“Again Watson was fooled by his own preconceptions and his misunderstanding of Holmes’s deliberate indirection. Look, dad. When Holmes reached the Duke of Shires’ town-house, he found the Duke dead. But he (the Duke) had ‘already had the news of Lord Carfax.’ I ask you, how could the Duke have already had the news of Lord Carfax? The implication is clear that the Duke had been at his Pacquin lair, where Lord Carfax confronted him, after which he went home and killed himself.”
“Because the Duke was the Ripper! And his son, knowing it, took the blame on himself to save his father’s reputation!”
“Now you’ve got it,” said Ellery gently. “Remember again what Carfax said to Watson―to spread the word that he was Jack the Ripper. He wanted to make dead sure that the guilt fell on his shoulders, not his father’s.”
“Then Holmes was right,” murmured Inspector Queen. “He didn’t want to give Lord Carfax’s sacrifice away.”
“And Deborah’s faith in her father has been vindicated after three-quarters of a century.”
“I’ll be damned!”
Ellery took Dr. Watson’s journal from his father’s hand again and opened it to the “Final Note.”
“ ‘The Case of the Peruvian Sinbad,’ he muttered. “Something about a roc’s egg…” His eyes glinted. “Dad, do you suppose Holmes could have been pulling Watson’s leg about that one, too?”