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true. And there
is a glimmer of light relative to this complex affair.
Our solution lies in following your thought, Bennett,
and departing immediately for the Led better
farm."
    Using
the four-wheeler that Holmes had secured for his trip to Marley, we
were soon heading down a country road
with Holmes at the reins. He set the horse
at a good pace and it was not long before we pulled
up in front of the substantial farmhouse that was
our destination. We were met at the door by Agnes
Bisbee, a comely girl with the creamlike complexion native to the
locale. Her eyes were red from weeping.
    "Agnes,
we wish a word with your uncle," stated Bennett.
    "He
is in the barn," said the girl. "Though I don't know
in what condition. The past few days have been
a nightmare. He was gone all of one night and he's
been drinking steadily and is up at all sorts of hours."
    The
recounting of recent events proved too much and
she began to sob. "Now, now,"
said Holmes with as close to a fatherly
tone as he could come. "Things may not be quite
as bad as they seem. Charles Trelawney will shortly
be released from custody and his name cleared
of any complicity in the heinous murder of his
stepfather."
    The
girl's tears ceased at this news and Holmes indicated
the barn. "Now, if you will excuse
us, I believe we can arrive at the end
of this most regrettable chain of events,"
he said.
    Holmes
and I followed Bennett, who marched purposefully
to the barn but found the door locked. He
knocked authoritatively. "Lea' me
in peace," said a slurred voice from within.
    "It
is Bennett, Ledbetter. Open this door in the name
of the law."
    There
was a silence for half a minute and then the
sound of a bar being removed. Half of the large barn
door slid open, revealing a gnarled man of six feet
in height with a weather-beaten face topped by a
shock of white hair. He was dressed in work clothes. His callused
hands and wide frame be spoke of
strength and that durable power produced by
hard manual labor.
    I'm
glad there are three of us , I
thought. He looks as
if he could be a bit of a handful.
    The
farmer indicated with a vague gesture for us to
enter and turned inside and made his way to an anvil on which rested
a depleted bottle and a tin tankard. He
poured himself a considerable amount of
whiskey and downed it in a gulp.
    "'Tis
about Staley that I'm here," said Constable Bennett.
    "Aye!
I've been expectin' ya."
    The
farmer's eyes were bleary and his speech thick,
but his brain appeared to be working. I surmised
he had drunk himself sober, a physical peculiarity
that has been known to happen.
    "I'll
no beat the bushes abaht it. 'Twas yesterday of an evening hour. I
came out here in search of some bottles
that I had hid away from Agnes' eyes. When I opened the door, there
was Staley, curse his black heart! He
was by the stalls with a club in his hand.
I'd surprised him all right and he rushed at me.
'Twas all so fast. I grabbed this here fence rail what I had been
workin' on." The farmer indicated a
stout piece of oak on the floor of the barn. "Wi' it, I
blocked his first blow and swung. 'Twas a lucky hit
or I would not be talkin' to ya now. Caught him full
on the forehead, I did, and he was dead afore he hit
the ground. What went through my poor addled pate
then I canna tell ya. Somehow I were plagued with the idea of gettin'
his carcass out of here, so I saddled my
mare. She was skitterish, I tell ya, for she smelled Staley's blood,
but I got him hoisted over her withers
and into the saddle meself. Then I rode
into Shaw and put the body in his house. I had the
idea that if his corpse be found in Shaw, I would not
be involved, but 'twon't work. I been livin' wi' the
deed and that fierce moment for these hours past
and it will nay do. I killed him."
    With
a groan, Ledbetter sank onto a bale of hay and
buried his face in his hands.
    "There
seems to be ample grounds for a plea of self-defense,"
stated Holmes. "You said Staley had a
club. Is it still here?"
    Ledbetter
just