R. Austin Freeman

Name: The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke
Author: R. Austin Freeman

The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke (1911)

Summary

“The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke”, published in 1911, is a work by R. Austin Freeman. It explores elements such as Thorndyke, Hurst and Jervis.

Quotes from The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke (R. Austin Freeman)

R. Austin Freeman, The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke (1911)

“ They must have come down in the world rather suddenly. If I remember rightly, the brother was living in a house of some pretensions standing in its own grounds."
"Yes, that is so. I see you recollect all about the case."
"My dear fellow," said Jervis, "Thorndyke never forgets a likely case. He is a sort of medico-legal camel. He gulps down the raw facts from the newspapers or elsewhere, and then, in his leisure moments, he calmly regurgitates them and has a quiet chew at them. It is a quaint habit. A case crops up in the papers or in one of the courts, and Thorndyke swallows it whole. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

R. Austin Freeman, The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke (1911)

“ Show us that you have really weighed the facts."
"Very well," said Jervis, "I will give you a masterly analysis of the case—leading to nothing." He continued to puff at his pipe for a time with slight embarrassment, as I thought—and I fully sympathised with him. Finally he blew a little cloud and commenced:
"The position appears to be this: Here is a man who is seen to enter a certain house, who is shown into a certain room and shut in. He is not seen to come out, and yet, when the room is next entered, it is found to be empty; and that man is never seen again, alive or dead. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

R. Austin Freeman, The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke (1911)

“ Moreover, if we admit the possibility of his having been murdered—for that is what concealment of the body would imply—there is the question: 'Who could have murdered him?' Not the servants, obviously, and as to Hurst—well, of course, we don't know what his relations with the missing man have been—at least, I don't."
"Neither do I," said Thorndyke. "I know nothing beyond what is in the newspaper report and what Berkeley has told us."
"Then we know nothing. He may have had a motive for murdering the man or he may not. The point is that he doesn't seem to have had the opportunity. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

R. Austin Freeman, The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke (1911)

“ Oh! and that reminds me of a very strange coincidence. It will interest you, I think."
"Life is made up of strange coincidences," said Thorndyke. "Nobody but a reviewer of novels is ever really surprised at a coincidence. But what is yours?"
"It is connected with a case that you mentioned to us at the hospital about two years ago, the case of a man who disappeared under rather mysterious circumstances. Do you remember it? The man's name was Bellingham." ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

R. Austin Freeman, The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke (1911)

“ John Thorndyke
That the character of an individual tends to be reflected in his dress is a fact familiar to the least observant. That the observation is equally applicable to aggregates of men is less familiar, but equally true. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

R. Austin Freeman, The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke (1911)

“ Personally, he impressed me rather favourably, which is more than the other man did."
"What other man?" asked Thorndyke.
"There was another man in the case, wasn't there? I forget his name. I saw him at the house and didn't much like the look of him. I suspect he's putting some sort of pressure on Bellingham."
"Berkeley knows more about this than he is telling us," said Jervis. "Let us look up the report and see who this stranger is." He took down from a shelf a large volume of newspaper-cuttings and laid it on the table. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

R. Austin Freeman, The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke (1911)

“ In fact, if it could be shown that the missing man ever left Hurst's house alive, or that he was wearing the scarab when he arrived there, things would look rather fishy for the Bellinghams—for, of course, the girl must have been in it if the father was. But there's the crux: there is no proof that the man ever did leave Hurst's house alive. And if he didn't—but there! as I said at first, whichever turning you take, you find that it ends in a blind alley."
"A lame ending to a masterly exposition," was Thorndyke's comment.
"I know," said Jervis. "But what would you have? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

R. Austin Freeman, The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke (1911)

“ Here Thorndyke interposed with an indulgent smile at his junior: "My learned friend is treating the inquiry with unbecoming levity. We accept the conclusion that the man did not remain in the house alive."
"Very well. Then did he remain in it dead? Apparently not. The report says that as soon as the man was missed, Hurst and the servants together searched the house thoroughly. But there had been no time or opportunity to dispose of the body, whence the only possible conclusion is that the body was not there. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

R. Austin Freeman, The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke (1911)

“ Thorndyke admitted. "There are no hospitals for impecunious litigants; it is assumed that only persons of means have a right to go to law. Of course, if we knew the man and the circumstances we might be able to help him ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

R. Austin Freeman, The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke (1911)

“ I should apologise for obtruding upon the reader these somewhat trite reflections; which were set going by the quaint stock-in-trade of the wig-maker's shop in the cloisters of the Inner Temple, whither I had strayed on a sultry afternoon in quest of shade and quiet. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

R. Austin Freeman, The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke (1911)

“ Jervis filled his pipe with deliberate care and lighted it. Then, blowing a slender stream of smoke into the air, he said:
"If you want to know what I make of the case from that report, I can tell you in one word--nothing. Every road seems to end in a cul-de-sac."
"Oh, come!" said Thorndyke, "this is mere laziness. Berkeley wants to witness a display of your forensic wisdom. A learned counsel may be in a fog—he very often is—but he doesn't state the fact baldly ”

R. Austin Freeman

Summary

Quotes from The Eye of Osiris — III. John Thorndyke (R. Austin Freeman)

Common terms

Similar works

Get perspective with Kwize: daily news enlightened by great literature