 
The Green Bicycle Mystery (4)
"'Can you lend me a spanner?' she asked. I had no
spanner with me. I just looked at her bicycle and found that there was a certain amount of
play in the free-wheel. I found that I could not do anything with it, and said so. We then
rode on together. We continued to chat upon general topics, but principally about
bicycles. We rode down one steep hill and up another. At the bottom we dismounted, We rode
on again together until we came to the village of Gaulby. I asked her where she was going
and she replied to see some friends, at Gaulby. Adding, '1 shall not be long - not more
than ten minutes or a quarter of an hour.' She then left me and rode on, I saw her pull up
and go into a cottage close by.
"I waited about a quarter of an hour, walking my
machine up and down the hill. Finding the tyre flat, I placed the machine against a gate,
pumped up the tyre and then sat on the gate. I found the tyre wanted mending, so I put a
patch on it. While I was doing this I saw a man in an adjoining field, near the gate, but
I did not speak to him nor did he speak to me. I do not suppose I was at the gate more
than a quarter of an hour altogether. After 1 had mended the tyre I looked at my watch and
saw that it was a quarter-past eight. Being so late, I determined to ride round the church
and try and find out what had become of the girl.
"As I was riding back to where the girl had left
me, I saw her come from the cottage I had previously seen her go into. I went up to her,
and said, 'Halo, you have been gone a long time. I began to think you had gone another
way.' She merely smiled. I did not address her as 'Bella.' I did not know her name was
Bella. The first time I knew her Christian name was when I read the accounts of the case
in the papers.
"We walked up the hill, but before we got to
King's Norton turning, I found that my tyre had flattened again. While I was tinkering
with it the girl rode slowly ahead. I caught her up again and we had some more
conversation about tyres, that being the subject uppermost in our minds. I explained that
my tyres were in a porous condition through being laid up so long. She then confided to me
the first detail about herself that I knew. That was - and it was apropos to our talk-
that she worked in a tyre factory and was thus entitled to buy tyres at cost price.
"When we came to the junction of the roads I
turned to the right, keeping along the upper road. She dismounted, and said, ' I'm going
that way,' pointing to the left. I replied, 'On account of my puncture I'm afraid I shall
have to walk.' This was about ten minutes after she had left the cottage. We then parted.
The last I saw of her was as she was riding away. I never saw her again.
"Subsequently I had to pump up my tyre several
times on my way home, riding between times. Finally, I had to take to walking altogether.
I arrived home about ten. I put my bicycle into the back kitchen. On the following Tuesday
I saw accounts in the paper of the girl's death and I then came to the conclusion that the
girl who had lost her life must have been the one I was with. Ten days later my mother
went to Rhyl, and I put the bicycle in the boxroom."
This speech was made with perfect composure and in a
most convincing manner. It put no sort of strain upon belief. It was just what might have
happened between two people who had accidentally met while out cycling, chatted with one
another, and then parted again. It evidently made a good impression upon the jury.
Occasionally the counsel prompted Light with questions to which he replied promptly. The
whole statement ran quite smoothly. Sir Edward then plied him with a number of questions
for the purpose of still further eliciting the full truth. The judge also joined in this
interrogatory.
"You made the fatal mistake, Light, of telling
nobody about the matter?
"That is so," replied Light.
Then the judge, in a very loud tone, asked "And
you did not tell a living soul? "
"I did not tell any one," replied Light,
quite undisturbed. Then he added by way of explanation, " Except that I might have
taken the police into my confidence and told them what I have sworn in evidence, I could
not very well have assisted them to detect the crime. If I could have done so I would most
certainly have done it."
"When did your mother leave for Rhyl?" asked
his lordship, looking fixedly at the witness.
"About 11a.m.," replied Light quietly.
" I saw the account of the murder in the papers about 6p.m."
Then Sir Edward asked, "Did you do anything to
your bicycle before Christmas?"
"Yes," replied the witness. "In October
I threw it away."
Here the judge again intervened. "Have you ever
ridden it since that Saturday night?" he asked, still with that penetrating glance
directed at the witness.
"No," replied Light and let it go at that.
Then Sir Edward took up the questioning again.
"Before you threw the bicycle into the canal," he said, " did you do
anything with it?"
"Yes," replied Light. "I loosened some
of the parts and some bolts and nuts."
"What about the holster and cartridges?"
continued counsel.
"They were in the box-room," replied the
witness. " I put the cartridges into the holster and threw them all into the
canal."
Then, very slowly and solemnly, his counsel asked the
accused, "Did you shoot this unfortunate creature?"
"Certainly not!" emphatically declared
Ronald Light.
That concluded the prisoner's examination-in-chief.
|
Recent Additions
