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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml-model href="../schema/novelSchema.rnc" type="application/relax-ng-compact-syntax"?> <book> <header> <title>A STUDY IN SCARLET</title> By <author>A. Conan Doyle</author> </header> <tableOfContents> A STUDY IN SCARLET PART I. CHAPTER I. MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES. CHAPTER II. THE SCIENCE OF DEDUCTION. CHAPTER III. THE LAURISTON GARDENS MYSTERY CHAPTER IV. WHAT JOHN RANCE HAD TO TELL. CHAPTER V. OUR ADVERTISEMENT BRINGS A VISITOR. CHAPTER VI. TOBIAS GREGSON SHOWS WHAT HE CAN DO. CHAPTER VII. LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS. PART II. THE COUNTRY OF THE SAINTS CHAPTER I. ON THE GREAT ALKALI PLAIN. CHAPTER II. THE FLOWER OF UTAH. CHAPTER III. JOHN FERRIER TALKS WITH THE PROPHET. CHAPTER IV. A FLIGHT FOR LIFE. CHAPTER V. THE AVENGING ANGELS. CHAPTER VI. A CONTINUATION OF THE REMINISCENCES OF JOHN WATSON, M.D. CHAPTER VII. THE CONCLUSION. </tableOfContents> <title>A STUDY IN SCARLET</title> <part num="I"> <partTitle>Being a reprint from the Reminiscences of_ JOHN H. WATSON, M.D., Late of the Army Medical Department. </partTitle> <chapter id="1" num="I"> <chapterTitle>MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES</chapterTitle> In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army. Having completed my studies there, I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon. The regiment was stationed in India at the time, and before I could join it, the second Afghan war had broken out. On landing at Bombay, I learned that my corps had advanced through the passes, and was already deep in the enemy’s country. I followed, however, with many other officers who were in the same situation as myself, and succeeded in reaching Candahar in safety, where I found my regiment, and at once entered upon my new duties. The campaign brought honours and promotion to many, but for me it had nothing but misfortune and disaster. I was removed from my brigade and attached to the Berkshires, with whom I served at the fatal battle of Maiwand. There I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery. I should have fallen into the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for the devotion and courage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across a pack-horse, and succeeded in bringing me safely to the British lines. Worn with pain, and weak from the prolonged hardships which I had undergone, I was removed, with a great train of wounded sufferers, to the base hospital at Peshawar. Here I rallied, and had already improved so far as to be able to walk about the wards, and even to bask a little upon the verandah, when I was struck down by enteric fever, that curse of our Indian possessions. For months my life was despaired of, and when at last I came to myself and became convalescent, I was so weak and emaciated that a medical board determined that not a day should be lost in sending me back to England. I was dispatched, accordingly, in the troopship "Orontes," and landed a month later on Portsmouth jetty, with my health irretrievably ruined, but with permission from a paternal government to spend the next nine months in attempting to improve it. I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air—or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be. Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained. There I stayed for some time at a private hotel in the Strand, leading a comfortless, meaningless existence, and spending such money as I had, considerably more freely than I ought. So alarming did the state of my finances become, that I soon realized that I must either leave the metropolis and rusticate somewhere in the country, or that I must make a complete alteration in my style of living. Choosing the latter alternative, I began by making up my mind to leave the hotel, and to take up my quarters in some less pretentious and less expensive domicile. On the very day that I had come to this conclusion, I was standing at the Criterion Bar, when some one tapped me on the shoulder, and turning round I recognized young <person perName="Stamford">Stamford</person>, who had been a dresser under me at Barts. The sight of a friendly face in the great wilderness of London is a pleasant thing indeed to a lonely man. In old days <person perName="Stamford">Stamford</person> had never been a particular crony of mine, but now I hailed him with enthusiasm, and he, in his turn, appeared to be delighted to see me. In the exuberance of my joy, I asked him to lunch with me at the Holborn, and we started off together in a hansom. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">Whatever have you been doing with yourself, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>?</quote> he asked in undisguised wonder, as we rattled through the crowded London streets. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">You are as thin as a lath and as brown as a nut.</quote> I gave him a short sketch of my adventures, and had hardly concluded it by the time that we reached our destination. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">Poor devil!</quote> he said, commiseratingly, after he had listened to my misfortunes. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">What are you up to now?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Looking for lodgings,</quote> I answered. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Trying to solve the problem as to whether it is possible to get comfortable rooms at a reasonable price.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Stamford">That’s a strange thing,</quote> remarked my companion; <quote spokeBy="Stamford">you are the second man to-day that has used that expression to me.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And who was the first?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">A fellow who is working at the chemical laboratory up at the hospital. He was bemoaning himself this morning because he could not get someone to go halves with him in some nice rooms which he had found, and which were too much for his purse.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">By Jove!</quote> I cried, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">if he really wants someone to share the rooms and the expense, I am the very man for him. I should prefer having a partner to being alone.</quote> Young <person perName="Stamford">Stamford</person> looked rather strangely at me over his wine-glass. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">You don’t know <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> yet,</quote> he said; <quote spokeBy="Stamford">perhaps you would not care for him as a constant companion.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Why, what is there against him?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Stamford">Oh, I didn’t say there was anything against him. He is a little queer in his ideas—an enthusiast in some branches of science. As far as I know he is a decent fellow enough.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">A medical student, I suppose?</quote> said I. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">No—I have no idea what he intends to go in for. I believe he is well up in anatomy, and he is a first-class chemist; but, as far as I know, he has never taken out any systematic medical classes. His studies are very desultory and eccentric, but he has amassed a lot of out-of-the way knowledge which would astonish his professors.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Did you never ask him what he was going in for?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">No; he is not a man that it is easy to draw out, though he can be communicative enough when the fancy seizes him.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I should like to meet him,</quote> I said. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">If I am to lodge with anyone, I should prefer a man of studious and quiet habits. I am not strong enough yet to stand much noise or excitement. I had enough of both in Afghanistan to last me for the remainder of my natural existence. How could I meet this friend of yours?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Stamford">He is sure to be at the laboratory,</quote> returned my companion. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">He either avoids the place for weeks, or else he works there from morning to night. If you like, we shall drive round together after luncheon.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Certainly,</quote> I answered, and the conversation drifted away into other channels. As we made our way to the hospital after leaving the Holborn, <person perName="Stamford">Stamford</person> gave me a few more particulars about the gentleman whom I proposed to take as a fellow-lodger. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">You mustn’t blame me if you don’t get on with him,</quote> he said; <quote spokeBy="Stamford">I know nothing more of him than I have learned from meeting him occasionally in the laboratory. You proposed this arrangement, so you must not hold me responsible.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">If we don’t get on it will be easy to part company,</quote> I answered. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It seems to me, <person perName="Stamford">Stamford</person>,</quote> I added, looking hard at my companion, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">that you have some reason for washing your hands of the matter. Is this fellow’s temper so formidable, or what is it? Don’t be mealy-mouthed about it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Stamford">It is not easy to express the inexpressible,</quote> he answered with a laugh. <quote spokeBy="Stamford"><person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> is a little too scientific for my tastes—it approaches to cold-bloodedness. I could imagine his giving a friend a little pinch of the latest vegetable alkaloid, not out of malevolence, you understand, but simply out of a spirit of inquiry in order to have an accurate idea of the effects. To do him justice, I think that he would take it himself with the same readiness. He appears to have a passion for definite and exact knowledge.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Very right too.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Stamford">Yes, but it may be pushed to excess. When it comes to beating the subjects in the dissecting-rooms with a stick, it is certainly taking rather a bizarre shape.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Beating the subjects!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Stamford">Yes, to verify how far bruises may be produced after death. I saw him at it with my own eyes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And yet you say he is not a medical student?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Stamford">No. Heaven knows what the objects of his studies are. But here we are, and you must form your own impressions about him.</quote> As he spoke, we turned down a narrow lane and passed through a small side-door, which opened into a wing of the great hospital. It was familiar ground to me, and I needed no guiding as we ascended the bleak stone staircase and made our way down the long corridor with its vista of whitewashed wall and dun-coloured doors. Near the further end a low arched passage branched away from it and led to the chemical laboratory. This was a lofty chamber, lined and littered with countless bottles. Broad, low tables were scattered about, which bristled with retorts, test-tubes, and little Bunsen lamps, with their blue flickering flames. There was only one student in the room, who was bending over a distant table absorbed in his work. At the sound of our steps he glanced round and sprang to his feet with a cry of pleasure. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">I’ve found it! I’ve found it,</quote> he shouted to my companion, running towards us with a test-tube in his hand. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">I have found a re-agent which is precipitated by hæmoglobin, and by nothing else.</quote> Had he discovered a gold mine, greater delight could not have shone upon his features. <quote spokeBy="Stamford"><person perName="John_Watson">Dr. Watson</person>, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Stamford">Stamford</person>, introducing us. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">How are you?</quote> he said cordially, gripping my hand with a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">How on earth did you know that?</quote> I asked in astonishment. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Never mind,</quote> said he, chuckling to himself. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The question now is about hæmoglobin. No doubt you see the significance of this discovery of mine?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It is interesting, chemically, no doubt,</quote> I answered, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">but practically——</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Why, man, it is the most practical medico-legal discovery for years. Don’t you see that it gives us an infallible test for blood stains. Come over here now!</quote> He seized me by the coat-sleeve in his eagerness, and drew me over to the table at which he had been working. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Let us have some fresh blood,</quote> he said, digging a long bodkin into his finger, and drawing off the resulting drop of blood in a chemical pipette. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now, I add this small quantity of blood to a litre of water. You perceive that the resulting mixture has the appearance of pure water. The proportion of blood cannot be more than one in a million. I have no doubt, however, that we shall be able to obtain the characteristic reaction.</quote> As he spoke, he threw into the vessel a few white crystals, and then added some drops of a transparent fluid. In an instant the contents assumed a dull mahogany colour, and a brownish dust was precipitated to the bottom of the glass jar. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ha! ha!</quote> he cried, clapping his hands, and looking as delighted as a child with a new toy. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What do you think of that?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It seems to be a very delicate test,</quote> I remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Beautiful! beautiful! The old Guiacum test was very clumsy and uncertain. So is the microscopic examination for blood corpuscles. The latter is valueless if the stains are a few hours old. Now, this appears to act as well whether the blood is old or new. Had this test been invented, there are hundreds of men now walking the earth who would long ago have paid the penalty of their crimes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Indeed!</quote> I murmured. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Criminal cases are continually hinging upon that one point. A man is suspected of a crime months perhaps after it has been committed. His linen or clothes are examined, and brownish stains discovered upon them. Are they blood stains, or mud stains, or rust stains, or fruit stains, or what are they? That is a question which has puzzled many an expert, and why? Because there was no reliable test. Now we have the <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>’ test, and there will no longer be any difficulty.</quote> His eyes fairly glittered as he spoke, and he put his hand over his heart and bowed as if to some applauding crowd conjured up by his imagination. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You are to be congratulated,</quote> I remarked, considerably surprised at his enthusiasm. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There was the case of Von Bischoff at Frankfort last year. He would certainly have been hung had this test been in existence. Then there was Mason of Bradford, and the notorious Muller, and Lefevre of Montpellier, and Samson of New Orleans. I could name a score of cases in which it would have been decisive.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Stamford">You seem to be a walking calendar of crime,</quote> said <person perName="Stamford">Stamford</person> with a laugh. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">You might start a paper on those lines. Call it the ‘Police News of the Past.’</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Very interesting reading it might be made, too,</quote> remarked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, sticking a small piece of plaster over the prick on his finger. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have to be careful,</quote> he continued, turning to me with a smile, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">for I dabble with poisons a good deal.</quote> He held out his hand as he spoke, and I noticed that it was all mottled over with similar pieces of plaster, and discoloured with strong acids. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">We came here on business,</quote> said <person perName="Stamford">Stamford</person>, sitting down on a high three-legged stool, and pushing another one in my direction with his foot. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">My friend here wants to take diggings, and as you were complaining that you could get no one to go halves with you, I thought that I had better bring you together.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> seemed delighted at the idea of sharing his rooms with me. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have my eye on a suite in Baker Street,</quote> he said, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">which would suit us down to the ground. You don’t mind the smell of strong tobacco, I hope?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I always smoke ‘ship’s’ myself,</quote> I answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That’s good enough. I generally have chemicals about, and occasionally do experiments. Would that annoy you?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">By no means.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Let me see—what are my other shortcomings. I get in the dumps at times, and don’t open my mouth for days on end. You must not think I am sulky when I do that. Just let me alone, and I’ll soon be right. What have you to confess now? It’s just as well for two fellows to know the worst of one another before they begin to live together.</quote> I laughed at this cross-examination. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I keep a bull pup,</quote> I said, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">and I object to rows because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of ungodly hours, and I am extremely lazy. I have another set of vices when I’m well, but those are the principal ones at present.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Do you include violin-playing in your category of rows?</quote> he asked, anxiously. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It depends on the player,</quote> I answered. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">A well-played violin is a treat for the gods—a badly-played one——</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, that’s all right,</quote> he cried, with a merry laugh. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I think we may consider the thing as settled—that is, if the rooms are agreeable to you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">When shall we see them?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Call for me here at noon to-morrow, and we’ll go together and settle everything,</quote> he answered. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">All right—noon exactly,</quote> said I, shaking his hand. We left him working among his chemicals, and we walked together towards my hotel. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">By the way,</quote> I asked suddenly, stopping and turning upon <person perName="Stamford">Stamford</person>, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">how the deuce did he know that I had come from Afghanistan?</quote> My companion smiled an enigmatical smile. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">That’s just his little peculiarity,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">A good many people have wanted to know how he finds things out.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Oh! a mystery is it?</quote> I cried, rubbing my hands. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">This is very piquant. I am much obliged to you for bringing us together. ‘The proper study of mankind is man,’ you know.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Stamford">You must study him, then,</quote> <person perName="Stamford">Stamford</person> said, as he bade me good-bye. <quote spokeBy="Stamford">You’ll find him a knotty problem, though. I’ll wager he learns more about you than you about him. Good-bye.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Good-bye,</quote> I answered, and strolled on to my hotel, considerably interested in my new acquaintance. </chapter> <chapter id="2" num="II"> <chapterTitle>THE SCIENCE OF DEDUCTION</chapterTitle> We met next day as he had arranged, and inspected the rooms at No. 221B, Baker Street, of which he had spoken at our meeting. They consisted of a couple of comfortable bed-rooms and a single large airy sitting-room, cheerfully furnished, and illuminated by two broad windows. So desirable in every way were the apartments, and so moderate did the terms seem when divided between us, that the bargain was concluded upon the spot, and we at once entered into possession. That very evening I moved my things round from the hotel, and on the following morning <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> followed me with several boxes and portmanteaus. For a day or two we were busily employed in unpacking and laying out our property to the best advantage. That done, we gradually began to settle down and to accommodate ourselves to our new surroundings. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> was certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quiet in his ways, and his habits were regular. It was rare for him to be up after ten at night, and he had invariably breakfasted and gone out before I rose in the morning. Sometimes he spent his day at the chemical laboratory, sometimes in the dissecting-rooms, and occasionally in long walks, which appeared to take him into the lowest portions of the City. Nothing could exceed his energy when the working fit was upon him; but now and again a reaction would seize him, and for days on end he would lie upon the sofa in the sitting-room, hardly uttering a word or moving a muscle from morning to night. On these occasions I have noticed such a dreamy, vacant expression in his eyes, that I might have suspected him of being addicted to the use of some narcotic, had not the temperance and cleanliness of his whole life forbidden such a notion. As the weeks went by, my interest in him and my curiosity as to his aims in life, gradually deepened and increased. His very person and appearance were such as to strike the attention of the most casual observer. In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were sharp and piercing, save during those intervals of torpor to which I have alluded; and his thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision. His chin, too, had the prominence and squareness which mark the man of determination. His hands were invariably blotted with ink and stained with chemicals, yet he was possessed of extraordinary delicacy of touch, as I frequently had occasion to observe when I watched him manipulating his fragile philosophical instruments. The reader may set me down as a hopeless busybody, when I confess how much this man stimulated my curiosity, and how often I endeavoured to break through the reticence which he showed on all that concerned himself. Before pronouncing judgment, however, be it remembered, how objectless was my life, and how little there was to engage my attention. My health forbade me from venturing out unless the weather was exceptionally genial, and I had no friends who would call upon me and break the monotony of my daily existence. Under these circumstances, I eagerly hailed the little mystery which hung around my companion, and spent much of my time in endeavouring to unravel it. He was not studying medicine. He had himself, in reply to a question, confirmed <person perName="Stamford">Stamford</person>’s opinion upon that point. Neither did he appear to have pursued any course of reading which might fit him for a degree in science or any other recognized portal which would give him an entrance into the learned world. Yet his zeal for certain studies was remarkable, and within eccentric limits his knowledge was so extraordinarily ample and minute that his observations have fairly astounded me. Surely no man would work so hard or attain such precise information unless he had some definite end in view. Desultory readers are seldom remarkable for the exactness of their learning. No man burdens his mind with small matters unless he has some very good reason for doing so. His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You appear to be astonished,</quote> he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">To forget it!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You see,</quote> he explained, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But the Solar System!</quote> I protested. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What the deuce is it to me?</quote> he interrupted impatiently; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.</quote> I was on the point of asking him what that work might be, but something in his manner showed me that the question would be an unwelcome one. I pondered over our short conversation, however, and endeavoured to draw my deductions from it. He said that he would acquire no knowledge which did not bear upon his object. Therefore all the knowledge which he possessed was such as would be useful to him. I enumerated in my own mind all the various points upon which he had shown me that he was exceptionally well-informed. I even took a pencil and jotted them down. I could not help smiling at the document when I had completed it. It ran in this way— SHERLOCK HOLMES—his limits. 1. Knowledge of Literature.—Nil. 2. Philosophy.—Nil. 3. Astronomy.—Nil. 4. Politics.—Feeble. 5. Botany.—Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium, and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening. 6. Geology.—Practical, but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each other. After walks has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told me by their colour and consistence in what part of London he had received them. 7. Chemistry.—Profound. 8. Anatomy.—Accurate, but unsystematic. 9. Sensational Literature.—Immense. He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century. 10. Plays the violin well. 11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman. 12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law. When I had got so far in my list I threw it into the fire in despair. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">If I can only find what the fellow is driving at by reconciling all these accomplishments, and discovering a calling which needs them all,</quote> I said to myself, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I may as well give up the attempt at once.</quote> I see that I have alluded above to his powers upon the violin. These were very remarkable, but as eccentric as all his other accomplishments. That he could play pieces, and difficult pieces, I knew well, because at my request he has played me some of Mendelssohn’s Lieder, and other favourites. When left to himself, however, he would seldom produce any music or attempt any recognized air. Leaning back in his arm-chair of an evening, he would close his eyes and scrape carelessly at the fiddle which was thrown across his knee. Sometimes the chords were sonorous and melancholy. Occasionally they were fantastic and cheerful. Clearly they reflected the thoughts which possessed him, but whether the music aided those thoughts, or whether the playing was simply the result of a whim or fancy was more than I could determine. I might have rebelled against these exasperating solos had it not been that he usually terminated them by playing in quick succession a whole series of my favourite airs as a slight compensation for the trial upon my patience. During the first week or so we had no callers, and I had begun to think that my companion was as friendless a man as I was myself. Presently, however, I found that he had many acquaintances, and those in the most different classes of society. There was one little sallow rat-faced, dark-eyed fellow who was introduced to me as <person perName="Lestrade">Mr. Lestrade</person>, and who came three or four times in a single week. One morning a young girl called, fashionably dressed, and stayed for half an hour or more. The same afternoon brought a grey-headed, seedy visitor, looking like a Jew pedlar, who appeared to me to be much excited, and who was closely followed by a slip-shod elderly woman. On another occasion an old white-haired gentleman had an interview with my companion; and on another a railway porter in his velveteen uniform. When any of these nondescript individuals put in an appearance, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> used to beg for the use of the sitting-room, and I would retire to my bed-room. He always apologized to me for putting me to this inconvenience. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have to use this room as a place of business,</quote> he said, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">and these people are my clients.</quote> Again I had an opportunity of asking him a point blank question, and again my delicacy prevented me from forcing another man to confide in me. I imagined at the time that he had some strong reason for not alluding to it, but he soon dispelled the idea by coming round to the subject of his own accord. It was upon the 4th of March, as I have good reason to remember, that I rose somewhat earlier than usual, and found that <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> had not yet finished his breakfast. The landlady had become so accustomed to my late habits that my place had not been laid nor my coffee prepared. With the unreasonable petulance of mankind I rang the bell and gave a curt intimation that I was ready. Then I picked up a magazine from the table and attempted to while away the time with it, while my companion munched silently at his toast. One of the articles had a pencil mark at the heading, and I naturally began to run my eye through it. Its somewhat ambitious title was "The Book of Life," and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deductions appeared to me to be far-fetched and exaggerated. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man’s inmost thoughts. Deceit, according to him, was an impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis. His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">From a drop of water,</quote> said the writer, <quote spokeBy="Unknown">a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the Science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can only be acquired by long and patient study nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it. Before turning to those moral and mental aspects of the matter which present the greatest difficulties, let the enquirer begin by mastering more elementary problems. Let him, on meeting a fellow-mortal, learn at a glance to distinguish the history of the man, and the trade or profession to which he belongs. Puerile as such an exercise may seem, it sharpens the faculties of observation, and teaches one where to look and what to look for. By a man’s finger nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boot, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt cuffs—by each of these things a man’s calling is plainly revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent enquirer in any case is almost inconceivable.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What ineffable twaddle!</quote> I cried, slapping the magazine down on the table, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I never read such rubbish in my life.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What is it?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Why, this article,</quote> I said, pointing at it with my egg spoon as I sat down to my breakfast. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I see that you have read it since you have marked it. I don’t deny that it is smartly written. It irritates me though. It is evidently the theory of some arm-chair lounger who evolves all these neat little paradoxes in the seclusion of his own study. It is not practical. I should like to see him clapped down in a third class carriage on the Underground, and asked to give the trades of all his fellow-travellers. I would lay a thousand to one against him.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You would lose your money,</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> remarked calmly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">As for the article I wrote it myself.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes, I have a turn both for observation and for deduction. The theories which I have expressed there, and which appear to you to be so chimerical are really extremely practical—so practical that I depend upon them for my bread and cheese.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And how?</quote> I asked involuntarily. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the world. I’m a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is. Here in London we have lots of Government detectives and lots of private ones. When these fellows are at fault they come to me, and I manage to put them on the right scent. They lay all the evidence before me, and I am generally able, by the help of my knowledge of the history of crime, to set them straight. There is a strong family resemblance about misdeeds, and if you have all the details of a thousand at your finger ends, it is odd if you can’t unravel the thousand and first. <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> is a well-known detective. He got himself into a fog recently over a forgery case, and that was what brought him here.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And these other people?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">They are mostly sent on by private inquiry agencies. They are all people who are in trouble about something, and want a little enlightening. I listen to their story, they listen to my comments, and then I pocket my fee.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But do you mean to say,</quote> I said, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">that without leaving your room you can unravel some knot which other men can make nothing of, although they have seen every detail for themselves?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Quite so. I have a kind of intuition that way. Now and again a case turns up which is a little more complex. Then I have to bustle about and see things with my own eyes. You see I have a lot of special knowledge which I apply to the problem, and which facilitates matters wonderfully. Those rules of deduction laid down in that article which aroused your scorn, are invaluable to me in practical work. Observation with me is second nature. You appeared to be surprised when I told you, on our first meeting, that you had come from Afghanistan.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You were told, no doubt.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Nothing of the sort. I _knew_ you came from Afghanistan. From long habit the train of thoughts ran so swiftly through my mind, that I arrived at the conclusion without being conscious of intermediate steps. There were such steps, however. The train of reasoning ran, ‘Here is a gentleman of a medical type, but with the air of a military man. Clearly an army doctor, then. He has just come from the tropics, for his face is dark, and that is not the natural tint of his skin, for his wrists are fair. He has undergone hardship and sickness, as his haggard face says clearly. His left arm has been injured. He holds it in a stiff and unnatural manner. Where in the tropics could an English army doctor have seen much hardship and got his arm wounded? Clearly in Afghanistan.’ The whole train of thought did not occupy a second. I then remarked that you came from Afghanistan, and you were astonished.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It is simple enough as you explain it,</quote> I said, smiling. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You remind me of Edgar Allen Poe’s Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist outside of stories.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> rose and lit his pipe. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No doubt you think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to Dupin,</quote> he observed. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow. That trick of his of breaking in on his friends’ thoughts with an apropos remark after a quarter of an hour’s silence is really very showy and superficial. He had some analytical genius, no doubt; but he was by no means such a phenomenon as Poe appeared to imagine.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Have you read Gaboriau’s works?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Does Lecoq come up to your idea of a detective?</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> sniffed sardonically. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Lecoq was a miserable bungler,</quote> he said, in an angry voice; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">he had only one thing to recommend him, and that was his energy. That book made me positively ill. The question was how to identify an unknown prisoner. I could have done it in twenty-four hours. Lecoq took six months or so. It might be made a text-book for detectives to teach them what to avoid.</quote> I felt rather indignant at having two characters whom I had admired treated in this cavalier style. I walked over to the window, and stood looking out into the busy street. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">This fellow may be very clever,</quote> I said to myself, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">but he is certainly very conceited.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There are no crimes and no criminals in these days,</quote> he said, querulously. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What is the use of having brains in our profession. I know well that I have it in me to make my name famous. No man lives or has ever lived who has brought the same amount of study and of natural talent to the detection of crime which I have done. And what is the result? There is no crime to detect, or, at most, some bungling villainy with a motive so transparent that even a Scotland Yard official can see through it.</quote> I was still annoyed at his bumptious style of conversation. I thought it best to change the topic. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I wonder what that fellow is looking for?</quote> I asked, pointing to a stalwart, plainly-dressed individual who was walking slowly down the other side of the street, looking anxiously at the numbers. He had a large blue envelope in his hand, and was evidently the bearer of a message. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You mean the retired sergeant of Marines,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Brag and bounce!</quote> thought I to myself. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">He knows that I cannot verify his guess.</quote> The thought had hardly passed through my mind when the man whom we were watching caught sight of the number on our door, and ran rapidly across the roadway. We heard a loud knock, a deep voice below, and heavy steps ascending the stair. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">For <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>,</quote> he said, stepping into the room and handing my friend the letter. Here was an opportunity of taking the conceit out of him. He little thought of this when he made that random shot. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">May I ask, my lad,</quote> I said, in the blandest voice, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">what your trade may be?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Commissionaire, sir,</quote> he said, gruffly. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Uniform away for repairs.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And you were?</quote> I asked, with a slightly malicious glance at my companion. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">A sergeant, sir, Royal Marine Light Infantry, sir. No answer? Right, sir.</quote> He clicked his heels together, raised his hand in a salute, and was gone. </chapter> <chapter id="3" num="III"> <chapterTitle>THE LAURISTON GARDENS MYSTERY</chapterTitle> I confess that I was considerably startled by this fresh proof of the practical nature of my companion’s theories. My respect for his powers of analysis increased wondrously. There still remained some lurking suspicion in my mind, however, that the whole thing was a pre-arranged episode, intended to dazzle me, though what earthly object he could have in taking me in was past my comprehension. When I looked at him he had finished reading the note, and his eyes had assumed the vacant, lack-lustre expression which showed mental abstraction. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">How in the world did you deduce that?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Deduce what?</quote> said he, petulantly. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Why, that he was a retired sergeant of Marines.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have no time for trifles,</quote> he answered, brusquely; then with a smile, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Excuse my rudeness. You broke the thread of my thoughts; but perhaps it is as well. So you actually were not able to see that that man was a sergeant of Marines?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">No, indeed.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It was easier to know it than to explain why I knew it. If you were asked to prove that two and two made four, you might find some difficulty, and yet you are quite sure of the fact. Even across the street I could see a great blue anchor tattooed on the back of the fellow’s hand. That smacked of the sea. He had a military carriage, however, and regulation side whiskers. There we have the marine. He was a man with some amount of self-importance and a certain air of command. You must have observed the way in which he held his head and swung his cane. A steady, respectable, middle-aged man, too, on the face of him—all facts which led me to believe that he had been a sergeant.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Wonderful!</quote> I ejaculated. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Commonplace,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, though I thought from his expression that he was pleased at my evident surprise and admiration. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I said just now that there were no criminals. It appears that I am wrong—look at this!</quote> He threw me over the note which the commissionaire had brought. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Why,</quote> I cried, as I cast my eye over it, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">this is terrible!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It does seem to be a little out of the common,</quote> he remarked, calmly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Would you mind reading it to me aloud?</quote> This is the letter which I read to him— <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,— </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">There has been a bad business during the night at 3, Lauriston Gardens, off the Brixton Road. Our man on the beat saw a light there about two in the morning, and as the house was an empty one, suspected that something was amiss. He found the door open, and in the front room, which is bare of furniture, discovered the body of a gentleman, well dressed, and having cards in his pocket bearing the name of ‘<person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Enoch J. Drebber</person>, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.’ There had been no robbery, nor is there any evidence as to how the man met his death. There are marks of blood in the room, but there is no wound upon his person. We are at a loss as to how he came into the empty house; indeed, the whole affair is a puzzler. If you can come round to the house any time before twelve, you will find me there. I have left everything _in statu quo_ until I hear from you. If you are unable to come I shall give you fuller details, and would esteem it a great kindness if you would favour me with your opinion. </quote> Yours faithfully, <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">TOBIAS GREGSON.</person> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes"><person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> is the smartest of the Scotland Yarders,</quote> my friend remarked; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">he and <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> are the pick of a bad lot. They are both quick and energetic, but conventional—shockingly so. They have their knives into one another, too. They are as jealous as a pair of professional beauties. There will be some fun over this case if they are both put upon the scent.</quote> I was amazed at the calm way in which he rippled on. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Surely there is not a moment to be lost,</quote> I cried, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">shall I go and order you a cab?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I’m not sure about whether I shall go. I am the most incurably lazy devil that ever stood in shoe leather—that is, when the fit is on me, for I can be spry enough at times.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Why, it is just such a chance as you have been longing for.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">My dear fellow, what does it matter to me. Supposing I unravel the whole matter, you may be sure that <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>, <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, and Co. will pocket all the credit. That comes of being an unofficial personage.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But he begs you to help him.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes. He knows that I am his superior, and acknowledges it to me; but he would cut his tongue out before he would own it to any third person. However, we may as well go and have a look. I shall work it out on my own hook. I may have a laugh at them if I have nothing else. Come on!</quote> He hustled on his overcoat, and bustled about in a way that showed that an energetic fit had superseded the apathetic one. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Get your hat,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You wish me to come?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes, if you have nothing better to do.</quote> A minute later we were both in a hansom, driving furiously for the Brixton Road. It was a foggy, cloudy morning, and a dun-coloured veil hung over the house-tops, looking like the reflection of the mud-coloured streets beneath. My companion was in the best of spirits, and prattled away about Cremona fiddles, and the difference between a Stradivarius and an Amati. As for myself, I was silent, for the dull weather and the melancholy business upon which we were engaged, depressed my spirits. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You don’t seem to give much thought to the matter in hand,</quote> I said at last, interrupting <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’ musical disquisition. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No data yet,</quote> he answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You will have your data soon,</quote> I remarked, pointing with my finger; <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">this is the Brixton Road, and that is the house, if I am not very much mistaken.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">So it is. Stop, driver, stop!</quote> We were still a hundred yards or so from it, but he insisted upon our alighting, and we finished our journey upon foot. Number 3, Lauriston Gardens wore an ill-omened and minatory look. It was one of four which stood back some little way from the street, two being occupied and two empty. The latter looked out with three tiers of vacant melancholy windows, which were blank and dreary, save that here and there a "To Let" card had developed like a cataract upon the bleared panes. A small garden sprinkled over with a scattered eruption of sickly plants separated each of these houses from the street, and was traversed by a narrow pathway, yellowish in colour, and consisting apparently of a mixture of clay and of gravel. The whole place was very sloppy from the rain which had fallen through the night. The garden was bounded by a three-foot brick wall with a fringe of wood rails upon the top, and against this wall was leaning a stalwart police constable, surrounded by a small knot of loafers, who craned their necks and strained their eyes in the vain hope of catching some glimpse of the proceedings within. I had imagined that <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> would at once have hurried into the house and plunged into a study of the mystery. Nothing appeared to be further from his intention. With an air of nonchalance which, under the circumstances, seemed to me to border upon affectation, he lounged up and down the pavement, and gazed vacantly at the ground, the sky, the opposite houses and the line of railings. Having finished his scrutiny, he proceeded slowly down the path, or rather down the fringe of grass which flanked the path, keeping his eyes riveted upon the ground. Twice he stopped, and once I saw him smile, and heard him utter an exclamation of satisfaction. There were many marks of footsteps upon the wet clayey soil, but since the police had been coming and going over it, I was unable to see how my companion could hope to learn anything from it. Still I had had such extraordinary evidence of the quickness of his perceptive faculties, that I had no doubt that he could see a great deal which was hidden from me. At the door of the house we were met by a tall, white-faced, flaxen-haired man, with a notebook in his hand, who rushed forward and wrung my companion’s hand with effusion. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">It is indeed kind of you to come,</quote> he said, <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">I have had everything left untouched.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Except that!</quote> my friend answered, pointing at the pathway. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">If a herd of buffaloes had passed along there could not be a greater mess. No doubt, however, you had drawn your own conclusions, <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>, before you permitted this.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">I have had so much to do inside the house,</quote> the detective said evasively. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">My colleague, <person perName="Lestrade">Mr. Lestrade</person>, is here. I had relied upon him to look after this.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> glanced at me and raised his eyebrows sardonically. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">With two such men as yourself and <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> upon the ground, there will not be much for a third party to find out,</quote> he said. <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> rubbed his hands in a self-satisfied way. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">I think we have done all that can be done,</quote> he answered; <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">it’s a queer case though, and I knew your taste for such things.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You did not come here in a cab?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">No, sir.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Nor <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">No, sir.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then let us go and look at the room.</quote> With which inconsequent remark he strode on into the house, followed by <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>, whose features expressed his astonishment. A short passage, bare planked and dusty, led to the kitchen and offices. Two doors opened out of it to the left and to the right. One of these had obviously been closed for many weeks. The other belonged to the dining-room, which was the apartment in which the mysterious affair had occurred. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> walked in, and I followed him with that subdued feeling at my heart which the presence of death inspires. It was a large square room, looking all the larger from the absence of all furniture. A vulgar flaring paper adorned the walls, but it was blotched in places with mildew, and here and there great strips had become detached and hung down, exposing the yellow plaster beneath. Opposite the door was a showy fireplace, surmounted by a mantelpiece of imitation white marble. On one corner of this was stuck the stump of a red wax candle. The solitary window was so dirty that the light was hazy and uncertain, giving a dull grey tinge to everything, which was intensified by the thick layer of dust which coated the whole apartment. All these details I observed afterwards. At present my attention was centred upon the single grim motionless figure which lay stretched upon the boards, with vacant sightless eyes staring up at the discoloured ceiling. It was that of a man about forty-three or forty-four years of age, middle-sized, broad shouldered, with crisp curling black hair, and a short stubbly beard. He was dressed in a heavy broadcloth frock coat and waistcoat, with light-coloured trousers, and immaculate collar and cuffs. A top hat, well brushed and trim, was placed upon the floor beside him. His hands were clenched and his arms thrown abroad, while his lower limbs were interlocked as though his death struggle had been a grievous one. On his rigid face there stood an expression of horror, and as it seemed to me, of hatred, such as I have never seen upon human features. This malignant and terrible contortion, combined with the low forehead, blunt nose, and prognathous jaw gave the dead man a singularly simious and ape-like appearance, which was increased by his writhing, unnatural posture. I have seen death in many forms, but never has it appeared to me in a more fearsome aspect than in that dark grimy apartment, which looked out upon one of the main arteries of suburban London. <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, lean and ferret-like as ever, was standing by the doorway, and greeted my companion and myself. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">This case will make a stir, sir,</quote> he remarked. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">It beats anything I have seen, and I am no chicken.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">There is no clue?</quote> said <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">None at all,</quote> chimed in <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> approached the body, and, kneeling down, examined it intently. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You are sure that there is no wound?</quote> he asked, pointing to numerous gouts and splashes of blood which lay all round. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Positive!</quote> cried both detectives. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then, of course, this blood belongs to a second individual—presumably the murderer, if murder has been committed. It reminds me of the circumstances attendant on the death of Van Jansen, in Utrecht, in the year ‘34. Do you remember the case, <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">No, sir.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Read it up—you really should. There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.</quote> As he spoke, his nimble fingers were flying here, there, and everywhere, feeling, pressing, unbuttoning, examining, while his eyes wore the same far-away expression which I have already remarked upon. So swiftly was the examination made, that one would hardly have guessed the minuteness with which it was conducted. Finally, he sniffed the dead man’s lips, and then glanced at the soles of his patent leather boots. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">He has not been moved at all?</quote> he asked. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">No more than was necessary for the purposes of our examination.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You can take him to the mortuary now,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There is nothing more to be learned.</quote> <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> had a stretcher and four men at hand. At his call they entered the room, and the stranger was lifted and carried out. As they raised him, a ring tinkled down and rolled across the floor. <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> grabbed it up and stared at it with mystified eyes. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">There’s been a woman here,</quote> he cried. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">It’s a woman’s wedding-ring.</quote> He held it out, as he spoke, upon the palm of his hand. We all gathered round him and gazed at it. There could be no doubt that that circlet of plain gold had once adorned the finger of a bride. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">This complicates matters,</quote> said <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">Heaven knows, they were complicated enough before.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You’re sure it doesn’t simplify them?</quote> observed <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There’s nothing to be learned by staring at it. What did you find in his pockets?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">We have it all here,</quote> said <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>, pointing to a litter of objects upon one of the bottom steps of the stairs. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">A gold watch, No. 97163, by Barraud, of London. Gold Albert chain, very heavy and solid. Gold ring, with masonic device. Gold pin—bull-dog’s head, with rubies as eyes. Russian leather card-case, with cards of <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Enoch J. Drebber</person> of Cleveland, corresponding with the E. J. D. upon the linen. No purse, but loose money to the extent of seven pounds thirteen. Pocket edition of Boccaccio’s _Decameron_, with name of <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Joseph Stangerson</person> upon the fly-leaf. Two letters—one addressed to <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">E. J. Drebber</person> and one to <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Joseph Stangerson</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">At what address?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">American Exchange, Strand—to be left till called for. They are both from the Guion Steamship Company, and refer to the sailing of their boats from Liverpool. It is clear that this unfortunate man was about to return to New York.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Have you made any inquiries as to this man, <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">I did it at once, sir,</quote> said <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">I have had advertisements sent to all the newspapers, and one of my men has gone to the American Exchange, but he has not returned yet.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Have you sent to Cleveland?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">We telegraphed this morning.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">How did you word your inquiries?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">We simply detailed the circumstances, and said that we should be glad of any information which could help us.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You did not ask for particulars on any point which appeared to you to be crucial?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">I asked about <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Nothing else? Is there no circumstance on which this whole case appears to hinge? Will you not telegraph again?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">I have said all I have to say,</quote> said <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>, in an offended voice. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> chuckled to himself, and appeared to be about to make some remark, when <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, who had been in the front room while we were holding this conversation in the hall, reappeared upon the scene, rubbing his hands in a pompous and self-satisfied manner. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>,</quote> he said, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have just made a discovery of the highest importance, and one which would have been overlooked had I not made a careful examination of the walls.</quote> The little man’s eyes sparkled as he spoke, and he was evidently in a state of suppressed exultation at having scored a point against his colleague. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Come here,</quote> he said, bustling back into the room, the atmosphere of which felt clearer since the removal of its ghastly inmate. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now, stand there!</quote> He struck a match on his boot and held it up against the wall. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Look at that!</quote> he said, triumphantly. I have remarked that the paper had fallen away in parts. In this particular corner of the room a large piece had peeled off, leaving a yellow square of coarse plastering. Across this bare space there was scrawled in blood-red letters a single word— RACHE. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What do you think of that?</quote> cried the detective, with the air of a showman exhibiting his show. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This was overlooked because it was in the darkest corner of the room, and no one thought of looking there. The murderer has written it with his or her own blood. See this smear where it has trickled down the wall! That disposes of the idea of suicide anyhow. Why was that corner chosen to write it on? I will tell you. See that candle on the mantelpiece. It was lit at the time, and if it was lit this corner would be the brightest instead of the darkest portion of the wall.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">And what does it mean now that you _have_ found it?</quote> asked <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> in a depreciatory voice. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Mean? Why, it means that the writer was going to put the female name Rachel, but was disturbed before he or she had time to finish. You mark my words, when this case comes to be cleared up you will find that a woman named Rachel has something to do with it. It’s all very well for you to laugh, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>. You may be very smart and clever, but the old hound is the best, when all is said and done.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I really beg your pardon!</quote> said my companion, who had ruffled the little man’s temper by bursting into an explosion of laughter. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You certainly have the credit of being the first of us to find this out, and, as you say, it bears every mark of having been written by the other participant in last night’s mystery. I have not had time to examine this room yet, but with your permission I shall do so now.</quote> As he spoke, he whipped a tape measure and a large round magnifying glass from his pocket. With these two implements he trotted noiselessly about the room, sometimes stopping, occasionally kneeling, and once lying flat upon his face. So engrossed was he with his occupation that he appeared to have forgotten our presence, for he chattered away to himself under his breath the whole time, keeping up a running fire of exclamations, groans, whistles, and little cries suggestive of encouragement and of hope. As I watched him I was irresistibly reminded of a pure-blooded well-trained foxhound as it dashes backwards and forwards through the covert, whining in its eagerness, until it comes across the lost scent. For twenty minutes or more he continued his researches, measuring with the most exact care the distance between marks which were entirely invisible to me, and occasionally applying his tape to the walls in an equally incomprehensible manner. In one place he gathered up very carefully a little pile of grey dust from the floor, and packed it away in an envelope. Finally, he examined with his glass the word upon the wall, going over every letter of it with the most minute exactness. This done, he appeared to be satisfied, for he replaced his tape and his glass in his pocket. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains,</quote> he remarked with a smile. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It’s a very bad definition, but it does apply to detective work.</quote> <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> and <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> had watched the manœuvres of their amateur companion with considerable curiosity and some contempt. They evidently failed to appreciate the fact, which I had begun to realize, that <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>’ smallest actions were all directed towards some definite and practical end. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">What do you think of it, sir?</quote> they both asked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It would be robbing you of the credit of the case if I was to presume to help you,</quote> remarked my friend. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You are doing so well now that it would be a pity for anyone to interfere.</quote> There was a world of sarcasm in his voice as he spoke. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">If you will let me know how your investigations go,</quote> he continued, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I shall be happy to give you any help I can. In the meantime I should like to speak to the constable who found the body. Can you give me his name and address?</quote> <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> glanced at his note-book. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">John Rance,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">He is off duty now. You will find him at 46, Audley Court, Kennington Park Gate.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> took a note of the address. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Come along, Doctor,</quote> he said; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">we shall go and look him up. I’ll tell you one thing which may help you in the case,</quote> he continued, turning to the two detectives. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There has been murder done, and the murderer was a man. He was more than six feet high, was in the prime of life, had small feet for his height, wore coarse, square-toed boots and smoked a Trichinopoly cigar. He came here with his victim in a four-wheeled cab, which was drawn by a horse with three old shoes and one new one on his off fore leg. In all probability the murderer had a florid face, and the finger-nails of his right hand were remarkably long. These are only a few indications, but they may assist you.</quote> <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> and <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> glanced at each other with an incredulous smile. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">If this man was murdered, how was it done?</quote> asked the former. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Poison,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> curtly, and strode off. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">One other thing, <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>,</quote> he added, turning round at the door: <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">‘Rache,’ is the German for ‘revenge;’ so don’t lose your time looking for Miss Rachel.</quote> With which Parthian shot he walked away, leaving the two rivals open-mouthed behind him. </chapter> <chapter id="4" num="IV"> <chapterTitle>WHAT JOHN RANCE HAD TO TELL</chapterTitle> It was one o’clock when we left No. 3, Lauriston Gardens. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> led me to the nearest telegraph office, whence he dispatched a long telegram. He then hailed a cab, and ordered the driver to take us to the address given us by <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There is nothing like first hand evidence,</quote> he remarked; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">as a matter of fact, my mind is entirely made up upon the case, but still we may as well learn all that is to be learned.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You amaze me, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>,</quote> said I. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Surely you are not as sure as you pretend to be of all those particulars which you gave.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There’s no room for a mistake,</quote> he answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The very first thing which I observed on arriving there was that a cab had made two ruts with its wheels close to the curb. Now, up to last night, we have had no rain for a week, so that those wheels which left such a deep impression must have been there during the night. There were the marks of the horse’s hoofs, too, the outline of one of which was far more clearly cut than that of the other three, showing that that was a new shoe. Since the cab was there after the rain began, and was not there at any time during the morning—I have <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>’s word for that—it follows that it must have been there during the night, and, therefore, that it brought those two individuals to the house.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">That seems simple enough,</quote> said I; <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">but how about the other man’s height?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Why, the height of a man, in nine cases out of ten, can be told from the length of his stride. It is a simple calculation enough, though there is no use my boring you with figures. I had this fellow’s stride both on the clay outside and on the dust within. Then I had a way of checking my calculation. When a man writes on a wall, his instinct leads him to write about the level of his own eyes. Now that writing was just over six feet from the ground. It was child’s play.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And his age?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, if a man can stride four and a-half feet without the smallest effort, he can’t be quite in the sere and yellow. That was the breadth of a puddle on the garden walk which he had evidently walked across. Patent-leather boots had gone round, and Square-toes had hopped over. There is no mystery about it at all. I am simply applying to ordinary life a few of those precepts of observation and deduction which I advocated in that article. Is there anything else that puzzles you?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">The finger nails and the Trichinopoly,</quote> I suggested. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The writing on the wall was done with a man’s forefinger dipped in blood. My glass allowed me to observe that the plaster was slightly scratched in doing it, which would not have been the case if the man’s nail had been trimmed. I gathered up some scattered ash from the floor. It was dark in colour and flakey—such an ash as is only made by a Trichinopoly. I have made a special study of cigar ashes—in fact, I have written a monograph upon the subject. I flatter myself that I can distinguish at a glance the ash of any known brand, either of cigar or of tobacco. It is just in such details that the skilled detective differs from the <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> and <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> type.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And the florid face?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah, that was a more daring shot, though I have no doubt that I was right. You must not ask me that at the present state of the affair.</quote> I passed my hand over my brow. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">My head is in a whirl,</quote> I remarked; <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">the more one thinks of it the more mysterious it grows. How came these two men—if there were two men—into an empty house? What has become of the cabman who drove them? How could one man compel another to take poison? Where did the blood come from? What was the object of the murderer, since robbery had no part in it? How came the woman’s ring there? Above all, why should the second man write up the German word RACHE before decamping? I confess that I cannot see any possible way of reconciling all these facts.</quote> My companion smiled approvingly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You sum up the difficulties of the situation succinctly and well,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There is much that is still obscure, though I have quite made up my mind on the main facts. As to poor <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>’s discovery it was simply a blind intended to put the police upon a wrong track, by suggesting Socialism and secret societies. It was not done by a German. The A, if you noticed, was printed somewhat after the German fashion. Now, a real German invariably prints in the Latin character, so that we may safely say that this was not written by one, but by a clumsy imitator who overdid his part. It was simply a ruse to divert inquiry into a wrong channel. I’m not going to tell you much more of the case, Doctor. You know a conjuror gets no credit when once he has explained his trick, and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I shall never do that,</quote> I answered; <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">you have brought detection as near an exact science as it ever will be brought in this world.</quote> My companion flushed up with pleasure at my words, and the earnest way in which I uttered them. I had already observed that he was as sensitive to flattery on the score of his art as any girl could be of her beauty. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I’ll tell you one other thing,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Patent-leathers and Square-toes came in the same cab, and they walked down the pathway together as friendly as possible—arm-in-arm, in all probability. When they got inside they walked up and down the room—or rather, Patent-leathers stood still while Square-toes walked up and down. I could read all that in the dust; and I could read that as he walked he grew more and more excited. That is shown by the increased length of his strides. He was talking all the while, and working himself up, no doubt, into a fury. Then the tragedy occurred. I’ve told you all I know myself now, for the rest is mere surmise and conjecture. We have a good working basis, however, on which to start. We must hurry up, for I want to go to Halle’s concert to hear Norman Neruda this afternoon.</quote> This conversation had occurred while our cab had been threading its way through a long succession of dingy streets and dreary by-ways. In the dingiest and dreariest of them our driver suddenly came to a stand. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That’s Audley Court in there,</quote> he said, pointing to a narrow slit in the line of dead-coloured brick. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You’ll find me here when you come back.</quote> Audley Court was not an attractive locality. The narrow passage led us into a quadrangle paved with flags and lined by sordid dwellings. We picked our way among groups of dirty children, and through lines of discoloured linen, until we came to Number 46, the door of which was decorated with a small slip of brass on which the name Rance was engraved. On enquiry we found that the constable was in bed, and we were shown into a little front parlour to await his coming. He appeared presently, looking a little irritable at being disturbed in his slumbers. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I made my report at the office,</quote> he said. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> took a half-sovereign from his pocket and played with it pensively. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We thought that we should like to hear it all from your own lips,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">I shall be most happy to tell you anything I can,</quote> the constable answered with his eyes upon the little golden disk. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Just let us hear it all in your own way as it occurred.</quote> Rance sat down on the horsehair sofa, and knitted his brows as though determined not to omit anything in his narrative. <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">I’ll tell it ye from the beginning,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">My time is from ten at night to six in the morning. At eleven there was a fight at the ‘White Hart’; but bar that all was quiet enough on the beat. At one o’clock it began to rain, and I met Harry Murcher—him who has the Holland Grove beat—and we stood together at the corner of Henrietta Street a-talkin’. Presently—maybe about two or a little after—I thought I would take a look round and see that all was right down the Brixton Road. It was precious dirty and lonely. Not a soul did I meet all the way down, though a cab or two went past me. I was a strollin’ down, thinkin’ between ourselves how uncommon handy a four of gin hot would be, when suddenly the glint of a light caught my eye in the window of that same house. Now, I knew that them two houses in Lauriston Gardens was empty on account of him that owns them who won’t have the drains seen to, though the very last tenant what lived in one of them died o’ typhoid fever. I was knocked all in a heap therefore at seeing a light in the window, and I suspected as something was wrong. When I got to the door——</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You stopped, and then walked back to the garden gate,</quote> my companion interrupted. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What did you do that for?</quote> Rance gave a violent jump, and stared at <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> with the utmost amazement upon his features. <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">Why, that’s true, sir,</quote> he said; <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">though how you come to know it, Heaven only knows. Ye see, when I got up to the door it was so still and so lonesome, that I thought I’d be none the worse for some one with me. I ain’t afeared of anything on this side o’ the grave; but I thought that maybe it was him that died o’ the typhoid inspecting the drains what killed him. The thought gave me a kind o’ turn, and I walked back to the gate to see if I could see Murcher’s lantern, but there wasn’t no sign of him nor of anyone else.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There was no one in the street?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">Not a livin’ soul, sir, nor as much as a dog. Then I pulled myself together and went back and pushed the door open. All was quiet inside, so I went into the room where the light was a-burnin’. There was a candle flickerin’ on the mantelpiece—a red wax one—and by its light I saw——</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes, I know all that you saw. You walked round the room several times, and you knelt down by the body, and then you walked through and tried the kitchen door, and then——</quote> John Rance sprang to his feet with a frightened face and suspicion in his eyes. <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">Where was you hid to see all that?</quote> he cried. <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">It seems to me that you knows a deal more than you should.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> laughed and threw his card across the table to the constable. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Don’t get arresting me for the murder,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I am one of the hounds and not the wolf; Mr. <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> or <person perName="Lestrade">Mr. Lestrade</person> will answer for that. Go on, though. What did you do next?</quote> Rance resumed his seat, without however losing his mystified expression. <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">I went back to the gate and sounded my whistle. That brought Murcher and two more to the spot.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Was the street empty then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">Well, it was, as far as anybody that could be of any good goes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What do you mean?</quote> The constable’s features broadened into a grin. <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">I’ve seen many a drunk chap in my time,</quote> he said, <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">but never anyone so cryin’ drunk as that cove. He was at the gate when I came out, a-leanin’ up agin the railings, and a-singin’ at the pitch o’ his lungs about Columbine’s New-fangled Banner, or some such stuff. He couldn’t stand, far less help.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What sort of a man was he?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. John Rance appeared to be somewhat irritated at this digression. <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">He was an uncommon drunk sort o’ man,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">He’d ha’ found hisself in the station if we hadn’t been so took up.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">His face—his dress—didn’t you notice them?</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> broke in impatiently. <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">I should think I did notice them, seeing that I had to prop him up—me and Murcher between us. He was a long chap, with a red face, the lower part muffled round——</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That will do,</quote> cried <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What became of him?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">We’d enough to do without lookin’ after him,</quote> the policeman said, in an aggrieved voice. <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">I’ll wager he found his way home all right.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">How was he dressed?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">A brown overcoat.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Had he a whip in his hand?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">A whip—no.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">He must have left it behind,</quote> muttered my companion. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You didn’t happen to see or hear a cab after that?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Rance">No.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There’s a half-sovereign for you,</quote> my companion said, standing up and taking his hat. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I am afraid, Rance, that you will never rise in the force. That head of yours should be for use as well as ornament. You might have gained your sergeant’s stripes last night. The man whom you held in your hands is the man who holds the clue of this mystery, and whom we are seeking. There is no use of arguing about it now; I tell you that it is so. Come along, Doctor.</quote> We started off for the cab together, leaving our informant incredulous, but obviously uncomfortable. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The blundering fool,</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> said, bitterly, as we drove back to our lodgings. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Just to think of his having such an incomparable bit of good luck, and not taking advantage of it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I am rather in the dark still. It is true that the description of this man tallies with your idea of the second party in this mystery. But why should he come back to the house after leaving it? That is not the way of criminals.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The ring, man, the ring: that was what he came back for. If we have no other way of catching him, we can always bait our line with the ring. I shall have him, Doctor—I’ll lay you two to one that I have him. I must thank you for it all. I might not have gone but for you, and so have missed the finest study I ever came across: a study in scarlet, eh? Why shouldn’t we use a little art jargon. There’s the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it. And now for lunch, and then for Norman Neruda. Her attack and her bowing are splendid. What’s that little thing of Chopin’s she plays so magnificently: Tra-la-la-lira-lira-lay.</quote> Leaning back in the cab, this amateur bloodhound carolled away like a lark while I meditated upon the many-sidedness of the human mind. </chapter> <chapter id="5" num="V"> <chapterTitle>OUR ADVERTISEMENT BRINGS A VISITOR</chapterTitle> Our morning’s exertions had been too much for my weak health, and I was tired out in the afternoon. After <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’ departure for the concert, I lay down upon the sofa and endeavoured to get a couple of hours’ sleep. It was a useless attempt. My mind had been too much excited by all that had occurred, and the strangest fancies and surmises crowded into it. Every time that I closed my eyes I saw before me the distorted baboon-like countenance of the murdered man. So sinister was the impression which that face had produced upon me that I found it difficult to feel anything but gratitude for him who had removed its owner from the world. If ever human features bespoke vice of the most malignant type, they were certainly those of <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Enoch J. Drebber</person>, of Cleveland. Still I recognized that justice must be done, and that the depravity of the victim was no condonement in the eyes of the law. The more I thought of it the more extraordinary did my companion’s hypothesis, that the man had been poisoned, appear. I remembered how he had sniffed his lips, and had no doubt that he had detected something which had given rise to the idea. Then, again, if not poison, what had caused the man’s death, since there was neither wound nor marks of strangulation? But, on the other hand, whose blood was that which lay so thickly upon the floor? There were no signs of a struggle, nor had the victim any weapon with which he might have wounded an antagonist. As long as all these questions were unsolved, I felt that sleep would be no easy matter, either for <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> or myself. His quiet self-confident manner convinced me that he had already formed a theory which explained all the facts, though what it was I could not for an instant conjecture. He was very late in returning—so late, that I knew that the concert could not have detained him all the time. Dinner was on the table before he appeared. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It was magnificent,</quote> he said, as he took his seat. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Do you remember what Darwin says about music? He claims that the power of producing and appreciating it existed among the human race long before the power of speech was arrived at. Perhaps that is why we are so subtly influenced by it. There are vague memories in our souls of those misty centuries when the world was in its childhood.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">That’s rather a broad idea,</quote> I remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">One’s ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature,</quote> he answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What’s the matter? You’re not looking quite yourself. This Brixton Road affair has upset you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">To tell the truth, it has,</quote> I said. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I ought to be more case-hardened after my Afghan experiences. I saw my own comrades hacked to pieces at Maiwand without losing my nerve.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I can understand. There is a mystery about this which stimulates the imagination; where there is no imagination there is no horror. Have you seen the evening paper?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">No.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It gives a fairly good account of the affair. It does not mention the fact that when the man was raised up, a woman’s wedding ring fell upon the floor. It is just as well it does not.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Why?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Look at this advertisement,</quote> he answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I had one sent to every paper this morning immediately after the affair.</quote> He threw the paper across to me and I glanced at the place indicated. It was the first announcement in the <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Found</quote> column. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">In Brixton Road, this morning,</quote> it ran, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">a plain gold wedding ring, found in the roadway between the ‘White Hart’ Tavern and Holland Grove. Apply <person perName="John_Watson">Dr. Watson</person>, 221B, Baker Street, between eight and nine this evening.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Excuse my using your name,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">If I used my own some of these dunderheads would recognize it, and want to meddle in the affair.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">That is all right,</quote> I answered. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But supposing anyone applies, I have no ring.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh yes, you have,</quote> said he, handing me one. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This will do very well. It is almost a facsimile.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And who do you expect will answer this advertisement.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Why, the man in the brown coat—our florid friend with the square toes. If he does not come himself he will send an accomplice.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Would he not consider it as too dangerous?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Not at all. If my view of the case is correct, and I have every reason to believe that it is, this man would rather risk anything than lose the ring. According to my notion he dropped it while stooping over <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>’s body, and did not miss it at the time. After leaving the house he discovered his loss and hurried back, but found the police already in possession, owing to his own folly in leaving the candle burning. He had to pretend to be drunk in order to allay the suspicions which might have been aroused by his appearance at the gate. Now put yourself in that man’s place. On thinking the matter over, it must have occurred to him that it was possible that he had lost the ring in the road after leaving the house. What would he do, then? He would eagerly look out for the evening papers in the hope of seeing it among the articles found. His eye, of course, would light upon this. He would be overjoyed. Why should he fear a trap? There would be no reason in his eyes why the finding of the ring should be connected with the murder. He would come. He will come. You shall see him within an hour?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And then?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, you can leave me to deal with him then. Have you any arms?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I have my old service revolver and a few cartridges.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You had better clean it and load it. He will be a desperate man, and though I shall take him unawares, it is as well to be ready for anything.</quote> I went to my bedroom and followed his advice. When I returned with the pistol the table had been cleared, and <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> was engaged in his favourite occupation of scraping upon his violin. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The plot thickens,</quote> he said, as I entered; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have just had an answer to my American telegram. My view of the case is the correct one.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And that is?</quote> I asked eagerly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">My fiddle would be the better for new strings,</quote> he remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Put your pistol in your pocket. When the fellow comes speak to him in an ordinary way. Leave the rest to me. Don’t frighten him by looking at him too hard.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It is eight o’clock now,</quote> I said, glancing at my watch. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes. He will probably be here in a few minutes. Open the door slightly. That will do. Now put the key on the inside. Thank you! This is a queer old book I picked up at a stall yesterday—‘De Jure inter Gentes’—published in Latin at Liege in the Lowlands, in 1642. Charles’ head was still firm on his shoulders when this little brown-backed volume was struck off.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Who is the printer?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Philippe de Croy, whoever he may have been. On the fly-leaf, in very faded ink, is written ‘Ex libris Guliolmi Whyte.’ I wonder who William Whyte was. Some pragmatical seventeenth century lawyer, I suppose. His writing has a legal twist about it. Here comes our man, I think.</quote> As he spoke there was a sharp ring at the bell. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> rose softly and moved his chair in the direction of the door. We heard the servant pass along the hall, and the sharp click of the latch as she opened it. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Sawyer">Does <person perName="John_Watson">Dr. Watson</person> live here?</quote> asked a clear but rather harsh voice. We could not hear the servant’s reply, but the door closed, and some one began to ascend the stairs. The footfall was an uncertain and shuffling one. A look of surprise passed over the face of my companion as he listened to it. It came slowly along the passage, and there was a feeble tap at the door. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Come in,</quote> I cried. At my summons, instead of the man of violence whom we expected, a very old and wrinkled woman hobbled into the apartment. She appeared to be dazzled by the sudden blaze of light, and after dropping a curtsey, she stood blinking at us with her bleared eyes and fumbling in her pocket with nervous, shaky fingers. I glanced at my companion, and his face had assumed such a disconsolate expression that it was all I could do to keep my countenance. The old crone drew out an evening paper, and pointed at our advertisement. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Sawyer">It’s this as has brought me, good gentlemen,</quote> she said, dropping another curtsey; <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Sawyer">a gold wedding ring in the Brixton Road. It belongs to my girl Sally, as was married only this time twelvemonth, which her husband is steward aboard a Union boat, and what he’d say if he come ‘ome and found her without her ring is more than I can think, he being short enough at the best o’ times, but more especially when he has the drink. If it please you, she went to the circus last night along with——</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Is that her ring?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Sawyer">The Lord be thanked!</quote> cried the old woman; <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Sawyer">Sally will be a glad woman this night. That’s the ring.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And what may your address be?</quote> I inquired, taking up a pencil. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Sawyer">13, Duncan Street, Houndsditch. A weary way from here.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The Brixton Road does not lie between any circus and Houndsditch,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> sharply. The old woman faced round and looked keenly at him from her little red-rimmed eyes. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Sawyer">The gentleman asked me for _my_ address,</quote> she said. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Sawyer">Sally lives in lodgings at 3, Mayfield Place, Peckham.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Sawyer">And your name is——?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Sawyer">My name is Sawyer—her’s is Dennis, which Tom Dennis married her—and a smart, clean lad, too, as long as he’s at sea, and no steward in the company more thought of; but when on shore, what with the women and what with liquor shops——</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Here is your ring, Mrs. Sawyer,</quote> I interrupted, in obedience to a sign from my companion; <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">it clearly belongs to your daughter, and I am glad to be able to restore it to the rightful owner.</quote> With many mumbled blessings and protestations of gratitude the old crone packed it away in her pocket, and shuffled off down the stairs. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> sprang to his feet the moment that she was gone and rushed into his room. He returned in a few seconds enveloped in an ulster and a cravat. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I’ll follow her,</quote> he said, hurriedly; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">she must be an accomplice, and will lead me to him. Wait up for me.</quote> The hall door had hardly slammed behind our visitor before <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> had descended the stair. Looking through the window I could see her walking feebly along the other side, while her pursuer dogged her some little distance behind. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Either his whole theory is incorrect,</quote> I thought to myself, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">or else he will be led now to the heart of the mystery.</quote> There was no need for him to ask me to wait up for him, for I felt that sleep was impossible until I heard the result of his adventure. It was close upon nine when he set out. I had no idea how long he might be, but I sat stolidly puffing at my pipe and skipping over the pages of Henri Murger’s "Vie de Bohème." Ten o’clock passed, and I heard the footsteps of the maid as they pattered off to bed. Eleven, and the more stately tread of the landlady passed my door, bound for the same destination. It was close upon twelve before I heard the sharp sound of his latch-key. The instant he entered I saw by his face that he had not been successful. Amusement and chagrin seemed to be struggling for the mastery, until the former suddenly carried the day, and he burst into a hearty laugh. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I wouldn’t have the Scotland Yarders know it for the world,</quote> he cried, dropping into his chair; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have chaffed them so much that they would never have let me hear the end of it. I can afford to laugh, because I know that I will be even with them in the long run.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What is it then?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, I don’t mind telling a story against myself. That creature had gone a little way when she began to limp and show every sign of being foot-sore. Presently she came to a halt, and hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. I managed to be close to her so as to hear the address, but I need not have been so anxious, for she sang it out loud enough to be heard at the other side of the street, ‘Drive to 13, Duncan Street, Houndsditch,’ she cried. This begins to look genuine, I thought, and having seen her safely inside, I perched myself behind. That’s an art which every detective should be an expert at. Well, away we rattled, and never drew rein until we reached the street in question. I hopped off before we came to the door, and strolled down the street in an easy, lounging way. I saw the cab pull up. The driver jumped down, and I saw him open the door and stand expectantly. Nothing came out though. When I reached him he was groping about frantically in the empty cab, and giving vent to the finest assorted collection of oaths that ever I listened to. There was no sign or trace of his passenger, and I fear it will be some time before he gets his fare. On inquiring at Number 13 we found that the house belonged to a respectable paperhanger, named Keswick, and that no one of the name either of Sawyer or Dennis had ever been heard of there.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You don’t mean to say,</quote> I cried, in amazement, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">that that tottering, feeble old woman was able to get out of the cab while it was in motion, without either you or the driver seeing her?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Old woman be damned!</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, sharply. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We were the old women to be so taken in. It must have been a young man, and an active one, too, besides being an incomparable actor. The get-up was inimitable. He saw that he was followed, no doubt, and used this means of giving me the slip. It shows that the man we are after is not as lonely as I imagined he was, but has friends who are ready to risk something for him. Now, Doctor, you are looking done-up. Take my advice and turn in.</quote> I was certainly feeling very weary, so I obeyed his injunction. I left <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> seated in front of the smouldering fire, and long into the watches of the night I heard the low, melancholy wailings of his violin, and knew that he was still pondering over the strange problem which he had set himself to unravel. </chapter> <chapter id="6" num="VI"> <chapterTitle>TOBIAS GREGSON SHOWS WHAT HE CAN DO</chapterTitle> The papers next day were full of the "Brixton Mystery," as they termed it. Each had a long account of the affair, and some had leaders upon it in addition. There was some information in them which was new to me. I still retain in my scrap-book numerous clippings and extracts bearing upon the case. Here is a condensation of a few of them:— The _Daily Telegraph_ remarked that in the history of crime there had seldom been a tragedy which presented stranger features. The German name of the victim, the absence of all other motive, and the sinister inscription on the wall, all pointed to its perpetration by political refugees and revolutionists. The Socialists had many branches in America, and the deceased had, no doubt, infringed their unwritten laws, and been tracked down by them. After alluding airily to the Vehmgericht, aqua tofana, Carbonari, the Marchioness de Brinvilliers, the Darwinian theory, the principles of Malthus, and the Ratcliff Highway murders, the article concluded by admonishing the Government and advocating a closer watch over foreigners in England. The _Standard_ commented upon the fact that lawless outrages of the sort usually occurred under a Liberal Administration. They arose from the unsettling of the minds of the masses, and the consequent weakening of all authority. The deceased was an American gentleman who had been residing for some weeks in the Metropolis. He had stayed at the boarding-house of Madame Charpentier, in Torquay Terrace, Camberwell. He was accompanied in his travels by his private secretary, <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Mr. Joseph Stangerson</person>. The two bade adieu to their landlady upon Tuesday, the 4th inst., and departed to Euston Station with the avowed intention of catching the Liverpool express. They were afterwards seen together upon the platform. Nothing more is known of them until <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Mr. Drebber</person>’s body was, as recorded, discovered in an empty house in the Brixton Road, many miles from Euston. How he came there, or how he met his fate, are questions which are still involved in mystery. Nothing is known of the whereabouts of <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>. We are glad to learn that <person perName="Lestrade">Mr. Lestrade</person> and Mr. <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>, of Scotland Yard, are both engaged upon the case, and it is confidently anticipated that these well-known officers will speedily throw light upon the matter. The _Daily News_ observed that there was no doubt as to the crime being a political one. The despotism and hatred of Liberalism which animated the Continental Governments had had the effect of driving to our shores a number of men who might have made excellent citizens were they not soured by the recollection of all that they had undergone. Among these men there was a stringent code of honour, any infringement of which was punished by death. Every effort should be made to find the secretary, <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>, and to ascertain some particulars of the habits of the deceased. A great step had been gained by the discovery of the address of the house at which he had boarded—a result which was entirely due to the acuteness and energy of Mr. <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> of Scotland Yard. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> and I read these notices over together at breakfast, and they appeared to afford him considerable amusement. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I told you that, whatever happened, <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> and <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> would be sure to score.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">That depends on how it turns out.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, bless you, it doesn’t matter in the least. If the man is caught, it will be _on account_ of their exertions; if he escapes, it will be _in spite_ of their exertions. It’s heads I win and tails you lose. Whatever they do, they will have followers. ‘Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l’admire.’</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What on earth is this?</quote> I cried, for at this moment there came the pattering of many steps in the hall and on the stairs, accompanied by audible expressions of disgust upon the part of our landlady. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It’s the Baker Street division of the detective police force,</quote> said my companion, gravely; and as he spoke there rushed into the room half a dozen of the dirtiest and most ragged street Arabs that ever I clapped eyes on. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">‘Tention!</quote> cried <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, in a sharp tone, and the six dirty little scoundrels stood in a line like so many disreputable statuettes. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">In future you shall send up Wiggins alone to report, and the rest of you must wait in the street. Have you found it, Wiggins?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">No, sir, we hain’t,</quote> said one of the youths. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I hardly expected you would. You must keep on until you do. Here are your wages.</quote> He handed each of them a shilling. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now, off you go, and come back with a better report next time.</quote> He waved his hand, and they scampered away downstairs like so many rats, and we heard their shrill voices next moment in the street. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There’s more work to be got out of one of those little beggars than out of a dozen of the force,</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The mere sight of an official-looking person seals men’s lips. These youngsters, however, go everywhere and hear everything. They are as sharp as needles, too; all they want is organisation.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Is it on this Brixton case that you are employing them?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes; there is a point which I wish to ascertain. It is merely a matter of time. Hullo! we are going to hear some news now with a vengeance! Here is <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> coming down the road with beatitude written upon every feature of his face. Bound for us, I know. Yes, he is stopping. There he is!</quote> There was a violent peal at the bell, and in a few seconds the fair-haired detective came up the stairs, three steps at a time, and burst into our sitting-room. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">My dear fellow,</quote> he cried, wringing <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’ unresponsive hand, <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">congratulate me! I have made the whole thing as clear as day.</quote> A shade of anxiety seemed to me to cross my companion’s expressive face. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Do you mean that you are on the right track?</quote> he asked. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">The right track! Why, sir, we have the man under lock and key.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And his name is?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">Arthur Charpentier, sub-lieutenant in Her Majesty’s navy,</quote> cried <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>, pompously, rubbing his fat hands and inflating his chest. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> gave a sigh of relief, and relaxed into a smile. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Take a seat, and try one of these cigars,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We are anxious to know how you managed it. Will you have some whiskey and water?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">I don’t mind if I do,</quote> the detective answered. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">The tremendous exertions which I have gone through during the last day or two have worn me out. Not so much bodily exertion, you understand, as the strain upon the mind. You will appreciate that, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>, for we are both brain-workers.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You do me too much honour,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, gravely. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Let us hear how you arrived at this most gratifying result.</quote> The detective seated himself in the arm-chair, and puffed complacently at his cigar. Then suddenly he slapped his thigh in a paroxysm of amusement. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">The fun of it is,</quote> he cried, <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">that that fool <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, who thinks himself so smart, has gone off upon the wrong track altogether. He is after the secretary <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>, who had no more to do with the crime than the babe unborn. I have no doubt that he has caught him by this time.</quote> The idea tickled <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> so much that he laughed until he choked. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And how did you get your clue?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">Ah, I’ll tell you all about it. Of course, Doctor <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, this is strictly between ourselves. The first difficulty which we had to contend with was the finding of this American’s antecedents. Some people would have waited until their advertisements were answered, or until parties came forward and volunteered information. That is not <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Tobias Gregson</person>’s way of going to work. You remember the hat beside the dead man?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">by John Underwood and Sons, 129, Camberwell Road.</quote> <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> looked quite crest-fallen. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">I had no idea that you noticed that,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">Have you been there?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">Ha!</quote> cried <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>, in a relieved voice; <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">you should never neglect a chance, however small it may seem.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">To a great mind, nothing is little,</quote> remarked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, sententiously. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">Well, I went to Underwood, and asked him if he had sold a hat of that size and description. He looked over his books, and came on it at once. He had sent the hat to a <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Mr. Drebber</person>, residing at Charpentier’s Boarding Establishment, Torquay Terrace. Thus I got at his address.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Smart—very smart!</quote> murmured <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">I next called upon Madame Charpentier,</quote> continued the detective. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">I found her very pale and distressed. Her daughter was in the room, too—an uncommonly fine girl she is, too; she was looking red about the eyes and her lips trembled as I spoke to her. That didn’t escape my notice. I began to smell a rat. You know the feeling, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>, when you come upon the right scent—a kind of thrill in your nerves. ‘Have you heard of the mysterious death of your late boarder <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Mr. Enoch J. Drebber</person>, of Cleveland?’ I asked. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">The mother nodded. She didn’t seem able to get out a word. The daughter burst into tears. I felt more than ever that these people knew something of the matter. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘At what o’clock did <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Mr. Drebber</person> leave your house for the train?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘At eight o’clock,’ she said, gulping in her throat to keep down her agitation. ‘His secretary, <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Mr. Stangerson</person>, said that there were two trains—one at 9.15 and one at 11. He was to catch the first.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘And was that the last which you saw of him?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">A terrible change came over the woman’s face as I asked the question. Her features turned perfectly livid. It was some seconds before she could get out the single word ‘Yes’—and when it did come it was in a husky unnatural tone. </quote> There was silence for a moment, and then the daughter spoke in a calm clear voice. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘No good can ever come of falsehood, mother,’ she said. ‘Let us be frank with this gentleman. We _did_ see <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Mr. Drebber</person> again.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">'God forgive you!' cried Madame Charpentier, throwing up her hands and sinking back in her chair. 'You have murdered your brother.'</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">Arthur would rather that we spoke the truth</quote>, the girl answered firmly. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘You had best tell me all about it now,’ I said. ‘Half-confidences are worse than none. Besides, you do not know how much we know of it.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘On your head be it, Alice!’ cried her mother; and then, turning to  me, ‘I will tell you all, sir. Do not imagine that my agitation on behalf of my son arises from any fear lest he should have had a hand in this terrible affair. He is utterly innocent of it. My dread is, however, that in your eyes and in the eyes of others he may appear to be compromised. That however is surely impossible. His high character, his profession, his antecedents would all forbid it.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘Your best way is to make a clean breast of the facts,’ I answered. ‘Depend upon it, if your son is innocent he will be none the worse.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘Perhaps, Alice, you had better leave us together,’ she said, and her daughter withdrew. ‘Now, sir,’ she continued, ‘I had no intention of telling you all this, but since my poor daughter has disclosed it I have no alternative. Having once decided to speak, I will tell you all without omitting any particular.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘It is your wisest course,’ said I. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘<person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Mr. Drebber</person> has been with us nearly three weeks. He and his secretary, <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Mr. Stangerson</person>, had been travelling on the Continent. I noticed a "Copenhagen" label upon each of their trunks, showing that that had been their last stopping place. <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person> was a quiet reserved man, but his employer, I am sorry to say, was far otherwise. He was coarse in his habits and brutish in his ways. The very night of his arrival he became very much the worse for drink, and, indeed, after twelve o’clock in the day he could hardly ever be said to be sober. His manners towards the maid-servants were disgustingly free and familiar. Worst of all, he speedily assumed the same attitude towards my daughter, Alice, and spoke to her more than once in a way which, fortunately, she is too innocent to understand. On one occasion he actually seized her in his arms and embraced her—an outrage which caused his own secretary to reproach him for his unmanly conduct.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘But why did you stand all this,’ I asked. ‘I suppose that you can get rid of your boarders when you wish.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">Mrs. Charpentier blushed at my pertinent question. ‘Would to God that I had given him notice on the very day that he came,’ she said. ‘But it was a sore temptation. They were paying a pound a day each—fourteen pounds a week, and this is the slack season. I am a widow, and my boy in the Navy has cost me much. I grudged to lose the money. I acted for the best. This last was too much, however, and I gave him notice to leave on account of it. That was the reason of his going.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘Well?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘My heart grew light when I saw him drive away. My son is on leave just now, but I did not tell him anything of all this, for his temper is violent, and he is passionately fond of his sister. When I closed the door behind them a load seemed to be lifted from my mind. Alas, in less than an hour there was a ring at the bell, and I learned that Mr. <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> had returned. He was much excited, and evidently the worse for drink. He forced his way into the room, where I was sitting with my daughter, and made some incoherent remark about having missed his train. He then turned to Alice, and before my very face, proposed to her that she should fly with him. 'You are of age,' he said, 'and there is no law to stop you. I have money enough and to spare. Never mind the old girl here, but come along with me now straight away. You shall live like a princess.' Poor Alice was so frightened that she shrunk away from him, but he caught her by the wrist and endeavoured to draw her towards the door. I screamed, and at that moment my son Arthur came into the room. What happened then I do not know. I heard oaths and the confused sounds of a scuffle. I was too terrified to raise my head. When I did look up I saw Arthur standing in the doorway laughing, with a stick in his hand. 'I don’t think that fine fellow will trouble us again,' he said. 'I will just go after him and see what he does with himself.' With those words he took his hat and started off down the street. The next morning we heard of <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Mr. Drebber</person>’s mysterious death.’</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">This statement came from Mrs. Charpentier’s lips with many gasps and pauses. At times she spoke so low that I could hardly catch the words. I made shorthand notes of all that she said, however, so that there should be no possibility of a mistake.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It’s quite exciting,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, with a yawn. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What happened next?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">When Mrs. Charpentier paused,</quote> the detective continued, <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">I saw that the whole case hung upon one point. Fixing her with my eye in a way which I always found effective with women, I asked her at what hour her son returned. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘I do not know,’ she answered. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘Not know?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘No; he has a latch-key, and he let himself in.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘After you went to bed?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘Yes.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘When did you go to bed?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘About eleven.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘So your son was gone at least two hours?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘Yes.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘Possibly four or five?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘Yes.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘What was he doing during that time?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">‘I do not know,’ she answered, turning white to her very lips. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">Of course after that there was nothing more to be done. I found out where Lieutenant Charpentier was, took two officers with me, and arrested him. When I touched him on the shoulder and warned him to come quietly with us, he answered us as bold as brass, ‘I suppose you are arresting me for being concerned in the death of that scoundrel <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>,’ he said. We had said nothing to him about it, so that his alluding to it had a most suspicious aspect.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Very,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">He still carried the heavy stick which the mother described him as having with him when he followed <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>. It was a stout oak cudgel.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What is your theory, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">Well, my theory is that he followed <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> as far as the Brixton Road. When there, a fresh altercation arose between them, in the course of which <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> received a blow from the stick, in the pit of the stomach, perhaps, which killed him without leaving any mark. The night was so wet that no one was about, so Charpentier dragged the body of his victim into the empty house. As to the candle, and the blood, and the writing on the wall, and the ring, they may all be so many tricks to throw the police on to the wrong scent.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well done!</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> in an encouraging voice. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Really, <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>, you are getting along. We shall make something of you yet.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">I flatter myself that I have managed it rather neatly,</quote> the detective answered proudly. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">The young man volunteered a statement, in which he said that after following <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> some time, the latter perceived him, and took a cab in order to get away from him. On his way home he met an old shipmate, and took a long walk with him. On being asked where this old shipmate lived, he was unable to give any satisfactory reply. I think the whole case fits together uncommonly well. What amuses me is to think of <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, who had started off upon the wrong scent. I am afraid he won’t make much of it. Why, by Jove, here’s the very man himself!</quote> It was indeed <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, who had ascended the stairs while we were talking, and who now entered the room. The assurance and jauntiness which generally marked his demeanour and dress were, however, wanting. His face was disturbed and troubled, while his clothes were disarranged and untidy. He had evidently come with the intention of consulting with <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, for on perceiving his colleague he appeared to be embarrassed and put out. He stood in the centre of the room, fumbling nervously with his hat and uncertain what to do. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">This is a most extraordinary case,</quote> he said at last—<quote spokeBy="Lestrade">a most incomprehensible affair.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">Ah, you find it so, <person perName="Lestrade">Mr. Lestrade</person>!</quote> cried <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>, triumphantly. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">I thought you would come to that conclusion. Have you managed to find the Secretary, <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Mr. Joseph Stangerson</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">The Secretary, <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Mr. Joseph Stangerson</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> gravely, <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">was murdered at Halliday’s Private Hotel about six o’clock this morning.</quote> </chapter> <chapter id="7" num="VII"> <chapterTitle>LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS</chapterTitle> The intelligence with which <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> greeted us was so momentous and so unexpected, that we were all three fairly dumfoundered. <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> sprang out of his chair and upset the remainder of his whiskey and water. I stared in silence at <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, whose lips were compressed and his brows drawn down over his eyes. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes"><person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person> too!</quote> he muttered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The plot thickens.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">It was quite thick enough before,</quote> grumbled <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, taking a chair. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I seem to have dropped into a sort of council of war.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">Are you—are you sure of this piece of intelligence?</quote> stammered <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I have just come from his room,</quote> said <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I was the first to discover what had occurred.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We have been hearing <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>’s view of the matter,</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> observed. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Would you mind letting us know what you have seen and done?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I have no objection,</quote> <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> answered, seating himself. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I freely confess that I was of the opinion that <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person> was concerned in the death of <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>. This fresh development has shown me that I was completely mistaken. Full of the one idea, I set myself to find out what had become of the Secretary. They had been seen together at Euston Station about half-past eight on the evening of the third. At two in the morning <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> had been found in the Brixton Road. The question which confronted me was to find out how <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person> had been employed between 8.30 and the time of the crime, and what had become of him afterwards. I telegraphed to Liverpool, giving a description of the man, and warning them to keep a watch upon the American boats. I then set to work calling upon all the hotels and lodging-houses in the vicinity of Euston. You see, I argued that if <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> and his companion had become separated, the natural course for the latter would be to put up somewhere in the vicinity for the night, and then to hang about the station again next morning.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">They would be likely to agree on some meeting-place beforehand,</quote> remarked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">So it proved. I spent the whole of yesterday evening in making enquiries entirely without avail. This morning I began very early, and at eight o’clock I reached Halliday’s Private Hotel, in Little George Street. On my enquiry as to whether a <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Mr. Stangerson</person> was living there, they at once answered me in the affirmative. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">‘No doubt you are the gentleman whom he was expecting,’ they said. ‘He has been waiting for a gentleman for two days.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">‘Where is he now?’ I asked. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">‘He is upstairs in bed. He wished to be called at nine.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">‘I will go up and see him at once,’ I said. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">It seemed to me that my sudden appearance might shake his nerves and lead him to say something unguarded. The Boots volunteered to show me the room: it was on the second floor, and there was a small corridor leading up to it. The Boots pointed out the door to me, and was about to go downstairs again when I saw something that made me feel sickish, in spite of my twenty years’ experience. From under the door there curled a little red ribbon of blood, which had meandered across the passage and formed a little pool along the skirting at the other side. I gave a cry, which brought the Boots back. He nearly fainted when he saw it. The door was locked on the inside, but we put our shoulders to it, and knocked it in. The window of the room was open, and beside the window, all huddled up, lay the body of a man in his nightdress. He was quite dead, and had been for some time, for his limbs were rigid and cold. When we turned him over, the Boots recognized him at once as being the same gentleman who had engaged the room under the name of <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Joseph Stangerson</person>. The cause of death was a deep stab in the left side, which must have penetrated the heart. And now comes the strangest part of the affair. What do you suppose was above the murdered man?</quote> I felt a creeping of the flesh, and a presentiment of coming horror, even before <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> answered. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">The word RACHE, written in letters of blood,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">That was it,</quote> said <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, in an awe-struck voice; and we were all silent for a while. There was something so methodical and so incomprehensible about the deeds of this unknown assassin, that it imparted a fresh ghastliness to his crimes. My nerves, which were steady enough on the field of battle tingled as I thought of it. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">The man was seen,</quote> continued <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">A milk boy, passing on his way to the dairy, happened to walk down the lane which leads from the mews at the back of the hotel. He noticed that a ladder, which usually lay there, was raised against one of the windows of the second floor, which was wide open. After passing, he looked back and saw a man descend the ladder. He came down so quietly and openly that the boy imagined him to be some carpenter or joiner at work in the hotel. He took no particular notice of him, beyond thinking in his own mind that it was early for him to be at work. He has an impression that the man was tall, had a reddish face, and was dressed in a long, brownish coat. He must have stayed in the room some little time after the murder, for we found blood-stained water in the basin, where he had washed his hands, and marks on the sheets where he had deliberately wiped his knife.</quote> I glanced at <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> on hearing the description of the murderer, which tallied so exactly with his own. There was, however, no trace of exultation or satisfaction upon his face. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Did you find nothing in the room which could furnish a clue to the murderer?</quote> he asked. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Nothing. <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person> had <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>’s purse in his pocket, but it seems that this was usual, as he did all the paying. There was eighty odd pounds in it, but nothing had been taken. Whatever the motives of these extraordinary crimes, robbery is certainly not one of them. There were no papers or memoranda in the murdered man’s pocket, except a single telegram, dated from Cleveland about a month ago, and containing the words, ‘J. H. is in Europe.’ There was no name appended to this message.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And there was nothing else?</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> asked. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Nothing of any importance. The man’s novel, with which he had read himself to sleep was lying upon the bed, and his pipe was on a chair beside him. There was a glass of water on the table, and on the window-sill a small chip ointment box containing a couple of pills.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> sprang from his chair with an exclamation of delight. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The last link,</quote> he cried, exultantly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">My case is complete.</quote> The two detectives stared at him in amazement. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have now in my hands,</quote> my companion said, confidently, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">all the threads which have formed such a tangle. There are, of course, details to be filled in, but I am as certain of all the main facts, from the time that <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> parted from <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person> at the station, up to the discovery of the body of the latter, as if I had seen them with my own eyes. I will give you a proof of my knowledge. Could you lay your hand upon those pills?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I have them,</quote> said <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, producing a small white box; <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I took them and the purse and the telegram, intending to have them put in a place of safety at the Police Station. It was the merest chance my taking these pills, for I am bound to say that I do not attach any importance to them.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Give them here,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now, Doctor,</quote> turning to me, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">are those ordinary pills?</quote> They certainly were not. They were of a pearly grey colour, small, round, and almost transparent against the light. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">From their lightness and transparency, I should imagine that they are soluble in water,</quote> I remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Precisely so,</quote> answered <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now would you mind going down and fetching that poor little devil of a terrier which has been bad so long, and which the landlady wanted you to put out of its pain yesterday.</quote> I went downstairs and carried the dog upstair in my arms. It’s laboured breathing and glazing eye showed that it was not far from its end. Indeed, its snow-white muzzle proclaimed that it had already exceeded the usual term of canine existence. I placed it upon a cushion on the rug. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I will now cut one of these pills in two,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, and drawing his penknife he suited the action to the word. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">One half we return into the box for future purposes. The other half I will place in this wine glass, in which is a teaspoonful of water. You perceive that our friend, the Doctor, is right, and that it readily dissolves.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">This may be very interesting,</quote> said <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, in the injured tone of one who suspects that he is being laughed at, <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I cannot see, however, what it has to do with the death of <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Mr. Joseph Stangerson</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Patience, my friend, patience! You will find in time that it has everything to do with it. I shall now add a little milk to make the mixture palatable, and on presenting it to the dog we find that he laps it up readily enough.</quote> As he spoke he turned the contents of the wine glass into a saucer and placed it in front of the terrier, who speedily licked it dry. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>’ earnest demeanour had so far convinced us that we all sat in silence, watching the animal intently, and expecting some startling effect. None such appeared, however. The dog continued to lie stretched upon the cushion, breathing in a laboured way, but apparently neither the better nor the worse for its draught. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> had taken out his watch, and as minute followed minute without result, an expression of the utmost chagrin and disappointment appeared upon his features. He gnawed his lip, drummed his fingers upon the table, and showed every other symptom of acute impatience. So great was his emotion, that I felt sincerely sorry for him, while the two detectives smiled derisively, by no means displeased at this check which he had met. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It can’t be a coincidence,</quote> he cried, at last springing from his chair and pacing wildly up and down the room; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">it is impossible that it should be a mere coincidence. The very pills which I suspected in the case of <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> are actually found after the death of <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>. And yet they are inert. What can it mean? Surely my whole chain of reasoning cannot have been false. It is impossible! And yet this wretched dog is none the worse. Ah, I have it! I have it!</quote> With a perfect shriek of delight he rushed to the box, cut the other pill in two, dissolved it, added milk, and presented it to the terrier. The unfortunate creature’s tongue seemed hardly to have been moistened in it before it gave a convulsive shiver in every limb, and lay as rigid and lifeless as if it had been struck by lightning. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> drew a long breath, and wiped the perspiration from his forehead. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I should have more faith,</quote> he said; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I ought to know by this time that when a fact appears to be opposed to a long train of deductions, it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other interpretation. Of the two pills in that box one was of the most deadly poison, and the other was entirely harmless. I ought to have known that before ever I saw the box at all.</quote> This last statement appeared to me to be so startling, that I could hardly believe that he was in his sober senses. There was the dead dog, however, to prove that his conjecture had been correct. It seemed to me that the mists in my own mind were gradually clearing away, and I began to have a dim, vague perception of the truth. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">All this seems strange to you,</quote> continued <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">because you failed at the beginning of the inquiry to grasp the importance of the single real clue which was presented to you. I had the good fortune to seize upon that, and everything which has occurred since then has served to confirm my original supposition, and, indeed, was the logical sequence of it. Hence things which have perplexed you and made the case more obscure, have served to enlighten me and to strengthen my conclusions. It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery. The most commonplace crime is often the most mysterious because it presents no new or special features from which deductions may be drawn. This murder would have been infinitely more difficult to unravel had the body of the victim been simply found lying in the roadway without any of those _outré_ and sensational accompaniments which have rendered it remarkable. These strange details, far from making the case more difficult, have really had the effect of making it less so.</quote> Mr. <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>, who had listened to this address with considerable impatience, could contain himself no longer. <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">Look here, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>,</quote> he said, <quote spokeBy="Tobias_Gregson">we are all ready to acknowledge that you are a smart man, and that you have your own methods of working. We want something more than mere theory and preaching now, though. It is a case of taking the man. I have made my case out, and it seems I was wrong. Young Charpentier could not have been engaged in this second affair. <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> went after his man, <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>, and it appears that he was wrong too. You have thrown out hints here, and hints there, and seem to know more than we do, but the time has come when we feel that we have a right to ask you straight how much you do know of the business. Can you name the man who did it?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I cannot help feeling that <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> is right, sir,</quote> remarked <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">We have both tried, and we have both failed. You have remarked more than once since I have been in the room that you had all the evidence which you require. Surely you will not withhold it any longer.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Any delay in arresting the assassin,</quote> I observed, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">might give him time to perpetrate some fresh atrocity.</quote> Thus pressed by us all, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> showed signs of irresolution. He continued to walk up and down the room with his head sunk on his chest and his brows drawn down, as was his habit when lost in thought. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There will be no more murders,</quote> he said at last, stopping abruptly and facing us. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You can put that consideration out of the question. You have asked me if I know the name of the assassin. I do. The mere knowing of his name is a small thing, however, compared with the power of laying our hands upon him. This I expect very shortly to do. I have good hopes of managing it through my own arrangements; but it is a thing which needs delicate handling, for we have a shrewd and desperate man to deal with, who is supported, as I have had occasion to prove, by another who is as clever as himself. As long as this man has no idea that anyone can have a clue there is some chance of securing him; but if he had the slightest suspicion, he would change his name, and vanish in an instant among the four million inhabitants of this great city. Without meaning to hurt either of your feelings, I am bound to say that I consider these men to be more than a match for the official force, and that is why I have not asked your assistance. If I fail I shall, of course, incur all the blame due to this omission; but that I am prepared for. At present I am ready to promise that the instant that I can communicate with you without endangering my own combinations, I shall do so.</quote> <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> and <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> seemed to be far from satisfied by this assurance, or by the depreciating allusion to the detective police. The former had flushed up to the roots of his flaxen hair, while the other’s beady eyes glistened with curiosity and resentment. Neither of them had time to speak, however, before there was a tap at the door, and the spokesman of the street Arabs, young Wiggins, introduced his insignificant and unsavoury person. <quote spokeBy="Wiggins">Please, sir,</quote> he said, touching his forelock, <quote spokeBy="Wiggins">I have the cab downstairs.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Good boy,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, blandly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Why don’t you introduce this pattern at Scotland Yard?</quote> he continued, taking a pair of steel handcuffs from a drawer. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">See how beautifully the spring works. They fasten in an instant.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">The old pattern is good enough,</quote> remarked <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">if we can only find the man to put them on.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Very good, very good,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, smiling. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The cabman may as well help me with my boxes. Just ask him to step up, Wiggins.</quote> I was surprised to find my companion speaking as though he were about to set out on a journey, since he had not said anything to me about it. There was a small portmanteau in the room, and this he pulled out and began to strap. He was busily engaged at it when the cabman entered the room. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Just give me a help with this buckle, cabman,</quote> he said, kneeling over his task, and never turning his head. The fellow came forward with a somewhat sullen, defiant air, and put down his hands to assist. At that instant there was a sharp click, the jangling of metal, and <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> sprang to his feet again. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Gentlemen,</quote> he cried, with flashing eyes, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">let me introduce you to <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Mr. Jefferson Hope</person>, the murderer of <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Enoch Drebber</person> and of <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Joseph Stangerson</person>.</quote> The whole thing occurred in a moment—so quickly that I had no time to realize it. I have a vivid recollection of that instant, of <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’ triumphant expression and the ring of his voice, of the cabman’s dazed, savage face, as he glared at the glittering handcuffs, which had appeared as if by magic upon his wrists. For a second or two we might have been a group of statues. Then, with an inarticulate roar of fury, the prisoner wrenched himself free from <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’s grasp, and hurled himself through the window. Woodwork and glass gave way before him; but before he got quite through, <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>, <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, and <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> sprang upon him like so many staghounds. He was dragged back into the room, and then commenced a terrific conflict. So powerful and so fierce was he, that the four of us were shaken off again and again. He appeared to have the convulsive strength of a man in an epileptic fit. His face and hands were terribly mangled by his passage through the glass, but loss of blood had no effect in diminishing his resistance. It was not until <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> succeeded in getting his hand inside his neckcloth and half-strangling him that we made him realize that his struggles were of no avail; and even then we felt no security until we had pinioned his feet as well as his hands. That done, we rose to our feet breathless and panting. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We have his cab,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It will serve to take him to Scotland Yard. And now, gentlemen,</quote> he continued, with a pleasant smile, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">we have reached the end of our little mystery. You are very welcome to put any questions that you like to me now, and there is no danger that I will refuse to answer them.</quote> </chapter> </part> <part num="II"> <partTitle>The Country of the Saints. </partTitle> <chapter id="8" num="I"> <chapterTitle>ON THE GREAT ALKALI PLAIN</chapterTitle> In the central portion of the great North American Continent there lies an arid and repulsive desert, which for many a long year served as a barrier against the advance of civilisation. From the Sierra Nevada to Nebraska, and from the Yellowstone River in the north to the Colorado upon the south, is a region of desolation and silence. Nor is Nature always in one mood throughout this grim district. It comprises snow-capped and lofty mountains, and dark and gloomy valleys. There are swift-flowing rivers which dash through jagged cañons; and there are enormous plains, which in winter are white with snow, and in summer are grey with the saline alkali dust. They all preserve, however, the common characteristics of barrenness, inhospitality, and misery. There are no inhabitants of this land of despair. A band of Pawnees or of Blackfeet may occasionally traverse it in order to reach other hunting-grounds, but the hardiest of the braves are glad to lose sight of those awesome plains, and to find themselves once more upon their prairies. The coyote skulks among the scrub, the buzzard flaps heavily through the air, and the clumsy grizzly bear lumbers through the dark ravines, and picks up such sustenance as it can amongst the rocks. These are the sole dwellers in the wilderness. In the whole world there can be no more dreary view than that from the northern slope of the Sierra Blanco. As far as the eye can reach stretches the great flat plain-land, all dusted over with patches of alkali, and intersected by clumps of the dwarfish chaparral bushes. On the extreme verge of the horizon lie a long chain of mountain peaks, with their rugged summits flecked with snow. In this great stretch of country there is no sign of life, nor of anything appertaining to life. There is no bird in the steel-blue heaven, no movement upon the dull, grey earth—above all, there is absolute silence. Listen as one may, there is no shadow of a sound in all that mighty wilderness; nothing but silence—complete and heart-subduing silence. It has been said there is nothing appertaining to life upon the broad plain. That is hardly true. Looking down from the Sierra Blanco, one sees a pathway traced out across the desert, which winds away and is lost in the extreme distance. It is rutted with wheels and trodden down by the feet of many adventurers. Here and there there are scattered white objects which glisten in the sun, and stand out against the dull deposit of alkali. Approach, and examine them! They are bones: some large and coarse, others smaller and more delicate. The former have belonged to oxen, and the latter to men. For fifteen hundred miles one may trace this ghastly caravan route by these scattered remains of those who had fallen by the wayside. Looking down on this very scene, there stood upon the fourth of May, eighteen hundred and forty-seven, a solitary traveller. His appearance was such that he might have been the very genius or demon of the region. An observer would have found it difficult to say whether he was nearer to forty or to sixty. His face was lean and haggard, and the brown parchment-like skin was drawn tightly over the projecting bones; his long, brown hair and beard were all flecked and dashed with white; his eyes were sunken in his head, and burned with an unnatural lustre; while the hand which grasped his rifle was hardly more fleshy than that of a skeleton. As he stood, he leaned upon his weapon for support, and yet his tall figure and the massive framework of his bones suggested a wiry and vigorous constitution. His gaunt face, however, and his clothes, which hung so baggily over his shrivelled limbs, proclaimed what it was that gave him that senile and decrepit appearance. The man was dying—dying from hunger and from thirst. He had toiled painfully down the ravine, and on to this little elevation, in the vain hope of seeing some signs of water. Now the great salt plain stretched before his eyes, and the distant belt of savage mountains, without a sign anywhere of plant or tree, which might indicate the presence of moisture. In all that broad landscape there was no gleam of hope. North, and east, and west he looked with wild questioning eyes, and then he realised that his wanderings had come to an end, and that there, on that barren crag, he was about to die. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Why not here, as well as in a feather bed, twenty years hence,</quote> he muttered, as he seated himself in the shelter of a boulder. Before sitting down, he had deposited upon the ground his useless rifle, and also a large bundle tied up in a grey shawl, which he had carried slung over his right shoulder. It appeared to be somewhat too heavy for his strength, for in lowering it, it came down on the ground with some little violence. Instantly there broke from the grey parcel a little moaning cry, and from it there protruded a small, scared face, with very bright brown eyes, and two little speckled, dimpled fists. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">You’ve hurt me!</quote> said a childish voice reproachfully. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Have I though,</quote> the man answered penitently, <quote spokeBy="Unknown">I didn’t go for to do it.</quote> As he spoke he unwrapped the grey shawl and extricated a pretty little girl of about five years of age, whose dainty shoes and smart pink frock with its little linen apron all bespoke a mother’s care. The child was pale and wan, but her healthy arms and legs showed that she had suffered less than her companion. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">How is it now?</quote> he answered anxiously, for she was still rubbing the towsy golden curls which covered the back of her head. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Kiss it and make it well,</quote> she said, with perfect gravity, showing the injured part up to him. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">That’s what mother used to do. Where’s mother?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Mother’s gone. I guess you’ll see her before long.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Gone, eh!</quote> said the little girl. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Funny, she didn’t say good-bye; she ‘most always did if she was just goin’ over to Auntie’s for tea, and now she’s been away three days. Say, it’s awful dry, ain’t it? Ain’t there no water, nor nothing to eat?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">No, there ain’t nothing, dearie. You’ll just need to be patient awhile, and then you’ll be all right. Put your head up agin me like that, and then you’ll feel bullier. It ain’t easy to talk when your lips is like leather, but I guess I’d best let you know how the cards lie. What’s that you’ve got?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Pretty things! fine things!</quote> cried the little girl enthusiastically, holding up two glittering fragments of mica. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">When we goes back to home I’ll give them to brother Bob.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">You’ll see prettier things than them soon,</quote> said the man confidently. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">You just wait a bit. I was going to tell you though—you remember when we left the river?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Oh, yes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Well, we reckoned we’d strike another river soon, d’ye see. But there was somethin’ wrong; compasses, or map, or somethin’, and it didn’t turn up. Water ran out. Just except a little drop for the likes of you and—and——</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">And you couldn’t wash yourself,</quote> interrupted his companion gravely, staring up at his grimy visage. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">No, nor drink. And Mr. Bender, he was the fust to go, and then Indian Pete, and then Mrs. McGregor, and then Johnny Hones, and then, dearie, your mother.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Then mother’s a deader too,</quote> cried the little girl dropping her face in her pinafore and sobbing bitterly. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Yes, they all went except you and me. Then I thought there was some chance of water in this direction, so I heaved you over my shoulder and we tramped it together. It don’t seem as though we’ve improved matters. There’s an almighty small chance for us now!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Do you mean that we are going to die too?</quote> asked the child, checking her sobs, and raising her tear-stained face. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">I guess that’s about the size of it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Why didn’t you say so before?</quote> she said, laughing gleefully. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">You gave me such a fright. Why, of course, now as long as we die we’ll be with mother again.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Yes, you will, dearie.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">And you too. I’ll tell her how awful good you’ve been. I’ll bet she meets us at the door of Heaven with a big pitcher of water, and a lot of buckwheat cakes, hot, and toasted on both sides, like Bob and me was fond of. How long will it be first?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">I don’t know—not very long.</quote> The man’s eyes were fixed upon the northern horizon. In the blue vault of the heaven there had appeared three little specks which increased in size every moment, so rapidly did they approach. They speedily resolved themselves into three large brown birds, which circled over the heads of the two wanderers, and then settled upon some rocks which overlooked them. They were buzzards, the vultures of the west, whose coming is the forerunner of death. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Cocks and hens,</quote> cried the little girl gleefully, pointing at their ill-omened forms, and clapping her hands to make them rise. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Say, did God make this country?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">In course He did,</quote> said her companion, rather startled by this unexpected question. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">He made the country down in Illinois, and He made the Missouri,</quote> the little girl continued. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">I guess somebody else made the country in these parts. It’s not nearly so well done. They forgot the water and the trees.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">What would ye think of offering up prayer?</quote> the man asked diffidently. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">It ain’t night yet,</quote> she answered. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">It don’t matter. It ain’t quite regular, but He won’t mind that, you bet. You say over them ones that you used to say every night in the waggon when we was on the Plains.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Why don’t you say some yourself?</quote> the child asked, with wondering eyes. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">I disremember them,</quote> he answered. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">I hain’t said none since I was half the height o’ that gun. I guess it’s never too late. You say them out, and I’ll stand by and come in on the choruses.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Then you’ll need to kneel down, and me too,</quote> she said, laying the shawl out for that purpose. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">You’ve got to put your hands up like this. It makes you feel kind o’ good.</quote> It was a strange sight had there been anything but the buzzards to see it. Side by side on the narrow shawl knelt the two wanderers, the little prattling child and the reckless, hardened adventurer. Her chubby face, and his haggard, angular visage were both turned up to the cloudless heaven in heartfelt entreaty to that dread being with whom they were face to face, while the two voices—the one thin and clear, the other deep and harsh—united in the entreaty for mercy and forgiveness. The prayer finished, they resumed their seat in the shadow of the boulder until the child fell asleep, nestling upon the broad breast of her protector. He watched over her slumber for some time, but Nature proved to be too strong for him. For three days and three nights he had allowed himself neither rest nor repose. Slowly the eyelids drooped over the tired eyes, and the head sunk lower and lower upon the breast, until the man’s grizzled beard was mixed with the gold tresses of his companion, and both slept the same deep and dreamless slumber. Had the wanderer remained awake for another half hour a strange sight would have met his eyes. Far away on the extreme verge of the alkali plain there rose up a little spray of dust, very slight at first, and hardly to be distinguished from the mists of the distance, but gradually growing higher and broader until it formed a solid, well-defined cloud. This cloud continued to increase in size until it became evident that it could only be raised by a great multitude of moving creatures. In more fertile spots the observer would have come to the conclusion that one of those great herds of bisons which graze upon the prairie land was approaching him. This was obviously impossible in these arid wilds. As the whirl of dust drew nearer to the solitary bluff upon which the two castaways were reposing, the canvas-covered tilts of waggons and the figures of armed horsemen began to show up through the haze, and the apparition revealed itself as being a great caravan upon its journey for the West. But what a caravan! When the head of it had reached the base of the mountains, the rear was not yet visible on the horizon. Right across the enormous plain stretched the straggling array, waggons and carts, men on horseback, and men on foot. Innumerable women who staggered along under burdens, and children who toddled beside the waggons or peeped out from under the white coverings. This was evidently no ordinary party of immigrants, but rather some nomad people who had been compelled from stress of circumstances to seek themselves a new country. There rose through the clear air a confused clattering and rumbling from this great mass of humanity, with the creaking of wheels and the neighing of horses. Loud as it was, it was not sufficient to rouse the two tired wayfarers above them. At the head of the column there rode a score or more of grave ironfaced men, clad in sombre homespun garments and armed with rifles. On reaching the base of the bluff they halted, and held a short council among themselves. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">The wells are to the right, my brothers,</quote> said one, a hard-lipped, clean-shaven man with grizzly hair. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">To the right of the Sierra Blanco—so we shall reach the Rio Grande,</quote> said another. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Fear not for water,</quote> cried a third. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">He who could draw it from the rocks will not now abandon His own chosen people.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Amen! Amen!</quote> responded the whole party. They were about to resume their journey when one of the youngest and keenest-eyed uttered an exclamation and pointed up at the rugged crag above them. From its summit there fluttered a little wisp of pink, showing up hard and bright against the grey rocks behind. At the sight there was a general reining up of horses and unslinging of guns, while fresh horsemen came galloping up to reinforce the vanguard. The word ‘Redskins’ was on every lip. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">There can’t be any number of Injuns here,</quote> said the elderly man who appeared to be in command. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">We have passed the Pawnees, and there are no other tribes until we cross the great mountains.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Shall I go forward and see, Brother <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>,</quote> asked one of the band. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">And I,</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">and I,</quote> cried a dozen voices. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Leave your horses below and we will await you here,</quote> the Elder answered. In a moment the young fellows had dismounted, fastened their horses, and were ascending the precipitous slope which led up to the object which had excited their curiosity. They advanced rapidly and noiselessly, with the confidence and dexterity of practised scouts. The watchers from the plain below could see them flit from rock to rock until their figures stood out against the skyline. The young man who had first given the alarm was leading them. Suddenly his followers saw him throw up his hands, as though overcome with astonishment, and on joining him they were affected in the same way by the sight which met their eyes. On the little plateau which crowned the barren hill there stood a single giant boulder, and against this boulder there lay a tall man, long-bearded and hard-featured, but of an excessive thinness. His placid face and regular breathing showed that he was fast asleep. Beside him lay a little child, with her round white arms encircling his brown sinewy neck, and her golden haired head resting upon the breast of his velveteen tunic. Her rosy lips were parted, showing the regular line of snow-white teeth within, and a playful smile played over her infantile features. Her plump little white legs terminating in white socks and neat shoes with shining buckles, offered a strange contrast to the long shrivelled members of her companion. On the ledge of rock above this strange couple there stood three solemn buzzards, who, at the sight of the new comers uttered raucous screams of disappointment and flapped sullenly away. The cries of the foul birds awoke the two sleepers who stared about them in bewilderment. The man staggered to his feet and looked down upon the plain which had been so desolate when sleep had overtaken him, and which was now traversed by this enormous body of men and of beasts. His face assumed an expression of incredulity as he gazed, and he passed his boney hand over his eyes. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">This is what they call delirium, I guess,</quote> he muttered. The child stood beside him, holding on to the skirt of his coat, and said nothing but looked all round her with the wondering questioning gaze of childhood. The rescuing party were speedily able to convince the two castaways that their appearance was no delusion. One of them seized the little girl, and hoisted her upon his shoulder, while two others supported her gaunt companion, and assisted him towards the waggons. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">My name is <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person>,</quote> the wanderer explained; <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">me and that little un are all that’s left o’ twenty-one people. The rest is all dead o’ thirst and hunger away down in the south.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Is she your child?</quote> asked someone. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">I guess she is now,</quote> the other cried, defiantly; <quote spokeBy="Unknown">she’s mine ‘cause I saved her. No man will take her from me. She’s <person perName="Lucy_Ferrier">Lucy Ferrier</person> from this day on. Who are you, though?</quote> he continued, glancing with curiosity at his stalwart, sunburned rescuers; <quote spokeBy="Unknown">there seems to be a powerful lot of ye.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Nigh upon ten thousand,</quote> said one of the young men; <quote spokeBy="Unknown">we are the persecuted children of God—the chosen of the Angel Merona.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">I never heard tell on him,</quote> said the wanderer. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">He appears to have chosen a fair crowd of ye.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Do not jest at that which is sacred,</quote> said the other sternly. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">We are of those who believe in those sacred writings, drawn in Egyptian letters on plates of beaten gold, which were handed unto the holy <person perName="Joseph_Smith">Joseph</person> Smith at Palmyra. We have come from Nauvoo, in the State of Illinois, where we had founded our temple. We have come to seek a refuge from the violent man and from the godless, even though it be the heart of the desert.</quote> The name of Nauvoo evidently recalled recollections to <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person>. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">I see,</quote> he said, <quote spokeBy="Unknown">you are the Mormons.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">We are the Mormons,</quote> answered his companions with one voice. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">And where are you going?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">We do not know. The hand of God is leading us under the person of our Prophet. You must come before him. He shall say what is to be done with you.</quote> They had reached the base of the hill by this time, and were surrounded by crowds of the pilgrims—pale-faced meek-looking women, strong laughing children, and anxious earnest-eyed men. Many were the cries of astonishment and of commiseration which arose from them when they perceived the youth of one of the strangers and the destitution of the other. Their escort did not halt, however, but pushed on, followed by a great crowd of Mormons, until they reached a waggon, which was conspicuous for its great size and for the gaudiness and smartness of its appearance. Six horses were yoked to it, whereas the others were furnished with two, or, at most, four a-piece. Beside the driver there sat a man who could not have been more than thirty years of age, but whose massive head and resolute expression marked him as a leader. He was reading a brown-backed volume, but as the crowd approached he laid it aside, and listened attentively to an account of the episode. Then he turned to the two castaways. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">If we take you with us,</quote> he said, in solemn words, <quote spokeBy="Unknown">it can only be as believers in our own creed. We shall have no wolves in our fold. Better far that your bones should bleach in this wilderness than that you should prove to be that little speck of decay which in time corrupts the whole fruit. Will you come with us on these terms?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">Guess I’ll come with you on any terms,</quote> said Ferrier, with such emphasis that the grave Elders could not restrain a smile. The leader alone retained his stern, impressive expression. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">Take him, Brother <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>,</quote> he said, <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">give him food and drink, and the child likewise. Let it be your task also to teach him our holy creed. We have delayed long enough. Forward! On, on to Zion!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">On, on to Zion!</quote> cried the crowd of Mormons, and the words rippled down the long caravan, passing from mouth to mouth until they died away in a dull murmur in the far distance. With a cracking of whips and a creaking of wheels the great waggons got into motion, and soon the whole caravan was winding along once more. The Elder to whose care the two waifs had been committed, led them to his waggon, where a meal was already awaiting them. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">You shall remain here,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">In a few days you will have recovered from your fatigues. In the meantime, remember that now and for ever you are of our religion. <person perName="Brigham_Young">Brigham Young</person> has said it, and he has spoken with the voice of <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Joseph</person> Smith, which is the voice of God.</quote> </chapter> <chapter id="9" num="II"> <chapterTitle>THE FLOWER OF UTAH</chapterTitle> This is not the place to commemorate the trials and privations endured by the immigrant Mormons before they came to their final haven. From the shores of the Mississippi to the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains they had struggled on with a constancy almost unparalleled in history. The savage man, and the savage beast, hunger, thirst, fatigue, and disease—every impediment which Nature could place in the way, had all been overcome with Anglo-Saxon tenacity. Yet the long journey and the accumulated terrors had shaken the hearts of the stoutest among them. There was not one who did not sink upon his knees in heartfelt prayer when they saw the broad valley of Utah bathed in the sunlight beneath them, and learned from the lips of their leader that this was the promised land, and that these virgin acres were to be theirs for evermore. <person perName="Brigham_Young">Young</person> speedily proved himself to be a skilful administrator as well as a resolute chief. Maps were drawn and charts prepared, in which the future city was sketched out. All around farms were apportioned and allotted in proportion to the standing of each individual. The tradesman was put to his trade and the artisan to his calling. In the town streets and squares sprang up, as if by magic. In the country there was draining and hedging, planting and clearing, until the next summer saw the whole country golden with the wheat crop. Everything prospered in the strange settlement. Above all, the great temple which they had erected in the centre of the city grew ever taller and larger. From the first blush of dawn until the closing of the twilight, the clatter of the hammer and the rasp of the saw was never absent from the monument which the immigrants erected to Him who had led them safe through many dangers. The two castaways, <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person> and the little girl who had shared his fortunes and had been adopted as his daughter, accompanied the Mormons to the end of their great pilgrimage. Little <person perName="Lucy_Ferrier">Lucy Ferrier</person> was borne along pleasantly enough in Elder <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>’s waggon, a retreat which she shared with the Mormon’s three wives and with his son, a headstrong forward boy of twelve. Having rallied, with the elasticity of childhood, from the shock caused by her mother’s death, she soon became a pet with the women, and reconciled herself to this new life in her moving canvas-covered home. In the meantime <person perName="Ferrier">Ferrier</person> having recovered from his privations, distinguished himself as a useful guide and an indefatigable hunter. So rapidly did he gain the esteem of his new companions, that when they reached the end of their wanderings, it was unanimously agreed that he should be provided with as large and as fertile a tract of land as any of the settlers, with the exception of <person perName="Brigham_Young">Young</person> himself, and of <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>, Kemball, Johnston, and <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>, who were the four principal Elders. On the farm thus acquired <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person> built himself a substantial log-house, which received so many additions in succeeding years that it grew into a roomy villa. He was a man of a practical turn of mind, keen in his dealings and skilful with his hands. His iron constitution enabled him to work morning and evening at improving and tilling his lands. Hence it came about that his farm and all that belonged to him prospered exceedingly. In three years he was better off than his neighbours, in six he was well-to-do, in nine he was rich, and in twelve there were not half a dozen men in the whole of Salt Lake City who could compare with him. From the great inland sea to the distant Wahsatch Mountains there was no name better known than that of <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person>. There was one way and only one in which he offended the susceptibilities of his co-religionists. No argument or persuasion could ever induce him to set up a female establishment after the manner of his companions. He never gave reasons for this persistent refusal, but contented himself by resolutely and inflexibly adhering to his determination. There were some who accused him of lukewarmness in his adopted religion, and others who put it down to greed of wealth and reluctance to incur expense. Others, again, spoke of some early love affair, and of a fair-haired girl who had pined away on the shores of the Atlantic. Whatever the reason, <person perName="Ferrier">Ferrier</person> remained strictly celibate. In every other respect he conformed to the religion of the young settlement, and gained the name of being an orthodox and straight-walking man. <person perName="Lucy_Ferrier">Lucy Ferrier</person> grew up within the log-house, and assisted her adopted father in all his undertakings. The keen air of the mountains and the balsamic odour of the pine trees took the place of nurse and mother to the young girl. As year succeeded to year she grew taller and stronger, her cheek more rudy, and her step more elastic. Many a wayfarer upon the high road which ran by Ferrier’s farm felt long-forgotten thoughts revive in their mind as they watched her lithe girlish figure tripping through the wheatfields, or met her mounted upon her father’s mustang, and managing it with all the ease and grace of a true child of the West. So the bud blossomed into a flower, and the year which saw her father the richest of the farmers left her as fair a specimen of American girlhood as could be found in the whole Pacific slope. It was not the father, however, who first discovered that the child had developed into the woman. It seldom is in such cases. That mysterious change is too subtle and too gradual to be measured by dates. Least of all does the maiden herself know it until the tone of a voice or the touch of a hand sets her heart thrilling within her, and she learns, with a mixture of pride and of fear, that a new and a larger nature has awoken within her. There are few who cannot recall that day and remember the one little incident which heralded the dawn of a new life. In the case of <person perName="Lucy_Ferrier">Lucy Ferrier</person> the occasion was serious enough in itself, apart from its future influence on her destiny and that of many besides. It was a warm June morning, and the Latter Day Saints were as busy as the bees whose hive they have chosen for their emblem. In the fields and in the streets rose the same hum of human industry. Down the dusty high roads defiled long streams of heavily-laden mules, all heading to the west, for the gold fever had broken out in California, and the Overland Route lay through the City of the Elect. There, too, were droves of sheep and bullocks coming in from the outlying pasture lands, and trains of tired immigrants, men and horses equally weary of their interminable journey. Through all this motley assemblage, threading her way with the skill of an accomplished rider, there galloped <person perName="Lucy_Ferrier">Lucy Ferrier</person>, her fair face flushed with the exercise and her long chestnut hair floating out behind her. She had a commission from her father in the City, and was dashing in as she had done many a time before, with all the fearlessness of youth, thinking only of her task and how it was to be performed. The travel-stained adventurers gazed after her in astonishment, and even the unemotional Indians, journeying in with their pelties, relaxed their accustomed stoicism as they marvelled at the beauty of the pale-faced maiden. She had reached the outskirts of the city when she found the road blocked by a great drove of cattle, driven by a half-dozen wild-looking herdsmen from the plains. In her impatience she endeavoured to pass this obstacle by pushing her horse into what appeared to be a gap. Scarcely had she got fairly into it, however, before the beasts closed in behind her, and she found herself completely imbedded in the moving stream of fierce-eyed, long-horned bullocks. Accustomed as she was to deal with cattle, she was not alarmed at her situation, but took advantage of every opportunity to urge her horse on in the hopes of pushing her way through the cavalcade. Unfortunately the horns of one of the creatures, either by accident or design, came in violent contact with the flank of the mustang, and excited it to madness. In an instant it reared up upon its hind legs with a snort of rage, and pranced and tossed in a way that would have unseated any but a most skilful rider. The situation was full of peril. Every plunge of the excited horse brought it against the horns again, and goaded it to fresh madness. It was all that the girl could do to keep herself in the saddle, yet a slip would mean a terrible death under the hoofs of the unwieldy and terrified animals. Unaccustomed to sudden emergencies, her head began to swim, and her grip upon the bridle to relax. Choked by the rising cloud of dust and by the steam from the struggling creatures, she might have abandoned her efforts in despair, but for a kindly voice at her elbow which assured her of assistance. At the same moment a sinewy brown hand caught the frightened horse by the curb, and forcing a way through the drove, soon brought her to the outskirts. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">You’re not hurt, I hope, miss,</quote> said her preserver, respectfully. She looked up at his dark, fierce face, and laughed saucily. <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">I’m awful frightened,</quote> she said, naively; <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">whoever would have thought that Poncho would have been so scared by a lot of cows?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Thank God you kept your seat,</quote> the other said earnestly. He was a tall, savage-looking young fellow, mounted on a powerful roan horse, and clad in the rough dress of a hunter, with a long rifle slung over his shoulders. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I guess you are the daughter of <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person>,</quote> he remarked, <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I saw you ride down from his house. When you see him, ask him if he remembers the <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person>s of St. Louis. If he’s the same Ferrier, my father and he were pretty thick.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">Hadn’t you better come and ask yourself?</quote> she asked, demurely. The young fellow seemed pleased at the suggestion, and his dark eyes sparkled with pleasure. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I’ll do so,</quote> he said, <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">we’ve been in the mountains for two months, and are not over and above in visiting condition. He must take us as he finds us.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">He has a good deal to thank you for, and so have I,</quote> she answered, <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">he’s awful fond of me. If those cows had jumped on me he’d have never got over it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Neither would I,</quote> said her companion. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">You! Well, I don’t see that it would make much matter to you, anyhow. You ain’t even a friend of ours.</quote> The young hunter’s dark face grew so gloomy over this remark that <person perName="Lucy_Ferrier">Lucy Ferrier</person> laughed aloud. <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">There, I didn’t mean that,</quote> she said; <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">of course, you are a friend now. You must come and see us. Now I must push along, or father won’t trust me with his business any more. Good-bye!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Good-bye,</quote> he answered, raising his broad sombrero, and bending over her little hand. She wheeled her mustang round, gave it a cut with her riding-whip, and darted away down the broad road in a rolling cloud of dust. Young <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> rode on with his companions, gloomy and taciturn. He and they had been among the Nevada Mountains prospecting for silver, and were returning to Salt Lake City in the hope of raising capital enough to work some lodes which they had discovered. He had been as keen as any of them upon the business until this sudden incident had drawn his thoughts into another channel. The sight of the fair young girl, as frank and wholesome as the Sierra breezes, had stirred his volcanic, untamed heart to its very depths. When she had vanished from his sight, he realized that a crisis had come in his life, and that neither silver speculations nor any other questions could ever be of such importance to him as this new and all-absorbing one. The love which had sprung up in his heart was not the sudden, changeable fancy of a boy, but rather the wild, fierce passion of a man of strong will and imperious temper. He had been accustomed to succeed in all that he undertook. He swore in his heart that he would not fail in this if human effort and human perseverance could render him successful. He called on <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person> that night, and many times again, until his face was a familiar one at the farm-house. John, cooped up in the valley, and absorbed in his work, had had little chance of learning the news of the outside world during the last twelve years. All this <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> was able to tell him, and in a style which interested Lucy as well as her father. He had been a pioneer in California, and could narrate many a strange tale of fortunes made and fortunes lost in those wild, halcyon days. He had been a scout too, and a trapper, a silver explorer, and a ranchman. Wherever stirring adventures were to be had, <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> had been there in search of them. He soon became a favourite with the old farmer, who spoke eloquently of his virtues. On such occasions, Lucy was silent, but her blushing cheek and her bright, happy eyes, showed only too clearly that her young heart was no longer her own. Her honest father may not have observed these symptoms, but they were assuredly not thrown away upon the man who had won her affections. It was a summer evening when he came galloping down the road and pulled up at the gate. She was at the doorway, and came down to meet him. He threw the bridle over the fence and strode up the pathway. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I am off, Lucy,</quote> he said, taking her two hands in his, and gazing tenderly down into her face; <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I won’t ask you to come with me now, but will you be ready to come when I am here again?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">And when will that be?</quote> she asked, blushing and laughing. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">A couple of months at the outside. I will come and claim you then, my darling. There’s no one who can stand between us.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">And how about father?</quote> she asked. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">He has given his consent, provided we get these mines working all right. I have no fear on that head.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">Oh, well; of course, if you and father have arranged it all, there’s no more to be said,</quote> she whispered, with her cheek against his broad breast. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Thank God!</quote> he said, hoarsely, stooping and kissing her. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">It is settled, then. The longer I stay, the harder it will be to go. They are waiting for me at the cañon. Good-bye, my own darling—good-bye. In two months you shall see me.</quote> He tore himself from her as he spoke, and, flinging himself upon his horse, galloped furiously away, never even looking round, as though afraid that his resolution might fail him if he took one glance at what he was leaving. She stood at the gate, gazing after him until he vanished from her sight. Then she walked back into the house, the happiest girl in all Utah. </chapter> <chapter id="10" num="III"> <chapterTitle>JOHN FERRIER TALKS WITH THE PROPHET</chapterTitle> Three weeks had passed since <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> and his comrades had departed from Salt Lake City. <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person>’s heart was sore within him when he thought of the young man’s return, and of the impending loss of his adopted child. Yet her bright and happy face reconciled him to the arrangement more than any argument could have done. He had always determined, deep down in his resolute heart, that nothing would ever induce him to allow his daughter to wed a Mormon. Such a marriage he regarded as no marriage at all, but as a shame and a disgrace. Whatever he might think of the Mormon doctrines, upon that one point he was inflexible. He had to seal his mouth on the subject, however, for to express an unorthodox opinion was a dangerous matter in those days in the Land of the Saints. Yes, a dangerous matter—so dangerous that even the most saintly dared only whisper their religious opinions with bated breath, lest something which fell from their lips might be misconstrued, and bring down a swift retribution upon them. The victims of persecution had now turned persecutors on their own account, and persecutors of the most terrible description. Not the Inquisition of Seville, nor the German Vehm-gericht, nor the Secret Societies of Italy, were ever able to put a more formidable machinery in motion than that which cast a cloud over the State of Utah. Its invisibility, and the mystery which was attached to it, made this organization doubly terrible. It appeared to be omniscient and omnipotent, and yet was neither seen nor heard. The man who held out against the Church vanished away, and none knew whither he had gone or what had befallen him. His wife and his children awaited him at home, but no father ever returned to tell them how he had fared at the hands of his secret judges. A rash word or a hasty act was followed by annihilation, and yet none knew what the nature might be of this terrible power which was suspended over them. No wonder that men went about in fear and trembling, and that even in the heart of the wilderness they dared not whisper the doubts which oppressed them. At first this vague and terrible power was exercised only upon the recalcitrants who, having embraced the Mormon faith, wished afterwards to pervert or to abandon it. Soon, however, it took a wider range. The supply of adult women was running short, and polygamy without a female population on which to draw was a barren doctrine indeed. Strange rumours began to be bandied about—rumours of murdered immigrants and rifled camps in regions where Indians had never been seen. Fresh women appeared in the harems of the Elders—women who pined and wept, and bore upon their faces the traces of an unextinguishable horror. Belated wanderers upon the mountains spoke of gangs of armed men, masked, stealthy, and noiseless, who flitted by them in the darkness. These tales and rumours took substance and shape, and were corroborated and re-corroborated, until they resolved themselves into a definite name. To this day, in the lonely ranches of the West, the name of the Danite Band, or the Avenging Angels, is a sinister and an ill-omened one. Fuller knowledge of the organization which produced such terrible results served to increase rather than to lessen the horror which it inspired in the minds of men. None knew who belonged to this ruthless society. The names of the participators in the deeds of blood and violence done under the name of religion were kept profoundly secret. The very friend to whom you communicated your misgivings as to the Prophet and his mission, might be one of those who would come forth at night with fire and sword to exact a terrible reparation. Hence every man feared his neighbour, and none spoke of the things which were nearest his heart. One fine morning, <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person> was about to set out to his wheatfields, when he heard the click of the latch, and, looking through the window, saw a stout, sandy-haired, middle-aged man coming up the pathway. His heart leapt to his mouth, for this was none other than the great <person perName="Brigham_Young">Brigham Young</person> himself. Full of trepidation—for he knew that such a visit boded him little good—Ferrier ran to the door to greet the Mormon chief. The latter, however, received his salutations coldly, and followed him with a stern face into the sitting-room. <quote spokeBy="Brigham_Young">Brother Ferrier,</quote> he said, taking a seat, and eyeing the farmer keenly from under his light-coloured eyelashes, <quote spokeBy="Brigham_Young">the true believers have been good friends to you. We picked you up when you were starving in the desert, we shared our food with you, led you safe to the Chosen Valley, gave you a goodly share of land, and allowed you to wax rich under our protection. Is not this so?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">It is so,</quote> answered <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person>. <quote spokeBy="Brigham_Young">In return for all this we asked but one condition: that was, that you should embrace the true faith, and conform in every way to its usages. This you promised to do, and this, if common report says truly, you have neglected.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">And how have I neglected it?</quote> asked Ferrier, throwing out his hands in expostulation. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">Have I not given to the common fund? Have I not attended at the Temple? Have I not——?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Brigham_Young">Where are your wives?</quote> asked <person perName="Brigham_Young">Young</person>, looking round him. <quote spokeBy="Brigham_Young">Call them in, that I may greet them.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">It is true that I have not married,</quote> <person perName="Ferrier">Ferrier</person> answered. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">But women were few, and there were many who had better claims than I. I was not a lonely man: I had my daughter to attend to my wants.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Brigham_Young">It is of that daughter that I would speak to you,</quote> said the leader of the Mormons. <quote spokeBy="Brigham_Young">She has grown to be the flower of Utah, and has found favour in the eyes of many who are high in the land.</quote> <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person> groaned internally. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">There are stories of her which I would fain disbelieve—stories that she is sealed to some Gentile. This must be the gossip of idle tongues. What is the thirteenth rule in the code of the sainted <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Joseph</person> Smith? ‘Let every maiden of the true faith marry one of the elect; for if she wed a Gentile, she commits a grievous sin.’ This being so, it is impossible that you, who profess the holy creed, should suffer your daughter to violate it.</quote> <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person> made no answer, but he played nervously with his riding-whip. <quote spokeBy="Brigham_Young">Upon this one point your whole faith shall be tested—so it has been decided in the Sacred Council of Four. The girl is young, and we would not have her wed grey hairs, neither would we deprive her of all choice. We Elders have many heifers,[1] but our children must also be provided. <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person> has a son, and <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> has a son, and either of them would gladly welcome your daughter to their house. Let her choose between them. They are young and rich, and of the true faith. What say you to that?</quote> [1] Heber C. Kemball, in one of his sermons, alludes to his hundred wives under this endearing epithet. Ferrier remained silent for some little time with his brows knitted. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">You will give us time,</quote> he said at last. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">My daughter is very  young—she is scarce of an age to marry.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Brigham_Young">She shall have a month to choose,</quote> said <person perName="Brigham_Young">Young</person>, rising from his seat. <quote spokeBy="Brigham_Young">At the end of that time she shall give her answer.</quote> He was passing through the door, when he turned, with flushed face and flashing eyes. <quote spokeBy="Brigham_Young">It were better for you, <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person>,</quote> he thundered, <quote spokeBy="Brigham_Young">that you and she were now lying blanched skeletons upon the Sierra Blanco, than that you should put your weak wills against the orders of the Holy Four!</quote> With a threatening gesture of his hand, he turned from the door, and Ferrier heard his heavy step scrunching along the shingly path. He was still sitting with his elbows upon his knees, considering how he should broach the matter to his daughter when a soft hand was laid upon his, and looking up, he saw her standing beside him. One glance at her pale, frightened face showed him that she had heard what had passed. <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">I could not help it,</quote> she said, in answer to his look. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">His voice rang through the house. Oh, father, father, what shall we do?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">Don’t you scare yourself,</quote> he answered, drawing her to him, and passing his broad, rough hand caressingly over her chestnut hair. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">We’ll fix it up somehow or another. You don’t find your fancy kind o’ lessening for this chap, do you?</quote> A sob and a squeeze of his hand was her only answer. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">No; of course not. I shouldn’t care to hear you say you did. He’s a likely lad, and he’s a Christian, which is more than these folk here, in spite o’ all their praying and preaching. There’s a party starting for Nevada to-morrow, and I’ll manage to send him a message letting him know the hole we are in. If I know anything o’ that young man, he’ll be back here with a speed that would whip electro-telegraphs.</quote> Lucy laughed through her tears at her father’s description. <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">When he comes, he will advise us for the best. But it is for you that I am frightened, dear. One hears—one hears such dreadful stories about those who oppose the Prophet: something terrible always happens to them.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">But we haven’t opposed him yet,</quote> her father answered. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">It will be time to look out for squalls when we do. We have a clear month before us; at the end of that, I guess we had best shin out of Utah.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">Leave Utah!</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">That’s about the size of it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">But the farm?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">We will raise as much as we can in money, and let the rest go. To tell the truth, Lucy, it isn’t the first time I have thought of doing it. I don’t care about knuckling under to any man, as these folk do to their darned prophet. I’m a free-born American, and it’s all new to me. Guess I’m too old to learn. If he comes browsing about this farm, he might chance to run up against a charge of buckshot travelling in the opposite direction.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">But they won’t let us leave,</quote> his daughter objected. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">Wait till <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson</person> comes, and we’ll soon manage that. In the meantime, don’t you fret yourself, my dearie, and don’t get your eyes swelled up, else he’ll be walking into me when he sees you. There’s nothing to be afeared about, and there’s no danger at all.</quote> <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person> uttered these consoling remarks in a very confident tone, but she could not help observing that he paid unusual care to the fastening of the doors that night, and that he carefully cleaned and loaded the rusty old shotgun which hung upon the wall of his bedroom. </chapter> <chapter id="11" num="IV"> <chapterTitle>A FLIGHT FOR LIFE</chapterTitle> On the morning which followed his interview with the Mormon Prophet, <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person> went in to Salt Lake City, and having found his acquaintance, who was bound for the Nevada Mountains, he entrusted him with his message to <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person>. In it he told the young man of the imminent danger which threatened them, and how necessary it was that he should return. Having done thus he felt easier in his mind, and returned home with a lighter heart. As he approached his farm, he was surprised to see a horse hitched to each of the posts of the gate. Still more surprised was he on entering to find two young men in possession of his sitting-room. One, with a long pale face, was leaning back in the rocking-chair, with his feet cocked up upon the stove. The other, a bull-necked youth with coarse bloated features, was standing in front of the window with his hands in his pocket, whistling a popular hymn. Both of them nodded to <person perName="Ferrier">Ferrier</person> as he entered, and the one in the rocking-chair commenced the conversation. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Maybe you don’t know us,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">This here is the son of Elder <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>, and I’m <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Joseph Stangerson</person>, who travelled with you in the desert when the Lord stretched out His hand and gathered you into the true fold.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Joseph_Stangerson">As He will all the nations in His own good time,</quote> said the other in a nasal voice; <quote spokeBy="Enoch_J_Drebber">He grindeth slowly but exceeding small.</quote> <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person> bowed coldly. He had guessed who his visitors were. <quote spokeBy="Joseph_Stangerson">We have come,</quote> continued <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>, <quote spokeBy="Joseph_Stangerson">at the advice of our fathers to solicit the hand of your daughter for whichever of us may seem good to you and to her. As I have but four wives and Brother <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> here has seven, it appears to me that my claim is the stronger one.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Enoch_J_Drebber">Nay, nay, Brother <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>,</quote> cried the other; <quote spokeBy="Enoch_J_Drebber">the question is not how many wives we have, but how many we can keep. My father has now given over his mills to me, and I am the richer man.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Joseph_Stangerson">But my prospects are better,</quote> said the other, warmly. <quote spokeBy="Joseph_Stangerson">When the Lord removes my father, I shall have his tanning yard and his leather factory. Then I am your elder, and am higher in the Church.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Enoch_J_Drebber">It will be for the maiden to decide,</quote> rejoined young <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>, smirking at his own reflection in the glass. <quote spokeBy="Enoch_J_Drebber">We will leave it all to her decision.</quote> During this dialogue, <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person> had stood fuming in the doorway, hardly able to keep his riding-whip from the backs of his two visitors. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">Look here,</quote> he said at last, striding up to them, <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">when my daughter summons you, you can come, but until then I don’t want to see your faces again.</quote> The two young Mormons stared at him in amazement. In their eyes this competition between them for the maiden’s hand was the highest of honours both to her and her father. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">There are two ways out of the room,</quote> cried Ferrier; <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">there is the door, and there is the window. Which do you care to use?</quote> His brown face looked so savage, and his gaunt hands so threatening, that his visitors sprang to their feet and beat a hurried retreat. The old farmer followed them to the door. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">Let me know when you have settled which it is to be,</quote> he said, sardonically. <quote spokeBy="Joseph_Stangerson">You shall smart for this!</quote> <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person> cried, white with rage. <quote spokeBy="Joseph_Stangerson">You have defied the Prophet and the Council of Four. You shall rue it to the end of your days.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Enoch_J_Drebber">The hand of the Lord shall be heavy upon you,</quote> cried young <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>; <quote spokeBy="Enoch_J_Drebber">He will arise and smite you!</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">Then I’ll start the smiting,</quote> exclaimed <person perName="Ferrier">Ferrier</person> furiously, and would have rushed upstairs for his gun had not Lucy seized him by the arm and restrained him. Before he could escape from her, the clatter of horses’ hoofs told him that they were beyond his reach. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">The young canting rascals!</quote> he exclaimed, wiping the perspiration from his forehead; <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">I would sooner see you in your grave, my girl, than the wife of either of them.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">And so should I, father,</quote> she answered, with spirit; <quote spokeBy="Lucy_Ferrier">but <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson</person> will soon be here.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">Yes. It will not be long before he comes. The sooner the better, for we do not know what their next move may be.</quote> It was, indeed, high time that someone capable of giving advice and help should come to the aid of the sturdy old farmer and his adopted daughter. In the whole history of the settlement there had never been such a case of rank disobedience to the authority of the Elders. If minor errors were punished so sternly, what would be the fate of this arch rebel. <person perName="Ferrier">Ferrier</person> knew that his wealth and position would be of no avail to him. Others as well known and as rich as himself had been spirited away before now, and their goods given over to the Church. He was a brave man, but he trembled at the vague, shadowy terrors which hung over him. Any known danger he could face with a firm lip, but this suspense was unnerving. He concealed his fears from his daughter, however, and affected to make light of the whole matter, though she, with the keen eye of love, saw plainly that he was ill at ease. He expected that he would receive some message or remonstrance from <person perName="Brigham_Young">Young</person> as to his conduct, and he was not mistaken, though it came in an unlooked-for manner. Upon rising next morning he found, to his surprise, a small square of paper pinned on to the coverlet of his bed just over his chest. On it was printed, in bold straggling letters:— "Twenty-nine days are given you for amendment, and then——" The dash was more fear-inspiring than any threat could have been. How this warning came into his room puzzled <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person> sorely, for his servants slept in an outhouse, and the doors and windows had all been secured. He crumpled the paper up and said nothing to his daughter, but the incident struck a chill into his heart. The twenty-nine days were evidently the balance of the month which <person perName="Brigham_Young">Young</person> had promised. What strength or courage could avail against an enemy armed with such mysterious powers? The hand which fastened that pin might have struck him to the heart, and he could never have known who had slain him. Still more shaken was he next morning. They had sat down to their breakfast when Lucy with a cry of surprise pointed upwards. In the centre of the ceiling was scrawled, with a burned stick apparently, the number 28. To his daughter it was unintelligible, and he did not enlighten her. That night he sat up with his gun and kept watch and ward. He saw and he heard nothing, and yet in the morning a great 27 had been painted upon the outside of his door. Thus day followed day; and as sure as morning came he found that his unseen enemies had kept their register, and had marked up in some conspicuous position how many days were still left to him out of the month of grace. Sometimes the fatal numbers appeared upon the walls, sometimes upon the floors, occasionally they were on small placards stuck upon the garden gate or the railings. With all his vigilance <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person> could not discover whence these daily warnings proceeded. A horror which was almost superstitious came upon him at the sight of them. He became haggard and restless, and his eyes had the troubled look of some hunted creature. He had but one hope in life now, and that was for the arrival of the young hunter from Nevada. Twenty had changed to fifteen and fifteen to ten, but there was no news of the absentee. One by one the numbers dwindled down, and still there came no sign of him. Whenever a horseman clattered down the road, or a driver shouted at his team, the old farmer hurried to the gate thinking that help had arrived at last. At last, when he saw five give way to four and that again to three, he lost heart, and abandoned all hope of escape. Single-handed, and with his limited knowledge of the mountains which surrounded the settlement, he knew that he was powerless. The more-frequented roads were strictly watched and guarded, and none could pass along them without an order from the Council. Turn which way he would, there appeared to be no avoiding the blow which hung over him. Yet the old man never wavered in his resolution to part with life itself before he consented to what he regarded as his daughter’s dishonour. He was sitting alone one evening pondering deeply over his troubles, and searching vainly for some way out of them. That morning had shown the figure 2 upon the wall of his house, and the next day would be the last of the allotted time. What was to happen then? All manner of vague and terrible fancies filled his imagination. And his daughter—what was to become of her after he was gone? Was there no escape from the invisible network which was drawn all round them. He sank his head upon the table and sobbed at the thought of his own impotence. What was that? In the silence he heard a gentle scratching sound—low, but very distinct in the quiet of the night. It came from the door of the house. <person perName="Ferrier">Ferrier</person> crept into the hall and listened intently. There was a pause for a few moments, and then the low insidious sound was repeated. Someone was evidently tapping very gently upon one of the panels of the door. Was it some midnight assassin who had come to carry out the murderous orders of the secret tribunal? Or was it some agent who was marking up that the last day of grace had arrived. <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person> felt that instant death would be better than the suspense which shook his nerves and chilled his heart. Springing forward he drew the bolt and threw the door open. Outside all was calm and quiet. The night was fine, and the stars were twinkling brightly overhead. The little front garden lay before the farmer’s eyes bounded by the fence and gate, but neither there nor on the road was any human being to be seen. With a sigh of relief, Ferrier looked to right and to left, until happening to glance straight down at his own feet he saw to his astonishment a man lying flat upon his face upon the ground, with arms and legs all asprawl. So unnerved was he at the sight that he leaned up against the wall with his hand to his throat to stifle his inclination to call out. His first thought was that the prostrate figure was that of some wounded or dying man, but as he watched it he saw it writhe along the ground and into the hall with the rapidity and noiselessness of a serpent. Once within the house the man sprang to his feet, closed the door, and revealed to the astonished farmer the fierce face and resolute expression of <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person>. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">Good God!</quote> gasped <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person>. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">How you scared me! Whatever made you come in like that.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Give me food,</quote> the other said, hoarsely. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I have had no time for bite or sup for eight-and-forty hours.</quote> He flung himself upon the cold meat and bread which were still lying upon the table from his host’s supper, and devoured it voraciously. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Does Lucy bear up well?</quote> he asked, when he had satisfied his hunger. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">Yes. She does not know the danger,</quote> her father answered. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">That is well. The house is watched on every side. That is why I crawled my way up to it. They may be darned sharp, but they’re not quite sharp enough to catch a Washoe hunter.</quote> <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person> felt a different man now that he realized that he had a devoted ally. He seized the young man’s leathery hand and wrung it cordially. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">You’re a man to be proud of,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">There are not many who would come to share our danger and our troubles.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">You’ve hit it there, pard,</quote> the young hunter answered. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I have a respect for you, but if you were alone in this business I’d think twice before I put my head into such a hornet’s nest. It’s Lucy that brings me here, and before harm comes on her I guess there will be one less o’ the <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Hope</person> family in Utah.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">What are we to do?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">To-morrow is your last day, and unless you act to-night you are lost. I have a mule and two horses waiting in the Eagle Ravine. How much money have you?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">Two thousand dollars in gold, and five in notes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">That will do. I have as much more to add to it. We must push for Carson City through the mountains. You had best wake Lucy. It is as well that the servants do not sleep in the house.</quote> While <person perName="Ferrier">Ferrier</person> was absent, preparing his daughter for the approaching journey, <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> packed all the eatables that he could find into a small parcel, and filled a stoneware jar with water, for he knew by experience that the mountain wells were few and far between. He had hardly completed his arrangements before the farmer returned with his daughter all dressed and ready for a start. The greeting between the lovers was warm, but brief, for minutes were precious, and there was much to be done. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">We must make our start at once,</quote> said <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person>, speaking in a low but resolute voice, like one who realizes the greatness of the peril, but has steeled his heart to meet it. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">The front and back entrances are watched, but with caution we may get away through the side window and across the fields. Once on the road we are only two miles from the Ravine where the horses are waiting. By daybreak we should be half-way through the mountains.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">What if we are stopped,</quote> asked Ferrier. <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Hope</person> slapped the revolver butt which protruded from the front of his tunic. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">If they are too many for us we shall take two or three of them with us,</quote> he said with a sinister smile. The lights inside the house had all been extinguished, and from the darkened window <person perName="Ferrier">Ferrier</person> peered over the fields which had been his own, and which he was now about to abandon for ever. He had long nerved himself to the sacrifice, however, and the thought of the honour and happiness of his daughter outweighed any regret at his ruined fortunes. All looked so peaceful and happy, the rustling trees and the broad silent stretch of grain-land, that it was difficult to realize that the spirit of murder lurked through it all. Yet the white face and set expression of the young hunter showed that in his approach to the house he had seen enough to satisfy him upon that head. Ferrier carried the bag of gold and notes, <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> had the scanty provisions and water, while Lucy had a small bundle containing a few of her more valued possessions. Opening the window very slowly and carefully, they waited until a dark cloud had somewhat obscured the night, and then one by one passed through into the little garden. With bated breath and crouching figures they stumbled across it, and gained the shelter of the hedge, which they skirted until they came to the gap which opened into the cornfields. They had just reached this point when the young man seized his two companions and dragged them down into the shadow, where they lay silent and trembling. It was as well that his prairie training had given <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> the ears of a lynx. He and his friends had hardly crouched down before the melancholy hooting of a mountain owl was heard within a few yards of them, which was immediately answered by another hoot at a small distance. At the same moment a vague shadowy figure emerged from the gap for which they had been making, and uttered the plaintive signal cry again, on which a second man appeared out of the obscurity. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">To-morrow at midnight,</quote> said the first who appeared to be in authority. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">When the Whip-poor-Will calls three times.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">It is well,</quote> returned the other. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Shall I tell Brother <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Pass it on to him, and from him to the others. Nine to seven!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Seven to five!</quote> repeated the other, and the two figures flitted away in different directions. Their concluding words had evidently been some form of sign and countersign. The instant that their footsteps had died away in the distance, <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> sprang to his feet, and helping his companions through the gap, led the way across the fields at the top of his speed, supporting and half-carrying the girl when her strength appeared to fail her. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Hurry on! hurry on!</quote> he gasped from time to time. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">We are through the line of sentinels. Everything depends on speed. Hurry on!</quote> Once on the high road they made rapid progress. Only once did they meet anyone, and then they managed to slip into a field, and so avoid recognition. Before reaching the town the hunter branched away into a rugged and narrow footpath which led to the mountains. Two dark jagged peaks loomed above them through the darkness, and the defile which led between them was the Eagle Cañon in which the horses were awaiting them. With unerring instinct <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> picked his way among the great boulders and along the bed of a dried-up watercourse, until he came to the retired corner, screened with rocks, where the faithful animals had been picketed. The girl was placed upon the mule, and old Ferrier upon one of the horses, with his money-bag, while <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson</person> <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Hope</person> led the other along the precipitous and dangerous path. It was a bewildering route for anyone who was not accustomed to face Nature in her wildest moods. On the one side a great crag towered up a thousand feet or more, black, stern, and menacing, with long basaltic columns upon its rugged surface like the ribs of some petrified monster. On the other hand a wild chaos of boulders and debris made all advance impossible. Between the two ran the irregular track, so narrow in places that they had to travel in Indian file, and so rough that only practised riders could have traversed it at all. Yet in spite of all dangers and difficulties, the hearts of the fugitives were light within them, for every step increased the distance between them and the terrible despotism from which they were flying. They soon had a proof, however, that they were still within the jurisdiction of the Saints. They had reached the very wildest and most desolate portion of the pass when the girl gave a startled cry, and pointed upwards. On a rock which overlooked the track, showing out dark and plain against the sky, there stood a solitary sentinel. He saw them as soon as they perceived him, and his military challenge of <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Who goes there?</quote> rang through the silent ravine. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Travellers for Nevada,</quote> said <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person>, with his hand upon the rifle which hung by his saddle. They could see the lonely watcher fingering his gun, and peering down at them as if dissatisfied at their reply. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">By whose permission?</quote> he asked. <quote spokeBy="John_Ferrier">The Holy Four,</quote> answered Ferrier. His Mormon experiences had taught him that that was the highest authority to which he could refer. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Nine from seven,</quote> cried the sentinel. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Seven from five,</quote> returned <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> promptly, remembering the countersign which he had heard in the garden. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Pass, and the Lord go with you,</quote> said the voice from above. Beyond his post the path broadened out, and the horses were able to break into a trot. Looking back, they could see the solitary watcher leaning upon his gun, and knew that they had passed the outlying post of the chosen people, and that freedom lay before them. </chapter> <chapter id="12" num="V"> <chapterTitle>THE AVENGING ANGELS</chapterTitle> All night their course lay through intricate defiles and over irregular and rock-strewn paths. More than once they lost their way, but <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Hope</person>’s intimate knowledge of the mountains enabled them to regain the track once more. When morning broke, a scene of marvellous though savage beauty lay before them. In every direction the great snow-capped peaks hemmed them in, peeping over each other’s shoulders to the far horizon. So steep were the rocky banks on either side of them, that the larch and the pine seemed to be suspended over their heads, and to need only a gust of wind to come hurtling down upon them. Nor was the fear entirely an illusion, for the barren valley was thickly strewn with trees and boulders which had fallen in a similar manner. Even as they passed, a great rock came thundering down with a hoarse rattle which woke the echoes in the silent gorges, and startled the weary horses into a gallop. As the sun rose slowly above the eastern horizon, the caps of the great mountains lit up one after the other, like lamps at a festival, until they were all ruddy and glowing. The magnificent spectacle cheered the hearts of the three fugitives and gave them fresh energy. At a wild torrent which swept out of a ravine they called a halt and watered their horses, while they partook of a hasty breakfast. Lucy and her father would fain have rested longer, but <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> was inexorable. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">They will be upon our track by this time,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Everything depends upon our speed. Once safe in Carson we may rest for the remainder of our lives.</quote> During the whole of that day they struggled on through the defiles, and by evening they calculated that they were more than thirty miles from their enemies. At night-time they chose the base of a beetling crag, where the rocks offered some protection from the chill wind, and there huddled together for warmth, they enjoyed a few hours’ sleep. Before daybreak, however, they were up and on their way once more. They had seen no signs of any pursuers, and <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> began to think that they were fairly out of the reach of the terrible organization whose enmity they had incurred. He little knew how far that iron grasp could reach, or how soon it was to close upon them and crush them. About the middle of the second day of their flight their scanty store of provisions began to run out. This gave the hunter little uneasiness, however, for there was game to be had among the mountains, and he had frequently before had to depend upon his rifle for the needs of life. Choosing a sheltered nook, he piled together a few dried branches and made a blazing fire, at which his companions might warm themselves, for they were now nearly five thousand feet above the sea level, and the air was bitter and keen. Having tethered the horses, and bade Lucy adieu, he threw his gun over his shoulder, and set out in search of whatever chance might throw in his way. Looking back he saw the old man and the young girl crouching over the blazing fire, while the three animals stood motionless in the back-ground. Then the intervening rocks hid them from his view. He walked for a couple of miles through one ravine after another without success, though from the marks upon the bark of the trees, and other indications, he judged that there were numerous bears in the vicinity. At last, after two or three hours’ fruitless search, he was thinking of turning back in despair, when casting his eyes upwards he saw a sight which sent a thrill of pleasure through his heart. On the edge of a jutting pinnacle, three or four hundred feet above him, there stood a creature somewhat resembling a sheep in appearance, but armed with a pair of gigantic horns. The big-horn—for so it is called—was acting, probably, as a guardian over a flock which were invisible to the hunter; but fortunately it was heading in the opposite direction, and had not perceived him. Lying on his face, he rested his rifle upon a rock, and took a long and steady aim before drawing the trigger. The animal sprang into the air, tottered for a moment upon the edge of the precipice, and then came crashing down into the valley beneath. The creature was too unwieldy to lift, so the hunter contented himself with cutting away one haunch and part of the flank. With this trophy over his shoulder, he hastened to retrace his steps, for the evening was already drawing in. He had hardly started, however, before he realized the difficulty which faced him. In his eagerness he had wandered far past the ravines which were known to him, and it was no easy matter to pick out the path which he had taken. The valley in which he found himself divided and sub-divided into many gorges, which were so like each other that it was impossible to distinguish one from the other. He followed one for a mile or more until he came to a mountain torrent which he was sure that he had never seen before. Convinced that he had taken the wrong turn, he tried another, but with the same result. Night was coming on rapidly, and it was almost dark before he at last found himself in a defile which was familiar to him. Even then it was no easy matter to keep to the right track, for the moon had not yet risen, and the high cliffs on either side made the obscurity more profound. Weighed down with his burden, and weary from his exertions, he stumbled along, keeping up his heart by the reflection that every step brought him nearer to Lucy, and that he carried with him enough to ensure them food for the remainder of their journey. He had now come to the mouth of the very defile in which he had left them. Even in the darkness he could recognize the outline of the cliffs which bounded it. They must, he reflected, be awaiting him anxiously, for he had been absent nearly five hours. In the gladness of his heart he put his hands to his mouth and made the glen re-echo to a loud halloo as a signal that he was coming. He paused and listened for an answer. None came save his own cry, which clattered up the dreary silent ravines, and was borne back to his ears in countless repetitions. Again he shouted, even louder than before, and again no whisper came back from the friends whom he had left such a short time ago. A vague, nameless dread came over him, and he hurried onwards frantically, dropping the precious food in his agitation. When he turned the corner, he came full in sight of the spot where the fire had been lit. There was still a glowing pile of wood ashes there, but it had evidently not been tended since his departure. The same dead silence still reigned all round. With his fears all changed to convictions, he hurried on. There was no living creature near the remains of the fire: animals, man, maiden, all were gone. It was only too clear that some sudden and terrible disaster had occurred during his absence—a disaster which had embraced them all, and yet had left no traces behind it. Bewildered and stunned by this blow, <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> felt his head spin round, and had to lean upon his rifle to save himself from falling. He was essentially a man of action, however, and speedily recovered from his temporary impotence. Seizing a half-consumed piece of wood from the smouldering fire, he blew it into a flame, and proceeded with its help to examine the little camp. The ground was all stamped down by the feet of horses, showing that a large party of mounted men had overtaken the fugitives, and the direction of their tracks proved that they had afterwards turned back to Salt Lake City. Had they carried back both of his companions with them? <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> had almost persuaded himself that they must have done so, when his eye fell upon an object which made every nerve of his body tingle within him. A little way on one side of the camp was a low-lying heap of reddish soil, which had assuredly not been there before. There was no mistaking it for anything but a newly-dug grave. As the young hunter approached it, he perceived that a stick had been planted on it, with a sheet of paper stuck in the cleft fork of it. The inscription upon the paper was brief, but to the point: JOHN FERRIER, FORMERLY OF SALT LAKE CITY, Died August 4th, 1860. The sturdy old man, whom he had left so short a time before, was gone, then, and this was all his epitaph. <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> looked wildly round to see if there was a second grave, but there was no sign of one. Lucy had been carried back by their terrible pursuers to fulfil her original destiny, by becoming one of the harem of the Elder’s son. As the young fellow realized the certainty of her fate, and his own powerlessness to prevent it, he wished that he, too, was lying with the old farmer in his last silent resting-place. Again, however, his active spirit shook off the lethargy which springs from despair. If there was nothing else left to him, he could at least devote his life to revenge. With indomitable patience and perseverance, <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> possessed also a power of sustained vindictiveness, which he may have learned from the Indians amongst whom he had lived. As he stood by the desolate fire, he felt that the only one thing which could assuage his grief would be thorough and complete retribution, brought by his own hand upon his enemies. His strong will and untiring energy should, he determined, be devoted to that one end. With a grim, white face, he retraced his steps to where he had dropped the food, and having stirred up the smouldering fire, he cooked enough to last him for a few days. This he made up into a bundle, and, tired as he was, he set himself to walk back through the mountains upon the track of the avenging angels. For five days he toiled footsore and weary through the defiles which he had already traversed on horseback. At night he flung himself down among the rocks, and snatched a few hours of sleep; but before daybreak he was always well on his way. On the sixth day, he reached the Eagle Cañon, from which they had commenced their ill-fated flight. Thence he could look down upon the home of the saints. Worn and exhausted, he leaned upon his rifle and shook his gaunt hand fiercely at the silent widespread city beneath him. As he looked at it, he observed that there were flags in some of the principal streets, and other signs of festivity. He was still speculating as to what this might mean when he heard the clatter of horse’s hoofs, and saw a mounted man riding towards him. As he approached, he recognized him as a Mormon named Cowper, to whom he had rendered services at different times. He therefore accosted him when he got up to him, with the object of finding out what <person perName="Lucy_Ferrier">Lucy Ferrier</person>’s fate had been. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I am <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person>,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">You remember me.</quote> The Mormon looked at him with undisguised astonishment—indeed, it was difficult to recognize in this tattered, unkempt wanderer, with ghastly white face and fierce, wild eyes, the spruce young hunter of former days. Having, however, at last, satisfied himself as to his identity, the man’s surprise changed to consternation. <quote spokeBy="Cowper">You are mad to come here,</quote> he cried. <quote spokeBy="Cowper">It is as much as my own life is worth to be seen talking with you. There is a warrant against you from the Holy Four for assisting the Ferriers away.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I don’t fear them, or their warrant,</quote> <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Hope</person> said, earnestly. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">You must know something of this matter, Cowper. I conjure you by everything you hold dear to answer a few questions. We have always been friends. For God’s sake, don’t refuse to answer me.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Cowper">What is it?</quote> the Mormon asked uneasily. <quote spokeBy="Cowper">Be quick. The very rocks have ears and the trees eyes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">What has become of <person perName="Lucy_Ferrier">Lucy Ferrier</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Cowper">She was married yesterday to young <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>. Hold up, man, hold up, you have no life left in you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Don’t mind me,</quote> said <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Hope</person> faintly. He was white to the very lips, and had sunk down on the stone against which he had been leaning. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Married, you say?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Cowper">Married yesterday—that’s what those flags are for on the Endowment House. There was some words between young <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> and young <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person> as to which was to have her. They’d both been in the party that followed them, and <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person> had shot her father, which seemed to give him the best claim; but when they argued it out in council, <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>’s party was the stronger, so the Prophet gave her over to him. No one won’t have her very long though, for I saw death in her face yesterday. She is more like a ghost than a woman. Are you off, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Yes, I am off,</quote> said <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person>, who had risen from his seat. His face might have been chiselled out of marble, so hard and set was its expression, while its eyes glowed with a baleful light. <quote spokeBy="Cowper">Where are you going?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Never mind,</quote> he answered; and, slinging his weapon over his shoulder, strode off down the gorge and so away into the heart of the mountains to the haunts of the wild beasts. Amongst them all there was none so fierce and so dangerous as himself. The prediction of the Mormon was only too well fulfilled. Whether it was the terrible death of her father or the effects of the hateful marriage into which she had been forced, poor Lucy never held up her head again, but pined away and died within a month. Her sottish husband, who had married her principally for the sake of <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person>’s property, did not affect any great grief at his bereavement; but his other wives mourned over her, and sat up with her the night before the burial, as is the Mormon custom. They were grouped round the bier in the early hours of the morning, when, to their inexpressible fear and astonishment, the door was flung open, and a savage-looking, weather-beaten man in tattered garments strode into the room. Without a glance or a word to the cowering women, he walked up to the white silent figure which had once contained the pure soul of <person perName="Lucy_Ferrier">Lucy Ferrier</person>. Stooping over her, he pressed his lips reverently to her cold forehead, and then, snatching up her hand, he took the wedding-ring from her finger. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">She shall not be buried in that,</quote> he cried with a fierce snarl, and before an alarm could be raised sprang down the stairs and was gone. So strange and so brief was the episode, that the watchers might have found it hard to believe it themselves or persuade other people of it, had it not been for the undeniable fact that the circlet of gold which marked her as having been a bride had disappeared. For some months <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> lingered among the mountains, leading a strange wild life, and nursing in his heart the fierce desire for vengeance which possessed him. Tales were told in the City of the weird figure which was seen prowling about the suburbs, and which haunted the lonely mountain gorges. Once a bullet whistled through <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>’s window and flattened itself upon the wall within a foot of him. On another occasion, as <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> passed under a cliff a great boulder crashed down on him, and he only escaped a terrible death by throwing himself upon his face. The two young Mormons were not long in discovering the reason of these attempts upon their lives, and led repeated expeditions into the mountains in the hope of capturing or killing their enemy, but always without success. Then they adopted the precaution of never going out alone or after nightfall, and of having their houses guarded. After a time they were able to relax these measures, for nothing was either heard or seen of their opponent, and they hoped that time had cooled his vindictiveness. Far from doing so, it had, if anything, augmented it. The hunter’s mind was of a hard, unyielding nature, and the predominant idea of revenge had taken such complete possession of it that there was no room for any other emotion. He was, however, above all things practical. He soon realized that even his iron constitution could not stand the incessant strain which he was putting upon it. Exposure and want of wholesome food were wearing him out. If he died like a dog among the mountains, what was to become of his revenge then? And yet such a death was sure to overtake him if he persisted. He felt that that was to play his enemy’s game, so he reluctantly returned to the old Nevada mines, there to recruit his health and to amass money enough to allow him to pursue his object without privation. His intention had been to be absent a year at the most, but a combination of unforeseen circumstances prevented his leaving the mines for nearly five. At the end of that time, however, his memory of his wrongs and his craving for revenge were quite as keen as on that memorable night when he had stood by <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person>’s grave. Disguised, and under an assumed name, he returned to Salt Lake City, careless what became of his own life, as long as he obtained what he knew to be justice. There he found evil tidings awaiting him. There had been a schism among the Chosen People a few months before, some of the younger members of the Church having rebelled against the authority of the Elders, and the result had been the secession of a certain number of the malcontents, who had left Utah and become Gentiles. Among these had been <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> and <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>; and no one knew whither they had gone. Rumour reported that <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> had managed to convert a large part of his property into money, and that he had departed a wealthy man, while his companion, <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>, was comparatively poor. There was no clue at all, however, as to their whereabouts. Many a man, however vindictive, would have abandoned all thought of revenge in the face of such a difficulty, but <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> never faltered for a moment. With the small competence he possessed, eked out by such employment as he could pick up, he travelled from town to town through the United States in quest of his enemies. Year passed into year, his black hair turned grizzled, but still he wandered on, a human bloodhound, with his mind wholly set upon the one object upon which he had devoted his life. At last his perseverance was rewarded. It was but a glance of a face in a window, but that one glance told him that Cleveland in Ohio possessed the men whom he was in pursuit of. He returned to his miserable lodgings with his plan of vengeance all arranged. It chanced, however, that <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>, looking from his window, had recognized the vagrant in the street, and had read murder in his eyes. He hurried before a justice of the peace, accompanied by <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>, who had become his private secretary, and represented to him that they were in danger of their lives from the jealousy and hatred of an old rival. That evening <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> was taken into custody, and not being able to find sureties, was detained for some weeks. When at last he was liberated, it was only to find that <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>’s house was deserted, and that he and his secretary had departed for Europe. Again the avenger had been foiled, and again his concentrated hatred urged him to continue the pursuit. Funds were wanting, however, and for some time he had to return to work, saving every dollar for his approaching journey. At last, having collected enough to keep life in him, he departed for Europe, and tracked his enemies from city to city, working his way in any menial capacity, but never overtaking the fugitives. When he reached St. Petersburg they had departed for Paris; and when he followed them there he learned that they had just set off for Copenhagen. At the Danish capital he was again a few days late, for they had journeyed on to London, where he at last succeeded in running them to earth. As to what occurred there, we cannot do better than quote the old hunter’s own account, as duly recorded in <person perName="John_Watson">Dr. Watson</person>’s Journal, to which we are already under such obligations. </chapter> <chapter id="13" num="VI"> <chapterTitle>A CONTINUATION OF THE REMINISCENCES OF JOHN WATSON, M.D.</chapterTitle> Our prisoner’s furious resistance did not apparently indicate any ferocity in his disposition towards ourselves, for on finding himself powerless, he smiled in an affable manner, and expressed his hopes that he had not hurt any of us in the scuffle. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I guess you’re going to take me to the police-station,</quote> he remarked to <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">My cab’s at the door. If you’ll loose my legs I’ll walk down to it. I’m not so light to lift as I used to be.</quote> <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> and <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> exchanged glances as if they thought this proposition rather a bold one; but <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> at once took the prisoner at his word, and loosened the towel which we had bound round his ankles. He rose and stretched his legs, as though to assure himself that they were free once more. I remember that I thought to myself, as I eyed him, that I had seldom seen a more powerfully built man; and his dark sunburned face bore an expression of determination and energy which was as formidable as his personal strength. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">If there’s a vacant place for a chief of the police, I reckon you are the man for it,</quote> he said, gazing with undisguised admiration at my fellow-lodger. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">The way you kept on my trail was a caution.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You had better come with me,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> to the two detectives. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I can drive you,</quote> said <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Good! and <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> can come inside with me. You too, Doctor, you have taken an interest in the case and may as well stick to us.</quote> I assented gladly, and we all descended together. Our prisoner made no attempt at escape, but stepped calmly into the cab which had been his, and we followed him. <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> mounted the box, whipped up the horse, and brought us in a very short time to our destination. We were ushered into a small chamber where a police Inspector noted down our prisoner’s name and the names of the men with whose murder he had been charged. The official was a white-faced unemotional man, who went through his duties in a dull mechanical way. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">The prisoner will be put before the magistrates in the course of the week,</quote> he said; <quote spokeBy="Unknown">in the mean time, <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Mr. Jefferson Hope</person>, have you anything that you wish to say? I must warn you that your words will be taken down, and may be used against you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I’ve got a good deal to say,</quote> our prisoner said slowly. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I want to tell you gentlemen all about it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Hadn’t you better reserve that for your trial?</quote> asked the Inspector. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I may never be tried,</quote> he answered. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">You needn’t look startled. It isn’t suicide I am thinking of. Are you a Doctor?</quote> He turned his fierce dark eyes upon me as he asked this last question. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Yes; I am,</quote> I answered. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Then put your hand here,</quote> he said, with a smile, motioning with his manacled wrists towards his chest. I did so; and became at once conscious of an extraordinary throbbing and commotion which was going on inside. The walls of his chest seemed to thrill and quiver as a frail building would do inside when some powerful engine was at work. In the silence of the room I could hear a dull humming and buzzing noise which proceeded from the same source. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Why,</quote> I cried, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">you have an aortic aneurism!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">That’s what they call it,</quote> he said, placidly. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I went to a Doctor last week about it, and he told me that it is bound to burst before many days passed. It has been getting worse for years. I got it from over-exposure and under-feeding among the Salt Lake Mountains. I’ve done my work now, and I don’t care how soon I go, but I should like to leave some account of the business behind me. I don’t want to be remembered as a common cut-throat.</quote> The Inspector and the two detectives had a hurried discussion as to the advisability of allowing him to tell his story. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Do you consider, Doctor, that there is immediate danger?</quote> the former asked. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Most certainly there is,</quote> I answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">In that case it is clearly our duty, in the interests of justice, to take his statement,</quote> said the Inspector. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You are at liberty, sir, to give your account, which I again warn you will be taken down.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I’ll sit down, with your leave,</quote> the prisoner said, suiting the action to the word. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">This aneurism of mine makes me easily tired, and the tussle we had half an hour ago has not mended matters. I’m on the brink of the grave, and I am not likely to lie to you. Every word I say is the absolute truth, and how you use it is a matter of no consequence to me.</quote> With these words, <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> leaned back in his chair and began the following remarkable statement. He spoke in a calm and methodical manner, as though the events which he narrated were commonplace enough. I can vouch for the accuracy of the subjoined account, for I have had access to <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>’s note-book, in which the prisoner’s words were taken down exactly as they were uttered. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">It don’t much matter to you why I hated these men,</quote> he said; <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">it’s enough that they were guilty of the death of two human beings—a father and a daughter—and that they had, therefore, forfeited their own lives. After the lapse of time that has passed since their crime, it was impossible for me to secure a conviction against them in any court. I knew of their guilt though, and I determined that I should be judge, jury, and executioner all rolled into one. You’d have done the same, if you have any manhood in you, if you had been in my place. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">That girl that I spoke of was to have married me twenty years ago. She was forced into marrying that same <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>, and broke her heart over it. I took the marriage ring from her dead finger, and I vowed that his dying eyes should rest upon that very ring, and that his last thoughts should be of the crime for which he was punished. I have carried it about with me, and have followed him and his accomplice over two continents until I caught them. They thought to tire me out, but they could not do it. If I die to-morrow, as is likely enough, I die knowing that my work in this world is done, and well done. They have perished, and by my hand. There is nothing left for me to hope for, or to desire. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">They were rich and I was poor, so that it was no easy matter for me to follow them. When I got to London my pocket was about empty, and I found that I must turn my hand to something for my living. Driving and riding are as natural to me as walking, so I applied at a cabowner’s office, and soon got employment. I was to bring a certain sum a week to the owner, and whatever was over that I might keep for myself. There was seldom much over, but I managed to scrape along somehow. The hardest job was to learn my way about, for I reckon that of all the mazes that ever were contrived, this city is the most confusing. I had a map beside me though, and when once I had spotted the principal hotels and stations, I got on pretty well. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">It was some time before I found out where my two gentlemen were living; but I inquired and inquired until at last I dropped across them. They were at a boarding-house at Camberwell, over on the other side of the river. When once I found them out I knew that I had them at my mercy. I had grown my beard, and there was no chance of their recognizing me. I would dog them and follow them until I saw my opportunity. I was determined that they should not escape me again. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">They were very near doing it for all that. Go where they would about London, I was always at their heels. Sometimes I followed them on my cab, and sometimes on foot, but the former was the best, for then they could not get away from me. It was only early in the morning or late at night that I could earn anything, so that I began to get behind hand with my employer. I did not mind that, however, as long as I could lay my hand upon the men I wanted. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">They were very cunning, though. They must have thought that there was some chance of their being followed, for they would never go out alone, and never after nightfall. During two weeks I drove behind them every day, and never once saw them separate. <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> himself was drunk half the time, but <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person> was not to be caught napping. I watched them late and early, but never saw the ghost of a chance; but I was not discouraged, for something told me that the hour had almost come. My only fear was that this thing in my chest might burst a little too soon and leave my work undone. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">At last, one evening I was driving up and down Torquay Terrace, as the street was called in which they boarded, when I saw a cab drive up to their door. Presently some luggage was brought out, and after a time <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> and <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person> followed it, and drove off. I whipped up my horse and kept within sight of them, feeling very ill at ease, for I feared that they were going to shift their quarters. At Euston Station they got out, and I left a boy to hold my horse, and followed them on to the platform. I heard them ask for the Liverpool train, and the guard answer that one had just gone and there would not be another for some hours. <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person> seemed to be put out at that, but <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> was rather pleased than otherwise. I got so close to them in the bustle that I could hear every word that passed between them. <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> said that he had a little business of his own to do, and that if the other would wait for him he would soon rejoin him. His companion remonstrated with him, and reminded him that they had resolved to stick together. <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> answered that the matter was a delicate one, and that he must go alone. I could not catch what <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person> said to that, but the other burst out swearing, and reminded him that he was nothing more than his paid servant, and that he must not presume to dictate to him. On that the Secretary gave it up as a bad job, and simply bargained with him that if he missed the last train he should rejoin him at Halliday’s Private Hotel; to which <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> answered that he would be back on the platform before eleven, and made his way out of the station. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">The moment for which I had waited so long had at last come. I had my enemies within my power. Together they could protect each other, but singly they were at my mercy. I did not act, however, with undue precipitation. My plans were already formed. There is no satisfaction in vengeance unless the offender has time to realize who it is that strikes him, and why retribution has come upon him. I had my plans arranged by which I should have the opportunity of making the man who had wronged me understand that his old sin had found him out. It chanced that some days before a gentleman who had been engaged in looking over some houses in the Brixton Road had dropped the key of one of them in my carriage. It was claimed that same evening, and returned; but in the interval I had taken a moulding of it, and had a duplicate constructed. By means of this I had access to at least one spot in this great city where I could rely upon being free from interruption. How to get <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> to that house was the difficult problem which I had now to solve. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">He walked down the road and went into one or two liquor shops, staying for nearly half-an-hour in the last of them. When he came out he staggered in his walk, and was evidently pretty well on. There was a hansom just in front of me, and he hailed it. I followed it so close that the nose of my horse was within a yard of his driver the whole way. We rattled across Waterloo Bridge and through miles of streets, until, to my astonishment, we found ourselves back in the Terrace in which he had boarded. I could not imagine what his intention was in returning there; but I went on and pulled up my cab a hundred yards or so from the house. He entered it, and his hansom drove away. Give me a glass of water, if you please. My mouth gets dry with the talking.</quote> I handed him the glass, and he drank it down. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">That’s better,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Well, I waited for a quarter of an hour, or more, when suddenly there came a noise like people struggling inside the house. Next moment the door was flung open and two men appeared, one of whom was <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>, and the other was a young chap whom I had never seen before. This fellow had <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> by the collar, and when they came to the head of the steps he gave him a shove and a kick which sent him half across the road. ‘You hound,’ he cried, shaking his stick at him; ‘I’ll teach you to insult an honest girl!’ He was so hot that I think he would have thrashed <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> with his cudgel, only that the cur staggered away down the road as fast as his legs would carry him. He ran as far as the corner, and then, seeing my cab, he hailed me and jumped in. ‘Drive me to Halliday’s Private Hotel,’ said he. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">When I had him fairly inside my cab, my heart jumped so with joy that I feared lest at this last moment my aneurism might go wrong. I drove along slowly, weighing in my own mind what it was best to do. I might take him right out into the country, and there in some deserted lane have my last interview with him. I had almost decided upon this, when he solved the problem for me. The craze for drink had seized him again, and he ordered me to pull up outside a gin palace. He went in, leaving word that I should wait for him. There he remained until closing time, and when he came out he was so far gone that I knew the game was in my own hands. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">Don’t imagine that I intended to kill him in cold blood. It would only have been rigid justice if I had done so, but I could not bring myself to do it. I had long determined that he should have a show for his life if he chose to take advantage of it. Among the many billets which I have filled in America during my wandering life, I was once janitor and sweeper out of the laboratory at York College. One day the professor was lecturing on poisons, and he showed his students some alkaloid, as he called it, which he had extracted from some South American arrow poison, and which was so powerful that the least grain meant instant death. I spotted the bottle in which this preparation was kept, and when they were all gone, I helped myself to a little of it. I was a fairly good dispenser, so I worked this alkaloid into small, soluble pills, and each pill I put in a box with a similar pill made without the poison. I determined at the time that when I had my chance, my gentlemen should each have a draw out of one of these boxes, while I ate the pill that remained. It would be quite as deadly, and a good deal less noisy than firing across a handkerchief. From that day I had always my pill boxes about with me, and the time had now come when I was to use them. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">It was nearer one than twelve, and a wild, bleak night, blowing hard and raining in torrents. Dismal as it was outside, I was glad within—so glad that I could have shouted out from pure exultation. If any of you gentlemen have ever pined for a thing, and longed for it during twenty long years, and then suddenly found it within your reach, you would understand my feelings. I lit a cigar, and puffed at it to steady my nerves, but my hands were trembling, and my temples throbbing with excitement. As I drove, I could see old <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person> and sweet Lucy looking at me out of the darkness and smiling at me, just as plain as I see you all in this room. All the way they were ahead of me, one on each side of the horse until I pulled up at the house in the Brixton Road. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">There was not a soul to be seen, nor a sound to be heard, except the dripping of the rain. When I looked in at the window, I found <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> all huddled together in a drunken sleep. I shook him by the arm, ‘It’s time to get out,’ I said. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Enoch_J_Drebber">‘All right, cabby,’ said he. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I suppose he thought we had come to the hotel that he had mentioned, for he got out without another word, and followed me down the garden. I had to walk beside him to keep him steady, for he was still a little top-heavy. When we came to the door, I opened it, and led him into the front room. I give you my word that all the way, the father and the daughter were walking in front of us. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Enoch_J_Drebber">‘It’s infernally dark,’ said he, stamping about. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">‘We’ll soon have a light,’ I said, striking a match and putting it to a wax candle which I had brought with me. ‘Now, <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Enoch Drebber</person>,’ I continued, turning to him, and holding the light to my own face, ‘who am I?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">He gazed at me with bleared, drunken eyes for a moment, and then I saw a horror spring up in them, and convulse his whole features, which showed me that he knew me. He staggered back with a livid face, and I saw the perspiration break out upon his brow, while his teeth chattered in his head. At the sight, I leaned my back against the door and laughed loud and long. I had always known that vengeance would be sweet, but I had never hoped for the contentment of soul which now possessed me. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">‘You dog!’ I said; ‘I have hunted you from Salt Lake City to St. Petersburg, and you have always escaped me. Now, at last your wanderings have come to an end, for either you or I shall never see to-morrow’s sun rise.’ He shrunk still further away as I spoke, and I could see on his face that he thought I was mad. So I was for the time. The pulses in my temples beat like sledge-hammers, and I believe I would have had a fit of some sort if the blood had not gushed from my nose and relieved me. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">‘What do you think of <person perName="Lucy_Ferrier">Lucy Ferrier</person> now?’ I cried, locking the door, and shaking the key in his face. ‘Punishment has been slow in coming, but it has overtaken you at last.’ I saw his coward lips tremble as I spoke. He would have begged for his life, but he knew well that it was useless. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Enoch_J_Drebber">‘Would you murder me?’ he stammered. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">‘There is no murder,’ I answered. ‘Who talks of murdering a mad dog? What mercy had you upon my poor darling, when you dragged her from her slaughtered father, and bore her away to your accursed and shameless harem.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Enoch_J_Drebber">‘It was not I who killed her father,’ he cried. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">‘But it was you who broke her innocent heart,’ I shrieked, thrusting the box before him. ‘Let the high God judge between us. Choose and eat. There is death in one and life in the other. I shall take what you leave. Let us see if there is justice upon the earth, or if we are ruled by chance.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">He cowered away with wild cries and prayers for mercy, but I drew my knife and held it to his throat until he had obeyed me. Then I swallowed the other, and we stood facing one another in silence for a minute or more, waiting to see which was to live and which was to die. Shall I ever forget the look which came over his face when the first warning pangs told him that the poison was in his system? I laughed as I saw it, and held Lucy’s marriage ring in front of his eyes. It was but for a moment, for the action of the alkaloid is rapid. A spasm of pain contorted his features; he threw his hands out in front of him, staggered, and then, with a hoarse cry, fell heavily upon the floor. I turned him over with my foot, and placed my hand upon his heart. There was no movement. He was dead! </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">The blood had been streaming from my nose, but I had taken no notice of it. I don’t know what it was that put it into my head to write upon the wall with it. Perhaps it was some mischievous idea of setting the police upon a wrong track, for I felt light-hearted and cheerful. I remembered a German being found in New York with RACHE written up above him, and it was argued at the time in the newspapers that the secret societies must have done it. I guessed that what puzzled the New Yorkers would puzzle the Londoners, so I dipped my finger in my own blood and printed it on a convenient place on the wall. Then I walked down to my cab and found that there was nobody about, and that the night was still very wild. I had driven some distance when I put my hand into the pocket in which I usually kept Lucy’s ring, and found that it was not there. I was thunderstruck at this, for it was the only memento that I had of her. Thinking that I might have dropped it when I stooped over <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>’s body, I drove back, and leaving my cab in a side street, I went boldly up to the house—for I was ready to dare anything rather than lose the ring. When I arrived there, I walked right into the arms of a police-officer who was coming out, and only managed to disarm his suspicions by pretending to be hopelessly drunk. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">That was how <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Enoch Drebber</person> came to his end. All I had to do then was to do as much for <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>, and so pay off <person perName="John_Ferrier">John Ferrier</person>’s debt. I knew that he was staying at Halliday’s Private Hotel, and I hung about all day, but he never came out. I fancy that he suspected something when <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> failed to put in an appearance. He was cunning, was <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person>, and always on his guard. If he thought he could keep me off by staying indoors he was very much mistaken. I soon found out which was the window of his bedroom, and early next morning I took advantage of some ladders which were lying in the lane behind the hotel, and so made my way into his room in the grey of the dawn. I woke him up and told him that the hour had come when he was to answer for the life he had taken so long before. I described <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>’s death to him, and I gave him the same choice of the poisoned pills. Instead of grasping at the chance of safety which that offered him, he sprang from his bed and flew at my throat. In self-defence I stabbed him to the heart. It would have been the same in any case, for Providence would never have allowed his guilty hand to pick out anything but the poison. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I have little more to say, and it’s as well, for I am about done up. I went on cabbing it for a day or so, intending to keep at it until I could save enough to take me back to America. I was standing in the yard when a ragged youngster asked if there was a cabby there called <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person>, and said that his cab was wanted by a gentleman at 221B, Baker Street. I went round, suspecting no harm, and the next thing I knew, this young man here had the bracelets on my wrists, and as neatly shackled as ever I saw in my life. That’s the whole of my story, gentlemen. You may consider me to be a murderer; but I hold that I am just as much an officer of justice as you are.</quote> So thrilling had the man’s narrative been, and his manner was so impressive that we had sat silent and absorbed. Even the professional detectives, _blasé_ as they were in every detail of crime, appeared to be keenly interested in the man’s story. When he finished we sat for some minutes in a stillness which was only broken by the scratching of <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>’s pencil as he gave the finishing touches to his shorthand account. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There is only one point on which I should like a little more information,</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> said at last. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Who was your accomplice who came for the ring which I advertised?</quote> The prisoner winked at my friend jocosely. <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">I can tell my own secrets,</quote> he said, <quote spokeBy="Jefferson_Hope">but I don’t get other people into trouble. I saw your advertisement, and I thought it might be a plant, or it might be the ring which I wanted. My friend volunteered to go and see. I think you’ll own he did it smartly.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Not a doubt of that,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> heartily. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now, gentlemen,</quote> the Inspector remarked gravely, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">the forms of the law must be complied with. On Thursday the prisoner will be brought before the magistrates, and your attendance will be required. Until then I will be responsible for him.</quote> He rang the bell as he spoke, and <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> was led off by a couple of warders, while my friend and I made our way out of the Station and took a cab back to Baker Street. </chapter> <chapter id="14" num="VII"> <chapterTitle>THE CONCLUSION</chapterTitle> We had all been warned to appear before the magistrates upon the Thursday; but when the Thursday came there was no occasion for our testimony. A higher Judge had taken the matter in hand, and <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson</person> <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Hope</person> had been summoned before a tribunal where strict justice would be meted out to him. On the very night after his capture the aneurism burst, and he was found in the morning stretched upon the floor of the cell, with a placid smile upon his face, as though he had been able in his dying moments to look back upon a useful life, and on work well done. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes"><person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> and <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> will be wild about his death,</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> remarked, as we chatted it over next evening. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Where will their grand advertisement be now?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I don’t see that they had very much to do with his capture,</quote> I answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence,</quote> returned my companion, bitterly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The question is, what can you make people believe that you have done. Never mind,</quote> he continued, more brightly, after a pause. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I would not have missed the investigation for anything. There has been no better case within my recollection. Simple as it was, there were several most instructive points about it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Simple!</quote> I ejaculated. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, really, it can hardly be described as otherwise,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, smiling at my surprise. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The proof of its intrinsic simplicity is, that without any help save a few very ordinary deductions I was able to lay my hand upon the criminal within three days.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">That is true,</quote> said I. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have already explained to you that what is out of the common is usually a guide rather than a hindrance. In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be able to reason backwards. That is a very useful accomplishment, and a very easy one, but people do not practise it much. In the every-day affairs of life it is more useful to reason forwards, and so the other comes to be neglected. There are fifty who can reason synthetically for one who can reason analytically.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I confess,</quote> said I, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">that I do not quite follow you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I hardly expected that you would. Let me see if I can make it clearer. Most people, if you describe a train of events to them, will tell you what the result would be. They can put those events together in their minds, and argue from them that something will come to pass. There are few people, however, who, if you told them a result, would be able to evolve from their own inner consciousness what the steps were which led up to that result. This power is what I mean when I talk of reasoning backwards, or analytically.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I understand,</quote> said I. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now this was a case in which you were given the result and had to find everything else for yourself. Now let me endeavour to show you the different steps in my reasoning. To begin at the beginning. I approached the house, as you know, on foot, and with my mind entirely free from all impressions. I naturally began by examining the roadway, and there, as I have already explained to you, I saw clearly the marks of a cab, which, I ascertained by inquiry, must have been there during the night. I satisfied myself that it was a cab and not a private carriage by the narrow gauge of the wheels. The ordinary London growler is considerably less wide than a gentleman’s brougham. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This was the first point gained. I then walked slowly down the garden path, which happened to be composed of a clay soil, peculiarly suitable for taking impressions. No doubt it appeared to you to be a mere trampled line of slush, but to my trained eyes every mark upon its surface had a meaning. There is no branch of detective science which is so important and so much neglected as the art of tracing footsteps. Happily, I have always laid great stress upon it, and much practice has made it second nature to me. I saw the heavy footmarks of the constables, but I saw also the track of the two men who had first passed through the garden. It was easy to tell that they had been before the others, because in places their marks had been entirely obliterated by the others coming upon the top of them. In this way my second link was formed, which told me that the nocturnal visitors were two in number, one remarkable for his height (as I calculated from the length of his stride), and the other fashionably dressed, to judge from the small and elegant impression left by his boots. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">On entering the house this last inference was confirmed. My well-booted man lay before me. The tall one, then, had done the murder, if murder there was. There was no wound upon the dead man’s person, but the agitated expression upon his face assured me that he had foreseen his fate before it came upon him. Men who die from heart disease, or any sudden natural cause, never by any chance exhibit agitation upon their features. Having sniffed the dead man’s lips I detected a slightly sour smell, and I came to the conclusion that he had had poison forced upon him. Again, I argued that it had been forced upon him from the hatred and fear expressed upon his face. By the method of exclusion, I had arrived at this result, for no other hypothesis would meet the facts. Do not imagine that it was a very unheard of idea. The forcible administration of poison is by no means a new thing in criminal annals. The cases of Dolsky in Odessa, and of Leturier in Montpellier, will occur at once to any toxicologist. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And now came the great question as to the reason why. Robbery had not been the object of the murder, for nothing was taken. Was it politics, then, or was it a woman? That was the question which confronted me. I was inclined from the first to the latter supposition. Political assassins are only too glad to do their work and to fly. This murder had, on the contrary, been done most deliberately, and the perpetrator had left his tracks all over the room, showing that he had been there all the time. It must have been a private wrong, and not a political one, which called for such a methodical revenge. When the inscription was discovered upon the wall I was more inclined than ever to my opinion. The thing was too evidently a blind. When the ring was found, however, it settled the question. Clearly the murderer had used it to remind his victim of some dead or absent woman. It was at this point that I asked <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> whether he had enquired in his telegram to Cleveland as to any particular point in <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Mr. Drebber</person>’s former career. He answered, you remember, in the negative. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I then proceeded to make a careful examination of the room, which confirmed me in my opinion as to the murderer’s height, and furnished me with the additional details as to the Trichinopoly cigar and the length of his nails. I had already come to the conclusion, since there were no signs of a struggle, that the blood which covered the floor had burst from the murderer’s nose in his excitement. I could perceive that the track of blood coincided with the track of his feet. It is seldom that any man, unless he is very full-blooded, breaks out in this way through emotion, so I hazarded the opinion that the criminal was probably a robust and ruddy-faced man. Events proved that I had judged correctly. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Having left the house, I proceeded to do what <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person> had neglected. I telegraphed to the head of the police at Cleveland, limiting my enquiry to the circumstances connected with the marriage of <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Enoch Drebber</person>. The answer was conclusive. It told me that <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person> had already applied for the protection of the law against an old rival in love, named <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson</person> <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Hope</person>, and that this same <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Hope</person> was at present in Europe. I knew now that I held the clue to the mystery in my hand, and all that remained was to secure the murderer. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I had already determined in my own mind that the man who had walked into the house with <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Drebber</person>, was none other than the man who had driven the cab. The marks in the road showed me that the horse had wandered on in a way which would have been impossible had there been anyone in charge of it. Where, then, could the driver be, unless he were inside the house? Again, it is absurd to suppose that any sane man would carry out a deliberate crime under the very eyes, as it were, of a third person, who was sure to betray him. Lastly, supposing one man wished to dog another through London, what better means could he adopt than to turn cabdriver. All these considerations led me to the irresistible conclusion that <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Jefferson Hope</person> was to be found among the jarveys of the Metropolis. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">If he had been one there was no reason to believe that he had ceased to be. On the contrary, from his point of view, any sudden change would be likely to draw attention to himself. He would, probably, for a time at least, continue to perform his duties. There was no reason to suppose that he was going under an assumed name. Why should he change his name in a country where no one knew his original one? I therefore organized my Street Arab detective corps, and sent them systematically to every cab proprietor in London until they ferreted out the man that I wanted. How well they succeeded, and how quickly I took advantage of it, are still fresh in your recollection. The murder of <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Stangerson</person> was an incident which was entirely unexpected, but which could hardly in any case have been prevented. Through it, as you know, I came into possession of the pills, the existence of which I had already surmised. You see the whole thing is a chain of logical sequences without a break or flaw.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It is wonderful!</quote> I cried. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Your merits should be publicly recognized. You should publish an account of the case. If you won’t, I will for you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You may do what you like, Doctor,</quote> he answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">See here!</quote> he continued, handing a paper over to me, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">look at this!</quote> It was the _Echo_ for the day, and the paragraph to which he pointed was devoted to the case in question. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">The public,</quote> it said, <quote spokeBy="Unknown">have lost a sensational treat through the sudden death of the man <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Hope</person>, who was suspected of the murder of Mr. <person perName="Enoch_J_Drebber">Enoch Drebber</person> and of <person perName="Joseph_Stangerson">Mr. Joseph Stangerson</person>. The details of the case will probably be never known now, though we are informed upon good authority that the crime was the result of an old standing and romantic feud, in which love and Mormonism bore a part. It seems that both the victims belonged, in their younger days, to the Latter Day Saints, and <person perName="Jefferson_Hope">Hope</person>, the deceased prisoner, hails also from Salt Lake City. If the case has had no other effect, it, at least, brings out in the most striking manner the efficiency of our detective police force, and will serve as a lesson to all foreigners that they will do wisely to settle their feuds at home, and not to carry them on to British soil. It is an open secret that the credit of this smart capture belongs entirely to the well-known Scotland Yard officials, Messrs. <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> and <person perName="Tobias_Gregson">Gregson</person>. The man was apprehended, it appears, in the rooms of a certain <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>, who has himself, as an amateur, shown some talent in the detective line, and who, with such instructors, may hope in time to attain to some degree of their skill. It is expected that a testimonial of some sort will be presented to the two officers as a fitting recognition of their services.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Didn’t I tell you so when we started?</quote> cried <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> with a laugh. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That’s the result of all our Study in Scarlet: to get them a testimonial!</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Never mind,</quote> I answered, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I have all the facts in my journal, and the public shall know them. In the meantime you must make yourself contented by the consciousness of success, like the Roman miser— </quote> "‘Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo Ipse domi simul ac nummos contemplor in arca.’" </chapter> </part> </book>

<?xml-model href="../schema/shortStorySchema.rnc" type="application/relax-ng-compact-syntax"?> <collection> <header><title>The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</title> by <author>Arthur Conan Doyle</author></header> <tableOfContents> 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 </tableOfContents> <story num="I"> <storyTitle>A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA</storyTitle> <section number="I"> To <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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 <person perName="Irene_Adler">Irene Adler</person>. 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 <person perName="Irene_Adler">Irene Adler</person>, of dubious and questionable memory. I had seen little of <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Wedlock suits you,</quote> he remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I think, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, that you have put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Seven!</quote> I answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, I fancy, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>. And in practice again, I observe. You did not tell me that you intended to go into harness.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Then, how do you know?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">My dear <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>,</quote> said I, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands together. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is simplicity itself,</quote> said he; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his process of deduction. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">When I hear you give your reasons,</quote> I remarked, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Quite so,</quote> he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself down into an armchair. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Frequently.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">How often?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Well, some hundreds of times.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then how many are there?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">How many? I don’t know.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> He threw over a sheet of thick, pink-tinted notepaper which had been lying open upon the table. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It came by the last post,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Read it aloud.</quote> The note was undated, and without either signature or address. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight o’clock,</quote> it said, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">This is indeed a mystery,</quote> I remarked. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What do you imagine that it means?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorise 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?</quote> I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was written. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">The man who wrote it was presumably well to do,</quote> I remarked, endeavouring to imitate my companion’s processes. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Such paper could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly strong and stiff.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Peculiar—that is the very word,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is not an English paper at all. Hold it up to the light.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What do you make of that?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue triumphant cloud from his cigarette. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">The paper was made in Bohemia,</quote> I said. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> whistled. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">A pair, by the sound,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes,</quote> he continued, glancing out of the window. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">A nice little brougham and a pair of beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There’s money in this case, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, if there is nothing else.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I think that I had better go, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But your client—</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Come in!</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. 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. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">You had my note?</quote> he asked with a deep harsh voice and a strongly marked German accent. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">I told you that I would call.</quote> He looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to address. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Pray take a seat,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This is my friend and colleague, <person perName="John_Watson">Dr. Watson</person>, who is occasionally good enough to help me in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">You may address me as the <person perName="Wilhelm_Ormstein">Count Von Kramm</person>, 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.</quote> I rose to go, but <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> caught me by the wrist and pushed me back into my chair. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is both, or none,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You may say before this gentleman anything which you may say to me.</quote> The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">Then I must begin,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I promise,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And I.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">You will excuse this mask,</quote> continued our strange visitor. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I was aware of it,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> dryly. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I was also aware of that,</quote> murmured <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his gigantic client. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">If your Majesty would condescend to state your case,</quote> he remarked, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I should be better able to advise you.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">You are right,</quote> he cried; <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">I am the King. Why should I attempt to conceal it?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Why, indeed?</quote> murmured <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your Majesty had not spoken before I was aware that I was addressing <person perName="Wilhelm_Ormstein">Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and hereditary King of Bohemia</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">But you can understand,</quote> said our strange visitor, sitting down once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then, pray consult,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, shutting his eyes once more. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known adventuress, <person perName="Irene_Adler">Irene Adler</person>. The name is no doubt familiar to you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor,</quote> murmured <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Let me see!</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">Precisely so. But how—</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Was there a secret marriage?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">None.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No legal papers or certificates?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">None.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">There is the writing.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Pooh, pooh! Forgery.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">My private note-paper.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Stolen.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">My own seal.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Imitated.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">My photograph.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Bought.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">We were both in the photograph.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an indiscretion.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">I was mad—insane.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You have compromised yourself seriously.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It must be recovered.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">We have tried and failed.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">She will not sell.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Stolen, then.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No sign of it?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">Absolutely none.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> laughed. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is quite a pretty little problem,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">But a very serious one to me,</quote> returned the King reproachfully. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the photograph?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">To ruin me.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">But how?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">I am about to be married.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">So I have heard.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">To <person perName="Clotilde_Lothman">Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the King of Scandinavia</person>. 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And <person perName="Irene_Adler">Irene Adler</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You are sure that she has not sent it yet?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">I am sure.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And why?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, then we have three days yet,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> with a yawn. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the <person perName="Wilhelm_Ormstein">Count Von Kramm</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then, as to money?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">You have _carte blanche_.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Absolutely?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom to have that photograph.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And for present expenses?</quote> The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak and laid it on the table. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in notes,</quote> he said. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and handed it to him. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And Mademoiselle’s address?</quote> he asked. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John’s Wood.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> took a note of it. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">One other question,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Was the photograph a cabinet?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">It was.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon have some good news for you. And good-night, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> he added, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> </section> <section number="II"> At three o’clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, really!</quote> he cried, and then he choked and laughed again until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the chair. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What is it?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It’s quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I employed my morning, or what I ended by doing.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I can’t imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the habits, and perhaps the house, of <person perName="Irene_Adler">Miss Irene Adler</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Irene_Adler">Miss Adler</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And what of <person perName="Irene_Adler">Irene Adler</person>?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I am following you closely,</quote> I answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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!’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">‘The Church of St. Monica, John,’ she cried, ‘and half a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This was quite too good to lose, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>. 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">‘Thank God,’ he cried. ‘You’ll do. Come! Come!’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">‘What then?’ I asked. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">‘Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won’t be legal.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Irene_Adler">Irene Adler</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">This is a very unexpected turn of affairs,</quote> said I; <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">and what then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Which are?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Some cold beef and a glass of beer,</quote> he answered, ringing the bell. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I shall be delighted.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You don’t mind breaking the law?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Not in the least.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Nor running a chance of arrest?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Not in a good cause.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, the cause is excellent!</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Then I am your man.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I was sure that I might rely on you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But what is it you wish?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">When <person perName="Mrs_Turner">Mrs. Turner</person> has brought in the tray I will make it clear to you. Now,</quote> he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that our landlady had provided, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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. <person perName="Irene_Adler">Miss Irene</person>, or Madame, rather, returns from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And what then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I am to be neutral?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Yes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Yes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Entirely.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is nothing very formidable,</quote> he said, taking a long cigar-shaped roll from his pocket. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Precisely.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Then you may entirely rely on me.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I prepare for the new role I have to play.</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>’ 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You see,</quote> remarked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, as we paced to and fro in front of the house, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Where, indeed?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Where, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But it has twice been burgled.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Pshaw! They did not know how to look.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But how will you look?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I will not look.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I will get her to show me.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But she will refuse.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> As he spoke the gleam of the sidelights 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <person perName="Irene_Adler">Irene Adler</person>, 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. <quote spokeBy="Irene_Adler">Is the poor gentleman much hurt?</quote> she asked. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">He is dead,</quote> cried several voices. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">No, no, there’s life in him!</quote> shouted another. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">But he’ll be gone before you can get him to hospital.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">He’s a brave fellow,</quote> said a woman. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">He can’t lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable sofa. This way, please!</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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 <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Fire!</quote> 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 <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Fire!</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You did it very nicely, Doctor,</quote> he remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Nothing could have been better. It is all right.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You have the photograph?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I know where it is.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And how did you find out?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">She showed me, as I told you she would.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I am still in the dark.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I do not wish to make a mystery,</quote> said he, laughing. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The matter was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I guessed as much.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">That also I could fathom.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">How did that help you?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And now?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And when will you call?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Good-night, Mister <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I’ve heard that voice before,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, staring down the dimly lit street. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have been.</quote> </section> <section number="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. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">You have really got it!</quote> he cried, grasping <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> by either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Not yet.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">But you have hopes?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have hopes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We must have a cab.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">No, my brougham is waiting.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then that will simplify matters.</quote> We descended and started off once more for Briony Lodge. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes"><person perName="Irene_Adler">Irene Adler</person> is married,</quote> remarked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">Married! When?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yesterday.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">But to whom?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">To an English lawyer named Norton.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">But she could not love him.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I am in hopes that she does.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">And why in hopes?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">It is true. And yet—! Well! I wish she had been of my own station! What a queen she would have made!</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Unknown"><person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>, I believe?</quote> said she. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I am <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>,</quote> answered my companion, looking at her with a questioning and rather startled gaze. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What!</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> staggered back, white with chagrin and surprise. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Do you mean that she has left England?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Never to return.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">And the papers?</quote> asked the King hoarsely. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">All is lost.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We shall see.</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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 <person perName="Irene_Adler">Irene Adler</person> herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to <quote spokeBy="Irene_Adler"><person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, Esq. To be left till called for.</quote> 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: <quote spokeBy="Irene_Adler">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 upstairs, got into my walking clothes, as I call them, and came down just as you departed. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Irene_Adler">Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was really an object of interest to the celebrated <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and started for the Temple to see my husband. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Irene_Adler">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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>, </quote> <quote spokeBy="Irene_Adler">Very truly yours, </quote> <quote spokeBy="Irene_Adler">IRENE NORTON, _née_ ADLER.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">What a woman—oh, what a woman!</quote> cried the King of Bohemia, when we had all three read this epistle. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">From what I have seen of the lady, she seems, indeed, to be on a very different level to your Majesty,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> coldly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I am sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty’s business to a more successful conclusion.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">On the contrary, my dear sir,</quote> cried the King; <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I am glad to hear your Majesty say so.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can reward you. This ring—</quote> He slipped an emerald snake ring from his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your Majesty has something which I should value even more highly,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">You have but to name it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This photograph!</quote> The King stared at him in amazement. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein"><person perName="Irene_Adler">Irene</person>’s photograph!</quote> he cried. <quote spokeBy="Wilhelm_Ormstein">Certainly, if you wish it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person> 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 <person perName="Irene_Adler">Irene Adler</person>, or when he refers to her photograph, it is always under the honourable title of _the_ woman. </section> </story> <story num="II"> <storyTitle>THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE</storyTitle> I had called upon my friend, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>, 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> he said cordially. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I was afraid that you were engaged.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">So I am. Very much so.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Then I can wait in the next room.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Not at all. This gentleman, <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Wilson</person>, 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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Try the settee,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, relapsing into his armchair and putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in judicial moods. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I know, my dear <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me,</quote> I observed. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we went into the very simple problem presented by <person perName="Mary_Sutherland">Miss Mary Sutherland</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Jabez Wilson</person> 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, <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Wilson</person>, you would have the great kindness to recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend <person perName="John_Watson">Dr. Watson</person> 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.</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>’ quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Jabez Wilson</person> started up in his chair, with his forefinger upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>?</quote> he asked. <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Well, but China?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Jabez Wilson</person> laughed heavily. <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Well, I never!</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">I thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see that there was nothing in it after all.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I begin to think, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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, <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Wilson</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Yes, I have got it now,</quote> he answered with his thick red finger planted halfway down the column. <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Here it is. This is what began it all. You just read it for yourself, sir.</quote> I took the paper from him and read as follows: <quote spokeBy="Unknown">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 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What on earth does this mean?</quote> I ejaculated after I had twice read over the extraordinary announcement. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when in high spirits. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is a little off the beaten track, isn’t it?</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And now, <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Wilson</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It is _The Morning Chronicle_ of April 27, 1890. Just two months ago.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Very good. Now, <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Wilson</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Well, it is just as I have been telling you, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Jabez Wilson</person>, mopping his forehead; <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What is the name of this obliging youth?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>; 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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Oh, he has his faults, too,</quote> said <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Wilson</person>. <quote spokeBy="Jabez_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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">He is still with you, I presume?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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: </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘I wish to the Lord, <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Wilson</person>, that I was a red-headed man.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Why that?’ I asks. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Why, what is it, then?’ I asked. You see, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?’ he asked with his eyes open. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Never.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one of the vacancies.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘And what are they worth?’ I asked. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Tell me all about it,’ said I. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘But,’ said I, ‘there would be millions of red-headed men who would apply.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘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, <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Wilson</person>, 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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">I never hope to see such a sight as that again, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your experience has been a most entertaining one,</quote> remarked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge pinch of snuff. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Pray continue your very interesting statement.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘This is <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Jabez Wilson</person>,’ said my assistant, ‘and he is willing to fill a vacancy in the League.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘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, <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Wilson</person>? Have you a family?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">I answered that I had not. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">His face fell immediately. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">My face lengthened at this, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,’ said I. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Oh, never mind about that, <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Wilson</person>!’ said Vincent Spaulding. ‘I should be able to look after that for you.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘What would be the hours?’ I asked. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Ten to two.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Now a pawnbroker’s business is mostly done of an evening, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘That would suit me very well,’ said I. ‘And the pay?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Is £ 4 a week.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘And the work?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Is purely nominal.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘What do you call purely nominal?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘It’s only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,’ said I. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘No excuse will avail,’ said Mr. Duncan Ross; ‘neither sickness nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose your billet.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘And the work?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Is to copy out the _Encyclopædia 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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Certainly,’ I answered. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Then, good-bye, <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Jabez Wilson</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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 _Encyclopædia 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">This went on day after day, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">To an end?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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.</quote> He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet of note-paper. It read in this fashion: <quote spokeBy="Unknown">THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED. October 9, 1890.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">I cannot see that there is anything very funny,</quote> cried our client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">If you can do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No, no,</quote> cried <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, shoving him back into the chair from which he had half risen. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Well,’ said I, ‘the gentleman at No. 4.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘What, the red-headed man?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Yes.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Where could I find him?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">‘Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 King Edward Street, near St. Paul’s.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">I started off, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And what did you do then?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And you did very wisely,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Grave enough!</quote> said <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Jabez Wilson</person>. <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Why, I have lost four pound a week.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">As far as you are personally concerned,</quote> remarked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, one or two questions, <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Wilson</person>. This assistant of yours who first called your attention to the advertisement—how long had he been with you?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">About a month then.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">How did he come?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">In answer to an advertisement.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Was he the only applicant?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">No, I had a dozen.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Why did you pick him?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Because he was handy and would come cheap.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">At half wages, in fact.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Yes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I thought as much,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Have you ever observed that his ears are pierced for earrings?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he was a lad.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Hum!</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, sinking back in deep thought. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">He is still with you?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And has your business been attended to in your absence?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jabez_Wilson">Nothing to complain of, sir. There’s never very much to do of a morning.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That will do, <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Wilson</person>. 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> when our visitor had left us, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">what do you make of it all?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I make nothing of it,</quote> I answered frankly. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It is a most mysterious business.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">As a rule,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What are you going to do, then?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">To smoke,</quote> he answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is quite a three pipe problem, and I beg that you won’t speak to me for fifty minutes.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Sarasate plays at the St. James’s Hall this afternoon,</quote> he remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What do you think, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>? Could your patients spare you for a few hours?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very absorbing.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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!</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Thank you,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I only wished to ask you how you would go from here to the Strand.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Third right, fourth left,</quote> answered the assistant promptly, closing the door. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Smart fellow, that,</quote> observed <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> as we walked away. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Evidently,</quote> said I, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson"><person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Wilson</person>’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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Not him.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The knees of his trousers.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And what did you see?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What I expected to see.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Why did you beat the pavement?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Let me see,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, standing at the corner and glancing along the line, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> the sleuth-hound, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor,</quote> he remarked as we emerged. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Yes, it would be as well.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This business at Coburg Square is serious.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Why serious?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">At what time?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ten will be early enough.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I shall be at Baker Street at ten.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket.</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. 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 _Encyclopædia_ 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ha! Our party is complete,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, buttoning up his pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes"><person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, I think you know <person perName="Jones">Mr. Jones</person>, of Scotland Yard? Let me introduce you to <person perName="Merryweather">Mr. Merryweather</person>, who is to be our companion in to-night’s adventure.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jones">We’re hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see,</quote> said <person perName="Jones">Jones</person> in his consequential way. <quote spokeBy="Jones">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Merryweather">I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase,</quote> observed <person perName="Merryweather">Mr. Merryweather</person> gloomily. <quote spokeBy="Jones">You may place considerable confidence in <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, sir,</quote> said the police agent loftily. <quote spokeBy="Jones">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Merryweather">Oh, if you say so, <person perName="Jones">Mr. Jones</person>, it is all right,</quote> said the stranger with deference. <quote spokeBy="Merryweather">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I think you will find,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="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, <person perName="Merryweather">Mr. Merryweather</person>, the stake will be some £ 30,000; and for you, <person perName="Jones">Jones</person>, it will be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes"><person perName="John_Clay">John Clay</person>, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He’s a young man, <person perName="Merryweather">Mr. Merryweather</person>, 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 <person perName="John_Clay">John Clay</person>. 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. I’ve had one or two little turns also with <person perName="John_Clay">Mr. John Clay</person>, 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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person> and I will follow in the second.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We are close there now,</quote> my friend remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This fellow <person perName="Merryweather">Merryweather</person> is a bank director, and personally interested in the matter. I thought it as well to have <person perName="Jones">Jones</person> 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.</quote> 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 <person perName="Merryweather">Mr. Merryweather</person>, 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. <person perName="Merryweather">Mr. Merryweather</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You are not very vulnerable from above,</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> remarked as he held up the lantern and gazed about him. <quote spokeBy="Merryweather">Nor from below,</quote> said <person perName="Merryweather">Mr. Merryweather</person>, striking his stick upon the flags which lined the floor. <quote spokeBy="Merryweather">Why, dear me, it sounds quite hollow!</quote> he remarked, looking up in surprise. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> severely. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> The solemn <person perName="Merryweather">Mr. Merryweather</person> perched himself upon a crate, with a very injured expression upon his face, while <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We have at least an hour before us,</quote> he remarked, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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. <person perName="Merryweather">Mr. Merryweather</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Merryweather">It is our French gold,</quote> whispered the director. <quote spokeBy="Merryweather">We have had several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your French gold?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Merryweather">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Which were very well justified,</quote> observed <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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 <person perName="Merryweather">Mr. Merryweather</person>, we must put the screen over that dark lantern.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Merryweather">And sit in the dark?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, have no compunction about shooting them down.</quote> I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case behind which I crouched. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">They have but one retreat,</quote> whispered <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That is back through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have done what I asked you, <person perName="Jones">Jones</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jones">I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent and wait.</quote> 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 <person perName="Jones">Jones</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Clay">It’s all clear,</quote> he whispered. <quote spokeBy="John_Clay">Have you the chisel and the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I’ll swing for it!</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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 <person perName="Jones">Jones</person> clutched at his skirts. The light flashed upon the barrel of a revolver, but <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’ hunting crop came down on the man’s wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone floor. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It’s no use, <person perName="John_Clay">John Clay</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> blandly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You have no chance at all.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Clay">So I see,</quote> the other answered with the utmost coolness. <quote spokeBy="John_Clay">I fancy that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his coat-tails.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There are three men waiting for him at the door,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="John_Clay">Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I must compliment you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And I you,</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your red-headed idea was very new and effective.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jones">You’ll see your pal again presently,</quote> said <person perName="Jones">Jones</person>. <quote spokeBy="Jones">He’s quicker at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the derbies.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Clay">I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands,</quote> remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. <quote spokeBy="John_Clay">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.’</quote> <quote spokeBy="Jones">All right,</quote> said <person perName="Jones">Jones</person> with a stare and a snigger. <quote spokeBy="Jones">Well, would you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry your Highness to the police-station?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Clay">That is better,</quote> said <person perName="John_Clay">John Clay</person> serenely. He made a sweeping bow to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the detective. <quote spokeBy="Merryweather">Really, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Merryweather">Mr. Merryweather</person> as we followed them from the cellar, <quote spokeBy="Merryweather">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with <person perName="John_Clay">Mr. John Clay</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You see, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> he explained in the early hours of the morning as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 _Encyclopædia_, 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<person perName="John_Clay"> Clay</person>’s ingenious mind by the colour of his accomplice’s hair. The £ 4 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But how could you guess what the motive was?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And how could you tell that they would make their attempt to-night?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that they cared no longer about <person perName="Jabez_Wilson">Mr. Jabez Wilson</person>’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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You reasoned it out beautifully,</quote> I exclaimed in unfeigned admiration. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings true.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It saved me from ennui,</quote> he answered, yawning. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And you are a benefactor of the race,</quote> said I. He shrugged his shoulders. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, perhaps, after all, it is of some little use,</quote> he remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">‘_L’homme c’est rien—l’œuvre c’est tout_,’ as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand.</quote> </story> <story num="III"> <storyTitle>A CASE OF IDENTITY</storyTitle> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">My dear fellow,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And yet I am not convinced of it,</quote> I answered. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a realistic effect,</quote> remarked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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.</quote> I smiled and shook my head. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I can quite understand your thinking so,</quote> I said. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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</quote>—I picked up the morning paper from the ground—<quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Irene_Adler">Irene Adler</person> papers.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And the ring?</quote> I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which sparkled upon his finger. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And have you any on hand just now?</quote> I asked with interest. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have seen those symptoms before,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, throwing his cigarette into the fire. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oscillation upon the pavement always means an _affaire de cœur_. 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.</quote> As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons entered to announce <person perName="Mary_Sutherland">Miss Mary Sutherland</person>, while the lady herself loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Do you not find,</quote> he said, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">that with your short sight it is a little trying to do so much typewriting?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">I did at first,</quote> she answered, <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">but now I know where the letters are without looking.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">You’ve heard about me, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>,</quote> she cried, <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">else how could you know all that?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Never mind,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, laughing; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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 <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Hosmer Angel</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to the ceiling. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of <person perName="Mary_Sutherland">Miss Mary Sutherland</person>. <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">Yes, I did bang out of the house,</quote> she said, <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">for it made me angry to see the easy way in which <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. Windibank</person>—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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your father,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">your stepfather, surely, since the name is different.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And your mother is alive?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn’t best pleased, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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 <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. Windibank</person> came he made her sell the business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. They got £ 4700 for the goodwill and interest, which wasn’t near as much as father could have got if he had been alive.</quote> I had expected to see <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> impatient under this rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your own little income,</quote> he asked, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">does it come out of the business?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4½ per cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can only touch the interest.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You interest me extremely,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">I could do with much less than that, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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. <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. Windibank</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You have made your position very clear to me,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This is my friend, <person perName="John_Watson">Dr. Watson</person>, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your connection with <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Hosmer Angel</person>.</quote> A flush stole over <person perName="Mary_Sutherland">Miss Sutherland</person>’s face, and she picked nervously at the fringe of her jacket. <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">I met him first at the gasfitters’ ball,</quote> she said. <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">They used to send father tickets when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and sent them to mother. <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. Windibank</person> 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 <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Hosmer Angel</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I suppose,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">that when <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. Windibank</person> came back from France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I see. Then at the gasfitters’ ball you met, as I understand, a gentleman called <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Hosmer Angel</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, I met him twice for walks, but after that father came back again, and <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Hosmer Angel</person> could not come to the house any more.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">But how about <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Hosmer Angel</person>? Did he make no attempt to see you?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Hosmer</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">Oh, yes, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. We were engaged after the first walk that we took. <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Hosmer</person>—<person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Angel</person>—was a cashier in an office in Leadenhall Street—and—</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What office?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">That’s the worst of it, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, I don’t know.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Where did he live, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">He slept on the premises.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And you don’t know his address?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">No—except that it was Leadenhall Street.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Where did you address your letters, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, and the little things that he would think of.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It was most suggestive,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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 <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Hosmer Angel</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">He was a very shy man, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, and what happened when <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. Windibank</person>, your stepfather, returned to France?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland"><person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Hosmer Angel</person> 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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It missed him, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for the Friday. Was it to be in church?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">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. <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Hosmer</person> 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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, and I have never seen or heard anything since then to throw any light upon what became of him.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">But you have no notion as to what it could have been?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">None.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">One more question. How did your mother take the matter?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter again.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And your father? Did you tell him?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had happened, and that I should hear of <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Hosmer</person> 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 <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Hosmer</person> 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.</quote> She pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob heavily into it. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I shall glance into the case for you,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, rising, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Hosmer Angel</person> vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">Then you don’t think I’ll see him again?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I fear not.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">Then what has happened to him?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">I advertised for him in last Saturday’s _Chronicle_,</quote> said she. <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">Here is the slip and here are four letters from him.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Thank you. And your address?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes"><person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Angel</person>’s address you never had, I understand. Where is your father’s place of business?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers of Fenchurch Street.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Sutherland">You are very kind, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, but I cannot do that. I shall be true to <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Hosmer</person>. He shall find me ready when he comes back.</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Quite an interesting study, that maiden,</quote> he observed. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite invisible to me,</quote> I remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Not invisible but unnoticed, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>. 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">’Pon my word, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It surprised me.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And what else?</quote> I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by my friend’s incisive reasoning. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>. Would you mind reading me the advertised description of <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Hosmer Angel</person>?</quote> I held the little printed slip to the light. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Missing,</quote> it said, <quote spokeBy="Unknown">on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman named <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Hosmer Angel</person>. 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,</quote> &c, &c. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That will do,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">As to the letters,</quote> he continued, glancing over them, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">they are very commonplace. Absolutely no clue in them to <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Angel</person>, save that he quotes Balzac once. There is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">They are typewritten,</quote> I remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the neat little ‘<person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Hosmer Angel</person>’ 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Of what?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it bears upon the case?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. Windibank</person>, asking him whether he could meet us here at six o’clock to-morrow 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.</quote> 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 <person perName="Irene_Adler">Irene Adler</person> 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 <person perName="Mary_Sutherland">Miss Mary Sutherland</person>. 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Well, have you solved it?</quote> I asked as I entered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">No, no, the mystery!</quote> I cried. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting <person perName="Mary_Sutherland">Miss Sutherland</person>?</quote> The question was hardly out of my mouth, and <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> had not yet opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the passage and a tap at the door. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This is the girl’s stepfather, <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. James Windibank</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">He has written to me to say that he would be here at six. Come in!</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Good-evening, <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. James Windibank</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I think that this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an appointment with me for six o’clock?</quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Windibank">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 <person perName="Mary_Sutherland">Miss Sutherland</person> 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 <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Hosmer Angel</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">On the contrary,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> quietly; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have every reason to believe that I will succeed in discovering <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Hosmer Angel</person>.</quote> <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. Windibank</person> gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. <quote spokeBy="James_Windibank">I am delighted to hear it,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is a curious thing,</quote> remarked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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, <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. Windibank</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Windibank">We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, and no doubt it is a little worn,</quote> our visitor answered, glancing keenly at <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> with his bright little eyes. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. Windibank</person>,</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> continued. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. Windibank</person> sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. <quote spokeBy="James_Windibank">I cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="James_Windibank">If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know when you have done it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Certainly,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, stepping over and turning the key in the door. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I let you know, then, that I have caught him!</quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Windibank">What! where?</quote> shouted <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. Windibank</person>, turning white to his lips and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, it won’t do—really it won’t,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> suavely. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There is no possible getting out of it, <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. Windibank</person>. 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.</quote> Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a glitter of moisture on his brow. <quote spokeBy="James_Windibank">It—it’s not actionable,</quote> he stammered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his breast, like one who is utterly crushed. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The man married a woman very much older than himself for her money,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Hosmer Angel</person>, and keeps off other lovers by making love himself.</quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Windibank">It was only a joke at first,</quote> groaned our visitor. <quote spokeBy="James_Windibank">We never thought that she would have been so carried away.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Angel</person> 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. <person perName="James_Windibank">James Windibank</person> wished <person perName="Mary_Sutherland">Miss Sutherland</person> to be so bound to <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Hosmer Angel</person>, 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, <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. Windibank</person>!</quote> Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold sneer upon his pale face. <quote spokeBy="James_Windibank">It may be so, or it may not, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="James_Windibank">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The law cannot, as you say, touch you,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, unlocking and throwing open the door, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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!</quote> he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon the man’s face, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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—</quote> 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 <person perName="James_Windibank">Mr. James Windibank</person> running at the top of his speed down the road. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There’s a cold-blooded scoundrel!</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, laughing, as he threw himself down into his chair once more. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning,</quote> I remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this <person perName="Hosmer_Angel">Mr. Hosmer Angel</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And how did you verify them?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="James_Windibank">James Windibank</person>. _Voilà tout_!</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And <person perName="Mary_Sutherland">Miss Sutherland</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> </story> <story num="IV"> <storyTitle>THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY</storyTitle> We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the maid brought in a telegram. It was from <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> and ran in this way: <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Watson">What do you say, dear?</quote> said my wife, looking across at me. <quote spokeBy="Mary_Watson">Will you go?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I really don’t know what to say. I have a fairly long list at present.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Watson">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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>’ cases.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained through one of them,</quote> I answered. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But if I am to go, I must pack at once, for I have only half an hour.</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is really very good of you to come, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of papers which <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Have you heard anything of the case?</quote> he asked. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">That sounds a little paradoxical.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It is a murder, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a <person perName="John_Turner">Mr. John Turner</person>, 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 <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">Mr. Charles McCarthy</person>, 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. <person perName="John_Turner">Turner</person> was apparently the richer man, so <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">McCarthy</person> became his tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect equality, as they were frequently together. <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">McCarthy</person> had one son, a lad of eighteen, and <person perName="John_Turner">Turner</person> 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. <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">McCarthy</person> kept two servants—a man and a girl. <person perName="John_Turner">Turner</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">McCarthy</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">From Hatherley Farmhouse 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 <person perName="John_Turner">Mr. Turner</person>. Both these witnesses depose that <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">Mr. McCarthy</person> was walking alone. The game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">Mr. McCarthy</person> pass he had seen his son, <person perName="James_McCarthy">Mr. James McCarthy</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">Mr. McCarthy</person> and his son, and that they appeared to be having a violent quarrel. She heard <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">Mr. McCarthy</person> 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 <person perName="James_McCarthy">Mr. McCarthy</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I could hardly imagine a more damning case,</quote> I remarked. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">If ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so here.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing,</quote> answered <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> thoughtfully. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Alice_Turner">Miss Turner</person>, the daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his innocence, and who have retained <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, whom you may recollect in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in his interest. <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I am afraid,</quote> said I, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">that the facts are so obvious that you will find little credit to be gained out of this case.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact,</quote> he answered, laughing. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Besides, we may chance to hit upon some other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to <person perName="Lestrade">Mr. Lestrade</person>. 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 <person perName="Lestrade">Mr. Lestrade</person> would have noted even so self-evident a thing as that.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">How on earth—</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What are they?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It was a confession,</quote> I ejaculated. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at least a most suspicious remark.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">On the contrary,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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.</quote> I shook my head. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Many men have been hanged on far slighter evidence,</quote> I remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What is the young man’s own account of the matter?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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: "<person perName="James_McCarthy">Mr. James McCarthy</person>, 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 <person perName="John_Turner">Mr. Turner</person>’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.’" <quote spokeBy="Unknown">The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before he died? </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some allusion to a rat. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">The Coroner: What did you understand by that? </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was delirious. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father had this final quarrel? </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Witness: I should prefer not to answer. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Witness: I must still refuse. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">The Coroner: I understand that the cry of ‘Cooee’ was a common signal between you and your father? </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Witness: It was. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">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? </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father fatally injured? </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Witness: Nothing definite. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">The Coroner: What do you mean? </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">‘Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">‘Yes, it was gone.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown"> ‘You cannot say what it was?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">‘No, I had a feeling something was there.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">‘How far from the body?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">‘A dozen yards or so.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">‘And how far from the edge of the wood?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">‘About the same.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">‘Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen yards of it?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">‘Yes, but with my back towards it.’ </quote> "This concluded the examination of the witness." <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I see,</quote> said I as I glanced down the column, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon the cushioned seat. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Both you and the coroner have been at some pains,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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 <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, of Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a room had already been engaged for us. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I have ordered a carriage,</quote> said <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> as we sat over a cup of tea. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be happy until you had been on the scene of the crime.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It was very nice and complimentary of you,</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is entirely a question of barometric pressure.</quote> <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> looked startled. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I do not quite follow,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> laughed indulgently. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">You have, no doubt, already formed your conclusions from the newspapers,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Alice_Turner">Oh, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>!</quote> she cried, glancing from one to the other of us, and finally, with a woman’s quick intuition, fastening upon my companion, <quote spokeBy="Alice_Turner">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I hope we may clear him, <person perName="Alice_Turner">Miss Turner</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You may rely upon my doing all that I can.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alice_Turner">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I think that it is very probable.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alice_Turner">There, now!</quote> she cried, throwing back her head and looking defiantly at <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>. <quote spokeBy="Alice_Turner">You hear! He gives me hopes.</quote> <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> shrugged his shoulders. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I am afraid that my colleague has been a little quick in forming his conclusions,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Alice_Turner">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">In what way?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Alice_Turner">It is no time for me to hide anything. <person perName="James_McCarthy">James</person> and his father had many disagreements about me. <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">Mr. McCarthy</person> was very anxious that there should be a marriage between us. <person perName="James_McCarthy">James</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And your father?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Was he in favour of such a union?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alice_Turner">No, he was averse to it also. No one but <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">Mr. McCarthy</person> was in favour of it.</quote> A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Thank you for this information,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">May I see your father if I call to-morrow?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alice_Turner">I am afraid the doctor won’t allow it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The doctor?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alice_Turner">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. <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">Mr. McCarthy</person> was the only man alive who had known dad in the old days in Victoria.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ha! In Victoria! That is important.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alice_Turner">Yes, at the mines.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, <person perName="John_Turner">Mr. Turner</person> made his money.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alice_Turner">Yes, certainly.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Thank you, <person perName="Alice_Turner">Miss Turner</person>. You have been of material assistance to me.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alice_Turner">You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you will go to the prison to see <person perName="James_McCarthy">James</person>. Oh, if you do, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, do tell him that I know him to be innocent.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I will, <person perName="Alice_Turner">Miss Turner</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alice_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.</quote> She hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I am ashamed of you, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> with dignity after a few minutes’ silence. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Why should you raise up hopes which you are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I call it cruel.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I think that I see my way to clearing <person perName="James_McCarthy">James McCarthy</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Have you an order to see him in prison?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Yes, but only for you and me.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Ample.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then let us do so. <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, I fear that you will find it very slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours.</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’ 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 <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>’s opinion, and yet I had so much faith in <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>’ 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> returned. He came back alone, for <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> was staying in lodgings in the town. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The glass still keeps very high,</quote> he remarked as he sat down. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And what did you learn from him?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Nothing.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Could he throw no light?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I cannot admire his taste,</quote> I remarked, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">if it is indeed a fact that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as this <person perName="Alice_Turner">Miss Turner</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Alice_Turner">Miss Turner</person>. 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 <person perName="James_McCarthy">McCarthy</person> for all that he has suffered.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But if he is innocent, who has done it?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> There was no rain, as <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> had foretold, and the morning broke bright and cloudless. At nine o’clock <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> called for us with the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe Pool. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">There is serious news this morning,</quote> <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> observed. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">It is said that <person perName="John_Turner">Mr. Turner</person>, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is despaired of.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">An elderly man, I presume?</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Indeed! That is interesting,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody about here speaks of his kindness to him.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="John_Turner">Turner</person> himself was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not deduce something from that?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">We have got to the deductions and the inferences,</quote> said <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, winking at me. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I find it hard enough to tackle facts, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, without flying away after theories and fancies.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You are right,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> demurely; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">you do find it very hard to tackle the facts.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it difficult to get hold of,</quote> replied <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> with some warmth. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And that is—</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">That <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">McCarthy</person> senior met his death from <person perName="James_McCarthy">McCarthy</person> junior and that all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, laughing. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley Farm upon the left.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Yes, that is it.</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’ 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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> 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 <person perName="John_Turner">Mr. Turner</person>. 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. <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What did you go into the pool for?</quote> he asked. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon or other trace. But how on earth—</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">These are young <person perName="James_McCarthy">McCarthy</person>’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?</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It has been a case of considerable interest,</quote> he remarked, returning to his natural manner. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove back into Ross, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> still carrying with him the stone which he had picked up in the wood. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This may interest you, <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>,</quote> he remarked, holding it out. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The murder was done with it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I see no marks.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There are none.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">How do you know, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">And the murderer?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> laughed. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I am afraid that I am still a sceptic,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a hard-headed British jury.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">_Nous verrons_,</quote> answered <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> calmly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">And leave your case unfinished?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No, finished.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">But the mystery?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is solved.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Who was the criminal, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The gentleman I describe.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">But who is he?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a populous neighbourhood.</quote> <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> shrugged his shoulders. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I am a practical man,</quote> he said, <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">All right,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> quietly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have given you the chance. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before I leave.</quote> Having left <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where we found lunch upon the table. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> was silent and buried in thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds himself in a perplexing position. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Look here, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> he said when the cloth was cleared <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Pray do so.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about young <person perName="James_McCarthy">McCarthy</person>’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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What of this ‘Cooee!’ then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">McCarthy</person> expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was someone who had been in Australia.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What of the rat, then?</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened it out on the table. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This is a map of the Colony of Victoria,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I wired to Bristol for it last night.</quote> He put his hand over part of the map. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What do you read?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">ARAT,</quote> I read. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And now?</quote> He raised his hand. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">BALLARAT.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It is wonderful!</quote> I exclaimed. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Certainly.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Quite so.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that imbecile <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, as to the personality of the criminal.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But how did you gain them?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes, they were peculiar boots.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But his lameness?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But his left-handedness.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And the cigar-holder?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson"><person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>,</quote> I said, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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—</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown"><person perName="John_Turner">Mr. John Turner</person>,</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Pray sit down on the sofa,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> gently. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You had my note?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to see me here to avoid scandal.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">And why did you wish to see me?</quote> He looked across at my companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question was already answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, answering the look rather than the words. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is so. I know all about <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">McCarthy</person>.</quote> The old man sank his face in his hands. <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">God help me!</quote> he cried. <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I am glad to hear you say so,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> gravely. <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It may not come to that,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">What?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="James_McCarthy">McCarthy</person> must be got off, however.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">I am a dying man,</quote> said old <person perName="John_Turner">Turner</person>. <quote spokeBy="John_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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand and a bundle of paper before him. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Just tell us the truth,</quote> he said. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person> here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the last extremity to save young <person perName="James_McCarthy">McCarthy</person>. I promise you that I shall not use it unless it is absolutely needed.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">It’s as well,</quote> said the old man; <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">it’s a question whether I shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I should wish to spare <person perName="Alice_Turner">Alice</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">You didn’t know this dead man, <person perName="Charles_McCarthy">McCarthy</person>. 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">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 <person perName="Alice_Turner">Alice</person>. 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">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 <person perName="Alice_Turner">Alice</person> 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 <person perName="Alice_Turner">Alice</person>. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, it is not for me to judge you,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> as the old man signed the statement which had been drawn out. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I pray that we may never be exposed to such a temptation.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="James_McCarthy">McCarthy</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">Farewell, then,</quote> said the old man solemnly. <quote spokeBy="John_Turner">Your own deathbeds, when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace which you have given to mine.</quote> Tottering and shaking in all his giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">God help us!</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> after a long silence. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>.’</quote> <person perName="James_McCarthy">James McCarthy</person> was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a number of objections which had been drawn out by <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> and submitted to the defending counsel. Old <person perName="John_Turner">Turner</person> 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. </story> <story num="V"> <storyTitle>THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS</storyTitle> When I glance over my notes and records of the <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Why,</quote> said I, glancing up at my companion, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">that was surely the bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Except yourself I have none,</quote> he answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I do not encourage visitors.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">A client, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Come in!</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">I owe you an apology,</quote> he said, raising his golden pince-nez to his eyes. <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug chamber.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Give me your coat and umbrella,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">They may rest here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from the south-west, I see.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">Yes, from Horsham.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is quite distinctive.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">I have come for advice.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That is easily got.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">And help.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That is not always so easy.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">I have heard of you, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. I heard from Major Prendergast how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">He said that you could solve anything.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">He said too much.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">That you are never beaten.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have been beaten four times—three times by men, and once by a woman.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">But what is that compared with the number of your successes?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is true that I have been generally successful.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">Then you may be so with me.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me with some details as to your case.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">It is no ordinary one.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of appeal.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You fill me with interest,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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.</quote> The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out towards the blaze. <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">My name,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">is <person perName="John_Openshaw">John Openshaw</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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!’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">‘What is it, uncle?’ I cried. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">‘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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">Well, to come to an end of the matter, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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, which lay to his credit at the bank.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">One moment,</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> interposed, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks later, upon the night of May 2nd.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Thank you. Pray proceed.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">‘Why, what on earth does this mean, John?’ he stammered. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">My heart had turned to lead. ‘It is K. K. K.,’ said I. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">He looked inside the envelope. ‘So it is,’ he cried. ‘Here are the very letters. But what is this written above them?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">‘Put the papers on the sundial,’ I read, peeping over his shoulder. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">‘What papers? What sundial?’ he asked. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">‘The sundial in the garden. There is no other,’ said I; ‘but the papers must be those that are destroyed.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">‘From Dundee,’ I answered, glancing at the postmark. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">‘Some preposterous practical joke,’ said he. ‘What have I to do with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such nonsense.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">‘I should certainly speak to the police,’ I said. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">‘And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">‘Then let me do so?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">‘No, I forbid you. I won’t have a fuss made about such nonsense.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">This is the envelope,</quote> he continued. <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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.’</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What have you done?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">Nothing.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Nothing?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">To tell the truth</quote>—he sank his face into his thin, white hands—<quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Tut! tut!</quote> cried <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You must act, man, or you are lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for despair.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">I have seen the police.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah!</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> shook his clenched hands in the air. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Incredible imbecility!</quote> he cried. <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in the house with me.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Has he come with you to-night?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">No. His orders were to stay in the house.</quote> Again <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> raved in the air. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Why did you come to me?</quote> he said, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">and, above all, why did you not come at once?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">There is one thing,</quote> said <person perName="John_Openshaw">John Openshaw</person>. He rummaged in his coat pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted paper, he laid it out upon the table. <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">I have some remembrance,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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." <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Thank you!</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, folding up the paper and returning it to our visitor. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">What shall I do?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">Entirely.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">I thank you,</quote> said the young man, rising and pulling on his overcoat. <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall certainly do as you advise.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">By train from Waterloo.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">I am armed.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">I shall see you at Horsham, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Openshaw">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.</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I think, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> he remarked at last, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">that of all our cases we have had none more fantastic than this.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this <person perName="John_Openshaw">John Openshaw</person> seems to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the Sholtos.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But have you,</quote> I asked, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">formed any definite conception as to what these perils are?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There can be no question as to their nature,</quote> he answered. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue this unhappy family?</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The ideal reasoner,</quote> he remarked, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 encyclopædias, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Yes,</quote> I answered, laughing. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> grinned at the last item. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well,</quote> he said, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 Encyclopædia_ 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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the third from London.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">From East London. What do you deduce from that?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">A greater distance to travel.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">But the letter had also a greater distance to come.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Then I do not see the point.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It is possible.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly urgency of this new case, and why I urged young <person perName="John_Openshaw">Openshaw</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Good God!</quote> I cried. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What can it mean, this relentless persecution?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The papers which <person perName="John_Openshaw">Openshaw</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But of what society?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Have you never—</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, bending forward and sinking his voice—<quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I never have.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Here it is,</quote> said he presently: <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You will observe,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, laying down the volume, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">that the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the disappearance of <person perName="John_Openshaw">Openshaw</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Then the page we have seen—</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="John_Openshaw">Openshaw</person> 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.</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> was already at breakfast when I came down. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You will excuse me for not waiting for you,</quote> said he; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have, I foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of young <person perName="John_Openshaw">Openshaw</person>’s.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What steps will you take?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You will not go there first?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the maid will bring up your coffee.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson"><person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>,</quote> I cried, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">you are too late.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah!</quote> said he, laying down his cup, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I feared as much. How was it done?</quote> He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">My eye caught the name of <person perName="John_Openshaw">Openshaw</person>, and the heading ‘Tragedy Near Waterloo Bridge.’ Here is the account: </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">‘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 <person perName="John_Openshaw">John Openshaw</person>, 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.’</quote> We sat in silence for some minutes, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> more depressed and shaken than I had ever seen him. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That hurts my pride, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> he said at last. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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—!</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">They must be cunning devils,</quote> he exclaimed at last. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">To the police?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may take the flies, but not before.</quote> All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in the evening before I returned to Baker Street. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You are hungry,</quote> I remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since breakfast.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Nothing?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Not a bite. I had no time to think of it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And how have you succeeded?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You have a clue?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young <person perName="John_Openshaw">Openshaw</person> shall not long remain unavenged. Why, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, let us put their own devilish trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What do you mean?</quote> 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." <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That will await him when he enters port,</quote> said he, chuckling. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a precursor of his fate as <person perName="John_Openshaw">Openshaw</person> did before him.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And who is this Captain Calhoun?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">How did you trace it, then?</quote> He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with dates and names. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have spent the whole day,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Texas, I think.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must have an American origin.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Yes?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What will you do, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, and the murderers of <person perName="John_Openshaw">John Openshaw</person> 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_. </story> <story num="VI"> <storyTitle>THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP</storyTitle> <person perName="Isa_Whitney">Isa Whitney</person>, 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. <quote spokeBy="Mary_Watson">A patient!</quote> said she. <quote spokeBy="Mary_Watson">You’ll have to go out.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Kate_Whitney">You will excuse my calling so late,</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Kate_Whitney">Oh, I’m in such trouble!</quote> she cried; <quote spokeBy="Kate_Whitney">I do so want a little help.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Watson">Why,</quote> said my wife, pulling up her veil, <quote spokeBy="Mary_Watson">it is <person perName="Kate_Whitney">Kate Whitney</person>. How you startled me, <person perName="Kate_Whitney">Kate</person>! I had not an idea who you were when you came in.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Kate_Whitney">I didn’t know what to do, so I came straight to you.</quote> That was always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds to a lighthouse. <quote spokeBy="Mary_Watson">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 <person perName="John_Watson">James</person> off to bed?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Kate_Whitney">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!</quote> 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 <person perName="Isa_Whitney">Isa Whitney</person>’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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Thank you. I have not come to stay,</quote> said I. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">There is a friend of mine here, <person perName="Isa_Whitney">Mr. Isa Whitney</person>, and I wish to speak with him.</quote> There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and peering through the gloom, I saw <person perName="Isa_Whitney">Whitney</person>, pale, haggard, and unkempt, staring out at me. <quote spokeBy="Isa_Whitney">My God! It’s <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> said he. He was in a pitiable state of reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. <quote spokeBy="Isa_Whitney">I say, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, what o’clock is it?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Nearly eleven.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Isa_Whitney">Of what day?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Of Friday, June 19th.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Isa_Whitney">Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What d’you want to frighten a chap for?</quote> He sank his face onto his arms and began to sob in a high treble key. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Isa_Whitney">So I am. But you’ve got mixed, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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 <person perName="Kate_Whitney">Kate</person>—poor little <person perName="Kate_Whitney">Kate</person>. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Yes, I have one waiting.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Isa_Whitney">Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I owe, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself.</quote> 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, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Walk past me, and then look back at me.</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson"><person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>!</quote> I whispered, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">what on earth are you doing in this den?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">As low as you can,</quote> he answered; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I have a cab outside.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> It was difficult to refuse any of <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>’ requests, for they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when <person perName="Isa_Whitney">Whitney</person> 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 <person perName="Isa_Whitney">Whitney</person>’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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I suppose, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I was certainly surprised to find you there.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">But not more so than I to find you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I came to find a friend.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And I to find an enemy.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">An enemy?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural prey. Briefly, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What! You do not mean bodies?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ay, bodies, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>. We should be rich men if we had £ 1000 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 <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Neville St. Clair</person> has entered it never to leave it more. But our trap should be here.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from its side lanterns. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You’ll come with me, won’t you?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">If I can be of use.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">The Cedars?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes; that is <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Mr. St. Clair</person>’s house. I am staying there while I conduct the inquiry.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Where is it, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But I am all in the dark.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Of course you are. You’ll know all about it presently. Jump up here. All right, <person perName="John_Watson">John</person>; 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!</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You have a grand gift of silence, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You forget that I know nothing about it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, and maybe you can see a spark where all is dark to me.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Proceed, then.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Some years ago—to be definite, in May, 1884—there came to Lee a gentleman, <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Neville St. Clair</person> 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. <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Mr. St. Clair</person> 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 10_s_., while he has £ 220 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Last Monday <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Mr. Neville St. Clair</person> 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. <person perName="Mrs_St_Clair">Mrs. St. Clair</person> 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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It is very clear.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and <person perName="Mrs_St_Clair">Mrs. St. Clair</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Mr. St. Clair</person> 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 <person perName="Mrs_St_Clair">Mrs. St. Clair</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Mr. Neville St. Clair</person>, 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 <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Mr. Neville St. Clair</person>. 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Mrs_St_Clair">Mrs. St. Clair</person>’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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Neville St. Clair</person>. 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But a cripple!</quote> said I. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What could he have done single-handed against a man in the prime of life?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, that weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional strength in the others.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Pray continue your narrative.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes"><person perName="Mrs_St_Clair">Mrs. St. Clair</person> 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 <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Mr. Neville St. Clair</person> and swore that the presence of the clothes in his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to <person perName="Mrs_St_Clair">Mrs. St. Clair</person>’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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they had feared to find. It was <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Neville St. Clair</person>’s coat, and not <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Neville St. Clair</person>, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And what do you think they found in the pockets?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I cannot imagine.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose that this man Boone had thrust <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Neville St. Clair</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It certainly sounds feasible.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Neville St. Clair</person> 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.</quote> While <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We are on the outskirts of Lee,</quote> said my companion. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, when I have no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Well?</quote> she cried, <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">well?</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">No good news?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">None.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">No bad?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have had a long day.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This is my friend, <person perName="John_Watson">Dr. Watson</person>. 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">I am delighted to see you,</quote> said she, pressing my hand warmly. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">My dear madam,</quote> said I, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Now, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>,</quote> said the lady as we entered a well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had been laid out, <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">I should very much like to ask you one or two plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain answer.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Certainly, madam.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Upon what point?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> seemed to be embarrassed by the question. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Frankly, now!</quote> she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Frankly, then, madam, I do not.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">You think that he is dead?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I do.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Murdered?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I don’t say that. Perhaps.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">And on what day did he meet his death?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">On Monday.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Then perhaps, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, you will be good enough to explain how it is that I have received a letter from him to-day.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> sprang out of his chair as if he had been galvanised. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What!</quote> he roared. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Yes, to-day.</quote> She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of paper in the air. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">May I see it?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Certainly.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Coarse writing,</quote> murmured <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Surely this is not your husband’s writing, madam.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">No, but the enclosure is.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go and inquire as to the address.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">How can you tell that?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And you are sure that this is your husband’s hand?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">One of his hands.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">One?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual writing, and yet I know it well.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">‘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.—<person perName="Neville_St_Clair">NEVILLE</person>.’ 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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">None. <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Neville</person> wrote those words.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, <person perName="Mrs_St_Clair">Mrs. St. Clair</person>, the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the danger is over.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">But he must be alive, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only posted to-day.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">That is possible.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">If so, much may have happened between.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Oh, you must not discourage me, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. 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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">No.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Very much so.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Was the window open?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Yes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then he might have called to you?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">He might.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Yes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">A call for help, you thought?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Yes. He waved his hands.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">It is possible.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And you thought he was pulled back?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">He disappeared so suddenly.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the room?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his ordinary clothes on?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare throat.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Never.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_St_Clair">Never.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Thank you, <person perName="Mrs_St_Clair">Mrs. St. Clair</person>. 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.</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Awake, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>?</quote> he asked. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Yes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Game for a morning drive?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Certainly.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out.</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> returned with the news that the boy was putting in the horse. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I want to test a little theory of mine,</quote> said he, pulling on his boots. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I think, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And where is it?</quote> I asked, smiling. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">In the bathroom,</quote> he answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, yes, I am not joking,</quote> he continued, seeing my look of incredulity. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It has been in some points a singular case,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, flicking the horse on into a gallop. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Who is on duty?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Inspector <person perName="Bradstreet">Bradstreet</person>, sir.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah, <person perName="Bradstreet">Bradstreet</person>, how are you?</quote> A tall, stout official had come down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged jacket. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I wish to have a quiet word with you, <person perName="Bradstreet">Bradstreet</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">Certainly, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. Step into my room here.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">What can I do for you, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I called about that beggarman, Boone—the one who was charged with being concerned in the disappearance of <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Mr. Neville St. Clair</person>, of Lee.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">So I heard. You have him here?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">In the cells.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Is he quiet?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Dirty?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I should like to see him very much.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave your bag.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No, I think that I’ll take it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">Very good. Come this way, if you please.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">The third on the right is his,</quote> said the inspector. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">Here it is!</quote> He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door and glanced through. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">He is asleep,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">You can see him very well.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">He’s a beauty, isn’t he?</quote> said the inspector. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">He certainly needs a wash,</quote> remarked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I had an idea that he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me.</quote> He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">He! he! You are a funny one,</quote> chuckled the inspector. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">Well, I don’t know why not,</quote> said the inspector. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">He doesn’t look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the prisoner’s face. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Let me introduce you,</quote> he shouted, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">to <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Mr. Neville St. Clair</person>, of Lee, in the county of Kent.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">Great heavens!</quote> cried the inspector, <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">it is, indeed, the missing man. I know him from the photograph.</quote> The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons himself to his destiny. <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">Be it so,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">And pray what am I charged with?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">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,</quote> said the inspector with a grin. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">Well, I have been twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">If I am <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Mr. Neville St. Clair</person>, then it is obvious that no crime has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally detained.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No crime, but a very great error has been committed,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You would have done better to have trusted your wife.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">It was not the wife; it was the children,</quote> groaned the prisoner. <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My God! What an exposure! What can I do?</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> sat down beside him on the couch and patted him kindly on the shoulder. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Bradstreet">Bradstreet</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">God bless you!</quote> cried the prisoner passionately. <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">I would have endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">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 26_s_. 4_d_. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">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. 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous work at £ 2 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">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 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">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 <person perName="Neville_St_Clair">Mr. Neville St. Clair</person>, I was arrested as his murderer. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That note only reached her yesterday,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">Good God! What a week she must have spent!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">The police have watched this Lascar,</quote> said Inspector <person perName="Bradstreet">Bradstreet</person>, <quote spokeBy="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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That was it,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, nodding approvingly; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have no doubt of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">Many times; but what was a fine to me?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">It must stop here, however,</quote> said <person perName="Bradstreet">Bradstreet</person>. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">If the police are to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Neville_St_Clair">I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, that we are very much indebted to you for having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your results.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I reached this one,</quote> said my friend, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">by sitting upon five pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, that if we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast.</quote> </story> <story num="VII"> <storyTitle>THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE</storyTitle> I had called upon my friend <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You are engaged,</quote> said I; <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">perhaps I interrupt you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one</quote>—he jerked his thumb in the direction of the old hat—<quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">but there are points in connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and even of instruction.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I suppose,</quote> I remarked, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No, no. No crime,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, laughing. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">So much so,</quote> I remarked, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">that of the last six cases which I have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any legal crime.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the <person perName="Irene_Adler">Irene Adler</person> papers, to the singular case of <person perName="Mary_Sutherland">Miss Mary Sutherland</person>, 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 <person perName="Peterson">Peterson</person>, the <person perName="Peterson">commissionaire</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Yes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is to him that this trophy belongs.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It is his hat.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Peterson">Peterson</person>’s fire. The facts are these: about four o’clock on Christmas morning, <person perName="Peterson">Peterson</person>, 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. <person perName="Peterson">Peterson</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Which surely he restored to their owner?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that ‘For Mrs. <person perName="Henry_Baker">Henry Baker</person>’ 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 <person perName="Henry_Baker">Henry Baker</person>s in this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any one of them.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What, then, did <person perName="Peterson">Peterson</person> do?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Did he not advertise?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Only as much as we can deduce.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">From his hat?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Precisely.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered felt?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I can see nothing,</quote> said I, handing it back to my friend. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">On the contrary, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, you can see everything. You fail, however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in drawing your inferences.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?</quote> He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective fashion which was characteristic of him. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is perhaps less suggestive than it might have been,</quote> he remarked, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">My dear <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect,</quote> he continued, disregarding my remonstrance. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You are certainly joking, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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?</quote> For answer <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> clapped the hat upon his head. It came right over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is a question of cubic capacity,</quote> said he; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">a man with so large a brain must have something in it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">The decline of his fortunes, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the foresight and the moral retrogression?</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> laughed. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Here is the foresight,</quote> said he putting his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Your reasoning is certainly plausible.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But his wife—you said that she had ceased to love him.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But he might be a bachelor.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his wife. Remember the card upon the bird’s leg.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce that the gas is not laid on in his house?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Well, it is very ingenious,</quote> said I, laughing; <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew open, and <person perName="Peterson">Peterson</person>, the <person perName="Peterson">commissionaire</person>, rushed into the apartment with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with astonishment. <quote spokeBy="Peterson">The goose, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>! The goose, sir!</quote> he gasped. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off through the kitchen window?</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> twisted himself round upon the sofa to get a fairer view of the man’s excited face. <quote spokeBy="Peterson">See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> sat up with a whistle. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">By Jove, <person perName="Peterson">Peterson</person>!</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you have got?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Peterson">A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though it were putty.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It’s more than a precious stone. It is _the_ precious stone.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Not the Countess of Morcar’s blue carbuncle!</quote> I ejaculated. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 is certainly not within a twentieth part of the market price.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Peterson">A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!</quote> The <person perName="Peterson">commissionaire</person> plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan,</quote> I remarked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> He rummaged amid his newspapers, glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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. <person perName="James_Ryder">James Ryder</person>, 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. <person perName="James_Ryder">Ryder</person> 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 <person perName="Catherine Cusack">Cusack</person>, maid to the Countess, deposed to having heard <person perName="James_Ryder">Ryder</person>’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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Hum! So much for the police-court,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> thoughtfully, tossing aside the paper. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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 <person perName="Henry_Baker">Mr. Henry Baker</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What will you say?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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. <person perName="Henry_Baker">Mr. Henry Baker</person> can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at 221B, Baker Street.’ That is clear and concise.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Very. But will he see it?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Peterson">Peterson</person> 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, <person perName="Peterson">Peterson</person>, run down to the advertising agency and have this put in the evening papers.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Peterson">In which, sir?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, in the _Globe_, _Star_, _Pall Mall_, _St. James’s Gazette_, _Evening News_, _Standard_, _Echo_, and any others that occur to you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Peterson">Very well, sir. And this stone?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, <person perName="Peterson">Peterson</person>, 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.</quote> When the <person perName="Peterson">commissionaire</person> had gone, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> took up the stone and held it against the light. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It’s a bonny thing,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I cannot tell.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, <person perName="Henry_Baker">Henry Baker</person>, had anything to do with the matter?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is, I think, much more likely that <person perName="Henry_Baker">Henry Baker</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And you can do nothing until then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Nothing.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Mrs_Hudson">Mrs. Hudson</person> to examine its crop.</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’ room. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes"><person perName="Henry_Baker">Mr. Henry Baker</person>, I believe,</quote> said he, rising from his armchair and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he could so readily assume. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Pray take this chair by the fire, <person perName="Henry_Baker">Mr. Baker</person>. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, you have just come at the right time. Is that your hat, <person perName="Henry_Baker">Mr. Baker</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Henry_Baker">Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat.</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’ 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We have retained these things for some days,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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.</quote> Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. <quote spokeBy="Henry_Baker">Shillings have not been so plentiful with me as they once were,</quote> he remarked. <quote spokeBy="Henry_Baker">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to eat it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Henry_Baker">To eat it!</quote> Our visitor half rose from his chair in his excitement. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Henry_Baker">Oh, certainly, certainly,</quote> answered <person perName="Henry_Baker">Mr. Baker</person> with a sigh of relief. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of your own bird, so if you wish—</quote> The man burst into a hearty laugh. <quote spokeBy="Henry_Baker">They might be useful to me as relics of my adventure,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Henry_Baker">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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug of his shoulders. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There is your hat, then, and there your bird,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Henry_Baker">Certainly, sir,</quote> said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly gained property under his arm. <quote spokeBy="Henry_Baker">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.</quote> With a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and strode off upon his way. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">So much for <person perName="Henry_Baker">Mr. Henry Baker</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> when he had closed the door behind him. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is quite certain that he knows nothing whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Not particularly.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow up this clue while it is still hot.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">By all means.</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> pushed open the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">My geese!</quote> The man seemed surprised. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to <person perName="Henry_Baker">Mr. Henry Baker</person>, who was a member of your goose club.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them’s not _our_ geese.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Indeed! Whose, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Breckinridge is his name.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah! I don’t know him. Well, here’s your good health landlord, and prosperity to your house. Good-night.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now for <person perName="Breckinridge">Mr. Breckinridge</person>,</quote> he continued, buttoning up his coat as we came out into the frosty air. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Remember, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person> 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!</quote> 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 <person perName="Breckinridge">Breckinridge</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Good-evening. It’s a cold night,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my companion. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Sold out of geese, I see,</quote> continued <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, pointing at the bare slabs of marble. <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That’s no good.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah, but I was recommended to you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">Who by?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The landlord of the Alpha.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?</quote> To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the salesman. <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">Now, then, mister,</quote> said he, with his head cocked and his arms akimbo, <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">what are you driving at? Let’s have it straight, now.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the geese which you supplied to the Alpha.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">Well then, I shan’t tell you. So now!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don’t know why you should be so warm over such a trifle.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been making inquiries,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> carelessly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">Well, then, you’ve lost your fiver, for it’s town bred,</quote> snapped the salesman. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It’s nothing of the kind.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">I say it is.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I don’t believe it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You’ll never persuade me to believe that.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">Will you bet, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> The salesman chuckled grimly. <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">Bring me the books, Bill,</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">Now then, Mr. Cocksure,</quote> said the salesman, <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes"><person perName="Mrs_Oakshott">Mrs. Oakshott</person>, 117, Brixton Road—249,</quote> read <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> turned to the page indicated. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Here you are, ‘<person perName="Mrs_Oakshott">Mrs. Oakshott</person>, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.’</quote> <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">Now, then, what’s the last entry?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">‘December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7_s_. 6_d_.’</quote> <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">Quite so. There you are. And underneath?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">‘Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12_s_.’</quote> <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">What have you to say now?</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I daresay that if I had put £ 100 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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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 <person perName="Mrs_Oakshott">Mrs. Oakshott</person> 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—</quote> 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 <person perName="Breckinridge">Breckinridge</person>, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">I’ve had enough of you and your geese,</quote> he shouted. <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">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 <person perName="Mrs_Oakshott">Mrs. Oakshott</person> here and I’ll answer her, but what have you to do with it? Did I buy the geese off you?</quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">No; but one of them was mine all the same,</quote> whined the little man. <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">Well, then, ask <person perName="Mrs_Oakshott">Mrs. Oakshott</person> for it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">She told me to ask you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Breckinridge">Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I’ve had enough of it. Get out of this!</quote> He rushed fiercely forward, and the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road,</quote> whispered <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this fellow.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">Who are you, then? What do you want?</quote> he asked in a quavering voice. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You will excuse me,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> blandly, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">My name is <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. It is my business to know what other people don’t know.</quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">But you can know nothing of this?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to trace some geese which were sold by <person perName="Mrs_Oakshott">Mrs. Oakshott</person>, of Brixton Road, to a salesman named <person perName="Breckinridge">Breckinridge</person>, by him in turn to Mr. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which <person perName="Henry_Baker">Mr. Henry Baker</person> is a member.</quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet,</quote> cried the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">In that case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this wind-swept market-place,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">But pray tell me, before we go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting.</quote> The man hesitated for an instant. <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">My name is <person perName="James_Ryder">John Robinson</person>,</quote> he answered with a sidelong glance. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No, no; the real name,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> sweetly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is always awkward doing business with an alias.</quote> A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">Well then,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">my real name is <person perName="James_Ryder">James Ryder</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Here we are!</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> cheerily as we filed into the room. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, <person perName="James_Ryder">Mr. Ryder</person>. 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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">Yes, sir.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> Ryder quivered with emotion. <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">Oh, sir,</quote> he cried, <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">can you tell me where it went to?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It came here.</quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">Here?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece with his right hand. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> unlocked his strong-box and held up the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, brilliant, many-pointed radiance. <person perName="James_Ryder">Ryder</person> stood glaring with a drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The game’s up, <person perName="James_Ryder">Ryder</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> quietly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Hold up, man, or you’ll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>. 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!</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="James_Ryder">Ryder</person>, of this blue stone of the Countess of Morcar’s?</quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">It was <person perName="Catherine Cusack">Catherine Cusack</person> who told me of it,</quote> said he in a crackling voice. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="James_Ryder">Ryder</person>, 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 <person perName="Catherine Cusack">Cusack</person>—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—</quote> Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my companion’s knees. <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">For God’s sake, have mercy!</quote> he shrieked. <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">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!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Get back into your chair!</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> sternly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">I will fly, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. I will leave the country, sir. Then the charge against him will break down.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">I will tell you it just as it happened, sir,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">‘Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?’ says she. </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">‘Well,’ said I, ‘you said you’d give me one for Christmas, and I was feeling which was the fattest.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">‘The other is a good three pound heavier,’ said she, ‘and we fattened it expressly for you.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">‘Never mind. I’ll have the other, and I’ll take it now,’ said I. </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">‘Oh, just as you like,’ said she, a little huffed. ‘Which is it you want, then?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">‘That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the flock.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">‘Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">Well, I did what she said, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">‘Where are they all, Maggie?’ I cried. </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">‘Gone to the dealer’s, Jem.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">‘Which dealer’s?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">‘Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">‘But was there another with a barred tail?’ I asked, ‘the same as the one I chose?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">‘Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never tell them apart.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my feet would carry me to this man <person perName="Breckinridge">Breckinridge</person>; 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!</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>’ finger-tips upon the edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Get out!</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="James_Ryder">What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No more words. Get out!</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">After all, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, reaching up his hand for his clay pipe, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> </story> <story num="VIII"> <storyTitle>THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND</storyTitle> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, 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 <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Grimesby Roylott</person> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Very sorry to knock you up, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">but it’s the common lot this morning. <person perName="Mrs_Hudson">Mrs. Hudson</person> has been knocked up, she retorted upon me, and I on you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What is it, then—a fire?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything.</quote> I had no keener pleasure than in following <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Good-morning, madam,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> cheerily. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">My name is <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. This is my intimate friend and associate, <person perName="John_Watson">Dr. Watson</person>, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am glad to see that <person perName="Mrs_Hudson">Mrs. Hudson</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">It is not cold which makes me shiver,</quote> said the woman in a low voice, changing her seat as requested. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">It is fear, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. It is terror.</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> ran her over with one of his quick, all-comprehensive glances. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You must not fear,</quote> said he soothingly, bending forward and patting her forearm. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We shall soon set matters right, I have no doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">You know me, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my companion. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There is no mystery, my dear madam,</quote> said he, smiling. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct,</quote> said she. <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>; 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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small case-book, which he consulted. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Farintosh,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah yes, I recall the case; it was concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>. 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Alas!</quote> replied our visitor, <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I am all attention, madam.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">My name is <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Helen Stoner</person>, 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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> nodded his head. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The name is familiar to me,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">When <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Roylott</person> 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 a year—and this she bequeathed to <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Roylott</person> 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. <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Roylott</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your sister is dead, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Pray be precise as to details,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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 <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Roylott</person>’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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Perfectly so.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That fatal night <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Roylott</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">‘Tell me, Helen,’ said she, ‘have you ever heard anyone whistle in the dead of the night?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">‘Never,’ said I. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">‘I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in your sleep?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">‘Certainly not. But why?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">‘No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the plantation.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">‘Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you did not hear it also.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">‘Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">‘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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Indeed,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Was it your custom always to lock yourselves in at night?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Always.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And why?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">One moment,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">are you sure about this whistle and metallic sound? Could you swear to it?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Was your sister dressed?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">He investigated the case with great care, for <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Roylott</person>’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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">How about poison?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">The doctors examined her for it, but without success.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Yes, there are nearly always some there.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band—a speckled band?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">These are very deep waters,</quote> said he; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">pray go on with your narrative.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You have done wisely,</quote> said my friend. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">But have you told me all?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Yes, all.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes"><person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Roylott</person>, you have not. You are screening your stepfather.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Why, what do you mean?</quote> For answer <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You have been cruelly used,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">He is a hard man,</quote> she said, <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">and perhaps he hardly knows his own strength.</quote> There was a long silence, during which <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> leaned his chin upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This is a very deep business,</quote> he said at last. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">By no means.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">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.</quote> She dropped her thick black veil over her face and glided from the room. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And what do you think of it all, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, leaning back in his chair. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Dark enough and sinister enough.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the very peculiar words of the dying woman?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I cannot think.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Helen Stoner</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But what, then, did the gipsies do?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I cannot imagine.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I see many objections to any such theory.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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!</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Grimesby_Roylott">Which of you is <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>?</quote> asked this apparition. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me,</quote> said my companion quietly. <quote spokeBy="Grimesby_Roylott">I am <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Grimesby Roylott</person>, of Stoke Moran.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Indeed, Doctor,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> blandly. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Pray take a seat.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Grimesby_Roylott">I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I have traced her. What has she been saying to you?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is a little cold for the time of the year,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Grimesby_Roylott">What has she been saying to you?</quote> screamed the old man furiously. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">But I have heard that the crocuses promise well,</quote> continued my companion imperturbably. <quote spokeBy="Grimesby_Roylott">Ha! You put me off, do you?</quote> said our new visitor, taking a step forward and shaking his hunting-crop. <quote spokeBy="Grimesby_Roylott">I know you, you scoundrel! I have heard of you before. You are <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, the meddler.</quote> My friend smiled. <quote spokeBy="Grimesby_Roylott"><person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, the busybody!</quote> His smile broadened. <quote spokeBy="Grimesby_Roylott"><person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> chuckled heartily. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your conversation is most entertaining,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">When you go out close the door, for there is a decided draught.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Grimesby_Roylott">I will go when I have had my say. Don’t you dare to meddle with my affairs. I know that <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Stoner</person> has been here. I traced her! I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here.</quote> He stepped swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with his huge brown hands. <quote spokeBy="Grimesby_Roylott">See that you keep yourself out of my grip,</quote> he snarled, and hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the room. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">He seems a very amiable person,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, laughing. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> As he spoke he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, straightened it out again. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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.</quote> It was nearly one o’clock when <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> returned from his excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled over with notes and figures. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have seen the will of the deceased wife,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 £ 1,100, is now, through the fall in agricultural prices, not more than £ 750. Each daughter can claim an income of £ 250, 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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Look there!</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Stoke Moran?</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Yes, sir, that be the house of <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Grimesby Roylott</person>,</quote> remarked the driver. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There is some building going on there,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">that is where we are going.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">There’s the village,</quote> said the driver, pointing to a cluster of roofs some distance to the left; <quote spokeBy="Unknown">but if you want to get to the house, you’ll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by the footpath over the fields. There it is, where the lady is walking.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And the lady, I fancy, is <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Stoner</person>,</quote> observed <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, shading his eyes. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest.</quote> We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way to Leatherhead. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I thought it as well,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> as we climbed the stile, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Good-afternoon, <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Stoner</person>. You see that we have been as good as our word.</quote> Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a face which spoke her joy. <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">I have been waiting so eagerly for you,</quote> she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">All has turned out splendidly. <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Roylott</person> has gone to town, and it is unlikely that he will be back before evening.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We have had the pleasure of making the Doctor’s acquaintance,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, and in a few words he sketched out what had occurred. <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Stoner</person> turned white to the lips as she listened. <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Good heavens!</quote> she cried, <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">he has followed me, then.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">So it appears.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What will he say when he returns?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> walked slowly up and down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the outsides of the windows. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Roylott</person>’s chamber?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from my room.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass through.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Stoner</person> did so, and <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Hum!</quote> said he, scratching his chin in some perplexity, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which the three bedrooms opened. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> refused to examine the third chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Stoner</person> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Where does that bell communicate with?</quote> he asked at last pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the tassel actually lying upon the pillow. <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">It goes to the housekeeper’s room.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It looks newer than the other things?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your sister asked for it, I suppose?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we wanted for ourselves.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Why, it’s a dummy,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Won’t it ring?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">How very absurd! I never noticed that before.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Very strange!</quote> muttered <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, pulling at the rope. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">That is also quite modern,</quote> said the lady. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Done about the same time as the bell-rope?</quote> remarked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that time.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">They seem to have been of a most interesting character—dummy bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your permission, <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Stoner</person>, we shall now carry our researches into the inner apartment.</quote> <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Grimesby Roylott</person>’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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> walked slowly round and examined each and all of them with the keenest interest. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What’s in here?</quote> he asked, tapping the safe. <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">My stepfather’s business papers.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh! you have seen inside, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of papers.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There isn’t a cat in it, for example?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">No. What a strange idea!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, look at this!</quote> He took up a small saucer of milk which stood on the top of it. <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">No; we don’t keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> He squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat of it with the greatest attention. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Thank you. That is quite settled,</quote> said he, rising and putting his lens in his pocket. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Hullo! Here is something interesting!</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What do you make of that, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It’s a common enough lash. But I don’t know why it should be tied.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Stoner</person>, and with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn.</quote> 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 <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Stoner</person> nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he roused himself from his reverie. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is very essential, <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Stoner</person>,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">that you should absolutely follow my advice in every respect.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">I shall most certainly do so.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may depend upon your compliance.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">I assure you that I am in your hands.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in your room.</quote> Both <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Stoner</person> and I gazed at him in astonishment. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the village inn over there?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Yes, that is the Crown.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Certainly.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Oh, yes, easily.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The rest you will leave in our hands.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">But what will you do?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate the cause of this noise which has disturbed you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">I believe, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, that you have already made up your mind,</quote> said <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Stoner</person>, laying her hand upon my companion’s sleeve. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Perhaps I have.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">Then, for pity’s sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister’s death.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Helen_Stoner">You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and if she died from some sudden fright.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more tangible cause. And now, <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Stoner</person>, we must leave you for if <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Roylott</person> 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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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 <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Grimesby Roylott</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Do you know, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> as we sat together in the gathering darkness, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have really some scruples as to taking you to-night. There is a distinct element of danger.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Can I be of assistance?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your presence might be invaluable.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Then I shall certainly come.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is very kind of you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms than was visible to me.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine that you saw all that I did.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You saw the ventilator, too?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to Stoke Moran.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">My dear <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her sister could smell <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Roylott</person>’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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But what harm can there be in that?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I cannot as yet see any connection.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">No.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened like that before?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I cannot say that I have.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson"><person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>,</quote> I cried, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible crime.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That is our signal,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, springing to his feet; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">it comes from the middle window.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">My God!</quote> I whispered; <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">did you see it?</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is a nice household,</quote> he murmured. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That is the baboon.</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’ 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: <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The least sound would be fatal to our plans.</quote> I nodded to show that I had heard. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">We must sit without light. He would see it through the ventilator.</quote> I nodded again. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with his cane at the bell-pull. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You see it, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>?</quote> he yelled. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You see it?</quote> But I saw nothing. At the moment when <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, and he at me, until the last echoes of it had died away into the silence from which it rose. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What can it mean?</quote> I gasped. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It means that it is all over,</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> answered. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And perhaps, after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will enter <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Roylott</person>’s room.</quote> 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 <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Grimesby Roylott</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The band! the speckled band!</quote> whispered <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is a swamp adder!</quote> cried <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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 <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Stoner</person> to some place of shelter and let the county police know what has happened.</quote> 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 <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Grimesby Roylott</person>, 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> as we travelled back next day. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I had,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which shows, my dear <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Helen_Stoner">Miss Stoner</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">With the result of driving it through the ventilator.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Grimesby_Roylott">Dr. Grimesby Roylott</person>’s death, and I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my conscience.</quote> </story> <story num="IX"> <storyTitle>THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER’S THUMB</storyTitle> Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>, for solution during the years of our intimacy, there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his notice—that of <person perName="Victor_Hatherley">Mr. Hatherley</person>’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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">I’ve got him here,</quote> he whispered, jerking his thumb over his shoulder; <quote spokeBy="Unknown">he’s all right.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What is it, then?</quote> I asked, for his manner suggested that it was some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">It’s a new patient,</quote> he whispered. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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.</quote> I took it up and glanced at it. "<person perName="Victor_Hatherley">Mr. Victor Hatherley</person>, hydraulic engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, style, and abode of my morning visitor. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I regret that I have kept you waiting,</quote> said I, sitting down in my library-chair. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself a monotonous occupation.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">Oh, my night could not be called monotonous,</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Stop it!</quote> I cried; <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">pull yourself together!</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">I have been making a fool of myself,</quote> he gasped. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Not at all. Drink this.</quote> I dashed some brandy into the water, and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">That’s better!</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">And now, Doctor, perhaps you would kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb used to be.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Good heavens!</quote> I cried, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">this is a terrible injury. It must have bled considerably.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Excellent! You should have been a surgeon.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own province.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">This has been done,</quote> said I, examining the wound, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">by a very heavy and sharp instrument.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">A thing like a cleaver,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">An accident, I presume?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">By no means.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What! a murderous attack?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">Very murderous indeed.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You horrify me.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">How is that?</quote> I asked when I had finished. <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently trying to your nerves.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Ha!</quote> cried I, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Sherlock Holmes</person>, before you go to the official police.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">Oh, I have heard of that fellow,</quote> answered my visitor, <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I’ll do better. I’ll take you round to him myself.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">I should be immensely obliged to you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an instant.</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, <person perName="Victor_Hatherley">Mr. Hatherley</person>,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">Thank you,</quote> said my patient, <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">You must know,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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 10_s_. 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘<person perName="Victor_Hatherley">Mr. Hatherley</person>?’ said he, with something of a German accent. ‘You have been recommended to me, <person perName="Victor_Hatherley">Mr. Hatherley</person>, as being a man who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet and capable of preserving a secret.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘If I promise to keep a secret,’ said I, ‘you may absolutely depend upon my doing so.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘Do you promise, then?’ said he at last. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘Yes, I promise.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘I have already given you my word.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘Very good.’ He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was empty. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘How would fifty guineas for a night’s work suit you?’ he asked. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘Most admirably.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last train.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘Where to?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘Very good.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘There is a drive, then?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good seven miles from Eyford Station.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient hour?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘Entirely.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘I have heard so.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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, <person perName="Victor_Hatherley">Mr. Hatherley</person>, and I have shown you how I trust you.’ He rose as he spoke. ‘I shall expect you, then, at Eyford at 11:15.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘I shall certainly be there.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">One horse?</quote> interjected <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">Yes, only one.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Did you observe the colour?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the carriage. It was a chestnut.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Tired-looking or fresh?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">Oh, fresh and glossy.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue your most interesting statement.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘But, madam,’ said I, ‘I have not yet done what I came for. I cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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!’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘On the contrary,’ said I, ‘I opened the door myself because I felt the room to be a little close.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘I had better put my hat on, I suppose.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘Oh, no, it is in the house.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘What, you dig fuller’s-earth in the house?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘What are you doing there?’ he asked. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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!’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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!’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘It is your only chance,’ said she. ‘It is high, but it may be that you can jump it.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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!’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">‘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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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.</quote> We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to this extraordinary narrative. Then <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> pulled down from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he placed his cuttings. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Here is an advertisement which will interest you,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">Good heavens!</quote> cried my patient. <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">Then that explains what the girl said.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. There were <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector <person perName="Bradstreet">Bradstreet</person>, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. <person perName="Bradstreet">Bradstreet</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">There you are,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">It was an hour’s good drive.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">And you think that they brought you back all that way when you were unconscious?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having been lifted and conveyed somewhere.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What I cannot understand,</quote> said I, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face in my life.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">Oh, we shall soon clear up all that,</quote> said <person perName="Bradstreet">Bradstreet</person>. <quote spokeBy="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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I think I could lay my finger on it,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> quietly. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">Really, now!</quote> cried the inspector, <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">And I say east,</quote> said my patient. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">I am for west,</quote> remarked the plain-clothes man. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">There are several quiet little villages up there.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And I am for north,</quote> said I, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">because there are no hills there, and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up any.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">Come,</quote> cried the inspector, laughing; <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">it’s a very pretty diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do you give your casting vote to?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You are all wrong.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">But we can’t all be.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, yes, you can. This is my point.</quote> He placed his finger in the centre of the circle. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This is where we shall find them.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">But the twelve-mile drive?</quote> gasped <person perName="Victor_Hatherley">Hatherley</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough,</quote> observed <person perName="Bradstreet">Bradstreet</person> thoughtfully. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature of this gang.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">None at all,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">They are coiners on a large scale, and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the place of silver.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work,</quote> said the inspector. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">A house on fire?</quote> asked <person perName="Bradstreet">Bradstreet</person> as the train steamed off again on its way. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Yes, sir!</quote> said the station-master. <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">When did it break out?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, and the whole place is in a blaze.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Bradstreet">Whose house is it?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Dr. Becher’s.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">Tell me,</quote> broke in the engineer, <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">is Dr. Becher a German, very thin, with a long, sharp nose?</quote> The station-master laughed heartily. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">That’s it!</quote> cried <person perName="Victor_Hatherley">Hatherley</person>, in intense excitement. <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">There is the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That second window is the one that I jumped from.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, at least,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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.</quote> And <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’ 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’ 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. <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">Well,</quote> said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return once more to London, <quote spokeBy="Victor_Hatherley">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Experience,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, laughing. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> </story> <story num="X"> <storyTitle>THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR</storyTitle> The <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Here is a very fashionable epistle,</quote> I remarked as he entered. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a fish-monger and a tide-waiter.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety,</quote> he answered, smiling, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Not social, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No, distinctly professional.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And from a noble client?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">One of the highest in England.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">My dear fellow, I congratulate you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I assure you, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It looks like it,</quote> said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in the corner. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I have had nothing else to do.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> and his wedding?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Oh, yes, with the deepest interest.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person>. 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: </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">‘MY DEAR <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES</person>,—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. <person perName="Lestrade">Mr. Lestrade</person>, 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, </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">‘ROBERT ST. SIMON.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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,</quote> remarked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> as he folded up the epistle. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">He says four o’clock. It is three now. He will be here in an hour.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of reference beside the mantelpiece. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Here he is,</quote> said he, sitting down and flattening it out upon his knee. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">‘<person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord Robert Walsingham de Vere St. Simon</person>, 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 <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, for something more solid.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I have very little difficulty in finding what I want,</quote> said I, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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 <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord Robert St. Simon</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Terse and to the point,</quote> remarked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, stretching his long, thin legs towards the fire. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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. <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person>, 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 <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> 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.’</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Anything else?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, yawning. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Before the what?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> with a start. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">The vanishing of the lady.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">When did she vanish, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">At the wedding breakfast.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite dramatic, in fact.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I warn you that they are very incomplete.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Perhaps we may make them less so.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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’: </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">‘The family of <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord Robert St. Simon</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">‘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 <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person>. 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.’</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And is that all?</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is a suggestive one.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And it is—</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">That <person perName="Flora_Millar">Miss Flora Millar</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, for I very much prefer having a witness, if only as a check to my own memory.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Unknown"><person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord Robert St. Simon</person>,</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Good-day, <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, rising and bowing. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Pray take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, <person perName="John_Watson">Dr. Watson</person>. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this matter over.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No, I am descending.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">I beg pardon.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">My last client of the sort was a king.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The King of Scandinavia.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">What! Had he lost his wife?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You can understand,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> suavely, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">that I extend to the affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to you in yours.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> glanced over it. <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Yes, it is correct, as far as it goes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Pray do so.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">In San Francisco, a year ago.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You were travelling in the States?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Yes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Did you become engaged then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">No.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">But you were on a friendly footing?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was amused.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Her father is very rich?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And how did he make his money?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady’s—your wife’s character?</quote> The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down into the fire. <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">You see, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">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</quote>—he gave a little stately cough—<quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">had I not 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Have you her photograph?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">I brought this with me.</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he closed the locket and handed it back to <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your acquaintance?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a _fait accompli_?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">I really have made no inquiries on the subject.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the wedding?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Yes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Was she in good spirits?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our future lives.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the wedding?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">She was as bright as possible—at least until after the ceremony.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And did you observe any change in her then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Pray let us have it, for all that.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of the general public were present, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is open.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This gentleman was not one of your wife’s friends?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes"><person perName="Lady_St_Simon">Lady St. Simon</person>, 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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">I saw her in conversation with her maid.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And who is her maid?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California with her.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">A confidential servant?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">How long did she speak to this Alice?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You did not overhear what they said?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon"><person perName="Lady_St_Simon">Lady St. Simon</person> said something about ‘jumping a claim.’ She was accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she meant.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">She walked into the breakfast-room.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">On your arm?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in company with <person perName="Flora_Millar">Flora Millar</person>, a woman who is now in custody, and who had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran’s house that morning.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, and your relations to her.</quote> <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. <person perName="Flora_Millar">Flora</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Did your wife hear all this?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">No, thank goodness, she did not.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Yes. That is what <person perName="Lestrade">Mr. Lestrade</person>, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as so serious. It is thought that <person perName="Flora_Millar">Flora</person> decoyed my wife out and laid some terrible trap for her.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, it is a possible supposition.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">You think so, too?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon this as likely?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">I do not think <person perName="Flora_Millar">Flora</person> would hurt a fly.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray what is your own theory as to what took place?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, smiling. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And now, <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person>, 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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">We could see the other side of the road and the Park.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. I shall communicate with you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem,</quote> said our client, rising. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I have solved it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Eh? What was that?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I say that I have solved it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Where, then, is my wife?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That is a detail which I shall speedily supply.</quote> <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> shook his head. <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">I am afraid that it will take wiser heads than yours or mine,</quote> he remarked, and bowing in a stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is very good of <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> to honour my head by putting it on a level with his own,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, laughing. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">My dear <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But I have heard all that you have heard.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>! Good-afternoon, <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>! You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are cigars in the box.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What’s up, then?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> with a twinkle in his eye. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You look dissatisfied.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Really! You surprise me.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And very wet it seems to have made you,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> laying his hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">In Heaven’s name, what for?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">In search of the body of <person perName="Lady_St_Simon">Lady St. Simon</person>.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?</quote> he asked. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Why? What do you mean?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in the one as in the other.</quote> <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> shot an angry glance at my companion. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I suppose you know all about it,</quote> he snarled. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in the matter?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I think it very unlikely.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found this in it?</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">There,</quote> said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the top of the pile. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">There is a little nut for you to crack, Master <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Oh, indeed!</quote> said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You dragged them from the Serpentine?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">At some evidence implicating <person perName="Flora_Millar">Flora Millar</person> in the disappearance.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I am afraid that you will find it difficult.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Are you, indeed, now?</quote> cried <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> with some bitterness. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I am afraid, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, 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 <person perName="Flora_Millar">Miss Flora Millar</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And how?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">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.</quote> He slapped it down upon the table in front of him. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">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 <person perName="Lady_St_Simon">Lady St. Simon</person> was decoyed away by <person perName="Flora_Millar">Flora Millar</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Very good, <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, laughing. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You really are very fine indeed. Let me see it.</quote> He took up the paper in a listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he gave a little cry of satisfaction. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This is indeed important,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Ha! you find it so?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly.</quote> <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">Why,</quote> he shrieked, <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">you’re looking at the wrong side!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">On the contrary, this is the right side.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">The right side? You’re mad! Here is the note written in pencil over here.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel bill, which interests me deeply.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">There’s nothing in it. I looked at it before,</quote> said <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">‘Oct. 4th, rooms 8_s_., breakfast 2_s_. 6_d_., cocktail 1_s_., lunch 2_s_. 6_d_., glass sherry, 8_d_.’ I see nothing in that.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I’ve wasted time enough,</quote> said <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>, rising. <quote spokeBy="Lestrade">I believe in hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. Good-day, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, and we shall see which gets to the bottom of the matter first.</quote> He gathered up the garments, thrust them into the bag, and made for the door. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Just one hint to you, <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person>,</quote> drawled <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> before his rival vanished; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I will tell you the true solution of the matter. <person perName="Lady_St_Simon">Lady St. Simon</person> is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any such person.</quote> <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> rose to put on his overcoat. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There is something in what the fellow says about outdoor work,</quote> he remarked, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">so I think, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, that I must leave you to your papers for a little.</quote> It was after five o’clock when <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">They have laid the supper, then,</quote> he said, rubbing his hands. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You seem to expect company. They have laid for five.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I am surprised that <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> has not already arrived. Ha! I fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">My messenger reached you, then?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. Have you good authority for what you say?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The best possible.</quote> <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> sank into a chair and passed his hand over his forehead. <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">What will the Duke say,</quote> he murmured, <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">when he hears that one of the family has been subjected to such humiliation?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any humiliation.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">It was a slight, sir, a public slight,</quote> said <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person>, tapping his fingers upon the table. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so unprecedented a position.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have been shamefully used.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I think that I heard a ring,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes, there are steps on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view of the matter, <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person>, I have brought an advocate here who may be more successful.</quote> He opened the door and ushered in a lady and gentleman. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes"><person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person>,</quote> said he <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">allow me to introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. <person perName="Francis_Moulton">Francis Hay Moulton</person>. The lady, I think, you have already met.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Moulton">You’re angry, <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Robert</person>,</quote> said she. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Moulton">Well, I guess you have every cause to be.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Pray make no apology to me,</quote> said <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> bitterly. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Moulton">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 <person perName="Francis_Moulton">Frank</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Perhaps, <person perName="Mrs_Moulton">Mrs. Moulton</person>, you would like my friend and me to leave the room while you explain this matter?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Francis_Moulton">If I may give an opinion,</quote> remarked the strange gentleman, <quote spokeBy="Francis_Moulton">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.</quote> He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Moulton">Then I’ll tell our story right away,</quote> said the lady. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Moulton"><person perName="Francis_Moulton">Frank</person> 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, <person perName="Francis_Moulton">Frank</person> and I; but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, while poor <person perName="Francis_Moulton">Frank</person> 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. <person perName="Francis_Moulton">Frank</person> 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. <person perName="Francis_Moulton">Frank</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Moulton">The next I heard of <person perName="Francis_Moulton">Frank</person> 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 <person perName="Francis_Moulton">Frank</person> was really dead. Then <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Moulton">Still, if I had married <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person>, 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 <person perName="Francis_Moulton">Frank</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Moulton">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 <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person>, 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 <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> 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. <person perName="Francis_Moulton">Frank</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Francis_Moulton">I saw it in a paper,</quote> explained the American. <quote spokeBy="Francis_Moulton">It gave the name and the church but not where the lady lived.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Moulton">Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and <person perName="Francis_Moulton">Frank</person> 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 <person perName="Francis_Moulton">Frank</person> 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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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 <person perName="Francis_Moulton">Frank</person> 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 <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at once. Now, <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Robert</person>, 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.</quote> <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this long narrative. <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Excuse me,</quote> he said, <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">but it is not my custom to discuss my most intimate personal affairs in this public manner.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Moulton">Then you won’t forgive me? You won’t shake hands before I go?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure.</quote> He put out his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I had hoped,</quote> suggested <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">that you would have joined us in a friendly supper.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">I think that there you ask a little too much,</quote> responded his Lordship. <quote spokeBy="Robert_St_Simon">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.</quote> He included us all in a sweeping bow and stalked out of the room. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your company,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is always a joy to meet an American, <person perName="Francis_Moulton">Mr. Moulton</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">The case has been an interesting one,</quote> remarked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> when our visitors had left us, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Lestrade">Mr. Lestrade</person> of Scotland Yard.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You were not yourself at fault at all, then?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person>’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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And how in the world did you find them?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It might have been difficult, but friend <person perName="Lestrade">Lestrade</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">How did you deduce the select?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Francis_Moulton">Francis H. Moulton</person>, 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 <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> in particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I made him keep the appointment.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">But with no very good result,</quote> I remarked. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">His conduct was certainly not very gracious.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, smiling, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Robert_St_Simon">Lord St. Simon</person> 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.</quote> </story> <story num="XI"> <storyTitle>THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET</storyTitle> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson"><person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>,</quote> said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking down the street, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">here is a madman coming along. It seems rather sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone.</quote> 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 footpaths 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What on earth can be the matter with him?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">He is looking up at the numbers of the houses.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I believe that he is coming here,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, rubbing his hands. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Here?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">No doubt you think me mad?</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I see that you have had some great trouble,</quote> responded <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Pray compose yourself, sir,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">and let me have a clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">My name,</quote> answered our visitor, <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">is probably familiar to your ears. I am <person perName="Alexander_Holder">Alexander Holder</person>, of the banking firm of Holder & Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">I feel that time is of value,</quote> said he; <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘<person perName="Alexander_Holder">Mr. Holder</person>,’ said he, ‘I have been informed that you are in the habit of advancing money.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘The firm does so when the security is good.’ I answered. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘It is absolutely essential to me,’ said he, ‘that I should have £ 50,000 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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?’ I asked. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,’ said I. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some perplexity from it to my illustrious client. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘You doubt its value?’ he asked. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘Not at all. I only doubt—’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘Ample.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘You understand, <person perName="Alexander_Holder">Mr. Holder</person>, 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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">And now a word as to my household, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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, <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person>. He has been a disappointment to me, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>—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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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, <person perName="George_Burnwell">Sir George Burnwell</person>, was enough to draw him back again. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as <person perName="George_Burnwell">Sir George Burnwell</person> 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 <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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! </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">Now, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, you know the people who live under my roof, and I shall continue with my miserable story. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after dinner, I told <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person> 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. <person perName="Mary_Holder">Mary</person> and <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person> were much interested and wished to see the famous coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘Where have you put it?’ asked <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person>. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘In my own bureau.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘Well, I hope to goodness the house won’t be burgled during the night.’ said he. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘It is locked up,’ I answered. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘Look here, dad,’ said he with his eyes cast down, ‘can you let me have £ 200?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘No, I cannot!’ I answered sharply. ‘I have been far too generous with you in money matters.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘And a very good thing, too!’ I cried. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘Tell me, dad,’ said she, looking, I thought, a little disturbed, ‘did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out to-night?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘Certainly not.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘Quite sure, dad.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘Then, good-night.’ I kissed her and went up to my bedroom again, where I was soon asleep. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">I am endeavouring to tell you everything, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘<person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person>!’ I screamed, ‘you villain! you thief! How dare you touch that coronet?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘Stolen!’ he cried. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘Yes, thief!’ I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,’ said he. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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 <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person>’s face, she read the whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the ground. I sent the housemaid for the police and put the investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a constable entered the house, <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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. My God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son in one night. Oh, what shall I do!</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Do you receive much company?</quote> he asked. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person>’s. <person perName="George_Burnwell">Sir George Burnwell</person> has been several times lately. No one else, I think.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Do you go out much in society?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder"><person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person> does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That is unusual in a young girl.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She is four-and-twenty.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to her also.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">Terrible! She is even more affected than I.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You have neither of you any doubt as to your son’s guilt?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet in his hands.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of the coronet at all injured?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">Yes, it was twisted.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to straighten it?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">They considered that it might be caused by <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person>’s closing his bedroom door.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture in the hope of finding them.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Have they thought of looking outside the house?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has already been minutely examined.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now, my dear sir,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">But what other is there?</quote> cried the banker with a gesture of despair. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain them?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is our task to find that out,</quote> replied <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">so now, if you please, <person perName="Alexander_Holder">Mr. Holder</person>, we will set off for Streatham together, and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into details.</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’ 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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 <person perName="Alexander_Holder">Mr. Holder</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">You have given orders that <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person> should be liberated, have you not, dad?</quote> she asked. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should suspect him.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with the coronet in his hand?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">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 <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person> in prison!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">I shall never let it drop until the gems are found—never, <person perName="Mary_Holder">Mary</person>! Your affection for <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">This gentleman?</quote> she asked, facing round to me. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in the stable lane now.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">The stable lane?</quote> She raised her dark eyebrows. <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">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 <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person> is innocent of this crime.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may prove it,</quote> returned <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, going back to the mat to knock the snow from his shoes. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I believe I have the honour of addressing <person perName="Mary_Holder">Miss Mary Holder</person>. Might I ask you a question or two?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You heard nothing yourself last night?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard that, and I came down.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you fasten all the windows?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">Yes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Were they all fastened this morning?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">Yes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and who may have heard uncle’s remarks about the coronet.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">But what is the good of all these vague theories,</quote> cried the banker impatiently, <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">when I have told you that I saw <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person> with the coronet in his hands?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Wait a little, <person perName="Alexander_Holder">Mr. Holder</person>. We must come back to that. About this girl, <person perName="Mary_Holder">Miss Holder</person>. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I presume?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Do you know him?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">Oh, yes! he is the greengrocer who brings our vegetables round. His name is Francis Prosper.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">He stood,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">to the left of the door—that is to say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">Yes, he did.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And he is a man with a wooden leg?</quote> Something like fear sprang up in the young lady’s expressive black eyes. <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">Why, you are like a magician,</quote> said she. <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">How do you know that?</quote> She smiled, but there was no answering smile in <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’ thin, eager face. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I should be very glad now to go upstairs,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now we shall go upstairs,</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Which key was used to open it?</quote> he asked. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">That which my son himself indicated—that of the cupboard of the lumber-room.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Have you it here?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">That is it on the dressing-table.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> took it up and opened the bureau. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is a noiseless lock,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is no wonder that it did not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must have a look at it.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now, <person perName="Alexander_Holder">Mr. Holder</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">here is the corner which corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I beg that you will break it off.</quote> The banker recoiled in horror. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">I should not dream of trying,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Then I will.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> suddenly bent his strength upon it, but without result. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I feel it give a little,</quote> said he; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="Alexander_Holder">Mr. Holder</person>? 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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, <person perName="Mary_Holder">Miss Holder</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mary_Holder">I confess that I still share my uncle’s perplexity.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="Alexander_Holder">Mr. Holder</person>, I shall now continue my investigations outside.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, <person perName="Alexander_Holder">Mr. Holder</person>,</quote> said he; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I can serve you best by returning to my rooms.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">But the gems, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. Where are they?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I cannot tell.</quote> The banker wrung his hands. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">I shall never see them again!</quote> he cried. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">And my son? You give me hopes?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">My opinion is in no way altered.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">Then, for God’s sake, what was this dark business which was acted in my house last night?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">I would give my fortune to have them back.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I think that this should do,</quote> said he, glancing into the glass above the fireplace. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I only wish that you could come with me, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I only looked in as I passed,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I am going right on.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Where to?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">How are you getting on?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You will excuse my beginning without you, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">but you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this morning.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Why, it is after nine now,</quote> I answered. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I should not be surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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, <person perName="Mary_Holder">Mary</person>, has deserted me.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Deserted you?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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: </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘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, </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">‘<person perName="Mary_Holder">MARY</person>.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">What could she mean by that note, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>? Do you think it points to suicide?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible solution. I trust, <person perName="Alexander_Holder">Mr. Holder</person>, that you are nearing the end of your troubles.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">Ha! You say so! You have heard something, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>; you have learned something! Where are the gems?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You would not think £ 1000 apiece an excessive sum for them?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">I would pay ten.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your cheque-book? Here is a pen. Better make it out for £ 4000.</quote> With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">You have it!</quote> he gasped. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">I am saved! I am saved!</quote> The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There is one other thing you owe, <person perName="Alexander_Holder">Mr. Holder</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> rather sternly. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">Owe!</quote> He caught up a pen. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">Name the sum, and I will pay it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">Then it was not <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person> who took them?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him know that the truth is known.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">For Heaven’s sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary mystery!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="George_Burnwell">Sir George Burnwell</person> and your niece <person perName="Mary_Holder">Mary</person>. They have now fled together.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">My <person perName="Mary_Holder">Mary</person>? Impossible!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">I cannot, and I will not, believe it!</quote> cried the banker with an ashen face. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your boy, <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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. <person perName="George_Burnwell">Sir George Burnwell</person> tried to get away, but <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person> 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 <person perName="George_Burnwell">Sir George</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">Is it possible?</quote> gasped the banker. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the coronet,</quote> cried <person perName="Alexander_Holder">Mr. Holder</person>. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_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!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">When I arrived at the house,</quote> continued <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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? </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="George_Burnwell">Sir George Burnwell</person>. 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 <person perName="Arthur_Holder">Arthur</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took next. I went in the shape of a loafer to <person perName="George_Burnwell">Sir George</person>’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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening,</quote> said <person perName="Alexander_Holder">Mr. Holder</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 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 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">A day which has saved England from a great public scandal,</quote> said the banker, rising. <quote spokeBy="Alexander_Holder">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I think that we may safely say,</quote> returned <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">that she is wherever <person perName="George_Burnwell">Sir George Burnwell</person> is. It is equally certain, too, that whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than sufficient punishment.</quote> </story> <story num="XII"> <storyTitle>THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES</storyTitle> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">To the man who loves art for its own sake,</quote> remarked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person>, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of _The Daily Telegraph_, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">And yet,</quote> said I, smiling, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I cannot quite hold myself absolved from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my records.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You have erred, perhaps,</quote> 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—<quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter,</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">No, it is not selfishness or conceit,</quote> said he, answering, as was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">At the same time,</quote> he remarked after a pause, during which he had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Mary_Sutherland">Miss Mary Sutherland</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">The end may have been so,</quote> I answered, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">but the methods I hold to have been novel and of interest.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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!</quote> He tossed a crumpled letter across to me. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and ran thus: "DEAR <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">MR. HOLMES</person>,—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," "<person perName="Violet_Hunter">VIOLET HUNTER</person>." <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Do you know the young lady?</quote> I asked. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Not I.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It is half-past ten now.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure,</quote> said she, as my companion rose to greet her, <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Pray take a seat, <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person>. I shall be happy to do anything that I can to serve you.</quote> I could see that <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">I have been a governess for five years,</quote> said she, <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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 <person perName="Miss_Stoper">Miss Stoper</person>. 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office as usual, but I found that <person perName="Miss_Stoper">Miss Stoper</person> 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 <person perName="Miss_Stoper">Miss Stoper</person>. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘You are looking for a situation, miss?’ he asked. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘Yes, sir.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘As governess?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘Yes, sir.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘And what salary do you ask?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘I had £ 4 a month in my last place with Colonel Spence Munro.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,’ said I. ‘A little French, a little German, music, and drawing—’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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 a year.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">You may imagine, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘May I ask where you live, sir?’ said I. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would be.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘My sole duties, then,’ I asked, ‘are to take charge of a single child?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘I should be happy to make myself useful.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘No,’ said I, considerably astonished at his words. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to you?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘Oh, no.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘No, sir, I really could not,’ I answered firmly. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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, <person perName="Miss_Stoper">Miss Stoper</person>, I had best inspect a few more of your young ladies.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?’ she asked. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘If you please, <person perName="Miss_Stoper">Miss Stoper</person>.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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, <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person>.’ She struck a gong upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">Well, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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 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: </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘DEAR <person perName="Violet_Hunter">MISS HUNTER</person>,—<person perName="Miss_Stoper">Miss Stoper</person> 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 a quarter, or £ 120 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, </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘<person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">JEPHRO RUCASTLE</person>.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">That is the letter which I have just received, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person>, if your mind is made up, that settles the question,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, smiling. <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">But you would not advise me to refuse?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to see a sister of mine apply for.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">What is the meaning of it all, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself formed some opinion?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person> 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?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">But the money, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, the money!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Well, yes, of course the pay is good—too good. That is what makes me uneasy. Why should they give you £ 120 a year, when they could have their pick for £ 40? There must be some strong reason behind.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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—</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">Danger! What danger do you foresee?</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> shook his head gravely. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It would cease to be a danger if we could define it,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">But at any time, day or night, a telegram would bring me down to your help.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">That is enough.</quote> She rose briskly from her chair with the anxiety all swept from her face. <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">I shall go down to Hampshire quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person> at once, sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester to-morrow.</quote> With a few grateful words to <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> she bade us both good-night and bustled off upon her way. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">At least,</quote> said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending the stairs, <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">she seems to be a young lady who is very well able to take care of herself.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And she would need to be,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> gravely. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I am much mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past.</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Data! data! data!</quote> he cried impatiently. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I can’t make bricks without clay.</quote> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Just look up the trains in Bradshaw,</quote> 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." "<person perName="Violet_Hunter">HUNTER</person>." <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Will you come with me?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, glancing up. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I should wish to.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Just look it up, then.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">There is a train at half-past nine,</quote> said I, glancing over my Bradshaw. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">It is due at Winchester at 11:30.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> By eleven o’clock the next day we were well upon our way to the old English capital. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Are they not fresh and beautiful?</quote> I cried with all the enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. But <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> shook his head gravely. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Do you know, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>,</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Good heavens!</quote> I cried. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">Who would associate crime with these dear old homesteads?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">You horrify me!</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Quite so. She has her freedom.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What _can_ be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person> has to tell.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">I am so delighted that you have come,</quote> she said earnestly. <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Pray tell us what has happened to you.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person> to be back before three. I got his leave to come into town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Let us have everything in its due order.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> thrust his long thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and <person perName="Mrs_Rucastle">Mrs. Rucastle</person>. It is only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and I am not easy in my mind about them.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">What can you not understand?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just as it occurred. When I came down, <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, in the conjecture which seemed to us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. <person perName="Mrs_Rucastle">Mrs. Rucastle</person> 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. <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter"><person perName="Mrs_Rucastle">Mrs. Rucastle</person> 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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, and, indeed, he has little to do with my story.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I am glad of all details,</quote> remarked my friend, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">whether they seem to you to be relevant or not.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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 <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person> seemed to take no notice of it. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as silent as <person perName="Mrs_Rucastle">Mrs. Rucastle</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was very quiet; on the third, <person perName="Mrs_Rucastle">Mrs. Rucastle</person> came down just after breakfast and whispered something to her husband. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘Oh, yes,’ said he, turning to me, ‘we are very much obliged to you, <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person>, 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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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 <person perName="Mrs_Rucastle">Mrs. Rucastle</person> 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 <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person>, 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. <person perName="Mrs_Rucastle">Mrs. Rucastle</person>, 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, <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">You can easily imagine, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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 <person perName="Mrs_Rucastle">Mrs. Rucastle</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘Jephro,’ said she, ‘there is an impertinent fellow upon the road there who stares up at <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person>.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘No friend of yours, <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person>?’ he asked. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘No, I know no one in these parts.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to him to go away.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘Surely it would be better to take no notice.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn round and wave him away like that.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">I did as I was told, and at the same instant <person perName="Mrs_Rucastle">Mrs. Rucastle</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Pray continue,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Your narrative promises to be a most interesting one.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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, <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘Look in here!’ said <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person>, showing me a slit between two planks. ‘Is he not a beauty?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a vague figure huddled up in the darkness. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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 <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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, <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person> came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled at my remark. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">Well, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, besides <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person>, 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 <person perName="Mrs_Rucastle">Mrs. Rucastle</person> 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. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. 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 <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person>, who was waiting outside. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘So,’ said he, smiling, ‘it was you, then. I thought that it must be when I saw the door open.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘Oh, I am so frightened!’ I panted. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I was keenly on my guard against him. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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!’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘Only that?’ said he, looking at me keenly. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘Why, what did you think?’ I asked. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘Why do you think that I lock this door?’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘I am sure that I do not know.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you see?’ He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘I am sure if I had known—’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">‘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.’ </quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>. 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 <person perName="Mrs_Rucastle">Mrs. Rucastle</person> 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, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>, and I should be very glad if you could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should do.</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Is Toller still drunk?</quote> he asked. <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">Yes. I heard his wife tell <person perName="Mrs_Rucastle">Mrs. Rucastle</person> that she could do nothing with him.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">Yes.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">Yes, the wine-cellar.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very brave and sensible girl, <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person>. 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">I will try. What is it?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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 <person perName="Mrs_Toller">Mrs. Toller</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">I will do it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="Alice_Rucastle">Miss Alice Rucastle</person>, 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 <person perName="Alice_Rucastle">Miss Rucastle</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">What on earth has that to do with it?</quote> I ejaculated. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">My dear <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">I am sure that you are right, <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Mr. Holmes</person>,</quote> cried our client. <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> 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 <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person> not been standing smiling on the door-step. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Have you managed it?</quote> asked <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">That is Mrs. Toller in the cellar,</quote> said she. <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">Her husband lies snoring on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates of <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person>’s.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You have done well indeed!</quote> cried <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> with enthusiasm. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Now lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black business.</quote> We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person> had described. <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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 <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>’ face clouded over. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I trust that we are not too late,</quote> said he. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I think, <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person>, that we had better go in without you. Now, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, put your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our way in.</quote> 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. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">There has been some villainy here,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>; <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">this beauty has guessed <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person>’s intentions and has carried his victim off.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">But how?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it.</quote> He swung himself up onto the roof. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah, yes,</quote> he cried, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">here’s the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did it.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">But it is impossible,</quote> said <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person>; <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">the ladder was not there when the Rucastles went away.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, that it would be as well for you to have your pistol ready.</quote> 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. <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person> screamed and shrunk against the wall at the sight of him, but <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Sherlock Holmes</person> sprang forward and confronted him. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">You villain!</quote> said he, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">where’s your daughter?</quote> The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open skylight. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">It is for me to ask you that,</quote> he shrieked, <quote spokeBy="Unknown">you thieves! Spies and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I’ll serve you!</quote> He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he could go. <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter">He’s gone for the dog!</quote> cried <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person>. <quote spokeBy="John_Watson">I have my revolver,</quote> said I. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Better close the front door,</quote> cried <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, 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. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">My God!</quote> he cried. <quote spokeBy="Unknown">Someone has loosed the dog. It’s not been fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it’ll be too late!</quote> <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person> 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. <quote spokeBy="Violet_Hunter"><person perName="Mrs_Toller">Mrs. Toller</person>!</quote> cried <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person>. <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Toller">Yes, miss. <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ha!</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, looking keenly at her. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">It is clear that <person perName="Mrs_Toller">Mrs. Toller</person> knows more about this matter than anyone else.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Toller">Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Toller">I will soon make it clear to you,</quote> said she; <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Toller">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 <person perName="Alice_Rucastle">Miss Alice</person>’s friend too. </quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Toller">She was never happy at home, <person perName="Alice_Rucastle">Miss Alice</person> 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 <person perName="Mr_Fowler">Mr. Fowler</person> at a friend’s house. As well as I could learn, <person perName="Alice_Rucastle">Miss Alice</person> 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 <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person>’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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">Ah,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_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. <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person> then, I presume, took to this system of imprisonment?</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Toller">Yes, sir.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">And brought <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person> down from London in order to get rid of the disagreeable persistence of <person perName="Mr_Fowler">Mr. Fowler</person>.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Toller">That was it, sir.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">But <person perName="Mr_Fowler">Mr. Fowler</person> 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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Toller"><person perName="Mr_Fowler">Mr. Fowler</person> was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman,</quote> said <person perName="Mrs_Toller">Mrs. Toller</person> serenely. <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">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.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Mrs_Toller">You have it, sir, just as it happened.</quote> <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">I am sure we owe you an apology, <person perName="Mrs_Toller">Mrs. Toller</person>,</quote> said <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, <quote spokeBy="Sherlock_Holmes">for you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And here comes the country surgeon and <person perName="Mrs_Rucastle">Mrs. Rucastle</person>, so I think, <person perName="John_Watson">Watson</person>, that we had best escort <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Hunter</person> back to Winchester, as it seems to me that our _locus standi_ now is rather a questionable one.</quote> And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the copper beeches in front of the door. <person perName="Jephro_Rucastle">Mr. Rucastle</person> 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. <person perName="Mr_Fowler">Mr. Fowler</person> and <person perName="Alice_Rucastle">Miss Rucastle</person> 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 <person perName="Violet_Hunter">Miss Violet</person> Hunter, my friend <person perName="Sherlock_Holmes">Holmes</person>, 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. </story> </collection>

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