474
THE GREEN BAG
found imbedded in the wall. It was a 36." "That is all," said Sharp triumphantly. Mr. Quick refused to cross-examine. "I suppose," said Holmes to Watson a few weeks later, "if I had attempted to state that that 36 bullet was from the tall man's gun, but that Gridsly shot him self with it, our vociferous friend, Mr. Quick, would have objected and the court sustained the objection. It was plain, however, that that was just what had happened. Of course his tall friend
couldn't risk leaving his gun, so he laid poor Gridsly 's on the floor beside him. At all events I found the tall man dead in a cheap London hotel, so both their souls are at rest now, and I've done my duty as an expert witness. An expert, Watson, is a man who can't be trusted to state his honest conclusions, because of course he hasn't any, but whose opinion on facts (which like statistics cannot tell a lie!) is good as gold — or at any rate as good as gold can buy." Chicago, III., July. 1907.
