THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES | |
Arthur Conan Doyle | |
Table of contents | |
Silver Blaze | |
The Yellow Face | |
The Stock-Broker's Clerk | |
The "Gloria Scott" | |
The Musgrave Ritual | |
The Reigate Squires | |
The Crooked Man | |
The Resident Patient | |
The Greek Interpreter | |
The Naval Treaty | |
The Final Problem | |
SILVER BLAZE | |
"I am afraid, Watson, that I shall have to go," said Holmes, as we | |
sat down together to our breakfast one morning. | |
"Go! Where to?" | |
"To Dartmoor; to King's Pyland." | |
I was not surprised. Indeed, my only wonder was that he had not | |
already been mixed up in this extraordinary case, which was the one | |
topic of conversation through the length and breadth of England. For | |
a whole day my companion had rambled about the room with his chin | |
upon his chest and his brows knitted, charging and recharging his | |
pipe with the strongest black tobacco, and absolutely deaf to any of | |
my questions or remarks. Fresh editions of every paper had been sent | |
up by our news agent, only to be glanced over and tossed down into a | |
corner. Yet, silent as he was, I knew perfectly well what it was over | |
which he was brooding. There was but one problem before the public | |
which could challenge his powers of analysis, and that was the | |
singular disappearance of the favorite for the Wessex Cup, and the | |
tragic murder of its trainer. When, therefore, he suddenly announced | |
his intention of setting out for the scene of the drama it was only | |
what I had both expected and hoped for. | |
"I should be most happy to go down with you if I should not be in the | |
way," said I. | |
"My dear Watson, you would confer a great favour upon me by coming. | |
And I think that your time will not be misspent, for there are points | |
about the case which promise to make it an absolutely unique one. We | |
have, I think, just time to catch our train at Paddington, and I will | |
go further into the matter upon our journey. You would oblige me by | |
bringing with you your very excellent field-glass." | |
And so it happened that an hour or so later I found myself in the | |
corner of a first-class carriage flying along en route for Exeter, | |
while Sherlock Holmes, with his sharp, eager face framed in his | |
ear-flapped travelling-cap, dipped rapidly into the bundle of fresh | |
papers which he had procured at Paddington. We had left Reading far | |
behind us before he thrust the last one of them under the seat, and | |
offered me his cigar-case. | |
"We are going well," said he, looking out the window and glancing at | |
his watch. "Our rate at present is fifty-three and a half miles an | |
hour." | |
"I have not observed the quarter-mile posts," said I. | |
"Nor have I. But the telegraph posts upon this line are sixty yards | |
apart, and the calculation is a simple one. I presume that you have | |
looked into this matter of the murder of John Straker and the | |
disappearance of Silver Blaze?" | |
"I have seen what the Telegraph and the Chronicle have to say." | |
"It is one of those cases where the art of the reasoner should be | |
used rather for the sifting of details than for the acquiring of | |
fresh evidence. The tragedy has been so uncommon, so complete and of | |
such personal importance to so many people, that we are suffering | |
from a plethora of surmise, conjecture, and hypothesis. The | |
difficulty is to detach the framework of fact--of absolute undeniable | |
fact--from the embellishments of theorists and reporters. Then, | |
having established ourselves upon this sound basis, it is our duty to | |
see what inferences may be drawn and what are the special points upon | |
which the whole mystery turns. On Tuesday evening I received | |
telegrams from both Colonel Ross, the owner of the horse, and from | |
Inspector Gregory, who is looking after the case, inviting my | |
cooperation. | |
"Tuesday evening!" I exclaimed. "And this is Thursday morning. Why | |
didn't you go down yesterday?" | |
"Because I made a blunder, my dear Watson--which is, I am afraid, a | |
more common occurrence than any one would think who only knew me | |
through your memoirs. The fact is that I could not believe it | |
possible that the most remarkable horse in England could long remain | |
concealed, especially in so sparsely inhabited a place as the north | |
of Dartmoor. From hour to hour yesterday I expected to hear that he | |
had been found, and that his abductor was the murderer of John | |
Straker. When, however, another morning had come, and I found that | |
beyond the arrest of young Fitzroy Simpson nothing had been done, I | |
felt that it was time for me to take action. Yet in some ways I feel | |
that yesterday has not been wasted." | |
"You have formed a theory, then?" | |
"At least I have got a grip of the essential facts of the case. I | |
shall enumerate them to you, for nothing clears up a case so much as | |
stating it to another person, and I can hardly expect your | |
co-operation if I do not show you the position from which we start." | |
I lay back against the cushions, puffing at my cigar, while Holmes, | |
leaning forward, with his long, thin forefinger checking off the | |
points upon the palm of his left hand, gave me a sketch of the events | |
which had led to our journey. | |
"Silver Blaze," said he, "is from the Somomy stock, and holds as | |
brilliant a record as his famous ancestor. He is now in his fifth | |
year, and has brought in turn each of the prizes of the turf to | |
Colonel Ross, his fortunate owner. Up to the time of the catastrophe | |
he was the first favorite for the Wessex Cup, the betting being three | |
to one on him. He has always, however, been a prime favorite with the | |
racing public, and has never yet disappointed them, so that even at | |
those odds enormous sums of money have been laid upon him. It is | |
obvious, therefore, that there were many people who had the strongest | |
interest in preventing Silver Blaze from being there at the fall of | |
the flag next Tuesday. | |
"The fact was, of course, appreciated at King's Pyland, where the | |
Colonel's training-stable is situated. Every precaution was taken to | |
guard the favorite. The trainer, John Straker, is a retired jockey | |
who rode in Colonel Ross's colors before he became too heavy for the | |
weighing-chair. He has served the Colonel for five years as jockey | |
and for seven as trainer, and has always shown himself to be a | |
zealous and honest servant. Under him were three lads; for the | |
establishment was a small one, containing only four horses in all. | |
One of these lads sat up each night in the stable, while the others | |
slept in the loft. All three bore excellent characters. John Straker, | |
who is a married man, lived in a small villa about two hundred yards | |
from the stables. He has no children, keeps one maid-servant, and is | |
comfortably off. The country round is very lonely, but about half a | |
mile to the north there is a small cluster of villas which have been | |
built by a Tavistock contractor for the use of invalids and others | |
who may wish to enjoy the pure Dartmoor air. Tavistock itself lies | |
two miles to the west, while across the moor, also about two miles | |
distant, is the larger training establishment of Mapleton, which | |
belongs to Lord Backwater, and is managed by Silas Brown. In every | |
other direction the moor is a complete wilderness, inhabited only by | |
a few roaming gypsies. Such was the general situation last Monday | |
night when the catastrophe occurred. | |
"On that evening the horses had been exercised and watered as usual, | |
and the stables were locked up at nine o'clock. Two of the lads | |
walked up to the trainer's house, where they had supper in the | |
kitchen, while the third, Ned Hunter, remained on guard. At a few | |
minutes after nine the maid, Edith Baxter, carried down to the | |
stables his supper, which consisted of a dish of curried mutton. She | |
took no liquid, as there was a water-tap in the stables, and it was | |
the rule that the lad on duty should drink nothing else. The maid | |
carried a lantern with her, as it was very dark and the path ran | |
across the open moor. | |
"Edith Baxter was within thirty yards of the stables, when a man | |
appeared out of the darkness and called to her to stop. As he stepped | |
into the circle of yellow light thrown by the lantern she saw that he | |
was a person of gentlemanly bearing, dressed in a gray suit of | |
tweeds, with a cloth cap. He wore gaiters, and carried a heavy stick | |
with a knob to it. She was most impressed, however, by the extreme | |
pallor of his face and by the nervousness of his manner. His age, she | |
thought, would be rather over thirty than under it. | |
"'Can you tell me where I am?' he asked. 'I had almost made up my | |
mind to sleep on the moor, when I saw the light of your lantern.' | |
"'You are close to the King's Pyland training-stables,' said she. | |
"'Oh, indeed! What a stroke of luck!' he cried. 'I understand that a | |
stable-boy sleeps there alone every night. Perhaps that is his supper | |
which you are carrying to him. Now I am sure that you would not be | |
too proud to earn the price of a new dress, would you?' He took a | |
piece of white paper folded up out of his waistcoat pocket. 'See that | |
the boy has this to-night, and you shall have the prettiest frock | |
that money can buy.' | |
"She was frightened by the earnestness of his manner, and ran past | |
him to the window through which she was accustomed to hand the meals. | |
It was already opened, and Hunter was seated at the small table | |
inside. She had begun to tell him of what had happened, when the | |
stranger came up again. | |
"'Good-evening,' said he, looking through the window. 'I wanted to | |
have a word with you.' The girl has sworn that as he spoke she | |
noticed the corner of the little paper packet protruding from his | |
closed hand. | |
"'What business have you here?' asked the lad. | |
"'It's business that may put something into your pocket,' said the | |
other. 'You've two horses in for the Wessex Cup--Silver Blaze and | |
Bayard. Let me have the straight tip and you won't be a loser. Is it | |
a fact that at the weights Bayard could give the other a hundred | |
yards in five furlongs, and that the stable have put their money on | |
him?' | |
"'So, you're one of those damned touts!' cried the lad. 'I'll show | |
you how we serve them in King's Pyland.' He sprang up and rushed | |
across the stable to unloose the dog. The girl fled away to the | |
house, but as she ran she looked back and saw that the stranger was | |
leaning through the window. A minute later, however, when Hunter | |
rushed out with the hound he was gone, and though he ran all round | |
the buildings he failed to find any trace of him." | |
"One moment," I asked. "Did the stable-boy, when he ran out with the | |
dog, leave the door unlocked behind him?" | |
"Excellent, Watson, excellent!" murmured my companion. "The | |
importance of the point struck me so forcibly that I sent a special | |
wire to Dartmoor yesterday to clear the matter up. The boy locked the | |
door before he left it. The window, I may add, was not large enough | |
for a man to get through. | |
"Hunter waited until his fellow-grooms had returned, when he sent a | |
message to the trainer and told him what had occurred. Straker was | |
excited at hearing the account, although he does not seem to have | |
quite realized its true significance. It left him, however, vaguely | |
uneasy, and Mrs. Straker, waking at one in the morning, found that he | |
was dressing. In reply to her inquiries, he said that he could not | |
sleep on account of his anxiety about the horses, and that he | |
intended to walk down to the stables to see that all was well. She | |
begged him to remain at home, as she could hear the rain pattering | |
against the window, but in spite of her entreaties he pulled on his | |
large mackintosh and left the house. | |
"Mrs. Straker awoke at seven in the morning, to find that her husband | |
had not yet returned. She dressed herself hastily, called the maid, | |
and set off for the stables. The door was open; inside, huddled | |
together upon a chair, Hunter was sunk in a state of absolute stupor, | |
the favorite's stall was empty, and there were no signs of his | |
trainer. | |
"The two lads who slept in the chaff-cutting loft above the | |
harness-room were quickly aroused. They had heard nothing during the | |
night, for they are both sound sleepers. Hunter was obviously under | |
the influence of some powerful drug, and as no sense could be got out | |
of him, he was left to sleep it off while the two lads and the two | |
women ran out in search of the absentees. They still had hopes that | |
the trainer had for some reason taken out the horse for early | |
exercise, but on ascending the knoll near the house, from which all | |
the neighboring moors were visible, they not only could see no signs | |
of the missing favorite, but they perceived something which warned | |
them that they were in the presence of a tragedy. | |
"About a quarter of a mile from the stables John Straker's overcoat | |
was flapping from a furze-bush. Immediately beyond there was a | |
bowl-shaped depression in the moor, and at the bottom of this was | |
found the dead body of the unfortunate trainer. His head had been | |
shattered by a savage blow from some heavy weapon, and he was wounded | |
on the thigh, where there was a long, clean cut, inflicted evidently | |
by some very sharp instrument. It was clear, however, that Straker | |
had defended himself vigorously against his assailants, for in his | |
right hand he held a small knife, which was clotted with blood up to | |
the handle, while in his left he clasped a red and black silk cravat, | |
which was recognized by the maid as having been worn on the preceding | |
evening by the stranger who had visited the stables. Hunter, on | |
recovering from his stupor, was also quite positive as to the | |
ownership of the cravat. He was equally certain that the same | |
stranger had, while standing at the window, drugged his curried | |
mutton, and so deprived the stables of their watchman. As to the | |
missing horse, there were abundant proofs in the mud which lay at the | |
bottom of the fatal hollow that he had been there at the time of the | |
struggle. But from that morning he has disappeared, and although a | |
large reward has been offered, and all the gypsies of Dartmoor are on | |
the alert, no news has come of him. Finally, an analysis has shown | |
that the remains of his supper left by the stable-lad contain an | |
appreciable quantity of powdered opium, while the people at the house | |
partook of the same dish on the same night without any ill effect. | |
"Those are the main facts of the case, stripped of all surmise, and | |
stated as baldly as possible. I shall now recapitulate what the | |
police have done in the matter. | |
"Inspector Gregory, to whom the case has been committed, is an | |
extremely competent officer. Were he but gifted with imagination he | |
might rise to great heights in his profession. On his arrival he | |
promptly found and arrested the man upon whom suspicion naturally | |
rested. There was little difficulty in finding him, for he inhabited | |
one of those villas which I have mentioned. His name, it appears, was | |
Fitzroy Simpson. He was a man of excellent birth and education, who | |
had squandered a fortune upon the turf, and who lived now by doing a | |
little quiet and genteel book-making in the sporting clubs of London. | |
An examination of his betting-book shows that bets to the amount of | |
five thousand pounds had been registered by him against the favorite. | |
On being arrested he volunteered the statement that he had come down | |
to Dartmoor in the hope of getting some information about the King's | |
Pyland horses, and also about Desborough, the second favorite, which | |
was in charge of Silas Brown at the Mapleton stables. He did not | |
attempt to deny that he had acted as described upon the evening | |
before, but declared that he had no sinister designs, and had simply | |
wished to obtain first-hand information. When confronted with his | |
cravat, he turned very pale, and was utterly unable to account for | |
its presence in the hand of the murdered man. His wet clothing showed | |
that he had been out in the storm of the night before, and his stick, | |
which was a Penang-lawyer weighted with lead, was just such a weapon | |
as might, by repeated blows, have inflicted the terrible injuries to | |
which the trainer had succumbed. On the other hand, there was no | |
wound upon his person, while the state of Straker's knife would show | |
that one at least of his assailants must bear his mark upon him. | |
There you have it all in a nutshell, Watson, and if you can give me | |
any light I shall be infinitely obliged to you." | |
I had listened with the greatest interest to the statement which | |
Holmes, with characteristic clearness, had laid before me. Though | |
most of the facts were familiar to me, I had not sufficiently | |
appreciated their relative importance, nor their connection to each | |
other. | |
"Is in not possible," I suggested, "that the incised wound upon | |
Straker may have been caused by his own knife in the convulsive | |
struggles which follow any brain injury?" | |
"It is more than possible; it is probable," said Holmes. "In that | |
case one of the main points in favor of the accused disappears." | |
"And yet," said I, "even now I fail to understand what the theory of | |
the police can be." | |
"I am afraid that whatever theory we state has very grave objections | |
to it," returned my companion. "The police imagine, I take it, that | |
this Fitzroy Simpson, having drugged the lad, and having in some way | |
obtained a duplicate key, opened the stable door and took out the | |
horse, with the intention, apparently, of kidnapping him altogether. | |
His bridle is missing, so that Simpson must have put this on. Then, | |
having left the door open behind him, he was leading the horse away | |
over the moor, when he was either met or overtaken by the trainer. A | |
row naturally ensued. Simpson beat out the trainer's brains with his | |
heavy stick without receiving any injury from the small knife which | |
Straker used in self-defence, and then the thief either led the horse | |
on to some secret hiding-place, or else it may have bolted during the | |
struggle, and be now wandering out on the moors. That is the case as | |
it appears to the police, and improbable as it is, all other | |
explanations are more improbable still. However, I shall very quickly | |
test the matter when I am once upon the spot, and until then I cannot | |
really see how we can get much further than our present position." | |
It was evening before we reached the little town of Tavistock, which | |
lies, like the boss of a shield, in the middle of the huge circle of | |
Dartmoor. Two gentlemen were awaiting us in the station--the one a | |
tall, fair man with lion-like hair and beard and curiously | |
penetrating light blue eyes; the other a small, alert person, very | |
neat and dapper, in a frock-coat and gaiters, with trim little | |
side-whiskers and an eye-glass. The latter was Colonel Ross, the | |
well-known sportsman; the other, Inspector Gregory, a man who was | |
rapidly making his name in the English detective service. | |
"I am delighted that you have come down, Mr. Holmes," said the | |
Colonel. "The Inspector here has done all that could possibly be | |
suggested, but I wish to leave no stone unturned in trying to avenge | |
poor Straker and in recovering my horse." | |
"Have there been any fresh developments?" asked Holmes. | |
"I am sorry to say that we have made very little progress," said the | |
Inspector. "We have an open carriage outside, and as you would no | |
doubt like to see the place before the light fails, we might talk it | |
over as we drive." | |
A minute later we were all seated in a comfortable landau, and were | |
rattling through the quaint old Devonshire city. Inspector Gregory | |
was full of his case, and poured out a stream of remarks, while | |
Holmes threw in an occasional question or interjection. Colonel Ross | |
leaned back with his arms folded and his hat tilted over his eyes, | |
while I listened with interest to the dialogue of the two detectives. | |
Gregory was formulating his theory, which was almost exactly what | |
Holmes had foretold in the train. | |
"The net is drawn pretty close round Fitzroy Simpson," he remarked, | |
"and I believe myself that he is our man. At the same time I | |
recognize that the evidence is purely circumstantial, and that some | |
new development may upset it." | |
"How about Straker's knife?" | |
"We have quite come to the conclusion that he wounded himself in his | |
fall." | |
"My friend Dr. Watson made that suggestion to me as we came down. If | |
so, it would tell against this man Simpson." | |
"Undoubtedly. He has neither a knife nor any sign of a wound. The | |
evidence against him is certainly very strong. He had a great | |
interest in the disappearance of the favorite. He lies under | |
suspicion of having poisoned the stable-boy, he was undoubtedly out | |
in the storm, he was armed with a heavy stick, and his cravat was | |
found in the dead man's hand. I really think we have enough to go | |
before a jury." | |
Holmes shook his head. "A clever counsel would tear it all to rags," | |
said he. "Why should he take the horse out of the stable? If he | |
wished to injure it why could he not do it there? Has a duplicate key | |
been found in his possession? What chemist sold him the powdered | |
opium? Above all, where could he, a stranger to the district, hide a | |
horse, and such a horse as this? What is his own explanation as to | |
the paper which he wished the maid to give to the stable-boy?" | |
"He says that it was a ten-pound note. One was found in his purse. | |
But your other difficulties are not so formidable as they seem. He is | |
not a stranger to the district. He has twice lodged at Tavistock in | |
the summer. The opium was probably brought from London. The key, | |
having served its purpose, would be hurled away. The horse may be at | |
the bottom of one of the pits or old mines upon the moor." | |
"What does he say about the cravat?" | |
"He acknowledges that it is his, and declares that he had lost it. | |
But a new element has been introduced into the case which may account | |
for his leading the horse from the stable." | |
Holmes pricked up his ears. | |
"We have found traces which show that a party of gypsies encamped on | |
Monday night within a mile of the spot where the murder took place. | |
On Tuesday they were gone. Now, presuming that there was some | |
understanding between Simpson and these gypsies, might he not have | |
been leading the horse to them when he was overtaken, and may they | |
not have him now?" | |
"It is certainly possible." | |
"The moor is being scoured for these gypsies. I have also examined | |
every stable and out-house in Tavistock, and for a radius of ten | |
miles." | |
"There is another training-stable quite close, I understand?" | |
"Yes, and that is a factor which we must certainly not neglect. As | |
Desborough, their horse, was second in the betting, they had an | |
interest in the disappearance of the favorite. Silas Brown, the | |
trainer, is known to have had large bets upon the event, and he was | |
no friend to poor Straker. We have, however, examined the stables, | |
and there is nothing to connect him with the affair." | |
"And nothing to connect this man Simpson with the interests of the | |
Mapleton stables?" | |
"Nothing at all." | |
Holmes leaned back in the carriage, and the conversation ceased. A | |
few minutes later our driver pulled up at a neat little red-brick | |
villa with overhanging eaves which stood by the road. Some distance | |
off, across a paddock, lay a long gray-tiled out-building. In every | |
other direction the low curves of the moor, bronze-colored from the | |
fading ferns, stretched away to the sky-line, broken only by the | |
steeples of Tavistock, and by a cluster of houses away to the | |
westward which marked the Mapleton stables. We all sprang out with | |
the exception of Holmes, who continued to lean back with his eyes | |
fixed upon the sky in front of him, entirely absorbed in his own | |
thoughts. It was only when I touched his arm that he roused himself | |
with a violent start and stepped out of the carriage. | |
"Excuse me," said he, turning to Colonel Ross, who had looked at him | |
in some surprise. "I was day-dreaming." There was a gleam in his eyes | |
and a suppressed excitement in his manner which convinced me, used as | |
I was to his ways, that his hand was upon a clue, though I could not | |
imagine where he had found it. | |
"Perhaps you would prefer at once to go on to the scene of the crime, | |
Mr. Holmes?" said Gregory. | |
"I think that I should prefer to stay here a little and go into one | |
or two questions of detail. Straker was brought back here, I | |
presume?" | |
"Yes; he lies upstairs. The inquest is to-morrow." | |
"He has been in your service some years, Colonel Ross?" | |
"I have always found him an excellent servant." | |
"I presume that you made an inventory of what he had in this pockets | |
at the time of his death, Inspector?" | |
"I have the things themselves in the sitting-room, if you would care | |
to see them." | |
"I should be very glad." We all filed into the front room and sat | |
round the central table while the Inspector unlocked a square tin box | |
and laid a small heap of things before us. There was a box of vestas, | |
two inches of tallow candle, an A D P brier-root pipe, a pouch of | |
seal-skin with half an ounce of long-cut Cavendish, a silver watch | |
with a gold chain, five sovereigns in gold, an aluminum pencil-case, | |
a few papers, and an ivory-handled knife with a very delicate, | |
inflexible blade marked Weiss & Co., London. | |
"This is a very singular knife," said Holmes, lifting it up and | |
examining it minutely. "I presume, as I see blood-stains upon it, | |
that it is the one which was found in the dead man's grasp. Watson, | |
this knife is surely in your line?" | |
"It is what we call a cataract knife," said I. | |
"I thought so. A very delicate blade devised for very delicate work. | |
A strange thing for a man to carry with him upon a rough expedition, | |
especially as it would not shut in his pocket." | |
"The tip was guarded by a disk of cork which we found beside his | |
body," said the Inspector. "His wife tells us that the knife had lain | |
upon the dressing-table, and that he had picked it up as he left the | |
room. It was a poor weapon, but perhaps the best that he could lay | |
his hands on at the moment." | |
"Very possible. How about these papers?" | |
"Three of them are receipted hay-dealers' accounts. One of them is a | |
letter of instructions from Colonel Ross. This other is a milliner's | |
account for thirty-seven pounds fifteen made out by Madame Lesurier, | |
of Bond Street, to William Derbyshire. Mrs. Straker tells us that | |
Derbyshire was a friend of her husband's and that occasionally his | |
letters were addressed here." | |
"Madam Derbyshire had somewhat expensive tastes," remarked Holmes, | |
glancing down the account. "Twenty-two guineas is rather heavy for a | |
single costume. However there appears to be nothing more to learn, | |
and we may now go down to the scene of the crime." | |
As we emerged from the sitting-room a woman, who had been waiting in | |
the passage, took a step forward and laid her hand upon the | |
Inspector's sleeve. Her face was haggard and thin and eager, stamped | |
with the print of a recent horror. | |
"Have you got them? Have you found them?" she panted. | |
"No, Mrs. Straker. But Mr. Holmes here has come from London to help | |
us, and we shall do all that is possible." | |
"Surely I met you in Plymouth at a garden-party some little time ago, | |
Mrs. Straker?" said Holmes. | |
"No, sir; you are mistaken." | |
"Dear me! Why, I could have sworn to it. You wore a costume of | |
dove-colored silk with ostrich-feather trimming." | |
"I never had such a dress, sir," answered the lady. | |
"Ah, that quite settles it," said Holmes. And with an apology he | |
followed the Inspector outside. A short walk across the moor took us | |
to the hollow in which the body had been found. At the brink of it | |
was the furze-bush upon which the coat had been hung. | |
"There was no wind that night, I understand," said Holmes. | |
"None; but very heavy rain." | |
"In that case the overcoat was not blown against the furze-bush, but | |
placed there." | |
"Yes, it was laid across the bush." | |
"You fill me with interest, I perceive that the ground has been | |
trampled up a good deal. No doubt many feet have been here since | |
Monday night." | |
"A piece of matting has been laid here at the side, and we have all | |
stood upon that." | |
"Excellent." | |
"In this bag I have one of the boots which Straker wore, one of | |
Fitzroy Simpson's shoes, and a cast horseshoe of Silver Blaze." | |
"My dear Inspector, you surpass yourself!" Holmes took the bag, and, | |
descending into the hollow, he pushed the matting into a more central | |
position. Then stretching himself upon his face and leaning his chin | |
upon his hands, he made a careful study of the trampled mud in front | |
of him. "Hullo!" said he, suddenly. "What's this?" It was a wax vesta | |
half burned, which was so coated with mud that it looked at first | |
like a little chip of wood. | |
"I cannot think how I came to overlook it," said the Inspector, with | |
an expression of annoyance. | |
"It was invisible, buried in the mud. I only saw it because I was | |
looking for it." | |
"What! You expected to find it?" | |
"I thought it not unlikely." | |
He took the boots from the bag, and compared the impressions of each | |
of them with marks upon the ground. Then he clambered up to the rim | |
of the hollow, and crawled about among the ferns and bushes. | |
"I am afraid that there are no more tracks," said the Inspector. "I | |
have examined the ground very carefully for a hundred yards in each | |
direction." | |
"Indeed!" said Holmes, rising. "I should not have the impertinence to | |
do it again after what you say. But I should like to take a little | |
walk over the moor before it grows dark, that I may know my ground | |
to-morrow, and I think that I shall put this horseshoe into my pocket | |
for luck." | |
Colonel Ross, who had shown some signs of impatience at my | |
companion's quiet and systematic method of work, glanced at his | |
watch. "I wish you would come back with me, Inspector," said he. | |
"There are several points on which I should like your advice, and | |
especially as to whether we do not owe it to the public to remove our | |
horse's name from the entries for the Cup." | |
"Certainly not," cried Holmes, with decision. "I should let the name | |
stand." | |
The Colonel bowed. "I am very glad to have had your opinion, sir," | |
said he. "You will find us at poor Straker's house when you have | |
finished your walk, and we can drive together into Tavistock." | |
He turned back with the Inspector, while Holmes and I walked slowly | |
across the moor. The sun was beginning to sink behind the stables of | |
Mapleton, and the long, sloping plain in front of us was tinged with | |
gold, deepening into rich, ruddy browns where the faded ferns and | |
brambles caught the evening light. But the glories of the landscape | |
were all wasted upon my companion, who was sunk in the deepest | |
thought. | |
"It's this way, Watson," said he at last. "We may leave the question | |
of who killed John Straker for the instant, and confine ourselves to | |
finding out what has become of the horse. Now, supposing that he | |
broke away during or after the tragedy, where could he have gone to? | |
The horse is a very gregarious creature. If left to himself his | |
instincts would have been either to return to King's Pyland or go | |
over to Mapleton. Why should he run wild upon the moor? He would | |
surely have been seen by now. And why should gypsies kidnap him? | |
These people always clear out when they hear of trouble, for they do | |
not wish to be pestered by the police. They could not hope to sell | |
such a horse. They would run a great risk and gain nothing by taking | |
him. Surely that is clear." | |
"Where is he, then?" | |
"I have already said that he must have gone to King's Pyland or to | |
Mapleton. He is not at King's Pyland. Therefore he is at Mapleton. | |
Let us take that as a working hypothesis and see what it leads us to. | |
This part of the moor, as the Inspector remarked, is very hard and | |
dry. But it falls away towards Mapleton, and you can see from here | |
that there is a long hollow over yonder, which must have been very | |
wet on Monday night. If our supposition is correct, then the horse | |
must have crossed that, and there is the point where we should look | |
for his tracks." | |
We had been walking briskly during this conversation, and a few more | |
minutes brought us to the hollow in question. At Holmes' request I | |
walked down the bank to the right, and he to the left, but I had not | |
taken fifty paces before I heard him give a shout, and saw him waving | |
his hand to me. The track of a horse was plainly outlined in the soft | |
earth in front of him, and the shoe which he took from his pocket | |
exactly fitted the impression. | |
"See the value of imagination," said Holmes. "It is the one quality | |
which Gregory lacks. We imagined what might have happened, acted upon | |
the supposition, and find ourselves justified. Let us proceed." | |
We crossed the marshy bottom and passed over a quarter of a mile of | |
dry, hard turf. Again the ground sloped, and again we came on the | |
tracks. Then we lost them for half a mile, but only to pick them up | |
once more quite close to Mapleton. It was Holmes who saw them first, | |
and he stood pointing with a look of triumph upon his face. A man's | |
track was visible beside the horse's. | |
"The horse was alone before," I cried. | |
"Quite so. It was alone before. Hullo, what is this?" | |
The double track turned sharp off and took the direction of King's | |
Pyland. Holmes whistled, and we both followed along after it. His | |
eyes were on the trail, but I happened to look a little to one side, | |
and saw to my surprise the same tracks coming back again in the | |
opposite direction. | |
"One for you, Watson," said Holmes, when I pointed it out. "You have | |
saved us a long walk, which would have brought us back on our own | |
traces. Let us follow the return track." | |
We had not to go far. It ended at the paving of asphalt which led up | |
to the gates of the Mapleton stables. As we approached, a groom ran | |
out from them. | |
"We don't want any loiterers about here," said he. | |
"I only wished to ask a question," said Holmes, with his finger and | |
thumb in his waistcoat pocket. "Should I be too early to see your | |
master, Mr. Silas Brown, if I were to call at five o'clock to-morrow | |
morning?" | |
"Bless you, sir, if any one is about he will be, for he is always the | |
first stirring. But here he is, sir, to answer your questions for | |
himself. No, sir, no; it is as much as my place is worth to let him | |
see me touch your money. Afterwards, if you like." | |
As Sherlock Holmes replaced the half-crown which he had drawn from | |
his pocket, a fierce-looking elderly man strode out from the gate | |
with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. | |
"What's this, Dawson!" he cried. "No gossiping! Go about your | |
business! And you, what the devil do you want here?" | |
"Ten minutes' talk with you, my good sir," said Holmes in the | |
sweetest of voices. | |
"I've no time to talk to every gadabout. We want no stranger here. Be | |
off, or you may find a dog at your heels." | |
Holmes leaned forward and whispered something in the trainer's ear. | |
He started violently and flushed to the temples. | |
"It's a lie!" he shouted, "an infernal lie!" | |
"Very good. Shall we argue about it here in public or talk it over in | |
your parlor?" | |
"Oh, come in if you wish to." | |
Holmes smiled. "I shall not keep you more than a few minutes, | |
Watson," said he. "Now, Mr. Brown, I am quite at your disposal." | |
It was twenty minutes, and the reds had all faded into grays before | |
Holmes and the trainer reappeared. Never have I seen such a change as | |
had been brought about in Silas Brown in that short time. His face | |
was ashy pale, beads of perspiration shone upon his brow, and his | |
hands shook until the hunting-crop wagged like a branch in the wind. | |
His bullying, overbearing manner was all gone too, and he cringed | |
along at my companion's side like a dog with its master. | |
"Your instructions will be done. It shall all be done," said he. | |
"There must be no mistake," said Holmes, looking round at him. The | |
other winced as he read the menace in his eyes. | |
"Oh no, there shall be no mistake. It shall be there. Should I change | |
it first or not?" | |
Holmes thought a little and then burst out laughing. "No, don't," | |
said he; "I shall write to you about it. No tricks, now, or--" | |
"Oh, you can trust me, you can trust me!" | |
"Yes, I think I can. Well, you shall hear from me to-morrow." He | |
turned upon his heel, disregarding the trembling hand which the other | |
held out to him, and we set off for King's Pyland. | |
"A more perfect compound of the bully, coward, and sneak than Master | |
Silas Brown I have seldom met with," remarked Holmes as we trudged | |
along together. | |
"He has the horse, then?" | |
"He tried to bluster out of it, but I described to him so exactly | |
what his actions had been upon that morning that he is convinced that | |
I was watching him. Of course you observed the peculiarly square toes | |
in the impressions, and that his own boots exactly corresponded to | |
them. Again, of course no subordinate would have dared to do such a | |
thing. I described to him how, when according to his custom he was | |
the first down, he perceived a strange horse wandering over the moor. | |
How he went out to it, and his astonishment at recognizing, from the | |
white forehead which has given the favorite its name, that chance had | |
put in his power the only horse which could beat the one upon which | |
he had put his money. Then I described how his first impulse had been | |
to lead him back to King's Pyland, and how the devil had shown him | |
how he could hide the horse until the race was over, and how he had | |
led it back and concealed it at Mapleton. When I told him every | |
detail he gave it up and thought only of saving his own skin." | |
"But his stables had been searched?" | |
"Oh, and old horse-faker like him has many a dodge." | |
"But are you not afraid to leave the horse in his power now, since he | |
has every interest in injuring it?" | |
"My dear fellow, he will guard it as the apple of his eye. He knows | |
that his only hope of mercy is to produce it safe." | |
"Colonel Ross did not impress me as a man who would be likely to show | |
much mercy in any case." | |
"The matter does not rest with Colonel Ross. I follow my own methods, | |
and tell as much or as little as I choose. That is the advantage of | |
being unofficial. I don't know whether you observed it, Watson, but | |
the Colonel's manner has been just a trifle cavalier to me. I am | |
inclined now to have a little amusement at his expense. Say nothing | |
to him about the horse." | |
"Certainly not without your permission." | |
"And of course this is all quite a minor point compared to the | |
question of who killed John Straker." | |
"And you will devote yourself to that?" | |
"On the contrary, we both go back to London by the night train." | |
I was thunderstruck by my friend's words. We had only been a few | |
hours in Devonshire, and that he should give up an investigation | |
which he had begun so brilliantly was quite incomprehensible to me. | |
Not a word more could I draw from him until we were back at the | |
trainer's house. The Colonel and the Inspector were awaiting us in | |
the parlor. | |
"My friend and I return to town by the night-express," said Holmes. | |
"We have had a charming little breath of your beautiful Dartmoor | |
air." | |
The Inspector opened his eyes, and the Colonel's lip curled in a | |
sneer. | |
"So you despair of arresting the murderer of poor Straker," said he. | |
Holmes shrugged his shoulders. "There are certainly grave | |
difficulties in the way," said he. "I have every hope, however, that | |
your horse will start upon Tuesday, and I beg that you will have your | |
jockey in readiness. Might I ask for a photograph of Mr. John | |
Straker?" | |
The Inspector took one from an envelope and handed it to him. | |
"My dear Gregory, you anticipate all my wants. If I might ask you to | |
wait here for an instant, I have a question which I should like to | |
put to the maid." | |
"I must say that I am rather disappointed in our London consultant," | |
said Colonel Ross, bluntly, as my friend left the room. "I do not see | |
that we are any further than when he came." | |
"At least you have his assurance that your horse will run," said I. | |
"Yes, I have his assurance," said the Colonel, with a shrug of his | |
shoulders. "I should prefer to have the horse." | |
I was about to make some reply in defence of my friend when he | |
entered the room again. | |
"Now, gentlemen," said he, "I am quite ready for Tavistock." | |
As we stepped into the carriage one of the stable-lads held the door | |
open for us. A sudden idea seemed to occur to Holmes, for he leaned | |
forward and touched the lad upon the sleeve. | |
"You have a few sheep in the paddock," he said. "Who attends to | |
them?" | |
"I do, sir." | |
"Have you noticed anything amiss with them of late?" | |
"Well, sir, not of much account; but three of them have gone lame, | |
sir." | |
I could see that Holmes was extremely pleased, for he chuckled and | |
rubbed his hands together. | |
"A long shot, Watson; a very long shot," said he, pinching my arm. | |
"Gregory, let me recommend to your attention this singular epidemic | |
among the sheep. Drive on, coachman!" | |
Colonel Ross still wore an expression which showed the poor opinion | |
which he had formed of my companion's ability, but I saw by the | |
Inspector's face that his attention had been keenly aroused. | |
"You consider that to be important?" he asked. | |
"Exceedingly so." | |
"Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?" | |
"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." | |
"The dog did nothing in the night-time." | |
"That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes. | |
Four days later Holmes and I were again in the train, bound for | |
Winchester to see the race for the Wessex Cup. Colonel Ross met us by | |
appointment outside the station, and we drove in his drag to the | |
course beyond the town. His face was grave, and his manner was cold | |
in the extreme. | |
"I have seen nothing of my horse," said he. | |
"I suppose that you would know him when you saw him?" asked Holmes. | |
The Colonel was very angry. "I have been on the turf for twenty | |
years, and never was asked such a question as that before," said he. | |
"A child would know Silver Blaze, with his white forehead and his | |
mottled off-foreleg." | |
"How is the betting?" | |
"Well, that is the curious part of it. You could have got fifteen to | |
one yesterday, but the price has become shorter and shorter, until | |
you can hardly get three to one now." | |
"Hum!" said Holmes. "Somebody knows something, that is clear." | |
As the drag drew up in the enclosure near the grand stand I glanced | |
at the card to see the entries. | |
Wessex Plate [it ran] 50 sovs. each h ft with 1000 sovs. added, for | |
four and five year olds. Second, £300. Third, £200. New course (one | |
mile and five furlongs). | |
1. Mr. Heath Newton's The Negro. Red cap. Cinnamon jacket. | |
2. Colonel Wardlaw's Pugilist. Pink cap. Blue and black jacket. | |
3. Lord Backwater's Desborough. Yellow cap and sleeves. | |
4. Colonel Ross's Silver Blaze. Black cap. Red jacket. | |
5. Duke of Balmoral's Iris. Yellow and black stripes. | |
6. Lord Singleford's Rasper. Purple cap. Black sleeves. | |
"We scratched our other one, and put all hopes on your word," said | |
the Colonel. "Why, what is that? Silver Blaze favorite?" | |
"Five to four against Silver Blaze!" roared the ring. "Five to four | |
against Silver Blaze! Five to fifteen against Desborough! Five to | |
four on the field!" | |
"There are the numbers up," I cried. "They are all six there." | |
"All six there? Then my horse is running," cried the Colonel in great | |
agitation. "But I don't see him. My colors have not passed." | |
"Only five have passed. This must be he." | |
As I spoke a powerful bay horse swept out from the weighting | |
enclosure and cantered past us, bearing on its back the well-known | |
black and red of the Colonel. | |
"That's not my horse," cried the owner. "That beast has not a white | |
hair upon its body. What is this that you have done, Mr. Holmes?" | |
"Well, well, let us see how he gets on," said my friend, | |
imperturbably. For a few minutes he gazed through my field-glass. | |
"Capital! An excellent start!" he cried suddenly. "There they are, | |
coming round the curve!" | |
From our drag we had a superb view as they came up the straight. The | |
six horses were so close together that a carpet could have covered | |
them, but half way up the yellow of the Mapleton stable showed to the | |
front. Before they reached us, however, Desborough's bolt was shot, | |
and the Colonel's horse, coming away with a rush, passed the post a | |
good six lengths before its rival, the Duke of Balmoral's Iris making | |
a bad third. | |
"It's my race, anyhow," gasped the Colonel, passing his hand over his | |
eyes. "I confess that I can make neither head nor tail of it. Don't | |
you think that you have kept up your mystery long enough, Mr. | |
Holmes?" | |
"Certainly, Colonel, you shall know everything. Let us all go round | |
and have a look at the horse together. Here he is," he continued, as | |
we made our way into the weighing enclosure, where only owners and | |
their friends find admittance. "You have only to wash his face and | |
his leg in spirits of wine, and you will find that he is the same old | |
Silver Blaze as ever." | |
"You take my breath away!" | |
"I found him in the hands of a faker, and took the liberty of running | |
him just as he was sent over." | |
"My dear sir, you have done wonders. The horse looks very fit and | |
well. It never went better in its life. I owe you a thousand | |
apologies for having doubted your ability. You have done me a great | |
service by recovering my horse. You would do me a greater still if | |
you could lay your hands on the murderer of John Straker." | |
"I have done so," said Holmes quietly. | |
The Colonel and I stared at him in amazement. "You have got him! | |
Where is he, then?" | |
"He is here." | |
"Here! Where?" | |
"In my company at the present moment." | |
The Colonel flushed angrily. "I quite recognize that I am under | |
obligations to you, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but I must regard what you | |
have just said as either a very bad joke or an insult." | |
Sherlock Holmes laughed. "I assure you that I have not associated you | |
with the crime, Colonel," said he. "The real murderer is standing | |
immediately behind you." He stepped past and laid his hand upon the | |
glossy neck of the thoroughbred. | |
"The horse!" cried both the Colonel and myself. | |
"Yes, the horse. And it may lessen his guilt if I say that it was | |
done in self-defence, and that John Straker was a man who was | |
entirely unworthy of your confidence. But there goes the bell, and as | |
I stand to win a little on this next race, I shall defer a lengthy | |
explanation until a more fitting time." | |
We had the corner of a Pullman car to ourselves that evening as we | |
whirled back to London, and I fancy that the journey was a short one | |
to Colonel Ross as well as to myself, as we listened to our | |
companion's narrative of the events which had occurred at the | |
Dartmoor training-stables upon the Monday night, and the means by | |
which he had unravelled them. | |
"I confess," said he, "that any theories which I had formed from the | |
newspaper reports were entirely erroneous. And yet there were | |
indications there, had they not been overlaid by other details which | |
concealed their true import. I went to Devonshire with the conviction | |
that Fitzroy Simpson was the true culprit, although, of course, I saw | |
that the evidence against him was by no means complete. It was while | |
I was in the carriage, just as we reached the trainer's house, that | |
the immense significance of the curried mutton occurred to me. You | |
may remember that I was distrait, and remained sitting after you had | |
all alighted. I was marvelling in my own mind how I could possibly | |
have overlooked so obvious a clue." | |
"I confess," said the Colonel, "that even now I cannot see how it | |
helps us." | |
"It was the first link in my chain of reasoning. Powdered opium is by | |
no means tasteless. The flavor is not disagreeable, but it is | |
perceptible. Were it mixed with any ordinary dish the eater would | |
undoubtedly detect it, and would probably eat no more. A curry was | |
exactly the medium which would disguise this taste. By no possible | |
supposition could this stranger, Fitzroy Simpson, have caused curry | |
to be served in the trainer's family that night, and it is surely too | |
monstrous a coincidence to suppose that he happened to come along | |
with powdered opium upon the very night when a dish happened to be | |
served which would disguise the flavor. That is unthinkable. | |
Therefore Simpson becomes eliminated from the case, and our attention | |
centers upon Straker and his wife, the only two people who could have | |
chosen curried mutton for supper that night. The opium was added | |
after the dish was set aside for the stable-boy, for the others had | |
the same for supper with no ill effects. Which of them, then, had | |
access to that dish without the maid seeing them? | |
"Before deciding that question I had grasped the significance of the | |
silence of the dog, for one true inference invariably suggests | |
others. The Simpson incident had shown me that a dog was kept in the | |
stables, and yet, though some one had been in and had fetched out a | |
horse, he had not barked enough to arouse the two lads in the loft. | |
Obviously the midnight visitor was some one whom the dog knew well. | |
"I was already convinced, or almost convinced, that John Straker went | |
down to the stables in the dead of the night and took out Silver | |
Blaze. For what purpose? For a dishonest one, obviously, or why | |
should he drug his own stable-boy? And yet I was at a loss to know | |
why. There have been cases before now where trainers have made sure | |
of great sums of money by laying against their own horses, through | |
agents, and then preventing them from winning by fraud. Sometimes it | |
is a pulling jockey. Sometimes it is some surer and subtler means. | |
What was it here? I hoped that the contents of his pockets might help | |
me to form a conclusion. | |
"And they did so. You cannot have forgotten the singular knife which | |
was found in the dead man's hand, a knife which certainly no sane man | |
would choose for a weapon. It was, as Dr. Watson told us, a form of | |
knife which is used for the most delicate operations known in | |
surgery. And it was to be used for a delicate operation that night. | |
You must know, with your wide experience of turf matters, Colonel | |
Ross, that it is possible to make a slight nick upon the tendons of a | |
horse's ham, and to do it subcutaneously, so as to leave absolutely | |
no trace. A horse so treated would develop a slight lameness, which | |
would be put down to a strain in exercise or a touch of rheumatism, | |
but never to foul play." | |
"Villain! Scoundrel!" cried the Colonel. | |
"We have here the explanation of why John Straker wished to take the | |
horse out on to the moor. So spirited a creature would have certainly | |
roused the soundest of sleepers when it felt the prick of the knife. | |
It was absolutely necessary to do it in the open air." | |
"I have been blind!" cried the Colonel. "Of course that was why he | |
needed the candle, and struck the match." | |
"Undoubtedly. But in examining his belongings I was fortunate enough | |
to discover not only the method of the crime, but even its motives. | |
As a man of the world, Colonel, you know that men do not carry other | |
people's bills about in their pockets. We have most of us quite | |
enough to do to settle our own. I at once concluded that Straker was | |
leading a double life, and keeping a second establishment. The nature | |
of the bill showed that there was a lady in the case, and one who had | |
expensive tastes. Liberal as you are with your servants, one can | |
hardly expect that they can buy twenty-guinea walking dresses for | |
their ladies. I questioned Mrs. Straker as to the dress without her | |
knowing it, and having satisfied myself that it had never reached | |
her, I made a note of the milliner's address, and felt that by | |
calling there with Straker's photograph I could easily dispose of the | |
mythical Derbyshire. | |
"From that time on all was plain. Straker had led out the horse to a | |
hollow where his light would be invisible. Simpson in his flight had | |
dropped his cravat, and Straker had picked it up--with some idea, | |
perhaps, that he might use it in securing the horse's leg. Once in | |
the hollow, he had got behind the horse and had struck a light; but | |
the creature frightened at the sudden glare, and with the strange | |
instinct of animals feeling that some mischief was intended, had | |
lashed out, and the steel shoe had struck Straker full on the | |
forehead. He had already, in spite of the rain, taken off his | |
overcoat in order to do his delicate task, and so, as he fell, his | |
knife gashed his thigh. Do I make it clear?" | |
"Wonderful!" cried the Colonel. "Wonderful! You might have been | |
there!" | |
"My final shot was, I confess a very long one. It struck me that so | |
astute a man as Straker would not undertake this delicate | |
tendon-nicking without a little practice. What could he practice on? | |
My eyes fell upon the sheep, and I asked a question which, rather to | |
my surprise, showed that my surmise was correct. | |
"When I returned to London I called upon the milliner, who had | |
recognized Straker as an excellent customer of the name of | |
Derbyshire, who had a very dashing wife, with a strong partiality for | |
expensive dresses. I have no doubt that this woman had plunged him | |
over head and ears in debt, and so led him into this miserable plot." | |
"You have explained all but one thing," cried the Colonel. "Where was | |
the horse?" | |
"Ah, it bolted, and was cared for by one of your neighbors. We must | |
have an amnesty in that direction, I think. This is Clapham Junction, | |
if I am not mistaken, and we shall be in Victoria in less than ten | |
minutes. If you care to smoke a cigar in our rooms, Colonel, I shall | |
be happy to give you any other details which might interest you." | |
THE YELLOW FACE | |
[In publishing these short sketches based upon the numerous cases in | |
which my companion's singular gifts have made us the listeners to, | |
and eventually the actors in, some strange drama, it is only natural | |
that I should dwell rather upon his successes than upon his failures. | |
And this not so much for the sake of his reputations--for, indeed, it | |
was when he was at his wits' end that his energy and his versatility | |
were most admirable--but because where he failed it happened too | |
often that no one else succeeded, and that the tale was left forever | |
without a conclusion. Now and again, however, it chanced that even | |
when he erred, the truth was still discovered. I have noted of some | |
half-dozen cases of the kind of which "The Adventure of the Musgrave | |
Ritual" and that which I am about to recount are the two which | |
present the strongest features of interest.] | |
Sherlock Holmes was a man who seldom took exercise for exercise's | |
sake. Few men were capable of greater muscular effort, and he was | |
undoubtedly one of the finest boxers of his weight that I have ever | |
seen; but he looked upon aimless bodily exertion as a waste of | |
energy, and he seldom bestirred himself save when there was some | |
professional object to be served. Then he was absolutely untiring and | |
indefatigable. That he should have kept himself in training under | |
such circumstances is remarkable, but his diet was usually of the | |
sparest, and his habits were simple to the verge of austerity. Save | |
for the occasional use of cocaine, he had no vices, and he only | |
turned to the drug as a protest against the monotony of existence | |
when cases were scanty and the papers uninteresting. | |
One day in early spring he had so far relaxed as to go for a walk | |
with me in the Park, where the first faint shoots of green were | |
breaking out upon the elms, and the sticky spear-heads of the | |
chestnuts were just beginning to burst into their five-fold leaves. | |
For two hours we rambled about together, in silence for the most | |
part, as befits two men who know each other intimately. It was nearly | |
five before we were back in Baker Street once more. | |
"Beg pardon, sir," said our page-boy, as he opened the door. "There's | |
been a gentleman here asking for you, sir." | |
Holmes glanced reproachfully at me. "So much for afternoon walks!" | |
said he. "Has this gentleman gone, then?" | |
"Yes, sir." | |
"Didn't you ask him in?" | |
"Yes, sir; he came in." | |
"How long did he wait?" | |
"Half an hour, sir. He was a very restless gentleman, sir, a-walkin' | |
and a-stampin' all the time he was here. I was waitin' outside the | |
door, sir, and I could hear him. At last he outs into the passage, | |
and he cries, 'Is that man never goin' to come?' Those were his very | |
words, sir. 'You'll only need to wait a little longer,' says I. 'Then | |
I'll wait in the open air, for I feel half choked,' says he. 'I'll be | |
back before long.' And with that he ups and he outs, and all I could | |
say wouldn't hold him back." | |
"Well, well, you did your best," said Holmes, as we walked into our | |
room. "It's very annoying, though, Watson. I was badly in need of a | |
case, and this looks, from the man's impatience, as if it were of | |
importance. Hullo! That's not your pipe on the table. He must have | |
left his behind him. A nice old brier with a good long stem of what | |
the tobacconists call amber. I wonder how many real amber mouthpieces | |
there are in London? Some people think that a fly in it is a sign. | |
Well, he must have been disturbed in his mind to leave a pipe behind | |
him which he evidently values highly." | |
"How do you know that he values it highly?" I asked. | |
"Well, I should put the original cost of the pipe at seven and | |
sixpence. Now it has, you see, been twice mended, once in the wooden | |
stem and once in the amber. Each of these mends, done, as you | |
observe, with silver bands, must have cost more than the pipe did | |
originally. The man must value the pipe highly when he prefers to | |
patch it up rather than buy a new one with the same money." | |
"Anything else?" I asked, for Holmes was turning the pipe about in | |
his hand, and staring at it in his peculiar pensive way. | |
He held it up and tapped on it with his long, thin fore-finger, as a | |
professor might who was lecturing on a bone. | |
"Pipes are occasionally of extraordinary interest," said he. "Nothing | |
has more individuality, save perhaps watches and bootlaces. The | |
indications here, however, are neither very marked nor very | |
important. The owner is obviously a muscular man, left-handed, with | |
an excellent set of teeth, careless in his habits, and with no need | |
to practise economy." | |
My friend threw out the information in a very offhand way, but I saw | |
that he cocked his eye at me to see if I had followed his reasoning. | |
"You think a man must be well-to-do if he smokes a seven-shilling | |
pipe," said I. | |
"This is Grosvenor mixture at eightpence an ounce," Holmes answered, | |
knocking a little out on his palm. "As he might get an excellent | |
smoke for half the price, he has no need to practise economy." | |
"And the other points?" | |
"He has been in the habit of lighting his pipe at lamps and gas-jets. | |
You can see that it is quite charred all down one side. Of course a | |
match could not have done that. Why should a man hold a match to the | |
side of his pipe? But you cannot light it at a lamp without getting | |
the bowl charred. And it is all on the right side of the pipe. From | |
that I gather that he is a left-handed man. You hold your own pipe to | |
the lamp, and see how naturally you, being right-handed, hold the | |
left side to the flame. You might do it once the other way, but not | |
as a constancy. This has always been held so. Then he has bitten | |
through his amber. It takes a muscular, energetic fellow, and one | |
with a good set of teeth, to do that. But if I am not mistaken I hear | |
him upon the stair, so we shall have something more interesting than | |
his pipe to study." | |
An instant later our door opened, and a tall young man entered the | |
room. He was well but quietly dressed in a dark-gray suit, and | |
carried a brown wide-awake in his hand. I should have put him at | |
about thirty, though he was really some years older. | |
"I beg your pardon," said he, with some embarrassment; "I suppose I | |
should have knocked. Yes, of course I should have knocked. The fact | |
is that I am a little upset, and you must put it all down to that." | |
He passed his hand over his forehead like a man who is half dazed, | |
and then fell rather than sat down upon a chair. | |
"I can see that you have not slept for a night or two," said Holmes, | |
in his easy, genial way. "That tries a man's nerves more than work, | |
and more even than pleasure. May I ask how I can help you?" | |
"I wanted your advice, sir. I don't know what to do and my whole life | |
seems to have gone to pieces." | |
"You wish to employ me as a consulting detective?" | |
"Not that only. I want your opinion as a judicious man--as a man of | |
the world. I want to know what I ought to do next. I hope to God | |
you'll be able to tell me." | |
He spoke in little, sharp, jerky outbursts, and it seemed to me that | |
to speak at all was very painful to him, and that his will all | |
through was overriding his inclinations. | |
"It's a very delicate thing," said he. "One does not like to speak of | |
one's domestic affairs to strangers. It seems dreadful to discuss the | |
conduct of one's wife with two men whom I have never seen before. | |
It's horrible to have to do it. But I've got to the end of my tether, | |
and I must have advice." | |
"My dear Mr. Grant Munro--" began Holmes. | |
Our visitor sprang from his chair. "What!" he cried, "you know my | |
name?" | |
"If you wish to preserve your incognito," said Holmes, smiling, "I | |
would suggest that you cease to write your name upon the lining of | |
your hat, or else that you turn the crown towards the person whom you | |
are addressing. I was about to say that my friend and I have listened | |
to a good many strange secrets in this room, and that we have had the | |
good fortune to bring peace to many troubled souls. I trust that we | |
may do as much for you. Might I beg you, as time may prove to be of | |
importance, to furnish me with the facts of your case without further | |
delay?" | |
Our visitor again passed his hand over his forehead, as if he found | |
it bitterly hard. From every gesture and expression I could see that | |
he was a reserved, self-contained man, with a dash of pride in his | |
nature, more likely to hide his wounds than to expose them. Then | |
suddenly, with a fierce gesture of his closed hand, like one who | |
throws reserve to the winds, he began. | |
"The facts are these, Mr. Holmes," said he. "I am a married man, and | |
have been so for three years. During that time my wife and I have | |
loved each other as fondly and lived as happily as any two that ever | |
were joined. We have not had a difference, not one, in thought or | |
word or deed. And now, since last Monday, there has suddenly sprung | |
up a barrier between us, and I find that there is something in her | |
life and in her thought of which I know as little as if she were the | |
woman who brushes by me in the street. We are estranged, and I want | |
to know why. | |
"Now there is one thing that I want to impress upon you before I go | |
any further, Mr. Holmes. Effie loves me. Don't let there be any | |
mistake about that. She loves me with her whole heart and soul, and | |
never more than now. I know it. I feel it. I don't want to argue | |
about that. A man can tell easily enough when a woman loves him. But | |
there's this secret between us, and we can never be the same until it | |
is cleared." | |
"Kindly let me have the facts, Mr. Munro," said Holmes, with some | |
impatience. | |
"I'll tell you what I know about Effie's history. She was a widow | |
when I met her first, though quite young--only twenty-five. Her name | |
then was Mrs. Hebron. She went out to America when she was young, and | |
lived in the town of Atlanta, where she married this Hebron, who was | |
a lawyer with a good practice. They had one child, but the yellow | |
fever broke out badly in the place, and both husband and child died | |
of it. I have seen his death certificate. This sickened her of | |
America, and she came back to live with a maiden aunt at Pinner, in | |
Middlesex. I may mention that her husband had left her comfortably | |
off, and that she had a capital of about four thousand five hundred | |
pounds, which had been so well invested by him that it returned an | |
average of seven per cent. She had only been six months at Pinner | |
when I met her; we fell in love with each other, and we married a few | |
weeks afterwards. | |
"I am a hop merchant myself, and as I have an income of seven or | |
eight hundred, we found ourselves comfortably off, and took a nice | |
eighty-pound-a-year villa at Norbury. Our little place was very | |
countrified, considering that it is so close to town. We had an inn | |
and two houses a little above us, and a single cottage at the other | |
side of the field which faces us, and except those there were no | |
houses until you got half way to the station. My business took me | |
into town at certain seasons, but in summer I had less to do, and | |
then in our country home my wife and I were just as happy as could be | |
wished. I tell you that there never was a shadow between us until | |
this accursed affair began. | |
"There's one thing I ought to tell you before I go further. When we | |
married, my wife made over all her property to me--rather against my | |
will, for I saw how awkward it would be if my business affairs went | |
wrong. However, she would have it so, and it was done. Well, about | |
six weeks ago she came to me. | |
"'Jack,' said she, 'when you took my money you said that if ever I | |
wanted any I was to ask you for it.' | |
"'Certainly,' said I. 'It's all your own.' | |
"'Well,' said she, 'I want a hundred pounds.' | |
"I was a bit staggered at this, for I had imagined it was simply a | |
new dress or something of the kind that she was after. | |
"'What on earth for?' I asked. | |
"'Oh,' said she, in her playful way, 'you said that you were only my | |
banker, and bankers never ask questions, you know.' | |
"'If you really mean it, of course you shall have the money,' said I. | |
"'Oh, yes, I really mean it.' | |
"'And you won't tell me what you want it for?' | |
"'Some day, perhaps, but not just at present, Jack.' | |
"So I had to be content with that, though it was the first time that | |
there had ever been any secret between us. I gave her a check, and I | |
never thought any more of the matter. It may have nothing to do with | |
what came afterwards, but I thought it only right to mention it. | |
"Well, I told you just now that there is a cottage not far from our | |
house. There is just a field between us, but to reach it you have to | |
go along the road and then turn down a lane. Just beyond it is a nice | |
little grove of Scotch firs, and I used to be very fond of strolling | |
down there, for trees are always a neighborly kind of things. The | |
cottage had been standing empty this eight months, and it was a pity, | |
for it was a pretty two storied place, with an old-fashioned porch | |
and honeysuckle about it. I have stood many a time and thought what a | |
neat little homestead it would make. | |
"Well, last Monday evening I was taking a stroll down that way, when | |
I met an empty van coming up the lane, and saw a pile of carpets and | |
things lying about on the grass-plot beside the porch. It was clear | |
that the cottage had at last been let. I walked past it, and wondered | |
what sort of folk they were who had come to live so near us. And as I | |
looked I suddenly became aware that a face was watching me out of one | |
of the upper windows. | |
"I don't know what there was about that face, Mr. Holmes, but it | |
seemed to send a chill right down my back. I was some little way off, | |
so that I could not make out the features, but there was something | |
unnatural and inhuman about the face. That was the impression that I | |
had, and I moved quickly forwards to get a nearer view of the person | |
who was watching me. But as I did so the face suddenly disappeared, | |
so suddenly that it seemed to have been plucked away into the | |
darkness of the room. I stood for five minutes thinking the business | |
over, and trying to analyze my impressions. I could not tell if the | |
face were that of a man or a woman. It had been too far from me for | |
that. But its color was what had impressed me most. It was of a livid | |
chalky white, and with something set and rigid about it which was | |
shockingly unnatural. So disturbed was I that I determined to see a | |
little more of the new inmates of the cottage. I approached and | |
knocked at the door, which was instantly opened by a tall, gaunt | |
woman with a harsh, forbidding face. | |
"'What may you be wantin'?' she asked, in a Northern accent. | |
"'I am your neighbor over yonder,' said I, nodding towards my house. | |
'I see that you have only just moved in, so I thought that if I could | |
be of any help to you in any--' | |
"'Ay, we'll just ask ye when we want ye,' said she, and shut the door | |
in my face. Annoyed at the churlish rebuff, I turned my back and | |
walked home. All evening, though I tried to think of other things, my | |
mind would still turn to the apparition at the window and the | |
rudeness of the woman. I determined to say nothing about the former | |
to my wife, for she is a nervous, highly strung woman, and I had no | |
wish that she would share the unpleasant impression which had been | |
produced upon myself. I remarked to her, however, before I fell | |
asleep, that the cottage was now occupied, to which she returned no | |
reply. | |
"I am usually an extremely sound sleeper. It has been a standing jest | |
in the family that nothing could ever wake me during the night. And | |
yet somehow on that particular night, whether it may have been the | |
slight excitement produced by my little adventure or not I know not, | |
but I slept much more lightly than usual. Half in my dreams I was | |
dimly conscious that something was going on in the room, and | |
gradually became aware that my wife had dressed herself and was | |
slipping on her mantle and her bonnet. My lips were parted to murmur | |
out some sleepy words of surprise or remonstrance at this untimely | |
preparation, when suddenly my half-opened eyes fell upon her face, | |
illuminated by the candle-light, and astonishment held me dumb. She | |
wore an expression such as I had never seen before--such as I should | |
have thought her incapable of assuming. She was deadly pale and | |
breathing fast, glancing furtively towards the bed as she fastened | |
her mantle, to see if she had disturbed me. Then, thinking that I was | |
still asleep, she slipped noiselessly from the room, and an instant | |
later I heard a sharp creaking which could only come from the hinges | |
of the front door. I sat up in bed and rapped my knuckles against the | |
rail to make certain that I was truly awake. Then I took my watch | |
from under the pillow. It was three in the morning. What on this | |
earth could my wife be doing out on the country road at three in the | |
morning? | |
"I had sat for about twenty minutes turning the thing over in my mind | |
and trying to find some possible explanation. The more I thought, the | |
more extraordinary and inexplicable did it appear. I was still | |
puzzling over it when I heard the door gently close again, and her | |
footsteps coming up the stairs. | |
"'Where in the world have you been, Effie?' I asked as she entered. | |
"She gave a violent start and a kind of gasping cry when I spoke, and | |
that cry and start troubled me more than all the rest, for there was | |
something indescribably guilty about them. My wife had always been a | |
woman of a frank, open nature, and it gave me a chill to see her | |
slinking into her own room, and crying out and wincing when her own | |
husband spoke to her. | |
"'You awake, Jack!' she cried, with a nervous laugh. 'Why, I thought | |
that nothing could awake you.' | |
"'Where have you been?' I asked, more sternly. | |
"'I don't wonder that you are surprised,' said she, and I could see | |
that her fingers were trembling as she undid the fastenings of her | |
mantle. 'Why, I never remember having done such a thing in my life | |
before. The fact is that I felt as though I were choking, and had a | |
perfect longing for a breath of fresh air. I really think that I | |
should have fainted if I had not gone out. I stood at the door for a | |
few minutes, and now I am quite myself again.' | |
"All the time that she was telling me this story she never once | |
looked in my direction, and her voice was quite unlike her usual | |
tones. It was evident to me that she was saying what was false. I | |
said nothing in reply, but turned my face to the wall, sick at heart, | |
with my mind filled with a thousand venomous doubts and suspicions. | |
What was it that my wife was concealing from me? Where had she been | |
during that strange expedition? I felt that I should have no peace | |
until I knew, and yet I shrank from asking her again after once she | |
had told me what was false. All the rest of the night I tossed and | |
tumbled, framing theory after theory, each more unlikely than the | |
last. | |
"I should have gone to the City that day, but I was too disturbed in | |
my mind to be able to pay attention to business matters. My wife | |
seemed to be as upset as myself, and I could see from the little | |
questioning glances which she kept shooting at me that she understood | |
that I disbelieved her statement, and that she was at her wits' end | |
what to do. We hardly exchanged a word during breakfast, and | |
immediately afterwards I went out for a walk, that I might think the | |
matter out in the fresh morning air. | |
"I went as far as the Crystal Palace, spent an hour in the grounds, | |
and was back in Norbury by one o'clock. It happened that my way took | |
me past the cottage, and I stopped for an instant to look at the | |
windows, and to see if I could catch a glimpse of the strange face | |
which had looked out at me on the day before. As I stood there, | |
imagine my surprise, Mr. Holmes, when the door suddenly opened and my | |
wife walked out. | |
"I was struck dumb with astonishment at the sight of her; but my | |
emotions were nothing to those which showed themselves upon her face | |
when our eyes met. She seemed for an instant to wish to shrink back | |
inside the house again; and then, seeing how useless all concealment | |
must be, she came forward, with a very white face and frightened eyes | |
which belied the smile upon her lips. | |
"'Ah, Jack,' she said, 'I have just been in to see if I can be of any | |
assistance to our new neighbors. Why do you look at me like that, | |
Jack? You are not angry with me?' | |
"'So,' said I, 'this is where you went during the night.' | |
"'What do you mean?' she cried. | |
"'You came here. I am sure of it. Who are these people, that you | |
should visit them at such an hour?' | |
"'I have not been here before.' | |
"'How can you tell me what you know is false?' I cried. 'Your very | |
voice changes as you speak. When have I ever had a secret from you? I | |
shall enter that cottage, and I shall probe the matter to the | |
bottom.' | |
"'No, no, Jack, for God's sake!' she gasped, in uncontrollable | |
emotion. Then, as I approached the door, she seized my sleeve and | |
pulled me back with convulsive strength. | |
"'I implore you not to do this, Jack,' she cried. 'I swear that I | |
will tell you everything some day, but nothing but misery can come of | |
it if you enter that cottage.' Then, as I tried to shake her off, she | |
clung to me in a frenzy of entreaty. | |
"'Trust me, Jack!' she cried. 'Trust me only this once. You will | |
never have cause to regret it. You know that I would not have a | |
secret from you if it were not for your own sake. Our whole lives are | |
at stake in this. If you come home with me, all will be well. If you | |
force your way into that cottage, all is over between us.' | |
"There was such earnestness, such despair, in her manner that her | |
words arrested me, and I stood irresolute before the door. | |
"'I will trust you on one condition, and on one condition only,' said | |
I at last. 'It is that this mystery comes to an end from now. You are | |
at liberty to preserve your secret, but you must promise me that | |
there shall be no more nightly visits, no more doings which are kept | |
from my knowledge. I am willing to forget those which are passed if | |
you will promise that there shall be no more in the future.' | |
"'I was sure that you would trust me,' she cried, with a great sigh | |
of relief. 'It shall be just as you wish. Come away--oh, come away up | |
to the house.' | |
"Still pulling at my sleeve, she led me away from the cottage. As we | |
went I glanced back, and there was that yellow livid face watching us | |
out of the upper window. What link could there be between that | |
creature and my wife? Or how could the coarse, rough woman whom I had | |
seen the day before be connected with her? It was a strange puzzle, | |
and yet I knew that my mind could never know ease again until I had | |
solved it. | |
"For two days after this I stayed at home, and my wife appeared to | |
abide loyally by our engagement, for, as far as I know, she never | |
stirred out of the house. On the third day, however, I had ample | |
evidence that her solemn promise was not enough to hold her back from | |
this secret influence which drew her away from her husband and her | |
duty. | |
"I had gone into town on that day, but I returned by the 2.40 instead | |
of the 3.36, which is my usual train. As I entered the house the maid | |
ran into the hall with a startled face. | |
"'Where is your mistress?' I asked. | |
"'I think that she has gone out for a walk,' she answered. | |
"My mind was instantly filled with suspicion. I rushed upstairs to | |
make sure that she was not in the house. As I did so I happened to | |
glance out of one of the upper windows, and saw the maid with whom I | |
had just been speaking running across the field in the direction of | |
the cottage. Then of course I saw exactly what it all meant. My wife | |
had gone over there, and had asked the servant to call her if I | |
should return. Tingling with anger, I rushed down and hurried across, | |
determined to end the matter once and forever. I saw my wife and the | |
maid hurrying back along the lane, but I did not stop to speak with | |
them. In the cottage lay the secret which was casting a shadow over | |
my life. I vowed that, come what might, it should be a secret no | |
longer. I did not even knock when I reached it, but turned the handle | |
and rushed into the passage. | |
"It was all still and quiet upon the ground floor. In the kitchen a | |
kettle was singing on the fire, and a large black cat lay coiled up | |
in the basket; but there was no sign of the woman whom I had seen | |
before. I ran into the other room, but it was equally deserted. Then | |
I rushed up the stairs, only to find two other rooms empty and | |
deserted at the top. There was no one at all in the whole house. The | |
furniture and pictures were of the most common and vulgar | |
description, save in the one chamber at the window of which I had | |
seen the strange face. That was comfortable and elegant, and all my | |
suspicions rose into a fierce bitter flame when I saw that on the | |
mantelpiece stood a copy of a full-length photograph of my wife, | |
which had been taken at my request only three months ago. | |
"I stayed long enough to make certain that the house was absolutely | |
empty. Then I left it, feeling a weight at my heart such as I had | |
never had before. My wife came out into the hall as I entered my | |
house; but I was too hurt and angry to speak with her, and pushing | |
past her, I made my way into my study. She followed me, however, | |
before I could close the door. | |
"'I am sorry that I broke my promise, Jack,' said she; 'but if you | |
knew all the circumstances I am sure that you would forgive me.' | |
"'Tell me everything, then,' said I. | |
"'I cannot, Jack, I cannot,' she cried. | |
"'Until you tell me who it is that has been living in that cottage, | |
and who it is to whom you have given that photograph, there can never | |
be any confidence between us,' said I, and breaking away from her, I | |
left the house. That was yesterday, Mr. Holmes, and I have not seen | |
her since, nor do I know anything more about this strange business. | |
It is the first shadow that has come between us, and it has so shaken | |
me that I do not know what I should do for the best. Suddenly this | |
morning it occurred to me that you were the man to advise me, so I | |
have hurried to you now, and I place myself unreservedly in your | |
hands. If there is any point which I have not made clear, pray | |
question me about it. But, above all, tell me quickly what I am to | |
do, for this misery is more than I can bear." | |
Holmes and I had listened with the utmost interest to this | |
extraordinary statement, which had been delivered in the jerky, | |
broken fashion of a man who is under the influence of extreme | |
emotions. My companion sat silent for some time, with his chin upon | |
his hand, lost in thought. | |
"Tell me," said he at last, "could you swear that this was a man's | |
face which you saw at the window?" | |
"Each time that I saw it I was some distance away from it, so that it | |
is impossible for me to say." | |
"You appear, however, to have been disagreeably impressed by it." | |
"It seemed to be of an unnatural color, and to have a strange | |
rigidity about the features. When I approached, it vanished with a | |
jerk." | |
"How long is it since your wife asked you for a hundred pounds?" | |
"Nearly two months." | |
"Have you ever seen a photograph of her first husband?" | |
"No; there was a great fire at Atlanta very shortly after his death, | |
and all her papers were destroyed." | |
"And yet she had a certificate of death. You say that you saw it." | |
"Yes; she got a duplicate after the fire." | |
"Did you ever meet any one who knew her in America?" | |
"No." | |
"Did she ever talk of revisiting the place?" | |
"No." | |
"Or get letters from it?" | |
"No." | |
"Thank you. I should like to think over the matter a little now. If | |
the cottage is now permanently deserted we may have some difficulty. | |
If, on the other hand, as I fancy is more likely, the inmates were | |
warned of your coming, and left before you entered yesterday, then | |
they may be back now, and we should clear it all up easily. Let me | |
advise you, then, to return to Norbury, and to examine the windows of | |
the cottage again. If you have reason to believe that is inhabited, | |
do not force your way in, but send a wire to my friend and me. We | |
shall be with you within an hour of receiving it, and we shall then | |
very soon get to the bottom of the business." | |
"And if it is still empty?" | |
"In that case I shall come out to-morrow and talk it over with you. | |
Good-bye, and, above all, do not fret until you know that you really | |
have a cause for it." | |
"I am afraid that this is a bad business, Watson," said my companion, | |
as he returned after accompanying Mr. Grant Munro to the door. "What | |
do you make of it?" | |
"It had an ugly sound," I answered. | |
"Yes. There's blackmail in it, or I am much mistaken." | |
"And who is the blackmailer?" | |
"Well, it must be the creature who lives in the only comfortable room | |
in the place, and has her photograph above his fireplace. Upon my | |
word, Watson, there is something very attractive about that livid | |
face at the window, and I would not have missed the case for worlds." | |
"You have a theory?" | |
"Yes, a provisional one. But I shall be surprised if it does not turn | |
out to be correct. This woman's first husband is in that cottage." | |
"Why do you think so?" | |
"How else can we explain her frenzied anxiety that her second one | |
should not enter it? The facts, as I read them, are something like | |
this: This woman was married in America. Her husband developed some | |
hateful qualities; or shall we say that he contracted some loathsome | |
disease, and became a leper or an imbecile? She flies from him at | |
last, returns to England, changes her name, and starts her life, as | |
she thinks, afresh. She has been married three years, and believes | |
that her position is quite secure, having shown her husband the death | |
certificate of some man whose name she has assumed, when suddenly her | |
whereabouts is discovered by her first husband; or, we may suppose, | |
by some unscrupulous woman who has attached herself to the invalid. | |
They write to the wife, and threaten to come and expose her. She asks | |
for a hundred pounds, and endeavors to buy them off. They come in | |
spite of it, and when the husband mentions casually to the wife that | |
there are new-comers in the cottage, she knows in some way that they | |
are her pursuers. She waits until her husband is asleep, and then she | |
rushes down to endeavor to persuade them to leave her in peace. | |
Having no success, she goes again next morning, and her husband meets | |
her, as he has told us, as she comes out. She promises him then not | |
to go there again, but two days afterwards the hope of getting rid of | |
those dreadful neighbors was too strong for her, and she made another | |
attempt, taking down with her the photograph which had probably been | |
demanded from her. In the midst of this interview the maid rushed in | |
to say that the master had come home, on which the wife, knowing that | |
he would come straight down to the cottage, hurried the inmates out | |
at the back door, into the grove of fir-trees, probably, which was | |
mentioned as standing near. In this way he found the place deserted. | |
I shall be very much surprised, however, if it still so when he | |
reconnoitres it this evening. What do you think of my theory?" | |
"It is all surmise." | |
"But at least it covers all the facts. When new facts come to our | |
knowledge which cannot be covered by it, it will be time enough to | |
reconsider it. We can do nothing more until we have a message from | |
our friend at Norbury." | |
But we had not a very long time to wait for that. It came just as we | |
had finished our tea. | |
"The cottage is still tenanted," it said. "Have seen the face again | |
at the window. Will meet the seven o'clock train, and will take no | |
steps until you arrive." | |
He was waiting on the platform when we stepped out, and we could see | |
in the light of the station lamps that he was very pale, and | |
quivering with agitation. | |
"They are still there, Mr. Holmes," said he, laying his hand hard | |
upon my friend's sleeve. "I saw lights in the cottage as I came down. | |
We shall settle it now once and for all." | |
"What is your plan, then?" asked Holmes, as he walked down the dark | |
tree-lined road. | |
"I am going to force my way in and see for myself who is in the | |
house. I wish you both to be there as witnesses." | |
"You are quite determined to do this, in spite of your wife's warning | |
that it is better that you should not solve the mystery?" | |
"Yes, I am determined." | |
"Well, I think that you are in the right. Any truth is better than | |
indefinite doubt. We had better go up at once. Of course, legally, we | |
are putting ourselves hopelessly in the wrong; but I think that it is | |
worth it." | |
It was a very dark night, and a thin rain began to fall as we turned | |
from the high road into a narrow lane, deeply rutted, with hedges on | |
either side. Mr. Grant Munro pushed impatiently forward, however, and | |
we stumbled after him as best we could. | |
"There are the lights of my house," he murmured, pointing to a | |
glimmer among the trees. "And here is the cottage which I am going to | |
enter." | |
We turned a corner in the lane as he spoke, and there was the | |
building close beside us. A yellow bar falling across the black | |
foreground showed that the door was not quite closed, and one window | |
in the upper story was brightly illuminated. As we looked, we saw a | |
dark blur moving across the blind. | |
"There is that creature!" cried Grant Munro. "You can see for | |
yourselves that some one is there. Now follow me, and we shall soon | |
know all." | |
We approached the door; but suddenly a woman appeared out of the | |
shadow and stood in the golden track of the lamp-light. I could not | |
see her face in the darkness, but her arms were thrown out in an | |
attitude of entreaty. | |
"For God's sake, don't Jack!" she cried. "I had a presentiment that | |
you would come this evening. Think better of it, dear! Trust me | |
again, and you will never have cause to regret it." | |
"I have trusted you too long, Effie," he cried, sternly. "Leave go of | |
me! I must pass you. My friends and I are going to settle this matter | |
once and forever!" He pushed her to one side, and we followed closely | |
after him. As he threw the door open an old woman ran out in front of | |
him and tried to bar his passage, but he thrust her back, and an | |
instant afterwards we were all upon the stairs. Grant Munro rushed | |
into the lighted room at the top, and we entered at his heels. | |
It was a cosy, well-furnished apartment, with two candles burning | |
upon the table and two upon the mantelpiece. In the corner, stooping | |
over a desk, there sat what appeared to be a little girl. Her face | |
was turned away as we entered, but we could see that she was dressed | |
in a red frock, and that she had long white gloves on. As she whisked | |
round to us, I gave a cry of surprise and horror. The face which she | |
turned towards us was of the strangest livid tint, and the features | |
were absolutely devoid of any expression. An instant later the | |
mystery was explained. Holmes, with a laugh, passed his hand behind | |
the child's ear, a mask peeled off from her countenance, an there was | |
a little coal black negress, with all her white teeth flashing in | |
amusement at our amazed faces. I burst out laughing, out of sympathy | |
with her merriment; but Grant Munro stood staring, with his hand | |
clutching his throat. | |
"My God!" he cried. "What can be the meaning of this?" | |
"I will tell you the meaning of it," cried the lady, sweeping into | |
the room with a proud, set face. "You have forced me, against my own | |
judgment, to tell you, and now we must both make the best of it. My | |
husband died at Atlanta. My child survived." | |
"Your child?" | |
She drew a large silver locket from her bosom. "You have never seen | |
this open." | |
"I understood that it did not open." | |
She touched a spring, and the front hinged back. There was a portrait | |
within of a man strikingly handsome and intelligent-looking, but | |
bearing unmistakable signs upon his features of his African descent. | |
"That is John Hebron, of Atlanta," said the lady, "and a nobler man | |
never walked the earth. I cut myself off from my race in order to wed | |
him, but never once while he lived did I for an instant regret it. It | |
was our misfortune that our only child took after his people rather | |
than mine. It is often so in such matches, and little Lucy is darker | |
far than ever her father was. But dark or fair, she is my own dear | |
little girlie, and her mother's pet." The little creature ran across | |
at the words and nestled up against the lady's dress. "When I left | |
her in America," she continued, "it was only because her health was | |
weak, and the change might have done her harm. She was given to the | |
care of a faithful Scotch woman who had once been our servant. Never | |
for an instant did I dream of disowning her as my child. But when | |
chance threw you in my way, Jack, and I learned to love you, I feared | |
to tell you about my child. God forgive me, I feared that I should | |
lose you, and I had not the courage to tell you. I had to choose | |
between you, and in my weakness I turned away from my own little | |
girl. For three years I have kept her existence a secret from you, | |
but I heard from the nurse, and I knew that all was well with her. At | |
last, however, there came an overwhelming desire to see the child | |
once more. I struggled against it, but in vain. Though I knew the | |
danger, I determined to have the child over, if it were but for a few | |
weeks. I sent a hundred pounds to the nurse, and I gave her | |
instructions about this cottage, so that she might come as a | |
neighbor, without my appearing to be in any way connected with her. I | |
pushed my precautions so far as to order her to keep the child in the | |
house during the daytime, and to cover up her little face and hands | |
so that even those who might see her at the window should not gossip | |
about there being a black child in the neighborhood. If I had been | |
less cautious I might have been more wise, but I was half crazy with | |
fear that you should learn the truth. | |
"It was you who told me first that the cottage was occupied. I should | |
have waited for the morning, but I could not sleep for excitement, | |
and so at last I slipped out, knowing how difficult it is to awake | |
you. But you saw me go, and that was the beginning of my troubles. | |
Next day you had my secret at your mercy, but you nobly refrained | |
from pursuing your advantage. Three days later, however, the nurse | |
and child only just escaped from the back door as you rushed in at | |
the front one. And now to-night you at last know all, and I ask you | |
what is to become of us, my child and me?" She clasped her hands and | |
waited for an answer. | |
It was a long ten minutes before Grant Munro broke the silence, and | |
when his answer came it was one of which I love to think. He lifted | |
the little child, kissed her, and then, still carrying her, he held | |
his other hand out to his wife and turned towards the door. | |
"We can talk it over more comfortably at home," said he. "I am not a | |
very good man, Effie, but I think that I am a better one than you | |
have given me credit for being." | |
Holmes and I followed them down the lane, and my friend plucked at my | |
sleeve as we came out. | |
"I think," said he, "that we shall be of more use in London than in | |
Norbury." | |
Not another word did he say of the case until late that night, when | |
he was turning away, with his lighted candle, for his bedroom. | |
"Watson," said he, "if it should ever strike you that I am getting a | |
little over-confident in my powers, or giving less pains to a case | |
than it deserves, kindly whisper 'Norbury' in my ear, and I shall be | |
infinitely obliged to you." | |
THE STOCK-BROKER'S CLERK | |
Shortly after my marriage I had bought a connection in the Paddington | |
district. Old Mr. Farquhar, from whom I purchased it, had at one time | |
an excellent general practice; but his age, and an affliction of the | |
nature of St. Vitus's dance from which he suffered, had very much | |
thinned it. The public not unnaturally goes on the principle that he | |
who would heal others must himself be whole, and looks askance at the | |
curative powers of the man whose own case is beyond the reach of his | |
drugs. Thus as my predecessor weakened his practice declined, until | |
when I purchased it from him it had sunk from twelve hundred to | |
little more than three hundred a year. I had confidence, however, in | |
my own youth and energy, and was convinced that in a very few years | |
the concern would be as flourishing as ever. | |
For three months after taking over the practice I was kept very | |
closely at work, and saw little of my friend Sherlock Holmes, for I | |
was too busy to visit Baker Street, and he seldom went anywhere | |
himself save upon professional business. I was surprised, therefore, | |
when, one morning in June, as I sat reading the British Medical | |
Journal after breakfast, I heard a ring at the bell, followed by the | |
high, somewhat strident tones of my old companion's voice. | |
"Ah, my dear Watson," said he, striding into the room, "I am very | |
delighted to see you! I trust that Mrs. Watson has entirely recovered | |
from all the little excitements connected with our adventure of the | |
Sign of Four." | |
"Thank you, we are both very well," said I, shaking him warmly by the | |
hand. | |
"And I hope, also," he continued, sitting down in the rocking-chair, | |
"that the cares of medical practice have not entirely obliterated the | |
interest which you used to take in our little deductive problems." | |
"On the contrary," I answered, "it was only last night that I was | |
looking over my old notes, and classifying some of our past results." | |
"I trust that you don't consider your collection closed." | |
"Not at all. I should wish nothing better than to have some more of | |
such experiences." | |
"To-day, for example?" | |
"Yes, to-day, if you like." | |
"And as far off as Birmingham?" | |
"Certainly, if you wish it." | |
"And the practice?" | |
"I do my neighbor's when he goes. He is always ready to work off the | |
debt." | |
"Ha! Nothing could be better," said Holmes, leaning back in his chair | |
and looking keenly at me from under his half closed lids. "I perceive | |
that you have been unwell lately. Summer colds are always a little | |
trying." | |
"I was confined to the house by a severe chill for three days last | |
week. I thought, however, that I had cast off every trace of it." | |
"So you have. You look remarkably robust." | |
"How, then, did you know of it?" | |
"My dear fellow, you know my methods." | |
"You deduced it, then?" | |
"Certainly." | |
"And from what?" | |
"From your slippers." | |
I glanced down at the new patent leathers which I was wearing. "How | |
on earth--" I began, but Holmes answered my question before it was | |
asked. | |
"Your slippers are new," he said. "You could not have had them more | |
than a few weeks. The soles which you are at this moment presenting | |
to me are slightly scorched. For a moment I thought they might have | |
got wet and been burned in the drying. But near the instep there is a | |
small circular wafer of paper with the shopman's hieroglyphics upon | |
it. Damp would of course have removed this. You had, then, been | |
sitting with our feet outstretched to the fire, which a man would | |
hardly do even in so wet a June as this if he were in his full | |
health." | |
Like all Holmes's reasoning the thing seemed simplicity itself when | |
it was once explained. He read the thought upon my features, and his | |
smile had a tinge of bitterness. | |
"I am afraid that I rather give myself away when I explain," said he. | |
"Results without causes are much more impressive. You are ready to | |
come to Birmingham, then?" | |
"Certainly. What is the case?" | |
"You shall hear it all in the train. My client is outside in a | |
four-wheeler. Can you come at once?" | |
"In an instant." I scribbled a note to my neighbor, rushed upstairs | |
to explain the matter to my wife, and joined Holmes upon the | |
door-step. | |
"Your neighbor is a doctor," said he, nodding at the brass plate. | |
"Yes; he bought a practice as I did." | |
"An old-established one?" | |
"Just the same as mine. Both have been ever since the houses were | |
built." | |
"Ah! Then you got hold of the best of the two." | |
"I think I did. But how do you know?" | |
"By the steps, my boy. Yours are worn three inches deeper than his. | |
But this gentleman in the cab is my client, Mr. Hall Pycroft. Allow | |
me to introduce you to him. Whip your horse up, cabby, for we have | |
only just time to catch our train." | |
The man whom I found myself facing was a well built, | |
fresh-complexioned young fellow, with a frank, honest face and a | |
slight, crisp, yellow mustache. He wore a very shiny top hat and a | |
neat suit of sober black, which made him look what he was--a smart | |
young City man, of the class who have been labeled cockneys, but who | |
give us our crack volunteer regiments, and who turn out more fine | |
athletes and sportsmen than any body of men in these islands. His | |
round, ruddy face was naturally full of cheeriness, but the corners | |
of his mouth seemed to me to be pulled down in a half-comical | |
distress. It was not, however, until we were all in a first-class | |
carriage and well started upon our journey to Birmingham that I was | |
able to learn what the trouble was which had driven him to Sherlock | |
Holmes. | |
"We have a clear run here of seventy minutes," Holmes remarked. "I | |
want you, Mr. Hall Pycroft, to tell my friend your very interesting | |
experience exactly as you have told it to me, or with more detail if | |
possible. It will be of use to me to hear the succession of events | |
again. It is a case, Watson, which may prove to have something in it, | |
or may prove to have nothing, but which, at least, presents those | |
unusual and outré features which are as dear to you as they are to | |
me. Now, Mr. Pycroft, I shall not interrupt you again." | |
Our young companion looked at me with a twinkle in his eye. | |
"The worst of the story is," said he, "that I show myself up as such | |
a confounded fool. Of course it may work out all right, and I don't | |
see that I could have done otherwise; but if I have lost my crib and | |
get nothing in exchange I shall feel what a soft Johnnie I have been. | |
I'm not very good at telling a story, Dr. Watson, but it is like this | |
with me: | |
"I used to have a billet at Coxon & Woodhouse's, of Draper's Gardens, | |
but they were let in early in the spring through the Venezuelan loan, | |
as no doubt you remember, and came a nasty cropper. I had been with | |
them five years, and old Coxon gave me a ripping good testimonial | |
when the smash came, but of course we clerks were all turned adrift, | |
the twenty-seven of us. I tried here and tried there, but there were | |
lots of other chaps on the same lay as myself, and it was a perfect | |
frost for a long time. I had been taking three pounds a week at | |
Coxon's, and I had saved about seventy of them, but I soon worked my | |
way through that and out at the other end. I was fairly at the end of | |
my tether at last, and could hardly find the stamps to answer the | |
advertisements or the envelopes to stick them to. I had worn out my | |
boots paddling up office stairs, and I seemed just as far from | |
getting a billet as ever. | |
"At last I saw a vacancy at Mawson & Williams's, the great | |
stock-broking firm in Lombard Street. I dare say E. C. is not much in | |
your line, but I can tell you that this is about the richest house in | |
London. The advertisement was to be answered by letter only. I sent | |
in my testimonial and application, but without the least hope of | |
getting it. Back came an answer by return, saying that if I would | |
appear next Monday I might take over my new duties at once, provided | |
that my appearance was satisfactory. No one knows how these things | |
are worked. Some people say that the manager just plunges his hand | |
into the heap and takes the first that comes. Anyhow it was my | |
innings that time, and I don't ever wish to feel better pleased. The | |
screw was a pound a week rise, and the duties just about the same as | |
at Coxon's. | |
"And now I come to the queer part of the business. I was in diggings | |
out Hampstead way, 17 Potter's Terrace. Well, I was sitting doing a | |
smoke that very evening after I had been promised the appointment, | |
when up came my landlady with a card which had "Arthur Pinner, | |
Financial Agent," printed upon it. I had never heard the name before | |
and could not imagine what he wanted with me; but, of course, I asked | |
her to show him up. In he walked, a middle-sized, dark-haired, | |
dark-eyed, black-bearded man, with a touch of the sheeny about his | |
nose. He had a brisk kind of way with him and spoke sharply, like a | |
man who knew the value of time. | |
"'Mr. Hall Pycroft, I believe?' said he. | |
"'Yes, sir,' I answered, pushing a chair towards him. | |
"'Lately engaged at Coxon & Woodhouse's?' | |
"'Yes, sir.' | |
"'And now on the staff of Mawson's.' | |
"'Quite so.' | |
"'Well,' said he, 'the fact is that I have heard some really | |
extraordinary stories about your financial ability. You remember | |
Parker, who used to be Coxon's manager? He can never say enough about | |
it.' | |
"Of course I was pleased to hear this. I had always been pretty sharp | |
in the office, but I had never dreamed that I was talked about in the | |
City in this fashion. | |
"'You have a good memory?' said he. | |
"'Pretty fair,' I answered, modestly. | |
"'Have you kept in touch with the market while you have been out of | |
work?' he asked. | |
"'Yes. I read the stock exchange list every morning.' | |
"'Now that shows real application!' he cried. 'That is the way to | |
prosper! You won't mind my testing you, will you? Let me see. How are | |
Ayrshires?' | |
"'A hundred and six and a quarter to a hundred and five and | |
seven-eighths.' | |
"'And New Zealand consolidated?' | |
"'A hundred and four.' | |
"'And British Broken Hills?' | |
"'Seven to seven-and-six.' | |
"'Wonderful!' he cried, with his hands up. 'This quite fits in with | |
all that I had heard. My boy, my boy, you are very much too good to | |
be a clerk at Mawson's!' | |
"This outburst rather astonished me, as you can think. 'Well,' said | |
I, 'other people don't think quite so much of me as you seem to do, | |
Mr. Pinner. I had a hard enough fight to get this berth, and I am | |
very glad to have it.' | |
"'Pooh, man; you should soar above it. You are not in your true | |
sphere. Now, I'll tell you how it stands with me. What I have to | |
offer is little enough when measured by your ability, but when | |
compared with Mawson's, it's light to dark. Let me see. When do you | |
go to Mawson's?' | |
"'On Monday.' | |
"'Ha, ha! I think I would risk a little sporting flutter that you | |
don't go there at all.' | |
"'Not go to Mawson's?' | |
"'No, sir. By that day you will be the business manager of the | |
Franco-Midland Hardware Company, Limited, with a hundred and | |
thirty-four branches in the towns and villages of France, not | |
counting one in Brussels and one in San Remo.' | |
"This took my breath away. 'I never heard of it,' said I. | |
"'Very likely not. It has been kept very quiet, for the capital was | |
all privately subscribed, and it's too good a thing to let the public | |
into. My brother, Harry Pinner, is promoter, and joins the board | |
after allotment as managing director. He knew I was in the swim down | |
here, and asked me to pick up a good man cheap. A young, pushing man | |
with plenty of snap about him. Parker spoke of you, and that brought | |
me here tonight. We can only offer you a beggarly five hundred to | |
start with.' | |
"'Five hundred a year!' I shouted. | |
"'Only that at the beginning; but you are to have an overriding | |
commission of one per cent on all business done by your agents, and | |
you may take my word for it that this will come to more than your | |
salary.' | |
"'But I know nothing about hardware.' | |
"'Tut, my boy; you know about figures.' | |
"My head buzzed, and I could hardly sit still in my chair. But | |
suddenly a little chill of doubt came upon me. | |
"'I must be frank with you,' said I. 'Mawson only gives me two | |
hundred, but Mawson is safe. Now, really, I know so little about your | |
company that--' | |
"'Ah, smart, smart!' he cried, in a kind of ecstasy of delight. 'You | |
are the very man for us. You are not to be talked over, and quite | |
right, too. Now, here's a note for a hundred pounds, and if you think | |
that we can do business you may just slip it into your pocket as an | |
advance upon your salary.' | |
"'That is very handsome,' said I. 'When should I take over my new | |
duties?' | |
"'Be in Birmingham to-morrow at one,' said he. 'I have a note in my | |
pocket here which you will take to my brother. You will find him at | |
126b Corporation Street, where the temporary offices of the company | |
are situated. Of course he must confirm your engagement, but between | |
ourselves it will be all right.' | |
"'Really, I hardly know how to express my gratitude, Mr. Pinner,' | |
said I. | |
"'Not at all, my boy. You have only got your desserts. There are one | |
or two small things--mere formalities--which I must arrange with you. | |
You have a bit of paper beside you there. Kindly write upon it "I am | |
perfectly willing to act as business manager to the Franco-Midland | |
Hardware Company, Limited, at a minimum salary of £500."' | |
"I did as he asked, and he put the paper in his pocket. | |
"'There is one other detail,' said he. 'What do you intend to do | |
about Mawson's?' | |
"I had forgotten all about Mawson's in my joy. 'I'll write and | |
resign,' said I. | |
"'Precisely what I don't want you to do. I had a row over you with | |
Mawson's manager. I had gone up to ask him about you, and he was very | |
offensive; accused me of coaxing you away from the service of the | |
firm, and that sort of thing. At last I fairly lost my temper. "If | |
you want good men you should pay them a good price," said I. | |
"'"He would rather have our small price than your big one," said he. | |
"'"I'll lay you a fiver," said I, "that when he has my offer you'll | |
never so much as hear from him again." | |
"'"Done!" said he. "We picked him out of the gutter, and he won't | |
leave us so easily." Those were his very words.' | |
"'The impudent scoundrel!' I cried. 'I've never so much as seen him | |
in my life. Why should I consider him in any way? I shall certainly | |
not write if you would rather I didn't.' | |
"'Good! That's a promise,' said he, rising from his chair. 'Well, I'm | |
delighted to have got so good a man for my brother. Here's your | |
advance of a hundred pounds, and here is the letter. Make a note of | |
the address, 126b Corporation Street, and remember that one o'clock | |
to-morrow is your appointment. Good-night; and may you have all the | |
fortune that you deserve!' | |
"That's just about all that passed between us, as near as I can | |
remember. You can imagine, Dr. Watson, how pleased I was at such an | |
extraordinary bit of good fortune. I sat up half the night hugging | |
myself over it, and next day I was off to Birmingham in a train that | |
would take me in plenty time for my appointment. I took my things to | |
a hotel in New Street, and then I made my way to the address which | |
had been given me. | |
"It was a quarter of an hour before my time, but I thought that would | |
make no difference. 126b was a passage between two large shops, which | |
led to a winding stone stair, from which there were many flats, let | |
as offices to companies or professional men. The names of the | |
occupants were painted at the bottom on the wall, but there was no | |
such name as the Franco-Midland Hardware Company, Limited. I stood | |
for a few minutes with my heart in my boots, wondering whether the | |
whole thing was an elaborate hoax or not, when up came a man and | |
addressed me. He was very like the chap I had seen the night before, | |
the same figure and voice, but he was clean shaven and his hair was | |
lighter. | |
"'Are you Mr. Hall Pycroft?' he asked. | |
"'Yes,' said I. | |
"'Oh! I was expecting you, but you are a trifle before your time. I | |
had a note from my brother this morning in which he sang your praises | |
very loudly.' | |
"'I was just looking for the offices when you came.' | |
"'We have not got our name up yet, for we only secured these | |
temporary premises last week. Come up with me, and we will talk the | |
matter over.' | |
"I followed him to the top of a very lofty stair, and there, right | |
under the slates, were a couple of empty, dusty little rooms, | |
uncarpeted and uncurtained, into which he led me. I had thought of a | |
great office with shining tables and rows of clerks, such as I was | |
used to, and I dare say I stared rather straight at the two deal | |
chairs and one little table, which, with a ledger and a waste paper | |
basket, made up the whole furniture. | |
"'Don't be disheartened, Mr. Pycroft,' said my new acquaintance, | |
seeing the length of my face. 'Rome was not built in a day, and we | |
have lots of money at our backs, though we don't cut much dash yet in | |
offices. Pray sit down, and let me have your letter.' | |
"I gave it to him, and her read it over very carefully. | |
"'You seem to have made a vast impression upon my brother Arthur,' | |
said he; 'and I know that he is a pretty shrewd judge. He swears by | |
London, you know; and I by Birmingham; but this time I shall follow | |
his advice. Pray consider yourself definitely engaged.' | |
"'What are my duties?' I asked. | |
"'You will eventually manage the great depot in Paris, which will | |
pour a flood of English crockery into the shops of a hundred and | |
thirty-four agents in France. The purchase will be completed in a | |
week, and meanwhile you will remain in Birmingham and make yourself | |
useful.' | |
"'How?' | |
"For answer, he took a big red book out of a drawer. | |
"'This is a directory of Paris,' said he, 'with the trades after the | |
names of the people. I want you to take it home with you, and to mark | |
off all the hardware sellers, with their addresses. It would be of | |
the greatest use to me to have them.' | |
"'Surely there are classified lists?' I suggested. | |
"'Not reliable ones. Their system is different from ours. Stick at | |
it, and let me have the lists by Monday, at twelve. Good-day, Mr. | |
Pycroft. If you continue to show zeal and intelligence you will find | |
the company a good master.' | |
"I went back to the hotel with the big book under my arm, and with | |
very conflicting feelings in my breast. On the one hand, I was | |
definitely engaged and had a hundred pounds in my pocket; on the | |
other, the look of the offices, the absence of name on the wall, and | |
other of the points which would strike a business man had left a bad | |
impression as to the position of my employers. However, come what | |
might, I had my money, so I settled down to my task. All Sunday I was | |
kept hard at work, and yet by Monday I had only got as far as H. I | |
went round to my employer, found him in the same dismantled kind of | |
room, and was told to keep at it until Wednesday, and then come | |
again. On Wednesday it was still unfinished, so I hammered away until | |
Friday--that is, yesterday. Then I brought it round to Mr. Harry | |
Pinner. | |
"'Thank you very much,' said he; 'I fear that I underrated the | |
difficulty of the task. This list will be of very material assistance | |
to me.' | |
"'It took some time,' said I. | |
"'And now,' said he, 'I want you to make a list of the furniture | |
shops, for they all sell crockery.' | |
"'Very good.' | |
"'And you can come up to-morrow evening, at seven, and let me know | |
how you are getting on. Don't overwork yourself. A couple of hours at | |
Day's Music Hall in the evening would do you no harm after your | |
labors.' He laughed as he spoke, and I saw with a thrill that his | |
second tooth upon the left-hand side had been very badly stuffed with | |
gold." | |
Sherlock Holmes rubbed his hands with delight, and I stared with | |
astonishment at our client. | |
"You may well look surprised, Dr. Watson; but it is this way," said | |
he: "When I was speaking to the other chap in London, at the time | |
that he laughed at my not going to Mawson's, I happened to notice | |
that his tooth was stuffed in this very identical fashion. The glint | |
of the gold in each case caught my eye, you see. When I put that with | |
the voice and figure being the same, and only those things altered | |
which might be changed by a razor or a wig, I could not doubt that it | |
was the same man. Of course you expect two brothers to be alike, but | |
not that they should have the same tooth stuffed in the same way. He | |
bowed me out, and I found myself in the street, hardly knowing | |
whether I was on my head or my heels. Back I went to my hotel, put my | |
head in a basin of cold water, and tried to think it out. Why had he | |
sent me from London to Birmingham? Why had he got there before me? | |
And why had he written a letter from himself to himself? It was | |
altogether too much for me, and I could make no sense of it. And then | |
suddenly it struck me that what was dark to me might be very light to | |
Mr. Sherlock Holmes. I had just time to get up to town by the night | |
train to see him this morning, and to bring you both back with me to | |
Birmingham." | |
There was a pause after the stock-broker's clerk had concluded his | |
surprising experience. Then Sherlock Holmes cocked his eye at me, | |
leaning back on the cushions with a pleased and yet critical face, | |
like a connoisseur who has just taken his first sip of a comet | |
vintage. | |
"Rather fine, Watson, is it not?" said he. "There are points in it | |
which please me. I think that you will agree with me that an | |
interview with Mr. Arthur Harry Pinner in the temporary offices of | |
the Franco-Midland Hardware Company, Limited, would be a rather | |
interesting experience for both of us." | |
"But how can we do it?" I asked. | |
"Oh, easily enough," said Hall Pycroft, cheerily. "You are two | |
friends of mine who are in want of a billet, and what could be more | |
natural than that I should bring you both round to the managing | |
director?" | |
"Quite so, of course," said Holmes. "I should like to have a look at | |
the gentleman, and see if I can make anything of his little game. | |
What qualities have you, my friend, which would make your services so | |
valuable? Or is it possible that--" He began biting his nails and | |
staring blankly out of the window, and we hardly drew another word | |
from him until we were in New Street. | |
At seven o'clock that evening we were walking, the three of us, down | |
Corporation Street to the company's offices. | |
"It is no use our being at all before our time," said our client. "He | |
only comes there to see me, apparently, for the place is deserted up | |
to the very hour he names." | |
"That is suggestive," remarked Holmes. | |
"By Jove, I told you so!" cried the clerk. "That's he walking ahead | |
of us there." | |
He pointed to a smallish, dark, well-dressed man who was bustling | |
along the other side of the road. As we watched him he looked across | |
at a boy who was bawling out the latest edition of the evening paper, | |
and running over among the cabs and busses, he bought one from him. | |
Then, clutching it in his hand, he vanished through a door-way. | |
"There he goes!" cried Hall Pycroft. "These are the company's offices | |
into which he has gone. Come with me, and I'll fix it up as easily as | |
possible." | |
Following his lead, we ascended five stories, until we found | |
ourselves outside a half-opened door, at which our client tapped. A | |
voice within bade us enter, and we entered a bare, unfurnished room | |
such as Hall Pycroft had described. At the single table sat the man | |
whom we had seen in the street, with his evening paper spread out in | |
front of him, and as he looked up at us it seemed to me that I had | |
never looked upon a face which bore such marks of grief, and of | |
something beyond grief--of a horror such as comes to few men in a | |
lifetime. His brow glistened with perspiration, his cheeks were of | |
the dull, dead white of a fish's belly, and his eyes were wild and | |
staring. He looked at his clerk as though he failed to recognize him, | |
and I could see by the astonishment depicted upon our conductor's | |
face that this was by no means the usual appearance of his employer. | |
"You look ill, Mr. Pinner!" he exclaimed. | |
"Yes, I am not very well," answered the other, making obvious efforts | |
to pull himself together, and licking his dry lips before he spoke. | |
"Who are these gentlemen whom you have brought with you?" | |
"One is Mr. Harris, of Bermondsey, and the other is Mr. Price, of | |
this town," said our clerk, glibly. "They are friends of mine and | |
gentlemen of experience, but they have been out of a place for some | |
little time, and they hoped that perhaps you might find an opening | |
for them in the company's employment." | |
"Very possibly! Very possibly!" cried Mr. Pinner with a ghastly | |
smile. "Yes, I have no doubt that we shall be able to do something | |
for you. What is your particular line, Mr. Harris?" | |
"I am an accountant," said Holmes. | |
"Ah yes, we shall want something of the sort. And you, Mr. Price?" | |
"A clerk," said I. | |
"I have every hope that the company may accommodate you. I will let | |
you know about it as soon as we come to any conclusion. And now I beg | |
that you will go. For God's sake leave me to myself!" | |
These last words were shot out of him, as though the constraint which | |
he was evidently setting upon himself had suddenly and utterly burst | |
asunder. Holmes and I glanced at each other, and Hall Pycroft took a | |
step towards the table. | |
"You forget, Mr. Pinner, that I am here by appointment to receive | |
some directions from you," said he. | |
"Certainly, Mr. Pycroft, certainly," the other resumed in a calmer | |
tone. "You may wait here a moment; and there is no reason why your | |
friends should not wait with you. I will be entirely at your service | |
in three minutes, if I might trespass upon your patience so far." He | |
rose with a very courteous air, and, bowing to us, he passed out | |
through a door at the farther end of the room, which he closed behind | |
him. | |
"What now?" whispered Holmes. "Is he giving us the slip?" | |
"Impossible," answered Pycroft. | |
"Why so?" | |
"That door leads into an inner room." | |
"There is no exit?" | |
"None." | |
"Is it furnished?" | |
"It was empty yesterday." | |
"Then what on earth can he be doing? There is something which I don't | |
understand in his manner. If ever a man was three parts mad with | |
terror, that man's name is Pinner. What can have put the shivers on | |
him?" | |
"He suspects that we are detectives," I suggested. | |
"That's it," cried Pycroft. | |
Holmes shook his head. "He did not turn pale. He was pale when we | |
entered the room," said he. "It is just possible that--" | |
His words were interrupted by a sharp rat-tat from the direction of | |
the inner door. | |
"What the deuce is he knocking at his own door for?" cried the clerk. | |
Again and much louder cam the rat-tat-tat. We all gazed expectantly | |
at the closed door. Glancing at Holmes, I saw his face turn rigid, | |
and he leaned forward in intense excitement. Then suddenly came a low | |
guggling, gargling sound, and a brisk drumming upon woodwork. Holmes | |
sprang frantically across the room and pushed at the door. It was | |
fastened on the inner side. Following his example, we threw ourselves | |
upon it with all our weight. One hinge snapped, then the other, and | |
down came the door with a crash. Rushing over it, we found ourselves | |
in the inner room. It was empty. | |
But it was only for a moment that we were at fault. At one corner, | |
the corner nearest the room which we had left, there was a second | |
door. Holmes sprang to it and pulled it open. A coat and waistcoat | |
were lying on the floor, and from a hook behind the door, with his | |
own braces round his neck, was hanging the managing director of the | |
Franco-Midland Hardware Company. His knees were drawn up, his head | |
hung at a dreadful angle to his body, and the clatter of his heels | |
against the door made the noise which had broken in upon our | |
conversation. In an instant I had caught him round the waist, and | |
held him up while Holmes and Pycroft untied the elastic bands which | |
had disappeared between the livid creases of skin. Then we carried | |
him into the other room, where he lay with a clay-colored face, | |
puffing his purple lips in and out with every breath--a dreadful | |
wreck of all that he had been but five minutes before. | |
"What do you think of him, Watson?" asked Holmes. | |
I stooped over him and examined him. His pulse was feeble and | |
intermittent, but his breathing grew longer, and there was a little | |
shivering of his eyelids, which showed a thin white slit of ball | |
beneath. | |
"It has been touch and go with him," said I, "but he'll live now. | |
Just open that window, and hand me the water carafe." I undid his | |
collar, poured the cold water over his face, and raised and sank his | |
arms until he drew a long, natural breath. "It's only a question of | |
time now," said I, as I turned away from him. | |
Holmes stood by the table, with his hands deep in his trouser's | |
pockets and his chin upon his breast. | |
"I suppose we ought to call the police in now," said he. "And yet I | |
confess that I'd like to give them a complete case when they come." | |
"It's a blessed mystery to me," cried Pycroft, scratching his head. | |
"Whatever they wanted to bring me all the way up here for, and | |
then--" | |
"Pooh! All that is clear enough," said Holmes impatiently. "It is | |
this last sudden move." | |
"You understand the rest, then?" | |
"I think that it is fairly obvious. What do you say, Watson?" | |
I shrugged my shoulders. "I must confess that I am out of my depths," | |
said I. | |
"Oh surely if you consider the events at first they can only point to | |
one conclusion." | |
"What do you make of them?" | |
"Well, the whole thing hinges upon two points. The first is the | |
making of Pycroft write a declaration by which he entered the service | |
of this preposterous company. Do you not see how very suggestive that | |
is?" | |
"I am afraid I miss the point." | |
"Well, why did they want him to do it? Not as a business matter, for | |
these arrangements are usually verbal, and there was no earthly | |
business reason why this should be an exception. Don't you see, my | |
young friend, that they were very anxious to obtain a specimen of | |
your handwriting, and had no other way of doing it?" | |
"And why?" | |
"Quite so. Why? When we answer that we have made some progress with | |
our little problem. Why? There can be only one adequate reason. | |
Someone wanted to learn to imitate your writing, and had to procure a | |
specimen of it first. And now if we pass on to the second point we | |
find that each throws light upon the other. That point is the request | |
made by Pinner that you should not resign your place, but should | |
leave the manager of this important business in the full expectation | |
that a Mr. Hall Pycroft, whom he had never seen, was about to enter | |
the office upon the Monday morning." | |
"My God!" cried our client, "what a blind beetle I have been!" | |
"Now you see the point about the handwriting. Suppose that some one | |
turned up in your place who wrote a completely different hand from | |
that in which you had applied for the vacancy, of course the game | |
would have been up. But in the interval the rogue had learned to | |
imitate you, and his position was therefore secure, as I presume that | |
nobody in the office had ever set eyes upon you." | |
"Not a soul," groaned Hall Pycroft. | |
"Very good. Of course it was of the utmost importance to prevent you | |
from thinking better of it, and also to keep you from coming into | |
contact with any one who might tell you that your double was at work | |
in Mawson's office. Therefore they gave you a handsome advance on | |
your salary, and ran you off to the Midlands, where they gave you | |
enough work to do to prevent your going to London, where you might | |
have burst their little game up. That is all plain enough." | |
"But why should this man pretend to be his own brother?" | |
"Well, that is pretty clear also. There are evidently only two of | |
them in it. The other is impersonating you at the office. This one | |
acted as your engager, and then found that he could not find you an | |
employer without admitting a third person into his plot. That he was | |
most unwilling to do. He changed his appearance as far as he could, | |
and trusted that the likeness, which you could not fail to observe, | |
would be put down to a family resemblance. But for the happy chance | |
of the gold stuffing, your suspicions would probably never have been | |
aroused." | |
Hall Pycroft shook his clinched hands in the air. "Good Lord!" he | |
cried, "while I have been fooled in this way, what has this other | |
Hall Pycroft been doing at Mawson's? What should we do, Mr. Holmes? | |
Tell me what to do." | |
"We must wire to Mawson's." | |
"They shut at twelve on Saturdays." | |
"Never mind. There may be some door-keeper or attendant--" | |
"Ah yes, they keep a permanent guard there on account of the value of | |
the securities that they hold. I remember hearing it talked of in the | |
City." | |
"Very good; we shall wire to him, and see if all is well, and if a | |
clerk of your name is working there. That is clear enough; but what | |
is not so clear is why at sight of us one of the rogues should | |
instantly walk out of the room and hang himself." | |
"The paper!" croaked a voice behind us. The man was sitting up, | |
blanched and ghastly, with returning reason in his eyes, and hands | |
which rubbed nervously at the broad red band which still encircled | |
his throat. | |
"The paper! Of course!" yelled Holmes, in a paroxysm of excitement. | |
"Idiot that I was! I thought so must of our visit that the paper | |
never entered my head for an instant. To be sure, the secret must be | |
there." He flattened it out upon the table, and a cry of triumph | |
burst from his lips. "Look at this, Watson," he cried. "It is a | |
London paper, an early edition of the Evening Standard. Here is what | |
we want. Look at the headlines: 'Crime in the City. Murder at Mawson | |
& Williams's. Gigantic attempted Robbery. Capture of the Criminal.' | |
Here, Watson, we are all equally anxious to hear it, so kindly read | |
it aloud to us." | |
It appeared from its position in the paper to have been the one event | |
of importance in town, and the account of it ran in this way: | |
"A desperate attempt at robbery, culminating in the death of one man | |
and the capture of the criminal, occurred this afternoon in the City. | |
For some time back Mawson & Williams, the famous financial house, | |
have been the guardians of securities which amount in the aggregate | |
to a sum of considerably over a million sterling. So conscious was | |
the manager of the responsibility which devolved upon him in | |
consequence of the great interests at stake that safes of the very | |
latest construction have been employed, and an armed watchman has | |
been left day and night in the building. It appears that last week a | |
new clerk named Hall Pycroft was engaged by the firm. This person | |
appears to have been none other that Beddington, the famous forger | |
and cracksman, who, with his brother, had only recently emerged from | |
a five years' spell of penal servitude. By some means, which are not | |
yet clear, he succeeded in winning, under a false name, this official | |
position in the office, which he utilized in order to obtain moulding | |
of various locks, and a thorough knowledge of the position of the | |
strong room and the safes. | |
"It is customary at Mawson's for the clerks to leave at midday on | |
Saturday. Sergeant Tuson, of the City Police, was somewhat surprised, | |
therefore to see a gentleman with a carpet bag come down the steps at | |
twenty minutes past one. His suspicions being aroused, the sergeant | |
followed the man, and with the aid of Constable Pollack succeeded, | |
after a most desperate resistance, in arresting him. It was at once | |
clear that a daring and gigantic robbery had been committed. Nearly a | |
hundred thousand pounds' worth of American railway bonds, with a | |
large amount of scrip in mines and other companies, was discovered in | |
the bag. On examining the premises the body of the unfortunate | |
watchman was found doubled up and thrust into the largest of the | |
safes, where it would not have been discovered until Monday morning | |
had it not been for the prompt action of Sergeant Tuson. The man's | |
skull had been shattered by a blow from a poker delivered from | |
behind. There could be no doubt that Beddington had obtained entrance | |
by pretending that he had left something behind him, and having | |
murdered the watchman, rapidly rifled the large safe, and then made | |
off with his booty. His brother, who usually works with him, has not | |
appeared in this job as far as can at present be ascertained, | |
although the police are making energetic inquiries as to his | |
whereabouts." | |
"Well, we may save the police some little trouble in that direction," | |
said Holmes, glancing at the haggard figure huddled up by the window. | |
"Human nature is a strange mixture, Watson. You see that even a | |
villain and murderer can inspire such affection that his brother | |
turns to suicide when he learns that his neck is forfeited. However, | |
we have no choice as to our action. The doctor and I will remain on | |
guard, Mr. Pycroft, if you will have the kindness to step out for the | |
police." | |
THE "GLORIA SCOTT" | |
"I have some papers here," said my friend Sherlock Holmes, as we sat | |
one winter's night on either side of the fire, "which I really think, | |
Watson, that it would be worth your while to glance over. These are | |
the documents in the extraordinary case of the Gloria Scott, and this | |
is the message which struck Justice of the Peace Trevor dead with | |
horror when he read it." | |
He had picked from a drawer a little tarnished cylinder, and, undoing | |
the tape, he handed me a short note scrawled upon a half-sheet of | |
slate gray-paper. | |
"The supply of game for London is going steadily up," it ran. | |
"Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, has been now told to receive all | |
orders for fly-paper and for preservation of your hen-pheasant's | |
life." | |
As I glanced up from reading this enigmatical message, I saw Holmes | |
chuckling at the expression upon my face. | |
"You look a little bewildered," said he. | |
"I cannot see how such a message as this could inspire horror. It | |
seems to me to be rather grotesque than otherwise." | |
"Very likely. Yet the fact remains that the reader, who was a fine, | |
robust old man, was knocked clean down by it as if it had been the | |
butt end of a pistol." | |
"You arouse my curiosity," said I. "But why did you say just now that | |
there were very particular reasons why I should study this case?" | |
"Because it was the first in which I was ever engaged." | |
I had often endeavored to elicit from my companion what had first | |
turned his mind in the direction of criminal research, but had never | |
caught him before in a communicative humor. Now he sat forward in his | |
arm-chair and spread out the documents upon his knees. Then he lit | |
his pipe and sat for some time smoking and turning them over. | |
"You never heard me talk of Victor Trevor?" he asked. "He was the | |
only friend I made during the two years I was at college. I was never | |
a very sociable fellow, Watson, always rather fond of moping in my | |
rooms and working out my own little methods of thought, so that I | |
never mixed much with the men of my year. Bar fencing and boxing I | |
had few athletic tastes, and then my line of study was quite distinct | |
from that of the other fellows, so that we had no points of contact | |
at all. Trevor was the only man I knew, and that only through the | |
accident of his bull terrier freezing on to my ankle one morning as I | |
went down to chapel. | |
"It was a prosaic way of forming a friendship, but it was effective. | |
I was laid by the heels for ten days, but Trevor used to come in to | |
inquire after me. At first it was only a minute's chat, but soon his | |
visits lengthened, and before the end of the term we were close | |
friends. He was a hearty, full-blooded fellow, full of spirits and | |
energy, the very opposite to me in most respects, but we had some | |
subjects in common, and it was a bond of union when I found that he | |
was as friendless as I. Finally, he invited me down to his father's | |
place at Donnithorpe, in Norfolk, and I accepted his hospitality for | |
a month of the long vacation. | |
"Old Trevor was evidently a man of some wealth and consideration, a | |
J.P., and a landed proprietor. Donnithorpe is a little hamlet just to | |
the north of Langmere, in the country of the Broads. The house was an | |
old-fashioned, wide-spread, oak-beamed brick building, with a fine | |
lime-lined avenue leading up to it. There was excellent wild-duck | |
shooting in the fens, remarkably good fishing, a small but select | |
library, taken over, as I understood, from a former occupant, and a | |
tolerable cook, so that he would be a fastidious man who could not | |
put in a pleasant month there. | |
"Trevor senior was a widower, and my friend his only son. | |
"There had been a daughter, I heard, but she had died of diphtheria | |
while on a visit to Birmingham. The father interested me extremely. | |
He was a man of little culture, but with a considerable amount of | |
rude strength, both physically and mentally. He knew hardly any | |
books, but he had traveled far, had seen much of the world. And had | |
remembered all that he had learned. In person he was a thick-set, | |
burly man with a shock of grizzled hair, a brown, weather-beaten | |
face, and blue eyes which were keen to the verge of fierceness. Yet | |
he had a reputation for kindness and charity on the country-side, and | |
was noted for the leniency of his sentences from the bench. | |
"One evening, shortly after my arrival, we were sitting over a glass | |
of port after dinner, when young Trevor began to talk about those | |
habits of observation and inference which I had already formed into a | |
system, although I had not yet appreciated the part which they were | |
to play in my life. The old man evidently thought that his son was | |
exaggerating in his description of one or two trivial feats which I | |
had performed. | |
"'Come, now, Mr. Holmes,' said he, laughing good-humoredly. 'I'm an | |
excellent subject, if you can deduce anything from me.' | |
"'I fear there is not very much,' I answered; 'I might suggest that | |
you have gone about in fear of some personal attack within the last | |
twelve months.' | |
"The laugh faded from his lips, and he stared at me in great | |
surprise. | |
"'Well, that's true enough,' said he. 'You know, Victor,' turning to | |
his son, 'when we broke up that poaching gang they swore to knife us, | |
and Sir Edward Holly has actually been attacked. I've always been on | |
my guard since then, though I have no idea how you know it.' | |
"'You have a very handsome stick,' I answered. 'By the inscription I | |
observed that you had not had it more than a year. But you have taken | |
some pains to bore the head of it and pour melted lead into the hole | |
so as to make it a formidable weapon. I argued that you would not | |
take such precautions unless you had some danger to fear.' | |
"'Anything else?' he asked, smiling. | |
"'You have boxed a good deal in your youth.' | |
"'Right again. How did you know it? Is my nose knocked a little out | |
of the straight?' | |
"'No,' said I. 'It is your ears. They have the peculiar flattening | |
and thickening which marks the boxing man.' | |
"'Anything else?' | |
"'You have done a good deal of digging by your callosities.' | |
"'Made all my money at the gold fields.' | |
"'You have been in New Zealand.' | |
"'Right again.' | |
"'You have visited Japan.' | |
"'Quite true.' | |
"'And you have been most intimately associated with some one whose | |
initials were J. A., and whom you afterwards were eager to entirely | |
forget.' | |
"Mr. Trevor stood slowly up, fixed his large blue eyes upon me with a | |
strange wild stare, and then pitched forward, with his face among the | |
nutshells which strewed the cloth, in a dead faint. | |
"You can imagine, Watson, how shocked both his son and I were. His | |
attack did not last long, however, for when we undid his collar, and | |
sprinkled the water from one of the finger-glasses over his face, he | |
gave a gasp or two and sat up. | |
"'Ah, boys,' said he, forcing a smile, 'I hope I haven't frightened | |
you. Strong as I look, there is a weak place in my heart, and it does | |
not take much to knock me over. I don't know how you manage this, Mr. | |
Holmes, but it seems to me that all the detectives of fact and of | |
fancy would be children in your hands. That's your line of life, sir, | |
and you may take the word of a man who has seen something of the | |
world.' | |
"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability | |
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the | |
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be | |
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby. At the | |
moment, however, I was too much concerned at the sudden illness of my | |
host to think of anything else. | |
"'I hope that I have said nothing to pain you?' said I. | |
"'Well, you certainly touched upon rather a tender point. Might I ask | |
how you know, and how much you know?' He spoke now in a half-jesting | |
fashion, but a look of terror still lurked at the back of his eyes. | |
"'It is simplicity itself,' said I. 'When you bared your arm to draw | |
that fish into the boat I saw that J. A. had been tattooed in the | |
bend of the elbow. The letters were still legible, but it was | |
perfectly clear from their blurred appearance, and from the staining | |
of the skin round them, that efforts had been made to obliterate | |
them. It was obvious, then, that those initials had once been very | |
familiar to you, and that you had afterwards wished to forget them.' | |
"'What an eye you have!' he cried, with a sigh of relief. 'It is just | |
as you say. But we won't talk of it. Of all ghosts the ghosts of our | |
old lovers are the worst. Come into the billiard-room and have a | |
quiet cigar.' | |
"From that day, amid all his cordiality, there was always a touch of | |
suspicion in Mr. Trevor's manner towards me. Even his son remarked | |
it. 'You've given the governor such a turn,' said he, 'that he'll | |
never be sure again of what you know and what you don't know.' He did | |
not mean to show it, I am sure, but it was so strongly in his mind | |
that it peeped out at every action. At last I became so convinced | |
that I was causing him uneasiness that I drew my visit to a close. On | |
the very day, however, before I left, an incident occurred which | |
proved in the sequel to be of importance. | |
"We were sitting out upon the lawn on garden chairs, the three of us, | |
basking in the sun and admiring the view across the Broads, when a | |
maid came out to say that there was a man at the door who wanted to | |
see Mr. Trevor. | |
"'What is his name?' asked my host. | |
"'He would not give any.' | |
"'What does he want, then?' | |
"'He says that you know him, and that he only wants a moment's | |
conversation.' | |
"'Show him round here.' An instant afterwards there appeared a little | |
wizened fellow with a cringing manner and a shambling style of | |
walking. He wore an open jacket, with a splotch of tar on the sleeve, | |
a red-and-black check shirt, dungaree trousers, and heavy boots badly | |
worn. His face was thin and brown and crafty, with a perpetual smile | |
upon it, which showed an irregular line of yellow teeth, and his | |
crinkled hands were half closed in a way that is distinctive of | |
sailors. As he came slouching across the lawn I heard Mr. Trevor make | |
a sort of hiccoughing noise in his throat, and jumping out of his | |
chair, he ran into the house. He was back in a moment, and I smelt a | |
strong reek of brandy as he passed me. | |
"'Well, my man,' said he. 'What can I do for you?' | |
"The sailor stood looking at him with puckered eyes, and with the | |
same loose-lipped smile upon his face. | |
"'You don't know me?' he asked. | |
"'Why, dear me, it is surely Hudson,' said Mr. Trevor in a tone of | |
surprise. | |
"'Hudson it is, sir,' said the seaman. 'Why, it's thirty year and | |
more since I saw you last. Here you are in your house, and me still | |
picking my salt meat out of the harness cask.' | |
"'Tut, you will find that I have not forgotten old times,' cried Mr. | |
Trevor, and, walking towards the sailor, he said something in a low | |
voice. 'Go into the kitchen,' he continued out loud, 'and you will | |
get food and drink. I have no doubt that I shall find you a | |
situation.' | |
"'Thank you, sir,' said the seaman, touching his fore-lock. 'I'm just | |
off a two-yearer in an eight-knot tramp, short-handed at that, and I | |
wants a rest. I thought I'd get it either with Mr. Beddoes or with | |
you.' | |
"'Ah!' cried Trevor. 'You know where Mr. Beddoes is?' | |
"'Bless you, sir, I know where all my old friends are,' said the | |
fellow with a sinister smile, and he slouched off after the maid to | |
the kitchen. Mr. Trevor mumbled something to us about having been | |
shipmate with the man when he was going back to the diggings, and | |
then, leaving us on the lawn, he went indoors. An hour later, when we | |
entered the house, we found him stretched dead drunk upon the | |
dining-room sofa. The whole incident left a most ugly impression upon | |
my mind, and I was not sorry next day to leave Donnithorpe behind me, | |
for I felt that my presence must be a source of embarrassment to my | |
friend. | |
"All this occurred during the first month of the long vacation. I | |
went up to my London rooms, where I spent seven weeks working out a | |
few experiments in organic chemistry. One day, however, when the | |
autumn was far advanced and the vacation drawing to a close, I | |
received a telegram from my friend imploring me to return to | |
Donnithorpe, and saying that he was in great need of my advice and | |
assistance. Of course I dropped everything and set out for the North | |
once more. | |
"He met me with the dog-cart at the station, and I saw at a glance | |
that the last two months had been very trying ones for him. He had | |
grown thin and careworn, and had lost the loud, cheery manner for | |
which he had been remarkable. | |
"'The governor is dying,' were the first words he said. | |
"'Impossible!' I cried. 'What is the matter?' | |
"'Apoplexy. Nervous shock, He's been on the verge all day. I doubt if | |
we shall find him alive.' | |
"I was, as you may think, Watson, horrified at this unexpected news. | |
"'What has caused it?' I asked. | |
"'Ah, that is the point. Jump in and we can talk it over while we | |
drive. You remember that fellow who came upon the evening before you | |
left us?' | |
"'Perfectly.' | |
"'Do you know who it was that we let into the house that day?' | |
"'I have no idea.' | |
"'It was the devil, Holmes,' he cried. | |
"I stared at him in astonishment. | |
"'Yes, it was the devil himself. We have not had a peaceful hour | |
since--not one. The governor has never held up his head from that | |
evening, and now the life has been crushed out of him and his heart | |
broken, all through this accursed Hudson.' | |
"'What power had he, then?' | |
"'Ah, that is what I would give so much to know. The kindly, | |
charitable, good old governor--how could he have fallen into the | |
clutches of such a ruffian! But I am so glad that you have come, | |
Holmes. I trust very much to your judgment and discretion, and I know | |
that you will advise me for the best.' | |
"We were dashing along the smooth white country road, with the long | |
stretch of the Broads in front of us glimmering in the red light of | |
the setting sun. From a grove upon our left I could already see the | |
high chimneys and the flag-staff which marked the squire's dwelling. | |
"'My father made the fellow gardener,' said my companion, 'and then, | |
as that did not satisfy him, he was promoted to be butler. The house | |
seemed to be at his mercy, and he wandered about and did what he | |
chose in it. The maids complained of his drunken habits and his vile | |
language. The dad raised their wages all round to recompense them for | |
the annoyance. The fellow would take the boat and my father's best | |
gun and treat himself to little shooting trips. And all this with | |
such a sneering, leering, insolent face that I would have knocked him | |
down twenty times over if he had been a man of my own age. I tell | |
you, Holmes, I have had to keep a tight hold upon myself all this | |
time; and now I am asking myself whether, if I had let myself go a | |
little more, I might not have been a wiser man. | |
"'Well, matters went from bad to worse with us, and this animal | |
Hudson became more and more intrusive, until at last, on making some | |
insolent reply to my father in my presence one day, I took him by the | |
shoulders and turned him out of the room. He slunk away with a livid | |
face and two venomous eyes which uttered more threats than his tongue | |
could do. I don't know what passed between the poor dad and him after | |
that, but the dad came to me next day and asked me whether I would | |
mind apologizing to Hudson. I refused, as you can imagine, and asked | |
my father how he could allow such a wretch to take such liberties | |
with himself and his household. | |
"'"Ah, my boy," said he, "it is all very well to talk, but you don't | |
know how I am placed. But you shall know, Victor. I'll see that you | |
shall know, come what may. You wouldn't believe harm of your poor old | |
father, would you, lad?" He was very much moved, and shut himself up | |
in the study all day, where I could see through the window that he | |
was writing busily. | |
"'That evening there came what seemed to me to be a grand release, | |
for Hudson told us that he was going to leave us. He walked into the | |
dining-room as we sat after dinner, and announced his intention in | |
the thick voice of a half-drunken man. | |
"'"I've had enough of Norfolk," said he. "I'll run down to Mr. | |
Beddoes in Hampshire. He'll be as glad to see me as you were, I dare | |
say." | |
"'"You're not going away in any kind of spirit, Hudson, I hope," said | |
my father, with a tameness which mad my blood boil. | |
"'"I've not had my 'pology," said he sulkily, glancing in my | |
direction. | |
"'"Victor, you will acknowledge that you have used this worthy fellow | |
rather roughly," said the dad, turning to me. | |
"'"On the contrary, I think that we have both shown extraordinary | |
patience towards him," I answered. | |
"'"Oh, you do, do you?" he snarls. "Very good, mate. We'll see about | |
that!" | |
"'He slouched out of the room, and half an hour afterwards left the | |
house, leaving my father in a state of pitiable nervousness. Night | |
after night I heard him pacing his room, and it was just as he was | |
recovering his confidence that the blow did at last fall.' | |
"'And how?' I asked eagerly. | |
"'In a most extraordinary fashion. A letter arrived for my father | |
yesterday evening, bearing the Fordingbridge post-mark. My father | |
read it, clapped both his hands to his head, and began running round | |
the room in little circles like a man who has been driven out of his | |
senses. When I at last drew him down on to the sofa, his mouth and | |
eyelids were all puckered on one side, and I saw that he had a | |
stroke. Dr. Fordham came over at once. We put him to bed; but the | |
paralysis has spread, he has shown no sign of returning | |
consciousness, and I think that we shall hardly find him alive.' | |
"'You horrify me, Trevor!' I cried. 'What then could have been in | |
this letter to cause so dreadful a result?' | |
"'Nothing. There lies the inexplicable part of it. The message was | |
absurd and trivial. Ah, my God, it is as I feared!' | |
"As he spoke we came round the curve of the avenue, and saw in the | |
fading light that every blind in the house had been drawn down. As we | |
dashed up to the door, my friend's face convulsed with grief, a | |
gentleman in black emerged from it. | |
"'When did it happen, doctor?' asked Trevor. | |
"'Almost immediately after you left.' | |
"'Did he recover consciousness?' | |
"'For an instant before the end.' | |
"'Any message for me?' | |
"'Only that the papers were in the back drawer of the Japanese | |
cabinet.' | |
"My friend ascended with the doctor to the chamber of death, while I | |
remained in the study, turning the whole matter over and over in my | |
head, and feeling as sombre as ever I had done in my life. What was | |
the past of this Trevor, pugilist, traveler, and gold-digger, and how | |
had he placed himself in the power of this acid-faced seaman? Why, | |
too, should he faint at an allusion to the half-effaced initials upon | |
his arm, and die of fright when he had a letter from Fordingham? | |
Then I remembered that Fordingham was in Hampshire, and that this Mr. | |
Beddoes, whom the seaman had gone to visit and presumably to | |
blackmail, had also been mentioned as living in Hampshire. The | |
letter, then, might either come from Hudson, the seaman, saying that | |
he had betrayed the guilty secret which appeared to exist, or it | |
might come from Beddoes, warning an old confederate that such a | |
betrayal was imminent. So far it seemed clear enough. But then how | |
could this letter be trivial and grotesque, as described by the son? | |
He must have misread it. If so, it must have been one of those | |
ingenious secret codes which mean one thing while they seem to mean | |
another. I must see this letter. If there were a hidden meaning in | |
it, I was confident that I could pluck it forth. For an hour I sat | |
pondering over it in the gloom, until at last a weeping maid brought | |
in a lamp, and close at her heels came my friend Trevor, pale but | |
composed, with these very papers which lie upon my knee held in his | |
grasp. He sat down opposite to me, drew the lamp to the edge of the | |
table, and handed me a short note scribbled, as you see, upon a | |
single sheet of gray paper. 'The supply of game for London is going | |
steadily up,' it ran. 'Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, has been now | |
told to receive all orders for fly-paper and for preservation of your | |
hen-pheasant's life.' | |
"I dare say my face looked as bewildered as yours did just now when | |
first I read this message. Then I reread it very carefully. It was | |
evidently as I had thought, and some secret meaning must lie buried | |
in this strange combination of words. Or could it be that there was a | |
prearranged significance to such phrases as 'fly-paper' and | |
'hen-pheasant'? Such a meaning would be arbitrary and could not be | |
deduced in any way. And yet I was loath to believe that this was the | |
case, and the presence of the word Hudson seemed to show that the | |
subject of the message was as I had guessed, and that it was from | |
Beddoes rather than the sailor. I tried it backwards, but the | |
combination 'life pheasant's hen' was not encouraging. Then I tried | |
alternate words, but neither 'the of for' nor 'supply game London' | |
promised to throw any light upon it. | |
"And then in an instant the key of the riddle was in my hands, and I | |
saw that every third word, beginning with the first, would give a | |
message which might well drive old Trevor to despair. | |
"It was short and terse, the warning, as I now read it to my | |
companion: | |
"'The game is up. Hudson has told all. Fly for your life.' | |
"Victor Trevor sank his face into his shaking hands, 'It must be | |
that, I suppose,' said he. "This is worse than death, for it means | |
disgrace as well. But what is the meaning of these "head-keepers" and | |
"hen-pheasants"? | |
"'It means nothing to the message, but it might mean a good deal to | |
us if we had no other means of discovering the sender. You see that | |
he has begun by writing "The ... game ... is," and so on. Afterwards | |
he had, to fulfill the prearranged cipher, to fill in any two words | |
in each space. He would naturally use the first words which came to | |
his mind, and if there were so many which referred to sport among | |
them, you may be tolerably sure that he is either an ardent shot or | |
interested in breeding. Do you know anything of this Beddoes?' | |
"'Why, now that you mention it,' said he, 'I remember that my poor | |
father used to have an invitation from him to shoot over his | |
preserves every autumn.' | |
"'Then it is undoubtedly from him that the note comes,' said I. 'It | |
only remains for us to find out what this secret was which the sailor | |
Hudson seems to have held over the heads of these two wealthy and | |
respected men.' | |
"'Alas, Holmes, I fear that it is one of sin and shame!' cried my | |
friend. 'But from you I shall have no secrets. Here is the statement | |
which was drawn up by my father when he knew that the danger from | |
Hudson had become imminent. I found it in the Japanese cabinet, as he | |
told the doctor. Take it and read it to me, for I have neither the | |
strength nor the courage to do it myself.' | |
"These are the very papers, Watson, which he handed to me, and I will | |
read them to you, as I read them in the old study that night to him. | |
They are endorsed outside, as you see, 'Some particulars of the | |
voyage of the bark Gloria Scott, from her leaving Falmouth on the 8th | |
October, 1855, to her destruction in N. Lat. 15° 20', W. Long. 25° | |
14' on Nov. 6th.' It is in the form of a letter, and runs in this | |
way: | |
"'My dear, dear son, now that approaching disgrace begins to darken | |
the closing years of my life, I can write with all truth and honesty | |
that it is not the terror of the law, it is not the loss of my | |
position in the county, nor is it my fall in the eyes of all who have | |
known me, which cuts me to the heart; but it is the thought that you | |
should come to blush for me--you who love me and who have seldom, I | |
hope, had reason to do other than respect me. But if the blow falls | |
which is forever hanging over me, then I should wish you to read | |
this, that you may know straight from me how far I have been to | |
blame. On the other hand, if all should go well (which may kind God | |
Almighty grant!), then if by any chance this paper should be still | |
undestroyed and should fall into your hands, I conjure you, by all | |
you hold sacred, by the memory of your dear mother, and by the love | |
which had been between us, to hurl it into the fire and to never give | |
one thought to it again. | |
"'If then your eye goes onto read this line, I know that I shall | |
already have been exposed and dragged from my home, or as is more | |
likely, for you know that my heart is weak, by lying with my tongue | |
sealed forever in death. In either case the time for suppression is | |
past, and every word which I tell you is the naked truth, and this I | |
swear as I hope for mercy. | |
"'My name, dear lad, is not Trevor. I was James Armitage in my | |
younger days, and you can understand now the shock that it was to me | |
a few weeks ago when your college friend addressed me in words which | |
seemed to imply that he had surprised my secret. As Armitage it was | |
that I entered a London banking-house, and as Armitage I was | |
convicted of breaking my country's laws, and was sentenced to | |
transportation. Do not think very harshly of me, laddie. It was a | |
debt of honor, so called, which I had to pay, and I used money which | |
was not my own to do it, in the certainty that I could replace it | |
before there could be any possibility of its being missed. But the | |
most dreadful ill-luck pursued me. The money which I had reckoned | |
upon never came to hand, and a premature examination of accounts | |
exposed my deficit. The case might have been dealt leniently with, | |
but the laws were more harshly administered thirty years ago than | |
now, and on my twenty-third birthday I found myself chained as a | |
felon with thirty-seven other convicts in 'tween-decks of the bark | |
Gloria Scott, bound for Australia. | |
"'It was the year '55 when the Crimean war was at its height, and the | |
old convict ships had been largely used as transports in the Black | |
Sea. The government was compelled, therefore, to use smaller and less | |
suitable vessels for sending out their prisoners. The Gloria Scott | |
had been in the Chinese tea-trade, but she was an old-fashioned, | |
heavy-bowed, broad-beamed craft, and the new clippers had cut her | |
out. She was a five-hundred-ton boat; and besides her thirty-eight | |
jail-birds, she carried twenty-six of a crew, eighteen soldiers, a | |
captain, three mates, a doctor, a chaplain, and four warders. Nearly | |
a hundred souls were in her, all told, when we set sail from | |
Falmouth. | |
"'The partitions between the cells of the convicts, instead of being | |
of thick oak, as is usual in convict-ships, were quite thin and | |
frail. The man next to me, upon the aft side, was one whom I had | |
particularly noticed when we were led down the quay. He was a young | |
man with a clear, hairless face, a long, thin nose, and rather | |
nut-cracker jaws. He carried his head very jauntily in the air, had a | |
swaggering style of walking, and was, above all else, remarkable for | |
his extraordinary height. I don't think any of our heads would have | |
come up to his shoulder, and I am sure that he could not have | |
measured less than six and a half feet. It was strange among so many | |
sad and weary faces to see one which was full of energy and | |
resolution. The sight of it was to me like a fire in a snow-storm. I | |
was glad, then, to find that he was my neighbor, and gladder still | |
when, in the dead of the night, I heard a whisper close to my ear, | |
and found that he had managed to cut an opening in the board which | |
separated us. | |
"'"Hullo, chummy!" said he, "what's your name, and what are you here | |
for?" | |
"'I answered him, and asked in turn who I was talking with. | |
"'"I'm Jack Prendergast," said he, "and by God! You'll learn to bless | |
my name before you've done with me." | |
"'I remembered hearing of his case, for it was one which had made an | |
immense sensation throughout the country some time before my own | |
arrest. He was a man of good family and of great ability, but of | |
incurably vicious habits, who had, by an ingenious system of fraud, | |
obtained huge sums of money from the leading London merchants. | |
"'"Ha, ha! You remember my case!" said he proudly. | |
"'"Very well, indeed." | |
"'"Then maybe you remember something queer about it?" | |
"'"What was that, then?" | |
"'"I'd had nearly a quarter of a million, hadn't I?" | |
"'"So it was said." | |
"'"But none was recovered, eh?" | |
"'"No." | |
"'"Well, where d'ye suppose the balance is?" he asked. | |
"'"I have no idea," said I. | |
"'"Right between my finger and thumb," he cried. "By God! I've got | |
more pounds to my name than you've hairs on your head. And if you've | |
money, my son, and know how to handle it and spread it, you can do | |
anything. Now, you don't think it likely that a man who could do | |
anything is going to wear his breeches out sitting in the stinking | |
hold of a rat-gutted, beetle-ridden, mouldy old coffin of a Chin | |
China coaster. No, sir, such a man will look after himself and will | |
look after his chums. You may lay to that! You hold on to him, and | |
you may kiss the book that he'll haul you through." | |
"'That was his style of talk, and at first I thought it meant | |
nothing; but after a while, when he had tested me and sworn me in | |
with all possible solemnity, he let me understand that there really | |
was a plot to gain command of the vessel. A dozen of the prisoners | |
had hatched it before they came aboard, Prendergast was the leader, | |
and his money was the motive power. | |
"'"I'd a partner," said he, "a rare good man, as true as a stock to a | |
barrel. He's got the dibbs, he has, and where do you think he is at | |
this moment? Why, he's the chaplain of this ship--the chaplain, no | |
less! He came aboard with a black coat, and his papers right, and | |
money enough in his box to buy the thing right up from keel to | |
main-truck. The crew are his, body and soul. He could buy 'em at so | |
much a gross with a cash discount, and he did it before ever they | |
signed on. He's got two of the warders and Mercer, the second mate, | |
and he'd get the captain himself, if he thought him worth it." | |
"'"What are we to do, then?" I asked. | |
"'"What do you think?" said he. "We'll make the coats of some of | |
these soldiers redder than ever the tailor did." | |
"'"But they are armed," said I. | |
"'"And so shall we be, my boy. There's a brace of pistols for every | |
mother's son of us, and if we can't carry this ship, with the crew at | |
our back, it's time we were all sent to a young misses' | |
boarding-school. You speak to your mate upon the left to-night, and | |
see if he is to be trusted." | |
"'I did so, and found my other neighbor to be a young fellow in much | |
the same position as myself, whose crime had been forgery. His name | |
was Evans, but he afterwards changed it, like myself, and he is now a | |
rich and prosperous man in the south of England. He was ready enough | |
to join the conspiracy, as the only means of saving ourselves, and | |
before we had crossed the Bay there were only two of the prisoners | |
who were not in the secret. One of these was of weak mind, and we did | |
not dare to trust him, and the other was suffering from jaundice, and | |
could not be of any use to us. | |
"'From the beginning there was really nothing to prevent us from | |
taking possession of the ship. The crew were a set of ruffians, | |
specially picked for the job. The sham chaplain came into our cells | |
to exhort us, carrying a black bag, supposed to be full of tracts, | |
and so often did he come that by the third day we had each stowed | |
away at the foot of our beds a file, a brace of pistols, a pound of | |
powder, and twenty slugs. Two of the warders were agents of | |
Prendergast, and the second mate was his right-hand man. The captain, | |
the two mates, two warders Lieutenant Martin, his eighteen soldiers, | |
and the doctor were all that we had against us. Yet, safe as it was, | |
we determined to neglect no precaution, and to make our attack | |
suddenly by night. It came, however, more quickly than we expected, | |
and in this way. | |
"'One evening, about the third week after our start, the doctor had | |
come down to see one of the prisoners who was ill, and putting his | |
hand down on the bottom of his bunk he felt the outline of the | |
pistols. If he had been silent he might have blown the whole thing, | |
but he was a nervous little chap, so he gave a cry of surprise and | |
turned so pale that the man knew what was up in an instant and seized | |
him. He was gagged before he could give the alarm, and tied down upon | |
the bed. He had unlocked the door that led to the deck, and we were | |
through it in a rush. The two sentries were shot down, and so was a | |
corporal who came running to see what was the matter. There were two | |
more soldiers at the door of the state-room, and their muskets seemed | |
not to be loaded, for they never fired upon us, and they were shot | |
while trying to fix their bayonets. Then we rushed on into the | |
captain's cabin, but as we pushed open the door there was an | |
explosion from within, and there he lay with his brains smeared over | |
the chart of the Atlantic which was pinned upon the table, while the | |
chaplain stood with a smoking pistol in his hand at his elbow. The | |
two mates had both been seized by the crew, and the whole business | |
seemed to be settled. | |
"'The state-room was next the cabin, and we flocked in there and | |
flopped down on the settees, all speaking together, for we were just | |
mad with the feeling that we were free once more. There were lockers | |
all round, and Wilson, the sham chaplain, knocked one of them in, and | |
pulled out a dozen of brown sherry. We cracked off the necks of the | |
bottles, poured the stuff out into tumblers, and were just tossing | |
them off, when in an instant without warning there came the roar of | |
muskets in our ears, and the saloon was so full of smoke that we | |
could not see across the table. When it cleared again the place was a | |
shambles. Wilson and eight others were wriggling on the top of each | |
other on the floor, and the blood and the brown sherry on that table | |
turn me sick now when I think of it. We were so cowed by the sight | |
that I think we should have given the job up if had not been for | |
Prendergast. He bellowed like a bull and rushed for the door with all | |
that were left alive at his heels. Out we ran, and there on the poop | |
were the lieutenent and ten of his men. The swing skylights above the | |
saloon table had been a bit open, and they had fired on us through | |
the slit. We got on them before they could load, and they stood to | |
it like men; but we had the upper hand of them, and in five minutes | |
it was all over. My God! Was there ever a slaughter-house like that | |
ship! Predergast was like a raging devil, and he picked the soldiers | |
up as if they had been children and threw them overboard alive or | |
dead. There was one sergeant that was horribly wounded and yet kept | |
on swimming for a surprising time, until some one in mercy blew out | |
his brains. When the fighting was over there was no one left of our | |
enemies except just the warders, the mates, and the doctor. | |
"'It was over them that the great quarrel arose. There were many of | |
us who were glad enough to win back our freedom, and yet who had no | |
wish to have murder on our souls. It was one thing to knock the | |
soldiers over with their muskets in their hands, and it was another | |
to stand by while men were being killed in cold blood. Eight of us, | |
five convicts and three sailors, said that we would not see it done. | |
But there was no moving Predergast and those who were with him. Our | |
only chance of safety lay in making a clean job of it, said he, and | |
he would not leave a tongue with power to wag in a witness-box. It | |
nearly came to our sharing the fate of the prisoners, but at last he | |
said that if we wished we might take a boat and go. We jumped at the | |
offer, for we were already sick of these blookthirsty doings, and we | |
saw that there would be worse before it was done. We were given a | |
suit of sailor togs each, a barrel of water, two casks, one of junk | |
and one of biscuits, and a compass. Prendergast threw us over a | |
chart, told us that we were shipwrecked mariners whose ship had | |
foundered in Lat. 15° and Long. 25° west, and then cut the painter | |
and let us go. | |
"'And now I come to the most surprising part of my story, my dear | |
son. The seamen had hauled the fore-yard aback during the rising, but | |
now as we left them they brought it square again, and as there was a | |
light wind from the north and east the bark began to draw slowly away | |
from us. Our boat lay, rising and falling, upon the long, smooth | |
rollers, and Evans and I, who were the most educated of the party, | |
were sitting in the sheets working out our position and planning what | |
coast we should make for. It was a nice question, for the Cape de | |
Verds were about five hundred miles to the north of us, and the | |
African coast about seven hundred to the east. On the whole, as the | |
wind was coming round to the north, we thought that Sierra Leone | |
might be best, and turned our head in that direction, the bark being | |
at that time nearly hull down on our starboard quarter. Suddenly as | |
we looked at her we saw a dense black cloud of smoke shoot up from | |
her, which hung like a monstrous tree upon the sky line. A few | |
seconds later a roar like thunder burst upon our ears, and as the | |
smoke thinned away there was no sign left of the Gloria Scott. In an | |
instant we swept the boat's head round again and pulled with all our | |
strength for the place where the haze still trailing over the water | |
marked the scene of this catastrophe. | |
"'It was a long hour before we reached it, and at first we feared | |
that we had come too late to save any one. A splintered boat and a | |
number of crates and fragments of spars rising and falling on the | |
waves showed us where the vessel had foundered; but there was no sign | |
of life, and we had turned away in despair when we heard a cry for | |
help, and saw at some distance a piece of wreckage with a man lying | |
stretched across it. When we pulled him aboard the boat he proved to | |
be a young seaman of the name of Hudson, who was so burned and | |
exhausted that he could give us no account of what had happened until | |
the following morning. | |
"'It seemed that after we had left, Prendergast and his gang had | |
proceeded to put to death the five remaining prisoners. The two | |
warders had been shot and thrown overboard, and so also had the third | |
mate. Prendergast then descended into the 'tween-decks and with his | |
own hands cut the throat of the unfortunate surgeon. There only | |
remained the first mate, who was a bold and active man. When he saw | |
the convict approaching him with the bloody knife in his hand he | |
kicked off his bonds, which he had somehow contrived to loosen, and | |
rushing down the deck he plunged into the after-hold. A dozen | |
convicts, who descended with their pistols in search of him, found | |
him with a match-box in his hand seated beside an open powder-barrel, | |
which was one of a hundred carried on board, and swearing that he | |
would blow all hands up if he were in any way molested. An instant | |
later the explosion occurred, though Hudson thought it was caused by | |
the misdirected bullet of one of the convicts rather than the mate's | |
match. Be the cause what I may, it was the end of the Gloria Scott | |
and of the rabble who held command of her. | |
"'Such, in a few words, my dear boy, is the history of this terrible | |
business in which I was involved. Next day we were picked up by the | |
brig Hotspur, bound for Australia, whose captain found no difficulty | |
in believing that we were the survivors of a passenger ship which had | |
foundered. The transport ship Gloria Scott was set down by the | |
Admiralty as being lost at sea, and no word has ever leaked out as to | |
her true fate. After an excellent voyage the Hotspur landed us at | |
Sydney, where Evans and I changed our names and made our way to the | |
diggings, where, among the crowds who were gathered from all nations, | |
we had no difficulty in losing our former identities. The rest I need | |
not relate. We prospered, we traveled, we came back as rich colonials | |
to England, and we bought country estates. For more than twenty years | |
we have led peaceful and useful lives, and we hoped that our past was | |
forever buried. Imagine, then, my feelings when in the seaman who | |
came to us I recognized instantly the man who had been picked off the | |
wreck. He had tracked us down somehow, and had set himself to live | |
upon our fears. You will understand now how it was that I strove to | |
keep the peace with him, and you will in some measure sympathize with | |
me in the fears which fill me, now that he has gone from me to his | |
other victim with threats upon his tongue.' | |
"Underneath is written in a hand so shaky as to be hardly legible, | |
'Beddoes writes in cipher to say H. has told all. Sweet Lord, have | |
mercy on our souls!' | |
"That was the narrative which I read that night to young Trevor, and | |
I think, Watson, that under the circumstances it was a dramatic one. | |
The good fellow was heart-broken at it, and went out to the Terai tea | |
planting, where I hear that he is doing well. As to the sailor and | |
Beddoes, neither of them was ever heard of again after that day on | |
which the letter of warning was written. They both disappeared | |
utterly and completely. No complaint had been lodged with the police, | |
so that Beddoes had mistaken a threat for a deed. Hudson had been | |
seen lurking about, and it was believed by the police that he had | |
done away with Beddoes and had fled. For myself I believe that the | |
truth was exactly the opposite. I think that it is most probable that | |
Beddoes, pushed to desperation and believing himself to have been | |
already betrayed, had revenged himself upon Hudson, and had fled from | |
the country with as much money as he could lay his hands on. Those | |
are the facts of the case, Doctor, and if they are of any use to your | |
collection, I am sure that they are very heartily at your service." | |
THE MUSGRAVE RITUAL | |
An anomaly which often struck me in the character of my friend | |
Sherlock Holmes was that, although in his methods of thought he was | |
the neatest and most methodical of mankind, and although also he | |
affected a certain quiet primness of dress, he was none the less in | |
his personal habits one of the most untidy men that ever drove a | |
fellow-lodger to distraction. Not that I am in the least conventional | |
in that respect myself. The rough-and-tumble work in Afghanistan, | |
coming on the top of a natural Bohemianism of disposition, has made | |
me rather more lax than befits a medical man. But with me there is a | |
limit, and when I find a man who keeps his cigars in the | |
coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and | |
his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the | |
very centre of his wooden mantelpiece, then I begin to give myself | |
virtuous airs. I have always held, too, that pistol practice should | |
be distinctly an open-air pastime; and when Holmes, in one of his | |
queer humors, would sit in an arm-chair with his hair-trigger and a | |
hundred Boxer cartridges, and proceed to adorn the opposite wall with | |
a patriotic V. R. done in bullet-pocks, I felt strongly that neither | |
the atmosphere nor the appearance of our room was improved by it. | |
Our chambers were always full of chemicals and of criminal relics | |
which had a way of wandering into unlikely positions, and of turning | |
up in the butter-dish or in even less desirable places. But his | |
papers were my great crux. He had a horror of destroying documents, | |
especially those which were connected with his past cases, and yet it | |
was only once in every year or two that he would muster energy to | |
docket and arrange them; for, as I have mentioned somewhere in these | |
incoherent memoirs, the outbursts of passionate energy when he | |
performed the remarkable feats with which his name is associated were | |
followed by reactions of lethargy during which he would lie about | |
with his violin and his books, hardly moving save from the sofa to | |
the table. Thus month after month his papers accumulated, until every | |
corner of the room was stacked with bundles of manuscript which were | |
on no account to be burned, and which could not be put away save by | |
their owner. One winter's night, as we sat together by the fire, I | |
ventured to suggest to him that, as he had finished pasting extracts | |
into his common-place book, he might employ the next two hours in | |
making our room a little more habitable. He could not deny the | |
justice of my request, so with a rather rueful face he went off to | |
his bedroom, from which he returned presently pulling a large tin box | |
behind him. This he placed in the middle of the floor and, squatting | |
down upon a stool in front of it, he threw back the lid. I could see | |
that it was already a third full of bundles of paper tied up with red | |
tape into separate packages. | |
"There are cases enough here, Watson," said he, looking at me with | |
mischievous eyes. "I think that if you knew all that I had in this | |
box you would ask me to pull some out instead of putting others in." | |
"These are the records of your early work, then?" I asked. "I have | |
often wished that I had notes of those cases." | |
"Yes, my boy, these were all done prematurely before my biographer | |
had come to glorify me." He lifted bundle after bundle in a tender, | |
caressing sort of way. "They are not all successes, Watson," said he. | |
"But there are some pretty little problems among them. Here's the | |
record of the Tarleton murders, and the case of Vamberry, the wine | |
merchant, and the adventure of the old Russian woman, and the | |
singular affair of the aluminium crutch, as well as a full account of | |
Ricoletti of the club-foot, and his abominable wife. And here--ah, | |
now, this really is something a little recherché." | |
He dived his arm down to the bottom of the chest, and brought up a | |
small wooden box with a sliding lid, such as children's toys are kept | |
in. From within he produced a crumpled piece of paper, an | |
old-fashioned brass key, a peg of wood with a ball of string attached | |
to it, and three rusty old disks of metal. | |
"Well, my boy, what do you make of this lot?" he asked, smiling at my | |
expression. | |
"It is a curious collection." | |
"Very curious, and the story that hangs round it will strike you as | |
being more curious still." | |
"These relics have a history then?" | |
"So much so that they are history." | |
"What do you mean by that?" | |
Sherlock Holmes picked them up one by one, and laid them along the | |
edge of the table. Then he reseated himself in his chair and looked | |
them over with a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes. | |
"These," said he, "are all that I have left to remind me of the | |
adventure of the Musgrave Ritual." | |
I had heard him mention the case more than once, though I had never | |
been able to gather the details. "I should be so glad," said I, "if | |
you would give me an account of it." | |
"And leave the litter as it is?" he cried, mischievously. "Your | |
tidiness won't bear much strain after all, Watson. But I should be | |
glad that you should add this case to your annals, for there are | |
points in it which make it quite unique in the criminal records of | |
this or, I believe, of any other country. A collection of my trifling | |
achievements would certainly be incomplete which contained no account | |
of this very singular business. | |
"You may remember how the affair of the Gloria Scott, and my | |
conversation with the unhappy man whose fate I told you of, first | |
turned my attention in the direction of the profession which has | |
become my life's work. You see me now when my name has become known | |
far and wide, and when I am generally recognized both by the public | |
and by the official force as being a final court of appeal in | |
doubtful cases. Even when you knew me first, at the time of the | |
affair which you have commemorated in 'A Study in Scarlet,' I had | |
already established a considerable, though not a very lucrative, | |
connection. You can hardly realize, then, how difficult I found it at | |
first, and how long I had to wait before I succeeded in making any | |
headway. | |
"When I first came up to London I had rooms in Montague Street, just | |
round the corner from the British Museum, and there I waited, filling | |
in my too abundant leisure time by studying all those branches of | |
science which might make me more efficient. Now and again cases came | |
in my way, principally through the introduction of old | |
fellow-students, for during my last years at the University there was | |
a good deal of talk there about myself and my methods. The third of | |
these cases was that of the Musgrave Ritual, and it is to the | |
interest which was aroused by that singular chain of events, and the | |
large issues which proved to be at stake, that I trace my first | |
stride towards the position which I now hold. | |
"Reginald Musgrave had been in the same college as myself, and I had | |
some slight acquaintance with him. He was not generally popular among | |
the undergraduates, though it always seemed to me that what was set | |
down as pride was really an attempt to cover extreme natural | |
diffidence. In appearance he was a man of exceedingly aristocratic | |
type, thin, high-nosed, and large-eyed, with languid and yet courtly | |
manners. He was indeed a scion of one of the very oldest families in | |
the kingdom, though his branch was a cadet one which had separated | |
from the northern Musgraves some time in the sixteenth century, and | |
had established itself in western Sussex, where the Manor House of | |
Hurlstone is perhaps the oldest inhabited building in the county. | |
Something of his birth place seemed to cling to the man, and I never | |
looked at his pale, keen face or the poise of his head without | |
associating him with gray archways and mullioned windows and all the | |
venerable wreckage of a feudal keep. Once or twice we drifted into | |
talk, and I can remember that more than once he expressed a keen | |
interest in my methods of observation and inference. | |
"For four years I had seen nothing of him until one morning he walked | |
into my room in Montague Street. He had changed little, was dressed | |
like a young man of fashion--he was always a bit of a dandy--and | |
preserved the same quiet, suave manner which had formerly | |
distinguished him. | |
"'How has all gone with you Musgrave?' I asked, after we had | |
cordially shaken hands. | |
"'You probably heard of my poor father's death,' said he; 'he was | |
carried off about two years ago. Since then I have of course had the | |
Hurlstone estates to manage, and as I am member for my district as | |
well, my life has been a busy one. But I understand, Holmes, that you | |
are turning to practical ends those powers with which you used to | |
amaze us?' | |
"'Yes,' said I, 'I have taken to living by my wits.' | |
"'I am delighted to hear it, for your advice at present would be | |
exceedingly valuable to me. We have had some very strange doings at | |
Hurlstone, and the police have been able to throw no light upon the | |
matter. It is really the most extraordinary and inexplicable | |
business.' | |
"You can imagine with what eagerness I listened to him, Watson, for | |
the very chance for which I had been panting during all those months | |
of inaction seemed to have come within my reach. In my inmost heart I | |
believed that I could succeed where others failed, and now I had the | |
opportunity to test myself. | |
"'Pray, let me have the details,' I cried. | |
"Reginald Musgrave sat down opposite to me, and lit the cigarette | |
which I had pushed towards him. | |
"'You must know,' said he, 'that though I am a bachelor, I have to | |
keep up a considerable staff of servants at Hurlstone, for it is a | |
rambling old place, and takes a good deal of looking after. I | |
preserve, too, and in the pheasant months I usually have a | |
house-party, so that it would not do to be short-handed. Altogether | |
there are eight maids, the cook, the butler, two footmen, and a boy. | |
The garden and the stables of course have a separate staff. | |
"'Of these servants the one who had been longest in our service was | |
Brunton the butler. He was a young school-master out of place when he | |
was first taken up by my father, but he was a man of great energy and | |
character, and he soon became quite invaluable in the household. He | |
was a well-grown, handsome man, with a splendid forehead, and though | |
he has been with us for twenty years he cannot be more than forty | |
now. With his personal advantages and his extraordinary gifts--for he | |
can speak several languages and play nearly every musical | |
instrument--it is wonderful that he should have been satisfied so | |
long in such a position, but I suppose that he was comfortable, and | |
lacked energy to make any change. The butler of Hurlstone is always a | |
thing that is remembered by all who visit us. | |
"'But this paragon has one fault. He is a bit of a Don Juan, and you | |
can imagine that for a man like him it is not a very difficult part | |
to play in a quiet country district. When he was married it was all | |
right, but since he has been a widower we have had no end of trouble | |
with him. A few months ago we were in hopes that he was about to | |
settle down again for he became engaged to Rachel Howells, our second | |
house-maid; but he has thrown her over since then and taken up with | |
Janet Tregellis, the daughter of the head game-keeper. Rachel--who is | |
a very good girl, but of an excitable Welsh temperament--had a sharp | |
touch of brain-fever, and goes about the house now--or did until | |
yesterday--like a black-eyed shadow of her former self. That was our | |
first drama at Hurlstone; but a second one came to drive it from our | |
minds, and it was prefaced by the disgrace and dismissal of butler | |
Brunton. | |
"'This was how it came about. I have said that the man was | |
intelligent, and this very intelligence has caused his ruin, for it | |
seems to have led to an insatiable curiosity about things which did | |
not in the least concern him. I had no idea of the lengths to which | |
this would carry him, until the merest accident opened my eyes to it. | |
"'I have said that the house is a rambling one. One day last week--on | |
Thursday night, to be more exact--I found that I could not sleep, | |
having foolishly taken a cup of strong café noir after my dinner. | |
After struggling against it until two in the morning, I felt that it | |
was quite hopeless, so I rose and lit the candle with the intention | |
of continuing a novel which I was reading. The book, however, had | |
been left in the billiard-room, so I pulled on my dressing-gown and | |
started off to get it. | |
"'In order to reach the billiard-room I had to descend a flight of | |
stairs and then to cross the head of a passage which led to the | |
library and the gun-room. You can imagine my surprise when, as I | |
looked down this corridor, I saw a glimmer of light coming from the | |
open door of the library. I had myself extinguished the lamp and | |
closed the door before coming to bed. Naturally my first thought was | |
of burglars. The corridors at Hurlstone have their walls largely | |
decorated with trophies of old weapons. From one of these I picked a | |
battle-axe, and then, leaving my candle behind me, I crept on tiptoe | |
down the passage and peeped in at the open door. | |
"'Brunton, the butler, was in the library. He was sitting, fully | |
dressed, in an easy-chair, with a slip of paper which looked like a | |
map upon his knee, and his forehead sunk forward upon his hand in | |
deep thought. I stood dumb with astonishment, watching him from the | |
darkness. A small taper on the edge of the table shed a feeble light | |
which sufficed to show me that he was fully dressed. Suddenly, as I | |
looked, he rose from his chair, and walking over to a bureau at the | |
side, he unlocked it and drew out one of the drawers. From this he | |
took a paper, and returning to his seat he flattened it out beside | |
the taper on the edge of the table, and began to study it with minute | |
attention. My indignation at this calm examination of our family | |
documents overcame me so far that I took a step forward, and Brunton, | |
looking up, saw me standing in the doorway. He sprang to his feet, | |
his face turned livid with fear, and he thrust into his breast the | |
chart-like paper which he had been originally studying. | |
"'"So!" said I. "This is how you repay the trust which we have | |
reposed in you. You will leave my service to-morrow." | |
"'He bowed with the look of a man who is utterly crushed, and slunk | |
past me without a word. The taper was still on the table, and by its | |
light I glanced to see what the paper was which Brunton had taken | |
from the bureau. To my surprise it was nothing of any importance at | |
all, but simply a copy of the questions and answers in the singular | |
old observance called the Musgrave Ritual. It is a sort of ceremony | |
peculiar to our family, which each Musgrave for centuries past has | |
gone through on his coming of age--a thing of private interest, and | |
perhaps of some little importance to the archaeologist, like our own | |
blazonings and charges, but of no practical use whatever.' | |
"'We had better come back to the paper afterwards,' said I. | |
"'If you think it really necessary,' he answered, with some | |
hesitation. 'To continue my statement, however: I relocked the | |
bureau, using the key which Brunton had left, and I had turned to go | |
when I was surprised to find that the butler had returned, and was | |
standing before me. | |
"'"Mr. Musgrave, sir," he cried, in a voice which was hoarse with | |
emotion, "I can't bear disgrace, sir. I've always been proud above my | |
station in life, and disgrace would kill me. My blood will be on your | |
head, sir--it will, indeed--if you drive me to despair. If you cannot | |
keep me after what has passed, then for God's sake let me give you | |
notice and leave in a month, as if of my own free will. I could stand | |
that, Mr. Musgrave, but not to be cast out before all the folk that I | |
know so well." | |
"'"You don't deserve much consideration, Brunton," I answered. "Your | |
conduct has been most infamous. However, as you have been a long time | |
in the family, I have no wish to bring public disgrace upon you. A | |
month, however is too long. Take yourself away in a week, and give | |
what reason you like for going." | |
"'"Only a week, sir?" he cried, in a despairing voice. "A | |
fortnight--say at least a fortnight!" | |
"'"A week," I repeated, "and you may consider yourself to have been | |
very leniently dealt with." | |
"'He crept away, his face sunk upon his breast, like a broken man, | |
while I put out the light and returned to my room. | |
"'For two days after this Brunton was most assiduous in his attention | |
to his duties. I made no allusion to what had passed, and waited with | |
some curiosity to see how he would cover his disgrace. On the third | |
morning, however he did not appear, as was his custom, after | |
breakfast to receive my instructions for the day. As I left the | |
dining-room I happened to meet Rachel Howells, the maid. I have told | |
you that she had only recently recovered from an illness, and was | |
looking so wretchedly pale and wan that I remonstrated with her for | |
being at work. | |
"'"You should be in bed," I said. "Come back to your duties when you | |
are stronger." | |
"'She looked at me with so strange an expression that I began to | |
suspect that her brain was affected. | |
"'"I am strong enough, Mr. Musgrave," said she. | |
"'"We will see what the doctor says," I answered. "You must stop work | |
now, and when you go downstairs just say that I wish to see Brunton." | |
"'"The butler is gone," said she. | |
"'"Gone! Gone where?" | |
"'"He is gone. No one has seen him. He is not in his room. Oh, yes, | |
he is gone, he is gone!" She fell back against the wall with shriek | |
after shriek of laughter, while I, horrified at this sudden | |
hysterical attack, rushed to the bell to summon help. The girl was | |
taken to her room, still screaming and sobbing, while I made | |
inquiries about Brunton. There was no doubt about it that he had | |
disappeared. His bed had not been slept in, he had been seen by no | |
one since he had retired to his room the night before, and yet it was | |
difficult to see how he could have left the house, as both windows | |
and doors were found to be fastened in the morning. His clothes, his | |
watch, and even his money were in his room, but the black suit which | |
he usually wore was missing. His slippers, too, were gone, but his | |
boots were left behind. Where then could butler Brunton have gone in | |
the night, and what could have become of him now? | |
"'Of course we searched the house from cellar to garret, but there | |
was no trace of him. It is, as I have said, a labyrinth of an old | |
house, especially the original wing, which is now practically | |
uninhabited; but we ransacked every room and cellar without | |
discovering the least sign of the missing man. It was incredible to | |
me that he could have gone away leaving all his property behind him, | |
and yet where could he be? I called in the local police, but without | |
success. Rain had fallen on the night before and we examined the lawn | |
and the paths all round the house, but in vain. Matters were in this | |
state, when a new development quite drew our attention away from the | |
original mystery. | |
"'For two days Rachel Howells had been so ill, sometimes delirious, | |
sometimes hysterical, that a nurse had been employed to sit up with | |
her at night. On the third night after Brunton's disappearance, the | |
nurse, finding her patient sleeping nicely, had dropped into a nap in | |
the arm-chair, when she woke in the early morning to find the bed | |
empty, the window open, and no signs of the invalid. I was instantly | |
aroused, and, with the two footmen, started off at once in search of | |
the missing girl. It was not difficult to tell the direction which | |
she had taken, for, starting from under her window, we could follow | |
her footmarks easily across the lawn to the edge of the mere, where | |
they vanished close to the gravel path which leads out of the | |
grounds. The lake there is eight feet deep, and you can imagine our | |
feelings when we saw that the trail of the poor demented girl came to | |
an end at the edge of it. | |
"'Of course, we had the drags at once, and set to work to recover the | |
remains, but no trace of the body could we find. On the other hand, | |
we brought to the surface an object of a most unexpected kind. It was | |
a linen bag which contained within it a mass of old rusted and | |
discolored metal and several dull-colored pieces of pebble or glass. | |
This strange find was all that we could get from the mere, and, | |
although we made every possible search and inquiry yesterday, we know | |
nothing of the fate either of Rachel Howells or of Richard Brunton. | |
The county police are at their wits' end, and I have come up to you | |
as a last resource.' | |
"You can imagine, Watson, with what eagerness I listened to this | |
extraordinary sequence of events, and endeavored to piece them | |
together, and to devise some common thread upon which they might all | |
hang. The butler was gone. The maid was gone. The maid had loved the | |
butler, but had afterwards had cause to hate him. She was of Welsh | |
blood, fiery and passionate. She had been terribly excited | |
immediately after his disappearance. She had flung into the lake a | |
bag containing some curious contents. These were all factors which | |
had to be taken into consideration, and yet none of them got quite to | |
the heart of the matter. What was the starting-point of this chain of | |
events? There lay the end of this tangled line. | |
"'I must see that paper, Musgrave,' said I, 'which this butler of | |
your thought it worth his while to consult, even at the risk of the | |
loss of his place.' | |
"'It is rather an absurd business, this ritual of ours,' he answered. | |
'But it has at least the saving grace of antiquity to excuse it. I | |
have a copy of the questions and answers here if you care to run your | |
eye over them.' | |
"He handed me the very paper which I have here, Watson, and this is | |
the strange catechism to which each Musgrave had to submit when he | |
came to man's estate. I will read you the questions and answers as | |
they stand. | |
"'Whose was it?' | |
"'His who is gone.' | |
"'Who shall have it?' | |
"'He who will come.' | |
"'What was the month?' | |
"'The sixth from the first.' | |
"'Where was the sun?' | |
"'Over the oak.' | |
"'Where was the shadow?' | |
"'Under the elm.' | |
"'How was it stepped?' | |
"'North by ten and by ten, east by five and by five, south by two and | |
by two, west by one and by one, and so under.' | |
"'What shall we give for it?' | |
"'All that is ours.' | |
"'Why should we give it?' | |
"'For the sake of the trust.' | |
"'The original has no date, but is in the spelling of the middle of | |
the seventeenth century,' remarked Musgrave. 'I am afraid, however, | |
that it can be of little help to you in solving this mystery.' | |
"'At least,' said I, 'it gives us another mystery, and one which is | |
even more interesting than the first. It may be that the solution of | |
the one may prove to be the solution of the other. You will excuse | |
me, Musgrave, if I say that your butler appears to me to have been a | |
very clever man, and to have had a clearer insight that ten | |
generations of his masters.' | |
"'I hardly follow you,' said Musgrave. 'The paper seems to me to be | |
of no practical importance.' | |
"'But to me it seems immensely practical, and I fancy that Brunton | |
took the same view. He had probably seen it before that night on | |
which you caught him.' | |
"'It is very possible. We took no pains to hide it.' | |
"'He simply wished, I should imagine, to refresh his memory upon that | |
last occasion. He had, as I understand, some sort of map or chart | |
which he was comparing with the manuscript, and which he thrust into | |
his pocket when you appeared.' | |
"'That is true. But what could he have to do with this old family | |
custom of ours, and what does this rigmarole mean?' | |
"'I don't think that we should have much difficulty in determining | |
that,' said I; 'with your permission we will take the first train | |
down to Sussex, and go a little more deeply into the matter upon the | |
spot.' | |
"The same afternoon saw us both at Hurlstone. Possibly you have seen | |
pictures and read descriptions of the famous old building, so I will | |
confine my account of it to saying that it is built in the shape of | |
an L, the long arm being the more modern portion, and the shorter the | |
ancient nucleus, from which the other had developed. Over the low, | |
heavily-lintelled door, in the centre of this old part, is chiseled | |
the date, 1607, but experts are agreed that the beams and stone-work | |
are really much older than this. The enormously thick walls and tiny | |
windows of this part had in the last century driven the family into | |
building the new wing, and the old one was used now as a store-house | |
and a cellar, when it was used at all. A splendid park with fine old | |
timber surrounds the house, and the lake, to which my client had | |
referred, lay close to the avenue, about two hundred yards from the | |
building. | |
"I was already firmly convinced, Watson, that there were not three | |
separate mysteries here, but one only, and that if I could read the | |
Musgrave Ritual aright I should hold in my hand the clue which would | |
lead me to the truth concerning both the butler Brunton and the maid | |
Howells. To that then I turned all my energies. Why should this | |
servant be so anxious to master this old formula? Evidently because | |
he saw something in it which had escaped all those generations of | |
country squires, and from which he expected some personal advantage. | |
What was it then, and how had it affected his fate? | |
"It was perfectly obvious to me, on reading the ritual, that the | |
measurements must refer to some spot to which the rest of the | |
document alluded, and that if we could find that spot, we should be | |
in a fair way towards finding what the secret was which the old | |
Musgraves had thought it necessary to embalm in so curious a fashion. | |
There were two guides given us to start with, an oak and an elm. As | |
to the oak there could be no question at all. Right in front of the | |
house, upon the left-hand side of the drive, there stood a patriarch | |
among oaks, one of the most magnificent trees that I have ever seen. | |
"'That was there when your ritual was drawn up,' said I, as we drove | |
past it. | |
"'It was there at the Norman Conquest in all probability,' he | |
answered. 'It has a girth of twenty-three feet.' | |
"Here was one of my fixed points secured. | |
"'Have you any old elms?' I asked. | |
"'There used to be a very old one over yonder but it was struck by | |
lightning ten years ago, and we cut down the stump,' | |
"'You can see where it used to be?' | |
"'Oh, yes.' | |
"'There are no other elms?' | |
"'No old ones, but plenty of beeches.' | |
"'I should like to see where it grew.' | |
"We had driven up in a dogcart, and my client led me away at once, | |
without our entering the house, to the scar on the lawn where the elm | |
had stood. It was nearly midway between the oak and the house. My | |
investigation seemed to be progressing. | |
"'I suppose it is impossible to find out how high the elm was?' I | |
asked. | |
"'I can give you it at once. It was sixty-four feet.' | |
"'How do you come to know it?' I asked, in surprise. | |
"'When my old tutor used to give me an exercise in trigonometry, it | |
always took the shape of measuring heights. When I was a lad I worked | |
out every tree and building in the estate.' | |
"This was an unexpected piece of luck. My data were coming more | |
quickly than I could have reasonably hoped. | |
"'Tell me,' I asked, 'did your butler ever ask you such a question?' | |
"Reginald Musgrave looked at me in astonishment. 'Now that you call | |
it to my mind,' he answered, 'Brunton did ask me about the height of | |
the tree some months ago, in connection with some little argument | |
with the groom.' | |
"This was excellent news, Watson, for it showed me that I was on the | |
right road. I looked up at the sun. It was low in the heavens, and I | |
calculated that in less than an hour it would lie just above the | |
topmost branches of the old oak. One condition mentioned in the | |
Ritual would then be fulfilled. And the shadow of the elm must mean | |
the farther end of the shadow, otherwise the trunk would have been | |
chosen as the guide. I had, then, to find where the far end of the | |
shadow would fall when the sun was just clear of the oak." | |
"That must have been difficult, Holmes, when the elm was no longer | |
there." | |
"Well, at least I knew that if Brunton could do it, I could also. | |
Besides, there was no real difficulty. I went with Musgrave to his | |
study and whittled myself this peg, to which I tied this long string | |
with a knot at each yard. Then I took two lengths of a fishing-rod, | |
which came to just six feet, and I went back with my client to where | |
the elm had been. The sun was just grazing the top of the oak. I | |
fastened the rod on end, marked out the direction of the shadow, and | |
measured it. It was nine feet in length. | |
"Of course the calculation now was a simple one. If a rod of six feet | |
threw a shadow of nine, a tree of sixty-four feet would throw one of | |
ninety-six, and the line of the one would of course be the line of | |
the other. I measured out the distance, which brought me almost to | |
the wall of the house, and I thrust a peg into the spot. You can | |
imagine my exultation, Watson, when within two inches of my peg I saw | |
a conical depression in the ground. I knew that it was the mark made | |
by Brunton in his measurements, and that I was still upon his trail. | |
"From this starting-point I proceeded to step, having first taken the | |
cardinal points by my pocket-compass. Ten steps with each foot took | |
me along parallel with the wall of the house, and again I marked my | |
spot with a peg. Then I carefully paced off five to the east and two | |
to the south. It brought me to the very threshold of the old door. | |
Two steps to the west meant now that I was to go two paces down the | |
stone-flagged passage, and this was the place indicated by the | |
Ritual. | |
"Never have I felt such a cold chill of disappointment, Watson. For a | |
moment it seemed to me that there must be some radical mistake in my | |
calculations. The setting sun shone full upon the passage floor, and | |
I could see that the old, foot-worn gray stones with which it was | |
paved were firmly cemented together, and had certainly not been moved | |
for many a long year. Brunton had not been at work here. I tapped | |
upon the floor, but it sounded the same all over, and there was no | |
sign of any crack or crevice. But fortunately, Musgrave, who had | |
begun to appreciate the meaning of my proceedings, and who was now as | |
excited as myself, took out his manuscript to check my calculation. | |
"'And under,' he cried. 'You have omitted the "and under."' | |
"I had thought that it meant that we were to dig, but now, of course, | |
I saw at once that I was wrong. 'There is a cellar under this then?' | |
I cried. | |
"'Yes, and as old as the house. Down here, through this door.' | |
"We went down a winding stone stair, and my companion, striking a | |
match, lit a large lantern which stood on a barrel in the corner. In | |
an instant it was obvious that we had at last come upon the true | |
place, and that we had not been the only people to visit the spot | |
recently. | |
"It had been used for the storage of wood, but the billets, which had | |
evidently been littered over the floor, were now piled at the sides, | |
so as to leave a clear space in the middle. In this space lay a large | |
and heavy flagstone with a rusted iron ring in the centre to which a | |
thick shepherd's-check muffler was attached. | |
"'By Jove!' cried my client. 'That's Brunton's muffler. I have seen | |
it on him, and could swear to it. What has the villain been doing | |
here?' | |
"At my suggestion a couple of the county police were summoned to be | |
present, and I then endeavored to raise the stone by pulling on the | |
cravat. I could only move it slightly, and it was with the aid of one | |
of the constables that I succeeded at last in carrying it to one | |
side. A black hole yawned beneath into which we all peered, while | |
Musgrave, kneeling at the side, pushed down the lantern. | |
"A small chamber about seven feet deep and four feet square lay open | |
to us. At one side of this was a squat, brass-bound wooden box, the | |
lid of which was hinged upwards, with this curious old-fashioned key | |
projecting from the lock. It was furred outside by a thick layer of | |
dust, and damp and worms had eaten through the wood, so that a crop | |
of livid fungi was growing on the inside of it. Several discs of | |
metal, old coins apparently, such as I hold here, were scattered over | |
the bottom of the box, but it contained nothing else. | |
"At the moment, however, we had no thought for the old chest, for our | |
eyes were riveted upon that which crouched beside it. It was the | |
figure of a man, clad in a suit of black, who squatted down upon his | |
hams with his forehead sunk upon the edge of the box and his two arms | |
thrown out on each side of it. The attitude had drawn all the | |
stagnant blood to the face, and no man could have recognized that | |
distorted liver-colored countenance; but his height, his dress, and | |
his hair were all sufficient to show my client, when we had drawn the | |
body up, that it was indeed his missing butler. He had been dead some | |
days, but there was no wound or bruise upon his person to show how he | |
had met his dreadful end. When his body had been carried from the | |
cellar we found ourselves still confronted with a problem which was | |
almost as formidable as that with which we had started. | |
"I confess that so far, Watson, I had been disappointed in my | |
investigation. I had reckoned upon solving the matter when once I had | |
found the place referred to in the Ritual; but now I was there, and | |
was apparently as far as ever from knowing what it was which the | |
family had concealed with such elaborate precautions. It is true that | |
I had thrown a light upon the fate of Brunton, but now I had to | |
ascertain how that fate had come upon him, and what part had been | |
played in the matter by the woman who had disappeared. I sat down | |
upon a keg in the corner and thought the whole matter carefully over. | |
"You know my methods in such cases, Watson. I put myself in the man's | |
place and, having first gauged his intelligence, I try to imagine how | |
I should myself have proceeded under the same circumstances. In this | |
case the matter was simplified by Brunton's intelligence being quite | |
first-rate, so that it was unnecessary to make any allowance for the | |
personal equation, as the astronomers have dubbed it. He knew that | |
something valuable was concealed. He had spotted the place. He found | |
that the stone which covered it was just too heavy for a man to move | |
unaided. What would he do next? He could not get help from outside, | |
even if he had some one whom he could trust, without the unbarring of | |
doors and considerable risk of detection. It was better, if he could, | |
to have his helpmate inside the house. But whom could he ask? This | |
girl had been devoted to him. A man always finds it hard to realize | |
that he may have finally lost a woman's love, however badly he may | |
have treated her. He would try by a few attentions to make his peace | |
with the girl Howells, and then would engage her as his accomplice. | |
Together they would come at night to the cellar, and their united | |
force would suffice to raise the stone. So far I could follow their | |
actions as if I had actually seen them. | |
"But for two of them, and one a woman, it must have been heavy work | |
the raising of that stone. A burly Sussex policeman and I had found | |
it no light job. What would they do to assist them? Probably what I | |
should have done myself. I rose and examined carefully the different | |
billets of wood which were scattered round the floor. Almost at once | |
I came upon what I expected. One piece, about three feet in length, | |
had a very marked indentation at one end, while several were | |
flattened at the sides as if they had been compressed by some | |
considerable weight. Evidently, as they had dragged the stone up they | |
had thrust the chunks of wood into the chink, until at last, when the | |
opening was large enough to crawl through, they would hold it open by | |
a billet placed lengthwise, which might very well become indented at | |
the lower end, since the whole weight of the stone would press it | |
down on to the edge of this other slab. So far I was still on safe | |
ground. | |
"And now how was I to proceed to reconstruct this midnight drama? | |
Clearly, only one could fit into the hole, and that one was Brunton. | |
The girl must have waited above. Brunton then unlocked the box, | |
handed up the contents presumably--since they were not to be | |
found--and then--and then what happened? | |
"What smouldering fire of vengeance had suddenly sprung into flame in | |
this passionate Celtic woman's soul when she saw the man who had | |
wronged her--wronged her, perhaps, far more than we suspected--in her | |
power? Was it a chance that the wood had slipped, and that the stone | |
had shut Brunton into what had become his sepulchre? Had she only | |
been guilty of silence as to his fate? Or had some sudden blow from | |
her hand dashed the support away and sent the slab crashing down into | |
its place? Be that as it might, I seemed to see that woman's figure | |
still clutching at her treasure trove and flying wildly up the | |
winding stair, with her ears ringing perhaps with the muffled screams | |
from behind her and with the drumming of frenzied hands against the | |
slab of stone which was choking her faithless lover's life out. | |
"Here was the secret of her blanched face, her shaken nerves, her | |
peals of hysterical laughter on the next morning. But what had been | |
in the box? What had she done with that? Of course, it must have been | |
the old metal and pebbles which my client had dragged from the mere. | |
She had thrown them in there at the first opportunity to remove the | |
last trace of her crime. | |
"For twenty minutes I had sat motionless, thinking the matter out. | |
Musgrave still stood with a very pale face, swinging his lantern and | |
peering down into the hole. | |
"'These are coins of Charles the First,' said he, holding out the few | |
which had been in the box; 'you see we were right in fixing our date | |
for the Ritual.' | |
"'We may find something else of Charles the First,' I cried, as the | |
probable meaning of the first two question of the Ritual broke | |
suddenly upon me. 'Let me see the contents of the bag which you | |
fished from the mere.' | |
"We ascended to his study, and he laid the debris before me. I could | |
understand his regarding it as of small importance when I looked at | |
it, for the metal was almost black and the stones lustreless and | |
dull. I rubbed one of them on my sleeve, however, and it glowed | |
afterwards like a spark in the dark hollow of my hand. The metal work | |
was in the form of a double ring, but it had been bent and twisted | |
out of its original shape. | |
"'You must bear in mind,' said I, 'that the royal party made head in | |
England even after the death of the King, and that when they at last | |
fled they probably left many of their most precious possessions | |
buried behind them, with the intention of returning for them in more | |
peaceful times.' | |
"'My ancestor, Sir Ralph Musgrave, was a prominent Cavalier and the | |
right-hand man of Charles the Second in his wanderings,' said my | |
friend. | |
"'Ah, indeed!' I answered. 'Well now, I think that really should give | |
us the last link that we wanted. I must congratulate you on coming | |
into the possession, though in rather a tragic manner, of a relic | |
which is of great intrinsic value, but of even greater importance as | |
an historical curiosity.' | |
"'What is it, then?' he gasped in astonishment. | |
"'It is nothing less than the ancient crown of the kings of England.' | |
"'The crown!' | |
"'Precisely. Consider what the Ritual says: How does it run? "Whose | |
was it?" "His who is gone." That was after the execution of Charles. | |
Then, "Who shall have it?" "He who will come." That was Charles the | |
Second, whose advent was already foreseen. There can, I think, be no | |
doubt that this battered and shapeless diadem once encircled the | |
brows of the royal Stuarts.' | |
"'And how came it in the pond?' | |
"'Ah, that is a question that will take some time to answer.' And | |
with that I sketched out to him the whole long chain of surmise and | |
of proof which I had constructed. The twilight had closed in and the | |
moon was shining brightly in the sky before my narrative was | |
finished. | |
"'And how was it then that Charles did not get his crown when he | |
returned?' asked Musgrave, pushing back the relic into its linen bag. | |
"'Ah, there you lay your finger upon the one point which we shall | |
probably never be able to clear up. It is likely that the Musgrave | |
who held the secret died in the interval, and by some oversight left | |
this guide to his descendant without explaining the meaning of it. | |
From that day to this it has been handed down from father to son, | |
until at last it came within reach of a man who tore its secret out | |
of it and lost his life in the venture.' | |
"And that's the story of the Musgrave Ritual, Watson. They have the | |
crown down at Hurlstone--though they had some legal bother and a | |
considerable sum to pay before they were allowed to retain it. I am | |
sure that if you mentioned my name they would be happy to show it to | |
you. Of the woman nothing was ever heard, and the probability is that | |
she got away out of England and carried herself and the memory of her | |
crime to some land beyond the seas." | |
THE REIGATE SQUIRES | |
It was some time before the health of my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes | |
recovered from the strain caused by his immense exertions in the | |
spring of '87. The whole question of the Netherland-Sumatra Company | |
and of the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis are too recent in the | |
minds of the public, and are too intimately concerned with politics | |
and finance to be fitting subjects for this series of sketches. They | |
led, however, in an indirect fashion to a singular and complex | |
problem which gave my friend an opportunity of demonstrating the | |
value of a fresh weapon among the many with which he waged his | |
life-long battle against crime. | |
On referring to my notes I see that it was upon the 14th of April | |
that I received a telegram from Lyons which informed me that Holmes | |
was lying ill in the Hotel Dulong. Within twenty-four hours I was in | |
his sick-room, and was relieved to find that there was nothing | |
formidable in his symptoms. Even his iron constitution, however, had | |
broken down under the strain of an investigation which had extended | |
over two months, during which period he had never worked less than | |
fifteen hours a day, and had more than once, as he assured me, kept | |
to his task for five days at a stretch. Even the triumphant issue of | |
his labors could not save him from reaction after so terrible an | |
exertion, and at a time when Europe was ringing with his name and | |
when his room was literally ankle-deep with congratulatory telegrams | |
I found him a prey to the blackest depression. Even the knowledge | |
that he had succeeded where the police of three countries had failed, | |
and that he had outmanoeuvred at every point the most accomplished | |
swindler in Europe, was insufficient to rouse him from his nervous | |
prostration. | |
Three days later we were back in Baker Street together; but it was | |
evident that my friend would be much the better for a change, and the | |
thought of a week of spring time in the country was full of | |
attractions to me also. My old friend, Colonel Hayter, who had come | |
under my professional care in Afghanistan, had now taken a house near | |
Reigate in Surrey, and had frequently asked me to come down to him | |
upon a visit. On the last occasion he had remarked that if my friend | |
would only come with me he would be glad to extend his hospitality to | |
him also. A little diplomacy was needed, but when Holmes understood | |
that the establishment was a bachelor one, and that he would be | |
allowed the fullest freedom, he fell in with my plans and a week | |
after our return from Lyons we were under the Colonel's roof. Hayter | |
was a fine old soldier who had seen much of the world, and he soon | |
found, as I had expected, that Holmes and he had much in common. | |
On the evening of our arrival we were sitting in the Colonel's | |
gun-room after dinner, Holmes stretched upon the sofa, while Hayter | |
and I looked over his little armory of Eastern weapons. | |
"By the way," said he suddenly, "I think I'll take one of these | |
pistols upstairs with me in case we have an alarm." | |
"An alarm!" said I. | |
"Yes, we've had a scare in this part lately. Old Acton, who is one of | |
our county magnates, had his house broken into last Monday. No great | |
damage done, but the fellows are still at large." | |
"No clue?" asked Holmes, cocking his eye at the Colonel. | |
"None as yet. But the affair is a pretty one, one of our little | |
country crimes, which must seem too small for your attention, Mr. | |
Holmes, after this great international affair." | |
Holmes waved away the compliment, though his smile showed that it had | |
pleased him. | |
"Was there any feature of interest?" | |
"I fancy not. The thieves ransacked the library and got very little | |
for their pains. The whole place was turned upside down, drawers | |
burst open, and presses ransacked, with the result that an odd volume | |
of Pope's Homer, two plated candlesticks, an ivory letter-weight, a | |
small oak barometer, and a ball of twine are all that have vanished." | |
"What an extraordinary assortment!" I exclaimed. | |
"Oh, the fellows evidently grabbed hold of everything they could | |
get." | |
Holmes grunted from the sofa. | |
"The county police ought to make something of that," said he; "why, | |
it is surely obvious that--" | |
But I held up a warning finger. | |
"You are here for a rest, my dear fellow. For Heaven's sake don't get | |
started on a new problem when your nerves are all in shreds." | |
Holmes shrugged his shoulders with a glance of comic resignation | |
towards the Colonel, and the talk drifted away into less dangerous | |
channels. | |
It was destined, however, that all my professional caution should be | |
wasted, for next morning the problem obtruded itself upon us in such | |
a way that it was impossible to ignore it, and our country visit took | |
a turn which neither of us could have anticipated. We were at | |
breakfast when the Colonel's butler rushed in with all his propriety | |
shaken out of him. | |
"Have you heard the news, sir?" he gasped. "At the Cunningham's sir!" | |
"Burglary!" cried the Colonel, with his coffee-cup in mid-air. | |
"Murder!" | |
The Colonel whistled. "By Jove!" said he. "Who's killed, then? The | |
J.P. or his son?" | |
"Neither, sir. It was William the coachman. Shot through the heart, | |
sir, and never spoke again." | |
"Who shot him, then?" | |
"The burglar, sir. He was off like a shot and got clean away. He'd | |
just broke in at the pantry window when William came on him and met | |
his end in saving his master's property." | |
"What time?" | |
"It was last night, sir, somewhere about twelve." | |
"Ah, then, we'll step over afterwards," said the Colonel, coolly | |
settling down to his breakfast again. "It's a baddish business," he | |
added when the butler had gone; "he's our leading man about here, is | |
old Cunningham, and a very decent fellow too. He'll be cut up over | |
this, for the man has been in his service for years and was a good | |
servant. It's evidently the same villains who broke into Acton's." | |
"And stole that very singular collection," said Holmes, thoughtfully. | |
"Precisely." | |
"Hum! It may prove the simplest matter in the world, but all the same | |
at first glance this is just a little curious, is it not? A gang of | |
burglars acting in the country might be expected to vary the scene of | |
their operations, and not to crack two cribs in the same district | |
within a few days. When you spoke last night of taking precautions I | |
remember that it passed through my mind that this was probably the | |
last parish in England to which the thief or thieves would be likely | |
to turn their attention--which shows that I have still much to | |
learn." | |
"I fancy it's some local practitioner," said the Colonel. "In that | |
case, of course, Acton's and Cunningham's are just the places he | |
would go for, since they are far the largest about here." | |
"And richest?" | |
"Well, they ought to be, but they've had a lawsuit for some years | |
which has sucked the blood out of both of them, I fancy. Old Acton | |
has some claim on half Cunningham's estate, and the lawyers have been | |
at it with both hands." | |
"If it's a local villain there should not be much difficulty in | |
running him down," said Holmes with a yawn. "All right, Watson, I | |
don't intend to meddle." | |
"Inspector Forrester, sir," said the butler, throwing open the door. | |
The official, a smart, keen-faced young fellow, stepped into the | |
room. "Good-morning, Colonel," said he; "I hope I don't intrude, but | |
we hear that Mr. Holmes of Baker Street is here." | |
The Colonel waved his hand towards my friend, and the Inspector | |
bowed. | |
"We thought that perhaps you would care to step across, Mr. Holmes." | |
"The fates are against you, Watson," said he, laughing. "We were | |
chatting about the matter when you came in, Inspector. Perhaps you | |
can let us have a few details." As he leaned back in his chair in the | |
familiar attitude I knew that the case was hopeless. | |
"We had no clue in the Acton affair. But here we have plenty to go | |
on, and there's no doubt it is the same party in each case. The man | |
was seen." | |
"Ah!" | |
"Yes, sir. But he was off like a deer after the shot that killed poor | |
William Kirwan was fired. Mr. Cunningham saw him from the bedroom | |
window, and Mr. Alec Cunningham saw him from the back passage. It was | |
quarter to twelve when the alarm broke out. Mr. Cunningham had just | |
got into bed, and Mr. Alec was smoking a pipe in his dressing-gown. | |
They both heard William the coachman calling for help, and Mr. Alec | |
ran down to see what was the matter. The back door was open, and as | |
he came to the foot of the stairs he saw two men wrestling together | |
outside. One of them fired a shot, the other dropped, and the | |
murderer rushed across the garden and over the hedge. Mr. Cunningham, | |
looking out of his bedroom, saw the fellow as he gained the road, but | |
lost sight of him at once. Mr. Alec stopped to see if he could help | |
the dying man, and so the villain got clean away. Beyond the fact | |
that he was a middle-sized man and dressed in some dark stuff, we | |
have no personal clue; but we are making energetic inquiries, and if | |
he is a stranger we shall soon find him out." | |
"What was this William doing there? Did he say anything before he | |
died?" | |
"Not a word. He lives at the lodge with his mother, and as he was a | |
very faithful fellow we imagine that he walked up to the house with | |
the intention of seeing that all was right there. Of course this | |
Acton business has put every one on their guard. The robber must have | |
just burst open the door--the lock has been forced--when William came | |
upon him." | |
"Did William say anything to his mother before going out?" | |
"She is very old and deaf, and we can get no information from her. | |
The shock has made her half-witted, but I understand that she was | |
never very bright. There is one very important circumstance, however. | |
Look at this!" | |
He took a small piece of torn paper from a note-book and spread it | |
out upon his knee. | |
"This was found between the finger and thumb of the dead man. It | |
appears to be a fragment torn from a larger sheet. You will observe | |
that the hour mentioned upon it is the very time at which the poor | |
fellow met his fate. You see that his murderer might have torn the | |
rest of the sheet from him or he might have taken this fragment from | |
the murderer. It reads almost as though it were an appointment." | |
Holmes took up the scrap of paper, a facsimile of which is here | |
reproduced. | |
[ Picture: Scrap showing the words: At quarter to twelve, learn what, | |
may be ] | |
"Presuming that it is an appointment," continued the Inspector, "it | |
is of course a conceivable theory that this William Kirwan--though he | |
had the reputation of being an honest man, may have been in league | |
with the thief. He may have met him there, may even have helped him | |
to break in the door, and then they may have fallen out between | |
themselves." | |
"This writing is of extraordinary interest," said Holmes, who had | |
been examining it with intense concentration. "These are much deeper | |
waters than I had thought." He sank his head upon his hands, while | |
the Inspector smiled at the effect which his case had had upon the | |
famous London specialist. | |
"Your last remark," said Holmes, presently, "as to the possibility of | |
there being an understanding between the burglar and the servant, and | |
this being a note of appointment from one to the other, is an | |
ingenious and not entirely impossible supposition. But this writing | |
opens up--" He sank his head into his hands again and remained for | |
some minutes in the deepest thought. When he raised his face again, I | |
was surprised to see that his cheek was tinged with color, and his | |
eyes as bright as before his illness. He sprang to his feet with all | |
his old energy. | |
"I'll tell you what," said he, "I should like to have a quiet little | |
glance into the details of this case. There is something in it which | |
fascinates me extremely. If you will permit me, Colonel, I will leave | |
my friend Watson and you, and I will step round with the Inspector to | |
test the truth of one or two little fancies of mine. I will be with | |
you again in half an hour." | |
An hour and half had elapsed before the Inspector returned alone. | |
"Mr. Holmes is walking up and down in the field outside," said he. | |
"He wants us all four to go up to the house together." | |
"To Mr. Cunningham's?" | |
"Yes, sir." | |
"What for?" | |
The Inspector shrugged his shoulders. "I don't quite know, sir. | |
Between ourselves, I think Mr. Holmes had not quite got over his | |
illness yet. He's been behaving very queerly, and he is very much | |
excited." | |
"I don't think you need alarm yourself," said I. "I have usually | |
found that there was method in his madness." | |
"Some folks might say there was madness in his method," muttered the | |
Inspector. "But he's all on fire to start, Colonel, so we had best go | |
out if you are ready." | |
We found Holmes pacing up and down in the field, his chin sunk upon | |
his breast, and his hands thrust into his trousers pockets. | |
"The matter grows in interest," said he. "Watson, your country-trip | |
has been a distinct success. I have had a charming morning." | |
"You have been up to the scene of the crime, I understand," said the | |
Colonel. | |
"Yes; the Inspector and I have made quite a little reconnaissance | |
together." | |
"Any success?" | |
"Well, we have seen some very interesting things. I'll tell you what | |
we did as we walk. First of all, we saw the body of this unfortunate | |
man. He certainly died from a revolver wound as reported." | |
"Had you doubted it, then?" | |
"Oh, it is as well to test everything. Our inspection was not wasted. | |
We then had an interview with Mr. Cunningham and his son, who were | |
able to point out the exact spot where the murderer had broken | |
through the garden-hedge in his flight. That was of great interest." | |
"Naturally." | |
"Then we had a look at this poor fellow's mother. We could get no | |
information from her, however, as she is very old and feeble." | |
"And what is the result of your investigations?" | |
"The conviction that the crime is a very peculiar one. Perhaps our | |
visit now may do something to make it less obscure. I think that we | |
are both agreed, Inspector, that the fragment of paper in the dead | |
man's hand, bearing, as it does, the very hour of his death written | |
upon it, is of extreme importance." | |
"It should give a clue, Mr. Holmes." | |
"It does give a clue. Whoever wrote that note was the man who brought | |
William Kirwan out of his bed at that hour. But where is the rest of | |
that sheet of paper?" | |
"I examined the ground carefully in the hope of finding it," said the | |
Inspector. | |
"It was torn out of the dead man's hand. Why was some one so anxious | |
to get possession of it? Because it incriminated him. And what would | |
he do with it? Thrust it into his pocket, most likely, never noticing | |
that a corner of it had been left in the grip of the corpse. If we | |
could get the rest of that sheet it is obvious that we should have | |
gone a long way towards solving the mystery." | |
"Yes, but how can we get at the criminal's pocket before we catch the | |
criminal?" | |
"Well, well, it was worth thinking over. Then there is another | |
obvious point. The note was sent to William. The man who wrote it | |
could not have taken it; otherwise, of course, he might have | |
delivered his own message by word of mouth. Who brought the note, | |
then? Or did it come through the post?" | |
"I have made inquiries," said the Inspector. "William received a | |
letter by the afternoon post yesterday. The envelope was destroyed by | |
him." | |
"Excellent!" cried Holmes, clapping the Inspector on the back. | |
"You've seen the postman. It is a pleasure to work with you. Well, | |
here is the lodge, and if you will come up, Colonel, I will show you | |
the scene of the crime." | |
We passed the pretty cottage where the murdered man had lived, and | |
walked up an oak-lined avenue to the fine old Queen Anne house, which | |
bears the date of Malplaquet upon the lintel of the door. Holmes and | |
the Inspector led us round it until we came to the side gate, which | |
is separated by a stretch of garden from the hedge which lines the | |
road. A constable was standing at the kitchen door. | |
"Throw the door open, officer," said Holmes. "Now, it was on those | |
stairs that young Mr. Cunningham stood and saw the two men struggling | |
just where we are. Old Mr. Cunningham was at that window--the second | |
on the left--and he saw the fellow get away just to the left of that | |
bush. So did the son. They are both sure of it on account of the | |
bush. Then Mr. Alec ran out and knelt beside the wounded man. The | |
ground is very hard, you see, and there are no marks to guide us." As | |
he spoke two men came down the garden path, from round the angle of | |
the house. The one was an elderly man, with a strong, deep-lined, | |
heavy-eyed face; the other a dashing young fellow, whose bright, | |
smiling expression and showy dress were in strange contrast with the | |
business which had brought us there. | |
"Still at it, then?" said he to Holmes. "I thought you Londoners were | |
never at fault. You don't seem to be so very quick, after all." | |
"Ah, you must give us a little time," said Holmes good-humoredly. | |
"You'll want it," said young Alec Cunningham. "Why, I don't see that | |
we have any clue at all." | |
"There's only one," answered the Inspector. "We thought that if we | |
could only find--Good heavens, Mr. Holmes! What is the matter?" | |
My poor friend's face had suddenly assumed the most dreadful | |
expression. His eyes rolled upwards, his features writhed in agony, | |
and with a suppressed groan he dropped on his face upon the ground. | |
Horrified at the suddenness and severity of the attack, we carried | |
him into the kitchen, where he lay back in a large chair, and | |
breathed heavily for some minutes. Finally, with a shamefaced apology | |
for his weakness, he rose once more. | |
"Watson would tell you that I have only just recovered from a severe | |
illness," he explained. "I am liable to these sudden nervous | |
attacks." | |
"Shall I send you home in my trap?" asked old Cunningham. | |
"Well, since I am here, there is one point on which I should like to | |
feel sure. We can very easily verify it." | |
"What was it?" | |
"Well, it seems to me that it is just possible that the arrival of | |
this poor fellow William was not before, but after, the entrance of | |
the burglary into the house. You appear to take it for granted that, | |
although the door was forced, the robber never got in." | |
"I fancy that is quite obvious," said Mr. Cunningham, gravely. "Why, | |
my son Alec had not yet gone to bed, and he would certainly have | |
heard any one moving about." | |
"Where was he sitting?" | |
"I was smoking in my dressing-room." | |
"Which window is that?" | |
"The last on the left next my father's." | |
"Both of your lamps were lit, of course?" | |
"Undoubtedly." | |
"There are some very singular points here," said Holmes, smiling. "Is | |
it not extraordinary that a burglary--and a burglar who had had some | |
previous experience--should deliberately break into a house at a time | |
when he could see from the lights that two of the family were still | |
afoot?" | |
"He must have been a cool hand." | |
"Well, of course, if the case were not an odd one we should not have | |
been driven to ask you for an explanation," said young Mr. Alec. "But | |
as to your ideas that the man had robbed the house before William | |
tackled him, I think it a most absurd notion. Wouldn't we have found | |
the place disarranged, and missed the things which he had taken?" | |
"It depends on what the things were," said Holmes. "You must remember | |
that we are dealing with a burglar who is a very peculiar fellow, and | |
who appears to work on lines of his own. Look, for example, at the | |
queer lot of things which he took from Acton's--what was it?--a ball | |
of string, a letter-weight, and I don't know what other odds and | |
ends." | |
"Well, we are quite in your hands, Mr. Holmes," said old Cunningham. | |
"Anything which you or the Inspector may suggest will most certainly | |
be done." | |
"In the first place," said Holmes, "I should like you to offer a | |
reward--coming from yourself, for the officials may take a little | |
time before they would agree upon the sum, and these things cannot be | |
done too promptly. I have jotted down the form here, if you would not | |
mind signing it. Fifty pound was quite enough, I thought." | |
"I would willingly give five hundred," said the J.P., taking the slip | |
of paper and the pencil which Holmes handed to him. "This is not | |
quite correct, however," he added, glancing over the document. | |
"I wrote it rather hurriedly." | |
"You see you begin, 'Whereas, at about a quarter to one on Tuesday | |
morning an attempt was made,' and so on. It was at a quarter to | |
twelve, as a matter of fact." | |
I was pained at the mistake, for I knew how keenly Holmes would feel | |
any slip of the kind. It was his specialty to be accurate as to fact, | |
but his recent illness had shaken him, and this one little incident | |
was enough to show me that he was still far from being himself. He | |
was obviously embarrassed for an instant, while the Inspector raised | |
his eyebrows, and Alec Cunningham burst into a laugh. The old | |
gentleman corrected the mistake, however, and handed the paper back | |
to Holmes. | |
"Get it printed as soon as possible," he said; "I think your idea is | |
an excellent one." | |
Holmes put the slip of paper carefully away into his pocket-book. | |
"And now," said he, "it really would be a good thing that we should | |
all go over the house together and make certain that this rather | |
erratic burglar did not, after all, carry anything away with him." | |
Before entering, Holmes made an examination of the door which had | |
been forced. It was evident that a chisel or strong knife had been | |
thrust in, and the lock forced back with it. We could see the marks | |
in the wood where it had been pushed in. | |
"You don't use bars, then?" he asked. | |
"We have never found it necessary." | |
"You don't keep a dog?" | |
"Yes, but he is chained on the other side of the house." | |
"When do the servants go to bed?" | |
"About ten." | |
"I understand that William was usually in bed also at that hour." | |
"Yes." | |
"It is singular that on this particular night he should have been up. | |
Now, I should be very glad if you would have the kindness to show us | |
over the house, Mr. Cunningham." | |
A stone-flagged passage, with the kitchens branching away from it, | |
led by a wooden staircase directly to the first floor of the house. | |
It came out upon the landing opposite to a second more ornamental | |
stair which came up from the front hall. Out of this landing opened | |
the drawing-room and several bedrooms, including those of Mr. | |
Cunningham and his son. Holmes walked slowly, taking keen note of the | |
architecture of the house. I could tell from his expression that he | |
was on a hot scent, and yet I could not in the least imagine in what | |
direction his inferences were leading him. | |
"My good sir," said Mr. Cunningham with some impatience, "this is | |
surely very unnecessary. That is my room at the end of the stairs, | |
and my son's is the one beyond it. I leave it to your judgment | |
whether it was possible for the thief to have come up here without | |
disturbing us." | |
"You must try round and get on a fresh scent, I fancy," said the son | |
with a rather malicious smile. | |
"Still, I must ask you to humor me a little further. I should like, | |
for example, to see how far the windows of the bedrooms command the | |
front. This, I understand is your son's room"--he pushed open the | |
door--"and that, I presume, is the dressing-room in which he sat | |
smoking when the alarm was given. Where does the window of that look | |
out to?" He stepped across the bedroom, pushed open the door, and | |
glanced round the other chamber. | |
"I hope that you are satisfied now?" said Mr. Cunningham, tartly. | |
"Thank you, I think I have seen all that I wished." | |
"Then if it is really necessary we can go into my room." | |
"If it is not too much trouble." | |
The J.P. shrugged his shoulders, and led the way into his own | |
chamber, which was a plainly furnished and commonplace room. As we | |
moved across it in the direction of the window, Holmes fell back | |
until he and I were the last of the group. Near the foot of the bed | |
stood a dish of oranges and a carafe of water. As we passed it | |
Holmes, to my unutterable astonishment, leaned over in front of me | |
and deliberately knocked the whole thing over. The glass smashed into | |
a thousand pieces and the fruit rolled about into every corner of the | |
room. | |
"You've done it now, Watson," said he, coolly. "A pretty mess you've | |
made of the carpet." | |
I stooped in some confusion and began to pick up the fruit, | |
understanding for some reason my companion desired me to take the | |
blame upon myself. The others did the same, and set the table on its | |
legs again. | |
"Hullo!" cried the Inspector, "where's he got to?" | |
Holmes had disappeared. | |
"Wait here an instant," said young Alec Cunningham. "The fellow is | |
off his head, in my opinion. Come with me, father, and see where he | |
has got to!" | |
They rushed out of the room, leaving the Inspector, the Colonel, and | |
me staring at each other. | |
"'Pon my word, I am inclined to agree with Master Alec," said the | |
official. "It may be the effect of this illness, but it seems to me | |
that--" | |
His words were cut short by a sudden scream of "Help! Help! Murder!" | |
With a thrill I recognised the voice as that of my friend. I rushed | |
madly from the room on to the landing. The cries, which had sunk down | |
into a hoarse, inarticulate shouting, came from the room which we had | |
first visited. I dashed in, and on into the dressing-room beyond. The | |
two Cunninghams were bending over the prostrate figure of Sherlock | |
Holmes, the younger clutching his throat with both hands, while the | |
elder seemed to be twisting one of his wrists. In an instant the | |
three of us had torn them away from him, and Holmes staggered to his | |
feet, very pale and evidently greatly exhausted. | |
"Arrest these men, Inspector," he gasped. | |
"On what charge?" | |
"That of murdering their coachman, William Kirwan." | |
The Inspector stared about him in bewilderment. "Oh, come now, Mr. | |
Holmes," said he at last, "I'm sure you don't really mean to--" | |
"Tut, man, look at their faces!" cried Holmes, curtly. | |
Never, certainly, have I seen a plainer confession of guilt upon | |
human countenances. The older man seemed numbed and dazed with a | |
heavy, sullen expression upon his strongly-marked face. The son, on | |
the other hand, had dropped all that jaunty, dashing style which had | |
characterized him, and the ferocity of a dangerous wild beast gleamed | |
in his dark eyes and distorted his handsome features. The Inspector | |
said nothing, but, stepping to the door, he blew his whistle. Two of | |
his constables came at the call. | |
"I have no alternative, Mr. Cunningham," said he. "I trust that this | |
may all prove to be an absurd mistake, but you can see that--Ah, | |
would you? Drop it!" He struck out with his hand, and a revolver | |
which the younger man was in the act of cocking clattered down upon | |
the floor. | |
"Keep that," said Holmes, quietly putting his foot upon it; "you will | |
find it useful at the trial. But this is what we really wanted." He | |
held up a little crumpled piece of paper. | |
"The remainder of the sheet!" cried the Inspector. | |
"Precisely." | |
"And where was it?" | |
"Where I was sure it must be. I'll make the whole matter clear to you | |
presently. I think, Colonel, that you and Watson might return now, | |
and I will be with you again in an hour at the furthest. The | |
Inspector and I must have a word with the prisoners, but you will | |
certainly see me back at luncheon time." | |
Sherlock Holmes was as good as his word, for about one o'clock he | |
rejoined us in the Colonel's smoking-room. He was accompanied by a | |
little elderly gentleman, who was introduced to me as the Mr. Acton | |
whose house had been the scene of the original burglary. | |
"I wished Mr. Acton to be present while I demonstrated this small | |
matter to you," said Holmes, "for it is natural that he should take a | |
keen interest in the details. I am afraid, my dear Colonel, that you | |
must regret the hour that you took in such a stormy petrel as I am." | |
"On the contrary," answered the Colonel, warmly, "I consider it the | |
greatest privilege to have been permitted to study your methods of | |
working. I confess that they quite surpass my expectations, and that | |
I am utterly unable to account for your result. I have not yet seen | |
the vestige of a clue." | |
"I am afraid that my explanation may disillusion you but it has | |
always been my habit to hide none of my methods, either from my | |
friend Watson or from any one who might take an intelligent interest | |
in them. But, first, as I am rather shaken by the knocking about | |
which I had in the dressing-room, I think that I shall help myself to | |
a dash of your brandy, Colonel. My strength had been rather tried of | |
late." | |
"I trust that you had no more of those nervous attacks." | |
Sherlock Holmes laughed heartily. "We will come to that in its turn," | |
said he. "I will lay an account of the case before you in its due | |
order, showing you the various points which guided me in my decision. | |
Pray interrupt me if there is any inference which is not perfectly | |
clear to you. | |
"It is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able | |
to recognize, out of a number of facts, which are incidental and | |
which vital. Otherwise your energy and attention must be dissipated | |
instead of being concentrated. Now, in this case there was not the | |
slightest doubt in my mind from the first that the key of the whole | |
matter must be looked for in the scrap of paper in the dead man's | |
hand. | |
"Before going into this, I would draw your attention to the fact | |
that, if Alec Cunningham's narrative was correct, and if the | |
assailant, after shooting William Kirwan, had instantly fled, then it | |
obviously could not be he who tore the paper from the dead man's | |
hand. But if it was not he, it must have been Alec Cunningham | |
himself, for by the time that the old man had descended several | |
servants were upon the scene. The point is a simple one, but the | |
Inspector had overlooked it because he had started with the | |
supposition that these county magnates had had nothing to do with the | |
matter. Now, I make a point of never having any prejudices, and of | |
following docilely wherever fact may lead me, and so, in the very | |
first stage of the investigation, I found myself looking a little | |
askance at the part which had been played by Mr. Alec Cunningham. | |
"And now I made a very careful examination of the corner of paper | |
which the Inspector had submitted to us. It was at once clear to me | |
that it formed part of a very remarkable document. Here it is. Do you | |
not now observed something very suggestive about it?" | |
"It has a very irregular look," said the Colonel. | |
"My dear sir," cried Holmes, "there cannot be the least doubt in the | |
world that it has been written by two persons doing alternate words. | |
When I draw your attention to the strong t's of 'at' and 'to', and | |
ask you to compare them with the weak ones of 'quarter' and 'twelve,' | |
you will instantly recognize the fact. A very brief analysis of these | |
four words would enable you to say with the utmost confidence that | |
the 'learn' and the 'maybe' are written in the stronger hand, and the | |
'what' in the weaker." | |
"By Jove, it's as clear as day!" cried the Colonel. "Why on earth | |
should two men write a letter in such a fashion?" | |
"Obviously the business was a bad one, and one of the men who | |
distrusted the other was determined that, whatever was done, each | |
should have an equal hand in it. Now, of the two men, it is clear | |
that the one who wrote the 'at' and 'to' was the ringleader." | |
"How do you get at that?" | |
"We might deduce it from the mere character of the one hand as | |
compared with the other. But we have more assured reasons than that | |
for supposing it. If you examine this scrap with attention you will | |
come to the conclusion that the man with the stronger hand wrote all | |
his words first, leaving blanks for the other to fill up. These | |
blanks were not always sufficient, and you can see that the second | |
man had a squeeze to fit his 'quarter' in between the 'at' and the | |
'to,' showing that the latter were already written. The man who wrote | |
all his words first is undoubtedly the man who planned the affair." | |
"Excellent!" cried Mr. Acton. | |
"But very superficial," said Holmes. "We come now, however, to a | |
point which is of importance. You may not be aware that the deduction | |
of a man's age from his writing is one which has been brought to | |
considerable accuracy by experts. In normal cases one can place a man | |
in his true decade with tolerable confidence. I say normal cases, | |
because ill-health and physical weakness reproduce the signs of old | |
age, even when the invalid is a youth. In this case, looking at the | |
bold, strong hand of the one, and the rather broken-backed appearance | |
of the other, which still retains its legibility although the t's | |
have begun to lose their crossing, we can say that the one was a | |
young man and the other was advanced in years without being | |
positively decrepit." | |
"Excellent!" cried Mr. Acton again. | |
"There is a further point, however, which is subtler and of greater | |
interest. There is something in common between these hands. They | |
belong to men who are blood-relatives. It may be most obvious to you | |
in the Greek e's, but to me there are many small points which | |
indicate the same thing. I have no doubt at all that a family | |
mannerism can be traced in these two specimens of writing. I am only, | |
of course, giving you the leading results now of my examination of | |
the paper. There were twenty-three other deductions which would be of | |
more interest to experts than to you. They all tended to deepen the | |
impression upon my mind that the Cunninghams, father and son, had | |
written this letter. | |
"Having got so far, my next step was, of course, to examine into the | |
details of the crime, and to see how far they would help us. I went | |
up to the house with the Inspector, and saw all that was to be seen. | |
The wound upon the dead man was, as I was able to determine with | |
absolute confidence, fired from a revolver at the distance of | |
something over four yards. There was no powder-blackening on the | |
clothes. Evidently, therefore, Alec Cunningham had lied when he said | |
that the two men were struggling when the shot was fired. Again, both | |
father and son agreed as to the place where the man escaped into the | |
road. At that point, however, as it happens, there is a broadish | |
ditch, moist at the bottom. As there were no indications of bootmarks | |
about this ditch, I was absolutely sure not only that the Cunninghams | |
had again lied, but that there had never been any unknown man upon | |
the scene at all. | |
"And now I have to consider the motive of this singular crime. To get | |
at this, I endeavored first of all to solve the reason of the | |
original burglary at Mr. Acton's. I understood, from something which | |
the Colonel told us, that a lawsuit had been going on between you, | |
Mr. Acton, and the Cunninghams. Of course, it instantly occurred to | |
me that they had broken into your library with the intention of | |
getting at some document which might be of importance in the case." | |
"Precisely so," said Mr. Acton. "There can be no possible doubt as to | |
their intentions. I have the clearest claim upon half of their | |
present estate, and if they could have found a single paper--which, | |
fortunately, was in the strong-box of my solicitors--they would | |
undoubtedly have crippled our case." | |
"There you are," said Holmes, smiling. "It was a dangerous, reckless | |
attempt, in which I seem to trace the influence of young Alec. Having | |
found nothing they tried to divert suspicion by making it appear to | |
be an ordinary burglary, to which end they carried off whatever they | |
could lay their hands upon. That is all clear enough, but there was | |
much that was still obscure. What I wanted above all was to get the | |
missing part of that note. I was certain that Alec had torn it out of | |
the dead man's hand, and almost certain that he must have thrust it | |
into the pocket of his dressing-gown. Where else could he have put | |
it? The only question was whether it was still there. It was worth an | |
effort to find out, and for that object we all went up to the house. | |
"The Cunninghams joined us, as you doubtless remember, outside the | |
kitchen door. It was, of course, of the very first importance that | |
they should not be reminded of the existence of this paper, otherwise | |
they would naturally destroy it without delay. The Inspector was | |
about to tell them the importance which we attached to it when, by | |
the luckiest chance in the world, I tumbled down in a sort of fit and | |
so changed the conversation." | |
"Good heavens!" cried the Colonel, laughing, "do you mean to say all | |
our sympathy was wasted and your fit an imposture?" | |
"Speaking professionally, it was admirably done," cried I, looking in | |
amazement at this man who was forever confounding me with some new | |
phase of his astuteness. | |
"It is an art which is often useful," said he. "When I recovered I | |
managed, by a device which had perhaps some little merit of | |
ingenuity, to get old Cunningham to write the word 'twelve,' so that | |
I might compare it with the 'twelve' upon the paper." | |
"Oh, what an ass I have been!" I exclaimed. | |
"I could see that you were commiserating with me over my weakness," | |
said Holmes, laughing. "I was sorry to cause you the sympathetic pain | |
which I know that you felt. We then went upstairs together, and | |
having entered the room and seen the dressing-gown hanging up behind | |
the door, I contrived, by upsetting a table, to engage their | |
attention for the moment, and slipped back to examine the pockets. I | |
had hardly got the paper, however--which was, as I had expected, in | |
one of them--when the two Cunninghams were on me, and would, I verily | |
believe, have murdered me then and there but for your prompt and | |
friendly aid. As it is, I feel that young man's grip on my throat | |
now, and the father has twisted my wrist round in the effort to get | |
the paper out of my hand. They saw that I must know all about it, you | |
see, and the sudden change from absolute security to complete despair | |
made them perfectly desperate. | |
"I had a little talk with old Cunningham afterwards as to the motive | |
of the crime. He was tractable enough, though his son was a perfect | |
demon, ready to blow out his own or anybody else's brains if he could | |
have got to his revolver. When Cunningham saw that the case against | |
him was so strong he lost all heart and made a clean breast of | |
everything. It seems that William had secretly followed his two | |
masters on the night when they made their raid upon Mr. Acton's, and | |
having thus got them into his power, proceeded, under threats of | |
exposure, to levy black-mail upon them. Mr. Alec, however, was a | |
dangerous man to play games of that sort with. It was a stroke of | |
positive genius on his part to see in the burglary scare which was | |
convulsing the country side an opportunity of plausibly getting rid | |
of the man whom he feared. William was decoyed up and shot, and had | |
they only got the whole of the note and paid a little more attention | |
to detail in the accessories, it is very possible that suspicion | |
might never have been aroused." | |
"And the note?" I asked. | |
Sherlock Holmes placed the subjoined paper before us. | |
[ Picture: Paper which reads: If you will only come around at quarter | |
to twelve to the east gate you will learn what will very much | |
surprise you and may be of the greatest service to you and also to | |
Annie Morrison. But say nothing to anyone upon the matter ] | |
"It is very much the sort of thing that I expected," said he. "Of | |
course, we do not yet know what the relations may have been between | |
Alec Cunningham, William Kirwan, and Annie Morrison. The results | |
shows that the trap was skillfully baited. I am sure that you cannot | |
fail to be delighted with the traces of heredity shown in the p's and | |
in the tails of the g's. The absence of the i-dots in the old man's | |
writing is also most characteristic. Watson, I think our quiet rest | |
in the country has been a distinct success, and I shall certainly | |
return much invigorated to Baker Street to-morrow." | |
THE CROOKED MAN | |
One summer night, a few months after my marriage, I was seated by my | |
own hearth smoking a last pipe and nodding over a novel, for my day's | |
work had been an exhausting one. My wife had already gone upstairs, | |
and the sound of the locking of the hall door some time before told | |
me that the servants had also retired. I had risen from my seat and | |
was knocking out the ashes of my pipe when I suddenly heard the clang | |
of the bell. | |
I looked at the clock. It was a quarter to twelve. This could not | |
be a visitor at so late an hour. A patient, evidently, and possibly | |
an all-night sitting. With a wry face I went out into the hall and | |
opened the door. To my astonishment it was Sherlock Holmes who stood | |
upon my step. | |
"Ah, Watson," said he, "I hoped that I might not be too late to catch | |
you." | |
"My dear fellow, pray come in." | |
"You look surprised, and no wonder! Relieved, too, I fancy! Hum! | |
You still smoke the Arcadia mixture of your bachelor days then! | |
There's no mistaking that fluffy ash upon your coat. It's easy to | |
tell that you have been accustomed to wear a uniform, Watson. You'll | |
never pass as a pure-bred civilian as long as you keep that habit of | |
carrying your handkerchief in your sleeve. Could you put me up | |
tonight?" | |
"With pleasure." | |
"You told me that you had bachelor quarters for one, and I see that | |
you have no gentleman visitor at present. Your hat-stand proclaims | |
as much." | |
"I shall be delighted if you will stay." | |
"Thank you. I'll fill the vacant peg then. Sorry to see that you've | |
had the British workman in the house. He's a token of evil. Not the | |
drains, I hope?" | |
"No, the gas." | |
"Ah! He has left two nail-marks from his boot upon your linoleum | |
just where the light strikes it. No, thank you, I had some supper at | |
Waterloo, but I'll smoke a pipe with you with pleasure." | |
I handed him my pouch, and he seated himself opposite to me and | |
smoked for some time in silence. I was well aware that nothing but | |
business of importance would have brought him to me at such an hour, | |
so I waited patiently until he should come round to it. | |
"I see that you are professionally rather busy just now," said he, | |
glancing very keenly across at me. | |
"Yes, I've had a busy day," I answered. "It may seem very foolish in | |
your eyes," I added, "but really I don't know how you deduced it." | |
Holmes chuckled to himself. | |
"I have the advantage of knowing your habits, my dear Watson," said | |
he. "When your round is a short one you walk, and when it is a long | |
one you use a hansom. As I perceive that your boots, although used, | |
are by no means dirty, I cannot doubt that you are at present busy | |
enough to justify the hansom." | |
"Excellent!" I cried. | |
"Elementary," said he. "It is one of those instances where the | |
reasoner can produce an effect which seems remarkable to his | |
neighbor, because the latter has missed the one little point which is | |
the basis of the deduction. The same may be said, my dear fellow, | |
for the effect of some of these little sketches of yours, which is | |
entirely meretricious, depending as it does upon your retaining in | |
your own hands some factors in the problem which are never imparted | |
to the reader. Now, at present I am in the position of these same | |
readers, for I hold in this hand several threads of one of the | |
strangest cases which ever perplexed a man's brain, and yet I lack | |
the one or two which are needful to complete my theory. But I'll | |
have them, Watson, I'll have them!" His eyes kindled and a slight | |
flush sprang into his thin cheeks. For an instant the veil had lifted | |
upon his keen, intense nature, but for an instant only. When I | |
glanced again his face had resumed that red-Indian composure which | |
had made so many regard him as a machine rather than a man. | |
"The problem presents features of interest," said he. "I may even | |
say exceptional features of interest. I have already looked into the | |
matter, and have come, as I think, within sight of my solution. If | |
you could accompany me in that last step you might be of considerable | |
service to me." | |
"I should be delighted." | |
"Could you go as far as Aldershot to-morrow?" | |
"I have no doubt Jackson would take my practice." | |
"Very good. I want to start by the 11.10 from Waterloo." | |
"That would give me time." | |
"Then, if you are not too sleepy, I will give you a sketch of what | |
has happened, and of what remains to be done." | |
"I was sleepy before you came. I am quite wakeful now." | |
"I will compress the story as far as may be done without omitting | |
anything vital to the case. It is conceivable that you may even have | |
read some account of the matter. It is the supposed murder of | |
Colonel Barclay, of the Royal Munsters, at Aldershot, which I am | |
investigating." | |
"I have heard nothing of it." | |
"It has not excited much attention yet, except locally. The facts | |
are only two days old. Briefly they are these: | |
"The Royal Munsters is, as you know, one of the most famous Irish | |
regiments in the British army. It did wonders both in the Crimea and | |
the Mutiny, and has since that time distinguished itself upon every | |
possible occasion. It was commanded up to Monday night by James | |
Barclay, a gallant veteran, who started as a full private, was raised | |
to commissioned rank for his bravery at the time of the Mutiny, and | |
so lived to command the regiment in which he had once carried a | |
musket. | |
"Colonel Barclay had married at the time when he was a sergeant, and | |
his wife, whose maiden name was Miss Nancy Devoy, was the daughter of | |
a former color-sergeant in the same corps. There was, therefore, as | |
can be imagined, some little social friction when the young couple | |
(for they were still young) found themselves in their new | |
surroundings. They appear, however, to have quickly adapted | |
themselves, and Mrs. Barclay has always, I understand, been as | |
popular with the ladies of the regiment as her husband was with his | |
brother officers. I may add that she was a woman of great beauty, | |
and that even now, when she has been married for upwards of thirty | |
years, she is still of a striking and queenly appearance. | |
"Colonel Barclay's family life appears to have been a uniformly happy | |
one. Major Murphy, to whom I owe most of my facts, assures me that | |
he has never heard of any misunderstanding between the pair. On the | |
whole, he thinks that Barclay's devotion to his wife was greater than | |
his wife's to Barclay. He was acutely uneasy if he were absent from | |
her for a day. She, on the other hand, though devoted and faithful, | |
was less obtrusively affectionate. But they were regarded in the | |
regiment as the very model of a middle-aged couple. There was | |
absolutely nothing in their mutual relations to prepare people for | |
the tragedy which was to follow. | |
"Colonel Barclay himself seems to have had some singular traits in | |
his character. He was a dashing, jovial old solder in his usual | |
mood, but there were occasions on which he seemed to show himself | |
capable of considerable violence and vindictiveness. This side of | |
his nature, however, appears never to have been turned towards his | |
wife. Another fact, which had struck Major Murphy and three out of | |
five of the other officers with whom I conversed, was the singular | |
sort of depression which came upon him at times. As the major | |
expressed it, the smile had often been struck from his mouth, as if | |
by some invisible hand, when he has been joining the gaieties and | |
chaff of the mess-table. For days on end, when the mood was on him, | |
he has been sunk in the deepest gloom. This and a certain tinge of | |
superstition were the only unusual traits in his character which his | |
brother officers had observed. The latter peculiarity took the form | |
of a dislike to being left alone, especially after dark. This | |
puerile feature in a nature which was conspicuously manly had often | |
given rise to comment and conjecture. | |
"The first battalion of the Royal Munsters (which is the old 117th) | |
has been stationed at Aldershot for some years. The married officers | |
live out of barracks, and the Colonel has during all this time | |
occupied a villa called Lachine, about half a mile from the north | |
camp. The house stands in its own grounds, but the west side of it | |
is not more than thirty yards from the high-road. A coachman and two | |
maids form the staff of servants. These with their master and | |
mistress were the sole occupants of Lachine, for the Barclays had no | |
children, nor was it usual for them to have resident visitors. | |
"Now for the events at Lachine between nine and ten on the evening of | |
last Monday. | |
"Mrs. Barclay was, it appears, a member of the Roman Catholic Church, | |
and had interested herself very much in the establishment of the | |
Guild of St. George, which was formed in connection with the Watt | |
Street Chapel for the purpose of supplying the poor with cast-off | |
clothing. A meeting of the Guild had been held that evening at | |
eight, and Mrs. Barclay had hurried over her dinner in order to be | |
present at it. When leaving the house she was heard by the coachman | |
to make some commonplace remark to her husband, and to assure him | |
that she would be back before very long. She then called for Miss | |
Morrison, a young lady who lives in the next villa, and the two went | |
off together to their meeting. It lasted forty minutes, and at a | |
quarter-past nine Mrs. Barclay returned home, having left Miss | |
Morrison at her door as she passed. | |
"There is a room which is used as a morning-room at Lachine. This | |
faces the road and opens by a large glass folding-door on to the | |
lawn. The lawn is thirty yards across, and is only divided from the | |
highway by a low wall with an iron rail above it. It was into this | |
room that Mrs. Barclay went upon her return. The blinds were not | |
down, for the room was seldom used in the evening, but Mrs. Barclay | |
herself lit the lamp and then rang the bell, asking Jane Stewart, the | |
house-maid, to bring her a cup of tea, which was quite contrary to | |
her usual habits. The Colonel had been sitting in the dining-room, | |
but hearing that his wife had returned he joined her in the | |
morning-room. The coachman saw him cross the hall and enter it. He | |
was never seen again alive. | |
"The tea which had been ordered was brought up at the end of ten | |
minutes; but the maid, as she approached the door, was surprised to | |
hear the voices of her master and mistress in furious altercation. | |
She knocked without receiving any answer, and even turned the handle, | |
but only to find that the door was locked upon the inside. Naturally | |
enough she ran down to tell the cook, and the two women with the | |
coachman came up into the hall and listened to the dispute which was | |
still raging. They all agreed that only two voices were to be heard, | |
those of Barclay and of his wife. Barclay's remarks were subdued and | |
abrupt, so that none of them were audible to the listeners. The | |
lady's, on the other hand, were most bitter, and when she raised her | |
voice could be plainly heard. 'You coward!' she repeated over and | |
over again. 'What can be done now? What can be done now? Give me | |
back my life. I will never so much as breathe the same air with you | |
again! You coward! You Coward!' Those were scraps of her | |
conversation, ending in a sudden dreadful cry in the man's voice, | |
with a crash, and a piercing scream from the woman. Convinced that | |
some tragedy had occurred, the coachman rushed to the door and strove | |
to force it, while scream after scream issued from within. He was | |
unable, however, to make his way in, and the maids were too | |
distracted with fear to be of any assistance to him. A sudden | |
thought struck him, however, and he ran through the hall door and | |
round to the lawn upon which the long French windows open. One side | |
of the window was open, which I understand was quite usual in the | |
summer-time, and he passed without difficulty into the room. His | |
mistress had ceased to scream and was stretched insensible upon a | |
couch, while with his feet tilted over the side of an arm-chair, and | |
his head upon the ground near the corner of the fender, was lying the | |
unfortunate soldier stone dead in a pool of his own blood. | |
"Naturally, the coachman's first thought, on finding that he could do | |
nothing for his master, was to open the door. But here an unexpected | |
and singular difficulty presented itself. The key was not in the | |
inner side of the door, nor could he find it anywhere in the room. | |
He went out again, therefore, through the window, and having obtained | |
the help of a policeman and of a medical man, he returned. The lady, | |
against whom naturally the strongest suspicion rested, was removed to | |
her room, still in a state of insensibility. The Colonel's body was | |
then placed upon the sofa, and a careful examination made of the | |
scene of the tragedy. | |
"The injury from which the unfortunate veteran was suffering was | |
found to be a jagged cut some two inches long at the back part of his | |
head, which had evidently been caused by a violent blow from a blunt | |
weapon. Nor was it difficult to guess what that weapon may have | |
been. Upon the floor, close to the body, was lying a singular club | |
of hard carved wood with a bone handle. The Colonel possessed a | |
varied collection of weapons brought from the different countries in | |
which he had fought, and it is conjectured by the police that his | |
club was among his trophies. The servants deny having seen it | |
before, but among the numerous curiosities in the house it is | |
possible that it may have been overlooked. Nothing else of | |
importance was discovered in the room by the police, save the | |
inexplicable fact that neither upon Mrs. Barclay's person nor upon | |
that of the victim nor in any part of the room was the missing key to | |
be found. The door had eventually to be opened by a locksmith from | |
Aldershot. | |
"That was the state of things, Watson, when upon the Tuesday morning | |
I, at the request of Major Murphy, went down to Aldershot to | |
supplement the efforts of the police. I think that you will | |
acknowledge that the problem was already one of interest, but my | |
observations soon made me realize that it was in truth much more | |
extraordinary than would at first sight appear. | |
"Before examining the room I cross-questioned the servants, but only | |
succeeded in eliciting the facts which I have already stated. One | |
other detail of interest was remembered by Jane Stewart, the | |
housemaid. You will remember that on hearing the sound of the | |
quarrel she descended and returned with the other servants. On that | |
first occasion, when she was alone, she says that the voices of her | |
master and mistress were sunk so low that she could hear hardly | |
anything, and judged by their tones rather than their words that they | |
had fallen out. On my pressing her, however, she remembered that she | |
heard the word David uttered twice by the lady. The point is of the | |
utmost importance as guiding us towards the reason of the sudden | |
quarrel. The Colonel's name, you remember, was James. | |
"There was one thing in the case which had made the deepest | |
impression both upon the servants and the police. This was the | |
contortion of the Colonel's face. It had set, according to their | |
account, into the most dreadful expression of fear and horror which a | |
human countenance is capable of assuming. More than one person | |
fainted at the mere sight of him, so terrible was the effect. It was | |
quite certain that he had foreseen his fate, and that it had caused | |
him the utmost horror. This, of course, fitted in well enough with | |
the police theory, if the Colonel could have seen his wife making a | |
murderous attack upon him. Nor was the fact of the wound being on | |
the back of his head a fatal objection to this, as he might have | |
turned to avoid the blow. No information could be got from the lady | |
herself, who was temporarily insane from an acute attack of | |
brain-fever. | |
"From the police I learned that Miss Morrison, who you remember went | |
out that evening with Mrs. Barclay, denied having any knowledge of | |
what it was which had caused the ill-humor in which her companion had | |
returned. | |
"Having gathered these facts, Watson, I smoked several pipes over | |
them, trying to separate those which were crucial from others which | |
were merely incidental. There could be no question that the most | |
distinctive and suggestive point in the case was the singular | |
disappearance of the door-key. A most careful search had failed to | |
discover it in the room. Therefore it must have been taken from it. | |
But neither the Colonel nor the Colonel's wife could have taken it. | |
That was perfectly clear. Therefore a third person must have entered | |
the room. And that third person could only have come in through the | |
window. It seemed to me that a careful examination of the room and | |
the lawn might possibly reveal some traces of this mysterious | |
individual. You know my methods, Watson. There was not one of them | |
which I did not apply to the inquiry. And it ended by my discovering | |
traces, but very different ones from those which I had expected. | |
There had been a man in the room, and he had crossed the lawn coming | |
from the road. I was able to obtain five very clear impressions of | |
his foot-marks: one in the roadway itself, at the point where he had | |
climbed the low wall, two on the lawn, and two very faint ones upon | |
the stained boards near the window where he had entered. He had | |
apparently rushed across the lawn, for his toe-marks were much deeper | |
than his heels. But it was not the man who surprised me. It was his | |
companion." | |
"His companion!" | |
Holmes pulled a large sheet of tissue-paper out of his pocket and | |
carefully unfolded it upon his knee. | |
"What do you make of that?" he asked. | |
The paper was covered with the tracings of the foot-marks of some | |
small animal. It had five well-marked foot-pads, an indication of | |
long nails, and the whole print might be nearly as large as a | |
dessert-spoon. | |
"It's a dog," said I. | |
"Did you ever hear of a dog running up a curtain? I found distinct | |
traces that this creature had done so." | |
"A monkey, then?" | |
"But it is not the print of a monkey." | |
"What can it be, then?" | |
"Neither dog nor cat nor monkey nor any creature that we are familiar | |
with. I have tried to reconstruct it from the measurements. Here | |
are four prints where the beast has been standing motionless. You | |
see that it is no less than fifteen inches from fore-foot to hind. | |
Add to that the length of neck and head, and you get a creature not | |
much less than two feet long--probably more if there is any tail. | |
But now observe this other measurement. The animal has been moving, | |
and we have the length of its stride. In each case it is only about | |
three inches. You have an indication, you see, of a long body with | |
very short legs attached to it. It has not been considerate enough | |
to leave any of its hair behind it. But its general shape must be | |
what I have indicated, and it can run up a curtain, and it is | |
carnivorous." | |
"How do you deduce that?" | |
"Because it ran up the curtain. A canary's cage was hanging in the | |
window, and its aim seems to have been to get at the bird." | |
"Then what was the beast?" | |
"Ah, if I could give it a name it might go a long way towards solving | |
the case. On the whole, it was probably some creature of the weasel | |
and stoat tribe--and yet it is larger than any of these that I have | |
seen." | |
"But what had it to do with the crime?" | |
"That, also, is still obscure. But we have learned a good deal, you | |
perceive. We know that a man stood in the road looking at the | |
quarrel between the Barclays--the blinds were up and the room | |
lighted. We know, also, that he ran across the lawn, entered the | |
room, accompanied by a strange animal, and that he either struck the | |
Colonel or, as is equally possible, that the Colonel fell down from | |
sheer fright at the sight of him, and cut his head on the corner of | |
the fender. Finally, we have the curious fact that the intruder | |
carried away the key with him when he left." | |
"Your discoveries seem to have left the business more obscure that it | |
was before," said I. | |
"Quite so. They undoubtedly showed that the affair was much deeper | |
than was at first conjectured. I thought the matter over, and I came | |
to the conclusion that I must approach the case from another aspect. | |
But really, Watson, I am keeping you up, and I might just as well | |
tell you all this on our way to Aldershot to-morrow." | |
"Thank you, you have gone rather too far to stop." | |
"It is quite certain that when Mrs. Barclay left the house at | |
half-past seven she was on good terms with her husband. She was | |
never, as I think I have said, ostentatiously affectionate, but she | |
was heard by the coachman chatting with the Colonel in a friendly | |
fashion. Now, it was equally certain that, immediately on her | |
return, she had gone to the room in which she was least likely to see | |
her husband, had flown to tea as an agitated woman will, and finally, | |
on his coming in to her, had broken into violent recriminations. | |
Therefore something had occurred between seven-thirty and nine | |
o'clock which had completely altered her feelings towards him. But | |
Miss Morrison had been with her during the whole of that hour and a | |
half. It was absolutely certain, therefore, in spite of her denial, | |
that she must know something of the matter. | |
"My first conjecture was, that possibly there had been some passages | |
between this young lady and the old soldier, which the former had now | |
confessed to the wife. That would account for the angry return, and | |
also for the girl's denial that anything had occurred. Nor would it | |
be entirely incompatible with most of the words overhead. But there | |
was the reference to David, and there was the known affection of the | |
Colonel for his wife, to weigh against it, to say nothing of the | |
tragic intrusion of this other man, which might, of course, be | |
entirely disconnected with what had gone before. It was not easy to | |
pick one's steps, but, on the whole, I was inclined to dismiss the | |
idea that there had been anything between the Colonel and Miss | |
Morrison, but more than ever convinced that the young lady held the | |
clue as to what it was which had turned Mrs. Barclay to hatred of her | |
husband. I took the obvious course, therefore, of calling upon Miss | |
M., of explaining to her that I was perfectly certain that she held | |
the facts in her possession, and of assuring her that her friend, | |
Mrs. Barclay, might find herself in the dock upon a capital charge | |
unless the matter were cleared up. | |
"Miss Morrison is a little ethereal slip of a girl, with timid eyes | |
and blond hair, but I found her by no means wanting in shrewdness and | |
common-sense. She sat thinking for some time after I had spoken, and | |
then, turning to me with a brisk air of resolution, she broke into a | |
remarkable statement which I will condense for your benefit. | |
"'I promised my friend that I would say nothing of the matter, and a | |
promise is a promise,' said she; 'but if I can really help her when | |
so serious a charge is laid against her, and when her own mouth, poor | |
darling, is closed by illness, then I think I am absolved from my | |
promise. I will tell you exactly what happened upon Monday evening. | |
"'We were returning from the Watt Street Mission about a quarter to | |
nine o'clock. On our way we had to pass through Hudson Street, which | |
is a very quiet thoroughfare. There is only one lamp in it, upon the | |
left-hand side, and as we approached this lamp I saw a man coming | |
towards us with is back very bent, and something like a box slung | |
over one of his shoulders. He appeared to be deformed, for he | |
carried his head low and walked with his knees bent. We were passing | |
him when he raised his face to look at us in the circle of light | |
thrown by the lamp, and as he did so he stopped and screamed out in a | |
dreadful voice, "My God, it's Nancy!" Mrs. Barclay turned as white | |
as death, and would have fallen down had the dreadful-looking | |
creature not caught hold of her. I was going to call for the police, | |
but she, to my surprise, spoke quite civilly to the fellow. | |
"'"I thought you had been dead this thirty years, Henry," said she, | |
in a shaking voice. | |
"'"So I have," said he, and it was awful to hear the tones that he | |
said it in. He had a very dark, fearsome face, and a gleam in his | |
eyes that comes back to me in my dreams. His hair and whiskers were | |
shot with gray, and his face was all crinkled and puckered like a | |
withered apple. | |
"'"Just walk on a little way, dear," said Mrs. Barclay; "I want to | |
have a word with this man. There is nothing to be afraid of." She | |
tried to speak boldly, but she was still deadly pale and could hardly | |
get her words out for the trembling of her lips. | |
"'I did as she asked me, and they talked together for a few minutes. | |
Then she came down the street with her eyes blazing, and I saw the | |
crippled wretch standing by the lamp-post and shaking his clenched | |
fists in the air as if he were mad with rage. She never said a word | |
until we were at the door here, when she took me by the hand and | |
begged me to tell no one what had happened. | |
"'"It's an old acquaintance of mine who has come down in the world," | |
said she. When I promised her I would say nothing she kissed me, and | |
I have never seen her since. I have told you now the whole truth, | |
and if I withheld it from the police it is because I did not realize | |
then the danger in which my dear friend stood. I know that it can | |
only be to her advantage that everything should be known.' | |
"There was her statement, Watson, and to me, as you can imagine, it | |
was like a light on a dark night. Everything which had been | |
disconnected before began at once to assume its true place, and I had | |
a shadowy presentiment of the whole sequence of events. My next step | |
obviously was to find the man who had produced such a remarkable | |
impression upon Mrs. Barclay. If he were still in Aldershot it | |
should not be a very difficult matter. There are not such a very | |
great number of civilians, and a deformed man was sure to have | |
attracted attention. I spent a day in the search, and by | |
evening--this very evening, Watson--I had run him down. The man's | |
name is Henry Wood, and he lives in lodgings in this same street in | |
which the ladies met him. He has only been five days in the place. | |
In the character of a registration-agent I had a most interesting | |
gossip with his landlady. The man is by trade a conjurer and | |
performer, going round the canteens after nightfall, and giving a | |
little entertainment at each. He carries some creature about with | |
him in that box; about which the landlady seemed to be in | |
considerable trepidation, for she had never seen an animal like it. | |
He uses it in some of his tricks according to her account. So much | |
the woman was able to tell me, and also that it was a wonder the man | |
lived, seeing how twisted he was, and that he spoke in a strange | |
tongue sometimes, and that for the last two nights she had heard him | |
groaning and weeping in his bedroom. He was all right, as far as | |
money went, but in his deposit he had given her what looked like a | |
bad florin. She showed it to me, Watson, and it was an Indian rupee. | |
"So now, my dear fellow, you see exactly how we stand and why it is I | |
want you. It is perfectly plain that after the ladies parted from | |
this man he followed them at a distance, that he saw the quarrel | |
between husband and wife through the window, that he rushed in, and | |
that the creature which he carried in his box got loose. That is all | |
very certain. But he is the only person in this world who can tell | |
us exactly what happened in that room." | |
"And you intend to ask him?" | |
"Most certainly--but in the presence of a witness." | |
"And I am the witness?" | |
"If you will be so good. If he can clear the matter up, well and | |
good. If he refuses, we have no alternative but to apply for a | |
warrant." | |
"But how do you know he'll be there when we return?" | |
"You may be sure that I took some precautions. I have one of my | |
Baker Street boys mounting guard over him who would stick to him like | |
a burr, go where he might. We shall find him in Hudson Street | |
to-morrow, Watson, and meanwhile I should be the criminal myself if I | |
kept you out of bed any longer." | |
It was midday when we found ourselves at the scene of the tragedy, | |
and, under my companion's guidance, we made our way at once to Hudson | |
Street. In spite of his capacity for concealing his emotions, I | |
could easily see that Holmes was in a state of suppressed excitement, | |
while I was myself tingling with that half-sporting, | |
half-intellectual pleasure which I invariably experienced when I | |
associated myself with him in his investigations. | |
"This is the street," said he, as we turned into a short thoroughfare | |
lined with plain two-storied brick houses. "Ah, here is Simpson to | |
report." | |
"He's in all right, Mr. Holmes," cried a small street Arab, running | |
up to us. | |
"Good, Simpson!" said Holmes, patting him on the head. "Come along, | |
Watson. This is the house." He sent in his card with a message that | |
he had come on important business, and a moment later we were face to | |
face with the man whom we had come to see. In spite of the warm | |
weather he was crouching over a fire, and the little room was like an | |
oven. The man sat all twisted and huddled in his chair in a way | |
which gave an indescribably impression of deformity; but the face | |
which he turned towards us, though worn and swarthy, must at some | |
time have been remarkable for its beauty. He looked suspiciously at | |
us now out of yellow-shot, bilious eyes, and, without speaking or | |
rising, he waved towards two chairs. | |
"Mr. Henry Wood, late of India, I believe," said Holmes, affably. | |
"I've come over this little matter of Colonel Barclay's death." | |
"What should I know about that?" | |
"That's what I want to ascertain. You know, I suppose, that unless | |
the matter is cleared up, Mrs. Barclay, who is an old friend of | |
yours, will in all probability be tried for murder." | |
The man gave a violent start. | |
"I don't know who you are," he cried, "nor how you come to know what | |
you do know, but will you swear that this is true that you tell me?" | |
"Why, they are only waiting for her to come to her senses to arrest | |
her." | |
"My God! Are you in the police yourself?" | |
"No." | |
"What business is it of yours, then?" | |
"It's every man's business to see justice done." | |
"You can take my word that she is innocent." | |
"Then you are guilty." | |
"No, I am not." | |
"Who killed Colonel James Barclay, then?" | |
"It was a just providence that killed him. But, mind you this, that | |
if I had knocked his brains out, as it was in my heart to do, he | |
would have had no more than his due from my hands. If his own guilty | |
conscience had not struck him down it is likely enough that I might | |
have had his blood upon my soul. You want me to tell the story. | |
Well, I don't know why I shouldn't, for there's no cause for me to be | |
ashamed of it. | |
"It was in this way, sir. You see me now with my back like a camel | |
and by ribs all awry, but there was a time when Corporal Henry Wood | |
was the smartest man in the 117th foot. We were in India then, in | |
cantonments, at a place we'll call Bhurtee. Barclay, who died the | |
other day, was sergeant in the same company as myself, and the belle | |
of the regiment, ay, and the finest girl that ever had the breath of | |
life between her lips, was Nancy Devoy, the daughter of the | |
color-sergeant. There were two men that loved her, and one that she | |
loved, and you'll smile when you look at this poor thing huddled | |
before the fire, and hear me say that it was for my good looks that | |
she loved me. | |
"Well, though I had her heart, her father was set upon her marrying | |
Barclay. I was a harum-scarum, reckless lad, and he had had an | |
education, and was already marked for the sword-belt. But the girl | |
held true to me, and it seemed that I would have had her when the | |
Mutiny broke out, and all hell was loose in the country. | |
"We were shut up in Bhurtee, the regiment of us with half a battery | |
of artillery, a company of Sikhs, and a lot of civilians and | |
women-folk. There were ten thousand rebels round us, and they were | |
as keen as a set of terriers round a rat-cage. About the second week | |
of it our water gave out, and it was a question whether we could | |
communicate with General Neill's column, which was moving up country. | |
It was our only chance, for we could not hope to fight our way out | |
with all the women and children, so I volunteered to go out and to | |
warn General Neill of our danger. My offer was accepted, and I | |
talked it over with Sergeant Barclay, who was supposed to know the | |
ground better than any other man, and who drew up a route by which I | |
might get through the rebel lines. At ten o'clock the same night I | |
started off upon my journey. There were a thousand lives to save, | |
but it was of only one that I was thinking when I dropped over the | |
wall that night. | |
"My way ran down a dried-up watercourse, which we hoped would screen | |
me from the enemy's sentries; but as I crept round the corner of it I | |
walked right into six of them, who were crouching down in the dark | |
waiting for me. In an instant I was stunned with a blow and bound | |
hand and foot. But the real blow was to my heart and not to my head, | |
for as I came to and listened to as much as I could understand of | |
their talk, I heard enough to tell me that my comrade, the very man | |
who had arranged the way that I was to take, had betrayed me by means | |
of a native servant into the hands of the enemy. | |
"Well, there's no need for me to dwell on that part of it. You know | |
now what James Barclay was capable of. Bhurtee was relieved by Neill | |
next day, but the rebels took me away with them in their retreat, and | |
it was many a long year before ever I saw a white face again. I was | |
tortured and tried to get away, and was captured and tortured again. | |
You can see for yourselves the state in which I was left. Some of | |
them that fled into Nepal took me with them, and then afterwards I | |
was up past Darjeeling. The hill-folk up there murdered the rebels | |
who had me, and I became their slave for a time until I escaped; but | |
instead of going south I had to go north, until I found myself among | |
the Afghans. There I wandered about for many a year, and at last | |
came back to the Punjaub, where I lived mostly among the natives and | |
picked up a living by the conjuring tricks that I had learned. What | |
use was it for me, a wretched cripple, to go back to England or to | |
make myself known to my old comrades? Even my wish for revenge would | |
not make me do that. I had rather that Nancy and my old pals should | |
think of Harry Wood as having died with a straight back, than see him | |
living and crawling with a stick like a chimpanzee. They never | |
doubted that I was dead, and I meant that they never should. I heard | |
that Barclay had married Nancy, and that he was rising rapidly in the | |
regiment, but even that did not make me speak. | |
"But when one gets old one has a longing for home. For years I've | |
been dreaming of the bright green fields and the hedges of England. | |
At last I determined to see them before I died. I saved enough to | |
bring me across, and then I came here where the soldiers are, for I | |
know their ways and how to amuse them and so earn enough to keep me." | |
"Your narrative is most interesting," said Sherlock Holmes. "I have | |
already heard of your meeting with Mrs. Barclay, and your mutual | |
recognition. You then, as I understand, followed her home and saw | |
through the window an altercation between her husband and her, in | |
which she doubtless cast his conduct to you in his teeth. Your own | |
feelings overcame you, and you ran across the lawn and broke in upon | |
them." | |
"I did, sir, and at the sight of me he looked as I have never seen a | |
man look before, and over he went with his head on the fender. But | |
he was dead before he fell. I read death on his face as plain as I | |
can read that text over the fire. The bare sight of me was like a | |
bullet through his guilty heart." | |
"And then?" | |
"Then Nancy fainted, and I caught up the key of the door from her | |
hand, intending to unlock it and get help. But as I was doing it it | |
seemed to me better to leave it alone and get away, for the thing | |
might look black against me, and any way my secret would be out if I | |
were taken. In my haste I thrust the key into my pocket, and dropped | |
my stick while I was chasing Teddy, who had run up the curtain. When | |
I got him into his box, from which he had slipped, I was off as fast | |
as I could run." | |
"Who's Teddy?" asked Holmes. | |
The man leaned over and pulled up the front of a kind of hutch in the | |
corner. In an instant out there slipped a beautiful reddish-brown | |
creature, thin and lithe, with the legs of a stoat, a long, thin | |
nose, and a pair of the finest red eyes that ever I saw in an | |
animal's head. | |
"It's a mongoose," I cried. | |
"Well, some call them that, and some call them ichneumon," said the | |
man. "Snake-catcher is what I call them, and Teddy is amazing quick | |
on cobras. I have one here without the fangs, and Teddy catches it | |
every night to please the folk in the canteen. | |
"Any other point, sir?" | |
"Well, we may have to apply to you again if Mrs. Barclay should prove | |
to be in serious trouble." | |
"In that case, of course, I'd come forward." | |
"But if not, there is no object in raking up this scandal against a | |
dead man, foully as he has acted. You have at least the satisfaction | |
of knowing that for thirty years of his life his conscience bitterly | |
reproached him for this wicked deed. Ah, there goes Major Murphy on | |
the other side of the street. Good-bye, Wood. I want to learn if | |
anything has happened since yesterday." | |
We were in time to overtake the major before he reached the corner. | |
"Ah, Holmes," he said: "I suppose you have heard that all this fuss | |
has come to nothing?" | |
"What then?" | |
"The inquest is just over. The medical evidence showed conclusively | |
that death was due to apoplexy. You see it was quite a simple case | |
after all." | |
"Oh, remarkably superficial," said Holmes, smiling. "Come, Watson, I | |
don't think we shall be wanted in Aldershot any more." | |
"There's one thing," said I, as we walked down to the station. "If | |
the husband's name was James, and the other was Henry, what was this | |
talk about David?" | |
"That one word, my dear Watson, should have told me the whole story | |
had I been the ideal reasoner which you are so fond of depicting. It | |
was evidently a term of reproach." | |
"Of reproach?" | |
"Yes; David strayed a little occasionally, you know, and on one | |
occasion in the same direction as Sergeant James Barclay. You | |
remember the small affair of Uriah and Bathsheba? My biblical | |
knowledge is a trifle rusty, I fear, but you will find the story in | |
the first or second of Samuel." | |
THE RESIDENT PATIENT | |
Glancing over the somewhat incoherent series of Memoirs with which I | |
have endeavored to illustrate a few of the mental peculiarities of my | |
friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I have been struck by the difficulty | |
which I have experienced in picking out examples which shall in every | |
way answer my purpose. For in those cases in which Holmes has | |
performed some tour de force of analytical reasoning, and has | |
demonstrated the value of his peculiar methods of investigation, the | |
facts themselves have often been so slight or so commonplace that I | |
could not feel justified in laying them before the public. On the | |
other hand, it has frequently happened that he has been concerned in | |
some research where the facts have been of the most remarkable and | |
dramatic character, but where the share which he has himself taken in | |
determining their causes has been less pronounced than I, as his | |
biographer, could wish. The small matter which I have chronicled | |
under the heading of "A Study in Scarlet," and that other later one | |
connected with the loss of the Gloria Scott, may serve as examples of | |
this Scylla and Charybdis which are forever threatening the | |
historian. It may be that in the business of which I am now about to | |
write the part which my friend played is not sufficiently | |
accentuated; and yet the whole train of circumstances is so | |
remarkable that I cannot bring myself to omit it entirely from this | |
series. | |
It had been a close, rainy day in October. Our blinds were | |
half-drawn, and Holmes lay curled upon the sofa, reading and | |
re-reading a letter which he had received by the morning post. For | |
myself, my term of service in India had trained me to stand heat | |
better than cold, and a thermometer of 90 was no hardship. But the | |
paper was uninteresting. Parliament had risen. Everybody was out of | |
town, and I yearned for the glades of the New Forest or the shingle | |
of Southsea. A depleted bank account had caused me to postpone my | |
holiday, and as to my companion, neither the country nor the sea | |
presented the slightest attraction to him. He loved to lie in the | |
very centre of five millions of people, with his filaments stretching | |
out and running through them, responsive to every little rumor or | |
suspicion of unsolved crime. Appreciation of Nature found no place | |
among his many gifts, and his only change was when he turned his mind | |
from the evil-doer of the town to track down his brother of the | |
country. | |
I cannot be sure of the exact date, for some of my memoranda upon the | |
matter have been mislaid, but it must have been towards the end of | |
the first year during which Holmes and I shared chambers in Baker | |
Street. It was boisterous October weather, and we had both remained | |
indoors all day, I because I feared with my shaken health to face the | |
keen autumn wind, while he was deep in some of those abstruse | |
chemical investigations which absorbed him utterly as long as he was | |
engaged upon them. Towards evening, however, the breaking of a | |
test-tube brought his research to a premature ending, and he sprang | |
up from his chair with an exclamation of impatience and a clouded | |
brow. | |
"A day's work ruined, Watson," said he, striding across to the | |
window. "Ha! The stars are out and he wind has fallen. What do you | |
say to a ramble through London?" | |
I was weary of our little sitting-room and gladly acquiesced. For | |
three hours we strolled about together, watching the ever-changing | |
kaleidoscope of life as it ebbs and flows through Fleet Street and | |
the Strand. His characteristic talk, with its keen observance of | |
detail and subtle power of inference held me amused and enthralled. | |
It was ten o'clock before we reached Baker Street again. A brougham | |
was waiting at our door. | |
"Hum! A doctor's--general practitioner, I perceive," said Holmes. | |
"Not been long in practice, but has had a good deal to do. Come to | |
consult us, I fancy! Lucky we came back!" | |
I was sufficiently conversant with Holmes's methods to be able to | |
follow his reasoning, and to see that the nature and state of the | |
various medical instruments in the wicker basket which hung in the | |
lamplight inside the brougham had given him the data for his swift | |
deduction. The light in our window above showed that this late visit | |
was indeed intended for us. With some curiosity as to what could have | |
sent a brother medico to us at such an hour, I followed Holmes into | |
our sanctum. | |
A pale, taper-faced man with sandy whiskers rose up from a chair by | |
the fire as we entered. His age may not have been more than three or | |
four and thirty, but his haggard expression and unhealthy hue told of | |
a life which has sapped his strength and robbed him of his youth. His | |
manner was nervous and shy, like that of a sensitive gentleman, and | |
the thin white hand which he laid on the mantelpiece as he rose was | |
that of an artist rather than of a surgeon. His dress was quiet and | |
sombre--a black frock-coat, dark trousers, and a touch of color about | |
his necktie. | |
"Good-evening, doctor," said Holmes, cheerily. "I am glad to see that | |
you have only been waiting a very few minutes." | |
"You spoke to my coachman, then?" | |
"No, it was the candle on the side-table that told me. Pray resume | |
your seat and let me know how I can serve you." | |
"My name is Doctor Percy Trevelyan," said our visitor, "and I live at | |
403 Brook Street." | |
"Are you not the author of a monograph upon obscure nervous lesions?" | |
I asked. | |
His pale cheeks flushed with pleasure at hearing that his work was | |
known to me. | |
"I so seldom hear of the work that I thought it was quite dead," said | |
he. "My publishers gave me a most discouraging account of its sale. | |
You are yourself, I presume, a medical man?" | |
"A retired army surgeon." | |
"My own hobby has always been nervous disease. I should wish to make | |
it an absolute specialty, but, of course, a man must take what he can | |
get at first. This, however, is beside the question, Mr. Sherlock | |
Holmes, and I quite appreciate how valuable your time is. The fact is | |
that a very singular train of events has occurred recently at my | |
house in Brook Street, and to-night they came to such a head that I | |
felt it was quite impossible for me to wait another hour before | |
asking for your advice and assistance." | |
Sherlock Holmes sat down and lit his pipe. "You are very welcome to | |
both," said he. "Pray let me have a detailed account of what the | |
circumstances are which have disturbed you." | |
"One or two of them are so trivial," said Dr. Trevelyan, "that really | |
I am almost ashamed to mention them. But the matter is so | |
inexplicable, and the recent turn which it has taken is so elaborate, | |
that I shall lay it all before you, and you shall judge what is | |
essential and what is not. | |
"I am compelled, to begin with, to say something of my own college | |
career. I am a London University man, you know, and I am sure that | |
you will not think that I am unduly singing my own praises if I say | |
that my student career was considered by my professors to be a very | |
promising one. After I had graduated I continued to devote myself to | |
research, occupying a minor position in King's College Hospital, and | |
I was fortunate enough to excite considerable interest by my research | |
into the pathology of catalepsy, and finally to win the Bruce | |
Pinkerton prize and medal by the monograph on nervous lesions to | |
which your friend has just alluded. I should not go too far if I were | |
to say that there was a general impression at that time that a | |
distinguished career lay before me. | |
"But the one great stumbling-block lay in my want of capital. As you | |
will readily understand, a specialist who aims high is compelled to | |
start in one of a dozen streets in the Cavendish Square quarter, all | |
of which entail enormous rents and furnishing expenses. Besides this | |
preliminary outlay, he must be prepared to keep himself for some | |
years, and to hire a presentable carriage and horse. To do this was | |
quite beyond my power, and I could only hope that by economy I might | |
in ten years' time save enough to enable me to put up my plate. | |
Suddenly, however, an unexpected incident opened up quite a new | |
prospect to me. | |
"This was a visit from a gentleman of the name of Blessington, who | |
was a complete stranger to me. He came up to my room one morning, and | |
plunged into business in an instant. | |
"'You are the same Percy Trevelyan who has had so distinguished a | |
career and won a great prize lately?' said he. | |
"I bowed. | |
"'Answer me frankly,' he continued, 'for you will find it to your | |
interest to do so. You have all the cleverness which makes a | |
successful man. Have you the tact?' | |
"I could not help smiling at the abruptness of the question. | |
"'I trust that I have my share,' I said. | |
"'Any bad habits? Not drawn towards drink, eh?' | |
"'Really, sir!' I cried. | |
"'Quite right! That's all right! But I was bound to ask. With all | |
these qualities, why are you not in practice?' | |
"I shrugged my shoulders. | |
"'Come, come!' said he, in his bustling way. 'It's the old story. | |
More in your brains than in your pocket, eh? What would you say if I | |
were to start you in Brook Street?' | |
"I stared at him in astonishment. | |
"'Oh, it's for my sake, not for yours,' he cried. 'I'll be perfectly | |
frank with you, and if it suits you it will suit me very well. I have | |
a few thousands to invest, d'ye see, and I think I'll sink them in | |
you.' | |
"'But why?' I gasped. | |
"'Well, it's just like any other speculation, and safer than most.' | |
"'What am I to do, then?' | |
"'I'll tell you. I'll take the house, furnish it, pay the maids, and | |
run the whole place. All you have to do is just to wear out your | |
chair in the consulting-room. I'll let you have pocket-money and | |
everything. Then you hand over to me three quarters of what you earn, | |
and you keep the other quarter for yourself.' | |
"This was the strange proposal, Mr. Holmes, with which the man | |
Blessington approached me. I won't weary you with the account of how | |
we bargained and negotiated. It ended in my moving into the house | |
next Lady Day, and starting in practice on very much the same | |
conditions as he had suggested. He came himself to live with me in | |
the character of a resident patient. His heart was weak, it appears, | |
and he needed constant medical supervision. He turned the two best | |
rooms of the first floor into a sitting-room and bedroom for himself. | |
He was a man of singular habits, shunning company and very seldom | |
going out. His life was irregular, but in one respect he was | |
regularity itself. Every evening, at the same hour, he walked into | |
the consulting-room, examined the books, put down five and | |
three-pence for every guinea that I had earned, and carried the rest | |
off to the strong-box in his own room. | |
"I may say with confidence that he never had occasion to regret his | |
speculation. From the first it was a success. A few good cases and | |
the reputation which I had won in the hospital brought me rapidly to | |
the front, and during the last few years I have made him a rich man. | |
"So much, Mr. Holmes, for my past history and my relations with Mr. | |
Blessington. It only remains for me now to tell you what has occurred | |
to bring me here to-night. | |
"Some weeks ago Mr. Blessington came down to me in, as it seemed to | |
me, a state of considerable agitation. He spoke of some burglary | |
which, he said, had been committed in the West End, and he appeared, | |
I remember, to be quite unnecessarily excited about it, declaring | |
that a day should not pass before we should add stronger bolts to our | |
windows and doors. For a week he continued to be in a peculiar state | |
of restlessness, peering continually out of the windows, and ceasing | |
to take the short walk which had usually been the prelude to his | |
dinner. From his manner it struck me that he was in mortal dread of | |
something or somebody, but when I questioned him upon the point he | |
became so offensive that I was compelled to drop the subject. | |
Gradually, as time passed, his fears appeared to die away, and he had | |
renewed his former habits, when a fresh event reduced him to the | |
pitiable state of prostration in which he now lies. | |
"What happened was this. Two days ago I received the letter which I | |
now read to you. Neither address nor date is attached to it. | |
"'A Russian nobleman who is now resident in England,' it runs, 'would | |
be glad to avail himself of the professional assistance of Dr. Percy | |
Trevelyan. He has been for some years a victim to cataleptic attacks, | |
on which, as is well known, Dr. Trevelyan is an authority. He | |
proposes to call at about quarter past six to-morrow evening, if Dr. | |
Trevelyan will make it convenient to be at home.' | |
"This letter interested me deeply, because the chief difficulty in | |
the study of catalepsy is the rareness of the disease. You may | |
believe, than, that I was in my consulting-room when, at the | |
appointed hour, the page showed in the patient. | |
He was an elderly man, thin, demure, and common-place--by no means | |
the conception one forms of a Russian nobleman. I was much more | |
struck by the appearance of his companion. This was a tall young man, | |
surprisingly handsome, with a dark, fierce face, and the limbs and | |
chest of a Hercules. He had his hand under the other's arm as they | |
entered, and helped him to a chair with a tenderness which one would | |
hardly have expected from his appearance. | |
"'You will excuse my coming in, doctor,' said he to me, speaking | |
English with a slight lisp. 'This is my father, and his health is a | |
matter of the most overwhelming importance to me.' | |
"I was touched by this filial anxiety. 'You would, perhaps, care to | |
remain during the consultation?' said I. | |
"'Not for the world,' he cried with a gesture of horror. 'It is more | |
painful to me than I can express. If I were to see my father in one | |
of these dreadful seizures I am convinced that I should never survive | |
it. My own nervous system is an exceptionally sensitive one. With | |
your permission, I will remain in the waiting-room while you go into | |
my father's case.' | |
"To this, of course, I assented, and the young man withdrew. The | |
patient and I then plunged into a discussion of his case, of which I | |
took exhaustive notes. He was not remarkable for intelligence, and | |
his answers were frequently obscure, which I attributed to his | |
limited acquaintance with our language. Suddenly, however, as I sat | |
writing, he ceased to give any answer at all to my inquiries, and on | |
my turning towards him I was shocked to see that he was sitting bolt | |
upright in his chair, staring at me with a perfectly blank and rigid | |
face. He was again in the grip of his mysterious malady. | |
"My first feeling, as I have just said, was one of pity and horror. | |
My second, I fear, was rather one of professional satisfaction. I | |
made notes of my patient's pulse and temperature, tested the rigidity | |
of his muscles, and examined his reflexes. There was nothing markedly | |
abnormal in any of these conditions, which harmonized with my former | |
experiences. I had obtained good results in such cases by the | |
inhalation of nitrite of amyl, and the present seemed an admirable | |
opportunity of testing its virtues. The bottle was downstairs in my | |
laboratory, so leaving my patient seated in his chair, I ran down to | |
get it. There was some little delay in finding it--five minutes, let | |
us say--and then I returned. Imagine my amazement to find the room | |
empty and the patient gone. | |
"Of course, my first act was to run into the waiting-room. The son | |
had gone also. The hall door had been closed, but not shut. My page | |
who admits patients is a new boy and by no means quick. He waits | |
downstairs, and runs up to show patients out when I ring the | |
consulting-room bell. He had heard nothing, and the affair remained a | |
complete mystery. Mr. Blessington came in from his walk shortly | |
afterwards, but I did not say anything to him upon the subject, for, | |
to tell the truth, I have got in the way of late of holding as little | |
communication with him as possible. | |
"Well, I never thought that I should see anything more of the Russian | |
and his son, so you can imagine my amazement when, at the very same | |
hour this evening, they both came marching into my consulting-room, | |
just as they had done before. | |
"'I feel that I owe you a great many apologies for my abrupt | |
departure yesterday, doctor,' said my patient. | |
"'I confess that I was very much surprised at it,' said I. | |
"'Well, the fact is,' he remarked, 'that when I recover from these | |
attacks my mind is always very clouded as to all that has gone | |
before. I woke up in a strange room, as it seemed to me, and made my | |
way out into the street in a sort of dazed way when you were absent.' | |
"'And I,' said the son, 'seeing my father pass the door of the | |
waiting-room, naturally thought that the consultation had come to an | |
end. It was not until we had reached home that I began to realize the | |
true state of affairs.' | |
"'Well,' said I, laughing, 'there is no harm done except that you | |
puzzled me terribly; so if you, sir, would kindly step into the | |
waiting-room I shall be happy to continue our consultation which was | |
brought to so abrupt an ending.' | |
"For half an hour or so I discussed that old gentleman's symptoms | |
with him, and then, having prescribed for him, I saw him go off upon | |
the arm of his son. | |
"I have told you that Mr. Blessington generally chose this hour of | |
the day for his exercise. He came in shortly afterwards and passed | |
upstairs. An instant later I heard him running down, and he burst | |
into my consulting-room like a man who is mad with panic. | |
"'Who has been in my room?' he cried. | |
"'No one,' said I. | |
"'It's a lie!' He yelled. 'Come up and look!' | |
"I passed over the grossness of his language, as he seemed half out | |
of his mind with fear. When I went upstairs with him he pointed to | |
several footprints upon the light carpet. | |
"'D'you mean to say those are mine?' he cried. | |
"They were certainly very much larger than any which he could have | |
made, and were evidently quite fresh. It rained hard this afternoon, | |
as you know, and my patients were the only people who called. It must | |
have been the case, then, that the man in the waiting-room had, for | |
some unknown reason, while I was busy with the other, ascended to the | |
room of my resident patient. Nothing has been touched or taken, but | |
there were the footprints to prove that the intrusion was an | |
undoubted fact. | |
"Mr. Blessington seemed more excited over the matter than I should | |
have thought possible, though of course it was enough to disturb | |
anybody's peace of mind. He actually sat crying in an arm-chair, and | |
I could hardly get him to speak coherently. It was his suggestion | |
that I should come round to you, and of course I at once saw the | |
propriety of it, for certainly the incident is a very singular one, | |
though he appears to completely overrate its importance. If you would | |
only come back with me in my brougham, you would at least be able to | |
soothe him, though I can hardly hope that you will be able to explain | |
this remarkable occurrence." | |
Sherlock Holmes had listened to this long narrative with an | |
intentness which showed me that his interest was keenly aroused. His | |
face was as impassive as ever, but his lids had drooped more heavily | |
over his eyes, and his smoke had curled up more thickly from his pipe | |
to emphasize each curious episode in the doctor's tale. As our | |
visitor concluded, Holmes sprang up without a word, handed me my hat, | |
picked his own from the table, and followed Dr. Trevelyan to the | |
door. Within a quarter of an hour we had been dropped at the door of | |
the physician's residence in Brook Street, one of those sombre, | |
flat-faced houses which one associates with a West-End practice. A | |
small page admitted us, and we began at once to ascend the broad, | |
well-carpeted stair. | |
But a singular interruption brought us to a standstill. The light at | |
the top was suddenly whisked out, and from the darkness came a reedy, | |
quivering voice. | |
"I have a pistol," it cried. "I give you my word that I'll fire if | |
you come any nearer." | |
"This really grows outrageous, Mr. Blessington," cried Dr. Trevelyan. | |
"Oh, then it is you, doctor," said the voice, with a great heave of | |
relief. "But those other gentlemen, are they what they pretend to | |
be?" | |
We were conscious of a long scrutiny out of the darkness. | |
"Yes, yes, it's all right," said the voice at last. "You can come up, | |
and I am sorry if my precautions have annoyed you." | |
He relit the stair gas as he spoke, and we saw before us a | |
singular-looking man, whose appearance, as well as his voice, | |
testified to his jangled nerves. He was very fat, but had apparently | |
at some time been much fatter, so that the skin hung about his face | |
in loose pouches, like the cheeks of a blood-hound. He was of a | |
sickly color, and his thin, sandy hair seemed to bristle up with the | |
intensity of his emotion. In his hand he held a pistol, but he thrust | |
it into his pocket as we advanced. | |
"Good-evening, Mr. Holmes," said he. "I am sure I am very much | |
obliged to you for coming round. No one ever needed your advice more | |
than I do. I suppose that Dr. Trevelyan has told you of this most | |
unwarrantable intrusion into my rooms." | |
"Quite so," said Holmes. "Who are these two men Mr. Blessington, and | |
why do they wish to molest you?" | |
"Well, well," said the resident patient, in a nervous fashion, "of | |
course it is hard to say that. You can hardly expect me to answer | |
that, Mr. Holmes." | |
"Do you mean that you don't know?" | |
"Come in here, if you please. Just have the kindness to step in | |
here." | |
He led the way into his bedroom, which was large and comfortably | |
furnished. | |
"You see that," said he, pointing to a big black box at the end of | |
his bed. "I have never been a very rich man, Mr. Holmes--never made | |
but one investment in my life, as Dr. Trevelyan would tell you. But I | |
don't believe in bankers. I would never trust a banker, Mr. Holmes. | |
Between ourselves, what little I have is in that box, so you can | |
understand what it means to me when unknown people force themselves | |
into my rooms." | |
Holmes looked at Blessington in his questioning way and shook his | |
head. | |
"I cannot possibly advise you if you try to deceive me," said he. | |
"But I have told you everything." | |
Holmes turned on his heel with a gesture of disgust. "Good-night, Dr. | |
Trevelyan," said he. | |
"And no advice for me?" cried Blessington, in a breaking voice. | |
"My advice to your, sir, is to speak the truth." | |
A minute later we were in the street and walking for home. We had | |
crossed Oxford Street and were half way down Harley Street before I | |
could get a word from my companion. | |
"Sorry to bring you out on such a fool's errand, Watson," he said at | |
last. "It is an interesting case, too, at the bottom of it." | |
"I can make little of it," I confessed. | |
"Well, it is quite evident that there are two men--more, perhaps, but | |
at least two--who are determined for some reason to get at this | |
fellow Blessington. I have no doubt in my mind that both on the first | |
and on the second occasion that young man penetrated to Blessington's | |
room, while his confederate, by an ingenious device, kept the doctor | |
from interfering." | |
"And the catalepsy?" | |
"A fraudulent imitation, Watson, though I should hardly dare to hint | |
as much to our specialist. It is a very easy complaint to imitate. I | |
have done it myself." | |
"And then?" | |
"By the purest chance Blessington was out on each occasion. Their | |
reason for choosing so unusual an hour for a consultation was | |
obviously to insure that there should be no other patient in the | |
waiting-room. It just happened, however, that this hour coincided | |
with Blessington's constitutional, which seems to show that they were | |
not very well acquainted with his daily routine. Of course, if they | |
had been merely after plunder they would at least have made some | |
attempt to search for it. Besides, I can read in a man's eye when it | |
is his own skin that he is frightened for. It is inconceivable that | |
this fellow could have made two such vindictive enemies as these | |
appear to be without knowing of it. I hold it, therefore, to be | |
certain that he does know who these men are, and that for reasons of | |
his own he suppresses it. It is just possible that to-morrow may find | |
him in a more communicative mood." | |
"Is there not one alternative," I suggested, "grotesquely improbably, | |
no doubt, but still just conceivable? Might the whole story of the | |
cataleptic Russian and his son be a concoction of Dr. Trevelyan's, | |
who has, for his own purposes, been in Blessington's rooms?" | |
I saw in the gaslight that Holmes wore an amused smile at this | |
brilliant departure of mine. | |
"My dear fellow," said he, "it was one of the first solutions which | |
occurred to me, but I was soon able to corroborate the doctor's tale. | |
This young man has left prints upon the stair-carpet which made it | |
quite superfluous for me to ask to see those which he had made in the | |
room. When I tell you that his shoes were square-toed instead of | |
being pointed like Blessington's, and were quite an inch and a third | |
longer than the doctor's, you will acknowledge that there can be no | |
doubt as to his individuality. But we may sleep on it now, for I | |
shall be surprised if we do not hear something further from Brook | |
Street in the morning." | |
Sherlock Holmes's prophecy was soon fulfilled, and in a dramatic | |
fashion. At half-past seven next morning, in the first glimmer of | |
daylight, I found him standing by my bedside in his dressing-gown. | |
"There's a brougham waiting for us, Watson," said he. | |
"What's the matter, then?" | |
"The Brook Street business." | |
"Any fresh news?" | |
"Tragic, but ambiguous," said he, pulling up the blind. "Look at | |
this--a sheet from a note-book, with 'For God's sake come at once--P. | |
T.,' scrawled upon it in pencil. Our friend, the doctor, was hard put | |
to it when he wrote this. Come along, my dear fellow, for it's an | |
urgent call." | |
In a quarter of an hour or so we were back at the physician's house. | |
He came running out to meet us with a face of horror. | |
"Oh, such a business!" he cried, with his hands to his temples. | |
"What then?" | |
"Blessington has committed suicide!" | |
Holmes whistled. | |
"Yes, he hanged himself during the night." | |
We had entered, and the doctor had preceded us into what was | |
evidently his waiting-room. | |
"I really hardly know what I am doing," he cried. "The police are | |
already upstairs. It has shaken me most dreadfully." | |
"When did you find it out?" | |
"He has a cup of tea taken in to him early every morning. When the | |
maid entered, about seven, there the unfortunate fellow was hanging | |
in the middle of the room. He had tied his cord to the hook on which | |
the heavy lamp used to hang, and he had jumped off from the top of | |
the very box that he showed us yesterday." | |
Holmes stood for a moment in deep thought. | |
"With your permission," said he at last, "I should like to go | |
upstairs and look into the matter." | |
We both ascended, followed by the doctor. | |
It was a dreadful sight which met us as we entered the bedroom door. | |
I have spoken of the impression of flabbiness which this man | |
Blessington conveyed. As he dangled from the hook it was exaggerated | |
and intensified until he was scarce human in his appearance. The neck | |
was drawn out like a plucked chicken's, making the rest of him seem | |
the more obese and unnatural by the contrast. He was clad only in his | |
long night-dress, and his swollen ankles and ungainly feet protruded | |
starkly from beneath it. Beside him stood a smart-looking | |
police-inspector, who was taking notes in a pocket-book. | |
"Ah, Mr. Holmes," said he, heartily, as my friend entered, "I am | |
delighted to see you." | |
"Good-morning, Lanner," answered Holmes; "you won't think me an | |
intruder, I am sure. Have you heard of the events which led up to | |
this affair?" | |
"Yes, I heard something of them." | |
"Have you formed any opinion?" | |
"As far as I can see, the man has been driven out of his senses by | |
fright. The bed has been well slept in, you see. There's his | |
impression deep enough. It's about five in the morning, you know, | |
that suicides are most common. That would be about his time for | |
hanging himself. It seems to have been a very deliberate affair." | |
"I should say that he has been dead about three hours, judging by the | |
rigidity of the muscles," said I. | |
"Noticed anything peculiar about the room?" asked Holmes. | |
"Found a screw-driver and some screws on the wash-hand stand. Seems | |
to have smoked heavily during the night, too. Here are four | |
cigar-ends that I picked out of the fireplace." | |
"Hum!" said Holmes, "have you got his cigar-holder?" | |
"No, I have seen none." | |
"His cigar-case, then?" | |
"Yes, it was in his coat-pocket." | |
Holmes opened it and smelled the single cigar which it contained. | |
"Oh, this is an Havana, and these others are cigars of the peculiar | |
sort which are imported by the Dutch from their East Indian colonies. | |
They are usually wrapped in straw, you know, and are thinner for | |
their length than any other brand." He picked up the four ends and | |
examined them with his pocket-lens. | |
"Two of these have been smoked from a holder and two without," said | |
he. "Two have been cut by a not very sharp knife, and two have had | |
the ends bitten off by a set of excellent teeth. This is no suicide, | |
Mr. Lanner. It is a very deeply planned and cold-blooded murder." | |
"Impossible!" cried the inspector. | |
"And why?" | |
"Why should any one murder a man in so clumsy a fashion as by hanging | |
him?" | |
"That is what we have to find out." | |
"How could they get in?" | |
"Through the front door." | |
"It was barred in the morning." | |
"Then it was barred after them." | |
"How do you know?" | |
"I saw their traces. Excuse me a moment, and I may be able to give | |
you some further information about it." | |
He went over to the door, and turning the lock he examined it in his | |
methodical way. Then he took out the key, which was on the inside, | |
and inspected that also. The bed, the carpet, the chairs the | |
mantelpiece, the dead body, and the rope were each in turn examined, | |
until at last he professed himself satisfied, and with my aid and | |
that of the inspector cut down the wretched object and laid it | |
reverently under a sheet. | |
"How about this rope?" he asked. | |
"It is cut off this," said Dr. Trevelyan, drawing a large coil from | |
under the bed. "He was morbidly nervous of fire, and always kept this | |
beside him, so that he might escape by the window in case the stairs | |
were burning." | |
"That must have saved them trouble," said Holmes, thoughtfully. "Yes, | |
the actual facts are very plain, and I shall be surprised if by the | |
afternoon I cannot give you the reasons for them as well. I will take | |
this photograph of Blessington, which I see upon the mantelpiece, as | |
it may help me in my inquiries." | |
"But you have told us nothing!" cried the doctor. | |
"Oh, there can be no doubt as to the sequence of events," said | |
Holmes. "There were three of them in it: the young man, the old man, | |
and a third, to whose identity I have no clue. The first two, I need | |
hardly remark, are the same who masqueraded as the Russian count and | |
his son, so we can give a very full description of them. They were | |
admitted by a confederate inside the house. If I might offer you a | |
word of advice, Inspector, it would be to arrest the page, who, as I | |
understand, has only recently come into your service, Doctor." | |
"The young imp cannot be found," said Dr. Trevelyan; "the maid and | |
the cook have just been searching for him." | |
Holmes shrugged his shoulders. | |
"He has played a not unimportant part in this drama," said he. "The | |
three men having ascended the stairs, which they did on tiptoe, the | |
elder man first, the younger man second, and the unknown man in the | |
rear--" | |
"My dear Holmes!" I ejaculated. | |
"Oh, there could be no question as to the superimposing of the | |
footmarks. I had the advantage of learning which was which last | |
night. They ascended, then, to Mr. Blessington's room, the door of | |
which they found to be locked. With the help of a wire, however, they | |
forced round the key. Even without the lens you will perceive, by the | |
scratches on this ward, where the pressure was applied. | |
"On entering the room their first proceeding must have been to gag | |
Mr. Blessington. He may have been asleep, or he may have been so | |
paralyzed with terror as to have been unable to cry out. These walls | |
are thick, and it is conceivable that his shriek, if he had time to | |
utter one, was unheard. | |
"Having secured him, it is evident to me that a consultation of some | |
sort was held. Probably it was something in the nature of a judicial | |
proceeding. It must have lasted for some time, for it was then that | |
these cigars were smoked. The older man sat in that wicker chair; it | |
was he who used the cigar-holder. The younger man sat over yonder; he | |
knocked his ash off against the chest of drawers. The third fellow | |
paced up and down. Blessington, I think, sat upright in the bed, but | |
of that I cannot be absolutely certain. | |
"Well, it ended by their taking Blessington and hanging him. The | |
matter was so prearranged that it is my belief that they brought with | |
them some sort of block or pulley which might serve as a gallows. | |
That screw-driver and those screws were, as I conceive, for fixing it | |
up. Seeing the hook, however they naturally saved themselves the | |
trouble. Having finished their work they made off, and the door was | |
barred behind them by their confederate." | |
We had all listened with the deepest interest to this sketch of the | |
night's doings, which Holmes had deduced from signs so subtle and | |
minute that, even when he had pointed them out to us, we could | |
scarcely follow him in his reasoning. The inspector hurried away on | |
the instant to make inquiries about the page, while Holmes and I | |
returned to Baker Street for breakfast. | |
"I'll be back by three," said he, when we had finished our meal. | |
"Both the inspector and the doctor will meet me here at that hour, | |
and I hope by that time to have cleared up any little obscurity which | |
the case may still present." | |
Our visitors arrived at the appointed time, but it was a quarter to | |
four before my friend put in an appearance. From his expression as he | |
entered, however, I could see that all had gone well with him. | |
"Any news, Inspector?" | |
"We have got the boy, sir." | |
"Excellent, and I have got the men." | |
"You have got them!" we cried, all three. | |
"Well, at least I have got their identity. This so-called Blessington | |
is, as I expected, well known at headquarters, and so are his | |
assailants. Their names are Biddle, Hayward, and Moffat." | |
"The Worthingdon bank gang," cried the inspector. | |
"Precisely," said Holmes. | |
"Then Blessington must have been Sutton." | |
"Exactly," said Holmes. | |
"Why, that makes it as clear as crystal," said the inspector. | |
But Trevelyan and I looked at each other in bewilderment. | |
"You must surely remember the great Worthingdon bank business," said | |
Holmes. "Five men were in it--these four and a fifth called | |
Cartwright. Tobin, the care-taker, was murdered, and the thieves got | |
away with seven thousand pounds. This was in 1875. They were all five | |
arrested, but the evidence against them was by no means conclusive. | |
This Blessington or Sutton, who was the worst of the gang, turned | |
informer. On his evidence Cartwright was hanged and the other three | |
got fifteen years apiece. When they got out the other day, which was | |
some years before their full term, they set themselves, as you | |
perceive, to hunt down the traitor and to avenge the death of their | |
comrade upon him. Twice they tried to get at him and failed; a third | |
time, you see, it came off. Is there anything further which I can | |
explain, Dr. Trevelyan?" | |
"I think you have made it all remarkable clear," said the doctor. "No | |
doubt the day on which he was perturbed was the day when he had seen | |
of their release in the newspapers." | |
"Quite so. His talk about a burglary was the merest blind." | |
"But why could he not tell you this?" | |
"Well, my dear sir, knowing the vindictive character of his old | |
associates, he was trying to hide his own identity from everybody as | |
long as he could. His secret was a shameful one, and he could not | |
bring himself to divulge it. However, wretch as he was, he was still | |
living under the shield of British law, and I have no doubt, | |
Inspector, that you will see that, though that shield may fail to | |
guard, the sword of justice is still there to avenge." | |
Such were the singular circumstances in connection with the Resident | |
Patient and the Brook Street Doctor. From that night nothing has been | |
seen of the three murderers by the police, and it is surmised at | |
Scotland Yard that they were among the passengers of the ill-fated | |
steamer Norah Creina, which was lost some years ago with all hands | |
upon the Portuguese coast, some leagues to the north of Oporto. The | |
proceedings against the page broke down for want of evidence, and the | |
Brook Street Mystery, as it was called, has never until now been | |
fully dealt with in any public print. | |
THE GREEK INTERPRETER | |
During my long and intimate acquaintance with Mr. Sherlock Holmes I | |
had never heard him refer to his relations, and hardly ever to his | |
own early life. This reticence upon his part had increased the | |
somewhat inhuman effect which he produced upon me, until sometimes I | |
found myself regarding him as an isolated phenomenon, a brain without | |
a heart, as deficient in human sympathy as he was pre-eminent in | |
intelligence. His aversion to women and his disinclination to form | |
new friendships were both typical of his unemotional character, but | |
not more so than his complete suppression of every reference to his | |
own people. I had come to believe that he was an orphan with no | |
relatives living, but one day, to my very great surprise, he began to | |
talk to me about his brother. | |
It was after tea on a summer evening, and the conversation, which had | |
roamed in a desultory, spasmodic fashion from golf clubs to the | |
causes of the change in the obliquity of the ecliptic, came round at | |
last to the question of atavism and hereditary aptitudes. The point | |
under discussion was, how far any singular gift in an individual was | |
due to his ancestry and how far to his own early training. | |
"In your own case," said I, "from all that you have told me, it seems | |
obvious that your faculty of observation and your peculiar facility | |
for deduction are due to your own systematic training." | |
"To some extent," he answered, thoughtfully. "My ancestors were | |
country squires, who appear to have led much the same life as is | |
natural to their class. But, none the less, my turn that way is in | |
my veins, and may have come with my grandmother, who was the sister | |
of Vernet, the French artist. Art in the blood is liable to take the | |
strangest forms." | |
"But how do you know that it is hereditary?" | |
"Because my brother Mycroft possesses it in a larger degree than I | |
do." | |
This was news to me indeed. If there were another man with such | |
singular powers in England, how was it that neither police nor public | |
had heard of him? I put the question, with a hint that it was my | |
companion's modesty which made him acknowledge his brother as his | |
superior. Holmes laughed at my suggestion. | |
"My dear Watson," said he, "I cannot agree with those who rank | |
modesty among the virtues. To the logician all things should be seen | |
exactly as they are, and to underestimate one's self is as much a | |
departure from truth as to exaggerate one's own powers. When I say, | |
therefore, that Mycroft has better powers of observation than I, you | |
may take it that I am speaking the exact and literal truth." | |
"Is he your junior?" | |
"Seven years my senior." | |
"How comes it that he is unknown?" | |
"Oh, he is very well known in his own circle." | |
"Where, then?" | |
"Well, in the Diogenes Club, for example." | |
I had never heard of the institution, and my face must have | |
proclaimed as much, for Sherlock Holmes pulled out his watch. | |
"The Diogenes Club is the queerest club in London, and Mycroft one of | |
the queerest men. He's always there from quarter to five to twenty | |
to eight. It's six now, so if you care for a stroll this beautiful | |
evening I shall be very happy to introduce you to two curiosities." | |
Five minutes later we were in the street, walking towards Regent's | |
Circus. | |
"You wonder," said my companion, "why it is that Mycroft does not use | |
his powers for detective work. He is incapable of it." | |
"But I thought you said--" | |
"I said that he was my superior in observation and deduction. If the | |
art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from an arm-chair, | |
my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived. But | |
he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way | |
to verify his own solution, and would rather be considered wrong than | |
take the trouble to prove himself right. Again and again I have | |
taken a problem to him, and have received an explanation which has | |
afterwards proved to be the correct one. And yet he was absolutely | |
incapable of working out the practical points which must be gone into | |
before a case could be laid before a judge or jury." | |
"It is not his profession, then?" | |
"By no means. What is to me a means of livelihood is to him the | |
merest hobby of a dilettante. He has an extraordinary faculty for | |
figures, and audits the books in some of the government departments. | |
Mycroft lodges in Pall Mall, and he walks round the corner into | |
Whitehall every morning and back every evening. From year's end to | |
year's end he takes no other exercise, and is seen nowhere else, | |
except only in the Diogenes Club, which is just opposite his rooms." | |
"I cannot recall the name." | |
"Very likely not. There are many men in London, you know, who, some | |
from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of | |
their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the | |
latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the | |
Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable | |
and unclubable men in town. No member is permitted to take the least | |
notice of any other one. Save in the Stranger's Room, no talking is, | |
under any circumstances, allowed, and three offences, if brought to | |
the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion. | |
My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very | |
soothing atmosphere." | |
We had reached Pall Mall as we talked, and were walking down it from | |
the St. James's end. Sherlock Holmes stopped at a door some little | |
distance from the Carlton, and, cautioning me not to speak, he led | |
the way into the hall. Through the glass paneling I caught a glimpse | |
of a large and luxurious room, in which a considerable number of men | |
were sitting about and reading papers, each in his own little nook. | |
Holmes showed me into a small chamber which looked out into Pall | |
Mall, and then, leaving me for a minute, he came back with a | |
companion whom I knew could only be his brother. | |
Mycroft Holmes was a much larger and stouter man than Sherlock. His | |
body was absolutely corpulent, but his face, though massive, had | |
preserved something of the sharpness of expression which was so | |
remarkable in that of his brother. His eyes, which were of a | |
peculiarly light, watery gray, seemed to always retain that far-away, | |
introspective look which I had only observed in Sherlock's when he | |
was exerting his full powers. | |
"I am glad to meet you, sir," said he, putting out a broad, fat hand | |
like the flipper of a seal. "I hear of Sherlock everywhere since you | |
became his chronicler. By the way, Sherlock, I expected to see you | |
round last week, to consult me over that Manor House case. I thought | |
you might be a little out of your depth." | |
"No, I solved it," said my friend, smiling. | |
"It was Adams, of course." | |
"Yes, it was Adams." | |
"I was sure of it from the first." The two sat down together in the | |
bow-window of the club. "To any one who wishes to study mankind this | |
is the spot," said Mycroft. "Look at the magnificent types! Look at | |
these two men who are coming towards us, for example." | |
"The billiard-marker and the other?" | |
"Precisely. What do you make of the other?" | |
The two men had stopped opposite the window. Some chalk marks over | |
the waistcoat pocket were the only signs of billiards which I could | |
see in one of them. The other was a very small, dark fellow, with | |
his hat pushed back and several packages under his arm. | |
"An old soldier, I perceive," said Sherlock. | |
"And very recently discharged," remarked the brother. | |
"Served in India, I see." | |
"And a non-commissioned officer." | |
"Royal Artillery, I fancy," said Sherlock. | |
"And a widower." | |
"But with a child." | |
"Children, my dear boy, children." | |
"Come," said I, laughing, "this is a little too much." | |
"Surely," answered Holmes, "it is not hard to say that a man with | |
that bearing, expression of authority, and sunbaked skin, is a | |
soldier, is more than a private, and is not long from India." | |
"That he has not left the service long is shown by his still wearing | |
his 'ammunition boots', as they are called," observed Mycroft. | |
"He had not the cavalry stride, yet he wore his hat on one side, as | |
is shown by the lighter skin of that side of his brow. His weight is | |
against his being a sapper. He is in the artillery." | |
"Then, of course, his complete mourning shows that he has lost some | |
one very dear. The fact that he is doing his own shopping looks as | |
though it were his wife. He has been buying things for children, you | |
perceive. There is a rattle, which shows that one of them is very | |
young. The wife probably died in childbed. The fact that he has a | |
picture-book under his arm shows that there is another child to be | |
thought of." | |
I began to understand what my friend meant when he said that his | |
brother possessed even keener faculties that he did himself. He | |
glanced across at me and smiled. Mycroft took snuff from a | |
tortoise-shell box, and brushed away the wandering grains from his | |
coat front with a large, red silk handkerchief. | |
"By the way, Sherlock," said he, "I have had something quite after | |
your own heart--a most singular problem--submitted to my judgment. I | |
really had not the energy to follow it up save in a very incomplete | |
fashion, but it gave me a basis for some pleasing speculation. If | |
you would care to hear the facts--" | |
"My dear Mycroft, I should be delighted." | |
The brother scribbled a note upon a leaf of his pocket-book, and, | |
ringing the bell, he handed it to the waiter. | |
"I have asked Mr. Melas to step across," said he. "He lodges on the | |
floor above me, and I have some slight acquaintance with him, which | |
led him to come to me in his perplexity. Mr. Melas is a Greek by | |
extraction, as I understand, and he is a remarkable linguist. He | |
earns his living partly as interpreter in the law courts and partly | |
by acting as guide to any wealthy Orientals who may visit the | |
Northumberland Avenue hotels. I think I will leave him to tell his | |
very remarkable experience in his own fashion." | |
A few minutes later we were joined by a short, stout man whose olive | |
face and coal-black hair proclaimed his Southern origin, though his | |
speech was that of an educated Englishman. He shook hands eagerly | |
with Sherlock Holmes, and his dark eyes sparkled with pleasure when | |
he understood that the specialist was anxious to hear his story. | |
"I do not believe that the police credit me--on my word, I do not," | |
said he in a wailing voice. "Just because they have never heard of | |
it before, they think that such a thing cannot be. But I know that I | |
shall never be easy in my mind until I know what has become of my | |
poor man with the sticking-plaster upon his face." | |
"I am all attention," said Sherlock Holmes. | |
"This is Wednesday evening," said Mr. Melas. "Well then, it was | |
Monday night--only two days ago, you understand--that all this | |
happened. I am an interpreter, as perhaps my neighbor there has told | |
you. I interpret all languages--or nearly all--but as I am a Greek | |
by birth and with a Grecian name, it is with that particular tongue | |
that I am principally associated. For many years I have been the | |
chief Greek interpreter in London, and my name is very well known in | |
the hotels. | |
It happens not unfrequently that I am sent for at strange hours by | |
foreigners who get into difficulties, or by travelers who arrive late | |
and wish my services. I was not surprised, therefore, on Monday | |
night when a Mr. Latimer, a very fashionably dressed young man, came | |
up to my rooms and asked me to accompany him in a cab which was | |
waiting at the door. A Greek friend had come to see him upon | |
business, he said, and as he could speak nothing but his own tongue, | |
the services of an interpreter were indispensable. He gave me to | |
understand that his house was some little distance off, in | |
Kensington, and he seemed to be in a great hurry, bustling me rapidly | |
into the cab when we had descended to the street. | |
"I say into the cab, but I soon became doubtful as to whether it was | |
not a carriage in which I found myself. It was certainly more roomy | |
than the ordinary four-wheeled disgrace to London, and the fittings, | |
though frayed, were of rich quality. Mr. Latimer seated himself | |
opposite to me and we started off through Charing Cross and up the | |
Shaftesbury Avenue. We had come out upon Oxford Street and I had | |
ventured some remark as to this being a roundabout way to Kensington, | |
when my words were arrested by the extraordinary conduct of my | |
companion. | |
"He began by drawing a most formidable-looking bludgeon loaded with | |
lead from his pocket, and switching it backward and forward several | |
times, as if to test its weight and strength. Then he placed it | |
without a word upon the seat beside him. Having done this, he drew | |
up the windows on each side, and I found to my astonishment that they | |
were covered with paper so as to prevent my seeing through them. | |
"'I am sorry to cut off your view, Mr. Melas,' said he. 'The fact is | |
that I have no intention that you should see what the place is to | |
which we are driving. It might possibly be inconvenient to me if you | |
could find your way there again.' | |
"As you can imagine, I was utterly taken aback by such an address. | |
My companion was a powerful, broad-shouldered young fellow, and, | |
apart from the weapon, I should not have had the slightest chance in | |
a struggle with him. | |
"'This is very extraordinary conduct, Mr. Latimer,' I stammered. | |
'You must be aware that what you are doing is quite illegal.' | |
"'It is somewhat of a liberty, no doubt,' said he, 'but we'll make it | |
up to you. I must warn you, however, Mr. Melas, that if at any time | |
to-night you attempt to raise an alarm or do anything which is | |
against my interests, you will find it a very serious thing. I beg | |
you to remember that no one knows where you are, and that, whether | |
you are in this carriage or in my house, you are equally in my | |
power.' | |
"His words were quiet, but he had a rasping way of saying them which | |
was very menacing. I sat in silence wondering what on earth could be | |
his reason for kidnapping me in this extraordinary fashion. Whatever | |
it might be, it was perfectly clear that there was no possible use in | |
my resisting, and that I could only wait to see what might befall. | |
"For nearly two hours we drove without my having the least clue as to | |
where we were going. Sometimes the rattle of the stones told of a | |
paved causeway, and at others our smooth, silent course suggested | |
asphalt; but, save by this variation in sound, there was nothing at | |
all which could in the remotest way help me to form a guess as to | |
where we were. The paper over each window was impenetrable to light, | |
and a blue curtain was drawn across the glass work in front. It was | |
a quarter-past seven when we left Pall Mall, and my watch showed me | |
that it was ten minutes to nine when we at last came to a standstill. | |
My companion let down the window, and I caught a glimpse of a low, | |
arched doorway with a lamp burning above it. As I was hurried from | |
the carriage it swung open, and I found myself inside the house, with | |
a vague impression of a lawn and trees on each side of me as I | |
entered. Whether these were private grounds, however, or bona-fide | |
country was more than I could possibly venture to say. | |
"There was a colored gas-lamp inside which was turned so low that I | |
could see little save that the hall was of some size and hung with | |
pictures. In the dim light I could make out that the person who had | |
opened the door was a small, mean-looking, middle-aged man with | |
rounded shoulders. As he turned towards us the glint of the light | |
showed me that he was wearing glasses. | |
"'Is this Mr. Melas, Harold?' said he. | |
"'Yes.' | |
"'Well done, well done! No ill-will, Mr. Melas, I hope, but we could | |
not get on without you. If you deal fair with us you'll not regret | |
it, but if you try any tricks, God help you!' He spoke in a nervous, | |
jerky fashion, and with little giggling laughs in between, but | |
somehow he impressed me with fear more than the other. | |
"'What do you want with me?' I asked. | |
"'Only to ask a few questions of a Greek gentleman who is visiting | |
us, and to let us have the answers. But say no more than you are | |
told to say, or--' here came the nervous giggle again--'you had | |
better never have been born.' | |
"As he spoke he opened a door and showed the way into a room which | |
appeared to be very richly furnished, but again the only light was | |
afforded by a single lamp half-turned down. The chamber was | |
certainly large, and the way in which my feet sank into the carpet as | |
I stepped across it told me of its richness. I caught glimpses of | |
velvet chairs, a high white marble mantel-piece, and what seemed to | |
be a suit of Japanese armor at one side of it. There was a chair | |
just under the lamp, and the elderly man motioned that I should sit | |
in it. The younger had left us, but he suddenly returned through | |
another door, leading with him a gentleman clad in some sort of loose | |
dressing-gown who moved slowly towards us. As he came into the | |
circle of dim light which enabled me to see him more clearly I was | |
thrilled with horror at his appearance. He was deadly pale and | |
terribly emaciated, with the protruding, brilliant eyes of a man | |
whose spirit was greater than his strength. But what shocked me more | |
than any signs of physical weakness was that his face was grotesquely | |
criss-crossed with sticking-plaster, and that one large pad of it was | |
fastened over his mouth. | |
"'Have you the slate, Harold?' cried the older man, as this strange | |
being fell rather than sat down into a chair. 'Are his hands loose? | |
Now, then, give him the pencil. You are to ask the questions, Mr. | |
Melas, and he will write the answers. Ask him first of all whether | |
he is prepared to sign the papers?' | |
"The man's eyes flashed fire. | |
"'Never!' he wrote in Greek upon the slate. | |
"'On no condition?' I asked, at the bidding of our tyrant. | |
"'Only if I see her married in my presence by a Greek priest whom I | |
know.' | |
"The man giggled in his venomous way. | |
"'You know what awaits you, then?' | |
"'I care nothing for myself.' | |
"These are samples of the questions and answers which made up our | |
strange half-spoken, half-written conversation. Again and again I | |
had to ask him whether he would give in and sign the documents. | |
Again and again I had the same indignant reply. But soon a happy | |
thought came to me. I took to adding on little sentences of my own | |
to each question, innocent ones at first, to test whether either of | |
our companions knew anything of the matter, and then, as I found that | |
they showed no signs I played a more dangerous game. Our | |
conversation ran something like this: | |
"'You can do no good by this obstinacy. Who are you?' | |
"'I care not. I am a stranger in London.' | |
"'Your fate will be upon your own head. How long have you been here?' | |
"'Let it be so. Three weeks.' | |
"'The property can never be yours. What ails you?' | |
"'It shall not go to villains. They are starving me.' | |
"'You shall go free if you sign. What house is this?' | |
"'I will never sign. I do not know.' | |
"'You are not doing her any service. What is your name?' | |
"'Let me hear her say so. Kratides.' | |
"'You shall see her if you sign. Where are you from?' | |
"'Then I shall never see her. Athens.' | |
"Another five minutes, Mr. Holmes, and I should have wormed out the | |
whole story under their very noses. My very next question might have | |
cleared the matter up, but at that instant the door opened and a | |
woman stepped into the room. I could not see her clearly enough to | |
know more than that she was tall and graceful, with black hair, and | |
clad in some sort of loose white gown. | |
"'Harold,' said she, speaking English with a broken accent. 'I could | |
not stay away longer. It is so lonely up there with only--Oh, my | |
God, it is Paul!' | |
"These last words were in Greek, and at the same instant the man with | |
a convulsive effort tore the plaster from his lips, and screaming out | |
'Sophy! Sophy!' rushed into the woman's arms. Their embrace was but | |
for an instant, however, for the younger man seized the woman and | |
pushed her out of the room, while the elder easily overpowered his | |
emaciated victim, and dragged him away through the other door. For a | |
moment I was left alone in the room, and I sprang to my feet with | |
some vague idea that I might in some way get a clue to what this | |
house was in which I found myself. Fortunately, however, I took no | |
steps, for looking up I saw that the older man was standing in the | |
door-way with his eyes fixed upon me. | |
"'That will do, Mr. Melas,' said he. 'You perceive that we have | |
taken you into our confidence over some very private business. We | |
should not have troubled you, only that our friend who speaks Greek | |
and who began these negotiations has been forced to return to the | |
East. It was quite necessary for us to find some one to take his | |
place, and we were fortunate in hearing of your powers.' | |
"I bowed. | |
"'There are five sovereigns here,' said he, walking up to me, 'which | |
will, I hope, be a sufficient fee. But remember,' he added, tapping | |
me lightly on the chest and giggling, 'if you speak to a human soul | |
about this--one human soul, mind--well, may God have mercy upon your | |
soul!' | |
"I cannot tell you the loathing and horror with which this | |
insignificant-looking man inspired me. I could see him better now as | |
the lamp-light shone upon him. His features were peaky and sallow, | |
and his little pointed beard was thready and ill-nourished. He | |
pushed his face forward as he spoke and his lips and eyelids were | |
continually twitching like a man with St. Vitus's dance. I could not | |
help thinking that his strange, catchy little laugh was also a | |
symptom of some nervous malady. The terror of his face lay in his | |
eyes, however, steel gray, and glistening coldly with a malignant, | |
inexorable cruelty in their depths. | |
"'We shall know if you speak of this,' said he. 'We have our own | |
means of information. Now you will find the carriage waiting, and my | |
friend will see you on your way.' | |
"I was hurried through the hall and into the vehicle, again obtaining | |
that momentary glimpse of trees and a garden. Mr. Latimer followed | |
closely at my heels, and took his place opposite to me without a | |
word. In silence we again drove for an interminable distance with | |
the windows raised, until at last, just after midnight, the carriage | |
pulled up. | |
"'You will get down here, Mr. Melas,' said my companion. 'I am sorry | |
to leave you so far from your house, but there is no alternative. | |
Any attempt upon your part to follow the carriage can only end in | |
injury to yourself.' | |
"He opened the door as he spoke, and I had hardly time to spring out | |
when the coachman lashed the horse and the carriage rattled away. I | |
looked around me in astonishment. I was on some sort of a heathy | |
common mottled over with dark clumps of furze-bushes. Far away | |
stretched a line of houses, with a light here and there in the upper | |
windows. On the other side I saw the red signal-lamps of a railway. | |
"The carriage which had brought me was already out of sight. I stood | |
gazing round and wondering where on earth I might be, when I saw some | |
one coming towards me in the darkness. As he came up to me I made | |
out that he was a railway porter. | |
"'Can you tell me what place this is?' I asked. | |
"'Wandsworth Common,' said he. | |
"'Can I get a train into town?' | |
"'If you walk on a mile or so to Clapham Junction,' said he, 'you'll | |
just be in time for the last to Victoria.' | |
"So that was the end of my adventure, Mr. Holmes. I do not know | |
where I was, nor whom I spoke with, nor anything save what I have | |
told you. But I know that there is foul play going on, and I want to | |
help that unhappy man if I can. I told the whole story to Mr. | |
Mycroft Holmes next morning, and subsequently to the police." | |
We all sat in silence for some little time after listening to this | |
extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock looked across at his brother. | |
"Any steps?" he asked. | |
Mycroft picked up the Daily News, which was lying on the side-table. | |
"Anybody supplying any information as to the whereabouts of a Greek | |
gentleman named Paul Kratides, from Athens, who is unable to speak | |
English, will be rewarded. A similar reward paid to any one giving | |
information about a Greek lady whose first name is Sophy. X 2473. | |
"That was in all the dailies. No answer." | |
"How about the Greek Legation?" | |
"I have inquired. They know nothing." | |
"A wire to the head of the Athens police, then?" | |
"Sherlock has all the energy of the family," said Mycroft, turning to | |
me. "Well, you take the case up by all means, and let me know if you | |
do any good." | |
"Certainly," answered my friend, rising from his chair. "I'll let | |
you know, and Mr. Melas also. In the meantime, Mr. Melas, I should | |
certainly be on my guard, if I were you, for of course they must know | |
through these advertisements that you have betrayed them." | |
As we walked home together, Holmes stopped at a telegraph office and | |
sent off several wires. | |
"You see, Watson," he remarked, "our evening has been by no means | |
wasted. Some of my most interesting cases have come to me in this | |
way through Mycroft. The problem which we have just listened to, | |
although it can admit of but one explanation, has still some | |
distinguishing features." | |
"You have hopes of solving it?" | |
"Well, knowing as much as we do, it will be singular indeed if we | |
fail to discover the rest. You must yourself have formed some theory | |
which will explain the facts to which we have listened." | |
"In a vague way, yes." | |
"What was your idea, then?" | |
"It seemed to me to be obvious that this Greek girl had been carried | |
off by the young Englishman named Harold Latimer." | |
"Carried off from where?" | |
"Athens, perhaps." | |
Sherlock Holmes shook his head. "This young man could not talk a | |
word of Greek. The lady could talk English fairly well. | |
Inference--that she had been in England some little time, but he had | |
not been in Greece." | |
"Well, then, we will presume that she had come on a visit to England, | |
and that this Harold had persuaded her to fly with him." | |
"That is more probable." | |
"Then the brother--for that, I fancy, must be the relationship--comes | |
over from Greece to interfere. He imprudently puts himself into the | |
power of the young man and his older associate. They seize him and | |
use violence towards him in order to make him sign some papers to | |
make over the girl's fortune--of which he may be trustee--to them. | |
This he refuses to do. In order to negotiate with him they have to | |
get an interpreter, and they pitch upon this Mr. Melas, having used | |
some other one before. The girl is not told of the arrival of her | |
brother, and finds it out by the merest accident." | |
"Excellent, Watson!" cried Holmes. "I really fancy that you are not | |
far from the truth. You see that we hold all the cards, and we have | |
only to fear some sudden act of violence on their part. If they give | |
us time we must have them." | |
"But how can we find where this house lies?" | |
"Well, if our conjecture is correct and the girl's name is or was | |
Sophy Kratides, we should have no difficulty in tracing her. That | |
must be our main hope, for the brother is, of course, a complete | |
stranger. It is clear that some time has elapsed since this Harold | |
established these relations with the girl--some weeks, at any | |
rate--since the brother in Greece has had time to hear of it and come | |
across. If they have been living in the same place during this time, | |
it is probable that we shall have some answer to Mycroft's | |
advertisement." | |
We had reached our house in Baker Street while we had been talking. | |
Holmes ascended the stair first, and as he opened the door of our | |
room he gave a start of surprise. Looking over his shoulder, I was | |
equally astonished. His brother Mycroft was sitting smoking in the | |
arm-chair. | |
"Come in, Sherlock! Come in, sir," said he blandly, smiling at our | |
surprised faces. "You don't expect such energy from me, do you, | |
Sherlock? But somehow this case attracts me." | |
"How did you get here?" | |
"I passed you in a hansom." | |
"There has been some new development?" | |
"I had an answer to my advertisement." | |
"Ah!" | |
"Yes, it came within a few minutes of your leaving." | |
"And to what effect?" | |
Mycroft Holmes took out a sheet of paper. | |
"Here it is," said he, "written with a J pen on royal cream paper by | |
a middle-aged man with a weak constitution. | |
"Sir [he says]: | |
"In answer to your advertisement of to-day's date, I beg to inform | |
you that I know the young lady in question very well. If you should | |
care to call upon me I could give you some particulars as to her | |
painful history. She is living at present at The Myrtles, Beckenham. | |
"Yours faithfully, | |
"J. Davenport. | |
"He writes from Lower Brixton," said Mycroft Holmes. "Do you not | |
think that we might drive to him now, Sherlock, and learn these | |
particulars?" | |
"My dear Mycroft, the brother's life is more valuable than the | |
sister's story. I think we should call at Scotland Yard for | |
Inspector Gregson, and go straight out to Beckenham. We know that a | |
man is being done to death, and every hour may be vital." | |
"Better pick up Mr. Melas on our way," I suggested. "We may need an | |
interpreter." | |
"Excellent," said Sherlock Holmes. "Send the boy for a four-wheeler, | |
and we shall be off at once." He opened the table-drawer as he | |
spoke, and I noticed that he slipped his revolver into his pocket. | |
"Yes," said he, in answer to my glance; "I should say from what we | |
have heard, that we are dealing with a particularly dangerous gang." | |
It was almost dark before we found ourselves in Pall Mall, at the | |
rooms of Mr. Melas. A gentleman had just called for him, and he was | |
gone. | |
"Can you tell me where?" asked Mycroft Holmes. | |
"I don't know, sir," answered the woman who had opened the door; "I | |
only know that he drove away with the gentleman in a carriage." | |
"Did the gentleman give a name?" | |
"No, sir." | |
"He wasn't a tall, handsome, dark young man?" | |
"Oh, no, sir. He was a little gentleman, with glasses, thin in the | |
face, but very pleasant in his ways, for he was laughing all the time | |
that he was talking." | |
"Come along!" cried Sherlock Holmes, abruptly. "This grows serious," | |
he observed, as we drove to Scotland Yard. "These men have got hold | |
of Melas again. He is a man of no physical courage, as they are well | |
aware from their experience the other night. This villain was able | |
to terrorize him the instant that he got into his presence. No doubt | |
they want his professional services, but, having used him, they may | |
be inclined to punish him for what they will regard as his | |
treachery." | |
Our hope was that, by taking train, we might get to Beckenham as soon | |
or sooner than the carriage. On reaching Scotland Yard, however, it | |
was more than an hour before we could get Inspector Gregson and | |
comply with the legal formalities which would enable us to enter the | |
house. It was a quarter to ten before we reached London Bridge, and | |
half past before the four of us alighted on the Beckenham platform. | |
A drive of half a mile brought us to The Myrtles--a large, dark house | |
standing back from the road in its own grounds. Here we dismissed | |
our cab, and made our way up the drive together. | |
"The windows are all dark," remarked the inspector. "The house seems | |
deserted." | |
"Our birds are flown and the nest empty," said Holmes. | |
"Why do you say so?" | |
"A carriage heavily loaded with luggage has passed out during the | |
last hour." | |
The inspector laughed. "I saw the wheel-tracks in the light of the | |
gate-lamp, but where does the luggage come in?" | |
"You may have observed the same wheel-tracks going the other way. | |
But the outward-bound ones were very much deeper--so much so that we | |
can say for a certainty that there was a very considerable weight on | |
the carriage." | |
"You get a trifle beyond me there," said the inspector, shrugging his | |
shoulder. "It will not be an easy door to force, but we will try if | |
we cannot make some one hear us." | |
He hammered loudly at the knocker and pulled at the bell, but without | |
any success. Holmes had slipped away, but he came back in a few | |
minutes. | |
"I have a window open," said he. | |
"It is a mercy that you are on the side of the force, and not against | |
it, Mr. Holmes," remarked the inspector, as he noted the clever way | |
in which my friend had forced back the catch. "Well, I think that | |
under the circumstances we may enter without an invitation." | |
One after the other we made our way into a large apartment, which was | |
evidently that in which Mr. Melas had found himself. The inspector | |
had lit his lantern, and by its light we could see the two doors, the | |
curtain, the lamp, and the suit of Japanese mail as he had described | |
them. On the table lay two glasses, and empty brandy-bottle, and the | |
remains of a meal. | |
"What is that?" asked Holmes, suddenly. | |
We all stood still and listened. A low moaning sound was coming from | |
somewhere over our heads. Holmes rushed to the door and out into the | |
hall. The dismal noise came from upstairs. He dashed up, the | |
inspector and I at his heels, while his brother Mycroft followed as | |
quickly as his great bulk would permit. | |
Three doors faced up upon the second floor, and it was from the | |
central of these that the sinister sounds were issuing, sinking | |
sometimes into a dull mumble and rising again into a shrill whine. | |
It was locked, but the key had been left on the outside. Holmes | |
flung open the door and rushed in, but he was out again in an | |
instant, with his hand to his throat. | |
"It's charcoal," he cried. "Give it time. It will clear." | |
Peering in, we could see that the only light in the room came from a | |
dull blue flame which flickered from a small brass tripod in the | |
centre. It threw a livid, unnatural circle upon the floor, while in | |
the shadows beyond we saw the vague loom of two figures which | |
crouched against the wall. From the open door there reeked a | |
horrible poisonous exhalation which set us gasping and coughing. | |
Holmes rushed to the top of the stairs to draw in the fresh air, and | |
then, dashing into the room, he threw up the window and hurled the | |
brazen tripod out into the garden. | |
"We can enter in a minute," he gasped, darting out again. "Where is | |
a candle? I doubt if we could strike a match in that atmosphere. | |
Hold the light at the door and we shall get them out, Mycroft. Now!" | |
With a rush we got to the poisoned men and dragged them out into the | |
well-lit hall. Both of them were blue-lipped and insensible, with | |
swollen, congested faces and protruding eyes. Indeed, so distorted | |
were their features that, save for his black beard and stout figure, | |
we might have failed to recognize in one of them the Greek | |
interpreter who had parted from us only a few hours before at the | |
Diogenes Club. His hands and feet were securely strapped together, | |
and he bore over one eye the marks of a violent blow. The other, who | |
was secured in a similar fashion, was a tall man in the last stage of | |
emaciation, with several strips of sticking-plaster arranged in a | |
grotesque pattern over his face. He had ceased to moan as we laid | |
him down, and a glance showed me that for him at least our aid had | |
come too late. Mr. Melas, however, still lived, and in less than an | |
hour, with the aid of ammonia and brandy I had the satisfaction of | |
seeing him open his eyes, and of knowing that my hand had drawn him | |
back from that dark valley in which all paths meet. | |
It was a simple story which he had to tell, and one which did but | |
confirm our own deductions. His visitor, on entering his rooms, had | |
drawn a life-preserver from his sleeve, and had so impressed him with | |
the fear of instant and inevitable death that he had kidnapped him | |
for the second time. Indeed, it was almost mesmeric, the effect | |
which this giggling ruffian had produced upon the unfortunate | |
linguist, for he could not speak of him save with trembling hands and | |
a blanched cheek. He had been taken swiftly to Beckenham, and had | |
acted as interpreter in a second interview, even more dramatic than | |
the first, in which the two Englishmen had menaced their prisoner | |
with instant death if he did not comply with their demands. Finally, | |
finding him proof against every threat, they had hurled him back into | |
his prison, and after reproaching Melas with his treachery, which | |
appeared from the newspaper advertisement, they had stunned him with | |
a blow from a stick, and he remembered nothing more until he found us | |
bending over him. | |
And this was the singular case of the Grecian Interpreter, the | |
explanation of which is still involved in some mystery. We were able | |
to find out, by communicating with the gentleman who had answered the | |
advertisement, that the unfortunate young lady came of a wealthy | |
Grecian family, and that she had been on a visit to some friends in | |
England. While there she had met a young man named Harold Latimer, | |
who had acquired an ascendancy over her and had eventually persuaded | |
her to fly with him. Her friends, shocked at the event, had | |
contented themselves with informing her brother at Athens, and had | |
then washed their hands of the matter. The brother, on his arrival | |
in England, had imprudently placed himself in the power of Latimer | |
and of his associate, whose name was Wilson Kemp--a man of the | |
foulest antecedents. These two, finding that through his ignorance | |
of the language he was helpless in their hands, had kept him a | |
prisoner, and had endeavored by cruelty and starvation to make him | |
sign away his own and his sister's property. They had kept him in | |
the house without the girl's knowledge, and the plaster over the face | |
had been for the purpose of making recognition difficult in case she | |
should ever catch a glimpse of him. Her feminine perception, | |
however, had instantly seen through the disguise when, on the | |
occasion of the interpreter's visit, she had seen him for the first | |
time. The poor girl, however, was herself a prisoner, for there was | |
no one about the house except the man who acted as coachman, and his | |
wife, both of whom were tools of the conspirators. Finding that | |
their secret was out, and that their prisoner was not to be coerced, | |
the two villains with the girl had fled away at a few hours' notice | |
from the furnished house which they had hired, having first, as they | |
thought, taken vengeance both upon the man who had defied and the one | |
who had betrayed them. | |
Months afterwards a curious newspaper cutting reached us from | |
Buda-Pesth. It told how two Englishmen who had been traveling with a | |
woman had met with a tragic end. They had each been stabbed, it | |
seems, and the Hungarian police were of opinion that they had | |
quarreled and had inflicted mortal injuries upon each other. Holmes, | |
however, is, I fancy, of a different way of thinking, and holds to | |
this day that, if one could find the Grecian girl, one might learn | |
how the wrongs of herself and her brother came to be avenged. | |
THE NAVAL TREATY | |
The July which immediately succeeded my marriage was made memorable | |
by three cases of interest, in which I had the privilege of being | |
associated with Sherlock Holmes and of studying his methods. I find | |
them recorded in my notes under the headings of "The Adventure of the | |
Second Stain," "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty," and "The | |
Adventure of the Tired Captain." The first of these, however, deals | |
with interest of such importance and implicates so many of the first | |
families in the kingdom that for many years it will be impossible to | |
make it public. No case, however, in which Holmes was engaged has | |
ever illustrated the value of his analytical methods so clearly or | |
has impressed those who were associated with him so deeply. I still | |
retain an almost verbatim report of the interview in which he | |
demonstrated the true facts of the case to Monsieur Dubugue of the | |
Paris police, and Fritz von Waldbaum, the well-known specialist of | |
Dantzig, both of whom had wasted their energies upon what proved to | |
be side-issues. The new century will have come, however, before the | |
story can be safely told. Meanwhile I pass on to the second on my | |
list, which promised also at one time to be of national importance, | |
and was marked by several incidents which give it a quite unique | |
character. | |
During my school-days I had been intimately associated with a lad | |
named Percy Phelps, who was of much the same age as myself, though he | |
was two classes ahead of me. He was a very brilliant boy, and carried | |
away every prize which the school had to offer, finishing his | |
exploits by winning a scholarship which sent him on to continue his | |
triumphant career at Cambridge. He was, I remember, extremely well | |
connected, and even when we were all little boys together we knew | |
that his mother's brother was Lord Holdhurst, the great conservative | |
politician. This gaudy relationship did him little good at school. On | |
the contrary, it seemed rather a piquant thing to us to chevy him | |
about the playground and hit him over the shins with a wicket. But it | |
was another thing when he came out into the world. I heard vaguely | |
that his abilities and the influences which he commanded had won him | |
a good position at the Foreign Office, and then he passed completely | |
out of my mind until the following letter recalled his existence: | |
Briarbrae, Woking. | |
My dear Watson: | |
I have no doubt that you can remember "Tadpole" Phelps, who was in | |
the fifth form when you were in the third. It is possible even that | |
you may have heard that through my uncle's influence I obtained a | |
good appointment at the Foreign Office, and that I was in a situation | |
of trust and honor until a horrible misfortune came suddenly to blast | |
my career. | |
There is no use writing of the details of that dreadful event. In the | |
event of your acceding to my request it is probable that I shall have | |
to narrate them to you. I have only just recovered from nine weeks of | |
brain-fever, and am still exceedingly weak. Do you think that you | |
could bring your friend Mr. Holmes down to see me? I should like to | |
have his opinion of the case, though the authorities assure me that | |
nothing more can be done. Do try to bring him down, and as soon as | |
possible. Every minute seems an hour while I live in this state of | |
horrible suspense. Assure him that if I have not asked his advice | |
sooner it was not because I did not appreciate his talents, but | |
because I have been off my head ever since the blow fell. Now I am | |
clear again, though I dare not think of it too much for fear of a | |
relapse. I am still so weak that I have to write, as you see, by | |
dictating. Do try to bring him. | |
Your old school-fellow, | |
Percy Phelps. | |
There was something that touched me as I read this letter, something | |
pitiable in the reiterated appeals to bring Holmes. So moved was I | |
that even had it been a difficult matter I should have tried it, but | |
of course I knew well that Holmes loved his art, so that he was ever | |
as ready to bring his aid as his client could be to receive it. My | |
wife agreed with me that not a moment should be lost in laying the | |
matter before him, and so within an hour of breakfast-time I found | |
myself back once more in the old rooms in Baker Street. | |
Holmes was seated at his side-table clad in his dressing-gown, and | |
working hard over a chemical investigation. A large curved retort was | |
boiling furiously in the bluish flame of a Bunsen burner, and the | |
distilled drops were condensing into a two-litre measure. My friend | |
hardly glanced up as I entered, and I, seeing that his investigation | |
must be of importance, seated myself in an arm-chair and waited. He | |
dipped into this bottle or that, drawing out a few drops of each with | |
his glass pipette, and finally brought a test-tube containing a | |
solution over to the table. In his right hand he held a slip of | |
litmus-paper. | |
"You come at a crisis, Watson," said he. "If this paper remains blue, | |
all is well. If it turns red, it means a man's life." He dipped it | |
into the test-tube and it flushed at once into a dull, dirty crimson. | |
"Hum! I thought as much!" he cried. "I will be at your service in an | |
instant, Watson. You will find tobacco in the Persian slipper." He | |
turned to his desk and scribbled off several telegrams, which were | |
handed over to the page-boy. Then he threw himself down into the | |
chair opposite, and drew up his knees until his fingers clasped round | |
his long, thin shins. | |
"A very commonplace little murder," said he. "You've got something | |
better, I fancy. You are the stormy petrel of crime, Watson. What is | |
it?" | |
I handed him the letter, which he read with the most concentrated | |
attention. | |
"It does not tell us very much, does it?" he remarked, as he handed | |
it back to me. | |
"Hardly anything." | |
"And yet the writing is of interest." | |
"But the writing is not his own." | |
"Precisely. It is a woman's." | |
"A man's surely," I cried. | |
"No, a woman's, and a woman of rare character. You see, at the | |
commencement of an investigation it is something to know that your | |
client is in close contact with some one who, for good or evil, has | |
an exceptional nature. My interest is already awakened in the case. | |
If you are ready we will start at once for Woking, and see this | |
diplomatist who is in such evil case, and the lady to whom he | |
dictates his letters." | |
We were fortunate enough to catch an early train at Waterloo, and in | |
a little under an hour we found ourselves among the fir-woods and the | |
heather of Woking. Briarbrae proved to be a large detached house | |
standing in extensive grounds within a few minutes' walk of the | |
station. On sending in our cards we were shown into an elegantly | |
appointed drawing-room, where we were joined in a few minutes by a | |
rather stout man who received us with much hospitality. His age may | |
have been nearer forty than thirty, but his cheeks were so ruddy and | |
his eyes so merry that he still conveyed the impression of a plump | |
and mischievous boy. | |
"I am so glad that you have come," said he, shaking our hands with | |
effusion. "Percy has been inquiring for you all morning. Ah, poor old | |
chap, he clings to any straw! His father and his mother asked me to | |
see you, for the mere mention of the subject is very painful to | |
them." | |
"We have had no details yet," observed Holmes. "I perceive that you | |
are not yourself a member of the family." | |
Our acquaintance looked surprised, and then, glancing down, he began | |
to laugh. | |
"Of course you saw the J H monogram on my locket," said he. "For a | |
moment I thought you had done something clever. Joseph Harrison is my | |
name, and as Percy is to marry my sister Annie I shall at least be a | |
relation by marriage. You will find my sister in his room, for she | |
has nursed him hand-and-foot this two months back. Perhaps we'd | |
better go in at once, for I know how impatient he is." | |
The chamber in which we were shown was on the same floor as the | |
drawing-room. It was furnished partly as a sitting and partly as a | |
bedroom, with flowers arranged daintily in every nook and corner. A | |
young man, very pale and worn, was lying upon a sofa near the open | |
window, through which came the rich scent of the garden and the balmy | |
summer air. A woman was sitting beside him, who rose as we entered. | |
"Shall I leave, Percy?" she asked. | |
He clutched her hand to detain her. "How are you, Watson?" said he, | |
cordially. "I should never have known you under that moustache, and I | |
dare say you would not be prepared to swear to me. This I presume is | |
your celebrated friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes?" | |
I introduced him in a few words, and we both sat down. The stout | |
young man had left us, but his sister still remained with her hand in | |
that of the invalid. She was a striking-looking woman, a little short | |
and thick for symmetry, but with a beautiful olive complexion, large, | |
dark, Italian eyes, and a wealth of deep black hair. Her rich tints | |
made the white face of her companion the more worn and haggard by the | |
contrast. | |
"I won't waste your time," said he, raising himself upon the sofa. | |
"I'll plunge into the matter without further preamble. I was a happy | |
and successful man, Mr. Holmes, and on the eve of being married, when | |
a sudden and dreadful misfortune wrecked all my prospects in life. | |
"I was, as Watson may have told you, in the Foreign Office, and | |
through the influences of my uncle, Lord Holdhurst, I rose rapidly to | |
a responsible position. When my uncle became foreign minister in this | |
administration he gave me several missions of trust, and as I always | |
brought them to a successful conclusion, he came at last to have the | |
utmost confidence in my ability and tact. | |
"Nearly ten weeks ago--to be more accurate, on the twenty-third of | |
May--he called me into his private room, and, after complimenting me | |
on the good work which I had done, he informed me that he had a new | |
commission of trust for me to execute. | |
"'This,' said he, taking a gray roll of paper from his bureau, 'is | |
the original of that secret treaty between England and Italy of | |
which, I regret to say, some rumors have already got into the public | |
press. It is of enormous importance that nothing further should leak | |
out. The French or the Russian embassy would pay an immense sum to | |
learn the contents of these papers. They should not leave my bureau | |
were it not that it is absolutely necessary to have them copied. You | |
have a desk in your office?' | |
"'Yes, sir.' | |
"'Then take the treaty and lock it up there. I shall give directions | |
that you may remain behind when the others go, so that you may copy | |
it at your leisure without fear of being overlooked. When you have | |
finished, relock both the original and the draft in the desk, and | |
hand them over to me personally to-morrow morning.' | |
"I took the papers and--" | |
"Excuse me an instant," said Holmes. "Were you alone during this | |
conversation?" | |
"Absolutely." | |
"In a large room?" | |
"Thirty feet each way." | |
"In the centre?" | |
"Yes, about it." | |
"And speaking low?" | |
"My uncle's voice is always remarkably low. I hardly spoke at all." | |
"Thank you," said Holmes, shutting his eyes; "pray go on." | |
"I did exactly what he indicated, and waited until the other clerks | |
had departed. One of them in my room, Charles Gorot, had some arrears | |
of work to make up, so I left him there and went out to dine. When I | |
returned he was gone. I was anxious to hurry my work, for I knew that | |
Joseph--the Mr. Harrison whom you saw just now--was in town, and that | |
he would travel down to Woking by the eleven-o'clock train, and I | |
wanted if possible to catch it. | |
"When I came to examine the treaty I saw at once that it was of such | |
importance that my uncle had been guilty of no exaggeration in what | |
he had said. Without going into details, I may say that it defined | |
the position of Great Britain towards the Triple Alliance, and | |
fore-shadowed the policy which this country would pursue in the event | |
of the French fleet gaining a complete ascendancy over that of Italy | |
in the Mediterranean. The questions treated in it were purely naval. | |
At the end were the signatures of the high dignitaries who had signed | |
it. I glanced my eyes over it, and then settled down to my task of | |
copying. | |
"It was a long document, written in the French language, and | |
containing twenty-six separate articles. I copied as quickly as I | |
could, but at nine o'clock I had only done nine articles, and it | |
seemed hopeless for me to attempt to catch my train. I was feeling | |
drowsy and stupid, partly from my dinner and also from the effects of | |
a long day's work. A cup of coffee would clear my brain. A | |
commissionaire remains all night in a little lodge at the foot of the | |
stairs, and is in the habit of making coffee at his spirit-lamp for | |
any of the officials who may be working over time. I rang the bell, | |
therefore, to summon him. | |
"To my surprise, it was a woman who answered the summons, a large, | |
coarse-faced, elderly woman, in an apron. She explained that she was | |
the commissionaire's wife, who did the charing, and I gave her the | |
order for the coffee. | |
"I wrote two more articles and then, feeling more drowsy than ever, I | |
rose and walked up and down the room to stretch my legs. My coffee | |
had not yet come, and I wondered what was the cause of the delay | |
could be. Opening the door, I started down the corridor to find out. | |
There was a straight passage, dimly lighted, which led from the room | |
in which I had been working, and was the only exit from it. It ended | |
in a curving staircase, with the commissionaire's lodge in the | |
passage at the bottom. Half way down this staircase is a small | |
landing, with another passage running into it at right angles. This | |
second one leads by means of a second small stair to a side door, | |
used by servants, and also as a short cut by clerks when coming from | |
Charles Street. Here is a rough chart of the place." | |
"Thank you. I think that I quite follow you," said Sherlock Holmes. | |
"It is of the utmost importance that you should notice this point. I | |
went down the stairs and into the hall, where I found the | |
commissionaire fast asleep in his box, with the kettle boiling | |
furiously upon the spirit-lamp. I took off the kettle and blew out | |
the lamp, for the water was spurting over the floor. Then I put out | |
my hand and was about to shake the man, who was still sleeping | |
soundly, when a bell over his head rang loudly, and he woke with a | |
start. | |
"'Mr. Phelps, sir!' said he, looking at me in bewilderment. | |
"'I came down to see if my coffee was ready.' | |
"'I was boiling the kettle when I fell asleep, sir.' He looked at me | |
and then up at the still quivering bell with an ever-growing | |
astonishment upon his face. | |
"'If you was here, sir, then who rang the bell?' he asked. | |
"'The bell!' I cried. 'What bell is it?' | |
"'It's the bell of the room you were working in.' | |
"A cold hand seemed to close round my heart. Some one, then, was in | |
that room where my precious treaty lay upon the table. I ran | |
frantically up the stair and along the passage. There was no one in | |
the corridors, Mr. Holmes. There was no one in the room. All was | |
exactly as I left it, save only that the papers which had been | |
committed to my care had been taken from the desk on which they lay. | |
The copy was there, and the original was gone." | |
Holmes sat up in his chair and rubbed his hands. I could see that the | |
problem was entirely to his heart. "Pray, what did you do then?" he | |
murmured. | |
"I recognized in an instant that the thief must have come up the | |
stairs from the side door. Of course I must have met him if he had | |
come the other way." | |
"You were satisfied that he could not have been concealed in the room | |
all the time, or in the corridor which you have just described as | |
dimly lighted?" | |
"It is absolutely impossible. A rat could not conceal himself either | |
in the room or the corridor. There is no cover at all." | |
"Thank you. Pray proceed." | |
"The commissionaire, seeing by my pale face that something was to be | |
feared, had followed me upstairs. Now we both rushed along the | |
corridor and down the steep steps which led to Charles Street. The | |
door at the bottom was closed, but unlocked. We flung it open and | |
rushed out. I can distinctly remember that as we did so there came | |
three chimes from a neighboring clock. It was quarter to ten." | |
"That is of enormous importance," said Holmes, making a note upon his | |
shirt-cuff. | |
"The night was very dark, and a thin, warm rain was falling. There | |
was no one in Charles Street, but a great traffic was going on, as | |
usual, in Whitehall, at the extremity. We rushed along the pavement, | |
bare-headed as we were, and at the far corner we found a policeman | |
standing. | |
"'A robbery has been committed,' I gasped. 'A document of immense | |
value has been stolen from the Foreign Office. Has any one passed | |
this way?' | |
"'I have been standing here for a quarter of an hour, sir,' said he; | |
'only one person has passed during that time--a woman, tall and | |
elderly, with a Paisley shawl.' | |
"'Ah, that is only my wife,' cried the commissionaire; 'has no one | |
else passed?' | |
"'No one.' | |
"'Then it must be the other way that the thief took,' cried the | |
fellow, tugging at my sleeve. | |
"But I was not satisfied, and the attempts which he made to draw me | |
away increased my suspicions. | |
"'Which way did the woman go?' I cried. | |
"'I don't know, sir. I noticed her pass, but I had no special reason | |
for watching her. She seemed to be in a hurry.' | |
"'How long ago was it?' | |
"'Oh, not very many minutes.' | |
"'Within the last five?' | |
"'Well, it could not be more than five.' | |
"'You're only wasting your time, sir, and every minute now is of | |
importance,' cried the commissionaire; 'take my word for it that my | |
old woman has nothing to do with it, and come down to the other end | |
of the street. Well, if you won't, I will.' And with that he rushed | |
off in the other direction. | |
"But I was after him in an instant and caught him by the sleeve. | |
"'Where do you live?' said I. | |
"'16 Ivy Lane, Brixton,' he answered. 'But don't let yourself be | |
drawn away upon a false scent, Mr. Phelps. Come to the other end of | |
the street and let us see if we can hear of anything.' | |
"Nothing was to be lost by following his advice. With the policeman | |
we both hurried down, but only to find the street full of traffic, | |
many people coming and going, but all only too eager to get to a | |
place of safety upon so wet a night. There was no lounger who could | |
tell us who had passed. | |
"Then we returned to the office, and searched the stairs and the | |
passage without result. The corridor which led to the room was laid | |
down with a kind of creamy linoleum which shows an impression very | |
easily. We examined it very carefully, but found no outline of any | |
footmark." | |
"Had it been raining all evening?" | |
"Since about seven." | |
"How is it, then, that the woman who came into the room about nine | |
left no traces with her muddy boots?" | |
"I am glad you raised the point. It occurred to me at the time. The | |
charwomen are in the habit of taking off their boots at the | |
commissionaire's office, and putting on list slippers." | |
"That is very clear. There were no marks, then, though the night was | |
a wet one? The chain of events is certainly one of extraordinary | |
interest. What did you do next?" | |
"We examined the room also. There is no possibility of a secret door, | |
and the windows are quite thirty feet from the ground. Both of them | |
were fastened on the inside. The carpet prevents any possibility of a | |
trap-door, and the ceiling is of the ordinary whitewashed kind. I | |
will pledge my life that whoever stole my papers could only have come | |
through the door." | |
"How about the fireplace?" | |
"They use none. There is a stove. The bell-rope hangs from the wire | |
just to the right of my desk. Whoever rang it must have come right up | |
to the desk to do it. But why should any criminal wish to ring the | |
bell? It is a most insoluble mystery." | |
"Certainly the incident was unusual. What were your next steps? You | |
examined the room, I presume, to see if the intruder had left any | |
traces--any cigar-end or dropped glove or hairpin or other trifle?" | |
"There was nothing of the sort." | |
"No smell?" | |
"Well, we never thought of that." | |
"Ah, a scent of tobacco would have been worth a great deal to us in | |
such an investigation." | |
"I never smoke myself, so I think I should have observed it if there | |
had been any smell of tobacco. There was absolutely no clue of any | |
kind. The only tangible fact was that the commissionaire's wife--Mrs. | |
Tangey was the name--had hurried out of the place. He could give no | |
explanation save that it was about the time when the woman always | |
went home. The policeman and I agreed that our best plan would be to | |
seize the woman before she could get rid of the papers, presuming | |
that she had them. | |
"The alarm had reached Scotland Yard by this time, and Mr. Forbes, | |
the detective, came round at once and took up the case with a great | |
deal of energy. We hired a hansom, and in half an hour we were at the | |
address which had been given to us. A young woman opened the door, | |
who proved to be Mrs. Tangey's eldest daughter. Her mother had not | |
come back yet, and we were shown into the front room to wait. | |
"About ten minutes later a knock came at the door, and here we made | |
the one serious mistake for which I blame myself. Instead of opening | |
the door ourselves, we allowed the girl to do so. We heard her say, | |
'Mother, there are two men in the house waiting to see you,' and an | |
instant afterwards we heard the patter of feet rushing down the | |
passage. Forbes flung open the door, and we both ran into the back | |
room or kitchen, but the woman had got there before us. She stared at | |
us with defiant eyes, and then, suddenly recognizing me, an | |
expression of absolute astonishment came over her face. | |
"'Why, if it isn't Mr. Phelps, of the office!' she cried. | |
"'Come, come, who did you think we were when you ran away from us?' | |
asked my companion. | |
"'I thought you were the brokers,' said she, 'we have had some | |
trouble with a tradesman.' | |
"'That's not quite good enough,' answered Forbes. 'We have reason to | |
believe that you have taken a paper of importance from the Foreign | |
Office, and that you ran in here to dispose of it. You must come back | |
with us to Scotland Yard to be searched.' | |
"It was in vain that she protested and resisted. A four-wheeler was | |
brought, and we all three drove back in it. We had first made an | |
examination of the kitchen, and especially of the kitchen fire, to | |
see whether she might have made away with the papers during the | |
instant that she was alone. There were no signs, however, of any | |
ashes or scraps. When we reached Scotland Yard she was handed over at | |
once to the female searcher. I waited in an agony of suspense until | |
she came back with her report. There were no signs of the papers. | |
"Then for the first time the horror of my situation came in its full | |
force. Hitherto I had been acting, and action had numbed thought. I | |
had been so confident of regaining the treaty at once that I had not | |
dared to think of what would be the consequence if I failed to do so. | |
But now there was nothing more to be done, and I had leisure to | |
realize my position. It was horrible. Watson there would tell you | |
that I was a nervous, sensitive boy at school. It is my nature. I | |
thought of my uncle and of his colleagues in the Cabinet, of the | |
shame which I had brought upon him, upon myself, upon every one | |
connected with me. What though I was the victim of an extraordinary | |
accident? No allowance is made for accidents where diplomatic | |
interests are at stake. I was ruined, shamefully, hopelessly ruined. | |
I don't know what I did. I fancy I must have made a scene. I have a | |
dim recollection of a group of officials who crowded round me, | |
endeavoring to soothe me. One of them drove down with me to Waterloo, | |
and saw me into the Woking train. I believe that he would have come | |
all the way had it not been that Dr. Ferrier, who lives near me, was | |
going down by that very train. The doctor most kindly took charge of | |
me, and it was well he did so, for I had a fit in the station, and | |
before we reached home I was practically a raving maniac. | |
"You can imagine the state of things here when they were roused from | |
their beds by the doctor's ringing and found me in this condition. | |
Poor Annie here and my mother were broken-hearted. Dr. Ferrier had | |
just heard enough from the detective at the station to be able to | |
give an idea of what had happened, and his story did not mend | |
matters. It was evident to all that I was in for a long illness, so | |
Joseph was bundled out of this cheery bedroom, and it was turned into | |
a sick-room for me. Here I have lain, Mr. Holmes, for over nine | |
weeks, unconscious, and raving with brain-fever. If it had not been | |
for Miss Harrison here and for the doctor's care I should not be | |
speaking to you now. She has nursed me by day and a hired nurse has | |
looked after me by night, for in my mad fits I was capable of | |
anything. Slowly my reason has cleared, but it is only during the | |
last three days that my memory has quite returned. Sometimes I wish | |
that it never had. The first thing that I did was to wire to Mr. | |
Forbes, who had the case in hand. He came out, and assures me that, | |
though everything has been done, no trace of a clue has been | |
discovered. The commissionaire and his wife have been examined in | |
every way without any light being thrown upon the matter. The | |
suspicions of the police then rested upon young Gorot, who, as you | |
may remember, stayed over time in the office that night. His | |
remaining behind and his French name were really the only two points | |
which could suggest suspicion; but, as a matter of fact, I did not | |
begin work until he had gone, and his people are of Huguenot | |
extraction, but as English in sympathy and tradition as you and I | |
are. Nothing was found to implicate him in any way, and there the | |
matter dropped. I turn to you, Mr. Holmes, as absolutely my last | |
hope. If you fail me, then my honor as well as my position are | |
forever forfeited." | |
The invalid sank back upon his cushions, tired out by this long | |
recital, while his nurse poured him out a glass of some stimulating | |
medicine. Holmes sat silently, with his head thrown back and his eyes | |
closed, in an attitude which might seem listless to a stranger, but | |
which I knew betokened the most intense self-absorption. | |
"You statement has been so explicit," said he at last, "that you have | |
really left me very few questions to ask. There is one of the very | |
utmost importance, however. Did you tell any one that you had this | |
special task to perform?" | |
"No one." | |
"Not Miss Harrison here, for example?" | |
"No. I had not been back to Woking between getting the order and | |
executing the commission." | |
"And none of your people had by chance been to see you?" | |
"None." | |
"Did any of them know their way about in the office?" | |
"Oh, yes, all of them had been shown over it." | |
"Still, of course, if you said nothing to any one about the treaty | |
these inquiries are irrelevant." | |
"I said nothing." | |
"Do you know anything of the commissionaire?" | |
"Nothing except that he is an old soldier." | |
"What regiment?" | |
"Oh, I have heard--Coldstream Guards." | |
"Thank you. I have no doubt I can get details from Forbes. The | |
authorities are excellent at amassing facts, though they do not | |
always use them to advantage. What a lovely thing a rose is!" | |
He walked past the couch to the open window, and held up the drooping | |
stalk of a moss-rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and | |
green. It was a new phase of his character to me, for I had never | |
before seen him show any keen interest in natural objects. | |
"There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion," | |
said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. "It can be built | |
up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the | |
goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other | |
things, our powers our desires, our food, are all really necessary | |
for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. | |
Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition | |
of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again | |
that we have much to hope from the flowers." | |
Percy Phelps and his nurse looked at Holmes during this demonstration | |
with surprise and a good deal of disappointment written upon their | |
faces. He had fallen into a reverie, with the moss-rose between his | |
fingers. It had lasted some minutes before the young lady broke in | |
upon it. | |
"Do you see any prospect of solving this mystery, Mr. Holmes?" she | |
asked, with a touch of asperity in her voice. | |
"Oh, the mystery!" he answered, coming back with a start to the | |
realities of life. "Well, it would be absurd to deny that the case is | |
a very abstruse and complicated one, but I can promise you that I | |
will look into the matter and let you know any points which may | |
strike me." | |
"Do you see any clue?" | |
"You have furnished me with seven, but, of course, I must test them | |
before I can pronounce upon their value." | |
"You suspect some one?" | |
"I suspect myself." | |
"What!" | |
"Of coming to conclusions too rapidly." | |
"Then go to London and test your conclusions." | |
"Your advice is very excellent, Miss Harrison," said Holmes, rising. | |
"I think, Watson, we cannot do better. Do not allow yourself to | |
indulge in false hopes, Mr. Phelps. The affair is a very tangled | |
one." | |
"I shall be in a fever until I see you again," cried the diplomatist. | |
"Well, I'll come out by the same train to-morrow, though it's more | |
than likely that my report will be a negative one." | |
"God bless you for promising to come," cried our client. "It gives me | |
fresh life to know that something is being done. By the way, I have | |
had a letter from Lord Holdhurst." | |
"Ha! What did he say?" | |
"He was cold, but not harsh. I dare say my severe illness prevented | |
him from being that. He repeated that the matter was of the utmost | |
importance, and added that no steps would be taken about my | |
future--by which he means, of course, my dismissal--until my health | |
was restored and I had an opportunity of repairing my misfortune." | |
"Well, that was reasonable and considerate," said Holmes. "Come, | |
Watson, for we have a good day's work before us in town." | |
Mr. Joseph Harrison drove us down to the station, and we were soon | |
whirling up in a Portsmouth train. Holmes was sunk in profound | |
thought, and hardly opened his mouth until we had passed Clapham | |
Junction. | |
"It's a very cheery thing to come into London by any of these lines | |
which run high, and allow you to look down upon the houses like | |
this." | |
I thought he was joking, for the view was sordid enough, but he soon | |
explained himself. | |
"Look at those big, isolated clumps of building rising up above the | |
slates, like brick islands in a lead-colored sea." | |
"The board-schools." | |
"Light-houses, my boy! Beacons of the future! Capsules with hundreds | |
of bright little seeds in each, out of which will spring the wise, | |
better England of the future. I suppose that man Phelps does not | |
drink?" | |
"I should not think so." | |
"Nor should I, but we are bound to take every possibility into | |
account. The poor devil has certainly got himself into very deep | |
water, and it's a question whether we shall ever be able to get him | |
ashore. What did you think of Miss Harrison?" | |
"A girl of strong character." | |
"Yes, but she is a good sort, or I am mistaken. She and her brother | |
are the only children of an iron-master somewhere up Northumberland | |
way. He got engaged to her when traveling last winter, and she came | |
down to be introduced to his people, with her brother as escort. Then | |
came the smash, and she stayed on to nurse her lover, while brother | |
Joseph, finding himself pretty snug, stayed on too. I've been making | |
a few independent inquiries, you see. But to-day must be a day of | |
inquiries." | |
"My practice--" I began. | |
"Oh, if you find your own cases more interesting than mine--" said | |
Holmes, with some asperity. | |
"I was going to say that my practice could get along very well for a | |
day or two, since it is the slackest time in the year." | |
"Excellent," said he, recovering his good-humor. "Then we'll look | |
into this matter together. I think that we should begin by seeing | |
Forbes. He can probably tell us all the details we want until we know | |
from what side the case is to be approached." | |
"You said you had a clue?" | |
"Well, we have several, but we can only test their value by further | |
inquiry. The most difficult crime to track is the one which is | |
purposeless. Now this is not purposeless. Who is it who profits by | |
it? There is the French ambassador, there is the Russian, there is | |
who-ever might sell it to either of these, and there is Lord | |
Holdhurst." | |
"Lord Holdhurst!" | |
"Well, it is just conceivable that a statesman might find himself in | |
a position where he was not sorry to have such a document | |
accidentally destroyed." | |
"Not a statesman with the honorable record of Lord Holdhurst?" | |
"It is a possibility and we cannot afford to disregard it. We shall | |
see the noble lord to-day and find out if he can tell us anything. | |
Meanwhile I have already set inquiries on foot." | |
"Already?" | |
"Yes, I sent wires from Woking station to every evening paper in | |
London. This advertisement will appear in each of them." | |
He handed over a sheet torn from a note-book. On it was scribbled in | |
pencil: | |
"£10 reward. The number of the cab which dropped a fare at or about | |
the door of the Foreign Office in Charles Street at quarter to ten in | |
the evening of May 23d. Apply 221b, Baker Street." | |
"You are confident that the thief came in a cab?" | |
"If not, there is no harm done. But if Mr. Phelps is correct in | |
stating that there is no hiding-place either in the room or the | |
corridors, then the person must have come from outside. If he came | |
from outside on so wet a night, and yet left no trace of damp upon | |
the linoleum, which was examined within a few minutes of his passing, | |
then it is exceeding probably that he came in a cab. Yes, I think | |
that we may safely deduce a cab." | |
"It sounds plausible." | |
"That is one of the clues of which I spoke. It may lead us to | |
something. And then, of course, there is the bell--which is the most | |
distinctive feature of the case. Why should the bell ring? Was it the | |
thief who did it out of bravado? Or was it some one who was with the | |
thief who did it in order to prevent the crime? Or was it an | |
accident? Or was it--?" He sank back into the state of intense and | |
silent thought from which he had emerged; but it seemed to me, | |
accustomed as I was to his every mood, that some new possibility had | |
dawned suddenly upon him. | |
It was twenty past three when we reached our terminus, and after a | |
hasty luncheon at the buffet we pushed on at once to Scotland Yard. | |
Holmes had already wired to Forbes, and we found him waiting to | |
receive us--a small, foxy man with a sharp but by no means amiable | |
expression. He was decidedly frigid in his manner to us, especially | |
when he heard the errand upon which we had come. | |
"I've heard of your methods before now, Mr. Holmes," said he, tartly. | |
"You are ready enough to use all the information that the police can | |
lay at your disposal, and then you try to finish the case yourself | |
and bring discredit on them." | |
"On the contrary," said Holmes, "out of my last fifty-three cases my | |
name has only appeared in four, and the police have had all the | |
credit in forty-nine. I don't blame you for not knowing this, for you | |
are young and inexperienced, but if you wish to get on in your new | |
duties you will work with me and not against me." | |
"I'd be very glad of a hint or two," said the detective, changing his | |
manner. "I've certainly had no credit from the case so far." | |
"What steps have you taken?" | |
"Tangey, the commissionaire, has been shadowed. He left the Guards | |
with a good character and we can find nothing against him. His wife | |
is a bad lot, though. I fancy she knows more about this than | |
appears." | |
"Have you shadowed her?" | |
"We have set one of our women on to her. Mrs. Tangey drinks, and our | |
woman has been with her twice when she was well on, but she could get | |
nothing out of her." | |
"I understand that they have had brokers in the house?" | |
"Yes, but they were paid off." | |
"Where did the money come from?" | |
"That was all right. His pension was due. They have not shown any | |
sign of being in funds." | |
"What explanation did she give of having answered the bell when Mr. | |
Phelps rang for the coffee?" | |
"She said that he husband was very tired and she wished to relieve | |
him." | |
"Well, certainly that would agree with his being found a little later | |
asleep in his chair. There is nothing against them then but the | |
woman's character. Did you ask her why she hurried away that night? | |
Her haste attracted the attention of the police constable." | |
"She was later than usual and wanted to get home." | |
"Did you point out to her that you and Mr. Phelps, who started at | |
least twenty minutes after he, got home before her?" | |
"She explains that by the difference between a 'bus and a hansom." | |
"Did she make it clear why, on reaching her house, she ran into the | |
back kitchen?" | |
"Because she had the money there with which to pay off the brokers." | |
"She has at least an answer for everything. Did you ask her whether | |
in leaving she met any one or saw any one loitering about Charles | |
Street?" | |
"She saw no one but the constable." | |
"Well, you seem to have cross-examined her pretty thoroughly. What | |
else have you done?" | |
"The clerk Gorot has been shadowed all these nine weeks, but without | |
result. We can show nothing against him." | |
"Anything else?" | |
"Well, we have nothing else to go upon--no evidence of any kind." | |
"Have you formed a theory about how that bell rang?" | |
"Well, I must confess that it beats me. It was a cool hand, whoever | |
it was, to go and give the alarm like that." | |
"Yes, it was a queer thing to do. Many thanks to you for what you | |
have told me. If I can put the man into your hands you shall hear | |
from me. Come along, Watson." | |
"Where are we going to now?" I asked, as we left the office. | |
"We are now going to interview Lord Holdhurst, the cabinet minister | |
and future premier of England." | |
We were fortunate in finding that Lord Holdhurst was still in his | |
chambers in Downing Street, and on Holmes sending in his card we were | |
instantly shown up. The statesman received us with that old-fashioned | |
courtesy for which he is remarkable, and seated us on the two | |
luxuriant lounges on either side of the fireplace. Standing on the | |
rug between us, with his slight, tall figure, his sharp features, | |
thoughtful face, and curling hair prematurely tinged with gray, he | |
seemed to represent that not too common type, a nobleman who is in | |
truth noble. | |
"Your name is very familiar to me, Mr. Holmes," said he, smiling. | |
"And, of course, I cannot pretend to be ignorant of the object of | |
your visit. There has only been one occurrence in these offices which | |
could call for your attention. In whose interest are you acting, may | |
I ask?" | |
"In that of Mr. Percy Phelps," answered Holmes. | |
"Ah, my unfortunate nephew! You can understand that our kinship makes | |
it the more impossible for me to screen him in any way. I fear that | |
the incident must have a very prejudicial effect upon his career." | |
"But if the document is found?" | |
"Ah, that, of course, would be different." | |
"I had one or two questions which I wished to ask you, Lord | |
Holdhurst." | |
"I shall be happy to give you any information in my power." | |
"Was it in this room that you gave your instructions as to the | |
copying of the document?" | |
"It was." | |
"Then you could hardly have been overheard?" | |
"It is out of the question." | |
"Did you ever mention to any one that it was your intention to give | |
any one the treaty to be copied?" | |
"Never." | |
"You are certain of that?" | |
"Absolutely." | |
"Well, since you never said so, and Mr. Phelps never said so, and | |
nobody else knew anything of the matter, then the thief's presence in | |
the room was purely accidental. He saw his chance and he took it." | |
The statesman smiled. "You take me out of my province there," said | |
he. | |
Holmes considered for a moment. "There is another very important | |
point which I wish to discuss with you," said he. "You feared, as I | |
understand, that very grave results might follow from the details of | |
this treaty becoming known." | |
A shadow passed over the expressive face of the statesman. "Very | |
grave results indeed." | |
"And have they occurred?" | |
"Not yet." | |
"If the treaty had reached, let us say, the French or Russian Foreign | |
Office, you would expect to hear of it?" | |
"I should," said Lord Holdhurst, with a wry face. | |
"Since nearly ten weeks have elapsed, then, and nothing has been | |
heard, it is not unfair to suppose that for some reason the treaty | |
has not reached them." | |
Lord Holdhurst shrugged his shoulders. | |
"We can hardly suppose, Mr. Holmes, that the thief took the treaty in | |
order to frame it and hang it up." | |
"Perhaps he is waiting for a better price." | |
"If he waits a little longer he will get no price at all. The treaty | |
will cease to be secret in a few months." | |
"That is most important," said Holmes. "Of course, it is a possible | |
supposition that the thief has had a sudden illness--" | |
"An attack of brain-fever, for example?" asked the statesman, | |
flashing a swift glance at him. | |
"I did not say so," said Holmes, imperturbably. "And now, Lord | |
Holdhurst, we have already taken up too much of your valuable time, | |
and we shall wish you good-day." | |
"Every success to your investigation, be the criminal who it may," | |
answered the nobleman, as he bowed us out the door. | |
"He's a fine fellow," said Holmes, as we came out into Whitehall. | |
"But he has a struggle to keep up his position. He is far from rich | |
and has many calls. You noticed, of course, that his boots had been | |
re-soled? Now, Watson, I won't detain you from your legitimate work | |
any longer. I shall do nothing more to-day, unless I have an answer | |
to my cab advertisement. But I should be extremely obliged to you if | |
you would come down with me to Woking to-morrow, by the same train | |
which we took yesterday." | |
I met him accordingly next morning and we traveled down to Woking | |
together. He had had no answer to his advertisement, he said, and no | |
fresh light had been thrown upon the case. He had, when he so willed | |
it, the utter immobility of countenance of a red Indian, and I could | |
not gather from his appearance whether he was satisfied or not with | |
the position of the case. His conversation, I remember, was about the | |
Bertillon system of measurements, and he expressed his enthusiastic | |
admiration of the French savant. | |
We found our client still under the charge of his devoted nurse, but | |
looking considerably better than before. He rose from the sofa and | |
greeted us without difficulty when we entered. | |
"Any news?" he asked, eagerly. | |
"My report, as I expected, is a negative one," said Holmes. "I have | |
seen Forbes, and I have seen your uncle, and I have set one or two | |
trains of inquiry upon foot which may lead to something." | |
"You have not lost heart, then?" | |
"By no means." | |
"God bless you for saying that!" cried Miss Harrison. "If we keep our | |
courage and our patience the truth must come out." | |
"We have more to tell you than you have for us," said Phelps, | |
reseating himself upon the couch. | |
"I hoped you might have something." | |
"Yes, we have had an adventure during the night, and one which might | |
have proved to be a serious one." His expression grew very grave as | |
he spoke, and a look of something akin to fear sprang up in his eyes. | |
"Do you know," said he, "that I begin to believe that I am the | |
unconscious centre of some monstrous conspiracy, and that my life is | |
aimed at as well as my honor?" | |
"Ah!" cried Holmes. | |
"It sounds incredible, for I have not, as far as I know, an enemy in | |
the world. Yet from last night's experience I can come to no other | |
conclusion." | |
"Pray let me hear it." | |
"You must know that last night was the very first night that I have | |
ever slept without a nurse in the room. I was so much better that I | |
thought I could dispense with one. I had a night-light burning, | |
however. Well, about two in the morning I had sunk into a light sleep | |
when I was suddenly aroused by a slight noise. It was like the sound | |
which a mouse makes when it is gnawing a plank, and I lay listening | |
to it for some time under the impression that it must come from that | |
cause. Then it grew louder, and suddenly there came from the window a | |
sharp metallic snick. I sat up in amazement. There could be no doubt | |
what the sounds were now. The first ones had been caused by some one | |
forcing an instrument through the slit between the sashes, and the | |
second by the catch being pressed back. | |
"There was a pause then for about ten minutes, as if the person were | |
waiting to see whether the noise had awakened me. Then I heard a | |
gentle creaking as the window was very slowly opened. I could stand | |
it no longer, for my nerves are not what they used to be. I sprang | |
out of bed and flung open the shutters. A man was crouching at the | |
window. I could see little of him, for he was gone like a flash. He | |
was wrapped in some sort of cloak which came across the lower part of | |
his face. One thing only I am sure of, and that is that he had some | |
weapon in his hand. It looked to me like a long knife. I distinctly | |
saw the gleam of it as he turned to run." | |
"This is most interesting," said Holmes. "Pray what did you do then?" | |
"I should have followed him through the open window if I had been | |
stronger. As it was, I rang the bell and roused the house. It took me | |
some little time, for the bell rings in the kitchen and the servants | |
all sleep upstairs. I shouted, however, and that brought Joseph down, | |
and he roused the others. Joseph and the groom found marks on the bed | |
outside the window, but the weather has been so dry lately that they | |
found it hopeless to follow the trail across the grass. There's a | |
place, however, on the wooden fence which skirts the road which shows | |
signs, they tell me, as if some one had got over, and had snapped the | |
top of the rail in doing so. I have said nothing to the local police | |
yet, for I thought I had best have your opinion first." | |
This tale of our client's appeared to have an extraordinary effect | |
upon Sherlock Holmes. He rose from his chair and paced about the room | |
in uncontrollable excitement. | |
"Misfortunes never come single," said Phelps, smiling, though it was | |
evident that his adventure had somewhat shaken him. | |
"You have certainly had your share," said Holmes. "Do you think you | |
could walk round the house with me?" | |
"Oh, yes, I should like a little sunshine. Joseph will come, too." | |
"And I also," said Miss Harrison. | |
"I am afraid not," said Holmes, shaking his head. "I think I must ask | |
you to remain sitting exactly where you are." | |
The young lady resumed her seat with an air of displeasure. Her | |
brother, however, had joined us and we set off all four together. We | |
passed round the lawn to the outside of the young diplomatist's | |
window. There were, as he had said, marks upon the bed, but they were | |
hopelessly blurred and vague. Holmes stopped over them for an | |
instant, and then rose shrugging his shoulders. | |
"I don't think any one could make much of this," said he. "Let us go | |
round the house and see why this particular room was chose by the | |
burglar. I should have thought those larger windows of the | |
drawing-room and dining-room would have had more attractions for | |
him." | |
"They are more visible from the road," suggested Mr. Joseph Harrison. | |
"Ah, yes, of course. There is a door here which he might have | |
attempted. What is it for?" | |
"It is the side entrance for trades-people. Of course it is locked at | |
night." | |
"Have you ever had an alarm like this before?" | |
"Never," said our client. | |
"Do you keep plate in the house, or anything to attract burglars?" | |
"Nothing of value." | |
Holmes strolled round the house with his hands in his pockets and a | |
negligent air which was unusual with him. | |
"By the way," said he to Joseph Harrison, "you found some place, I | |
understand, where the fellow scaled the fence. Let us have a look at | |
that!" | |
The plump young man led us to a spot where the top of one of the | |
wooden rails had been cracked. A small fragment of the wood was | |
hanging down. Holmes pulled it off and examined it critically. | |
"Do you think that was done last night? It looks rather old, does it | |
not?" | |
"Well, possibly so." | |
"There are no marks of any one jumping down upon the other side. No, | |
I fancy we shall get no help here. Let us go back to the bedroom and | |
talk the matter over." | |
Percy Phelps was walking very slowly, leaning upon the arm of his | |
future brother-in-law. Holmes walked swiftly across the lawn, and we | |
were at the open window of the bedroom long before the others came | |
up. | |
"Miss Harrison," said Holmes, speaking with the utmost intensity of | |
manner, "you must stay where you are all day. Let nothing prevent you | |
from staying where you are all day. It is of the utmost importance." | |
"Certainly, if you wish it, Mr. Holmes," said the girl in | |
astonishment. | |
"When you go to bed lock the door of this room on the outside and | |
keep the key. Promise to do this." | |
"But Percy?" | |
"He will come to London with us." | |
"And am I to remain here?" | |
"It is for his sake. You can serve him. Quick! Promise!" | |
She gave a quick nod of assent just as the other two came up. | |
"Why do you sit moping there, Annie?" cried her brother. "Come out | |
into the sunshine!" | |
"No, thank you, Joseph. I have a slight headache and this room is | |
deliciously cool and soothing." | |
"What do you propose now, Mr. Holmes?" asked our client. | |
"Well, in investigating this minor affair we must not lose sight of | |
our main inquiry. It would be a very great help to me if you would | |
come up to London with us." | |
"At once?" | |
"Well, as soon as you conveniently can. Say in an hour." | |
"I feel quite strong enough, if I can really be of any help." | |
"The greatest possible." | |
"Perhaps you would like me to stay there to-night?" | |
"I was just going to propose it." | |
"Then, if my friend of the night comes to revisit me, he will find | |
the bird flown. We are all in your hands, Mr. Holmes, and you must | |
tell us exactly what you would like done. Perhaps you would prefer | |
that Joseph came with us so as to look after me?" | |
"Oh, no; my friend Watson is a medical man, you know, and he'll look | |
after you. We'll have our lunch here, if you will permit us, and then | |
we shall all three set off for town together." | |
It was arranged as he suggested, though Miss Harrison excused herself | |
from leaving the bedroom, in accordance with Holmes's suggestion. | |
What the object of my friend's manoeuvres was I could not conceive, | |
unless it were to keep the lady away from Phelps, who, rejoiced by | |
his returning health and by the prospect of action, lunched with us | |
in the dining-room. Holmes had still more startling surprise for us, | |
however, for, after accompanying us down to the station and seeing us | |
into our carriage, he calmly announced that he had no intention of | |
leaving Woking. | |
"There are one or two small points which I should desire to clear up | |
before I go," said he. "Your absence, Mr. Phelps, will in some ways | |
rather assist me. Watson, when you reach London you would oblige me | |
by driving at once to Baker Street with our friend here, and | |
remaining with him until I see you again. It is fortunate that you | |
are old school-fellows, as you must have much to talk over. Mr. | |
Phelps can have the spare bedroom to-night, and I will be with you in | |
time for breakfast, for there is a train which will take me into | |
Waterloo at eight." | |
"But how about our investigation in London?" asked Phelps, ruefully. | |
"We can do that to-morrow. I think that just at present I can be of | |
more immediate use here." | |
"You might tell them at Briarbrae that I hope to be back to-morrow | |
night," cried Phelps, as we began to move from the platform. | |
"I hardly expect to go back to Briarbrae," answered Holmes, and waved | |
his hand to us cheerily as we shot out from the station. | |
Phelps and I talked it over on our journey, but neither of us could | |
devise a satisfactory reason for this new development. | |
"I suppose he wants to find out some clue as to the burglary last | |
night, if a burglar it was. For myself, I don't believe it was an | |
ordinary thief." | |
"What is your own idea, then?" | |
"Upon my word, you may put it down to my weak nerves or not, but I | |
believe there is some deep political intrigue going on around me, and | |
that for some reason that passes my understanding my life is aimed at | |
by the conspirators. It sounds high-flown and absurd, but consider | |
the facts! Why should a thief try to break in at a bedroom window, | |
where there could be no hope of any plunder, and why should he come | |
with a long knife in his hand?" | |
"You are sure it was not a house-breaker's jimmy?" | |
"Oh, no, it was a knife. I saw the flash of the blade quite | |
distinctly." | |
"But why on earth should you be pursued with such animosity?" | |
"Ah, that is the question." | |
"Well, if Holmes takes the same view, that would account for his | |
action, would it not? Presuming that your theory is correct, if he | |
can lay his hands upon the man who threatened you last night he will | |
have gone a long way towards finding who took the naval treaty. It is | |
absurd to suppose that you have two enemies, one of whom robs you, | |
while the other threatens your life." | |
"But Holmes said that he was not going to Briarbrae." | |
"I have known him for some time," said I, "but I never knew him do | |
anything yet without a very good reason," and with that our | |
conversation drifted off on to other topics. | |
But it was a weary day for me. Phelps was still weak after his long | |
illness, and his misfortune made him querulous and nervous. In vain I | |
endeavored to interest him in Afghanistan, in India, in social | |
questions, in anything which might take his mind out of the groove. | |
He would always come back to his lost treaty, wondering, guessing, | |
speculating, as to what Holmes was doing, what steps Lord Holdhurst | |
was taking, what news we should have in the morning. As the evening | |
wore on his excitement became quite painful. | |
"You have implicit faith in Holmes?" he asked. | |
"I have seen him do some remarkable things." | |
"But he never brought light into anything quite so dark as this?" | |
"Oh, yes, I have known him solve questions which presented fewer | |
clues than yours." | |
"But not where such large interests are at stake?" | |
"I don't know that. To my certain knowledge he has acted on behalf of | |
three of the reigning houses of Europe in very vital matters." | |
"But you know him well, Watson. He is such an inscrutable fellow that | |
I never quite know what to make of him. Do you think he is hopeful? | |
Do you think he expects to make a success of it?" | |
"He has said nothing." | |
"That is a bad sign." | |
"On the contrary, I have noticed that when he is off the trail he | |
generally says so. It is when he is on a scent and is not quite | |
absolutely sure yet that it is the right one that he is most | |
taciturn. Now, my dear fellow, we can't help matters by making | |
ourselves nervous about them, so let me implore you to go to bed and | |
so be fresh for whatever may await us to-morrow." | |
I was able at last to persuade my companion to take my advice, though | |
I knew from his excited manner that there was not much hope of sleep | |
for him. Indeed, his mood was infectious, for I lay tossing half the | |
night myself, brooding over this strange problem, and inventing a | |
hundred theories, each of which was more impossible than the last. | |
Why had Holmes remained at Woking? Why had he asked Miss Harrison to | |
remain in the sick-room all day? Why had he been so careful not to | |
inform the people at Briarbrae that he intended to remain near them? | |
I cudgelled my brains until I fell asleep in the endeavor to find | |
some explanation which would cover all these facts. | |
It was seven o'clock when I awoke, and I set off at once for Phelps's | |
room, to find him haggard and spent after a sleepless night. His | |
first question was whether Holmes had arrived yet. | |
"He'll be here when he promised," said I, "and not an instant sooner | |
or later." | |
And my words were true, for shortly after eight a hansom dashed up to | |
the door and our friend got out of it. Standing in the window we saw | |
that his left hand was swathed in a bandage and that his face was | |
very grim and pale. He entered the house, but it was some little time | |
before he came upstairs. | |
"He looks like a beaten man," cried Phelps. | |
I was forced to confess that he was right. "After all," said I, "the | |
clue of the matter lies probably here in town." | |
Phelps gave a groan. | |
"I don't know how it is," said he, "but I had hoped for so much from | |
his return. But surely his hand was not tied up like that yesterday. | |
What can be the matter?" | |
"You are not wounded, Holmes?" I asked, as my friend entered the | |
room. | |
"Tut, it is only a scratch through my own clumsiness," he answered, | |
nodding his good-mornings to us. "This case of yours, Mr. Phelps, is | |
certainly one of the darkest which I have ever investigated." | |
"I feared that you would find it beyond you." | |
"It has been a most remarkable experience." | |
"That bandage tells of adventures," said I. "Won't you tell us what | |
has happened?" | |
"After breakfast, my dear Watson. Remember that I have breathed | |
thirty miles of Surrey air this morning. I suppose that there has | |
been no answer from my cabman advertisement? Well, well, we cannot | |
expect to score every time." | |
The table was all laid, and just as I was about to ring Mrs. Hudson | |
entered with the tea and coffee. A few minutes later she brought in | |
three covers, and we all drew up to the table, Holmes ravenous, I | |
curious, and Phelps in the gloomiest state of depression. | |
"Mrs. Hudson has risen to the occasion," said Holmes, uncovering a | |
dish of curried chicken. "Her cuisine is a little limited, but she | |
has as good an idea of breakfast as a Scotch-woman. What have you | |
here, Watson?" | |
"Ham and eggs," I answered. | |
"Good! What are you going to take, Mr. Phelps--curried fowl or eggs, | |
or will you help yourself?" | |
"Thank you. I can eat nothing," said Phelps. | |
"Oh, come! Try the dish before you." | |
"Thank you, I would really rather not." | |
"Well, then," said Holmes, with a mischievous twinkle, "I suppose | |
that you have no objection to helping me?" | |
Phelps raised the cover, and as he did so he uttered a scream, and | |
sat there staring with a face as white as the plate upon which he | |
looked. Across the centre of it was lying a little cylinder of | |
blue-gray paper. He caught it up, devoured it with his eyes, and then | |
danced madly about the room, passing it to his bosom and shrieking | |
out in his delight. Then he fell back into an arm-chair so limp and | |
exhausted with his own emotions that we had to pour brandy down his | |
throat to keep him from fainting. | |
"There! there!" said Holmes, soothing, patting him upon the shoulder. | |
"It was too bad to spring it on you like this, but Watson here will | |
tell you that I never can resist a touch of the dramatic." | |
Phelps seized his hand and kissed it. "God bless you!" he cried. "You | |
have saved my honor." | |
"Well, my own was at stake, you know," said Holmes. "I assure you it | |
is just as hateful to me to fail in a case as it can be to you to | |
blunder over a commission." | |
Phelps thrust away the precious document into the innermost pocket of | |
his coat. | |
"I have not the heart to interrupt your breakfast any further, and | |
yet I am dying to know how you got it and where it was." | |
Sherlock Holmes swallowed a cup of coffee, and turned his attention | |
to the ham and eggs. Then he rose, lit his pipe, and settled himself | |
down into his chair. | |
"I'll tell you what I did first, and how I came to do it afterwards," | |
said he. "After leaving you at the station I went for a charming walk | |
through some admirable Surrey scenery to a pretty little village | |
called Ripley, where I had my tea at an inn, and took the precaution | |
of filling my flask and of putting a paper of sandwiches in my | |
pocket. There I remained until evening, when I set off for Woking | |
again, and found myself in the high-road outside Briarbrae just after | |
sunset. | |
"Well, I waited until the road was clear--it is never a very | |
frequented one at any time, I fancy--and then I clambered over the | |
fence into the grounds." | |
"Surely the gate was open!" ejaculated Phelps. | |
"Yes, but I have a peculiar taste in these matters. I chose the place | |
where the three fir-trees stand, and behind their screen I got over | |
without the least chance of any one in the house being able to see | |
me. I crouched down among the bushes on the other side, and crawled | |
from one to the other--witness the disreputable state of my trouser | |
knees--until I had reached the clump of rhododendrons just opposite | |
to your bedroom window. There I squatted down and awaited | |
developments. | |
"The blind was not down in your room, and I could see Miss Harrison | |
sitting there reading by the table. It was quarter-past ten when she | |
closed her book, fastened the shutters, and retired. | |
"I heard her shut the door, and felt quite sure that she had turned | |
the key in the lock." | |
"The key!" ejaculated Phelps. | |
"Yes, I had given Miss Harrison instructions to lock the door on the | |
outside and take the key with her when she went to bed. She carried | |
out every one of my injunctions to the letter, and certainly without | |
her cooperation you would not have that paper in you coat-pocket. She | |
departed then and the lights went out, and I was left squatting in | |
the rhododendron-bush. | |
"The night was fine, but still it was a very weary vigil. Of course | |
it has the sort of excitement about it that the sportsman feels when | |
he lies beside the water-course and waits for the big game. It was | |
very long, though--almost as long, Watson, as when you and I waited | |
in that deadly room when we looked into the little problem of the | |
Speckled Band. There was a church-clock down at Woking which struck | |
the quarters, and I thought more than once that it had stopped. At | |
last however about two in the morning, I suddenly heard the gentle | |
sound of a bolt being pushed back and the creaking of a key. A moment | |
later the servant's door was opened, and Mr. Joseph Harrison stepped | |
out into the moonlight." | |
"Joseph!" ejaculated Phelps. | |
"He was bare-headed, but he had a black coat thrown over his shoulder | |
so that he could conceal his face in an instant if there were any | |
alarm. He walked on tiptoe under the shadow of the wall, and when he | |
reached the window he worked a long-bladed knife through the sash and | |
pushed back the catch. Then he flung open the window, and putting his | |
knife through the crack in the shutters, he thrust the bar up and | |
swung them open. | |
"From where I lay I had a perfect view of the inside of the room and | |
of every one of his movements. He lit the two candles which stood | |
upon the mantelpiece, and then he proceeded to turn back the corner | |
of the carpet in the neighborhood of the door. Presently he stopped | |
and picked out a square piece of board, such as is usually left to | |
enable plumbers to get at the joints of the gas-pipes. This one | |
covered, as a matter of fact, the T joint which gives off the pipe | |
which supplies the kitchen underneath. Out of this hiding-place he | |
drew that little cylinder of paper, pushed down the board, rearranged | |
the carpet, blew out the candles, and walked straight into my arms as | |
I stood waiting for him outside the window. | |
"Well, he has rather more viciousness than I gave him credit for, has | |
Master Joseph. He flew at me with his knife, and I had to grasp him | |
twice, and got a cut over the knuckles, before I had the upper hand | |
of him. He looked murder out of the only eye he could see with when | |
we had finished, but he listened to reason and gave up the papers. | |
Having got them I let my man go, but I wired full particulars to | |
Forbes this morning. If he is quick enough to catch his bird, well | |
and good. But if, as I shrewdly suspect, he finds the nest empty | |
before he gets there, why, all the better for the government. I fancy | |
that Lord Holdhurst for one, and Mr. Percy Phelps for another, would | |
very much rather that the affair never got as far as a police-court. | |
"My God!" gasped our client. "Do you tell me that during these long | |
ten weeks of agony the stolen papers were within the very room with | |
me all the time?" | |
"So it was." | |
"And Joseph! Joseph a villain and a thief!" | |
"Hum! I am afraid Joseph's character is a rather deeper and more | |
dangerous one than one might judge from his appearance. From what I | |
have heard from him this morning, I gather that he has lost heavily | |
in dabbling with stocks, and that he is ready to do anything on earth | |
to better his fortunes. Being an absolutely selfish man, when a | |
chance presented itself he did not allow either his sister's | |
happiness or your reputation to hold his hand." | |
Percy Phelps sank back in his chair. "My head whirls," said he. "Your | |
words have dazed me." | |
"The principal difficulty in your case," remarked Holmes, in his | |
didactic fashion, "lay in the fact of there being too much evidence. | |
What was vital was overlaid and hidden by what was irrelevant. Of all | |
the facts which were presented to us we had to pick just those which | |
we deemed to be essential, and then piece them together in their | |
order, so as to reconstruct this very remarkable chain of events. I | |
had already begun to suspect Joseph, from the fact that you had | |
intended to travel home with him that night, and that therefore it | |
was a likely enough thing that he should call for you, knowing the | |
Foreign Office well, upon his way. When I heard that some one had | |
been so anxious to get into the bedroom, in which no one but Joseph | |
could have concealed anything--you told us in your narrative how you | |
had turned Joseph out when you arrived with the doctor--my suspicions | |
all changed to certainties, especially as the attempt was made on the | |
first night upon which the nurse was absent, showing that the | |
intruder was well acquainted with the ways of the house." | |
"How blind I have been!" | |
"The facts of the case, as far as I have worked them out, are these: | |
this Joseph Harrison entered the office through the Charles Street | |
door, and knowing his way he walked straight into your room the | |
instant after you left it. Finding no one there he promptly rang the | |
bell, and at the instant that he did so his eyes caught the paper | |
upon the table. A glance showed him that chance had put in his way a | |
State document of immense value, and in an instant he had thrust it | |
into his pocket and was gone. A few minutes elapsed, as you remember, | |
before the sleepy commissionaire drew your attention to the bell, and | |
those were just enough to give the thief time to make his escape. | |
"He made his way to Woking by the first train, and having examined | |
his booty and assured himself that it really was of immense value, he | |
had concealed it in what he thought was a very safe place, with the | |
intention of taking it out again in a day or two, and carrying it to | |
the French embassy, or wherever he thought that a long price was to | |
be had. Then came your sudden return. He, without a moment's warning, | |
was bundled out of his room, and from that time onward there were | |
always at least two of you there to prevent him from regaining his | |
treasure. The situation to him must have been a maddening one. But at | |
last he thought he saw his chance. He tried to steal in, but was | |
baffled by your wakefulness. You remember that you did not take your | |
usual draught that night." | |
"I remember." | |
"I fancy that he had taken steps to make that draught efficacious, | |
and that he quite relied upon your being unconscious. Of course, I | |
understood that he would repeat the attempt whenever it could be done | |
with safety. Your leaving the room gave him the chance he wanted. I | |
kept Miss Harrison in it all day so that he might not anticipate us. | |
Then, having given him the idea that the coast was clear, I kept | |
guard as I have described. I already knew that the papers were | |
probably in the room, but I had no desire to rip up all the planking | |
and skirting in search of them. I let him take them, therefore, from | |
the hiding-place, and so saved myself an infinity of trouble. Is | |
there any other point which I can make clear?" | |
"Why did he try the window on the first occasion," I asked, "when he | |
might have entered by the door?" | |
"In reaching the door he would have to pass seven bedrooms. On the | |
other hand, he could get out on to the lawn with ease. Anything | |
else?" | |
"You do not think," asked Phelps, "that he had any murderous | |
intention? The knife was only meant as a tool." | |
"It may be so," answered Holmes, shrugging his shoulders. "I can only | |
say for certain that Mr. Joseph Harrison is a gentleman to whose | |
mercy I should be extremely unwilling to trust." | |
THE FINAL PROBLEM | |
It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these the | |
last words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which | |
my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes was distinguished. In an incoherent | |
and, as I deeply feel, an entirely inadequate fashion, I have | |
endeavored to give some account of my strange experiences in his | |
company from the chance which first brought us together at the period | |
of the "Study in Scarlet," up to the time of his interference in the | |
matter of the "Naval Treaty"--an interference which had the | |
unquestionable effect of preventing a serious international | |
complication. It was my intention to have stopped there, and to have | |
said nothing of that event which has created a void in my life which | |
the lapse of two years has done little to fill. My hand has been | |
forced, however, by the recent letters in which Colonel James | |
Moriarty defends the memory of his brother, and I have no choice but | |
to lay the facts before the public exactly as they occurred. I alone | |
know the absolute truth of the matter, and I am satisfied that the | |
time has come when no good purpose is to be served by its | |
suppression. As far as I know, there have been only three accounts | |
in the public press: that in the Journal de Genève on May 6th, 1891, | |
the Reuter's despatch in the English papers on May 7th, and finally | |
the recent letters to which I have alluded. Of these the first and | |
second were extremely condensed, while the last is, as I shall now | |
show, an absolute perversion of the facts. It lies with me to tell | |
for the first time what really took place between Professor Moriarty | |
and Mr. Sherlock Holmes. | |
It may be remembered that after my marriage, and my subsequent start | |
in private practice, the very intimate relations which had existed | |
between Holmes and myself became to some extent modified. He still | |
came to me from time to time when he desired a companion in his | |
investigation, but these occasions grew more and more seldom, until I | |
find that in the year 1890 there were only three cases of which I | |
retain any record. During the winter of that year and the early | |
spring of 1891, I saw in the papers that he had been engaged by the | |
French government upon a matter of supreme importance, and I received | |
two notes from Holmes, dated from Narbonne and from Nimes, from which | |
I gathered that his stay in France was likely to be a long one. It | |
was with some surprise, therefore, that I saw him walk into my | |
consulting-room upon the evening of April 24th. It struck me that he | |
was looking even paler and thinner than usual. | |
"Yes, I have been using myself up rather too freely," he remarked, in | |
answer to my look rather than to my words; "I have been a little | |
pressed of late. Have you any objection to my closing your | |
shutters?" | |
The only light in the room came from the lamp upon the table at which | |
I had been reading. Holmes edged his way round the wall and flinging | |
the shutters together, he bolted them securely. | |
"You are afraid of something?" I asked. | |
"Well, I am." | |
"Of what?" | |
"Of air-guns." | |
"My dear Holmes, what do you mean?" | |
"I think that you know me well enough, Watson, to understand that I | |
am by no means a nervous man. At the same time, it is stupidity | |
rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close | |
upon you. Might I trouble you for a match?" He drew in the smoke of | |
his cigarette as if the soothing influence was grateful to him. | |
"I must apologize for calling so late," said he, "and I must further | |
beg you to be so unconventional as to allow me to leave your house | |
presently by scrambling over your back garden wall." | |
"But what does it all mean?" I asked. | |
He held out his hand, and I saw in the light of the lamp that two of | |
his knuckles were burst and bleeding. | |
"It is not an airy nothing, you see," said he, smiling. "On the | |
contrary, it is solid enough for a man to break his hand over. Is | |
Mrs. Watson in?" | |
"She is away upon a visit." | |
"Indeed! You are alone?" | |
"Quite." | |
"Then it makes it the easier for me to propose that you should come | |
away with me for a week to the Continent." | |
"Where?" | |
"Oh, anywhere. It's all the same to me." | |
There was something very strange in all this. It was not Holmes's | |
nature to take an aimless holiday, and something about his pale, worn | |
face told me that his nerves were at their highest tension. He saw | |
the question in my eyes, and, putting his finger-tips together and | |
his elbows upon his knees, he explained the situation. | |
"You have probably never heard of Professor Moriarty?" said he. | |
"Never." | |
"Aye, there's the genius and the wonder of the thing!" he cried. | |
"The man pervades London, and no one has heard of him. That's what | |
puts him on a pinnacle in the records of crime. I tell you, Watson, | |
in all seriousness, that if I could beat that man, if I could free | |
society of him, I should feel that my own career had reached its | |
summit, and I should be prepared to turn to some more placid line in | |
life. Between ourselves, the recent cases in which I have been of | |
assistance to the royal family of Scandinavia, and to the French | |
republic, have left me in such a position that I could continue to | |
live in the quiet fashion which is most congenial to me, and to | |
concentrate my attention upon my chemical researches. But I could | |
not rest, Watson, I could not sit quiet in my chair, if I thought | |
that such a man as Professor Moriarty were walking the streets of | |
London unchallenged." | |
"What has he done, then?" | |
"His career has been an extraordinary one. He is a man of good birth | |
and excellent education, endowed by nature with a phenomenal | |
mathematical faculty. At the age of twenty-one he wrote a treatise | |
upon the Binomial Theorem, which has had a European vogue. On the | |
strength of it he won the Mathematical Chair at one of our smaller | |
universities, and had, to all appearance, a most brilliant career | |
before him. But the man had hereditary tendencies of the most | |
diabolical kind. A criminal strain ran in his blood, which, instead | |
of being modified, was increased and rendered infinitely more | |
dangerous by his extraordinary mental powers. Dark rumors gathered | |
round him in the university town, and eventually he was compelled to | |
resign his chair and to come down to London, where he set up as an | |
army coach. So much is known to the world, but what I am telling you | |
now is what I have myself discovered. | |
"As you are aware, Watson, there is no one who knows the higher | |
criminal world of London so well as I do. For years past I have | |
continually been conscious of some power behind the malefactor, some | |
deep organizing power which forever stands in the way of the law, and | |
throws its shield over the wrong-doer. Again and again in cases of | |
the most varying sorts--forgery cases, robberies, murders--I have | |
felt the presence of this force, and I have deduced its action in | |
many of those undiscovered crimes in which I have not been personally | |
consulted. For years I have endeavored to break through the veil | |
which shrouded it, and at last the time came when I seized my thread | |
and followed it, until it led me, after a thousand cunning windings, | |
to ex-Professor Moriarty of mathematical celebrity. | |
"He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half | |
that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. | |
He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain | |
of the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in the center | |
of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well | |
every quiver of each of them. He does little himself. He only | |
plans. But his agents are numerous and splendidly organized. Is | |
there a crime to be done, a paper to be abstracted, we will say, a | |
house to be rifled, a man to be removed--the word is passed to the | |
Professor, the matter is organized and carried out. The agent may be | |
caught. In that case money is found for his bail or his defence. | |
But the central power which uses the agent is never caught--never so | |
much as suspected. This was the organization which I deduced, | |
Watson, and which I devoted my whole energy to exposing and breaking | |
up. | |
"But the Professor was fenced round with safeguards so cunningly | |
devised that, do what I would, it seemed impossible to get evidence | |
which would convict in a court of law. You know my powers, my dear | |
Watson, and yet at the end of three months I was forced to confess | |
that I had at last met an antagonist who was my intellectual equal. | |
My horror at his crimes was lost in my admiration at his skill. But | |
at last he made a trip--only a little, little trip--but it was more | |
than he could afford when I was so close upon him. I had my chance, | |
and, starting from that point, I have woven my net round him until | |
now it is all ready to close. In three days--that is to say, on | |
Monday next--matters will be ripe, and the Professor, with all the | |
principal members of his gang, will be in the hands of the police. | |
Then will come the greatest criminal trial of the century, the | |
clearing up of over forty mysteries, and the rope for all of them; | |
but if we move at all prematurely, you understand, they may slip out | |
of our hands even at the last moment. | |
"Now, if I could have done this without the knowledge of Professor | |
Moriarty, all would have been well. But he was too wily for that. | |
He saw every step which I took to draw my toils round him. Again and | |
again he strove to break away, but I as often headed him off. I tell | |
you, my friend, that if a detailed account of that silent contest | |
could be written, it would take its place as the most brilliant bit | |
of thrust-and-parry work in the history of detection. Never have I | |
risen to such a height, and never have I been so hard pressed by an | |
opponent. He cut deep, and yet I just undercut him. This morning | |
the last steps were taken, and three days only were wanted to | |
complete the business. I was sitting in my room thinking the matter | |
over, when the door opened and Professor Moriarty stood before me. | |
"My nerves are fairly proof, Watson, but I must confess to a start | |
when I saw the very man who had been so much in my thoughts standing | |
there on my threshold. His appearance was quite familiar to me. He | |
is extremely tall and thin, his forehead domes out in a white curve, | |
and his two eyes are deeply sunken in his head. He is clean-shaven, | |
pale, and ascetic-looking, retaining something of the professor in | |
his features. His shoulders are rounded from much study, and his | |
face protrudes forward, and is forever slowly oscillating from side | |
to side in a curiously reptilian fashion. He peered at me with great | |
curiosity in his puckered eyes. | |
"'You have less frontal development that I should have expected,' | |
said he, at last. 'It is a dangerous habit to finger loaded firearms | |
in the pocket of one's dressing-gown.' | |
"The fact is that upon his entrance I had instantly recognized the | |
extreme personal danger in which I lay. The only conceivable escape | |
for him lay in silencing my tongue. In an instant I had slipped the | |
revolver from the drawer into my pocket, and was covering him through | |
the cloth. At his remark I drew the weapon out and laid it cocked | |
upon the table. He still smiled and blinked, but there was something | |
about his eyes which made me feel very glad that I had it there. | |
"'You evidently don't know me,' said he. | |
"'On the contrary,' I answered, 'I think it is fairly evident that I | |
do. Pray take a chair. I can spare you five minutes if you have | |
anything to say.' | |
"'All that I have to say has already crossed your mind,' said he. | |
"'Then possibly my answer has crossed yours,' I replied. | |
"'You stand fast?' | |
"'Absolutely.' | |
"He clapped his hand into his pocket, and I raised the pistol from | |
the table. But he merely drew out a memorandum-book in which he had | |
scribbled some dates. | |
"'You crossed my path on the 4th of January,' said he. 'On the 23d | |
you incommoded me; by the middle of February I was seriously | |
inconvenienced by you; at the end of March I was absolutely hampered | |
in my plans; and now, at the close of April, I find myself placed in | |
such a position through your continual persecution that I am in | |
positive danger of losing my liberty. The situation is becoming an | |
impossible one.' | |
"'Have you any suggestion to make?' I asked. | |
"'You must drop it, Mr. Holmes,' said he, swaying his face about. | |
'You really must, you know.' | |
"'After Monday,' said I. | |
"'Tut, tut,' said he. 'I am quite sure that a man of your | |
intelligence will see that there can be but one outcome to this | |
affair. It is necessary that you should withdraw. You have worked | |
things in such a fashion that we have only one resource left. It has | |
been an intellectual treat to me to see the way in which you have | |
grappled with this affair, and I say, unaffectedly, that it would be | |
a grief to me to be forced to take any extreme measure. You smile, | |
sir, but I assure you that it really would.' | |
"'Danger is part of my trade,' I remarked. | |
"'That is not danger,' said he. 'It is inevitable destruction. You | |
stand in the way not merely of an individual, but of a mighty | |
organization, the full extent of which you, with all your cleverness, | |
have been unable to realize. You must stand clear, Mr. Holmes, or be | |
trodden under foot.' | |
"'I am afraid,' said I, rising, 'that in the pleasure of this | |
conversation I am neglecting business of importance which awaits me | |
elsewhere.' | |
"He rose also and looked at me in silence, shaking his head sadly. | |
"'Well, well,' said he, at last. 'It seems a pity, but I have done | |
what I could. I know every move of your game. You can do nothing | |
before Monday. It has been a duel between you and me, Mr. Holmes. | |
You hope to place me in the dock. I tell you that I will never stand | |
in the dock. You hope to beat me. I tell you that you will never | |
beat me. If you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me, rest | |
assured that I shall do as much to you.' | |
"'You have paid me several compliments, Mr. Moriarty,' said I. 'Let | |
me pay you one in return when I say that if I were assured of the | |
former eventuality I would, in the interests of the public, | |
cheerfully accept the latter.' | |
"'I can promise you the one, but not the other,' he snarled, and so | |
turned his rounded back upon me, and went peering and blinking out of | |
the room. | |
"That was my singular interview with Professor Moriarty. I confess | |
that it left an unpleasant effect upon my mind. His soft, precise | |
fashion of speech leaves a conviction of sincerity which a mere bully | |
could not produce. Of course, you will say: 'Why not take police | |
precautions against him?' the reason is that I am well convinced | |
that it is from his agents the blow would fall. I have the best | |
proofs that it would be so." | |
"You have already been assaulted?" | |
"My dear Watson, Professor Moriarty is not a man who lets the grass | |
grow under his feet. I went out about mid-day to transact some | |
business in Oxford Street. As I passed the corner which leads from | |
Bentinck Street on to the Welbeck Street crossing a two-horse van | |
furiously driven whizzed round and was on me like a flash. I sprang | |
for the foot-path and saved myself by the fraction of a second. The | |
van dashed round by Marylebone Lane and was gone in an instant. I | |
kept to the pavement after that, Watson, but as I walked down Vere | |
Street a brick came down from the roof of one of the houses, and was | |
shattered to fragments at my feet. I called the police and had the | |
place examined. There were slates and bricks piled up on the roof | |
preparatory to some repairs, and they would have me believe that the | |
wind had toppled over one of these. Of course I knew better, but I | |
could prove nothing. I took a cab after that and reached my | |
brother's rooms in Pall Mall, where I spent the day. Now I have come | |
round to you, and on my way I was attacked by a rough with a | |
bludgeon. I knocked him down, and the police have him in custody; | |
but I can tell you with the most absolute confidence that no possible | |
connection will ever be traced between the gentleman upon whose front | |
teeth I have barked my knuckles and the retiring mathematical coach, | |
who is, I dare say, working out problems upon a black-board ten miles | |
away. You will not wonder, Watson, that my first act on entering | |
your rooms was to close your shutters, and that I have been compelled | |
to ask your permission to leave the house by some less conspicuous | |
exit than the front door." | |
I had often admired my friend's courage, but never more than now, as | |
he sat quietly checking off a series of incidents which must have | |
combined to make up a day of horror. | |
"You will spend the night here?" I said. | |
"No, my friend, you might find me a dangerous guest. I have my plans | |
laid, and all will be well. Matters have gone so far now that they | |
can move without my help as far as the arrest goes, though my | |
presence is necessary for a conviction. It is obvious, therefore, | |
that I cannot do better than get away for the few days which remain | |
before the police are at liberty to act. It would be a great | |
pleasure to me, therefore, if you could come on to the Continent with | |
me." | |
"The practice is quiet," said I, "and I have an accommodating | |
neighbor. I should be glad to come." | |
"And to start to-morrow morning?" | |
"If necessary." | |
"Oh yes, it is most necessary. Then these are your instructions, and | |
I beg, my dear Watson, that you will obey them to the letter, for you | |
are now playing a double-handed game with me against the cleverest | |
rogue and the most powerful syndicate of criminals in Europe. Now | |
listen! You will dispatch whatever luggage you intend to take by a | |
trusty messenger unaddressed to Victoria to-night. In the morning | |
you will send for a hansom, desiring your man to take neither the | |
first nor the second which may present itself. Into this hansom you | |
will jump, and you will drive to the Strand end of the Lowther | |
Arcade, handing the address to the cabman upon a slip of paper, with | |
a request that he will not throw it away. Have your fare ready, and | |
the instant that your cab stops, dash through the Arcade, timing | |
yourself to reach the other side at a quarter-past nine. You will | |
find a small brougham waiting close to the curb, driven by a fellow | |
with a heavy black cloak tipped at the collar with red. Into this | |
you will step, and you will reach Victoria in time for the | |
Continental express." | |
"Where shall I meet you?" | |
"At the station. The second first-class carriage from the front will | |
be reserved for us." | |
"The carriage is our rendezvous, then?" | |
"Yes." | |
It was in vain that I asked Holmes to remain for the evening. It was | |
evident to me that he thought he might bring trouble to the roof he | |
was under, and that that was the motive which impelled him to go. | |
With a few hurried words as to our plans for the morrow he rose and | |
came out with me into the garden, clambering over the wall which | |
leads into Mortimer Street, and immediately whistling for a hansom, | |
in which I heard him drive away. | |
In the morning I obeyed Holmes's injunctions to the letter. A hansom | |
was procured with such precaution as would prevent its being one | |
which was placed ready for us, and I drove immediately after | |
breakfast to the Lowther Arcade, through which I hurried at the top | |
of my speed. A brougham was waiting with a very massive driver | |
wrapped in a dark cloak, who, the instant that I had stepped in, | |
whipped up the horse and rattled off to Victoria Station. On my | |
alighting there he turned the carriage, and dashed away again without | |
so much as a look in my direction. | |
So far all had gone admirably. My luggage was waiting for me, and I | |
had no difficulty in finding the carriage which Holmes had indicated, | |
the less so as it was the only one in the train which was marked | |
"Engaged." My only source of anxiety now was the non-appearance of | |
Holmes. The station clock marked only seven minutes from the time | |
when we were due to start. In vain I searched among the groups of | |
travellers and leave-takers for the lithe figure of my friend. There | |
was no sign of him. I spent a few minutes in assisting a venerable | |
Italian priest, who was endeavoring to make a porter understand, in | |
his broken English, that his luggage was to be booked through to | |
Paris. Then, having taken another look round, I returned to my | |
carriage, where I found that the porter, in spite of the ticket, had | |
given me my decrepit Italian friend as a traveling companion. It was | |
useless for me to explain to him that his presence was an intrusion, | |
for my Italian was even more limited than his English, so I shrugged | |
my shoulders resignedly, and continued to look out anxiously for my | |
friend. A chill of fear had come over me, as I thought that his | |
absence might mean that some blow had fallen during the night. | |
Already the doors had all been shut and the whistle blown, when-- | |
"My dear Watson," said a voice, "you have not even condescended to | |
say good-morning." | |
I turned in uncontrollable astonishment. The aged ecclesiastic had | |
turned his face towards me. For an instant the wrinkles were | |
smoothed away, the nose drew away from the chin, the lower lip ceased | |
to protrude and the mouth to mumble, the dull eyes regained their | |
fire, the drooping figure expanded. The next the whole frame | |
collapsed again, and Holmes had gone as quickly as he had come. | |
"Good heavens!" I cried; "how you startled me!" | |
"Every precaution is still necessary," he whispered. "I have reason | |
to think that they are hot upon our trail. Ah, there is Moriarty | |
himself." | |
The train had already begun to move as Holmes spoke. Glancing back, | |
I saw a tall man pushing his way furiously through the crowd, and | |
waving his hand as if he desired to have the train stopped. It was | |
too late, however, for we were rapidly gathering momentum, and an | |
instant later had shot clear of the station. | |
"With all our precautions, you see that we have cut it rather fine," | |
said Holmes, laughing. He rose, and throwing off the black cassock | |
and hat which had formed his disguise, he packed them away in a | |
hand-bag. | |
"Have you seen the morning paper, Watson?" | |
"No." | |
"You haven't seen about Baker Street, then?" | |
"Baker Street?" | |
"They set fire to our rooms last night. No great harm was done." | |
"Good heavens, Holmes, this is intolerable!" | |
"They must have lost my track completely after their bludgeon-man was | |
arrested. Otherwise they could not have imagined that I had returned | |
to my rooms. They have evidently taken the precaution of watching | |
you, however, and that is what has brought Moriarty to Victoria. You | |
could not have made any slip in coming?" | |
"I did exactly what you advised." | |
"Did you find your brougham?" | |
"Yes, it was waiting." | |
"Did you recognize your coachman?" | |
"No." | |
"It was my brother Mycroft. It is an advantage to get about in such | |
a case without taking a mercenary into your confidence. But we must | |
plan what we are to do about Moriarty now." | |
"As this is an express, and as the boat runs in connection with it, I | |
should think we have shaken him off very effectively." | |
"My dear Watson, you evidently did not realize my meaning when I said | |
that this man may be taken as being quite on the same intellectual | |
plane as myself. You do not imagine that if I were the pursuer I | |
should allow myself to be baffled by so slight an obstacle. Why, | |
then, should you think so meanly of him?" | |
"What will he do?" | |
"What I should do." | |
"What would you do, then?" | |
"Engage a special." | |
"But it must be late." | |
"By no means. This train stops at Canterbury; and there is always at | |
least a quarter of an hour's delay at the boat. He will catch us | |
there." | |
"One would think that we were the criminals. Let us have him | |
arrested on his arrival." | |
"It would be to ruin the work of three months. We should get the big | |
fish, but the smaller would dart right and left out of the net. On | |
Monday we should have them all. No, an arrest is inadmissible." | |
"What then?" | |
"We shall get out at Canterbury." | |
"And then?" | |
"Well, then we must make a cross-country journey to Newhaven, and so | |
over to Dieppe. Moriarty will again do what I should do. He will | |
get on to Paris, mark down our luggage, and wait for two days at the | |
depot. In the meantime we shall treat ourselves to a couple of | |
carpet-bags, encourage the manufactures of the countries through | |
which we travel, and make our way at our leisure into Switzerland, | |
via Luxembourg and Basle." | |
At Canterbury, therefore, we alighted, only to find that we should | |
have to wait an hour before we could get a train to Newhaven. | |
I was still looking rather ruefully after the rapidly disappearing | |
luggage-van which contained my wardrobe, when Holmes pulled my sleeve | |
and pointed up the line. | |
"Already, you see," said he. | |
Far away, from among the Kentish woods there rose a thin spray of | |
smoke. A minute later a carriage and engine could be seen flying | |
along the open curve which leads to the station. We had hardly time | |
to take our place behind a pile of luggage when it passed with a | |
rattle and a roar, beating a blast of hot air into our faces. | |
"There he goes," said Holmes, as we watched the carriage swing and | |
rock over the point. "There are limits, you see, to our friend's | |
intelligence. It would have been a coup-de-maître had he deduced | |
what I would deduce and acted accordingly." | |
"And what would he have done had he overtaken us?" | |
"There cannot be the least doubt that he would have made a murderous | |
attack upon me. It is, however, a game at which two may play. The | |
question now is whether we should take a premature lunch here, or run | |
our chance of starving before we reach the buffet at Newhaven." | |
We made our way to Brussels that night and spent two days there, | |
moving on upon the third day as far as Strasburg. On the Monday | |
morning Holmes had telegraphed to the London police, and in the | |
evening we found a reply waiting for us at our hotel. Holmes tore it | |
open, and then with a bitter curse hurled it into the grate. | |
"I might have known it!" he groaned. "He has escaped!" | |
"Moriarty?" | |
"They have secured the whole gang with the exception of him. He has | |
given them the slip. Of course, when I had left the country there | |
was no one to cope with him. But I did think that I had put the game | |
in their hands. I think that you had better return to England, | |
Watson." | |
"Why?" | |
"Because you will find me a dangerous companion now. This man's | |
occupation is gone. He is lost if he returns to London. If I read | |
his character right he will devote his whole energies to revenging | |
himself upon me. He said as much in our short interview, and I fancy | |
that he meant it. I should certainly recommend you to return to your | |
practice." | |
It was hardly an appeal to be successful with one who was an old | |
campaigner as well as an old friend. We sat in the Strasbourg | |
salle-Ã -manger arguing the question for half an hour, but the same | |
night we had resumed our journey and were well on our way to Geneva. | |
For a charming week we wandered up the Valley of the Rhone, and then, | |
branching off at Leuk, we made our way over the Gemmi Pass, still | |
deep in snow, and so, by way of Interlaken, to Meiringen. It was a | |
lovely trip, the dainty green of the spring below, the virgin white | |
of the winter above; but it was clear to me that never for one | |
instant did Holmes forget the shadow which lay across him. In the | |
homely Alpine villages or in the lonely mountain passes, I could tell | |
by his quick glancing eyes and his sharp scrutiny of every face that | |
passed us, that he was well convinced that, walk where we would, we | |
could not walk ourselves clear of the danger which was dogging our | |
footsteps. | |
Once, I remember, as we passed over the Gemmi, and walked along the | |
border of the melancholy Daubensee, a large rock which had been | |
dislodged from the ridge upon our right clattered down and roared | |
into the lake behind us. In an instant Holmes had raced up on to the | |
ridge, and, standing upon a lofty pinnacle, craned his neck in every | |
direction. It was in vain that our guide assured him that a fall of | |
stones was a common chance in the spring-time at that spot. He said | |
nothing, but he smiled at me with the air of a man who sees the | |
fulfillment of that which he had expected. | |
And yet for all his watchfulness he was never depressed. On the | |
contrary, I can never recollect having seen him in such exuberant | |
spirits. Again and again he recurred to the fact that if he could be | |
assured that society was freed from Professor Moriarty he would | |
cheerfully bring his own career to a conclusion. | |
"I think that I may go so far as to say, Watson, that I have not | |
lived wholly in vain," he remarked. "If my record were closed | |
to-night I could still survey it with equanimity. The air of London | |
is the sweeter for my presence. In over a thousand cases I am not | |
aware that I have ever used my powers upon the wrong side. Of late I | |
have been tempted to look into the problems furnished by nature | |
rather than those more superficial ones for which our artificial | |
state of society is responsible. Your memoirs will draw to an end, | |
Watson, upon the day that I crown my career by the capture or | |
extinction of the most dangerous and capable criminal in Europe." | |
I shall be brief, and yet exact, in the little which remains for me | |
to tell. It is not a subject on which I would willingly dwell, and | |
yet I am conscious that a duty devolves upon me to omit no detail. | |
It was on the third of May that we reached the little village of | |
Meiringen, where we put up at the Englischer Hof, then kept by Peter | |
Steiler the elder. Our landlord was an intelligent man, and spoke | |
excellent English, having served for three years as waiter at the | |
Grosvenor Hotel in London. At his advice, on the afternoon of the | |
fourth we set off together, with the intention of crossing the hills | |
and spending the night at the hamlet of Rosenlaui. We had strict | |
injunctions, however, on no account to pass the falls of Reichenbach, | |
which are about half-way up the hill, without making a small detour | |
to see them. | |
It is, indeed, a fearful place. The torrent, swollen by the melting | |
snow, plunges into a tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls up | |
like the smoke from a burning house. The shaft into which the river | |
hurls itself is an immense chasm, lined by glistening coal-black | |
rock, and narrowing into a creaming, boiling pit of incalculable | |
depth, which brims over and shoots the stream onward over its jagged | |
lip. The long sweep of green water roaring forever down, and the | |
thick flickering curtain of spray hissing forever upward, turn a man | |
giddy with their constant whirl and clamor. We stood near the edge | |
peering down at the gleam of the breaking water far below us against | |
the black rocks, and listening to the half-human shout which came | |
booming up with the spray out of the abyss. | |
The path has been cut half-way round the fall to afford a complete | |
view, but it ends abruptly, and the traveler has to return as he | |
came. We had turned to do so, when we saw a Swiss lad come running | |
along it with a letter in his hand. It bore the mark of the hotel | |
which we had just left, and was addressed to me by the landlord. It | |
appeared that within a very few minutes of our leaving, an English | |
lady had arrived who was in the last stage of consumption. She had | |
wintered at Davos Platz, and was journeying now to join her friends | |
at Lucerne, when a sudden hemorrhage had overtaken her. It was | |
thought that she could hardly live a few hours, but it would be a | |
great consolation to her to see an English doctor, and, if I would | |
only return, etc. The good Steiler assured me in a postscript that | |
he would himself look upon my compliance as a very great favor, since | |
the lady absolutely refused to see a Swiss physician, and he could | |
not but feel that he was incurring a great responsibility. | |
The appeal was one which could not be ignored. It was impossible to | |
refuse the request of a fellow-countrywoman dying in a strange land. | |
Yet I had my scruples about leaving Holmes. It was finally agreed, | |
however, that he should retain the young Swiss messenger with him as | |
guide and companion while I returned to Meiringen. My friend would | |
stay some little time at the fall, he said, and would then walk | |
slowly over the hill to Rosenlaui, where I was to rejoin him in the | |
evening. As I turned away I saw Holmes, with his back against a rock | |
and his arms folded, gazing down at the rush of the waters. It was | |
the last that I was ever destined to see of him in this world. | |
When I was near the bottom of the descent I looked back. It was | |
impossible, from that position, to see the fall, but I could see the | |
curving path which winds over the shoulder of the hill and leads to | |
it. Along this a man was, I remember, walking very rapidly. | |
I could see his black figure clearly outlined against the green | |
behind him. I noted him, and the energy with which he walked but he | |
passed from my mind again as I hurried on upon my errand. | |
It may have been a little over an hour before I reached Meiringen. | |
Old Steiler was standing at the porch of his hotel. | |
"Well," said I, as I came hurrying up, "I trust that she is no | |
worse?" | |
A look of surprise passed over his face, and at the first quiver of | |
his eyebrows my heart turned to lead in my breast. | |
"You did not write this?" I said, pulling the letter from my pocket. | |
"There is no sick Englishwoman in the hotel?" | |
"Certainly not!" he cried. "But it has the hotel mark upon it! Ha, | |
it must have been written by that tall Englishman who came in after | |
you had gone. He said--" | |
But I waited for none of the landlord's explanations. In a tingle of | |
fear I was already running down the village street, and making for | |
the path which I had so lately descended. It had taken me an hour to | |
come down. For all my efforts two more had passed before I found | |
myself at the fall of Reichenbach once more. There was Holmes's | |
Alpine-stock still leaning against the rock by which I had left him. | |
But there was no sign of him, and it was in vain that I shouted. My | |
only answer was my own voice reverberating in a rolling echo from the | |
cliffs around me. | |
It was the sight of that Alpine-stock which turned me cold and sick. | |
He had not gone to Rosenlaui, then. He had remained on that | |
three-foot path, with sheer wall on one side and sheer drop on the | |
other, until his enemy had overtaken him. The young Swiss had gone | |
too. He had probably been in the pay of Moriarty, and had left the | |
two men together. And then what had happened? Who was to tell us | |
what had happened then? | |
I stood for a minute or two to collect myself, for I was dazed with | |
the horror of the thing. Then I began to think of Holmes's own | |
methods and to try to practise them in reading this tragedy. It was, | |
alas, only too easy to do. During our conversation we had not gone | |
to the end of the path, and the Alpine-stock marked the place where | |
we had stood. The blackish soil is kept forever soft by the | |
incessant drift of spray, and a bird would leave its tread upon it. | |
Two lines of footmarks were clearly marked along the farther end of | |
the path, both leading away from me. There were none returning. A | |
few yards from the end the soil was all ploughed up into a patch of | |
mud, and the branches and ferns which fringed the chasm were torn and | |
bedraggled. I lay upon my face and peered over with the spray | |
spouting up all around me. It had darkened since I left, and now I | |
could only see here and there the glistening of moisture upon the | |
black walls, and far away down at the end of the shaft the gleam of | |
the broken water. I shouted; but only the same half-human cry of the | |
fall was borne back to my ears. | |
But it was destined that I should after all have a last word of | |
greeting from my friend and comrade. I have said that his | |
Alpine-stock had been left leaning against a rock which jutted on to | |
the path. From the top of this boulder the gleam of something bright | |
caught my eye, and, raising my hand, I found that it came from the | |
silver cigarette-case which he used to carry. As I took it up a | |
small square of paper upon which it had lain fluttered down on to the | |
ground. Unfolding it, I found that it consisted of three pages torn | |
from his note-book and addressed to me. It was characteristic of the | |
man that the direction was as precise, and the writing as firm and | |
clear, as though it had been written in his study. | |
My dear Watson [it said]: | |
I write these few lines through the courtesy of Mr. Moriarty, who | |
awaits my convenience for the final discussion of those questions | |
which lie between us. He has been giving me a sketch of the methods | |
by which he avoided the English police and kept himself informed of | |
our movements. They certainly confirm the very high opinion which I | |
had formed of his abilities. I am pleased to think that I shall be | |
able to free society from any further effects of his presence, though | |
I fear that it is at a cost which will give pain to my friends, and | |
especially, my dear Watson, to you. I have already explained to you, | |
however, that my career had in any case reached its crisis, and that | |
no possible conclusion to it could be more congenial to me than this. | |
Indeed, if I may make a full confession to you, I was quite | |
convinced that the letter from Meiringen was a hoax, and I allowed | |
you to depart on that errand under the persuasion that some | |
development of this sort would follow. Tell Inspector Patterson that | |
the papers which he needs to convict the gang are in pigeonhole M., | |
done up in a blue envelope and inscribed "Moriarty." I made every | |
disposition of my property before leaving England, and handed it to | |
my brother Mycroft. Pray give my greetings to Mrs. Watson, and | |
believe me to be, my dear fellow, | |
Very sincerely yours, | |
Sherlock Holmes | |
A few words may suffice to tell the little that remains. An | |
examination by experts leaves little doubt that a personal contest | |
between the two men ended, as it could hardly fail to end in such a | |
situation, in their reeling over, locked in each other's arms. Any | |
attempt at recovering the bodies was absolutely hopeless, and there, | |
deep down in that dreadful cauldron of swirling water and seething | |
foam, will lie for all time the most dangerous criminal and the | |
foremost champion of the law of their generation. The Swiss youth | |
was never found again, and there can be no doubt that he was one of | |
the numerous agents whom Moriarty kept in his employ. As to the | |
gang, it will be within the memory of the public how completely the | |
evidence which Holmes had accumulated exposed their organization, and | |
how heavily the hand of the dead man weighed upon them. Of their | |
terrible chief few details came out during the proceedings, and if I | |
have now been compelled to make a clear statement of his career it is | |
due to those injudicious champions who have endeavored to clear his | |
memory by attacks upon him whom I shall ever regard as the best and | |
the wisest man whom I have ever known. | |
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Pictures for "The Adventure of the Dancing Men", "The Adventure of | |
the Priory School", "The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez" and "The | |
Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter" were taken from a 1911 | |
edition of the "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" by Smith, Elder & Co. | |
of London. | |
This text comes from the collection's version 3.1. | |