par ces deux sentiments
— son mari exerçait sur elle une réelle influence. Sur son ordre, elle
consentit à passer pour sa sœur ; mais toutefois cette influence cessa,
dès qu’il essaya de la convertir en un instrument de meurtre. Elle avait
tenté d’avertir sir Henry autant qu’elle pouvait le faire sans
compromettre son mari.
« De son côté, Stapleton connut les tortures de la jalousie. Quand il
vit le baronnet courtiser sa femme — quoique cela rentrât dans ses plans —
il ne sut pas maîtriser un accès de colère ; ce fut une faute grave,
qui dévoila toute la violence de son caractère, si habilement dissimulée
jusqu’alors sous ses manières froides et compassées. En encourageant
l’intimité des deux jeunes gens, il provoquait les fréquentes visites de
sir Henry à Merripit house et préparait pour une heure quelconque
l’opportunité qu’il désirait.
« Le jour de la crise, sa femme se retourna subitement contre lui. On
avait vaguement parlé de la mort de Selden et Mme Stapleton avait découvert,
dans le pavillon du verger, la présence du chien, ce même soir où sir Henry
venait dîner chez eux.
« Elle accusa son mari de préméditer un crime. Une scène furieuse
éclata, au cours de laquelle le naturaliste lui laissa entrevoir qu’elle
avait une rivale. Sa fidélité se changea aussitôt en une haine féroce. Il
comprit qu’elle le trahirait. Pour lui ôter toute possibilité de
communiquer avec sir Henry, il l’enferma. Il espérait sans doute — ce qui
se serait certainement produit — que toute la contrée mettrait la mort du
baronnet sur le compte du maléfice héréditaire, et qu’il amènerait sa
femme à accepter le fait accompli et à se taire.
« En tout cas, j’estime qu’il se trompait et que, même sans notre
intervention, son arrêt était irrévocablement prononcé. Une femme
d’origine espagnole ne pardonne pas aussi facilement un semblable
affront.
« Maintenant, mon cher Watson, je ne pourrais, sans recourir à mes
notes, vous fournir plus de détails sur cette curieuse affaire. Je ne crois
pas avoir rien oublié d’essentiel.
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