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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN +ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*</b></p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="Center">Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes</h1> + +<h1 align="Center">by Arthur Conan Doyle</h1> + +<h3 align="Center">Adventure I</h3> + +<h3 align="Center">Silver Blaze</h3> + +<p><br> +</p> + +<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 upon this extraordinary case, which was +the one topic of conversation through the length and breadth of +England. For a whole day my companion had rambled about the room +with his chin upon his chest and his brows knitted, charging and +recharging his pipe with the strongest black tobacco, and +absolutely deaf to any of my questions or remarks. Fresh editions +of every paper had been sent up by our news agent, only to be +glanced over and tossed down into a corner. Yet, silent as he +was, I knew perfectly well what it was over which he was +brooding. There was but one problem before the public which could +challenge his powers of analysis, and that was the singular +disappearance of the favorite for the Wessex Cup, and the tragic +murder of its trainer. When, therefore, he suddenly announced his +intention of setting out for the scene of the drama it was only +what I had both expected and hoped for.</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 favor 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 Telegraph and the Chronicle 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 cooperation.</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 is 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 Somomy stock, and holds +as brilliant a record as his famous ancestor. He is now in his +fifth year, and has brought in turn each of the prizes of the +turf to Colonel Ross, his fortunate owner. Up to the time of the +catastrophe he was the first favorite for the Wessex Cup, the +betting being three to one on him. He has always, however, been a +prime favorite with the racing public, and has never yet +disappointed them, so that even at those odds enormous sums of +money have been laid upon him. It is obvious, therefore, that +there were many people who had the strongest interest in +preventing Silver Blaze from being there at the fall of the flag +next Tuesday.</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 favorite. The trainer, John Straker, is a +retired jockey who rode in Colonel Ross's colors before he became +too heavy for the weighing-chair. He has served the Colonel for +five years as jockey and for seven as trainer, and has always +shown himself to be a zealous and honest servant. Under him were +three lads; for the establishment was a small one, containing +only four horses in all. One of these lads sat up each night in +the stable, while the others slept in the loft. All three bore +excellent characters. John Straker, who is a married man, lived +in a small villa about two hundred yards from the stables. He has +no children, keeps one maid-servant, and is comfortably off. The +country round is very lonely, but about half a mile to the north +there is a small cluster of villas which have been built by a +Tavistock contractor for the use of invalids and others who may +wish to enjoy the pure Dartmoor air. Tavistock itself lies two +miles to the west, while across the moor, also about two miles +distant, is the larger training establishment of Mapleton, which +belongs to Lord Backwater, and is managed by Silas Brown. In +every other direction the moor is a complete wilderness, +inhabited only be 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 +gray suit of tweeds, with a cloth cap. He wore gaiters, and +carried a heavy stick with a knob to it. She was most impressed, +however, by the extreme pallor of his face and by the nervousness +of his manner. His age, she thought, would be rather over thirty +than under it.</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?' "'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 favorite'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 neighboring moors were visible, they +not only could see no signs of the missing favorite, but they +perceived something which warned them that they were in the +presence of a tragedy.</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 recognized by the +maid as having been worn on the preceding evening by the stranger +who had visited the stables. Hunter, on recovering from his +stupor, was also quite positive as to the ownership of the +cravat. He was equally certain that the same stranger had, while +standing at the window, drugged his curried mutton, and so +deprived the stables of their watchman. As to the missing horse, +there were abundant proofs in the mud which lay at the bottom of +the fatal hollow that he had been there at the time of the +struggle. But from that morning he has disappeared, and although +a large reward has been offered, and all the gypsies of Dartmoor +are on the alert, no news has come of him. Finally, an analysis +has shown that the remains of his supper left by the stable-lad +contain an appreciable quantity of powdered opium, while the +people at the house partook of the same dish on the same night +without any ill effect.</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 favorite. On being +arrested he volunteered that statement that he had come down to +Dartmoor in the hope of getting some information about the King's +Pyland horses, and also about Desborough, the second favorite, +which was in charge of Silas Brown at the Mapleton stables. He +did not attempt to deny that he had acted as described upon the +evening before, but declared that he had no sinister designs, and +had simply wished to obtain first-hand information. When +confronted with his cravat, he turned very pale, and was utterly +unable to account for its presence in the hand of the murdered +man. His wet clothing showed that he had been out in the storm of +the night before, and his stick, which was a Penang-lawyer +weighted with lead, was just such a weapon as might, by repeated +blows, have inflicted the terrible injuries to which the trainer +had succumbed. On the other hand, there was no wound upon his +person, while the state of Straker's knife would show that one at +least of his assailants must bear his mark upon him. There you +have it all in a nutshell, Watson, and if you can give me any +light I shall be infinitely obliged to you."</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 in not possible," I suggested, "that the incised would +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 favor 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 recognize 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 favorite. He lies under +suspicion of having poisoned the stable-boy, he was undoubtedly +out in the storm, he was armed with a heavy stick, and his cravat +was found in the dead man's hand. I really think we have enough +to go before a jury."</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 favorite. Silas +Brown, the trainer, is known to have had large bets upon the +event, and he was no friend to poor Straker. We have, however, +examined the stables, and there is nothing to connect him with +the affair."</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 gray-tiled +out-building. In every other direction the low curves of the +moor, bronze-colored from the fading ferns, stretched away to the +sky-line, broken only by the steeples of Tavistock, and by a +cluster of houses away to the westward which marked the Mapleton +stables. We all sprang out with the exception of Holmes, who +continued to lean back with his eyes fixed upon the sky in front +of him, entirely absorbed in his own thoughts. It was only when I +touched his arm that he roused himself with a violent start and +stepped out of the carriage.</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 this +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 brier-root +pipe, a pouch of seal-skin with half an ounce of long-cut +Cavendish, a silver watch with a gold chain, five sovereigns in +gold, an aluminum pencil-case, a few papers, and an ivory-handled +knife with a very delicate, inflexible bade 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-colored 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!" Homes 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 if 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. Homes 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 stranger +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 parlor?"</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 grays +before Holmes and the trainer reappeared. Never have I seen such +a change as had been brought about in Silas Brown in that short +time. His face was ashy pale, beads of perspiration shone upon +his brow, and his hands shook until the hunting-crop wagged like +a branch in the wind. His bullying, overbearing manner was all +gone too, and he cringed along at my companion's side like a dog +with its master.</p> + +<p>"You 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 recognizing, from the white forehead which +has given the favorite its name, that chance had put in his power +the only horse which could beat the one upon which he had put his +money. Then I described how his first impulse had been to lead +him back to King's Pyland, and how the devil had shown him how he +could hide the horse until the race was over, and how he had led +it back and concealed it at Mapleton. When I told him every +detail he gave it up and thought only of saving his own +skin."</p> + +<p>"But his stables had been searched?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, and old horse-fakir 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 parlor.</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>Four days later Holmes and I were again in the train, bound +for Winchester to see the race for the Wessex Cup. Colonel Ross +met us by appointment outside the station, and we drove in his +drag to the course beyond the town. His face was grave, and his +manner was cold in the extreme. "I have seen nothing of my +horse," said he.</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.</p> + +<p>Wessex Plate [it ran] 50 sovs each h ft with 1000 sovs added +for four and five year olds. Second, L300. Third, L200. New +course (one mile and five furlongs). Mr. Heath Newton's The +Negro. Red cap. Cinnamon jacket. Colonel Wardlaw's Pugilist. Pink +cap. Blue and black jacket. Lord Backwater's Desborough. Yellow +cap and sleeves. Colonel Ross's Silver Blaze. Black cap. Red +jacket. Duke of Balmoral's Iris. Yellow and black stripes. 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 favorite?"</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 colors 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 weighting +enclosure and cantered past us, bearing on it 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 fakir, 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 recognize that I am +under obligations to you, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but I must +regard what you have just said as either a very bad joke or an +insult."</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 flavor is not disagreeable, +but it is perceptible. Were it mixed with any ordinary dish the +eater would undoubtedly detect it, and would probably eat no +more. A curry was exactly the medium which would disguise this +taste. By no possible supposition could this stranger, Fitzroy +Simpson, have caused curry to be served in the trainer's family +that night, and it is surely too monstrous a coincidence to +suppose that he happened to come along with powdered opium upon +the very night when a dish happened to be served which would +disguise the flavor. That is unthinkable. Therefore Simpson +becomes eliminated from the case, and our attention centers upon +Straker and his wife, the only two people who could have chosen +curried mutton for supper that night. The opium was added after +the dish was set aside for the stable-boy, for the others had the +same for supper with no ill effects. Which of them, then, had +access to that dish without the maid seeing them?</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 +recognized Straker as an excellent customer of the name of +Derbyshire, who had a very dashing wife, with a strong partiality +for expensive dresses. I have no doubt that this woman had +plunged him over head and ears in debt, and so led him into this +miserable plot."</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 neighbors. We +must have an amnesty in that direction, I think. This is Clapham +Junction, if I am not mistaken, and we shall be in Victoria in +less than ten minutes. If you care to smoke a cigar in our rooms, +Colonel, I shall be happy to give you any other details which +might interest you."</p> + +<hr> +<h3 align="Center">Adventure II</h3> + +<h3 align="Center">The Yellow Face</h3> + +<br> +<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 +reputations--for, indeed, it was when he was at his wits' end +that his energy and his versatility were most admirable--but +because where he failed it happened too often that no one else +succeeded, and that the tale was left forever without a +conclusion. Now and again, however, it chanced that even when he +erred, the truth was still discovered. I have noted of some +half-dozen cases of the kind the Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual +and that which I am 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 fare 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 out 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 you best," said Holmes, as we walked into +our room. "It's very annoying, though, Watson. I was badly in +need of a case, and this looks, from the man's impatience, as if +it were of importance. Hullo! That's not your pipe on the table. +He must have left his behind him. A nice old brier with a good +long stem of what the tobacconists call amber. I wonder how many +real amber mouthpieces there are in London? Some people think +that a fly in it is a sign. Well, he must have been disturbed in +his mind to leave a pipe behind him which he evidently values +highly."</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-gray suit, +and carried a brown wide-awake in his hand. I should have put him +at about thirty, though he was really some years older.</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 char. "What!" he cried, "you know +my mane?"</p> + +<p>"If you wish to preserve your incognito,' said Holmes, +smiling, "I would suggest that you cease to write your name upon +the lining of your hat, or else that you turn the crown towards +the person whom you are addressing. I was about to say that my +friend and I have listened to a good many strange secrets in this +room, and that we have had the good fortune to bring peace to +many troubled souls. I trust that we may do as much for you. +Might I beg you, as time may prove to be of importance, to +furnish me with the facts of your case without further +delay?"</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, thought 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 +neighborly kind of things. The cottage had been standing empty +this eight months, and it was a pity, for it was a pretty two +storied place, with an old-fashioned porch and honeysuckle about +it. I have stood many a time and thought what a neat little +homestead it would make.</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 color was +what had impressed me most. It was of a livid chalky white, and +with something set and rigid about it which was shockingly +unnatural. So disturbed was I that I determined to see a little +more of the new inmates of the cottage. I approached and knocked +at the door, which was instantly opened by a tall, gaunt woman +with a harsh, forbidding face.</p> + +<p>"'What may you be wantin'?' she asked, in a Northern +accent.</p> + +<p>"'I am your neighbor over yonder,' said I, nodding towards my +house. 'I see that you have only just moved in, so I thought that +if I could be of any help to you in any--'</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</p> + +<p>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 ore 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 neighbors. 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 +fell-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 color, 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 you coming, and left before you entered +yesterday, then they may be back now, and we should clear it all +up easily. Let me advise you, then, to return to Norbury, and to +examine the windows of the cottage again. If you have reason to +believe that is inhabited, do not force your way in, but send a +wire to my friend and me. We shall be with you within an hour of +receiving it, and we shall then very soon get to the bottom of +the business."</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 endeavors to buy them off. They come in +spite of it, and when the husband mentions casually to the wife +that there a new-comers in the cottage, she knows in some way +that they are her pursuers. She waits until her husband is +asleep, and then she rushes down to endeavor to persuade them to +leave her in peace. Having no success, she goes again next +morning, and her husband meets her, as he has told us, as she +comes out. She promises him then not to go there again, but two +days afterwards the hope of getting rid of those dreadful +neighbors was too strong for her, and she made another attempt, +taking down with her the photograph which had probably been +demanded from her. In the midst of this interview the maid rushed +in to say that the master had come home, on which the wife, +knowing that he would come straight down to the cottage, hurried +the inmates out at the back door, into the grove of fir-trees, +probably, which was mentioned as standing near. In this way he +found the place deserted. I shall be very much surprised, +however, if it still so when he reconnoitres it this evening. +What do you think of my theory?"</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 he 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 tool 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, an there was a little coal +black negress, with all her white teeth flashing in amusement at +our amazed faces. I burst out laughing, out of sympathy with her +merriment; but Grant Munro stood staring, with his hand clutching +his throat.</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 neighbor, without my +appearing to be in any way connected with her. I pushed my +precautions so far as to order her to keep the child in the house +during the daytime, and to cover up her little face and hands so +that even those who might see her at the window should not gossip +about there being a black child in the neighborhood. If I had +been less cautious I might have been more wise, but I was half +crazy with fear that you should learn the truth.</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> + +<hr> +<h3 align="Center">Adventure III</h3> + +<h3 align="Center">The Stock-Broker's Clerk</h3> + +<br> +<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 British Medical Journal after breakfast, I heard a ring at +the bell, followed by the high, somewhat strident tones of my old +companion's voice.</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 neighbor'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 sever 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 our feet +outstretched to the fire, which a man would hardly do even in so +wet a June as this if he were in his full health."</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 neighbor, rushed +upstairs to explain the matter to my wife, and joined Holmes upon +the door-step.</p> + +<p>"Your neighbor 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 mustache. He wore a very shiny top hat and +a neat suit of sober black, which made him look what he was--a +smart young City man, of the class who have been labeled +cockneys, but who give us our crack volunteer regiments, and who +turn out more fine athletes and sportsmen than any body of men in +these islands. His round, ruddy face was naturally full of +cheeriness, but the corners of his mouth seemed to me to be +pulled down in a half-comical distress. It was not, however, +until we were all in a first-class carriage and well started upon +our journey to Birmingham that I was able to learn what the +trouble was which had driven him to Sherlock Holmes.</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 outr&eacute; 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's, of Draper's +Gardens, but they were let in early in the spring through the +Venezuelan loan, as no doubt you remember, and came a nasty +cropper. I had been with them five years, and old Coxon gave me a +ripping good testimonial when the smash came, but of course we +clerks were all turned adrift, the twenty-seven of us. I tried +here and tried there, but there were lots of other chaps on the +same lay as myself, and it was a perfect frost for a long time. I +had been taking three pounds a week at Coxon's, and I had saved +about seventy of them, but I soon worked my way through that and +out at the other end. I was fairly at the end of my tether at +last, and could hardly find the stamps to answer the +advertisements or the envelopes to stick them to. I had worn out +my boots paddling up office stairs, and I seemed just as far from +getting a billet as ever.</p> + +<p>At last I saw a vacancy at Mawson & Williams's, the great +stock-broking firm in Lombard Street. I dare say E. C. Is not +much in your line, but I can tell you that this is about the +richest house in London. The advertisement was to be answered by +letter only. I sent in my testimonial and application, but +without the least hope of getting it. Back came an answer by +return, saying that if I would appear next Monday I might take +over my new duties at once, provided that my appearance was +satisfactory. No one knows how these things are worked. Some +people say that the manager just plunges his hand into the heap +and takes the first that comes. Anyhow it was my innings that +time, and I don't ever wish to feel better pleased. The screw was +a pound a week rise, and the duties just about the same as at +Coxon's.</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 tonight. 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 desserts. There +are one or two small things--mere formalities--which I must +arrange with you. You have a bit of paper beside you there. +Kindly write upon it 'I am perfectly willing to act as business +manager to the Franco-Midland Hardware Company, Limited, at a +minimum salary of L500."</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 not 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 dare say I stared rather straight at +the two deal chairs and one little table, which, with a ledger +and a waste paper basket, made up the whole furniture.</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 her 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. +Hew 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 depot in Paris, which +will pour a flood of English crockery into the shops of a hundred +and thirty-four agents in France. The purchase will be completed +in a week, and meanwhile you will remain in Birmingham and make +yourself useful."</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 al 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 labors." He laughed as he spoke, and I saw with a +thrill that his second tooth upon the left-hand side had been +very badly stuffed with gold.</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 stock-broker's clerk had concluded +his surprising experience. Then Sherlock Holmes cocked his eye at +me, leaning back on the cushions with a pleased and yet critical +face, like a connoisseur who has just taken his first sip of a +comet vintage.</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 door-way.</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 wit +perspiration, his cheeks were of the dull, dead white of a fish's +belly, and his eyes were wild and staring. He looked at his clerk +as though he failed to recognize him, and I could see by the +astonishment depicted upon our conductor's face that this was by +no means the usual appearance of his employer.</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 his manner. If ever a man was three parts +mad with terror, that man's name is Pinner. What can have put the +shivers on him?"</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 cam the rat-tat-tat. We all gazed +expectantly at the closed door. Glancing at Holmes, I saw his +face turn rigid, and he leaned forward in intense excitement. +Then suddenly came a low guggling, gargling sound, and a brisk +drumming upon woodwork. Holmes sprang frantically across the room +and pushed at the door. It was fastened on the inner side. +Following his example, we threw ourselves upon it with all our +weight. One hinge snapped, then the other, and down came the door +with a crash. Rushing over it, we found ourselves in the inner +room. It was empty.</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-colored face, puffing his purple +lips in and out with every breath--a dreadful wreck of all that +he had been but five minutes before.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of him, Watson?" asked Holmes.</p> + +<p>I stooped over him and examined him. His pule 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 won brother?"</p> + +<p>"Well, that is pretty clear also. There are evidently only two +of them in it. The other is personating 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 must of our visit +that the paper never entered my head for an instant. To be sure, +the secret must be there." He flattened it out upon the table, +and a cry of triumph burst from his lips. "Look at this, Watson," +he cried. "It is a London paper, an early edition of the Evening +Standard. Here is what we want. Look at the headlines: 'Crime in +the City. Murder at Mawson & Williams's. Gigantic attempted +Robbery. Capture of the Criminal.' Here, Watson, we are all +equally anxious to hear it, so kindly read it aloud to us."</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 that Beddington, the famous forger and cracksman, who, +with his brother, had only recently emerged from a five years' +spell of penal servitude. By some mean, which are not yet clear, +he succeeded in wining, under a false name, this official +position in the office, which he utilized in order to obtain +moulding of various locks, and a thorough knowledge of the +position of the strong room and the safes.</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 Pollack succeeded, after a most desperate resistance, +in arresting him. It was at once clear that a daring and gigantic +robbery had been committed. Nearly a hundred thousand pounds' +worth of American railway bonds, with a large amount of scrip in +mines and other companies, was discovered in the bag. On +examining the premises the body of the unfortunate watchman was +found doubled up and thrust into the largest of the safes, where +it would not have been discovered until Monday morning had it not +been for the prompt action of Sergeant Tuson. The man's skull had +been shattered by a blow from a poker delivered from behind. +There could be no doubt that Beddington had obtained entrance by +pretending that he had left something behind him, and having +murdered the watchman, rapidly rifled the large safe, and then +made off with his booty. His brother, who usually works with him, +has not appeared in this job as far as can at present be +ascertained, although the police are making energetic inquiries +as to his whereabouts."</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> + +<hr> +<h3 align="Center">Adventure IV</h3> + +<h3 align="Center">The "Gloria Scott"</h3> + +<p><br> +</p> + +<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 +Gloria Scott, 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 gray-paper.</p> + +<p>"The supply of game for London is going steadily up," it ran. +"Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, had been now told to receive all +orders for fly-paper and for preservation of you 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 endeavored to elicit from my companion what had +first turned is mind in the direction of criminal research, but +had never caught him before in a communicative humor. Now he sat +forward in this arm chair and spread out the documents upon his +knees. Then he lit his pipe and sat for some time smoking and +turning them over.</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 pints 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 and 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 traveled far, had +seen much of the world. And had remembered all that he had +learned. In person he was a thick-set, burly man with a shock of +grizzled hair, a brown, weather-beaten face, and blue eyes which +were keen to the verge of fierceness. Yet he had a reputation for +kindness and charity on the country-side, and was noted for the +leniency of his sentences from the bench.</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 with the +last twelvemonth.'</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?' "'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 you 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, and 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 fore-lock. +'I'm just off a two-yearer in an eight-knot tramp, short-handed +at that, and I wants a rest. I thought I'd get it either with Mr. +Beddoes or with you.'</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. On 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 apologizing to Hudson. +I refused, as you can imagine, and asked my father how he could +allow such a wretch to take such liberties with himself and his +household.</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 +dare say."</p> + +<p>"'"You're not going away in any kind of spirit, Hudson, I +hope," said my father, with a tameness which mad 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!"</p> + +<p>"'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 post-mark. My +father read it, clapped both his hands to his head, and began +running round the room in little circles like a man who has been +driven out of his senses. When I at last drew him down on to the +sofa, his mouth and eyelids were all puckered on one side, and I +saw that he had a stroke. Dr. Fordham came over at once. We put +him to bed; but the paralysis has spread, he has shown no sign of +returning consciousness, and I think that we shall hardly find +him alive.'</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 Fordingham? Then I remembered that Fordingham +was in Hampshire, and that this Mr. Beddoes, whom the seaman had +gone to visit and presumably to blackmail, had also been +mentioned as living in Hampshire. The letter, then, might either +come from Hudson, the seaman, saying that he had betrayed the +guilty secret which appeared to exist, or it might come from +Beddoes, warning an old confederate that such a betrayal was +imminent. So far it seemed clear enough. But then how could this +letter be trivial and grotesque, as describe by the son? He must +have misread it. If so, it must have been one of those ingenious +secret codes which mean one thing while they seem to mean +another. I must see this letter. If there were a hidden meaning +in it, I was confident that I could pluck it forth. For an hour I +sat pondering over it in the gloom, until at last a weeping maid +brought in a lamp, and close at her heels came my friend Trevor, +pale but composed, with these very papers which lie upon my knee +held in his grasp. He sat down opposite to me, drew the lamp to +the edge of the table, and handed me a short note scribbled, as +you see, upon a single sheet of gray paper. "The supply of game +for London is going steadily up,' it ran. 'Head-keeper Hudson, we +believe, has been now told to receive all orders for fly-paper +and for preservation of you hen-pheasant's life.'</p> + +<p>"I dare say my face looked as bewildered as your 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.</p> + +<p>"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 Gloria Scott, from her +leaving Falmouth on the 8th October, 1855, to her destruction in +N. Lat. 15 degrees 20', W. Long. 25 degrees 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 onto read this line, I know that I +shall already have been exposed and dragged from my home, or as +is more likely, for you know that my heart is weak, by lying with +my tongue sealed forever in death. In either case the time for +suppression is past, and every word which I tell you is the naked +truth, and this I swear as I hope for mercy.</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 surprised my secret. As +Armitage it was that I entered a London banking-house, and as +Armitage I was convicted of breaking my country's laws, and was +sentenced to transportation. Do not think very harshly of me, +laddie. It was a debt of honor, so called, which I had to pay, +and I used money which was not my own to do it, in the certainty +that I could replace it before there could be any possibility of +its being missed. But the most dreadful ill-luck pursued me. The +money which I had reckoned upon never came to hand, and a +premature examination of accounts exposed my deficit. The case +might have been dealt leniently with, but the laws were more +harshly administered thirty years ago than now, and on my +twenty-third birthday I found myself chained as a felon with +thirty-seven other convicts in 'tween-decks of the bark Gloria +Scott, bound for Australia.</p> + +<p>"'It was the year '55 when the Crimean war was at its height, +and the old convict sips had been largely used as transports in +the Black Sea. The government was compelled, therefore, to use +smaller and less suitable vessels for sending out their +prisoners. The Gloria Scott had been in the Chinese tea-trade, +but she was an old-fashioned, heavy-bowed, broad-beamed craft, +and the new clippers had cut her out. She was a five-hundred-ton +boat; and besides her thirty-eight jail-birds, she carried +twenty-six of a crew, eighteen soldiers, a captain, three mates, +a doctor, a chaplain, and four warders. Nearly a hundred souls +were in her, all told, when we set said 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 snow-storm. I was glad, then, to find that he was my +neighbor, and gladder still when, in the dead of the night, I +heard a whisper close to my ear, and found that he had managed to +cut an opening in the board which separated us.</p> + +<p>"'"Hullo, 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 on incurably vicious habits, who had be 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 +go more pounds to my name than you've hairs on your head. And if +you've money, my son, and know how to handle it and spread it, +you can do anything. Now, you don't think it likely that a man +who could do anything is going to wear his breeches out sitting +in the stinking hold of a rat-gutted, beetle-ridden, mouldy old +coffin of a Chin China coaster. No, sir, such a man will look +after himself and will look after his chums. You may lay to that! +You hold on to him, and you may kiss the book that he'll haul you +through."</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 Mereer, 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 neighbor to be a young fellow +in much the same position as myself, whose crime had been +forgery. His name was Evans, but he afterwards changed it, like +myself, and his 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 wit 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 had not been for +Prendergast. He bellowed like a bull and rushed for the door with +all that were left alive at his heels. Out we ran, and there on +the poop were the lieutenent and ten of his men. The swing +skylights above the saloon table had been a bit open, and they +had fired on us through the slit. We got on them before they +could load, and they stood to it like men; but we had the upper +hand of them, and in five minutes it was all over. My God! Was +there ever a slaughter-house like that ship! Predergast was like +a raging deveil, 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 Predergast and +those who were with him. Our only chance of safety lay in making +a clean job of it, said he, and he would not leave a tongue with +power to wag in a witness-box. It nearly came to our sharing the +fate of the prisoners, but at last he said that if we wished we +might take a boat and go. We jumped at the offer, for we were +already sick of these blookthirsty doings, and we saw that there +would be worse before it was done. We were given a suit of sailor +togs each, a barrel of water, two casks, one of junk and one of +biscuits, and a compass. Prendergast threw us over a chart, told +us that we were shipwrecked mariners whose ship had foundered in +Lat. 15 degrees and Long 25 degrees west, 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 fore-yard aback during the +rising, but now as we left them they brought it square again, and +as there was a light wind from the north and east the bark began +to draw slowly away from us. Our boat lay, rising and falling, +upon the long, smooth rollers, and Evans and I, who were the most +educated of the party, were sitting in the sheets working out our +position and planning what coast we should make for. It was a +nice question, for the Cape de Verds were about five hundred +miles to the north of us, and the African coast about seven +hundred to the east. On the whole, as the wind was coming round +to the north, we thought that Sierra Leone might be best, and +turned our head in that direction, the bark being at that time +nearly hull down on our starboard quarter. Suddenly as we looked +at her we saw a dense black cloud of smoke shoot up from her, +which hung like a monstrous tree upon the sky line. A few seconds +later a roar like thunder burst upon our ears, and as the smoke +thinned away there was no sign left of the Gloria Scott. In an +instant we swept the boat's head round again and pulled with all +our strength for the place where the haze still trailing over the +water marked the scene of this catastrophe.</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 o 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. A dozen convicts, who descended wit their pistols +in search of him, found him with a match-box in his hand seated +beside an open powder-barrel, which was one of a hundred carried +on board, and swearing that he would blow all hands up if he were +in any way molested. An instant later the explosion occurred, +though Hudson thought it was caused by the misdirected bullet of +one of the convicts rather than the mate's match. Be the cause +what I may, it was the end of the Gloria Scott and of the rabble +who held command of her.</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 Hotspur, bound for Australia, whose captain +found no difficulty in believing that we were the survivors of a +passenger ship which had foundered. The transport ship Gloria +Scott was set down by the Admiralty as being lost at sea, and no +word has ever leaked out as to her true fate. After an excellent +voyage the Hotspur landed us at Sydney, where Evans and I changed +our names and made our way to the diggings, where, among the +crowds who were gathered from all nations, we had no difficulty +in losing our former identities. The rest I need not relate. We +prospered, we traveled, we came back as rich colonials to +England, and we bought country estates. For more than twenty +years we have led peaceful and useful lives, and we hoped that +our past was forever buried. Imagine, then, my feelings when in +the seaman who came to us I recognized instantly the man who had +been picked off the wreck. He had tracked us down somehow, and +had set himself to live upon our fears. You will understand now +how it was that I strove to keep the peace with him, and you will +in some measure sympathize with me in the fears which fill me, +now that he has gone from me to his other victim with threats +upon his tongue.'</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>"That was the narrative which I read that night to young +Trevor, and I think, Watson, that under the circumstances it was +a dramatic one. The good fellow was heart-broken at it, and went +out to the Terai tea planting, where I hear that he is doing +well. As to the sailor and Beddoes, neither of them was ever +heard of again after that day on which the letter of warning was +written. They both disappeared utterly and completely. No +complaint had been lodged with he 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> + +<hr> +<h3 align="Center">Adventure V</h3> + +<h3 align="Center">The Musgrave Ritual</h3> + +<br> +<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 who keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the +toe end of a Persian slipper, and his unanswered correspondence +transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden +mantelpiece, then I begin to give myself virtuous airs. I have +always held, too, that pistol practice should be distinctly an +open-air pastime; and when Holmes, in one of his queer humors, +would sit in an arm-chair with his hair-trigger and a hundred +Boxer cartridges, and proceed to adorn the opposite wall with a +patriotic V. R. Done in bullet-pocks, I felt strongly that +neither the atmosphere nor the appearance of our room was +improved by it.</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 fro 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 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 recherch&eacute;."</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, +and 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 are 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 re 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. "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 Gloria Scott, and my +conversation with the unhappy man whose fate I told you of, first +turned my attention in the direction of the profession which has +become my life's work. You see me now when my name has become +known far and wide, and when I am generally recognized both by +the public and by the official force as being a final court of +appeal in doubtful cases. Even when you knew me first, at the +time of the affair which you have commemorated in 'A Study in +Scarlet,' I had already established a considerable, though not a +very lucrative, connection. You can hardly realize, then, how +difficult I found it at first, and how long I had to wait before +I succeeded in making any headway.</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 to 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 birth +place seemed to cling to the man, and I never looked at his pale, +keen face or the poise of his head without associating him with +gray archways and mullioned windows and all the venerable +wreckage of a feudal keep. Once or twice we drifted into talk, +and I can remember that more than once he expressed a keen +interest in my methods of observation and inference.</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 wit 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 school-master out +of place when he was first taken up by my father, but he was a +man of great energy and character, and he soon became quite +invaluable in the household. He was a well-grown, handsome man, +with a splendid forehead, and though he has been with us for +twenty years he cannot be more than forty now. With his personal +advantages and his extraordinary gifts--for he can speak several +languages and play nearly every musical instrument--it is +wonderful that he should have been satisfied so long in such a +position, but I suppose that he was comfortable, and lacked +energy to make any change. The butler of Hurlstone is always a +thing that is remembered by all who visit us.</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 house-maid; but he has thrown her over +since then and taken up with Janet Tregellis, the daughter of the +head game-keeper. Rachel--who is a very good girl, but of an +excitable Welsh temperament--had a sharp touch of brain-fever, +and goes about the house now--or did until yesterday--like a +black-eyed shadow of her former self. That was our first drama at +Hurlstone; but a second one came to drive it from our minds, and +it was prefaced by the disgrace and dismissal of butler +Brunton.</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 caf&eacute; +noir after my dinner. After struggling against it until two in +the morning, I felt that it was quite hopeless, so I rose and lit +the candle with the intention of continuing a novel which I was +reading. The book, however, had been left in the billiard-room, +so I pulled on my dressing-gown and started off to get it.</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 lake 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." "'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 arm-chair, when shoe 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 discolored metal and several dull-colored +pieces of pebble or glass. This strange find was all that we +could get from the mere, and, although we made every possible +search and inquiry yesterday, we know nothing of the fate either +of Rachel Howells or of Richard Brunton. The county police are at +their wits' end, and I have come up to you as a last +resource.'</p> + +<p>"You can imagine, Watson, with what eagerness I listened to +this extraordinary sequence of events, and endeavored to piece +them together, and to devise some common thread upon which they +might all hang. The butler was gone. The maid was gone. The maid +had loved the butler, but had afterwards had cause to hate him. +She was of Welsh blood, fiery and passionate. She had been +terribly excited immediately after his disappearance. She had +flung into the lake a bag containing some curious contents. These +were all factors which had to be taken into consideration, and +yet none of them got quite to the heart of the matter. What was +the starting-point of this chain of events? There lay the end of +this tangled line.</p> + +<p>"'I must see that paper, Musgrave,' said I, 'which this butler +of your thought it worth his while to consult, even at the risk +of the loss of his place.'</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 that 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 L, the long arm being the more modern +portion, and the shorter the ancient nucleus, from which the +other had developed. Over the low, heavily-lintelled door, in the +centre of this old part, is chiseled the date, 1607, but experts +are agreed that the beams and stone-work are really much older +than this. The enormously thick walls and tiny windows of this +part had in the last century driven the family into building the +new wing, and the old one was used now as a store-house and a +cellar, when it was used at all. A splendid park with fine old +timber surrounds the house, and the lake, to which my client had +referred, lay close to the avenue, about tow 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 you 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 dogcart, and my client led me away at +once, without our entering the house, to the scar on the lawn +where the elm had stood. It was nearly midway between the oak and +the house. My investigation seemed to be progressing.</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 did 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 +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 is seemed to me that there must be some +radical mistake in my calculations. The setting sun shone full +upon the passage floor, and I could see that the old, foot-worn +gray stones with which it was paved were firmly cemented +together, and had certainly not been moved for many a long year. +Brunton had not been at work here. I tapped upon the floor, but +it sounded the same all over, and there was no sign of any crack +or crevice. But, Fortunately, Musgrave, who had begun to +appreciate the meaning of my proceedings, and who was now as +excited as myself, took out his manuscript to check my +calculation.</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 endeavored to raise the stone by +pulling on the cravat. I could only move it slightly, and it was +with the aid of one of the constables that I succeeded at last in +carrying it to one side. A black hole yawned beneath into which +we all peered, while Musgrave, kneeling at the side, pushed down +the lantern.</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 him hams with his forehead sunk upon the edge of the +box and his two arms thrown out on each side of it. The attitude +had drawn all the stagnant blood to the face, and no man could +have recognized that distorted liver-colored countenance; but his +height, his dress, and his hair were all sufficient to show my +client, when we had drawn the body up, that it was indeed his +missing butler. He had been dead some days, but there was no +wound or bruise upon his person to show how he had met his +dreadful end. When his body had been carried from the cellar we +found ourselves still confronted with a problem which was almost +as formidable as that with which we had started.</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 know 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 question 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 debris before me. I +could understand his regarding it as of small importance when I +looked at it, for the metal was almost black and the stones +lustreless and dull. I rubbed one of them on my sleeve, however, +and it glowed afterwards like a spark in the dark hollow of my +hand. The metal work was in the form of a double ring, but it had +been bent and twisted out of its original shape.</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 +possession buried behind them, with the intention of returning +for them in more peaceful times.'</p> + +<p>"'My ancestor, Sir Ralph Musgrave, as 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> + +<hr> +<h3 align="Center">Adventure VI</h3> + +<h3 align="Center">The Reigate Puzzle</h3> + +<br> +<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 labors could not +save him from reaction after so terrible an exertion, and at a +time when Europe was ringing with his name and when his room was +literally ankle-deep with congratulatory telegrams I found him a +prey to the blackest depression. Even the knowledge that he had +succeeded where the police of three countries had failed, and +that he had outmanoeuvred at every point the most accomplished +swindler in Europe, was insufficient to rouse him from his +nervous prostration.</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 armory of Eastern +weapons.</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 pretty 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 fac-simile of which is +here reproduced.</p> + +<p>d at quarter to twelve learn what maybe</p> + +<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 though." 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 color, 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 revolved 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 does give a clue. Whoever wrote that note was the man who +brought William Kirwan out of his bed at that hour. But where is +the rest of that sheet of paper?"</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 contract 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 burglary 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 burglary--and a burglar +who had had some previous experience--should deliberately break +into a house at a time when he could see from the lights that two +of the family were still afoot?"</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 pound 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 humor me a little further. I should +like, for example, to see how far the windows of the bedrooms +command the front. This, I understand is your son's room"--he +pushed open the door--"and that, I presume, is the dressing-room +in which he sat smoking when the alarm was given. Where does the +window of that look out to?" He stepped across the bedroom, +pushed open the door, and glanced round the other chamber.</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>"Hullo!" 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 recognized 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 you +result. I have not yet seen the vestige of a clue."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid that my explanation may disillusion you but it +has always been my habit to hide none of my methods, either from +my friend Watson or from any one who might take an intelligent +interest in them. But, first, as I am rather shaken by the +knocking about which I had in the dressing-room, I think that I +shall help myself to a dash of your brandy, Colonel. My strength +had been rather tried of late."</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 recognize, out of a number of facts, which are incidental +and which vital. Otherwise your energy and attention must be +dissipated instead of being concentrated. Now, in this case there +was not the slightest doubt in my mind from the first that the +key of the whole matter must be looked for in the scrap of paper +in the dead man's hand.</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 instantly fled, +then it obviously could not be he who tore the paper from the +dead man's hand. But if it was not he, it must have been Alec +Cunningham himself, for by the time that the old man had +descended several servants were upon the scene. The point is a +simple one, but the Inspector had overlooked it because he had +started with the supposition that these county magnates had had +nothing to do with the matter. Now, I make a pint 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 observed 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 recognize the fact. A +very brief analysis of these four words would enable you to say +with the utmost confidence that the 'learn' and the 'maybe' are +written in the stronger hand, and the 'what' in the weaker."</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 in 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 +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 endeavored first of all to solve the reason of +the original burglary at Mr. Acton's. I understood, from +something which the Colonel told us, that a lawsuit had been +going on between you, Mr. Acton, and the Cunninghams. Of course, +it instantly occurred to me that they had broken into your +library with the intention of getting at some document which +might be of importance in the case."</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 black-mail +upon them. Mr. Alec, however, was a dangerous man to play games +of that sort with. It was a stroke of positive genius on his part +to see in the burglary scare which was convulsing the country +side an opportunity of plausibly getting rid of the man whom he +feared. William was decoyed up and shot, and had they only got +the whole of the note and paid a little more attention to detail +in the accessories, it is very possible that suspicion might +never have been aroused."</p> + +<p>"And the note?" I asked.</p> + +<p>Sherlock Holmes placed the subjoined paper before us.</p> + +<p>If you will only come around to the east gate you will will +very much surprise you and be of the greatest service to you and +also to Annie Morrison. But say nothing to anyone 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> + +<hr> +<h3 align="Center">Adventure VII</h3> + +<h3 align="Center">The Crooked Man</h3> + +<br> +<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 tonight?"</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 +neighbor, because the latter has missed the one little point +which is the basis of the deduction. The same may be said, my +dear fellow, for the effect of some of these little sketches of +your, 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 Munsters, 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 Munsters is, as you know, one of the most famous +Irish regiments in the British army. It did wonders both in the +Crimea and the Mutiny, and has since that time distinguished +itself upon every possible occasion. It was commanded up to +Monday night by James Barclay, a gallant veteran, who started as +a full private, was raised to commissioned rank for his bravery +at the time of the Mutiny, and so lived to command the regiment +in which he had once carried a musket.</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 color-sergeant in the same corps. +There was, therefore, as can be imagined, some little social +friction when the young couple (for they were still young) found +themselves in their new surroundings. They appear, however, to +have quickly adapted themselves, and Mrs. Barclay has always, I +understand, been as popular with the ladies of the regiment as +her husband was with his brother officers. I may add that she was +a woman of great beauty, and that even now, when she has been +married for upwards of thirty years, she is still of a striking +and queenly appearance.</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 solder in +his usual mood, but there were occasions on which he seemed to +show himself capable of considerable violence and vindictiveness. +This side of his nature, however, appears never to have been +turned towards his wife. Another fact, which had struck Major +Murphy and three out of five of the other officers with whom I +conversed, was the singular sort of depression which came upon +him at times. As the major expressed it, the smile had often been +struck from his mouth, as if by some invisible hand, when he has +been joining the 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 Munsters (which is the old +117th) has been stationed at Aldershot for some years. The +married officers live out of barracks, and the Colonel has during +all this time occupied a villa called Lachine, about half a mile +from the north camp. The house stands in its own grounds, but the +west side of it is not more than thirty yards from the high-road. +A coachman and two maids form the staff of servants. These with +their master and mistress were the sole occupants of Lachine, for +the Barclays had no children, nor was it usual for them to have +resident visitors.</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 house-maid, to bring her a cup of tea, which +was quite contrary to her usual habits. The Colonel had been +sitting in the dining-room, but hearing that his wife had +returned he joined her in the morning-room. The coachman saw him +cross the hall and enter it. He was never seen again alive.</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 arm-chair, and his head upon the ground near +the corner of the fender, was lying the unfortunate soldier stone +dead in a pool of his own blood.</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 +tan 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-humor in +which her companion had returned.</p> + +<p>"Having gathered these facts, Watson, I smoke 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 ones from those which I had expected. There +had been a man in the room, and he had crossed the lawn coming +from the road. I was able to obtain five very clear impressions +of his foot-marks: one in the roadway itself, at the point where +he had climbed the low wall, two on the lawn, and two very faint +ones upon the stained boards near the window where he had +entered. He had apparently rushed across the lawn, for his +toe-marks were much deeper than his heels. But it was not the man +who surprised me. It was his companion."</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 he tracings of the foot-marks of +some small animal. It had five well-marked foot-pads, an +indication of long nails, and the whole print might be nearly as +large as a dessert-spoon.</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>"You 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 overhead. But there was the reference to David, and there +was the known affection of the Colonel for his wife, to weigh +against it, to say nothing of the tragic intrusion of this other +man, which might, of course, be entirely disconnected with what +had gone before. It was not easy to pick one's steps, but, on the +whole, I was inclined to dismiss the idea that there had been +anything between the Colonel and Miss Morrison, but more than +ever convinced that the young lady held the clue as to what it +was which had turned Mrs. Barclay to hatred of her husband. I +took the obvious course, therefore, of calling upon Miss M., of +explaining to her that I was perfectly certain that she held the +facts in her possession, and of assuring her that her friend, +Mrs. Barclay, might find herself in the dock upon a capital +charge unless the matter were cleared up.</p> + +<p>"Miss Morrison is a little ethereal slip of a girl, with timid +eyes and blond hair, but I found her by no means wanting in +shrewdness and common-sense. She sat thinking for some time after +I had spoken, and then, turning to me with a brisk air of +resolution, she broke into a remarkable statement which I will +condense for your benefit.</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 is back very bent, and +something like a box slung over one of his shoulders. He appeared +to be deformed, for he carried his head low and walked with his +knees bent. We were passing him when he raised his face to look +at us in the circle of light thrown by the lamp, and as he did so +he stopped and screamed out in a dreadful voice, "My God, it's +Nancy!" Mrs. Barclay turned as white as death, and would have +fallen down had the dreadful-looking creature not caught hold of +her. I was going to call for the police, but she, to my surprise, +spoke quite civilly to the fellow.</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 gray, 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 made 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 tow-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 indescribably +impression of deformity; but the face which he turned towards us, +though worn and swarthy, must at some time have been remarkable +for its beauty. He looked suspiciously at us now out of +yellow-shot, bilious eyes, and, without speaking or rising, he +waved towards two chairs.</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 by ribs all awry, but there was a time when Corporal +Henry Wood was the smartest man in the 117th foot. We were in +India then, in cantonments, at a place we'll call Bhurtee. +Barclay, who died the other day, was sergeant in the same company +as myself, and the belle of the regiment, ay, and the finest girl +that ever had the breath of life between her lips, was Nancy +Devoy, the daughter of the color-sergeant. There were two men +that loved her, and one that she loved, and you'll smile when you +look at this poor thing huddled before the fire, and hear me say +that it was for my good looks that she loved me.</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 ayear, and at last came back to +the Punjaub, where I lived mostly among the natives and picked up +a living by the conjuring tricks that I had learned. What use was +it for me, a wretched cripple, to go back to England or to make +myself known to my old comrades? Even my wish for revenge would +not make me do that. I had rather that Nancy and my old pals +should think of Harry Wood as having died with a straight back, +than see him living and crawling with a stick like a chimpanzee. +They never doubted that I was dead, and I meant that they never +should. I heard that Barclay had married Nancy, and that he was +rising rapidly in the regiment, but even that did not make me +speak.</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?" "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> + +<hr> +<h3 align="Center">Adventure VIII</h3> + +<h3 align="Center">The Resident Patient</h3> + +<br> +<p>Glancing over the somewhat incoherent series of Memoirs with +which I have endeavored to illustrate a few of the mental +peculiarities of my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I have been +struck by the difficulty which I have experienced in picking out +examples which shall in every way answer my purpose. For in those +cases in which Holmes has performed some tour de force of +analytical reasoning, and has demonstrated the value of his +peculiar methods of investigation, the facts themselves have +often been so slight or so commonplace that I could not feel +justified in laying them before the public. On the other hand, it +has frequently happened that he has been concerned in some +research where the facts have been of the most remarkable and +dramatic character, but where the share which he has himself +taken in determining their causes has been less pronounced than +I, as his biographer, could wish. The small matter which I have +chronicled under the heading of "A Study in Scarlet," and that +other later one connected with the loss of the Gloria Scott, may +serve as examples of this Scylla and Charybdis which are forever +threatening the historian. It may be that in the business of +which I am now about to write the part which my friend played is +not sufficiently accentuated; and yet the whole train of +circumstances is so remarkable that I cannot bring myself to omit +it entirely from this series.</p> + +<p>It had been a close, rainy day in October. Our blinds were +half-drawn, and Holmes lay curled upon the sofa, reading and +re-reading a letter which he had received by the morning post. +For myself, my tern of service in India had trained me to stand +heat better than cold, and a thermometer of 90 was no hardship. +But the paper was uninteresting. Parliament had risen. Everybody +was out of town, and I yearned for the glades of the New Forest +or the shingle of Southsea. A depleted bank account had caused me +to postpone my holiday, and as to my companion, neither the +country nor the sea presented the slightest attraction to him. He +loved to lie in the very centre of five millions of people, with +his filaments stretching out and running through them, responsive +to every little rumor or suspicion of unsolved crime. +Appreciation of Nature found no place among his many gifts, and +his only change was when he turned his mind from the evil-doer of +the town to track down his brother of the country.</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 very +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," said he, "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 thought of his companion, you were +inclined to treat the matter as a mere tour de force 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 clews +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 turned across to +the unframed portrait of Henry Ward Beecher which stands upon the +top of your books. You then 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 you 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 clinched, 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 the evening has brought a +breeze with it. 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. 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 color 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 your 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 own a great prize lately?' said +he.</p> + +<p>"I bowed.</p> + +<p>"'Answer my 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 cam 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 her 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 interest me deeply, because the chief difficulty +in the study of catalepsy is the rareness of the disease. You may +believe, than, that I was in my consulting-room when, at the +appointed hour, the page showed in the patient.</p> + +<p>He was an elderly man, thin, demure, and common-place--by no +means the conception one forms of a Russian nobleman. I was much +more struck by the appearance of his companion. This was a tall +young man, surprisingly handsome, with a dark, fierce face, and +the limbs and chest of a Hercules. He had his hand under the +other's arm as they entered, and helped him to a chair with a +tenderness which one would hardly have expected from his +appearance.</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 cased 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 harmonized with my former experiences. I had obtained good +results in such cases by the inhalation of nitrite of amyl, and +the present seemed an admirable opportunity of testing its +virtues. The bottle was downstairs in my laboratory, so leaving +my patient seated in his chair, I ran down to get it. There was +some little delay in finding it--five minutes, let us say--and +then I returned. Imagine my amazement to find the room empty and +the patient gone.</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 cam 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 +has 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 +arm-chair, and I could hardly get him to speak coherently. It was +his suggestion that I should come round to you, and of course I +at once saw the propriety of it, for certainly the incident is a +very singular one, though he appears to completely overtake 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 +dripped 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 color, and his thin, sandy hair +seemed to bristle up with the intensity of his emotion. In his +hand he held a pistol, but he thrust it into his pocket as we +advanced.</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 tow 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 your, 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 +improbably, no doubt, but still just conceivable? Might the whole +story of the cataleptic Russian and his son be a concoction of +Dr. Trevelyan's, who has, for his own purposes, been in +Blessington's rooms?"</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 an Havana, and these others are cigars of the +peculiar sort which are imported by the Dutch from their East +Indian colonies. They are usually wrapped in straw, you know, and +are thinner for their length than any other brand." He picked up +the four ends and examined them with his pocket-lens.</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 smoke. 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 care-taker, was murdered, and +the thieves got away with seven thousand pounds. This was in +1875. They were all five arrested, but the evidence against them +was by no means conclusive. This Blessington or Sutton, who was +the worst of the gang, turned informer. On his evidence +Cartwright was hanged and the other three got fifteen years +apiece. When they got out the other day, which was some years +before their full term, they set themselves, as you perceive, to +hunt down the traitor and to avenge the death of their comrade +upon him. Twice they tried to get at him and failed; a third +time, you see, it came off. Is there anything further which I can +explain, Dr. Trevelyan?"</p> + +<p>"I think you have made it all remarkable clear," said the +doctor. "No doubt the day on which he was perturbed was the day +when he had seen of their release in the newspapers."</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 Norah Creina, which was lost +some years ago with all hands upon the Portuguese coast, some +leagues to the north of Oporto. The proceedings against the page +broke down for want of evidence, and the Brook Street Mystery, as +it was called, has never until now been fully dealt with in any +public print.</p> + +<hr> +<h3 align="Center">Adventure IX</h3> + +<h3 align="Center">The Greek Interpreter</h3> + +<br> +<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 +arm-chair, my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that +ever lived. But he has no ambition and no energy. He will not +even go out of his way to verify his own solution, and would +rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself +right. Again and again I have taken a problem to him, and have +received an explanation which has afterwards proved to be the +correct one. And yet he was absolutely incapable of working out +the practical points which must be gone into before a case could +be laid before a judge or jury."</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 is face, though +massive, had preserved something of the sharpness of expression +which was so remarkable in that of his brother. His eyes, which +were of a peculiarly light, watery gray, seemed to always retain +that far-away, introspective look which I had only observed in +Sherlock's when he was exerting his full powers.</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 is 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 neighbor there +has told you. I interpret all languages--or nearly all--but as I +am a Greek by birth and with a Grecian name, it is with that +particular tongue that I am principally associated. For many +years I have been the chief Greek interpreter in London, and my +name is very well known in the hotels. It happens not +unfrequently that I am sent for at strange hours by foreigners +who get into difficulties, or by traveler 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 bona-fide country +was more than I could possibly venture to say.</p> + +<p>"There was a colored gas-lamp inside which was turned so low +that I could see little save that the hall was of some size and +hung with pictures. In the dim light I could make out that the +person who had opened the door was a small, mean-looking, +middle-aged man with rounded shoulders. As he turned towards us +the glint of the light showed me that he was wearing glasses.</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!' 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 armor at one side of it. +There was a chair just under the lamp, and the elderly man +motioned that I should sit in it. The younger had left us, but he +suddenly returned through another door, leading with him a +gentleman clad in some sort of loose dressing-gown who moved +slowly towards us. As he came into the circle of dim light which +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. Who are you?'</p> + +<p>"'I care not. I am a stranger in London.'</p> + +<p>"'Your fate will be upon your own head. How long have you been +here?'</p> + +<p>"'Let it be so. Three weeks.'</p> + +<p>"'The property can never be yours. What ails you?'</p> + +<p>"'It shall not go to villains. They are starving me.'</p> + +<p>"'You shall go free if you sign. What house is this?'</p> + +<p>"'I will never sign. I do not know.'</p> + +<p>"'You are not doing her any service. What is your name?'</p> + +<p>"'Let me hear her say so. Kratides.'</p> + +<p>"'You shall see her if you sign. Where are you from?'</p> + +<p>"'Then I shall never see her. Athens.'</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 door-way 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 gray, 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 Daily News, 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 arm-chair.</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 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, nor, sir. He was a little gentleman, with glasses, thin +in the face, but very pleasant in his ways, for he was laughing +al 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 terrorize him the instant that he got +into his presence. No doubt they want his professional services, +but, having used him, they may be inclined to punish him for what +they will regard as his treachery."</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 recognize in one +of them the Greek interpreter who had parted from us only a few +hours before at the Diogenes Club. His hands and feet were +securely strapped together, and he bore over one eye the marks of +a violent blow. The other, who was secured in a similar fashion, +was a tall man in the last stage of emaciation, with several +strips of sticking-plaster arranged in a grotesque pattern over +his face. He had ceased to moan as we laid him down, and a glance +showed me that for him at least our aid had come too late. Mr. +Melas, however, still lived, and in less than an hour, with the +aid of ammonia and brandy I had the satisfaction of seeing him +open his eyes, and of knowing that my hand had drawn him back +from that dark valley in which all paths meet.</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 he 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--that through his ignorance of the language he +was helpless in their hands, had kept him a prisoner, and had +endeavored by cruelty and starvation to make him sign away his +own and his sister's property. They had kept him in the house +without the girl's knowledge, and the plaster over the face had +been for the purpose of making recognition difficult in case she +should ever catch a glimpse of him. Her feminine perception, +however, had instantly seen through the disguise when, on the +occasion of the interpreter's visit, she had seen him for the +first time. The poor girl, however, was herself a prisoner, for +there was no one about the house except the man who acted as +coachman, and his wife, both of whom were tools of the +conspirators. Finding that their secret was out, and that their +prisoner was not to be coerced, the two villains with the girl +had fled away at a few hours' notice from the furnished house +which they had hired, having first, as they thought, taken +vengeance both upon the man who had defied and the one who had +betrayed them.</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> + +<hr> +<h3 align="Center">Adventure X</h3> + +<h3 align="Center">The Naval Treaty</h3> + +<p><br> +</p> + +<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 Dubugue of +the Paris police, and Fritz von Waldbaum, the well-known +specialist of Dantzig, both of whom had wasted their energies +upon what proved to be side-issues. The new century will have +come, however, before the story can be safely told. Meanwhile I +pass on to the second on my list, which promised also at one time +to be of national importance, and was marked by several incidents +which give it a quite unique character.</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>Briarbrae, Woking. My dear Watson,--I have no doubt that you +can remember "Tadpole" Phelps, who was in the fifth form when you +were in the third. It is possible even that you may have heard +that through my uncle's influence I obtained a good appointment +at the Foreign Office, and that I was in a situation of trust and +honor until a horrible misfortune came suddenly to blast my +career.</p> + +<p>There is no use writing of the details of that dreadful event. +In the event of your acceding to my request it is probably 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>Your old school-fellow,</p> + +<p>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 +arm-chair and waited. He dipped into this bottle or that, drawing +out a few drops of each with his glass pipette, and finally +brought a test-tube containing a solution over to the table. In +his right hand he held a slip of litmus-paper.</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 dare say 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 23d 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 gray roll of paper from his bureau, +'is the original of that secret treaty between England and Italy +of which, I regret to say, some rumors have already got into the +public press. It is of enormous importance that nothing further +should leak out. The French or the Russian embassy would pay an +immense sum to learn the contents of these papers. They should +not leave my bureau were it not that it is absolutely necessary +to have them copied. You have a desk in your office?"</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 was the cause of +the delay could be. Opening the door, I started down the corridor +to find out. There was a straight passage, dimly lighted, which +led from the room in which I had been working, and was the only +exit from it. It ended in a curving staircase, with the +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> + +<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 stair and along the passage. There was no +one in the corridors, Mr. Holmes. There was no one in the room. +All was exactly as I left it, save only that the papers which had +been committed to my care had been taken from the desk on which +they lay. The copy was there, and the original was gone."</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 recognized in an instant that the thief must have come up +the stairs from the side door. Of course I must have met him if +he had come the other way."</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 chines from a neighboring 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 vie?'</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 our +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 hire 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 +recognizing 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 fro +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, endeavoring to soothe +me. One of them drove down with me to Waterloo, and saw me into +the Woking train. I believe that he would have come all the way +had it not been that Dr. Ferrier, who lives near me, was going +down by that very train. The doctor most kindly took charge of +me, and it was well he did so, for I had a fit in the station, +and before we reached home I was practically a raving maniac.</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 is French name were really +the only two points which could suggest suspicion; but, as a +matter of fact, I did not begin work until he had gone, and his +people are of Huguenot extraction, but as English in sympathy and +tradition as you and I are. Nothing was found to implicate him in +any way, and there the matter dropped. I turn to you, Mr. Holmes, +as absolutely my last hope. If you fail me, then my honor as well +as my position are forever forfeited."</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 color are +an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only +goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much +to hope from the flowers.</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 to 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 be 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 dare say my severe illness +prevented him from being that. He repeated that the matter was of +the utmost importance, and added that no steps would be taken +about my future--by which he means, of course, my +dismissal--until my health was restored and I had an opportunity +of repairing my misfortune."</p> + +<p>"Well, that was reasonable and considerate," said Holmes. +"Come, Watson, for we have a goody 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-colored 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-humor. "Then we'll +look into this matter together. I think that we should begin be +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 who-ever 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 wit the honorable 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: "L10 reward. The number of the cab which +dropped a fare at or about the door of the Foreign Office in +Charles Street at quarter to ten in the evening of May 23d. Apply +221 B, 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 probably 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 he 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 he, 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 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 run between us, with his slight, tall figure, his +sharp features, thoughtful face, and curling hair prematurely +tinged with gray, he seemed to represent that not to common type, +a nobleman who is in truth noble.</p> + +<p>"You 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 once 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 if 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>"Any 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>I met him accordingly next morning and we traveled down to +Woking together. He had had no answer to his advertisement, he +said, and no fresh light had been thrown upon the case. He had, +when he so willed it, the utter immobility of countenance of a +red Indian, and I could not gather from his appearance whether he +was satisfied or not with the position of the case. His +conversation, I remember, was about the Bertillon system of +measurements, and he expressed his enthusiastic admiration of the +French savant.</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 honor?"</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 chose +by the burglar. I should have thought those larger windows of the +drawing-room and dining-room would have had more attractions for +him."</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 the 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 wit 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 al 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 manoeuvres was I could +not conceive, unless it were to keep the lady away from Phelps, +who, rejoiced by his returning health and by the prospect of +action, lunched with us in the dining-room. Holmes had still more +startling surprise for us, however, for, after accompanying us +down to the station and seeing us into our carriage, he calmly +announced that he had no intention of leaving Woking.</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 school-fellows, as you must have much +to talk over. Mr. Phelps can have the spare bedroom to-night, and +I will be with you in time for breakfast, for there is a train +which will take me into Waterloo at eight."</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 fats! 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 endeavored to interest him in Afghanistan, in India, in +social questions, in anything which might take his mind out of +the groove. He would always come back to his lost treaty, +wondering, guessing, speculating, as to what Holmes was doing, +what steps Lord Holdhurst was taking, what news we should have in +the morning. As the evening wore on his excitement became quite +painful.</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 matter 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 endeavor 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 mile 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 wit 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 hi did so he uttered a scream, +and sat there staring with a face as white as the plate upon +which he looked. Across the centre of it was lying a little +cylinder of blue-gray paper. He caught it up, devoured it with +his eyes, and then danced madly about the room, passing it to his +bosom and shrieking out in his delight. Then he fell back into an +arm-chair so limp and exhausted with his own emotions that we had +to pour brandy down his throat to keep him from fainting.</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 honor."</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 cooperation you would not have that paper +in you coat-pocket. She departed then and the lights went out, +and I was left squatting in the rhododendron-bush.</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 servant's 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 neighborhood of the door. +Presently he stopped and picked out a square piece of board, such +as is usually left to enable plumbers to get at the joints of the +gas-pipes. This one covered, as a matter of fact, the T joint +which gives off the pipe which supplies the kitchen underneath. +Out of this hiding-place he drew that little cylinder of paper, +pushed down the board, rearranged the carpet, blew out the +candles, and walked straight into my arms as I stood waiting for +him outside the window.</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 grass 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 is 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> + +<hr> +<h3 align="Center">Adventure XI</h3> + +<h3 align="Center">The Final Problem</h3> + +<p><br> + It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these +the last words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by +which my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes was distinguished. In an +incoherent and, as I deeply feel, an entirely inadequate fashion, +I have endeavored to give some account of my strange experiences +in his company from the chance which first brought us together at +the period of the "Study in Scarlet," up to the time of his +interference in the matter of the "Naval Treaty"--and +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 on +good purpose is to be served by its suppression. As far as I +know, there have been only three accounts in the public press: +that in the Journal de Geneve 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 sow, +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 April 24th. 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 recognize danger when +it is close upon you. Might I trouble you for a match?" He drew +in the smoke of his cigarette as if the soothing influence was +grateful to him.</p> + +<p>"I must apologize for calling so late," said he, "and I must +further beg you to be so unconventional as to allow me to leave +your house presently by scrambling over your back garden +wall."</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 +appearance, a most brilliant career before him. But the man had +hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind. A criminal +strain ran in his blood, which, instead of being modified, was +increased and rendered infinitely more dangerous by his +extraordinary mental powers. Dark rumors gathered round him in +the university town, and eventually he was compelled to resign +his chair and to come down to London, where he set up as an army +coach. So much is known to the world, but what I am telling you +now is what I have myself discovered.</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 it shield over the wrong-doer. +Again and again in cases of the most varying sorts--forgery +cases, robberies, murders--I have felt the presence of this +force, and I have deduced its action in many of those +undiscovered crimes in which I have not been personally +consulted. For years I have endeavored to break through the veil +which shrouded it, and at last the time came when I seized my +thread and followed it, until it led me, after a thousand cunning +windings, to ex-Professor Moriarty of mathematical celebrity.</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 center of its web, but that web has a thousand +radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them. He +does little himself. He only plans. But his agents are numerous +and splendidly organized. Is there a crime to be done, a paper to +be abstracted, we will say, a house to be rifled, a man to be +removed--the word is passed to the Professor, the matter is +organized and carried out. The agent may be caught. In that case +money is found for his bail or his defence. But the central power +which uses the agent is never caught--never so much as suspected. +This was the organization which I deduced, Watson, and which I +devoted my whole energy to exposing and breaking up.</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 thresh-hold. 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 this +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 that I should have +expected,' said he, at last. 'It is a dangerous habit to finger +loaded firearms in the pocket of one's dressing-gown.'</p> + +<p>"The fact is that upon his entrance I had instantly recognized +the extreme personal danger in which I lay. The only conceivable +escape for him lay in silencing my tongue. In an instant I had +slipped the revolved 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 now 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 patch on the 4th of January,' said he. 'On +the 23d you incommoded me; by the middle of February I was +seriously inconvenienced by you; at the end of March I was +absolutely hampered in my plans; and now, at the close of April, +I find myself placed in such a position through your continual +persecution that I am in positive danger of losing my liberty. +The situation is becoming an impossible one.'</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. 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, abut 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 might +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 mid-day to transact +some business in Oxford Street. As I passed the corner which +leads from Bentinck Street on to the Welbeck Street crossing a +two-horse van furiously driven whizzed round and was on me like a +flash. I sprang for the foot-path and saved myself by the +fraction of a second. The van dashed round by Marylebone Lane and +was gone in an instant. I kept to the pavement after that, +Watson, but as I walked down Vere Street a brick came down from +the roof of one of the houses, and was shattered to fragments at +my feet. I called the police and had the place examined. There +were slates and bricks piled up on the roof preparatory to some +repairs, and they would have me believe that the wind had toppled +over one of these. Of course I knew better, but I could prove +nothing. I took a cab after that and reached my brother's rooms +in Pall Mall, where I spent the day. Now I have come round to +you, and on my way I was attacked by a rough with a bludgeon. I +knocked him down, and the police have him in custody; but I can +tell you with the most absolute confidence that no possible +connection will ever be traced between the gentleman upon whose +front teeth I have barked my knuckles and the retiring +mathematical coach, who is, I dare say, working out problems upon +a black-board ten miles away. You will not wonder, Watson, that +my first act on entering your rooms was to close your shutters, +and that I have been compelled to ask your permission to leave +the house by some less conspicuous exit than the front door."</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 +neighbor. 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 despatch 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, handling 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 though 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 +little figure of my friend. There was no sign of him. I spent a +few minutes in assisting a venerable Italian priest, who was +endeavoring to make a porter understand, in his broken English, +that his luggage was to be booked through to Paris. Then, having +taken another look round, I returned to my carriage, where I +found that the porter, in spite of the ticket, had given me my +decrepit Italian friend as a traveling companion. It was useless +for me to explain to him that his presence was an intrusion, for +my Italian was even more limited than his English, so I shrugged +my shoulders resignedly, and continued to look out anxiously for +my friend. A chill of fear had come over me, as I thought that +his absence might mean that some blow had fallen during the +night. Already the doors had all been shut and the whistle blown, +when--</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 recognize 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 plant 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 depot. In the meantime we shall treat ourselves to a +couple of carpet-bags, encourage the manufactures of the +countries through which we travel, and make our way at our +leisure into Switzerland, via Luxembourg and Basle."</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 point. "There are limits, you see, to our +friend's intelligence. It would have been a coup-de-ma&icirc;tre +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 +salle-&agrave;-manger arguing the question for half an hour, but +the same night we had resumed our journey and were well on our +way to Geneva.</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 3d 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 detour 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 a immense chasm, lined by +glistening coal-black rock, and narrowing into a creaming, +boiling pit of incalculable depth, which brims over and shoots +the stream onward over its jagged lip. The long sweep of green +water roaring forever down, and the thick flickering curtain of +spray hissing forever upward, turn a man giddy with their +constant whirl and clamor. We stood near the edge peering down at +the gleam of the breaking water far below us against the black +rocks, and listening to the half-human shout which cam 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, and English lady had arrived who was in the last +stage of consumption. She had wintered at Davos Platz, and was +journeying now to join her friends at Lucerne, when a sudden +hemorrhage had overtaken her. It was thought that she could +hardly live a few hours, but it would be a great consolation to +her to see an English doctor, and, if I would only return, etc. +The good Steiler assured me in a postscript that he would himself +look upon my compliance as a very great favor, since the lady +absolutely refused to see a Swiss physician, and he could not but +feel that he was incurring a great responsibility.</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 wit 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 bowlder 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>My dear Watson [it said], I write these few lines through the +courtesy of Mr. Moriarty, who awaits my convenience for the final +discussion of those questions which lie between us. He has been +giving me a sketch of the methods by which he avoided the English +police and kept himself informed of our movements. They certainly +confirm the very high opinion which I had formed of his +abilities. I am pleased to think that I shall be able to free +society from any further effects of his presence, though I fear +that it is at a cost which will give pain to my friends, and +especially, my dear Watson, to you. I have already explained to +you, however, that my career had in any case reached its crisis, +and that no possible conclusion to it could be more congenial to +me than this. Indeed, if I may make a full confession to you, I +was quite convinced that the letter from Meiringen was a hoax, +and I allowed you to depart on that errand under the persuasion +that some development of this sort would follow. Tell Inspector +Patterson that the papers which he needs to convict the gang are +in pigeonhole M., done up in a blue envelope and inscribed +"Moriarty." I made every disposition of my property before +leaving England, and handed it to my brother Mycroft. Pray give +my greetings to Mrs. Watson, and believe me to be, my dear +fellow,</p> + +<p>Very sincerely yours,</p> + +<p>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 this 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 weighted upon them. Of their terrible chief few +details came out during the proceedings, and if I have now been +compelled to make a clear statement of his career it is due to +those injudicious champions who have endeavored to clear his +memory by attacks upon him whom I shall ever regard as the best +and the wisest man whom I have ever known.</p> + +<p>End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Memoirs of Sherlock +Holmes</p> +</body> +</html> + + |