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-﻿Project Gutenberg's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
-
-
-Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
-
-Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
-
-Posting Date: April 18, 2011 [EBook #1661]
-First Posted: November 29, 2002
-
-Language: English
-
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
-
-by
-
-SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
-
-
-
-   I. A Scandal in Bohemia
-  II. The Red-headed League
- III. A Case of Identity
-  IV. The Boscombe Valley Mystery
-   V. The Five Orange Pips
-  VI. The Man with the Twisted Lip
- VII. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
-VIII. The Adventure of the Speckled Band
-  IX. The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
-   X. The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
-  XI. The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
- XII. The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
-
-
-
-
-ADVENTURE I. A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA
-
-I.
-
-To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard
-him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses
-and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt
-any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that
-one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but
-admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect
-reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a
-lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never
-spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They
-were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the
-veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner
-to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely
-adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which
-might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a
-sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power
-lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a
-nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and
-that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable
-memory.
-
-I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us
-away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the
-home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first
-finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to
-absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of
-society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in
-Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from
-week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the
-drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still,
-as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his
-immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in
-following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which
-had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time
-to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons
-to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up
-of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee,
-and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so
-delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland.
-Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely
-shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of
-my former friend and companion.
-
-One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was
-returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to
-civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I
-passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated
-in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the
-Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes
-again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers.
-His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw
-his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against
-the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head
-sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who
-knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their
-own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his
-drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new
-problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which
-had formerly been in part my own.
-
-His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I
-think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly
-eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars,
-and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he
-stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular
-introspective fashion.
-
-"Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have
-put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you."
-
-"Seven!" I answered.
-
-"Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more,
-I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not
-tell me that you intended to go into harness."
-
-"Then, how do you know?"
-
-"I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting
-yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and
-careless servant girl?"
-
-"My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly
-have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true
-that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful
-mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you
-deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has
-given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it
-out."
-
-He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands
-together.
-
-"It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the
-inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it,
-the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they
-have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round
-the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it.
-Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile
-weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting
-specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a
-gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black
-mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge
-on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted
-his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce
-him to be an active member of the medical profession."
-
-I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his
-process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I
-remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously
-simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each
-successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you
-explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good
-as yours."
-
-"Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing
-himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe.
-The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen
-the steps which lead up from the hall to this room."
-
-"Frequently."
-
-"How often?"
-
-"Well, some hundreds of times."
-
-"Then how many are there?"
-
-"How many? I don't know."
-
-"Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is
-just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps,
-because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are
-interested in these little problems, and since you are good
-enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you
-may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick,
-pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table.
-"It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud."
-
-The note was undated, and without either signature or address.
-
-"There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight
-o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a
-matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of
-the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may
-safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which
-can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all
-quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do
-not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask."
-
-"This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that
-it means?"
-
-"I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before
-one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit
-theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself.
-What do you deduce from it?"
-
-I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was
-written.
-
-"The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked,
-endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper
-could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly
-strong and stiff."
-
-"Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an
-English paper at all. Hold it up to the light."
-
-I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a
-large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper.
-
-"What do you make of that?" asked Holmes.
-
-"The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather."
-
-"Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for
-'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a
-customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for
-'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental
-Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves.
-"Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking
-country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being
-the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous
-glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you
-make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue
-triumphant cloud from his cigarette.
-
-"The paper was made in Bohemia," I said.
-
-"Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you
-note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of
-you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian
-could not have written that. It is the German who is so
-uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover
-what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and
-prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if
-I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts."
-
-As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and
-grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the
-bell. Holmes whistled.
-
-"A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing
-out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of
-beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in
-this case, Watson, if there is nothing else."
-
-"I think that I had better go, Holmes."
-
-"Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my
-Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity
-to miss it."
-
-"But your client--"
-
-"Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he
-comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best
-attention."
-
-A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and
-in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there
-was a loud and authoritative tap.
-
-"Come in!" said Holmes.
-
-A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six
-inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His
-dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked
-upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed
-across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while
-the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined
-with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch
-which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended
-halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with
-rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence
-which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a
-broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper
-part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black
-vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment,
-for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower
-part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character,
-with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive
-of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy.
-
-"You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a
-strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He
-looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to
-address.
-
-"Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and
-colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me
-in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?"
-
-"You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman.
-I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour
-and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most
-extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate
-with you alone."
-
-I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me
-back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say
-before this gentleman anything which you may say to me."
-
-The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said
-he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at
-the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At
-present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it
-may have an influence upon European history."
-
-"I promise," said Holmes.
-
-"And I."
-
-"You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The
-august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to
-you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have
-just called myself is not exactly my own."
-
-"I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly.
-
-"The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution
-has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense
-scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of
-Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House
-of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia."
-
-"I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself
-down in his armchair and closing his eyes.
-
-Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid,
-lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him
-as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe.
-Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his
-gigantic client.
-
-"If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he
-remarked, "I should be better able to advise you."
-
-The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in
-uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he
-tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You
-are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to
-conceal it?"
-
-"Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken
-before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich
-Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and
-hereditary King of Bohemia."
-
-"But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down
-once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you
-can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in
-my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not
-confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I
-have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting
-you."
-
-"Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more.
-
-"The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a
-lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known
-adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you."
-
-"Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without
-opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of
-docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it
-was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not
-at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography
-sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a
-staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea
-fishes.
-
-"Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year
-1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera
-of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in
-London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled
-with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and
-is now desirous of getting those letters back."
-
-"Precisely so. But how--"
-
-"Was there a secret marriage?"
-
-"None."
-
-"No legal papers or certificates?"
-
-"None."
-
-"Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should
-produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is
-she to prove their authenticity?"
-
-"There is the writing."
-
-"Pooh, pooh! Forgery."
-
-"My private note-paper."
-
-"Stolen."
-
-"My own seal."
-
-"Imitated."
-
-"My photograph."
-
-"Bought."
-
-"We were both in the photograph."
-
-"Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an
-indiscretion."
-
-"I was mad--insane."
-
-"You have compromised yourself seriously."
-
-"I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now."
-
-"It must be recovered."
-
-"We have tried and failed."
-
-"Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought."
-
-"She will not sell."
-
-"Stolen, then."
-
-"Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked
-her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice
-she has been waylaid. There has been no result."
-
-"No sign of it?"
-
-"Absolutely none."
-
-Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he.
-
-"But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully.
-
-"Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the
-photograph?"
-
-"To ruin me."
-
-"But how?"
-
-"I am about to be married."
-
-"So I have heard."
-
-"To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the
-King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her
-family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a
-doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end."
-
-"And Irene Adler?"
-
-"Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I
-know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul
-of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and
-the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry
-another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not
-go--none."
-
-"You are sure that she has not sent it yet?"
-
-"I am sure."
-
-"And why?"
-
-"Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the
-betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday."
-
-"Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That
-is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to
-look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in
-London for the present?"
-
-"Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the
-Count Von Kramm."
-
-"Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress."
-
-"Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety."
-
-"Then, as to money?"
-
-"You have carte blanche."
-
-"Absolutely?"
-
-"I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom
-to have that photograph."
-
-"And for present expenses?"
-
-The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak
-and laid it on the table.
-
-"There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in
-notes," he said.
-
-Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and
-handed it to him.
-
-"And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked.
-
-"Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood."
-
-Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the
-photograph a cabinet?"
-
-"It was."
-
-"Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon
-have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added,
-as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If
-you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three
-o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you."
-
-
-II.
-
-At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had
-not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the
-house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down
-beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him,
-however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his
-inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and
-strange features which were associated with the two crimes which
-I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the
-exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own.
-Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my
-friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of
-a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a
-pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the
-quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most
-inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable
-success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to
-enter into my head.
-
-It was close upon four before the door opened, and a
-drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an
-inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room.
-Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of
-disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it
-was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he
-emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old.
-Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in
-front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes.
-
-"Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again
-until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the
-chair.
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I
-employed my morning, or what I ended by doing."
-
-"I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the
-habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler."
-
-"Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you,
-however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this
-morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a
-wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of
-them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found
-Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but
-built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock
-to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well
-furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those
-preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open.
-Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window
-could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round
-it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without
-noting anything else of interest.
-
-"I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that
-there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the
-garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses,
-and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two
-fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire
-about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in
-the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but
-whose biographies I was compelled to listen to."
-
-"And what of Irene Adler?" I asked.
-
-"Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is
-the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the
-Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts,
-drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for
-dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings.
-Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark,
-handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and
-often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See
-the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him
-home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him.
-When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up
-and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan
-of campaign.
-
-"This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the
-matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the
-relation between them, and what the object of his repeated
-visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the
-former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his
-keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this
-question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony
-Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the
-Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my
-inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to
-let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the
-situation."
-
-"I am following you closely," I answered.
-
-"I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab
-drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a
-remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently
-the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a
-great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the
-maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly
-at home.
-
-"He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch
-glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and
-down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see
-nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than
-before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from
-his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he
-shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to
-the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if
-you do it in twenty minutes!'
-
-"Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do
-well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau,
-the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under
-his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of
-the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall
-door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment,
-but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for.
-
-"'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a
-sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.'
-
-"This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing
-whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her
-landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked
-twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could
-object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign
-if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to
-twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind.
-
-"My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the
-others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their
-steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid
-the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there
-save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who
-seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three
-standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side
-aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church.
-Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to
-me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards
-me.
-
-"'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!'
-
-"'What then?' I asked.
-
-"'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.'
-
-"I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was
-I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear,
-and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally
-assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to
-Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and
-there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady
-on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was
-the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my
-life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just
-now. It seems that there had been some informality about their
-license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them
-without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance
-saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in
-search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean
-to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion."
-
-"This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what
-then?"
-
-"Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if
-the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate
-very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church
-door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and
-she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as
-usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove
-away in different directions, and I went off to make my own
-arrangements."
-
-"Which are?"
-
-"Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the
-bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to
-be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want
-your co-operation."
-
-"I shall be delighted."
-
-"You don't mind breaking the law?"
-
-"Not in the least."
-
-"Nor running a chance of arrest?"
-
-"Not in a good cause."
-
-"Oh, the cause is excellent!"
-
-"Then I am your man."
-
-"I was sure that I might rely on you."
-
-"But what is it you wish?"
-
-"When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to
-you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that
-our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I
-have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must
-be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns
-from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her."
-
-"And what then?"
-
-"You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to
-occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must
-not interfere, come what may. You understand?"
-
-"I am to be neutral?"
-
-"To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small
-unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being
-conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the
-sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close
-to that open window."
-
-"Yes."
-
-"You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you."
-
-"Yes."
-
-"And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what
-I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of
-fire. You quite follow me?"
-
-"Entirely."
-
-"It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped
-roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket,
-fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting.
-Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire,
-it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then
-walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten
-minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?"
-
-"I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you,
-and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry
-of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street."
-
-"Precisely."
-
-"Then you may entirely rely on me."
-
-"That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I
-prepare for the new role I have to play."
-
-He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in
-the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist
-clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white
-tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and
-benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have
-equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His
-expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every
-fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as
-science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in
-crime.
-
-It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still
-wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in
-Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just
-being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge,
-waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such
-as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description,
-but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On
-the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was
-remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men
-smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his
-wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and
-several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with
-cigars in their mouths.
-
-"You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of
-the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The
-photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are
-that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey
-Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his
-princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the
-photograph?"
-
-"Where, indeed?"
-
-"It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is
-cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's
-dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid
-and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We
-may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her."
-
-"Where, then?"
-
-"Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But
-I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive,
-and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it
-over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but
-she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be
-brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she
-had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she
-can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house."
-
-"But it has twice been burgled."
-
-"Pshaw! They did not know how to look."
-
-"But how will you look?"
-
-"I will not look."
-
-"What then?"
-
-"I will get her to show me."
-
-"But she will refuse."
-
-"She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is
-her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter."
-
-As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round
-the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which
-rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of
-the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in
-the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another
-loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce
-quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who
-took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder,
-who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and
-in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was
-the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who
-struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes
-dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached
-her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood
-running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to
-their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while
-a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle
-without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to
-attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her,
-had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her
-superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking
-back into the street.
-
-"Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked.
-
-"He is dead," cried several voices.
-
-"No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be
-gone before you can get him to hospital."
-
-"He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the
-lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a
-gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now."
-
-"He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?"
-
-"Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable
-sofa. This way, please!"
-
-Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out
-in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings
-from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the
-blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay
-upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with
-compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I
-know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life
-than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was
-conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited
-upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery
-to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted
-to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under
-my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are
-but preventing her from injuring another.
-
-Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man
-who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the
-window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the
-signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The
-word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of
-spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and
-servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds
-of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I
-caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice
-of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm.
-Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner
-of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my
-friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar.
-He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we
-had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the
-Edgeware Road.
-
-"You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could
-have been better. It is all right."
-
-"You have the photograph?"
-
-"I know where it is."
-
-"And how did you find out?"
-
-"She showed me, as I told you she would."
-
-"I am still in the dark."
-
-"I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter
-was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the
-street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening."
-
-"I guessed as much."
-
-"Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in
-the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand
-to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick."
-
-"That also I could fathom."
-
-"Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else
-could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room
-which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was
-determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for
-air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your
-chance."
-
-"How did that help you?"
-
-"It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on
-fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she
-values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have
-more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the
-Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in
-the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby;
-an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to
-me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious
-to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it.
-The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were
-enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The
-photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the
-right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a
-glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it
-was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed
-from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making
-my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to
-attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had
-come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to
-wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all."
-
-"And now?" I asked.
-
-"Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King
-to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be
-shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is
-probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the
-photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain
-it with his own hands."
-
-"And when will you call?"
-
-"At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall
-have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage
-may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to
-the King without delay."
-
-We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was
-searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said:
-
-"Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes."
-
-There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the
-greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had
-hurried by.
-
-"I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the
-dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have
-been."
-
-
-III.
-
-I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our
-toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed
-into the room.
-
-"You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by
-either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face.
-
-"Not yet."
-
-"But you have hopes?"
-
-"I have hopes."
-
-"Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone."
-
-"We must have a cab."
-
-"No, my brougham is waiting."
-
-"Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off
-once more for Briony Lodge.
-
-"Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes.
-
-"Married! When?"
-
-"Yesterday."
-
-"But to whom?"
-
-"To an English lawyer named Norton."
-
-"But she could not love him."
-
-"I am in hopes that she does."
-
-"And why in hopes?"
-
-"Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future
-annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your
-Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason
-why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan."
-
-"It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own
-station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a
-moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in
-Serpentine Avenue.
-
-The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood
-upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped
-from the brougham.
-
-"Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she.
-
-"I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a
-questioning and rather startled gaze.
-
-"Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She
-left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing
-Cross for the Continent."
-
-"What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and
-surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?"
-
-"Never to return."
-
-"And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost."
-
-"We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the
-drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was
-scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and
-open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before
-her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small
-sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a
-photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler
-herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to
-"Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend
-tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at
-midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way:
-
-"MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You
-took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a
-suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I
-began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had
-been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly
-be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this,
-you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became
-suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind
-old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress
-myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage
-of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to
-watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call
-them, and came down just as you departed.
-
-"Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was
-really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock
-Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and
-started for the Temple to see my husband.
-
-"We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by
-so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when
-you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in
-peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may
-do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly
-wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a
-weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might
-take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to
-possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes,
-
-                                      "Very truly yours,
-                                   "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER."
-
-"What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when
-we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick
-and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen?
-Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?"
-
-"From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a
-very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am
-sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business
-to a more successful conclusion."
-
-"On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be
-more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The
-photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire."
-
-"I am glad to hear your Majesty say so."
-
-"I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can
-reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from
-his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand.
-
-"Your Majesty has something which I should value even more
-highly," said Holmes.
-
-"You have but to name it."
-
-"This photograph!"
-
-The King stared at him in amazement.
-
-"Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it."
-
-"I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the
-matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He
-bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the
-King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his
-chambers.
-
-And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom
-of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were
-beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the
-cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And
-when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her
-photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman.
-
-
-
-ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE
-
-I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the
-autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a
-very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair.
-With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when
-Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door
-behind me.
-
-"You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear
-Watson," he said cordially.
-
-"I was afraid that you were engaged."
-
-"So I am. Very much so."
-
-"Then I can wait in the next room."
-
-"Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and
-helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no
-doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also."
-
-The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of
-greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small
-fat-encircled eyes.
-
-"Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and
-putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in
-judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love
-of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum
-routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by
-the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you
-will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own
-little adventures."
-
-"Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I
-observed.
-
-"You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we
-went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary
-Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary
-combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more
-daring than any effort of the imagination."
-
-"A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting."
-
-"You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my
-view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you
-until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to
-be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call
-upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to
-be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some
-time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique
-things are very often connected not with the larger but with the
-smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for
-doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I
-have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present
-case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is
-certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to.
-Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to
-recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend
-Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the
-peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every
-possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some
-slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide
-myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my
-memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the
-facts are, to the best of my belief, unique."
-
-The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some
-little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the
-inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the
-advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper
-flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and
-endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the
-indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance.
-
-I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor
-bore every mark of being an average commonplace British
-tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey
-shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat,
-unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy
-Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as
-an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a
-wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether,
-look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save
-his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and
-discontent upon his features.
-
-Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook
-his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances.
-"Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual
-labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has
-been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of
-writing lately, I can deduce nothing else."
-
-Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger
-upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.
-
-"How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr.
-Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did
-manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's
-carpenter."
-
-"Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger
-than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more
-developed."
-
-"Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?"
-
-"I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that,
-especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you
-use an arc-and-compass breastpin."
-
-"Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?"
-
-"What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for
-five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the
-elbow where you rest it upon the desk?"
-
-"Well, but China?"
-
-"The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right
-wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small
-study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature
-of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a
-delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I
-see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter
-becomes even more simple."
-
-Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I
-thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see
-that there was nothing in it, after all."
-
-"I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake
-in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my
-poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I
-am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?"
-
-"Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger
-planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began
-it all. You just read it for yourself, sir."
-
-I took the paper from him and read as follows:
-
-"TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late
-Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now
-another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a
-salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All
-red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age
-of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at
-eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7
-Pope's Court, Fleet Street."
-
-"What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice
-read over the extraordinary announcement.
-
-Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when
-in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?"
-said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us
-all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this
-advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note,
-Doctor, of the paper and the date."
-
-"It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months
-ago."
-
-"Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?"
-
-"Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock
-Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small
-pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a
-very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than
-just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants,
-but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but
-that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the
-business."
-
-"What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes.
-
-"His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth,
-either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter
-assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better
-himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after
-all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?"
-
-"Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who
-comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience
-among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is
-not as remarkable as your advertisement."
-
-"Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a
-fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought
-to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar
-like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his
-main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice
-in him."
-
-"He is still with you, I presume?"
-
-"Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple
-cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the
-house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very
-quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads
-and pay our debts, if we do nothing more.
-
-"The first thing that put us out was that advertisement.
-Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight
-weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says:
-
-"'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.'
-
-"'Why that?' I asks.
-
-"'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the
-Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who
-gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than
-there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what
-to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's
-a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.'
-
-"'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a
-very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of
-my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting
-my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what
-was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news.
-
-"'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he
-asked with his eyes open.
-
-"'Never.'
-
-"'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one
-of the vacancies.'
-
-"'And what are they worth?' I asked.
-
-"'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight,
-and it need not interfere very much with one's other
-occupations.'
-
-"Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears,
-for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an
-extra couple of hundred would have been very handy.
-
-"'Tell me all about it,' said I.
-
-"'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for
-yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address
-where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out,
-the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah
-Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself
-red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men;
-so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous
-fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the
-interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of
-that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to
-do.'
-
-"'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who
-would apply.'
-
-"'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is
-really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had
-started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the
-old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your
-applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but
-real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr.
-Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be
-worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a
-few hundred pounds.'
-
-"Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves,
-that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed
-to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I
-stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent
-Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might
-prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for
-the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to
-have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for
-the address that was given us in the advertisement.
-
-"I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From
-north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in
-his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement.
-Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court
-looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought
-there were so many in the whole country as were brought together
-by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they
-were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay;
-but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real
-vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I
-would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear
-of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and
-pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up
-to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream
-upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back
-dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found
-ourselves in the office."
-
-"Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked
-Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge
-pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement."
-
-"There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs
-and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that
-was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate
-as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in
-them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem
-to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn
-came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of
-the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he
-might have a private word with us.
-
-"'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is
-willing to fill a vacancy in the League.'
-
-"'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has
-every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so
-fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and
-gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he
-plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my
-success.
-
-"'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will,
-however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.'
-With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I
-yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as
-he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we
-have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and
-once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which
-would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the
-window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the
-vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below,
-and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there
-was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the
-manager.
-
-"'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of
-the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are
-you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?'
-
-"I answered that I had not.
-
-"His face fell immediately.
-
-"'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am
-sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the
-propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their
-maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a
-bachelor.'
-
-"My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was
-not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for
-a few minutes he said that it would be all right.
-
-"'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be
-fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a
-head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your
-new duties?'
-
-"'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,'
-said I.
-
-"'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding.
-'I should be able to look after that for you.'
-
-"'What would be the hours?' I asked.
-
-"'Ten to two.'
-
-"Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr.
-Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just
-before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in
-the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man,
-and that he would see to anything that turned up.
-
-"'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?'
-
-"'Is 4 pounds a week.'
-
-"'And the work?'
-
-"'Is purely nominal.'
-
-"'What do you call purely nominal?'
-
-"'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the
-building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole
-position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You
-don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office
-during that time.'
-
-"'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,'
-said I.
-
-"'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness
-nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose
-your billet.'
-
-"'And the work?'
-
-"'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first
-volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and
-blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be
-ready to-morrow?'
-
-"'Certainly,' I answered.
-
-"'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you
-once more on the important position which you have been fortunate
-enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with
-my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased
-at my own good fortune.
-
-"Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in
-low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the
-whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its
-object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past
-belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay
-such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the
-'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to
-cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the
-whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look
-at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a
-quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for
-Pope's Court.
-
-"Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as
-possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross
-was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off
-upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from
-time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he
-bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had
-written, and locked the door of the office after me.
-
-"This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the
-manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my
-week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week
-after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I
-left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only
-once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at
-all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an
-instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet
-was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk
-the loss of it.
-
-"Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about
-Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and
-hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very
-long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly
-filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole
-business came to an end."
-
-"To an end?"
-
-"Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as
-usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a
-little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the
-panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself."
-
-He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet
-of note-paper. It read in this fashion:
-
-                  THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE
-
-                           IS
-
-                        DISSOLVED.
-
-                     October 9, 1890.
-
-Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the
-rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so
-completely overtopped every other consideration that we both
-burst out into a roar of laughter.
-
-"I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our
-client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can
-do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere."
-
-"No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from
-which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for
-the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you
-will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it.
-Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the
-door?"
-
-"I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called
-at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything
-about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant
-living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me
-what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had
-never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan
-Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him.
-
-"'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.'
-
-"'What, the red-headed man?'
-
-"'Yes.'
-
-"'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor
-and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new
-premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.'
-
-"'Where could I find him?'
-
-"'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17
-King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.'
-
-"I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was
-a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever
-heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross."
-
-"And what did you do then?" asked Holmes.
-
-"I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my
-assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say
-that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite
-good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place
-without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough
-to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right
-away to you."
-
-"And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an
-exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it.
-From what you have told me I think that it is possible that
-graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear."
-
-"Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four
-pound a week."
-
-"As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do
-not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary
-league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some
-30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have
-gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have
-lost nothing by them."
-
-"No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are,
-and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a
-prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it
-cost them two and thirty pounds."
-
-"We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first,
-one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who
-first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he
-been with you?"
-
-"About a month then."
-
-"How did he come?"
-
-"In answer to an advertisement."
-
-"Was he the only applicant?"
-
-"No, I had a dozen."
-
-"Why did you pick him?"
-
-"Because he was handy and would come cheap."
-
-"At half-wages, in fact."
-
-"Yes."
-
-"What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?"
-
-"Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face,
-though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon
-his forehead."
-
-Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought
-as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are
-pierced for earrings?"
-
-"Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he
-was a lad."
-
-"Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still
-with you?"
-
-"Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him."
-
-"And has your business been attended to in your absence?"
-
-"Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a
-morning."
-
-"That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an
-opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is
-Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion."
-
-"Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what
-do you make of it all?"
-
-"I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most
-mysterious business."
-
-"As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less
-mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless
-crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is
-the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this
-matter."
-
-"What are you going to do, then?" I asked.
-
-"To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I
-beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled
-himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his
-hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his
-black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird.
-I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and
-indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his
-chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put
-his pipe down upon the mantelpiece.
-
-"Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he
-remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare
-you for a few hours?"
-
-"I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very
-absorbing."
-
-"Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City
-first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that
-there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is
-rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is
-introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!"
-
-We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short
-walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular
-story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky,
-little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy
-two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in
-enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded
-laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and
-uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with
-"JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced
-the place where our red-headed client carried on his business.
-Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side
-and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between
-puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down
-again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally
-he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously
-upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up
-to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a
-bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step
-in.
-
-"Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would
-go from here to the Strand."
-
-"Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly,
-closing the door.
-
-"Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is,
-in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring
-I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known
-something of him before."
-
-"Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good
-deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you
-inquired your way merely in order that you might see him."
-
-"Not him."
-
-"What then?"
-
-"The knees of his trousers."
-
-"And what did you see?"
-
-"What I expected to see."
-
-"Why did you beat the pavement?"
-
-"My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We
-are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg
-Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it."
-
-The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the
-corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a
-contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was
-one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City
-to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense
-stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward,
-while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of
-pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line
-of fine shops and stately business premises that they really
-abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square
-which we had just quitted.
-
-"Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing
-along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the
-houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of
-London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little
-newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank,
-the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building
-depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now,
-Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A
-sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where
-all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no
-red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums."
-
-My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a
-very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All
-the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect
-happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the
-music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes
-were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the
-relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was
-possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature
-alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and
-astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction
-against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally
-predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from
-extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was
-never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been
-lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his
-black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase
-would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning
-power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were
-unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a
-man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him
-that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I
-felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set
-himself to hunt down.
-
-"You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we
-emerged.
-
-"Yes, it would be as well."
-
-"And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This
-business at Coburg Square is serious."
-
-"Why serious?"
-
-"A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to
-believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being
-Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help
-to-night."
-
-"At what time?"
-
-"Ten will be early enough."
-
-"I shall be at Baker Street at ten."
-
-"Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger,
-so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his
-hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the
-crowd.
-
-I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was
-always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings
-with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had
-seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that
-he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to
-happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and
-grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought
-over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed
-copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg
-Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me.
-What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed?
-Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from
-Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a
-formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to
-puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside
-until night should bring an explanation.
-
-It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my
-way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker
-Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered
-the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering
-his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men,
-one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police
-agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a
-very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat.
-
-"Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his
-pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack.
-"Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me
-introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in
-to-night's adventure."
-
-"We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in
-his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for
-starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do
-the running down."
-
-"I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase,"
-observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily.
-
-"You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said
-the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which
-are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical
-and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It
-is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of
-the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly
-correct than the official force."
-
-"Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the
-stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber.
-It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I
-have not had my rubber."
-
-"I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will
-play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and
-that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather,
-the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will
-be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands."
-
-"John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a
-young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his
-profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on
-any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John
-Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been
-to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and
-though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to
-find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week,
-and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next.
-I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him
-yet."
-
-"I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night.
-I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I
-agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is
-past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two
-will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the
-second."
-
-Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive
-and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in
-the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit
-streets until we emerged into Farrington Street.
-
-"We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow
-Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the
-matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is
-not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession.
-He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as
-tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we
-are, and they are waiting for us."
-
-We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had
-found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and,
-following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a
-narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us.
-Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive
-iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding
-stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr.
-Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us
-down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a
-third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all
-round with crates and massive boxes.
-
-"You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he
-held up the lantern and gazed about him.
-
-"Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon
-the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite
-hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise.
-
-"I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes
-severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our
-expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit
-down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?"
-
-The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a
-very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his
-knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens,
-began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few
-seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again
-and put his glass in his pocket.
-
-"We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can
-hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed.
-Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their
-work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at
-present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of
-the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr.
-Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to
-you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of
-London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at
-present."
-
-"It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had
-several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it."
-
-"Your French gold?"
-
-"Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources
-and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of
-France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to
-unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The
-crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between
-layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at
-present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the
-directors have had misgivings upon the subject."
-
-"Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is
-time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an
-hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr.
-Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern."
-
-"And sit in the dark?"
-
-"I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and
-I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your
-rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have
-gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And,
-first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men,
-and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us
-some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate,
-and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a
-light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no
-compunction about shooting them down."
-
-I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case
-behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front
-of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute
-darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot
-metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready
-to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked
-up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and
-subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the
-vault.
-
-"They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back
-through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have
-done what I asked you, Jones?"
-
-"I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door."
-
-"Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent
-and wait."
-
-What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but
-an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must
-have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs
-were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my
-nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my
-hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle
-breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper,
-heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note
-of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case
-in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint
-of a light.
-
-At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then
-it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then,
-without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand
-appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the
-centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the
-hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then
-it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark
-again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between
-the stones.
-
-Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending,
-tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon
-its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed
-the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut,
-boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand
-on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and
-waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another
-instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after
-him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face
-and a shock of very red hair.
-
-"It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the
-bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!"
-
-Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the
-collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of
-rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed
-upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came
-down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone
-floor.
-
-"It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no
-chance at all."
-
-"So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy
-that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his
-coat-tails."
-
-"There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes.
-
-"Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I
-must compliment you."
-
-"And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new
-and effective."
-
-"You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker
-at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the
-derbies."
-
-"I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands,"
-remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists.
-"You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have
-the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and
-'please.'"
-
-"All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would
-you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry
-your Highness to the police-station?"
-
-"That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow
-to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the
-detective.
-
-"Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them
-from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or
-repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated
-in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts
-at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience."
-
-"I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr.
-John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over
-this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond
-that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in
-many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of
-the Red-headed League."
-
-
-"You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning
-as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it
-was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible
-object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of
-the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get
-this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of
-hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but,
-really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was
-no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his
-accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw
-him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands?
-They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary
-office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and
-together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the
-week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for
-half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive
-for securing the situation."
-
-"But how could you guess what the motive was?"
-
-"Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a
-mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The
-man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his
-house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and
-such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something
-out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's
-fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the
-cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then
-I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I
-had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in
-London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which
-took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once
-more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel
-to some other building.
-
-"So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I
-surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was
-ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind.
-It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the
-assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had
-never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his
-face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have
-remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of
-those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they
-were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and
-Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I
-had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I
-called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank
-directors, with the result that you have seen."
-
-"And how could you tell that they would make their attempt
-to-night?" I asked.
-
-"Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that
-they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other
-words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential
-that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the
-bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than
-any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape.
-For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night."
-
-"You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned
-admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings
-true."
-
-"It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already
-feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort
-to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little
-problems help me to do so."
-
-"And you are a benefactor of the race," said I.
-
-He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of
-some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre
-c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand."
-
-
-
-ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY
-
-"My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side
-of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely
-stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We
-would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere
-commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window
-hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the
-roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the
-strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the
-wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and
-leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with
-its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and
-unprofitable."
-
-"And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which
-come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and
-vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to
-its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed,
-neither fascinating nor artistic."
-
-"A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a
-realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the
-police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the
-platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an
-observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend
-upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace."
-
-I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking
-so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser
-and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout
-three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is
-strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper
-from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the
-first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his
-wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without
-reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of
-course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the
-bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of
-writers could invent nothing more crude."
-
-"Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument,"
-said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This
-is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged
-in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The
-husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the
-conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of
-winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling
-them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely
-to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a
-pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over
-you in your example."
-
-He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in
-the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his
-homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon
-it.
-
-"Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks.
-It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my
-assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers."
-
-"And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which
-sparkled upon his finger.
-
-"It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in
-which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it
-even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of
-my little problems."
-
-"And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest.
-
-"Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of
-interest. They are important, you understand, without being
-interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in
-unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation,
-and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the
-charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the
-simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is
-the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter
-which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing
-which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however,
-that I may have something better before very many minutes are
-over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken."
-
-He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted
-blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street.
-Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite
-there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck,
-and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was
-tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her
-ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous,
-hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated
-backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove
-buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves
-the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp
-clang of the bell.
-
-"I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his
-cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always
-means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure
-that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet
-even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously
-wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom
-is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love
-matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or
-grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts."
-
-As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons
-entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself
-loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed
-merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed
-her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and,
-having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked
-her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was
-peculiar to him.
-
-"Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a
-little trying to do so much typewriting?"
-
-"I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters
-are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport
-of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear
-and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've
-heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know
-all that?"
-
-"Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know
-things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others
-overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?"
-
-"I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege,
-whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had
-given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as
-much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in
-my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and
-I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel."
-
-"Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked
-Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to
-the ceiling.
-
-Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss
-Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said,
-"for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr.
-Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to
-the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he
-would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done,
-it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away
-to you."
-
-"Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the
-name is different."
-
-"Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny,
-too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself."
-
-"And your mother is alive?"
-
-"Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr.
-Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and
-a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father
-was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy
-business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the
-foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the
-business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines.
-They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't
-near as much as father could have got if he had been alive."
-
-I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this
-rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he
-had listened with the greatest concentration of attention.
-
-"Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the
-business?"
-
-"Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle
-Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per
-cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can
-only touch the interest."
-
-"You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so
-large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the
-bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in
-every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely
-upon an income of about 60 pounds."
-
-"I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you
-understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a
-burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while
-I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the
-time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it
-over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I
-earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can
-often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day."
-
-"You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes.
-"This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as
-freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your
-connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel."
-
-A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked
-nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the
-gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets
-when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and
-sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He
-never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I
-wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I
-was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to
-prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all
-father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing
-fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much
-as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do,
-he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went,
-mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it
-was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel."
-
-"I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from
-France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball."
-
-"Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and
-shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying
-anything to a woman, for she would have her way."
-
-"I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a
-gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel."
-
-"Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if
-we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to
-say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father
-came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house
-any more."
-
-"No?"
-
-"Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He
-wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to
-say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But
-then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to
-begin with, and I had not got mine yet."
-
-"But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see
-you?"
-
-"Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer
-wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each
-other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he
-used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so
-there was no need for father to know."
-
-"Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?"
-
-"Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that
-we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in
-Leadenhall Street--and--"
-
-"What office?"
-
-"That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know."
-
-"Where did he live, then?"
-
-"He slept on the premises."
-
-"And you don't know his address?"
-
-"No--except that it was Leadenhall Street."
-
-"Where did you address your letters, then?"
-
-"To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called
-for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be
-chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady,
-so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't
-have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come
-from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the
-machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he
-was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think
-of."
-
-"It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom
-of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.
-Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?"
-
-"He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me
-in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to
-be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his
-voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he
-was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat,
-and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always
-well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just
-as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare."
-
-"Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather,
-returned to France?"
-
-"Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we
-should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest
-and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever
-happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite
-right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion.
-Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder
-of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the
-week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to
-mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother
-said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like
-that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as
-he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do
-anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the
-company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on
-the very morning of the wedding."
-
-"It missed him, then?"
-
-"Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived."
-
-"Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for
-the Friday. Was it to be in church?"
-
-"Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near
-King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St.
-Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were
-two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a
-four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the
-street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler
-drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and
-when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one
-there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become
-of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was
-last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything
-since then to throw any light upon what became of him."
-
-"It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said
-Holmes.
-
-"Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all
-the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to
-be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to
-separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him,
-and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed
-strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since
-gives a meaning to it."
-
-"Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some
-unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?"
-
-"Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he
-would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw
-happened."
-
-"But you have no notion as to what it could have been?"
-
-"None."
-
-"One more question. How did your mother take the matter?"
-
-"She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter
-again."
-
-"And your father? Did you tell him?"
-
-"Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had
-happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said,
-what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of
-the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my
-money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him,
-there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about
-money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what
-could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me
-half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She
-pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob
-heavily into it.
-
-"I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and
-I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the
-weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind
-dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel
-vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life."
-
-"Then you don't think I'll see him again?"
-
-"I fear not."
-
-"Then what has happened to him?"
-
-"You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an
-accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can
-spare."
-
-"I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she.
-"Here is the slip and here are four letters from him."
-
-"Thank you. And your address?"
-
-"No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell."
-
-"Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your
-father's place of business?"
-
-"He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers
-of Fenchurch Street."
-
-"Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will
-leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given
-you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it
-to affect your life."
-
-"You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be
-true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back."
-
-For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was
-something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which
-compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon
-the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever
-she might be summoned.
-
-Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips
-still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him,
-and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down
-from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a
-counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with
-the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of
-infinite languor in his face.
-
-"Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found
-her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way,
-is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you
-consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of
-the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however,
-there were one or two details which were new to me. But the
-maiden herself was most instructive."
-
-"You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite
-invisible to me," I remarked.
-
-"Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to
-look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring
-you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of
-thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace.
-Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe
-it."
-
-"Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a
-feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads
-sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her
-dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little
-purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and
-were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't
-observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a
-general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable,
-easy-going way."
-
-Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled.
-
-"'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have
-really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed
-everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and
-you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general
-impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My
-first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is
-perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you
-observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most
-useful material for showing traces. The double line a little
-above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table,
-was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type,
-leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side
-of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the
-broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and,
-observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I
-ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed
-to surprise her."
-
-"It surprised me."
-
-"But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and
-interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots
-which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were
-really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and
-the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower
-buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and
-fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly
-dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned,
-it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry."
-
-"And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by
-my friend's incisive reasoning.
-
-"I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving
-home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right
-glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see
-that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had
-written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been
-this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger.
-All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back
-to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised
-description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?"
-
-I held the little printed slip to the light.
-
-"Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman
-named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height;
-strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in
-the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted
-glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen,
-in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert
-chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over
-elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in
-Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--"
-
-"That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued,
-glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no
-clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There
-is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike
-you."
-
-"They are typewritten," I remarked.
-
-"Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the
-neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you
-see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is
-rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in
-fact, we may call it conclusive."
-
-"Of what?"
-
-"My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it
-bears upon the case?"
-
-"I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able
-to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were
-instituted."
-
-"No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters,
-which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the
-other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking
-him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow
-evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the
-male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the
-answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem
-upon the shelf for the interim."
-
-I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers
-of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that
-he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy
-demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had
-been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in
-the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler
-photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the
-Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with
-the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle
-indeed which he could not unravel.
-
-I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the
-conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would
-find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up
-to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary
-Sutherland.
-
-A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own
-attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at
-the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six
-o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a
-hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too
-late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found
-Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin
-form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable
-array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell
-of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the
-chemical work which was so dear to him.
-
-"Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered.
-
-"Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta."
-
-"No, no, the mystery!" I cried.
-
-"Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon.
-There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said
-yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback
-is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel."
-
-"Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss
-Sutherland?"
-
-The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet
-opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the
-passage and a tap at the door.
-
-"This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said
-Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at
-six. Come in!"
-
-The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some
-thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a
-bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and
-penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of
-us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a
-slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair.
-
-"Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that
-this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an
-appointment with me for six o'clock?"
-
-"Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not
-quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland
-has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far
-better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite
-against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable,
-impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily
-controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I
-did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the
-official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family
-misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless
-expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?"
-
-"On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to
-believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel."
-
-Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am
-delighted to hear it," he said.
-
-"It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has
-really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless
-they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some
-letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one
-side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that
-in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and
-a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other
-characteristics, but those are the more obvious."
-
-"We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office,
-and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing
-keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes.
-
-"And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study,
-Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another
-little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its
-relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some
-little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come
-from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not
-only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will
-observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen
-other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well."
-
-Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I
-cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes,"
-he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know
-when you have done it."
-
-"Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in
-the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!"
-
-"What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips
-and glancing about him like a rat in a trap.
-
-"Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There
-is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too
-transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that
-it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's
-right! Sit down and let us talk it over."
-
-Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a
-glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he
-stammered.
-
-"I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves,
-Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a
-petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the
-course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong."
-
-The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his
-breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up
-on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands
-in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed,
-than to us.
-
-"The man married a woman very much older than himself for her
-money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the
-daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable
-sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have
-made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it.
-The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate
-and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with
-her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would
-not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would
-mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her
-stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of
-keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of
-people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not
-answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and
-finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain
-ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an
-idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the
-connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself,
-covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with
-a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice
-into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the
-girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off
-other lovers by making love himself."
-
-"It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never
-thought that she would have been so carried away."
-
-"Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very
-decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that
-her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never
-for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the
-gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the
-loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began
-to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as
-far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There
-were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the
-girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the
-deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys
-to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to
-bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it
-would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and
-prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to
-come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and
-hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening
-on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss
-Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to
-his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not
-listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her,
-and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished
-away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a
-four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of
-events, Mr. Windibank!"
-
-Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes
-had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold
-sneer upon his pale face.
-
-"It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you
-are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is
-you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing
-actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door
-locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal
-constraint."
-
-"The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking
-and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who
-deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a
-friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!"
-he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon
-the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but
-here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat
-myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he
-could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs,
-the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr.
-James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road.
-
-"There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he
-threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will
-rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and
-ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not
-entirely devoid of interest."
-
-"I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I
-remarked.
-
-"Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr.
-Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious
-conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really
-profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the
-stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together,
-but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was
-suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice,
-which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My
-suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in
-typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his
-handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even
-the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts,
-together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same
-direction."
-
-"And how did you verify them?"
-
-"Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I
-knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed
-description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the
-result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I
-sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me
-whether it answered to the description of any of their
-travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the
-typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business
-address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his
-reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but
-characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from
-Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the
-description tallied in every respect with that of their employé,
-James Windibank. Voilà tout!"
-
-"And Miss Sutherland?"
-
-"If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old
-Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger
-cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.'
-There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much
-knowledge of the world."
-
-
-
-ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY
-
-We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the
-maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran
-in this way:
-
-"Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from
-the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy.
-Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect.
-Leave Paddington by the 11:15."
-
-"What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me.
-"Will you go?"
-
-"I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at
-present."
-
-"Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking
-a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good,
-and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases."
-
-"I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained
-through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack
-at once, for I have only half an hour."
-
-My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the
-effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were
-few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a
-cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock
-Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt
-figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey
-travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap.
-
-"It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It
-makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on
-whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless
-or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall
-get the tickets."
-
-We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of
-papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged
-and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until
-we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a
-gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack.
-
-"Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked.
-
-"Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days."
-
-"The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just
-been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the
-particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those
-simple cases which are so extremely difficult."
-
-"That sounds a little paradoxical."
-
-"But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a
-clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more
-difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they
-have established a very serious case against the son of the
-murdered man."
-
-"It is a murder, then?"
-
-"Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for
-granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into
-it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have
-been able to understand it, in a very few words.
-
-"Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in
-Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a
-Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned
-some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he
-held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was
-also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the
-colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to
-settle down they should do so as near each other as possible.
-Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his
-tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect
-equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son,
-a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same
-age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have
-avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to
-have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of
-sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the
-neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl.
-Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the
-least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the
-families. Now for the facts.
-
-"On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at
-Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the
-Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out
-of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been
-out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told
-the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of
-importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came
-back alive.
-
-"From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a
-mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One
-was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was
-William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both
-these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The
-game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr.
-McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the
-same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the
-father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was
-following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in
-the evening of the tragedy that had occurred.
-
-"The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder,
-the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly
-wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the
-edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of
-the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the
-woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she
-saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr.
-McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a
-violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very
-strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his
-hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their
-violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached
-home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near
-Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to
-fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came
-running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead
-in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was
-much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right
-hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On
-following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the
-grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated
-blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as
-might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's
-gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the
-body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly
-arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned
-at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the
-magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next
-Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out
-before the coroner and the police-court."
-
-"I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If
-ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so
-here."
-
-"Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes
-thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing,
-but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it
-pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something
-entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case
-looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very
-possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people
-in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the
-daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his
-innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect
-in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in
-his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the
-case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are
-flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly
-digesting their breakfasts at home."
-
-"I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you
-will find little credit to be gained out of this case."
-
-"There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he
-answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some
-other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to
-Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting
-when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by
-means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of
-understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly
-perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand
-side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted
-even so self-evident a thing as that."
-
-"How on earth--"
-
-"My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness
-which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this
-season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less
-and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until
-it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the
-jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated
-than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking
-at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a
-result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and
-inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that
-it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before
-us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in
-the inquest, and which are worth considering."
-
-"What are they?"
-
-"It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after
-the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary
-informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not
-surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts.
-This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any
-traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the
-coroner's jury."
-
-"It was a confession," I ejaculated.
-
-"No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence."
-
-"Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at
-least a most suspicious remark."
-
-"On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I
-can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be,
-he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the
-circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared
-surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I
-should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such
-surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances,
-and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His
-frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent
-man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and
-firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not
-unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of
-his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day
-so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and
-even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so
-important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The
-self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark
-appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a
-guilty one."
-
-I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter
-evidence," I remarked.
-
-"So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged."
-
-"What is the young man's own account of the matter?"
-
-"It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters,
-though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive.
-You will find it here, and may read it for yourself."
-
-He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire
-paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the
-paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own
-statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the
-corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this
-way:
-
-"Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called
-and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for
-three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the
-morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at
-the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he
-had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after
-my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and,
-looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out
-of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was
-going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of
-the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit
-warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William
-Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but
-he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had
-no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards
-from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal
-between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found
-him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at
-seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A
-conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows,
-for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his
-passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned
-towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards,
-however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me
-to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground,
-with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in
-my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for
-some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper,
-his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one
-near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by
-his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and
-forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no
-active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.'
-
-"The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before
-he died?
-
-"Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some
-allusion to a rat.
-
-"The Coroner: What did you understand by that?
-
-"Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was
-delirious.
-
-"The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father
-had this final quarrel?
-
-"Witness: I should prefer not to answer.
-
-"The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it.
-
-"Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can
-assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which
-followed.
-
-"The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point
-out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case
-considerably in any future proceedings which may arise.
-
-"Witness: I must still refuse.
-
-"The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common
-signal between you and your father?
-
-"Witness: It was.
-
-"The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw
-you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol?
-
-"Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know.
-
-"A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions
-when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father
-fatally injured?
-
-"Witness: Nothing definite.
-
-"The Coroner: What do you mean?
-
-"Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into
-the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet
-I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay
-upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be
-something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps.
-When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was
-gone.
-
-"'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?'
-
-"'Yes, it was gone.'
-
-"'You cannot say what it was?'
-
-"'No, I had a feeling something was there.'
-
-"'How far from the body?'
-
-"'A dozen yards or so.'
-
-"'And how far from the edge of the wood?'
-
-"'About the same.'
-
-"'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen
-yards of it?'
-
-"'Yes, but with my back towards it.'
-
-"This concluded the examination of the witness."
-
-"I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner
-in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy.
-He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his
-father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his
-refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and
-his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all,
-as he remarks, very much against the son."
-
-Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon
-the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some
-pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the
-young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him
-credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too
-little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would
-give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from
-his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying
-reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No,
-sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what
-this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that
-hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and
-not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the
-scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be
-there in twenty minutes."
-
-It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through
-the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn,
-found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A
-lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for
-us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and
-leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic
-surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of
-Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a
-room had already been engaged for us.
-
-"I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup
-of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be
-happy until you had been on the scene of the crime."
-
-"It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It
-is entirely a question of barometric pressure."
-
-Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said.
-
-"How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud
-in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need
-smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country
-hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I
-shall use the carriage to-night."
-
-Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed
-your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as
-plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer
-it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a
-very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your
-opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing
-which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my
-soul! here is her carriage at the door."
-
-He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the
-most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her
-violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her
-cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her
-overpowering excitement and concern.
-
-"Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the
-other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition,
-fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I
-have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it.
-I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it,
-too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each
-other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no
-one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a
-charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him."
-
-"I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes.
-"You may rely upon my doing all that I can."
-
-"But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion?
-Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself
-think that he is innocent?"
-
-"I think that it is very probable."
-
-"There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking
-defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes."
-
-Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague
-has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said.
-
-"But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did
-it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the
-reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because
-I was concerned in it."
-
-"In what way?" asked Holmes.
-
-"It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had
-many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that
-there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always
-loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young
-and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he
-naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there
-were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them."
-
-"And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a
-union?"
-
-"No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in
-favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as
-Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her.
-
-"Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father
-if I call to-morrow?"
-
-"I am afraid the doctor won't allow it."
-
-"The doctor?"
-
-"Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for
-years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken
-to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his
-nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive
-who had known dad in the old days in Victoria."
-
-"Ha! In Victoria! That is important."
-
-"Yes, at the mines."
-
-"Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner
-made his money."
-
-"Yes, certainly."
-
-"Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to
-me."
-
-"You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you
-will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do
-tell him that I know him to be innocent."
-
-"I will, Miss Turner."
-
-"I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if
-I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She
-hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we
-heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street.
-
-"I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a
-few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you
-are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I
-call it cruel."
-
-"I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said
-Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?"
-
-"Yes, but only for you and me."
-
-"Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have
-still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?"
-
-"Ample."
-
-"Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very
-slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours."
-
-I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through
-the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel,
-where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a
-yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin,
-however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were
-groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the
-action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and
-gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the
-day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were
-absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely
-unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between
-the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when,
-drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was
-something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the
-nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts?
-I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which
-contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's
-deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left
-parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been
-shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot
-upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from
-behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when
-seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it
-did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his
-back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call
-Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying
-reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be
-delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become
-delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how
-he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my
-brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident
-of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the
-murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his
-overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to
-return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was
-kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a
-tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I
-did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith
-in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long
-as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young
-McCarthy's innocence.
-
-It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone,
-for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town.
-
-"The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down.
-"It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able
-to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his
-very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not
-wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young
-McCarthy."
-
-"And what did you learn from him?"
-
-"Nothing."
-
-"Could he throw no light?"
-
-"None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew
-who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced
-now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very
-quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think,
-sound at heart."
-
-"I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact
-that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as
-this Miss Turner."
-
-"Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly,
-insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was
-only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away
-five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get
-into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a
-registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can
-imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not
-doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows
-to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort
-which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father,
-at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss
-Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself,
-and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would
-have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with
-his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in
-Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that
-point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however,
-for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious
-trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and
-has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the
-Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I
-think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all
-that he has suffered."
-
-"But if he is innocent, who has done it?"
-
-"Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two
-points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with
-someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his
-son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would
-return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry
-'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the
-crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk
-about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all
-minor matters until to-morrow."
-
-There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke
-bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with
-the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe
-Pool.
-
-"There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is
-said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is
-despaired of."
-
-"An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes.
-
-"About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life
-abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This
-business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend
-of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I
-have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free."
-
-"Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes.
-
-"Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody
-about here speaks of his kindness to him."
-
-"Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this
-McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have
-been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of
-marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably,
-heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner,
-as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would
-follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself
-was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not
-deduce something from that?"
-
-"We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said
-Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts,
-Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies."
-
-"You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard
-to tackle the facts."
-
-"Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it
-difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth.
-
-"And that is--"
-
-"That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that
-all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine."
-
-"Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes,
-laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley
-Farm upon the left."
-
-"Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking
-building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches
-of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless
-chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight
-of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door,
-when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her
-master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the
-son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured
-these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes
-desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed
-the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool.
-
-Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent
-as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of
-Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed
-and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines,
-while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter.
-His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips
-compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long,
-sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal
-lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated
-upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell
-unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick,
-impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way
-along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of
-the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is
-all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon
-the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either
-side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and
-once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and
-I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous,
-while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the
-conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a
-definite end.
-
-The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water
-some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the
-Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner.
-Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see
-the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich
-landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods
-grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass
-twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds
-which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which
-the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground,
-that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the
-fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager
-face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read
-upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking
-up a scent, and then turned upon my companion.
-
-"What did you go into the pool for?" he asked.
-
-"I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon
-or other trace. But how on earth--"
-
-"Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its
-inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and
-there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all
-have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo
-and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the
-lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or
-eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of
-the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his
-waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to
-himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he
-was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are
-deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his
-story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are
-the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It
-is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this?
-Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite
-unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course
-that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up
-and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we
-were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a
-great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced
-his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon
-his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he
-remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks,
-gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and
-examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of
-the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among
-the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then
-he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the
-highroad, where all traces were lost.
-
-"It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked,
-returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on
-the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a
-word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done
-that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab,
-and I shall be with you presently."
-
-It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove
-back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he
-had picked up in the wood.
-
-"This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out.
-"The murder was done with it."
-
-"I see no marks."
-
-"There are none."
-
-"How do you know, then?"
-
-"The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few
-days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It
-corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other
-weapon."
-
-"And the murderer?"
-
-"Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears
-thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian
-cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his
-pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be
-enough to aid us in our search."
-
-Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he
-said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a
-hard-headed British jury."
-
-"Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own
-method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon,
-and shall probably return to London by the evening train."
-
-"And leave your case unfinished?"
-
-"No, finished."
-
-"But the mystery?"
-
-"It is solved."
-
-"Who was the criminal, then?"
-
-"The gentleman I describe."
-
-"But who is he?"
-
-"Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a
-populous neighbourhood."
-
-Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said,
-"and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking
-for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the
-laughing-stock of Scotland Yard."
-
-"All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance.
-Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before
-I leave."
-
-Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where
-we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in
-thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds
-himself in a perplexing position.
-
-"Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit
-down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't
-know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a
-cigar and let me expound."
-
- "Pray do so."
-
-"Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about
-young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly,
-although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One
-was the fact that his father should, according to his account,
-cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying
-reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but
-that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double
-point our research must commence, and we will begin it by
-presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true."
-
-"What of this 'Cooee!' then?"
-
-"Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The
-son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that
-he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the
-attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But
-'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used
-between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the
-person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was
-someone who had been in Australia."
-
-"What of the rat, then?"
-
-Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened
-it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria,"
-he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand
-over part of the map. "What do you read?"
-
-"ARAT," I read.
-
-"And now?" He raised his hand.
-
-"BALLARAT."
-
-"Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his
-son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter
-the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat."
-
-"It is wonderful!" I exclaimed.
-
-"It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down
-considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point
-which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a
-certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite
-conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak."
-
-"Certainly."
-
-"And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only
-be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could
-hardly wander."
-
-"Quite so."
-
-"Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the
-ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that
-imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal."
-
-"But how did you gain them?"
-
-"You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of
-trifles."
-
-"His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length
-of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces."
-
-"Yes, they were peculiar boots."
-
-"But his lameness?"
-
-"The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than
-his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he
-was lame."
-
-"But his left-handedness."
-
-"You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded
-by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from
-immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can
-that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind
-that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had
-even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special
-knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian
-cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and
-written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different
-varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the
-ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss
-where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety
-which are rolled in Rotterdam."
-
-"And the cigar-holder?"
-
-"I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he
-used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the
-cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife."
-
-"Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which
-he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as
-truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the
-direction in which all this points. The culprit is--"
-
-"Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of
-our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor.
-
-The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His
-slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of
-decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and
-his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual
-strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled
-hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air
-of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an
-ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were
-tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that
-he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease.
-
-"Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my
-note?"
-
-"Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to
-see me here to avoid scandal."
-
-"I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall."
-
-"And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my
-companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question
-was already answered.
-
-"Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It
-is so. I know all about McCarthy."
-
-The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried.
-"But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you
-my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at
-the Assizes."
-
-"I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely.
-
-"I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It
-would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears
-that I am arrested."
-
-"It may not come to that," said Holmes.
-
-"What?"
-
-"I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter
-who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests.
-Young McCarthy must be got off, however."
-
-"I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for
-years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a
-month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol."
-
-Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand
-and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he
-said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson
-here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the
-last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall
-not use it unless it is absolutely needed."
-
-"It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I
-shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I
-should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the
-thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but
-will not take me long to tell.
-
-"You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil
-incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of
-such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years,
-and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be
-in his power.
-
-"It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap
-then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at
-anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck
-with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you
-would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and
-we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time
-to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings.
-Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party
-is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang.
-
-"One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and
-we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers
-and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of
-their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed,
-however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of
-the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the
-Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his
-wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every
-feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made
-our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted
-from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and
-respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in
-the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money,
-to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too,
-and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice.
-Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down
-the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned
-over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was
-going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me.
-
-"I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in
-Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his
-foot.
-
-"'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be
-as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and
-you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine,
-law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman
-within hail.'
-
-"Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking
-them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land
-ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness;
-turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my
-elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more
-afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he
-wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without
-question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing
-which I could not give. He asked for Alice.
-
-"His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was
-known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that
-his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was
-firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that
-I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that
-was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do
-his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses
-to talk it over.
-
-"When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I
-smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone.
-But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in
-me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my
-daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she
-were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I
-and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a
-man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and
-a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb,
-I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl!
-Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I
-did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned,
-I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl
-should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more
-than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction
-than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought
-back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I
-was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in
-my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that
-occurred."
-
-"Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man
-signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we
-may never be exposed to such a temptation."
-
-"I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?"
-
-"In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you
-will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the
-Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is
-condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be
-seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or
-dead, shall be safe with us."
-
-"Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds,
-when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace
-which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his
-giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room.
-
-"God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate
-play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such
-a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say,
-'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'"
-
-James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a
-number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and
-submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven
-months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is
-every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily
-together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their
-past.
-
-
-
-ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS
-
-When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes
-cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which
-present strange and interesting features that it is no easy
-matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however,
-have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have
-not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend
-possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of
-these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his
-analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without
-an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and
-have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and
-surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to
-him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable
-in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted
-to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are
-points in connection with it which never have been, and probably
-never will be, entirely cleared up.
-
-The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater
-or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my
-headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the
-adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant
-Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a
-furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the
-British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the
-Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the
-Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered,
-Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to
-prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that
-therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a
-deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the
-case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of
-them present such singular features as the strange train of
-circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe.
-
-It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales
-had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had
-screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that
-even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced
-to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and
-to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which
-shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like
-untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew
-higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in
-the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the
-fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the
-other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until
-the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text,
-and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of
-the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a
-few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker
-Street.
-
-"Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the
-bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?"
-
-"Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage
-visitors."
-
-"A client, then?"
-
-"If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out
-on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more
-likely to be some crony of the landlady's."
-
-Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there
-came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He
-stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and
-towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit.
-
-"Come in!" said he.
-
-The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the
-outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of
-refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella
-which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told
-of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about
-him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his
-face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is
-weighed down with some great anxiety.
-
-"I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to
-his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have
-brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug
-chamber."
-
-"Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest
-here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from
-the south-west, I see."
-
-"Yes, from Horsham."
-
-"That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is
-quite distinctive."
-
-"I have come for advice."
-
-"That is easily got."
-
-"And help."
-
-"That is not always so easy."
-
-"I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast
-how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal."
-
-"Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards."
-
-"He said that you could solve anything."
-
-"He said too much."
-
-"That you are never beaten."
-
-"I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a
-woman."
-
-"But what is that compared with the number of your successes?"
-
-"It is true that I have been generally successful."
-
-"Then you may be so with me."
-
-"I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me
-with some details as to your case."
-
-"It is no ordinary one."
-
-"None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of
-appeal."
-
-"And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you
-have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of
-events than those which have happened in my own family."
-
-"You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the
-essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards
-question you as to those details which seem to me to be most
-important."
-
-The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out
-towards the blaze.
-
-"My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have,
-as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful
-business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an
-idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the
-affair.
-
-"You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias
-and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry,
-which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He
-was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business
-met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire
-upon a handsome competence.
-
-"My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and
-became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done
-very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army,
-and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When
-Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where
-he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came
-back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham.
-He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his
-reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his
-dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to
-them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very
-foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring
-disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I
-doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or
-three fields round his house, and there he would take his
-exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave
-his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very
-heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any
-friends, not even his own brother.
-
-"He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the
-time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This
-would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years
-in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he
-was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be
-fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would
-make me his representative both with the servants and with the
-tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite
-master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I
-liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in
-his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he
-had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was
-invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or
-anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped
-through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a
-collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such
-a room.
-
-"One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp
-lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a
-common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all
-paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From
-India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can
-this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little
-dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to
-laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight
-of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his
-skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he
-still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and
-then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!'
-
-"'What is it, uncle?' I cried.
-
-"'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his
-room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope
-and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the
-gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else
-save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his
-overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I
-ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key,
-which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small
-brass box, like a cashbox, in the other.
-
-"'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,'
-said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my
-room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.'
-
-"I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to
-step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the
-grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned
-paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I
-glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was
-printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the
-envelope.
-
-"'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave
-my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to
-my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to
-you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you
-cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest
-enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't
-say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper
-where Mr. Fordham shows you.'
-
-"I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with
-him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest
-impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every
-way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I
-could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left
-behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed
-and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I
-could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever,
-and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his
-time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the
-inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy
-and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a
-revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man,
-and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by
-man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would
-rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him,
-like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror
-which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen
-his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it
-were new raised from a basin.
-
-"Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to
-abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those
-drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when
-we went to search for him, face downward in a little
-green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There
-was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep,
-so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity,
-brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced
-from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself
-that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed,
-however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and
-of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank."
-
-"One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee,
-one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me
-have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and
-the date of his supposed suicide."
-
-"The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks
-later, upon the night of May 2nd."
-
-"Thank you. Pray proceed."
-
-"When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my
-request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been
-always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its
-contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a
-paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and
-'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath.
-These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had
-been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was
-nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many
-scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in
-America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had
-done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier.
-Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern
-states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had
-evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag
-politicians who had been sent down from the North.
-
-"Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at
-Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the
-January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my
-father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the
-breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened
-envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the
-outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what
-he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked
-very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon
-himself.
-
-"'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered.
-
-"My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I.
-
-"He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are
-the very letters. But what is this written above them?'
-
-"'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his
-shoulder.
-
-"'What papers? What sundial?' he asked.
-
-"'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the
-papers must be those that are destroyed.'
-
-"'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a
-civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind.
-Where does the thing come from?'
-
-"'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark.
-
-"'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do
-with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such
-nonsense.'
-
-"'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said.
-
-"'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.'
-
-"'Then let me do so?'
-
-"'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such
-nonsense.'
-
-"It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate
-man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of
-forebodings.
-
-"On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went
-from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is
-in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad
-that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from
-danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in
-error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram
-from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had
-fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the
-neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I
-hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered
-his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from
-Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him,
-and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in
-bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.'
-Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I
-was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of
-murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no
-robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads.
-And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease,
-and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been
-woven round him.
-
-"In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me
-why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well
-convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an
-incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as
-pressing in one house as in another.
-
-"It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two
-years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time
-I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that
-this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended
-with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon,
-however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in
-which it had come upon my father."
-
-The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and
-turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried
-orange pips.
-
-"This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is
-London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were
-upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the
-papers on the sundial.'"
-
-"What have you done?" asked Holmes.
-
-"Nothing."
-
-"Nothing?"
-
-"To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white
-hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor
-rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in
-the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight
-and no precautions can guard against."
-
-"Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are
-lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for
-despair."
-
-"I have seen the police."
-
-"Ah!"
-
-"But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that
-the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all
-practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really
-accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with
-the warnings."
-
-Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible
-imbecility!" he cried.
-
-"They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in
-the house with me."
-
-"Has he come with you to-night?"
-
-"No. His orders were to stay in the house."
-
-Again Holmes raved in the air.
-
-"Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you
-not come at once?"
-
-"I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major
-Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to
-you."
-
-"It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have
-acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than
-that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which
-might help us?"
-
-"There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat
-pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted
-paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance,"
-said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I
-observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the
-ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet
-upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it
-may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from
-among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond
-the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think
-myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is
-undoubtedly my uncle's."
-
-Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper,
-which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from
-a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the
-following enigmatical notices:
-
-"4th. Hudson came. Same old platform.
-
-"7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and
-      John Swain, of St. Augustine.
-
-"9th. McCauley cleared.
-
-"10th. John Swain cleared.
-
-"12th. Visited Paramore. All well."
-
-"Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it
-to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another
-instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told
-me. You must get home instantly and act."
-
-"What shall I do?"
-
-"There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must
-put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass
-box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say
-that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that
-this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such
-words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you
-must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do
-you understand?"
-
-"Entirely."
-
-"Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I
-think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our
-web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first
-consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens
-you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the
-guilty parties."
-
-"I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his
-overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall
-certainly do as you advise."
-
-"Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in
-the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that
-you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you
-go back?"
-
-"By train from Waterloo."
-
-"It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that
-you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too
-closely."
-
-"I am armed."
-
-"That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case."
-
-"I shall see you at Horsham, then?"
-
-"No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek
-it."
-
-"Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news
-as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every
-particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside
-the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered
-against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come
-to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet
-of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them
-once more.
-
-Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk
-forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he
-lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue
-smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling.
-
-"I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we
-have had none more fantastic than this."
-
-"Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four."
-
-"Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems
-to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the
-Sholtos."
-
-"But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to
-what these perils are?"
-
-"There can be no question as to their nature," he answered.
-
-"Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue
-this unhappy family?"
-
-Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the
-arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal
-reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a
-single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the
-chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which
-would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole
-animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who
-has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents
-should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both
-before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the
-reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study
-which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the
-aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest
-pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to
-utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this
-in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all
-knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and
-encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so
-impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge
-which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have
-endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one
-occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits
-in a very precise fashion."
-
-"Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document.
-Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I
-remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the
-mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry
-eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime
-records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and
-self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the
-main points of my analysis."
-
-Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as
-I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic
-stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the
-rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he
-can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which
-has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster
-all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the
-'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you.
-Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be
-deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong
-presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for
-leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their
-habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for
-the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love
-of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of
-someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis
-that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from
-America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by
-considering the formidable letters which were received by himself
-and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those
-letters?"
-
-"The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the
-third from London."
-
-"From East London. What do you deduce from that?"
-
-"They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship."
-
-"Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that
-the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was
-on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the
-case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and
-its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days.
-Does that suggest anything?"
-
-"A greater distance to travel."
-
-"But the letter had also a greater distance to come."
-
-"Then I do not see the point."
-
-"There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man
-or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send
-their singular warning or token before them when starting upon
-their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign
-when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a
-steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter.
-But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those
-seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which
-brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the
-writer."
-
-"It is possible."
-
-"More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly
-urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to
-caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which
-it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one
-comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay."
-
-"Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless
-persecution?"
-
-"The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital
-importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think
-that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them.
-A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way
-as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in
-it, and they must have been men of resource and determination.
-Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may.
-In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an
-individual and becomes the badge of a society."
-
-"But of what society?"
-
-"Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and
-sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?"
-
-"I never have."
-
-Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it
-is," said he presently:
-
-"'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to
-the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret
-society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the
-Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local
-branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee,
-Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was
-used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of
-the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country
-of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually
-preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic
-but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some
-parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this
-the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might
-fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would
-unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and
-unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the
-society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a
-case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with
-impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the
-perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite
-of the efforts of the United States government and of the better
-classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year
-1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have
-been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.'
-
-"You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that
-the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the
-disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may
-well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his
-family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track.
-You can understand that this register and diary may implicate
-some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many
-who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered."
-
-"Then the page we have seen--"
-
-"Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent
-the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to
-them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or
-left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a
-sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let
-some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only
-chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have
-told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done
-to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for
-half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable
-ways of our fellow-men."
-
-
-It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a
-subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the
-great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came
-down.
-
-"You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I
-foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of
-young Openshaw's."
-
-"What steps will you take?" I asked.
-
-"It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries.
-I may have to go down to Horsham, after all."
-
-"You will not go there first?"
-
-"No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the
-maid will bring up your coffee."
-
-As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and
-glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a
-chill to my heart.
-
-"Holmes," I cried, "you are too late."
-
-"Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it
-done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved.
-
-"My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy
-Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account:
-
-"Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H
-Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and
-a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and
-stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it
-was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was
-given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was
-eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman
-whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his
-pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham.
-It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch
-the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and
-the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge
-of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body
-exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that
-the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident,
-which should have the effect of calling the attention of the
-authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages."
-
-We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and
-shaken than I had ever seen him.
-
-"That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty
-feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal
-matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my
-hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that
-I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair
-and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a
-flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and
-unclasping of his long thin hands.
-
-"They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could
-they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the
-direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too
-crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson,
-we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!"
-
-"To the police?"
-
-"No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may
-take the flies, but not before."
-
-All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in
-the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes
-had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he
-entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard,
-and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously,
-washing it down with a long draught of water.
-
-"You are hungry," I remarked.
-
-"Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since
-breakfast."
-
-"Nothing?"
-
-"Not a bite. I had no time to think of it."
-
-"And how have you succeeded?"
-
-"Well."
-
-"You have a clue?"
-
-"I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not
-long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish
-trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!"
-
-"What do you mean?"
-
-He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he
-squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and
-thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote
-"S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain
-James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia."
-
-"That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling.
-"It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a
-precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him."
-
-"And who is this Captain Calhoun?"
-
-"The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first."
-
-"How did you trace it, then?"
-
-He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with
-dates and names.
-
-"I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers
-and files of the old papers, following the future career of every
-vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in
-'83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were
-reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,'
-instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported
-as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to
-one of the states of the Union."
-
-"Texas, I think."
-
-"I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must
-have an American origin."
-
-"What then?"
-
-"I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque
-'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a
-certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present
-in the port of London."
-
-"Yes?"
-
-"The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the
-Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by
-the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired
-to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and
-as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the
-Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight."
-
-"What will you do, then?"
-
-"Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I
-learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are
-Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away
-from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has
-been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship
-reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and
-the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these
-three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder."
-
-There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans,
-and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the
-orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as
-resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very
-severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for
-news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We
-did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a
-shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough
-of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is
-all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star."
-
-
-
-ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP
-
-Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal
-of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to
-opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some
-foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De
-Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had
-drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the
-same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the
-practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many
-years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of
-mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see
-him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point
-pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble
-man.
-
-One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell,
-about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the
-clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work
-down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment.
-
-"A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out."
-
-I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day.
-
-We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps
-upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in
-some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room.
-
-"You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then,
-suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms
-about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in
-such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help."
-
-"Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney.
-How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when
-you came in."
-
-"I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was
-always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds
-to a light-house.
-
-"It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine
-and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or
-should you rather that I sent James off to bed?"
-
-"Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about
-Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about
-him!"
-
-It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her
-husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend
-and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words
-as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it
-possible that we could bring him back to her?
-
-It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late
-he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the
-farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been
-confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and
-shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him
-eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the
-dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the
-effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar
-of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could
-she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and
-pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him?
-
-There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of
-it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second
-thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical
-adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it
-better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would
-send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the
-address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left
-my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding
-eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at
-the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to
-be.
-
-But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my
-adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the
-high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east
-of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached
-by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the
-mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search.
-Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in
-the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the
-light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch
-and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the
-brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the
-forecastle of an emigrant ship.
-
-Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying
-in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads
-thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a
-dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black
-shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright,
-now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of
-the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to
-themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low,
-monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then
-suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own
-thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At
-the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside
-which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old
-man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon
-his knees, staring into the fire.
-
-As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe
-for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth.
-
-"Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend
-of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him."
-
-There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and
-peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and
-unkempt, staring out at me.
-
-"My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of
-reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what
-o'clock is it?"
-
-"Nearly eleven."
-
-"Of what day?"
-
-"Of Friday, June 19th."
-
-"Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What
-d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his
-arms and began to sob in a high treble key.
-
-"I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting
-this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!"
-
-"So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here
-a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll
-go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate.
-Give me your hand! Have you a cab?"
-
-"Yes, I have one waiting."
-
-"Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I
-owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself."
-
-I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of
-sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying
-fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed
-the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my
-skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look
-back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I
-glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my
-side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very
-wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between
-his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his
-fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my
-self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of
-astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him
-but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull
-eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and
-grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He
-made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he
-turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided
-into a doddering, loose-lipped senility.
-
-"Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?"
-
-"As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you
-would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend
-of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with
-you."
-
-"I have a cab outside."
-
-"Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he
-appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should
-recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to
-say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait
-outside, I shall be with you in five minutes."
-
-It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for
-they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with
-such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney
-was once confined in the cab my mission was practically
-accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better
-than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular
-adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a
-few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him
-out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a
-very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den,
-and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two
-streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot.
-Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and
-burst into a hearty fit of laughter.
-
-"I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added
-opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little
-weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical
-views."
-
-"I was certainly surprised to find you there."
-
-"But not more so than I to find you."
-
-"I came to find a friend."
-
-"And I to find an enemy."
-
-"An enemy?"
-
-"Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural
-prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable
-inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent
-ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been
-recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an
-hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own
-purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have
-vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that
-building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some
-strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless
-nights."
-
-"What! You do not mean bodies?"
-
-"Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds
-for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It
-is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that
-Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our
-trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his
-teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a
-similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle
-of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs.
-
-"Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through
-the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from
-its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?"
-
-"If I can be of use."
-
-"Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still
-more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one."
-
-"The Cedars?"
-
-"Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I
-conduct the inquiry."
-
-"Where is it, then?"
-
-"Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us."
-
-"But I am all in the dark."
-
-"Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up
-here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a
-crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her
-head. So long, then!"
-
-He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through
-the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which
-widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad
-balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly
-beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and
-mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of
-the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of
-revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a
-star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of
-the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his
-breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat
-beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which
-seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in
-upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles,
-and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban
-villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up
-his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he
-is acting for the best.
-
-"You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes
-you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great
-thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are
-not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear
-little woman to-night when she meets me at the door."
-
-"You forget that I know nothing about it."
-
-"I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before
-we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can
-get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I
-can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case
-clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a
-spark where all is dark to me."
-
-"Proceed, then."
-
-"Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee
-a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have
-plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very
-nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made
-friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter
-of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no
-occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into
-town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon
-Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of
-age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very
-affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know
-him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far
-as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while
-he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and
-Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money
-troubles have been weighing upon his mind.
-
-"Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier
-than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important
-commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy
-home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife
-received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his
-departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable
-value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the
-offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up
-in your London, you will know that the office of the company is
-in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where
-you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for
-the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office,
-got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through
-Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me
-so far?"
-
-"It is very clear."
-
-"If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St.
-Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab,
-as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself.
-While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly
-heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her
-husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning
-to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she
-distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly
-agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then
-vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that
-he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind.
-One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that
-although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town
-in, he had on neither collar nor necktie.
-
-"Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the
-steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which
-you found me to-night--and running through the front room she
-attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At
-the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of
-whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who
-acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled
-with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the
-lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of
-constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The
-inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the
-continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to
-the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no
-sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was
-no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who,
-it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly
-swore that no one else had been in the front room during the
-afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was
-staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had
-been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box
-which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell
-a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had
-promised to bring home.
-
-"This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple
-showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious.
-The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an
-abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a
-sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon
-the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom
-window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered
-at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The
-bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On
-examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill,
-and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of
-the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were
-all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of
-his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were
-there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these
-garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St.
-Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no
-other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon
-the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by
-swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of
-the tragedy.
-
-"And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately
-implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the
-vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was
-known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few
-seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could
-hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence
-was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no
-knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he
-could not account in any way for the presence of the missing
-gentleman's clothes.
-
-"So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who
-lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was
-certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St.
-Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which
-is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a
-professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police
-regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some
-little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand
-side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the
-wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat,
-cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he
-is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the
-greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I
-have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of
-making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised
-at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His
-appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him
-without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face
-disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has
-turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a
-pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular
-contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid
-the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he
-is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be
-thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now
-learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been
-the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest."
-
-"But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed
-against a man in the prime of life?"
-
-"He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in
-other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man.
-Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that
-weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional
-strength in the others."
-
-"Pray continue your narrative."
-
-"Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the
-window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her
-presence could be of no help to them in their investigations.
-Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful
-examination of the premises, but without finding anything which
-threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not
-arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes
-during which he might have communicated with his friend the
-Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and
-searched, without anything being found which could incriminate
-him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right
-shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been
-cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from
-there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and
-that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from
-the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr.
-Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in
-his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to
-Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband
-at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or
-dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the
-police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in
-the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue.
-
-"And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they
-had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not
-Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And
-what do you think they found in the pockets?"
-
-"I cannot imagine."
-
-"No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with
-pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It
-was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a
-human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between
-the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the
-weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked
-away into the river."
-
-"But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the
-room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?"
-
-"No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose
-that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the
-window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed.
-What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him
-that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize
-the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it
-would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little
-time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried
-to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his
-Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street.
-There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret
-hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he
-stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the
-pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and
-would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard
-the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the
-window when the police appeared."
-
-"It certainly sounds feasible."
-
-"Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a
-better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the
-station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before
-been anything against him. He had for years been known as a
-professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very
-quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and
-the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was
-doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is
-he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are
-all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot
-recall any case within my experience which looked at the first
-glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties."
-
-While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of
-events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great
-town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and
-we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us.
-Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered
-villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows.
-
-"We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have
-touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in
-Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent.
-See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside
-that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have
-little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet."
-
-"But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I
-asked.
-
-"Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here.
-Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and
-you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for
-my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have
-no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!"
-
-We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its
-own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and
-springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding
-gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door
-flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad
-in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy
-pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure
-outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one
-half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head
-and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing
-question.
-
-"Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two
-of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw
-that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"No good news?"
-
-"None."
-
-"No bad?"
-
-"No."
-
-"Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have
-had a long day."
-
-"This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to
-me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it
-possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this
-investigation."
-
-"I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly.
-"You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our
-arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so
-suddenly upon us."
-
-"My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were
-not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of
-any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be
-indeed happy."
-
-"Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a
-well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had
-been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two
-plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain
-answer."
-
-"Certainly, madam."
-
-"Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given
-to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion."
-
-"Upon what point?"
-
-"In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?"
-
-Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question.
-"Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking
-keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair.
-
-"Frankly, then, madam, I do not."
-
-"You think that he is dead?"
-
-"I do."
-
-"Murdered?"
-
-"I don't say that. Perhaps."
-
-"And on what day did he meet his death?"
-
-"On Monday."
-
-"Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how
-it is that I have received a letter from him to-day."
-
-Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been
-galvanised.
-
-"What!" he roared.
-
-"Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of
-paper in the air.
-
-"May I see it?"
-
-"Certainly."
-
-He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out
-upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I
-had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The
-envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend
-postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day
-before, for it was considerably after midnight.
-
-"Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your
-husband's writing, madam."
-
-"No, but the enclosure is."
-
-"I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go
-and inquire as to the address."
-
-"How can you tell that?"
-
-"The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried
-itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that
-blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight
-off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This
-man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before
-he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not
-familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is
-nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha!
-there has been an enclosure here!"
-
-"Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring."
-
-"And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?"
-
-"One of his hands."
-
-"One?"
-
-"His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual
-writing, and yet I know it well."
-
-"'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a
-huge error which it may take some little time to rectify.
-Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf
-of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in
-Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been
-gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been
-chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's
-hand, madam?"
-
-"None. Neville wrote those words."
-
-"And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair,
-the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the
-danger is over."
-
-"But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes."
-
-"Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent.
-The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from
-him."
-
-"No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!"
-
-"Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only
-posted to-day."
-
-"That is possible."
-
-"If so, much may have happened between."
-
-"Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is
-well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I
-should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him
-last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room
-rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that
-something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such
-a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?"
-
-"I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman
-may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical
-reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong
-piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband
-is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away
-from you?"
-
-"I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable."
-
-"And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?"
-
-"No."
-
-"And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?"
-
-"Very much so."
-
-"Was the window open?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Then he might have called to you?"
-
-"He might."
-
-"He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"A call for help, you thought?"
-
-"Yes. He waved his hands."
-
-"But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the
-unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?"
-
-"It is possible."
-
-"And you thought he was pulled back?"
-
-"He disappeared so suddenly."
-
-"He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the
-room?"
-
-"No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and
-the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs."
-
-"Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his
-ordinary clothes on?"
-
-"But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare
-throat."
-
-"Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?"
-
-"Never."
-
-"Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?"
-
-"Never."
-
-"Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about
-which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little
-supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day
-to-morrow."
-
-A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our
-disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary
-after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however,
-who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for
-days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over,
-rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view
-until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his
-data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now
-preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and
-waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered
-about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from
-the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of
-Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with
-an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front
-of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an
-old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the
-corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him,
-silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set
-aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he
-sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found
-the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still
-between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was
-full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of
-shag which I had seen upon the previous night.
-
-"Awake, Watson?" he asked.
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Game for a morning drive?"
-
-"Certainly."
-
-"Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the
-stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He
-chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed
-a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night.
-
-As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one
-was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly
-finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was
-putting in the horse.
-
-"I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his
-boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the
-presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve
-to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the
-key of the affair now."
-
-"And where is it?" I asked, smiling.
-
-"In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he
-continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been
-there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this
-Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will
-not fit the lock."
-
-We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into
-the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and
-trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both
-sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country
-carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but
-the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as
-some city in a dream.
-
-"It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes,
-flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been
-as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than
-never to learn it at all."
-
-In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily
-from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey
-side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the
-river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the
-right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well
-known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted
-him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in.
-
-"Who is on duty?" asked Holmes.
-
-"Inspector Bradstreet, sir."
-
-"Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come
-down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged
-jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet."
-"Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small,
-office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a
-telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his
-desk.
-
-"What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?"
-
-"I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged
-with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St.
-Clair, of Lee."
-
-"Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries."
-
-"So I heard. You have him here?"
-
-"In the cells."
-
-"Is he quiet?"
-
-"Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel."
-
-"Dirty?"
-
-"Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his
-face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been
-settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you
-saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it."
-
-"I should like to see him very much."
-
-"Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave
-your bag."
-
-"No, I think that I'll take it."
-
-"Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a
-passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and
-brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each
-side.
-
-"The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it
-is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door
-and glanced through.
-
-"He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well."
-
-We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his
-face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and
-heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his
-calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his
-tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely
-dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its
-repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right
-across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up
-one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a
-perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over
-his eyes and forehead.
-
-"He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector.
-
-"He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that
-he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me."
-He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my
-astonishment, a very large bath-sponge.
-
-"He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector.
-
-"Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very
-quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable
-figure."
-
-"Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't
-look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his
-key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The
-sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep
-slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge,
-and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the
-prisoner's face.
-
-"Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of
-Lee, in the county of Kent."
-
-Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled
-off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the
-coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had
-seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the
-repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled
-red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale,
-sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned,
-rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment.
-Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and
-threw himself down with his face to the pillow.
-
-"Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing
-man. I know him from the photograph."
-
-The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons
-himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I
-charged with?"
-
-"With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be
-charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of
-it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been
-twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake."
-
-"If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime
-has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally
-detained."
-
-"No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said
-Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife."
-
-"It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner.
-"God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My
-God! What an exposure! What can I do?"
-
-Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him
-kindly on the shoulder.
-
-"If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said
-he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand,
-if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible
-case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the
-details should find their way into the papers. Inspector
-Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you
-might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case
-would then never go into court at all."
-
-"God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have
-endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left
-my miserable secret as a family blot to my children.
-
-"You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a
-schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent
-education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and
-finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day
-my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the
-metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point
-from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying
-begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to
-base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the
-secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for
-my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my
-face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good
-scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a
-small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of
-hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business
-part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a
-beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned
-home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no
-less than 26s. 4d.
-
-"I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until,
-some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ
-served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get
-the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's
-grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers,
-and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In
-ten days I had the money and had paid the debt.
-
-"Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous
-work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in
-a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on
-the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my
-pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up
-reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first
-chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets
-with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a
-low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could
-every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings
-transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow,
-a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that
-my secret was safe in his possession.
-
-"Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of
-money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London
-could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average
-takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making
-up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by
-practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City.
-All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me,
-and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds.
-
-"As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the
-country, and eventually married, without anyone having a
-suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had
-business in the City. She little knew what.
-
-"Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my
-room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw,
-to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the
-street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of
-surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my
-confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from
-coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that
-she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on
-those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's
-eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it
-occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that
-the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening
-by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in
-the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was
-weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from
-the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of
-the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes
-would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of
-constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather,
-I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr.
-Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer.
-
-"I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I
-was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and
-hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would
-be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the
-Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together
-with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to
-fear."
-
-"That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes.
-
-"Good God! What a week she must have spent!"
-
-"The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet,
-"and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to
-post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor
-customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days."
-
-"That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt
-of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?"
-
-"Many times; but what was a fine to me?"
-
-"It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are
-to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone."
-
-"I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take."
-
-"In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps
-may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out.
-I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for
-having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your
-results."
-
-"I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five
-pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if
-we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast."
-
-
-
-VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE
-
-I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second
-morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the
-compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a
-purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the
-right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly
-studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and
-on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable
-hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several
-places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair
-suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the
-purpose of examination.
-
-"You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you."
-
-"Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss
-my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his
-thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in
-connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and
-even of instruction."
-
-I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his
-crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows
-were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that,
-homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to
-it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of
-some mystery and the punishment of some crime."
-
-"No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of
-those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have
-four million human beings all jostling each other within the
-space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so
-dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events
-may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be
-presented which may be striking and bizarre without being
-criminal. We have already had experience of such."
-
-"So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I
-have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any
-legal crime."
-
-"Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler
-papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the
-adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt
-that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category.
-You know Peterson, the commissionaire?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"It is to him that this trophy belongs."
-
-"It is his hat."
-
-"No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will
-look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual
-problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon
-Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I
-have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's
-fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas
-morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was
-returning from some small jollification and was making his way
-homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in
-the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and
-carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the
-corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger
-and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the
-man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and,
-swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him.
-Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his
-assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and
-seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him,
-dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the
-labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham
-Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of
-Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of
-battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this
-battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose."
-
-"Which surely he restored to their owner?"
-
-"My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For
-Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to
-the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H.
-B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are
-some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in
-this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any
-one of them."
-
-"What, then, did Peterson do?"
-
-"He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning,
-knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me.
-The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs
-that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it
-should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried
-it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose,
-while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who
-lost his Christmas dinner."
-
-"Did he not advertise?"
-
-"No."
-
-"Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?"
-
-"Only as much as we can deduce."
-
-"From his hat?"
-
-"Precisely."
-
-"But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered
-felt?"
-
-"Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather
-yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this
-article?"
-
-I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather
-ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round
-shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of
-red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's
-name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were
-scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a
-hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was
-cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places,
-although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the
-discoloured patches by smearing them with ink.
-
-"I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend.
-
-"On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail,
-however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in
-drawing your inferences."
-
-"Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?"
-
-He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective
-fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less
-suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there
-are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others
-which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That
-the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the
-face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the
-last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He
-had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a
-moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his
-fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink,
-at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that
-his wife has ceased to love him."
-
-"My dear Holmes!"
-
-"He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he
-continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a
-sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is
-middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the
-last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are
-the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also,
-by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid
-on in his house."
-
-"You are certainly joking, Holmes."
-
-"Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you
-these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?"
-
-"I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I
-am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that
-this man was intellectual?"
-
-For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right
-over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is
-a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a
-brain must have something in it."
-
-"The decline of his fortunes, then?"
-
-"This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge
-came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the
-band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could
-afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no
-hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world."
-
-"Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the
-foresight and the moral retrogression?"
-
-Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting
-his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer.
-"They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a
-sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his
-way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see
-that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace
-it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly,
-which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other
-hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the
-felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not
-entirely lost his self-respect."
-
-"Your reasoning is certainly plausible."
-
-"The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is
-grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses
-lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the
-lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of
-hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all
-appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of
-lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey
-dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house,
-showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while
-the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the
-wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in
-the best of training."
-
-"But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him."
-
-"This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear
-Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and
-when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear
-that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's
-affection."
-
-"But he might be a bachelor."
-
-"Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his
-wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg."
-
-"You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce
-that the gas is not laid on in his house?"
-
-"One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I
-see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt
-that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with
-burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in
-one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never
-got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?"
-
-"Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as
-you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm
-done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a
-waste of energy."
-
-Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew
-open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment
-with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with
-astonishment.
-
-"The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped.
-
-"Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off
-through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon
-the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face.
-
-"See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out
-his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly
-scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but
-of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric
-point in the dark hollow of his hand.
-
-Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said
-he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you
-have got?"
-
-"A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though
-it were putty."
-
-"It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone."
-
-"Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated.
-
-"Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I
-have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day
-lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be
-conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly
-not within a twentieth part of the market price."
-
-"A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire
-plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us.
-
-"That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are
-sentimental considerations in the background which would induce
-the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but
-recover the gem."
-
-"It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I
-remarked.
-
-"Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner,
-a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's
-jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case
-has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the
-matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers,
-glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out,
-doubled it over, and read the following paragraph:
-
-"Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was
-brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst.,
-abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the
-valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder,
-upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect
-that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess
-of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might
-solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had
-remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been
-called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared,
-that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco
-casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was
-accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the
-dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was
-arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found
-either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to
-the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on
-discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room,
-where she found matters as described by the last witness.
-Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest
-of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence
-in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for
-robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate
-refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to
-the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion
-during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was
-carried out of court."
-
-"Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully,
-tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the
-sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to
-the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You
-see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much
-more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the
-stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry
-Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other
-characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set
-ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and
-ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To
-do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie
-undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If
-this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods."
-
-"What will you say?"
-
-"Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at
-the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr.
-Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at
-221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise."
-
-"Very. But will he see it?"
-
-"Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor
-man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his
-mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson
-that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must
-have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his
-bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to
-see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to
-it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency
-and have this put in the evening papers."
-
-"In which, sir?"
-
-"Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News,
-Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you."
-
-"Very well, sir. And this stone?"
-
-"Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say,
-Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here
-with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place
-of the one which your family is now devouring."
-
-When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and
-held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just
-see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and
-focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet
-baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a
-bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found
-in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable
-in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is
-blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has
-already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a
-vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about
-for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal.
-Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the
-gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and
-drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it."
-
-"Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?"
-
-"I cannot tell."
-
-"Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had
-anything to do with the matter?"
-
-"It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an
-absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he
-was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made
-of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple
-test if we have an answer to our advertisement."
-
-"And you can do nothing until then?"
-
-"Nothing."
-
-"In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall
-come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I
-should like to see the solution of so tangled a business."
-
-"Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I
-believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I
-ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop."
-
-I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past
-six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I
-approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a
-coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the
-bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I
-arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to
-Holmes' room.
-
-"Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair
-and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he
-could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr.
-Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is
-more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have
-just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?"
-
-"Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat."
-
-He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a
-broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of
-grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight
-tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his
-habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in
-front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded
-from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a
-slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the
-impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had
-ill-usage at the hands of fortune.
-
-"We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes,
-"because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your
-address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise."
-
-Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not
-been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had
-no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off
-both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a
-hopeless attempt at recovering them."
-
-"Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to
-eat it."
-
-"To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his
-excitement.
-
-"Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so.
-But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is
-about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your
-purpose equally well?"
-
-"Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of
-relief.
-
-"Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of
-your own bird, so if you wish--"
-
-The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as
-relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly
-see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are
-going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I
-will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive
-upon the sideboard."
-
-Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug
-of his shoulders.
-
-"There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the
-way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one
-from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a
-better grown goose."
-
-"Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly
-gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who
-frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in
-the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our
-good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which,
-on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to
-receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the
-rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a
-Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With
-a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and
-strode off upon his way.
-
-"So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the
-door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing
-whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?"
-
-"Not particularly."
-
-"Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow
-up this clue while it is still hot."
-
-"By all means."
-
-It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped
-cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly
-in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out
-into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out
-crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter,
-Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into
-Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at
-the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one
-of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open
-the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from
-the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord.
-
-"Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese,"
-said he.
-
-"My geese!" The man seemed surprised.
-
-"Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker,
-who was a member of your goose club."
-
-"Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese."
-
-"Indeed! Whose, then?"
-
-"Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden."
-
-"Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?"
-
-"Breckinridge is his name."
-
-"Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord,
-and prosperity to your house. Good-night."
-
-"Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat
-as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though
-we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we
-have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal
-servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible
-that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we
-have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police,
-and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us
-follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and
-quick march!"
-
-We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a
-zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest
-stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor
-a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was
-helping a boy to put up the shutters.
-
-"Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes.
-
-The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my
-companion.
-
-"Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the
-bare slabs of marble.
-
-"Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning."
-
-"That's no good."
-
-"Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare."
-
-"Ah, but I was recommended to you."
-
-"Who by?"
-
-"The landlord of the Alpha."
-
-"Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen."
-
-"Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?"
-
-To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the
-salesman.
-
-"Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms
-akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now."
-
-"It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the
-geese which you supplied to the Alpha."
-
-"Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!"
-
-"Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you
-should be so warm over such a trifle."
-
-"Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am.
-When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end
-of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you
-sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One
-would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the
-fuss that is made over them."
-
-"Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been
-making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us
-the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my
-opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the
-bird I ate is country bred."
-
-"Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped
-the salesman.
-
-"It's nothing of the kind."
-
-"I say it is."
-
-"I don't believe it."
-
-"D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled
-them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that
-went to the Alpha were town bred."
-
-"You'll never persuade me to believe that."
-
-"Will you bet, then?"
-
-"It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But
-I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be
-obstinate."
-
-The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said
-he.
-
-The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great
-greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging
-lamp.
-
-"Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I
-was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is
-still one left in my shop. You see this little book?"
-
-"Well?"
-
-"That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well,
-then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers
-after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger.
-Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a
-list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just
-read it out to me."
-
-"Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes.
-
-"Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger."
-
-Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs.
-Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'"
-
-"Now, then, what's the last entry?"
-
-"'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'"
-
-"Quite so. There you are. And underneath?"
-
-"'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'"
-
-"What have you to say now?"
-
-Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from
-his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the
-air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off
-he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless
-fashion which was peculiar to him.
-
-"When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un'
-protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet,"
-said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of
-him, that man would not have given me such complete information
-as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a
-wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our
-quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is
-whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or
-whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what
-that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves
-who are anxious about the matter, and I should--"
-
-His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke
-out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a
-little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of
-yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while
-Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was
-shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure.
-
-"I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you
-were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more
-with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs.
-Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with
-it? Did I buy the geese off you?"
-
-"No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little
-man.
-
-"Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it."
-
-"She told me to ask you."
-
-"Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had
-enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and
-the inquirer flitted away into the darkness.
-
-"Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes.
-"Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this
-fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who
-lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook
-the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang
-round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of
-colour had been driven from his face.
-
-"Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering
-voice.
-
-"You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help
-overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now.
-I think that I could be of assistance to you."
-
-"You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?"
-
-"My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other
-people don't know."
-
-"But you can know nothing of this?"
-
-"Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to
-trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton
-Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr.
-Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr.
-Henry Baker is a member."
-
-"Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried
-the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers.
-"I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter."
-
-Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that
-case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this
-wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we
-go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting."
-
-The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he
-answered with a sidelong glance.
-
-"No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always
-awkward doing business with an alias."
-
-A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then,"
-said he, "my real name is James Ryder."
-
-"Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray
-step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you
-everything which you would wish to know."
-
-The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with
-half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure
-whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe.
-Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in
-the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during
-our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and
-the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous
-tension within him.
-
-"Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room.
-"The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold,
-Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my
-slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then!
-You want to know what became of those geese?"
-
-"Yes, sir."
-
-"Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in
-which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the
-tail."
-
-Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell
-me where it went to?"
-
-"It came here."
-
-"Here?"
-
-"Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that
-you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was
-dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen.
-I have it here in my museum."
-
-Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece
-with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up
-the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold,
-brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a
-drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it.
-
-"The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or
-you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair,
-Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with
-impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little
-more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!"
-
-For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy
-brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring
-with frightened eyes at his accuser.
-
-"I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I
-could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me.
-Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case
-complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the
-Countess of Morcar's?"
-
-"It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a
-crackling voice.
-
-"I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of
-sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has
-been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous
-in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the
-making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man
-Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter
-before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him.
-What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's
-room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he
-should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled
-the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man
-arrested. You then--"
-
-Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my
-companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked.
-"Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I
-never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll
-swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's
-sake, don't!"
-
-"Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well
-to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this
-poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing."
-
-"I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the
-charge against him will break down."
-
-"Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account
-of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came
-the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies
-your only hope of safety."
-
-Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you
-it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been
-arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get
-away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment
-the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my
-room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe.
-I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's
-house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton
-Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there
-every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective;
-and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down
-my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me
-what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I
-had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went
-into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would
-be best to do.
-
-"I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and
-has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met
-me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they
-could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to
-me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind
-to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my
-confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money.
-But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had
-gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be
-seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat
-pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at
-the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly
-an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the
-best detective that ever lived.
-
-"My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the
-pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she
-was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in
-it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in
-the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big
-one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill
-open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger
-could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass
-along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped
-and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the
-matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and
-fluttered off among the others.
-
-"'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she.
-
-"'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I
-was feeling which was the fattest.'
-
-"'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we
-call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six
-of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen
-for the market.'
-
-"'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you,
-I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.'
-
-"'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we
-fattened it expressly for you.'
-
-"'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I.
-
-"'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it
-you want, then?'
-
-"'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the
-flock.'
-
-"'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.'
-
-"Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird
-all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was
-a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed
-until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My
-heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I
-knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird,
-rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There
-was not a bird to be seen there.
-
-"'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried.
-
-"'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.'
-
-"'Which dealer's?'
-
-"'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.'
-
-"'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same
-as the one I chose?'
-
-"'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never
-tell them apart.'
-
-"Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my
-feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the
-lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they
-had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always
-answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad.
-Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself
-a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which
-I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into
-convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands.
-
-There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and
-by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the
-edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door.
-
-"Get out!" said he.
-
-"What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!"
-
-"No more words. Get out!"
-
-And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon
-the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running
-footfalls from the street.
-
-"After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his
-clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their
-deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing;
-but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must
-collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just
-possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong
-again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and
-you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of
-forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and
-whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you
-will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin
-another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief
-feature."
-
-
-
-VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND
-
-On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I
-have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend
-Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number
-merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did
-rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of
-wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation
-which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic.
-Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which
-presented more singular features than that which was associated
-with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran.
-The events in question occurred in the early days of my
-association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors
-in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them
-upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the
-time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by
-the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It
-is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I
-have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the
-death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even
-more terrible than the truth.
-
-It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to
-find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my
-bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the
-mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I
-blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little
-resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits.
-
-"Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the
-common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she
-retorted upon me, and I on you."
-
-"What is it, then--a fire?"
-
-"No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a
-considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She
-is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander
-about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock
-sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is
-something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it
-prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to
-follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should
-call you and give you the chance."
-
-"My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything."
-
-I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his
-professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid
-deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a
-logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were
-submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in
-a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A
-lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in
-the window, rose as we entered.
-
-"Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock
-Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson,
-before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am
-glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the
-fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot
-coffee, for I observe that you are shivering."
-
-"It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low
-voice, changing her seat as requested.
-
-"What, then?"
-
-"It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as
-she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable
-state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless
-frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features
-and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot
-with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard.
-Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick,
-all-comprehensive glances.
-
-"You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and
-patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no
-doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see."
-
-"You know me, then?"
-
-"No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm
-of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had
-a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached
-the station."
-
-The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my
-companion.
-
-"There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left
-arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven
-places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a
-dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you
-sit on the left-hand side of the driver."
-
-"Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said
-she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at
-twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I
-can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues.
-I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me,
-and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you,
-Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you
-helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had
-your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me,
-too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness
-which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward
-you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be
-married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you
-shall not find me ungrateful."
-
-Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small
-case-book, which he consulted.
-
-"Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was
-concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time,
-Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote
-the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to
-reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty
-to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which
-suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us
-everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the
-matter."
-
-"Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation
-lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions
-depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to
-another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to
-look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it
-as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can
-read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have
-heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold
-wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid
-the dangers which encompass me."
-
-"I am all attention, madam."
-
-"My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who
-is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in
-England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of
-Surrey."
-
-Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he.
-
-"The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the
-estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north,
-and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four
-successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition,
-and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the
-days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground,
-and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under
-a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence
-there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but
-his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to
-the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which
-enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta,
-where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he
-established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused
-by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he
-beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital
-sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and
-afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man.
-
-"When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner,
-the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery.
-My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old
-at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable
-sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she
-bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him,
-with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to
-each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return
-to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a
-railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his
-attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us
-to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The
-money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and
-there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness.
-
-"But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time.
-Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our
-neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of
-Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in
-his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious
-quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper
-approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the
-family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been
-intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of
-disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the
-police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village,
-and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of
-immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger.
-
-"Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a
-stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I
-could gather together that I was able to avert another public
-exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies,
-and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few
-acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate,
-and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents,
-wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a
-passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a
-correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon,
-which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the
-villagers almost as much as their master.
-
-"You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I
-had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with
-us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was
-but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already
-begun to whiten, even as mine has."
-
-"Your sister is dead, then?"
-
-"She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish
-to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I
-have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own
-age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden
-sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we
-were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's
-house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there
-a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My
-stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and
-offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of
-the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event
-occurred which has deprived me of my only companion."
-
-Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes
-closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his
-lids now and glanced across at his visitor.
-
-"Pray be precise as to details," said he.
-
-"It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful
-time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have
-already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The
-bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms
-being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms
-the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third
-my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open
-out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?"
-
-"Perfectly so."
-
-"The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That
-fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we
-knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled
-by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom
-to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where
-she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At
-eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door
-and looked back.
-
-"'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle
-in the dead of the night?'
-
-"'Never,' said I.
-
-"'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in
-your sleep?'
-
-"'Certainly not. But why?'
-
-"'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three
-in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper,
-and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps
-from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would
-just ask you whether you had heard it.'
-
-"'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the
-plantation.'
-
-"'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you
-did not hear it also.'
-
-"'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.'
-
-"'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled
-back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her
-key turn in the lock."
-
-"Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock
-yourselves in at night?"
-
-"Always."
-
-"And why?"
-
-"I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah
-and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were
-locked."
-
-"Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement."
-
-"I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending
-misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect,
-were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two
-souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind
-was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing
-against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale,
-there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew
-that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a
-shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door
-I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and
-a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had
-fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked,
-and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it
-horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By
-the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the
-opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for
-help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a
-drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that
-moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground.
-She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were
-dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not
-recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out
-in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was
-the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she
-would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the
-air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion
-seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for
-my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his
-dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was
-unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent
-for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for
-she slowly sank and died without having recovered her
-consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister."
-
-"One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and
-metallic sound? Could you swear to it?"
-
-"That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is
-my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of
-the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have
-been deceived."
-
-"Was your sister dressed?"
-
-"No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the
-charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box."
-
-"Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when
-the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did
-the coroner come to?"
-
-"He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's
-conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable
-to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that
-the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows
-were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars,
-which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded,
-and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was
-also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is
-wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain,
-therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end.
-Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her."
-
-"How about poison?"
-
-"The doctors examined her for it, but without success."
-
-"What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?"
-
-"It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock,
-though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine."
-
-"Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?"
-
-"Yes, there are nearly always some there."
-
-"Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a
-speckled band?"
-
-"Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of
-delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of
-people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not
-know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear
-over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which
-she used."
-
-Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied.
-
-"These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your
-narrative."
-
-"Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until
-lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend,
-whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask
-my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the
-second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My
-stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to
-be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs
-were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom
-wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the
-chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in
-which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last
-night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I
-suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which
-had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the
-lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to
-go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was
-daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which
-is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on
-this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your
-advice."
-
-"You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me
-all?"
-
-"Yes, all."
-
-"Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather."
-
-"Why, what do you mean?"
-
-For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which
-fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little
-livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed
-upon the white wrist.
-
-"You have been cruelly used," said Holmes.
-
-The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He
-is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own
-strength."
-
-There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin
-upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire.
-
-"This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a
-thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide
-upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If
-we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for
-us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your
-stepfather?"
-
-"As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some
-most important business. It is probable that he will be away all
-day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a
-housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily
-get her out of the way."
-
-"Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?"
-
-"By no means."
-
-"Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?"
-
-"I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am
-in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to
-be there in time for your coming."
-
-"And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some
-small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and
-breakfast?"
-
-"No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have
-confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you
-again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her
-face and glided from the room.
-
-"And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes,
-leaning back in his chair.
-
-"It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business."
-
-"Dark enough and sinister enough."
-
-"Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls
-are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable,
-then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her
-mysterious end."
-
-"What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the
-very peculiar words of the dying woman?"
-
-"I cannot think."
-
-"When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of
-a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor,
-the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has
-an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying
-allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner
-heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of
-those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its
-place, I think that there is good ground to think that the
-mystery may be cleared along those lines."
-
-"But what, then, did the gipsies do?"
-
-"I cannot imagine."
-
-"I see many objections to any such theory."
-
-"And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going
-to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are
-fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of
-the devil!"
-
-The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that
-our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had
-framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar
-mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a
-black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters,
-with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his
-hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his
-breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face,
-seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and
-marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other
-of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin,
-fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old
-bird of prey.
-
-"Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition.
-
-"My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my
-companion quietly.
-
-"I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran."
-
-"Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat."
-
-"I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I
-have traced her. What has she been saying to you?"
-
-"It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes.
-
-"What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man
-furiously.
-
-"But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my
-companion imperturbably.
-
-"Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step
-forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel!
-I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler."
-
-My friend smiled.
-
-"Holmes, the busybody!"
-
-His smile broadened.
-
-"Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!"
-
-Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most
-entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for
-there is a decided draught."
-
-"I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with
-my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her!
-I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped
-swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with
-his huge brown hands.
-
-"See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and
-hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the
-room.
-
-"He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am
-not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him
-that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke
-he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort,
-straightened it out again.
-
-"Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official
-detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation,
-however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer
-from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now,
-Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk
-down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may
-help us in this matter."
-
-
-It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his
-excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled
-over with notes and figures.
-
-"I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To
-determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the
-present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The
-total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little
-short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural
-prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an
-income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident,
-therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have
-had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to
-a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted,
-since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for
-standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson,
-this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is
-aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you
-are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be
-very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your
-pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen
-who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush
-are, I think, all that we need."
-
-At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for
-Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove
-for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a
-perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the
-heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out
-their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant
-smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange
-contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this
-sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in
-the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over
-his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the
-deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the
-shoulder, and pointed over the meadows.
-
-"Look there!" said he.
-
-A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope,
-thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the
-branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a
-very old mansion.
-
-"Stoke Moran?" said he.
-
-"Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked
-the driver.
-
-"There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is
-where we are going."
-
-"There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of
-roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the
-house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by
-the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is
-walking."
-
-"And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading
-his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest."
-
-We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way
-to Leatherhead.
-
-"I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile,
-"that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or
-on some definite business. It may stop his gossip.
-Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as
-our word."
-
-Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a
-face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for
-you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned
-out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely
-that he will be back before evening."
-
-"We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance,"
-said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had
-occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened.
-
-"Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then."
-
-"So it appears."
-
-"He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What
-will he say when he returns?"
-
-"He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone
-more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself
-up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to
-your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our
-time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to
-examine."
-
-The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high
-central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab,
-thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were
-broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly
-caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little
-better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern,
-and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up
-from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided.
-Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the
-stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any
-workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and
-down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the
-outsides of the windows.
-
-"This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep,
-the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main
-building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?"
-
-"Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one."
-
-"Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does
-not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end
-wall."
-
-"There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from
-my room."
-
-"Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow
-wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There
-are windows in it, of course?"
-
-"Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass
-through."
-
-"As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were
-unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness
-to go into your room and bar your shutters?"
-
-Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination
-through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the
-shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through
-which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his
-lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built
-firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his
-chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some
-difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were
-bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon
-the matter."
-
-A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which
-the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third
-chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss
-Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her
-fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a
-gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A
-brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow
-white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the
-left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small
-wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save
-for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and
-the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old
-and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building
-of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat
-silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down,
-taking in every detail of the apartment.
-
-"Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last
-pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the
-tassel actually lying upon the pillow.
-
-"It goes to the housekeeper's room."
-
-"It looks newer than the other things?"
-
-"Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago."
-
-"Your sister asked for it, I suppose?"
-
-"No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we
-wanted for ourselves."
-
-"Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there.
-You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to
-this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in
-his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining
-minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with
-the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he
-walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and
-in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the
-bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug.
-
-"Why, it's a dummy," said he.
-
-"Won't it ring?"
-
-"No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting.
-You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where
-the little opening for the ventilator is."
-
-"How very absurd! I never noticed that before."
-
-"Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are
-one or two very singular points about this room. For example,
-what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another
-room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated
-with the outside air!"
-
-"That is also quite modern," said the lady.
-
-"Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes.
-
-"Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that
-time."
-
-"They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy
-bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your
-permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into
-the inner apartment."
-
-Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his
-step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small
-wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an
-armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a
-round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things
-which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each
-and all of them with the keenest interest.
-
-"What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe.
-
-"My stepfather's business papers."
-
-"Oh! you have seen inside, then?"
-
-"Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of
-papers."
-
-"There isn't a cat in it, for example?"
-
-"No. What a strange idea!"
-
-"Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which
-stood on the top of it.
-
-"No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon."
-
-"Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a
-saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I
-daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He
-squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat
-of it with the greatest attention.
-
-"Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting
-his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!"
-
-The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on
-one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself
-and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord.
-
-"What do you make of that, Watson?"
-
-"It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be
-tied."
-
-"That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world,
-and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst
-of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and
-with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn."
-
-I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as
-it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We
-had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss
-Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he
-roused himself from his reverie.
-
-"It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should
-absolutely follow my advice in every respect."
-
-"I shall most certainly do so."
-
-"The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may
-depend upon your compliance."
-
-"I assure you that I am in your hands."
-
-"In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in
-your room."
-
-Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment.
-
-"Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the
-village inn over there?"
-
-"Yes, that is the Crown."
-
-"Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?"
-
-"Certainly."
-
-"You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a
-headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him
-retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window,
-undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then
-withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want
-into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in
-spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night."
-
-"Oh, yes, easily."
-
-"The rest you will leave in our hands."
-
-"But what will you do?"
-
-"We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate
-the cause of this noise which has disturbed you."
-
-"I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind,"
-said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve.
-
-"Perhaps I have."
-
-"Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's
-death."
-
-"I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak."
-
-"You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and
-if she died from some sudden fright."
-
-"No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more
-tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if
-Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain.
-Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you,
-you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers
-that threaten you."
-
-Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and
-sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and
-from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and
-of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw
-Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside
-the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some
-slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard
-the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which
-he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few
-minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as
-the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms.
-
-"Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the
-gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you
-to-night. There is a distinct element of danger."
-
-"Can I be of assistance?"
-
-"Your presence might be invaluable."
-
-"Then I shall certainly come."
-
-"It is very kind of you."
-
-"You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms
-than was visible to me."
-
-"No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine
-that you saw all that I did."
-
-"I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose
-that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine."
-
-"You saw the ventilator, too?"
-
-"Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to
-have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a
-rat could hardly pass through."
-
-"I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to
-Stoke Moran."
-
-"My dear Holmes!"
-
-"Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her
-sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that
-suggested at once that there must be a communication between the
-two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been
-remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator."
-
-"But what harm can there be in that?"
-
-"Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A
-ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the
-bed dies. Does not that strike you?"
-
-"I cannot as yet see any connection."
-
-"Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?"
-
-"No."
-
-"It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened
-like that before?"
-
-"I cannot say that I have."
-
-"The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same
-relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may
-call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull."
-
-"Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at.
-We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible
-crime."
-
-"Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong
-he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge.
-Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession.
-This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall
-be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough
-before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet
-pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more
-cheerful."
-
-
-About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished,
-and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours
-passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of
-eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us.
-
-"That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it
-comes from the middle window."
-
-As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord,
-explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance,
-and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A
-moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing
-in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us
-through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand.
-
-There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for
-unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way
-among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about
-to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel
-bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted
-child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and
-then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness.
-
-"My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?"
-
-Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like
-a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low
-laugh and put his lips to my ear.
-
-"It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon."
-
-I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There
-was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders
-at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when,
-after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I
-found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed
-the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes
-round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then
-creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered
-into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to
-distinguish the words:
-
-"The least sound would be fatal to our plans."
-
-I nodded to show that I had heard.
-
-"We must sit without light. He would see it through the
-ventilator."
-
-I nodded again.
-
-"Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your
-pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of
-the bed, and you in that chair."
-
-I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table.
-
-Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon
-the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the
-stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left
-in darkness.
-
-How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a
-sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my
-companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same
-state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut
-off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness.
-
-From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at
-our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that
-the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the
-deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of
-an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and
-one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for
-whatever might befall.
-
-Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the
-direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was
-succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal.
-Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle
-sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the
-smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears.
-Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle,
-soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping
-continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes
-sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with
-his cane at the bell-pull.
-
-"You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?"
-
-But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I
-heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my
-weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which
-my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face
-was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had
-ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when
-suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most
-horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder
-and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled
-in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the
-village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the
-sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I
-stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it
-had died away into the silence from which it rose.
-
-"What can it mean?" I gasped.
-
-"It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps,
-after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will
-enter Dr. Roylott's room."
-
-With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the
-corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply
-from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his
-heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand.
-
-It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a
-dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant
-beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar.
-Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott
-clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding
-beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers.
-Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we
-had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his
-eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the
-ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with
-brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his
-head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion.
-
-"The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes.
-
-I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began
-to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat
-diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent.
-
-"It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in
-India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence
-does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls
-into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this
-creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to
-some place of shelter and let the county police know what has
-happened."
-
-As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap,
-and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from
-its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into
-the iron safe, which he closed upon it.
-
-Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of
-Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a
-narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling
-how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed
-her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow,
-of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the
-conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly
-playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn
-of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back
-next day.
-
-"I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which
-shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from
-insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of
-the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to
-explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of
-by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an
-entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly
-reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me
-that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not
-come either from the window or the door. My attention was
-speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this
-ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The
-discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to
-the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was
-there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and
-coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me,
-and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was
-furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I
-was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of
-poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical
-test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless
-man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such
-a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be
-an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could
-distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where
-the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the
-whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning
-light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by
-the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned.
-He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he
-thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the
-rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the
-occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but
-sooner or later she must fall a victim.
-
-"I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his
-room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in
-the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary
-in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the
-safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to
-finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic
-clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather
-hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant.
-Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in
-order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss
-as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the
-light and attacked it."
-
-"With the result of driving it through the ventilator."
-
-"And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master
-at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and
-roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person
-it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr.
-Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to
-weigh very heavily upon my conscience."
-
-
-
-IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB
-
-Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr.
-Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy,
-there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his
-notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel
-Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a
-finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was
-so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that
-it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it
-gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of
-reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story
-has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but,
-like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when
-set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the
-facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears
-gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads
-on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a
-deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly
-served to weaken the effect.
-
-It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the
-events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned
-to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker
-Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally
-even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come
-and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I
-happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington
-Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of
-these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was
-never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send
-me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence.
-
-One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by
-the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come
-from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I
-dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases
-were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my
-old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door
-tightly behind him.
-
-"I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his
-shoulder; "he's all right."
-
-"What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was
-some strange creature which he had caged up in my room.
-
-"It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him
-round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe
-and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the
-same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even
-giving me time to thank him.
-
-I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the
-table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a
-soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of
-his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all
-over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than
-five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but
-he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who
-was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his
-strength of mind to control.
-
-"I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I
-have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by
-train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I
-might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me
-here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon
-the side-table."
-
-I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic
-engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name,
-style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have
-kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You
-are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself
-a monotonous occupation."
-
-"Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and
-laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note,
-leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical
-instincts rose up against that laugh.
-
-"Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out
-some water from a caraffe.
-
-It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical
-outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis
-is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very
-weary and pale-looking.
-
-"I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped.
-
-"Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water,
-and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks.
-
-"That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would
-kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb
-used to be."
-
-He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even
-my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four
-protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the
-thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from
-the roots.
-
-"Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have
-bled considerably."
-
-"Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must
-have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that
-it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very
-tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig."
-
-"Excellent! You should have been a surgeon."
-
-"It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own
-province."
-
-"This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very
-heavy and sharp instrument."
-
-"A thing like a cleaver," said he.
-
-"An accident, I presume?"
-
-"By no means."
-
-"What! a murderous attack?"
-
-"Very murderous indeed."
-
-"You horrify me."
-
-I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered
-it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back
-without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time.
-
-"How is that?" I asked when I had finished.
-
-"Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man.
-I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through."
-
-"Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently
-trying to your nerves."
-
-"Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police;
-but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing
-evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they
-believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I
-have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and,
-even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so
-vague that it is a question whether justice will be done."
-
-"Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem
-which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you
-to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the
-official police."
-
-"Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I
-should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of
-course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me
-an introduction to him?"
-
-"I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself."
-
-"I should be immensely obliged to you."
-
-"We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to
-have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?"
-
-"Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story."
-
-"Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an
-instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my
-wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my
-new acquaintance to Baker Street.
-
-Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his
-sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The
-Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed
-of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day
-before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the
-mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion,
-ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal.
-When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the
-sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of
-brandy and water within his reach.
-
-"It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one,
-Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself
-absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are
-tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant."
-
-"Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since
-the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has
-completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable
-time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar
-experiences."
-
-Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded
-expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat
-opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story
-which our visitor detailed to us.
-
-"You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor,
-residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a
-hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my
-work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner &
-Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago,
-having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of
-money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in
-business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria
-Street.
-
-"I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in
-business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so.
-During two years I have had three consultations and one small
-job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought
-me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from
-nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my
-little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to
-believe that I should never have any practice at all.
-
-"Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the
-office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who
-wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with
-the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at
-his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle
-size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have
-ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose
-and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over
-his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his
-natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his
-step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly
-dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than
-thirty.
-
-"'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent.
-'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man
-who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet
-and capable of preserving a secret.'
-
-"I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an
-address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?'
-
-"'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just
-at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both
-an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.'
-
-"'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if
-I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional
-qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter
-that you wished to speak to me?'
-
-"'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to
-the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute
-secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and
-of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than
-from one who lives in the bosom of his family.'
-
-"'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely
-depend upon my doing so.'
-
-"He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I
-had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye.
-
-"'Do you promise, then?' said he at last.
-
-"'Yes, I promise.'
-
-"'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No
-reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?'
-
-"'I have already given you my word.'
-
-"'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning
-across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was
-empty.
-
-"'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are
-sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk
-in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to
-stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look.
-
-"A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun
-to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man.
-Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from
-showing my impatience.
-
-"'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time
-is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the
-words came to my lips.
-
-"'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked.
-
-"'Most admirably.'
-
-"'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I
-simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which
-has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon
-set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as
-that?'
-
-"'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.'
-
-"'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last
-train.'
-
-"'Where to?'
-
-"'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders
-of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a
-train from Paddington which would bring you there at about
-11:15.'
-
-"'Very good.'
-
-"'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.'
-
-"'There is a drive, then?'
-
-"'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good
-seven miles from Eyford Station.'
-
-"'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there
-would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop
-the night.'
-
-"'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.'
-
-"'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient
-hour?'
-
-"'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to
-recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a
-young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the
-very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would
-like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do
-so.'
-
-"I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they
-would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to
-accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to
-understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to
-do.'
-
-"'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which
-we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I
-have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all
-laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from
-eavesdroppers?'
-
-"'Entirely.'
-
-"'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that
-fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found
-in one or two places in England?'
-
-"'I have heard so.'
-
-"'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small
-place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to
-discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my
-fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a
-comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two
-very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them,
-however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were
-absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was
-quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my
-interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value,
-but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I
-took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they
-suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little
-deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would
-enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been
-doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we
-erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already
-explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the
-subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it
-once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our
-little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts
-came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these
-fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you
-promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are
-going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?'
-
-"'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not
-quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press
-in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out
-like gravel from a pit.'
-
-"'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress
-the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing
-what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully
-into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I
-trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at
-Eyford at 11:15.'
-
-"'I shall certainly be there.'
-
-"'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long,
-questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank
-grasp, he hurried from the room.
-
-"Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very
-much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission
-which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was
-glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked
-had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that
-this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face
-and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon
-me, and I could not think that his explanation of the
-fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my
-coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell
-anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate
-a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having
-obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue.
-
-"At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station.
-However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I
-reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the
-only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the
-platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed
-out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of
-the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a
-word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door
-of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either
-side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the
-horse could go."
-
-"One horse?" interjected Holmes.
-
-"Yes, only one."
-
-"Did you observe the colour?"
-
-"Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the
-carriage. It was a chestnut."
-
-"Tired-looking or fresh?"
-
-"Oh, fresh and glossy."
-
-"Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue
-your most interesting statement."
-
-"Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel
-Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I
-should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the
-time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat
-at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than
-once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me
-with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good
-in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I
-tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we
-were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out
-nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now
-and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the
-journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the
-conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the
-road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive,
-and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang
-out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch
-which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of
-the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the
-most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that
-I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us,
-and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage
-drove away.
-
-"It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled
-about looking for matches and muttering under his breath.
-Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a
-long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew
-broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she
-held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us.
-I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which
-the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich
-material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as
-though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a
-gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly
-fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered
-something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room
-from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the
-lamp in his hand.
-
-"'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a
-few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a
-quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the
-centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel
-Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the
-door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and
-vanished into the darkness.
-
-"I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my
-ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises
-on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked
-across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of
-the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded
-across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old
-clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise
-everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began
-to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were
-they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And
-where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was
-all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no
-idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns,
-were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded,
-after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness,
-that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room,
-humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling
-that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee.
-
-"Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the
-utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman
-was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind
-her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and
-beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with
-fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one
-shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few
-whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back,
-like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her.
-
-"'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to
-speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no
-good for you to do.'
-
-"'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I
-cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.'
-
-"'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass
-through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled
-and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and
-made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love
-of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too
-late!'
-
-"But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to
-engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I
-thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of
-the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to
-go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried
-out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This
-woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout
-bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I
-cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention
-of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties
-when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps
-was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up
-her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and
-as noiselessly as she had come.
-
-"The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man
-with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double
-chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson.
-
-"'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the
-way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just
-now. I fear that you have felt the draught.'
-
-"'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I
-felt the room to be a little close.'
-
-"He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had
-better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I
-will take you up to see the machine.'
-
-"'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.'
-
-"'Oh, no, it is in the house.'
-
-"'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?'
-
-"'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that.
-All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us
-know what is wrong with it.'
-
-"We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the
-fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house,
-with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little
-low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the
-generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no
-signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster
-was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in
-green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an
-air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the
-lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon
-my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent
-man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at
-least a fellow-countryman.
-
-"Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which
-he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three
-of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside,
-and the colonel ushered me in.
-
-"'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and
-it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were
-to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the
-end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of
-many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns
-of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and
-multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine
-goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working
-of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will
-have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set
-it right.'
-
-"I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very
-thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of
-exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and
-pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by
-the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed
-a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An
-examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was
-round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to
-fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause
-of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who
-followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical
-questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I
-had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the
-machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity.
-It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth
-was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose
-that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a
-purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a
-large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a
-crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was
-scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a
-muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the
-colonel looking down at me.
-
-"'What are you doing there?' he asked.
-
-"I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as
-that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,'
-said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to
-your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it
-was used.'
-
-"The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of
-my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in
-his grey eyes.
-
-"'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He
-took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key
-in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it
-was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and
-shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!'
-
-"And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my
-heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish
-of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp
-still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining
-the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming
-down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than
-myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a
-shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and
-dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let
-me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my
-cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with
-my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it
-flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend
-very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my
-face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to
-think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and
-yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black
-shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand
-erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope
-back to my heart.
-
-"I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the
-walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw
-a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which
-broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For
-an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door
-which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself
-through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had
-closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few
-moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me
-how narrow had been my escape.
-
-"I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and
-I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor,
-while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand,
-while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend
-whose warning I had so foolishly rejected.
-
-"'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a
-moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste
-the so-precious time, but come!'
-
-"This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to
-my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding
-stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we
-reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of
-two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which  we
-were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about
-her like one  who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door
-which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon
-was shining brightly.
-
-"'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be
-that you can jump it.'
-
-"As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the
-passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark
-rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a
-butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom,
-flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and
-wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be
-more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I
-hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between
-my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used,
-then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance.
-The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at
-the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round
-him and tried to hold him back.
-
-"'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise
-after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be
-silent! Oh, he will be silent!'
-
-"'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from
-her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me
-pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the
-window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and
-was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was
-conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the
-garden below.
-
-"I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and
-rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I
-understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly,
-however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me.
-I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and
-then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and
-that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my
-handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my
-ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the
-rose-bushes.
-
-"How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been
-a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was
-breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with
-dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded
-thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the
-particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with
-the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But
-to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house
-nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the
-hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a
-long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the
-very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were
-it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed
-during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream.
-
-"Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning
-train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The
-same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I
-arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel
-Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a
-carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was
-there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three
-miles off.
-
-"It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined
-to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the
-police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first
-to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to
-bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do
-exactly what you advise."
-
-We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to
-this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down
-from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he
-placed his cuttings.
-
-"Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It
-appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this:
-'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged
-twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten
-o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was
-dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that
-the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy."
-
-"Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the
-girl said."
-
-"Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and
-desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should
-stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out
-pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well,
-every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall
-go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for
-Eyford."
-
-Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train
-together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village.
-There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector
-Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself.
-Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the
-seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford
-for its centre.
-
-"There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of
-ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere
-near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir."
-
-"It was an hour's good drive."
-
-"And you think that they brought you back all that way when you
-were unconscious?"
-
-"They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having
-been lifted and conveyed somewhere."
-
-"What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have
-spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden.
-Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties."
-
-"I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face
-in my life."
-
-"Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I
-have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon
-it the folk that we are in search of are to be found."
-
-"I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly.
-
-"Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your
-opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is
-south, for the country is more deserted there."
-
-"And I say east," said my patient.
-
-"I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are
-several quiet little villages up there."
-
-"And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there,
-and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up
-any."
-
-"Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty
-diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do
-you give your casting vote to?"
-
-"You are all wrong."
-
-"But we can't all be."
-
-"Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the
-centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them."
-
-"But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley.
-
-"Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the
-horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that
-if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?"
-
-"Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet
-thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature
-of this gang."
-
-"None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale,
-and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the
-place of silver."
-
-"We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work,"
-said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by
-the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could
-get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that
-showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this
-lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough."
-
-But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not
-destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into
-Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed
-up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and
-hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape.
-
-"A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off
-again on its way.
-
-"Yes, sir!" said the station-master.
-
-"When did it break out?"
-
-"I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse,
-and the whole place is in a blaze."
-
-"Whose house is it?"
-
-"Dr. Becher's."
-
-"Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very
-thin, with a long, sharp nose?"
-
-The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an
-Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a
-better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him,
-a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as
-if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm."
-
-The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all
-hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low
-hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in
-front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in
-the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to
-keep the flames under.
-
-"That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is
-the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That
-second window is the one that I jumped from."
-
-"Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon
-them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which,
-when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls,
-though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to
-observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for
-your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are
-a good hundred miles off by now."
-
-And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this
-no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the
-sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a
-peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very
-bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but
-there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes'
-ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their
-whereabouts.
-
-The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements
-which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a
-newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor.
-About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and
-they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in,
-and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save
-some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of
-the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so
-dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored
-in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have
-explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been
-already referred to.
-
-How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to
-the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained
-forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a
-very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two
-persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other
-unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the
-silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his
-companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out
-of the way of danger.
-
-"Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return
-once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I
-have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what
-have I gained?"
-
-"Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of
-value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the
-reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your
-existence."
-
-
-
-X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR
-
-The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have
-long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles
-in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have
-eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the
-gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to
-believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to
-the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a
-considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no
-memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of
-this remarkable episode.
-
-It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I
-was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came
-home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table
-waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather
-had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and
-the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as
-a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence.
-With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had
-surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last,
-saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and
-lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the
-envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's
-noble correspondent could be.
-
-"Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered.
-"Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a
-fish-monger and a tide-waiter."
-
-"Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he
-answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more
-interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social
-summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie."
-
-He broke the seal and glanced over the contents.
-
-"Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all."
-
-"Not social, then?"
-
-"No, distinctly professional."
-
-"And from a noble client?"
-
-"One of the highest in England."
-
-"My dear fellow, I congratulate you."
-
-"I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my
-client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his
-case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be
-wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the
-papers diligently of late, have you not?"
-
-"It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in
-the corner. "I have had nothing else to do."
-
-"It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I
-read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The
-latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent
-events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his
-wedding?"
-
-"Oh, yes, with the deepest interest."
-
-"That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord
-St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn
-over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter.
-This is what he says:
-
-"'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I
-may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I
-have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you
-in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in
-connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is
-acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no
-objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that
-it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in
-the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that
-time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of
-paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.'
-
-"It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen,
-and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink
-upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes
-as he folded up the epistle.
-
-"He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an
-hour."
-
-"Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon
-the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in
-their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client
-is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of
-reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting
-down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham
-de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms:
-Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.'
-He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was
-Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The
-Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
-They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on
-the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in
-all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something
-more solid."
-
-"I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I,
-"for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as
-remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew
-that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the
-intrusion of other matters."
-
-"Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square
-furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it
-was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your
-newspaper selections."
-
-"Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal
-column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks
-back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if
-rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert
-St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty
-Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San
-Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all."
-
-"Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long,
-thin legs towards the fire.
-
-"There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society
-papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a
-call for protection in the marriage market, for the present
-free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home
-product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great
-Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across
-the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last
-week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by
-these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself
-for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has
-now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty
-Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss
-Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much
-attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child,
-and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to
-considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the
-future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has
-been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years,
-and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small
-estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress
-is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to
-make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a
-British peeress.'"
-
-"Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning.
-
-"Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post
-to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it
-would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen
-intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would
-return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been
-taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on
-Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had
-taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord
-Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices
-which appeared before the disappearance of the bride."
-
-"Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start.
-
-"The vanishing of the lady."
-
-"When did she vanish, then?"
-
-"At the wedding breakfast."
-
-"Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite
-dramatic, in fact."
-
-"Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common."
-
-"They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during
-the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt
-as this. Pray let me have the details."
-
-"I warn you that they are very incomplete."
-
-"Perhaps we may make them less so."
-
-"Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a
-morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is
-headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding':
-
-"'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the
-greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which
-have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as
-shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the
-previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to
-confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently
-floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush
-the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it
-that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what
-is a common subject for conversation.
-
-"'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover
-Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the
-father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral,
-Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the
-younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia
-Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of
-Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been
-prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a
-woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to
-force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging
-that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a
-painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler
-and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house
-before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast
-with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and
-retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some
-comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that
-she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an
-ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the
-footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus
-apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress,
-believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his
-daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with
-the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with
-the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which
-will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very
-singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing
-had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There
-are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the
-police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the
-original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some
-other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange
-disappearance of the bride.'"
-
-"And is that all?"
-
-"Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is
-a suggestive one."
-
-"And it is--"
-
-"That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance,
-has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a
-danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom
-for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole
-case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the
-public press."
-
-"And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would
-not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell,
-Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I
-have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not
-dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness,
-if only as a check to my own memory."
-
-"Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open
-the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face,
-high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about
-the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose
-pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His
-manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue
-impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little
-bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off
-his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin
-upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of
-foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat,
-yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters.
-He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to
-right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his
-golden eyeglasses.
-
-"Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray
-take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr.
-Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this
-matter over."
-
-"A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine,
-Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you
-have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir,
-though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of
-society."
-
-"No, I am descending."
-
-"I beg pardon."
-
-"My last client of the sort was a king."
-
-"Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?"
-
-"The King of Scandinavia."
-
-"What! Had he lost his wife?"
-
-"You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the
-affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to
-you in yours."
-
-"Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to
-my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may
-assist you in forming an opinion."
-
-"Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public
-prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this
-article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride."
-
-Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it
-goes."
-
-"But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could
-offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most
-directly by questioning you."
-
-"Pray do so."
-
-"When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?"
-
-"In San Francisco, a year ago."
-
-"You were travelling in the States?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Did you become engaged then?"
-
-"No."
-
-"But you were on a friendly footing?"
-
-"I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was
-amused."
-
-"Her father is very rich?"
-
-"He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope."
-
-"And how did he make his money?"
-
-"In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold,
-invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds."
-
-"Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your
-wife's character?"
-
-The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down
-into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was
-twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she
-ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or
-mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than
-from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy,
-with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of
-traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She
-is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her
-resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the
-name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately
-cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I
-believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that
-anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her."
-
-"Have you her photograph?"
-
-"I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the
-full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an
-ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect
-of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the
-exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he
-closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon.
-
-"The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your
-acquaintance?"
-
-"Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I
-met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now
-married her."
-
-"She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?"
-
-"A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family."
-
-"And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a
-fait accompli?"
-
-"I really have made no inquiries on the subject."
-
-"Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the
-wedding?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Was she in good spirits?"
-
-"Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our
-future lives."
-
-"Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the
-wedding?"
-
-"She was as bright as possible--at least until after the
-ceremony."
-
-"And did you observe any change in her then?"
-
-"Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had
-ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident
-however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible
-bearing upon the case."
-
-"Pray let us have it, for all that."
-
-"Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards
-the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it
-fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the
-gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not
-appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of
-the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our
-way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause."
-
-"Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of
-the general public were present, then?"
-
-"Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is
-open."
-
-"This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?"
-
-"No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a
-common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But
-really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point."
-
-"Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less
-cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do
-on re-entering her father's house?"
-
-"I saw her in conversation with her maid."
-
-"And who is her maid?"
-
-"Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California
-with her."
-
-"A confidential servant?"
-
-"A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed
-her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they
-look upon these things in a different way."
-
-"How long did she speak to this Alice?"
-
-"Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of."
-
-"You did not overhear what they said?"
-
-"Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was
-accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she
-meant."
-
-"American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your
-wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?"
-
-"She walked into the breakfast-room."
-
-"On your arm?"
-
-"No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that.
-Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose
-hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She
-never came back."
-
-"But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to
-her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a
-bonnet, and went out."
-
-"Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in
-company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who
-had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that
-morning."
-
-"Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady,
-and your relations to her."
-
-Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows.
-"We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on
-a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have
-not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of
-complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes.
-Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and
-devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she
-heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the
-reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I
-feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to
-Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to
-push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my
-wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the
-possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police
-fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again.
-She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a
-row."
-
-"Did your wife hear all this?"
-
-"No, thank goodness, she did not."
-
-"And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?"
-
-"Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as
-so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid
-some terrible trap for her."
-
-"Well, it is a possible supposition."
-
-"You think so, too?"
-
-"I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon
-this as likely?"
-
-"I do not think Flora would hurt a fly."
-
-"Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray
-what is your own theory as to what took place?"
-
-"Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I
-have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may
-say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of
-this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a
-social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous
-disturbance in my wife."
-
-"In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?"
-
-"Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I
-will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to
-without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion."
-
-"Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said
-Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have
-nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the
-breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?"
-
-"We could see the other side of the road and the Park."
-
-"Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer.
-I shall communicate with you."
-
-"Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our
-client, rising.
-
-"I have solved it."
-
-"Eh? What was that?"
-
-"I say that I have solved it."
-
-"Where, then, is my wife?"
-
-"That is a detail which I shall speedily supply."
-
-Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take
-wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a
-stately, old-fashioned manner he departed.
-
-"It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting
-it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I
-think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all
-this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the
-case before our client came into the room."
-
-"My dear Holmes!"
-
-"I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I
-remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination
-served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial
-evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a
-trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example."
-
-"But I have heard all that you have heard."
-
-"Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which
-serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some
-years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich
-the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these
-cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade!
-You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are
-cigars in the box."
-
-The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat,
-which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a
-black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated
-himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him.
-
-"What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You
-look dissatisfied."
-
-"And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage
-case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business."
-
-"Really! You surprise me."
-
-"Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip
-through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day."
-
-"And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his
-hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket.
-
-"Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine."
-
-"In heaven's name, what for?"
-
-"In search of the body of Lady St. Simon."
-
-Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily.
-
-"Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he
-asked.
-
-"Why? What do you mean?"
-
-"Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in
-the one as in the other."
-
-Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you
-know all about it," he snarled.
-
-"Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up."
-
-"Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in
-the matter?"
-
-"I think it very unlikely."
-
-"Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found
-this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the
-floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin
-shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked
-in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the
-top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master
-Holmes."
-
-"Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air.
-"You dragged them from the Serpentine?"
-
-"No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper.
-They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me
-that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off."
-
-"By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found
-in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope
-to arrive at through this?"
-
-"At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance."
-
-"I am afraid that you will find it difficult."
-
-"Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I
-am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your
-deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as
-many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar."
-
-"And how?"
-
-"In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the
-card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it
-down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will
-see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all
-along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora
-Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was
-responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her
-initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped
-into her hand at the door and which lured her within their
-reach."
-
-"Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are
-very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a
-listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he
-gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important,"
-said he.
-
-"Ha! you find it so?"
-
-"Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly."
-
-Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he
-shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!"
-
-"On the contrary, this is the right side."
-
-"The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil
-over here."
-
-"And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel
-bill, which interests me deeply."
-
-"There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade.
-"'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s.
-6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that."
-
-"Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the
-note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I
-congratulate you again."
-
-"I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in
-hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories.
-Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom
-of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them
-into the bag, and made for the door.
-
-"Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival
-vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady
-St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any
-such person."
-
-Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me,
-tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and
-hurried away.
-
-He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on
-his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about
-outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must
-leave you to your papers for a little."
-
-It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had
-no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a
-confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked
-with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and
-presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean
-little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble
-lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold
-woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of
-ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries,
-my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian
-Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid
-for and were ordered to this address.
-
-Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the
-room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his
-eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his
-conclusions.
-
-"They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands.
-
-"You seem to expect company. They have laid for five."
-
-"Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I
-am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I
-fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs."
-
-It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in,
-dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very
-perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features.
-
-"My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes.
-
-"Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure.
-Have you good authority for what you say?"
-
-"The best possible."
-
-Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his
-forehead.
-
-"What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of
-the family has been subjected to such humiliation?"
-
-"It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any
-humiliation."
-
-"Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint."
-
-"I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the
-lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of
-doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she
-had no one to advise her at such a crisis."
-
-"It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon,
-tapping his fingers upon the table.
-
-"You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so
-unprecedented a position."
-
-"I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have
-been shamefully used."
-
-"I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps
-on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view
-of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here
-who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a
-lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to
-introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I
-think, you have already met."
-
-At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his
-seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand
-thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended
-dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out
-her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was
-as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was
-one which it was hard to resist.
-
-"You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every
-cause to be."
-
-"Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly.
-
-"Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I
-should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of
-rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just
-didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't
-fall down and do a faint right there before the altar."
-
-"Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave
-the room while you explain this matter?"
-
-"If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman,
-"we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business
-already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to
-hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man,
-clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner.
-
-"Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here
-and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa
-was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I;
-but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile,
-while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to
-nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa
-wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took
-me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so
-he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything
-about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just
-fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and
-make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had
-as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of
-time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived.
-'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and
-then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your
-husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had
-fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting,
-that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek
-his fortune, and I went back to pa.
-
-"The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then
-he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New
-Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a
-miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was
-my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was
-very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took
-me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a
-year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really
-dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London,
-and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt
-all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place
-in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank.
-
-"Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done
-my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our
-actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make
-him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may
-imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I
-glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the
-first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked
-again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as
-if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I
-didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the
-words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my
-ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make
-a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to
-know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to
-tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper,
-and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on
-the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the
-note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a
-line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so.
-Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now
-to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct.
-
-"When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California,
-and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but
-to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to
-have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before
-his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to
-run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten
-minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of
-the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park.
-I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman
-came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to
-me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little
-secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away
-from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and
-away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and
-that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank
-had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to
-'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to
-England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the
-very morning of my second wedding."
-
-"I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name
-and the church but not where the lady lived."
-
-"Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all
-for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I
-should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just
-sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It
-was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting
-round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So
-Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of
-them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away
-somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we
-should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good
-gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how
-he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very
-clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and
-that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so
-secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord
-St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at
-once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if
-I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very
-meanly of me."
-
-Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but
-had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this
-long narrative.
-
-"Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most
-intimate personal affairs in this public manner."
-
-"Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?"
-
-"Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out
-his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him.
-
-"I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us
-in a friendly supper."
-
-"I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his
-Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent
-developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over
-them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a
-very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and
-stalked out of the room.
-
-"Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your
-company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an
-American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the
-folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone
-years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens
-of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a
-quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes."
-
-"The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our
-visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how
-simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight
-seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural
-than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing
-stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr.
-Lestrade of Scotland Yard."
-
-"You were not yourself at fault at all, then?"
-
-"From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that
-the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony,
-the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of
-returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the
-morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that
-something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was
-out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she
-seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America
-because she had spent so short a time in this country that she
-could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence
-over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change
-her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a
-process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an
-American. Then who could this American be, and why should he
-possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might
-be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in
-rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got
-before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us
-of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so
-transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a
-bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very
-significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance
-means taking possession of that which another person has a prior
-claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had
-gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a
-previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter."
-
-"And how in the world did you find them?"
-
-"It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held
-information in his hands the value of which he did not himself
-know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance,
-but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had
-settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels."
-
-"How did you deduce the select?"
-
-"By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence
-for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive
-hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate.
-In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I
-learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an
-American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking
-over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I
-had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded
-to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate
-enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them
-some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be
-better in every way that they should make their position a little
-clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in
-particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I
-made him keep the appointment."
-
-"But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was
-certainly not very gracious."
-
-"Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be
-very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and
-wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of
-fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully
-and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in
-the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for
-the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away
-these bleak autumnal evenings."
-
-
-
-XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET
-
-"Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking
-down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather
-sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone."
-
-My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands
-in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It
-was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day
-before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the
-wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed
-into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and
-on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as
-when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but
-was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer
-passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the
-Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman
-whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention.
-
-He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a
-massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was
-dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining
-hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet
-his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress
-and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little
-springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to
-set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and
-down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most
-extraordinary contortions.
-
-"What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is
-looking up at the numbers of the houses."
-
-"I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his
-hands.
-
-"Here?"
-
-"Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I
-think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As
-he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and
-pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the
-clanging.
-
-A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still
-gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in
-his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and
-pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his
-body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the
-extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his
-feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we
-both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room.
-Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting
-beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy,
-soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ.
-
-"You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he.
-"You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have
-recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into
-any little problem which you may submit to me."
-
-The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting
-against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his
-brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us.
-
-"No doubt you think me mad?" said he.
-
-"I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes.
-
-"God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my
-reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might
-have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet
-borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man;
-but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have
-been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone.
-The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found
-out of this horrible affair."
-
-"Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a
-clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen
-you."
-
-"My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your
-ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder &
-Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street."
-
-The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior
-partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City
-of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the
-foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We
-waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced
-himself to tell his story.
-
-"I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened
-here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure
-your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and
-hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this
-snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who
-takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the
-facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can.
-
-"It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking
-business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative
-investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection
-and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means
-of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security
-is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction
-during the last few years, and there are many noble families to
-whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their
-pictures, libraries, or plate.
-
-"Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a
-card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I
-saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps
-even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name
-which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest,
-noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the
-honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged
-at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry
-quickly through a disagreeable task.
-
-"'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the
-habit of advancing money.'
-
-"'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered.
-
-"'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have
-50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a
-sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it
-a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my
-position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place
-one's self under obligations.'
-
-"'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked.
-
-"'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most
-certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you
-think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the
-money should be paid at once.'
-
-"'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my
-own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be
-rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do
-it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must
-insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution
-should be taken.'
-
-"'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a
-square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair.
-'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?'
-
-"'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,'
-said I.
-
-"'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft,
-flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery
-which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said
-he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The
-lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the
-sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my
-security.'
-
-"I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some
-perplexity from it to my illustrious client.
-
-"'You doubt its value?' he asked.
-
-"'Not at all. I only doubt--'
-
-"'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest
-about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely
-certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a
-pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?'
-
-"'Ample.'
-
-"'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof
-of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I
-have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to
-refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to
-preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I
-need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any
-harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as
-serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the
-world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them.
-I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall
-call for it in person on Monday morning.'
-
-"Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but,
-calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000
-pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the
-precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not
-but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility
-which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it
-was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any
-misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever
-consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter
-the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned
-once more to my work.
-
-"When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave
-so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had
-been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how
-terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I
-determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always
-carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might
-never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a
-cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel
-with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs
-and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room.
-
-"And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to
-thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep
-out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three
-maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose
-absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy
-Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few
-months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has
-always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has
-attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place.
-That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we
-believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way.
-
-"So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it
-will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an
-only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr.
-Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am
-myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very
-likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I
-had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a
-moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it
-would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I
-meant it for the best.
-
-"It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my
-business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild,
-wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the
-handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a
-member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming
-manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long
-purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards
-and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again
-to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his
-allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried
-more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he
-was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir
-George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again.
-
-"And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George
-Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently
-brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could
-hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than
-Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been
-everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of
-great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far
-away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his
-cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that
-he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so,
-too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into
-character.
-
-"And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but
-when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the
-world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my
-daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful,
-a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and
-gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know
-what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone
-against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for
-he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I
-think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it
-would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his
-whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late!
-
-"Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and
-I shall continue with my miserable story.
-
-"When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after
-dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious
-treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name
-of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am
-sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed.
-Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous
-coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it.
-
-"'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur.
-
-"'In my own bureau.'
-
-"'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the
-night.' said he.
-
-"'It is locked up,' I answered.
-
-"'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I
-have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.'
-
-"He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of
-what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with
-a very grave face.
-
-"'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let
-me have 200 pounds?'
-
-"'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too
-generous with you in money matters.'
-
-"'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money,
-or else I can never show my face inside the club again.'
-
-"'And a very good thing, too!' I cried.
-
-"'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,'
-said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money
-in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try
-other means.'
-
-"I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the
-month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which
-he bowed and left the room without another word.
-
-"When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my
-treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go
-round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I
-usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform
-myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself
-at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as
-I approached.
-
-"'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little
-disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out
-to-night?'
-
-"'Certainly not.'
-
-"'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she
-has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that
-it is hardly safe and should be stopped.'
-
-"'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer
-it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?'
-
-"'Quite sure, dad.'
-
-"'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom
-again, where I was soon asleep.
-
-"I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may
-have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question
-me upon any point which I do not make clear."
-
-"On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid."
-
-"I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be
-particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety
-in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual.
-About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in
-the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an
-impression behind it as though a window had gently closed
-somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my
-horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in
-the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear,
-and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door.
-
-"'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you
-touch that coronet?'
-
-"The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy,
-dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the
-light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be
-wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry
-he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I
-snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with
-three of the beryls in it, was missing.
-
-"'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have
-destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the
-jewels which you have stolen?'
-
-"'Stolen!' he cried.
-
-"'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder.
-
-"'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he.
-
-"'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I
-call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to
-tear off another piece?'
-
-"'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it
-any longer. I shall not say another word about this business,
-since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in
-the morning and make my own way in the world.'
-
-"'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried
-half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to
-the bottom.'
-
-"'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such
-as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to
-call the police, let the police find what they can.'
-
-"By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my
-voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and,
-at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the
-whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the
-ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the
-investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a
-constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with
-his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge
-him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private
-matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was
-national property. I was determined that the law should have its
-way in everything.
-
-"'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It
-would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the
-house for five minutes.'
-
-"'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you
-have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position
-in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only
-my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at
-stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would
-convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell
-me what he had done with the three missing stones.
-
-"'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught
-in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous.
-If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling
-us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.'
-
-"'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered,
-turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened
-for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for
-it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search
-was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of
-every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed
-the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the
-wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our
-threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after
-going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to
-you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter.
-The police have openly confessed that they can at present make
-nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think
-necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My
-God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son
-in one night. Oh, what shall I do!"
-
-He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to
-and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got
-beyond words.
-
-Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows
-knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire.
-
-"Do you receive much company?" he asked.
-
-"None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of
-Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No
-one else, I think."
-
-"Do you go out much in society?"
-
-"Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for
-it."
-
-"That is unusual in a young girl."
-
-"She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She
-is four-and-twenty."
-
-"This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to
-her also."
-
-"Terrible! She is even more affected than I."
-
-"You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?"
-
-"How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet
-in his hands."
-
-"I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of
-the coronet at all injured?"
-
-"Yes, it was twisted."
-
-"Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to
-straighten it?"
-
-"God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me.
-But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If
-his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?"
-
-"Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie?
-His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several
-singular points about the case. What did the police think of the
-noise which awoke you from your sleep?"
-
-"They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his
-bedroom door."
-
-"A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door
-so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the
-disappearance of these gems?"
-
-"They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture
-in the hope of finding them."
-
-"Have they thought of looking outside the house?"
-
-"Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has
-already been minutely examined."
-
-"Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now
-that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you
-or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you
-to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider
-what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came
-down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room,
-opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main
-force a small portion of it, went off to some other place,
-concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that
-nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six
-into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger
-of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?"
-
-"But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of
-despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain
-them?"
-
-"It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if
-you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together,
-and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into
-details."
-
-My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition,
-which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy
-were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I
-confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be
-as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such
-faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some
-grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted
-explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the
-southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his
-hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client
-appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope
-which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a
-desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway
-journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest
-residence of the great financier.
-
-Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing
-back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a
-snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates
-which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden
-thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges
-stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the
-tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the
-stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a
-public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing
-at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the
-front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden
-behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I
-went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should
-return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and
-a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height,
-slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against
-the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever
-seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were
-bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept
-silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of
-grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the
-more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong
-character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding
-my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand
-over his head with a sweet womanly caress.
-
-"You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you
-not, dad?" she asked.
-
-"No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom."
-
-"But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's
-instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will
-be sorry for having acted so harshly."
-
-"Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?"
-
-"Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should
-suspect him."
-
-"How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with
-the coronet in his hand?"
-
-"Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take
-my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say
-no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in
-prison!"
-
-"I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary!
-Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences
-to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman
-down from London to inquire more deeply into it."
-
-"This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me.
-
-"No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in
-the stable lane now."
-
-"The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he
-hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir,
-that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth,
-that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime."
-
-"I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may
-prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the
-snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing
-Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?"
-
-"Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up."
-
-"You heard nothing yourself last night?"
-
-"Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard
-that, and I came down."
-
-"You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you
-fasten all the windows?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Were they all fastened this morning?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked
-to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?"
-
-"Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and
-who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet."
-
-"I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her
-sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery."
-
-"But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the
-banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with
-the coronet in his hands?"
-
-"Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this
-girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I
-presume?"
-
-"Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I
-met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom."
-
-"Do you know him?"
-
-"Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round.
-His name is Francis Prosper."
-
-"He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to
-say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?"
-
-"Yes, he did."
-
-"And he is a man with a wooden leg?"
-
-Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive
-black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you
-know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in
-Holmes' thin, eager face.
-
-"I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall
-probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps
-I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up."
-
-He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at
-the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane.
-This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill
-with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs,"
-said he at last.
-
-The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little
-chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror.
-Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock.
-
-"Which key was used to open it?" he asked.
-
-"That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the
-lumber-room."
-
-"Have you it here?"
-
-"That is it on the dressing-table."
-
-Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau.
-
-"It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did
-not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must
-have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem
-he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the
-jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I
-have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge,
-where a corner holding three gems had been torn away.
-
-"Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which
-corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I
-beg that you will break it off."
-
-The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying,"
-said he.
-
-"Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but
-without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though
-I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my
-time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do
-you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would
-be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this
-happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard
-nothing of it?"
-
-"I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me."
-
-"But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think,
-Miss Holder?"
-
-"I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity."
-
-"Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?"
-
-"He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt."
-
-"Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary
-luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault
-if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your
-permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations
-outside."
-
-He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any
-unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an
-hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet
-heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever.
-
-"I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr.
-Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my
-rooms."
-
-"But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?"
-
-"I cannot tell."
-
-The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he
-cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?"
-
-"My opinion is in no way altered."
-
-"Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was
-acted in my house last night?"
-
-"If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow
-morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to
-make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to
-act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you
-place no limit on the sum I may draw."
-
-"I would give my fortune to have them back."
-
-"Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then.
-Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here
-again before evening."
-
-It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up
-about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than
-I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward
-journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always
-glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in
-despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our
-rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in
-a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned
-up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he
-was a perfect sample of the class.
-
-"I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass
-above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me,
-Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in
-this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I
-shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few
-hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard,
-sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this
-rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition.
-
-I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in
-excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his
-hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a
-cup of tea.
-
-"I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on."
-
-"Where to?"
-
-"Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time
-before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be
-late."
-
-"How are you getting on?"
-
-"Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham
-since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a
-very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a
-good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get
-these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly
-respectable self."
-
-I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for
-satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled,
-and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He
-hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of
-the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his
-congenial hunt.
-
-I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so
-I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away
-for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that
-his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he
-came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there
-he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the
-other, as fresh and trim as possible.
-
-"You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but
-you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this
-morning."
-
-"Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be
-surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring."
-
-It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the
-change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally
-of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in,
-while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered
-with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than
-his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into
-the armchair which I pushed forward for him.
-
-"I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said
-he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without
-a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured
-age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece,
-Mary, has deserted me."
-
-"Deserted you?"
-
-"Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was
-empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to
-her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had
-married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was
-thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers
-in this note:
-
-"'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you,
-and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune
-might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my
-mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must
-leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is
-provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will
-be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in
-death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.'
-
-"What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it
-points to suicide?"
-
-"No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible
-solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of
-your troubles."
-
-"Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have
-learned something! Where are the gems?"
-
-"You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for
-them?"
-
-"I would pay ten."
-
-"That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter.
-And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book?
-Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds."
-
-With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes
-walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of
-gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table.
-
-With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up.
-
-"You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!"
-
-The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and
-he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom.
-
-"There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock
-Holmes rather sternly.
-
-"Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it."
-
-"No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that
-noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I
-should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to
-have one."
-
-"Then it was not Arthur who took them?"
-
-"I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not."
-
-"You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him
-know that the truth is known."
-
-"He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an
-interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the
-story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was
-right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite
-clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his
-lips."
-
-"For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary
-mystery!"
-
-"I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached
-it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me
-to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding
-between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now
-fled together."
-
-"My Mary? Impossible!"
-
-"It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither
-you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you
-admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most
-dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely
-desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece
-knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he
-had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she
-alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said,
-but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing
-him nearly every evening."
-
-"I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an
-ashen face.
-
-"I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night.
-Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room,
-slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which
-leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right
-through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the
-coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he
-bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but
-there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all
-other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had
-hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming
-downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you
-about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover,
-which was all perfectly true.
-
-"Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but
-he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts.
-In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door,
-so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin
-walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared
-into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad
-slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what
-would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the
-room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw
-that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed
-down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and
-slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see
-what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the
-window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then
-closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close
-to where he stood hid behind the curtain.
-
-"As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action
-without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the
-instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune
-this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it
-right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened
-the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane,
-where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George
-Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was
-a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the
-coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son
-struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something
-suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet
-in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your
-room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in
-the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you
-appeared upon the scene."
-
-"Is it possible?" gasped the banker.
-
-"You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when
-he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not
-explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who
-certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He
-took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her
-secret."
-
-"And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the
-coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have
-been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes!
-The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the
-scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!"
-
-"When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went
-very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in
-the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since
-the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost
-to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but
-found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it,
-however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood
-and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed
-that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been
-disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was
-shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had
-waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time
-that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had
-already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed
-round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks,
-which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable
-lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in
-front of me.
-
-"There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second
-double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked
-feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the
-latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the
-other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over
-the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed
-after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the
-hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while
-waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred
-yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round,
-where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle,
-and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me
-that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and
-another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been
-hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that
-the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue.
-
-"On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the
-sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could
-at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the
-outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming
-in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what
-had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had
-brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had
-pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged
-at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which
-neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the
-prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So
-far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who
-was it brought him the coronet?
-
-"It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the
-impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the
-truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down,
-so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were
-the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in
-their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his
-cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should
-retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful
-one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and
-how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture
-became a certainty.
-
-"And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently,
-for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must
-feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your
-circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir
-George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil
-reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots
-and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur
-had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was
-safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his
-own family.
-
-"Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took
-next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house,
-managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that
-his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at
-the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of
-his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and
-saw that they exactly fitted the tracks."
-
-"I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening,"
-said Mr. Holder.
-
-"Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home
-and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to
-play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert
-scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our
-hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of
-course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every
-particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a
-life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I
-clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he
-became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give
-him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That
-brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why,
-dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the
-three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had
-them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I
-set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000
-pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all
-was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after
-what I may call a really hard day's work."
-
-"A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said
-the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but
-you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your
-skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I
-must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I
-have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my
-very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now."
-
-"I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is
-wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that
-whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than
-sufficient punishment."
-
-
-
-XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES
-
-"To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock
-Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily
-Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest
-manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is
-pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped
-this truth that in these little records of our cases which you
-have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say,
-occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much
-to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I
-have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been
-trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those
-faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made
-my special province."
-
-"And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved
-from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my
-records."
-
-"You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing
-cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood
-pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a
-disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred
-perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your
-statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing
-upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is
-really the only notable feature about the thing."
-
-"It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter,"
-I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism
-which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my
-friend's singular character.
-
-"No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as
-was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full
-justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a
-thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it
-is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should
-dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of
-lectures into a series of tales."
-
-It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after
-breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at
-Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of
-dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark,
-shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit
-and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for
-the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been
-silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the
-advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last,
-having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very
-sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings.
-
-"At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he
-had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire,
-"you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of
-these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself
-in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense,
-at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King
-of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the
-problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the
-incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are
-outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I
-fear that you may have bordered on the trivial."
-
-"The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold
-to have been novel and of interest."
-
-"Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant
-public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a
-compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of
-analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot
-blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at
-least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As
-to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an
-agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to
-young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched
-bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my
-zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across
-to me.
-
-It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and
-ran thus:
-
-"DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether
-I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered
-to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I
-do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully,
-                                               "VIOLET HUNTER."
-
-"Do you know the young lady?" I asked.
-
-"Not I."
-
-"It is half-past ten now."
-
-"Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring."
-
-"It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You
-remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to
-be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation.
-It may be so in this case, also."
-
-"Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved,
-for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question."
-
-As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room.
-She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face,
-freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a
-woman who has had her own way to make in the world.
-
-"You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my
-companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange
-experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort
-from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be
-kind enough to tell me what I should do."
-
-"Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything
-that I can to serve you."
-
-I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner
-and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching
-fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and
-his finger-tips together, to listen to her story.
-
-"I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the
-family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel
-received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his
-children over to America with him, so that I found myself without
-a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but
-without success. At last the little money which I had saved began
-to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do.
-
-"There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End
-called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in
-order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me.
-Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is
-really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office,
-and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom,
-and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers
-and sees whether she has anything which would suit them.
-
-"Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office
-as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A
-prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy
-chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at
-her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very
-earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a
-jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper.
-
-"'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better.
-Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his
-hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a
-comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at
-him.
-
-"'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked.
-
-"'Yes, sir.'
-
-"'As governess?'
-
-"'Yes, sir.'
-
-"'And what salary do you ask?'
-
-"'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence
-Munro.'
-
-"'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his
-fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling
-passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with
-such attractions and accomplishments?'
-
-"'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I.
-'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--'
-
-"'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question.
-The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment
-of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are
-not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a
-considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have
-why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to
-accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me,
-madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.'
-
-"You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was,
-such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman,
-however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face,
-opened a pocket-book and took out a note.
-
-"'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant
-fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid
-the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies
-half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little
-expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.'
-
-"It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so
-thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the
-advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something
-unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know
-a little more before I quite committed myself.
-
-"'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I.
-
-"'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles
-on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my
-dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.'
-
-"'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would
-be.'
-
-"'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if
-you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack!
-smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back
-in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again.
-
-"I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement,
-but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was
-joking.
-
-"'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single
-child?'
-
-"'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he
-cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would
-suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided
-always that they were such commands as a lady might with
-propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?'
-
-"'I should be happy to make myself useful.'
-
-"'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you
-know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress
-which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim.
-Heh?'
-
-"'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words.
-
-"'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to
-you?'
-
-"'Oh, no.'
-
-"'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?'
-
-"I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes,
-my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of
-chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of
-sacrificing it in this offhand fashion.
-
-"'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been
-watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a
-shadow pass over his face as I spoke.
-
-"'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a
-little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam,
-ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your
-hair?'
-
-"'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly.
-
-"'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a
-pity, because in other respects you would really have done very
-nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more
-of your young ladies.'
-
-"The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers
-without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so
-much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting
-that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal.
-
-"'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked.
-
-"'If you please, Miss Stoper.'
-
-"'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the
-most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You
-can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such
-opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong
-upon the table, and I was shown out by the page.
-
-"Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found
-little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the
-table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very
-foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and
-expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were
-at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few
-governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides,
-what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing
-it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was
-inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after
-I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go
-back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open
-when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it
-here and I will read it to you:
-
-                       "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester.
-"'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your
-address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have
-reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you
-should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of
-you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a
-year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which
-our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My
-wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would
-like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need
-not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one
-belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which
-would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting
-here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that
-need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no
-doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty
-during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain
-firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary
-may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child
-is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall
-meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train.
-Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.'
-
-"That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and
-my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however,
-that before taking the final step I should like to submit the
-whole matter to your consideration."
-
-"Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the
-question," said Holmes, smiling.
-
-"But you would not advise me to refuse?"
-
-"I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to
-see a sister of mine apply for."
-
-"What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?"
-
-"Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself
-formed some opinion?"
-
-"Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr.
-Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not
-possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the
-matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that
-he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an
-outbreak?"
-
-"That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is
-the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a
-nice household for a young lady."
-
-"But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!"
-
-"Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what
-makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when
-they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some
-strong reason behind."
-
-"I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would
-understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so
-much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me."
-
-"Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that
-your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has
-come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel
-about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt
-or in danger--"
-
-"Danger! What danger do you foresee?"
-
-Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if
-we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a
-telegram would bring me down to your help."
-
-"That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the
-anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire
-quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once,
-sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester
-to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both
-good-night and bustled off upon her way.
-
-"At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending
-the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able
-to take care of herself."
-
-"And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much
-mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past."
-
-It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled.
-A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts
-turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of
-human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual
-salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to
-something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether
-the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond
-my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat
-frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an
-abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his
-hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried
-impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would
-always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever
-have accepted such a situation.
-
-The telegram which we eventually received came late one night
-just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down
-to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently
-indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a
-test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came
-down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope,
-and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me.
-
-"Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back
-to his chemical studies.
-
-The summons was a brief and urgent one.
-
-"Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday
-to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end.  HUNTER."
-
-"Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up.
-
-"I should wish to."
-
-"Just look it up, then."
-
-"There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my
-Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30."
-
-"That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my
-analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the
-morning."
-
-By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the
-old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers
-all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he
-threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal
-spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white
-clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining
-very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air,
-which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside,
-away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and
-grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light
-green of the new foliage.
-
-"Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the
-enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street.
-
-But Holmes shook his head gravely.
-
-"Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of
-a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with
-reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered
-houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them,
-and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their
-isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed
-there."
-
-"Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these
-dear old homesteads?"
-
-"They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief,
-Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest
-alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin
-than does the smiling and beautiful countryside."
-
-"You horrify me!"
-
-"But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion
-can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no
-lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of
-a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among
-the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever
-so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is
-but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these
-lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part
-with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the
-deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on,
-year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this
-lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I
-should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of
-country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is
-not personally threatened."
-
-"No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away."
-
-"Quite so. She has her freedom."
-
-"What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?"
-
-"I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would
-cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is
-correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we
-shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of
-the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has
-to tell."
-
-The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no
-distance from the station, and there we found the young lady
-waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch
-awaited us upon the table.
-
-"I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It
-is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I
-should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me."
-
-"Pray tell us what has happened to you."
-
-"I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr.
-Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into
-town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose."
-
-"Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long
-thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen.
-
-"In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole,
-with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is
-only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and
-I am not easy in my mind about them."
-
-"What can you not understand?"
-
-"Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just
-as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and
-drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he
-said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself,
-for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all
-stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds
-round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which
-slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about
-a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs
-to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord
-Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in
-front of the hall door has given its name to the place.
-
-"I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever,
-and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child.
-There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to
-us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is
-not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much
-younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think,
-while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their
-conversation I have gathered that they have been married about
-seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by
-the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr.
-Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them
-was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As
-the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite
-imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her
-father's young wife.
-
-"Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as
-in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse.
-She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately
-devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey
-eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every
-little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her
-also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they
-seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow,
-this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the
-saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her
-in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of
-her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so
-utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small
-for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large.
-His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between
-savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving
-pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea
-of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning
-the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would
-rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he
-has little to do with my story."
-
-"I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they
-seem to you to be relevant or not."
-
-"I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one
-unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was
-the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a
-man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough,
-uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual
-smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been
-quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it.
-His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as
-silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most
-unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the
-nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one
-corner of the building.
-
-"For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was
-very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after
-breakfast and whispered something to her husband.
-
-"'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to
-you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut
-your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest
-iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue
-dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in
-your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should
-both be extremely obliged.'
-
-"The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade
-of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it
-bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not
-have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr.
-and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which
-seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for
-me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching
-along the entire front of the house, with three long windows
-reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the
-central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was
-asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the
-other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest
-stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how
-comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs.
-Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so
-much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad,
-anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle
-suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the
-day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in
-the nursery.
-
-"Two days later this same performance was gone through under
-exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I
-sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny
-stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which
-he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and
-moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not
-fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for
-about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then
-suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and
-to change my dress.
-
-"You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to
-what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly
-be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face
-away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire
-to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be
-impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been
-broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of
-the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst
-of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able
-with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I
-confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that
-was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I
-perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road,
-a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in
-my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are
-usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the
-railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I
-lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her
-eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing,
-but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my
-hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once.
-
-"'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the
-road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.'
-
-"'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked.
-
-"'No, I know no one in these parts.'
-
-"'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to
-him to go away.'
-
-"'Surely it would be better to take no notice.'
-
-"'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn
-round and wave him away like that.'
-
-"I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew
-down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have
-not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor
-seen the man in the road."
-
-"Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a
-most interesting one."
-
-"You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may
-prove to be little relation between the different incidents of
-which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper
-Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands
-near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp
-rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving
-about.
-
-"'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two
-planks. 'Is he not a beauty?'
-
-"I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a
-vague figure huddled up in the darkness.
-
-"'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start
-which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine,
-but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do
-anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then,
-so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose
-every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs
-upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your
-foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life
-is worth.'
-
-"The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to
-look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning.
-It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the
-house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was
-standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was
-aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper
-beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It
-was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging
-jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly
-across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side.
-That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not
-think that any burglar could have done.
-
-"And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as
-you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a
-great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the
-child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the
-furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things.
-There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones
-empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two
-with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was
-naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It
-struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight,
-so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very
-first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There
-was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never
-guess what it was. It was my coil of hair.
-
-"I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint,
-and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing
-obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in
-the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the
-contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two
-tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was
-it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at
-all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer,
-and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that
-I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had
-locked.
-
-"I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes,
-and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head.
-There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited
-at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of
-the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked.
-One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle
-coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on
-his face which made him a very different person to the round,
-jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his
-brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his
-temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me
-without a word or a look.
-
-"This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the
-grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I
-could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four
-of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the
-fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I
-strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle
-came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever.
-
-"'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you
-without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with
-business matters.'
-
-"I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I,
-'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one
-of them has the shutters up.'
-
-"He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled
-at my remark.
-
-"'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my
-dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we
-have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever
-believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest
-in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and
-annoyance, but no jest.
-
-"Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there
-was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know,
-I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity,
-though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a
-feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this
-place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's
-instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there,
-and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the
-forbidden door.
-
-"It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that,
-besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to
-do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large
-black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been
-drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when
-I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at
-all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both
-downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an
-admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock,
-opened the door, and slipped through.
-
-"There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and
-uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end.
-Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third
-of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and
-cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so
-thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through
-them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it
-had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked
-at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with
-stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was
-not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the
-shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from
-beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was
-a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the
-passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it
-might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room
-and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little
-slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad,
-unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My
-overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran
-as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the
-skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door,
-and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting
-outside.
-
-"'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it
-must be when I saw the door open.'
-
-"'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted.
-
-"'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how
-caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened
-you, my dear young lady?'
-
-"But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I
-was keenly on my guard against him.
-
-"'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered.
-'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was
-frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in
-there!'
-
-"'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly.
-
-"'Why, what did you think?' I asked.
-
-"'Why do you think that I lock this door?'
-
-"'I am sure that I do not know.'
-
-"'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you
-see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner.
-
-"'I am sure if I had known--'
-
-"'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over
-that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into
-a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a
-demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.'
-
-"I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that
-I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing
-until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I
-thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without
-some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the
-woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible
-to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of
-course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was
-almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would
-send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the
-office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then
-returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my
-mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I
-remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of
-insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one
-in the household who had any influence with the savage creature,
-or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and
-lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you.
-I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this
-morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and
-Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the
-evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you
-all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you
-could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should
-do."
-
-Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story.
-My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in
-his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon
-his face.
-
-"Is Toller still drunk?" he asked.
-
-"Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do
-nothing with him."
-
-"That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?"
-
-"Yes, the wine-cellar."
-
-"You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very
-brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could
-perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not
-think you a quite exceptional woman."
-
-"I will try. What is it?"
-
-"We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend
-and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will,
-we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might
-give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some
-errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate
-matters immensely."
-
-"I will do it."
-
-"Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of
-course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been
-brought there to personate someone, and the real person is
-imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this
-prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice
-Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to
-America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height,
-figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very
-possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of
-course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you
-came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some
-friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore
-the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your
-laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture,
-that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer
-desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent
-him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly
-clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of
-the child."
-
-"What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated.
-
-"My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining
-light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the
-parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have
-frequently gained my first real insight into the character of
-parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is
-abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he
-derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or
-from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their
-power."
-
-"I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A
-thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you
-have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to
-this poor creature."
-
-"We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning
-man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall
-be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the
-mystery."
-
-We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we
-reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside
-public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining
-like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were
-sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been
-standing smiling on the door-step.
-
-"Have you managed it?" asked Holmes.
-
-A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is
-Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring
-on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates
-of Mr. Rucastle's."
-
-"You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now
-lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black
-business."
-
-We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a
-passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss
-Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the
-transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but
-without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence
-Holmes' face clouded over.
-
-"I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss
-Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put
-your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our
-way in."
-
-It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united
-strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There
-was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a
-basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner
-gone.
-
-"There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty
-has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim
-off."
-
-"But how?"
-
-"Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He
-swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the
-end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did
-it."
-
-"But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not
-there when the Rucastles went away."
-
-"He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and
-dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were
-he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it
-would be as well for you to have your pistol ready."
-
-The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at
-the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy
-stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the
-wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and
-confronted him.
-
-"You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?"
-
-The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open
-skylight.
-
-"It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies
-and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll
-serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he
-could go.
-
-"He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter.
-
-"I have my revolver," said I.
-
-"Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed
-down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we
-heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a
-horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An
-elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out
-at a side door.
-
-"My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been
-fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!"
-
-Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with
-Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its
-black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and
-screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and
-it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great
-creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and
-carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid
-him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered
-Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to
-relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door
-opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room.
-
-"Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter.
-
-"Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he
-went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know
-what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains
-were wasted."
-
-"Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs.
-Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else."
-
-"Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know."
-
-"Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several
-points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark."
-
-"I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done
-so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's
-police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the
-one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend
-too.
-
-"She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time
-that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no
-say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until
-after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could
-learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so
-quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them
-but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was
-safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming
-forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then
-her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to
-sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use
-her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until
-she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then
-she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her
-beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her
-young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be."
-
-"Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough
-to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce
-all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this
-system of imprisonment?"
-
-"Yes, sir."
-
-"And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of
-the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler."
-
-"That was it, sir."
-
-"But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should
-be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain
-arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your
-interests were the same as his."
-
-"Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said
-Mrs. Toller serenely.
-
-"And in this way he managed that your good man should have no
-want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment
-when your master had gone out."
-
-"You have it, sir, just as it happened."
-
-"I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for
-you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And
-here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think,
-Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester,
-as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a
-questionable one."
-
-And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the
-copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but
-was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of
-his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who
-probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it
-difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were
-married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their
-flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in
-the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend
-Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further
-interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one
-of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at
-Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-Arthur Conan Doyle
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+﻿Project Gutenberg's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
+
+
+Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
+
+Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+Posting Date: April 18, 2011 [EBook #1661]
+First Posted: November 29, 2002
+
+Language: English
+
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
+
+by
+
+SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
+
+
+
+   I. A Scandal in Bohemia
+  II. The Red-headed League
+ III. A Case of Identity
+  IV. The Boscombe Valley Mystery
+   V. The Five Orange Pips
+  VI. The Man with the Twisted Lip
+ VII. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
+VIII. The Adventure of the Speckled Band
+  IX. The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
+   X. The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
+  XI. The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
+ XII. The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
+
+
+
+
+ADVENTURE I. A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA
+
+I.
+
+To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard
+him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses
+and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt
+any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that
+one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but
+admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect
+reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a
+lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never
+spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They
+were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the
+veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner
+to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely
+adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which
+might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a
+sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power
+lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a
+nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and
+that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable
+memory.
+
+I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us
+away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the
+home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first
+finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to
+absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of
+society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in
+Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from
+week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the
+drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still,
+as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his
+immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in
+following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which
+had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time
+to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons
+to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up
+of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee,
+and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so
+delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland.
+Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely
+shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of
+my former friend and companion.
+
+One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was
+returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to
+civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I
+passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated
+in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the
+Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes
+again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers.
+His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw
+his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against
+the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head
+sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who
+knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their
+own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his
+drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new
+problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which
+had formerly been in part my own.
+
+His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I
+think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly
+eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars,
+and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he
+stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular
+introspective fashion.
+
+"Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have
+put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you."
+
+"Seven!" I answered.
+
+"Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more,
+I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not
+tell me that you intended to go into harness."
+
+"Then, how do you know?"
+
+"I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting
+yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and
+careless servant girl?"
+
+"My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly
+have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true
+that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful
+mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you
+deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has
+given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it
+out."
+
+He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands
+together.
+
+"It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the
+inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it,
+the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they
+have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round
+the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it.
+Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile
+weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting
+specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a
+gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black
+mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge
+on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted
+his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce
+him to be an active member of the medical profession."
+
+I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his
+process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I
+remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously
+simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each
+successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you
+explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good
+as yours."
+
+"Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing
+himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe.
+The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen
+the steps which lead up from the hall to this room."
+
+"Frequently."
+
+"How often?"
+
+"Well, some hundreds of times."
+
+"Then how many are there?"
+
+"How many? I don't know."
+
+"Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is
+just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps,
+because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are
+interested in these little problems, and since you are good
+enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you
+may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick,
+pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table.
+"It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud."
+
+The note was undated, and without either signature or address.
+
+"There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight
+o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a
+matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of
+the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may
+safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which
+can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all
+quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do
+not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask."
+
+"This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that
+it means?"
+
+"I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before
+one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit
+theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself.
+What do you deduce from it?"
+
+I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was
+written.
+
+"The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked,
+endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper
+could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly
+strong and stiff."
+
+"Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an
+English paper at all. Hold it up to the light."
+
+I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a
+large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper.
+
+"What do you make of that?" asked Holmes.
+
+"The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather."
+
+"Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for
+'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a
+customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for
+'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental
+Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves.
+"Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking
+country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being
+the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous
+glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you
+make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue
+triumphant cloud from his cigarette.
+
+"The paper was made in Bohemia," I said.
+
+"Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you
+note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of
+you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian
+could not have written that. It is the German who is so
+uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover
+what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and
+prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if
+I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts."
+
+As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and
+grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the
+bell. Holmes whistled.
+
+"A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing
+out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of
+beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in
+this case, Watson, if there is nothing else."
+
+"I think that I had better go, Holmes."
+
+"Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my
+Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity
+to miss it."
+
+"But your client--"
+
+"Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he
+comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best
+attention."
+
+A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and
+in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there
+was a loud and authoritative tap.
+
+"Come in!" said Holmes.
+
+A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six
+inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His
+dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked
+upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed
+across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while
+the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined
+with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch
+which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended
+halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with
+rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence
+which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a
+broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper
+part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black
+vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment,
+for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower
+part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character,
+with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive
+of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy.
+
+"You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a
+strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He
+looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to
+address.
+
+"Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and
+colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me
+in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?"
+
+"You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman.
+I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour
+and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most
+extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate
+with you alone."
+
+I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me
+back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say
+before this gentleman anything which you may say to me."
+
+The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said
+he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at
+the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At
+present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it
+may have an influence upon European history."
+
+"I promise," said Holmes.
+
+"And I."
+
+"You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The
+august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to
+you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have
+just called myself is not exactly my own."
+
+"I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly.
+
+"The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution
+has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense
+scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of
+Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House
+of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia."
+
+"I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself
+down in his armchair and closing his eyes.
+
+Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid,
+lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him
+as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe.
+Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his
+gigantic client.
+
+"If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he
+remarked, "I should be better able to advise you."
+
+The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in
+uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he
+tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You
+are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to
+conceal it?"
+
+"Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken
+before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich
+Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and
+hereditary King of Bohemia."
+
+"But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down
+once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you
+can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in
+my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not
+confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I
+have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting
+you."
+
+"Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more.
+
+"The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a
+lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known
+adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you."
+
+"Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without
+opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of
+docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it
+was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not
+at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography
+sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a
+staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea
+fishes.
+
+"Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year
+1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera
+of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in
+London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled
+with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and
+is now desirous of getting those letters back."
+
+"Precisely so. But how--"
+
+"Was there a secret marriage?"
+
+"None."
+
+"No legal papers or certificates?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should
+produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is
+she to prove their authenticity?"
+
+"There is the writing."
+
+"Pooh, pooh! Forgery."
+
+"My private note-paper."
+
+"Stolen."
+
+"My own seal."
+
+"Imitated."
+
+"My photograph."
+
+"Bought."
+
+"We were both in the photograph."
+
+"Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an
+indiscretion."
+
+"I was mad--insane."
+
+"You have compromised yourself seriously."
+
+"I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now."
+
+"It must be recovered."
+
+"We have tried and failed."
+
+"Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought."
+
+"She will not sell."
+
+"Stolen, then."
+
+"Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked
+her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice
+she has been waylaid. There has been no result."
+
+"No sign of it?"
+
+"Absolutely none."
+
+Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he.
+
+"But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully.
+
+"Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the
+photograph?"
+
+"To ruin me."
+
+"But how?"
+
+"I am about to be married."
+
+"So I have heard."
+
+"To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the
+King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her
+family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a
+doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end."
+
+"And Irene Adler?"
+
+"Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I
+know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul
+of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and
+the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry
+another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not
+go--none."
+
+"You are sure that she has not sent it yet?"
+
+"I am sure."
+
+"And why?"
+
+"Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the
+betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday."
+
+"Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That
+is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to
+look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in
+London for the present?"
+
+"Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the
+Count Von Kramm."
+
+"Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress."
+
+"Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety."
+
+"Then, as to money?"
+
+"You have carte blanche."
+
+"Absolutely?"
+
+"I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom
+to have that photograph."
+
+"And for present expenses?"
+
+The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak
+and laid it on the table.
+
+"There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in
+notes," he said.
+
+Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and
+handed it to him.
+
+"And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked.
+
+"Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood."
+
+Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the
+photograph a cabinet?"
+
+"It was."
+
+"Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon
+have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added,
+as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If
+you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three
+o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you."
+
+
+II.
+
+At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had
+not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the
+house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down
+beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him,
+however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his
+inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and
+strange features which were associated with the two crimes which
+I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the
+exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own.
+Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my
+friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of
+a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a
+pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the
+quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most
+inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable
+success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to
+enter into my head.
+
+It was close upon four before the door opened, and a
+drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an
+inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room.
+Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of
+disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it
+was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he
+emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old.
+Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in
+front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes.
+
+"Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again
+until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the
+chair.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I
+employed my morning, or what I ended by doing."
+
+"I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the
+habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler."
+
+"Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you,
+however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this
+morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a
+wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of
+them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found
+Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but
+built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock
+to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well
+furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those
+preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open.
+Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window
+could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round
+it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without
+noting anything else of interest.
+
+"I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that
+there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the
+garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses,
+and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two
+fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire
+about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in
+the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but
+whose biographies I was compelled to listen to."
+
+"And what of Irene Adler?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is
+the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the
+Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts,
+drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for
+dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings.
+Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark,
+handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and
+often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See
+the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him
+home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him.
+When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up
+and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan
+of campaign.
+
+"This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the
+matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the
+relation between them, and what the object of his repeated
+visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the
+former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his
+keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this
+question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony
+Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the
+Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my
+inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to
+let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the
+situation."
+
+"I am following you closely," I answered.
+
+"I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab
+drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a
+remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently
+the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a
+great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the
+maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly
+at home.
+
+"He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch
+glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and
+down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see
+nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than
+before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from
+his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he
+shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to
+the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if
+you do it in twenty minutes!'
+
+"Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do
+well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau,
+the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under
+his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of
+the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall
+door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment,
+but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for.
+
+"'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a
+sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.'
+
+"This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing
+whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her
+landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked
+twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could
+object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign
+if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to
+twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind.
+
+"My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the
+others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their
+steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid
+the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there
+save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who
+seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three
+standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side
+aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church.
+Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to
+me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards
+me.
+
+"'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!'
+
+"'What then?' I asked.
+
+"'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.'
+
+"I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was
+I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear,
+and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally
+assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to
+Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and
+there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady
+on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was
+the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my
+life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just
+now. It seems that there had been some informality about their
+license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them
+without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance
+saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in
+search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean
+to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion."
+
+"This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what
+then?"
+
+"Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if
+the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate
+very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church
+door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and
+she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as
+usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove
+away in different directions, and I went off to make my own
+arrangements."
+
+"Which are?"
+
+"Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the
+bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to
+be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want
+your co-operation."
+
+"I shall be delighted."
+
+"You don't mind breaking the law?"
+
+"Not in the least."
+
+"Nor running a chance of arrest?"
+
+"Not in a good cause."
+
+"Oh, the cause is excellent!"
+
+"Then I am your man."
+
+"I was sure that I might rely on you."
+
+"But what is it you wish?"
+
+"When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to
+you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that
+our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I
+have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must
+be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns
+from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her."
+
+"And what then?"
+
+"You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to
+occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must
+not interfere, come what may. You understand?"
+
+"I am to be neutral?"
+
+"To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small
+unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being
+conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the
+sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close
+to that open window."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what
+I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of
+fire. You quite follow me?"
+
+"Entirely."
+
+"It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped
+roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket,
+fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting.
+Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire,
+it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then
+walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten
+minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?"
+
+"I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you,
+and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry
+of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street."
+
+"Precisely."
+
+"Then you may entirely rely on me."
+
+"That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I
+prepare for the new role I have to play."
+
+He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in
+the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist
+clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white
+tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and
+benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have
+equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His
+expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every
+fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as
+science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in
+crime.
+
+It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still
+wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in
+Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just
+being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge,
+waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such
+as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description,
+but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On
+the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was
+remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men
+smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his
+wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and
+several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with
+cigars in their mouths.
+
+"You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of
+the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The
+photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are
+that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey
+Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his
+princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the
+photograph?"
+
+"Where, indeed?"
+
+"It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is
+cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's
+dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid
+and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We
+may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her."
+
+"Where, then?"
+
+"Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But
+I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive,
+and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it
+over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but
+she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be
+brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she
+had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she
+can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house."
+
+"But it has twice been burgled."
+
+"Pshaw! They did not know how to look."
+
+"But how will you look?"
+
+"I will not look."
+
+"What then?"
+
+"I will get her to show me."
+
+"But she will refuse."
+
+"She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is
+her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter."
+
+As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round
+the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which
+rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of
+the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in
+the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another
+loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce
+quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who
+took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder,
+who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and
+in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was
+the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who
+struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes
+dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached
+her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood
+running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to
+their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while
+a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle
+without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to
+attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her,
+had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her
+superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking
+back into the street.
+
+"Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked.
+
+"He is dead," cried several voices.
+
+"No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be
+gone before you can get him to hospital."
+
+"He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the
+lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a
+gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now."
+
+"He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?"
+
+"Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable
+sofa. This way, please!"
+
+Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out
+in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings
+from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the
+blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay
+upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with
+compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I
+know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life
+than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was
+conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited
+upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery
+to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted
+to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under
+my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are
+but preventing her from injuring another.
+
+Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man
+who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the
+window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the
+signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The
+word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of
+spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and
+servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds
+of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I
+caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice
+of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm.
+Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner
+of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my
+friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar.
+He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we
+had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the
+Edgeware Road.
+
+"You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could
+have been better. It is all right."
+
+"You have the photograph?"
+
+"I know where it is."
+
+"And how did you find out?"
+
+"She showed me, as I told you she would."
+
+"I am still in the dark."
+
+"I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter
+was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the
+street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening."
+
+"I guessed as much."
+
+"Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in
+the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand
+to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick."
+
+"That also I could fathom."
+
+"Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else
+could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room
+which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was
+determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for
+air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your
+chance."
+
+"How did that help you?"
+
+"It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on
+fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she
+values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have
+more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the
+Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in
+the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby;
+an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to
+me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious
+to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it.
+The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were
+enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The
+photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the
+right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a
+glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it
+was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed
+from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making
+my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to
+attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had
+come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to
+wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all."
+
+"And now?" I asked.
+
+"Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King
+to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be
+shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is
+probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the
+photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain
+it with his own hands."
+
+"And when will you call?"
+
+"At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall
+have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage
+may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to
+the King without delay."
+
+We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was
+searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said:
+
+"Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes."
+
+There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the
+greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had
+hurried by.
+
+"I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the
+dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have
+been."
+
+
+III.
+
+I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our
+toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed
+into the room.
+
+"You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by
+either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face.
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"But you have hopes?"
+
+"I have hopes."
+
+"Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone."
+
+"We must have a cab."
+
+"No, my brougham is waiting."
+
+"Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off
+once more for Briony Lodge.
+
+"Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes.
+
+"Married! When?"
+
+"Yesterday."
+
+"But to whom?"
+
+"To an English lawyer named Norton."
+
+"But she could not love him."
+
+"I am in hopes that she does."
+
+"And why in hopes?"
+
+"Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future
+annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your
+Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason
+why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan."
+
+"It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own
+station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a
+moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in
+Serpentine Avenue.
+
+The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood
+upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped
+from the brougham.
+
+"Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she.
+
+"I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a
+questioning and rather startled gaze.
+
+"Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She
+left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing
+Cross for the Continent."
+
+"What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and
+surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?"
+
+"Never to return."
+
+"And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost."
+
+"We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the
+drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was
+scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and
+open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before
+her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small
+sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a
+photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler
+herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to
+"Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend
+tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at
+midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way:
+
+"MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You
+took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a
+suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I
+began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had
+been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly
+be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this,
+you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became
+suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind
+old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress
+myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage
+of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to
+watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call
+them, and came down just as you departed.
+
+"Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was
+really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock
+Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and
+started for the Temple to see my husband.
+
+"We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by
+so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when
+you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in
+peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may
+do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly
+wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a
+weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might
+take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to
+possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes,
+
+                                      "Very truly yours,
+                                   "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER."
+
+"What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when
+we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick
+and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen?
+Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?"
+
+"From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a
+very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am
+sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business
+to a more successful conclusion."
+
+"On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be
+more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The
+photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire."
+
+"I am glad to hear your Majesty say so."
+
+"I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can
+reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from
+his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand.
+
+"Your Majesty has something which I should value even more
+highly," said Holmes.
+
+"You have but to name it."
+
+"This photograph!"
+
+The King stared at him in amazement.
+
+"Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it."
+
+"I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the
+matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He
+bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the
+King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his
+chambers.
+
+And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom
+of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were
+beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the
+cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And
+when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her
+photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman.
+
+
+
+ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE
+
+I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the
+autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a
+very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair.
+With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when
+Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door
+behind me.
+
+"You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear
+Watson," he said cordially.
+
+"I was afraid that you were engaged."
+
+"So I am. Very much so."
+
+"Then I can wait in the next room."
+
+"Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and
+helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no
+doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also."
+
+The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of
+greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small
+fat-encircled eyes.
+
+"Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and
+putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in
+judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love
+of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum
+routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by
+the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you
+will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own
+little adventures."
+
+"Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I
+observed.
+
+"You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we
+went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary
+Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary
+combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more
+daring than any effort of the imagination."
+
+"A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting."
+
+"You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my
+view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you
+until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to
+be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call
+upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to
+be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some
+time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique
+things are very often connected not with the larger but with the
+smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for
+doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I
+have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present
+case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is
+certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to.
+Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to
+recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend
+Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the
+peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every
+possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some
+slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide
+myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my
+memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the
+facts are, to the best of my belief, unique."
+
+The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some
+little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the
+inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the
+advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper
+flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and
+endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the
+indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance.
+
+I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor
+bore every mark of being an average commonplace British
+tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey
+shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat,
+unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy
+Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as
+an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a
+wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether,
+look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save
+his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and
+discontent upon his features.
+
+Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook
+his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances.
+"Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual
+labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has
+been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of
+writing lately, I can deduce nothing else."
+
+Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger
+upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.
+
+"How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr.
+Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did
+manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's
+carpenter."
+
+"Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger
+than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more
+developed."
+
+"Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?"
+
+"I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that,
+especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you
+use an arc-and-compass breastpin."
+
+"Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?"
+
+"What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for
+five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the
+elbow where you rest it upon the desk?"
+
+"Well, but China?"
+
+"The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right
+wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small
+study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature
+of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a
+delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I
+see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter
+becomes even more simple."
+
+Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I
+thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see
+that there was nothing in it, after all."
+
+"I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake
+in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my
+poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I
+am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?"
+
+"Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger
+planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began
+it all. You just read it for yourself, sir."
+
+I took the paper from him and read as follows:
+
+"TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late
+Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now
+another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a
+salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All
+red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age
+of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at
+eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7
+Pope's Court, Fleet Street."
+
+"What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice
+read over the extraordinary announcement.
+
+Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when
+in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?"
+said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us
+all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this
+advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note,
+Doctor, of the paper and the date."
+
+"It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months
+ago."
+
+"Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?"
+
+"Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock
+Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small
+pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a
+very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than
+just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants,
+but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but
+that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the
+business."
+
+"What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes.
+
+"His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth,
+either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter
+assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better
+himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after
+all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?"
+
+"Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who
+comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience
+among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is
+not as remarkable as your advertisement."
+
+"Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a
+fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought
+to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar
+like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his
+main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice
+in him."
+
+"He is still with you, I presume?"
+
+"Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple
+cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the
+house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very
+quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads
+and pay our debts, if we do nothing more.
+
+"The first thing that put us out was that advertisement.
+Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight
+weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says:
+
+"'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.'
+
+"'Why that?' I asks.
+
+"'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the
+Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who
+gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than
+there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what
+to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's
+a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.'
+
+"'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a
+very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of
+my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting
+my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what
+was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news.
+
+"'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he
+asked with his eyes open.
+
+"'Never.'
+
+"'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one
+of the vacancies.'
+
+"'And what are they worth?' I asked.
+
+"'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight,
+and it need not interfere very much with one's other
+occupations.'
+
+"Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears,
+for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an
+extra couple of hundred would have been very handy.
+
+"'Tell me all about it,' said I.
+
+"'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for
+yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address
+where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out,
+the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah
+Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself
+red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men;
+so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous
+fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the
+interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of
+that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to
+do.'
+
+"'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who
+would apply.'
+
+"'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is
+really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had
+started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the
+old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your
+applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but
+real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr.
+Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be
+worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a
+few hundred pounds.'
+
+"Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves,
+that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed
+to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I
+stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent
+Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might
+prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for
+the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to
+have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for
+the address that was given us in the advertisement.
+
+"I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From
+north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in
+his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement.
+Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court
+looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought
+there were so many in the whole country as were brought together
+by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they
+were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay;
+but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real
+vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I
+would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear
+of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and
+pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up
+to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream
+upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back
+dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found
+ourselves in the office."
+
+"Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked
+Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge
+pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement."
+
+"There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs
+and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that
+was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate
+as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in
+them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem
+to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn
+came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of
+the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he
+might have a private word with us.
+
+"'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is
+willing to fill a vacancy in the League.'
+
+"'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has
+every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so
+fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and
+gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he
+plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my
+success.
+
+"'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will,
+however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.'
+With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I
+yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as
+he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we
+have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and
+once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which
+would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the
+window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the
+vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below,
+and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there
+was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the
+manager.
+
+"'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of
+the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are
+you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?'
+
+"I answered that I had not.
+
+"His face fell immediately.
+
+"'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am
+sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the
+propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their
+maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a
+bachelor.'
+
+"My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was
+not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for
+a few minutes he said that it would be all right.
+
+"'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be
+fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a
+head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your
+new duties?'
+
+"'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,'
+said I.
+
+"'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding.
+'I should be able to look after that for you.'
+
+"'What would be the hours?' I asked.
+
+"'Ten to two.'
+
+"Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr.
+Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just
+before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in
+the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man,
+and that he would see to anything that turned up.
+
+"'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?'
+
+"'Is 4 pounds a week.'
+
+"'And the work?'
+
+"'Is purely nominal.'
+
+"'What do you call purely nominal?'
+
+"'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the
+building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole
+position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You
+don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office
+during that time.'
+
+"'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,'
+said I.
+
+"'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness
+nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose
+your billet.'
+
+"'And the work?'
+
+"'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first
+volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and
+blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be
+ready to-morrow?'
+
+"'Certainly,' I answered.
+
+"'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you
+once more on the important position which you have been fortunate
+enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with
+my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased
+at my own good fortune.
+
+"Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in
+low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the
+whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its
+object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past
+belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay
+such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the
+'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to
+cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the
+whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look
+at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a
+quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for
+Pope's Court.
+
+"Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as
+possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross
+was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off
+upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from
+time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he
+bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had
+written, and locked the door of the office after me.
+
+"This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the
+manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my
+week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week
+after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I
+left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only
+once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at
+all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an
+instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet
+was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk
+the loss of it.
+
+"Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about
+Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and
+hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very
+long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly
+filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole
+business came to an end."
+
+"To an end?"
+
+"Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as
+usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a
+little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the
+panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself."
+
+He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet
+of note-paper. It read in this fashion:
+
+                  THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE
+
+                           IS
+
+                        DISSOLVED.
+
+                     October 9, 1890.
+
+Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the
+rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so
+completely overtopped every other consideration that we both
+burst out into a roar of laughter.
+
+"I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our
+client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can
+do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere."
+
+"No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from
+which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for
+the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you
+will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it.
+Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the
+door?"
+
+"I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called
+at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything
+about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant
+living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me
+what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had
+never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan
+Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him.
+
+"'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.'
+
+"'What, the red-headed man?'
+
+"'Yes.'
+
+"'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor
+and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new
+premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.'
+
+"'Where could I find him?'
+
+"'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17
+King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.'
+
+"I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was
+a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever
+heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross."
+
+"And what did you do then?" asked Holmes.
+
+"I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my
+assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say
+that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite
+good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place
+without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough
+to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right
+away to you."
+
+"And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an
+exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it.
+From what you have told me I think that it is possible that
+graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear."
+
+"Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four
+pound a week."
+
+"As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do
+not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary
+league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some
+30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have
+gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have
+lost nothing by them."
+
+"No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are,
+and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a
+prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it
+cost them two and thirty pounds."
+
+"We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first,
+one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who
+first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he
+been with you?"
+
+"About a month then."
+
+"How did he come?"
+
+"In answer to an advertisement."
+
+"Was he the only applicant?"
+
+"No, I had a dozen."
+
+"Why did you pick him?"
+
+"Because he was handy and would come cheap."
+
+"At half-wages, in fact."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?"
+
+"Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face,
+though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon
+his forehead."
+
+Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought
+as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are
+pierced for earrings?"
+
+"Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he
+was a lad."
+
+"Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still
+with you?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him."
+
+"And has your business been attended to in your absence?"
+
+"Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a
+morning."
+
+"That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an
+opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is
+Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion."
+
+"Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what
+do you make of it all?"
+
+"I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most
+mysterious business."
+
+"As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less
+mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless
+crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is
+the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this
+matter."
+
+"What are you going to do, then?" I asked.
+
+"To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I
+beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled
+himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his
+hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his
+black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird.
+I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and
+indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his
+chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put
+his pipe down upon the mantelpiece.
+
+"Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he
+remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare
+you for a few hours?"
+
+"I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very
+absorbing."
+
+"Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City
+first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that
+there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is
+rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is
+introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!"
+
+We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short
+walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular
+story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky,
+little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy
+two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in
+enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded
+laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and
+uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with
+"JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced
+the place where our red-headed client carried on his business.
+Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side
+and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between
+puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down
+again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally
+he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously
+upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up
+to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a
+bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step
+in.
+
+"Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would
+go from here to the Strand."
+
+"Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly,
+closing the door.
+
+"Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is,
+in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring
+I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known
+something of him before."
+
+"Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good
+deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you
+inquired your way merely in order that you might see him."
+
+"Not him."
+
+"What then?"
+
+"The knees of his trousers."
+
+"And what did you see?"
+
+"What I expected to see."
+
+"Why did you beat the pavement?"
+
+"My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We
+are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg
+Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it."
+
+The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the
+corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a
+contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was
+one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City
+to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense
+stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward,
+while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of
+pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line
+of fine shops and stately business premises that they really
+abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square
+which we had just quitted.
+
+"Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing
+along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the
+houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of
+London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little
+newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank,
+the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building
+depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now,
+Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A
+sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where
+all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no
+red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums."
+
+My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a
+very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All
+the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect
+happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the
+music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes
+were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the
+relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was
+possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature
+alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and
+astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction
+against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally
+predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from
+extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was
+never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been
+lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his
+black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase
+would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning
+power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were
+unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a
+man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him
+that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I
+felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set
+himself to hunt down.
+
+"You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we
+emerged.
+
+"Yes, it would be as well."
+
+"And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This
+business at Coburg Square is serious."
+
+"Why serious?"
+
+"A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to
+believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being
+Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help
+to-night."
+
+"At what time?"
+
+"Ten will be early enough."
+
+"I shall be at Baker Street at ten."
+
+"Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger,
+so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his
+hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the
+crowd.
+
+I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was
+always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings
+with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had
+seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that
+he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to
+happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and
+grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought
+over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed
+copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg
+Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me.
+What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed?
+Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from
+Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a
+formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to
+puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside
+until night should bring an explanation.
+
+It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my
+way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker
+Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered
+the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering
+his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men,
+one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police
+agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a
+very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat.
+
+"Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his
+pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack.
+"Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me
+introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in
+to-night's adventure."
+
+"We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in
+his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for
+starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do
+the running down."
+
+"I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase,"
+observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily.
+
+"You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said
+the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which
+are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical
+and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It
+is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of
+the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly
+correct than the official force."
+
+"Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the
+stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber.
+It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I
+have not had my rubber."
+
+"I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will
+play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and
+that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather,
+the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will
+be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands."
+
+"John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a
+young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his
+profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on
+any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John
+Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been
+to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and
+though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to
+find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week,
+and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next.
+I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him
+yet."
+
+"I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night.
+I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I
+agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is
+past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two
+will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the
+second."
+
+Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive
+and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in
+the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit
+streets until we emerged into Farrington Street.
+
+"We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow
+Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the
+matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is
+not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession.
+He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as
+tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we
+are, and they are waiting for us."
+
+We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had
+found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and,
+following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a
+narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us.
+Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive
+iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding
+stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr.
+Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us
+down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a
+third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all
+round with crates and massive boxes.
+
+"You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he
+held up the lantern and gazed about him.
+
+"Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon
+the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite
+hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise.
+
+"I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes
+severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our
+expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit
+down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?"
+
+The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a
+very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his
+knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens,
+began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few
+seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again
+and put his glass in his pocket.
+
+"We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can
+hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed.
+Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their
+work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at
+present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of
+the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr.
+Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to
+you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of
+London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at
+present."
+
+"It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had
+several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it."
+
+"Your French gold?"
+
+"Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources
+and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of
+France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to
+unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The
+crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between
+layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at
+present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the
+directors have had misgivings upon the subject."
+
+"Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is
+time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an
+hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr.
+Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern."
+
+"And sit in the dark?"
+
+"I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and
+I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your
+rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have
+gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And,
+first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men,
+and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us
+some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate,
+and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a
+light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no
+compunction about shooting them down."
+
+I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case
+behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front
+of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute
+darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot
+metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready
+to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked
+up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and
+subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the
+vault.
+
+"They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back
+through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have
+done what I asked you, Jones?"
+
+"I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door."
+
+"Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent
+and wait."
+
+What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but
+an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must
+have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs
+were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my
+nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my
+hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle
+breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper,
+heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note
+of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case
+in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint
+of a light.
+
+At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then
+it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then,
+without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand
+appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the
+centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the
+hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then
+it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark
+again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between
+the stones.
+
+Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending,
+tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon
+its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed
+the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut,
+boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand
+on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and
+waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another
+instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after
+him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face
+and a shock of very red hair.
+
+"It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the
+bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!"
+
+Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the
+collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of
+rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed
+upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came
+down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone
+floor.
+
+"It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no
+chance at all."
+
+"So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy
+that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his
+coat-tails."
+
+"There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes.
+
+"Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I
+must compliment you."
+
+"And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new
+and effective."
+
+"You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker
+at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the
+derbies."
+
+"I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands,"
+remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists.
+"You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have
+the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and
+'please.'"
+
+"All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would
+you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry
+your Highness to the police-station?"
+
+"That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow
+to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the
+detective.
+
+"Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them
+from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or
+repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated
+in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts
+at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience."
+
+"I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr.
+John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over
+this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond
+that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in
+many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of
+the Red-headed League."
+
+
+"You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning
+as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it
+was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible
+object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of
+the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get
+this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of
+hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but,
+really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was
+no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his
+accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw
+him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands?
+They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary
+office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and
+together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the
+week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for
+half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive
+for securing the situation."
+
+"But how could you guess what the motive was?"
+
+"Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a
+mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The
+man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his
+house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and
+such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something
+out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's
+fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the
+cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then
+I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I
+had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in
+London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which
+took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once
+more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel
+to some other building.
+
+"So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I
+surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was
+ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind.
+It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the
+assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had
+never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his
+face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have
+remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of
+those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they
+were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and
+Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I
+had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I
+called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank
+directors, with the result that you have seen."
+
+"And how could you tell that they would make their attempt
+to-night?" I asked.
+
+"Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that
+they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other
+words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential
+that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the
+bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than
+any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape.
+For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night."
+
+"You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned
+admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings
+true."
+
+"It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already
+feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort
+to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little
+problems help me to do so."
+
+"And you are a benefactor of the race," said I.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of
+some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre
+c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand."
+
+
+
+ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY
+
+"My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side
+of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely
+stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We
+would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere
+commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window
+hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the
+roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the
+strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the
+wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and
+leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with
+its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and
+unprofitable."
+
+"And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which
+come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and
+vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to
+its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed,
+neither fascinating nor artistic."
+
+"A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a
+realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the
+police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the
+platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an
+observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend
+upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace."
+
+I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking
+so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser
+and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout
+three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is
+strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper
+from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the
+first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his
+wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without
+reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of
+course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the
+bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of
+writers could invent nothing more crude."
+
+"Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument,"
+said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This
+is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged
+in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The
+husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the
+conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of
+winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling
+them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely
+to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a
+pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over
+you in your example."
+
+He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in
+the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his
+homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon
+it.
+
+"Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks.
+It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my
+assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers."
+
+"And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which
+sparkled upon his finger.
+
+"It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in
+which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it
+even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of
+my little problems."
+
+"And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest.
+
+"Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of
+interest. They are important, you understand, without being
+interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in
+unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation,
+and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the
+charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the
+simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is
+the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter
+which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing
+which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however,
+that I may have something better before very many minutes are
+over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken."
+
+He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted
+blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street.
+Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite
+there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck,
+and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was
+tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her
+ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous,
+hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated
+backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove
+buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves
+the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp
+clang of the bell.
+
+"I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his
+cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always
+means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure
+that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet
+even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously
+wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom
+is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love
+matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or
+grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts."
+
+As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons
+entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself
+loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed
+merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed
+her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and,
+having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked
+her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was
+peculiar to him.
+
+"Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a
+little trying to do so much typewriting?"
+
+"I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters
+are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport
+of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear
+and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've
+heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know
+all that?"
+
+"Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know
+things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others
+overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?"
+
+"I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege,
+whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had
+given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as
+much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in
+my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and
+I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel."
+
+"Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked
+Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to
+the ceiling.
+
+Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss
+Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said,
+"for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr.
+Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to
+the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he
+would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done,
+it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away
+to you."
+
+"Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the
+name is different."
+
+"Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny,
+too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself."
+
+"And your mother is alive?"
+
+"Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr.
+Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and
+a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father
+was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy
+business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the
+foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the
+business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines.
+They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't
+near as much as father could have got if he had been alive."
+
+I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this
+rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he
+had listened with the greatest concentration of attention.
+
+"Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the
+business?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle
+Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per
+cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can
+only touch the interest."
+
+"You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so
+large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the
+bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in
+every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely
+upon an income of about 60 pounds."
+
+"I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you
+understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a
+burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while
+I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the
+time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it
+over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I
+earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can
+often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day."
+
+"You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes.
+"This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as
+freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your
+connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel."
+
+A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked
+nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the
+gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets
+when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and
+sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He
+never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I
+wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I
+was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to
+prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all
+father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing
+fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much
+as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do,
+he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went,
+mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it
+was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel."
+
+"I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from
+France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball."
+
+"Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and
+shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying
+anything to a woman, for she would have her way."
+
+"I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a
+gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel."
+
+"Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if
+we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to
+say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father
+came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house
+any more."
+
+"No?"
+
+"Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He
+wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to
+say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But
+then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to
+begin with, and I had not got mine yet."
+
+"But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see
+you?"
+
+"Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer
+wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each
+other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he
+used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so
+there was no need for father to know."
+
+"Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?"
+
+"Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that
+we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in
+Leadenhall Street--and--"
+
+"What office?"
+
+"That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know."
+
+"Where did he live, then?"
+
+"He slept on the premises."
+
+"And you don't know his address?"
+
+"No--except that it was Leadenhall Street."
+
+"Where did you address your letters, then?"
+
+"To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called
+for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be
+chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady,
+so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't
+have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come
+from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the
+machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he
+was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think
+of."
+
+"It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom
+of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.
+Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?"
+
+"He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me
+in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to
+be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his
+voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he
+was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat,
+and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always
+well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just
+as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare."
+
+"Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather,
+returned to France?"
+
+"Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we
+should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest
+and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever
+happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite
+right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion.
+Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder
+of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the
+week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to
+mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother
+said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like
+that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as
+he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do
+anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the
+company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on
+the very morning of the wedding."
+
+"It missed him, then?"
+
+"Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived."
+
+"Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for
+the Friday. Was it to be in church?"
+
+"Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near
+King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St.
+Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were
+two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a
+four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the
+street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler
+drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and
+when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one
+there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become
+of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was
+last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything
+since then to throw any light upon what became of him."
+
+"It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said
+Holmes.
+
+"Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all
+the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to
+be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to
+separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him,
+and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed
+strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since
+gives a meaning to it."
+
+"Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some
+unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he
+would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw
+happened."
+
+"But you have no notion as to what it could have been?"
+
+"None."
+
+"One more question. How did your mother take the matter?"
+
+"She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter
+again."
+
+"And your father? Did you tell him?"
+
+"Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had
+happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said,
+what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of
+the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my
+money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him,
+there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about
+money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what
+could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me
+half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She
+pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob
+heavily into it.
+
+"I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and
+I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the
+weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind
+dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel
+vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life."
+
+"Then you don't think I'll see him again?"
+
+"I fear not."
+
+"Then what has happened to him?"
+
+"You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an
+accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can
+spare."
+
+"I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she.
+"Here is the slip and here are four letters from him."
+
+"Thank you. And your address?"
+
+"No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell."
+
+"Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your
+father's place of business?"
+
+"He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers
+of Fenchurch Street."
+
+"Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will
+leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given
+you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it
+to affect your life."
+
+"You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be
+true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back."
+
+For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was
+something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which
+compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon
+the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever
+she might be summoned.
+
+Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips
+still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him,
+and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down
+from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a
+counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with
+the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of
+infinite languor in his face.
+
+"Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found
+her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way,
+is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you
+consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of
+the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however,
+there were one or two details which were new to me. But the
+maiden herself was most instructive."
+
+"You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite
+invisible to me," I remarked.
+
+"Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to
+look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring
+you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of
+thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace.
+Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe
+it."
+
+"Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a
+feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads
+sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her
+dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little
+purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and
+were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't
+observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a
+general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable,
+easy-going way."
+
+Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled.
+
+"'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have
+really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed
+everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and
+you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general
+impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My
+first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is
+perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you
+observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most
+useful material for showing traces. The double line a little
+above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table,
+was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type,
+leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side
+of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the
+broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and,
+observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I
+ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed
+to surprise her."
+
+"It surprised me."
+
+"But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and
+interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots
+which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were
+really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and
+the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower
+buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and
+fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly
+dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned,
+it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry."
+
+"And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by
+my friend's incisive reasoning.
+
+"I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving
+home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right
+glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see
+that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had
+written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been
+this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger.
+All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back
+to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised
+description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?"
+
+I held the little printed slip to the light.
+
+"Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman
+named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height;
+strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in
+the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted
+glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen,
+in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert
+chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over
+elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in
+Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--"
+
+"That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued,
+glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no
+clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There
+is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike
+you."
+
+"They are typewritten," I remarked.
+
+"Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the
+neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you
+see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is
+rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in
+fact, we may call it conclusive."
+
+"Of what?"
+
+"My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it
+bears upon the case?"
+
+"I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able
+to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were
+instituted."
+
+"No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters,
+which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the
+other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking
+him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow
+evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the
+male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the
+answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem
+upon the shelf for the interim."
+
+I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers
+of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that
+he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy
+demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had
+been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in
+the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler
+photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the
+Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with
+the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle
+indeed which he could not unravel.
+
+I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the
+conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would
+find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up
+to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary
+Sutherland.
+
+A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own
+attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at
+the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six
+o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a
+hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too
+late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found
+Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin
+form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable
+array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell
+of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the
+chemical work which was so dear to him.
+
+"Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered.
+
+"Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta."
+
+"No, no, the mystery!" I cried.
+
+"Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon.
+There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said
+yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback
+is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel."
+
+"Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss
+Sutherland?"
+
+The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet
+opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the
+passage and a tap at the door.
+
+"This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said
+Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at
+six. Come in!"
+
+The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some
+thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a
+bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and
+penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of
+us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a
+slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair.
+
+"Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that
+this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an
+appointment with me for six o'clock?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not
+quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland
+has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far
+better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite
+against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable,
+impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily
+controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I
+did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the
+official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family
+misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless
+expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?"
+
+"On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to
+believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel."
+
+Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am
+delighted to hear it," he said.
+
+"It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has
+really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless
+they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some
+letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one
+side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that
+in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and
+a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other
+characteristics, but those are the more obvious."
+
+"We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office,
+and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing
+keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes.
+
+"And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study,
+Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another
+little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its
+relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some
+little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come
+from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not
+only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will
+observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen
+other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well."
+
+Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I
+cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes,"
+he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know
+when you have done it."
+
+"Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in
+the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!"
+
+"What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips
+and glancing about him like a rat in a trap.
+
+"Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There
+is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too
+transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that
+it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's
+right! Sit down and let us talk it over."
+
+Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a
+glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he
+stammered.
+
+"I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves,
+Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a
+petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the
+course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong."
+
+The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his
+breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up
+on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands
+in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed,
+than to us.
+
+"The man married a woman very much older than himself for her
+money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the
+daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable
+sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have
+made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it.
+The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate
+and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with
+her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would
+not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would
+mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her
+stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of
+keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of
+people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not
+answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and
+finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain
+ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an
+idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the
+connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself,
+covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with
+a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice
+into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the
+girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off
+other lovers by making love himself."
+
+"It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never
+thought that she would have been so carried away."
+
+"Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very
+decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that
+her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never
+for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the
+gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the
+loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began
+to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as
+far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There
+were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the
+girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the
+deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys
+to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to
+bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it
+would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and
+prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to
+come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and
+hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening
+on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss
+Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to
+his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not
+listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her,
+and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished
+away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a
+four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of
+events, Mr. Windibank!"
+
+Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes
+had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold
+sneer upon his pale face.
+
+"It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you
+are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is
+you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing
+actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door
+locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal
+constraint."
+
+"The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking
+and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who
+deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a
+friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!"
+he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon
+the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but
+here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat
+myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he
+could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs,
+the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr.
+James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road.
+
+"There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he
+threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will
+rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and
+ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not
+entirely devoid of interest."
+
+"I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I
+remarked.
+
+"Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr.
+Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious
+conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really
+profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the
+stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together,
+but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was
+suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice,
+which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My
+suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in
+typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his
+handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even
+the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts,
+together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same
+direction."
+
+"And how did you verify them?"
+
+"Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I
+knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed
+description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the
+result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I
+sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me
+whether it answered to the description of any of their
+travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the
+typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business
+address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his
+reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but
+characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from
+Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the
+description tallied in every respect with that of their employé,
+James Windibank. Voilà tout!"
+
+"And Miss Sutherland?"
+
+"If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old
+Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger
+cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.'
+There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much
+knowledge of the world."
+
+
+
+ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY
+
+We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the
+maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran
+in this way:
+
+"Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from
+the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy.
+Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect.
+Leave Paddington by the 11:15."
+
+"What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me.
+"Will you go?"
+
+"I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at
+present."
+
+"Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking
+a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good,
+and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases."
+
+"I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained
+through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack
+at once, for I have only half an hour."
+
+My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the
+effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were
+few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a
+cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock
+Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt
+figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey
+travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap.
+
+"It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It
+makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on
+whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless
+or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall
+get the tickets."
+
+We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of
+papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged
+and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until
+we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a
+gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack.
+
+"Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked.
+
+"Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days."
+
+"The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just
+been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the
+particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those
+simple cases which are so extremely difficult."
+
+"That sounds a little paradoxical."
+
+"But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a
+clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more
+difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they
+have established a very serious case against the son of the
+murdered man."
+
+"It is a murder, then?"
+
+"Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for
+granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into
+it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have
+been able to understand it, in a very few words.
+
+"Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in
+Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a
+Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned
+some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he
+held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was
+also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the
+colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to
+settle down they should do so as near each other as possible.
+Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his
+tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect
+equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son,
+a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same
+age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have
+avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to
+have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of
+sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the
+neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl.
+Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the
+least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the
+families. Now for the facts.
+
+"On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at
+Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the
+Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out
+of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been
+out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told
+the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of
+importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came
+back alive.
+
+"From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a
+mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One
+was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was
+William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both
+these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The
+game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr.
+McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the
+same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the
+father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was
+following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in
+the evening of the tragedy that had occurred.
+
+"The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder,
+the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly
+wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the
+edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of
+the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the
+woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she
+saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr.
+McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a
+violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very
+strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his
+hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their
+violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached
+home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near
+Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to
+fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came
+running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead
+in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was
+much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right
+hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On
+following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the
+grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated
+blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as
+might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's
+gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the
+body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly
+arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned
+at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the
+magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next
+Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out
+before the coroner and the police-court."
+
+"I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If
+ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so
+here."
+
+"Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes
+thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing,
+but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it
+pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something
+entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case
+looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very
+possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people
+in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the
+daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his
+innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect
+in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in
+his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the
+case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are
+flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly
+digesting their breakfasts at home."
+
+"I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you
+will find little credit to be gained out of this case."
+
+"There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he
+answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some
+other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to
+Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting
+when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by
+means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of
+understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly
+perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand
+side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted
+even so self-evident a thing as that."
+
+"How on earth--"
+
+"My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness
+which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this
+season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less
+and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until
+it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the
+jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated
+than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking
+at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a
+result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and
+inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that
+it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before
+us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in
+the inquest, and which are worth considering."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after
+the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary
+informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not
+surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts.
+This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any
+traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the
+coroner's jury."
+
+"It was a confession," I ejaculated.
+
+"No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence."
+
+"Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at
+least a most suspicious remark."
+
+"On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I
+can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be,
+he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the
+circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared
+surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I
+should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such
+surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances,
+and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His
+frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent
+man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and
+firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not
+unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of
+his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day
+so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and
+even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so
+important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The
+self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark
+appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a
+guilty one."
+
+I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter
+evidence," I remarked.
+
+"So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged."
+
+"What is the young man's own account of the matter?"
+
+"It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters,
+though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive.
+You will find it here, and may read it for yourself."
+
+He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire
+paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the
+paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own
+statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the
+corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this
+way:
+
+"Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called
+and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for
+three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the
+morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at
+the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he
+had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after
+my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and,
+looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out
+of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was
+going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of
+the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit
+warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William
+Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but
+he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had
+no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards
+from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal
+between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found
+him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at
+seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A
+conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows,
+for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his
+passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned
+towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards,
+however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me
+to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground,
+with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in
+my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for
+some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper,
+his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one
+near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by
+his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and
+forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no
+active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.'
+
+"The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before
+he died?
+
+"Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some
+allusion to a rat.
+
+"The Coroner: What did you understand by that?
+
+"Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was
+delirious.
+
+"The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father
+had this final quarrel?
+
+"Witness: I should prefer not to answer.
+
+"The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it.
+
+"Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can
+assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which
+followed.
+
+"The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point
+out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case
+considerably in any future proceedings which may arise.
+
+"Witness: I must still refuse.
+
+"The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common
+signal between you and your father?
+
+"Witness: It was.
+
+"The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw
+you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol?
+
+"Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know.
+
+"A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions
+when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father
+fatally injured?
+
+"Witness: Nothing definite.
+
+"The Coroner: What do you mean?
+
+"Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into
+the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet
+I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay
+upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be
+something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps.
+When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was
+gone.
+
+"'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?'
+
+"'Yes, it was gone.'
+
+"'You cannot say what it was?'
+
+"'No, I had a feeling something was there.'
+
+"'How far from the body?'
+
+"'A dozen yards or so.'
+
+"'And how far from the edge of the wood?'
+
+"'About the same.'
+
+"'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen
+yards of it?'
+
+"'Yes, but with my back towards it.'
+
+"This concluded the examination of the witness."
+
+"I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner
+in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy.
+He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his
+father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his
+refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and
+his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all,
+as he remarks, very much against the son."
+
+Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon
+the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some
+pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the
+young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him
+credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too
+little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would
+give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from
+his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying
+reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No,
+sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what
+this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that
+hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and
+not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the
+scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be
+there in twenty minutes."
+
+It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through
+the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn,
+found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A
+lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for
+us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and
+leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic
+surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of
+Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a
+room had already been engaged for us.
+
+"I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup
+of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be
+happy until you had been on the scene of the crime."
+
+"It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It
+is entirely a question of barometric pressure."
+
+Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said.
+
+"How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud
+in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need
+smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country
+hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I
+shall use the carriage to-night."
+
+Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed
+your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as
+plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer
+it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a
+very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your
+opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing
+which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my
+soul! here is her carriage at the door."
+
+He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the
+most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her
+violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her
+cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her
+overpowering excitement and concern.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the
+other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition,
+fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I
+have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it.
+I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it,
+too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each
+other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no
+one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a
+charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him."
+
+"I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes.
+"You may rely upon my doing all that I can."
+
+"But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion?
+Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself
+think that he is innocent?"
+
+"I think that it is very probable."
+
+"There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking
+defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes."
+
+Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague
+has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said.
+
+"But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did
+it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the
+reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because
+I was concerned in it."
+
+"In what way?" asked Holmes.
+
+"It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had
+many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that
+there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always
+loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young
+and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he
+naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there
+were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them."
+
+"And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a
+union?"
+
+"No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in
+favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as
+Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her.
+
+"Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father
+if I call to-morrow?"
+
+"I am afraid the doctor won't allow it."
+
+"The doctor?"
+
+"Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for
+years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken
+to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his
+nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive
+who had known dad in the old days in Victoria."
+
+"Ha! In Victoria! That is important."
+
+"Yes, at the mines."
+
+"Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner
+made his money."
+
+"Yes, certainly."
+
+"Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to
+me."
+
+"You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you
+will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do
+tell him that I know him to be innocent."
+
+"I will, Miss Turner."
+
+"I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if
+I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She
+hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we
+heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street.
+
+"I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a
+few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you
+are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I
+call it cruel."
+
+"I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said
+Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?"
+
+"Yes, but only for you and me."
+
+"Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have
+still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?"
+
+"Ample."
+
+"Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very
+slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours."
+
+I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through
+the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel,
+where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a
+yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin,
+however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were
+groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the
+action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and
+gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the
+day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were
+absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely
+unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between
+the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when,
+drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was
+something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the
+nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts?
+I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which
+contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's
+deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left
+parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been
+shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot
+upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from
+behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when
+seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it
+did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his
+back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call
+Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying
+reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be
+delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become
+delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how
+he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my
+brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident
+of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the
+murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his
+overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to
+return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was
+kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a
+tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I
+did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith
+in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long
+as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young
+McCarthy's innocence.
+
+It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone,
+for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town.
+
+"The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down.
+"It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able
+to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his
+very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not
+wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young
+McCarthy."
+
+"And what did you learn from him?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Could he throw no light?"
+
+"None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew
+who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced
+now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very
+quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think,
+sound at heart."
+
+"I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact
+that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as
+this Miss Turner."
+
+"Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly,
+insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was
+only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away
+five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get
+into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a
+registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can
+imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not
+doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows
+to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort
+which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father,
+at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss
+Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself,
+and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would
+have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with
+his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in
+Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that
+point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however,
+for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious
+trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and
+has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the
+Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I
+think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all
+that he has suffered."
+
+"But if he is innocent, who has done it?"
+
+"Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two
+points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with
+someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his
+son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would
+return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry
+'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the
+crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk
+about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all
+minor matters until to-morrow."
+
+There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke
+bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with
+the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe
+Pool.
+
+"There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is
+said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is
+despaired of."
+
+"An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes.
+
+"About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life
+abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This
+business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend
+of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I
+have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free."
+
+"Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes.
+
+"Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody
+about here speaks of his kindness to him."
+
+"Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this
+McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have
+been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of
+marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably,
+heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner,
+as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would
+follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself
+was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not
+deduce something from that?"
+
+"We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said
+Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts,
+Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies."
+
+"You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard
+to tackle the facts."
+
+"Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it
+difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth.
+
+"And that is--"
+
+"That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that
+all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine."
+
+"Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes,
+laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley
+Farm upon the left."
+
+"Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking
+building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches
+of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless
+chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight
+of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door,
+when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her
+master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the
+son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured
+these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes
+desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed
+the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool.
+
+Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent
+as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of
+Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed
+and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines,
+while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter.
+His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips
+compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long,
+sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal
+lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated
+upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell
+unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick,
+impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way
+along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of
+the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is
+all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon
+the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either
+side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and
+once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and
+I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous,
+while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the
+conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a
+definite end.
+
+The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water
+some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the
+Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner.
+Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see
+the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich
+landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods
+grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass
+twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds
+which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which
+the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground,
+that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the
+fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager
+face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read
+upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking
+up a scent, and then turned upon my companion.
+
+"What did you go into the pool for?" he asked.
+
+"I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon
+or other trace. But how on earth--"
+
+"Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its
+inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and
+there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all
+have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo
+and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the
+lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or
+eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of
+the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his
+waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to
+himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he
+was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are
+deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his
+story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are
+the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It
+is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this?
+Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite
+unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course
+that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up
+and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we
+were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a
+great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced
+his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon
+his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he
+remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks,
+gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and
+examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of
+the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among
+the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then
+he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the
+highroad, where all traces were lost.
+
+"It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked,
+returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on
+the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a
+word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done
+that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab,
+and I shall be with you presently."
+
+It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove
+back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he
+had picked up in the wood.
+
+"This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out.
+"The murder was done with it."
+
+"I see no marks."
+
+"There are none."
+
+"How do you know, then?"
+
+"The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few
+days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It
+corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other
+weapon."
+
+"And the murderer?"
+
+"Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears
+thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian
+cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his
+pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be
+enough to aid us in our search."
+
+Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he
+said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a
+hard-headed British jury."
+
+"Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own
+method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon,
+and shall probably return to London by the evening train."
+
+"And leave your case unfinished?"
+
+"No, finished."
+
+"But the mystery?"
+
+"It is solved."
+
+"Who was the criminal, then?"
+
+"The gentleman I describe."
+
+"But who is he?"
+
+"Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a
+populous neighbourhood."
+
+Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said,
+"and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking
+for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the
+laughing-stock of Scotland Yard."
+
+"All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance.
+Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before
+I leave."
+
+Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where
+we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in
+thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds
+himself in a perplexing position.
+
+"Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit
+down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't
+know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a
+cigar and let me expound."
+
+ "Pray do so."
+
+"Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about
+young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly,
+although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One
+was the fact that his father should, according to his account,
+cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying
+reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but
+that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double
+point our research must commence, and we will begin it by
+presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true."
+
+"What of this 'Cooee!' then?"
+
+"Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The
+son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that
+he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the
+attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But
+'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used
+between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the
+person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was
+someone who had been in Australia."
+
+"What of the rat, then?"
+
+Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened
+it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria,"
+he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand
+over part of the map. "What do you read?"
+
+"ARAT," I read.
+
+"And now?" He raised his hand.
+
+"BALLARAT."
+
+"Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his
+son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter
+the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat."
+
+"It is wonderful!" I exclaimed.
+
+"It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down
+considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point
+which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a
+certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite
+conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak."
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only
+be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could
+hardly wander."
+
+"Quite so."
+
+"Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the
+ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that
+imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal."
+
+"But how did you gain them?"
+
+"You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of
+trifles."
+
+"His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length
+of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces."
+
+"Yes, they were peculiar boots."
+
+"But his lameness?"
+
+"The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than
+his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he
+was lame."
+
+"But his left-handedness."
+
+"You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded
+by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from
+immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can
+that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind
+that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had
+even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special
+knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian
+cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and
+written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different
+varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the
+ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss
+where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety
+which are rolled in Rotterdam."
+
+"And the cigar-holder?"
+
+"I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he
+used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the
+cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife."
+
+"Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which
+he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as
+truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the
+direction in which all this points. The culprit is--"
+
+"Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of
+our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor.
+
+The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His
+slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of
+decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and
+his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual
+strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled
+hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air
+of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an
+ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were
+tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that
+he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease.
+
+"Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my
+note?"
+
+"Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to
+see me here to avoid scandal."
+
+"I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall."
+
+"And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my
+companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question
+was already answered.
+
+"Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It
+is so. I know all about McCarthy."
+
+The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried.
+"But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you
+my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at
+the Assizes."
+
+"I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely.
+
+"I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It
+would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears
+that I am arrested."
+
+"It may not come to that," said Holmes.
+
+"What?"
+
+"I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter
+who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests.
+Young McCarthy must be got off, however."
+
+"I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for
+years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a
+month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol."
+
+Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand
+and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he
+said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson
+here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the
+last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall
+not use it unless it is absolutely needed."
+
+"It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I
+shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I
+should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the
+thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but
+will not take me long to tell.
+
+"You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil
+incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of
+such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years,
+and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be
+in his power.
+
+"It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap
+then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at
+anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck
+with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you
+would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and
+we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time
+to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings.
+Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party
+is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang.
+
+"One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and
+we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers
+and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of
+their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed,
+however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of
+the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the
+Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his
+wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every
+feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made
+our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted
+from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and
+respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in
+the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money,
+to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too,
+and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice.
+Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down
+the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned
+over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was
+going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me.
+
+"I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in
+Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his
+foot.
+
+"'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be
+as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and
+you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine,
+law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman
+within hail.'
+
+"Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking
+them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land
+ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness;
+turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my
+elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more
+afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he
+wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without
+question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing
+which I could not give. He asked for Alice.
+
+"His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was
+known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that
+his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was
+firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that
+I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that
+was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do
+his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses
+to talk it over.
+
+"When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I
+smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone.
+But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in
+me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my
+daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she
+were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I
+and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a
+man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and
+a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb,
+I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl!
+Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I
+did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned,
+I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl
+should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more
+than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction
+than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought
+back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I
+was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in
+my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that
+occurred."
+
+"Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man
+signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we
+may never be exposed to such a temptation."
+
+"I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?"
+
+"In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you
+will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the
+Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is
+condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be
+seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or
+dead, shall be safe with us."
+
+"Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds,
+when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace
+which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his
+giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room.
+
+"God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate
+play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such
+a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say,
+'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'"
+
+James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a
+number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and
+submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven
+months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is
+every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily
+together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their
+past.
+
+
+
+ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS
+
+When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes
+cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which
+present strange and interesting features that it is no easy
+matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however,
+have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have
+not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend
+possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of
+these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his
+analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without
+an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and
+have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and
+surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to
+him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable
+in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted
+to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are
+points in connection with it which never have been, and probably
+never will be, entirely cleared up.
+
+The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater
+or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my
+headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the
+adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant
+Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a
+furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the
+British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the
+Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the
+Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered,
+Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to
+prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that
+therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a
+deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the
+case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of
+them present such singular features as the strange train of
+circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe.
+
+It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales
+had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had
+screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that
+even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced
+to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and
+to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which
+shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like
+untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew
+higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in
+the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the
+fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the
+other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until
+the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text,
+and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of
+the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a
+few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker
+Street.
+
+"Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the
+bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?"
+
+"Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage
+visitors."
+
+"A client, then?"
+
+"If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out
+on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more
+likely to be some crony of the landlady's."
+
+Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there
+came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He
+stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and
+towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit.
+
+"Come in!" said he.
+
+The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the
+outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of
+refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella
+which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told
+of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about
+him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his
+face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is
+weighed down with some great anxiety.
+
+"I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to
+his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have
+brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug
+chamber."
+
+"Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest
+here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from
+the south-west, I see."
+
+"Yes, from Horsham."
+
+"That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is
+quite distinctive."
+
+"I have come for advice."
+
+"That is easily got."
+
+"And help."
+
+"That is not always so easy."
+
+"I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast
+how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal."
+
+"Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards."
+
+"He said that you could solve anything."
+
+"He said too much."
+
+"That you are never beaten."
+
+"I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a
+woman."
+
+"But what is that compared with the number of your successes?"
+
+"It is true that I have been generally successful."
+
+"Then you may be so with me."
+
+"I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me
+with some details as to your case."
+
+"It is no ordinary one."
+
+"None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of
+appeal."
+
+"And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you
+have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of
+events than those which have happened in my own family."
+
+"You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the
+essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards
+question you as to those details which seem to me to be most
+important."
+
+The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out
+towards the blaze.
+
+"My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have,
+as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful
+business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an
+idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the
+affair.
+
+"You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias
+and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry,
+which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He
+was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business
+met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire
+upon a handsome competence.
+
+"My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and
+became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done
+very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army,
+and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When
+Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where
+he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came
+back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham.
+He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his
+reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his
+dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to
+them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very
+foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring
+disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I
+doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or
+three fields round his house, and there he would take his
+exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave
+his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very
+heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any
+friends, not even his own brother.
+
+"He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the
+time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This
+would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years
+in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he
+was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be
+fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would
+make me his representative both with the servants and with the
+tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite
+master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I
+liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in
+his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he
+had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was
+invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or
+anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped
+through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a
+collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such
+a room.
+
+"One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp
+lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a
+common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all
+paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From
+India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can
+this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little
+dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to
+laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight
+of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his
+skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he
+still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and
+then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!'
+
+"'What is it, uncle?' I cried.
+
+"'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his
+room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope
+and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the
+gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else
+save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his
+overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I
+ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key,
+which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small
+brass box, like a cashbox, in the other.
+
+"'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,'
+said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my
+room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.'
+
+"I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to
+step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the
+grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned
+paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I
+glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was
+printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the
+envelope.
+
+"'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave
+my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to
+my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to
+you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you
+cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest
+enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't
+say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper
+where Mr. Fordham shows you.'
+
+"I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with
+him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest
+impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every
+way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I
+could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left
+behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed
+and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I
+could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever,
+and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his
+time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the
+inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy
+and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a
+revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man,
+and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by
+man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would
+rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him,
+like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror
+which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen
+his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it
+were new raised from a basin.
+
+"Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to
+abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those
+drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when
+we went to search for him, face downward in a little
+green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There
+was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep,
+so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity,
+brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced
+from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself
+that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed,
+however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and
+of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank."
+
+"One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee,
+one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me
+have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and
+the date of his supposed suicide."
+
+"The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks
+later, upon the night of May 2nd."
+
+"Thank you. Pray proceed."
+
+"When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my
+request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been
+always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its
+contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a
+paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and
+'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath.
+These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had
+been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was
+nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many
+scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in
+America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had
+done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier.
+Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern
+states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had
+evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag
+politicians who had been sent down from the North.
+
+"Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at
+Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the
+January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my
+father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the
+breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened
+envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the
+outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what
+he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked
+very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon
+himself.
+
+"'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered.
+
+"My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I.
+
+"He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are
+the very letters. But what is this written above them?'
+
+"'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his
+shoulder.
+
+"'What papers? What sundial?' he asked.
+
+"'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the
+papers must be those that are destroyed.'
+
+"'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a
+civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind.
+Where does the thing come from?'
+
+"'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark.
+
+"'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do
+with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such
+nonsense.'
+
+"'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said.
+
+"'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.'
+
+"'Then let me do so?'
+
+"'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such
+nonsense.'
+
+"It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate
+man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of
+forebodings.
+
+"On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went
+from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is
+in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad
+that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from
+danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in
+error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram
+from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had
+fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the
+neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I
+hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered
+his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from
+Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him,
+and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in
+bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.'
+Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I
+was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of
+murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no
+robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads.
+And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease,
+and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been
+woven round him.
+
+"In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me
+why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well
+convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an
+incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as
+pressing in one house as in another.
+
+"It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two
+years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time
+I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that
+this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended
+with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon,
+however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in
+which it had come upon my father."
+
+The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and
+turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried
+orange pips.
+
+"This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is
+London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were
+upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the
+papers on the sundial.'"
+
+"What have you done?" asked Holmes.
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Nothing?"
+
+"To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white
+hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor
+rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in
+the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight
+and no precautions can guard against."
+
+"Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are
+lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for
+despair."
+
+"I have seen the police."
+
+"Ah!"
+
+"But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that
+the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all
+practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really
+accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with
+the warnings."
+
+Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible
+imbecility!" he cried.
+
+"They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in
+the house with me."
+
+"Has he come with you to-night?"
+
+"No. His orders were to stay in the house."
+
+Again Holmes raved in the air.
+
+"Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you
+not come at once?"
+
+"I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major
+Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to
+you."
+
+"It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have
+acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than
+that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which
+might help us?"
+
+"There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat
+pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted
+paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance,"
+said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I
+observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the
+ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet
+upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it
+may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from
+among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond
+the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think
+myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is
+undoubtedly my uncle's."
+
+Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper,
+which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from
+a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the
+following enigmatical notices:
+
+"4th. Hudson came. Same old platform.
+
+"7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and
+      John Swain, of St. Augustine.
+
+"9th. McCauley cleared.
+
+"10th. John Swain cleared.
+
+"12th. Visited Paramore. All well."
+
+"Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it
+to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another
+instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told
+me. You must get home instantly and act."
+
+"What shall I do?"
+
+"There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must
+put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass
+box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say
+that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that
+this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such
+words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you
+must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do
+you understand?"
+
+"Entirely."
+
+"Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I
+think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our
+web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first
+consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens
+you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the
+guilty parties."
+
+"I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his
+overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall
+certainly do as you advise."
+
+"Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in
+the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that
+you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you
+go back?"
+
+"By train from Waterloo."
+
+"It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that
+you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too
+closely."
+
+"I am armed."
+
+"That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case."
+
+"I shall see you at Horsham, then?"
+
+"No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek
+it."
+
+"Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news
+as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every
+particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside
+the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered
+against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come
+to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet
+of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them
+once more.
+
+Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk
+forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he
+lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue
+smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling.
+
+"I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we
+have had none more fantastic than this."
+
+"Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four."
+
+"Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems
+to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the
+Sholtos."
+
+"But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to
+what these perils are?"
+
+"There can be no question as to their nature," he answered.
+
+"Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue
+this unhappy family?"
+
+Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the
+arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal
+reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a
+single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the
+chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which
+would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole
+animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who
+has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents
+should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both
+before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the
+reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study
+which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the
+aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest
+pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to
+utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this
+in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all
+knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and
+encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so
+impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge
+which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have
+endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one
+occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits
+in a very precise fashion."
+
+"Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document.
+Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I
+remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the
+mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry
+eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime
+records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and
+self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the
+main points of my analysis."
+
+Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as
+I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic
+stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the
+rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he
+can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which
+has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster
+all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the
+'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you.
+Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be
+deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong
+presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for
+leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their
+habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for
+the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love
+of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of
+someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis
+that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from
+America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by
+considering the formidable letters which were received by himself
+and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those
+letters?"
+
+"The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the
+third from London."
+
+"From East London. What do you deduce from that?"
+
+"They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship."
+
+"Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that
+the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was
+on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the
+case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and
+its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days.
+Does that suggest anything?"
+
+"A greater distance to travel."
+
+"But the letter had also a greater distance to come."
+
+"Then I do not see the point."
+
+"There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man
+or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send
+their singular warning or token before them when starting upon
+their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign
+when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a
+steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter.
+But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those
+seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which
+brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the
+writer."
+
+"It is possible."
+
+"More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly
+urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to
+caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which
+it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one
+comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay."
+
+"Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless
+persecution?"
+
+"The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital
+importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think
+that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them.
+A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way
+as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in
+it, and they must have been men of resource and determination.
+Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may.
+In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an
+individual and becomes the badge of a society."
+
+"But of what society?"
+
+"Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and
+sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?"
+
+"I never have."
+
+Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it
+is," said he presently:
+
+"'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to
+the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret
+society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the
+Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local
+branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee,
+Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was
+used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of
+the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country
+of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually
+preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic
+but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some
+parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this
+the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might
+fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would
+unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and
+unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the
+society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a
+case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with
+impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the
+perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite
+of the efforts of the United States government and of the better
+classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year
+1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have
+been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.'
+
+"You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that
+the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the
+disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may
+well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his
+family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track.
+You can understand that this register and diary may implicate
+some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many
+who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered."
+
+"Then the page we have seen--"
+
+"Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent
+the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to
+them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or
+left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a
+sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let
+some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only
+chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have
+told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done
+to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for
+half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable
+ways of our fellow-men."
+
+
+It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a
+subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the
+great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came
+down.
+
+"You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I
+foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of
+young Openshaw's."
+
+"What steps will you take?" I asked.
+
+"It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries.
+I may have to go down to Horsham, after all."
+
+"You will not go there first?"
+
+"No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the
+maid will bring up your coffee."
+
+As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and
+glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a
+chill to my heart.
+
+"Holmes," I cried, "you are too late."
+
+"Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it
+done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved.
+
+"My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy
+Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account:
+
+"Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H
+Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and
+a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and
+stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it
+was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was
+given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was
+eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman
+whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his
+pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham.
+It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch
+the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and
+the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge
+of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body
+exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that
+the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident,
+which should have the effect of calling the attention of the
+authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages."
+
+We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and
+shaken than I had ever seen him.
+
+"That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty
+feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal
+matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my
+hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that
+I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair
+and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a
+flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and
+unclasping of his long thin hands.
+
+"They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could
+they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the
+direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too
+crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson,
+we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!"
+
+"To the police?"
+
+"No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may
+take the flies, but not before."
+
+All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in
+the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes
+had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he
+entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard,
+and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously,
+washing it down with a long draught of water.
+
+"You are hungry," I remarked.
+
+"Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since
+breakfast."
+
+"Nothing?"
+
+"Not a bite. I had no time to think of it."
+
+"And how have you succeeded?"
+
+"Well."
+
+"You have a clue?"
+
+"I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not
+long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish
+trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he
+squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and
+thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote
+"S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain
+James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia."
+
+"That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling.
+"It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a
+precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him."
+
+"And who is this Captain Calhoun?"
+
+"The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first."
+
+"How did you trace it, then?"
+
+He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with
+dates and names.
+
+"I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers
+and files of the old papers, following the future career of every
+vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in
+'83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were
+reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,'
+instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported
+as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to
+one of the states of the Union."
+
+"Texas, I think."
+
+"I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must
+have an American origin."
+
+"What then?"
+
+"I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque
+'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a
+certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present
+in the port of London."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the
+Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by
+the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired
+to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and
+as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the
+Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight."
+
+"What will you do, then?"
+
+"Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I
+learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are
+Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away
+from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has
+been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship
+reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and
+the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these
+three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder."
+
+There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans,
+and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the
+orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as
+resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very
+severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for
+news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We
+did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a
+shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough
+of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is
+all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star."
+
+
+
+ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP
+
+Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal
+of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to
+opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some
+foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De
+Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had
+drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the
+same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the
+practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many
+years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of
+mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see
+him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point
+pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble
+man.
+
+One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell,
+about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the
+clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work
+down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment.
+
+"A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out."
+
+I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day.
+
+We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps
+upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in
+some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room.
+
+"You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then,
+suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms
+about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in
+such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help."
+
+"Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney.
+How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when
+you came in."
+
+"I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was
+always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds
+to a light-house.
+
+"It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine
+and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or
+should you rather that I sent James off to bed?"
+
+"Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about
+Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about
+him!"
+
+It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her
+husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend
+and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words
+as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it
+possible that we could bring him back to her?
+
+It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late
+he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the
+farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been
+confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and
+shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him
+eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the
+dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the
+effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar
+of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could
+she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and
+pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him?
+
+There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of
+it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second
+thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical
+adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it
+better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would
+send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the
+address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left
+my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding
+eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at
+the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to
+be.
+
+But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my
+adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the
+high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east
+of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached
+by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the
+mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search.
+Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in
+the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the
+light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch
+and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the
+brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the
+forecastle of an emigrant ship.
+
+Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying
+in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads
+thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a
+dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black
+shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright,
+now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of
+the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to
+themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low,
+monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then
+suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own
+thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At
+the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside
+which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old
+man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon
+his knees, staring into the fire.
+
+As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe
+for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth.
+
+"Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend
+of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him."
+
+There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and
+peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and
+unkempt, staring out at me.
+
+"My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of
+reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what
+o'clock is it?"
+
+"Nearly eleven."
+
+"Of what day?"
+
+"Of Friday, June 19th."
+
+"Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What
+d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his
+arms and began to sob in a high treble key.
+
+"I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting
+this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!"
+
+"So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here
+a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll
+go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate.
+Give me your hand! Have you a cab?"
+
+"Yes, I have one waiting."
+
+"Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I
+owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself."
+
+I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of
+sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying
+fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed
+the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my
+skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look
+back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I
+glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my
+side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very
+wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between
+his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his
+fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my
+self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of
+astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him
+but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull
+eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and
+grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He
+made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he
+turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided
+into a doddering, loose-lipped senility.
+
+"Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?"
+
+"As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you
+would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend
+of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with
+you."
+
+"I have a cab outside."
+
+"Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he
+appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should
+recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to
+say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait
+outside, I shall be with you in five minutes."
+
+It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for
+they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with
+such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney
+was once confined in the cab my mission was practically
+accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better
+than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular
+adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a
+few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him
+out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a
+very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den,
+and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two
+streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot.
+Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and
+burst into a hearty fit of laughter.
+
+"I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added
+opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little
+weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical
+views."
+
+"I was certainly surprised to find you there."
+
+"But not more so than I to find you."
+
+"I came to find a friend."
+
+"And I to find an enemy."
+
+"An enemy?"
+
+"Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural
+prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable
+inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent
+ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been
+recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an
+hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own
+purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have
+vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that
+building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some
+strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless
+nights."
+
+"What! You do not mean bodies?"
+
+"Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds
+for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It
+is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that
+Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our
+trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his
+teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a
+similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle
+of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs.
+
+"Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through
+the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from
+its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?"
+
+"If I can be of use."
+
+"Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still
+more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one."
+
+"The Cedars?"
+
+"Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I
+conduct the inquiry."
+
+"Where is it, then?"
+
+"Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us."
+
+"But I am all in the dark."
+
+"Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up
+here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a
+crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her
+head. So long, then!"
+
+He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through
+the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which
+widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad
+balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly
+beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and
+mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of
+the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of
+revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a
+star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of
+the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his
+breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat
+beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which
+seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in
+upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles,
+and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban
+villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up
+his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he
+is acting for the best.
+
+"You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes
+you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great
+thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are
+not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear
+little woman to-night when she meets me at the door."
+
+"You forget that I know nothing about it."
+
+"I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before
+we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can
+get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I
+can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case
+clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a
+spark where all is dark to me."
+
+"Proceed, then."
+
+"Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee
+a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have
+plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very
+nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made
+friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter
+of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no
+occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into
+town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon
+Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of
+age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very
+affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know
+him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far
+as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while
+he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and
+Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money
+troubles have been weighing upon his mind.
+
+"Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier
+than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important
+commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy
+home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife
+received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his
+departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable
+value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the
+offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up
+in your London, you will know that the office of the company is
+in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where
+you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for
+the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office,
+got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through
+Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me
+so far?"
+
+"It is very clear."
+
+"If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St.
+Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab,
+as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself.
+While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly
+heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her
+husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning
+to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she
+distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly
+agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then
+vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that
+he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind.
+One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that
+although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town
+in, he had on neither collar nor necktie.
+
+"Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the
+steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which
+you found me to-night--and running through the front room she
+attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At
+the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of
+whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who
+acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled
+with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the
+lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of
+constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The
+inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the
+continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to
+the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no
+sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was
+no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who,
+it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly
+swore that no one else had been in the front room during the
+afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was
+staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had
+been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box
+which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell
+a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had
+promised to bring home.
+
+"This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple
+showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious.
+The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an
+abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a
+sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon
+the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom
+window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered
+at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The
+bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On
+examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill,
+and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of
+the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were
+all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of
+his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were
+there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these
+garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St.
+Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no
+other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon
+the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by
+swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of
+the tragedy.
+
+"And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately
+implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the
+vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was
+known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few
+seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could
+hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence
+was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no
+knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he
+could not account in any way for the presence of the missing
+gentleman's clothes.
+
+"So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who
+lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was
+certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St.
+Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which
+is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a
+professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police
+regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some
+little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand
+side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the
+wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat,
+cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he
+is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the
+greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I
+have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of
+making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised
+at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His
+appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him
+without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face
+disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has
+turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a
+pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular
+contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid
+the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he
+is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be
+thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now
+learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been
+the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest."
+
+"But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed
+against a man in the prime of life?"
+
+"He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in
+other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man.
+Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that
+weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional
+strength in the others."
+
+"Pray continue your narrative."
+
+"Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the
+window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her
+presence could be of no help to them in their investigations.
+Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful
+examination of the premises, but without finding anything which
+threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not
+arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes
+during which he might have communicated with his friend the
+Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and
+searched, without anything being found which could incriminate
+him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right
+shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been
+cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from
+there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and
+that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from
+the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr.
+Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in
+his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to
+Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband
+at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or
+dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the
+police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in
+the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue.
+
+"And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they
+had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not
+Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And
+what do you think they found in the pockets?"
+
+"I cannot imagine."
+
+"No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with
+pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It
+was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a
+human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between
+the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the
+weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked
+away into the river."
+
+"But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the
+room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?"
+
+"No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose
+that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the
+window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed.
+What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him
+that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize
+the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it
+would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little
+time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried
+to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his
+Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street.
+There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret
+hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he
+stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the
+pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and
+would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard
+the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the
+window when the police appeared."
+
+"It certainly sounds feasible."
+
+"Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a
+better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the
+station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before
+been anything against him. He had for years been known as a
+professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very
+quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and
+the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was
+doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is
+he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are
+all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot
+recall any case within my experience which looked at the first
+glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties."
+
+While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of
+events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great
+town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and
+we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us.
+Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered
+villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows.
+
+"We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have
+touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in
+Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent.
+See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside
+that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have
+little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet."
+
+"But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I
+asked.
+
+"Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here.
+Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and
+you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for
+my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have
+no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!"
+
+We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its
+own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and
+springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding
+gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door
+flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad
+in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy
+pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure
+outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one
+half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head
+and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing
+question.
+
+"Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two
+of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw
+that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"No good news?"
+
+"None."
+
+"No bad?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have
+had a long day."
+
+"This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to
+me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it
+possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this
+investigation."
+
+"I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly.
+"You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our
+arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so
+suddenly upon us."
+
+"My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were
+not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of
+any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be
+indeed happy."
+
+"Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a
+well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had
+been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two
+plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain
+answer."
+
+"Certainly, madam."
+
+"Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given
+to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion."
+
+"Upon what point?"
+
+"In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?"
+
+Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question.
+"Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking
+keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair.
+
+"Frankly, then, madam, I do not."
+
+"You think that he is dead?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Murdered?"
+
+"I don't say that. Perhaps."
+
+"And on what day did he meet his death?"
+
+"On Monday."
+
+"Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how
+it is that I have received a letter from him to-day."
+
+Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been
+galvanised.
+
+"What!" he roared.
+
+"Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of
+paper in the air.
+
+"May I see it?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out
+upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I
+had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The
+envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend
+postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day
+before, for it was considerably after midnight.
+
+"Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your
+husband's writing, madam."
+
+"No, but the enclosure is."
+
+"I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go
+and inquire as to the address."
+
+"How can you tell that?"
+
+"The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried
+itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that
+blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight
+off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This
+man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before
+he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not
+familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is
+nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha!
+there has been an enclosure here!"
+
+"Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring."
+
+"And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?"
+
+"One of his hands."
+
+"One?"
+
+"His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual
+writing, and yet I know it well."
+
+"'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a
+huge error which it may take some little time to rectify.
+Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf
+of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in
+Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been
+gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been
+chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's
+hand, madam?"
+
+"None. Neville wrote those words."
+
+"And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair,
+the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the
+danger is over."
+
+"But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent.
+The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from
+him."
+
+"No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!"
+
+"Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only
+posted to-day."
+
+"That is possible."
+
+"If so, much may have happened between."
+
+"Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is
+well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I
+should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him
+last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room
+rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that
+something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such
+a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?"
+
+"I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman
+may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical
+reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong
+piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband
+is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away
+from you?"
+
+"I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable."
+
+"And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?"
+
+"Very much so."
+
+"Was the window open?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then he might have called to you?"
+
+"He might."
+
+"He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"A call for help, you thought?"
+
+"Yes. He waved his hands."
+
+"But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the
+unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?"
+
+"It is possible."
+
+"And you thought he was pulled back?"
+
+"He disappeared so suddenly."
+
+"He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the
+room?"
+
+"No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and
+the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs."
+
+"Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his
+ordinary clothes on?"
+
+"But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare
+throat."
+
+"Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?"
+
+"Never."
+
+"Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?"
+
+"Never."
+
+"Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about
+which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little
+supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day
+to-morrow."
+
+A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our
+disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary
+after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however,
+who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for
+days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over,
+rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view
+until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his
+data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now
+preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and
+waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered
+about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from
+the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of
+Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with
+an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front
+of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an
+old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the
+corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him,
+silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set
+aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he
+sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found
+the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still
+between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was
+full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of
+shag which I had seen upon the previous night.
+
+"Awake, Watson?" he asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Game for a morning drive?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the
+stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He
+chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed
+a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night.
+
+As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one
+was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly
+finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was
+putting in the horse.
+
+"I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his
+boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the
+presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve
+to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the
+key of the affair now."
+
+"And where is it?" I asked, smiling.
+
+"In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he
+continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been
+there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this
+Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will
+not fit the lock."
+
+We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into
+the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and
+trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both
+sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country
+carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but
+the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as
+some city in a dream.
+
+"It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes,
+flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been
+as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than
+never to learn it at all."
+
+In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily
+from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey
+side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the
+river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the
+right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well
+known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted
+him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in.
+
+"Who is on duty?" asked Holmes.
+
+"Inspector Bradstreet, sir."
+
+"Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come
+down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged
+jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet."
+"Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small,
+office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a
+telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his
+desk.
+
+"What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged
+with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St.
+Clair, of Lee."
+
+"Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries."
+
+"So I heard. You have him here?"
+
+"In the cells."
+
+"Is he quiet?"
+
+"Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel."
+
+"Dirty?"
+
+"Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his
+face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been
+settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you
+saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it."
+
+"I should like to see him very much."
+
+"Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave
+your bag."
+
+"No, I think that I'll take it."
+
+"Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a
+passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and
+brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each
+side.
+
+"The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it
+is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door
+and glanced through.
+
+"He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well."
+
+We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his
+face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and
+heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his
+calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his
+tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely
+dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its
+repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right
+across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up
+one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a
+perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over
+his eyes and forehead.
+
+"He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector.
+
+"He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that
+he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me."
+He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my
+astonishment, a very large bath-sponge.
+
+"He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector.
+
+"Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very
+quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable
+figure."
+
+"Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't
+look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his
+key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The
+sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep
+slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge,
+and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the
+prisoner's face.
+
+"Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of
+Lee, in the county of Kent."
+
+Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled
+off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the
+coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had
+seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the
+repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled
+red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale,
+sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned,
+rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment.
+Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and
+threw himself down with his face to the pillow.
+
+"Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing
+man. I know him from the photograph."
+
+The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons
+himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I
+charged with?"
+
+"With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be
+charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of
+it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been
+twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake."
+
+"If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime
+has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally
+detained."
+
+"No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said
+Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife."
+
+"It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner.
+"God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My
+God! What an exposure! What can I do?"
+
+Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him
+kindly on the shoulder.
+
+"If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said
+he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand,
+if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible
+case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the
+details should find their way into the papers. Inspector
+Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you
+might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case
+would then never go into court at all."
+
+"God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have
+endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left
+my miserable secret as a family blot to my children.
+
+"You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a
+schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent
+education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and
+finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day
+my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the
+metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point
+from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying
+begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to
+base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the
+secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for
+my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my
+face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good
+scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a
+small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of
+hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business
+part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a
+beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned
+home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no
+less than 26s. 4d.
+
+"I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until,
+some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ
+served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get
+the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's
+grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers,
+and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In
+ten days I had the money and had paid the debt.
+
+"Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous
+work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in
+a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on
+the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my
+pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up
+reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first
+chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets
+with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a
+low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could
+every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings
+transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow,
+a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that
+my secret was safe in his possession.
+
+"Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of
+money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London
+could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average
+takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making
+up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by
+practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City.
+All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me,
+and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds.
+
+"As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the
+country, and eventually married, without anyone having a
+suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had
+business in the City. She little knew what.
+
+"Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my
+room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw,
+to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the
+street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of
+surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my
+confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from
+coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that
+she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on
+those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's
+eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it
+occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that
+the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening
+by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in
+the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was
+weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from
+the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of
+the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes
+would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of
+constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather,
+I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr.
+Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer.
+
+"I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I
+was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and
+hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would
+be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the
+Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together
+with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to
+fear."
+
+"That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes.
+
+"Good God! What a week she must have spent!"
+
+"The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet,
+"and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to
+post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor
+customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days."
+
+"That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt
+of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?"
+
+"Many times; but what was a fine to me?"
+
+"It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are
+to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone."
+
+"I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take."
+
+"In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps
+may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out.
+I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for
+having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your
+results."
+
+"I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five
+pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if
+we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast."
+
+
+
+VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE
+
+I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second
+morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the
+compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a
+purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the
+right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly
+studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and
+on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable
+hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several
+places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair
+suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the
+purpose of examination.
+
+"You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you."
+
+"Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss
+my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his
+thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in
+connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and
+even of instruction."
+
+I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his
+crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows
+were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that,
+homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to
+it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of
+some mystery and the punishment of some crime."
+
+"No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of
+those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have
+four million human beings all jostling each other within the
+space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so
+dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events
+may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be
+presented which may be striking and bizarre without being
+criminal. We have already had experience of such."
+
+"So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I
+have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any
+legal crime."
+
+"Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler
+papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the
+adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt
+that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category.
+You know Peterson, the commissionaire?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"It is to him that this trophy belongs."
+
+"It is his hat."
+
+"No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will
+look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual
+problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon
+Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I
+have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's
+fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas
+morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was
+returning from some small jollification and was making his way
+homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in
+the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and
+carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the
+corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger
+and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the
+man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and,
+swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him.
+Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his
+assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and
+seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him,
+dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the
+labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham
+Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of
+Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of
+battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this
+battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose."
+
+"Which surely he restored to their owner?"
+
+"My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For
+Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to
+the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H.
+B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are
+some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in
+this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any
+one of them."
+
+"What, then, did Peterson do?"
+
+"He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning,
+knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me.
+The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs
+that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it
+should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried
+it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose,
+while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who
+lost his Christmas dinner."
+
+"Did he not advertise?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?"
+
+"Only as much as we can deduce."
+
+"From his hat?"
+
+"Precisely."
+
+"But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered
+felt?"
+
+"Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather
+yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this
+article?"
+
+I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather
+ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round
+shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of
+red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's
+name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were
+scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a
+hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was
+cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places,
+although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the
+discoloured patches by smearing them with ink.
+
+"I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend.
+
+"On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail,
+however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in
+drawing your inferences."
+
+"Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?"
+
+He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective
+fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less
+suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there
+are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others
+which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That
+the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the
+face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the
+last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He
+had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a
+moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his
+fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink,
+at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that
+his wife has ceased to love him."
+
+"My dear Holmes!"
+
+"He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he
+continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a
+sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is
+middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the
+last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are
+the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also,
+by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid
+on in his house."
+
+"You are certainly joking, Holmes."
+
+"Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you
+these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?"
+
+"I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I
+am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that
+this man was intellectual?"
+
+For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right
+over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is
+a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a
+brain must have something in it."
+
+"The decline of his fortunes, then?"
+
+"This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge
+came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the
+band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could
+afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no
+hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world."
+
+"Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the
+foresight and the moral retrogression?"
+
+Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting
+his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer.
+"They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a
+sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his
+way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see
+that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace
+it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly,
+which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other
+hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the
+felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not
+entirely lost his self-respect."
+
+"Your reasoning is certainly plausible."
+
+"The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is
+grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses
+lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the
+lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of
+hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all
+appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of
+lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey
+dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house,
+showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while
+the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the
+wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in
+the best of training."
+
+"But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him."
+
+"This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear
+Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and
+when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear
+that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's
+affection."
+
+"But he might be a bachelor."
+
+"Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his
+wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg."
+
+"You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce
+that the gas is not laid on in his house?"
+
+"One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I
+see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt
+that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with
+burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in
+one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never
+got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?"
+
+"Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as
+you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm
+done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a
+waste of energy."
+
+Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew
+open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment
+with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with
+astonishment.
+
+"The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped.
+
+"Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off
+through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon
+the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face.
+
+"See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out
+his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly
+scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but
+of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric
+point in the dark hollow of his hand.
+
+Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said
+he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you
+have got?"
+
+"A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though
+it were putty."
+
+"It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone."
+
+"Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated.
+
+"Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I
+have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day
+lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be
+conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly
+not within a twentieth part of the market price."
+
+"A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire
+plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us.
+
+"That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are
+sentimental considerations in the background which would induce
+the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but
+recover the gem."
+
+"It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I
+remarked.
+
+"Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner,
+a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's
+jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case
+has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the
+matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers,
+glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out,
+doubled it over, and read the following paragraph:
+
+"Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was
+brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst.,
+abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the
+valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder,
+upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect
+that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess
+of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might
+solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had
+remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been
+called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared,
+that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco
+casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was
+accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the
+dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was
+arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found
+either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to
+the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on
+discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room,
+where she found matters as described by the last witness.
+Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest
+of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence
+in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for
+robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate
+refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to
+the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion
+during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was
+carried out of court."
+
+"Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully,
+tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the
+sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to
+the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You
+see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much
+more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the
+stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry
+Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other
+characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set
+ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and
+ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To
+do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie
+undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If
+this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods."
+
+"What will you say?"
+
+"Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at
+the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr.
+Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at
+221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise."
+
+"Very. But will he see it?"
+
+"Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor
+man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his
+mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson
+that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must
+have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his
+bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to
+see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to
+it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency
+and have this put in the evening papers."
+
+"In which, sir?"
+
+"Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News,
+Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you."
+
+"Very well, sir. And this stone?"
+
+"Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say,
+Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here
+with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place
+of the one which your family is now devouring."
+
+When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and
+held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just
+see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and
+focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet
+baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a
+bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found
+in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable
+in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is
+blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has
+already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a
+vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about
+for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal.
+Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the
+gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and
+drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it."
+
+"Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?"
+
+"I cannot tell."
+
+"Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had
+anything to do with the matter?"
+
+"It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an
+absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he
+was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made
+of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple
+test if we have an answer to our advertisement."
+
+"And you can do nothing until then?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall
+come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I
+should like to see the solution of so tangled a business."
+
+"Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I
+believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I
+ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop."
+
+I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past
+six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I
+approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a
+coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the
+bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I
+arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to
+Holmes' room.
+
+"Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair
+and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he
+could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr.
+Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is
+more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have
+just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?"
+
+"Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat."
+
+He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a
+broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of
+grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight
+tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his
+habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in
+front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded
+from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a
+slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the
+impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had
+ill-usage at the hands of fortune.
+
+"We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes,
+"because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your
+address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise."
+
+Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not
+been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had
+no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off
+both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a
+hopeless attempt at recovering them."
+
+"Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to
+eat it."
+
+"To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his
+excitement.
+
+"Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so.
+But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is
+about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your
+purpose equally well?"
+
+"Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of
+relief.
+
+"Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of
+your own bird, so if you wish--"
+
+The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as
+relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly
+see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are
+going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I
+will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive
+upon the sideboard."
+
+Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug
+of his shoulders.
+
+"There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the
+way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one
+from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a
+better grown goose."
+
+"Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly
+gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who
+frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in
+the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our
+good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which,
+on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to
+receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the
+rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a
+Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With
+a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and
+strode off upon his way.
+
+"So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the
+door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing
+whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?"
+
+"Not particularly."
+
+"Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow
+up this clue while it is still hot."
+
+"By all means."
+
+It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped
+cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly
+in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out
+into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out
+crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter,
+Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into
+Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at
+the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one
+of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open
+the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from
+the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord.
+
+"Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese,"
+said he.
+
+"My geese!" The man seemed surprised.
+
+"Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker,
+who was a member of your goose club."
+
+"Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese."
+
+"Indeed! Whose, then?"
+
+"Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden."
+
+"Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?"
+
+"Breckinridge is his name."
+
+"Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord,
+and prosperity to your house. Good-night."
+
+"Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat
+as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though
+we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we
+have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal
+servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible
+that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we
+have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police,
+and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us
+follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and
+quick march!"
+
+We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a
+zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest
+stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor
+a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was
+helping a boy to put up the shutters.
+
+"Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes.
+
+The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my
+companion.
+
+"Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the
+bare slabs of marble.
+
+"Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning."
+
+"That's no good."
+
+"Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare."
+
+"Ah, but I was recommended to you."
+
+"Who by?"
+
+"The landlord of the Alpha."
+
+"Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen."
+
+"Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?"
+
+To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the
+salesman.
+
+"Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms
+akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now."
+
+"It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the
+geese which you supplied to the Alpha."
+
+"Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!"
+
+"Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you
+should be so warm over such a trifle."
+
+"Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am.
+When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end
+of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you
+sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One
+would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the
+fuss that is made over them."
+
+"Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been
+making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us
+the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my
+opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the
+bird I ate is country bred."
+
+"Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped
+the salesman.
+
+"It's nothing of the kind."
+
+"I say it is."
+
+"I don't believe it."
+
+"D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled
+them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that
+went to the Alpha were town bred."
+
+"You'll never persuade me to believe that."
+
+"Will you bet, then?"
+
+"It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But
+I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be
+obstinate."
+
+The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said
+he.
+
+The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great
+greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging
+lamp.
+
+"Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I
+was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is
+still one left in my shop. You see this little book?"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well,
+then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers
+after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger.
+Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a
+list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just
+read it out to me."
+
+"Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes.
+
+"Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger."
+
+Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs.
+Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'"
+
+"Now, then, what's the last entry?"
+
+"'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'"
+
+"Quite so. There you are. And underneath?"
+
+"'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'"
+
+"What have you to say now?"
+
+Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from
+his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the
+air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off
+he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless
+fashion which was peculiar to him.
+
+"When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un'
+protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet,"
+said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of
+him, that man would not have given me such complete information
+as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a
+wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our
+quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is
+whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or
+whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what
+that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves
+who are anxious about the matter, and I should--"
+
+His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke
+out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a
+little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of
+yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while
+Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was
+shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure.
+
+"I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you
+were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more
+with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs.
+Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with
+it? Did I buy the geese off you?"
+
+"No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little
+man.
+
+"Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it."
+
+"She told me to ask you."
+
+"Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had
+enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and
+the inquirer flitted away into the darkness.
+
+"Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes.
+"Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this
+fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who
+lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook
+the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang
+round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of
+colour had been driven from his face.
+
+"Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering
+voice.
+
+"You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help
+overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now.
+I think that I could be of assistance to you."
+
+"You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?"
+
+"My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other
+people don't know."
+
+"But you can know nothing of this?"
+
+"Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to
+trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton
+Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr.
+Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr.
+Henry Baker is a member."
+
+"Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried
+the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers.
+"I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter."
+
+Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that
+case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this
+wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we
+go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting."
+
+The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he
+answered with a sidelong glance.
+
+"No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always
+awkward doing business with an alias."
+
+A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then,"
+said he, "my real name is James Ryder."
+
+"Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray
+step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you
+everything which you would wish to know."
+
+The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with
+half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure
+whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe.
+Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in
+the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during
+our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and
+the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous
+tension within him.
+
+"Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room.
+"The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold,
+Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my
+slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then!
+You want to know what became of those geese?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in
+which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the
+tail."
+
+Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell
+me where it went to?"
+
+"It came here."
+
+"Here?"
+
+"Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that
+you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was
+dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen.
+I have it here in my museum."
+
+Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece
+with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up
+the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold,
+brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a
+drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it.
+
+"The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or
+you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair,
+Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with
+impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little
+more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!"
+
+For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy
+brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring
+with frightened eyes at his accuser.
+
+"I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I
+could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me.
+Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case
+complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the
+Countess of Morcar's?"
+
+"It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a
+crackling voice.
+
+"I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of
+sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has
+been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous
+in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the
+making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man
+Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter
+before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him.
+What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's
+room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he
+should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled
+the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man
+arrested. You then--"
+
+Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my
+companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked.
+"Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I
+never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll
+swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's
+sake, don't!"
+
+"Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well
+to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this
+poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing."
+
+"I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the
+charge against him will break down."
+
+"Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account
+of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came
+the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies
+your only hope of safety."
+
+Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you
+it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been
+arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get
+away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment
+the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my
+room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe.
+I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's
+house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton
+Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there
+every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective;
+and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down
+my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me
+what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I
+had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went
+into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would
+be best to do.
+
+"I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and
+has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met
+me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they
+could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to
+me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind
+to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my
+confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money.
+But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had
+gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be
+seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat
+pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at
+the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly
+an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the
+best detective that ever lived.
+
+"My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the
+pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she
+was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in
+it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in
+the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big
+one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill
+open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger
+could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass
+along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped
+and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the
+matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and
+fluttered off among the others.
+
+"'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she.
+
+"'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I
+was feeling which was the fattest.'
+
+"'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we
+call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six
+of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen
+for the market.'
+
+"'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you,
+I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.'
+
+"'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we
+fattened it expressly for you.'
+
+"'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I.
+
+"'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it
+you want, then?'
+
+"'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the
+flock.'
+
+"'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.'
+
+"Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird
+all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was
+a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed
+until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My
+heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I
+knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird,
+rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There
+was not a bird to be seen there.
+
+"'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried.
+
+"'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.'
+
+"'Which dealer's?'
+
+"'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.'
+
+"'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same
+as the one I chose?'
+
+"'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never
+tell them apart.'
+
+"Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my
+feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the
+lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they
+had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always
+answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad.
+Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself
+a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which
+I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into
+convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands.
+
+There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and
+by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the
+edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door.
+
+"Get out!" said he.
+
+"What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!"
+
+"No more words. Get out!"
+
+And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon
+the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running
+footfalls from the street.
+
+"After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his
+clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their
+deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing;
+but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must
+collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just
+possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong
+again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and
+you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of
+forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and
+whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you
+will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin
+another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief
+feature."
+
+
+
+VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND
+
+On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I
+have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend
+Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number
+merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did
+rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of
+wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation
+which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic.
+Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which
+presented more singular features than that which was associated
+with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran.
+The events in question occurred in the early days of my
+association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors
+in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them
+upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the
+time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by
+the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It
+is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I
+have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the
+death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even
+more terrible than the truth.
+
+It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to
+find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my
+bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the
+mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I
+blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little
+resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits.
+
+"Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the
+common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she
+retorted upon me, and I on you."
+
+"What is it, then--a fire?"
+
+"No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a
+considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She
+is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander
+about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock
+sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is
+something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it
+prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to
+follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should
+call you and give you the chance."
+
+"My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything."
+
+I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his
+professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid
+deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a
+logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were
+submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in
+a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A
+lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in
+the window, rose as we entered.
+
+"Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock
+Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson,
+before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am
+glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the
+fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot
+coffee, for I observe that you are shivering."
+
+"It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low
+voice, changing her seat as requested.
+
+"What, then?"
+
+"It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as
+she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable
+state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless
+frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features
+and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot
+with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard.
+Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick,
+all-comprehensive glances.
+
+"You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and
+patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no
+doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see."
+
+"You know me, then?"
+
+"No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm
+of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had
+a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached
+the station."
+
+The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my
+companion.
+
+"There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left
+arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven
+places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a
+dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you
+sit on the left-hand side of the driver."
+
+"Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said
+she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at
+twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I
+can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues.
+I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me,
+and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you,
+Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you
+helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had
+your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me,
+too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness
+which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward
+you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be
+married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you
+shall not find me ungrateful."
+
+Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small
+case-book, which he consulted.
+
+"Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was
+concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time,
+Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote
+the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to
+reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty
+to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which
+suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us
+everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the
+matter."
+
+"Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation
+lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions
+depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to
+another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to
+look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it
+as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can
+read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have
+heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold
+wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid
+the dangers which encompass me."
+
+"I am all attention, madam."
+
+"My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who
+is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in
+England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of
+Surrey."
+
+Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he.
+
+"The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the
+estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north,
+and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four
+successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition,
+and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the
+days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground,
+and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under
+a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence
+there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but
+his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to
+the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which
+enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta,
+where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he
+established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused
+by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he
+beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital
+sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and
+afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man.
+
+"When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner,
+the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery.
+My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old
+at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable
+sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she
+bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him,
+with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to
+each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return
+to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a
+railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his
+attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us
+to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The
+money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and
+there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness.
+
+"But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time.
+Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our
+neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of
+Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in
+his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious
+quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper
+approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the
+family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been
+intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of
+disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the
+police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village,
+and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of
+immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger.
+
+"Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a
+stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I
+could gather together that I was able to avert another public
+exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies,
+and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few
+acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate,
+and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents,
+wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a
+passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a
+correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon,
+which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the
+villagers almost as much as their master.
+
+"You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I
+had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with
+us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was
+but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already
+begun to whiten, even as mine has."
+
+"Your sister is dead, then?"
+
+"She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish
+to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I
+have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own
+age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden
+sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we
+were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's
+house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there
+a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My
+stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and
+offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of
+the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event
+occurred which has deprived me of my only companion."
+
+Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes
+closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his
+lids now and glanced across at his visitor.
+
+"Pray be precise as to details," said he.
+
+"It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful
+time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have
+already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The
+bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms
+being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms
+the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third
+my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open
+out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?"
+
+"Perfectly so."
+
+"The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That
+fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we
+knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled
+by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom
+to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where
+she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At
+eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door
+and looked back.
+
+"'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle
+in the dead of the night?'
+
+"'Never,' said I.
+
+"'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in
+your sleep?'
+
+"'Certainly not. But why?'
+
+"'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three
+in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper,
+and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps
+from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would
+just ask you whether you had heard it.'
+
+"'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the
+plantation.'
+
+"'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you
+did not hear it also.'
+
+"'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.'
+
+"'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled
+back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her
+key turn in the lock."
+
+"Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock
+yourselves in at night?"
+
+"Always."
+
+"And why?"
+
+"I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah
+and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were
+locked."
+
+"Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement."
+
+"I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending
+misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect,
+were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two
+souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind
+was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing
+against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale,
+there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew
+that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a
+shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door
+I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and
+a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had
+fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked,
+and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it
+horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By
+the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the
+opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for
+help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a
+drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that
+moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground.
+She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were
+dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not
+recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out
+in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was
+the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she
+would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the
+air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion
+seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for
+my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his
+dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was
+unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent
+for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for
+she slowly sank and died without having recovered her
+consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister."
+
+"One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and
+metallic sound? Could you swear to it?"
+
+"That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is
+my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of
+the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have
+been deceived."
+
+"Was your sister dressed?"
+
+"No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the
+charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box."
+
+"Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when
+the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did
+the coroner come to?"
+
+"He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's
+conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable
+to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that
+the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows
+were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars,
+which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded,
+and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was
+also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is
+wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain,
+therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end.
+Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her."
+
+"How about poison?"
+
+"The doctors examined her for it, but without success."
+
+"What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?"
+
+"It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock,
+though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine."
+
+"Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?"
+
+"Yes, there are nearly always some there."
+
+"Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a
+speckled band?"
+
+"Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of
+delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of
+people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not
+know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear
+over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which
+she used."
+
+Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied.
+
+"These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your
+narrative."
+
+"Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until
+lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend,
+whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask
+my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the
+second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My
+stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to
+be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs
+were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom
+wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the
+chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in
+which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last
+night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I
+suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which
+had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the
+lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to
+go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was
+daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which
+is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on
+this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your
+advice."
+
+"You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me
+all?"
+
+"Yes, all."
+
+"Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather."
+
+"Why, what do you mean?"
+
+For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which
+fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little
+livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed
+upon the white wrist.
+
+"You have been cruelly used," said Holmes.
+
+The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He
+is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own
+strength."
+
+There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin
+upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire.
+
+"This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a
+thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide
+upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If
+we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for
+us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your
+stepfather?"
+
+"As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some
+most important business. It is probable that he will be away all
+day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a
+housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily
+get her out of the way."
+
+"Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?"
+
+"By no means."
+
+"Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?"
+
+"I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am
+in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to
+be there in time for your coming."
+
+"And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some
+small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and
+breakfast?"
+
+"No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have
+confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you
+again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her
+face and glided from the room.
+
+"And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes,
+leaning back in his chair.
+
+"It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business."
+
+"Dark enough and sinister enough."
+
+"Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls
+are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable,
+then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her
+mysterious end."
+
+"What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the
+very peculiar words of the dying woman?"
+
+"I cannot think."
+
+"When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of
+a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor,
+the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has
+an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying
+allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner
+heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of
+those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its
+place, I think that there is good ground to think that the
+mystery may be cleared along those lines."
+
+"But what, then, did the gipsies do?"
+
+"I cannot imagine."
+
+"I see many objections to any such theory."
+
+"And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going
+to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are
+fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of
+the devil!"
+
+The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that
+our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had
+framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar
+mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a
+black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters,
+with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his
+hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his
+breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face,
+seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and
+marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other
+of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin,
+fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old
+bird of prey.
+
+"Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition.
+
+"My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my
+companion quietly.
+
+"I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran."
+
+"Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat."
+
+"I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I
+have traced her. What has she been saying to you?"
+
+"It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes.
+
+"What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man
+furiously.
+
+"But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my
+companion imperturbably.
+
+"Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step
+forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel!
+I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler."
+
+My friend smiled.
+
+"Holmes, the busybody!"
+
+His smile broadened.
+
+"Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!"
+
+Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most
+entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for
+there is a decided draught."
+
+"I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with
+my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her!
+I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped
+swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with
+his huge brown hands.
+
+"See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and
+hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the
+room.
+
+"He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am
+not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him
+that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke
+he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort,
+straightened it out again.
+
+"Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official
+detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation,
+however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer
+from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now,
+Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk
+down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may
+help us in this matter."
+
+
+It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his
+excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled
+over with notes and figures.
+
+"I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To
+determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the
+present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The
+total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little
+short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural
+prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an
+income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident,
+therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have
+had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to
+a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted,
+since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for
+standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson,
+this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is
+aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you
+are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be
+very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your
+pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen
+who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush
+are, I think, all that we need."
+
+At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for
+Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove
+for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a
+perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the
+heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out
+their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant
+smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange
+contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this
+sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in
+the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over
+his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the
+deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the
+shoulder, and pointed over the meadows.
+
+"Look there!" said he.
+
+A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope,
+thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the
+branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a
+very old mansion.
+
+"Stoke Moran?" said he.
+
+"Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked
+the driver.
+
+"There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is
+where we are going."
+
+"There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of
+roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the
+house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by
+the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is
+walking."
+
+"And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading
+his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest."
+
+We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way
+to Leatherhead.
+
+"I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile,
+"that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or
+on some definite business. It may stop his gossip.
+Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as
+our word."
+
+Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a
+face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for
+you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned
+out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely
+that he will be back before evening."
+
+"We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance,"
+said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had
+occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened.
+
+"Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then."
+
+"So it appears."
+
+"He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What
+will he say when he returns?"
+
+"He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone
+more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself
+up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to
+your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our
+time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to
+examine."
+
+The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high
+central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab,
+thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were
+broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly
+caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little
+better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern,
+and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up
+from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided.
+Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the
+stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any
+workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and
+down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the
+outsides of the windows.
+
+"This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep,
+the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main
+building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?"
+
+"Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one."
+
+"Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does
+not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end
+wall."
+
+"There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from
+my room."
+
+"Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow
+wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There
+are windows in it, of course?"
+
+"Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass
+through."
+
+"As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were
+unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness
+to go into your room and bar your shutters?"
+
+Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination
+through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the
+shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through
+which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his
+lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built
+firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his
+chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some
+difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were
+bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon
+the matter."
+
+A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which
+the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third
+chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss
+Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her
+fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a
+gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A
+brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow
+white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the
+left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small
+wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save
+for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and
+the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old
+and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building
+of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat
+silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down,
+taking in every detail of the apartment.
+
+"Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last
+pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the
+tassel actually lying upon the pillow.
+
+"It goes to the housekeeper's room."
+
+"It looks newer than the other things?"
+
+"Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago."
+
+"Your sister asked for it, I suppose?"
+
+"No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we
+wanted for ourselves."
+
+"Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there.
+You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to
+this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in
+his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining
+minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with
+the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he
+walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and
+in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the
+bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug.
+
+"Why, it's a dummy," said he.
+
+"Won't it ring?"
+
+"No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting.
+You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where
+the little opening for the ventilator is."
+
+"How very absurd! I never noticed that before."
+
+"Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are
+one or two very singular points about this room. For example,
+what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another
+room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated
+with the outside air!"
+
+"That is also quite modern," said the lady.
+
+"Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes.
+
+"Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that
+time."
+
+"They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy
+bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your
+permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into
+the inner apartment."
+
+Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his
+step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small
+wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an
+armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a
+round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things
+which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each
+and all of them with the keenest interest.
+
+"What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe.
+
+"My stepfather's business papers."
+
+"Oh! you have seen inside, then?"
+
+"Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of
+papers."
+
+"There isn't a cat in it, for example?"
+
+"No. What a strange idea!"
+
+"Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which
+stood on the top of it.
+
+"No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon."
+
+"Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a
+saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I
+daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He
+squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat
+of it with the greatest attention.
+
+"Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting
+his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!"
+
+The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on
+one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself
+and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord.
+
+"What do you make of that, Watson?"
+
+"It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be
+tied."
+
+"That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world,
+and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst
+of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and
+with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn."
+
+I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as
+it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We
+had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss
+Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he
+roused himself from his reverie.
+
+"It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should
+absolutely follow my advice in every respect."
+
+"I shall most certainly do so."
+
+"The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may
+depend upon your compliance."
+
+"I assure you that I am in your hands."
+
+"In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in
+your room."
+
+Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment.
+
+"Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the
+village inn over there?"
+
+"Yes, that is the Crown."
+
+"Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a
+headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him
+retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window,
+undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then
+withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want
+into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in
+spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night."
+
+"Oh, yes, easily."
+
+"The rest you will leave in our hands."
+
+"But what will you do?"
+
+"We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate
+the cause of this noise which has disturbed you."
+
+"I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind,"
+said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve.
+
+"Perhaps I have."
+
+"Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's
+death."
+
+"I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak."
+
+"You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and
+if she died from some sudden fright."
+
+"No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more
+tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if
+Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain.
+Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you,
+you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers
+that threaten you."
+
+Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and
+sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and
+from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and
+of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw
+Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside
+the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some
+slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard
+the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which
+he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few
+minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as
+the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms.
+
+"Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the
+gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you
+to-night. There is a distinct element of danger."
+
+"Can I be of assistance?"
+
+"Your presence might be invaluable."
+
+"Then I shall certainly come."
+
+"It is very kind of you."
+
+"You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms
+than was visible to me."
+
+"No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine
+that you saw all that I did."
+
+"I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose
+that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine."
+
+"You saw the ventilator, too?"
+
+"Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to
+have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a
+rat could hardly pass through."
+
+"I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to
+Stoke Moran."
+
+"My dear Holmes!"
+
+"Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her
+sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that
+suggested at once that there must be a communication between the
+two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been
+remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator."
+
+"But what harm can there be in that?"
+
+"Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A
+ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the
+bed dies. Does not that strike you?"
+
+"I cannot as yet see any connection."
+
+"Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?"
+
+"No."
+
+"It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened
+like that before?"
+
+"I cannot say that I have."
+
+"The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same
+relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may
+call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull."
+
+"Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at.
+We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible
+crime."
+
+"Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong
+he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge.
+Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession.
+This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall
+be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough
+before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet
+pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more
+cheerful."
+
+
+About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished,
+and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours
+passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of
+eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us.
+
+"That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it
+comes from the middle window."
+
+As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord,
+explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance,
+and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A
+moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing
+in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us
+through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand.
+
+There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for
+unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way
+among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about
+to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel
+bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted
+child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and
+then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness.
+
+"My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?"
+
+Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like
+a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low
+laugh and put his lips to my ear.
+
+"It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon."
+
+I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There
+was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders
+at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when,
+after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I
+found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed
+the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes
+round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then
+creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered
+into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to
+distinguish the words:
+
+"The least sound would be fatal to our plans."
+
+I nodded to show that I had heard.
+
+"We must sit without light. He would see it through the
+ventilator."
+
+I nodded again.
+
+"Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your
+pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of
+the bed, and you in that chair."
+
+I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table.
+
+Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon
+the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the
+stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left
+in darkness.
+
+How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a
+sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my
+companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same
+state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut
+off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness.
+
+From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at
+our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that
+the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the
+deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of
+an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and
+one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for
+whatever might befall.
+
+Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the
+direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was
+succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal.
+Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle
+sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the
+smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears.
+Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle,
+soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping
+continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes
+sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with
+his cane at the bell-pull.
+
+"You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?"
+
+But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I
+heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my
+weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which
+my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face
+was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had
+ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when
+suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most
+horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder
+and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled
+in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the
+village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the
+sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I
+stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it
+had died away into the silence from which it rose.
+
+"What can it mean?" I gasped.
+
+"It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps,
+after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will
+enter Dr. Roylott's room."
+
+With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the
+corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply
+from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his
+heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand.
+
+It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a
+dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant
+beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar.
+Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott
+clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding
+beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers.
+Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we
+had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his
+eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the
+ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with
+brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his
+head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion.
+
+"The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes.
+
+I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began
+to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat
+diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent.
+
+"It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in
+India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence
+does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls
+into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this
+creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to
+some place of shelter and let the county police know what has
+happened."
+
+As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap,
+and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from
+its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into
+the iron safe, which he closed upon it.
+
+Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of
+Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a
+narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling
+how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed
+her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow,
+of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the
+conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly
+playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn
+of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back
+next day.
+
+"I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which
+shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from
+insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of
+the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to
+explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of
+by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an
+entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly
+reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me
+that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not
+come either from the window or the door. My attention was
+speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this
+ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The
+discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to
+the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was
+there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and
+coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me,
+and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was
+furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I
+was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of
+poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical
+test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless
+man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such
+a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be
+an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could
+distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where
+the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the
+whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning
+light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by
+the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned.
+He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he
+thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the
+rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the
+occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but
+sooner or later she must fall a victim.
+
+"I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his
+room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in
+the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary
+in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the
+safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to
+finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic
+clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather
+hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant.
+Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in
+order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss
+as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the
+light and attacked it."
+
+"With the result of driving it through the ventilator."
+
+"And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master
+at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and
+roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person
+it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr.
+Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to
+weigh very heavily upon my conscience."
+
+
+
+IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB
+
+Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr.
+Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy,
+there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his
+notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel
+Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a
+finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was
+so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that
+it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it
+gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of
+reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story
+has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but,
+like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when
+set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the
+facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears
+gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads
+on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a
+deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly
+served to weaken the effect.
+
+It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the
+events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned
+to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker
+Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally
+even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come
+and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I
+happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington
+Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of
+these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was
+never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send
+me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence.
+
+One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by
+the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come
+from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I
+dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases
+were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my
+old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door
+tightly behind him.
+
+"I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his
+shoulder; "he's all right."
+
+"What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was
+some strange creature which he had caged up in my room.
+
+"It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him
+round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe
+and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the
+same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even
+giving me time to thank him.
+
+I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the
+table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a
+soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of
+his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all
+over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than
+five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but
+he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who
+was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his
+strength of mind to control.
+
+"I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I
+have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by
+train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I
+might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me
+here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon
+the side-table."
+
+I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic
+engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name,
+style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have
+kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You
+are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself
+a monotonous occupation."
+
+"Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and
+laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note,
+leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical
+instincts rose up against that laugh.
+
+"Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out
+some water from a caraffe.
+
+It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical
+outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis
+is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very
+weary and pale-looking.
+
+"I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped.
+
+"Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water,
+and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks.
+
+"That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would
+kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb
+used to be."
+
+He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even
+my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four
+protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the
+thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from
+the roots.
+
+"Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have
+bled considerably."
+
+"Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must
+have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that
+it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very
+tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig."
+
+"Excellent! You should have been a surgeon."
+
+"It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own
+province."
+
+"This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very
+heavy and sharp instrument."
+
+"A thing like a cleaver," said he.
+
+"An accident, I presume?"
+
+"By no means."
+
+"What! a murderous attack?"
+
+"Very murderous indeed."
+
+"You horrify me."
+
+I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered
+it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back
+without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time.
+
+"How is that?" I asked when I had finished.
+
+"Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man.
+I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through."
+
+"Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently
+trying to your nerves."
+
+"Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police;
+but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing
+evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they
+believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I
+have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and,
+even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so
+vague that it is a question whether justice will be done."
+
+"Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem
+which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you
+to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the
+official police."
+
+"Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I
+should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of
+course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me
+an introduction to him?"
+
+"I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself."
+
+"I should be immensely obliged to you."
+
+"We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to
+have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?"
+
+"Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story."
+
+"Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an
+instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my
+wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my
+new acquaintance to Baker Street.
+
+Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his
+sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The
+Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed
+of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day
+before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the
+mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion,
+ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal.
+When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the
+sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of
+brandy and water within his reach.
+
+"It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one,
+Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself
+absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are
+tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant."
+
+"Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since
+the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has
+completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable
+time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar
+experiences."
+
+Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded
+expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat
+opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story
+which our visitor detailed to us.
+
+"You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor,
+residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a
+hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my
+work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner &
+Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago,
+having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of
+money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in
+business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria
+Street.
+
+"I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in
+business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so.
+During two years I have had three consultations and one small
+job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought
+me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from
+nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my
+little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to
+believe that I should never have any practice at all.
+
+"Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the
+office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who
+wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with
+the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at
+his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle
+size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have
+ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose
+and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over
+his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his
+natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his
+step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly
+dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than
+thirty.
+
+"'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent.
+'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man
+who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet
+and capable of preserving a secret.'
+
+"I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an
+address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?'
+
+"'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just
+at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both
+an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.'
+
+"'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if
+I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional
+qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter
+that you wished to speak to me?'
+
+"'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to
+the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute
+secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and
+of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than
+from one who lives in the bosom of his family.'
+
+"'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely
+depend upon my doing so.'
+
+"He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I
+had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye.
+
+"'Do you promise, then?' said he at last.
+
+"'Yes, I promise.'
+
+"'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No
+reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?'
+
+"'I have already given you my word.'
+
+"'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning
+across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was
+empty.
+
+"'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are
+sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk
+in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to
+stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look.
+
+"A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun
+to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man.
+Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from
+showing my impatience.
+
+"'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time
+is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the
+words came to my lips.
+
+"'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked.
+
+"'Most admirably.'
+
+"'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I
+simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which
+has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon
+set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as
+that?'
+
+"'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.'
+
+"'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last
+train.'
+
+"'Where to?'
+
+"'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders
+of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a
+train from Paddington which would bring you there at about
+11:15.'
+
+"'Very good.'
+
+"'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.'
+
+"'There is a drive, then?'
+
+"'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good
+seven miles from Eyford Station.'
+
+"'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there
+would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop
+the night.'
+
+"'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.'
+
+"'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient
+hour?'
+
+"'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to
+recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a
+young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the
+very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would
+like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do
+so.'
+
+"I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they
+would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to
+accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to
+understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to
+do.'
+
+"'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which
+we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I
+have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all
+laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from
+eavesdroppers?'
+
+"'Entirely.'
+
+"'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that
+fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found
+in one or two places in England?'
+
+"'I have heard so.'
+
+"'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small
+place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to
+discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my
+fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a
+comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two
+very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them,
+however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were
+absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was
+quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my
+interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value,
+but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I
+took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they
+suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little
+deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would
+enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been
+doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we
+erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already
+explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the
+subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it
+once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our
+little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts
+came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these
+fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you
+promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are
+going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?'
+
+"'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not
+quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press
+in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out
+like gravel from a pit.'
+
+"'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress
+the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing
+what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully
+into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I
+trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at
+Eyford at 11:15.'
+
+"'I shall certainly be there.'
+
+"'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long,
+questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank
+grasp, he hurried from the room.
+
+"Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very
+much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission
+which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was
+glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked
+had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that
+this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face
+and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon
+me, and I could not think that his explanation of the
+fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my
+coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell
+anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate
+a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having
+obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue.
+
+"At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station.
+However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I
+reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the
+only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the
+platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed
+out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of
+the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a
+word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door
+of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either
+side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the
+horse could go."
+
+"One horse?" interjected Holmes.
+
+"Yes, only one."
+
+"Did you observe the colour?"
+
+"Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the
+carriage. It was a chestnut."
+
+"Tired-looking or fresh?"
+
+"Oh, fresh and glossy."
+
+"Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue
+your most interesting statement."
+
+"Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel
+Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I
+should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the
+time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat
+at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than
+once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me
+with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good
+in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I
+tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we
+were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out
+nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now
+and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the
+journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the
+conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the
+road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive,
+and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang
+out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch
+which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of
+the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the
+most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that
+I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us,
+and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage
+drove away.
+
+"It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled
+about looking for matches and muttering under his breath.
+Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a
+long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew
+broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she
+held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us.
+I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which
+the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich
+material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as
+though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a
+gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly
+fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered
+something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room
+from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the
+lamp in his hand.
+
+"'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a
+few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a
+quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the
+centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel
+Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the
+door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and
+vanished into the darkness.
+
+"I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my
+ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises
+on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked
+across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of
+the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded
+across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old
+clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise
+everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began
+to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were
+they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And
+where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was
+all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no
+idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns,
+were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded,
+after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness,
+that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room,
+humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling
+that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee.
+
+"Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the
+utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman
+was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind
+her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and
+beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with
+fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one
+shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few
+whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back,
+like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her.
+
+"'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to
+speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no
+good for you to do.'
+
+"'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I
+cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.'
+
+"'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass
+through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled
+and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and
+made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love
+of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too
+late!'
+
+"But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to
+engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I
+thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of
+the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to
+go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried
+out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This
+woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout
+bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I
+cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention
+of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties
+when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps
+was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up
+her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and
+as noiselessly as she had come.
+
+"The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man
+with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double
+chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson.
+
+"'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the
+way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just
+now. I fear that you have felt the draught.'
+
+"'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I
+felt the room to be a little close.'
+
+"He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had
+better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I
+will take you up to see the machine.'
+
+"'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.'
+
+"'Oh, no, it is in the house.'
+
+"'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?'
+
+"'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that.
+All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us
+know what is wrong with it.'
+
+"We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the
+fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house,
+with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little
+low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the
+generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no
+signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster
+was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in
+green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an
+air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the
+lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon
+my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent
+man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at
+least a fellow-countryman.
+
+"Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which
+he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three
+of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside,
+and the colonel ushered me in.
+
+"'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and
+it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were
+to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the
+end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of
+many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns
+of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and
+multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine
+goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working
+of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will
+have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set
+it right.'
+
+"I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very
+thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of
+exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and
+pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by
+the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed
+a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An
+examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was
+round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to
+fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause
+of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who
+followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical
+questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I
+had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the
+machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity.
+It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth
+was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose
+that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a
+purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a
+large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a
+crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was
+scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a
+muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the
+colonel looking down at me.
+
+"'What are you doing there?' he asked.
+
+"I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as
+that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,'
+said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to
+your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it
+was used.'
+
+"The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of
+my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in
+his grey eyes.
+
+"'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He
+took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key
+in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it
+was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and
+shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!'
+
+"And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my
+heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish
+of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp
+still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining
+the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming
+down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than
+myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a
+shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and
+dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let
+me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my
+cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with
+my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it
+flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend
+very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my
+face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to
+think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and
+yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black
+shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand
+erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope
+back to my heart.
+
+"I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the
+walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw
+a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which
+broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For
+an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door
+which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself
+through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had
+closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few
+moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me
+how narrow had been my escape.
+
+"I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and
+I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor,
+while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand,
+while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend
+whose warning I had so foolishly rejected.
+
+"'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a
+moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste
+the so-precious time, but come!'
+
+"This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to
+my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding
+stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we
+reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of
+two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which  we
+were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about
+her like one  who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door
+which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon
+was shining brightly.
+
+"'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be
+that you can jump it.'
+
+"As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the
+passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark
+rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a
+butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom,
+flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and
+wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be
+more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I
+hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between
+my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used,
+then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance.
+The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at
+the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round
+him and tried to hold him back.
+
+"'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise
+after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be
+silent! Oh, he will be silent!'
+
+"'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from
+her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me
+pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the
+window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and
+was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was
+conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the
+garden below.
+
+"I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and
+rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I
+understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly,
+however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me.
+I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and
+then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and
+that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my
+handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my
+ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the
+rose-bushes.
+
+"How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been
+a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was
+breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with
+dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded
+thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the
+particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with
+the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But
+to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house
+nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the
+hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a
+long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the
+very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were
+it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed
+during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream.
+
+"Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning
+train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The
+same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I
+arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel
+Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a
+carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was
+there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three
+miles off.
+
+"It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined
+to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the
+police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first
+to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to
+bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do
+exactly what you advise."
+
+We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to
+this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down
+from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he
+placed his cuttings.
+
+"Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It
+appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this:
+'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged
+twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten
+o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was
+dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that
+the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy."
+
+"Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the
+girl said."
+
+"Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and
+desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should
+stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out
+pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well,
+every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall
+go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for
+Eyford."
+
+Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train
+together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village.
+There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector
+Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself.
+Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the
+seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford
+for its centre.
+
+"There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of
+ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere
+near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir."
+
+"It was an hour's good drive."
+
+"And you think that they brought you back all that way when you
+were unconscious?"
+
+"They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having
+been lifted and conveyed somewhere."
+
+"What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have
+spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden.
+Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties."
+
+"I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face
+in my life."
+
+"Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I
+have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon
+it the folk that we are in search of are to be found."
+
+"I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly.
+
+"Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your
+opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is
+south, for the country is more deserted there."
+
+"And I say east," said my patient.
+
+"I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are
+several quiet little villages up there."
+
+"And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there,
+and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up
+any."
+
+"Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty
+diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do
+you give your casting vote to?"
+
+"You are all wrong."
+
+"But we can't all be."
+
+"Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the
+centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them."
+
+"But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley.
+
+"Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the
+horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that
+if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?"
+
+"Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet
+thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature
+of this gang."
+
+"None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale,
+and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the
+place of silver."
+
+"We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work,"
+said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by
+the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could
+get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that
+showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this
+lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough."
+
+But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not
+destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into
+Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed
+up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and
+hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape.
+
+"A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off
+again on its way.
+
+"Yes, sir!" said the station-master.
+
+"When did it break out?"
+
+"I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse,
+and the whole place is in a blaze."
+
+"Whose house is it?"
+
+"Dr. Becher's."
+
+"Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very
+thin, with a long, sharp nose?"
+
+The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an
+Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a
+better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him,
+a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as
+if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm."
+
+The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all
+hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low
+hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in
+front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in
+the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to
+keep the flames under.
+
+"That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is
+the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That
+second window is the one that I jumped from."
+
+"Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon
+them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which,
+when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls,
+though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to
+observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for
+your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are
+a good hundred miles off by now."
+
+And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this
+no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the
+sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a
+peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very
+bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but
+there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes'
+ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their
+whereabouts.
+
+The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements
+which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a
+newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor.
+About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and
+they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in,
+and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save
+some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of
+the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so
+dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored
+in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have
+explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been
+already referred to.
+
+How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to
+the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained
+forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a
+very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two
+persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other
+unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the
+silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his
+companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out
+of the way of danger.
+
+"Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return
+once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I
+have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what
+have I gained?"
+
+"Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of
+value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the
+reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your
+existence."
+
+
+
+X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR
+
+The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have
+long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles
+in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have
+eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the
+gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to
+believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to
+the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a
+considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no
+memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of
+this remarkable episode.
+
+It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I
+was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came
+home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table
+waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather
+had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and
+the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as
+a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence.
+With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had
+surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last,
+saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and
+lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the
+envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's
+noble correspondent could be.
+
+"Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered.
+"Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a
+fish-monger and a tide-waiter."
+
+"Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he
+answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more
+interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social
+summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie."
+
+He broke the seal and glanced over the contents.
+
+"Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all."
+
+"Not social, then?"
+
+"No, distinctly professional."
+
+"And from a noble client?"
+
+"One of the highest in England."
+
+"My dear fellow, I congratulate you."
+
+"I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my
+client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his
+case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be
+wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the
+papers diligently of late, have you not?"
+
+"It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in
+the corner. "I have had nothing else to do."
+
+"It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I
+read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The
+latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent
+events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his
+wedding?"
+
+"Oh, yes, with the deepest interest."
+
+"That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord
+St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn
+over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter.
+This is what he says:
+
+"'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I
+may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I
+have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you
+in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in
+connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is
+acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no
+objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that
+it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in
+the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that
+time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of
+paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.'
+
+"It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen,
+and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink
+upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes
+as he folded up the epistle.
+
+"He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an
+hour."
+
+"Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon
+the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in
+their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client
+is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of
+reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting
+down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham
+de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms:
+Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.'
+He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was
+Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The
+Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
+They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on
+the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in
+all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something
+more solid."
+
+"I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I,
+"for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as
+remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew
+that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the
+intrusion of other matters."
+
+"Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square
+furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it
+was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your
+newspaper selections."
+
+"Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal
+column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks
+back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if
+rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert
+St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty
+Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San
+Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all."
+
+"Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long,
+thin legs towards the fire.
+
+"There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society
+papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a
+call for protection in the marriage market, for the present
+free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home
+product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great
+Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across
+the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last
+week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by
+these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself
+for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has
+now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty
+Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss
+Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much
+attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child,
+and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to
+considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the
+future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has
+been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years,
+and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small
+estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress
+is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to
+make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a
+British peeress.'"
+
+"Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning.
+
+"Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post
+to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it
+would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen
+intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would
+return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been
+taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on
+Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had
+taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord
+Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices
+which appeared before the disappearance of the bride."
+
+"Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start.
+
+"The vanishing of the lady."
+
+"When did she vanish, then?"
+
+"At the wedding breakfast."
+
+"Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite
+dramatic, in fact."
+
+"Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common."
+
+"They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during
+the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt
+as this. Pray let me have the details."
+
+"I warn you that they are very incomplete."
+
+"Perhaps we may make them less so."
+
+"Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a
+morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is
+headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding':
+
+"'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the
+greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which
+have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as
+shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the
+previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to
+confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently
+floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush
+the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it
+that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what
+is a common subject for conversation.
+
+"'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover
+Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the
+father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral,
+Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the
+younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia
+Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of
+Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been
+prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a
+woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to
+force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging
+that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a
+painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler
+and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house
+before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast
+with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and
+retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some
+comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that
+she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an
+ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the
+footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus
+apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress,
+believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his
+daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with
+the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with
+the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which
+will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very
+singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing
+had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There
+are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the
+police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the
+original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some
+other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange
+disappearance of the bride.'"
+
+"And is that all?"
+
+"Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is
+a suggestive one."
+
+"And it is--"
+
+"That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance,
+has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a
+danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom
+for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole
+case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the
+public press."
+
+"And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would
+not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell,
+Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I
+have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not
+dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness,
+if only as a check to my own memory."
+
+"Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open
+the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face,
+high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about
+the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose
+pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His
+manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue
+impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little
+bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off
+his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin
+upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of
+foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat,
+yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters.
+He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to
+right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his
+golden eyeglasses.
+
+"Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray
+take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr.
+Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this
+matter over."
+
+"A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine,
+Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you
+have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir,
+though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of
+society."
+
+"No, I am descending."
+
+"I beg pardon."
+
+"My last client of the sort was a king."
+
+"Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?"
+
+"The King of Scandinavia."
+
+"What! Had he lost his wife?"
+
+"You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the
+affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to
+you in yours."
+
+"Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to
+my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may
+assist you in forming an opinion."
+
+"Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public
+prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this
+article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride."
+
+Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it
+goes."
+
+"But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could
+offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most
+directly by questioning you."
+
+"Pray do so."
+
+"When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?"
+
+"In San Francisco, a year ago."
+
+"You were travelling in the States?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did you become engaged then?"
+
+"No."
+
+"But you were on a friendly footing?"
+
+"I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was
+amused."
+
+"Her father is very rich?"
+
+"He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope."
+
+"And how did he make his money?"
+
+"In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold,
+invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds."
+
+"Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your
+wife's character?"
+
+The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down
+into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was
+twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she
+ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or
+mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than
+from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy,
+with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of
+traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She
+is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her
+resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the
+name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately
+cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I
+believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that
+anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her."
+
+"Have you her photograph?"
+
+"I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the
+full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an
+ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect
+of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the
+exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he
+closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon.
+
+"The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your
+acquaintance?"
+
+"Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I
+met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now
+married her."
+
+"She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?"
+
+"A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family."
+
+"And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a
+fait accompli?"
+
+"I really have made no inquiries on the subject."
+
+"Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the
+wedding?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was she in good spirits?"
+
+"Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our
+future lives."
+
+"Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the
+wedding?"
+
+"She was as bright as possible--at least until after the
+ceremony."
+
+"And did you observe any change in her then?"
+
+"Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had
+ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident
+however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible
+bearing upon the case."
+
+"Pray let us have it, for all that."
+
+"Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards
+the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it
+fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the
+gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not
+appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of
+the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our
+way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause."
+
+"Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of
+the general public were present, then?"
+
+"Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is
+open."
+
+"This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?"
+
+"No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a
+common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But
+really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point."
+
+"Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less
+cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do
+on re-entering her father's house?"
+
+"I saw her in conversation with her maid."
+
+"And who is her maid?"
+
+"Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California
+with her."
+
+"A confidential servant?"
+
+"A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed
+her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they
+look upon these things in a different way."
+
+"How long did she speak to this Alice?"
+
+"Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of."
+
+"You did not overhear what they said?"
+
+"Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was
+accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she
+meant."
+
+"American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your
+wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?"
+
+"She walked into the breakfast-room."
+
+"On your arm?"
+
+"No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that.
+Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose
+hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She
+never came back."
+
+"But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to
+her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a
+bonnet, and went out."
+
+"Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in
+company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who
+had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that
+morning."
+
+"Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady,
+and your relations to her."
+
+Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows.
+"We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on
+a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have
+not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of
+complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes.
+Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and
+devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she
+heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the
+reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I
+feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to
+Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to
+push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my
+wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the
+possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police
+fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again.
+She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a
+row."
+
+"Did your wife hear all this?"
+
+"No, thank goodness, she did not."
+
+"And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?"
+
+"Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as
+so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid
+some terrible trap for her."
+
+"Well, it is a possible supposition."
+
+"You think so, too?"
+
+"I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon
+this as likely?"
+
+"I do not think Flora would hurt a fly."
+
+"Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray
+what is your own theory as to what took place?"
+
+"Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I
+have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may
+say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of
+this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a
+social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous
+disturbance in my wife."
+
+"In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?"
+
+"Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I
+will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to
+without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion."
+
+"Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said
+Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have
+nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the
+breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?"
+
+"We could see the other side of the road and the Park."
+
+"Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer.
+I shall communicate with you."
+
+"Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our
+client, rising.
+
+"I have solved it."
+
+"Eh? What was that?"
+
+"I say that I have solved it."
+
+"Where, then, is my wife?"
+
+"That is a detail which I shall speedily supply."
+
+Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take
+wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a
+stately, old-fashioned manner he departed.
+
+"It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting
+it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I
+think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all
+this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the
+case before our client came into the room."
+
+"My dear Holmes!"
+
+"I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I
+remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination
+served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial
+evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a
+trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example."
+
+"But I have heard all that you have heard."
+
+"Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which
+serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some
+years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich
+the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these
+cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade!
+You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are
+cigars in the box."
+
+The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat,
+which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a
+black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated
+himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him.
+
+"What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You
+look dissatisfied."
+
+"And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage
+case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business."
+
+"Really! You surprise me."
+
+"Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip
+through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day."
+
+"And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his
+hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket.
+
+"Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine."
+
+"In heaven's name, what for?"
+
+"In search of the body of Lady St. Simon."
+
+Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily.
+
+"Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he
+asked.
+
+"Why? What do you mean?"
+
+"Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in
+the one as in the other."
+
+Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you
+know all about it," he snarled.
+
+"Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up."
+
+"Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in
+the matter?"
+
+"I think it very unlikely."
+
+"Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found
+this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the
+floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin
+shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked
+in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the
+top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master
+Holmes."
+
+"Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air.
+"You dragged them from the Serpentine?"
+
+"No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper.
+They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me
+that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off."
+
+"By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found
+in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope
+to arrive at through this?"
+
+"At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance."
+
+"I am afraid that you will find it difficult."
+
+"Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I
+am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your
+deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as
+many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar."
+
+"And how?"
+
+"In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the
+card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it
+down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will
+see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all
+along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora
+Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was
+responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her
+initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped
+into her hand at the door and which lured her within their
+reach."
+
+"Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are
+very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a
+listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he
+gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important,"
+said he.
+
+"Ha! you find it so?"
+
+"Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly."
+
+Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he
+shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!"
+
+"On the contrary, this is the right side."
+
+"The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil
+over here."
+
+"And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel
+bill, which interests me deeply."
+
+"There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade.
+"'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s.
+6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that."
+
+"Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the
+note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I
+congratulate you again."
+
+"I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in
+hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories.
+Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom
+of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them
+into the bag, and made for the door.
+
+"Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival
+vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady
+St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any
+such person."
+
+Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me,
+tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and
+hurried away.
+
+He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on
+his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about
+outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must
+leave you to your papers for a little."
+
+It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had
+no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a
+confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked
+with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and
+presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean
+little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble
+lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold
+woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of
+ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries,
+my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian
+Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid
+for and were ordered to this address.
+
+Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the
+room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his
+eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his
+conclusions.
+
+"They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands.
+
+"You seem to expect company. They have laid for five."
+
+"Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I
+am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I
+fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs."
+
+It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in,
+dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very
+perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features.
+
+"My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes.
+
+"Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure.
+Have you good authority for what you say?"
+
+"The best possible."
+
+Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his
+forehead.
+
+"What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of
+the family has been subjected to such humiliation?"
+
+"It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any
+humiliation."
+
+"Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint."
+
+"I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the
+lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of
+doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she
+had no one to advise her at such a crisis."
+
+"It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon,
+tapping his fingers upon the table.
+
+"You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so
+unprecedented a position."
+
+"I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have
+been shamefully used."
+
+"I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps
+on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view
+of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here
+who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a
+lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to
+introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I
+think, you have already met."
+
+At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his
+seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand
+thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended
+dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out
+her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was
+as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was
+one which it was hard to resist.
+
+"You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every
+cause to be."
+
+"Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly.
+
+"Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I
+should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of
+rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just
+didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't
+fall down and do a faint right there before the altar."
+
+"Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave
+the room while you explain this matter?"
+
+"If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman,
+"we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business
+already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to
+hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man,
+clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner.
+
+"Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here
+and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa
+was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I;
+but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile,
+while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to
+nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa
+wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took
+me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so
+he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything
+about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just
+fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and
+make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had
+as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of
+time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived.
+'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and
+then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your
+husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had
+fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting,
+that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek
+his fortune, and I went back to pa.
+
+"The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then
+he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New
+Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a
+miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was
+my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was
+very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took
+me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a
+year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really
+dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London,
+and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt
+all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place
+in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank.
+
+"Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done
+my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our
+actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make
+him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may
+imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I
+glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the
+first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked
+again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as
+if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I
+didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the
+words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my
+ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make
+a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to
+know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to
+tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper,
+and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on
+the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the
+note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a
+line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so.
+Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now
+to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct.
+
+"When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California,
+and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but
+to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to
+have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before
+his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to
+run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten
+minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of
+the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park.
+I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman
+came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to
+me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little
+secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away
+from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and
+away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and
+that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank
+had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to
+'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to
+England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the
+very morning of my second wedding."
+
+"I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name
+and the church but not where the lady lived."
+
+"Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all
+for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I
+should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just
+sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It
+was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting
+round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So
+Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of
+them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away
+somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we
+should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good
+gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how
+he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very
+clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and
+that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so
+secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord
+St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at
+once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if
+I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very
+meanly of me."
+
+Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but
+had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this
+long narrative.
+
+"Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most
+intimate personal affairs in this public manner."
+
+"Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?"
+
+"Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out
+his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him.
+
+"I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us
+in a friendly supper."
+
+"I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his
+Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent
+developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over
+them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a
+very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and
+stalked out of the room.
+
+"Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your
+company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an
+American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the
+folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone
+years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens
+of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a
+quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes."
+
+"The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our
+visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how
+simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight
+seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural
+than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing
+stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr.
+Lestrade of Scotland Yard."
+
+"You were not yourself at fault at all, then?"
+
+"From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that
+the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony,
+the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of
+returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the
+morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that
+something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was
+out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she
+seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America
+because she had spent so short a time in this country that she
+could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence
+over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change
+her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a
+process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an
+American. Then who could this American be, and why should he
+possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might
+be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in
+rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got
+before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us
+of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so
+transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a
+bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very
+significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance
+means taking possession of that which another person has a prior
+claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had
+gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a
+previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter."
+
+"And how in the world did you find them?"
+
+"It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held
+information in his hands the value of which he did not himself
+know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance,
+but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had
+settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels."
+
+"How did you deduce the select?"
+
+"By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence
+for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive
+hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate.
+In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I
+learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an
+American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking
+over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I
+had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded
+to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate
+enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them
+some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be
+better in every way that they should make their position a little
+clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in
+particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I
+made him keep the appointment."
+
+"But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was
+certainly not very gracious."
+
+"Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be
+very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and
+wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of
+fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully
+and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in
+the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for
+the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away
+these bleak autumnal evenings."
+
+
+
+XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET
+
+"Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking
+down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather
+sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone."
+
+My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands
+in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It
+was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day
+before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the
+wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed
+into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and
+on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as
+when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but
+was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer
+passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the
+Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman
+whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention.
+
+He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a
+massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was
+dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining
+hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet
+his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress
+and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little
+springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to
+set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and
+down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most
+extraordinary contortions.
+
+"What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is
+looking up at the numbers of the houses."
+
+"I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his
+hands.
+
+"Here?"
+
+"Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I
+think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As
+he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and
+pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the
+clanging.
+
+A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still
+gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in
+his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and
+pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his
+body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the
+extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his
+feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we
+both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room.
+Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting
+beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy,
+soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ.
+
+"You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he.
+"You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have
+recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into
+any little problem which you may submit to me."
+
+The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting
+against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his
+brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us.
+
+"No doubt you think me mad?" said he.
+
+"I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes.
+
+"God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my
+reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might
+have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet
+borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man;
+but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have
+been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone.
+The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found
+out of this horrible affair."
+
+"Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a
+clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen
+you."
+
+"My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your
+ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder &
+Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street."
+
+The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior
+partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City
+of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the
+foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We
+waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced
+himself to tell his story.
+
+"I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened
+here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure
+your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and
+hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this
+snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who
+takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the
+facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can.
+
+"It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking
+business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative
+investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection
+and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means
+of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security
+is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction
+during the last few years, and there are many noble families to
+whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their
+pictures, libraries, or plate.
+
+"Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a
+card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I
+saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps
+even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name
+which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest,
+noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the
+honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged
+at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry
+quickly through a disagreeable task.
+
+"'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the
+habit of advancing money.'
+
+"'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered.
+
+"'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have
+50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a
+sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it
+a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my
+position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place
+one's self under obligations.'
+
+"'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked.
+
+"'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most
+certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you
+think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the
+money should be paid at once.'
+
+"'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my
+own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be
+rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do
+it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must
+insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution
+should be taken.'
+
+"'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a
+square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair.
+'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?'
+
+"'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,'
+said I.
+
+"'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft,
+flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery
+which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said
+he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The
+lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the
+sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my
+security.'
+
+"I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some
+perplexity from it to my illustrious client.
+
+"'You doubt its value?' he asked.
+
+"'Not at all. I only doubt--'
+
+"'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest
+about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely
+certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a
+pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?'
+
+"'Ample.'
+
+"'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof
+of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I
+have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to
+refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to
+preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I
+need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any
+harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as
+serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the
+world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them.
+I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall
+call for it in person on Monday morning.'
+
+"Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but,
+calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000
+pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the
+precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not
+but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility
+which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it
+was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any
+misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever
+consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter
+the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned
+once more to my work.
+
+"When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave
+so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had
+been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how
+terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I
+determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always
+carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might
+never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a
+cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel
+with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs
+and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room.
+
+"And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to
+thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep
+out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three
+maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose
+absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy
+Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few
+months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has
+always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has
+attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place.
+That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we
+believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way.
+
+"So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it
+will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an
+only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr.
+Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am
+myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very
+likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I
+had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a
+moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it
+would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I
+meant it for the best.
+
+"It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my
+business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild,
+wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the
+handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a
+member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming
+manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long
+purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards
+and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again
+to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his
+allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried
+more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he
+was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir
+George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again.
+
+"And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George
+Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently
+brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could
+hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than
+Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been
+everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of
+great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far
+away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his
+cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that
+he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so,
+too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into
+character.
+
+"And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but
+when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the
+world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my
+daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful,
+a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and
+gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know
+what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone
+against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for
+he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I
+think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it
+would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his
+whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late!
+
+"Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and
+I shall continue with my miserable story.
+
+"When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after
+dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious
+treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name
+of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am
+sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed.
+Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous
+coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it.
+
+"'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur.
+
+"'In my own bureau.'
+
+"'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the
+night.' said he.
+
+"'It is locked up,' I answered.
+
+"'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I
+have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.'
+
+"He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of
+what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with
+a very grave face.
+
+"'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let
+me have 200 pounds?'
+
+"'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too
+generous with you in money matters.'
+
+"'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money,
+or else I can never show my face inside the club again.'
+
+"'And a very good thing, too!' I cried.
+
+"'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,'
+said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money
+in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try
+other means.'
+
+"I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the
+month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which
+he bowed and left the room without another word.
+
+"When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my
+treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go
+round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I
+usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform
+myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself
+at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as
+I approached.
+
+"'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little
+disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out
+to-night?'
+
+"'Certainly not.'
+
+"'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she
+has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that
+it is hardly safe and should be stopped.'
+
+"'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer
+it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?'
+
+"'Quite sure, dad.'
+
+"'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom
+again, where I was soon asleep.
+
+"I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may
+have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question
+me upon any point which I do not make clear."
+
+"On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid."
+
+"I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be
+particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety
+in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual.
+About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in
+the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an
+impression behind it as though a window had gently closed
+somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my
+horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in
+the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear,
+and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door.
+
+"'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you
+touch that coronet?'
+
+"The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy,
+dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the
+light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be
+wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry
+he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I
+snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with
+three of the beryls in it, was missing.
+
+"'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have
+destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the
+jewels which you have stolen?'
+
+"'Stolen!' he cried.
+
+"'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder.
+
+"'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he.
+
+"'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I
+call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to
+tear off another piece?'
+
+"'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it
+any longer. I shall not say another word about this business,
+since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in
+the morning and make my own way in the world.'
+
+"'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried
+half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to
+the bottom.'
+
+"'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such
+as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to
+call the police, let the police find what they can.'
+
+"By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my
+voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and,
+at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the
+whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the
+ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the
+investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a
+constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with
+his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge
+him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private
+matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was
+national property. I was determined that the law should have its
+way in everything.
+
+"'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It
+would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the
+house for five minutes.'
+
+"'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you
+have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position
+in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only
+my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at
+stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would
+convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell
+me what he had done with the three missing stones.
+
+"'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught
+in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous.
+If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling
+us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.'
+
+"'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered,
+turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened
+for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for
+it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search
+was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of
+every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed
+the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the
+wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our
+threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after
+going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to
+you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter.
+The police have openly confessed that they can at present make
+nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think
+necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My
+God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son
+in one night. Oh, what shall I do!"
+
+He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to
+and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got
+beyond words.
+
+Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows
+knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire.
+
+"Do you receive much company?" he asked.
+
+"None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of
+Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No
+one else, I think."
+
+"Do you go out much in society?"
+
+"Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for
+it."
+
+"That is unusual in a young girl."
+
+"She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She
+is four-and-twenty."
+
+"This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to
+her also."
+
+"Terrible! She is even more affected than I."
+
+"You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?"
+
+"How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet
+in his hands."
+
+"I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of
+the coronet at all injured?"
+
+"Yes, it was twisted."
+
+"Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to
+straighten it?"
+
+"God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me.
+But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If
+his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?"
+
+"Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie?
+His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several
+singular points about the case. What did the police think of the
+noise which awoke you from your sleep?"
+
+"They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his
+bedroom door."
+
+"A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door
+so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the
+disappearance of these gems?"
+
+"They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture
+in the hope of finding them."
+
+"Have they thought of looking outside the house?"
+
+"Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has
+already been minutely examined."
+
+"Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now
+that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you
+or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you
+to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider
+what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came
+down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room,
+opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main
+force a small portion of it, went off to some other place,
+concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that
+nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six
+into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger
+of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?"
+
+"But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of
+despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain
+them?"
+
+"It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if
+you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together,
+and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into
+details."
+
+My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition,
+which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy
+were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I
+confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be
+as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such
+faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some
+grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted
+explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the
+southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his
+hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client
+appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope
+which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a
+desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway
+journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest
+residence of the great financier.
+
+Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing
+back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a
+snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates
+which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden
+thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges
+stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the
+tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the
+stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a
+public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing
+at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the
+front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden
+behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I
+went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should
+return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and
+a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height,
+slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against
+the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever
+seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were
+bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept
+silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of
+grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the
+more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong
+character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding
+my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand
+over his head with a sweet womanly caress.
+
+"You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you
+not, dad?" she asked.
+
+"No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom."
+
+"But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's
+instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will
+be sorry for having acted so harshly."
+
+"Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?"
+
+"Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should
+suspect him."
+
+"How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with
+the coronet in his hand?"
+
+"Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take
+my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say
+no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in
+prison!"
+
+"I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary!
+Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences
+to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman
+down from London to inquire more deeply into it."
+
+"This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me.
+
+"No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in
+the stable lane now."
+
+"The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he
+hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir,
+that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth,
+that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime."
+
+"I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may
+prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the
+snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing
+Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?"
+
+"Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up."
+
+"You heard nothing yourself last night?"
+
+"Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard
+that, and I came down."
+
+"You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you
+fasten all the windows?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Were they all fastened this morning?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked
+to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?"
+
+"Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and
+who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet."
+
+"I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her
+sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery."
+
+"But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the
+banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with
+the coronet in his hands?"
+
+"Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this
+girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I
+presume?"
+
+"Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I
+met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom."
+
+"Do you know him?"
+
+"Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round.
+His name is Francis Prosper."
+
+"He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to
+say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?"
+
+"Yes, he did."
+
+"And he is a man with a wooden leg?"
+
+Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive
+black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you
+know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in
+Holmes' thin, eager face.
+
+"I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall
+probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps
+I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up."
+
+He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at
+the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane.
+This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill
+with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs,"
+said he at last.
+
+The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little
+chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror.
+Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock.
+
+"Which key was used to open it?" he asked.
+
+"That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the
+lumber-room."
+
+"Have you it here?"
+
+"That is it on the dressing-table."
+
+Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau.
+
+"It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did
+not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must
+have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem
+he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the
+jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I
+have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge,
+where a corner holding three gems had been torn away.
+
+"Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which
+corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I
+beg that you will break it off."
+
+The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying,"
+said he.
+
+"Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but
+without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though
+I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my
+time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do
+you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would
+be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this
+happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard
+nothing of it?"
+
+"I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me."
+
+"But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think,
+Miss Holder?"
+
+"I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity."
+
+"Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?"
+
+"He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt."
+
+"Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary
+luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault
+if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your
+permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations
+outside."
+
+He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any
+unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an
+hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet
+heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever.
+
+"I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr.
+Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my
+rooms."
+
+"But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?"
+
+"I cannot tell."
+
+The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he
+cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?"
+
+"My opinion is in no way altered."
+
+"Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was
+acted in my house last night?"
+
+"If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow
+morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to
+make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to
+act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you
+place no limit on the sum I may draw."
+
+"I would give my fortune to have them back."
+
+"Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then.
+Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here
+again before evening."
+
+It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up
+about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than
+I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward
+journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always
+glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in
+despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our
+rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in
+a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned
+up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he
+was a perfect sample of the class.
+
+"I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass
+above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me,
+Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in
+this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I
+shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few
+hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard,
+sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this
+rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition.
+
+I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in
+excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his
+hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a
+cup of tea.
+
+"I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on."
+
+"Where to?"
+
+"Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time
+before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be
+late."
+
+"How are you getting on?"
+
+"Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham
+since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a
+very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a
+good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get
+these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly
+respectable self."
+
+I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for
+satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled,
+and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He
+hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of
+the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his
+congenial hunt.
+
+I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so
+I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away
+for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that
+his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he
+came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there
+he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the
+other, as fresh and trim as possible.
+
+"You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but
+you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this
+morning."
+
+"Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be
+surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring."
+
+It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the
+change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally
+of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in,
+while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered
+with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than
+his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into
+the armchair which I pushed forward for him.
+
+"I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said
+he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without
+a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured
+age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece,
+Mary, has deserted me."
+
+"Deserted you?"
+
+"Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was
+empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to
+her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had
+married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was
+thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers
+in this note:
+
+"'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you,
+and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune
+might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my
+mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must
+leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is
+provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will
+be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in
+death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.'
+
+"What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it
+points to suicide?"
+
+"No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible
+solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of
+your troubles."
+
+"Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have
+learned something! Where are the gems?"
+
+"You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for
+them?"
+
+"I would pay ten."
+
+"That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter.
+And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book?
+Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds."
+
+With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes
+walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of
+gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table.
+
+With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up.
+
+"You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!"
+
+The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and
+he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom.
+
+"There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock
+Holmes rather sternly.
+
+"Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it."
+
+"No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that
+noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I
+should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to
+have one."
+
+"Then it was not Arthur who took them?"
+
+"I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not."
+
+"You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him
+know that the truth is known."
+
+"He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an
+interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the
+story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was
+right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite
+clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his
+lips."
+
+"For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary
+mystery!"
+
+"I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached
+it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me
+to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding
+between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now
+fled together."
+
+"My Mary? Impossible!"
+
+"It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither
+you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you
+admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most
+dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely
+desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece
+knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he
+had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she
+alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said,
+but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing
+him nearly every evening."
+
+"I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an
+ashen face.
+
+"I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night.
+Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room,
+slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which
+leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right
+through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the
+coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he
+bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but
+there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all
+other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had
+hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming
+downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you
+about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover,
+which was all perfectly true.
+
+"Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but
+he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts.
+In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door,
+so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin
+walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared
+into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad
+slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what
+would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the
+room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw
+that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed
+down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and
+slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see
+what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the
+window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then
+closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close
+to where he stood hid behind the curtain.
+
+"As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action
+without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the
+instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune
+this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it
+right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened
+the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane,
+where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George
+Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was
+a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the
+coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son
+struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something
+suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet
+in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your
+room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in
+the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you
+appeared upon the scene."
+
+"Is it possible?" gasped the banker.
+
+"You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when
+he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not
+explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who
+certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He
+took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her
+secret."
+
+"And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the
+coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have
+been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes!
+The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the
+scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!"
+
+"When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went
+very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in
+the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since
+the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost
+to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but
+found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it,
+however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood
+and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed
+that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been
+disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was
+shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had
+waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time
+that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had
+already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed
+round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks,
+which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable
+lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in
+front of me.
+
+"There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second
+double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked
+feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the
+latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the
+other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over
+the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed
+after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the
+hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while
+waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred
+yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round,
+where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle,
+and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me
+that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and
+another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been
+hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that
+the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue.
+
+"On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the
+sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could
+at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the
+outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming
+in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what
+had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had
+brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had
+pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged
+at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which
+neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the
+prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So
+far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who
+was it brought him the coronet?
+
+"It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the
+impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the
+truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down,
+so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were
+the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in
+their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his
+cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should
+retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful
+one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and
+how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture
+became a certainty.
+
+"And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently,
+for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must
+feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your
+circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir
+George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil
+reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots
+and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur
+had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was
+safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his
+own family.
+
+"Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took
+next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house,
+managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that
+his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at
+the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of
+his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and
+saw that they exactly fitted the tracks."
+
+"I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening,"
+said Mr. Holder.
+
+"Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home
+and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to
+play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert
+scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our
+hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of
+course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every
+particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a
+life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I
+clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he
+became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give
+him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That
+brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why,
+dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the
+three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had
+them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I
+set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000
+pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all
+was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after
+what I may call a really hard day's work."
+
+"A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said
+the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but
+you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your
+skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I
+must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I
+have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my
+very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now."
+
+"I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is
+wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that
+whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than
+sufficient punishment."
+
+
+
+XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES
+
+"To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock
+Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily
+Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest
+manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is
+pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped
+this truth that in these little records of our cases which you
+have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say,
+occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much
+to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I
+have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been
+trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those
+faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made
+my special province."
+
+"And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved
+from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my
+records."
+
+"You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing
+cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood
+pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a
+disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred
+perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your
+statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing
+upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is
+really the only notable feature about the thing."
+
+"It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter,"
+I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism
+which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my
+friend's singular character.
+
+"No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as
+was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full
+justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a
+thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it
+is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should
+dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of
+lectures into a series of tales."
+
+It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after
+breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at
+Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of
+dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark,
+shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit
+and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for
+the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been
+silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the
+advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last,
+having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very
+sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings.
+
+"At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he
+had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire,
+"you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of
+these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself
+in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense,
+at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King
+of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the
+problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the
+incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are
+outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I
+fear that you may have bordered on the trivial."
+
+"The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold
+to have been novel and of interest."
+
+"Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant
+public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a
+compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of
+analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot
+blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at
+least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As
+to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an
+agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to
+young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched
+bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my
+zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across
+to me.
+
+It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and
+ran thus:
+
+"DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether
+I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered
+to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I
+do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully,
+                                               "VIOLET HUNTER."
+
+"Do you know the young lady?" I asked.
+
+"Not I."
+
+"It is half-past ten now."
+
+"Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring."
+
+"It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You
+remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to
+be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation.
+It may be so in this case, also."
+
+"Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved,
+for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question."
+
+As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room.
+She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face,
+freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a
+woman who has had her own way to make in the world.
+
+"You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my
+companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange
+experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort
+from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be
+kind enough to tell me what I should do."
+
+"Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything
+that I can to serve you."
+
+I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner
+and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching
+fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and
+his finger-tips together, to listen to her story.
+
+"I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the
+family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel
+received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his
+children over to America with him, so that I found myself without
+a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but
+without success. At last the little money which I had saved began
+to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do.
+
+"There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End
+called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in
+order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me.
+Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is
+really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office,
+and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom,
+and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers
+and sees whether she has anything which would suit them.
+
+"Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office
+as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A
+prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy
+chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at
+her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very
+earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a
+jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper.
+
+"'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better.
+Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his
+hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a
+comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at
+him.
+
+"'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked.
+
+"'Yes, sir.'
+
+"'As governess?'
+
+"'Yes, sir.'
+
+"'And what salary do you ask?'
+
+"'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence
+Munro.'
+
+"'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his
+fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling
+passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with
+such attractions and accomplishments?'
+
+"'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I.
+'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--'
+
+"'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question.
+The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment
+of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are
+not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a
+considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have
+why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to
+accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me,
+madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.'
+
+"You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was,
+such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman,
+however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face,
+opened a pocket-book and took out a note.
+
+"'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant
+fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid
+the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies
+half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little
+expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.'
+
+"It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so
+thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the
+advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something
+unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know
+a little more before I quite committed myself.
+
+"'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I.
+
+"'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles
+on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my
+dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.'
+
+"'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would
+be.'
+
+"'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if
+you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack!
+smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back
+in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again.
+
+"I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement,
+but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was
+joking.
+
+"'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single
+child?'
+
+"'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he
+cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would
+suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided
+always that they were such commands as a lady might with
+propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?'
+
+"'I should be happy to make myself useful.'
+
+"'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you
+know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress
+which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim.
+Heh?'
+
+"'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words.
+
+"'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to
+you?'
+
+"'Oh, no.'
+
+"'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?'
+
+"I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes,
+my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of
+chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of
+sacrificing it in this offhand fashion.
+
+"'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been
+watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a
+shadow pass over his face as I spoke.
+
+"'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a
+little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam,
+ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your
+hair?'
+
+"'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly.
+
+"'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a
+pity, because in other respects you would really have done very
+nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more
+of your young ladies.'
+
+"The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers
+without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so
+much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting
+that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal.
+
+"'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked.
+
+"'If you please, Miss Stoper.'
+
+"'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the
+most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You
+can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such
+opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong
+upon the table, and I was shown out by the page.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found
+little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the
+table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very
+foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and
+expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were
+at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few
+governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides,
+what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing
+it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was
+inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after
+I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go
+back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open
+when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it
+here and I will read it to you:
+
+                       "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester.
+"'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your
+address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have
+reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you
+should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of
+you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a
+year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which
+our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My
+wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would
+like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need
+not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one
+belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which
+would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting
+here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that
+need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no
+doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty
+during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain
+firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary
+may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child
+is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall
+meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train.
+Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.'
+
+"That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and
+my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however,
+that before taking the final step I should like to submit the
+whole matter to your consideration."
+
+"Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the
+question," said Holmes, smiling.
+
+"But you would not advise me to refuse?"
+
+"I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to
+see a sister of mine apply for."
+
+"What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself
+formed some opinion?"
+
+"Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr.
+Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not
+possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the
+matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that
+he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an
+outbreak?"
+
+"That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is
+the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a
+nice household for a young lady."
+
+"But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!"
+
+"Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what
+makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when
+they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some
+strong reason behind."
+
+"I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would
+understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so
+much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me."
+
+"Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that
+your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has
+come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel
+about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt
+or in danger--"
+
+"Danger! What danger do you foresee?"
+
+Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if
+we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a
+telegram would bring me down to your help."
+
+"That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the
+anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire
+quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once,
+sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester
+to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both
+good-night and bustled off upon her way.
+
+"At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending
+the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able
+to take care of herself."
+
+"And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much
+mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past."
+
+It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled.
+A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts
+turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of
+human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual
+salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to
+something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether
+the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond
+my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat
+frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an
+abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his
+hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried
+impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would
+always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever
+have accepted such a situation.
+
+The telegram which we eventually received came late one night
+just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down
+to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently
+indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a
+test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came
+down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope,
+and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me.
+
+"Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back
+to his chemical studies.
+
+The summons was a brief and urgent one.
+
+"Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday
+to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end.  HUNTER."
+
+"Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up.
+
+"I should wish to."
+
+"Just look it up, then."
+
+"There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my
+Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30."
+
+"That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my
+analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the
+morning."
+
+By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the
+old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers
+all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he
+threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal
+spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white
+clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining
+very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air,
+which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside,
+away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and
+grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light
+green of the new foliage.
+
+"Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the
+enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street.
+
+But Holmes shook his head gravely.
+
+"Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of
+a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with
+reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered
+houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them,
+and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their
+isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed
+there."
+
+"Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these
+dear old homesteads?"
+
+"They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief,
+Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest
+alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin
+than does the smiling and beautiful countryside."
+
+"You horrify me!"
+
+"But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion
+can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no
+lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of
+a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among
+the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever
+so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is
+but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these
+lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part
+with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the
+deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on,
+year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this
+lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I
+should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of
+country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is
+not personally threatened."
+
+"No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away."
+
+"Quite so. She has her freedom."
+
+"What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?"
+
+"I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would
+cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is
+correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we
+shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of
+the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has
+to tell."
+
+The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no
+distance from the station, and there we found the young lady
+waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch
+awaited us upon the table.
+
+"I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It
+is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I
+should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me."
+
+"Pray tell us what has happened to you."
+
+"I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr.
+Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into
+town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose."
+
+"Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long
+thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen.
+
+"In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole,
+with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is
+only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and
+I am not easy in my mind about them."
+
+"What can you not understand?"
+
+"Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just
+as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and
+drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he
+said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself,
+for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all
+stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds
+round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which
+slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about
+a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs
+to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord
+Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in
+front of the hall door has given its name to the place.
+
+"I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever,
+and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child.
+There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to
+us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is
+not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much
+younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think,
+while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their
+conversation I have gathered that they have been married about
+seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by
+the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr.
+Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them
+was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As
+the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite
+imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her
+father's young wife.
+
+"Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as
+in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse.
+She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately
+devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey
+eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every
+little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her
+also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they
+seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow,
+this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the
+saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her
+in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of
+her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so
+utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small
+for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large.
+His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between
+savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving
+pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea
+of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning
+the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would
+rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he
+has little to do with my story."
+
+"I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they
+seem to you to be relevant or not."
+
+"I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one
+unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was
+the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a
+man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough,
+uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual
+smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been
+quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it.
+His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as
+silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most
+unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the
+nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one
+corner of the building.
+
+"For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was
+very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after
+breakfast and whispered something to her husband.
+
+"'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to
+you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut
+your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest
+iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue
+dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in
+your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should
+both be extremely obliged.'
+
+"The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade
+of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it
+bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not
+have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr.
+and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which
+seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for
+me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching
+along the entire front of the house, with three long windows
+reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the
+central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was
+asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the
+other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest
+stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how
+comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs.
+Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so
+much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad,
+anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle
+suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the
+day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in
+the nursery.
+
+"Two days later this same performance was gone through under
+exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I
+sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny
+stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which
+he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and
+moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not
+fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for
+about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then
+suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and
+to change my dress.
+
+"You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to
+what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly
+be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face
+away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire
+to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be
+impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been
+broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of
+the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst
+of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able
+with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I
+confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that
+was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I
+perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road,
+a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in
+my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are
+usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the
+railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I
+lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her
+eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing,
+but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my
+hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once.
+
+"'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the
+road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.'
+
+"'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked.
+
+"'No, I know no one in these parts.'
+
+"'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to
+him to go away.'
+
+"'Surely it would be better to take no notice.'
+
+"'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn
+round and wave him away like that.'
+
+"I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew
+down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have
+not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor
+seen the man in the road."
+
+"Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a
+most interesting one."
+
+"You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may
+prove to be little relation between the different incidents of
+which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper
+Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands
+near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp
+rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving
+about.
+
+"'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two
+planks. 'Is he not a beauty?'
+
+"I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a
+vague figure huddled up in the darkness.
+
+"'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start
+which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine,
+but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do
+anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then,
+so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose
+every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs
+upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your
+foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life
+is worth.'
+
+"The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to
+look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning.
+It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the
+house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was
+standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was
+aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper
+beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It
+was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging
+jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly
+across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side.
+That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not
+think that any burglar could have done.
+
+"And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as
+you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a
+great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the
+child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the
+furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things.
+There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones
+empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two
+with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was
+naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It
+struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight,
+so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very
+first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There
+was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never
+guess what it was. It was my coil of hair.
+
+"I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint,
+and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing
+obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in
+the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the
+contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two
+tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was
+it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at
+all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer,
+and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that
+I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had
+locked.
+
+"I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes,
+and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head.
+There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited
+at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of
+the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked.
+One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle
+coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on
+his face which made him a very different person to the round,
+jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his
+brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his
+temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me
+without a word or a look.
+
+"This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the
+grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I
+could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four
+of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the
+fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I
+strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle
+came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever.
+
+"'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you
+without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with
+business matters.'
+
+"I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I,
+'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one
+of them has the shutters up.'
+
+"He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled
+at my remark.
+
+"'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my
+dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we
+have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever
+believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest
+in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and
+annoyance, but no jest.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there
+was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know,
+I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity,
+though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a
+feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this
+place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's
+instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there,
+and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the
+forbidden door.
+
+"It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that,
+besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to
+do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large
+black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been
+drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when
+I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at
+all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both
+downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an
+admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock,
+opened the door, and slipped through.
+
+"There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and
+uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end.
+Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third
+of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and
+cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so
+thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through
+them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it
+had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked
+at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with
+stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was
+not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the
+shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from
+beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was
+a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the
+passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it
+might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room
+and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little
+slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad,
+unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My
+overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran
+as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the
+skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door,
+and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting
+outside.
+
+"'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it
+must be when I saw the door open.'
+
+"'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted.
+
+"'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how
+caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened
+you, my dear young lady?'
+
+"But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I
+was keenly on my guard against him.
+
+"'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered.
+'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was
+frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in
+there!'
+
+"'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly.
+
+"'Why, what did you think?' I asked.
+
+"'Why do you think that I lock this door?'
+
+"'I am sure that I do not know.'
+
+"'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you
+see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner.
+
+"'I am sure if I had known--'
+
+"'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over
+that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into
+a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a
+demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.'
+
+"I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that
+I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing
+until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I
+thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without
+some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the
+woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible
+to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of
+course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was
+almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would
+send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the
+office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then
+returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my
+mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I
+remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of
+insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one
+in the household who had any influence with the savage creature,
+or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and
+lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you.
+I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this
+morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and
+Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the
+evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you
+all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you
+could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should
+do."
+
+Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story.
+My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in
+his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon
+his face.
+
+"Is Toller still drunk?" he asked.
+
+"Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do
+nothing with him."
+
+"That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?"
+
+"Yes, the wine-cellar."
+
+"You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very
+brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could
+perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not
+think you a quite exceptional woman."
+
+"I will try. What is it?"
+
+"We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend
+and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will,
+we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might
+give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some
+errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate
+matters immensely."
+
+"I will do it."
+
+"Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of
+course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been
+brought there to personate someone, and the real person is
+imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this
+prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice
+Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to
+America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height,
+figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very
+possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of
+course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you
+came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some
+friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore
+the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your
+laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture,
+that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer
+desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent
+him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly
+clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of
+the child."
+
+"What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated.
+
+"My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining
+light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the
+parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have
+frequently gained my first real insight into the character of
+parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is
+abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he
+derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or
+from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their
+power."
+
+"I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A
+thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you
+have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to
+this poor creature."
+
+"We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning
+man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall
+be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the
+mystery."
+
+We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we
+reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside
+public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining
+like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were
+sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been
+standing smiling on the door-step.
+
+"Have you managed it?" asked Holmes.
+
+A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is
+Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring
+on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates
+of Mr. Rucastle's."
+
+"You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now
+lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black
+business."
+
+We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a
+passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss
+Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the
+transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but
+without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence
+Holmes' face clouded over.
+
+"I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss
+Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put
+your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our
+way in."
+
+It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united
+strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There
+was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a
+basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner
+gone.
+
+"There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty
+has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim
+off."
+
+"But how?"
+
+"Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He
+swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the
+end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did
+it."
+
+"But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not
+there when the Rucastles went away."
+
+"He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and
+dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were
+he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it
+would be as well for you to have your pistol ready."
+
+The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at
+the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy
+stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the
+wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and
+confronted him.
+
+"You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?"
+
+The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open
+skylight.
+
+"It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies
+and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll
+serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he
+could go.
+
+"He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter.
+
+"I have my revolver," said I.
+
+"Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed
+down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we
+heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a
+horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An
+elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out
+at a side door.
+
+"My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been
+fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!"
+
+Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with
+Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its
+black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and
+screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and
+it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great
+creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and
+carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid
+him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered
+Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to
+relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door
+opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room.
+
+"Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter.
+
+"Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he
+went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know
+what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains
+were wasted."
+
+"Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs.
+Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else."
+
+"Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know."
+
+"Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several
+points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark."
+
+"I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done
+so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's
+police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the
+one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend
+too.
+
+"She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time
+that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no
+say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until
+after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could
+learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so
+quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them
+but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was
+safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming
+forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then
+her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to
+sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use
+her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until
+she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then
+she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her
+beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her
+young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be."
+
+"Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough
+to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce
+all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this
+system of imprisonment?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of
+the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler."
+
+"That was it, sir."
+
+"But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should
+be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain
+arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your
+interests were the same as his."
+
+"Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said
+Mrs. Toller serenely.
+
+"And in this way he managed that your good man should have no
+want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment
+when your master had gone out."
+
+"You have it, sir, just as it happened."
+
+"I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for
+you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And
+here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think,
+Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester,
+as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a
+questionable one."
+
+And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the
+copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but
+was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of
+his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who
+probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it
+difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were
+married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their
+flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in
+the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend
+Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further
+interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one
+of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at
+Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by 
+Arthur Conan Doyle
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