cognisant of some weighty secret concerning the bishop's past, for
the concealing of which he was to have been bribed, and when the report
of the murder reached the chaplain's ears, he quite believed that in
place of paying the sum agreed upon, Dr Pendle had settled accounts with
the blackmailer by shooting him. Cargrim took this extreme view of the
matter for two reasons; firstly, because he had gathered from the
bishop's movements, and Jentham's talk of Tom Tiddler's ground, that a
meeting on Southberry Heath had been arranged between the pair;
secondly, because no money was found on the dead body, which would have
been the case had the bribe been paid. To the circumstantial evidence
that the turned-out pockets pointed to robbery, Mr Cargrim, at the
moment, strangely enough, paid no attention.

In considering the case, Cargrim's wish was very much the father to the
thought, for he desired to believe in the bishop's guilt, as the
knowledge of it would give him a great deal of power over his
ecclesiastical superior. If he could only collect sufficient evidence to
convict Dr Pendle of murdering Jentham, and could show him the links in
the chain of circumstances by which he arrived at such a conclusion, he
had little doubt but that the bishop, to induce him to hide the crime,
would become his abject slave. To gain such an immense power, and use it
for the furtherance of his own interests, Cargrim was quite prepared to
compound a possible felony; so the last case of the bishop would be
worse than the first. Instead of being in Jentham's power he would be in
Cargrim's; and in place of taking the form of money, the blackmail would
assume that of influence. So Mr Cargrim argued the case out; and so he
determined to shape his plans: yet he had a certain hesitancy in taking
the first step. He had, as he firmly believed, a knowledge that Dr
Pendle was a murderer; yet although the possession of such a secret gave
him unlimited power, he was afraid to use it, for its mere exercise in
the present lack of material evidence to prove its truth was a ticklish
job. Cargrim felt like a man gripping a comet by its tail, and doubtful
whether to hold on or let go. However, this uncertain state of things
could be remedied by a strict examination into the circumstances of the
case; therefore Cargrim set his mind to searching them out. He had been
present at the inquest, but none of the witnesses brought forward by the
bungling Tinkler had made