StevenssInSMO

In his second appearance, Gavin Stevens is the "county attorney" rather than the "district" one, a change that associates him with the whole of Yoknapatawpha, and his place in this story is that of the protagonist, even the hero, who uses his interpretive skills to solve a murder and free an innocent man. The role of detective-and-knight-errant is one he will play again in five more stories, but the way Gavin performs it is consistently defined outside his identity as the first-born member of an upper class family.