Tracks in the Snow · Chapter
II explained
The narrator is awakened early on the 29th by Peters' housemaid, who reports the murder.
What happens
The narrator is awakened early on the 29th by Peters' housemaid, who reports the murder. He goes to Peters' house where Callaghan, Vane-Cartwright, the police sergeant, and the village doctor are already present. The doctor determines it is not suicide, noting a surgical knife left in the body. The sergeant investigates but is hampered by neighbors trampling the snow. Callaghan recounts a false alarm of murder the previous night, but the sergeant corrects his memory about the snow. The group finds Peters' will, naming the narrator and an American friend as executors.
Themes in this chapter
Crime and Detection
The chapter opens with the discovery of Peters' murder and the initial police investigation, highlighting early forensic observations and the challenge of preserving evidence.
Memory and Perception
The narrator struggles to distinguish what he actually saw from what he later heard; Callaghan misremembers the snowfall, illustrating the fallibility of memory.
Characters to notice
- James Callaghan
Present at the murder scene, half-dressed and haggard; recounts a false alarm of murder from the previous night but is corrected about the timing of the snowfall.
- William Vane-Cartwright
Present in bedroom slippers and dressing-gown; watches proceedings attentively, suggests looking for Peters' will, and confirms Callaghan's error about the snow.
- Eustace Peters
Found dead in his bed, murdered with a surgical knife; had been reading Borrow's Bible in Spain.
- Sergeant Speke
Leads the initial investigation with quiet promptitude; examines the room, notes the trampled snow outside, and questions the servants.
- Dr. Verschoyle
The village doctor who examines the body and pronounces it not suicide, citing his training in Berlin.
Key passages
“I cannot now distinguish the things which I really saw upon hearing the others mention them from the things which I imagine myself seeing because I knew they were mentioned then or later.”
The narrator admits he can no longer separate his own observations from details he learned later from others.
Highlights the theme of memory and perception.
“Callaghan began angrily persisting, and the Sergeant appealed to Vane-Cartwright, who up till now had said little, merely confirming Callaghan's narrative at various points with a single syllable or with a nod of his head, but who now said that Callaghan was wrong about the snow.”
Callaghan angrily insists on his version of events, but Vane-Cartwright calmly corrects him about when the snow began.
Shows the contrast between Callaghan's agitated state and Vane-Cartwright's composed demeanor.