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diff --git a/834-h/834-h.htm b/834-h/834-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4cec3c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/834-h/834-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,14921 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: 90%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.right {text-align: right; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +div.fig { display:block; + margin:0 auto; + text-align:center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Arthur Conan Doyle</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: March, 1997 [eBook #834]<br /> +[Most recently updated: December 2, 2023]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Angela M. Cable</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES ***</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:70%;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="cover" /> +</div> + +<h1>THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">by Arthur Conan Doyle</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#chap01">I. Silver Blaze</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#chap02">II. The Adventure of the Cardboard Box</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#chap03">III. The Yellow Face</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#chap04">IV. The Stockbroker’s Clerk</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#chap05">V. The “<i>Gloria Scott</i>”</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#chap06">VI. The Musgrave Ritual</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#chap07">VII. The Reigate Squires</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#chap08">VIII. The Crooked Man</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#chap09">IX. The Resident Patient</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#chap10">X. The Greek Interpreter</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#chap11">XI. The Naval Treaty</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#chap12">XII. The Final Problem</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>I.<br/> +Silver Blaze</h2> + +<p> +I am afraid, Watson, that I shall have to go,” said Holmes, as we sat down +together to our breakfast one morning. +</p> + +<p> +“Go! Where to?” +</p> + +<p> +“To Dartmoor; to King’s Pyland.” +</p> + +<p> +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 favourite 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. +</p> + +<p> +“I should be most happy to go down with you if I should not be in the way,” +said I. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have not observed the quarter-mile posts,” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have seen what the <i>Telegraph</i> and the <i>Chronicle</i> have to say.” +</p> + +<p> +“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 co-operation.” +</p> + +<p> +“Tuesday evening!” I exclaimed. “And this is Thursday morning. Why didn’t you +go down yesterday?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have formed a theory, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Silver Blaze,” said he, “is from the Isonomy 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 favourite for the Wessex Cup, the +betting being three to one on him. He has always, however, been a prime +favourite 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 favourite. +The trainer, John Straker, is a retired jockey who rode in Colonel Ross’s +colours 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 grey 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘You are close to the King’s Pyland training-stables,’ said she. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘What business have you here?’ asked the lad. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.” +</p> + +<p> +“One moment,” I asked. “Did the stable-boy, when he ran out with the dog, leave +the door unlocked behind him?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 favourite’s stall was empty, and there +were no signs of his trainer. +</p> + +<p> +“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 +neighbouring moors were visible, they not only could see no signs of the +missing favourite, but they perceived something which warned them that they +were in the presence of a tragedy. +</p> + +<p> +“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 +recognised by the maid as having been worn on the preceding evening by the +stranger who had visited the stables. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 favourite. +</p> + +<p> +“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 favourite, 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it 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?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is more than possible; it is probable,” said Holmes. “In that case one of +the main points in favour of the accused disappears.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet,” said I, “even now I fail to understand what the theory of the police +can be.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have there been any fresh developments?” asked Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 recognise that the +evidence is purely circumstantial, and that some new development may upset it.” +</p> + +<p> +“How about Straker’s knife?” +</p> + +<p> +“We have quite come to the conclusion that he wounded himself in his fall.” +</p> + +<p> +“My friend Dr. Watson made that suggestion to me as we came down. If so, it +would tell against this man Simpson.” +</p> + +<p> +“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 favourite. 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.” +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What does he say about the cravat?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes pricked up his ears. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is certainly possible.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“There is another training-stable quite close, I understand?” +</p> + +<p> +“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 favourite. 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And nothing to connect this man Simpson with the interests of the Mapleton +stables?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing at all.” +</p> + +<p> +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 +grey-tiled out-building. In every other direction the low curves of the moor, +bronze-coloured 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps you would prefer at once to go on to the scene of the crime, Mr. +Holmes?” said Gregory. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; he lies upstairs. The inquest is to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“He has been in your service some years, Colonel Ross?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have always found him an excellent servant.” +</p> + +<p> +“I presume that you made an inventory of what he had in his pockets at the time +of his death, Inspector?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have the things themselves in the sitting-room, if you would care to see +them.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. briar-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 aluminium pencil-case, a few papers, and an ivory-handled knife with a very +delicate, inflexible blade marked Weiss & Co., London. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is what we call a cataract knife,” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very possible. How about these papers?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you got them? Have you found them?” she panted. +</p> + +<p> +“No, Mrs. Straker. But Mr. Holmes here has come from London to help us, and we +shall do all that is possible.” +</p> + +<p> +“Surely I met you in Plymouth at a garden-party some little time ago, Mrs. +Straker?” said Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir; you are mistaken.” +</p> + +<p> +“Dear me! Why, I could have sworn to it. You wore a costume of dove-coloured +silk with ostrich-feather trimming.” +</p> + +<p> +“I never had such a dress, sir,” answered the lady. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“There was no wind that night, I understand,” said Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +“None; but very heavy rain.” +</p> + +<p> +“In that case the overcoat was not blown against the furze-bush, but placed +there.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it was laid across the bush.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“A piece of matting has been laid here at the side, and we have all stood upon +that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Excellent.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot think how I came to overlook it,” said the Inspector, with an +expression of annoyance. +</p> + +<p> +“It was invisible, buried in the mud. I only saw it because I was looking for +it.” +</p> + +<p> +“What! You expected to find it?” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought it not unlikely.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly not,” cried Holmes, with decision. “I should let the name stand.” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where is he, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“The horse was alone before,” I cried. +</p> + +<p> +“Quite so. It was alone before. Hullo, what is this?” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“We don’t want any loiterers about here,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s this, Dawson!” he cried. “No gossiping! Go about your business! And +you, what the devil do you want here?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ten minutes’ talk with you, my good sir,” said Holmes in the sweetest of +voices. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve no time to talk to every gadabout. We want no strangers here. Be off, or +you may find a dog at your heels.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes leaned forward and whispered something in the trainer’s ear. He started +violently and flushed to the temples. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a lie!” he shouted, “an infernal lie!” +</p> + +<p> +“Very good. Shall we argue about it here in public or talk it over in your +parlour?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, come in if you wish to.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes smiled. “I shall not keep you more than a few minutes, Watson,” said he. +“Now, Mr. Brown, I am quite at your disposal.” +</p> + +<p> +It was twenty minutes, and the reds had all faded into greys 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. +</p> + +<p> +“Your instructions will be done. It shall all be done,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“There must be no mistake,” said Holmes, looking round at him. The other winced +as he read the menace in his eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh no, there shall be no mistake. It shall be there. Should I change it first +or not?” +</p> + +<p> +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—” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, you can trust me, you can trust me!” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“He has the horse, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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 +recognising, from the white forehead which has given the favourite 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But his stables had been searched?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, an old horse-faker like him has many a dodge.” +</p> + +<p> +“But are you not afraid to leave the horse in his power now, since he has every +interest in injuring it?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Colonel Ross did not impress me as a man who would be likely to show much +mercy in any case.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly not without your permission.” +</p> + +<p> +“And of course this is all quite a minor point compared to the question of who +killed John Straker.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you will devote yourself to that?” +</p> + +<p> +“On the contrary, we both go back to London by the night train.” +</p> + +<p> +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 parlour. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +The Inspector opened his eyes, and the Colonel’s lip curled in a sneer. +</p> + +<p> +“So you despair of arresting the murderer of poor Straker,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +The Inspector took one from an envelope and handed it to him. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“At least you have his assurance that your horse will run,” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I have his assurance,” said the Colonel, with a shrug of his shoulders. +“I should prefer to have the horse.” +</p> + +<p> +I was about to make some reply in defence of my friend when he entered the room +again. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, gentlemen,” said he, “I am quite ready for Tavistock.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“You have a few sheep in the paddock,” he said. “Who attends to them?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you noticed anything amiss with them of late?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, sir, not of much account; but three of them have gone lame, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +I could see that Holmes was extremely pleased, for he chuckled and rubbed his +hands together. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“You consider that to be important?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Exceedingly so.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?” +</p> + +<p> +“To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.” +</p> + +<p> +“The dog did nothing in the night-time.” +</p> + +<p> +“That was the curious incident,” remarked Sherlock Holmes. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“I have seen nothing of my horse,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“I suppose that you would know him when you saw him?” asked Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“How is the betting?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum!” said Holmes. “Somebody knows something, that is clear.” +</p> + +<p> +As the drag drew up in the enclosure near the grand stand I glanced at the card +to see the entries. It ran:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +Wessex Plate. 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).<br/> +1. Mr. Heath Newton’s The Negro (red cap, cinnamon jacket).<br/> +2. Colonel Wardlaw’s Pugilist (pink cap, blue and black jacket).<br/> +3. Lord Backwater’s Desborough (yellow cap and sleeves).<br/> +4. Colonel Ross’s Silver Blaze (black cap, red jacket).<br/> +5. Duke of Balmoral’s Iris (yellow and black stripes).<br/> +6. Lord Singleford’s Rasper (purple cap, black sleeves). +</p> + +<p> +“We scratched our other one, and put all hopes on your word,” said the Colonel. +“Why, what is that? Silver Blaze favourite?” +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +“There are the numbers up,” I cried. “They are all six there.” +</p> + +<p> +“All six there? Then my horse is running,” cried the Colonel in great +agitation. “But I don’t see him. My colours have not passed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Only five have passed. This must be he.” +</p> + +<p> +As I spoke a powerful bay horse swept out from the weighing enclosure and +cantered past us, bearing on its back the well-known black and red of the +Colonel. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“You take my breath away!” +</p> + +<p> +“I found him in the hands of a faker, and took the liberty of running him just +as he was sent over.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have done so,” said Holmes quietly. +</p> + +<p> +The Colonel and I stared at him in amazement. “You have got him! Where is he, +then?” +</p> + +<p> +“He is here.” +</p> + +<p> +“Here! Where?” +</p> + +<p> +“In my company at the present moment.” +</p> + +<p> +The Colonel flushed angrily. “I quite recognise 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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“The horse!” cried both the Colonel and myself. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I confess,” said the Colonel, “that even now I cannot see how it helps us.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was the first link in my chain of reasoning. Powdered opium is by no means +tasteless. The flavour 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 flavour. That is unthinkable. Therefore Simpson becomes +eliminated from the case, and our attention centres 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? +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Villain! Scoundrel!” cried the Colonel. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have been blind!” cried the Colonel. “Of course that was why he needed the +candle, and struck the match.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Wonderful!” cried the Colonel. “Wonderful! You might have been there!” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“When I returned to London I called upon the milliner, who had recognised +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have explained all but one thing,” cried the Colonel. “Where was the +horse?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, it bolted, and was cared for by one of your neighbours. 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.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>II.<br/> +The Adventure of the Cardboard Box</h2> + +<p> +In choosing a few typical cases which illustrate the remarkable mental +qualities of my friend, Sherlock Holmes, I have endeavoured, as far as +possible, to select those which presented the minimum of sensationalism, while +offering a fair field for his talents. It is, however, unfortunately impossible +entirely to separate the sensational from the criminal, and a chronicler is +left in the dilemma that he must either sacrifice details which are essential +to his statement and so give a false impression of the problem, or he must use +matter which chance, and not choice, has provided him with. With this short +preface I shall turn to my notes of what proved to be a strange, though a +peculiarly terrible, chain of events. +</p> + +<p> +It was a blazing hot day in August. Baker Street was like an oven, and the +glare of the sunlight upon the yellow brickwork of the house across the road +was painful to the eye. It was hard to believe that these were the same walls +which loomed so gloomily through the fogs of winter. 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 at ninety was no hardship. But the morning 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 rumour 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. +</p> + +<p> +Finding that Holmes was too absorbed for conversation I had tossed aside the +barren paper, and leaning back in my chair I fell into a brown study. Suddenly +my companion’s voice broke in upon my thoughts: +</p> + +<p> +“You are right, Watson,” said he. “It does seem a most preposterous way of +settling a dispute.” +</p> + +<p> +“Most preposterous!” I exclaimed, and then suddenly realizing how he had echoed +the inmost thought of my soul, I sat up in my chair and stared at him in blank +amazement. +</p> + +<p> +“What is this, Holmes?” I cried. “This is beyond anything which I could have +imagined.” +</p> + +<p> +He laughed heartily at my perplexity. +</p> + +<p> +“You remember,” he said, “that some little time ago when I read you the passage +in one of Poe’s sketches in which a close reasoner follows the unspoken +thoughts of his companion, you were inclined to treat the matter as a mere +<i>tour-de-force</i> of the author. On my remarking that I was constantly in +the habit of doing the same thing you expressed incredulity.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no!” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps not with your tongue, my dear Watson, but certainly with your +eyebrows. So when I saw you throw down your paper and enter upon a train of +thought, I was very happy to have the opportunity of reading it off, and +eventually of breaking into it, as a proof that I had been in rapport with +you.” +</p> + +<p> +But I was still far from satisfied. “In the example which you read to me,” said +I, “the reasoner drew his conclusions from the actions of the man whom he +observed. If I remember right, he stumbled over a heap of stones, looked up at +the stars, and so on. But I have been seated quietly in my chair, and what +clues can I have given you?” +</p> + +<p> +“You do yourself an injustice. The features are given to man as the means by +which he shall express his emotions, and yours are faithful servants.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you mean to say that you read my train of thoughts from my features?” +</p> + +<p> +“Your features and especially your eyes. Perhaps you cannot yourself recall how +your reverie commenced?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, I cannot.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then I will tell you. After throwing down your paper, which was the action +which drew my attention to you, you sat for half a minute with a vacant +expression. Then your eyes fixed themselves upon your newly framed picture of +General Gordon, and I saw by the alteration in your face that a train of +thought had been started. But it did not lead very far. Your eyes flashed +across to the unframed portrait of Henry Ward Beecher which stands upon the top +of your books. Then you glanced up at the wall, and of course your meaning was +obvious. You were thinking that if the portrait were framed it would just cover +that bare space and correspond with Gordon’s picture over there.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have followed me wonderfully!” I exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +“So far I could hardly have gone astray. But now your thoughts went back to +Beecher, and you looked hard across as if you were studying the character in +his features. Then your eyes ceased to pucker, but you continued to look +across, and your face was thoughtful. You were recalling the incidents of +Beecher’s career. I was well aware that you could not do this without thinking +of the mission which he undertook on behalf of the North at the time of the +Civil War, for I remember your expressing your passionate indignation at the +way in which he was received by the more turbulent of our people. You felt so +strongly about it that I knew you could not think of Beecher without thinking +of that also. When a moment later I saw your eyes wander away from the picture, +I suspected that your mind had now turned to the Civil War, and when I observed +that your lips set, your eyes sparkled, and your hands clenched I was positive +that you were indeed thinking of the gallantry which was shown by both sides in +that desperate struggle. But then, again, your face grew sadder; you shook your +head. You were dwelling upon the sadness and horror and useless waste of life. +Your hand stole towards your own old wound and a smile quivered on your lips, +which showed me that the ridiculous side of this method of settling +international questions had forced itself upon your mind. At this point I +agreed with you that it was preposterous and was glad to find that all my +deductions had been correct.” +</p> + +<p> +“Absolutely!” said I. “And now that you have explained it, I confess that I am +as amazed as before.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was very superficial, my dear Watson, I assure you. I should not have +intruded it upon your attention had you not shown some incredulity the other +day. But I have in my hands here a little problem which may prove to be more +difficult of solution than my small essay in thought reading. Have you observed +in the paper a short paragraph referring to the remarkable contents of a packet +sent through the post to Miss Cushing, of Cross Street, Croydon?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, I saw nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! then you must have overlooked it. Just toss it over to me. Here it is, +under the financial column. Perhaps you would be good enough to read it aloud.” +</p> + +<p> +I picked up the paper which he had thrown back to me and read the paragraph +indicated. It was headed, “A Gruesome Packet.” +</p> + +<p> +“Miss Susan Cushing, living at Cross Street, Croydon, has been made the victim +of what must be regarded as a peculiarly revolting practical joke unless some +more sinister meaning should prove to be attached to the incident. At two +o’clock yesterday afternoon a small packet, wrapped in brown paper, was handed +in by the postman. A cardboard box was inside, which was filled with coarse +salt. On emptying this, Miss Cushing was horrified to find two human ears, +apparently quite freshly severed. The box had been sent by parcel post from +Belfast upon the morning before. There is no indication as to the sender, and +the matter is the more mysterious as Miss Cushing, who is a maiden lady of +fifty, has led a most retired life, and has so few acquaintances or +correspondents that it is a rare event for her to receive anything through the +post. Some years ago, however, when she resided at Penge, she let apartments in +her house to three young medical students, whom she was obliged to get rid of +on account of their noisy and irregular habits. The police are of opinion that +this outrage may have been perpetrated upon Miss Cushing by these youths, who +owed her a grudge and who hoped to frighten her by sending her these relics of +the dissecting-rooms. Some probability is lent to the theory by the fact that +one of these students came from the north of Ireland, and, to the best of Miss +Cushing’s belief, from Belfast. In the meantime, the matter is being actively +investigated, Mr. Lestrade, one of the very smartest of our detective officers, +being in charge of the case.” +</p> + +<p> +“So much for the <i>Daily Chronicle</i>,” said Holmes as I finished reading. +“Now for our friend Lestrade. I had a note from him this morning, in which he +says: ‘I think that this case is very much in your line. We have every hope of +clearing the matter up, but we find a little difficulty in getting anything to +work upon. We have, of course, wired to the Belfast post-office, but a large +number of parcels were handed in upon that day, and they have no means of +identifying this particular one, or of remembering the sender. The box is a +half-pound box of honeydew tobacco and does not help us in any way. The medical +student theory still appears to me to be the most feasible, but if you should +have a few hours to spare I should be very happy to see you out here. I shall +be either at the house or in the police-station all day.’ What say you, Watson? +Can you rise superior to the heat and run down to Croydon with me on the off +chance of a case for your annals?” +</p> + +<p> +“I was longing for something to do.” +</p> + +<p> +“You shall have it then. Ring for our boots and tell them to order a cab. I’ll +be back in a moment when I have changed my dressing-gown and filled my +cigar-case.” +</p> + +<p> +A shower of rain fell while we were in the train, and the heat was far less +oppressive in Croydon than in town. Holmes had sent on a wire, so that +Lestrade, as wiry, as dapper, and as ferret-like as ever, was waiting for us at +the station. A walk of five minutes took us to Cross Street, where Miss Cushing +resided. +</p> + +<p> +It was a very long street of two-story brick houses, neat and prim, with +whitened stone steps and little groups of aproned women gossiping at the doors. +Halfway down, Lestrade stopped and tapped at a door, which was opened by a +small servant girl. Miss Cushing was sitting in the front room, into which we +were ushered. She was a placid-faced woman, with large, gentle eyes, and +grizzled hair curving down over her temples on each side. A worked antimacassar +lay upon her lap and a basket of coloured silks stood upon a stool beside her. +</p> + +<p> +“They are in the outhouse, those dreadful things,” said she as Lestrade +entered. “I wish that you would take them away altogether.” +</p> + +<p> +“So I shall, Miss Cushing. I only kept them here until my friend, Mr. Holmes, +should have seen them in your presence.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why in my presence, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“In case he wished to ask any questions.” +</p> + +<p> +“What is the use of asking me questions when I tell you I know nothing whatever +about it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite so, madam,” said Holmes in his soothing way. “I have no doubt that you +have been annoyed more than enough already over this business.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, I have, sir. I am a quiet woman and live a retired life. It is +something new for me to see my name in the papers and to find the police in my +house. I won’t have those things in here, Mr. Lestrade. If you wish to see them +you must go to the outhouse.” +</p> + +<p> +It was a small shed in the narrow garden which ran behind the house. Lestrade +went in and brought out a yellow cardboard box, with a piece of brown paper and +some string. There was a bench at the end of the path, and we all sat down +while Holmes examined, one by one, the articles which Lestrade had handed to +him. +</p> + +<p> +“The string is exceedingly interesting,” he remarked, holding it up to the +light and sniffing at it. “What do you make of this string, Lestrade?” +</p> + +<p> +“It has been tarred.” +</p> + +<p> +“Precisely. It is a piece of tarred twine. You have also, no doubt, remarked +that Miss Cushing has cut the cord with a scissors, as can be seen by the +double fray on each side. This is of importance.” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot see the importance,” said Lestrade. +</p> + +<p> +“The importance lies in the fact that the knot is left intact, and that this +knot is of a peculiar character.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is very neatly tied. I had already made a note to that effect,” said +Lestrade complacently. +</p> + +<p> +“So much for the string, then,” said Holmes, smiling, “now for the box wrapper. +Brown paper, with a distinct smell of coffee. What, did you not observe it? I +think there can be no doubt of it. Address printed in rather straggling +characters: ‘Miss S. Cushing, Cross Street, Croydon.’ Done with a broad-pointed +pen, probably a J, and with very inferior ink. The word ‘Croydon’ has been +originally spelled with an ‘i,’ which has been changed to ‘y.’ The parcel was +directed, then, by a man—the printing is distinctly masculine—of limited +education and unacquainted with the town of Croydon. So far, so good! The box +is a yellow half-pound honeydew box, with nothing distinctive save two thumb +marks at the left bottom corner. It is filled with rough salt of the quality +used for preserving hides and other of the coarser commercial purposes. And +embedded in it are these very singular enclosures.” +</p> + +<p> +He took out the two ears as he spoke, and laying a board across his knee he +examined them minutely, while Lestrade and I, bending forward on each side of +him, glanced alternately at these dreadful relics and at the thoughtful, eager +face of our companion. Finally he returned them to the box once more and sat +for a while in deep meditation. +</p> + +<p> +“You have observed, of course,” said he at last, “that the ears are not a +pair.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I have noticed that. But if this were the practical joke of some students +from the dissecting-rooms, it would be as easy for them to send two odd ears as +a pair.” +</p> + +<p> +“Precisely. But this is not a practical joke.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are sure of it?” +</p> + +<p> +“The presumption is strongly against it. Bodies in the dissecting-rooms are +injected with preservative fluid. These ears bear no signs of this. They are +fresh, too. They have been cut off with a blunt instrument, which would hardly +happen if a student had done it. Again, carbolic or rectified spirits would be +the preservatives which would suggest themselves to the medical mind, certainly +not rough salt. I repeat that there is no practical joke here, but that we are +investigating a serious crime.” +</p> + +<p> +A vague thrill ran through me as I listened to my companion’s words and saw the +stern gravity which had hardened his features. This brutal preliminary seemed +to shadow forth some strange and inexplicable horror in the background. +Lestrade, however, shook his head like a man who is only half convinced. +</p> + +<p> +“There are objections to the joke theory, no doubt,” said he, “but there are +much stronger reasons against the other. We know that this woman has led a most +quiet and respectable life at Penge and here for the last twenty years. She has +hardly been away from her home for a day during that time. Why on earth, then, +should any criminal send her the proofs of his guilt, especially as, unless she +is a most consummate actress, she understands quite as little of the matter as +we do?” +</p> + +<p> +“That is the problem which we have to solve,” Holmes answered, “and for my part +I shall set about it by presuming that my reasoning is correct, and that a +double murder has been committed. One of these ears is a woman’s, small, finely +formed, and pierced for an earring. The other is a man’s, sun-burned, +discoloured, and also pierced for an earring. These two people are presumably +dead, or we should have heard their story before now. To-day is Friday. The +packet was posted on Thursday morning. The tragedy, then, occurred on Wednesday +or Tuesday or earlier. If the two people were murdered, who but their murderer +would have sent this sign of his work to Miss Cushing? We may take it that the +sender of the packet is the man whom we want. But he must have some strong +reason for sending Miss Cushing this packet. What reason then? It must have +been to tell her that the deed was done! or to pain her, perhaps. But in that +case she knows who it is. Does she know? I doubt it. If she knew, why should +she call the police in? She might have buried the ears, and no one would have +been the wiser. That is what she would have done if she had wished to shield +the criminal. But if she does not wish to shield him she would give his name. +There is a tangle here which needs straightening out.” He had been talking in a +high, quick voice, staring blankly up over the garden fence, but now he sprang +briskly to his feet and walked towards the house. +</p> + +<p> +“I have a few questions to ask Miss Cushing,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“In that case I may leave you here,” said Lestrade, “for I have another small +business on hand. I think that I have nothing further to learn from Miss +Cushing. You will find me at the police-station.” +</p> + +<p> +“We shall look in on our way to the train,” answered Holmes. A moment later he +and I were back in the front room, where the impassive lady was still quietly +working away at her antimacassar. She put it down on her lap as we entered and +looked at us with her frank, searching blue eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“I am convinced, sir,” she said, “that this matter is a mistake, and that the +parcel was never meant for me at all. I have said this several times to the +gentleman from Scotland Yard, but he simply laughs at me. I have not an enemy +in the world, as far as I know, so why should anyone play me such a trick?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am coming to be of the same opinion, Miss Cushing,” said Holmes, taking a +seat beside her. “I think that it is more than probable——” he paused, and I was +surprised, on glancing round to see that he was staring with singular +intentness at the lady’s profile. Surprise and satisfaction were both for an +instant to be read upon his eager face, though when she glanced round to find +out the cause of his silence he had become as demure as ever. I stared hard +myself at her flat, grizzled hair, her trim cap, her little gilt earrings, her +placid features; but I could see nothing which could account for my companion’s +evident excitement. +</p> + +<p> +“There were one or two questions——” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I am weary of questions!” cried Miss Cushing impatiently. +</p> + +<p> +“You have two sisters, I believe.” +</p> + +<p> +“How could you know that?” +</p> + +<p> +“I observed the very instant that I entered the room that you have a portrait +group of three ladies upon the mantelpiece, one of whom is undoubtedly +yourself, while the others are so exceedingly like you that there could be no +doubt of the relationship.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, you are quite right. Those are my sisters, Sarah and Mary.” +</p> + +<p> +“And here at my elbow is another portrait, taken at Liverpool, of your younger +sister, in the company of a man who appears to be a steward by his uniform. I +observe that she was unmarried at the time.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are very quick at observing.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is my trade.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, you are quite right. But she was married to Mr. Browner a few days +afterwards. He was on the South American line when that was taken, but he was +so fond of her that he couldn’t abide to leave her for so long, and he got into +the Liverpool and London boats.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, the <i>Conqueror</i>, perhaps?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, the <i>May Day</i>, when last I heard. Jim came down here to see me once. +That was before he broke the pledge; but afterwards he would always take drink +when he was ashore, and a little drink would send him stark, staring mad. Ah! +it was a bad day that ever he took a glass in his hand again. First he dropped +me, then he quarrelled with Sarah, and now that Mary has stopped writing we +don’t know how things are going with them.” +</p> + +<p> +It was evident that Miss Cushing had come upon a subject on which she felt very +deeply. Like most people who lead a lonely life, she was shy at first, but +ended by becoming extremely communicative. She told us many details about her +brother-in-law the steward, and then wandering off on the subject of her former +lodgers, the medical students, she gave us a long account of their +delinquencies, with their names and those of their hospitals. Holmes listened +attentively to everything, throwing in a question from time to time. +</p> + +<p> +“About your second sister, Sarah,” said he. “I wonder, since you are both +maiden ladies, that you do not keep house together.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! you don’t know Sarah’s temper or you would wonder no more. I tried it when +I came to Croydon, and we kept on until about two months ago, when we had to +part. I don’t want to say a word against my own sister, but she was always +meddlesome and hard to please, was Sarah.” +</p> + +<p> +“You say that she quarrelled with your Liverpool relations.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and they were the best of friends at one time. Why, she went up there to +live in order to be near them. And now she has no word hard enough for Jim +Browner. The last six months that she was here she would speak of nothing but +his drinking and his ways. He had caught her meddling, I suspect, and given her +a bit of his mind, and that was the start of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you, Miss Cushing,” said Holmes, rising and bowing. “Your sister Sarah +lives, I think you said, at New Street Wallington? Good-bye, and I am very +sorry that you should have been troubled over a case with which, as you say, +you have nothing whatever to do.” +</p> + +<p> +There was a cab passing as we came out, and Holmes hailed it. +</p> + +<p> +“How far to Wallington?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Only about a mile, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very good. Jump in, Watson. We must strike while the iron is hot. Simple as +the case is, there have been one or two very instructive details in connection +with it. Just pull up at a telegraph office as you pass, cabby.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes sent off a short wire and for the rest of the drive lay back in the cab, +with his hat tilted over his nose to keep the sun from his face. Our driver +pulled up at a house which was not unlike the one which we had just quitted. My +companion ordered him to wait, and had his hand upon the knocker, when the door +opened and a grave young gentleman in black, with a very shiny hat, appeared on +the step. +</p> + +<p> +“Is Miss Cushing at home?” asked Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +“Miss Sarah Cushing is extremely ill,” said he. “She has been suffering since +yesterday from brain symptoms of great severity. As her medical adviser, I +cannot possibly take the responsibility of allowing anyone to see her. I should +recommend you to call again in ten days.” He drew on his gloves, closed the +door, and marched off down the street. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, if we can’t we can’t,” said Holmes, cheerfully. +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps she could not or would not have told you much.” +</p> + +<p> +“I did not wish her to tell me anything. I only wanted to look at her. However, +I think that I have got all that I want. Drive us to some decent hotel, cabby, +where we may have some lunch, and afterwards we shall drop down upon friend +Lestrade at the police-station.” +</p> + +<p> +We had a pleasant little meal together, during which Holmes would talk about +nothing but violins, narrating with great exultation how he had purchased his +own Stradivarius, which was worth at least five hundred guineas, at a Jew +broker’s in Tottenham Court Road for fifty-five shillings. This led him to +Paganini, and we sat for an hour over a bottle of claret while he told me +anecdote after anecdote of that extraordinary man. The afternoon was far +advanced and the hot glare had softened into a mellow glow before we found +ourselves at the police-station. Lestrade was waiting for us at the door. +</p> + +<p> +“A telegram for you, Mr. Holmes,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“Ha! It is the answer!” He tore it open, glanced his eyes over it, and crumpled +it into his pocket. “That’s all right,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you found out anything?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have found out everything!” +</p> + +<p> +“What!” Lestrade stared at him in amazement. “You are joking.” +</p> + +<p> +“I was never more serious in my life. A shocking crime has been committed, and +I think I have now laid bare every detail of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the criminal?” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes scribbled a few words upon the back of one of his visiting cards and +threw it over to Lestrade. +</p> + +<p> +“That is the name,” he said. “You cannot effect an arrest until to-morrow night +at the earliest. I should prefer that you do not mention my name at all in +connection with the case, as I choose to be only associated with those crimes +which present some difficulty in their solution. Come on, Watson.” We strode +off together to the station, leaving Lestrade still staring with a delighted +face at the card which Holmes had thrown him. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +“The case,” said Sherlock Holmes as we chatted over our cigars that night in +our rooms at Baker Street, “is one where, as in the investigations which you +have chronicled under the names of ‘A Study in Scarlet’ and of ‘The Sign of +Four,’ we have been compelled to reason backward from effects to causes. I have +written to Lestrade asking him to supply us with the details which are now +wanting, and which he will only get after he has secured his man. That he may +be safely trusted to do, for although he is absolutely devoid of reason, he is +as tenacious as a bulldog when he once understands what he has to do, and, +indeed, it is just this tenacity which has brought him to the top at Scotland +Yard.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your case is not complete, then?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“It is fairly complete in essentials. We know who the author of the revolting +business is, although one of the victims still escapes us. Of course, you have +formed your own conclusions.” +</p> + +<p> +“I presume that this Jim Browner, the steward of a Liverpool boat, is the man +whom you suspect?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! it is more than a suspicion.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet I cannot see anything save very vague indications.” +</p> + +<p> +“On the contrary, to my mind nothing could be more clear. Let me run over the +principal steps. We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank +mind, which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply +there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations. What did we see +first? A very placid and respectable lady, who seemed quite innocent of any +secret, and a portrait which showed me that she had two younger sisters. It +instantly flashed across my mind that the box might have been meant for one of +these. I set the idea aside as one which could be disproved or confirmed at our +leisure. Then we went to the garden, as you remember, and we saw the very +singular contents of the little yellow box. +</p> + +<p> +“The string was of the quality which is used by sailmakers aboard ship, and at +once a whiff of the sea was perceptible in our investigation. When I observed +that the knot was one which is popular with sailors, that the parcel had been +posted at a port, and that the male ear was pierced for an earring which is so +much more common among sailors than landsmen, I was quite certain that all the +actors in the tragedy were to be found among our seafaring classes. +</p> + +<p> +“When I came to examine the address of the packet I observed that it was to +Miss S. Cushing. Now, the oldest sister would, of course, be Miss Cushing, and +although her initial was ‘S’ it might belong to one of the others as well. In +that case we should have to commence our investigation from a fresh basis +altogether. I therefore went into the house with the intention of clearing up +this point. I was about to assure Miss Cushing that I was convinced that a +mistake had been made when you may remember that I came suddenly to a stop. The +fact was that I had just seen something which filled me with surprise and at +the same time narrowed the field of our inquiry immensely. +</p> + +<p> +“As a medical man, you are aware, Watson, that there is no part of the body +which varies so much as the human ear. Each ear is as a rule quite distinctive +and differs from all other ones. In last year’s <i>Anthropological Journal</i> +you will find two short monographs from my pen upon the subject. I had, +therefore, examined the ears in the box with the eyes of an expert and had +carefully noted their anatomical peculiarities. Imagine my surprise, then, when +on looking at Miss Cushing I perceived that her ear corresponded exactly with +the female ear which I had just inspected. The matter was entirely beyond +coincidence. There was the same shortening of the pinna, the same broad curve +of the upper lobe, the same convolution of the inner cartilage. In all +essentials it was the same ear. +</p> + +<p> +“Of course I at once saw the enormous importance of the observation. It was +evident that the victim was a blood relation and probably a very close one. I +began to talk to her about her family, and you remember that she at once gave +us some exceedingly valuable details. +</p> + +<p> +“In the first place, her sister’s name was Sarah, and her address had until +recently been the same, so that it was quite obvious how the mistake had +occurred and for whom the packet was meant. Then we heard of this steward, +married to the third sister, and learned that he had at one time been so +intimate with Miss Sarah that she had actually gone up to Liverpool to be near +the Browners, but a quarrel had afterwards divided them. This quarrel had put a +stop to all communications for some months, so that if Browner had occasion to +address a packet to Miss Sarah, he would undoubtedly have done so to her old +address. +</p> + +<p> +“And now the matter had begun to straighten itself out wonderfully. We had +learned of the existence of this steward, an impulsive man, of strong +passions—you remember that he threw up what must have been a very superior +berth in order to be nearer to his wife—subject, too, to occasional fits of +hard drinking. We had reason to believe that his wife had been murdered, and +that a man—presumably a seafaring man—had been murdered at the same time. +Jealousy, of course, at once suggests itself as the motive for the crime. And +why should these proofs of the deed be sent to Miss Sarah Cushing? Probably +because during her residence in Liverpool she had some hand in bringing about +the events which led to the tragedy. You will observe that this line of boats +calls at Belfast, Dublin, and Waterford; so that, presuming that Browner had +committed the deed and had embarked at once upon his steamer, the <i>May +Day</i>, Belfast would be the first place at which he could post his terrible +packet. +</p> + +<p> +“A second solution was at this stage obviously possible, and although I thought +it exceedingly unlikely, I was determined to elucidate it before going further. +An unsuccessful lover might have killed Mr. and Mrs. Browner, and the male ear +might have belonged to the husband. There were many grave objections to this +theory, but it was conceivable. I therefore sent off a telegram to my friend +Algar, of the Liverpool force, and asked him to find out if Mrs. Browner were +at home, and if Browner had departed in the <i>May Day</i>. Then we went on to +Wallington to visit Miss Sarah. +</p> + +<p> +“I was curious, in the first place, to see how far the family ear had been +reproduced in her. Then, of course, she might give us very important +information, but I was not sanguine that she would. She must have heard of the +business the day before, since all Croydon was ringing with it, and she alone +could have understood for whom the packet was meant. If she had been willing to +help justice she would probably have communicated with the police already. +However, it was clearly our duty to see her, so we went. We found that the news +of the arrival of the packet—for her illness dated from that time—had such an +effect upon her as to bring on brain fever. It was clearer than ever that she +understood its full significance, but equally clear that we should have to wait +some time for any assistance from her. +</p> + +<p> +“However, we were really independent of her help. Our answers were waiting for +us at the police-station, where I had directed Algar to send them. Nothing +could be more conclusive. Mrs. Browner’s house had been closed for more than +three days, and the neighbours were of opinion that she had gone south to see +her relatives. It had been ascertained at the shipping offices that Browner had +left aboard of the <i>May Day</i>, and I calculate that she is due in the +Thames to-morrow night. When he arrives he will be met by the obtuse but +resolute Lestrade, and I have no doubt that we shall have all our details +filled in.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Sherlock Holmes was not disappointed in his expectations. Two days later he +received a bulky envelope, which contained a short note from the detective, and +a typewritten document, which covered several pages of foolscap. +</p> + +<p> +“Lestrade has got him all right,” said Holmes, glancing up at me. “Perhaps it +would interest you to hear what he says. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“My dear Mr. Holmes,—In accordance with the scheme which we had formed in order +to test our theories”—“the ‘we’ is rather fine, Watson, is it not?”—“I went +down to the Albert Dock yesterday at 6 P.M., and boarded the S.S. <i>May +Day</i>, belonging to the Liverpool, Dublin, and London Steam Packet Company. +On inquiry, I found that there was a steward on board of the name of James +Browner and that he had acted during the voyage in such an extraordinary manner +that the captain had been compelled to relieve him of his duties. On descending +to his berth, I found him seated upon a chest with his head sunk upon his +hands, rocking himself to and fro. He is a big, powerful chap, clean-shaven, +and very swarthy— something like Aldridge, who helped us in the bogus laundry +affair. He jumped up when he heard my business, and I had my whistle to my lips +to call a couple of river police, who were round the corner, but he seemed to +have no heart in him, and he held out his hands quietly enough for the darbies. +We brought him along to the cells, and his box as well, for we thought there +might be something incriminating; but, bar a big sharp knife such as most +sailors have, we got nothing for our trouble. However, we find that we shall +want no more evidence, for on being brought before the inspector at the station +he asked leave to make a statement, which was, of course, taken down, just as +he made it, by our shorthand man. We had three copies typewritten, one of which +I enclose. The affair proves, as I always thought it would, to be an extremely +simple one, but I am obliged to you for assisting me in my investigation. With +kind regards, yours very truly,—G. Lestrade.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! The investigation really was a very simple one,” remarked Holmes, “but I +don’t think it struck him in that light when he first called us in. However, +let us see what Jim Browner has to say for himself. This is his statement as +made before Inspector Montgomery at the Shadwell Police Station, and it has the +advantage of being verbatim.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have I anything to say? Yes, I have a deal to say. I have to make a clean +breast of it all. You can hang me, or you can leave me alone. I don’t care a +plug which you do. I tell you I’ve not shut an eye in sleep since I did it, and +I don’t believe I ever will again until I get past all waking. Sometimes it’s +his face, but most generally it’s hers. I’m never without one or the other +before me. He looks frowning and black-like, but she has a kind o’ surprise +upon her face. Ay, the white lamb, she might well be surprised when she read +death on a face that had seldom looked anything but love upon her before. +</p> + +<p> +“But it was Sarah’s fault, and may the curse of a broken man put a blight on +her and set the blood rotting in her veins! It’s not that I want to clear +myself. I know that I went back to drink, like the beast that I was. But she +would have forgiven me; she would have stuck as close to me as a rope to a +block if that woman had never darkened our door. For Sarah Cushing loved +me—that’s the root of the business—she loved me until all her love turned to +poisonous hate when she knew that I thought more of my wife’s footmark in the +mud than I did of her whole body and soul. +</p> + +<p> +“There were three sisters altogether. The old one was just a good woman, the +second was a devil, and the third was an angel. Sarah was thirty-three, and +Mary was twenty-nine when I married. We were just as happy as the day was long +when we set up house together, and in all Liverpool there was no better woman +than my Mary. And then we asked Sarah up for a week, and the week grew into a +month, and one thing led to another, until she was just one of ourselves. +</p> + +<p> +“I was blue ribbon at that time, and we were putting a little money by, and all +was as bright as a new dollar. My God, whoever would have thought that it could +have come to this? Whoever would have dreamed it? +</p> + +<p> +“I used to be home for the week-ends very often, and sometimes if the ship were +held back for cargo I would have a whole week at a time, and in this way I saw +a deal of my sister-in-law, Sarah. She was a fine tall woman, black and quick +and fierce, with a proud way of carrying her head, and a glint from her eye +like a spark from a flint. But when little Mary was there I had never a thought +of her, and that I swear as I hope for God’s mercy. +</p> + +<p> +“It had seemed to me sometimes that she liked to be alone with me, or to coax +me out for a walk with her, but I had never thought anything of that. But one +evening my eyes were opened. I had come up from the ship and found my wife out, +but Sarah at home. ‘Where’s Mary?’ I asked. ‘Oh, she has gone to pay some +accounts.’ I was impatient and paced up and down the room. ‘Can’t you be happy +for five minutes without Mary, Jim?’ says she. ‘It’s a bad compliment to me +that you can’t be contented with my society for so short a time.’ ‘That’s all +right, my lass,’ said I, putting out my hand towards her in a kindly way, but +she had it in both hers in an instant, and they burned as if they were in a +fever. I looked into her eyes and I read it all there. There was no need for +her to speak, nor for me either. I frowned and drew my hand away. Then she +stood by my side in silence for a bit, and then put up her hand and patted me +on the shoulder. ‘Steady old Jim!’ said she, and with a kind o’ mocking laugh, +she ran out of the room. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, from that time Sarah hated me with her whole heart and soul, and she is +a woman who can hate, too. I was a fool to let her go on biding with us—a +besotted fool—but I never said a word to Mary, for I knew it would grieve her. +Things went on much as before, but after a time I began to find that there was +a bit of a change in Mary herself. She had always been so trusting and so +innocent, but now she became queer and suspicious, wanting to know where I had +been and what I had been doing, and whom my letters were from, and what I had +in my pockets, and a thousand such follies. Day by day she grew queerer and +more irritable, and we had ceaseless rows about nothing. I was fairly puzzled +by it all. Sarah avoided me now, but she and Mary were just inseparable. I can +see now how she was plotting and scheming and poisoning my wife’s mind against +me, but I was such a blind beetle that I could not understand it at the time. +Then I broke my blue ribbon and began to drink again, but I think I should not +have done it if Mary had been the same as ever. She had some reason to be +disgusted with me now, and the gap between us began to be wider and wider. And +then this Alec Fairbairn chipped in, and things became a thousand times +blacker. +</p> + +<p> +“It was to see Sarah that he came to my house first, but soon it was to see us, +for he was a man with winning ways, and he made friends wherever he went. He +was a dashing, swaggering chap, smart and curled, who had seen half the world +and could talk of what he had seen. He was good company, I won’t deny it, and +he had wonderful polite ways with him for a sailor man, so that I think there +must have been a time when he knew more of the poop than the forecastle. For a +month he was in and out of my house, and never once did it cross my mind that +harm might come of his soft, tricky ways. And then at last something made me +suspect, and from that day my peace was gone forever. +</p> + +<p> +“It was only a little thing, too. I had come into the parlour unexpected, and +as I walked in at the door I saw a light of welcome on my wife’s face. But as +she saw who it was it faded again, and she turned away with a look of +disappointment. That was enough for me. There was no one but Alec Fairbairn +whose step she could have mistaken for mine. If I could have seen him then I +should have killed him, for I have always been like a madman when my temper +gets loose. Mary saw the devil’s light in my eyes, and she ran forward with her +hands on my sleeve. ‘Don’t, Jim, don’t!’ says she. ‘Where’s Sarah?’ I asked. +‘In the kitchen,’ says she. ‘Sarah,’ says I as I went in, ‘this man Fairbairn +is never to darken my door again.’ ‘Why not?’ says she. ‘Because I order it.’ +‘Oh!’ says she, ‘if my friends are not good enough for this house, then I am +not good enough for it either.’ ‘You can do what you like,’ says I, ‘but if +Fairbairn shows his face here again I’ll send you one of his ears for a +keepsake.’ She was frightened by my face, I think, for she never answered a +word, and the same evening she left my house. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I don’t know now whether it was pure devilry on the part of this woman, +or whether she thought that she could turn me against my wife by encouraging +her to misbehave. Anyway, she took a house just two streets off and let +lodgings to sailors. Fairbairn used to stay there, and Mary would go round to +have tea with her sister and him. How often she went I don’t know, but I +followed her one day, and as I broke in at the door Fairbairn got away over the +back garden wall, like the cowardly skunk that he was. I swore to my wife that +I would kill her if I found her in his company again, and I led her back with +me, sobbing and trembling, and as white as a piece of paper. There was no trace +of love between us any longer. I could see that she hated me and feared me, and +when the thought of it drove me to drink, then she despised me as well. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Sarah found that she could not make a living in Liverpool, so she went +back, as I understand, to live with her sister in Croydon, and things jogged on +much the same as ever at home. And then came this last week and all the misery +and ruin. +</p> + +<p> +“It was in this way. We had gone on the <i>May Day</i> for a round voyage of +seven days, but a hogshead got loose and started one of our plates, so that we +had to put back into port for twelve hours. I left the ship and came home, +thinking what a surprise it would be for my wife, and hoping that maybe she +would be glad to see me so soon. The thought was in my head as I turned into my +own street, and at that moment a cab passed me, and there she was, sitting by +the side of Fairbairn, the two chatting and laughing, with never a thought for +me as I stood watching them from the footpath. +</p> + +<p> +“I tell you, and I give you my word for it, that from that moment I was not my +own master, and it is all like a dim dream when I look back on it. I had been +drinking hard of late, and the two things together fairly turned my brain. +There’s something throbbing in my head now, like a docker’s hammer, but that +morning I seemed to have all Niagara whizzing and buzzing in my ears. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I took to my heels, and I ran after the cab. I had a heavy oak stick in +my hand, and I tell you I saw red from the first; but as I ran I got cunning, +too, and hung back a little to see them without being seen. They pulled up soon +at the railway station. There was a good crowd round the booking-office, so I +got quite close to them without being seen. They took tickets for New Brighton. +So did I, but I got in three carriages behind them. When we reached it they +walked along the Parade, and I was never more than a hundred yards from them. +At last I saw them hire a boat and start for a row, for it was a very hot day, +and they thought, no doubt, that it would be cooler on the water. +</p> + +<p> +“It was just as if they had been given into my hands. There was a bit of a +haze, and you could not see more than a few hundred yards. I hired a boat for +myself, and I pulled after them. I could see the blur of their craft, but they +were going nearly as fast as I, and they must have been a long mile from the +shore before I caught them up. The haze was like a curtain all round us, and +there were we three in the middle of it. My God, shall I ever forget their +faces when they saw who was in the boat that was closing in upon them? She +screamed out. He swore like a madman and jabbed at me with an oar, for he must +have seen death in my eyes. I got past it and got one in with my stick that +crushed his head like an egg. I would have spared her, perhaps, for all my +madness, but she threw her arms round him, crying out to him, and calling him +‘Alec.’ I struck again, and she lay stretched beside him. I was like a wild +beast then that had tasted blood. If Sarah had been there, by the Lord, she +should have joined them. I pulled out my knife, and—well, there! I’ve said +enough. It gave me a kind of savage joy when I thought how Sarah would feel +when she had such signs as these of what her meddling had brought about. Then I +tied the bodies into the boat, stove a plank, and stood by until they had sunk. +I knew very well that the owner would think that they had lost their bearings +in the haze, and had drifted off out to sea. I cleaned myself up, got back to +land, and joined my ship without a soul having a suspicion of what had passed. +That night I made up the packet for Sarah Cushing, and next day I sent it from +Belfast. +</p> + +<p> +“There you have the whole truth of it. You can hang me, or do what you like +with me, but you cannot punish me as I have been punished already. I cannot +shut my eyes but I see those two faces staring at me—staring at me as they +stared when my boat broke through the haze. I killed them quick, but they are +killing me slow; and if I have another night of it I shall be either mad or +dead before morning. You won’t put me alone into a cell, sir? For pity’s sake +don’t, and may you be treated in your day of agony as you treat me now.’ +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +“What is the meaning of it, Watson?” said Holmes solemnly as he laid down the +paper. “What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear? +It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is +unthinkable. But what end? There is the great standing perennial problem to +which human reason is as far from an answer as ever.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>III.<br/> +The Yellow Face</h2> + +<p> +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 reputation—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 Affair of the Second Stain and that which I am now about +to recount are the two which present the strongest features of interest. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Beg pardon, sir,” said our page-boy, as he opened the door. “There’s been a +gentleman here asking for you, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes glanced reproachfully at me. “So much for afternoon walks!” said he. +“Has this gentleman gone, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Didn’t you ask him in?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir; he came in.” +</p> + +<p> +“How long did he wait?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. Halloa! That’s not your +pipe on the table. He must have left his behind him. A nice old briar 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“How do you know that he values it highly?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Anything else?” I asked, for Holmes was turning the pipe about in his hand, +and staring at it in his peculiar pensive way. +</p> + +<p> +He held it up and tapped on it with his long, thin fore-finger, as a professor +might who was lecturing on a bone. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“You think a man must be well-to-do if he smokes a seven-shilling pipe,” said +I. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the other points?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +An instant later our door opened, and a tall young man entered the room. He was +well but quietly dressed in a dark-grey 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“I wanted your advice, sir. I don’t know what to do and my whole life seems to +have gone to pieces.” +</p> + +<p> +“You wish to employ me as a consulting detective?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“My dear Mr. Grant Munro—” began Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +Our visitor sprang from his chair. “What!” he cried, “you know my name?” +</p> + +<p> +“If you wish to preserve your <i>incognito</i>,” 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?” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Kindly let me have the facts, Mr. Munro,” said Holmes, with some impatience. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Jack,’ said she, ‘when you took my money you said that if ever I wanted any I +was to ask you for it.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Certainly,’ said I. ‘It’s all your own.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Well,’ said she, ‘I want a hundred pounds.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘What on earth for?’ I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Oh,’ said she, in her playful way, ‘you said that you were only my banker, +and bankers never ask questions, you know.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘If you really mean it, of course you shall have the money,’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Oh, yes, I really mean it.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘And you won’t tell me what you want it for?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Some day, perhaps, but not just at present, Jack.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 neighbourly 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 colour 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘What may you be wantin’?’ she asked, in a Northern accent. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I am your neighbour 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—’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“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? +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Where in the world have you been, Effie?’ I asked as she entered. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘You awake, Jack!’ she cried, with a nervous laugh. ‘Why, I thought that +nothing could awake you.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Where have you been?’ I asked, more sternly. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Ah, Jack,’ she said, ‘I have just been in to see if I can be of any +assistance to our new neighbours. Why do you look at me like that, Jack? You +are not angry with me?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘So,’ said I, ‘this is where you went during the night.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘What do you mean?’ she cried. +</p> + +<p> +“‘You came here. I am sure of it. Who are these people, that you should visit +them at such an hour?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘I have not been here before.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“There was such earnestness, such despair, in her manner that her words +arrested me, and I stood irresolute before the door. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Where is your mistress?’ I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I think that she has gone out for a walk,’ she answered. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Tell me everything, then,’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I cannot, Jack, I cannot,’ she cried. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me,” said he at last, “could you swear that this was a man’s face which +you saw at the window?” +</p> + +<p> +“Each time that I saw it I was some distance away from it, so that it is +impossible for me to say.” +</p> + +<p> +“You appear, however, to have been disagreeably impressed by it.” +</p> + +<p> +“It seemed to be of an unnatural colour, and to have a strange rigidity about +the features. When I approached, it vanished with a jerk.” +</p> + +<p> +“How long is it since your wife asked you for a hundred pounds?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nearly two months.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you ever seen a photograph of her first husband?” +</p> + +<p> +“No; there was a great fire at Atlanta very shortly after his death, and all +her papers were destroyed.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet she had a certificate of death. You say that you saw it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; she got a duplicate after the fire.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you ever meet any one who knew her in America?” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did she ever talk of revisiting the place?” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“Or get letters from it?” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“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 it 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if it is still empty?” +</p> + +<p> +“In that case I shall come out to-morrow and talk it over with you. Good-by; +and, above all, do not fret until you know that you really have a cause for +it.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“It had an ugly sound,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes. There’s blackmail in it, or I am much mistaken.” +</p> + +<p> +“And who is the blackmailer?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have a theory?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you think so?” +</p> + +<p> +“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 +endeavours 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 endeavour 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 +neighbours 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 is still so when he +reconnoitres it this evening. What do you think of my theory?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is all surmise.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What is your plan, then?” asked Holmes, as he walked down the dark tree-lined +road. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I am determined.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +It was a cosey, 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, and 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. +</p> + +<p> +“My God!” he cried. “What can be the meaning of this?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your child?” +</p> + +<p> +She drew a large silver locket from her bosom. “You have never seen this open.” +</p> + +<p> +“I understood that it did not open.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 neighbour, +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 +neighbourhood. 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes and I followed them down the lane, and my friend plucked at my sleeve as +we came out. +</p> + +<p> +“I think,” said he, “that we shall be of more use in London than in Norbury.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>IV.<br/> +The Stockbroker’s Clerk</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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 <i>British Medical Journal</i> after breakfast, I heard a ring at +the bell, followed by the high, somewhat strident tones of my old companion’s +voice. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you, we are both very well,” said I, shaking him warmly by the hand. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I trust that you don’t consider your collection closed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not at all. I should wish nothing better than to have some more of such +experiences.” +</p> + +<p> +“To-day, for example?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, to-day, if you like.” +</p> + +<p> +“And as far off as Birmingham?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, if you wish it.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the practice?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do my neighbour’s when he goes. He is always ready to work off the debt.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“So you have. You look remarkably robust.” +</p> + +<p> +“How, then, did you know of it?” +</p> + +<p> +“My dear fellow, you know my methods.” +</p> + +<p> +“You deduced it, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly.” +</p> + +<p> +“And from what?” +</p> + +<p> +“From your slippers.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 your 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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly. What is the case?” +</p> + +<p> +“You shall hear it all in the train. My client is outside in a four-wheeler. +Can you come at once?” +</p> + +<p> +“In an instant.” I scribbled a note to my neighbour, rushed upstairs to explain +the matter to my wife, and joined Holmes upon the door-step. +</p> + +<p> +“Your neighbour is a doctor,” said he, nodding at the brass plate. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; he bought a practice as I did.” +</p> + +<p> +“An old-established one?” +</p> + +<p> +“Just the same as mine. Both have been ever since the houses were built.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! Then you got hold of the best of the two.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think I did. But how do you know?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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 moustache. 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 <i>outré</i> features which are as dear to +you as they are to me. Now, Mr. Pycroft, I shall not interrupt you again.” +</p> + +<p> +Our young companion looked at me with a twinkle in his eye. +</p> + +<p> +“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: +</p> + +<p> +“I used to have a billet at Coxon & Woodhouse, of Drapers’ 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. +</p> + +<p> +“At last I saw a vacancy at Mawson & Williams’, the great stockbroking firm +in Lombard Street. I daresay 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘Mr. Hall Pycroft, I believe?’” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes, sir,’ I answered, pushing a chair towards him. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Lately engaged at Coxon & Woodhouse’s?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes, sir.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘And now on the staff of Mawson’s.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Quite so.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘You have a good memory?’ said he. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Pretty fair,’ I answered, modestly. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Have you kept in touch with the market while you have been out of work?’ he +asked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes; I read the Stock Exchange List every morning.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘A hundred and six and a quarter to a hundred and five and seven-eighths.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘And New Zealand Consolidated?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘A hundred and four. +</p> + +<p> +“‘And British Broken Hills?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Seven to seven-and-six.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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!’ +</p> + +<p> +“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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘On Monday.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Ha, ha! I think I would risk a little sporting flutter that you don’t go +there at all.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Not go to Mawson’s?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“This took my breath away. ‘I never heard of it,’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 to-night. We can only offer you a +beggarly five hundred to start with.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Five hundred a year!’ I shouted. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘But I know nothing about hardware.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Tut, my boy; you know about figures.’ +</p> + +<p> +“My head buzzed, and I could hardly sit still in my chair. But suddenly a +little chill of doubt came upon me. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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—’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘That is very handsome,’ said I. ‘When should I take over my new duties?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Really, I hardly know how to express my gratitude, Mr. Pinner,’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Not at all, my boy. You have only got your deserts. 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.”’ +</p> + +<p> +“I did as he asked, and he put the paper in his pocket. +</p> + +<p> +“‘There is one other detail,’ said he. ‘What do you intend to do about +Mawson’s?’ +</p> + +<p> +“I had forgotten all about Mawson’s in my joy. ‘I’ll write and resign,’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘He would rather have our small price than your big one,’ said he. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I’ll lay you a fiver,’ said I, ‘that when he has my offer you’ll never so +much as hear from him again.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Done!’ said he. ‘We picked him out of the gutter, and he won’t leave us so +easily.’ Those were his very words.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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!’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Are you Mr. Hall Pycroft?’ he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes,’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘I was just looking for the offices when you came.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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 daresay 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“I gave it to him, and he read it over very carefully. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘What are my duties?’ I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘You will eventually manage the great depôt 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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘How?’ +</p> + +<p> +“For answer, he took a big red book out of a drawer. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Surely there are classified lists?’ I suggested. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘It took some time,’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘And now,’ said he, ‘I want you to make a list of the furniture shops, for +they all sell crockery.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Very good.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 labours.’ 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.” +</p> + +<p> +Sherlock Holmes rubbed his hands with delight, and I stared with astonishment +at our client. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +There was a pause after the stockbroker’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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But how can we do it?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +At seven o’clock that evening we were walking, the three of us, down +Corporation Street to the company’s offices. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is suggestive,” remarked Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +“By Jove, I told you so!” cried the clerk. “That’s he walking ahead of us +there.” +</p> + +<p> +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 doorway. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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 recognise 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. +</p> + +<p> +“You look ill, Mr. Pinner!” he exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am an accountant,” said Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah yes, we shall want something of the sort. And you, Mr. Price?” +</p> + +<p> +“A clerk,” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“You forget, Mr. Pinner, that I am here by appointment to receive some +directions from you,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“What now?” whispered Holmes. “Is he giving us the slip?” +</p> + +<p> +“Impossible,” answered Pycroft. +</p> + +<p> +“Why so?” +</p> + +<p> +“That door leads into an inner room.” +</p> + +<p> +“There is no exit?” +</p> + +<p> +“None.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is it furnished?” +</p> + +<p> +“It was empty yesterday.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then what on earth can he be doing? There is something which I don’t +understand in this 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?” +</p> + +<p> +“He suspects that we are detectives,” I suggested. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s it,” cried Pycroft. +</p> + +<p> +Holmes shook his head. “He did not turn pale. He was pale when we entered the +room,” said he. “It is just possible that—” +</p> + +<p> +His words were interrupted by a sharp rat-tat from the direction of the inner +door. +</p> + +<p> +“What the deuce is he knocking at his own door for?” cried the clerk. +</p> + +<p> +Again and much louder came 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. +</p> + +<p> +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-coloured face, puffing his purple lips in and out with every breath—a +dreadful wreck of all that he had been but five minutes before. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you think of him, Watson?” asked Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +Holmes stood by the table, with his hands deep in his trouser’s pockets and his +chin upon his breast. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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—” +</p> + +<p> +“Pooh! All that is clear enough,” said Holmes impatiently. “It is this last +sudden move.” +</p> + +<p> +“You understand the rest, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“I think that it is fairly obvious. What do you say, Watson?” +</p> + +<p> +I shrugged my shoulders. “I must confess that I am out of my depths,” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, surely if you consider the events at first they can only point to one +conclusion.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you make of them?” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am afraid I miss the point.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“And why?” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite so. Why? When we answer that we have made some progress with our little +problem. Why? There can be only one adequate reason. Some one 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“My God!” cried our client, “what a blind beetle I have been!” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not a soul,” groaned Hall Pycroft. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But why should this man pretend to be his own brother?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“We must wire to Mawson’s.” +</p> + +<p> +“They shut at twelve on Saturdays.” +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind. There may be some door-keeper or attendant—” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“The paper! Of course!” yelled Holmes, in a paroxysm of excitement. “Idiot that +I was! I thought so much 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 <i>Evening Standard</i>. +Here is what we want. Look at the headlines: ‘Crime in the City. Murder at +Mawson & Williams’. Gigantic Attempted Robbery. Capture of the Criminal.’ +Here, Watson, we are all equally anxious to hear it, so kindly read it aloud to +us.” +</p> + +<p> +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: +</p> + +<p> +“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 than 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 utilised in order to obtain +moulding of various locks, and a thorough knowledge of the position of the +strong room and the safes. +</p> + +<p> +“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 Pollock 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 other mines and 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>V.<br/> +The “<i>Gloria Scott</i>”</h2> + +<p> +“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 <i>Gloria Scott</i>, and this is the message which +struck Justice of the Peace Trevor dead with horror when he read it.” +</p> + +<p> +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-grey paper. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +As I glanced up from reading this enigmatical message, I saw Holmes chuckling +at the expression upon my face. +</p> + +<p> +“You look a little bewildered,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot see how such a message as this could inspire horror. It seems to me +to be rather grotesque than otherwise.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because it was the first in which I was ever engaged.” +</p> + +<p> +I had often endeavoured 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 humour. Now he sat forward in this armchair and spread out the +documents upon his knees. Then he lit his pipe and sat for some time smoking +and turning them over. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Trevor senior was a widower, and my friend his only son. +</p> + +<p> +“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 travelled 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Come, now, Mr. Holmes,’ said he, laughing good-humoredly. ‘I’m an excellent +subject, if you can deduce anything from me.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“The laugh faded from his lips, and he stared at me in great surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Anything else?’ he asked, smiling. +</p> + +<p> +“‘You have boxed a good deal in your youth.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Right again. How did you know it? Is my nose knocked a little out of the +straight?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘No,’ said I. ‘It is your ears. They have the peculiar flattening and +thickening which marks the boxing man.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Anything else?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘You have done a good deal of digging by your callosities.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Made all my money at the gold fields.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘You have been in New Zealand.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Right again.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘You have visited Japan.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Quite true.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘And you have been most intimately associated with some one whose initials +were J. A., and whom you afterwards were eager to entirely forget.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I hope that I have said nothing to pain you?’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘What is his name?’ asked my host. +</p> + +<p> +“‘He would not give any.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘What does he want, then?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘He says that you know him, and that he only wants a moment’s conversation.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Well, my man,’ said he, ‘what can I do for you?’ +</p> + +<p> +“The sailor stood looking at him with puckered eyes, and with the same +loose-lipped smile upon his face. +</p> + +<p> +“‘You don’t know me?’ he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Why, dear me, it is surely Hudson,’ said Mr. Trevor in a tone of surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Thank you, sir,’ said the seaman, touching his forelock. ‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Ah!’ cried Trevor. ‘You know where Mr. Beddoes is?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘The governor is dying,’ were the first words he said. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Impossible!’ I cried. ‘What is the matter?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Apoplexy. Nervous shock, He’s been on the verge all day. I doubt if we shall +find him alive.’ +</p> + +<p> +“I was, as you may think, Watson, horrified at this unexpected news. +</p> + +<p> +“‘What has caused it?’ I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Perfectly.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Do you know who it was that we let into the house that day?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘I have no idea.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘It was the devil, Holmes,’ he cried. +</p> + +<p> +“I stared at him in astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘What power had he, then?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 apologising 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“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 daresay.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘“You’re not going away in an unkind spirit, Hudson, I hope,” said my father, +with a tameness which made my blood boil. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“I’ve not had my ’pology,” said he sulkily, glancing in my direction. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“Victor, you will acknowledge that you have used this worthy fellow rather +roughly,” said the dad, turning to me. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“On the contrary, I think that we have both shown extraordinary patience +towards him,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘And how?’ I asked eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +“‘In a most extraordinary fashion. A letter arrived for my father yesterday +evening, bearing the Fordingbridge postmark. 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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘You horrify me, Trevor!’ I cried. ‘What then could have been in this letter +to cause so dreadful a result?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Nothing. There lies the inexplicable part of it. The message was absurd and +trivial. Ah, my God, it is as I feared!’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘When did it happen, doctor?’ asked Trevor. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Almost immediately after you left.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Did he recover consciousness?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘For an instant before the end.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Any message for me?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Only that the papers were in the back drawer of the Japanese cabinet.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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 +Fordingbridge? Then I remembered that Fordingbridge 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 +grey 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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“I daresay 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. +</p> + +<p> +“It was short and terse, the warning, as I now read it to my companion: +</p> + +<p> +“‘The game is up. Hudson has told all. Fly for your life.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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”?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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 <i>Gloria +Scott</i>, from her leaving Falmouth on the 8th October, 1855, to her +destruction in N. lat. 15º 20’, W. long. 25º 14’ on Nov. 6th.’ It is in the +form of a letter, and runs in this way: +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘If then your eye goes on to 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 +surmised 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 honour, 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 barque <i>Gloria +Scott</i>, bound for Australia. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 <i>Gloria Scott</i> 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 gaol-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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 +snowstorm. I was glad, then, to find that he was my neighbour, 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“Hallao, chummy!” said he, “what’s your name, and what are you here for?” +</p> + +<p> +“‘I answered him, and asked in turn who I was talking with. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“I’m Jack Prendergast,” said he, “and by God! You’ll learn to bless my name +before you’ve done with me.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“Ha, ha! You remember my case!” said he proudly. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“Very well, indeed.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘“Then maybe you remember something queer about it?” +</p> + +<p> +“‘“What was that, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“‘“I’d had nearly a quarter of a million, hadn’t I?” +</p> + +<p> +“‘“So it was said.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘“But none was recovered, eh?” +</p> + +<p> +“‘“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘“Well, where d’ye suppose the balance is?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“I have no idea,” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“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 <i>anything!</i> 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 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘“What are we to do, then?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“What do you think?” said he. “We’ll make the coats of some of these soldiers +redder than ever the tailor did.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘“But they are armed,” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘I did so, and found my other neighbour 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. +</p> + +<p> +““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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 it 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 lieutenant 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! Prendergast 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 Prendergast 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 bloodthirsty doings, and we saw that there would be worse before it was +done. We were given a suit of sailors’ 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. 15º N. and long 25º W., and then cut the painter and let us go. +</p> + +<p> +“‘And now I come to the most surprising part of my story, my dear son. The +seamen had hauled the foreyard 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 barque 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 barque 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 <i>Gloria Scott</i>. 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 it may, it was the end of the +<i>Gloria Scott</i> and of the rabble who held command of her. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 <i>Hotspur</i>, +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 +<i>Gloria Scott</i> 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 +<i>Hotspur</i> 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘The rest I need not relate. We prospered, we travelled, 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 +recognised 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 sympathise with me in the fears which fill me, now that he +has gone from me to his other victim with threats upon his tongue.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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!’ +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +“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 +heartbroken 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.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>VI.<br/> +The Musgrave Ritual</h2> + +<p> +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 humours, +would sit in an armchair 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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“These are the records of your early work, then?” I asked. “I have often wished +that I had notes of those cases.” +</p> + +<p> +“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 <i>recherché</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, my boy, what do you make of this lot?” he asked, smiling at my +expression. +</p> + +<p> +“It is a curious collection.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very curious, and the story that hangs round it will strike you as being more +curious still.” +</p> + +<p> +“These relics have a history then?” +</p> + +<p> +“So much so that they <i>are</i> history.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean by that?” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“These,” said he, “are all that I have left to remind me of the adventure of +the Musgrave Ritual.” +</p> + +<p> +I had heard him mention the case more than once, though I had never been able +to gather the details. +</p> + +<p> +“I should be so glad,” said I, “if you would give me an account of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“You may remember how the affair of the <i>Gloria Scott</i>, 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 recognised 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 +birthplace 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 grey 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘How has all gone with you Musgrave?’ I asked, after we had cordially shaken +hands. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes,’ said I, ‘I have taken to living by my wits.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Pray, let me have the details,’ I cried. +</p> + +<p> +“Reginald Musgrave sat down opposite to me, and lit the cigarette which I had +pushed towards him. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Of these servants the one who had been longest in our service was Brunton the +butler. He was a young schoolmaster 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 housemaid; but he has thrown her over since then and taken +up with Janet Tregellis, the daughter of the head gamekeeper. 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 <i>café noir</i> 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“So!” said I. “This is how you repay the trust which we have reposed in you. +You will leave my service to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘We had better come back to the paper afterwards,’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘“Only a week, sir?” he cried, in a despairing voice. “A fortnight—say at +least a fortnight!” +</p> + +<p> +“‘“A week,” I repeated, “and you may consider yourself to have been very +leniently dealt with.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘He crept away, his face sunk upon his breast, like a broken man, while I put +out the light and returned to my room. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“You should be in bed,” I said. “Come back to your duties when you are +stronger.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘She looked at me with so strange an expression that I began to suspect that +her brain was affected. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“I am strong enough, Mr. Musgrave,” said she. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘“The butler is gone,” said she. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“Gone! Gone where?” +</p> + +<p> +“‘“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? +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 armchair, 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 discoloured metal and several dull-coloured +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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“You can imagine, Watson, with what eagerness I listened to this extraordinary +sequence of events, and endeavoured 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I must see that paper, Musgrave,’ said I, ‘which this butler of yours thought +it worth his while to consult, even at the risk of the loss of his place.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Whose was it?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘His who is gone.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Who shall have it?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘He who will come.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Where was the sun?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Over the oak.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Where was the shadow?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Under the elm.’ +</p> + +<p> +“How was it stepped?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘What shall we give for it?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘All that is ours.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Why should we give it?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘For the sake of the trust.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 than ten generations of his masters.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘I hardly follow you,’ said Musgrave. ‘The paper seems to me to be of no +practical importance.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘It is very possible. We took no pains to hide it.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘That is true. But what could he have to do with this old family custom of +ours, and what does this rigmarole mean?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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 <b>L</b>, 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 stonework 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 storehouse 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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? +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘That was there when your Ritual was drawn up,’ said I, as we drove past it. +</p> + +<p> +“‘It was there at the Norman Conquest in all probability,’ he answered. ‘It has +a girth of twenty-three feet.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Have you any old elms?’ I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘You can see where it used to be?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Oh, yes.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘There are no other elms?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘No old ones, but plenty of beeches.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘I should like to see where it grew.’ +</p> + +<p> +“We had driven up in a dog-cart, 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I suppose it is impossible to find out how high the elm was?’ I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I can give you it at once. It was sixty-four feet.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘How do you come to know it?’ I asked, in surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“This was an unexpected piece of luck. My data were coming more quickly than I +could have reasonably hoped. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Tell me,’ I asked, ‘did your butler ever ask you such a question?’ +</p> + +<p> +“Reginald Musgrave looked at me in astonishment. ‘Now that you call it to my +mind,’ he answered, ‘Brunton <i>did</i> ask me about the height of the tree +some months ago, in connection with some little argument with the groom.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“That must have been difficult, Holmes, when the elm was no longer there.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 grey 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘And under,’ he cried. ‘You have omitted the “and under.”’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes, and as old as the house. Down here, through this door.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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?’ +</p> + +<p> +“At my suggestion a couple of the county police were summoned to be present, +and I then endeavoured 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 +recognised that distorted liver-coloured 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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? +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘We may find something else of Charles the First,’ I cried, as the probable +meaning of the first two questions of the Ritual broke suddenly upon me. ‘Let +me see the contents of the bag which you fished from the mere.’ +</p> + +<p> +“We ascended to his study, and he laid the <i>débris</i> 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘My ancestor, Sir Ralph Musgrave, was a prominent Cavalier and the right-hand +man of Charles the Second in his wanderings,’ said my friend. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘What is it, then?’ he gasped in astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“‘It is nothing less than the ancient crown of the Kings of England.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘The crown!’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘And how came it in the pond?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>VII.<br/> +The Reigate Squires</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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 labours 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 outmanœuvred at every +point the most accomplished swindler in Europe, was insufficient to rouse him +from his nervous prostration. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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 armoury of fire-arms. +</p> + +<p> +“By the way,” said he suddenly, “I think I’ll take one of these pistols +upstairs with me in case we have an alarm.” +</p> + +<p> +“An alarm!” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“No clue?” asked Holmes, cocking his eye at the Colonel. +</p> + +<p> +“None as yet. But the affair is a petty one, one of our little country crimes, +which must seem too small for your attention, Mr. Holmes, after this great +international affair.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes waved away the compliment, though his smile showed that it had pleased +him. +</p> + +<p> +“Was there any feature of interest?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What an extraordinary assortment!” I exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, the fellows evidently grabbed hold of everything they could get.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes grunted from the sofa. +</p> + +<p> +“The county police ought to make something of that,” said he; “why, it is +surely obvious that—” +</p> + +<p> +But I held up a warning finger. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes shrugged his shoulders with a glance of comic resignation towards the +Colonel, and the talk drifted away into less dangerous channels. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you heard the news, sir?” he gasped. “At the Cunningham’s sir!” +</p> + +<p> +“Burglary!” cried the Colonel, with his coffee-cup in mid-air. +</p> + +<p> +“Murder!” +</p> + +<p> +The Colonel whistled. “By Jove!” said he. “Who’s killed, then? The J.P. or his +son?” +</p> + +<p> +“Neither, sir. It was William the coachman. Shot through the heart, sir, and +never spoke again.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who shot him, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What time?” +</p> + +<p> +“It was last night, sir, somewhere about twelve.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And stole that very singular collection,” said Holmes, thoughtfully. +</p> + +<p> +“Precisely.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And richest?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Inspector Forrester, sir,” said the butler, throwing open the door. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +The Colonel waved his hand towards my friend, and the Inspector bowed. +</p> + +<p> +“We thought that perhaps you would care to step across, Mr. Holmes.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What was this William doing there? Did he say anything before he died?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did William say anything to his mother before going out?” +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +He took a small piece of torn paper from a note-book and spread it out upon his +knee. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes took up the scrap of paper, a facsimile of which is here reproduced. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> <img src="images/scrap.jpg" +style="width:100%;" alt="scrap of paper " /> </div> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 +colour, and his eyes as bright as before his illness. He sprang to his feet +with all his old energy. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +An hour and half had elapsed before the Inspector returned alone. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“To Mr. Cunningham’s?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“What for?” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t think you need alarm yourself,” said I. “I have usually found that +there was method in his madness.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +We found Holmes pacing up and down in the field, his chin sunk upon his breast, +and his hands thrust into his trousers pockets. +</p> + +<p> +“The matter grows in interest,” said he. “Watson, your country-trip has been a +distinct success. I have had a charming morning.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have been up to the scene of the crime, I understand,” said the Colonel. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; the Inspector and I have made quite a little reconnaissance together.” +</p> + +<p> +“Any success?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Had you doubted it, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Naturally.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what is the result of your investigations?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“It should give a clue, Mr. Holmes.” +</p> + +<p> +“It <i>does</i> 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?” +</p> + +<p> +“I examined the ground carefully in the hope of finding it,” said the +Inspector. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, but how can we get at the criminal’s pocket before we catch the +criminal?” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have made inquiries,” said the Inspector. “William received a letter by the +afternoon post yesterday. The envelope was destroyed by him.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, you must give us a little time,” said Holmes good-humoredly. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll want it,” said young Alec Cunningham. “Why, I don’t see that we have +any clue at all.” +</p> + +<p> +“There’s only one,” answered the Inspector. “We thought that if we could only +find—Good heavens, Mr. Holmes! What is the matter?” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Watson would tell you that I have only just recovered from a severe illness,” +he explained. “I am liable to these sudden nervous attacks.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shall I send you home in my trap?” asked old Cunningham. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, since I am here, there is one point on which I should like to feel sure. +We can very easily verify it.” +</p> + +<p> +“What was it?” +</p> + +<p> +“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 burglar into the +house. You appear to take it for granted that, although the door was forced, +the robber never got in.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where was he sitting?” +</p> + +<p> +“I was smoking in my dressing-room.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which window is that?” +</p> + +<p> +“The last on the left next my father’s.” +</p> + +<p> +“Both of your lamps were lit, of course?” +</p> + +<p> +“Undoubtedly.” +</p> + +<p> +“There are some very singular points here,” said Holmes, smiling. “Is it not +extraordinary that a burglar—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?” +</p> + +<p> +“He must have been a cool hand.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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 pounds was quite enough, +I thought.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“I wrote it rather hurriedly.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Get it printed as soon as possible,” he said; “I think your idea is an +excellent one.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes put the slip of paper carefully away into his pocket-book. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t use bars, then?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“We have never found it necessary.” +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t keep a dog?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, but he is chained on the other side of the house.” +</p> + +<p> +“When do the servants go to bed?” +</p> + +<p> +“About ten.” +</p> + +<p> +“I understand that William was usually in bed also at that hour.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“You must try round and get on a fresh scent, I fancy,” said the son with a +rather malicious smile. +</p> + +<p> +“Still, I must ask you to humour 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. +</p> + +<p> +“I hope that you are satisfied now?” said Mr. Cunningham, tartly. +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you, I think I have seen all that I wished.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then if it is really necessary we can go into my room.” +</p> + +<p> +“If it is not too much trouble.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve done it now, Watson,” said he, coolly. “A pretty mess you’ve made of +the carpet.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Halloa!” cried the Inspector, “where’s he got to?” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes had disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +They rushed out of the room, leaving the Inspector, the Colonel, and me staring +at each other. +</p> + +<p> +“’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—” +</p> + +<p> +His words were cut short by a sudden scream of “Help! Help! Murder!” With a +thrill I recognised the voice of 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. +</p> + +<p> +“Arrest these men, Inspector!” he gasped. +</p> + +<p> +“On what charge?” +</p> + +<p> +“That of murdering their coachman, William Kirwan!” +</p> + +<p> +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—” +</p> + +<p> +“Tut, man, look at their faces!” cried Holmes, curtly. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“The remainder of the sheet!” cried the Inspector. +</p> + +<p> +“Precisely.” +</p> + +<p> +“And where was it?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am afraid that my explanation may disillusionize 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 has been +rather tried of late.” +</p> + +<p> +“I trust that you had no more of those nervous attacks.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“It is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able to +recognise, 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 <i>instantly</i> 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 observe something +very suggestive about it?” +</p> + +<p> +“It has a very irregular look,” said the Colonel. +</p> + +<p> +“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 recognise 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“By Jove, it’s as clear as day!” cried the Colonel. “Why on earth should two +men write a letter in such a fashion?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“How do you get at that?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Excellent!” cried Mr. Acton. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Excellent!” cried Mr. Acton again. +</p> + +<p> +“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 tend to deepen the impression upon my mind +that the Cunninghams, father and son, had written this letter. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“And now I have to consider the motive of this singular crime. To get at this, +I endeavoured 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Good heavens!” cried the Colonel, laughing, “do you mean to say all our +sympathy was wasted and your fit an imposture?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, what an ass I have been!” I exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +“I could see that you were commiserating 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 blackmail 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the note?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +Sherlock Holmes placed the subjoined paper before us. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:70%;"> <img src="images/scrap2.jpg" +style="width:100%;" alt="piece of paper " /> </div> + +<p class="poem"> +If you will only come round at quarter to twelve<br/> +to the east gate you will learn what<br/> +will very much surprise you and maybe<br/> +be of the greatest service to you and also<br/> +to Annie Morrison. But say nothing to anyone<br/> +upon the matter +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>VIII.<br/> +The Crooked Man</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Watson,” said he, “I hoped that I might not be too late to catch you.” +</p> + +<p> +“My dear fellow, pray come in.” +</p> + +<p> +“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 to-night?” +</p> + +<p> +“With pleasure.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I shall be delighted if you will stay.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, the gas.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“I see that you are professionally rather busy just now,” said he, glancing +very keenly across at me. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes chuckled to himself. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Excellent!” I cried. +</p> + +<p> +“Elementary,” said he. “It is one of those instances where the reasoner can +produce an effect which seems remarkable to his neighbour, 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 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I should be delighted.” +</p> + +<p> +“Could you go as far as Aldershot to-morrow?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have no doubt Jackson would take my practice.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very good. I want to start by the 11.10 from Waterloo.” +</p> + +<p> +“That would give me time.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, if you are not too sleepy, I will give you a sketch of what has +happened, and of what remains to be done.” +</p> + +<p> +“I was sleepy before you came. I am quite wakeful now.” +</p> + +<p> +“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 +Mallows, at Aldershot, which I am investigating.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have heard nothing of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“It has not excited much attention yet, except locally. The facts are only two +days old. Briefly they are these: +</p> + +<p> +“The Royal Mallows 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 +colour-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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Colonel Barclay himself seems to have had some singular traits in his +character. He was a dashing, jovial old soldier 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 gayeties 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. +</p> + +<p> +“The first battalion of the Royal Mallows (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. +</p> + +<p> +“Now for the events at Lachine between nine and ten on the evening of last +Monday.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 +housemaid, 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 +armchair, 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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-humour in which her companion had returned. +</p> + +<p> +“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 footmarks: 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“His companion!” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes pulled a large sheet of tissue-paper out of his pocket and carefully +unfolded it upon his knee. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you make of that?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +The paper was covered with the tracings of the footmarks of some small animal. +It had five well-marked footpads, an indication of long nails, and the whole +print might be nearly as large as a dessert-spoon. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a dog,” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“Did you ever hear of a dog running up a curtain? I found distinct traces that +this creature had done so.” +</p> + +<p> +“A monkey, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“But it is not the print of a monkey.” +</p> + +<p> +“What can it be, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“How do you deduce that?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then what was the beast?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But what had it to do with the crime?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your discoveries seem to have left the business more obscure that it was +before,” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you, you have gone rather too far to stop.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 overheard. 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 Morrison, 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. +</p> + +<p> +“Miss Morrison is a little, ethereal slip of a girl, with timid eyes and blonde +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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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 his 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“I thought you had been dead this thirty years, Henry,” said she, in a +shaking voice. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“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 grey, and his face was +all crinkled and puckered like a withered apple. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘“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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you intend to ask him?” +</p> + +<p> +“Most certainly—but in the presence of a witness.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I am the witness?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But how do you know he’ll be there when we return?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“He’s in all right, Mr. Holmes,” cried a small street Arab, running up to us. +</p> + +<p> +“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 indescribable 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. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Henry Wood, late of India, I believe,” said Holmes, affably. “I’ve come +over this little matter of Colonel Barclay’s death.” +</p> + +<p> +“What should I know about that?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +The man gave a violent start. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, they are only waiting for her to come to her senses to arrest her.” +</p> + +<p> +“My God! Are you in the police yourself?” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“What business is it of yours, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s every man’s business to see justice done.” +</p> + +<p> +“You can take my word that she is innocent.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you are guilty.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, I am not.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who killed Colonel James Barclay, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“It was in this way, sir. You see me now with my back like a camel and my 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 +colour-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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 Nepaul 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 Punjab, 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who’s Teddy?” asked Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a mongoose,” I cried. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Any other point, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, we may have to apply to you again if Mrs. Barclay should prove to be in +serious trouble.” +</p> + +<p> +“In that case, of course, I’d come forward.” +</p> + +<p> +“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-by, +Wood. I want to learn if anything has happened since yesterday.” +</p> + +<p> +We were in time to overtake the major before he reached the corner. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Holmes,” he said: “I suppose you have heard that all this fuss has come to +nothing?” +</p> + +<p> +“What then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, remarkably superficial,” said Holmes, smiling. “Come, Watson, I don’t +think we shall be wanted in Aldershot any more.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of reproach?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>IX.<br/> +The Resident Patient</h2> + +<p> +In glancing over the somewhat incoherent series of memoirs with which I have +endeavoured 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 <i>tour-de-force</i> 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 <i>Gloria Scott</i>, 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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“A day’s work ruined, Watson,” said he, striding across to the window. “Ha! the +stars are out and the wind has fallen. What do you say to a ramble through +London?” +</p> + +<p> +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. Holmes had shaken off +his temporary ill-humour, and 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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 +colour about his necktie. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-evening, doctor,” said Holmes, cheerily. “I am glad to see that you have +only been waiting a very few minutes.” +</p> + +<p> +“You spoke to my coachman, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“My name is Doctor Percy Trevelyan,” said our visitor, “and I live at 403, +Brook Street.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you not the author of a monograph upon obscure nervous lesions?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +His pale cheeks flushed with pleasure at hearing that his work was known to me. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“A retired Army surgeon.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘You are the same Percy Trevelyan who has had so distinguished a career and +won a great prize lately?’ said he. +</p> + +<p> +“I bowed. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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?’ +</p> + +<p> +“I could not help smiling at the abruptness of the question. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I trust that I have my share,’ I said. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Any bad habits? Not drawn towards drink, eh?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Really, sir!’ I cried. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Quite right! That’s all right! But I was bound to ask. With all these +qualities, why are you not in practice?’ +</p> + +<p> +“I shrugged my shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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?’ +</p> + +<p> +“I stared at him in astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘But why?’ I gasped. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Well, it’s just like any other speculation, and safer than most.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘What am I to do, then?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“This letter interested me deeply, because the chief difficulty in the study of +catalepsy is the rareness of the disease. You may believe, then, that I was in +my consulting-room when, at the appointed hour, the page showed in the patient. +</p> + +<p> +“He was an elderly man, thin, demure, and commonplace—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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“I was touched by this filial anxiety. ‘You would, perhaps, care to remain +during the consultation?’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 harmonised 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I feel that I owe you a great many apologies for my abrupt departure +yesterday, doctor,’ said my patient. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I confess that I was very much surprised at it,’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Who has been in my room?’ he cried. +</p> + +<p> +“‘No one,’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘It’s a lie! He yelled. ‘Come up and look!’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘D’you mean to say those are mine?’ he cried. +</p> + +<p> +“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 had been +touched or taken, but there were the footprints to prove that the intrusion was +an undoubted fact. +</p> + +<p> +“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 armchair, 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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“I have a pistol,” it cried. “I give you my word that I’ll fire if you come any +nearer.” +</p> + +<p> +“This really grows outrageous, Mr. Blessington,” cried Dr. Trevelyan. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +We were conscious of a long scrutiny out of the darkness. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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 colour, 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite so,” said Holmes. “Who are these two men Mr. Blessington, and why do +they wish to molest you?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you mean that you don’t know?” +</p> + +<p> +“Come in here, if you please. Just have the kindness to step in here.” +</p> + +<p> +He led the way into his bedroom, which was large and comfortably furnished. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes looked at Blessington in his questioning way and shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot possibly advise you if you try to deceive me,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“But I have told you everything.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes turned on his heel with a gesture of disgust. “Good-night, Dr. +Trevelyan,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“And no advice for me?” cried Blessington, in a breaking voice. +</p> + +<p> +“My advice to you, sir, is to speak the truth.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I can make little of it,” I confessed. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the catalepsy?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is there not one alternative,” I suggested, “grotesquely improbable, 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?” +</p> + +<p> +I saw in the gaslight that Holmes wore an amused smile at this brilliant +departure of mine. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s a brougham waiting for us, Watson,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the matter, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“The Brook Street business.” +</p> + +<p> +“Any fresh news?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, such a business!” he cried, with his hands to his temples. +</p> + +<p> +“What then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Blessington has committed suicide!” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes whistled. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, he hanged himself during the night.” +</p> + +<p> +We had entered, and the doctor had preceded us into what was evidently his +waiting-room. +</p> + +<p> +“I really hardly know what I am doing,” he cried. “The police are already +upstairs. It has shaken me most dreadfully.” +</p> + +<p> +“When did you find it out?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes stood for a moment in deep thought. +</p> + +<p> +“With your permission,” said he at last, “I should like to go upstairs and look +into the matter.” +</p> + +<p> +We both ascended, followed by the doctor. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Mr. Holmes,” said he, heartily, as my friend entered, “I am delighted to +see you.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I heard something of them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you formed any opinion?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I should say that he has been dead about three hours, judging by the rigidity +of the muscles,” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“Noticed anything peculiar about the room?” asked Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum!” said Holmes, “have you got his cigar-holder?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, I have seen none.” +</p> + +<p> +“His cigar-case, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it was in his coat-pocket.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes opened it and smelled the single cigar which it contained. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, this is a 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Impossible!” cried the inspector. +</p> + +<p> +“And why?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why should any one murder a man in so clumsy a fashion as by hanging him?” +</p> + +<p> +“That is what we have to find out.” +</p> + +<p> +“How could they get in?” +</p> + +<p> +“Through the front door.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was barred in the morning.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then it was barred after them.” +</p> + +<p> +“How do you know?” +</p> + +<p> +“I saw their traces. Excuse me a moment, and I may be able to give you some +further information about it.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“How about this rope?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you have told us nothing!” cried the doctor. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“The young imp cannot be found,” said Dr. Trevelyan; “the maid and the cook +have just been searching for him.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes shrugged his shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +“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—” +</p> + +<p> +“My dear Holmes!” I ejaculated. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Any news, Inspector?” +</p> + +<p> +“We have got the boy, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Excellent, and I have got the men.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have got them!” we cried, all three. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“The Worthingdon bank gang,” cried the inspector. +</p> + +<p> +“Precisely,” said Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +“Then Blessington must have been Sutton.” +</p> + +<p> +“Exactly,” said Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, that makes it as clear as crystal,” said the inspector. +</p> + +<p> +But Trevelyan and I looked at each other in bewilderment. +</p> + +<p> +“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 +caretaker, 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?” +</p> + +<p> +“I think you have made it all remarkably 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite so. His talk about a burglary was the merest blind.” +</p> + +<p> +“But why could he not tell you this?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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 <i>Norah Creina</i>, 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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>X.<br/> +The Greek Interpreter</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But how do you know that it is hereditary?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because my brother Mycroft possesses it in a larger degree than I do.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is he your junior?” +</p> + +<p> +“Seven years my senior.” +</p> + +<p> +“How comes it that he is unknown?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, he is very well known in his own circle.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, in the Diogenes Club, for example.” +</p> + +<p> +I had never heard of the institution, and my face must have proclaimed as much, +for Sherlock Holmes pulled out his watch. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Five minutes later we were in the street, walking towards Regent’s Circus. +</p> + +<p> +“You wonder,” said my companion, “why it is that Mycroft does not use his +powers for detective work. He is incapable of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I thought you said—” +</p> + +<p> +“I said that he was my superior in observation and deduction. If the art of the +detective began and ended in reasoning from an armchair, 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 solutions, 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is not his profession, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot recall the name.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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 grey, seemed to always retain +that far-away, introspective look which I had only observed in Sherlock’s when +he was exerting his full powers. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, I solved it,” said my friend, smiling. +</p> + +<p> +“It was Adams, of course.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it was Adams.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“The billiard-marker and the other?” +</p> + +<p> +“Precisely. What do you make of the other?” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“An old soldier, I perceive,” said Sherlock. +</p> + +<p> +“And very recently discharged,” remarked the brother. +</p> + +<p> +“Served in India, I see.” +</p> + +<p> +“And a non-commissioned officer.” +</p> + +<p> +“Royal Artillery, I fancy,” said Sherlock. +</p> + +<p> +“And a widower.” +</p> + +<p> +“But with a child.” +</p> + +<p> +“Children, my dear boy, children.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come,” said I, laughing, “this is a little too much.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“That he has not left the service long is shown by his still wearing his +ammunition boots, as they are called,” observed Mycroft. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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—” +</p> + +<p> +“My dear Mycroft, I should be delighted.” +</p> + +<p> +The brother scribbled a note upon a leaf of his pocket-book, and, ringing the +bell, he handed it to the waiter. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am all attention,” said Sherlock Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +“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 neighbour 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘This is very extraordinary conduct, Mr. Latimer,’ I stammered. ‘You must be +aware that what you are doing is quite illegal.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 +<i>bonâ-fide</i> country was more than I could possibly venture to say. +</p> + +<p> +“There was a coloured 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Is this Mr. Melas, Harold?’ said he. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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!’ +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘What do you want with me?’ I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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 armour 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 enables 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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?’ +</p> + +<p> +“The man’s eyes flashed fire. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Never!’ he wrote in Greek upon the slate. +</p> + +<p> +“‘On no condition?’ I asked, at the bidding of our tyrant. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Only if I see her married in my presence by a Greek priest whom I know.’ +</p> + +<p> +“The man giggled in his venomous way. +</p> + +<p> +“‘You know what awaits you, then?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘I care nothing for myself.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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: +</p> + +<p> +“‘You can do no good by this obstinacy. <i>Who are you?</i>’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘I care not. <i>I am a stranger in London.</i>’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Your fate will be upon your own head. <i>How long have you been here?</i>’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Let it be so. <i>Three weeks.</i>’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘The property can never be yours. <i>What ails you?</i>’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘It shall not go to villains. <i>They are starving me.</i>’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘You shall go free if you sign. <i>What house is this?</i>’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘I will never sign. <i>I do not know.</i>’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘You are not doing her any service. <i>What is your name?</i>’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Let me hear her say so. <i>Kratides.</i>’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘You shall see her if you sign. <i>Where are you from?</i>’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Then I shall never see her. <i>Athens.</i>’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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!’ +</p> + +<p> +“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 doorway with his +eyes fixed upon me. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“I bowed. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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!” +</p> + +<p> +“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 grey, and glistening coldly with a malignant, inexorable +cruelty in their depths. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Can you tell me what place this is?’ I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Wandsworth Common,’ said he. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Can I get a train into town?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘If you walk on a mile or so to Clapham Junction,’ said he, ‘you’ll just be in +time for the last to Victoria.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +We all sat in silence for some little time after listening to this +extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock looked across at his brother. +</p> + +<p> +“Any steps?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +Mycroft picked up the <i>Daily News</i>, which was lying on the side-table. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Anybody supplying any information 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“How about the Greek Legation?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have inquired. They know nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“A wire to the head of the Athens police, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +As we walked home together, Holmes stopped at a telegraph office and sent off +several wires. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have hopes of solving it?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“In a vague way, yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“What was your idea, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“It seemed to me to be obvious that this Greek girl had been carried off by the +young Englishman named Harold Latimer.” +</p> + +<p> +“Carried off from where?” +</p> + +<p> +“Athens, perhaps.” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is more probable.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But how can we find where this house lies?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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 armchair. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“How did you get here?” +</p> + +<p> +“I passed you in a hansom.” +</p> + +<p> +“There has been some new development?” +</p> + +<p> +“I had an answer to my advertisement.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it came within a few minutes of your leaving.” +</p> + +<p> +“And to what effect?” +</p> + +<p> +Mycroft Holmes took out a sheet of paper. +</p> + +<p> +“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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“He writes from Lower Brixton,” said Mycroft Holmes. “Do you not think that we +might drive to him now, Sherlock, and learn these particulars?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Better pick up Mr. Melas on our way,” I suggested. “We may need an +interpreter.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Can you tell me where?” asked Mycroft Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did the gentleman give a name?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“He wasn’t a tall, handsome, dark young man?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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 terrorise 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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“The windows are all dark,” remarked the inspector. “The house seems deserted.” +</p> + +<p> +“Our birds are flown and the nest empty,” said Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you say so?” +</p> + +<p> +“A carriage heavily loaded with luggage has passed out during the last hour.” +</p> + +<p> +The inspector laughed. “I saw the wheel-tracks in the light of the gate-lamp, +but where does the luggage come in?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“I have a window open,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“What is that?” asked Holmes, suddenly. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s charcoal,” he cried. “Give it time. It will clear.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +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 recognise 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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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 endeavoured 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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>XI.<br/> +The Naval Treaty</h2> + +<p> +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 Dubuque 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. +</p> + +<p> +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, finished 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: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +Briarbrae, Woking.<br/> + 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 honour until +a horrible misfortune came suddenly to blast my career.<br/> + 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. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Your old schoolfellow,<br/> +Percy Phelps. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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 +armchair 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +I handed him the letter, which he read with the most concentrated attention. +</p> + +<p> +“It does not tell us very much, does it?” he remarked, as he handed it back to +me. +</p> + +<p> +“Hardly anything.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet the writing is of interest.” +</p> + +<p> +“But the writing is not his own.” +</p> + +<p> +“Precisely. It is a woman’s.” +</p> + +<p> +“A man’s surely,” I cried. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“We have had no details yet,” observed Holmes. “I perceive that you are not +yourself a member of the family.” +</p> + +<p> +Our acquaintance looked surprised, and then, glancing down, he began to laugh. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Shall I leave, Percy?” she asked. +</p> + +<p> +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 daresay you would +not be prepared to swear to me. This I presume is your celebrated friend, Mr. +Sherlock Holmes?” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Nearly ten weeks ago—to be more accurate, on the 23rd 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘This,’ said he, taking a grey roll of paper from his bureau, ‘is the original +of that secret treaty between England and Italy of which, I regret to say, some +rumours 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?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes, sir.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“I took the papers and—” +</p> + +<p> +“Excuse me an instant,” said Holmes. “Were you alone during this conversation?” +</p> + +<p> +“Absolutely.” +</p> + +<p> +“In a large room?” +</p> + +<p> +“Thirty feet each way.” +</p> + +<p> +“In the centre?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, about it.” +</p> + +<p> +“And speaking low?” +</p> + +<p> +“My uncle’s voice is always remarkably low. I hardly spoke at all.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you,” said Holmes, shutting his eyes; “pray go on.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 commissionnaire 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 +commissionnaire’s wife, who did the charing, and I gave her the order for the +coffee. +</p> + +<p> +“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 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 commissionnaire’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.” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:90%;"> <img src="images/rough-chart.jpg" +style="width:100%;" alt="rough chart" /> </div> + +<p> +“Thank you. I think that I quite follow you,” said Sherlock Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +“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 commissionnaire 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Mr. Phelps, sir!’ said he, looking at me in bewilderment. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I came down to see if my coffee was ready.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘If you was here, sir, then who rang the bell?’ he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘The bell!’ I cried. ‘What bell is it?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘It’s the bell of the room you were working in.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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 stairs +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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“I recognised 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is absolutely impossible. A rat could not conceal himself either in the +room or the corridor. There is no cover at all.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you. Pray proceed.” +</p> + +<p> +“The commissionnaire, 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 neighbouring clock. It was quarter to +ten.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is of enormous importance,” said Holmes, making a note upon his +shirt-cuff. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Ah, that is only my wife,’ cried the commissionnaire; ‘has no one else +passed?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘No one.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Then it must be the other way that the thief took,’ cried the fellow, tugging +at my sleeve. +</p> + +<p> +“‘But I was not satisfied, and the attempts which he made to draw me away +increased my suspicions. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Which way did the woman go?’ I cried. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘How long ago was it?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Oh, not very many minutes.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Within the last five?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Well, it could not be more than five.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘You’re only wasting your time, sir, and every minute now is of importance,’ +cried the commissionnaire; ‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“But I was after him in an instant and caught him by the sleeve. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Where do you live?’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Had it been raining all evening?” +</p> + +<p> +“Since about seven.” +</p> + +<p> +“How is it, then, that the woman who came into the room about nine left no +traces with her muddy boots?” +</p> + +<p> +“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 commissionnaire’s office, and +putting on list slippers.” +</p> + +<p> +“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? +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“How about the fireplace?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“There was nothing of the sort.” +</p> + +<p> +“No smell?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, we never thought of that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, a scent of tobacco would have been worth a great deal to us in such an +investigation.” +</p> + +<p> +“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 commissionnaire’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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 recognising me, an +expression of absolute astonishment came over her face. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Why, if it isn’t Mr. Phelps, of the office!’ she cried. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Come, come, who did you think we were when you ran away from us?’ asked my +companion. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I thought you were the brokers,’ said she, ‘we have had some trouble with a +tradesman.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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, endeavouring 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 commissionnaire 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 honour as well as my position are forever +forfeited.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“No one.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not Miss Harrison here, for example?” +</p> + +<p> +“No. I had not been back to Woking between getting the order and executing the +commission.” +</p> + +<p> +“And none of your people had by chance been to see you?” +</p> + +<p> +“None.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did any of them know their way about in the office?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yes, all of them had been shown over it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Still, of course, if you said nothing to any one about the treaty these +inquiries are irrelevant.” +</p> + +<p> +“I said nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know anything of the commissionnaire?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing except that he is an old soldier.” +</p> + +<p> +“What regiment?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I have heard—Coldstream Guards.” +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 colour 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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you see any prospect of solving this mystery, Mr. Holmes?” she asked, with +a touch of asperity in her voice. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you see any clue?” +</p> + +<p> +“You have furnished me with seven, but, of course, I must test them before I +can pronounce upon their value.” +</p> + +<p> +“You suspect some one?” +</p> + +<p> +“I suspect myself.” +</p> + +<p> +“What!” +</p> + +<p> +“Of coming to conclusions too rapidly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then go to London and test your conclusions.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I shall be in a fever until I see you again,” cried the diplomatist. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ha! What did he say?” +</p> + +<p> +“He was cold, but not harsh. I daresay 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, that was reasonable and considerate,” said Holmes. “Come, Watson, for we +have a good day’s work before us in town.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +I thought he was joking, for the view was sordid enough, but he soon explained +himself. +</p> + +<p> +“Look at those big, isolated clumps of building rising up above the slates, +like brick islands in a lead-coloured sea.” +</p> + +<p> +“The board-schools.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“I should not think so.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“A girl of strong character.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“My practice—” I began. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, if you find your own cases more interesting than mine—” said Holmes, with +some asperity. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Excellent,” said he, recovering his good-humour. “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.” +</p> + +<p> +“You said you had a clue?” +</p> + +<p> +“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 whoever might sell it to either of these, and +there is Lord Holdhurst.” +</p> + +<p> +“Lord Holdhurst!” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not a statesman with the honourable record of Lord Holdhurst?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Already?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I sent wires from Woking station to every evening paper in London. This +advertisement will appear in each of them.” +</p> + +<p> +He handed over a sheet torn from a note-book. On it was scribbled in pencil: +</p> + +<p> +“£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 +23rd. Apply 221B, Baker Street.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are confident that the thief came in a cab?” +</p> + +<p> +“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 probable that he came in a cab. +Yes, I think that we may safely deduce a cab.” +</p> + +<p> +“It sounds plausible.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What steps have you taken?” +</p> + +<p> +“Tangey, the commissionnaire, 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you shadowed her?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I understand that they have had brokers in the house?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, but they were paid off.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where did the money come from?” +</p> + +<p> +“That was all right. His pension was due. They have not shown any sign of being +in funds.” +</p> + +<p> +“What explanation did she give of having answered the bell when Mr. Phelps rang +for the coffee?” +</p> + +<p> +“She said that her husband was very tired and she wished to relieve him.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“She was later than usual and wanted to get home.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you point out to her that you and Mr. Phelps, who started at least twenty +minutes after her, got home before her?” +</p> + +<p> +“She explains that by the difference between a ‘bus and a hansom.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did she make it clear why, on reaching her house, she ran into the back +kitchen?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because she had the money there with which to pay off the brokers.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“She saw no one but the constable.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, you seem to have cross-examined her pretty thoroughly. What else have +you done?” +</p> + +<p> +“The clerk Gorot has been shadowed all these nine weeks, but without result. We +can show nothing against him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Anything else?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, we have nothing else to go upon—no evidence of any kind.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you formed a theory about how that bell rang?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I must confess that it beats me. It was a cool hand, whoever it was, to +go and give the alarm like that.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where are we going to now?” I asked, as we left the office. +</p> + +<p> +“We are now going to interview Lord Holdhurst, the cabinet minister and future +premier of England.” +</p> + +<p> +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 grey, +he seemed to represent that not too common type, a nobleman who is in truth +noble. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“In that of Mr. Percy Phelps,” answered Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But if the document is found?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, that, of course, would be different.” +</p> + +<p> +“I had one or two questions which I wished to ask you, Lord Holdhurst.” +</p> + +<p> +“I shall be happy to give you any information in my power.” +</p> + +<p> +“Was it in this room that you gave your instructions as to the copying of the +document?” +</p> + +<p> +“It was.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you could hardly have been overheard?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is out of the question.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you ever mention to any one that it was your intention to give any one the +treaty to be copied?” +</p> + +<p> +“Never.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are certain of that?” +</p> + +<p> +“Absolutely.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +The statesman smiled. “You take me out of my province there,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +A shadow passed over the expressive face of the statesman. “Very grave results +indeed.” +</p> + +<p> +“And have they occurred?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not yet.” +</p> + +<p> +“If the treaty had reached, let us say, the French or Russian Foreign Office, +you would expect to hear of it?” +</p> + +<p> +“I should,” said Lord Holdhurst, with a wry face. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Lord Holdhurst shrugged his shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +“We can hardly suppose, Mr. Holmes, that the thief took the treaty in order to +frame it and hang it up.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps he is waiting for a better price.” +</p> + +<p> +“If he waits a little longer he will get no price at all. The treaty will cease +to be secret in a few months.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is most important,” said Holmes. “Of course, it is a possible supposition +that the thief has had a sudden illness—” +</p> + +<p> +“An attack of brain-fever, for example?” asked the statesman, flashing a swift +glance at him. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Every success to your investigation, be the criminal who it may,” answered the +nobleman, as he bowed us out the door. +</p> + +<p> +“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 resoled. 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.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +I met him accordingly next morning and we travelled 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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Any news?” he asked, eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have not lost heart, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“By no means.” +</p> + +<p> +“God bless you for saying that!” cried Miss Harrison. “If we keep our courage +and our patience the truth must come out.” +</p> + +<p> +“We have more to tell you than you have for us,” said Phelps, reseating himself +upon the couch. +</p> + +<p> +“I hoped you might have something.” +</p> + +<p> +“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 honour?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” cried Holmes. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pray let me hear it.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is most interesting,” said Holmes. “Pray what did you do then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Misfortunes never come single,” said Phelps, smiling, though it was evident +that his adventure had somewhat shaken him. +</p> + +<p> +“You have certainly had your share,” said Holmes. “Do you think you could walk +round the house with me?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yes, I should like a little sunshine. Joseph will come, too.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I also,” said Miss Harrison. +</p> + +<p> +“I am afraid not,” said Holmes, shaking his head. “I think I must ask you to +remain sitting exactly where you are.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 chosen by the burglar. I should have +thought those larger windows of the drawing-room and dining-room would have had +more attractions for him.” +</p> + +<p> +“They are more visible from the road,” suggested Mr. Joseph Harrison. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, yes, of course. There is a door here which he might have attempted. What +is it for?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is the side entrance for trades-people. Of course it is locked at night.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you ever had an alarm like this before?” +</p> + +<p> +“Never,” said our client. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you keep plate in the house, or anything to attract burglars?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing of value.” +</p> + +<p> +Holmes strolled round the house with his hands in his pockets and a negligent +air which was unusual with him. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you think that was done last night? It looks rather old, does it not?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, possibly so.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, if you wish it, Mr. Holmes,” said the girl in astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“When you go to bed lock the door of this room on the outside and keep the key. +Promise to do this.” +</p> + +<p> +“But Percy?” +</p> + +<p> +“He will come to London with us.” +</p> + +<p> +“And am I to remain here?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is for his sake. You can serve him. Quick! Promise!” +</p> + +<p> +She gave a quick nod of assent just as the other two came up. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you sit moping there, Annie?” cried her brother. “Come out into the +sunshine!” +</p> + +<p> +“No, thank you, Joseph. I have a slight headache and this room is deliciously +cool and soothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you propose now, Mr. Holmes?” asked our client. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“At once?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, as soon as you conveniently can. Say in an hour.” +</p> + +<p> +“I feel quite strong enough, if I can really be of any help.” +</p> + +<p> +“The greatest possible.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps you would like me to stay there to-night?” +</p> + +<p> +“I was just going to propose it.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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 manœuvres 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 a 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 schoolfellows, 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But how about our investigation in London?” asked Phelps, ruefully. +</p> + +<p> +“We can do that to-morrow. I think that just at present I can be of more +immediate use here.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“I hardly expect to go back to Briarbrae,” answered Holmes, and waved his hand +to us cheerily as we shot out from the station. +</p> + +<p> +Phelps and I talked it over on our journey, but neither of us could devise a +satisfactory reason for this new development. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What is your own idea, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“You are sure it was not a house-breaker’s jimmy?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no, it was a knife. I saw the flash of the blade quite distinctly.” +</p> + +<p> +“But why on earth should you be pursued with such animosity?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, that is the question.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But Holmes said that he was not going to Briarbrae.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +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 endeavoured 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. +</p> + +<p> +“You have implicit faith in Holmes?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“I have seen him do some remarkable things.” +</p> + +<p> +“But he never brought light into anything quite so dark as this?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yes; I have known him solve questions which presented fewer clues than +yours.” +</p> + +<p> +“But not where such large interests are at stake?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“He has said nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is a bad sign.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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 endeavour to find some +explanation which would cover all these facts. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“He’ll be here when he promised,” said I, “and not an instant sooner or later.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“He looks like a beaten man,” cried Phelps. +</p> + +<p> +I was forced to confess that he was right. “After all,” said I, “the clue of +the matter lies probably here in town.” +</p> + +<p> +Phelps gave a groan. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“You are not wounded, Holmes?” I asked, as my friend entered the room. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I feared that you would find it beyond you.” +</p> + +<p> +“It has been a most remarkable experience.” +</p> + +<p> +“That bandage tells of adventures,” said I. “Won’t you tell us what has +happened?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ham and eggs,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“Good! What are you going to take, Mr. Phelps—curried fowl or eggs, or will you +help yourself?” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you. I can eat nothing,” said Phelps. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, come! Try the dish before you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you, I would really rather not.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, then,” said Holmes, with a mischievous twinkle, “I suppose that you have +no objection to helping me?” +</p> + +<p> +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-grey paper. He caught it up, +devoured it with his eyes, and then danced madly about the room, pressing it to +his bosom and shrieking out in his delight. Then he fell back into an armchair +so limp and exhausted with his own emotions that we had to pour brandy down his +throat to keep him from fainting. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Phelps seized his hand and kissed it. “God bless you!” he cried. “You have +saved my honour.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Phelps thrust away the precious document into the innermost pocket of his coat. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Surely the gate was open!” ejaculated Phelps. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“I heard her shut the door, and felt quite sure that she had turned the key in +the lock.” +</p> + +<p> +“The key!” ejaculated Phelps. +</p> + +<p> +“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 co-operation you would not +have that paper in your coat-pocket. She departed then and the lights went out, +and I was left squatting in the rhododendron-bush. +</p> + +<p> +“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 +servants’ door was opened, and Mr. Joseph Harrison stepped out into the +moonlight.” +</p> + +<p> +“Joseph!” ejaculated Phelps. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 +neighbourhood 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“So it was.” +</p> + +<p> +“And Joseph! Joseph a villain and a thief!” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Percy Phelps sank back in his chair. “My head whirls,” said he. “Your words +have dazed me.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“How blind I have been!” +</p> + +<p> +“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 commissionnaire drew your attention to the bell, and those +were just enough to give the thief time to make his escape. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I remember.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why did he try the window on the first occasion,” I asked, “when he might have +entered by the door?” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“You do not think,” asked Phelps, “that he had any murderous intention? The +knife was only meant as a tool.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>XII.<br/> +The Final Problem</h2> + +<p> +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 endeavoured 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 <i>Journal de Genève</i> on May 6th, +1891, the Reuter’s despatch in the English papers on May 7th, and finally the +recent letter 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. +</p> + +<p> +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 the 24th of +April. It struck me that he was looking even paler and thinner than usual. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“You are afraid of something?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I am.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of what?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of air-guns.” +</p> + +<p> +“My dear Holmes, what do you mean?” +</p> + +<p> +“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 recognise 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. +</p> + +<p> +“I must apologise 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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But what does it all mean?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +He held out his hand, and I saw in the light of the lamp that two of his +knuckles were burst and bleeding. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“She is away upon a visit.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed! You are alone?” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then it makes it the easier for me to propose that you should come away with +me for a week to the Continent.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, anywhere. It’s all the same to me.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“You have probably never heard of Professor Moriarty?” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“Never.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What has he done, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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 appearances, 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 rumours 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 endeavoured 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 centre 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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 +threshhold. 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘You have less frontal development than 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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“The fact is that upon his entrance I had instantly recognised 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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘You evidently don’t know me,’ said he. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘All that I have to say has already crossed your mind,’ said he. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Then possibly my answer has crossed yours,’ I replied. +</p> + +<p> +“‘You stand fast?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Absolutely.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘You crossed my path on the 4th of January,’ said he. ‘On the 23rd 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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Have you any suggestion to make?’ I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘You must drop it, Mr. Holmes,’ said he, swaying his face about. ‘You really +must, you know.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘After Monday,’ said I. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Danger is part of my trade,’ I remarked. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘I am afraid,’ said I, rising, ‘that in the pleasure of this conversation I am +neglecting business of importance which awaits me elsewhere.’ +</p> + +<p> +“He rose also and looked at me in silence, shaking his head sadly. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 will fall. I have the +best proofs that it would be so.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have already been assaulted?” +</p> + +<p> +“My dear Watson, Professor Moriarty is not a man who lets the grass grow under +his feet. I went out about midday 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 daresay, working out problems upon a +blackboard 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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“You will spend the night here?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“The practice is quiet,” said I, “and I have an accommodating neighbour. I +should be glad to come.” +</p> + +<p> +“And to start to-morrow morning?” +</p> + +<p> +“If necessary.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where shall I meet you?” +</p> + +<p> +“At the station. The second first-class carriage from the front will be +reserved for us.” +</p> + +<p> +“The carriage is our rendezvous, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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 endeavouring 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— +</p> + +<p> +“My dear Watson,” said a voice, “you have not even condescended to say +good-morning.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Good heavens!” I cried. “How you startled me!” +</p> + +<p> +“Every precaution is still necessary,” he whispered. “I have reason to think +that they are hot upon our trail. Ah, there is Moriarty himself.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you seen the morning paper, Watson?” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“You haven’t seen about Baker Street, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Baker Street?” +</p> + +<p> +“They set fire to our rooms last night. No great harm was done.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good heavens, Holmes! This is intolerable.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“I did exactly what you advised.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you find your brougham?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it was waiting.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you recognise your coachman?” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“As this is an express, and as the boat runs in connection with it, I should +think we have shaken him off very effectively.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“What will he do?” +</p> + +<p> +“What I should do?” +</p> + +<p> +“What would you do, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Engage a special.” +</p> + +<p> +“But it must be late.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“One would think that we were the criminals. Let us have him arrested on his +arrival.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What then?” +</p> + +<p> +“We shall get out at Canterbury.” +</p> + +<p> +“And then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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 depôt. 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.” +</p> + +<p> +At Canterbury, therefore, we alighted, only to find that we should have to wait +an hour before we could get a train to Newhaven. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Already, you see,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“There he goes,” said Holmes, as we watched the carriage swing and rock over +the points. “There are limits, you see, to our friend’s intelligence. It would +have been a <i>coup-de-maître</i> had he deduced what I would deduce and acted +accordingly.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what would he have done had he overtaken us?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“I might have known it!” he groaned. “He has escaped!” +</p> + +<p> +“Moriarty?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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 Strasburg <i>salle-à-manger</i> arguing +the question for half an hour, but the same night we had resumed our journey +and were well on our way to Geneva. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +It was on the 3rd 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 4th 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 détour to see them. +</p> + +<p> +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 clamour. 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. +</p> + +<p> +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 +favour, since the lady absolutely refused to see a Swiss physician, and he +could not but feel that he was incurring a great responsibility. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +It may have been a little over an hour before I reached Meiringen. Old Steiler +was standing at the porch of his hotel. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said I, as I came hurrying up, “I trust that she is no worse?” +</p> + +<p> +A look of surprise passed over his face, and at the first quiver of his +eyebrows my heart turned to lead in my breast. +</p> + +<p> +“You did not write this?” I said, pulling the letter from my pocket. “There is +no sick Englishwoman in the hotel?” +</p> + +<p> +“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—” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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? +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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 a +precise, and the writing as firm and clear, as though it had been written in +his study. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“My dear Watson,” he 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, +</p> + +<p class="right"> +“Very sincerely yours,<br/> +“Sherlock Holmes.” +</p> + +<p> +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 caldron 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 endeavoured 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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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