The Circular Staircase · Chapter
XXVIII: A Tramp and the Toothache explained
Rachel Innes grapples with ongoing suspicions about Jack Bailey's guilt in the bank failure and Arnold Armstrong's murder, while also suspecting Gertrude or Lucien Wallace's mother.
What happens
Rachel Innes grapples with ongoing suspicions about Jack Bailey's guilt in the bank failure and Arnold Armstrong's murder, while also suspecting Gertrude or Lucien Wallace's mother. A tramp brought in by Alex reveals he found Halsey's watch and recounts witnessing Halsey being attacked, gagged, and left in a boxcar. The news offers hope that Halsey is alive but missing. Meanwhile, Liddy falls ill and Rachel experiences a dizzy spell.
Themes in this chapter
Secrecy and Deception
Rachel's internal suspicions about Gertrude, Jack, and others highlight the pervasive secrecy and deception surrounding the murder and bank failure.
Crime and Justice
The tramp's story reveals a violent crime against Halsey; the search for justice continues as the characters grapple with new evidence.
Isolation and Vulnerability
Halsey's helplessness, gagged and tied in a boxcar, and Rachel's physical weakness underscore the vulnerability of the characters.
Characters to notice
- Rachel Innes
Narrates her conflicting suspicions about Jack Bailey, Gertrude, and others; receives news about Halsey's watch and the tramp's story; feels weak and dizzy.
- Gertrude Innes
Listlessly waits for news; present when Alex brings the tramp; sleeps like a tired child.
- Alexander Graham
Brings the tramp to Sunnyside; found Halsey's watch and secured it; recounts the tramp's story about Halsey's attack.
- Halsey Innes
His watch is recovered; revealed to have been attacked, gagged, and left in a boxcar; believed to be alive but missing.
- Liddy Allen
Takes sick in the night; groans and mumbles in her sleep about handcuffs.
- Winters
Detective watching the house; follows Alex and the tramp; questions Alex about the watch; found asleep at the foot of the circular staircase.
Key passages
“The bitterness toward the dead president of the Traders’ Bank seemed to grow with time. Never popular, his memory was execrated by people who had lost nothing, but who were filled with disgust by constantly hearing new stories of the man’s grasping avarice.”
Public hatred for the deceased bank president intensified over time, as even those unaffected by the failure were repulsed by tales of his greed.
Sets the context of ongoing resentment related to the bank failure.
“He says he had a pair of cufflinks also, but he sold them— Fer a dollar’n half.”
The tramp admitted to selling a pair of cufflinks for a dollar and a half.
Reveals the tramp's theft from Halsey.
“The tramp lost no time; he went through his pockets, found a little money and the cufflinks, and took them. Then he loosened the gag—it had been cruelly tight—and went his way, again closing the door of the boxcar.”
The tramp quickly robbed the unconscious man of money and cufflinks, loosened the tight gag, and left him in the boxcar.
Details the tramp's actions and Halsey's condition.