Such is Mr. Proctor’s theory of the story, in which I mainly agree. Mr.
Proctor relies on a piece of evidence overlooked by Forster, and
certainly misinterpreted, as I think I can prove to a certainty, by Mr.
Cuming Walters, whose theory of the real conduct of the plot runs thus:
After watching the storm at midnight with Edwin, Neville left him, and
went home: “his way lay in an opposite direction. Near to the Cathedral
Jasper intercepted his nephew. . . . Edwin may have been already
drugged.” How the murder was worked Mr. Cuming Walters does not say, but
he introduces at this point, the two sounds foreheard by Durdles, without
explaining “the howl of a dog.” Durdles would hear the cries, and Deputy
“had seen what he could not understand,” whatever it was that he saw.
Jasper, not aware of Drood’s possession of the ring, takes only his
watch, chain, and pin, which he places on the timbers of the weir, and in
the river, to be picked up by that persistent winter-bather, Crisparkle
of the telescopic and microscopic eyesight.
As to the ring, Mr. Cuming Walters erroneously declares that Mr. Proctor
“ignores” the power of the ring “to hold and drag,” and says that potent
passage is “without meaning and must be disregarded.” Proctor, in fact,
gives more than three pages to the meaning of the ring, which “drags”
Jasper into the vault, when he hears of its existence. {74} Next, Mr.
Cuming Walters supposes Datchery to learn from Durdles, whom he is to
visit, about the second hearing of the cry and the dog’s howl. Deputy
may have seen Jasper “carrying his burden” (Edwin) “towards the Sapsea
vault.” In fact, Jasper probably saved trouble by making the drugged
Edwin walk into that receptacle. “Datchery would not think of the Sapsea
vault unaided.” No—unless Datchery was Drood! “Now Durdles is useful
again. Tapping with his hammer he would find a change . . . inquiry must
be made.” Why should Durdles tap the Sapsea monument? As Durdles had
the key, he would simply walk into the vault, and find the quicklime.
Now, Jasper also, we presume, had a key, made from a wax impression of
the original. If he had any sense, he would have removed the quicklime
as easily as he inserted it, for Mr. Sapsea was mortal: he might die any
day, and be buried, and then the quicklime, lying where it ought not,
would give rise to awkward inquiries.
Inquiry being made, in consequence of Durdles’s tappings, the ring would
be found, as Mr. Cuming Walters says. But even then, unless Deputy
actually saw Jasper carry a man into the vault, nobody could prove
Jasper’s connection with the presence of the ring in the vault.
Moreover, Deputy hated Jasper, and if he saw Jasper carrying the body of
a man, on the night when a man disappeared, he was clever enough to lead
Durdles to examine the vault, _at once_. Deputy had a great dislike of
the Law and its officers, but here was a chance for him to distinguish
himself, and conciliate them.
However these things may be, Mr. Cuming Walters supposes that Jasper,
finding himself watched, re-enters the vault, perhaps, “to see that every
trace of the crime had been removed.” In the vault he finds—Datchery,
that is, Helena Landless! Jasper certainly visited the vault and found
somebody.
[Picture: The cover of The Mystery of Edwin Drood]