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+Project Gutenberg's The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Return of Sherlock Holmes
+       Magazine Edition
+
+Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+Release Date: July 10, 2008 [EBook #221]
+Original Release Date: February, 1995
+Last Updated: March 6, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Keller, Joanne Brown, Frank Sadowski,
+and Roger Squires
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+
+By Arthur Conan Doyle.
+
+
+
+Contents:
+
+     The Adventure of the Empty House.
+     The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.
+     The Adventure of the Dancing Men.
+     The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist.
+     The Adventure of the Priory School.
+     The Adventure of Black Peter.
+     The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.
+     The Adventure of the Six Napoleons.
+     The Adventure of the Three Students.
+     The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez.
+     The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter.
+     The Adventure of the Abbey Grange.
+     The Adventure of the Second Stain.]
+
+
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 26  OCTOBER, 1903
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+I.--The Adventure of the Empty House.
+
+
+IT was in the spring of the year 1894 that all London was interested,
+and the fashionable world dismayed, by the murder of the Honourable
+Ronald Adair under most unusual and inexplicable circumstances. The
+public has already learned those particulars of the crime which came out
+in the police investigation; but a good deal was suppressed upon that
+occasion, since the case for the prosecution was so overwhelmingly
+strong that it was not necessary to bring forward all the facts. Only
+now, at the end of nearly ten years, am I allowed to supply those
+missing links which make up the whole of that remarkable chain. The
+crime was of interest in itself, but that interest was as nothing to
+me compared to the inconceivable sequel, which afforded me the greatest
+shock and surprise of any event in my adventurous life. Even now,
+after this long interval, I find myself thrilling as I think of it, and
+feeling once more that sudden flood of joy, amazement, and incredulity
+which utterly submerged my mind. Let me say to that public which has
+shown some interest in those glimpses which I have occasionally given
+them of the thoughts and actions of a very remarkable man that they
+are not to blame me if I have not shared my knowledge with them, for I
+should have considered it my first duty to have done so had I not been
+barred by a positive prohibition from his own lips, which was only
+withdrawn upon the third of last month.
+
+It can be imagined that my close intimacy with Sherlock Holmes had
+interested me deeply in crime, and that after his disappearance I never
+failed to read with care the various problems which came before
+the public, and I even attempted more than once for my own private
+satisfaction to employ his methods in their solution, though with
+indifferent success. There was none, however, which appealed to me like
+this tragedy of Ronald Adair. As I read the evidence at the inquest,
+which led up to a verdict of wilful murder against some person or
+persons unknown, I realized more clearly than I had ever done the loss
+which the community had sustained by the death of Sherlock Holmes. There
+were points about this strange business which would, I was sure, have
+specially appealed to him, and the efforts of the police would have been
+supplemented, or more probably anticipated, by the trained observation
+and the alert mind of the first criminal agent in Europe. All day as
+I drove upon my round I turned over the case in my mind, and found no
+explanation which appeared to me to be adequate. At the risk of telling
+a twice-told tale I will recapitulate the facts as they were known to
+the public at the conclusion of the inquest.
+
+The Honourable Ronald Adair was the second son of the Earl of Maynooth,
+at that time Governor of one of the Australian Colonies. Adair's mother
+had returned from Australia to undergo the operation for cataract, and
+she, her son Ronald, and her daughter Hilda were living together at
+427, Park Lane. The youth moved in the best society, had, so far as was
+known, no enemies, and no particular vices. He had been engaged to Miss
+Edith Woodley, of Carstairs, but the engagement had been broken off by
+mutual consent some months before, and there was no sign that it had
+left any very profound feeling behind it. For the rest the man's life
+moved in a narrow and conventional circle, for his habits were quiet and
+his nature unemotional. Yet it was upon this easy-going young aristocrat
+that death came in most strange and unexpected form between the hours of
+ten and eleven-twenty on the night of March 30, 1894.
+
+Ronald Adair was fond of cards, playing continually, but never for such
+stakes as would hurt him. He was a member of the Baldwin, the Cavendish,
+and the Bagatelle card clubs. It was shown that after dinner on the day
+of his death he had played a rubber of whist at the latter club. He had
+also played there in the afternoon. The evidence of those who had played
+with him--Mr. Murray, Sir John Hardy, and Colonel Moran--showed that
+the game was whist, and that there was a fairly equal fall of the cards.
+Adair might have lost five pounds, but not more. His fortune was a
+considerable one, and such a loss could not in any way affect him. He
+had played nearly every day at one club or other, but he was a cautious
+player, and usually rose a winner. It came out in evidence that in
+partnership with Colonel Moran he had actually won as much as four
+hundred and twenty pounds in a sitting some weeks before from Godfrey
+Milner and Lord Balmoral. So much for his recent history, as it came out
+at the inquest.
+
+On the evening of the crime he returned from the club exactly at ten.
+His mother and sister were out spending the evening with a relation. The
+servant deposed that she heard him enter the front room on the second
+floor, generally used as his sitting-room. She had lit a fire there, and
+as it smoked she had opened the window. No sound was heard from the room
+until eleven-twenty, the hour of the return of Lady Maynooth and her
+daughter. Desiring to say good-night, she had attempted to enter her
+son's room. The door was locked on the inside, and no answer could be
+got to their cries and knocking. Help was obtained and the door forced.
+The unfortunate young man was found lying near the table. His head had
+been horribly mutilated by an expanding revolver bullet, but no weapon
+of any sort was to be found in the room. On the table lay two bank-notes
+for ten pounds each and seventeen pounds ten in silver and gold, the
+money arranged in little piles of varying amount. There were some
+figures also upon a sheet of paper with the names of some club friends
+opposite to them, from which it was conjectured that before his death he
+was endeavouring to make out his losses or winnings at cards.
+
+A minute examination of the circumstances served only to make the case
+more complex. In the first place, no reason could be given why the
+young man should have fastened the door upon the inside. There was the
+possibility that the murderer had done this and had afterwards escaped
+by the window. The drop was at least twenty feet, however, and a bed of
+crocuses in full bloom lay beneath. Neither the flowers nor the earth
+showed any sign of having been disturbed, nor were there any marks
+upon the narrow strip of grass which separated the house from the road.
+Apparently, therefore, it was the young man himself who had fastened the
+door. But how did he come by his death? No one could have climbed up to
+the window without leaving traces. Suppose a man had fired through the
+window, it would indeed be a remarkable shot who could with a
+revolver inflict so deadly a wound. Again, Park Lane is a frequented
+thoroughfare, and there is a cab-stand within a hundred yards of the
+house. No one had heard a shot. And yet there was the dead man, and
+there the revolver bullet, which had mushroomed out, as soft-nosed
+bullets will, and so inflicted a wound which must have caused
+instantaneous death. Such were the circumstances of the Park Lane
+Mystery, which were further complicated by entire absence of motive,
+since, as I have said, young Adair was not known to have any enemy, and
+no attempt had been made to remove the money or valuables in the room.
+
+All day I turned these facts over in my mind, endeavouring to hit upon
+some theory which could reconcile them all, and to find that line
+of least resistance which my poor friend had declared to be the
+starting-point of every investigation. I confess that I made little
+progress. In the evening I strolled across the Park, and found myself
+about six o'clock at the Oxford Street end of Park Lane. A group of
+loafers upon the pavements, all staring up at a particular window,
+directed me to the house which I had come to see. A tall, thin man with
+coloured glasses, whom I strongly suspected of being a plain-clothes
+detective, was pointing out some theory of his own, while the others
+crowded round to listen to what he said. I got as near him as I could,
+but his observations seemed to me to be absurd, so I withdrew again in
+some disgust. As I did so I struck against an elderly deformed man,
+who had been behind me, and I knocked down several books which he was
+carrying. I remember that as I picked them up I observed the title of
+one of them, “The Origin of Tree Worship,” and it struck me that the
+fellow must be some poor bibliophile who, either as a trade or as a
+hobby, was a collector of obscure volumes. I endeavoured to apologize
+for the accident, but it was evident that these books which I had so
+unfortunately maltreated were very precious objects in the eyes of their
+owner. With a snarl of contempt he turned upon his heel, and I saw his
+curved back and white side-whiskers disappear among the throng.
+
+My observations of No. 427, Park Lane did little to clear up the problem
+in which I was interested. The house was separated from the street by
+a low wall and railing, the whole not more than five feet high. It was
+perfectly easy, therefore, for anyone to get into the garden, but the
+window was entirely inaccessible, since there was no water-pipe or
+anything which could help the most active man to climb it. More puzzled
+than ever I retraced my steps to Kensington. I had not been in my study
+five minutes when the maid entered to say that a person desired to
+see me. To my astonishment it was none other than my strange old
+book-collector, his sharp, wizened face peering out from a frame of
+white hair, and his precious volumes, a dozen of them at least, wedged
+under his right arm.
+
+“You're surprised to see me, sir,” said he, in a strange, croaking
+voice.
+
+I acknowledged that I was.
+
+“Well, I've a conscience, sir, and when I chanced to see you go into
+this house, as I came hobbling after you, I thought to myself, I'll just
+step in and see that kind gentleman, and tell him that if I was a bit
+gruff in my manner there was not any harm meant, and that I am much
+obliged to him for picking up my books.”
+
+“You make too much of a trifle,” said I. “May I ask how you knew who I
+was?”
+
+“Well, sir, if it isn't too great a liberty, I am a neighbour of yours,
+for you'll find my little bookshop at the corner of Church Street,
+and very happy to see you, I am sure. Maybe you collect yourself, sir;
+here's 'British Birds,' and 'Catullus,' and 'The Holy War'--a bargain
+every one of them. With five volumes you could just fill that gap on
+that second shelf. It looks untidy, does it not, sir?”
+
+I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me. When I turned again
+Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at me across my study table. I rose
+to my feet, stared at him for some seconds in utter amazement, and then
+it appears that I must have fainted for the first and the last time
+in my life. Certainly a grey mist swirled before my eyes, and when it
+cleared I found my collar-ends undone and the tingling after-taste of
+brandy upon my lips. Holmes was bending over my chair, his flask in his
+hand.
+
+“My dear Watson,” said the well-remembered voice, “I owe you a thousand
+apologies. I had no idea that you would be so affected.”
+
+I gripped him by the arm.
+
+“Holmes!” I cried. “Is it really you? Can it indeed be that you are
+alive? Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing out of that awful
+abyss?”
+
+“Wait a moment,” said he. “Are you sure that you are really fit to
+discuss things? I have given you a serious shock by my unnecessarily
+dramatic reappearance.”
+
+“I am all right, but indeed, Holmes, I can hardly believe my eyes. Good
+heavens, to think that you--you of all men--should be standing in my
+study!” Again I gripped him by the sleeve and felt the thin, sinewy arm
+beneath it. “Well, you're not a spirit, anyhow,” said I. “My dear chap,
+I am overjoyed to see you. Sit down and tell me how you came alive out
+of that dreadful chasm.”
+
+He sat opposite to me and lit a cigarette in his old nonchalant manner.
+He was dressed in the seedy frock-coat of the book merchant, but the
+rest of that individual lay in a pile of white hair and old books upon
+the table. Holmes looked even thinner and keener than of old, but there
+was a dead-white tinge in his aquiline face which told me that his life
+recently had not been a healthy one.
+
+“I am glad to stretch myself, Watson,” said he. “It is no joke when a
+tall man has to take a foot off his stature for several hours on end.
+Now, my dear fellow, in the matter of these explanations we have, if
+I may ask for your co-operation, a hard and dangerous night's work in
+front of us. Perhaps it would be better if I gave you an account of the
+whole situation when that work is finished.”
+
+“I am full of curiosity. I should much prefer to hear now.”
+
+“You'll come with me to-night?”
+
+“When you like and where you like.”
+
+“This is indeed like the old days. We shall have time for a mouthful of
+dinner before we need go. Well, then, about that chasm. I had no serious
+difficulty in getting out of it, for the very simple reason that I never
+was in it.”
+
+“You never were in it?”
+
+“No, Watson, I never was in it. My note to you was absolutely genuine.
+I had little doubt that I had come to the end of my career when I
+perceived the somewhat sinister figure of the late Professor Moriarty
+standing upon the narrow pathway which led to safety. I read an
+inexorable purpose in his grey eyes. I exchanged some remarks with him,
+therefore, and obtained his courteous permission to write the short note
+which you afterwards received. I left it with my cigarette-box and my
+stick and I walked along the pathway, Moriarty still at my heels. When
+I reached the end I stood at bay. He drew no weapon, but he rushed at me
+and threw his long arms around me. He knew that his own game was up, and
+was only anxious to revenge himself upon me. We tottered together upon
+the brink of the fall. I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or
+the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very
+useful to me. I slipped through his grip, and he with a horrible scream
+kicked madly for a few seconds and clawed the air with both his hands.
+But for all his efforts he could not get his balance, and over he went.
+With my face over the brink I saw him fall for a long way. Then he
+struck a rock, bounded off, and splashed into the water.”
+
+I listened with amazement to this explanation, which Holmes delivered
+between the puffs of his cigarette.
+
+“But the tracks!” I cried. “I saw with my own eyes that two went down
+the path and none returned.”
+
+“It came about in this way. The instant that the Professor had
+disappeared it struck me what a really extraordinarily lucky chance Fate
+had placed in my way. I knew that Moriarty was not the only man who
+had sworn my death. There were at least three others whose desire for
+vengeance upon me would only be increased by the death of their leader.
+They were all most dangerous men. One or other would certainly get me.
+On the other hand, if all the world was convinced that I was dead they
+would take liberties, these men, they would lay themselves open, and
+sooner or later I could destroy them. Then it would be time for me to
+announce that I was still in the land of the living. So rapidly does
+the brain act that I believe I had thought this all out before Professor
+Moriarty had reached the bottom of the Reichenbach Fall.
+
+“I stood up and examined the rocky wall behind me. In your picturesque
+account of the matter, which I read with great interest some months
+later, you assert that the wall was sheer. This was not literally
+true. A few small footholds presented themselves, and there was some
+indication of a ledge. The cliff is so high that to climb it all was
+an obvious impossibility, and it was equally impossible to make my way
+along the wet path without leaving some tracks. I might, it is true,
+have reversed my boots, as I have done on similar occasions, but the
+sight of three sets of tracks in one direction would certainly have
+suggested a deception. On the whole, then, it was best that I should
+risk the climb. It was not a pleasant business, Watson. The fall roared
+beneath me. I am not a fanciful person, but I give you my word that
+I seemed to hear Moriarty's voice screaming at me out of the abyss. A
+mistake would have been fatal. More than once, as tufts of grass came
+out in my hand or my foot slipped in the wet notches of the rock, I
+thought that I was gone. But I struggled upwards, and at last I reached
+a ledge several feet deep and covered with soft green moss, where I
+could lie unseen in the most perfect comfort. There I was stretched when
+you, my dear Watson, and all your following were investigating in the
+most sympathetic and inefficient manner the circumstances of my death.
+
+“At last, when you had all formed your inevitable and totally erroneous
+conclusions, you departed for the hotel and I was left alone. I had
+imagined that I had reached the end of my adventures, but a very
+unexpected occurrence showed me that there were surprises still in store
+for me. A huge rock, falling from above, boomed past me, struck the
+path, and bounded over into the chasm. For an instant I thought that
+it was an accident; but a moment later, looking up, I saw a man's head
+against the darkening sky, and another stone struck the very ledge upon
+which I was stretched, within a foot of my head. Of course, the meaning
+of this was obvious. Moriarty had not been alone. A confederate--and
+even that one glance had told me how dangerous a man that confederate
+was--had kept guard while the Professor had attacked me. From a
+distance, unseen by me, he had been a witness of his friend's death and
+of my escape. He had waited, and then, making his way round to the
+top of the cliff, he had endeavoured to succeed where his comrade had
+failed.
+
+“I did not take long to think about it, Watson. Again I saw that grim
+face look over the cliff, and I knew that it was the precursor of
+another stone. I scrambled down on to the path. I don't think I could
+have done it in cold blood. It was a hundred times more difficult than
+getting up. But I had no time to think of the danger, for another stone
+sang past me as I hung by my hands from the edge of the ledge. Halfway
+down I slipped, but by the blessing of God I landed, torn and bleeding,
+upon the path. I took to my heels, did ten miles over the mountains
+in the darkness, and a week later I found myself in Florence with the
+certainty that no one in the world knew what had become of me.
+
+“I had only one confidant--my brother Mycroft. I owe you many apologies,
+my dear Watson, but it was all-important that it should be thought I
+was dead, and it is quite certain that you would not have written so
+convincing an account of my unhappy end had you not yourself thought
+that it was true. Several times during the last three years I have taken
+up my pen to write to you, but always I feared lest your affectionate
+regard for me should tempt you to some indiscretion which would betray
+my secret. For that reason I turned away from you this evening when
+you upset my books, for I was in danger at the time, and any show of
+surprise and emotion upon your part might have drawn attention to my
+identity and led to the most deplorable and irreparable results. As to
+Mycroft, I had to confide in him in order to obtain the money which
+I needed. The course of events in London did not run so well as I had
+hoped, for the trial of the Moriarty gang left two of its most dangerous
+members, my own most vindictive enemies, at liberty. I travelled for
+two years in Tibet, therefore, and amused myself by visiting Lhassa
+and spending some days with the head Llama. You may have read of the
+remarkable explorations of a Norwegian named Sigerson, but I am sure
+that it never occurred to you that you were receiving news of your
+friend. I then passed through Persia, looked in at Mecca, and paid a
+short but interesting visit to the Khalifa at Khartoum, the results of
+which I have communicated to the Foreign Office. Returning to France I
+spent some months in a research into the coal-tar derivatives, which I
+conducted in a laboratory at Montpelier, in the South of France. Having
+concluded this to my satisfaction, and learning that only one of my
+enemies was now left in London, I was about to return when my movements
+were hastened by the news of this very remarkable Park Lane Mystery,
+which not only appealed to me by its own merits, but which seemed to
+offer some most peculiar personal opportunities. I came over at once to
+London, called in my own person at Baker Street, threw Mrs. Hudson into
+violent hysterics, and found that Mycroft had preserved my rooms and my
+papers exactly as they had always been. So it was, my dear Watson, that
+at two o'clock to-day I found myself in my old arm-chair in my own old
+room, and only wishing that I could have seen my old friend Watson in
+the other chair which he has so often adorned.”
+
+Such was the remarkable narrative to which I listened on that April
+evening--a narrative which would have been utterly incredible to me had
+it not been confirmed by the actual sight of the tall, spare figure and
+the keen, eager face, which I had never thought to see again. In some
+manner he had learned of my own sad bereavement, and his sympathy was
+shown in his manner rather than in his words. “Work is the best antidote
+to sorrow, my dear Watson,” said he, “and I have a piece of work for us
+both to-night which, if we can bring it to a successful conclusion, will
+in itself justify a man's life on this planet.” In vain I begged him
+to tell me more. “You will hear and see enough before morning,” he
+answered. “We have three years of the past to discuss. Let that suffice
+until half-past nine, when we start upon the notable adventure of the
+empty house.”
+
+It was indeed like old times when, at that hour, I found myself seated
+beside him in a hansom, my revolver in my pocket and the thrill of
+adventure in my heart. Holmes was cold and stern and silent. As the
+gleam of the street-lamps flashed upon his austere features I saw that
+his brows were drawn down in thought and his thin lips compressed. I
+knew not what wild beast we were about to hunt down in the dark jungle
+of criminal London, but I was well assured from the bearing of this
+master huntsman that the adventure was a most grave one, while the
+sardonic smile which occasionally broke through his ascetic gloom boded
+little good for the object of our quest.
+
+I had imagined that we were bound for Baker Street, but Holmes stopped
+the cab at the corner of Cavendish Square. I observed that as he stepped
+out he gave a most searching glance to right and left, and at every
+subsequent street corner he took the utmost pains to assure that he was
+not followed. Our route was certainly a singular one. Holmes's knowledge
+of the byways of London was extraordinary, and on this occasion he
+passed rapidly, and with an assured step, through a network of mews and
+stables the very existence of which I had never known. We emerged at
+last into a small road, lined with old, gloomy houses, which led us into
+Manchester Street, and so to Blandford Street. Here he turned swiftly
+down a narrow passage, passed through a wooden gate into a deserted
+yard, and then opened with a key the back door of a house. We entered
+together and he closed it behind us.
+
+The place was pitch-dark, but it was evident to me that it was an empty
+house. Our feet creaked and crackled over the bare planking, and my
+outstretched hand touched a wall from which the paper was hanging in
+ribbons. Holmes's cold, thin fingers closed round my wrist and led me
+forwards down a long hall, until I dimly saw the murky fanlight over the
+door. Here Holmes turned suddenly to the right, and we found ourselves
+in a large, square, empty room, heavily shadowed in the corners, but
+faintly lit in the centre from the lights of the street beyond. There
+was no lamp near and the window was thick with dust, so that we could
+only just discern each other's figures within. My companion put his hand
+upon my shoulder and his lips close to my ear.
+
+“Do you know where we are?” he whispered.
+
+“Surely that is Baker Street,” I answered, staring through the dim
+window.
+
+“Exactly. We are in Camden House, which stands opposite to our own old
+quarters.”
+
+“But why are we here?”
+
+“Because it commands so excellent a view of that picturesque pile. Might
+I trouble you, my dear Watson, to draw a little nearer to the window,
+taking every precaution not to show yourself, and then to look up at our
+old rooms--the starting-point of so many of our little adventures? We
+will see if my three years of absence have entirely taken away my power
+to surprise you.”
+
+I crept forward and looked across at the familiar window. As my eyes
+fell upon it I gave a gasp and a cry of amazement. The blind was down
+and a strong light was burning in the room. The shadow of a man who
+was seated in a chair within was thrown in hard, black outline upon the
+luminous screen of the window. There was no mistaking the poise of the
+head, the squareness of the shoulders, the sharpness of the features.
+The face was turned half-round, and the effect was that of one of
+those black silhouettes which our grandparents loved to frame. It was a
+perfect reproduction of Holmes. So amazed was I that I threw out my
+hand to make sure that the man himself was standing beside me. He was
+quivering with silent laughter.
+
+“Well?” said he.
+
+“Good heavens!” I cried. “It is marvellous.”
+
+“I trust that age doth not wither nor custom stale my infinite
+variety,'” said he, and I recognised in his voice the joy and pride
+which the artist takes in his own creation. “It really is rather like
+me, is it not?”
+
+“I should be prepared to swear that it was you.”
+
+“The credit of the execution is due to Monsieur Oscar Meunier, of
+Grenoble, who spent some days in doing the moulding. It is a bust in
+wax. The rest I arranged myself during my visit to Baker Street this
+afternoon.”
+
+“But why?”
+
+“Because, my dear Watson, I had the strongest possible reason for
+wishing certain people to think that I was there when I was really
+elsewhere.”
+
+“And you thought the rooms were watched?”
+
+“I KNEW that they were watched.”
+
+“By whom?”
+
+“By my old enemies, Watson. By the charming society whose leader lies
+in the Reichenbach Fall. You must remember that they knew, and only
+they knew, that I was still alive. Sooner or later they believed that I
+should come back to my rooms. They watched them continuously, and this
+morning they saw me arrive.”
+
+“How do you know?”
+
+“Because I recognised their sentinel when I glanced out of my window. He
+is a harmless enough fellow, Parker by name, a garroter by trade, and a
+remarkable performer upon the Jew's harp. I cared nothing for him. But
+I cared a great deal for the much more formidable person who was behind
+him, the bosom friend of Moriarty, the man who dropped the rocks over
+the cliff, the most cunning and dangerous criminal in London. That is
+the man who is after me to-night, Watson, and that is the man who is
+quite unaware that we are after HIM.”
+
+My friend's plans were gradually revealing themselves. From this
+convenient retreat the watchers were being watched and the trackers
+tracked. That angular shadow up yonder was the bait and we were the
+hunters. In silence we stood together in the darkness and watched the
+hurrying figures who passed and repassed in front of us. Holmes was
+silent and motionless; but I could tell that he was keenly alert, and
+that his eyes were fixed intently upon the stream of passers-by. It was
+a bleak and boisterous night, and the wind whistled shrilly down the
+long street. Many people were moving to and fro, most of them muffled in
+their coats and cravats. Once or twice it seemed to me that I had seen
+the same figure before, and I especially noticed two men who appeared
+to be sheltering themselves from the wind in the doorway of a house
+some distance up the street. I tried to draw my companion's attention
+to them, but he gave a little ejaculation of impatience and continued
+to stare into the street. More than once he fidgeted with his feet and
+tapped rapidly with his fingers upon the wall. It was evident to me
+that he was becoming uneasy and that his plans were not working out
+altogether as he had hoped. At last, as midnight approached and
+the street gradually cleared, he paced up and down the room in
+uncontrollable agitation. I was about to make some remark to him when
+I raised my eyes to the lighted window and again experienced almost as
+great a surprise as before. I clutched Holmes's arm and pointed upwards.
+
+“The shadow has moved!” I cried.
+
+It was, indeed, no longer the profile, but the back, which was turned
+towards us.
+
+Three years had certainly not smoothed the asperities of his temper or
+his impatience with a less active intelligence than his own.
+
+“Of course it has moved,” said he. “Am I such a farcical bungler,
+Watson, that I should erect an obvious dummy and expect that some of
+the sharpest men in Europe would be deceived by it? We have been in
+this room two hours, and Mrs. Hudson has made some change in that figure
+eight times, or once in every quarter of an hour. She works it from the
+front so that her shadow may never be seen. Ah!” He drew in his breath
+with a shrill, excited intake. In the dim light I saw his head thrown
+forward, his whole attitude rigid with attention. Outside, the street
+was absolutely deserted. Those two men might still be crouching in the
+doorway, but I could no longer see them. All was still and dark, save
+only that brilliant yellow screen in front of us with the black figure
+outlined upon its centre. Again in the utter silence I heard that thin,
+sibilant note which spoke of intense suppressed excitement. An instant
+later he pulled me back into the blackest corner of the room, and I
+felt his warning hand upon my lips. The fingers which clutched me were
+quivering. Never had I known my friend more moved, and yet the dark
+street still stretched lonely and motionless before us.
+
+But suddenly I was aware of that which his keener senses had already
+distinguished. A low, stealthy sound came to my ears, not from the
+direction of Baker Street, but from the back of the very house in which
+we lay concealed. A door opened and shut. An instant later steps
+crept down the passage--steps which were meant to be silent, but which
+reverberated harshly through the empty house. Holmes crouched back
+against the wall and I did the same, my hand closing upon the handle
+of my revolver. Peering through the gloom, I saw the vague outline of a
+man, a shade blacker than the blackness of the open door. He stood for
+an instant, and then he crept forward, crouching, menacing, into the
+room. He was within three yards of us, this sinister figure, and I had
+braced myself to meet his spring, before I realized that he had no idea
+of our presence. He passed close beside us, stole over to the window,
+and very softly and noiselessly raised it for half a foot. As he sank to
+the level of this opening the light of the street, no longer dimmed by
+the dusty glass, fell full upon his face. The man seemed to be beside
+himself with excitement. His two eyes shone like stars and his
+features were working convulsively. He was an elderly man, with a thin,
+projecting nose, a high, bald forehead, and a huge grizzled moustache.
+An opera-hat was pushed to the back of his head, and an evening dress
+shirt-front gleamed out through his open overcoat. His face was gaunt
+and swarthy, scored with deep, savage lines. In his hand he carried what
+appeared to be a stick, but as he laid it down upon the floor it gave
+a metallic clang. Then from the pocket of his overcoat he drew a bulky
+object, and he busied himself in some task which ended with a loud,
+sharp click, as if a spring or bolt had fallen into its place. Still
+kneeling upon the floor he bent forward and threw all his weight and
+strength upon some lever, with the result that there came a long,
+whirling, grinding noise, ending once more in a powerful click. He
+straightened himself then, and I saw that what he held in his hand was
+a sort of gun, with a curiously misshapen butt. He opened it at the
+breech, put something in, and snapped the breech-block. Then, crouching
+down, he rested the end of the barrel upon the ledge of the open window,
+and I saw his long moustache droop over the stock and his eye gleam as
+it peered along the sights. I heard a little sigh of satisfaction as
+he cuddled the butt into his shoulder, and saw that amazing target, the
+black man on the yellow ground, standing clear at the end of his fore
+sight. For an instant he was rigid and motionless. Then his finger
+tightened on the trigger. There was a strange, loud whiz and a long,
+silvery tinkle of broken glass. At that instant Holmes sprang like a
+tiger on to the marksman's back and hurled him flat upon his face. He
+was up again in a moment, and with convulsive strength he seized Holmes
+by the throat; but I struck him on the head with the butt of my revolver
+and he dropped again upon the floor. I fell upon him, and as I held him
+my comrade blew a shrill call upon a whistle. There was the clatter of
+running feet upon the pavement, and two policemen in uniform, with one
+plain-clothes detective, rushed through the front entrance and into the
+room.
+
+“That you, Lestrade?” said Holmes.
+
+“Yes, Mr. Holmes. I took the job myself. It's good to see you back in
+London, sir.”
+
+“I think you want a little unofficial help. Three undetected murders in
+one year won't do, Lestrade. But you handled the Molesey Mystery with
+less than your usual--that's to say, you handled it fairly well.”
+
+We had all risen to our feet, our prisoner breathing hard, with a
+stalwart constable on each side of him. Already a few loiterers had
+begun to collect in the street. Holmes stepped up to the window, closed
+it, and dropped the blinds. Lestrade had produced two candles and the
+policemen had uncovered their lanterns. I was able at last to have a
+good look at our prisoner.
+
+It was a tremendously virile and yet sinister face which was turned
+towards us. With the brow of a philosopher above and the jaw of a
+sensualist below, the man must have started with great capacities for
+good or for evil. But one could not look upon his cruel blue eyes, with
+their drooping, cynical lids, or upon the fierce, aggressive nose and
+the threatening, deep-lined brow, without reading Nature's plainest
+danger-signals. He took no heed of any of us, but his eyes were fixed
+upon Holmes's face with an expression in which hatred and amazement were
+equally blended. “You fiend!” he kept on muttering. “You clever, clever
+fiend!”
+
+“Ah, Colonel!” said Holmes, arranging his rumpled collar; “'journeys end
+in lovers' meetings,' as the old play says. I don't think I have had the
+pleasure of seeing you since you favoured me with those attentions as I
+lay on the ledge above the Reichenbach Fall.”
+
+The Colonel still stared at my friend like a man in a trance. “You
+cunning, cunning fiend!” was all that he could say.
+
+“I have not introduced you yet,” said Holmes. “This, gentlemen, is
+Colonel Sebastian Moran, once of Her Majesty's Indian Army, and the best
+heavy game shot that our Eastern Empire has ever produced. I believe
+I am correct, Colonel, in saying that your bag of tigers still remains
+unrivalled?”
+
+The fierce old man said nothing, but still glared at my companion; with
+his savage eyes and bristling moustache he was wonderfully like a tiger
+himself.
+
+“I wonder that my very simple stratagem could deceive so old a shikari,”
+ said Holmes. “It must be very familiar to you. Have you not tethered a
+young kid under a tree, lain above it with your rifle, and waited for
+the bait to bring up your tiger? This empty house is my tree and you
+are my tiger. You have possibly had other guns in reserve in case there
+should be several tigers, or in the unlikely supposition of your own aim
+failing you. These,” he pointed around, “are my other guns. The parallel
+is exact.”
+
+Colonel Moran sprang forward, with a snarl of rage, but the constables
+dragged him back. The fury upon his face was terrible to look at.
+
+“I confess that you had one small surprise for me,” said Holmes. “I did
+not anticipate that you would yourself make use of this empty house and
+this convenient front window. I had imagined you as operating from the
+street, where my friend Lestrade and his merry men were awaiting you.
+With that exception all has gone as I expected.”
+
+Colonel Moran turned to the official detective.
+
+“You may or may not have just cause for arresting me,” said he, “but at
+least there can be no reason why I should submit to the gibes of this
+person. If I am in the hands of the law let things be done in a legal
+way.”
+
+“Well, that's reasonable enough,” said Lestrade. “Nothing further you
+have to say, Mr. Holmes, before we go?”
+
+Holmes had picked up the powerful air-gun from the floor and was
+examining its mechanism.
+
+“An admirable and unique weapon,” said he, “noiseless and of tremendous
+power. I knew Von Herder, the blind German mechanic, who constructed it
+to the order of the late Professor Moriarty. For years I have been aware
+of its existence, though I have never before had the opportunity of
+handling it. I commend it very specially to your attention, Lestrade,
+and also the bullets which fit it.”
+
+“You can trust us to look after that, Mr. Holmes,” said Lestrade, as the
+whole party moved towards the door. “Anything further to say?”
+
+“Only to ask what charge you intend to prefer?”
+
+“What charge, sir? Why, of course, the attempted murder of Mr. Sherlock
+Holmes.”
+
+“Not so, Lestrade. I do not propose to appear in the matter at all. To
+you, and to you only, belongs the credit of the remarkable arrest which
+you have effected. Yes, Lestrade, I congratulate you! With your usual
+happy mixture of cunning and audacity you have got him.”
+
+“Got him! Got whom, Mr. Holmes?”
+
+“The man that the whole force has been seeking in vain--Colonel
+Sebastian Moran, who shot the Honourable Ronald Adair with an expanding
+bullet from an air-gun through the open window of the second-floor front
+of No. 427, Park Lane, upon the 30th of last month. That's the charge,
+Lestrade. And now, Watson, if you can endure the draught from a broken
+window, I think that half an hour in my study over a cigar may afford
+you some profitable amusement.”
+
+
+Our old chambers had been left unchanged through the supervision of
+Mycroft Holmes and the immediate care of Mrs. Hudson. As I entered I
+saw, it is true, an unwonted tidiness, but the old landmarks were all
+in their place. There were the chemical corner and the acid-stained,
+deal-topped table. There upon a shelf was the row of formidable
+scrap-books and books of reference which many of our fellow-citizens
+would have been so glad to burn. The diagrams, the violin-case, and the
+pipe-rack--even the Persian slipper which contained the tobacco--all met
+my eyes as I glanced round me. There were two occupants of the room--one
+Mrs. Hudson, who beamed upon us both as we entered; the other the
+strange dummy which had played so important a part in the evening's
+adventures. It was a wax-coloured model of my friend, so admirably done
+that it was a perfect facsimile. It stood on a small pedestal table with
+an old dressing-gown of Holmes's so draped round it that the illusion
+from the street was absolutely perfect.
+
+“I hope you preserved all precautions, Mrs. Hudson?” said Holmes.
+
+“I went to it on my knees, sir, just as you told me.”
+
+“Excellent. You carried the thing out very well. Did you observe where
+the bullet went?”
+
+“Yes, sir. I'm afraid it has spoilt your beautiful bust, for it passed
+right through the head and flattened itself on the wall. I picked it up
+from the carpet. Here it is!”
+
+Holmes held it out to me. “A soft revolver bullet, as you perceive,
+Watson. There's genius in that, for who would expect to find such a
+thing fired from an air-gun. All right, Mrs. Hudson, I am much obliged
+for your assistance. And now, Watson, let me see you in your old seat
+once more, for there are several points which I should like to discuss
+with you.”
+
+He had thrown off the seedy frock-coat, and now he was the Holmes of old
+in the mouse-coloured dressing-gown which he took from his effigy.
+
+“The old shikari's nerves have not lost their steadiness nor his eyes
+their keenness,” said he, with a laugh, as he inspected the shattered
+forehead of his bust.
+
+“Plumb in the middle of the back of the head and smack through the
+brain. He was the best shot in India, and I expect that there are few
+better in London. Have you heard the name?”
+
+“No, I have not.”
+
+“Well, well, such is fame! But, then, if I remember aright, you had not
+heard the name of Professor James Moriarty, who had one of the great
+brains of the century. Just give me down my index of biographies from
+the shelf.”
+
+He turned over the pages lazily, leaning back in his chair and blowing
+great clouds from his cigar.
+
+“My collection of M's is a fine one,” said he. “Moriarty himself is
+enough to make any letter illustrious, and here is Morgan the poisoner,
+and Merridew of abominable memory, and Mathews, who knocked out my left
+canine in the waiting-room at Charing Cross, and, finally, here is our
+friend of to-night.”
+
+He handed over the book, and I read: “MORAN, SEBASTIAN, COLONEL.
+Unemployed. Formerly 1st Bengalore Pioneers. Born London, 1840. Son of
+Sir Augustus Moran, C.B., once British Minister to Persia. Educated
+Eton and Oxford. Served in Jowaki Campaign, Afghan Campaign, Charasiab
+(despatches), Sherpur, and Cabul. Author of 'Heavy Game of the Western
+Himalayas,' 1881; 'Three Months in the Jungle,' 1884. Address: Conduit
+Street. Clubs: The Anglo-Indian, the Tankerville, the Bagatelle Card
+Club.”
+
+On the margin was written, in Holmes's precise hand: “The second most
+dangerous man in London.”
+
+“This is astonishing,” said I, as I handed back the volume. “The man's
+career is that of an honourable soldier.”
+
+“It is true,” Holmes answered. “Up to a certain point he did well. He
+was always a man of iron nerve, and the story is still told in India how
+he crawled down a drain after a wounded man-eating tiger. There are some
+trees, Watson, which grow to a certain height and then suddenly develop
+some unsightly eccentricity. You will see it often in humans. I have
+a theory that the individual represents in his development the whole
+procession of his ancestors, and that such a sudden turn to good or
+evil stands for some strong influence which came into the line of his
+pedigree. The person becomes, as it were, the epitome of the history of
+his own family.”
+
+“It is surely rather fanciful.”
+
+“Well, I don't insist upon it. Whatever the cause, Colonel Moran began
+to go wrong. Without any open scandal, he still made India too hot to
+hold him. He retired, came to London, and again acquired an evil name.
+It was at this time that he was sought out by Professor Moriarty,
+to whom for a time he was chief of the staff. Moriarty supplied him
+liberally with money and used him only in one or two very high-class
+jobs which no ordinary criminal could have undertaken. You may have
+some recollection of the death of Mrs. Stewart, of Lauder, in 1887.
+Not? Well, I am sure Moran was at the bottom of it; but nothing could
+be proved. So cleverly was the Colonel concealed that even when the
+Moriarty gang was broken up we could not incriminate him. You remember
+at that date, when I called upon you in your rooms, how I put up the
+shutters for fear of air-guns? No doubt you thought me fanciful. I knew
+exactly what I was doing, for I knew of the existence of this remarkable
+gun, and I knew also that one of the best shots in the world would be
+behind it. When we were in Switzerland he followed us with Moriarty,
+and it was undoubtedly he who gave me that evil five minutes on the
+Reichenbach ledge.
+
+“You may think that I read the papers with some attention during my
+sojourn in France, on the look-out for any chance of laying him by the
+heels. So long as he was free in London my life would really not have
+been worth living. Night and day the shadow would have been over me, and
+sooner or later his chance must have come. What could I do? I could not
+shoot him at sight, or I should myself be in the dock. There was no use
+appealing to a magistrate. They cannot interfere on the strength of what
+would appear to them to be a wild suspicion. So I could do nothing. But
+I watched the criminal news, knowing that sooner or later I should get
+him. Then came the death of this Ronald Adair. My chance had come at
+last! Knowing what I did, was it not certain that Colonel Moran had done
+it? He had played cards with the lad; he had followed him home from the
+club; he had shot him through the open window. There was not a doubt of
+it. The bullets alone are enough to put his head in a noose. I came
+over at once. I was seen by the sentinel, who would, I knew, direct
+the Colonel's attention to my presence. He could not fail to connect my
+sudden return with his crime and to be terribly alarmed. I was sure that
+he would make an attempt to get me out of the way AT ONCE, and would
+bring round his murderous weapon for that purpose. I left him an
+excellent mark in the window, and, having warned the police that they
+might be needed--by the way, Watson, you spotted their presence in that
+doorway with unerring accuracy--I took up what seemed to me to be a
+judicious post for observation, never dreaming that he would choose the
+same spot for his attack. Now, my dear Watson, does anything remain for
+me to explain?”
+
+“Yes,” said I. “You have not made it clear what was Colonel Moran's
+motive in murdering the Honourable Ronald Adair.”
+
+“Ah! my dear Watson, there we come into those realms of conjecture where
+the most logical mind may be at fault. Each may form his own hypothesis
+upon the present evidence, and yours is as likely to be correct as
+mine.”
+
+“You have formed one, then?”
+
+“I think that it is not difficult to explain the facts. It came out
+in evidence that Colonel Moran and young Adair had between them won a
+considerable amount of money. Now, Moran undoubtedly played foul--of
+that I have long been aware. I believe that on the day of the murder
+Adair had discovered that Moran was cheating. Very likely he had spoken
+to him privately, and had threatened to expose him unless he voluntarily
+resigned his membership of the club and promised not to play cards
+again. It is unlikely that a youngster like Adair would at once make a
+hideous scandal by exposing a well-known man so much older than himself.
+Probably he acted as I suggest. The exclusion from his clubs would mean
+ruin to Moran, who lived by his ill-gotten card gains. He therefore
+murdered Adair, who at the time was endeavouring to work out how
+much money he should himself return, since he could not profit by his
+partner's foul play. He locked the door lest the ladies should surprise
+him and insist upon knowing what he was doing with these names and
+coins. Will it pass?”
+
+“I have no doubt that you have hit upon the truth.”
+
+“It will be verified or disproved at the trial. Meanwhile, come what
+may, Colonel Moran will trouble us no more, the famous air-gun of Von
+Herder will embellish the Scotland Yard Museum, and once again
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes is free to devote his life to examining those
+interesting little problems which the complex life of London so
+plentifully presents.”
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 26  NOVEMBER, 1903
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+
+II.--The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.
+
+
+“FROM the point of view of the criminal expert,” said Mr. Sherlock
+Holmes, “London has become a singularly uninteresting city since the
+death of the late lamented Professor Moriarty.”
+
+“I can hardly think that you would find many decent citizens to agree
+with you,” I answered.
+
+“Well, well, I must not be selfish,” said he, with a smile, as he pushed
+back his chair from the breakfast-table. “The community is certainly
+the gainer, and no one the loser, save the poor out-of-work specialist,
+whose occupation has gone. With that man in the field one's morning
+paper presented infinite possibilities. Often it was only the smallest
+trace, Watson, the faintest indication, and yet it was enough to tell me
+that the great malignant brain was there, as the gentlest tremors of
+the edges of the web remind one of the foul spider which lurks in the
+centre. Petty thefts, wanton assaults, purposeless outrage--to the man
+who held the clue all could be worked into one connected whole. To the
+scientific student of the higher criminal world no capital in Europe
+offered the advantages which London then possessed. But now----” He
+shrugged his shoulders in humorous deprecation of the state of things
+which he had himself done so much to produce.
+
+At the time of which I speak Holmes had been back for some months, and
+I, at his request, had sold my practice and returned to share the old
+quarters in Baker Street. A young doctor, named Verner, had purchased my
+small Kensington practice, and given with astonishingly little demur the
+highest price that I ventured to ask--an incident which only explained
+itself some years later when I found that Verner was a distant relation
+of Holmes's, and that it was my friend who had really found the money.
+
+Our months of partnership had not been so uneventful as he had stated,
+for I find, on looking over my notes, that this period includes the case
+of the papers of Ex-President Murillo, and also the shocking affair of
+the Dutch steamship FRIESLAND, which so nearly cost us both our lives.
+His cold and proud nature was always averse, however, to anything in the
+shape of public applause, and he bound me in the most stringent terms
+to say no further word of himself, his methods, or his successes--a
+prohibition which, as I have explained, has only now been removed.
+
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes was leaning back in his chair after his whimsical
+protest, and was unfolding his morning paper in a leisurely fashion,
+when our attention was arrested by a tremendous ring at the bell,
+followed immediately by a hollow drumming sound, as if someone were
+beating on the outer door with his fist. As it opened there came a
+tumultuous rush into the hall, rapid feet clattered up the stair, and an
+instant later a wild-eyed and frantic young man, pale, dishevelled, and
+palpitating, burst into the room. He looked from one to the other of us,
+and under our gaze of inquiry he became conscious that some apology was
+needed for this unceremonious entry.
+
+“I'm sorry, Mr. Holmes,” he cried. “You mustn't blame me. I am nearly
+mad. Mr. Holmes, I am the unhappy John Hector McFarlane.”
+
+He made the announcement as if the name alone would explain both his
+visit and its manner; but I could see by my companion's unresponsive
+face that it meant no more to him than to me.
+
+“Have a cigarette, Mr. McFarlane,” said he, pushing his case across.
+“I am sure that with your symptoms my friend Dr. Watson here would
+prescribe a sedative. The weather has been so very warm these last few
+days. Now, if you feel a little more composed, I should be glad if you
+would sit down in that chair and tell us very slowly and quietly who you
+are and what it is that you want. You mentioned your name as if I should
+recognise it, but I assure you that, beyond the obvious facts that
+you are a bachelor, a solicitor, a Freemason, and an asthmatic, I know
+nothing whatever about you.”
+
+Familiar as I was with my friend's methods, it was not difficult for me
+to follow his deductions, and to observe the untidiness of attire, the
+sheaf of legal papers, the watch-charm, and the breathing which had
+prompted them. Our client, however, stared in amazement.
+
+“Yes, I am all that, Mr. Holmes, and in addition I am the most
+unfortunate man at this moment in London. For Heaven's sake don't
+abandon me, Mr. Holmes! If they come to arrest me before I have finished
+my story, make them give me time so that I may tell you the whole
+truth. I could go to gaol happy if I knew that you were working for me
+outside.”
+
+“Arrest you!” said Holmes. “This is really most grati--most interesting.
+On what charge do you expect to be arrested?”
+
+“Upon the charge of murdering Mr. Jonas Oldacre, of Lower Norwood.”
+
+My companion's expressive face showed a sympathy which was not, I am
+afraid, entirely unmixed with satisfaction.
+
+“Dear me,” said he; “it was only this moment at breakfast that I was
+saying to my friend, Dr. Watson, that sensational cases had disappeared
+out of our papers.”
+
+Our visitor stretched forward a quivering hand and picked up the DAILY
+TELEGRAPH, which still lay upon Holmes's knee.
+
+“If you had looked at it, sir, you would have seen at a glance what the
+errand is on which I have come to you this morning. I feel as if my name
+and my misfortune must be in every man's mouth.” He turned it over to
+expose the central page. “Here it is, and with your permission I
+will read it to you. Listen to this, Mr. Holmes. The head-lines are:
+'Mysterious Affair at Lower Norwood. Disappearance of a Well-known
+Builder. Suspicion of Murder and Arson. A Clue to the Criminal.' That is
+the clue which they are already following, Mr. Holmes, and I know that
+it leads infallibly to me. I have been followed from London Bridge
+Station, and I am sure that they are only waiting for the warrant to
+arrest me. It will break my mother's heart--it will break her heart!”
+ He wrung his hands in an agony of apprehension, and swayed backwards and
+forwards in his chair.
+
+I looked with interest upon this man, who was accused of being the
+perpetrator of a crime of violence. He was flaxen-haired and handsome
+in a washed-out negative fashion, with frightened blue eyes and a
+clean-shaven face, with a weak, sensitive mouth. His age may have been
+about twenty-seven; his dress and bearing that of a gentleman. From the
+pocket of his light summer overcoat protruded the bundle of endorsed
+papers which proclaimed his profession.
+
+“We must use what time we have,” said Holmes. “Watson, would you
+have the kindness to take the paper and to read me the paragraph in
+question?”
+
+Underneath the vigorous head-lines which our client had quoted I read
+the following suggestive narrative:--
+
+
+Late last night, or early this morning, an incident occurred at Lower
+Norwood which points, it is feared, to a serious crime. Mr. Jonas
+Oldacre is a well-known resident of that suburb, where he has carried
+on his business as a builder for many years. Mr. Oldacre is a bachelor,
+fifty-two years of age, and lives in Deep Dene House, at the Sydenham
+end of the road of that name. He has had the reputation of being a
+man of eccentric habits, secretive and retiring. For some years he has
+practically withdrawn from the business, in which he is said to have
+amassed considerable wealth. A small timber-yard still exists, however,
+at the back of the house, and last night, about twelve o'clock, an alarm
+was given that one of the stacks was on fire. The engines were soon upon
+the spot, but the dry wood burned with great fury, and it was impossible
+to arrest the conflagration until the stack had been entirely consumed.
+Up to this point the incident bore the appearance of an ordinary
+accident, but fresh indications seem to point to serious crime. Surprise
+was expressed at the absence of the master of the establishment from
+the scene of the fire, and an inquiry followed, which showed that he had
+disappeared from the house. An examination of his room revealed that the
+bed had not been slept in, that a safe which stood in it was open,
+that a number of important papers were scattered about the room, and,
+finally, that there were signs of a murderous struggle, slight traces
+of blood being found within the room, and an oaken walking-stick, which
+also showed stains of blood upon the handle. It is known that Mr. Jonas
+Oldacre had received a late visitor in his bedroom upon that night, and
+the stick found has been identified as the property of this person, who
+is a young London solicitor named John Hector McFarlane, junior partner
+of Graham and McFarlane, of 426, Gresham Buildings, E.C. The police
+believe that they have evidence in their possession which supplies
+a very convincing motive for the crime, and altogether it cannot be
+doubted that sensational developments will follow.
+
+LATER.--It is rumoured as we go to press that Mr. John Hector McFarlane
+has actually been arrested on the charge of the murder of Mr. Jonas
+Oldacre. It is at least certain that a warrant has been issued. There
+have been further and sinister developments in the investigation at
+Norwood. Besides the signs of a struggle in the room of the unfortunate
+builder it is now known that the French windows of his bedroom (which is
+on the ground floor) were found to be open, that there were marks as
+if some bulky object had been dragged across to the wood-pile, and,
+finally, it is asserted that charred remains have been found among the
+charcoal ashes of the fire. The police theory is that a most sensational
+crime has been committed, that the victim was clubbed to death in his
+own bedroom, his papers rifled, and his dead body dragged across to
+the wood-stack, which was then ignited so as to hide all traces of the
+crime. The conduct of the criminal investigation has been left in
+the experienced hands of Inspector Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, who is
+following up the clues with his accustomed energy and sagacity.
+
+
+Sherlock Holmes listened with closed eyes and finger-tips together to
+this remarkable account.
+
+“The case has certainly some points of interest,” said he, in his
+languid fashion. “May I ask, in the first place, Mr. McFarlane, how
+it is that you are still at liberty, since there appears to be enough
+evidence to justify your arrest?”
+
+“I live at Torrington Lodge, Blackheath, with my parents, Mr. Holmes;
+but last night, having to do business very late with Mr. Jonas Oldacre,
+I stayed at an hotel in Norwood, and came to my business from there. I
+knew nothing of this affair until I was in the train, when I read what
+you have just heard. I at once saw the horrible danger of my position,
+and I hurried to put the case into your hands. I have no doubt that I
+should have been arrested either at my City office or at my home. A
+man followed me from London Bridge Station, and I have no doubt--Great
+Heaven, what is that?”
+
+It was a clang of the bell, followed instantly by heavy steps upon the
+stair. A moment later our old friend Lestrade appeared in the doorway.
+Over his shoulder I caught a glimpse of one or two uniformed policemen
+outside.
+
+“Mr. John Hector McFarlane?” said Lestrade.
+
+Our unfortunate client rose with a ghastly face.
+
+“I arrest you for the wilful murder of Mr. Jonas Oldacre, of Lower
+Norwood.”
+
+McFarlane turned to us with a gesture of despair, and sank into his
+chair once more like one who is crushed.
+
+“One moment, Lestrade,” said Holmes. “Half an hour more or less can make
+no difference to you, and the gentleman was about to give us an account
+of this very interesting affair, which might aid us in clearing it up.”
+
+“I think there will be no difficulty in clearing it up,” said Lestrade,
+grimly.
+
+“None the less, with your permission, I should be much interested to
+hear his account.”
+
+“Well, Mr. Holmes, it is difficult for me to refuse you anything, for
+you have been of use to the force once or twice in the past, and we owe
+you a good turn at Scotland Yard,” said Lestrade. “At the same time I
+must remain with my prisoner, and I am bound to warn him that anything
+he may say will appear in evidence against him.”
+
+“I wish nothing better,” said our client. “All I ask is that you should
+hear and recognise the absolute truth.”
+
+Lestrade looked at his watch. “I'll give you half an hour,” said he.
+
+“I must explain first,” said McFarlane, “that I knew nothing of Mr.
+Jonas Oldacre. His name was familiar to me, for many years ago my
+parents were acquainted with him, but they drifted apart. I was very
+much surprised, therefore, when yesterday, about three o'clock in the
+afternoon, he walked into my office in the City. But I was still more
+astonished when he told me the object of his visit. He had in his hand
+several sheets of a note-book, covered with scribbled writing--here they
+are--and he laid them on my table.
+
+“'Here is my will,' said he. 'I want you, Mr. McFarlane, to cast it into
+proper legal shape. I will sit here while you do so.'
+
+“I set myself to copy it, and you can imagine my astonishment when I
+found that, with some reservations, he had left all his property to me.
+He was a strange little, ferret-like man, with white eyelashes, and
+when I looked up at him I found his keen grey eyes fixed upon me with
+an amused expression. I could hardly believe my own senses as I read the
+terms of the will; but he explained that he was a bachelor with hardly
+any living relation, that he had known my parents in his youth, and that
+he had always heard of me as a very deserving young man, and was assured
+that his money would be in worthy hands. Of course, I could only stammer
+out my thanks. The will was duly finished, signed, and witnessed by
+my clerk. This is it on the blue paper, and these slips, as I have
+explained, are the rough draft. Mr. Jonas Oldacre then informed me
+that there were a number of documents--building leases, title-deeds,
+mortgages, scrip, and so forth--which it was necessary that I should see
+and understand. He said that his mind would not be easy until the whole
+thing was settled, and he begged me to come out to his house at
+Norwood that night, bringing the will with me, and to arrange matters.
+'Remember, my boy, not one word to your parents about the affair until
+everything is settled. We will keep it as a little surprise for
+them.' He was very insistent upon this point, and made me promise it
+faithfully.
+
+“You can imagine, Mr. Holmes, that I was not in a humour to refuse him
+anything that he might ask. He was my benefactor, and all my desire was
+to carry out his wishes in every particular. I sent a telegram home,
+therefore, to say that I had important business on hand, and that it was
+impossible for me to say how late I might be. Mr. Oldacre had told me
+that he would like me to have supper with him at nine, as he might not
+be home before that hour. I had some difficulty in finding his house,
+however, and it was nearly half-past before I reached it. I found him--”
+
+“One moment!” said Holmes. “Who opened the door?”
+
+“A middle-aged woman, who was, I suppose, his housekeeper.”
+
+“And it was she, I presume, who mentioned your name?”
+
+“Exactly,” said McFarlane.
+
+“Pray proceed.”
+
+McFarlane wiped his damp brow and then continued his narrative:--
+
+“I was shown by this woman into a sitting-room, where a frugal supper
+was laid out. Afterwards Mr. Jonas Oldacre led me into his bedroom, in
+which there stood a heavy safe. This he opened and took out a mass of
+documents, which we went over together. It was between eleven and twelve
+when we finished. He remarked that we must not disturb the housekeeper.
+He showed me out through his own French window, which had been open all
+this time.”
+
+“Was the blind down?” asked Holmes.
+
+“I will not be sure, but I believe that it was only half down. Yes, I
+remember how he pulled it up in order to swing open the window. I could
+not find my stick, and he said, 'Never mind, my boy; I shall see a good
+deal of you now, I hope, and I will keep your stick until you come back
+to claim it.' I left him there, the safe open, and the papers made up
+in packets upon the table. It was so late that I could not get back to
+Blackheath, so I spent the night at the Anerley Arms, and I knew nothing
+more until I read of this horrible affair in the morning.”
+
+“Anything more that you would like to ask, Mr. Holmes?” said Lestrade,
+whose eyebrows had gone up once or twice during this remarkable
+explanation.
+
+“Not until I have been to Blackheath.”
+
+“You mean to Norwood,” said Lestrade.
+
+“Oh, yes; no doubt that is what I must have meant,” said Holmes, with
+his enigmatical smile. Lestrade had learned by more experiences than he
+would care to acknowledge that that razor-like brain could cut through
+that which was impenetrable to him. I saw him look curiously at my
+companion.
+
+“I think I should like to have a word with you presently, Mr. Sherlock
+Holmes,” said he. “Now, Mr. McFarlane, two of my constables are at the
+door and there is a four-wheeler waiting.” The wretched young man
+arose, and with a last beseeching glance at us walked from the room. The
+officers conducted him to the cab, but Lestrade remained.
+
+Holmes had picked up the pages which formed the rough draft of the will,
+and was looking at them with the keenest interest upon his face.
+
+“There are some points about that document, Lestrade, are there not?”
+ said he, pushing them over.
+
+The official looked at them with a puzzled expression.
+
+“I can read the first few lines, and these in the middle of the second
+page, and one or two at the end. Those are as clear as print,” said
+he; “but the writing in between is very bad, and there are three places
+where I cannot read it at all.”
+
+“What do you make of that?” said Holmes.
+
+“Well, what do YOU make of it?”
+
+“That it was written in a train; the good writing represents stations,
+the bad writing movement, and the very bad writing passing over points.
+A scientific expert would pronounce at once that this was drawn up on a
+suburban line, since nowhere save in the immediate vicinity of a great
+city could there be so quick a succession of points. Granting that his
+whole journey was occupied in drawing up the will, then the train was an
+express, only stopping once between Norwood and London Bridge.”
+
+Lestrade began to laugh.
+
+“You are too many for me when you begin to get on your theories, Mr.
+Holmes,” said he. “How does this bear on the case?”
+
+“Well, it corroborates the young man's story to the extent that the
+will was drawn up by Jonas Oldacre in his journey yesterday. It is
+curious--is it not?--that a man should draw up so important a document
+in so haphazard a fashion. It suggests that he did not think it was
+going to be of much practical importance. If a man drew up a will which
+he did not intend ever to be effective he might do it so.”
+
+“Well, he drew up his own death-warrant at the same time,” said
+Lestrade.
+
+“Oh, you think so?”
+
+“Don't you?”
+
+“Well, it is quite possible; but the case is not clear to me yet.”
+
+“Not clear? Well, if that isn't clear, what COULD be clear? Here is a
+young man who learns suddenly that if a certain older man dies he will
+succeed to a fortune. What does he do? He says nothing to anyone, but
+he arranges that he shall go out on some pretext to see his client that
+night; he waits until the only other person in the house is in bed, and
+then in the solitude of a man's room he murders him, burns his body in
+the wood-pile, and departs to a neighbouring hotel. The blood-stains in
+the room and also on the stick are very slight. It is probable that he
+imagined his crime to be a bloodless one, and hoped that if the
+body were consumed it would hide all traces of the method of his
+death--traces which for some reason must have pointed to him. Is all
+this not obvious?”
+
+“It strikes me, my good Lestrade, as being just a trifle too obvious,”
+ said Holmes. “You do not add imagination to your other great qualities;
+but if you could for one moment put yourself in the place of this young
+man, would you choose the very night after the will had been made to
+commit your crime? Would it not seem dangerous to you to make so very
+close a relation between the two incidents? Again, would you choose an
+occasion when you are known to be in the house, when a servant has let
+you in? And, finally, would you take the great pains to conceal the
+body and yet leave your own stick as a sign that you were the criminal?
+Confess, Lestrade, that all this is very unlikely.”
+
+“As to the stick, Mr. Holmes, you know as well as I do that a criminal
+is often flurried and does things which a cool man would avoid. He was
+very likely afraid to go back to the room. Give me another theory that
+would fit the facts.”
+
+“I could very easily give you half-a-dozen,” said Holmes. “Here, for
+example, is a very possible and even probable one. I make you a free
+present of it. The older man is showing documents which are of evident
+value. A passing tramp sees them through the window, the blind of which
+is only half down. Exit the solicitor. Enter the tramp! He seizes a
+stick, which he observes there, kills Oldacre, and departs after burning
+the body.”
+
+“Why should the tramp burn the body?”
+
+“For the matter of that why should McFarlane?”
+
+“To hide some evidence.”
+
+“Possibly the tramp wanted to hide that any murder at all had been
+committed.”
+
+“And why did the tramp take nothing?”
+
+“Because they were papers that he could not negotiate.”
+
+Lestrade shook his head, though it seemed to me that his manner was less
+absolutely assured than before.
+
+“Well, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you may look for your tramp, and while you
+are finding him we will hold on to our man. The future will show which
+is right. Just notice this point, Mr. Holmes: that so far as we know
+none of the papers were removed, and that the prisoner is the one man in
+the world who had no reason for removing them, since he was heir-at-law
+and would come into them in any case.”
+
+My friend seemed struck by this remark.
+
+“I don't mean to deny that the evidence is in some ways very strongly
+in favour of your theory,” said he. “I only wish to point out that there
+are other theories possible. As you say, the future will decide. Good
+morning! I dare say that in the course of the day I shall drop in at
+Norwood and see how you are getting on.”
+
+When the detective departed my friend rose and made his preparations
+for the day's work with the alert air of a man who has a congenial task
+before him.
+
+“My first movement, Watson,” said he, as he bustled into his frock-coat,
+“must, as I said, be in the direction of Blackheath.”
+
+“And why not Norwood?”
+
+“Because we have in this case one singular incident coming close to the
+heels of another singular incident. The police are making the mistake of
+concentrating their attention upon the second, because it happens to
+be the one which is actually criminal. But it is evident to me that the
+logical way to approach the case is to begin by trying to throw some
+light upon the first incident--the curious will, so suddenly made, and
+to so unexpected an heir. It may do something to simplify what followed.
+No, my dear fellow, I don't think you can help me. There is no prospect
+of danger, or I should not dream of stirring out without you. I trust
+that when I see you in the evening I will be able to report that I have
+been able to do something for this unfortunate youngster who has thrown
+himself upon my protection.”
+
+It was late when my friend returned, and I could see by a glance at his
+haggard and anxious face that the high hopes with which he had started
+had not been fulfilled. For an hour he droned away upon his violin,
+endeavouring to soothe his own ruffled spirits. At last he flung down
+the instrument and plunged into a detailed account of his misadventures.
+
+“It's all going wrong, Watson--all as wrong as it can go. I kept a bold
+face before Lestrade, but, upon my soul, I believe that for once the
+fellow is on the right track and we are on the wrong. All my instincts
+are one way and all the facts are the other, and I much fear that
+British juries have not yet attained that pitch of intelligence when
+they will give the preference to my theories over Lestrade's facts.”
+
+“Did you go to Blackheath?”
+
+“Yes, Watson, I went there, and I found very quickly that the late
+lamented Oldacre was a pretty considerable black-guard. The father was
+away in search of his son. The mother was at home--a little, fluffy,
+blue-eyed person, in a tremor of fear and indignation. Of course, she
+would not admit even the possibility of his guilt. But she would not
+express either surprise or regret over the fate of Oldacre. On
+the contrary, she spoke of him with such bitterness that she was
+unconsciously considerably strengthening the case of the police, for,
+of course, if her son had heard her speak of the man in this fashion it
+would predispose him towards hatred and violence. 'He was more like a
+malignant and cunning ape than a human being,' said she, 'and he always
+was, ever since he was a young man.'
+
+“'You knew him at that time?' said I.
+
+“'Yes, I knew him well; in fact, he was an old suitor of mine. Thank
+Heaven that I had the sense to turn away from him and to marry a better,
+if a poorer, man. I was engaged to him, Mr. Holmes, when I heard a
+shocking story of how he had turned a cat loose in an aviary, and I was
+so horrified at his brutal cruelty that I would have nothing more to
+do with him.' She rummaged in a bureau, and presently she produced a
+photograph of a woman, shamefully defaced and mutilated with a knife.
+'That is my own photograph,' she said. 'He sent it to me in that state,
+with his curse, upon my wedding morning.'
+
+“'Well,' said I, 'at least he has forgiven you now, since he has left
+all his property to your son.'
+
+“'Neither my son nor I want anything from Jonas Oldacre, dead or alive,'
+she cried, with a proper spirit. 'There is a God in Heaven, Mr. Holmes,
+and that same God who has punished that wicked man will show in His own
+good time that my son's hands are guiltless of his blood.'
+
+“Well, I tried one or two leads, but could get at nothing which would
+help our hypothesis, and several points which would make against it. I
+gave it up at last and off I went to Norwood.
+
+“This place, Deep Dene House, is a big modern villa of staring brick,
+standing back in its own grounds, with a laurel-clumped lawn in front
+of it. To the right and some distance back from the road was the
+timber-yard which had been the scene of the fire. Here's a rough plan on
+a leaf of my note-book. This window on the left is the one which opens
+into Oldacre's room. You can look into it from the road, you see. That
+is about the only bit of consolation I have had to-day. Lestrade was
+not there, but his head constable did the honours. They had just made a
+great treasure-trove. They had spent the morning raking among the ashes
+of the burned wood-pile, and besides the charred organic remains they
+had secured several discoloured metal discs. I examined them with
+care, and there was no doubt that they were trouser buttons. I even
+distinguished that one of them was marked with the name of 'Hyams,' who
+was Oldacre's tailor. I then worked the lawn very carefully for signs
+and traces, but this drought has made everything as hard as iron.
+Nothing was to be seen save that some body or bundle had been dragged
+through a low privet hedge which is in a line with the wood-pile. All
+that, of course, fits in with the official theory. I crawled about the
+lawn with an August sun on my back, but I got up at the end of an hour
+no wiser than before.
+
+“Well, after this fiasco I went into the bedroom and examined that also.
+The blood-stains were very slight, mere smears and discolorations, but
+undoubtedly fresh. The stick had been removed, but there also the marks
+were slight. There is no doubt about the stick belonging to our client.
+He admits it. Footmarks of both men could be made out on the carpet,
+but none of any third person, which again is a trick for the other
+side. They were piling up their score all the time and we were at a
+standstill.
+
+“Only one little gleam of hope did I get--and yet it amounted to
+nothing. I examined the contents of the safe, most of which had been
+taken out and left on the table. The papers had been made up into sealed
+envelopes, one or two of which had been opened by the police. They were
+not, so far as I could judge, of any great value, nor did the bank-book
+show that Mr. Oldacre was in such very affluent circumstances. But it
+seemed to me that all the papers were not there. There were allusions to
+some deeds--possibly the more valuable--which I could not find. This, of
+course, if we could definitely prove it, would turn Lestrade's argument
+against himself, for who would steal a thing if he knew that he would
+shortly inherit it?
+
+“Finally, having drawn every other cover and picked up no scent, I tried
+my luck with the housekeeper. Mrs. Lexington is her name, a little,
+dark, silent person, with suspicious and sidelong eyes. She could tell
+us something if she would--I am convinced of it. But she was as close as
+wax. Yes, she had let Mr. McFarlane in at half-past nine. She wished
+her hand had withered before she had done so. She had gone to bed at
+half-past ten. Her room was at the other end of the house, and she could
+hear nothing of what passed. Mr. McFarlane had left his hat, and to the
+best of her belief his stick, in the hall. She had been awakened by the
+alarm of fire. Her poor, dear master had certainly been murdered. Had he
+any enemies? Well, every man had enemies, but Mr. Oldacre kept himself
+very much to himself, and only met people in the way of business. She
+had seen the buttons, and was sure that they belonged to the clothes
+which he had worn last night. The wood-pile was very dry, for it had not
+rained for a month. It burned like tinder, and by the time she reached
+the spot nothing could be seen but flames. She and all the firemen
+smelled the burned flesh from inside it. She knew nothing of the papers,
+nor of Mr. Oldacre's private affairs.
+
+“So, my dear Watson, there's my report of a failure. And yet--and
+yet--“--he clenched his thin hands in a paroxysm of conviction--“I KNOW
+it's all wrong. I feel it in my bones. There is something that has
+not come out, and that housekeeper knows it. There was a sort of sulky
+defiance in her eyes, which only goes with guilty knowledge. However,
+there's no good talking any more about it, Watson; but unless some lucky
+chance comes our way I fear that the Norwood Disappearance Case will not
+figure in that chronicle of our successes which I foresee that a patient
+public will sooner or later have to endure.”
+
+“Surely,” said I, “the man's appearance would go far with any jury?”
+
+“That is a dangerous argument, my dear Watson. You remember that
+terrible murderer, Bert Stevens, who wanted us to get him off in '87?
+Was there ever a more mild-mannered, Sunday-school young man?”
+
+“It is true.”
+
+“Unless we succeed in establishing an alternative theory this man is
+lost. You can hardly find a flaw in the case which can now be presented
+against him, and all further investigation has served to strengthen it.
+By the way, there is one curious little point about those papers which
+may serve us as the starting-point for an inquiry. On looking over the
+bank-book I found that the low state of the balance was principally due
+to large cheques which have been made out during the last year to Mr.
+Cornelius. I confess that I should be interested to know who this
+Mr. Cornelius may be with whom a retired builder has such very large
+transactions. Is it possible that he has had a hand in the affair?
+Cornelius might be a broker, but we have found no scrip to correspond
+with these large payments. Failing any other indication my researches
+must now take the direction of an inquiry at the bank for the gentleman
+who has cashed these cheques. But I fear, my dear fellow, that our
+case will end ingloriously by Lestrade hanging our client, which will
+certainly be a triumph for Scotland Yard.”
+
+I do not know how far Sherlock Holmes took any sleep that night, but
+when I came down to breakfast I found him pale and harassed, his bright
+eyes the brighter for the dark shadows round them. The carpet round his
+chair was littered with cigarette-ends and with the early editions of
+the morning papers. An open telegram lay upon the table.
+
+“What do you think of this, Watson?” he asked, tossing it across.
+
+It was from Norwood, and ran as follows:--
+
+     “IMPORTANT FRESH EVIDENCE TO HAND.  MCFARLANE'S GUILT
+     DEFINITELY ESTABLISHED.  ADVISE YOU TO ABANDON CASE.
+     --LESTRADE.”
+
+“This sounds serious,” said I.
+
+“It is Lestrade's little cock-a-doodle of victory,” Holmes answered,
+with a bitter smile. “And yet it may be premature to abandon the case.
+After all, important fresh evidence is a two-edged thing, and may
+possibly cut in a very different direction to that which Lestrade
+imagines. Take your breakfast, Watson, and we will go out together and
+see what we can do. I feel as if I shall need your company and your
+moral support to-day.”
+
+My friend had no breakfast himself, for it was one of his peculiarities
+that in his more intense moments he would permit himself no food, and I
+have known him presume upon his iron strength until he has fainted from
+pure inanition. “At present I cannot spare energy and nerve force for
+digestion,” he would say in answer to my medical remonstrances. I was
+not surprised, therefore, when this morning he left his untouched meal
+behind him and started with me for Norwood. A crowd of morbid sightseers
+were still gathered round Deep Dene House, which was just such a
+suburban villa as I had pictured. Within the gates Lestrade met us, his
+face flushed with victory, his manner grossly triumphant.
+
+“Well, Mr. Holmes, have you proved us to be wrong yet? Have you found
+your tramp?” he cried.
+
+“I have formed no conclusion whatever,” my companion answered.
+
+“But we formed ours yesterday, and now it proves to be correct; so you
+must acknowledge that we have been a little in front of you this time,
+Mr. Holmes.”
+
+“You certainly have the air of something unusual having occurred,” said
+Holmes.
+
+Lestrade laughed loudly.
+
+“You don't like being beaten any more than the rest of us do,” said he.
+“A man can't expect always to have it his own way, can he, Dr. Watson?
+Step this way, if you please, gentlemen, and I think I can convince you
+once for all that it was John McFarlane who did this crime.”
+
+He led us through the passage and out into a dark hall beyond.
+
+“This is where young McFarlane must have come out to get his hat
+after the crime was done,” said he. “Now, look at this.” With dramatic
+suddenness he struck a match and by its light exposed a stain of blood
+upon the whitewashed wall. As he held the match nearer I saw that it was
+more than a stain. It was the well-marked print of a thumb.
+
+“Look at that with your magnifying glass, Mr. Holmes.”
+
+“Yes, I am doing so.”
+
+“You are aware that no two thumb marks are alike?”
+
+“I have heard something of the kind.”
+
+“Well, then, will you please compare that print with this wax impression
+of young McFarlane's right thumb, taken by my orders this morning?”
+
+As he held the waxen print close to the blood-stain it did not take
+a magnifying glass to see that the two were undoubtedly from the same
+thumb. It was evident to me that our unfortunate client was lost.
+
+“That is final,” said Lestrade.
+
+“Yes, that is final,” I involuntarily echoed.
+
+“It is final,” said Holmes.
+
+Something in his tone caught my ear, and I turned to look at him. An
+extraordinary change had come over his face. It was writhing with inward
+merriment. His two eyes were shining like stars. It seemed to me that
+he was making desperate efforts to restrain a convulsive attack of
+laughter.
+
+“Dear me! Dear me!” he said at last. “Well, now, who would have thought
+it? And how deceptive appearances may be, to be sure! Such a nice young
+man to look at! It is a lesson to us not to trust our own judgment, is
+it not, Lestrade?”
+
+“Yes, some of us are a little too much inclined to be cocksure, Mr.
+Holmes,” said Lestrade. The man's insolence was maddening, but we could
+not resent it.
+
+“What a providential thing that this young man should press his right
+thumb against the wall in taking his hat from the peg! Such a very
+natural action, too, if you come to think of it.” Holmes was outwardly
+calm, but his whole body gave a wriggle of suppressed excitement as he
+spoke. “By the way, Lestrade, who made this remarkable discovery?”
+
+“It was the housekeeper, Mrs. Lexington, who drew the night constable's
+attention to it.”
+
+“Where was the night constable?”
+
+“He remained on guard in the bedroom where the crime was committed, so
+as to see that nothing was touched.”
+
+“But why didn't the police see this mark yesterday?”
+
+“Well, we had no particular reason to make a careful examination of the
+hall. Besides, it's not in a very prominent place, as you see.”
+
+“No, no, of course not. I suppose there is no doubt that the mark was
+there yesterday?”
+
+Lestrade looked at Holmes as if he thought he was going out of his mind.
+I confess that I was myself surprised both at his hilarious manner and
+at his rather wild observation.
+
+“I don't know whether you think that McFarlane came out of gaol in the
+dead of the night in order to strengthen the evidence against himself,”
+ said Lestrade. “I leave it to any expert in the world whether that is
+not the mark of his thumb.”
+
+“It is unquestionably the mark of his thumb.”
+
+“There, that's enough,” said Lestrade. “I am a practical man, Mr.
+Holmes, and when I have got my evidence I come to my conclusions. If
+you have anything to say you will find me writing my report in the
+sitting-room.”
+
+Holmes had recovered his equanimity, though I still seemed to detect
+gleams of amusement in his expression.
+
+“Dear me, this is a very sad development, Watson, is it not?” said he.
+“And yet there are singular points about it which hold out some hopes
+for our client.”
+
+“I am delighted to hear it,” said I, heartily. “I was afraid it was all
+up with him.”
+
+“I would hardly go so far as to say that, my dear Watson. The fact is
+that there is one really serious flaw in this evidence to which our
+friend attaches so much importance.”
+
+“Indeed, Holmes! What is it?”
+
+“Only this: that I KNOW that that mark was not there when I examined the
+hall yesterday. And now, Watson, let us have a little stroll round in
+the sunshine.”
+
+With a confused brain, but with a heart into which some warmth of hope
+was returning, I accompanied my friend in a walk round the garden.
+Holmes took each face of the house in turn and examined it with great
+interest. He then led the way inside and went over the whole building
+from basement to attics. Most of the rooms were unfurnished, but
+none the less Holmes inspected them all minutely. Finally, on the top
+corridor, which ran outside three untenanted bedrooms, he again was
+seized with a spasm of merriment.
+
+“There are really some very unique features about this case, Watson,”
+ said he. “I think it is time now that we took our friend Lestrade into
+our confidence. He has had his little smile at our expense, and perhaps
+we may do as much by him if my reading of this problem proves to be
+correct. Yes, yes; I think I see how we should approach it.”
+
+The Scotland Yard inspector was still writing in the parlour when Holmes
+interrupted him.
+
+“I understood that you were writing a report of this case,” said he.
+
+“So I am.”
+
+“Don't you think it may be a little premature? I can't help thinking
+that your evidence is not complete.”
+
+Lestrade knew my friend too well to disregard his words. He laid down
+his pen and looked curiously at him.
+
+“What do you mean, Mr. Holmes?”
+
+“Only that there is an important witness whom you have not seen.”
+
+“Can you produce him?”
+
+“I think I can.”
+
+“Then do so.”
+
+“I will do my best. How many constables have you?”
+
+“There are three within call.”
+
+“Excellent!” said Holmes. “May I ask if they are all large, able-bodied
+men with powerful voices?”
+
+“I have no doubt they are, though I fail to see what their voices have
+to do with it.”
+
+“Perhaps I can help you to see that and one or two other things as
+well,” said Holmes. “Kindly summon your men, and I will try.”
+
+Five minutes later three policemen had assembled in the hall.
+
+“In the outhouse you will find a considerable quantity of straw,” said
+Holmes. “I will ask you to carry in two bundles of it. I think it will
+be of the greatest assistance in producing the witness whom I require.
+Thank you very much. I believe you have some matches in your pocket,
+Watson. Now, Mr. Lestrade, I will ask you all to accompany me to the top
+landing.”
+
+As I have said, there was a broad corridor there, which ran outside
+three empty bedrooms. At one end of the corridor we were all marshalled
+by Sherlock Holmes, the constables grinning and Lestrade staring at
+my friend with amazement, expectation, and derision chasing each other
+across his features. Holmes stood before us with the air of a conjurer
+who is performing a trick.
+
+“Would you kindly send one of your constables for two buckets of water?
+Put the straw on the floor here, free from the wall on either side. Now
+I think that we are all ready.”
+
+Lestrade's face had begun to grow red and angry.
+
+“I don't know whether you are playing a game with us, Mr. Sherlock
+Holmes,” said he. “If you know anything, you can surely say it without
+all this tomfoolery.”
+
+“I assure you, my good Lestrade, that I have an excellent reason for
+everything that I do. You may possibly remember that you chaffed me a
+little some hours ago, when the sun seemed on your side of the hedge, so
+you must not grudge me a little pomp and ceremony now. Might I ask you,
+Watson, to open that window, and then to put a match to the edge of the
+straw?”
+
+I did so, and, driven by the draught, a coil of grey smoke swirled down
+the corridor, while the dry straw crackled and flamed.
+
+“Now we must see if we can find this witness for you, Lestrade. Might I
+ask you all to join in the cry of 'Fire!'? Now, then; one, two, three--”
+
+“Fire!” we all yelled.
+
+“Thank you. I will trouble you once again.”
+
+“Fire!”
+
+“Just once more, gentlemen, and all together.”
+
+“Fire!” The shout must have rung over Norwood.
+
+It had hardly died away when an amazing thing happened. A door suddenly
+flew open out of what appeared to be solid wall at the end of the
+corridor, and a little, wizened man darted out of it, like a rabbit out
+of its burrow.
+
+“Capital!” said Holmes, calmly. “Watson, a bucket of water over the
+straw. That will do! Lestrade, allow me to present you with your
+principal missing witness, Mr. Jonas Oldacre.”
+
+The detective stared at the new-comer with blank amazement. The latter
+was blinking in the bright light of the corridor, and peering at us
+and at the smouldering fire. It was an odious face--crafty, vicious,
+malignant, with shifty, light-grey eyes and white eyelashes.
+
+“What's this, then?” said Lestrade at last. “What have you been doing
+all this time, eh?”
+
+Oldacre gave an uneasy laugh, shrinking back from the furious red face
+of the angry detective.
+
+“I have done no harm.”
+
+“No harm? You have done your best to get an innocent man hanged. If it
+wasn't for this gentleman here, I am not sure that you would not have
+succeeded.”
+
+The wretched creature began to whimper.
+
+“I am sure, sir, it was only my practical joke.”
+
+“Oh! a joke, was it? You won't find the laugh on your side, I promise
+you. Take him down and keep him in the sitting-room until I come. Mr.
+Holmes,” he continued, when they had gone, “I could not speak before the
+constables, but I don't mind saying, in the presence of Dr. Watson,
+that this is the brightest thing that you have done yet, though it is a
+mystery to me how you did it. You have saved an innocent man's life,
+and you have prevented a very grave scandal, which would have ruined my
+reputation in the Force.”
+
+Holmes smiled and clapped Lestrade upon the shoulder.
+
+“Instead of being ruined, my good sir, you will find that your
+reputation has been enormously enhanced. Just make a few alterations in
+that report which you were writing, and they will understand how hard it
+is to throw dust in the eyes of Inspector Lestrade.”
+
+“And you don't want your name to appear?”
+
+“Not at all. The work is its own reward. Perhaps I shall get the credit
+also at some distant day when I permit my zealous historian to lay out
+his foolscap once more--eh, Watson? Well, now, let us see where this rat
+has been lurking.”
+
+A lath-and-plaster partition had been run across the passage six feet
+from the end, with a door cunningly concealed in it. It was lit within
+by slits under the eaves. A few articles of furniture and a supply of
+food and water were within, together with a number of books and papers.
+
+“There's the advantage of being a builder,” said Holmes, as we came
+out. “He was able to fix up his own little hiding-place without any
+confederate--save, of course, that precious housekeeper of his, whom I
+should lose no time in adding to your bag, Lestrade.”
+
+“I'll take your advice. But how did you know of this place, Mr. Holmes?”
+
+“I made up my mind that the fellow was in hiding in the house. When I
+paced one corridor and found it six feet shorter than the corresponding
+one below, it was pretty clear where he was. I thought he had not the
+nerve to lie quiet before an alarm of fire. We could, of course, have
+gone in and taken him, but it amused me to make him reveal himself;
+besides, I owed you a little mystification, Lestrade, for your chaff in
+the morning.”
+
+“Well, sir, you certainly got equal with me on that. But how in the
+world did you know that he was in the house at all?”
+
+“The thumb-mark, Lestrade. You said it was final; and so it was, in a
+very different sense. I knew it had not been there the day before. I pay
+a good deal of attention to matters of detail, as you may have observed,
+and I had examined the hall and was sure that the wall was clear.
+Therefore, it had been put on during the night.”
+
+“But how?”
+
+“Very simply. When those packets were sealed up, Jonas Oldacre got
+McFarlane to secure one of the seals by putting his thumb upon the soft
+wax. It would be done so quickly and so naturally that I dare say the
+young man himself has no recollection of it. Very likely it just so
+happened, and Oldacre had himself no notion of the use he would put it
+to. Brooding over the case in that den of his, it suddenly struck him
+what absolutely damning evidence he could make against McFarlane by
+using that thumb-mark. It was the simplest thing in the world for him to
+take a wax impression from the seal, to moisten it in as much blood as
+he could get from a pin-prick, and to put the mark upon the wall during
+the night, either with his own hand or with that of his housekeeper.
+If you examine among those documents which he took with him into
+his retreat I will lay you a wager that you find the seal with the
+thumb-mark upon it.”
+
+“Wonderful!” said Lestrade. “Wonderful! It's all as clear as crystal, as
+you put it. But what is the object of this deep deception, Mr. Holmes?”
+
+It was amusing to me to see how the detective's overbearing manner had
+changed suddenly to that of a child asking questions of its teacher.
+
+“Well, I don't think that is very hard to explain. A very deep,
+malicious, vindictive person is the gentleman who is now awaiting us
+downstairs. You know that he was once refused by McFarlane's mother?
+You don't! I told you that you should go to Blackheath first and Norwood
+afterwards. Well, this injury, as he would consider it, has rankled
+in his wicked, scheming brain, and all his life he has longed for
+vengeance, but never seen his chance. During the last year or two things
+have gone against him--secret speculation, I think--and he finds himself
+in a bad way. He determines to swindle his creditors, and for this
+purpose he pays large cheques to a certain Mr. Cornelius, who is, I
+imagine, himself under another name. I have not traced these cheques
+yet, but I have no doubt that they were banked under that name at some
+provincial town where Oldacre from time to time led a double existence.
+He intended to change his name altogether, draw this money, and vanish,
+starting life again elsewhere.”
+
+“Well, that's likely enough.”
+
+“It would strike him that in disappearing he might throw all pursuit off
+his track, and at the same time have an ample and crushing revenge upon
+his old sweetheart, if he could give the impression that he had been
+murdered by her only child. It was a masterpiece of villainy, and he
+carried it out like a master. The idea of the will, which would give
+an obvious motive for the crime, the secret visit unknown to his own
+parents, the retention of the stick, the blood, and the animal remains
+and buttons in the wood-pile, all were admirable. It was a net from
+which it seemed to me a few hours ago that there was no possible escape.
+But he had not that supreme gift of the artist, the knowledge of when to
+stop. He wished to improve that which was already perfect--to draw the
+rope tighter yet round the neck of his unfortunate victim--and so
+he ruined all. Let us descend, Lestrade. There are just one or two
+questions that I would ask him.”
+
+The malignant creature was seated in his own parlour with a policeman
+upon each side of him.
+
+“It was a joke, my good sir, a practical joke, nothing more,” he whined
+incessantly. “I assure you, sir, that I simply concealed myself in order
+to see the effect of my disappearance, and I am sure that you would not
+be so unjust as to imagine that I would have allowed any harm to befall
+poor young Mr. McFarlane.”
+
+“That's for a jury to decide,” said Lestrade. “Anyhow, we shall have you
+on a charge of conspiracy, if not for attempted murder.”
+
+“And you'll probably find that your creditors will impound the banking
+account of Mr. Cornelius,” said Holmes.
+
+The little man started and turned his malignant eyes upon my friend.
+
+“I have to thank you for a good deal,” said he. “Perhaps I'll pay my
+debt some day.”
+
+Holmes smiled indulgently.
+
+“I fancy that for some few years you will find your time very fully
+occupied,” said he. “By the way, what was it you put into the wood-pile
+besides your old trousers? A dead dog, or rabbits, or what? You won't
+tell? Dear me, how very unkind of you! Well, well, I dare say that a
+couple of rabbits would account both for the blood and for the charred
+ashes. If ever you write an account, Watson, you can make rabbits serve
+your turn.”
+
+
+*****
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 26  DECEMBER, 1903
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+III.--The Adventure of the Dancing Men.
+
+
+HOLMES had been seated for some hours in silence with his long,
+thin back curved over a chemical vessel in which he was brewing a
+particularly malodorous product. His head was sunk upon his breast, and
+he looked from my point of view like a strange, lank bird, with dull
+grey plumage and a black top-knot.
+
+“So, Watson,” said he, suddenly, “you do not propose to invest in South
+African securities?”
+
+I gave a start of astonishment. Accustomed as I was to Holmes's curious
+faculties, this sudden intrusion into my most intimate thoughts was
+utterly inexplicable.
+
+“How on earth do you know that?” I asked.
+
+He wheeled round upon his stool, with a steaming test-tube in his hand
+and a gleam of amusement in his deep-set eyes.
+
+“Now, Watson, confess yourself utterly taken aback,” said he.
+
+“I am.”
+
+“I ought to make you sign a paper to that effect.”
+
+“Why?”
+
+“Because in five minutes you will say that it is all so absurdly
+simple.”
+
+“I am sure that I shall say nothing of the kind.”
+
+“You see, my dear Watson”--he propped his test-tube in the rack and
+began to lecture with the air of a professor addressing his class--“it
+is not really difficult to construct a series of inferences, each
+dependent upon its predecessor and each simple in itself. If, after
+doing so, one simply knocks out all the central inferences and presents
+one's audience with the starting-point and the conclusion, one may
+produce a startling, though possibly a meretricious, effect. Now, it was
+not really difficult, by an inspection of the groove between your left
+forefinger and thumb, to feel sure that you did NOT propose to invest
+your small capital in the goldfields.”
+
+“I see no connection.”
+
+“Very likely not; but I can quickly show you a close connection. Here
+are the missing links of the very simple chain: 1. You had chalk between
+your left finger and thumb when you returned from the club last night.
+2. You put chalk there when you play billiards to steady the cue. 3. You
+never play billiards except with Thurston. 4. You told me four weeks ago
+that Thurston had an option on some South African property which would
+expire in a month, and which he desired you to share with him. 5. Your
+cheque-book is locked in my drawer, and you have not asked for the key.
+6. You do not propose to invest your money in this manner.”
+
+“How absurdly simple!” I cried.
+
+“Quite so!” said he, a little nettled. “Every problem becomes very
+childish when once it is explained to you. Here is an unexplained one.
+See what you can make of that, friend Watson.” He tossed a sheet of
+paper upon the table and turned once more to his chemical analysis.
+
+I looked with amazement at the absurd hieroglyphics upon the paper.
+
+“Why, Holmes, it is a child's drawing,” I cried.
+
+“Oh, that's your idea!”
+
+“What else should it be?”
+
+“That is what Mr. Hilton Cubitt, of Riding Thorpe Manor, Norfolk, is
+very anxious to know. This little conundrum came by the first post, and
+he was to follow by the next train. There's a ring at the bell, Watson.
+I should not be very much surprised if this were he.”
+
+A heavy step was heard upon the stairs, and an instant later there
+entered a tall, ruddy, clean-shaven gentleman, whose clear eyes and
+florid cheeks told of a life led far from the fogs of Baker Street. He
+seemed to bring a whiff of his strong, fresh, bracing, east-coast air
+with him as he entered. Having shaken hands with each of us, he was
+about to sit down when his eye rested upon the paper with the curious
+markings, which I had just examined and left upon the table.
+
+“Well, Mr. Holmes, what do you make of these?” he cried. “They told me
+that you were fond of queer mysteries, and I don't think you can find a
+queerer one than that. I sent the paper on ahead so that you might have
+time to study it before I came.”
+
+“It is certainly rather a curious production,” said Holmes. “At first
+sight it would appear to be some childish prank. It consists of a number
+of absurd little figures dancing across the paper upon which they
+are drawn. Why should you attribute any importance to so grotesque an
+object?”
+
+“I never should, Mr. Holmes. But my wife does. It is frightening her to
+death. She says nothing, but I can see terror in her eyes. That's why I
+want to sift the matter to the bottom.”
+
+Holmes held up the paper so that the sunlight shone full upon it. It was
+a page torn from a note-book. The markings were done in pencil, and ran
+in this way:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Holmes examined it for some time, and then, folding it carefully up, he
+placed it in his pocket-book.
+
+“This promises to be a most interesting and unusual case,” said he.
+“You gave me a few particulars in your letter, Mr. Hilton Cubitt, but I
+should be very much obliged if you would kindly go over it all again for
+the benefit of my friend, Dr. Watson.”
+
+“I'm not much of a story-teller,” said our visitor, nervously clasping
+and unclasping his great, strong hands. “You'll just ask me anything
+that I don't make clear. I'll begin at the time of my marriage last
+year; but I want to say first of all that, though I'm not a rich man, my
+people have been at Ridling Thorpe for a matter of five centuries, and
+there is no better known family in the County of Norfolk. Last year I
+came up to London for the Jubilee, and I stopped at a boarding-house in
+Russell Square, because Parker, the vicar of our parish, was staying in
+it. There was an American young lady there--Patrick was the name--Elsie
+Patrick. In some way we became friends, until before my month was up
+I was as much in love as a man could be. We were quietly married at
+a registry office, and we returned to Norfolk a wedded couple. You'll
+think it very mad, Mr. Holmes, that a man of a good old family should
+marry a wife in this fashion, knowing nothing of her past or of her
+people; but if you saw her and knew her it would help you to understand.
+
+“She was very straight about it, was Elsie. I can't say that she did not
+give me every chance of getting out of it if I wished to do so. 'I have
+had some very disagreeable associations in my life,' said she; 'I wish
+to forget all about them. I would rather never allude to the past, for
+it is very painful to me. If you take me, Hilton, you will take a woman
+who has nothing that she need be personally ashamed of; but you will
+have to be content with my word for it, and to allow me to be silent
+as to all that passed up to the time when I became yours. If these
+conditions are too hard, then go back to Norfolk and leave me to the
+lonely life in which you found me.' It was only the day before our
+wedding that she said those very words to me. I told her that I was
+content to take her on her own terms, and I have been as good as my
+word.
+
+“Well, we have been married now for a year, and very happy we have been.
+But about a month ago, at the end of June, I saw for the first time
+signs of trouble. One day my wife received a letter from America. I saw
+the American stamp. She turned deadly white, read the letter, and threw
+it into the fire. She made no allusion to it afterwards, and I made
+none, for a promise is a promise; but she has never known an easy hour
+from that moment. There is always a look of fear upon her face--a look
+as if she were waiting and expecting. She would do better to trust me.
+She would find that I was her best friend. But until she speaks I can
+say nothing. Mind you, she is a truthful woman, Mr. Holmes, and whatever
+trouble there may have been in her past life it has been no fault of
+hers. I am only a simple Norfolk squire, but there is not a man in
+England who ranks his family honour more highly than I do. She knows it
+well, and she knew it well before she married me. She would never bring
+any stain upon it--of that I am sure.
+
+“Well, now I come to the queer part of my story. About a week ago--it
+was the Tuesday of last week--I found on one of the window-sills a
+number of absurd little dancing figures, like these upon the paper. They
+were scrawled with chalk. I thought that it was the stable-boy who had
+drawn them, but the lad swore he knew nothing about it. Anyhow, they had
+come there during the night. I had them washed out, and I only mentioned
+the matter to my wife afterwards. To my surprise she took it very
+seriously, and begged me if any more came to let her see them. None did
+come for a week, and then yesterday morning I found this paper lying on
+the sun-dial in the garden. I showed it to Elsie, and down she dropped
+in a dead faint. Since then she has looked like a woman in a dream, half
+dazed, and with terror always lurking in her eyes. It was then that I
+wrote and sent the paper to you, Mr. Holmes. It was not a thing that
+I could take to the police, for they would have laughed at me, but you
+will tell me what to do. I am not a rich man; but if there is any danger
+threatening my little woman I would spend my last copper to shield her.”
+
+He was a fine creature, this man of the old English soil, simple,
+straight, and gentle, with his great, earnest blue eyes and broad,
+comely face. His love for his wife and his trust in her shone in his
+features. Holmes had listened to his story with the utmost attention,
+and now he sat for some time in silent thought.
+
+“Don't you think, Mr. Cubitt,” said he, at last, “that your best plan
+would be to make a direct appeal to your wife, and to ask her to share
+her secret with you?”
+
+Hilton Cubitt shook his massive head.
+
+“A promise is a promise, Mr. Holmes. If Elsie wished to tell me she
+would. If not, it is not for me to force her confidence. But I am
+justified in taking my own line--and I will.”
+
+“Then I will help you with all my heart. In the first place, have you
+heard of any strangers being seen in your neighbourhood?”
+
+“No.”
+
+“I presume that it is a very quiet place. Any fresh face would cause
+comment?”
+
+“In the immediate neighbourhood, yes. But we have several small
+watering-places not very far away. And the farmers take in lodgers.”
+
+“These hieroglyphics have evidently a meaning. If it is a purely
+arbitrary one it may be impossible for us to solve it. If, on the other
+hand, it is systematic, I have no doubt that we shall get to the bottom
+of it. But this particular sample is so short that I can do nothing, and
+the facts which you have brought me are so indefinite that we have no
+basis for an investigation. I would suggest that you return to Norfolk,
+that you keep a keen look-out, and that you take an exact copy of any
+fresh dancing men which may appear. It is a thousand pities that we
+have not a reproduction of those which were done in chalk upon the
+window-sill. Make a discreet inquiry also as to any strangers in the
+neighbourhood. When you have collected some fresh evidence come to me
+again. That is the best advice which I can give you, Mr. Hilton Cubitt.
+If there are any pressing fresh developments I shall be always ready to
+run down and see you in your Norfolk home.”
+
+The interview left Sherlock Holmes very thoughtful, and several times
+in the next few days I saw him take his slip of paper from his note-book
+and look long and earnestly at the curious figures inscribed upon it. He
+made no allusion to the affair, however, until one afternoon a fortnight
+or so later. I was going out when he called me back.
+
+“You had better stay here, Watson.”
+
+“Why?”
+
+“Because I had a wire from Hilton Cubitt this morning--you remember
+Hilton Cubitt, of the dancing men? He was to reach Liverpool Street at
+one-twenty. He may be here at any moment. I gather from his wire that
+there have been some new incidents of importance.”
+
+We had not long to wait, for our Norfolk squire came straight from the
+station as fast as a hansom could bring him. He was looking worried and
+depressed, with tired eyes and a lined forehead.
+
+“It's getting on my nerves, this business, Mr. Holmes,” said he, as he
+sank, like a wearied man, into an arm-chair. “It's bad enough to feel
+that you are surrounded by unseen, unknown folk, who have some kind of
+design upon you; but when, in addition to that, you know that it is just
+killing your wife by inches, then it becomes as much as flesh and blood
+can endure. She's wearing away under it--just wearing away before my
+eyes.”
+
+“Has she said anything yet?”
+
+“No, Mr. Holmes, she has not. And yet there have been times when the
+poor girl has wanted to speak, and yet could not quite bring herself
+to take the plunge. I have tried to help her; but I dare say I did
+it clumsily, and scared her off from it. She has spoken about my old
+family, and our reputation in the county, and our pride in our unsullied
+honour, and I always felt it was leading to the point; but somehow it
+turned off before we got there.”
+
+“But you have found out something for yourself?”
+
+“A good deal, Mr. Holmes. I have several fresh dancing men pictures for
+you to examine, and, what is more important, I have seen the fellow.”
+
+“What, the man who draws them?”
+
+“Yes, I saw him at his work. But I will tell you everything in order.
+When I got back after my visit to you, the very first thing I saw next
+morning was a fresh crop of dancing men. They had been drawn in chalk
+upon the black wooden door of the tool-house, which stands beside the
+lawn in full view of the front windows. I took an exact copy, and here
+it is.” He unfolded a paper and laid it upon the table. Here is a copy
+of the hieroglyphics:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+“Excellent!” said Holmes. “Excellent! Pray continue.”
+
+“When I had taken the copy I rubbed out the marks; but two mornings
+later a fresh inscription had appeared. I have a copy of it here”:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Holmes rubbed his hands and chuckled with delight.
+
+“Our material is rapidly accumulating,” said he.
+
+“Three days later a message was left scrawled upon paper, and placed
+under a pebble upon the sun-dial. Here it is. The characters are, as you
+see, exactly the same as the last one. After that I determined to lie in
+wait; so I got out my revolver and I sat up in my study, which overlooks
+the lawn and garden. About two in the morning I was seated by the
+window, all being dark save for the moonlight outside, when I heard
+steps behind me, and there was my wife in her dressing-gown. She
+implored me to come to bed. I told her frankly that I wished to see who
+it was who played such absurd tricks upon us. She answered that it was
+some senseless practical joke, and that I should not take any notice of
+it.
+
+“'If it really annoys you, Hilton, we might go and travel, you and I,
+and so avoid this nuisance.'
+
+“'What, be driven out of our own house by a practical joker?' said I.
+'Why, we should have the whole county laughing at us.'
+
+“'Well, come to bed,' said she, 'and we can discuss it in the morning.'
+
+“Suddenly, as she spoke, I saw her white face grow whiter yet in the
+moonlight, and her hand tightened upon my shoulder. Something was moving
+in the shadow of the tool-house. I saw a dark, creeping figure which
+crawled round the corner and squatted in front of the door. Seizing my
+pistol I was rushing out, when my wife threw her arms round me and held
+me with convulsive strength. I tried to throw her off, but she clung to
+me most desperately. At last I got clear, but by the time I had opened
+the door and reached the house the creature was gone. He had left a
+trace of his presence, however, for there on the door was the very same
+arrangement of dancing men which had already twice appeared, and which
+I have copied on that paper. There was no other sign of the fellow
+anywhere, though I ran all over the grounds. And yet the amazing thing
+is that he must have been there all the time, for when I examined the
+door again in the morning he had scrawled some more of his pictures
+under the line which I had already seen.”
+
+“Have you that fresh drawing?”
+
+“Yes; it is very short, but I made a copy of it, and here it is.”
+
+Again he produced a paper. The new dance was in this form:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+“Tell me,” said Holmes--and I could see by his eyes that he was much
+excited--“was this a mere addition to the first, or did it appear to be
+entirely separate?”
+
+“It was on a different panel of the door.”
+
+“Excellent! This is far the most important of all for our purpose. It
+fills me with hopes. Now, Mr. Hilton Cubitt, please continue your most
+interesting statement.”
+
+“I have nothing more to say, Mr. Holmes, except that I was angry with
+my wife that night for having held me back when I might have caught the
+skulking rascal. She said that she feared that I might come to harm. For
+an instant it had crossed my mind that perhaps what she really feared
+was that HE might come to harm, for I could not doubt that she knew who
+this man was and what he meant by these strange signals. But there is a
+tone in my wife's voice, Mr. Holmes, and a look in her eyes which forbid
+doubt, and I am sure that it was indeed my own safety that was in her
+mind. There's the whole case, and now I want your advice as to what I
+ought to do. My own inclination is to put half-a-dozen of my farm lads
+in the shrubbery, and when this fellow comes again to give him such a
+hiding that he will leave us in peace for the future.”
+
+“I fear it is too deep a case for such simple remedies,” said Holmes.
+“How long can you stay in London?”
+
+“I must go back to-day. I would not leave my wife alone all night for
+anything. She is very nervous and begged me to come back.”
+
+“I dare say you are right. But if you could have stopped I might
+possibly have been able to return with you in a day or two. Meanwhile
+you will leave me these papers, and I think that it is very likely that
+I shall be able to pay you a visit shortly and to throw some light upon
+your case.”
+
+Sherlock Holmes preserved his calm professional manner until our visitor
+had left us, although it was easy for me, who knew him so well, to see
+that he was profoundly excited. The moment that Hilton Cubitt's broad
+back had disappeared through the door my comrade rushed to the table,
+laid out all the slips of paper containing dancing men in front of him,
+and threw himself into an intricate and elaborate calculation. For
+two hours I watched him as he covered sheet after sheet of paper with
+figures and letters, so completely absorbed in his task that he had
+evidently forgotten my presence. Sometimes he was making progress and
+whistled and sang at his work; sometimes he was puzzled, and would sit
+for long spells with a furrowed brow and a vacant eye. Finally he sprang
+from his chair with a cry of satisfaction, and walked up and down the
+room rubbing his hands together. Then he wrote a long telegram upon a
+cable form. “If my answer to this is as I hope, you will have a very
+pretty case to add to your collection, Watson,” said he. “I expect that
+we shall be able to go down to Norfolk to-morrow, and to take our friend
+some very definite news as to the secret of his annoyance.”
+
+I confess that I was filled with curiosity, but I was aware that Holmes
+liked to make his disclosures at his own time and in his own way; so I
+waited until it should suit him to take me into his confidence.
+
+But there was a delay in that answering telegram, and two days of
+impatience followed, during which Holmes pricked up his ears at every
+ring of the bell. On the evening of the second there came a letter from
+Hilton Cubitt. All was quiet with him, save that a long inscription had
+appeared that morning upon the pedestal of the sun-dial. He inclosed a
+copy of it, which is here reproduced:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Holmes bent over this grotesque frieze for some minutes, and then
+suddenly sprang to his feet with an exclamation of surprise and dismay.
+His face was haggard with anxiety.
+
+“We have let this affair go far enough,” said he. “Is there a train to
+North Walsham to-night?”
+
+I turned up the time-table. The last had just gone.
+
+“Then we shall breakfast early and take the very first in the morning,”
+ said Holmes. “Our presence is most urgently needed. Ah! here is our
+expected cablegram. One moment, Mrs. Hudson; there may be an answer. No,
+that is quite as I expected. This message makes it even more essential
+that we should not lose an hour in letting Hilton Cubitt know how
+matters stand, for it is a singular and a dangerous web in which our
+simple Norfolk squire is entangled.”
+
+So, indeed, it proved, and as I come to the dark conclusion of a story
+which had seemed to me to be only childish and bizarre I experience once
+again the dismay and horror with which I was filled. Would that I had
+some brighter ending to communicate to my readers, but these are the
+chronicles of fact, and I must follow to their dark crisis the strange
+chain of events which for some days made Ridling Thorpe Manor a
+household word through the length and breadth of England.
+
+We had hardly alighted at North Walsham, and mentioned the name of our
+destination, when the station-master hurried towards us. “I suppose that
+you are the detectives from London?” said he.
+
+A look of annoyance passed over Holmes's face.
+
+“What makes you think such a thing?”
+
+“Because Inspector Martin from Norwich has just passed through. But
+maybe you are the surgeons. She's not dead--or wasn't by last accounts.
+You may be in time to save her yet--though it be for the gallows.”
+
+Holmes's brow was dark with anxiety.
+
+“We are going to Ridling Thorpe Manor,” said he, “but we have heard
+nothing of what has passed there.”
+
+“It's a terrible business,” said the station-master. “They are shot,
+both Mr. Hilton Cubitt and his wife. She shot him and then herself--so
+the servants say. He's dead and her life is despaired of. Dear, dear,
+one of the oldest families in the County of Norfolk, and one of the most
+honoured.”
+
+Without a word Holmes hurried to a carriage, and during the long seven
+miles' drive he never opened his mouth. Seldom have I seen him so
+utterly despondent. He had been uneasy during all our journey from
+town, and I had observed that he had turned over the morning papers with
+anxious attention; but now this sudden realization of his worst fears
+left him in a blank melancholy. He leaned back in his seat, lost in
+gloomy speculation. Yet there was much around to interest us, for we
+were passing through as singular a country-side as any in England, where
+a few scattered cottages represented the population of to-day, while on
+every hand enormous square-towered churches bristled up from the flat,
+green landscape and told of the glory and prosperity of old East Anglia.
+At last the violet rim of the German Ocean appeared over the green edge
+of the Norfolk coast, and the driver pointed with his whip to two old
+brick and timber gables which projected from a grove of trees. “That's
+Ridling Thorpe Manor,” said he.
+
+As we drove up to the porticoed front door I observed in front of
+it, beside the tennis lawn, the black tool-house and the pedestalled
+sun-dial with which we had such strange associations. A dapper little
+man, with a quick, alert manner and a waxed moustache, had just
+descended from a high dog-cart. He introduced himself as Inspector
+Martin, of the Norfolk Constabulary, and he was considerably astonished
+when he heard the name of my companion.
+
+“Why, Mr. Holmes, the crime was only committed at three this morning.
+How could you hear of it in London and get to the spot as soon as I?”
+
+“I anticipated it. I came in the hope of preventing it.”
+
+“Then you must have important evidence of which we are ignorant, for
+they were said to be a most united couple.”
+
+“I have only the evidence of the dancing men,” said Holmes. “I will
+explain the matter to you later. Meanwhile, since it is too late to
+prevent this tragedy, I am very anxious that I should use the knowledge
+which I possess in order to ensure that justice be done. Will you
+associate me in your investigation, or will you prefer that I should act
+independently?”
+
+“I should be proud to feel that we were acting together, Mr. Holmes,”
+ said the inspector, earnestly.
+
+“In that case I should be glad to hear the evidence and to examine the
+premises without an instant of unnecessary delay.”
+
+Inspector Martin had the good sense to allow my friend to do things
+in his own fashion, and contented himself with carefully noting the
+results. The local surgeon, an old, white-haired man, had just come down
+from Mrs. Hilton Cubitt's room, and he reported that her injuries were
+serious, but not necessarily fatal. The bullet had passed through the
+front of her brain, and it would probably be some time before she could
+regain consciousness. On the question of whether she had been shot or
+had shot herself he would not venture to express any decided opinion.
+Certainly the bullet had been discharged at very close quarters. There
+was only the one pistol found in the room, two barrels of which had
+been emptied. Mr. Hilton Cubitt had been shot through the heart. It was
+equally conceivable that he had shot her and then himself, or that
+she had been the criminal, for the revolver lay upon the floor midway
+between them.
+
+“Has he been moved?” asked Holmes.
+
+“We have moved nothing except the lady. We could not leave her lying
+wounded upon the floor.”
+
+“How long have you been here, doctor?”
+
+“Since four o'clock.”
+
+“Anyone else?”
+
+“Yes, the constable here.”
+
+“And you have touched nothing?”
+
+“Nothing.”
+
+“You have acted with great discretion. Who sent for you?”
+
+“The housemaid, Saunders.”
+
+“Was it she who gave the alarm?”
+
+“She and Mrs. King, the cook.”
+
+“Where are they now?”
+
+“In the kitchen, I believe.”
+
+“Then I think we had better hear their story at once.”
+
+The old hall, oak-panelled and high-windowed, had been turned into a
+court of investigation. Holmes sat in a great, old-fashioned chair, his
+inexorable eyes gleaming out of his haggard face. I could read in them
+a set purpose to devote his life to this quest until the client whom he
+had failed to save should at last be avenged. The trim Inspector Martin,
+the old, grey-headed country doctor, myself, and a stolid village
+policeman made up the rest of that strange company.
+
+The two women told their story clearly enough. They had been aroused
+from their sleep by the sound of an explosion, which had been followed
+a minute later by a second one. They slept in adjoining rooms, and Mrs.
+King had rushed in to Saunders. Together they had descended the stairs.
+The door of the study was open and a candle was burning upon the table.
+Their master lay upon his face in the centre of the room. He was quite
+dead. Near the window his wife was crouching, her head leaning against
+the wall. She was horribly wounded, and the side of her face was red
+with blood. She breathed heavily, but was incapable of saying anything.
+The passage, as well as the room, was full of smoke and the smell of
+powder. The window was certainly shut and fastened upon the inside. Both
+women were positive upon the point. They had at once sent for the
+doctor and for the constable. Then, with the aid of the groom and the
+stable-boy, they had conveyed their injured mistress to her room. Both
+she and her husband had occupied the bed. She was clad in her dress--he
+in his dressing-gown, over his night clothes. Nothing had been moved in
+the study. So far as they knew there had never been any quarrel between
+husband and wife. They had always looked upon them as a very united
+couple.
+
+These were the main points of the servants' evidence. In answer to
+Inspector Martin they were clear that every door was fastened upon the
+inside, and that no one could have escaped from the house. In answer
+to Holmes they both remembered that they were conscious of the smell
+of powder from the moment that they ran out of their rooms upon the
+top floor. “I commend that fact very carefully to your attention,” said
+Holmes to his professional colleague. “And now I think that we are in a
+position to undertake a thorough examination of the room.”
+
+The study proved to be a small chamber, lined on three sides with books,
+and with a writing-table facing an ordinary window, which looked out
+upon the garden. Our first attention was given to the body of the
+unfortunate squire, whose huge frame lay stretched across the room. His
+disordered dress showed that he had been hastily aroused from sleep.
+The bullet had been fired at him from the front, and had remained in
+his body after penetrating the heart. His death had certainly been
+instantaneous and painless. There was no powder-marking either upon his
+dressing-gown or on his hands. According to the country surgeon the lady
+had stains upon her face, but none upon her hand.
+
+“The absence of the latter means nothing, though its presence may
+mean everything,” said Holmes. “Unless the powder from a badly-fitting
+cartridge happens to spurt backwards, one may fire many shots without
+leaving a sign. I would suggest that Mr. Cubitt's body may now be
+removed. I suppose, doctor, you have not recovered the bullet which
+wounded the lady?”
+
+“A serious operation will be necessary before that can be done. But
+there are still four cartridges in the revolver. Two have been fired and
+two wounds inflicted, so that each bullet can be accounted for.”
+
+“So it would seem,” said Holmes. “Perhaps you can account also for the
+bullet which has so obviously struck the edge of the window?”
+
+He had turned suddenly, and his long, thin finger was pointing to a hole
+which had been drilled right through the lower window-sash about an inch
+above the bottom.
+
+“By George!” cried the inspector. “How ever did you see that?”
+
+“Because I looked for it.”
+
+“Wonderful!” said the country doctor. “You are certainly right, sir.
+Then a third shot has been fired, and therefore a third person must have
+been present. But who could that have been and how could he have got
+away?”
+
+“That is the problem which we are now about to solve,” said Sherlock
+Holmes. “You remember, Inspector Martin, when the servants said that on
+leaving their room they were at once conscious of a smell of powder I
+remarked that the point was an extremely important one?”
+
+“Yes, sir; but I confess I did not quite follow you.”
+
+“It suggested that at the time of the firing the window as well as the
+door of the room had been open. Otherwise the fumes of powder could not
+have been blown so rapidly through the house. A draught in the room was
+necessary for that. Both door and window were only open for a very short
+time, however.”
+
+“How do you prove that?”
+
+“Because the candle has not guttered.”
+
+“Capital!” cried the inspector. “Capital!”
+
+“Feeling sure that the window had been open at the time of the tragedy
+I conceived that there might have been a third person in the affair, who
+stood outside this opening and fired through it. Any shot directed at
+this person might hit the sash. I looked, and there, sure enough, was
+the bullet mark!”
+
+“But how came the window to be shut and fastened?”
+
+“The woman's first instinct would be to shut and fasten the window. But,
+halloa! what is this?”
+
+It was a lady's hand-bag which stood upon the study table--a trim little
+hand-bag of crocodile-skin and silver. Holmes opened it and turned
+the contents out. There were twenty fifty-pound notes of the Bank of
+England, held together by an india-rubber band--nothing else.
+
+“This must be preserved, for it will figure in the trial,” said Holmes,
+as he handed the bag with its contents to the inspector. “It is now
+necessary that we should try to throw some light upon this third bullet,
+which has clearly, from the splintering of the wood, been fired from
+inside the room. I should like to see Mrs. King, the cook, again. You
+said, Mrs. King, that you were awakened by a LOUD explosion. When you
+said that, did you mean that it seemed to you to be louder than the
+second one?”
+
+“Well, sir, it wakened me from my sleep, and so it is hard to judge. But
+it did seem very loud.”
+
+“You don't think that it might have been two shots fired almost at the
+same instant?”
+
+“I am sure I couldn't say, sir.”
+
+“I believe that it was undoubtedly so. I rather think, Inspector Martin,
+that we have now exhausted all that this room can teach us. If you will
+kindly step round with me, we shall see what fresh evidence the garden
+has to offer.”
+
+A flower-bed extended up to the study window, and we all broke into an
+exclamation as we approached it. The flowers were trampled down, and the
+soft soil was imprinted all over with footmarks. Large, masculine feet
+they were, with peculiarly long, sharp toes. Holmes hunted about among
+the grass and leaves like a retriever after a wounded bird. Then, with
+a cry of satisfaction, he bent forward and picked up a little brazen
+cylinder.
+
+“I thought so,” said he; “the revolver had an ejector, and here is the
+third cartridge. I really think, Inspector Martin, that our case is
+almost complete.”
+
+The country inspector's face had shown his intense amazement at the
+rapid and masterful progress of Holmes's investigation. At first he
+had shown some disposition to assert his own position; but now he was
+overcome with admiration and ready to follow without question wherever
+Holmes led.
+
+“Whom do you suspect?” he asked.
+
+“I'll go into that later. There are several points in this problem which
+I have not been able to explain to you yet. Now that I have got so far
+I had best proceed on my own lines, and then clear the whole matter up
+once and for all.”
+
+“Just as you wish, Mr. Holmes, so long as we get our man.”
+
+“I have no desire to make mysteries, but it is impossible at the moment
+of action to enter into long and complex explanations. I have the
+threads of this affair all in my hand. Even if this lady should never
+recover consciousness we can still reconstruct the events of last night
+and ensure that justice be done. First of all I wish to know whether
+there is any inn in this neighbourhood known as 'Elrige's'?”
+
+The servants were cross-questioned, but none of them had heard of such a
+place. The stable-boy threw a light upon the matter by remembering that
+a farmer of that name lived some miles off in the direction of East
+Ruston.
+
+“Is it a lonely farm?”
+
+“Very lonely, sir.”
+
+“Perhaps they have not heard yet of all that happened here during the
+night?”
+
+“Maybe not, sir.”
+
+Holmes thought for a little and then a curious smile played over his
+face.
+
+“Saddle a horse, my lad,” said he. “I shall wish you to take a note to
+Elrige's Farm.”
+
+He took from his pocket the various slips of the dancing men. With these
+in front of him he worked for some time at the study-table. Finally he
+handed a note to the boy, with directions to put it into the hands
+of the person to whom it was addressed, and especially to answer no
+questions of any sort which might be put to him. I saw the outside of
+the note, addressed in straggling, irregular characters, very unlike
+Holmes's usual precise hand. It was consigned to Mr. Abe Slaney,
+Elrige's Farm, East Ruston, Norfolk.
+
+“I think, inspector,” Holmes remarked, “that you would do well to
+telegraph for an escort, as, if my calculations prove to be correct, you
+may have a particularly dangerous prisoner to convey to the county gaol.
+The boy who takes this note could no doubt forward your telegram. If
+there is an afternoon train to town, Watson, I think we should do well
+to take it, as I have a chemical analysis of some interest to finish,
+and this investigation draws rapidly to a close.”
+
+When the youth had been dispatched with the note, Sherlock Holmes gave
+his instructions to the servants. If any visitor were to call asking for
+Mrs. Hilton Cubitt no information should be given as to her condition,
+but he was to be shown at once into the drawing-room. He impressed these
+points upon them with the utmost earnestness. Finally he led the way
+into the drawing-room with the remark that the business was now out of
+our hands, and that we must while away the time as best we might until
+we could see what was in store for us. The doctor had departed to his
+patients, and only the inspector and myself remained.
+
+“I think that I can help you to pass an hour in an interesting and
+profitable manner,” said Holmes, drawing his chair up to the table
+and spreading out in front of him the various papers upon which were
+recorded the antics of the dancing men. “As to you, friend Watson, I owe
+you every atonement for having allowed your natural curiosity to remain
+so long unsatisfied. To you, inspector, the whole incident may appeal
+as a remarkable professional study. I must tell you first of all the
+interesting circumstances connected with the previous consultations
+which Mr. Hilton Cubitt has had with me in Baker Street.” He then
+shortly recapitulated the facts which have already been recorded. “I
+have here in front of me these singular productions, at which one
+might smile had they not proved themselves to be the fore-runners of
+so terrible a tragedy. I am fairly familiar with all forms of secret
+writings, and am myself the author of a trifling monograph upon the
+subject, in which I analyze one hundred and sixty separate ciphers;
+but I confess that this is entirely new to me. The object of those who
+invented the system has apparently been to conceal that these characters
+convey a message, and to give the idea that they are the mere random
+sketches of children.
+
+“Having once recognised, however, that the symbols stood for letters,
+and having applied the rules which guide us in all forms of secret
+writings, the solution was easy enough. The first message submitted to
+me was so short that it was impossible for me to do more than to say
+with some confidence that the symbol XXX stood for E. As you are aware,
+E is the most common letter in the English alphabet, and it predominates
+to so marked an extent that even in a short sentence one would expect
+to find it most often. Out of fifteen symbols in the first message four
+were the same, so it was reasonable to set this down as E. It is true
+that in some cases the figure was bearing a flag and in some cases not,
+but it was probable from the way in which the flags were distributed
+that they were used to break the sentence up into words. I accepted this
+as a hypothesis, and noted that E was represented by XXX.
+
+“But now came the real difficulty of the inquiry. The order of
+the English letters after E is by no means well marked, and any
+preponderance which may be shown in an average of a printed sheet may be
+reversed in a single short sentence. Speaking roughly, T, A, O, I, N, S,
+H, R, D, and L are the numerical order in which letters occur; but T,
+A, O, and I are very nearly abreast of each other, and it would be an
+endless task to try each combination until a meaning was arrived at. I,
+therefore, waited for fresh material. In my second interview with Mr.
+Hilton Cubitt he was able to give me two other short sentences and one
+message, which appeared--since there was no flag--to be a single word.
+Here are the symbols. Now, in the single word I have already got the
+two E's coming second and fourth in a word of five letters. It might
+be 'sever,' or 'lever,' or 'never.' There can be no question that
+the latter as a reply to an appeal is far the most probable, and
+the circumstances pointed to its being a reply written by the lady.
+Accepting it as correct, we are now able to say that the symbols XXX
+stand respectively for N, V, and R.
+
+“Even now I was in considerable difficulty, but a happy thought put me
+in possession of several other letters. It occurred to me that if these
+appeals came, as I expected, from someone who had been intimate with the
+lady in her early life, a combination which contained two E's with
+three letters between might very well stand for the name 'ELSIE.' On
+examination I found that such a combination formed the termination of
+the message which was three times repeated. It was certainly some appeal
+to 'Elsie.' In this way I had got my L, S, and I. But what appeal could
+it be? There were only four letters in the word which preceded 'Elsie,'
+and it ended in E. Surely the word must be 'COME.' I tried all other
+four letters ending in E, but could find none to fit the case. So now I
+was in possession of C, O, and M, and I was in a position to attack the
+first message once more, dividing it into words and putting dots for
+each symbol which was still unknown. So treated it worked out in this
+fashion:--
+
+       .M .ERE ..E  SL.NE.
+
+“Now the first letter CAN only be A, which is a most useful discovery,
+since it occurs no fewer than three times in this short sentence, and
+the H is also apparent in the second word. Now it becomes:--
+
+        AM  HERE  A.E  SLANE.
+
+Or, filling in the obvious vacancies in the name:--
+
+        AM  HERE  ABE  SLANEY.
+
+I had so many letters now that I could proceed with considerable
+confidence to the second message, which worked out in this fashion:--
+
+        A.  ELRI.ES.
+
+Here I could only make sense by putting T and G for the missing letters,
+and supposing that the name was that of some house or inn at which the
+writer was staying.”
+
+Inspector Martin and I had listened with the utmost interest to the full
+and clear account of how my friend had produced results which had led to
+so complete a command over our difficulties.
+
+“What did you do then, sir?” asked the inspector.
+
+“I had every reason to suppose that this Abe Slaney was an American,
+since Abe is an American contraction, and since a letter from America
+had been the starting-point of all the trouble. I had also every cause
+to think that there was some criminal secret in the matter. The lady's
+allusions to her past and her refusal to take her husband into her
+confidence both pointed in that direction. I therefore cabled to my
+friend, Wilson Hargreave, of the New York Police Bureau, who has more
+than once made use of my knowledge of London crime. I asked him whether
+the name of Abe Slaney was known to him. Here is his reply: 'The most
+dangerous crook in Chicago.' On the very evening upon which I had his
+answer Hilton Cubitt sent me the last message from Slaney. Working with
+known letters it took this form:--
+
+         ELSIE .RE.ARE  TO  MEET  THY  GO.
+
+The addition of a P and a D completed a message which showed me that the
+rascal was proceeding from persuasion to threats, and my knowledge of
+the crooks of Chicago prepared me to find that he might very rapidly
+put his words into action. I at once came to Norfolk with my friend and
+colleague, Dr. Watson, but, unhappily, only in time to find that the
+worst had already occurred.”
+
+“It is a privilege to be associated with you in the handling of a case,”
+ said the inspector, warmly. “You will excuse me, however, if I speak
+frankly to you. You are only answerable to yourself, but I have to
+answer to my superiors. If this Abe Slaney, living at Elrige's, is
+indeed the murderer, and if he has made his escape while I am seated
+here, I should certainly get into serious trouble.”
+
+“You need not be uneasy. He will not try to escape.”
+
+“How do you know?”
+
+“To fly would be a confession of guilt.”
+
+“Then let us go to arrest him.”
+
+“I expect him here every instant.”
+
+“But why should he come?”
+
+“Because I have written and asked him.”
+
+“But this is incredible, Mr. Holmes! Why should he come because you
+have asked him? Would not such a request rather rouse his suspicions and
+cause him to fly?”
+
+“I think I have known how to frame the letter,” said Sherlock Holmes.
+“In fact, if I am not very much mistaken, here is the gentleman himself
+coming up the drive.”
+
+A man was striding up the path which led to the door. He was a tall,
+handsome, swarthy fellow, clad in a suit of grey flannel, with a Panama
+hat, a bristling black beard, and a great, aggressive hooked nose, and
+flourishing a cane as he walked. He swaggered up the path as if the
+place belonged to him, and we heard his loud, confident peal at the
+bell.
+
+“I think, gentlemen,” said Holmes, quietly, “that we had best take up
+our position behind the door. Every precaution is necessary when dealing
+with such a fellow. You will need your handcuffs, inspector. You can
+leave the talking to me.”
+
+We waited in silence for a minute--one of those minutes which one can
+never forget. Then the door opened and the man stepped in. In an instant
+Holmes clapped a pistol to his head and Martin slipped the handcuffs
+over his wrists. It was all done so swiftly and deftly that the fellow
+was helpless before he knew that he was attacked. He glared from one to
+the other of us with a pair of blazing black eyes. Then he burst into a
+bitter laugh.
+
+“Well, gentlemen, you have the drop on me this time. I seem to have
+knocked up against something hard. But I came here in answer to a letter
+from Mrs. Hilton Cubitt. Don't tell me that she is in this? Don't tell
+me that she helped to set a trap for me?”
+
+“Mrs. Hilton Cubitt was seriously injured and is at death's door.”
+
+The man gave a hoarse cry of grief which rang through the house.
+
+“You're crazy!” he cried, fiercely. “It was he that was hurt, not she.
+Who would have hurt little Elsie? I may have threatened her, God forgive
+me, but I would not have touched a hair of her pretty head. Take it
+back--you! Say that she is not hurt!”
+
+“She was found badly wounded by the side of her dead husband.”
+
+He sank with a deep groan on to the settee and buried his face in his
+manacled hands. For five minutes he was silent. Then he raised his face
+once more, and spoke with the cold composure of despair.
+
+“I have nothing to hide from you, gentlemen,” said he. “If I shot the
+man he had his shot at me, and there's no murder in that. But if you
+think I could have hurt that woman, then you don't know either me or
+her. I tell you there was never a man in this world loved a woman more
+than I loved her. I had a right to her. She was pledged to me years ago.
+Who was this Englishman that he should come between us? I tell you that
+I had the first right to her, and that I was only claiming my own.”
+
+“She broke away from your influence when she found the man that you
+are,” said Holmes, sternly. “She fled from America to avoid you, and she
+married an honourable gentleman in England. You dogged her and followed
+her and made her life a misery to her in order to induce her to abandon
+the husband whom she loved and respected in order to fly with you, whom
+she feared and hated. You have ended by bringing about the death of a
+noble man and driving his wife to suicide. That is your record in this
+business, Mr. Abe Slaney, and you will answer for it to the law.”
+
+“If Elsie dies I care nothing what becomes of me,” said the American.
+He opened one of his hands and looked at a note crumpled up in his palm.
+“See here, mister,” he cried, with a gleam of suspicion in his eyes,
+“you're not trying to scare me over this, are you? If the lady is
+hurt as bad as you say, who was it that wrote this note?” He tossed it
+forwards on to the table.
+
+“I wrote it to bring you here.”
+
+“You wrote it? There was no one on earth outside the Joint who knew the
+secret of the dancing men. How came you to write it?”
+
+“What one man can invent another can discover,” said Holmes. There is
+a cab coming to convey you to Norwich, Mr. Slaney. But, meanwhile, you
+have time to make some small reparation for the injury you have wrought.
+Are you aware that Mrs. Hilton Cubitt has herself lain under grave
+suspicion of the murder of her husband, and that it was only my presence
+here and the knowledge which I happened to possess which has saved her
+from the accusation? The least that you owe her is to make it clear
+to the whole world that she was in no way, directly or indirectly,
+responsible for his tragic end.”
+
+“I ask nothing better,” said the American. “I guess the very best case I
+can make for myself is the absolute naked truth.”
+
+“It is my duty to warn you that it will be used against you,” cried the
+inspector, with the magnificent fair-play of the British criminal law.
+
+Slaney shrugged his shoulders.
+
+“I'll chance that,” said he. “First of all, I want you gentlemen to
+understand that I have known this lady since she was a child. There were
+seven of us in a gang in Chicago, and Elsie's father was the boss of the
+Joint. He was a clever man, was old Patrick. It was he who invented that
+writing, which would pass as a child's scrawl unless you just happened
+to have the key to it. Well, Elsie learned some of our ways; but she
+couldn't stand the business, and she had a bit of honest money of her
+own, so she gave us all the slip and got away to London. She had been
+engaged to me, and she would have married me, I believe, if I had taken
+over another profession; but she would have nothing to do with anything
+on the cross. It was only after her marriage to this Englishman that I
+was able to find out where she was. I wrote to her, but got no answer.
+After that I came over, and, as letters were no use, I put my messages
+where she could read them.
+
+“Well, I have been here a month now. I lived in that farm, where I had
+a room down below, and could get in and out every night, and no one the
+wiser. I tried all I could to coax Elsie away. I knew that she read the
+messages, for once she wrote an answer under one of them. Then my temper
+got the better of me, and I began to threaten her. She sent me a letter
+then, imploring me to go away and saying that it would break her heart
+if any scandal should come upon her husband. She said that she would
+come down when her husband was asleep at three in the morning, and speak
+with me through the end window, if I would go away afterwards and leave
+her in peace. She came down and brought money with her, trying to bribe
+me to go. This made me mad, and I caught her arm and tried to pull
+her through the window. At that moment in rushed the husband with his
+revolver in his hand. Elsie had sunk down upon the floor, and we were
+face to face. I was heeled also, and I held up my gun to scare him off
+and let me get away. He fired and missed me. I pulled off almost at the
+same instant, and down he dropped. I made away across the garden, and as
+I went I heard the window shut behind me. That's God's truth, gentlemen,
+every word of it, and I heard no more about it until that lad came
+riding up with a note which made me walk in here, like a jay, and give
+myself into your hands.”
+
+A cab had driven up whilst the American had been talking. Two uniformed
+policemen sat inside. Inspector Martin rose and touched his prisoner on
+the shoulder.
+
+“It is time for us to go.”
+
+“Can I see her first?”
+
+“No, she is not conscious. Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I only hope that if ever
+again I have an important case I shall have the good fortune to have you
+by my side.”
+
+We stood at the window and watched the cab drive away. As I turned back
+my eye caught the pellet of paper which the prisoner had tossed upon the
+table. It was the note with which Holmes had decoyed him.
+
+“See if you can read it, Watson,” said he, with a smile.
+
+It contained no word, but this little line of dancing men:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+“If you use the code which I have explained,” said Holmes, “you will
+find that it simply means 'Come here at once.' I was convinced that
+it was an invitation which he would not refuse, since he could never
+imagine that it could come from anyone but the lady. And so, my dear
+Watson, we have ended by turning the dancing men to good when they have
+so often been the agents of evil, and I think that I have fulfilled my
+promise of giving you something unusual for your note-book. Three-forty
+is our train, and I fancy we should be back in Baker Street for dinner.”
+
+
+Only one word of epilogue. The American, Abe Slaney, was condemned to
+death at the winter assizes at Norwich; but his penalty was changed to
+penal servitude in consideration of mitigating circumstances, and the
+certainty that Hilton Cubitt had fired the first shot. Of Mrs. Hilton
+Cubitt I only know that I have heard she recovered entirely, and that
+she still remains a widow, devoting her whole life to the care of the
+poor and to the administration of her husband's estate.
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                    Vol. 27  JANUARY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+IV.--The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist.
+
+
+FROM the years 1894 to 1901 inclusive Mr. Sherlock Holmes was a very
+busy man. It is safe to say that there was no public case of any
+difficulty in which he was not consulted during those eight years, and
+there were hundreds of private cases, some of them of the most intricate
+and extraordinary character, in which he played a prominent part. Many
+startling successes and a few unavoidable failures were the outcome of
+this long period of continuous work. As I have preserved very full notes
+of all these cases, and was myself personally engaged in many of them,
+it may be imagined that it is no easy task to know which I should select
+to lay before the public. I shall, however, preserve my former rule, and
+give the preference to those cases which derive their interest not so
+much from the brutality of the crime as from the ingenuity and dramatic
+quality of the solution. For this reason I will now lay before the
+reader the facts connected with Miss Violet Smith, the solitary cyclist
+of Charlington, and the curious sequel of our investigation, which
+culminated in unexpected tragedy. It is true that the circumstances
+did not admit of any striking illustration of those powers for which my
+friend was famous, but there were some points about the case which made
+it stand out in those long records of crime from which I gather the
+material for these little narratives.
+
+On referring to my note-book for the year 1895 I find that it was upon
+Saturday, the 23rd of April, that we first heard of Miss Violet Smith.
+Her visit was, I remember, extremely unwelcome to Holmes, for he was
+immersed at the moment in a very abstruse and complicated problem
+concerning the peculiar persecution to which John Vincent Harden, the
+well-known tobacco millionaire, had been subjected. My friend, who
+loved above all things precision and concentration of thought, resented
+anything which distracted his attention from the matter in hand. And yet
+without a harshness which was foreign to his nature it was impossible
+to refuse to listen to the story of the young and beautiful woman, tall,
+graceful, and queenly, who presented herself at Baker Street late in the
+evening and implored his assistance and advice. It was vain to urge that
+his time was already fully occupied, for the young lady had come with
+the determination to tell her story, and it was evident that nothing
+short of force could get her out of the room until she had done so. With
+a resigned air and a somewhat weary smile, Holmes begged the beautiful
+intruder to take a seat and to inform us what it was that was troubling
+her.
+
+“At least it cannot be your health,” said he, as his keen eyes darted
+over her; “so ardent a bicyclist must be full of energy.”
+
+She glanced down in surprise at her own feet, and I observed the slight
+roughening of the side of the sole caused by the friction of the edge of
+the pedal.
+
+“Yes, I bicycle a good deal, Mr. Holmes, and that has something to do
+with my visit to you to-day.”
+
+My friend took the lady's ungloved hand and examined it with as close
+an attention and as little sentiment as a scientist would show to a
+specimen.
+
+“You will excuse me, I am sure. It is my business,” said he, as he
+dropped it. “I nearly fell into the error of supposing that you were
+typewriting. Of course, it is obvious that it is music. You observe the
+spatulate finger-end, Watson, which is common to both professions? There
+is a spirituality about the face, however”--he gently turned it towards
+the light--“which the typewriter does not generate. This lady is a
+musician.”
+
+“Yes, Mr. Holmes, I teach music.”
+
+“In the country, I presume, from your complexion.”
+
+“Yes, sir; near Farnham, on the borders of Surrey.”
+
+“A beautiful neighbourhood and full of the most interesting
+associations. You remember, Watson, that it was near there that we took
+Archie Stamford, the forger. Now, Miss Violet, what has happened to you
+near Farnham, on the borders of Surrey?”
+
+The young lady, with great clearness and composure, made the following
+curious statement:--
+
+“My father is dead, Mr. Holmes. He was James Smith, who conducted the
+orchestra at the old Imperial Theatre. My mother and I were left without
+a relation in the world except one uncle, Ralph Smith, who went to
+Africa twenty-five years ago, and we have never had a word from him
+since. When father died we were left very poor, but one day we were
+told that there was an advertisement in the TIMES inquiring for our
+whereabouts. You can imagine how excited we were, for we thought that
+someone had left us a fortune. We went at once to the lawyer whose name
+was given in the paper. There we met two gentlemen, Mr. Carruthers and
+Mr. Woodley, who were home on a visit from South Africa. They said that
+my uncle was a friend of theirs, that he died some months before in
+great poverty in Johannesburg, and that he had asked them with his last
+breath to hunt up his relations and see that they were in no want. It
+seemed strange to us that Uncle Ralph, who took no notice of us when he
+was alive, should be so careful to look after us when he was dead; but
+Mr. Carruthers explained that the reason was that my uncle had just
+heard of the death of his brother, and so felt responsible for our
+fate.”
+
+“Excuse me,” said Holmes; “when was this interview?”
+
+“Last December--four months ago.”
+
+“Pray proceed.”
+
+“Mr. Woodley seemed to me to be a most odious person. He was for ever
+making eyes at me--a coarse, puffy-faced, red-moustached young man, with
+his hair plastered down on each side of his forehead. I thought that he
+was perfectly hateful--and I was sure that Cyril would not wish me to
+know such a person.”
+
+“Oh, Cyril is his name!” said Holmes, smiling.
+
+The young lady blushed and laughed.
+
+“Yes, Mr. Holmes; Cyril Morton, an electrical engineer, and we hope
+to be married at the end of the summer. Dear me, how DID I get talking
+about him? What I wished to say was that Mr. Woodley was perfectly
+odious, but that Mr. Carruthers, who was a much older man, was more
+agreeable. He was a dark, sallow, clean-shaven, silent person; but he
+had polite manners and a pleasant smile. He inquired how we were left,
+and on finding that we were very poor he suggested that I should come
+and teach music to his only daughter, aged ten. I said that I did not
+like to leave my mother, on which he suggested that I should go home
+to her every week-end, and he offered me a hundred a year, which was
+certainly splendid pay. So it ended by my accepting, and I went down
+to Chiltern Grange, about six miles from Farnham. Mr. Carruthers was
+a widower, but he had engaged a lady-housekeeper, a very respectable,
+elderly person, called Mrs. Dixon, to look after his establishment. The
+child was a dear, and everything promised well. Mr. Carruthers was very
+kind and very musical, and we had most pleasant evenings together. Every
+week-end I went home to my mother in town.
+
+“The first flaw in my happiness was the arrival of the red-moustached
+Mr. Woodley. He came for a visit of a week, and oh, it seemed three
+months to me! He was a dreadful person, a bully to everyone else, but to
+me something infinitely worse. He made odious love to me, boasted of his
+wealth, said that if I married him I would have the finest diamonds in
+London, and finally, when I would have nothing to do with him, he seized
+me in his arms one day after dinner--he was hideously strong--and he
+swore that he would not let me go until I had kissed him. Mr. Carruthers
+came in and tore him off from me, on which he turned upon his own host,
+knocking him down and cutting his face open. That was the end of his
+visit, as you can imagine. Mr. Carruthers apologized to me next day,
+and assured me that I should never be exposed to such an insult again. I
+have not seen Mr. Woodley since.
+
+“And now, Mr. Holmes, I come at last to the special thing which has
+caused me to ask your advice to-day. You must know that every Saturday
+forenoon I ride on my bicycle to Farnham Station in order to get the
+12.22 to town. The road from Chiltern Grange is a lonely one, and at
+one spot it is particularly so, for it lies for over a mile between
+Charlington Heath upon one side and the woods which lie round
+Charlington Hall upon the other. You could not find a more lonely tract
+of road anywhere, and it is quite rare to meet so much as a cart, or a
+peasant, until you reach the high road near Crooksbury Hill. Two
+weeks ago I was passing this place when I chanced to look back over my
+shoulder, and about two hundred yards behind me I saw a man, also on a
+bicycle. He seemed to be a middle-aged man, with a short, dark beard. I
+looked back before I reached Farnham, but the man was gone, so I thought
+no more about it. But you can imagine how surprised I was, Mr. Holmes,
+when on my return on the Monday I saw the same man on the same stretch
+of road. My astonishment was increased when the incident occurred again,
+exactly as before, on the following Saturday and Monday. He always kept
+his distance and did not molest me in any way, but still it certainly
+was very odd. I mentioned it to Mr. Carruthers, who seemed interested in
+what I said, and told me that he had ordered a horse and trap, so
+that in future I should not pass over these lonely roads without some
+companion.
+
+“The horse and trap were to have come this week, but for some reason
+they were not delivered, and again I had to cycle to the station.
+That was this morning. You can think that I looked out when I came to
+Charlington Heath, and there, sure enough, was the man, exactly as he
+had been the two weeks before. He always kept so far from me that I
+could not clearly see his face, but it was certainly someone whom I did
+not know. He was dressed in a dark suit with a cloth cap. The only thing
+about his face that I could clearly see was his dark beard. To-day I was
+not alarmed, but I was filled with curiosity, and I determined to find
+out who he was and what he wanted. I slowed down my machine, but he
+slowed down his. Then I stopped altogether, but he stopped also. Then
+I laid a trap for him. There is a sharp turning of the road, and I
+pedalled very quickly round this, and then I stopped and waited. I
+expected him to shoot round and pass me before he could stop. But he
+never appeared. Then I went back and looked round the corner. I
+could see a mile of road, but he was not on it. To make it the more
+extraordinary, there was no side road at this point down which he could
+have gone.”
+
+Holmes chuckled and rubbed his hands. “This case certainly presents
+some features of its own,” said he. “How much time elapsed between your
+turning the corner and your discovery that the road was clear?”
+
+“Two or three minutes.”
+
+“Then he could not have retreated down the road, and you say that there
+are no side roads?”
+
+“None.”
+
+“Then he certainly took a footpath on one side or the other.”
+
+“It could not have been on the side of the heath or I should have seen
+him.”
+
+“So by the process of exclusion we arrive at the fact that he made his
+way towards Charlington Hall, which, as I understand, is situated in its
+own grounds on one side of the road. Anything else?”
+
+“Nothing, Mr. Holmes, save that I was so perplexed that I felt I should
+not be happy until I had seen you and had your advice.”
+
+Holmes sat in silence for some little time.
+
+“Where is the gentleman to whom you are engaged?” he asked, at last.
+
+“He is in the Midland Electrical Company, at Coventry.”
+
+“He would not pay you a surprise visit?”
+
+“Oh, Mr. Holmes! As if I should not know him!”
+
+“Have you had any other admirers?”
+
+“Several before I knew Cyril.”
+
+“And since?”
+
+“There was this dreadful man, Woodley, if you can call him an admirer.”
+
+“No one else?”
+
+Our fair client seemed a little confused.
+
+“Who was he?” asked Holmes.
+
+“Oh, it may be a mere fancy of mine; but it has seemed to me sometimes
+that my employer, Mr. Carruthers, takes a great deal of interest in me.
+We are thrown rather together. I play his accompaniments in the evening.
+He has never said anything. He is a perfect gentleman. But a girl always
+knows.”
+
+“Ha!” Holmes looked grave. “What does he do for a living?”
+
+“He is a rich man.”
+
+“No carriages or horses?”
+
+“Well, at least he is fairly well-to-do. But he goes into the City two
+or three times a week. He is deeply interested in South African gold
+shares.”
+
+“You will let me know any fresh development, Miss Smith. I am very busy
+just now, but I will find time to make some inquiries into your case. In
+the meantime take no step without letting me know. Good-bye, and I trust
+that we shall have nothing but good news from you.”
+
+“It is part of the settled order of Nature that such a girl should have
+followers,” said Holmes, as he pulled at his meditative pipe, “but for
+choice not on bicycles in lonely country roads. Some secretive lover,
+beyond all doubt. But there are curious and suggestive details about the
+case, Watson.”
+
+“That he should appear only at that point?”
+
+“Exactly. Our first effort must be to find who are the tenants of
+Charlington Hall. Then, again, how about the connection between
+Carruthers and Woodley, since they appear to be men of such a different
+type? How came they BOTH to be so keen upon looking up Ralph Smith's
+relations? One more point. What sort of a MENAGE is it which pays double
+the market price for a governess, but does not keep a horse although six
+miles from the station? Odd, Watson--very odd!”
+
+“You will go down?”
+
+“No, my dear fellow, YOU will go down. This may be some trifling
+intrigue, and I cannot break my other important research for the sake
+of it. On Monday you will arrive early at Farnham; you will conceal
+yourself near Charlington Heath; you will observe these facts for
+yourself, and act as your own judgment advises. Then, having inquired as
+to the occupants of the Hall, you will come back to me and report. And
+now, Watson, not another word of the matter until we have a few solid
+stepping-stones on which we may hope to get across to our solution.”
+
+We had ascertained from the lady that she went down upon the Monday by
+the train which leaves Waterloo at 9.50, so I started early and caught
+the 9.13. At Farnham Station I had no difficulty in being directed to
+Charlington Heath. It was impossible to mistake the scene of the young
+lady's adventure, for the road runs between the open heath on one side
+and an old yew hedge upon the other, surrounding a park which is studded
+with magnificent trees. There was a main gateway of lichen-studded
+stone, each side pillar surmounted by mouldering heraldic emblems; but
+besides this central carriage drive I observed several points where
+there were gaps in the hedge and paths leading through them. The house
+was invisible from the road, but the surroundings all spoke of gloom and
+decay.
+
+The heath was covered with golden patches of flowering gorse, gleaming
+magnificently in the light of the bright spring sunshine. Behind one of
+these clumps I took up my position, so as to command both the gateway
+of the Hall and a long stretch of the road upon either side. It had been
+deserted when I left it, but now I saw a cyclist riding down it from the
+opposite direction to that in which I had come. He was clad in a dark
+suit, and I saw that he had a black beard. On reaching the end of the
+Charlington grounds he sprang from his machine and led it through a gap
+in the hedge, disappearing from my view.
+
+A quarter of an hour passed and then a second cyclist appeared. This
+time it was the young lady coming from the station. I saw her look
+about her as she came to the Charlington hedge. An instant later the man
+emerged from his hiding-place, sprang upon his cycle, and followed
+her. In all the broad landscape those were the only moving figures, the
+graceful girl sitting very straight upon her machine, and the man behind
+her bending low over his handle-bar, with a curiously furtive suggestion
+in every movement. She looked back at him and slowed her pace. He slowed
+also. She stopped. He at once stopped too, keeping two hundred yards
+behind her. Her next movement was as unexpected as it was spirited. She
+suddenly whisked her wheels round and dashed straight at him! He was as
+quick as she, however, and darted off in desperate flight. Presently she
+came back up the road again, her head haughtily in the air, not deigning
+to take any further notice of her silent attendant. He had turned also,
+and still kept his distance until the curve of the road hid them from my
+sight.
+
+I remained in my hiding-place, and it was well that I did so, for
+presently the man reappeared cycling slowly back. He turned in at the
+Hall gates and dismounted from his machine. For some few minutes I could
+see him standing among the trees. His hands were raised and he seemed to
+be settling his necktie. Then he mounted his cycle and rode away from
+me down the drive towards the Hall. I ran across the heath and peered
+through the trees. Far away I could catch glimpses of the old grey
+building with its bristling Tudor chimneys, but the drive ran through a
+dense shrubbery, and I saw no more of my man.
+
+However, it seemed to me that I had done a fairly good morning's work,
+and I walked back in high spirits to Farnham. The local house-agent
+could tell me nothing about Charlington Hall, and referred me to a
+well-known firm in Pall Mall. There I halted on my way home, and met
+with courtesy from the representative. No, I could not have Charlington
+Hall for the summer. I was just too late. It had been let about a month
+ago. Mr. Williamson was the name of the tenant. He was a respectable
+elderly gentleman. The polite agent was afraid he could say no more, as
+the affairs of his clients were not matters which he could discuss.
+
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes listened with attention to the long report which I
+was able to present to him that evening, but it did not elicit that
+word of curt praise which I had hoped for and should have valued. On
+the contrary, his austere face was even more severe than usual as he
+commented upon the things that I had done and the things that I had not.
+
+“Your hiding-place, my dear Watson, was very faulty. You should have
+been behind the hedge; then you would have had a close view of this
+interesting person. As it is you were some hundreds of yards away, and
+can tell me even less than Miss Smith. She thinks she does not know
+the man; I am convinced she does. Why, otherwise, should he be so
+desperately anxious that she should not get so near him as to see his
+features? You describe him as bending over the handle-bar. Concealment
+again, you see. You really have done remarkably badly. He returns to
+the house and you want to find out who he is. You come to a London
+house-agent!”
+
+“What should I have done?” I cried, with some heat.
+
+“Gone to the nearest public-house. That is the centre of country
+gossip. They would have told you every name, from the master to the
+scullery-maid. Williamson! It conveys nothing to my mind. If he is an
+elderly man he is not this active cyclist who sprints away from that
+athletic young lady's pursuit. What have we gained by your expedition?
+The knowledge that the girl's story is true. I never doubted it. That
+there is a connection between the cyclist and the Hall. I never doubted
+that either. That the Hall is tenanted by Williamson. Who's the better
+for that? Well, well, my dear sir, don't look so depressed. We can do
+little more until next Saturday, and in the meantime I may make one or
+two inquiries myself.”
+
+Next morning we had a note from Miss Smith, recounting shortly and
+accurately the very incidents which I had seen, but the pith of the
+letter lay in the postscript:--
+
+“I am sure that you will respect my confidence, Mr. Holmes, when I tell
+you that my place here has become difficult owing to the fact that my
+employer has proposed marriage to me. I am convinced that his feelings
+are most deep and most honourable. At the same time my promise is, of
+course, given. He took my refusal very seriously, but also very gently.
+You can understand, however, that the situation is a little strained.”
+
+“Our young friend seems to be getting into deep waters,” said Holmes,
+thoughtfully, as he finished the letter. “The case certainly presents
+more features of interest and more possibility of development than I had
+originally thought. I should be none the worse for a quiet, peaceful day
+in the country, and I am inclined to run down this afternoon and test
+one or two theories which I have formed.”
+
+Holmes's quiet day in the country had a singular termination, for
+he arrived at Baker Street late in the evening with a cut lip and a
+discoloured lump upon his forehead, besides a general air of dissipation
+which would have made his own person the fitting object of a Scotland
+Yard investigation. He was immensely tickled by his own adventures, and
+laughed heartily as he recounted them.
+
+“I get so little active exercise that it is always a treat,” said he.
+“You are aware that I have some proficiency in the good old British
+sport of boxing. Occasionally it is of service. To-day, for example, I
+should have come to very ignominious grief without it.”
+
+I begged him to tell me what had occurred.
+
+“I found that country pub which I had already recommended to your
+notice, and there I made my discreet inquiries. I was in the bar, and
+a garrulous landlord was giving me all that I wanted. Williamson is a
+white-bearded man, and he lives alone with a small staff of servants at
+the Hall. There is some rumour that he is or has been a clergyman; but
+one or two incidents of his short residence at the Hall struck me as
+peculiarly unecclesiastical. I have already made some inquiries at a
+clerical agency, and they tell me that there WAS a man of that name in
+orders whose career has been a singularly dark one. The landlord further
+informed me that there are usually week-end visitors--'a warm lot,
+sir'--at the Hall, and especially one gentleman with a red moustache,
+Mr. Woodley by name, who was always there. We had got as far as this
+when who should walk in but the gentleman himself, who had been drinking
+his beer in the tap-room and had heard the whole conversation. Who was
+I? What did I want? What did I mean by asking questions? He had a fine
+flow of language, and his adjectives were very vigorous. He ended a
+string of abuse by a vicious back-hander which I failed to entirely
+avoid. The next few minutes were delicious. It was a straight left
+against a slogging ruffian. I emerged as you see me. Mr. Woodley went
+home in a cart. So ended my country trip, and it must be confessed that,
+however enjoyable, my day on the Surrey border has not been much more
+profitable than your own.”
+
+The Thursday brought us another letter from our client.
+
+“You will not be surprised, Mr. Holmes,” said she, “to hear that I am
+leaving Mr. Carruthers's employment. Even the high pay cannot reconcile
+me to the discomforts of my situation. On Saturday I come up to town
+and I do not intend to return. Mr. Carruthers has got a trap, and so
+the dangers of the lonely road, if there ever were any dangers, are now
+over.
+
+“As to the special cause of my leaving, it is not merely the strained
+situation with Mr. Carruthers, but it is the reappearance of that odious
+man, Mr. Woodley. He was always hideous, but he looks more awful
+than ever now, for he appears to have had an accident and he is much
+disfigured. I saw him out of the window, but I am glad to say I did
+not meet him. He had a long talk with Mr. Carruthers, who seemed much
+excited afterwards. Woodley must be staying in the neighbourhood, for he
+did not sleep here, and yet I caught a glimpse of him again this morning
+slinking about in the shrubbery. I would sooner have a savage wild
+animal loose about the place. I loathe and fear him more than I can say.
+How CAN Mr. Carruthers endure such a creature for a moment? However, all
+my troubles will be over on Saturday.”
+
+“So I trust, Watson; so I trust,” said Holmes, gravely. “There is some
+deep intrigue going on round that little woman, and it is our duty to
+see that no one molests her upon that last journey. I think, Watson,
+that we must spare time to run down together on Saturday morning,
+and make sure that this curious and inconclusive investigation has no
+untoward ending.”
+
+I confess that I had not up to now taken a very serious view of
+the case, which had seemed to me rather grotesque and bizarre than
+dangerous. That a man should lie in wait for and follow a very handsome
+woman is no unheard-of thing, and if he had so little audacity that he
+not only dared not address her, but even fled from her approach, he
+was not a very formidable assailant. The ruffian Woodley was a very
+different person, but, except on one occasion, he had not molested our
+client, and now he visited the house of Carruthers without intruding
+upon her presence. The man on the bicycle was doubtless a member of
+those week-end parties at the Hall of which the publican had spoken; but
+who he was or what he wanted was as obscure as ever. It was the severity
+of Holmes's manner and the fact that he slipped a revolver into his
+pocket before leaving our rooms which impressed me with the feeling that
+tragedy might prove to lurk behind this curious train of events.
+
+A rainy night had been followed by a glorious morning, and the
+heath-covered country-side with the glowing clumps of flowering gorse
+seemed all the more beautiful to eyes which were weary of the duns and
+drabs and slate-greys of London. Holmes and I walked along the broad,
+sandy road inhaling the fresh morning air, and rejoicing in the music of
+the birds and the fresh breath of the spring. From a rise of the road on
+the shoulder of Crooksbury Hill we could see the grim Hall bristling
+out from amidst the ancient oaks, which, old as they were, were still
+younger than the building which they surrounded. Holmes pointed down the
+long tract of road which wound, a reddish yellow band, between the brown
+of the heath and the budding green of the woods. Far away, a black
+dot, we could see a vehicle moving in our direction. Holmes gave an
+exclamation of impatience.
+
+“I had given a margin of half an hour,” said he. “If that is her trap
+she must be making for the earlier train. I fear, Watson, that she will
+be past Charlington before we can possibly meet her.”
+
+From the instant that we passed the rise we could no longer see the
+vehicle, but we hastened onwards at such a pace that my sedentary life
+began to tell upon me, and I was compelled to fall behind. Holmes,
+however, was always in training, for he had inexhaustible stores of
+nervous energy upon which to draw. His springy step never slowed until
+suddenly, when he was a hundred yards in front of me, he halted, and I
+saw him throw up his hand with a gesture of grief and despair. At the
+same instant an empty dog-cart, the horse cantering, the reins trailing,
+appeared round the curve of the road and rattled swiftly towards us.
+
+“Too late, Watson; too late!” cried Holmes, as I ran panting to his
+side. “Fool that I was not to allow for that earlier train! It's
+abduction, Watson--abduction! Murder! Heaven knows what! Block the road!
+Stop the horse! That's right. Now, jump in, and let us see if I can
+repair the consequences of my own blunder.”
+
+We had sprung into the dog-cart, and Holmes, after turning the horse,
+gave it a sharp cut with the whip, and we flew back along the road. As
+we turned the curve the whole stretch of road between the Hall and the
+heath was opened up. I grasped Holmes's arm.
+
+“That's the man!” I gasped.
+
+A solitary cyclist was coming towards us. His head was down and his
+shoulders rounded as he put every ounce of energy that he possessed
+on to the pedals. He was flying like a racer. Suddenly he raised his
+bearded face, saw us close to him, and pulled up, springing from his
+machine. That coal-black beard was in singular contrast to the pallor of
+his face, and his eyes were as bright as if he had a fever. He stared at
+us and at the dog-cart. Then a look of amazement came over his face.
+
+“Halloa! Stop there!” he shouted, holding his bicycle to block our road.
+“Where did you get that dog-cart? Pull up, man!” he yelled, drawing a
+pistol from his side pocket. “Pull up, I say, or, by George, I'll put a
+bullet into your horse.”
+
+Holmes threw the reins into my lap and sprang down from the cart.
+
+“You're the man we want to see. Where is Miss Violet Smith?” he said, in
+his quick, clear way.
+
+“That's what I am asking you. You're in her dog-cart. You ought to know
+where she is.”
+
+“We met the dog-cart on the road. There was no one in it. We drove back
+to help the young lady.”
+
+“Good Lord! Good Lord! what shall I do?” cried the stranger, in an
+ecstasy of despair. “They've got her, that hellhound Woodley and the
+blackguard parson. Come, man, come, if you really are her friend. Stand
+by me and we'll save her, if I have to leave my carcass in Charlington
+Wood.”
+
+He ran distractedly, his pistol in his hand, towards a gap in the hedge.
+Holmes followed him, and I, leaving the horse grazing beside the road,
+followed Holmes.
+
+“This is where they came through,” said he, pointing to the marks of
+several feet upon the muddy path. “Halloa! Stop a minute! Who's this in
+the bush?”
+
+It was a young fellow about seventeen, dressed like an ostler, with
+leather cords and gaiters. He lay upon his back, his knees drawn up, a
+terrible cut upon his head. He was insensible, but alive. A glance at
+his wound told me that it had not penetrated the bone.
+
+“That's Peter, the groom,” cried the stranger. “He drove her. The beasts
+have pulled him off and clubbed him. Let him lie; we can't do him any
+good, but we may save her from the worst fate that can befall a woman.”
+
+We ran frantically down the path, which wound among the trees. We had
+reached the shrubbery which surrounded the house when Holmes pulled up.
+
+“They didn't go to the house. Here are their marks on the left--here,
+beside the laurel bushes! Ah, I said so!”
+
+As he spoke a woman's shrill scream--a scream which vibrated with a
+frenzy of horror--burst from the thick green clump of bushes in front of
+us. It ended suddenly on its highest note with a choke and a gurgle.
+
+“This way! This way! They are in the bowling alley,” cried the
+stranger, darting through the bushes. “Ah, the cowardly dogs! Follow me,
+gentlemen! Too late! too late! by the living Jingo!”
+
+We had broken suddenly into a lovely glade of greensward surrounded by
+ancient trees. On the farther side of it, under the shadow of a mighty
+oak, there stood a singular group of three people. One was a woman, our
+client, drooping and faint, a handkerchief round her mouth. Opposite her
+stood a brutal, heavy-faced, red-moustached young man, his gaitered legs
+parted wide, one arm akimbo, the other waving a riding-crop, his whole
+attitude suggestive of triumphant bravado. Between them an elderly,
+grey-bearded man, wearing a short surplice over a light tweed suit,
+had evidently just completed the wedding service, for he pocketed his
+prayer-book as we appeared and slapped the sinister bridegroom upon the
+back in jovial congratulation.
+
+“They're married!” I gasped.
+
+“Come on!” cried our guide; “come on!” He rushed across the glade,
+Holmes and I at his heels. As we approached, the lady staggered against
+the trunk of the tree for support. Williamson, the ex-clergyman, bowed
+to us with mock politeness, and the bully Woodley advanced with a shout
+of brutal and exultant laughter.
+
+“You can take your beard off, Bob,” said he. “I know you right enough.
+Well, you and your pals have just come in time for me to be able to
+introduce you to Mrs. Woodley.”
+
+Our guide's answer was a singular one. He snatched off the dark beard
+which had disguised him and threw it on the ground, disclosing a long,
+sallow, clean-shaven face below it. Then he raised his revolver and
+covered the young ruffian, who was advancing upon him with his dangerous
+riding-crop swinging in his hand.
+
+“Yes,” said our ally, “I AM Bob Carruthers, and I'll see this woman
+righted if I have to swing for it. I told you what I'd do if you
+molested her, and, by the Lord, I'll be as good as my word!”
+
+“You're too late. She's my wife!”
+
+“No, she's your widow.”
+
+His revolver cracked, and I saw the blood spurt from the front of
+Woodley's waistcoat. He spun round with a scream and fell upon his back,
+his hideous red face turning suddenly to a dreadful mottled pallor. The
+old man, still clad in his surplice, burst into such a string of foul
+oaths as I have never heard, and pulled out a revolver of his own, but
+before he could raise it he was looking down the barrel of Holmes's
+weapon.
+
+“Enough of this,” said my friend, coldly. “Drop that pistol! Watson,
+pick it up! Hold it to his head! Thank you. You, Carruthers, give me
+that revolver. We'll have no more violence. Come, hand it over!”
+
+“Who are you, then?”
+
+“My name is Sherlock Holmes.”
+
+“Good Lord!”
+
+“You have heard of me, I see. I will represent the official police until
+their arrival. Here, you!” he shouted to a frightened groom who had
+appeared at the edge of the glade. “Come here. Take this note as hard as
+you can ride to Farnham.” He scribbled a few words upon a leaf from his
+note-book. “Give it to the superintendent at the police-station. Until
+he comes I must detain you all under my personal custody.”
+
+The strong, masterful personality of Holmes dominated the tragic scene,
+and all were equally puppets in his hands. Williamson and Carruthers
+found themselves carrying the wounded Woodley into the house, and I gave
+my arm to the frightened girl. The injured man was laid on his bed, and
+at Holmes's request I examined him. I carried my report to where he sat
+in the old tapestry-hung dining-room with his two prisoners before him.
+
+“He will live,” said I.
+
+“What!” cried Carruthers, springing out of his chair. “I'll go upstairs
+and finish him first. Do you tell me that that girl, that angel, is to
+be tied to Roaring Jack Woodley for life?”
+
+“You need not concern yourself about that,” said Holmes. “There are two
+very good reasons why she should under no circumstances be his wife. In
+the first place, we are very safe in questioning Mr. Williamson's right
+to solemnize a marriage.”
+
+“I have been ordained,” cried the old rascal.
+
+“And also unfrocked.”
+
+“Once a clergyman, always a clergyman.”
+
+“I think not. How about the license?”
+
+“We had a license for the marriage. I have it here in my pocket.”
+
+“Then you got it by a trick. But in any case a forced marriage is no
+marriage, but it is a very serious felony, as you will discover before
+you have finished. You'll have time to think the point out during the
+next ten years or so, unless I am mistaken. As to you, Carruthers, you
+would have done better to keep your pistol in your pocket.”
+
+“I begin to think so, Mr. Holmes; but when I thought of all the
+precaution I had taken to shield this girl--for I loved her, Mr. Holmes,
+and it is the only time that ever I knew what love was--it fairly drove
+me mad to think that she was in the power of the greatest brute and
+bully in South Africa, a man whose name is a holy terror from Kimberley
+to Johannesburg. Why, Mr. Holmes, you'll hardly believe it, but ever
+since that girl has been in my employment I never once let her go past
+this house, where I knew these rascals were lurking, without following
+her on my bicycle just to see that she came to no harm. I kept my
+distance from her, and I wore a beard so that she should not recognise
+me, for she is a good and high-spirited girl, and she wouldn't have
+stayed in my employment long if she had thought that I was following her
+about the country roads.”
+
+“Why didn't you tell her of her danger?”
+
+“Because then, again, she would have left me, and I couldn't bear to
+face that. Even if she couldn't love me it was a great deal to me just
+to see her dainty form about the house, and to hear the sound of her
+voice.”
+
+“Well,” said I, “you call that love, Mr. Carruthers, but I should call
+it selfishness.”
+
+“Maybe the two things go together. Anyhow, I couldn't let her go.
+Besides, with this crowd about, it was well that she should have someone
+near to look after her. Then when the cable came I knew they were bound
+to make a move.”
+
+“What cable?”
+
+Carruthers took a telegram from his pocket.
+
+“That's it,” said he.
+
+It was short and concise:--
+
+“The old man is dead.”
+
+“Hum!” said Holmes. “I think I see how things worked, and I can
+understand how this message would, as you say, bring them to a head. But
+while we wait you might tell me what you can.”
+
+The old reprobate with the surplice burst into a volley of bad language.
+
+“By Heaven,” said he, “if you squeal on us, Bob Carruthers, I'll serve
+you as you served Jack Woodley. You can bleat about the girl to your
+heart's content, for that's your own affair, but if you round on your
+pals to this plain-clothes copper it will be the worst day's work that
+ever you did.”
+
+“Your reverence need not be excited,” said Holmes, lighting a cigarette.
+“The case is clear enough against you, and all I ask is a few details
+for my private curiosity. However, if there's any difficulty in your
+telling me I'll do the talking, and then you will see how far you have
+a chance of holding back your secrets. In the first place, three of you
+came from South Africa on this game--you Williamson, you Carruthers, and
+Woodley.”
+
+“Lie number one,” said the old man; “I never saw either of them until
+two months ago, and I have never been in Africa in my life, so you can
+put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Busybody Holmes!”
+
+“What he says is true,” said Carruthers.
+
+“Well, well, two of you came over. His reverence is our own home-made
+article. You had known Ralph Smith in South Africa. You had reason
+to believe he would not live long. You found out that his niece would
+inherit his fortune. How's that--eh?”
+
+Carruthers nodded and Williamson swore.
+
+“She was next-of-kin, no doubt, and you were aware that the old fellow
+would make no will.”
+
+“Couldn't read or write,” said Carruthers.
+
+“So you came over, the two of you, and hunted up the girl. The idea
+was that one of you was to marry her and the other have a share of the
+plunder. For some reason Woodley was chosen as the husband. Why was
+that?”
+
+“We played cards for her on the voyage. He won.”
+
+“I see. You got the young lady into your service, and there Woodley was
+to do the courting. She recognised the drunken brute that he was, and
+would have nothing to do with him. Meanwhile, your arrangement was
+rather upset by the fact that you had yourself fallen in love with the
+lady. You could no longer bear the idea of this ruffian owning her.”
+
+“No, by George, I couldn't!”
+
+“There was a quarrel between you. He left you in a rage, and began to
+make his own plans independently of you.”
+
+“It strikes me, Williamson, there isn't very much that we can tell this
+gentleman,” cried Carruthers, with a bitter laugh. “Yes, we quarreled,
+and he knocked me down. I am level with him on that, anyhow. Then I lost
+sight of him. That was when he picked up with this cast padre here. I
+found that they had set up house-keeping together at this place on the
+line that she had to pass for the station. I kept my eye on her after
+that, for I knew there was some devilry in the wind. I saw them from
+time to time, for I was anxious to know what they were after. Two days
+ago Woodley came up to my house with this cable, which showed that Ralph
+Smith was dead. He asked me if I would stand by the bargain. I said I
+would not. He asked me if I would marry the girl myself and give him a
+share. I said I would willingly do so, but that she would not have me.
+He said, 'Let us get her married first, and after a week or two she
+may see things a bit different.' I said I would have nothing to do with
+violence. So he went off cursing, like the foul-mouthed blackguard that
+he was, and swearing that he would have her yet. She was leaving me this
+week-end, and I had got a trap to take her to the station, but I was
+so uneasy in my mind that I followed her on my bicycle. She had got a
+start, however, and before I could catch her the mischief was done. The
+first thing I knew about it was when I saw you two gentlemen driving
+back in her dog-cart.”
+
+Holmes rose and tossed the end of his cigarette into the grate. “I have
+been very obtuse, Watson,” said he. “When in your report you said that
+you had seen the cyclist as you thought arrange his necktie in
+the shrubbery, that alone should have told me all. However, we may
+congratulate ourselves upon a curious and in some respects a unique
+case. I perceive three of the county constabulary in the drive, and I am
+glad to see that the little ostler is able to keep pace with them; so
+it is likely that neither he nor the interesting bridegroom will be
+permanently damaged by their morning's adventures. I think, Watson, that
+in your medical capacity you might wait upon Miss Smith and tell her
+that if she is sufficiently recovered we shall be happy to escort her to
+her mother's home. If she is not quite convalescent you will find that
+a hint that we were about to telegraph to a young electrician in the
+Midlands would probably complete the cure. As to you, Mr. Carruthers, I
+think that you have done what you could to make amends for your share in
+an evil plot. There is my card, sir, and if my evidence can be of help
+to you in your trial it shall be at your disposal.”
+
+
+In the whirl of our incessant activity it has often been difficult for
+me, as the reader has probably observed, to round off my narratives, and
+to give those final details which the curious might expect. Each case
+has been the prelude to another, and the crisis once over the actors
+have passed for ever out of our busy lives. I find, however, a short
+note at the end of my manuscripts dealing with this case, in which I
+have put it upon record that Miss Violet Smith did indeed inherit a
+large fortune, and that she is now the wife of Cyril Morton, the senior
+partner of Morton & Kennedy, the famous Westminster electricians.
+Williamson and Woodley were both tried for abduction and assault, the
+former getting seven years and the latter ten. Of the fate of Carruthers
+I have no record, but I am sure that his assault was not viewed very
+gravely by the Court, since Woodley had the reputation of being a most
+dangerous ruffian, and I think that a few months were sufficient to
+satisfy the demands of justice.
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 27  FEBRUARY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+V.--The Adventure of the Priory School.
+
+
+WE have had some dramatic entrances and exits upon our small stage at
+Baker Street, but I cannot recollect anything more sudden and startling
+than the first appearance of Thorneycroft Huxtable, M.A., Ph.D., etc.
+His card, which seemed too small to carry the weight of his academic
+distinctions, preceded him by a few seconds, and then he entered
+himself--so large, so pompous, and so dignified that he was the very
+embodiment of self-possession and solidity. And yet his first action
+when the door had closed behind him was to stagger against the table,
+whence he slipped down upon the floor, and there was that majestic
+figure prostrate and insensible upon our bearskin hearthrug.
+
+We had sprung to our feet, and for a few moments we stared in silent
+amazement at this ponderous piece of wreckage, which told of some sudden
+and fatal storm far out on the ocean of life. Then Holmes hurried with
+a cushion for his head and I with brandy for his lips. The heavy white
+face was seamed with lines of trouble, the hanging pouches under the
+closed eyes were leaden in colour, the loose mouth drooped dolorously at
+the corners, the rolling chins were unshaven. Collar and shirt bore
+the grime of a long journey, and the hair bristled unkempt from the
+well-shaped head. It was a sorely-stricken man who lay before us.
+
+“What is it, Watson?” asked Holmes.
+
+“Absolute exhaustion--possibly mere hunger and fatigue,” said I, with my
+finger on the thready pulse, where the stream of life trickled thin and
+small.
+
+“Return ticket from Mackleton, in the North of England,” said Holmes,
+drawing it from the watch-pocket. “It is not twelve o'clock yet. He has
+certainly been an early starter.”
+
+The puckered eyelids had begun to quiver, and now a pair of vacant, grey
+eyes looked up at us. An instant later the man had scrambled on to his
+feet, his face crimson with shame.
+
+“Forgive this weakness, Mr. Holmes; I have been a little overwrought.
+Thank you, if I might have a glass of milk and a biscuit I have no doubt
+that I should be better. I came personally, Mr. Holmes, in order to
+ensure that you would return with me. I feared that no telegram would
+convince you of the absolute urgency of the case.”
+
+“When you are quite restored---”
+
+“I am quite well again. I cannot imagine how I came to be so weak. I
+wish you, Mr. Holmes, to come to Mackleton with me by the next train.”
+
+My friend shook his head.
+
+“My colleague, Dr. Watson, could tell you that we are very busy at
+present. I am retained in this case of the Ferrers Documents, and the
+Abergavenny murder is coming up for trial. Only a very important issue
+could call me from London at present.”
+
+“Important!” Our visitor threw up his hands. “Have you heard nothing of
+the abduction of the only son of the Duke of Holdernesse?”
+
+“What! the late Cabinet Minister?”
+
+“Exactly. We had tried to keep it out of the papers, but there was some
+rumour in the GLOBE last night. I thought it might have reached your
+ears.”
+
+Holmes shot out his long, thin arm and picked out Volume “H” in his
+encyclopaedia of reference.
+
+“'Holdernesse, 6th Duke, K.G., P.C.'--half the alphabet! 'Baron
+Beverley, Earl of Carston'--dear me, what a list! 'Lord Lieutenant
+of Hallamshire since 1900. Married Edith, daughter of Sir Charles
+Appledore, 1888. Heir and only child, Lord Saltire. Owns about two
+hundred and fifty thousand acres. Minerals in Lancashire and Wales.
+Address: Carlton House Terrace; Holdernesse Hall, Hallamshire; Carston
+Castle, Bangor, Wales. Lord of the Admiralty, 1872; Chief Secretary
+of State for--' Well, well, this man is certainly one of the greatest
+subjects of the Crown!”
+
+“The greatest and perhaps the wealthiest. I am aware, Mr. Holmes, that
+you take a very high line in professional matters, and that you are
+prepared to work for the work's sake. I may tell you, however, that his
+Grace has already intimated that a cheque for five thousand pounds will
+be handed over to the person who can tell him where his son is, and
+another thousand to him who can name the man, or men, who have taken
+him.”
+
+“It is a princely offer,” said Holmes. “Watson, I think that we shall
+accompany Dr. Huxtable back to the North of England. And now, Dr.
+Huxtable, when you have consumed that milk you will kindly tell me what
+has happened, when it happened, how it happened, and, finally, what Dr.
+Thorneycroft Huxtable, of the Priory School, near Mackleton, has to do
+with the matter, and why he comes three days after an event--the state
+of your chin gives the date--to ask for my humble services.”
+
+Our visitor had consumed his milk and biscuits. The light had come back
+to his eyes and the colour to his cheeks as he set himself with great
+vigour and lucidity to explain the situation.
+
+“I must inform you, gentlemen, that the Priory is a preparatory school,
+of which I am the founder and principal. 'Huxtable's Sidelights on
+Horace' may possibly recall my name to your memories. The Priory is,
+without exception, the best and most select preparatory school
+in England. Lord Leverstoke, the Earl of Blackwater, Sir Cathcart
+Soames--they all have entrusted their sons to me. But I felt that
+my school had reached its zenith when, three weeks ago, the Duke of
+Holdernesse sent Mr. James Wilder, his secretary, with the intimation
+that young Lord Saltire, ten years old, his only son and heir, was about
+to be committed to my charge. Little did I think that this would be the
+prelude to the most crushing misfortune of my life.
+
+“On May 1st the boy arrived, that being the beginning of the summer
+term. He was a charming youth, and he soon fell into our ways. I may
+tell you--I trust that I am not indiscreet, but half-confidences are
+absurd in such a case--that he was not entirely happy at home. It is an
+open secret that the Duke's married life had not been a peaceful one,
+and the matter had ended in a separation by mutual consent, the Duchess
+taking up her residence in the South of France. This had occurred very
+shortly before, and the boy's sympathies are known to have been strongly
+with his mother. He moped after her departure from Holdernesse Hall,
+and it was for this reason that the Duke desired to send him to my
+establishment. In a fortnight the boy was quite at home with us, and was
+apparently absolutely happy.
+
+“He was last seen on the night of May 13th--that is, the night of last
+Monday. His room was on the second floor, and was approached through
+another larger room in which two boys were sleeping. These boys saw and
+heard nothing, so that it is certain that young Saltire did not pass out
+that way. His window was open, and there is a stout ivy plant leading to
+the ground. We could trace no footmarks below, but it is sure that this
+is the only possible exit.
+
+“His absence was discovered at seven o'clock on Tuesday morning. His bed
+had been slept in. He had dressed himself fully before going off in his
+usual school suit of black Eton jacket and dark grey trousers. There
+were no signs that anyone had entered the room, and it is quite certain
+that anything in the nature of cries, or a struggle, would have been
+heard, since Caunter, the elder boy in the inner room, is a very light
+sleeper.
+
+“When Lord Saltire's disappearance was discovered I at once called a
+roll of the whole establishment, boys, masters, and servants. It was
+then that we ascertained that Lord Saltire had not been alone in his
+flight. Heidegger, the German master, was missing. His room was on the
+second floor, at the farther end of the building, facing the same way
+as Lord Saltire's. His bed had also been slept in; but he had apparently
+gone away partly dressed, since his shirt and socks were lying on the
+floor. He had undoubtedly let himself down by the ivy, for we could see
+the marks of his feet where he had landed on the lawn. His bicycle was
+kept in a small shed beside this lawn, and it also was gone.
+
+“He had been with me for two years, and came with the best references;
+but he was a silent, morose man, not very popular either with masters
+or boys. No trace could be found of the fugitives, and now on Thursday
+morning we are as ignorant as we were on Tuesday. Inquiry was, of
+course, made at once at Holdernesse Hall. It is only a few miles away,
+and we imagined that in some sudden attack of home-sickness he had
+gone back to his father; but nothing had been heard of him. The Duke is
+greatly agitated--and as to me, you have seen yourselves the state of
+nervous prostration to which the suspense and the responsibility have
+reduced me. Mr. Holmes, if ever you put forward your full powers, I
+implore you to do so now, for never in your life could you have a case
+which is more worthy of them.”
+
+Sherlock Holmes had listened with the utmost intentness to the statement
+of the unhappy schoolmaster. His drawn brows and the deep furrow
+between them showed that he needed no exhortation to concentrate all
+his attention upon a problem which, apart from the tremendous interests
+involved, must appeal so directly to his love of the complex and the
+unusual. He now drew out his note-book and jotted down one or two
+memoranda.
+
+“You have been very remiss in not coming to me sooner,” said he,
+severely. “You start me on my investigation with a very serious
+handicap. It is inconceivable, for example, that this ivy and this lawn
+would have yielded nothing to an expert observer.”
+
+“I am not to blame, Mr. Holmes. His Grace was extremely desirous to
+avoid all public scandal. He was afraid of his family unhappiness being
+dragged before the world. He has a deep horror of anything of the kind.”
+
+“But there has been some official investigation?”
+
+“Yes, sir, and it has proved most disappointing. An apparent clue was
+at once obtained, since a boy and a young man were reported to have been
+seen leaving a neighbouring station by an early train. Only last night
+we had news that the couple had been hunted down in Liverpool, and they
+prove to have no connection whatever with the matter in hand. Then it
+was that in my despair and disappointment, after a sleepless night, I
+came straight to you by the early train.”
+
+“I suppose the local investigation was relaxed while this false clue was
+being followed up?”
+
+“It was entirely dropped.”
+
+“So that three days have been wasted. The affair has been most
+deplorably handled.”
+
+“I feel it, and admit it.”
+
+“And yet the problem should be capable of ultimate solution. I shall be
+very happy to look into it. Have you been able to trace any connection
+between the missing boy and this German master?”
+
+“None at all.”
+
+“Was he in the master's class?”
+
+“No; he never exchanged a word with him so far as I know.”
+
+“That is certainly very singular. Had the boy a bicycle?”
+
+“No.”
+
+“Was any other bicycle missing?”
+
+“No.”
+
+“Is that certain?”
+
+“Quite.”
+
+“Well, now, you do not mean to seriously suggest that this German rode
+off upon a bicycle in the dead of the night bearing the boy in his
+arms?”
+
+“Certainly not.”
+
+“Then what is the theory in your mind?”
+
+“The bicycle may have been a blind. It may have been hidden somewhere
+and the pair gone off on foot.”
+
+“Quite so; but it seems rather an absurd blind, does it not? Were there
+other bicycles in this shed?”
+
+“Several.”
+
+“Would he not have hidden A COUPLE had he desired to give the idea that
+they had gone off upon them?”
+
+“I suppose he would.”
+
+“Of course he would. The blind theory won't do. But the incident is an
+admirable starting-point for an investigation. After all, a bicycle
+is not an easy thing to conceal or to destroy. One other question. Did
+anyone call to see the boy on the day before he disappeared?”
+
+“No.”
+
+“Did he get any letters?”
+
+“Yes; one letter.”
+
+“From whom?”
+
+“From his father.”
+
+“Do you open the boys' letters?”
+
+“No.”
+
+“How do you know it was from the father?”
+
+“The coat of arms was on the envelope, and it was addressed in the
+Duke's peculiar stiff hand. Besides, the Duke remembers having written.”
+
+“When had he a letter before that?”
+
+“Not for several days.”
+
+“Had he ever one from France?”
+
+“No; never.
+
+“You see the point of my questions, of course. Either the boy was
+carried off by force or he went of his own free will. In the latter case
+you would expect that some prompting from outside would be needed to
+make so young a lad do such a thing. If he has had no visitors, that
+prompting must have come in letters. Hence I try to find out who were
+his correspondents.”
+
+“I fear I cannot help you much. His only correspondent, so far as I
+know, was his own father.”
+
+“Who wrote to him on the very day of his disappearance. Were the
+relations between father and son very friendly?”
+
+“His Grace is never very friendly with anyone. He is completely immersed
+in large public questions, and is rather inaccessible to all ordinary
+emotions. But he was always kind to the boy in his own way.”
+
+“But the sympathies of the latter were with the mother?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Did he say so?”
+
+“No.”
+
+“The Duke, then?”
+
+“Good heavens, no!”
+
+“Then how could you know?”
+
+“I have had some confidential talks with Mr. James Wilder, his Grace's
+secretary. It was he who gave me the information about Lord Saltire's
+feelings.”
+
+“I see. By the way, that last letter of the Duke's--was it found in the
+boy's room after he was gone?”
+
+“No; he had taken it with him. I think, Mr. Holmes, it is time that we
+were leaving for Euston.”
+
+“I will order a four-wheeler. In a quarter of an hour we shall be at
+your service. If you are telegraphing home, Mr. Huxtable, it would
+be well to allow the people in your neighbourhood to imagine that
+the inquiry is still going on in Liverpool, or wherever else that red
+herring led your pack. In the meantime I will do a little quiet work at
+your own doors, and perhaps the scent is not so cold but that two old
+hounds like Watson and myself may get a sniff of it.”
+
+
+That evening found us in the cold, bracing atmosphere of the Peak
+country, in which Dr. Huxtable's famous school is situated. It was
+already dark when we reached it. A card was lying on the hall table,
+and the butler whispered something to his master, who turned to us with
+agitation in every heavy feature.
+
+“The Duke is here,” said he. “The Duke and Mr. Wilder are in the study.
+Come, gentlemen, and I will introduce you.”
+
+I was, of course, familiar with the pictures of the famous statesman,
+but the man himself was very different from his representation. He was a
+tall and stately person, scrupulously dressed, with a drawn, thin face,
+and a nose which was grotesquely curved and long. His complexion was
+of a dead pallor, which was more startling by contrast with a long,
+dwindling beard of vivid red, which flowed down over his white
+waistcoat, with his watch-chain gleaming through its fringe. Such was
+the stately presence who looked stonily at us from the centre of
+Dr. Huxtable's hearthrug. Beside him stood a very young man, whom I
+understood to be Wilder, the private secretary. He was small, nervous,
+alert, with intelligent, light-blue eyes and mobile features. It was he
+who at once, in an incisive and positive tone, opened the conversation.
+
+“I called this morning, Dr. Huxtable, too late to prevent you from
+starting for London. I learned that your object was to invite Mr.
+Sherlock Holmes to undertake the conduct of this case. His Grace is
+surprised, Dr. Huxtable, that you should have taken such a step without
+consulting him.”
+
+“When I learned that the police had failed----”
+
+“His Grace is by no means convinced that the police have failed.”
+
+“But surely, Mr. Wilder----”
+
+“You are well aware, Dr. Huxtable, that his Grace is particularly
+anxious to avoid all public scandal. He prefers to take as few people as
+possible into his confidence.”
+
+“The matter can be easily remedied,” said the brow-beaten doctor; “Mr.
+Sherlock Holmes can return to London by the morning train.”
+
+“Hardly that, Doctor, hardly that,” said Holmes, in his blandest voice.
+“This northern air is invigorating and pleasant, so I propose to spend a
+few days upon your moors, and to occupy my mind as best I may. Whether
+I have the shelter of your roof or of the village inn is, of course, for
+you to decide.”
+
+I could see that the unfortunate doctor was in the last stage of
+indecision, from which he was rescued by the deep, sonorous voice of the
+red-bearded Duke, which boomed out like a dinner-gong.
+
+“I agree with Mr. Wilder, Dr. Huxtable, that you would have done wisely
+to consult me. But since Mr. Holmes has already been taken into your
+confidence, it would indeed be absurd that we should not avail ourselves
+of his services. Far from going to the inn, Mr. Holmes, I should be
+pleased if you would come and stay with me at Holdernesse Hall.”
+
+“I thank your Grace. For the purposes of my investigation I think that
+it would be wiser for me to remain at the scene of the mystery.”
+
+“Just as you like, Mr. Holmes. Any information which Mr. Wilder or I can
+give you is, of course, at your disposal.”
+
+“It will probably be necessary for me to see you at the Hall,” said
+Holmes. “I would only ask you now, sir, whether you have formed any
+explanation in your own mind as to the mysterious disappearance of your
+son?”
+
+“No, sir, I have not.”
+
+“Excuse me if I allude to that which is painful to you, but I have no
+alternative. Do you think that the Duchess had anything to do with the
+matter?”
+
+The great Minister showed perceptible hesitation.
+
+“I do not think so,” he said, at last.
+
+“The other most obvious explanation is that the child has been kidnapped
+for the purpose of levying ransom. You have not had any demand of the
+sort?”
+
+“No, sir.”
+
+“One more question, your Grace. I understand that you wrote to your son
+upon the day when this incident occurred.”
+
+“No; I wrote upon the day before.”
+
+“Exactly. But he received it on that day?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Was there anything in your letter which might have unbalanced him or
+induced him to take such a step?”
+
+“No, sir, certainly not.”
+
+“Did you post that letter yourself?”
+
+The nobleman's reply was interrupted by his secretary, who broke in with
+some heat.
+
+“His Grace is not in the habit of posting letters himself,” said he.
+“This letter was laid with others upon the study table, and I myself put
+them in the post-bag.”
+
+“You are sure this one was among them?”
+
+“Yes; I observed it.”
+
+“How many letters did your Grace write that day?”
+
+“Twenty or thirty. I have a large correspondence. But surely this is
+somewhat irrelevant?”
+
+“Not entirely,” said Holmes.
+
+“For my own part,” the Duke continued, “I have advised the police to
+turn their attention to the South of France. I have already said that I
+do not believe that the Duchess would encourage so monstrous an action,
+but the lad had the most wrong-headed opinions, and it is possible that
+he may have fled to her, aided and abetted by this German. I think, Dr.
+Huxtable, that we will now return to the Hall.”
+
+I could see that there were other questions which Holmes would have
+wished to put; but the nobleman's abrupt manner showed that the
+interview was at an end. It was evident that to his intensely
+aristocratic nature this discussion of his intimate family affairs
+with a stranger was most abhorrent, and that he feared lest every
+fresh question would throw a fiercer light into the discreetly shadowed
+corners of his ducal history.
+
+When the nobleman and his secretary had left, my friend flung himself at
+once with characteristic eagerness into the investigation.
+
+The boy's chamber was carefully examined, and yielded nothing save the
+absolute conviction that it was only through the window that he could
+have escaped. The German master's room and effects gave no further clue.
+In his case a trailer of ivy had given way under his weight, and we saw
+by the light of a lantern the mark on the lawn where his heels had
+come down. That one dint in the short green grass was the only material
+witness left of this inexplicable nocturnal flight.
+
+Sherlock Holmes left the house alone, and only returned after eleven.
+He had obtained a large ordnance map of the neighbourhood, and this
+he brought into my room, where he laid it out on the bed, and, having
+balanced the lamp in the middle of it, he began to smoke over it, and
+occasionally to point out objects of interest with the reeking amber of
+his pipe.
+
+“This case grows upon me, Watson,” said he. “There are decidedly some
+points of interest in connection with it. In this early stage I want you
+to realize those geographical features which may have a good deal to do
+with our investigation.
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+“Look at this map. This dark square is the Priory School. I'll put a pin
+in it. Now, this line is the main road. You see that it runs east and
+west past the school, and you see also that there is no side road for
+a mile either way. If these two folk passed away by road it was THIS
+road.”
+
+“Exactly.”
+
+“By a singular and happy chance we are able to some extent to check
+what passed along this road during the night in question. At this point,
+where my pipe is now resting, a country constable was on duty from
+twelve to six. It is, as you perceive, the first cross road on the east
+side. This man declares that he was not absent from his post for an
+instant, and he is positive that neither boy nor man could have gone
+that way unseen. I have spoken with this policeman to-night, and he
+appears to me to be a perfectly reliable person. That blocks this end.
+We have now to deal with the other. There is an inn here, the Red Bull,
+the landlady of which was ill. She had sent to Mackleton for a doctor,
+but he did not arrive until morning, being absent at another case. The
+people at the inn were alert all night, awaiting his coming, and one or
+other of them seems to have continually had an eye upon the road. They
+declare that no one passed. If their evidence is good, then we are
+fortunate enough to be able to block the west, and also to be able to
+say that the fugitives did NOT use the road at all.”
+
+“But the bicycle?” I objected.
+
+“Quite so. We will come to the bicycle presently. To continue our
+reasoning: if these people did not go by the road, they must have
+traversed the country to the north of the house or to the south of the
+house. That is certain. Let us weigh the one against the other. On the
+south of the house is, as you perceive, a large district of arable land,
+cut up into small fields, with stone walls between them. There, I admit
+that a bicycle is impossible. We can dismiss the idea. We turn to the
+country on the north. Here there lies a grove of trees, marked as the
+'Ragged Shaw,' and on the farther side stretches a great rolling moor,
+Lower Gill Moor, extending for ten miles and sloping gradually upwards.
+Here, at one side of this wilderness, is Holdernesse Hall, ten miles by
+road, but only six across the moor. It is a peculiarly desolate plain. A
+few moor farmers have small holdings, where they rear sheep and cattle.
+Except these, the plover and the curlew are the only inhabitants until
+you come to the Chesterfield high road. There is a church there,
+you see, a few cottages, and an inn. Beyond that the hills become
+precipitous. Surely it is here to the north that our quest must lie.”
+
+“But the bicycle?” I persisted.
+
+“Well, well!” said Holmes, impatiently. “A good cyclist does not need
+a high road. The moor is intersected with paths and the moon was at the
+full. Halloa! what is this?”
+
+There was an agitated knock at the door, and an instant afterwards Dr.
+Huxtable was in the room. In his hand he held a blue cricket-cap, with a
+white chevron on the peak.
+
+“At last we have a clue!” he cried. “Thank Heaven! at last we are on the
+dear boy's track! It is his cap.”
+
+“Where was it found?”
+
+“In the van of the gipsies who camped on the moor. They left on Tuesday.
+To-day the police traced them down and examined their caravan. This was
+found.”
+
+“How do they account for it?”
+
+“They shuffled and lied--said that they found it on the moor on Tuesday
+morning. They know where he is, the rascals! Thank goodness, they are
+all safe under lock and key. Either the fear of the law or the Duke's
+purse will certainly get out of them all that they know.”
+
+“So far, so good,” said Holmes, when the doctor had at last left the
+room. “It at least bears out the theory that it is on the side of the
+Lower Gill Moor that we must hope for results. The police have really
+done nothing locally, save the arrest of these gipsies. Look here,
+Watson! There is a watercourse across the moor. You see it marked here
+in the map. In some parts it widens into a morass. This is particularly
+so in the region between Holdernesse Hall and the school. It is vain to
+look elsewhere for tracks in this dry weather; but at THAT point there
+is certainly a chance of some record being left. I will call you early
+to-morrow morning, and you and I will try if we can throw some little
+light upon the mystery.”
+
+The day was just breaking when I woke to find the long, thin form of
+Holmes by my bedside. He was fully dressed, and had apparently already
+been out.
+
+“I have done the lawn and the bicycle shed,” said he. “I have also had a
+ramble through the Ragged Shaw. Now, Watson, there is cocoa ready in the
+next room. I must beg you to hurry, for we have a great day before us.”
+
+His eyes shone, and his cheek was flushed with the exhilaration of the
+master workman who sees his work lie ready before him. A very different
+Holmes, this active, alert man, from the introspective and pallid
+dreamer of Baker Street. I felt, as I looked upon that supple figure,
+alive with nervous energy, that it was indeed a strenuous day that
+awaited us.
+
+And yet it opened in the blackest disappointment. With high hopes we
+struck across the peaty, russet moor, intersected with a thousand sheep
+paths, until we came to the broad, light-green belt which marked the
+morass between us and Holdernesse. Certainly, if the lad had gone
+homewards, he must have passed this, and he could not pass it without
+leaving his traces. But no sign of him or the German could be seen. With
+a darkening face my friend strode along the margin, eagerly observant
+of every muddy stain upon the mossy surface. Sheep-marks there were
+in profusion, and at one place, some miles down, cows had left their
+tracks. Nothing more.
+
+“Check number one,” said Holmes, looking gloomily over the rolling
+expanse of the moor. “There is another morass down yonder and a narrow
+neck between. Halloa! halloa! halloa! what have we here?”
+
+We had come on a small black ribbon of pathway. In the middle of it,
+clearly marked on the sodden soil, was the track of a bicycle.
+
+“Hurrah!” I cried. “We have it.”
+
+But Holmes was shaking his head, and his face was puzzled and expectant
+rather than joyous.
+
+“A bicycle, certainly, but not THE bicycle,” said he. “I am familiar
+with forty-two different impressions left by tyres. This, as you
+perceive, is a Dunlop, with a patch upon the outer cover. Heidegger's
+tyres were Palmer's, leaving longitudinal stripes. Aveling, the
+mathematical master, was sure upon the point. Therefore, it is not
+Heidegger's track.”
+
+“The boy's, then?”
+
+“Possibly, if we could prove a bicycle to have been in his possession.
+But this we have utterly failed to do. This track, as you perceive, was
+made by a rider who was going from the direction of the school.”
+
+“Or towards it?”
+
+“No, no, my dear Watson. The more deeply sunk impression is, of course,
+the hind wheel, upon which the weight rests. You perceive several places
+where it has passed across and obliterated the more shallow mark of the
+front one. It was undoubtedly heading away from the school. It may or
+may not be connected with our inquiry, but we will follow it backwards
+before we go any farther.”
+
+We did so, and at the end of a few hundred yards lost the tracks as
+we emerged from the boggy portion of the moor. Following the path
+backwards, we picked out another spot, where a spring trickled across
+it. Here, once again, was the mark of the bicycle, though nearly
+obliterated by the hoofs of cows. After that there was no sign, but
+the path ran right on into Ragged Shaw, the wood which backed on to the
+school. From this wood the cycle must have emerged. Holmes sat down on
+a boulder and rested his chin in his hands. I had smoked two cigarettes
+before he moved.
+
+“Well, well,” said he, at last. “It is, of course, possible that a
+cunning man might change the tyre of his bicycle in order to leave
+unfamiliar tracks. A criminal who was capable of such a thought is a man
+whom I should be proud to do business with. We will leave this question
+undecided and hark back to our morass again, for we have left a good
+deal unexplored.”
+
+We continued our systematic survey of the edge of the sodden portion
+of the moor, and soon our perseverance was gloriously rewarded. Right
+across the lower part of the bog lay a miry path. Holmes gave a cry
+of delight as he approached it. An impression like a fine bundle of
+telegraph wires ran down the centre of it. It was the Palmer tyre.
+
+“Here is Herr Heidegger, sure enough!” cried Holmes, exultantly. “My
+reasoning seems to have been pretty sound, Watson.”
+
+“I congratulate you.”
+
+“But we have a long way still to go. Kindly walk clear of the path. Now
+let us follow the trail. I fear that it will not lead very far.”
+
+We found, however, as we advanced that this portion of the moor is
+intersected with soft patches, and, though we frequently lost sight of
+the track, we always succeeded in picking it up once more.
+
+“Do you observe,” said Holmes, “that the rider is now undoubtedly
+forcing the pace? There can be no doubt of it. Look at this impression,
+where you get both tyres clear. The one is as deep as the other.
+That can only mean that the rider is throwing his weight on to the
+handle-bar, as a man does when he is sprinting. By Jove! he has had a
+fall.”
+
+There was a broad, irregular smudge covering some yards of the track.
+Then there were a few footmarks, and the tyre reappeared once more.
+
+“A side-slip,” I suggested.
+
+Holmes held up a crumpled branch of flowering gorse. To my horror I
+perceived that the yellow blossoms were all dabbled with crimson. On the
+path, too, and among the heather were dark stains of clotted blood.
+
+“Bad!” said Holmes. “Bad! Stand clear, Watson! Not an unnecessary
+footstep! What do I read here? He fell wounded, he stood up, he
+remounted, he proceeded. But there is no other track. Cattle on this
+side path. He was surely not gored by a bull? Impossible! But I see no
+traces of anyone else. We must push on, Watson. Surely with stains as
+well as the track to guide us he cannot escape us now.”
+
+Our search was not a very long one. The tracks of the tyre began to
+curve fantastically upon the wet and shining path. Suddenly, as I
+looked ahead, the gleam of metal caught my eye from amid the thick gorse
+bushes. Out of them we dragged a bicycle, Palmer-tyred, one pedal bent,
+and the whole front of it horribly smeared and slobbered with blood. On
+the other side of the bushes a shoe was projecting. We ran round, and
+there lay the unfortunate rider. He was a tall man, full bearded, with
+spectacles, one glass of which had been knocked out. The cause of his
+death was a frightful blow upon the head, which had crushed in part of
+his skull. That he could have gone on after receiving such an injury
+said much for the vitality and courage of the man. He wore shoes, but
+no socks, and his open coat disclosed a night-shirt beneath it. It was
+undoubtedly the German master.
+
+Holmes turned the body over reverently, and examined it with great
+attention. He then sat in deep thought for a time, and I could see
+by his ruffled brow that this grim discovery had not, in his opinion,
+advanced us much in our inquiry.
+
+“It is a little difficult to know what to do, Watson,” said he, at last.
+“My own inclinations are to push this inquiry on, for we have already
+lost so much time that we cannot afford to waste another hour. On the
+other hand, we are bound to inform the police of the discovery, and to
+see that this poor fellow's body is looked after.”
+
+“I could take a note back.”
+
+“But I need your company and assistance. Wait a bit! There is a fellow
+cutting peat up yonder. Bring him over here, and he will guide the
+police.”
+
+I brought the peasant across, and Holmes dispatched the frightened man
+with a note to Dr. Huxtable.
+
+“Now, Watson,” said he, “we have picked up two clues this morning. One
+is the bicycle with the Palmer tyre, and we see what that has led to.
+The other is the bicycle with the patched Dunlop. Before we start to
+investigate that, let us try to realize what we DO know so as to make
+the most of it, and to separate the essential from the accidental.”
+
+“First of all I wish to impress upon you that the boy certainly left of
+his own free will. He got down from his window and he went off, either
+alone or with someone. That is sure.”
+
+I assented.
+
+“Well, now, let us turn to this unfortunate German master. The boy was
+fully dressed when he fled. Therefore, he foresaw what he would do.
+But the German went without his socks. He certainly acted on very short
+notice.”
+
+“Undoubtedly.”
+
+“Why did he go? Because, from his bedroom window, he saw the flight of
+the boy. Because he wished to overtake him and bring him back. He seized
+his bicycle, pursued the lad, and in pursuing him met his death.”
+
+“So it would seem.”
+
+“Now I come to the critical part of my argument. The natural action of
+a man in pursuing a little boy would be to run after him. He would know
+that he could overtake him. But the German does not do so. He turns to
+his bicycle. I am told that he was an excellent cyclist. He would not do
+this if he did not see that the boy had some swift means of escape.”
+
+“The other bicycle.”
+
+“Let us continue our reconstruction. He meets his death five miles
+from the school--not by a bullet, mark you, which even a lad might
+conceivably discharge, but by a savage blow dealt by a vigorous arm.
+The lad, then, HAD a companion in his flight. And the flight was a swift
+one, since it took five miles before an expert cyclist could overtake
+them. Yet we survey the ground round the scene of the tragedy. What do
+we find? A few cattle tracks, nothing more. I took a wide sweep round,
+and there is no path within fifty yards. Another cyclist could have
+had nothing to do with the actual murder. Nor were there any human
+footmarks.”
+
+“Holmes,” I cried, “this is impossible.”
+
+“Admirable!” he said. “A most illuminating remark. It IS impossible as I
+state it, and therefore I must in some respect have stated it wrong. Yet
+you saw for yourself. Can you suggest any fallacy?”
+
+“He could not have fractured his skull in a fall?”
+
+“In a morass, Watson?”
+
+“I am at my wit's end.”
+
+“Tut, tut; we have solved some worse problems. At least we have plenty
+of material, if we can only use it. Come, then, and, having exhausted
+the Palmer, let us see what the Dunlop with the patched cover has to
+offer us.”
+
+We picked up the track and followed it onwards for some distance; but
+soon the moor rose into a long, heather-tufted curve, and we left the
+watercourse behind us. No further help from tracks could be hoped for.
+At the spot where we saw the last of the Dunlop tyre it might equally
+have led to Holdernesse Hall, the stately towers of which rose some
+miles to our left, or to a low, grey village which lay in front of us,
+and marked the position of the Chesterfield high road.
+
+As we approached the forbidding and squalid inn, with the sign of a
+game-cock above the door, Holmes gave a sudden groan and clutched me
+by the shoulder to save himself from falling. He had had one of those
+violent strains of the ankle which leave a man helpless. With difficulty
+he limped up to the door, where a squat, dark, elderly man was smoking a
+black clay pipe.
+
+“How are you, Mr. Reuben Hayes?” said Holmes.
+
+“Who are you, and how do you get my name so pat?” the countryman
+answered, with a suspicious flash of a pair of cunning eyes.
+
+“Well, it's printed on the board above your head. It's easy to see a man
+who is master of his own house. I suppose you haven't such a thing as a
+carriage in your stables?”
+
+“No; I have not.”
+
+“I can hardly put my foot to the ground.”
+
+“Don't put it to the ground.”
+
+“But I can't walk.”
+
+“Well, then, hop.”
+
+Mr. Reuben Hayes's manner was far from gracious, but Holmes took it with
+admirable good-humour.
+
+“Look here, my man,” said he. “This is really rather an awkward fix for
+me. I don't mind how I get on.”
+
+“Neither do I,” said the morose landlord.
+
+“The matter is very important. I would offer you a sovereign for the use
+of a bicycle.”
+
+The landlord pricked up his ears.
+
+“Where do you want to go?”
+
+“To Holdernesse Hall.”
+
+“Pals of the Dook, I suppose?” said the landlord, surveying our
+mud-stained garments with ironical eyes.
+
+Holmes laughed good-naturedly.
+
+“He'll be glad to see us, anyhow.”
+
+“Why?”
+
+“Because we bring him news of his lost son.”
+
+The landlord gave a very visible start.
+
+“What, you're on his track?”
+
+“He has been heard of in Liverpool. They expect to get him every hour.”
+
+Again a swift change passed over the heavy, unshaven face. His manner
+was suddenly genial.
+
+“I've less reason to wish the Dook well than most men,” said he, “for I
+was his head coachman once, and cruel bad he treated me. It was him that
+sacked me without a character on the word of a lying corn-chandler. But
+I'm glad to hear that the young lord was heard of in Liverpool, and I'll
+help you to take the news to the Hall.”
+
+“Thank you,” said Holmes. “We'll have some food first. Then you can
+bring round the bicycle.”
+
+“I haven't got a bicycle.”
+
+Holmes held up a sovereign.
+
+“I tell you, man, that I haven't got one. I'll let you have two horses
+as far as the Hall.”
+
+“Well, well,” said Holmes, “we'll talk about it when we've had something
+to eat.”
+
+When we were left alone in the stone-flagged kitchen it was astonishing
+how rapidly that sprained ankle recovered. It was nearly nightfall, and
+we had eaten nothing since early morning, so that we spent some time
+over our meal. Holmes was lost in thought, and once or twice he walked
+over to the window and stared earnestly out. It opened on to a squalid
+courtyard. In the far corner was a smithy, where a grimy lad was at
+work. On the other side were the stables. Holmes had sat down again
+after one of these excursions, when he suddenly sprang out of his chair
+with a loud exclamation.
+
+“By Heaven, Watson, I believe that I've got it!” he cried. “Yes, yes, it
+must be so. Watson, do you remember seeing any cow-tracks to-day?”
+
+“Yes, several.”
+
+“Where?”
+
+“Well, everywhere. They were at the morass, and again on the path, and
+again near where poor Heidegger met his death.”
+
+“Exactly. Well, now, Watson, how many cows did you see on the moor?”
+
+“I don't remember seeing any.”
+
+“Strange, Watson, that we should see tracks all along our line, but
+never a cow on the whole moor; very strange, Watson, eh?”
+
+“Yes, it is strange.”
+
+“Now, Watson, make an effort; throw your mind back! Can you see those
+tracks upon the path?”
+
+“Yes, I can.”
+
+“Can you recall that the tracks were sometimes like that, Watson”--he
+arranged a number of bread-crumbs in this fashion--:::::--“and sometimes
+like this”--:.:.:.:. --“and occasionally like this”--. '. '. '. “Can you
+remember that?”
+
+“No, I cannot.”
+
+“But I can. I could swear to it. However, we will go back at our
+leisure and verify it. What a blind beetle I have been not to draw my
+conclusion!”
+
+“And what is your conclusion?”
+
+“Only that it is a remarkable cow which walks, canters, and gallops. By
+George, Watson, it was no brain of a country publican that thought out
+such a blind as that! The coast seems to be clear, save for that lad in
+the smithy. Let us slip out and see what we can see.”
+
+There were two rough-haired, unkempt horses in the tumble-down stable.
+Holmes raised the hind leg of one of them and laughed aloud.
+
+“Old shoes, but newly shod--old shoes, but new nails. This case deserves
+to be a classic. Let us go across to the smithy.”
+
+The lad continued his work without regarding us. I saw Holmes's eye
+darting to right and left among the litter of iron and wood which was
+scattered about the floor. Suddenly, however, we heard a step behind
+us, and there was the landlord, his heavy eyebrows drawn over his savage
+eyes, his swarthy features convulsed with passion. He held a short,
+metal-headed stick in his hand, and he advanced in so menacing a fashion
+that I was right glad to feel the revolver in my pocket.
+
+“You infernal spies!” the man cried. “What are you doing there?”
+
+“Why, Mr. Reuben Hayes,” said Holmes, coolly, “one might think that you
+were afraid of our finding something out.”
+
+The man mastered himself with a violent effort, and his grim mouth
+loosened into a false laugh, which was more menacing than his frown.
+
+“You're welcome to all you can find out in my smithy,” said he. “But
+look here, mister, I don't care for folk poking about my place without
+my leave, so the sooner you pay your score and get out of this the
+better I shall be pleased.”
+
+“All right, Mr. Hayes--no harm meant,” said Holmes. “We have been having
+a look at your horses, but I think I'll walk after all. It's not far, I
+believe.”
+
+“Not more than two miles to the Hall gates. That's the road to the
+left.” He watched us with sullen eyes until we had left his premises.
+
+We did not go very far along the road, for Holmes stopped the instant
+that the curve hid us from the landlord's view.
+
+“We were warm, as the children say, at that inn,” said he. “I seem
+to grow colder every step that I take away from it. No, no; I can't
+possibly leave it.”
+
+“I am convinced,” said I, “that this Reuben Hayes knows all about it. A
+more self-evident villain I never saw.”
+
+“Oh! he impressed you in that way, did he? There are the horses, there
+is the smithy. Yes, it is an interesting place, this Fighting Cock. I
+think we shall have another look at it in an unobtrusive way.”
+
+A long, sloping hillside, dotted with grey limestone boulders, stretched
+behind us. We had turned off the road, and were making our way up
+the hill, when, looking in the direction of Holdernesse Hall, I saw a
+cyclist coming swiftly along.
+
+“Get down, Watson!” cried Holmes, with a heavy hand upon my shoulder. We
+had hardly sunk from view when the man flew past us on the road. Amid
+a rolling cloud of dust I caught a glimpse of a pale, agitated face--a
+face with horror in every lineament, the mouth open, the eyes staring
+wildly in front. It was like some strange caricature of the dapper James
+Wilder whom we had seen the night before.
+
+“The Duke's secretary!” cried Holmes. “Come, Watson, let us see what he
+does.”
+
+We scrambled from rock to rock until in a few moments we had made
+our way to a point from which we could see the front door of the inn.
+Wilder's bicycle was leaning against the wall beside it. No one was
+moving about the house, nor could we catch a glimpse of any faces at the
+windows. Slowly the twilight crept down as the sun sank behind the high
+towers of Holdernesse Hall. Then in the gloom we saw the two side-lamps
+of a trap light up in the stable yard of the inn, and shortly afterwards
+heard the rattle of hoofs, as it wheeled out into the road and tore off
+at a furious pace in the direction of Chesterfield.
+
+“What do you make of that, Watson?” Holmes whispered.
+
+“It looks like a flight.”
+
+“A single man in a dog-cart, so far as I could see. Well, it certainly
+was not Mr. James Wilder, for there he is at the door.”
+
+A red square of light had sprung out of the darkness. In the middle of
+it was the black figure of the secretary, his head advanced, peering out
+into the night. It was evident that he was expecting someone. Then at
+last there were steps in the road, a second figure was visible for an
+instant against the light, the door shut, and all was black once more.
+Five minutes later a lamp was lit in a room upon the first floor.
+
+“It seems to be a curious class of custom that is done by the Fighting
+Cock,” said Holmes.
+
+“The bar is on the other side.”
+
+“Quite so. These are what one may call the private guests. Now, what in
+the world is Mr. James Wilder doing in that den at this hour of night,
+and who is the companion who comes to meet him there? Come, Watson,
+we must really take a risk and try to investigate this a little more
+closely.”
+
+Together we stole down to the road and crept across to the door of the
+inn. The bicycle still leaned against the wall. Holmes struck a match
+and held it to the back wheel, and I heard him chuckle as the light fell
+upon a patched Dunlop tyre. Up above us was the lighted window.
+
+“I must have a peep through that, Watson. If you bend your back and
+support yourself upon the wall, I think that I can manage.”
+
+An instant later his feet were on my shoulders. But he was hardly up
+before he was down again.
+
+“Come, my friend,” said he, “our day's work has been quite long enough.
+I think that we have gathered all that we can. It's a long walk to the
+school, and the sooner we get started the better.”
+
+He hardly opened his lips during that weary trudge across the moor, nor
+would he enter the school when he reached it, but went on to Mackleton
+Station, whence he could send some telegrams. Late at night I heard him
+consoling Dr. Huxtable, prostrated by the tragedy of his master's death,
+and later still he entered my room as alert and vigorous as he had been
+when he started in the morning. “All goes well, my friend,” said he. “I
+promise that before to-morrow evening we shall have reached the solution
+of the mystery.”
+
+
+At eleven o'clock next morning my friend and I were walking up the
+famous yew avenue of Holdernesse Hall. We were ushered through the
+magnificent Elizabethan doorway and into his Grace's study. There we
+found Mr. James Wilder, demure and courtly, but with some trace of that
+wild terror of the night before still lurking in his furtive eyes and in
+his twitching features.
+
+“You have come to see his Grace? I am sorry; but the fact is that the
+Duke is far from well. He has been very much upset by the tragic news.
+We received a telegram from Dr. Huxtable yesterday afternoon, which told
+us of your discovery.”
+
+“I must see the Duke, Mr. Wilder.”
+
+“But he is in his room.”
+
+“Then I must go to his room.”
+
+“I believe he is in his bed.”
+
+“I will see him there.”
+
+Holmes's cold and inexorable manner showed the secretary that it was
+useless to argue with him.
+
+“Very good, Mr. Holmes; I will tell him that you are here.”
+
+After half an hour's delay the great nobleman appeared. His face was
+more cadaverous than ever, his shoulders had rounded, and he seemed to
+me to be an altogether older man than he had been the morning before. He
+greeted us with a stately courtesy and seated himself at his desk, his
+red beard streaming down on to the table.
+
+“Well, Mr. Holmes?” said he.
+
+But my friend's eyes were fixed upon the secretary, who stood by his
+master's chair.
+
+“I think, your Grace, that I could speak more freely in Mr. Wilder's
+absence.”
+
+The man turned a shade paler and cast a malignant glance at Holmes.
+
+“If your Grace wishes----”
+
+“Yes, yes; you had better go. Now, Mr. Holmes, what have you to say?”
+
+My friend waited until the door had closed behind the retreating
+secretary.
+
+“The fact is, your Grace,” said he, “that my colleague, Dr. Watson, and
+myself had an assurance from Dr. Huxtable that a reward had been offered
+in this case. I should like to have this confirmed from your own lips.”
+
+“Certainly, Mr. Holmes.”
+
+“It amounted, if I am correctly informed, to five thousand pounds to
+anyone who will tell you where your son is?”
+
+“Exactly.”
+
+“And another thousand to the man who will name the person or persons who
+keep him in custody?”
+
+“Exactly.”
+
+“Under the latter heading is included, no doubt, not only those who
+may have taken him away, but also those who conspire to keep him in his
+present position?”
+
+“Yes, yes,” cried the Duke, impatiently. “If you do your work well,
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you will have no reason to complain of niggardly
+treatment.”
+
+My friend rubbed his thin hands together with an appearance of avidity
+which was a surprise to me, who knew his frugal tastes.
+
+“I fancy that I see your Grace's cheque-book upon the table,” said he.
+“I should be glad if you would make me out a cheque for six thousand
+pounds. It would be as well, perhaps, for you to cross it. The Capital
+and Counties Bank, Oxford Street branch, are my agents.”
+
+His Grace sat very stern and upright in his chair, and looked stonily at
+my friend.
+
+“Is this a joke, Mr. Holmes? It is hardly a subject for pleasantry.”
+
+“Not at all, your Grace. I was never more earnest in my life.”
+
+“What do you mean, then?”
+
+“I mean that I have earned the reward. I know where your son is, and I
+know some, at least, of those who are holding him.”
+
+The Duke's beard had turned more aggressively red than ever against his
+ghastly white face.
+
+“Where is he?” he gasped.
+
+“He is, or was last night, at the Fighting Cock Inn, about two miles
+from your park gate.”
+
+The Duke fell back in his chair.
+
+“And whom do you accuse?”
+
+Sherlock Holmes's answer was an astounding one. He stepped swiftly
+forward and touched the Duke upon the shoulder.
+
+“I accuse YOU,” said he. “And now, your Grace, I'll trouble you for that
+cheque.”
+
+Never shall I forget the Duke's appearance as he sprang up and clawed
+with his hands like one who is sinking into an abyss. Then, with an
+extraordinary effort of aristocratic self-command, he sat down and sank
+his face in his hands. It was some minutes before he spoke.
+
+“How much do you know?” he asked at last, without raising his head.
+
+“I saw you together last night.”
+
+“Does anyone else besides your friend know?”
+
+“I have spoken to no one.”
+
+The Duke took a pen in his quivering fingers and opened his cheque-book.
+
+“I shall be as good as my word, Mr. Holmes. I am about to write your
+cheque, however unwelcome the information which you have gained may be
+to me. When the offer was first made I little thought the turn which
+events might take. But you and your friend are men of discretion, Mr.
+Holmes?”
+
+“I hardly understand your Grace.”
+
+“I must put it plainly, Mr. Holmes. If only you two know of this
+incident, there is no reason why it should go any farther. I think
+twelve thousand pounds is the sum that I owe you, is it not?”
+
+But Holmes smiled and shook his head.
+
+“I fear, your Grace, that matters can hardly be arranged so easily.
+There is the death of this schoolmaster to be accounted for.”
+
+“But James knew nothing of that. You cannot hold him responsible for
+that. It was the work of this brutal ruffian whom he had the misfortune
+to employ.”
+
+“I must take the view, your Grace, that when a man embarks upon a crime
+he is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from it.”
+
+“Morally, Mr. Holmes. No doubt you are right. But surely not in the eyes
+of the law. A man cannot be condemned for a murder at which he was not
+present, and which he loathes and abhors as much as you do. The instant
+that he heard of it he made a complete confession to me, so filled was
+he with horror and remorse. He lost not an hour in breaking entirely
+with the murderer. Oh, Mr. Holmes, you must save him--you must save
+him! I tell you that you must save him!” The Duke had dropped the last
+attempt at self-command, and was pacing the room with a convulsed face
+and with his clenched hands raving in the air. At last he mastered
+himself and sat down once more at his desk. “I appreciate your conduct
+in coming here before you spoke to anyone else,” said he. “At least, we
+may take counsel how far we can minimize this hideous scandal.”
+
+“Exactly,” said Holmes. “I think, your Grace, that this can only be done
+by absolute and complete frankness between us. I am disposed to help
+your Grace to the best of my ability; but in order to do so I must
+understand to the last detail how the matter stands. I realize that your
+words applied to Mr. James Wilder, and that he is not the murderer.”
+
+“No; the murderer has escaped.”
+
+Sherlock Holmes smiled demurely.
+
+“Your Grace can hardly have heard of any small reputation which I
+possess, or you would not imagine that it is so easy to escape me. Mr.
+Reuben Hayes was arrested at Chesterfield on my information at eleven
+o'clock last night. I had a telegram from the head of the local police
+before I left the school this morning.”
+
+The Duke leaned back in his chair and stared with amazement at my
+friend.
+
+“You seem to have powers that are hardly human,” said he. “So Reuben
+Hayes is taken? I am right glad to hear it, if it will not react upon
+the fate of James.”
+
+“Your secretary?”
+
+“No, sir; my son.”
+
+It was Holmes's turn to look astonished.
+
+“I confess that this is entirely new to me, your Grace. I must beg you
+to be more explicit.”
+
+“I will conceal nothing from you. I agree with you that complete
+frankness, however painful it may be to me, is the best policy in this
+desperate situation to which James's folly and jealousy have reduced
+us. When I was a very young man, Mr. Holmes, I loved with such a love
+as comes only once in a lifetime. I offered the lady marriage, but she
+refused it on the grounds that such a match might mar my career. Had she
+lived I would certainly never have married anyone else. She died, and
+left this one child, whom for her sake I have cherished and cared for.
+I could not acknowledge the paternity to the world; but I gave him the
+best of educations, and since he came to manhood I have kept him near
+my person. He surprised my secret, and has presumed ever since upon the
+claim which he has upon me and upon his power of provoking a scandal,
+which would be abhorrent to me. His presence had something to do
+with the unhappy issue of my marriage. Above all, he hated my young
+legitimate heir from the first with a persistent hatred. You may well
+ask me why, under these circumstances, I still kept James under my roof.
+I answer that it was because I could see his mother's face in his, and
+that for her dear sake there was no end to my long-suffering. All her
+pretty ways, too--there was not one of them which he could not suggest
+and bring back to my memory. I COULD not send him away. But I feared so
+much lest he should do Arthur--that is, Lord Saltire--a mischief that I
+dispatched him for safety to Dr. Huxtable's school.
+
+“James came into contact with this fellow Hayes because the man was a
+tenant of mine, and James acted as agent. The fellow was a rascal from
+the beginning; but in some extraordinary way James became intimate with
+him. He had always a taste for low company. When James determined
+to kidnap Lord Saltire it was of this man's service that he availed
+himself. You remember that I wrote to Arthur upon that last day. Well,
+James opened the letter and inserted a note asking Arthur to meet him
+in a little wood called the Ragged Shaw, which is near to the school.
+He used the Duchess's name, and in that way got the boy to come. That
+evening James bicycled over--I am telling you what he has himself
+confessed to me--and he told Arthur, whom he met in the wood, that his
+mother longed to see him, that she was awaiting him on the moor, and
+that if he would come back into the wood at midnight he would find a man
+with a horse, who would take him to her. Poor Arthur fell into the trap.
+He came to the appointment and found this fellow Hayes with a led pony.
+Arthur mounted, and they set off together. It appears--though this James
+only heard yesterday--that they were pursued, that Hayes struck the
+pursuer with his stick, and that the man died of his injuries. Hayes
+brought Arthur to his public-house, the Fighting Cock, where he was
+confined in an upper room, under the care of Mrs. Hayes, who is a kindly
+woman, but entirely under the control of her brutal husband.
+
+“Well, Mr. Holmes, that was the state of affairs when I first saw you
+two days ago. I had no more idea of the truth than you. You will ask me
+what was James's motive in doing such a deed. I answer that there was
+a great deal which was unreasoning and fanatical in the hatred which
+he bore my heir. In his view he should himself have been heir of all
+my estates, and he deeply resented those social laws which made it
+impossible. At the same time he had a definite motive also. He was eager
+that I should break the entail, and he was of opinion that it lay in my
+power to do so. He intended to make a bargain with me--to restore Arthur
+if I would break the entail, and so make it possible for the estate
+to be left to him by will. He knew well that I should never willingly
+invoke the aid of the police against him. I say that he would have
+proposed such a bargain to me, but he did not actually do so, for events
+moved too quickly for him, and he had not time to put his plans into
+practice.
+
+“What brought all his wicked scheme to wreck was your discovery of this
+man Heidegger's dead body. James was seized with horror at the news. It
+came to us yesterday as we sat together in this study. Dr. Huxtable had
+sent a telegram. James was so overwhelmed with grief and agitation that
+my suspicions, which had never been entirely absent, rose instantly to
+a certainty, and I taxed him with the deed. He made a complete voluntary
+confession. Then he implored me to keep his secret for three days
+longer, so as to give his wretched accomplice a chance of saving his
+guilty life. I yielded--as I have always yielded--to his prayers, and
+instantly James hurried off to the Fighting Cock to warn Hayes and
+give him the means of flight. I could not go there by daylight without
+provoking comment, but as soon as night fell I hurried off to see my
+dear Arthur. I found him safe and well, but horrified beyond expression
+by the dreadful deed he had witnessed. In deference to my promise, and
+much against my will, I consented to leave him there for three days
+under the charge of Mrs. Hayes, since it was evident that it was
+impossible to inform the police where he was without telling them also
+who was the murderer, and I could not see how that murderer could be
+punished without ruin to my unfortunate James. You asked for frankness,
+Mr. Holmes, and I have taken you at your word, for I have now told you
+everything without an attempt at circumlocution or concealment. Do you
+in turn be as frank with me.”
+
+“I will,” said Holmes. “In the first place, your Grace, I am bound to
+tell you that you have placed yourself in a most serious position in
+the eyes of the law. You have condoned a felony and you have aided the
+escape of a murderer; for I cannot doubt that any money which was taken
+by James Wilder to aid his accomplice in his flight came from your
+Grace's purse.”
+
+The Duke bowed his assent.
+
+“This is indeed a most serious matter. Even more culpable in my opinion,
+your Grace, is your attitude towards your younger son. You leave him in
+this den for three days.”
+
+“Under solemn promises----”
+
+“What are promises to such people as these? You have no guarantee that
+he will not be spirited away again. To humour your guilty elder son
+you have exposed your innocent younger son to imminent and unnecessary
+danger. It was a most unjustifiable action.”
+
+The proud lord of Holdernesse was not accustomed to be so rated in
+his own ducal hall. The blood flushed into his high forehead, but his
+conscience held him dumb.
+
+“I will help you, but on one condition only. It is that you ring for the
+footman and let me give such orders as I like.”
+
+Without a word the Duke pressed the electric bell. A servant entered.
+
+“You will be glad to hear,” said Holmes, “that your young master is
+found. It is the Duke's desire that the carriage shall go at once to the
+Fighting Cock Inn to bring Lord Saltire home.
+
+“Now,” said Holmes, when the rejoicing lackey had disappeared, “having
+secured the future, we can afford to be more lenient with the past. I am
+not in an official position, and there is no reason, so long as the
+ends of justice are served, why I should disclose all that I know. As to
+Hayes I say nothing. The gallows awaits him, and I would do nothing
+to save him from it. What he will divulge I cannot tell, but I have
+no doubt that your Grace could make him understand that it is to his
+interest to be silent. From the police point of view he will have
+kidnapped the boy for the purpose of ransom. If they do not themselves
+find it out I see no reason why I should prompt them to take a broader
+point of view. I would warn your Grace, however, that the continued
+presence of Mr. James Wilder in your household can only lead to
+misfortune.”
+
+“I understand that, Mr. Holmes, and it is already settled that he shall
+leave me for ever and go to seek his fortune in Australia.”
+
+“In that case, your Grace, since you have yourself stated that any
+unhappiness in your married life was caused by his presence, I would
+suggest that you make such amends as you can to the Duchess, and
+that you try to resume those relations which have been so unhappily
+interrupted.”
+
+“That also I have arranged, Mr. Holmes. I wrote to the Duchess this
+morning.”
+
+“In that case,” said Holmes, rising, “I think that my friend and I can
+congratulate ourselves upon several most happy results from our little
+visit to the North. There is one other small point upon which I desire
+some light. This fellow Hayes had shod his horses with shoes which
+counterfeited the tracks of cows. Was it from Mr. Wilder that he learned
+so extraordinary a device?”
+
+The Duke stood in thought for a moment, with a look of intense surprise
+on his face. Then he opened a door and showed us into a large room
+furnished as a museum. He led the way to a glass case in a corner, and
+pointed to the inscription.
+
+“These shoes,” it ran, “were dug up in the moat of Holdernesse Hall.
+They are for the use of horses; but they are shaped below with a cloven
+foot of iron, so as to throw pursuers off the track. They are supposed
+to have belonged to some of the marauding Barons of Holdernesse in the
+Middle Ages.”
+
+Holmes opened the case, and moistening his finger he passed it along the
+shoe. A thin film of recent mud was left upon his skin.
+
+“Thank you,” said he, as he replaced the glass. “It is the second most
+interesting object that I have seen in the North.”
+
+“And the first?”
+
+Holmes folded up his cheque and placed it carefully in his note-book.
+“I am a poor man,” said he, as he patted it affectionately and thrust it
+into the depths of his inner pocket.
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 27  MARCH, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+VI.--The Adventure of Black Peter.
+
+
+I HAVE never known my friend to be in better form, both mental and
+physical, than in the year '95. His increasing fame had brought with it
+an immense practice, and I should be guilty of an indiscretion if I
+were even to hint at the identity of some of the illustrious clients who
+crossed our humble threshold in Baker Street. Holmes, however, like all
+great artists, lived for his art's sake, and, save in the case of the
+Duke of Holdernesse, I have seldom known him claim any large reward for
+his inestimable services. So unworldly was he--or so capricious--that
+he frequently refused his help to the powerful and wealthy where the
+problem made no appeal to his sympathies, while he would devote weeks of
+most intense application to the affairs of some humble client whose case
+presented those strange and dramatic qualities which appealed to his
+imagination and challenged his ingenuity.
+
+In this memorable year '95 a curious and incongruous succession of cases
+had engaged his attention, ranging from his famous investigation of the
+sudden death of Cardinal Tosca--an inquiry which was carried out by him
+at the express desire of His Holiness the Pope--down to his arrest of
+Wilson, the notorious canary-trainer, which removed a plague-spot from
+the East-End of London. Close on the heels of these two famous cases
+came the tragedy of Woodman's Lee, and the very obscure circumstances
+which surrounded the death of Captain Peter Carey. No record of the
+doings of Mr. Sherlock Holmes would be complete which did not include
+some account of this very unusual affair.
+
+During the first week of July my friend had been absent so often and so
+long from our lodgings that I knew he had something on hand. The fact
+that several rough-looking men called during that time and inquired for
+Captain Basil made me understand that Holmes was working somewhere under
+one of the numerous disguises and names with which he concealed his own
+formidable identity. He had at least five small refuges in different
+parts of London in which he was able to change his personality. He
+said nothing of his business to me, and it was not my habit to force a
+confidence. The first positive sign which he gave me of the direction
+which his investigation was taking was an extraordinary one. He had gone
+out before breakfast, and I had sat down to mine, when he strode into
+the room, his hat upon his head and a huge barbed-headed spear tucked
+like an umbrella under his arm.
+
+“Good gracious, Holmes!” I cried. “You don't mean to say that you have
+been walking about London with that thing?”
+
+“I drove to the butcher's and back.”
+
+“The butcher's?”
+
+“And I return with an excellent appetite. There can be no question,
+my dear Watson, of the value of exercise before breakfast. But I am
+prepared to bet that you will not guess the form that my exercise has
+taken.”
+
+“I will not attempt it.”
+
+He chuckled as he poured out the coffee.
+
+“If you could have looked into Allardyce's back shop you would have
+seen a dead pig swung from a hook in the ceiling, and a gentleman in
+his shirt-sleeves furiously stabbing at it with this weapon. I was that
+energetic person, and I have satisfied myself that by no exertion of my
+strength can I transfix the pig with a single blow. Perhaps you would
+care to try?”
+
+“Not for worlds. But why were you doing this?”
+
+“Because it seemed to me to have an indirect bearing upon the mystery of
+Woodman's Lee. Ah, Hopkins, I got your wire last night, and I have been
+expecting you. Come and join us.”
+
+Our visitor was an exceedingly alert man, thirty years of age, dressed
+in a quiet tweed suit, but retaining the erect bearing of one who was
+accustomed to official uniform. I recognised him at once as Stanley
+Hopkins, a young police inspector for whose future Holmes had high
+hopes, while he in turn professed the admiration and respect of a pupil
+for the scientific methods of the famous amateur. Hopkins's brow was
+clouded, and he sat down with an air of deep dejection.
+
+“No, thank you, sir. I breakfasted before I came round. I spent the
+night in town, for I came up yesterday to report.”
+
+“And what had you to report?”
+
+“Failure, sir; absolute failure.”
+
+“You have made no progress?”
+
+“None.”
+
+“Dear me! I must have a look at the matter.”
+
+“I wish to heavens that you would, Mr. Holmes. It's my first big chance,
+and I am at my wit's end. For goodness' sake come down and lend me a
+hand.”
+
+“Well, well, it just happens that I have already read all the available
+evidence, including the report of the inquest, with some care. By the
+way, what do you make of that tobacco-pouch found on the scene of the
+crime? Is there no clue there?”
+
+Hopkins looked surprised.
+
+“It was the man's own pouch, sir. His initials were inside it. And it
+was of seal-skin--and he an old sealer.”
+
+“But he had no pipe.”
+
+“No, sir, we could find no pipe; indeed, he smoked very little. And yet
+he might have kept some tobacco for his friends.”
+
+“No doubt. I only mention it because if I had been handling the case
+I should have been inclined to make that the starting-point of my
+investigation. However, my friend Dr. Watson knows nothing of this
+matter, and I should be none the worse for hearing the sequence of
+events once more. Just give us some short sketch of the essentials.”
+
+Stanley Hopkins drew a slip of paper from his pocket.
+
+“I have a few dates here which will give you the career of the dead man,
+Captain Peter Carey. He was born in '45--fifty years of age. He was a
+most daring and successful seal and whale fisher. In 1883 he commanded
+the steam sealer SEA UNICORN, of Dundee. He had then had several
+successful voyages in succession, and in the following year, 1884, he
+retired. After that he travelled for some years, and finally he bought
+a small place called Woodman's Lee, near Forest Row, in Sussex. There he
+has lived for six years, and there he died just a week ago to-day.
+
+“There were some most singular points about the man. In ordinary life he
+was a strict Puritan--a silent, gloomy fellow. His household consisted
+of his wife, his daughter, aged twenty, and two female servants.
+These last were continually changing, for it was never a very cheery
+situation, and sometimes it became past all bearing. The man was an
+intermittent drunkard, and when he had the fit on him he was a perfect
+fiend. He has been known to drive his wife and his daughter out of doors
+in the middle of the night, and flog them through the park until the
+whole village outside the gates was aroused by their screams.
+
+“He was summoned once for a savage assault upon the old vicar, who had
+called upon him to remonstrate with him upon his conduct. In short,
+Mr. Holmes, you would go far before you found a more dangerous man than
+Peter Carey, and I have heard that he bore the same character when he
+commanded his ship. He was known in the trade as Black Peter, and the
+name was given him, not only on account of his swarthy features and the
+colour of his huge beard, but for the humours which were the terror of
+all around him. I need not say that he was loathed and avoided by every
+one of his neighbours, and that I have not heard one single word of
+sorrow about his terrible end.
+
+“You must have read in the account of the inquest about the man's cabin,
+Mr. Holmes; but perhaps your friend here has not heard of it. He had
+built himself a wooden outhouse--he always called it 'the cabin'--a few
+hundred yards from his house, and it was here that he slept every night.
+It was a little, single-roomed hut, sixteen feet by ten. He kept the
+key in his pocket, made his own bed, cleaned it himself, and allowed no
+other foot to cross the threshold. There are small windows on each side,
+which were covered by curtains and never opened. One of these windows
+was turned towards the high road, and when the light burned in it at
+night the folk used to point it out to each other and wonder what Black
+Peter was doing in there. That's the window, Mr. Holmes, which gave us
+one of the few bits of positive evidence that came out at the inquest.
+
+“You remember that a stonemason, named Slater, walking from Forest Row
+about one o'clock in the morning--two days before the murder--stopped
+as he passed the grounds and looked at the square of light still shining
+among the trees. He swears that the shadow of a man's head turned
+sideways was clearly visible on the blind, and that this shadow was
+certainly not that of Peter Carey, whom he knew well. It was that of a
+bearded man, but the beard was short and bristled forwards in a way
+very different from that of the captain. So he says, but he had been two
+hours in the public-house, and it is some distance from the road to the
+window. Besides, this refers to the Monday, and the crime was done upon
+the Wednesday.
+
+“On the Tuesday Peter Carey was in one of his blackest moods, flushed
+with drink and as savage as a dangerous wild beast. He roamed about the
+house, and the women ran for it when they heard him coming. Late in the
+evening he went down to his own hut. About two o'clock the following
+morning his daughter, who slept with her window open, heard a most
+fearful yell from that direction, but it was no unusual thing for him to
+bawl and shout when he was in drink, so no notice was taken. On rising
+at seven one of the maids noticed that the door of the hut was open, but
+so great was the terror which the man caused that it was midday before
+anyone would venture down to see what had become of him. Peeping into
+the open door they saw a sight which sent them flying with white faces
+into the village. Within an hour I was on the spot and had taken over
+the case.
+
+“Well, I have fairly steady nerves, as you know, Mr. Holmes, but I
+give you my word that I got a shake when I put my head into that little
+house. It was droning like a harmonium with the flies and bluebottles,
+and the floor and walls were like a slaughter-house. He had called it a
+cabin, and a cabin it was sure enough, for you would have thought that
+you were in a ship. There was a bunk at one end, a sea-chest, maps and
+charts, a picture of the SEA UNICORN, a line of log-books on a shelf,
+all exactly as one would expect to find it in a captain's room. And
+there in the middle of it was the man himself, his face twisted like a
+lost soul in torment, and his great brindled beard stuck upwards in his
+agony. Right through his broad breast a steel harpoon had been driven,
+and it had sunk deep into the wood of the wall behind him. He was pinned
+like a beetle on a card. Of course, he was quite dead, and had been so
+from the instant that he had uttered that last yell of agony.
+
+“I know your methods, sir, and I applied them. Before I permitted
+anything to be moved I examined most carefully the ground outside, and
+also the floor of the room. There were no footmarks.”
+
+“Meaning that you saw none?”
+
+“I assure you, sir, that there were none.”
+
+“My good Hopkins, I have investigated many crimes, but I have never
+yet seen one which was committed by a flying creature. As long as the
+criminal remains upon two legs so long must there be some indentation,
+some abrasion, some trifling displacement which can be detected by the
+scientific searcher. It is incredible that this blood-bespattered room
+contained no trace which could have aided us. I understand, however,
+from the inquest that there were some objects which you failed to
+overlook?”
+
+The young inspector winced at my companion's ironical comments.
+
+“I was a fool not to call you in at the time, Mr. Holmes. However,
+that's past praying for now. Yes, there were several objects in the room
+which called for special attention. One was the harpoon with which the
+deed was committed. It had been snatched down from a rack on the wall.
+Two others remained there, and there was a vacant place for the third.
+On the stock was engraved 'Ss. SEA UNICORN, Dundee.' This seemed to
+establish that the crime had been done in a moment of fury, and that
+the murderer had seized the first weapon which came in his way. The fact
+that the crime was committed at two in the morning, and yet Peter
+Carey was fully dressed, suggested that he had an appointment with the
+murderer, which is borne out by the fact that a bottle of rum and two
+dirty glasses stood upon the table.”
+
+“Yes,” said Holmes; “I think that both inferences are permissible. Was
+there any other spirit but rum in the room?”
+
+“Yes; there was a tantalus containing brandy and whisky on the
+sea-chest. It is of no importance to us, however, since the decanters
+were full, and it had therefore not been used.”
+
+“For all that its presence has some significance,” said Holmes.
+“However, let us hear some more about the objects which do seem to you
+to bear upon the case.”
+
+“There was this tobacco-pouch upon the table.”
+
+“What part of the table?”
+
+“It lay in the middle. It was of coarse seal-skin--the straight-haired
+skin, with a leather thong to bind it. Inside was 'P.C.' on the flap.
+There was half an ounce of strong ship's tobacco in it.”
+
+“Excellent! What more?”
+
+Stanley Hopkins drew from his pocket a drab-covered note-book. The
+outside was rough and worn, the leaves discoloured. On the first page
+were written the initials “J.H.N.” and the date “1883.” Holmes laid
+it on the table and examined it in his minute way, while Hopkins and I
+gazed over each shoulder. On the second page were the printed letters
+“C.P.R.,” and then came several sheets of numbers. Another heading was
+Argentine, another Costa Rica, and another San Paulo, each with pages of
+signs and figures after it.
+
+“What do you make of these?” asked Holmes.
+
+“They appear to be lists of Stock Exchange securities. I thought that
+'J.H.N.' were the initials of a broker, and that 'C.P.R.' may have been
+his client.”
+
+“Try Canadian Pacific Railway,” said Holmes.
+
+Stanley Hopkins swore between his teeth and struck his thigh with his
+clenched hand.
+
+“What a fool I have been!” he cried. “Of course, it is as you say. Then
+'J.H.N.' are the only initials we have to solve. I have already examined
+the old Stock Exchange lists, and I can find no one in 1883 either in
+the House or among the outside brokers whose initials correspond with
+these. Yet I feel that the clue is the most important one that I hold.
+You will admit, Mr. Holmes, that there is a possibility that these
+initials are those of the second person who was present--in other words,
+of the murderer. I would also urge that the introduction into the case
+of a document relating to large masses of valuable securities gives us
+for the first time some indication of a motive for the crime.”
+
+Sherlock Holmes's face showed that he was thoroughly taken aback by this
+new development.
+
+“I must admit both your points,” said he. “I confess that this
+note-book, which did not appear at the inquest, modifies any views which
+I may have formed. I had come to a theory of the crime in which I
+can find no place for this. Have you endeavoured to trace any of the
+securities here mentioned?”
+
+“Inquiries are now being made at the offices, but I fear that the
+complete register of the stockholders of these South American concerns
+is in South America, and that some weeks must elapse before we can trace
+the shares.”
+
+Holmes had been examining the cover of the note-book with his magnifying
+lens.
+
+“Surely there is some discolouration here,” said he.
+
+“Yes, sir, it is a blood-stain. I told you that I picked the book off
+the floor.”
+
+“Was the blood-stain above or below?”
+
+“On the side next the boards.”
+
+“Which proves, of course, that the book was dropped after the crime was
+committed.”
+
+“Exactly, Mr. Holmes. I appreciated that point, and I conjectured that
+it was dropped by the murderer in his hurried flight. It lay near the
+door.”
+
+“I suppose that none of these securities have been found among the
+property of the dead man?”
+
+“No, sir.”
+
+“Have you any reason to suspect robbery?”
+
+“No, sir. Nothing seemed to have been touched.”
+
+“Dear me, it is certainly a very interesting case. Then there was a
+knife, was there not?”
+
+“A sheath-knife, still in its sheath. It lay at the feet of the dead
+man. Mrs. Carey has identified it as being her husband's property.”
+
+Holmes was lost in thought for some time.
+
+“Well,” said he, at last, “I suppose I shall have to come out and have a
+look at it.”
+
+Stanley Hopkins gave a cry of joy.
+
+“Thank you, sir. That will indeed be a weight off my mind.”
+
+Holmes shook his finger at the inspector.
+
+“It would have been an easier task a week ago,” said he. “But even now
+my visit may not be entirely fruitless. Watson, if you can spare
+the time I should be very glad of your company. If you will call a
+four-wheeler, Hopkins, we shall be ready to start for Forest Row in a
+quarter of an hour.”
+
+
+Alighting at the small wayside station, we drove for some miles through
+the remains of widespread woods, which were once part of that
+great forest which for so long held the Saxon invaders at bay--the
+impenetrable “weald,” for sixty years the bulwark of Britain. Vast
+sections of it have been cleared, for this is the seat of the first
+iron-works of the country, and the trees have been felled to smelt the
+ore. Now the richer fields of the North have absorbed the trade, and
+nothing save these ravaged groves and great scars in the earth show
+the work of the past. Here in a clearing upon the green slope of a hill
+stood a long, low stone house, approached by a curving drive running
+through the fields. Nearer the road, and surrounded on three sides by
+bushes, was a small outhouse, one window and the door facing in our
+direction. It was the scene of the murder!
+
+Stanley Hopkins led us first to the house, where he introduced us to a
+haggard, grey-haired woman, the widow of the murdered man, whose gaunt
+and deep-lined face, with the furtive look of terror in the depths of
+her red-rimmed eyes, told of the years of hardship and ill-usage which
+she had endured. With her was her daughter, a pale, fair-haired girl,
+whose eyes blazed defiantly at us as she told us that she was glad that
+her father was dead, and that she blessed the hand which had struck him
+down. It was a terrible household that Black Peter Carey had made for
+himself, and it was with a sense of relief that we found ourselves in
+the sunlight again and making our way along a path which had been worn
+across the fields by the feet of the dead man.
+
+The outhouse was the simplest of dwellings, wooden-walled,
+shingle-roofed, one window beside the door and one on the farther side.
+Stanley Hopkins drew the key from his pocket, and had stooped to the
+lock, when he paused with a look of attention and surprise upon his
+face.
+
+“Someone has been tampering with it,” he said.
+
+There could be no doubt of the fact. The woodwork was cut and the
+scratches showed white through the paint, as if they had been that
+instant done. Holmes had been examining the window.
+
+“Someone has tried to force this also. Whoever it was has failed to make
+his way in. He must have been a very poor burglar.”
+
+“This is a most extraordinary thing,” said the inspector; “I could swear
+that these marks were not here yesterday evening.”
+
+“Some curious person from the village, perhaps,” I suggested.
+
+“Very unlikely. Few of them would dare to set foot in the grounds, far
+less try to force their way into the cabin. What do you think of it, Mr.
+Holmes?”
+
+“I think that fortune is very kind to us.”
+
+“You mean that the person will come again?”
+
+“It is very probable. He came expecting to find the door open. He tried
+to get in with the blade of a very small penknife. He could not manage
+it. What would he do?”
+
+“Come again next night with a more useful tool.”
+
+“So I should say. It will be our fault if we are not there to receive
+him. Meanwhile, let me see the inside of the cabin.”
+
+The traces of the tragedy had been removed, but the furniture within the
+little room still stood as it had been on the night of the crime. For
+two hours, with most intense concentration, Holmes examined every object
+in turn, but his face showed that his quest was not a successful one.
+Once only he paused in his patient investigation.
+
+“Have you taken anything off this shelf, Hopkins?”
+
+“No; I have moved nothing.”
+
+“Something has been taken. There is less dust in this corner of the
+shelf than elsewhere. It may have been a book lying on its side. It may
+have been a box. Well, well, I can do nothing more. Let us walk in
+these beautiful woods, Watson, and give a few hours to the birds and the
+flowers. We shall meet you here later, Hopkins, and see if we can come
+to closer quarters with the gentleman who has paid this visit in the
+night.”
+
+It was past eleven o'clock when we formed our little ambuscade. Hopkins
+was for leaving the door of the hut open, but Holmes was of the opinion
+that this would rouse the suspicions of the stranger. The lock was a
+perfectly simple one, and only a strong blade was needed to push it
+back. Holmes also suggested that we should wait, not inside the hut, but
+outside it among the bushes which grew round the farther window. In this
+way we should be able to watch our man if he struck a light, and see
+what his object was in this stealthy nocturnal visit.
+
+It was a long and melancholy vigil, and yet brought with it something of
+the thrill which the hunter feels when he lies beside the water pool and
+waits for the coming of the thirsty beast of prey. What savage creature
+was it which might steal upon us out of the darkness? Was it a fierce
+tiger of crime, which could only be taken fighting hard with flashing
+fang and claw, or would it prove to be some skulking jackal, dangerous
+only to the weak and unguarded?
+
+In absolute silence we crouched amongst the bushes, waiting for whatever
+might come. At first the steps of a few belated villagers, or the sound
+of voices from the village, lightened our vigil; but one by one these
+interruptions died away and an absolute stillness fell upon us, save for
+the chimes of the distant church, which told us of the progress of the
+night, and for the rustle and whisper of a fine rain falling amid the
+foliage which roofed us in.
+
+Half-past two had chimed, and it was the darkest hour which precedes
+the dawn, when we all started as a low but sharp click came from the
+direction of the gate. Someone had entered the drive. Again there was a
+long silence, and I had begun to fear that it was a false alarm, when
+a stealthy step was heard upon the other side of the hut, and a moment
+later a metallic scraping and clinking. The man was trying to force the
+lock! This time his skill was greater or his tool was better, for there
+was a sudden snap and the creak of the hinges. Then a match was struck,
+and next instant the steady light from a candle filled the interior of
+the hut. Through the gauze curtain our eyes were all riveted upon the
+scene within.
+
+The nocturnal visitor was a young man, frail and thin, with a black
+moustache which intensified the deadly pallor of his face. He could not
+have been much above twenty years of age. I have never seen any human
+being who appeared to be in such a pitiable fright, for his teeth were
+visibly chattering and he was shaking in every limb. He was dressed like
+a gentleman, in Norfolk jacket and knickerbockers, with a cloth cap upon
+his head. We watched him staring round with frightened eyes. Then he
+laid the candle-end upon the table and disappeared from our view into
+one of the corners. He returned with a large book, one of the log-books
+which formed a line upon the shelves. Leaning on the table he rapidly
+turned over the leaves of this volume until he came to the entry which
+he sought. Then, with an angry gesture of his clenched hand, he closed
+the book, replaced it in the corner, and put out the light. He had
+hardly turned to leave the hut when Hopkins's hand was on the fellow's
+collar, and I heard his loud gasp of terror as he understood that he
+was taken. The candle was re-lit, and there was our wretched captive
+shivering and cowering in the grasp of the detective. He sank down upon
+the sea-chest, and looked helplessly from one of us to the other.
+
+“Now, my fine fellow,” said Stanley Hopkins, “who are you, and what do
+you want here?”
+
+The man pulled himself together and faced us with an effort at
+self-composure.
+
+“You are detectives, I suppose?” said he. “You imagine I am connected
+with the death of Captain Peter Carey. I assure you that I am innocent.”
+
+“We'll see about that,” said Hopkins. “First of all, what is your name?”
+
+“It is John Hopley Neligan.”
+
+I saw Holmes and Hopkins exchange a quick glance.
+
+“What are you doing here?”
+
+“Can I speak confidentially?”
+
+“No, certainly not.”
+
+“Why should I tell you?”
+
+“If you have no answer it may go badly with you at the trial.”
+
+The young man winced.
+
+“Well, I will tell you,” he said. “Why should I not? And yet I hate to
+think of this old scandal gaining a new lease of life. Did you ever hear
+of Dawson and Neligan?”
+
+I could see from Hopkins's face that he never had; but Holmes was keenly
+interested.
+
+“You mean the West-country bankers,” said he. “They failed for a
+million, ruined half the county families of Cornwall, and Neligan
+disappeared.”
+
+“Exactly. Neligan was my father.”
+
+At last we were getting something positive, and yet it seemed a long gap
+between an absconding banker and Captain Peter Carey pinned against the
+wall with one of his own harpoons. We all listened intently to the young
+man's words.
+
+“It was my father who was really concerned. Dawson had retired. I was
+only ten years of age at the time, but I was old enough to feel the
+shame and horror of it all. It has always been said that my father stole
+all the securities and fled. It is not true. It was his belief that if
+he were given time in which to realize them all would be well and every
+creditor paid in full. He started in his little yacht for Norway just
+before the warrant was issued for his arrest. I can remember that last
+night when he bade farewell to my mother. He left us a list of the
+securities he was taking, and he swore that he would come back with his
+honour cleared, and that none who had trusted him would suffer. Well,
+no word was ever heard from him again. Both the yacht and he vanished
+utterly. We believed, my mother and I, that he and it, with the
+securities that he had taken with him, were at the bottom of the sea. We
+had a faithful friend, however, who is a business man, and it was he who
+discovered some time ago that some of the securities which my father
+had with him have reappeared on the London market. You can imagine our
+amazement. I spent months in trying to trace them, and at last, after
+many doublings and difficulties, I discovered that the original seller
+had been Captain Peter Carey, the owner of this hut.
+
+“Naturally, I made some inquiries about the man. I found that he had
+been in command of a whaler which was due to return from the Arctic seas
+at the very time when my father was crossing to Norway. The autumn of
+that year was a stormy one, and there was a long succession of southerly
+gales. My father's yacht may well have been blown to the north, and
+there met by Captain Peter Carey's ship. If that were so, what had
+become of my father? In any case, if I could prove from Peter Carey's
+evidence how these securities came on the market it would be a proof
+that my father had not sold them, and that he had no view to personal
+profit when he took them.
+
+“I came down to Sussex with the intention of seeing the captain, but
+it was at this moment that his terrible death occurred. I read at the
+inquest a description of his cabin, in which it stated that the old
+log-books of his vessel were preserved in it. It struck me that if I
+could see what occurred in the month of August, 1883, on board the SEA
+UNICORN, I might settle the mystery of my father's fate. I tried last
+night to get at these log-books, but was unable to open the door.
+To-night I tried again, and succeeded; but I find that the pages which
+deal with that month have been torn from the book. It was at that moment
+I found myself a prisoner in your hands.”
+
+“Is that all?” asked Hopkins.
+
+“Yes, that is all.” His eyes shifted as he said it.
+
+“You have nothing else to tell us?”
+
+He hesitated.
+
+“No; there is nothing.”
+
+“You have not been here before last night?”
+
+“No.”
+
+“Then how do you account for THAT?” cried Hopkins, as he held up the
+damning note-book, with the initials of our prisoner on the first leaf
+and the blood-stain on the cover.
+
+The wretched man collapsed. He sank his face in his hands and trembled
+all over.
+
+“Where did you get it?” he groaned. “I did not know. I thought I had
+lost it at the hotel.”
+
+“That is enough,” said Hopkins, sternly. “Whatever else you have to
+say you must say in court. You will walk down with me now to the
+police-station. Well, Mr. Holmes, I am very much obliged to you and to
+your friend for coming down to help me. As it turns out your presence
+was unnecessary, and I would have brought the case to this successful
+issue without you; but none the less I am very grateful. Rooms have been
+reserved for you at the Brambletye Hotel, so we can all walk down to the
+village together.”
+
+“Well, Watson, what do you think of it?” asked Holmes, as we travelled
+back next morning.
+
+“I can see that you are not satisfied.”
+
+“Oh, yes, my dear Watson, I am perfectly satisfied. At the same
+time Stanley Hopkins's methods do not commend themselves to me. I am
+disappointed in Stanley Hopkins. I had hoped for better things from him.
+One should always look for a possible alternative and provide against
+it. It is the first rule of criminal investigation.”
+
+“What, then, is the alternative?”
+
+“The line of investigation which I have myself been pursuing. It may
+give us nothing. I cannot tell. But at least I shall follow it to the
+end.”
+
+Several letters were waiting for Holmes at Baker Street. He snatched
+one of them up, opened it, and burst out into a triumphant chuckle of
+laughter.
+
+“Excellent, Watson. The alternative develops. Have you telegraph
+forms? Just write a couple of messages for me: 'Sumner, Shipping
+Agent, Ratcliff Highway. Send three men on, to arrive ten to-morrow
+morning.--Basil.' That's my name in those parts. The other is:
+'Inspector Stanley Hopkins, 46, Lord Street, Brixton. Come breakfast
+to-morrow at nine-thirty. Important. Wire if unable to come.--Sherlock
+Holmes.' There, Watson, this infernal case has haunted me for ten days.
+I hereby banish it completely from my presence. To-morrow I trust that
+we shall hear the last of it for ever.”
+
+Sharp at the hour named Inspector Stanley Hopkins appeared, and we sat
+down together to the excellent breakfast which Mrs. Hudson had prepared.
+The young detective was in high spirits at his success.
+
+“You really think that your solution must be correct?” asked Holmes.
+
+“I could not imagine a more complete case.”
+
+“It did not seem to me conclusive.”
+
+“You astonish me, Mr. Holmes. What more could one ask for?”
+
+“Does your explanation cover every point?”
+
+“Undoubtedly. I find that young Neligan arrived at the Brambletye Hotel
+on the very day of the crime. He came on the pretence of playing golf.
+His room was on the ground-floor, and he could get out when he liked.
+That very night he went down to Woodman's Lee, saw Peter Carey at
+the hut, quarrelled with him, and killed him with the harpoon. Then,
+horrified by what he had done, he fled out of the hut, dropping the
+note-book which he had brought with him in order to question Peter Carey
+about these different securities. You may have observed that some of
+them were marked with ticks, and the others--the great majority--were
+not. Those which are ticked have been traced on the London market; but
+the others presumably were still in the possession of Carey, and young
+Neligan, according to his own account, was anxious to recover them in
+order to do the right thing by his father's creditors. After his flight
+he did not dare to approach the hut again for some time; but at last
+he forced himself to do so in order to obtain the information which he
+needed. Surely that is all simple and obvious?”
+
+Holmes smiled and shook his head.
+
+“It seems to me to have only one drawback, Hopkins, and that is that it
+is intrinsically impossible. Have you tried to drive a harpoon through a
+body? No? Tut, tut, my dear sir, you must really pay attention to these
+details. My friend Watson could tell you that I spent a whole morning in
+that exercise. It is no easy matter, and requires a strong and practised
+arm. But this blow was delivered with such violence that the head of the
+weapon sank deep into the wall. Do you imagine that this anaemic youth
+was capable of so frightful an assault? Is he the man who hobnobbed
+in rum and water with Black Peter in the dead of the night? Was it his
+profile that was seen on the blind two nights before? No, no, Hopkins;
+it is another and a more formidable person for whom we must seek.”
+
+The detective's face had grown longer and longer during Holmes's speech.
+His hopes and his ambitions were all crumbling about him. But he would
+not abandon his position without a struggle.
+
+“You can't deny that Neligan was present that night, Mr. Holmes. The
+book will prove that. I fancy that I have evidence enough to satisfy a
+jury, even if you are able to pick a hole in it. Besides, Mr. Holmes,
+I have laid my hand upon MY man. As to this terrible person of yours,
+where is he?”
+
+“I rather fancy that he is on the stair,” said Holmes, serenely. “I
+think, Watson, that you would do well to put that revolver where you can
+reach it.” He rose, and laid a written paper upon a side-table. “Now we
+are ready,” said he.
+
+There had been some talking in gruff voices outside, and now Mrs. Hudson
+opened the door to say that there were three men inquiring for Captain
+Basil.
+
+“Show them in one by one,” said Holmes.
+
+The first who entered was a little ribston-pippin of a man, with ruddy
+cheeks and fluffy white side-whiskers. Holmes had drawn a letter from
+his pocket.
+
+“What name?” he asked.
+
+“James Lancaster.”
+
+“I am sorry, Lancaster, but the berth is full. Here is half a sovereign
+for your trouble. Just step into this room and wait there for a few
+minutes.”
+
+The second man was a long, dried-up creature, with lank hair and sallow
+cheeks. His name was Hugh Pattins. He also received his dismissal, his
+half-sovereign, and the order to wait.
+
+The third applicant was a man of remarkable appearance. A fierce
+bull-dog face was framed in a tangle of hair and beard, and two bold
+dark eyes gleamed behind the cover of thick, tufted, overhung eyebrows.
+He saluted and stood sailor-fashion, turning his cap round in his hands.
+
+“Your name?” asked Holmes.
+
+“Patrick Cairns.”
+
+“Harpooner?”
+
+“Yes, sir. Twenty-six voyages.”
+
+“Dundee, I suppose?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“And ready to start with an exploring ship?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“What wages?”
+
+“Eight pounds a month.”
+
+“Could you start at once?”
+
+“As soon as I get my kit.”
+
+“Have you your papers?”
+
+“Yes, sir.” He took a sheaf of worn and greasy forms from his pocket.
+Holmes glanced over them and returned them.
+
+“You are just the man I want,” said he. “Here's the agreement on the
+side-table. If you sign it the whole matter will be settled.”
+
+The seaman lurched across the room and took up the pen.
+
+“Shall I sign here?” he asked, stooping over the table.
+
+Holmes leaned over his shoulder and passed both hands over his neck.
+
+“This will do,” said he.
+
+I heard a click of steel and a bellow like an enraged bull. The next
+instant Holmes and the seaman were rolling on the ground together. He
+was a man of such gigantic strength that, even with the handcuffs
+which Holmes had so deftly fastened upon his wrists, he would have
+very quickly overpowered my friend had Hopkins and I not rushed to
+his rescue. Only when I pressed the cold muzzle of the revolver to his
+temple did he at last understand that resistance was vain. We lashed his
+ankles with cord and rose breathless from the struggle.
+
+“I must really apologize, Hopkins,” said Sherlock Holmes; “I fear that
+the scrambled eggs are cold. However, you will enjoy the rest of your
+breakfast all the better, will you not, for the thought that you have
+brought your case to a triumphant conclusion.”
+
+Stanley Hopkins was speechless with amazement.
+
+“I don't know what to say, Mr. Holmes,” he blurted out at last, with a
+very red face. “It seems to me that I have been making a fool of
+myself from the beginning. I understand now, what I should never have
+forgotten, that I am the pupil and you are the master. Even now I
+see what you have done, but I don't know how you did it, or what it
+signifies.”
+
+“Well, well,” said Holmes, good-humouredly. “We all learn by experience,
+and your lesson this time is that you should never lose sight of the
+alternative. You were so absorbed in young Neligan that you could not
+spare a thought to Patrick Cairns, the true murderer of Peter Carey.”
+
+The hoarse voice of the seaman broke in on our conversation.
+
+“See here, mister,” said he, “I make no complaint of being man-handled
+in this fashion, but I would have you call things by their right names.
+You say I murdered Peter Carey; I say I KILLED Peter Carey, and there's
+all the difference. Maybe you don't believe what I say. Maybe you think
+I am just slinging you a yarn.”
+
+“Not at all,” said Holmes. “Let us hear what you have to say.”
+
+“It's soon told, and, by the Lord, every word of it is truth. I knew
+Black Peter, and when he pulled out his knife I whipped a harpoon
+through him sharp, for I knew that it was him or me. That's how he died.
+You can call it murder. Anyhow, I'd as soon die with a rope round my
+neck as with Black Peter's knife in my heart.”
+
+“How came you there?” asked Holmes.
+
+“I'll tell it you from the beginning. Just sit me up a little so as I
+can speak easy. It was in '83 that it happened--August of that year.
+Peter Carey was master of the SEA UNICORN, and I was spare harpooner. We
+were coming out of the ice-pack on our way home, with head winds and a
+week's southerly gale, when we picked up a little craft that had been
+blown north. There was one man on her--a landsman. The crew had thought
+she would founder, and had made for the Norwegian coast in the dinghy.
+I guess they were all drowned. Well, we took him on board, this man, and
+he and the skipper had some long talks in the cabin. All the baggage we
+took off with him was one tin box. So far as I know, the man's name was
+never mentioned, and on the second night he disappeared as if he had
+never been. It was given out that he had either thrown himself overboard
+or fallen overboard in the heavy weather that we were having. Only one
+man knew what had happened to him, and that was me, for with my own
+eyes I saw the skipper tip up his heels and put him over the rail in the
+middle watch of a dark night, two days before we sighted the Shetland
+lights.
+
+“Well, I kept my knowledge to myself and waited to see what would come
+of it. When we got back to Scotland it was easily hushed up, and nobody
+asked any questions. A stranger died by an accident, and it was nobody's
+business to inquire. Shortly after Peter Carey gave up the sea, and it
+was long years before I could find where he was. I guessed that he had
+done the deed for the sake of what was in that tin box, and that he
+could afford now to pay me well for keeping my mouth shut.
+
+“I found out where he was through a sailor man that had met him
+in London, and down I went to squeeze him. The first night he was
+reasonable enough, and was ready to give me what would make me free of
+the sea for life. We were to fix it all two nights later. When I came
+I found him three parts drunk and in a vile temper. We sat down and we
+drank and we yarned about old times, but the more he drank the less I
+liked the look on his face. I spotted that harpoon upon the wall, and I
+thought I might need it before I was through. Then at last he broke
+out at me, spitting and cursing, with murder in his eyes and a great
+clasp-knife in his hand. He had not time to get it from the sheath
+before I had the harpoon through him. Heavens! what a yell he gave; and
+his face gets between me and my sleep! I stood there, with his blood
+splashing round me, and I waited for a bit; but all was quiet, so I took
+heart once more. I looked round, and there was the tin box on a shelf. I
+had as much right to it as Peter Carey, anyhow, so I took it with me and
+left the hut. Like a fool I left my baccy-pouch upon the table.
+
+“Now I'll tell you the queerest part of the whole story. I had hardly
+got outside the hut when I heard someone coming, and I hid among the
+bushes. A man came slinking along, went into the hut, gave a cry as if
+he had seen a ghost, and legged it as hard as he could run until he was
+out of sight. Who he was or what he wanted is more than I can tell.
+For my part I walked ten miles, got a train at Tunbridge Wells, and so
+reached London, and no one the wiser.
+
+“Well, when I came to examine the box I found there was no money in it,
+and nothing but papers that I would not dare to sell. I had lost my hold
+on Black Peter, and was stranded in London without a shilling. There was
+only my trade left. I saw these advertisements about harpooners and high
+wages, so I went to the shipping agents, and they sent me here. That's
+all I know, and I say again that if I killed Black Peter the law should
+give me thanks, for I saved them the price of a hempen rope.”
+
+“A very clear statement,” said Holmes, rising and lighting his pipe. “I
+think, Hopkins, that you should lose no time in conveying your prisoner
+to a place of safety. This room is not well adapted for a cell, and Mr.
+Patrick Cairns occupies too large a proportion of our carpet.”
+
+“Mr. Holmes,” said Hopkins, “I do not know how to express my gratitude.
+Even now I do not understand how you attained this result.”
+
+“Simply by having the good fortune to get the right clue from the
+beginning. It is very possible if I had known about this note-book
+it might have led away my thoughts, as it did yours. But all I heard
+pointed in the one direction. The amazing strength, the skill in the use
+of the harpoon, the rum and water, the seal-skin tobacco-pouch, with the
+coarse tobacco--all these pointed to a seaman, and one who had been a
+whaler. I was convinced that the initials 'P.C.' upon the pouch were a
+coincidence, and not those of Peter Carey, since he seldom smoked, and
+no pipe was found in his cabin. You remember that I asked whether whisky
+and brandy were in the cabin. You said they were. How many landsmen are
+there who would drink rum when they could get these other spirits? Yes,
+I was certain it was a seaman.”
+
+“And how did you find him?”
+
+“My dear sir, the problem had become a very simple one. If it were
+a seaman, it could only be a seaman who had been with him on the SEA
+UNICORN. So far as I could learn he had sailed in no other ship. I
+spent three days in wiring to Dundee, and at the end of that time I had
+ascertained the names of the crew of the SEA UNICORN in 1883. When I
+found Patrick Cairns among the harpooners my research was nearing its
+end. I argued that the man was probably in London, and that he would
+desire to leave the country for a time. I therefore spent some days in
+the East-end, devised an Arctic expedition, put forth tempting terms for
+harpooners who would serve under Captain Basil--and behold the result!”
+
+“Wonderful!” cried Hopkins. “Wonderful!”
+
+“You must obtain the release of young Neligan as soon as possible,” said
+Holmes. “I confess that I think you owe him some apology. The tin box
+must be returned to him, but, of course, the securities which Peter
+Carey has sold are lost for ever. There's the cab, Hopkins, and you can
+remove your man. If you want me for the trial, my address and that of
+Watson will be somewhere in Norway--I'll send particulars later.”
+
+
+*****
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 27  APRIL, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+VII.--The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.
+
+
+IT is years since the incidents of which I speak took place, and yet it
+is with diffidence that I allude to them. For a long time, even with the
+utmost discretion and reticence, it would have been impossible to make
+the facts public; but now the principal person concerned is beyond the
+reach of human law, and with due suppression the story may be told
+in such fashion as to injure no one. It records an absolutely unique
+experience in the career both of Mr. Sherlock Holmes and of myself. The
+reader will excuse me if I conceal the date or any other fact by which
+he might trace the actual occurrence.
+
+We had been out for one of our evening rambles, Holmes and I, and had
+returned about six o'clock on a cold, frosty winter's evening. As Holmes
+turned up the lamp the light fell upon a card on the table. He glanced
+at it, and then, with an ejaculation of disgust, threw it on the floor.
+I picked it up and read:--
+
+             CHARLES AUGUSTUS MILVERTON,
+                  APPLEDORE TOWERS,
+            AGENT.              HAMPSTEAD.
+
+“Who is he?” I asked.
+
+“The worst man in London,” Holmes answered, as he sat down and stretched
+his legs before the fire. “Is anything on the back of the card?”
+
+I turned it over.
+
+“Will call at 6.30--C.A.M.,” I read.
+
+“Hum! He's about due. Do you feel a creeping, shrinking sensation,
+Watson, when you stand before the serpents in the Zoo and see the
+slithery, gliding, venomous creatures, with their deadly eyes and
+wicked, flattened faces? Well, that's how Milverton impresses me. I've
+had to do with fifty murderers in my career, but the worst of them never
+gave me the repulsion which I have for this fellow. And yet I can't get
+out of doing business with him--indeed, he is here at my invitation.”
+
+“But who is he?”
+
+“I'll tell you, Watson. He is the king of all the blackmailers. Heaven
+help the man, and still more the woman, whose secret and reputation come
+into the power of Milverton. With a smiling face and a heart of marble
+he will squeeze and squeeze until he has drained them dry. The fellow is
+a genius in his way, and would have made his mark in some more savoury
+trade. His method is as follows: He allows it to be known that he is
+prepared to pay very high sums for letters which compromise people of
+wealth or position. He receives these wares not only from treacherous
+valets or maids, but frequently from genteel ruffians who have gained
+the confidence and affection of trusting women. He deals with no niggard
+hand. I happen to know that he paid seven hundred pounds to a footman
+for a note two lines in length, and that the ruin of a noble family was
+the result. Everything which is in the market goes to Milverton, and
+there are hundreds in this great city who turn white at his name. No
+one knows where his grip may fall, for he is far too rich and far too
+cunning to work from hand to mouth. He will hold a card back for years
+in order to play it at the moment when the stake is best worth winning.
+I have said that he is the worst man in London, and I would ask you how
+could one compare the ruffian who in hot blood bludgeons his mate with
+this man, who methodically and at his leisure tortures the soul and
+wrings the nerves in order to add to his already swollen money-bags?”
+
+I had seldom heard my friend speak with such intensity of feeling.
+
+“But surely,” said I, “the fellow must be within the grasp of the law?”
+
+“Technically, no doubt, but practically not. What would it profit a
+woman, for example, to get him a few months' imprisonment if her own
+ruin must immediately follow? His victims dare not hit back. If ever he
+blackmailed an innocent person, then, indeed, we should have him; but he
+is as cunning as the Evil One. No, no; we must find other ways to fight
+him.”
+
+“And why is he here?”
+
+“Because an illustrious client has placed her piteous case in my hands.
+It is the Lady Eva Brackwell, the most beautiful DEBUTANTE of last
+season. She is to be married in a fortnight to the Earl of Dovercourt.
+This fiend has several imprudent letters--imprudent, Watson, nothing
+worse--which were written to an impecunious young squire in the country.
+They would suffice to break off the match. Milverton will send the
+letters to the Earl unless a large sum of money is paid him. I have been
+commissioned to meet him, and--to make the best terms I can.”
+
+At that instant there was a clatter and a rattle in the street below.
+Looking down I saw a stately carriage and pair, the brilliant lamps
+gleaming on the glossy haunches of the noble chestnuts. A footman
+opened the door, and a small, stout man in a shaggy astrachan overcoat
+descended. A minute later he was in the room.
+
+Charles Augustus Milverton was a man of fifty, with a large,
+intellectual head, a round, plump, hairless face, a perpetual frozen
+smile, and two keen grey eyes, which gleamed brightly from behind broad,
+golden-rimmed glasses. There was something of Mr. Pickwick's benevolence
+in his appearance, marred only by the insincerity of the fixed smile and
+by the hard glitter of those restless and penetrating eyes. His voice
+was as smooth and suave as his countenance, as he advanced with a plump
+little hand extended, murmuring his regret for having missed us at his
+first visit. Holmes disregarded the outstretched hand and looked at him
+with a face of granite. Milverton's smile broadened; he shrugged his
+shoulders, removed his overcoat, folded it with great deliberation over
+the back of a chair, and then took a seat.
+
+“This gentleman?” said he, with a wave in my direction. “Is it discreet?
+Is it right?”
+
+“Dr. Watson is my friend and partner.”
+
+“Very good, Mr. Holmes. It is only in your client's interests that I
+protested. The matter is so very delicate----”
+
+“Dr. Watson has already heard of it.”
+
+“Then we can proceed to business. You say that you are acting for Lady
+Eva. Has she empowered you to accept my terms?”
+
+“What are your terms?”
+
+“Seven thousand pounds.”
+
+“And the alternative?”
+
+“My dear sir, it is painful for me to discuss it; but if the money is
+not paid on the 14th there certainly will be no marriage on the 18th.”
+ His insufferable smile was more complacent than ever.
+
+Holmes thought for a little.
+
+“You appear to me,” he said, at last, “to be taking matters too much for
+granted. I am, of course, familiar with the contents of these letters.
+My client will certainly do what I may advise. I shall counsel her to
+tell her future husband the whole story and to trust to his generosity.”
+
+Milverton chuckled.
+
+“You evidently do not know the Earl,” said he.
+
+From the baffled look upon Holmes's face I could see clearly that he
+did.
+
+“What harm is there in the letters?” he asked.
+
+“They are sprightly--very sprightly,” Milverton answered. “The lady
+was a charming correspondent. But I can assure you that the Earl of
+Dovercourt would fail to appreciate them. However, since you think
+otherwise, we will let it rest at that. It is purely a matter of
+business. If you think that it is in the best interests of your client
+that these letters should be placed in the hands of the Earl, then you
+would indeed be foolish to pay so large a sum of money to regain them.”
+ He rose and seized his astrachan coat.
+
+Holmes was grey with anger and mortification.
+
+“Wait a little,” he said. “You go too fast. We would certainly make
+every effort to avoid scandal in so delicate a matter.”
+
+Milverton relapsed into his chair.
+
+“I was sure that you would see it in that light,” he purred.
+
+“At the same time,” Holmes continued, “Lady Eva is not a wealthy
+woman. I assure you that two thousand pounds would be a drain upon her
+resources, and that the sum you name is utterly beyond her power. I beg,
+therefore, that you will moderate your demands, and that you will return
+the letters at the price I indicate, which is, I assure you, the highest
+that you can get.”
+
+Milverton's smile broadened and his eyes twinkled humorously.
+
+“I am aware that what you say is true about the lady's resources,” said
+he. “At the same time, you must admit that the occasion of a lady's
+marriage is a very suitable time for her friends and relatives to
+make some little effort upon her behalf. They may hesitate as to an
+acceptable wedding present. Let me assure them that this little bundle
+of letters would give more joy than all the candelabra and butter-dishes
+in London.”
+
+“It is impossible,” said Holmes.
+
+“Dear me, dear me, how unfortunate!” cried Milverton, taking out a bulky
+pocket-book. “I cannot help thinking that ladies are ill-advised in
+not making an effort. Look at this!” He held up a little note with a
+coat-of-arms upon the envelope. “That belongs to--well, perhaps it is
+hardly fair to tell the name until to-morrow morning. But at that time
+it will be in the hands of the lady's husband. And all because she will
+not find a beggarly sum which she could get by turning her diamonds
+into paste. It IS such a pity. Now, you remember the sudden end of the
+engagement between the Honourable Miss Miles and Colonel Dorking? Only
+two days before the wedding there was a paragraph in the MORNING POST
+to say that it was all off. And why? It is almost incredible, but
+the absurd sum of twelve hundred pounds would have settled the whole
+question. Is it not pitiful? And here I find you, a man of sense,
+boggling about terms when your client's future and honour are at stake.
+You surprise me, Mr. Holmes.”
+
+“What I say is true,” Holmes answered. “The money cannot be found.
+Surely it is better for you to take the substantial sum which I offer
+than to ruin this woman's career, which can profit you in no way?”
+
+“There you make a mistake, Mr. Holmes. An exposure would profit me
+indirectly to a considerable extent. I have eight or ten similar cases
+maturing. If it was circulated among them that I had made a severe
+example of the Lady Eva I should find all of them much more open to
+reason. You see my point?”
+
+Holmes sprang from his chair.
+
+“Get behind him, Watson! Don't let him out! Now, sir, let us see the
+contents of that note-book.”
+
+Milverton had glided as quick as a rat to the side of the room, and
+stood with his back against the wall.
+
+“Mr. Holmes, Mr. Holmes,” he said, turning the front of his coat and
+exhibiting the butt of a large revolver, which projected from the inside
+pocket. “I have been expecting you to do something original. This has
+been done so often, and what good has ever come from it? I assure you
+that I am armed to the teeth, and I am perfectly prepared to use my
+weapons, knowing that the law will support me. Besides, your supposition
+that I would bring the letters here in a note-book is entirely mistaken.
+I would do nothing so foolish. And now, gentlemen, I have one or two
+little interviews this evening, and it is a long drive to Hampstead.”
+ He stepped forward, took up his coat, laid his hand on his revolver, and
+turned to the door. I picked up a chair, but Holmes shook his head and
+I laid it down again. With bow, a smile, and a twinkle Milverton was out
+of the room, and a few moments after we heard the slam of the carriage
+door and the rattle of the wheels as he drove away.
+
+Holmes sat motionless by the fire, his hands buried deep in his trouser
+pockets, his chin sunk upon his breast, his eyes fixed upon the glowing
+embers. For half an hour he was silent and still. Then, with the gesture
+of a man who has taken his decision, he sprang to his feet and passed
+into his bedroom. A little later a rakish young workman with a goatee
+beard and a swagger lit his clay pipe at the lamp before descending into
+the street. “I'll be back some time, Watson,” said he, and vanished into
+the night. I understood that he had opened his campaign against Charles
+Augustus Milverton; but I little dreamed the strange shape which that
+campaign was destined to take.
+
+For some days Holmes came and went at all hours in this attire, but
+beyond a remark that his time was spent at Hampstead, and that it was
+not wasted, I knew nothing of what he was doing. At last, however, on
+a wild, tempestuous evening, when the wind screamed and rattled against
+the windows, he returned from his last expedition, and having removed
+his disguise he sat before the fire and laughed heartily in his silent
+inward fashion.
+
+“You would not call me a marrying man, Watson?”
+
+“No, indeed!”
+
+“You'll be interested to hear that I am engaged.”
+
+“My dear fellow! I congrat----”
+
+“To Milverton's housemaid.”
+
+“Good heavens, Holmes!”
+
+“I wanted information, Watson.”
+
+“Surely you have gone too far?”
+
+“It was a most necessary step. I am a plumber with a rising business,
+Escott by name. I have walked out with her each evening, and I have
+talked with her. Good heavens, those talks! However, I have got all I
+wanted. I know Milverton's house as I know the palm of my hand.”
+
+“But the girl, Holmes?”
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+“You can't help it, my dear Watson. You must play your cards as best you
+can when such a stake is on the table. However, I rejoice to say that
+I have a hated rival who will certainly cut me out the instant that my
+back is turned. What a splendid night it is!”
+
+“You like this weather?”
+
+“It suits my purpose. Watson, I mean to burgle Milverton's house
+to-night.”
+
+I had a catching of the breath, and my skin went cold at the words,
+which were slowly uttered in a tone of concentrated resolution. As a
+flash of lightning in the night shows up in an instant every detail of
+a wide landscape, so at one glance I seemed to see every possible result
+of such an action--the detection, the capture, the honoured career
+ending in irreparable failure and disgrace, my friend himself lying at
+the mercy of the odious Milverton.
+
+“For Heaven's sake, Holmes, think what you are doing,” I cried.
+
+“My dear fellow, I have given it every consideration. I am never
+precipitate in my actions, nor would I adopt so energetic and indeed so
+dangerous a course if any other were possible. Let us look at the matter
+clearly and fairly. I suppose that you will admit that the action is
+morally justifiable, though technically criminal. To burgle his house
+is no more than to forcibly take his pocket-book--an action in which you
+were prepared to aid me.”
+
+I turned it over in my mind.
+
+“Yes,” I said; “it is morally justifiable so long as our object is to
+take no articles save those which are used for an illegal purpose.”
+
+“Exactly. Since it is morally justifiable I have only to consider the
+question of personal risk. Surely a gentleman should not lay much stress
+upon this when a lady is in most desperate need of his help?”
+
+“You will be in such a false position.”
+
+“Well, that is part of the risk. There is no other possible way of
+regaining these letters. The unfortunate lady has not the money, and
+there are none of her people in whom she could confide. To-morrow is
+the last day of grace, and unless we can get the letters to-night this
+villain will be as good as his word and will bring about her ruin. I
+must, therefore, abandon my client to her fate or I must play this
+last card. Between ourselves, Watson, it's a sporting duel between
+this fellow Milverton and me. He had, as you saw, the best of the first
+exchanges; but my self-respect and my reputation are concerned to fight
+it to a finish.”
+
+“Well, I don't like it; but I suppose it must be,” said I. “When do we
+start?”
+
+“You are not coming.”
+
+“Then you are not going,” said I. “I give you my word of honour--and
+I never broke it in my life--that I will take a cab straight to the
+police-station and give you away unless you let me share this adventure
+with you.”
+
+“You can't help me.”
+
+“How do you know that? You can't tell what may happen. Anyway, my
+resolution is taken. Other people beside you have self-respect and even
+reputations.”
+
+Holmes had looked annoyed, but his brow cleared, and he clapped me on
+the shoulder.
+
+“Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so. We have shared the same room
+for some years, and it would be amusing if we ended by sharing the
+same cell. You know, Watson, I don't mind confessing to you that I have
+always had an idea that I would have made a highly efficient criminal.
+This is the chance of my lifetime in that direction. See here!” He took
+a neat little leather case out of a drawer, and opening it he exhibited
+a number of shining instruments. “This is a first-class, up-to-date
+burgling kit, with nickel-plated jemmy, diamond-tipped glass-cutter,
+adaptable keys, and every modern improvement which the march of
+civilization demands. Here, too, is my dark lantern. Everything is in
+order. Have you a pair of silent shoes?”
+
+“I have rubber-soled tennis shoes.”
+
+“Excellent. And a mask?”
+
+“I can make a couple out of black silk.”
+
+“I can see that you have a strong natural turn for this sort of thing.
+Very good; do you make the masks. We shall have some cold supper before
+we start. It is now nine-thirty. At eleven we shall drive as far as
+Church Row. It is a quarter of an hour's walk from there to Appledore
+Towers. We shall be at work before midnight. Milverton is a heavy
+sleeper and retires punctually at ten-thirty. With any luck we should be
+back here by two, with the Lady Eva's letters in my pocket.”
+
+Holmes and I put on our dress-clothes, so that we might appear to be two
+theatre-goers homeward bound. In Oxford Street we picked up a hansom and
+drove to an address in Hampstead. Here we paid off our cab, and with our
+great-coats buttoned up, for it was bitterly cold and the wind seemed to
+blow through us, we walked along the edge of the Heath.
+
+“It's a business that needs delicate treatment,” said Holmes. “These
+documents are contained in a safe in the fellow's study, and the study
+is the ante-room of his bed-chamber. On the other hand, like all these
+stout, little men who do themselves well, he is a plethoric sleeper.
+Agatha--that's my FIANCEE--says it is a joke in the servants' hall that
+it's impossible to wake the master. He has a secretary who is devoted to
+his interests and never budges from the study all day. That's why we are
+going at night. Then he has a beast of a dog which roams the garden. I
+met Agatha late the last two evenings, and she locks the brute up so
+as to give me a clear run. This is the house, this big one in its own
+grounds. Through the gate--now to the right among the laurels. We might
+put on our masks here, I think. You see, there is not a glimmer of light
+in any of the windows, and everything is working splendidly.”
+
+With our black silk face-coverings, which turned us into two of the most
+truculent figures in London, we stole up to the silent, gloomy house.
+A sort of tiled veranda extended along one side of it, lined by several
+windows and two doors.
+
+“That's his bedroom,” Holmes whispered. “This door opens straight into
+the study. It would suit us best, but it is bolted as well as locked,
+and we should make too much noise getting in. Come round here. There's a
+greenhouse which opens into the drawing-room.”
+
+The place was locked, but Holmes removed a circle of glass and turned
+the key from the inside. An instant afterwards he had closed the door
+behind us, and we had become felons in the eyes of the law. The thick,
+warm air of the conservatory and the rich, choking fragrance of exotic
+plants took us by the throat. He seized my hand in the darkness and led
+me swiftly past banks of shrubs which brushed against our faces. Holmes
+had remarkable powers, carefully cultivated, of seeing in the dark.
+Still holding my hand in one of his he opened a door, and I was vaguely
+conscious that we had entered a large room in which a cigar had been
+smoked not long before. He felt his way among the furniture, opened
+another door, and closed it behind us. Putting out my hand I felt
+several coats hanging from the wall, and I understood that I was in a
+passage. We passed along it, and Holmes very gently opened a door upon
+the right-hand side. Something rushed out at us and my heart sprang into
+my mouth, but I could have laughed when I realized that it was the cat.
+A fire was burning in this new room, and again the air was heavy with
+tobacco smoke. Holmes entered on tiptoe, waited for me to follow, and
+then very gently closed the door. We were in Milverton's study, and a
+PORTIERE at the farther side showed the entrance to his bedroom.
+
+It was a good fire, and the room was illuminated by it. Near the door I
+saw the gleam of an electric switch, but it was unnecessary, even if it
+had been safe, to turn it on. At one side of the fireplace was a heavy
+curtain, which covered the bay window we had seen from outside. On the
+other side was the door which communicated with the veranda. A desk
+stood in the centre, with a turning chair of shining red leather.
+Opposite was a large bookcase, with a marble bust of Athene on the top.
+In the corner between the bookcase and the wall there stood a tall green
+safe, the firelight flashing back from the polished brass knobs upon its
+face. Holmes stole across and looked at it. Then he crept to the door of
+the bedroom, and stood with slanting head listening intently. No sound
+came from within. Meanwhile it had struck me that it would be wise
+to secure our retreat through the outer door, so I examined it. To my
+amazement it was neither locked nor bolted! I touched Holmes on the arm,
+and he turned his masked face in that direction. I saw him start, and he
+was evidently as surprised as I.
+
+“I don't like it,” he whispered, putting his lips to my very ear. “I
+can't quite make it out. Anyhow, we have no time to lose.”
+
+“Can I do anything?”
+
+“Yes; stand by the door. If you hear anyone come, bolt it on the inside,
+and we can get away as we came. If they come the other way, we can
+get through the door if our job is done, or hide behind these window
+curtains if it is not. Do you understand?”
+
+I nodded and stood by the door. My first feeling of fear had passed
+away, and I thrilled now with a keener zest than I had ever enjoyed when
+we were the defenders of the law instead of its defiers. The high object
+of our mission, the consciousness that it was unselfish and chivalrous,
+the villainous character of our opponent, all added to the sporting
+interest of the adventure. Far from feeling guilty, I rejoiced and
+exulted in our dangers. With a glow of admiration I watched Holmes
+unrolling his case of instruments and choosing his tool with the calm,
+scientific accuracy of a surgeon who performs a delicate operation. I
+knew that the opening of safes was a particular hobby with him, and I
+understood the joy which it gave him to be confronted with this green
+and gold monster, the dragon which held in its maw the reputations of
+many fair ladies. Turning up the cuffs of his dress-coat--he had placed
+his overcoat on a chair--Holmes laid out two drills, a jemmy, and
+several skeleton keys. I stood at the centre door with my eyes glancing
+at each of the others, ready for any emergency; though, indeed, my plans
+were somewhat vague as to what I should do if we were interrupted. For
+half an hour Holmes worked with concentrated energy, laying down one
+tool, picking up another, handling each with the strength and delicacy
+of the trained mechanic. Finally I heard a click, the broad green door
+swung open, and inside I had a glimpse of a number of paper packets,
+each tied, sealed, and inscribed. Holmes picked one out, but it was hard
+to read by the flickering fire, and he drew out his little dark lantern,
+for it was too dangerous, with Milverton in the next room, to switch on
+the electric light. Suddenly I saw him halt, listen intently, and then
+in an instant he had swung the door of the safe to, picked up his
+coat, stuffed his tools into the pockets, and darted behind the window
+curtain, motioning me to do the same.
+
+It was only when I had joined him there that I heard what had alarmed
+his quicker senses. There was a noise somewhere within the house. A door
+slammed in the distance. Then a confused, dull murmur broke itself into
+the measured thud of heavy footsteps rapidly approaching. They were in
+the passage outside the room. They paused at the door. The door opened.
+There was a sharp snick as the electric light was turned on. The door
+closed once more, and the pungent reek of a strong cigar was borne
+to our nostrils. Then the footsteps continued backwards and forwards,
+backwards and forwards, within a few yards of us. Finally, there was a
+creak from a chair, and the footsteps ceased. Then a key clicked in a
+lock and I heard the rustle of papers.
+
+So far I had not dared to look out, but now I gently parted the division
+of the curtains in front of me and peeped through. From the pressure
+of Holmes's shoulder against mine I knew that he was sharing my
+observations. Right in front of us, and almost within our reach, was the
+broad, rounded back of Milverton. It was evident that we had entirely
+miscalculated his movements, that he had never been to his bedroom,
+but that he had been sitting up in some smoking or billiard room in the
+farther wing of the house, the windows of which we had not seen. His
+broad, grizzled head, with its shining patch of baldness, was in the
+immediate foreground of our vision. He was leaning far back in the red
+leather chair, his legs outstretched, a long black cigar projecting
+at an angle from his mouth. He wore a semi-military smoking jacket,
+claret-coloured, with a black velvet collar. In his hand he held a long
+legal document, which he was reading in an indolent fashion, blowing
+rings of tobacco smoke from his lips as he did so. There was no promise
+of a speedy departure in his composed bearing and his comfortable
+attitude.
+
+I felt Holmes's hand steal into mine and give me a reassuring shake, as
+if to say that the situation was within his powers and that he was
+easy in his mind. I was not sure whether he had seen what was only too
+obvious from my position, that the door of the safe was imperfectly
+closed, and that Milverton might at any moment observe it. In my own
+mind I had determined that if I were sure, from the rigidity of his
+gaze, that it had caught his eye, I would at once spring out, throw my
+great-coat over his head, pinion him, and leave the rest to Holmes. But
+Milverton never looked up. He was languidly interested by the papers in
+his hand, and page after page was turned as he followed the argument of
+the lawyer. At least, I thought, when he has finished the document and
+the cigar he will go to his room; but before he had reached the end of
+either there came a remarkable development which turned our thoughts
+into quite another channel.
+
+Several times I had observed that Milverton looked at his watch, and
+once he had risen and sat down again, with a gesture of impatience. The
+idea, however, that he might have an appointment at so strange an
+hour never occurred to me until a faint sound reached my ears from
+the veranda outside. Milverton dropped his papers and sat rigid in his
+chair. The sound was repeated, and then there came a gentle tap at the
+door. Milverton rose and opened it.
+
+“Well,” said he, curtly, “you are nearly half an hour late.”
+
+So this was the explanation of the unlocked door and of the nocturnal
+vigil of Milverton. There was the gentle rustle of a woman's dress. I
+had closed the slit between the curtains as Milverton's face had turned
+in our direction, but now I ventured very carefully to open it once
+more. He had resumed his seat, the cigar still projecting at an insolent
+angle from the corner of his mouth. In front of him, in the full glare
+of the electric light, there stood a tall, slim, dark woman, a veil over
+her face, a mantle drawn round her chin. Her breath came quick and fast,
+and every inch of the lithe figure was quivering with strong emotion.
+
+“Well,” said Milverton, “you've made me lose a good night's rest,
+my dear. I hope you'll prove worth it. You couldn't come any other
+time--eh?”
+
+The woman shook her head.
+
+“Well, if you couldn't you couldn't. If the Countess is a hard mistress
+you have your chance to get level with her now. Bless the girl, what are
+you shivering about? That's right! Pull yourself together! Now, let us
+get down to business.” He took a note from the drawer of his desk. “You
+say that you have five letters which compromise the Countess d'Albert.
+You want to sell them. I want to buy them. So far so good. It only
+remains to fix a price. I should want to inspect the letters, of course.
+If they are really good specimens--Great heavens, is it you?”
+
+The woman without a word had raised her veil and dropped the mantle
+from her chin. It was a dark, handsome, clear-cut face which confronted
+Milverton, a face with a curved nose, strong, dark eyebrows shading
+hard, glittering eyes, and a straight, thin-lipped mouth set in a
+dangerous smile.
+
+“It is I,” she said; “the woman whose life you have ruined.”
+
+Milverton laughed, but fear vibrated in his voice. “You were so very
+obstinate,” said he. “Why did you drive me to such extremities? I
+assure you I wouldn't hurt a fly of my own accord, but every man has his
+business, and what was I to do? I put the price well within your means.
+You would not pay.”
+
+“So you sent the letters to my husband, and he--the noblest gentleman
+that ever lived, a man whose boots I was never worthy to lace--he broke
+his gallant heart and died. You remember that last night when I came
+through that door I begged and prayed you for mercy, and you laughed in
+my face as you are trying to laugh now, only your coward heart cannot
+keep your lips from twitching? Yes, you never thought to see me here
+again, but it was that night which taught me how I could meet you face
+to face, and alone. Well, Charles Milverton, what have you to say?”
+
+“Don't imagine that you can bully me,” said he, rising to his feet. “I
+have only to raise my voice, and I could call my servants and have you
+arrested. But I will make allowance for your natural anger. Leave the
+room at once as you came, and I will say no more.”
+
+The woman stood with her hand buried in her bosom, and the same deadly
+smile on her thin lips.
+
+“You will ruin no more lives as you ruined mine. You will wring no more
+hearts as you wrung mine. I will free the world of a poisonous thing.
+Take that, you hound, and that!--and that!--and that!”
+
+She had drawn a little, gleaming revolver, and emptied barrel after
+barrel into Milverton's body, the muzzle within two feet of his shirt
+front. He shrank away and then fell forward upon the table, coughing
+furiously and clawing among the papers. Then he staggered to his feet,
+received another shot, and rolled upon the floor. “You've done me,” he
+cried, and lay still. The woman looked at him intently and ground her
+heel into his upturned face. She looked again, but there was no sound
+or movement. I heard a sharp rustle, the night air blew into the heated
+room, and the avenger was gone.
+
+No interference upon our part could have saved the man from his fate;
+but as the woman poured bullet after bullet into Milverton's shrinking
+body I was about to spring out, when I felt Holmes's cold, strong grasp
+upon my wrist. I understood the whole argument of that firm, restraining
+grip--that it was no affair of ours; that justice had overtaken a
+villain; that we had our own duties and our own objects which were not
+to be lost sight of. But hardly had the woman rushed from the room when
+Holmes, with swift, silent steps, was over at the other door. He turned
+the key in the lock. At the same instant we heard voices in the house
+and the sound of hurrying feet. The revolver shots had roused the
+household. With perfect coolness Holmes slipped across to the safe,
+filled his two arms with bundles of letters, and poured them all into
+the fire. Again and again he did it, until the safe was empty. Someone
+turned the handle and beat upon the outside of the door. Holmes looked
+swiftly round. The letter which had been the messenger of death for
+Milverton lay, all mottled with his blood, upon the table. Holmes tossed
+it in among the blazing papers. Then he drew the key from the outer
+door, passed through after me, and locked it on the outside. “This way,
+Watson,” said he; “we can scale the garden wall in this direction.”
+
+I could not have believed that an alarm could have spread so swiftly.
+Looking back, the huge house was one blaze of light. The front door
+was open, and figures were rushing down the drive. The whole garden was
+alive with people, and one fellow raised a view-halloa as we emerged
+from the veranda and followed hard at our heels. Holmes seemed to know
+the ground perfectly, and he threaded his way swiftly among a plantation
+of small trees, I close at his heels, and our foremost pursuer panting
+behind us. It was a six-foot wall which barred our path, but he sprang
+to the top and over. As I did the same I felt the hand of the man behind
+me grab at my ankle; but I kicked myself free and scrambled over a
+glass-strewn coping. I fell upon my face among some bushes; but Holmes
+had me on my feet in an instant, and together we dashed away across the
+huge expanse of Hampstead Heath. We had run two miles, I suppose, before
+Holmes at last halted and listened intently. All was absolute silence
+behind us. We had shaken off our pursuers and were safe.
+
+
+We had breakfasted and were smoking our morning pipe on the day after
+the remarkable experience which I have recorded when Mr. Lestrade, of
+Scotland Yard, very solemn and impressive, was ushered into our modest
+sitting-room.
+
+“Good morning, Mr. Holmes,” said he; “good morning. May I ask if you are
+very busy just now?”
+
+“Not too busy to listen to you.”
+
+“I thought that, perhaps, if you had nothing particular on hand, you
+might care to assist us in a most remarkable case which occurred only
+last night at Hampstead.”
+
+“Dear me!” said Holmes. “What was that?”
+
+“A murder--a most dramatic and remarkable murder. I know how keen you
+are upon these things, and I would take it as a great favour if you
+would step down to Appledore Towers and give us the benefit of your
+advice. It is no ordinary crime. We have had our eyes upon this Mr.
+Milverton for some time, and, between ourselves, he was a bit of a
+villain. He is known to have held papers which he used for blackmailing
+purposes. These papers have all been burned by the murderers. No article
+of value was taken, as it is probable that the criminals were men of
+good position, whose sole object was to prevent social exposure.”
+
+“Criminals!” said Holmes. “Plural!”
+
+“Yes, there were two of them. They were, as nearly as possible, captured
+red-handed. We have their foot-marks, we have their description; it's
+ten to one that we trace them. The first fellow was a bit too active,
+but the second was caught by the under-gardener and only got away after
+a struggle. He was a middle-sized, strongly-built man--square jaw, thick
+neck, moustache, a mask over his eyes.”
+
+“That's rather vague,” said Sherlock Holmes. “Why, it might be a
+description of Watson!”
+
+“It's true,” said the inspector, with much amusement. “It might be a
+description of Watson.”
+
+“Well, I am afraid I can't help you, Lestrade,” said Holmes. “The fact
+is that I knew this fellow Milverton, that I considered him one of the
+most dangerous men in London, and that I think there are certain crimes
+which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify
+private revenge. No, it's no use arguing. I have made up my mind. My
+sympathies are with the criminals rather than with the victim, and I
+will not handle this case.”
+
+
+Holmes had not said one word to me about the tragedy which we had
+witnessed, but I observed all the morning that he was in his most
+thoughtful mood, and he gave me the impression, from his vacant eyes and
+his abstracted manner, of a man who is striving to recall something to
+his memory. We were in the middle of our lunch when he suddenly sprang
+to his feet. “By Jove, Watson; I've got it!” he cried. “Take your hat!
+Come with me!” He hurried at his top speed down Baker Street and along
+Oxford Street, until we had almost reached Regent Circus. Here on the
+left hand there stands a shop window filled with photographs of the
+celebrities and beauties of the day. Holmes's eyes fixed themselves upon
+one of them, and following his gaze I saw the picture of a regal and
+stately lady in Court dress, with a high diamond tiara upon her noble
+head. I looked at that delicately-curved nose, at the marked eyebrows,
+at the straight mouth, and the strong little chin beneath it. Then I
+caught my breath as I read the time-honoured title of the great nobleman
+and statesman whose wife she had been. My eyes met those of Holmes, and
+he put his finger to his lips as we turned away from the window.
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 27  MAY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+VIII.--The Adventure of the Six Napoleons.
+
+
+IT was no very unusual thing for Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, to
+look in upon us of an evening, and his visits were welcome to Sherlock
+Holmes, for they enabled him to keep in touch with all that was going on
+at the police head-quarters. In return for the news which Lestrade would
+bring, Holmes was always ready to listen with attention to the
+details of any case upon which the detective was engaged, and was able
+occasionally, without any active interference, to give some hint or
+suggestion drawn from his own vast knowledge and experience.
+
+On this particular evening Lestrade had spoken of the weather and the
+newspapers. Then he had fallen silent, puffing thoughtfully at his
+cigar. Holmes looked keenly at him.
+
+“Anything remarkable on hand?” he asked.
+
+“Oh, no, Mr. Holmes, nothing very particular.”
+
+“Then tell me about it.”
+
+Lestrade laughed.
+
+“Well, Mr. Holmes, there is no use denying that there IS something on my
+mind. And yet it is such an absurd business that I hesitated to
+bother you about it. On the other hand, although it is trivial, it is
+undoubtedly queer, and I know that you have a taste for all that is out
+of the common. But in my opinion it comes more in Dr. Watson's line than
+ours.”
+
+“Disease?” said I.
+
+“Madness, anyhow. And a queer madness too! You wouldn't think there was
+anyone living at this time of day who had such a hatred of Napoleon the
+First that he would break any image of him that he could see.”
+
+Holmes sank back in his chair.
+
+“That's no business of mine,” said he.
+
+“Exactly. That's what I said. But then, when the man commits burglary
+in order to break images which are not his own, that brings it away from
+the doctor and on to the policeman.”
+
+Holmes sat up again.
+
+“Burglary! This is more interesting. Let me hear the details.”
+
+Lestrade took out his official note-book and refreshed his memory from
+its pages.
+
+“The first case reported was four days ago,” said he. “It was at the
+shop of Morse Hudson, who has a place for the sale of pictures and
+statues in the Kennington Road. The assistant had left the front shop
+for an instant when he heard a crash, and hurrying in he found a plaster
+bust of Napoleon, which stood with several other works of art upon the
+counter, lying shivered into fragments. He rushed out into the road,
+but, although several passers-by declared that they had noticed a man
+run out of the shop, he could neither see anyone nor could he find any
+means of identifying the rascal. It seemed to be one of those senseless
+acts of Hooliganism which occur from time to time, and it was reported
+to the constable on the beat as such. The plaster cast was not worth
+more than a few shillings, and the whole affair appeared to be too
+childish for any particular investigation.
+
+“The second case, however, was more serious and also more singular. It
+occurred only last night.
+
+“In Kennington Road, and within a few hundred yards of Morse Hudson's
+shop, there lives a well-known medical practitioner, named Dr. Barnicot,
+who has one of the largest practices upon the south side of the Thames.
+His residence and principal consulting-room is at Kennington Road, but
+he has a branch surgery and dispensary at Lower Brixton Road, two miles
+away. This Dr. Barnicot is an enthusiastic admirer of Napoleon, and his
+house is full of books, pictures, and relics of the French Emperor. Some
+little time ago he purchased from Morse Hudson two duplicate plaster
+casts of the famous head of Napoleon by the French sculptor, Devine. One
+of these he placed in his hall in the house at Kennington Road, and the
+other on the mantelpiece of the surgery at Lower Brixton. Well, when Dr.
+Barnicot came down this morning he was astonished to find that his house
+had been burgled during the night, but that nothing had been taken save
+the plaster head from the hall. It had been carried out and had been
+dashed savagely against the garden wall, under which its splintered
+fragments were discovered.”
+
+Holmes rubbed his hands.
+
+“This is certainly very novel,” said he.
+
+“I thought it would please you. But I have not got to the end yet. Dr.
+Barnicot was due at his surgery at twelve o'clock, and you can imagine
+his amazement when, on arriving there, he found that the window had been
+opened in the night, and that the broken pieces of his second bust were
+strewn all over the room. It had been smashed to atoms where it stood.
+In neither case were there any signs which could give us a clue as to
+the criminal or lunatic who had done the mischief. Now, Mr. Holmes, you
+have got the facts.”
+
+“They are singular, not to say grotesque,” said Holmes. “May I ask
+whether the two busts smashed in Dr. Barnicot's rooms were the exact
+duplicates of the one which was destroyed in Morse Hudson's shop?”
+
+“They were taken from the same mould.”
+
+“Such a fact must tell against the theory that the man who breaks them
+is influenced by any general hatred of Napoleon. Considering how many
+hundreds of statues of the great Emperor must exist in London, it is
+too much to suppose such a coincidence as that a promiscuous iconoclast
+should chance to begin upon three specimens of the same bust.”
+
+“Well, I thought as you do,” said Lestrade. “On the other hand, this
+Morse Hudson is the purveyor of busts in that part of London, and these
+three were the only ones which had been in his shop for years. So,
+although, as you say, there are many hundreds of statues in London, it
+is very probable that these three were the only ones in that district.
+Therefore, a local fanatic would begin with them. What do you think, Dr.
+Watson?”
+
+“There are no limits to the possibilities of monomania,” I answered.
+“There is the condition which the modern French psychologists have
+called the 'idee fixe,' which may be trifling in character, and
+accompanied by complete sanity in every other way. A man who had read
+deeply about Napoleon, or who had possibly received some hereditary
+family injury through the great war, might conceivably form such
+an 'idee fixe' and under its influence be capable of any fantastic
+outrage.”
+
+“That won't do, my dear Watson,” said Holmes, shaking his head; “for no
+amount of 'idee fixe' would enable your interesting monomaniac to find
+out where these busts were situated.”
+
+“Well, how do YOU explain it?”
+
+“I don't attempt to do so. I would only observe that there is a certain
+method in the gentleman's eccentric proceedings. For example, in Dr.
+Barnicot's hall, where a sound might arouse the family, the bust was
+taken outside before being broken, whereas in the surgery, where there
+was less danger of an alarm, it was smashed where it stood. The affair
+seems absurdly trifling, and yet I dare call nothing trivial when I
+reflect that some of my most classic cases have had the least promising
+commencement. You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of
+the Abernetty family was first brought to my notice by the depth which
+the parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day. I can't afford,
+therefore, to smile at your three broken busts, Lestrade, and I shall
+be very much obliged to you if you will let me hear of any fresh
+developments of so singular a chain of events.”
+
+
+The development for which my friend had asked came in a quicker and an
+infinitely more tragic form than he could have imagined. I was still
+dressing in my bedroom next morning when there was a tap at the door and
+Holmes entered, a telegram in his hand. He read it aloud:--
+
+“Come instantly, 131, Pitt Street, Kensington.--Lestrade.”
+
+“What is it, then?” I asked.
+
+“Don't know--may be anything. But I suspect it is the sequel of the
+story of the statues. In that case our friend, the image-breaker, has
+begun operations in another quarter of London. There's coffee on the
+table, Watson, and I have a cab at the door.”
+
+In half an hour we had reached Pitt Street, a quiet little backwater
+just beside one of the briskest currents of London life. No. 131 was one
+of a row, all flat-chested, respectable, and most unromantic dwellings.
+As we drove up we found the railings in front of the house lined by a
+curious crowd. Holmes whistled.
+
+“By George! it's attempted murder at the least. Nothing less will hold
+the London message-boy. There's a deed of violence indicated in that
+fellow's round shoulders and outstretched neck. What's this, Watson? The
+top steps swilled down and the other ones dry. Footsteps enough, anyhow!
+Well, well, there's Lestrade at the front window, and we shall soon know
+all about it.”
+
+The official received us with a very grave face and showed us into a
+sitting-room, where an exceedingly unkempt and agitated elderly
+man, clad in a flannel dressing-gown, was pacing up and down. He was
+introduced to us as the owner of the house--Mr. Horace Harker, of the
+Central Press Syndicate.
+
+“It's the Napoleon bust business again,” said Lestrade. “You seemed
+interested last night, Mr. Holmes, so I thought perhaps you would be
+glad to be present now that the affair has taken a very much graver
+turn.”
+
+“What has it turned to, then?”
+
+“To murder. Mr. Harker, will you tell these gentlemen exactly what has
+occurred?”
+
+The man in the dressing-gown turned upon us with a most melancholy face.
+
+“It's an extraordinary thing,” said he, “that all my life I have been
+collecting other people's news, and now that a real piece of news has
+come my own way I am so confused and bothered that I can't put two
+words together. If I had come in here as a journalist I should have
+interviewed myself and had two columns in every evening paper. As it is
+I am giving away valuable copy by telling my story over and over to a
+string of different people, and I can make no use of it myself. However,
+I've heard your name, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and if you'll only explain
+this queer business I shall be paid for my trouble in telling you the
+story.”
+
+Holmes sat down and listened.
+
+“It all seems to centre round that bust of Napoleon which I bought for
+this very room about four months ago. I picked it up cheap from Harding
+Brothers, two doors from the High Street Station. A great deal of my
+journalistic work is done at night, and I often write until the early
+morning. So it was to-day. I was sitting in my den, which is at the back
+of the top of the house, about three o'clock, when I was convinced that
+I heard some sounds downstairs. I listened, but they were not repeated,
+and I concluded that they came from outside. Then suddenly, about five
+minutes later, there came a most horrible yell--the most dreadful sound,
+Mr. Holmes, that ever I heard. It will ring in my ears as long as I
+live. I sat frozen with horror for a minute or two. Then I seized the
+poker and went downstairs. When I entered this room I found the window
+wide open, and I at once observed that the bust was gone from the
+mantelpiece. Why any burglar should take such a thing passes my
+understanding, for it was only a plaster cast and of no real value
+whatever.
+
+“You can see for yourself that anyone going out through that open window
+could reach the front doorstep by taking a long stride. This was clearly
+what the burglar had done, so I went round and opened the door. Stepping
+out into the dark I nearly fell over a dead man who was lying there. I
+ran back for a light, and there was the poor fellow, a great gash in his
+throat and the whole place swimming in blood. He lay on his back, his
+knees drawn up, and his mouth horribly open. I shall see him in my
+dreams. I had just time to blow on my police-whistle, and then I must
+have fainted, for I knew nothing more until I found the policeman
+standing over me in the hall.”
+
+“Well, who was the murdered man?” asked Holmes.
+
+“There's nothing to show who he was,” said Lestrade. “You shall see the
+body at the mortuary, but we have made nothing of it up to now. He is a
+tall man, sunburned, very powerful, not more than thirty. He is poorly
+dressed, and yet does not appear to be a labourer. A horn-handled clasp
+knife was lying in a pool of blood beside him. Whether it was the weapon
+which did the deed, or whether it belonged to the dead man, I do not
+know. There was no name on his clothing, and nothing in his pockets save
+an apple, some string, a shilling map of London, and a photograph. Here
+it is.”
+
+It was evidently taken by a snap-shot from a small camera. It
+represented an alert, sharp-featured simian man with thick eyebrows, and
+a very peculiar projection of the lower part of the face like the muzzle
+of a baboon.
+
+“And what became of the bust?” asked Holmes, after a careful study of
+this picture.
+
+“We had news of it just before you came. It has been found in the front
+garden of an empty house in Campden House Road. It was broken into
+fragments. I am going round now to see it. Will you come?”
+
+“Certainly. I must just take one look round.” He examined the carpet and
+the window. “The fellow had either very long legs or was a most active
+man,” said he. “With an area beneath, it was no mean feat to reach
+that window-ledge and open that window. Getting back was comparatively
+simple. Are you coming with us to see the remains of your bust, Mr.
+Harker?”
+
+The disconsolate journalist had seated himself at a writing-table.
+
+“I must try and make something of it,” said he, “though I have no doubt
+that the first editions of the evening papers are out already with
+full details. It's like my luck! You remember when the stand fell at
+Doncaster? Well, I was the only journalist in the stand, and my journal
+the only one that had no account of it, for I was too shaken to write
+it. And now I'll be too late with a murder done on my own doorstep.”
+
+As we left the room we heard his pen travelling shrilly over the
+foolscap.
+
+The spot where the fragments of the bust had been found was only a
+few hundred yards away. For the first time our eyes rested upon this
+presentment of the great Emperor, which seemed to raise such frantic
+and destructive hatred in the mind of the unknown. It lay scattered in
+splintered shards upon the grass. Holmes picked up several of them and
+examined them carefully. I was convinced from his intent face and his
+purposeful manner that at last he was upon a clue.
+
+“Well?” asked Lestrade.
+
+Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
+
+“We have a long way to go yet,” said he. “And yet--and yet--well, we
+have some suggestive facts to act upon. The possession of this trifling
+bust was worth more in the eyes of this strange criminal than a human
+life. That is one point. Then there is the singular fact that he did not
+break it in the house, or immediately outside the house, if to break it
+was his sole object.”
+
+“He was rattled and bustled by meeting this other fellow. He hardly knew
+what he was doing.”
+
+“Well, that's likely enough. But I wish to call your attention very
+particularly to the position of this house in the garden of which the
+bust was destroyed.”
+
+Lestrade looked about him.
+
+“It was an empty house, and so he knew that he would not be disturbed in
+the garden.”
+
+“Yes, but there is another empty house farther up the street which he
+must have passed before he came to this one. Why did he not break it
+there, since it is evident that every yard that he carried it increased
+the risk of someone meeting him?”
+
+“I give it up,” said Lestrade.
+
+Holmes pointed to the street lamp above our heads.
+
+“He could see what he was doing here and he could not there. That was
+his reason.”
+
+“By Jove! that's true,” said the detective. “Now that I come to think of
+it, Dr. Barnicot's bust was broken not far from his red lamp. Well, Mr.
+Holmes, what are we to do with that fact?”
+
+“To remember it--to docket it. We may come on something later which will
+bear upon it. What steps do you propose to take now, Lestrade?”
+
+“The most practical way of getting at it, in my opinion, is to identify
+the dead man. There should be no difficulty about that. When we have
+found who he is and who his associates are, we should have a good start
+in learning what he was doing in Pitt Street last night, and who it was
+who met him and killed him on the doorstep of Mr. Horace Harker. Don't
+you think so?”
+
+“No doubt; and yet it is not quite the way in which I should approach
+the case.”
+
+“What would you do, then?”
+
+“Oh, you must not let me influence you in any way! I suggest that you
+go on your line and I on mine. We can compare notes afterwards, and each
+will supplement the other.”
+
+“Very good,” said Lestrade.
+
+“If you are going back to Pitt Street you might see Mr. Horace Harker.
+Tell him from me that I have quite made up my mind, and that it is
+certain that a dangerous homicidal lunatic with Napoleonic delusions was
+in his house last night. It will be useful for his article.”
+
+Lestrade stared.
+
+“You don't seriously believe that?”
+
+Holmes smiled.
+
+“Don't I? Well, perhaps I don't. But I am sure that it will interest Mr.
+Horace Harker and the subscribers of the Central Press Syndicate.
+Now, Watson, I think that we shall find that we have a long and rather
+complex day's work before us. I should be glad, Lestrade, if you could
+make it convenient to meet us at Baker Street at six o'clock this
+evening. Until then I should like to keep this photograph found in the
+dead man's pocket. It is possible that I may have to ask your company
+and assistance upon a small expedition which will have be undertaken
+to-night, if my chain of reasoning should prove to be correct. Until
+then, good-bye and good luck!”
+
+Sherlock Holmes and I walked together to the High Street, where he
+stopped at the shop of Harding Brothers, whence the bust had been
+purchased. A young assistant informed us that Mr. Harding would be
+absent until after noon, and that he was himself a newcomer who could
+give us no information. Holmes's face showed his disappointment and
+annoyance.
+
+“Well, well, we can't expect to have it all our own way, Watson,” he
+said, at last. “We must come back in the afternoon if Mr. Harding
+will not be here until then. I am, as you have no doubt surmised,
+endeavouring to trace these busts to their source, in order to find if
+there is not something peculiar which may account for their remarkable
+fate. Let us make for Mr. Morse Hudson, of the Kennington Road, and see
+if he can throw any light upon the problem.”
+
+A drive of an hour brought us to the picture-dealer's establishment. He
+was a small, stout man with a red face and a peppery manner.
+
+“Yes, sir. On my very counter, sir,” said he. “What we pay rates and
+taxes for I don't know, when any ruffian can come in and break one's
+goods. Yes, sir, it was I who sold Dr. Barnicot his two statues.
+Disgraceful, sir! A Nihilist plot, that's what I make it. No one but an
+Anarchist would go about breaking statues. Red republicans, that's what
+I call 'em. Who did I get the statues from? I don't see what that has to
+do with it. Well, if you really want to know, I got them from Gelder
+and Co., in Church Street, Stepney. They are a well-known house in the
+trade, and have been this twenty years. How many had I? Three--two and
+one are three--two of Dr. Barnicot's and one smashed in broad daylight
+on my own counter. Do I know that photograph? No, I don't. Yes, I do,
+though. Why, it's Beppo. He was a kind of Italian piece-work man, who
+made himself useful in the shop. He could carve a bit and gild and
+frame, and do odd jobs. The fellow left me last week, and I've heard
+nothing of him since. No, I don't know where he came from nor where he
+went to. I have nothing against him while he was here. He was gone two
+days before the bust was smashed.”
+
+“Well, that's all we could reasonably expect to get from Morse Hudson,”
+ said Holmes, as we emerged from the shop. “We have this Beppo as a
+common factor, both in Kennington and in Kensington, so that is worth a
+ten-mile drive. Now, Watson, let us make for Gelder and Co., of Stepney,
+the source and origin of busts. I shall be surprised if we don't get
+some help down there.”
+
+In rapid succession we passed through the fringe of fashionable London,
+hotel London, theatrical London, literary London, commercial London,
+and, finally, maritime London, till we came to a riverside city of a
+hundred thousand souls, where the tenement houses swelter and reek with
+the outcasts of Europe. Here, in a broad thoroughfare, once the abode
+of wealthy City merchants, we found the sculpture works for which we
+searched. Outside was a considerable yard full of monumental masonry.
+Inside was a large room in which fifty workers were carving or moulding.
+The manager, a big blond German, received us civilly, and gave a clear
+answer to all Holmes's questions. A reference to his books showed that
+hundreds of casts had been taken from a marble copy of Devine's head of
+Napoleon, but that the three which had been sent to Morse Hudson a year
+or so before had been half of a batch of six, the other three being sent
+to Harding Brothers, of Kensington. There was no reason why those six
+should be different to any of the other casts. He could suggest no
+possible cause why anyone should wish to destroy them--in fact, he
+laughed at the idea. Their wholesale price was six shillings, but the
+retailer would get twelve or more. The cast was taken in two moulds from
+each side of the face, and then these two profiles of plaster of Paris
+were joined together to make the complete bust. The work was usually
+done by Italians in the room we were in. When finished the busts were
+put on a table in the passage to dry, and afterwards stored. That was
+all he could tell us.
+
+But the production of the photograph had a remarkable effect upon the
+manager. His face flushed with anger, and his brows knotted over his
+blue Teutonic eyes.
+
+“Ah, the rascal!” he cried. “Yes, indeed, I know him very well. This has
+always been a respectable establishment, and the only time that we have
+ever had the police in it was over this very fellow. It was more than a
+year ago now. He knifed another Italian in the street, and then he came
+to the works with the police on his heels, and he was taken here. Beppo
+was his name--his second name I never knew. Serve me right for engaging
+a man with such a face. But he was a good workman, one of the best.”
+
+“What did he get?”
+
+“The man lived and he got off with a year. I have no doubt he is out
+now; but he has not dared to show his nose here. We have a cousin of his
+here, and I dare say he could tell you where he is.”
+
+“No, no,” cried Holmes, “not a word to the cousin--not a word, I beg
+you. The matter is very important, and the farther I go with it the more
+important it seems to grow. When you referred in your ledger to the sale
+of those casts I observed that the date was June 3rd of last year. Could
+you give me the date when Beppo was arrested?”
+
+“I could tell you roughly by the pay-list,” the manager answered. “Yes,”
+ he continued, after some turning over of pages, “he was paid last on May
+20th.”
+
+“Thank you,” said Holmes. “I don't think that I need intrude upon your
+time and patience any more.” With a last word of caution that he should
+say nothing as to our researches we turned our faces westward once more.
+
+The afternoon was far advanced before we were able to snatch a hasty
+luncheon at a restaurant. A news-bill at the entrance announced
+“Kensington Outrage. Murder by a Madman,” and the contents of the paper
+showed that Mr. Horace Harker had got his account into print after
+all. Two columns were occupied with a highly sensational and flowery
+rendering of the whole incident. Holmes propped it against the
+cruet-stand and read it while he ate. Once or twice he chuckled.
+
+“This is all right, Watson,” said he. “Listen to this: 'It is
+satisfactory to know that there can be no difference of opinion upon
+this case, since Mr. Lestrade, one of the most experienced members of
+the official force, and Mr. Sherlock Holmes, the well-known consulting
+expert, have each come to the conclusion that the grotesque series of
+incidents, which have ended in so tragic a fashion, arise from lunacy
+rather than from deliberate crime. No explanation save mental aberration
+can cover the facts.' The Press, Watson, is a most valuable institution
+if you only know how to use it. And now, if you have quite finished,
+we will hark back to Kensington and see what the manager of Harding
+Brothers has to say to the matter.”
+
+The founder of that great emporium proved to be a brisk, crisp little
+person, very dapper and quick, with a clear head and a ready tongue.
+
+“Yes, sir, I have already read the account in the evening papers. Mr.
+Horace Harker is a customer of ours. We supplied him with the bust some
+months ago. We ordered three busts of that sort from Gelder and Co., of
+Stepney. They are all sold now. To whom? Oh, I dare say by consulting
+our sales book we could very easily tell you. Yes, we have the entries
+here. One to Mr. Harker, you see, and one to Mr. Josiah Brown, of
+Laburnum Lodge, Laburnum Vale, Chiswick, and one to Mr. Sandeford, of
+Lower Grove Road, Reading. No, I have never seen this face which you
+show me in the photograph. You would hardly forget it, would you, sir,
+for I've seldom seen an uglier. Have we any Italians on the staff? Yes,
+sir, we have several among our workpeople and cleaners. I dare say
+they might get a peep at that sales book if they wanted to. There is no
+particular reason for keeping a watch upon that book. Well, well, it's
+a very strange business, and I hope that you'll let me know if anything
+comes of your inquiries.”
+
+Holmes had taken several notes during Mr. Harding's evidence, and I
+could see that he was thoroughly satisfied by the turn which affairs
+were taking. He made no remark, however, save that, unless we hurried,
+we should be late for our appointment with Lestrade. Sure enough, when
+we reached Baker Street the detective was already there, and we found
+him pacing up and down in a fever of impatience. His look of importance
+showed that his day's work had not been in vain.
+
+“Well?” he asked. “What luck, Mr. Holmes?”
+
+“We have had a very busy day, and not entirely a wasted one,” my friend
+explained. “We have seen both the retailers and also the wholesale
+manufacturers. I can trace each of the busts now from the beginning.”
+
+“The busts!” cried Lestrade. “Well, well, you have your own methods, Mr.
+Sherlock Holmes, and it is not for me to say a word against them, but
+I think I have done a better day's work than you. I have identified the
+dead man.”
+
+“You don't say so?”
+
+“And found a cause for the crime.”
+
+“Splendid!”
+
+“We have an inspector who makes a specialty of Saffron Hill and the
+Italian quarter. Well, this dead man had some Catholic emblem round his
+neck, and that, along with his colour, made me think he was from the
+South. Inspector Hill knew him the moment he caught sight of him. His
+name is Pietro Venucci, from Naples, and he is one of the greatest
+cut-throats in London. He is connected with the Mafia, which, as you
+know, is a secret political society, enforcing its decrees by murder.
+Now you see how the affair begins to clear up. The other fellow is
+probably an Italian also, and a member of the Mafia. He has broken
+the rules in some fashion. Pietro is set upon his track. Probably the
+photograph we found in his pocket is the man himself, so that he may not
+knife the wrong person. He dogs the fellow, he sees him enter a house,
+he waits outside for him, and in the scuffle he receives his own
+death-wound. How is that, Mr. Sherlock Holmes?”
+
+Holmes clapped his hands approvingly.
+
+“Excellent, Lestrade, excellent!” he cried. “But I didn't quite follow
+your explanation of the destruction of the busts.”
+
+“The busts! You never can get those busts out of your head. After all,
+that is nothing; petty larceny, six months at the most. It is the murder
+that we are really investigating, and I tell you that I am gathering all
+the threads into my hands.”
+
+“And the next stage?”
+
+“Is a very simple one. I shall go down with Hill to the Italian quarter,
+find the man whose photograph we have got, and arrest him on the charge
+of murder. Will you come with us?”
+
+“I think not. I fancy we can attain our end in a simpler way. I can't
+say for certain, because it all depends--well, it all depends upon
+a factor which is completely outside our control. But I have great
+hopes--in fact, the betting is exactly two to one--that if you will come
+with us to-night I shall be able to help you to lay him by the heels.”
+
+“In the Italian quarter?”
+
+“No; I fancy Chiswick is an address which is more likely to find him. If
+you will come with me to Chiswick to-night, Lestrade, I'll promise to go
+to the Italian quarter with you to-morrow, and no harm will be done by
+the delay. And now I think that a few hours' sleep would do us all good,
+for I do not propose to leave before eleven o'clock, and it is unlikely
+that we shall be back before morning. You'll dine with us, Lestrade, and
+then you are welcome to the sofa until it is time for us to start. In
+the meantime, Watson, I should be glad if you would ring for an express
+messenger, for I have a letter to send, and it is important that it
+should go at once.”
+
+Holmes spent the evening in rummaging among the files of the old daily
+papers with which one of our lumber-rooms was packed. When at last he
+descended it was with triumph in his eyes, but he said nothing to
+either of us as to the result of his researches. For my own part, I had
+followed step by step the methods by which he had traced the various
+windings of this complex case, and, though I could not yet perceive the
+goal which we would reach, I understood clearly that Holmes expected
+this grotesque criminal to make an attempt upon the two remaining busts,
+one of which, I remembered, was at Chiswick. No doubt the object of our
+journey was to catch him in the very act, and I could not but admire the
+cunning with which my friend had inserted a wrong clue in the evening
+paper, so as to give the fellow the idea that he could continue his
+scheme with impunity. I was not surprised when Holmes suggested that
+I should take my revolver with me. He had himself picked up the loaded
+hunting-crop which was his favourite weapon.
+
+A four-wheeler was at the door at eleven, and in it we drove to a spot
+at the other side of Hammersmith Bridge. Here the cabman was directed to
+wait. A short walk brought us to a secluded road fringed with pleasant
+houses, each standing in its own grounds. In the light of a street
+lamp we read “Laburnum Villa” upon the gate-post of one of them. The
+occupants had evidently retired to rest, for all was dark save for a
+fanlight over the hall door, which shed a single blurred circle on to
+the garden path. The wooden fence which separated the grounds from the
+road threw a dense black shadow upon the inner side, and here it was
+that we crouched.
+
+“I fear that you'll have a long wait,” Holmes whispered. “We may thank
+our stars that it is not raining. I don't think we can even venture to
+smoke to pass the time. However, it's a two to one chance that we get
+something to pay us for our trouble.”
+
+It proved, however, that our vigil was not to be so long as Holmes had
+led us to fear, and it ended in a very sudden and singular fashion. In
+an instant, without the least sound to warn us of his coming, the garden
+gate swung open, and a lithe, dark figure, as swift and active as an
+ape, rushed up the garden path. We saw it whisk past the light thrown
+from over the door and disappear against the black shadow of the house.
+There was a long pause, during which we held our breath, and then a very
+gentle creaking sound came to our ears. The window was being opened. The
+noise ceased, and again there was a long silence. The fellow was making
+his way into the house. We saw the sudden flash of a dark lantern inside
+the room. What he sought was evidently not there, for again we saw the
+flash through another blind, and then through another.
+
+“Let us get to the open window. We will nab him as he climbs out,”
+ Lestrade whispered.
+
+But before we could move the man had emerged again. As he came out into
+the glimmering patch of light we saw that he carried something white
+under his arm. He looked stealthily all round him. The silence of the
+deserted street reassured him. Turning his back upon us he laid down
+his burden, and the next instant there was the sound of a sharp tap,
+followed by a clatter and rattle. The man was so intent upon what he was
+doing that he never heard our steps as we stole across the grass plot.
+With the bound of a tiger Holmes was on his back, and an instant later
+Lestrade and I had him by either wrist and the handcuffs had been
+fastened. As we turned him over I saw a hideous, sallow face, with
+writhing, furious features, glaring up at us, and I knew that it was
+indeed the man of the photograph whom we had secured.
+
+But it was not our prisoner to whom Holmes was giving his attention.
+Squatted on the doorstep, he was engaged in most carefully examining
+that which the man had brought from the house. It was a bust of Napoleon
+like the one which we had seen that morning, and it had been broken
+into similar fragments. Carefully Holmes held each separate shard to
+the light, but in no way did it differ from any other shattered piece of
+plaster. He had just completed his examination when the hall lights flew
+up, the door opened, and the owner of the house, a jovial, rotund figure
+in shirt and trousers, presented himself.
+
+“Mr. Josiah Brown, I suppose?” said Holmes.
+
+“Yes, sir; and you, no doubt, are Mr. Sherlock Holmes? I had the note
+which you sent by the express messenger, and I did exactly what you told
+me. We locked every door on the inside and awaited developments. Well,
+I'm very glad to see that you have got the rascal. I hope, gentlemen,
+that you will come in and have some refreshment.”
+
+However, Lestrade was anxious to get his man into safe quarters, so
+within a few minutes our cab had been summoned and we were all four upon
+our way to London. Not a word would our captive say; but he glared at us
+from the shadow of his matted hair, and once, when my hand seemed within
+his reach, he snapped at it like a hungry wolf. We stayed long enough
+at the police-station to learn that a search of his clothing revealed
+nothing save a few shillings and a long sheath knife, the handle of
+which bore copious traces of recent blood.
+
+“That's all right,” said Lestrade, as we parted. “Hill knows all these
+gentry, and he will give a name to him. You'll find that my theory of
+the Mafia will work out all right. But I'm sure I am exceedingly obliged
+to you, Mr. Holmes, for the workmanlike way in which you laid hands upon
+him. I don't quite understand it all yet.”
+
+“I fear it is rather too late an hour for explanations,” said Holmes.
+“Besides, there are one or two details which are not finished off, and
+it is one of those cases which are worth working out to the very end.
+If you will come round once more to my rooms at six o'clock to-morrow I
+think I shall be able to show you that even now you have not grasped the
+entire meaning of this business, which presents some features which make
+it absolutely original in the history of crime. If ever I permit you
+to chronicle any more of my little problems, Watson, I foresee that you
+will enliven your pages by an account of the singular adventure of the
+Napoleonic busts.”
+
+
+When we met again next evening Lestrade was furnished with much
+information concerning our prisoner. His name, it appeared, was Beppo,
+second name unknown. He was a well-known ne'er-do-well among the Italian
+colony. He had once been a skilful sculptor and had earned an honest
+living, but he had taken to evil courses and had twice already been
+in gaol--once for a petty theft and once, as we had already heard, for
+stabbing a fellow-countryman. He could talk English perfectly well. His
+reasons for destroying the busts were still unknown, and he refused to
+answer any questions upon the subject; but the police had discovered
+that these same busts might very well have been made by his own hands,
+since he was engaged in this class of work at the establishment of
+Gelder and Co. To all this information, much of which we already knew,
+Holmes listened with polite attention; but I, who knew him so well,
+could clearly see that his thoughts were elsewhere, and I detected a
+mixture of mingled uneasiness and expectation beneath that mask which
+he was wont to assume. At last he started in his chair and his eyes
+brightened. There had been a ring at the bell. A minute later we heard
+steps upon the stairs, and an elderly, red-faced man with grizzled
+side-whiskers was ushered in. In his right hand he carried an
+old-fashioned carpet-bag, which he placed upon the table.
+
+“Is Mr. Sherlock Holmes here?”
+
+My friend bowed and smiled. “Mr. Sandeford, of Reading, I suppose?” said
+he.
+
+“Yes, sir, I fear that I am a little late; but the trains were awkward.
+You wrote to me about a bust that is in my possession.”
+
+“Exactly.”
+
+“I have your letter here. You said, 'I desire to possess a copy of
+Devine's Napoleon, and am prepared to pay you ten pounds for the one
+which is in your possession.' Is that right?”
+
+“Certainly.”
+
+“I was very much surprised at your letter, for I could not imagine how
+you knew that I owned such a thing.”
+
+“Of course you must have been surprised, but the explanation is very
+simple. Mr. Harding, of Harding Brothers, said that they had sold you
+their last copy, and he gave me your address.”
+
+“Oh, that was it, was it? Did he tell you what I paid for it?”
+
+“No, he did not.”
+
+“Well, I am an honest man, though not a very rich one. I only gave
+fifteen shillings for the bust, and I think you ought to know that
+before I take ten pounds from you.”
+
+“I am sure the scruple does you honour, Mr. Sandeford. But I have named
+that price, so I intend to stick to it.”
+
+“Well, it is very handsome of you, Mr. Holmes. I brought the bust up
+with me, as you asked me to do. Here it is!” He opened his bag, and at
+last we saw placed upon our table a complete specimen of that bust which
+we had already seen more than once in fragments.
+
+Holmes took a paper from his pocket and laid a ten-pound note upon the
+table.
+
+“You will kindly sign that paper, Mr. Sandeford, in the presence of
+these witnesses. It is simply to say that you transfer every possible
+right that you ever had in the bust to me. I am a methodical man, you
+see, and you never know what turn events might take afterwards. Thank
+you, Mr. Sandeford; here is your money, and I wish you a very good
+evening.”
+
+When our visitor had disappeared Sherlock Holmes's movements were such
+as to rivet our attention. He began by taking a clean white cloth from
+a drawer and laying it over the table. Then he placed his newly-acquired
+bust in the centre of the cloth. Finally, he picked up his hunting-crop
+and struck Napoleon a sharp blow on the top of the head. The figure
+broke into fragments, and Holmes bent eagerly over the shattered
+remains. Next instant, with a loud shout of triumph, he held up one
+splinter, in which a round, dark object was fixed like a plum in a
+pudding.
+
+“Gentlemen,” he cried, “let me introduce you to the famous black pearl
+of the Borgias.”
+
+Lestrade and I sat silent for a moment, and then, with a spontaneous
+impulse, we both broke out clapping as at the well-wrought crisis of a
+play. A flush of colour sprang to Holmes's pale cheeks, and he bowed to
+us like the master dramatist who receives the homage of his audience.
+It was at such moments that for an instant he ceased to be a reasoning
+machine, and betrayed his human love for admiration and applause. The
+same singularly proud and reserved nature which turned away with disdain
+from popular notoriety was capable of being moved to its depths by
+spontaneous wonder and praise from a friend.
+
+“Yes, gentlemen,” said he, “it is the most famous pearl now existing
+in the world, and it has been my good fortune, by a connected chain of
+inductive reasoning, to trace it from the Prince of Colonna's bedroom at
+the Dacre Hotel, where it was lost, to the interior of this, the last of
+the six busts of Napoleon which were manufactured by Gelder and Co.,
+of Stepney. You will remember, Lestrade, the sensation caused by the
+disappearance of this valuable jewel, and the vain efforts of the London
+police to recover it. I was myself consulted upon the case; but I was
+unable to throw any light upon it. Suspicion fell upon the maid of the
+Princess, who was an Italian, and it was proved that she had a brother
+in London, but we failed to trace any connection between them. The
+maid's name was Lucretia Venucci, and there is no doubt in my mind that
+this Pietro who was murdered two nights ago was the brother. I have been
+looking up the dates in the old files of the paper, and I find that the
+disappearance of the pearl was exactly two days before the arrest of
+Beppo for some crime of violence, an event which took place in the
+factory of Gelder and Co., at the very moment when these busts were
+being made. Now you clearly see the sequence of events, though you see
+them, of course, in the inverse order to the way in which they presented
+themselves to me. Beppo had the pearl in his possession. He may have
+stolen it from Pietro, he may have been Pietro's confederate, he
+may have been the go-between of Pietro and his sister. It is of no
+consequence to us which is the correct solution.
+
+“The main fact is that he HAD the pearl, and at that moment, when it was
+on his person, he was pursued by the police. He made for the factory in
+which he worked, and he knew that he had only a few minutes in which to
+conceal this enormously valuable prize, which would otherwise be found
+on him when he was searched. Six plaster casts of Napoleon were drying
+in the passage. One of them was still soft. In an instant Beppo, a
+skilful workman, made a small hole in the wet plaster, dropped in the
+pearl, and with a few touches covered over the aperture once more. It
+was an admirable hiding-place. No one could possibly find it. But Beppo
+was condemned to a year's imprisonment, and in the meanwhile his six
+busts were scattered over London. He could not tell which contained his
+treasure. Only by breaking them could he see. Even shaking would tell
+him nothing, for as the plaster was wet it was probable that the pearl
+would adhere to it--as, in fact, it has done. Beppo did not despair, and
+he conducted his search with considerable ingenuity and perseverance.
+Through a cousin who works with Gelder he found out the retail firms who
+had bought the busts. He managed to find employment with Morse Hudson,
+and in that way tracked down three of them. The pearl was not there.
+Then, with the help of some Italian EMPLOYEE, he succeeded in finding out
+where the other three busts had gone. The first was at Harker's. There
+he was dogged by his confederate, who held Beppo responsible for the
+loss of the pearl, and he stabbed him in the scuffle which followed.”
+
+“If he was his confederate why should he carry his photograph?” I asked.
+
+“As a means of tracing him if he wished to inquire about him from any
+third person. That was the obvious reason. Well, after the murder
+I calculated that Beppo would probably hurry rather than delay his
+movements. He would fear that the police would read his secret, and so
+he hastened on before they should get ahead of him. Of course, I could
+not say that he had not found the pearl in Harker's bust. I had not even
+concluded for certain that it was the pearl; but it was evident to me
+that he was looking for something, since he carried the bust past
+the other houses in order to break it in the garden which had a lamp
+overlooking it. Since Harker's bust was one in three the chances were
+exactly as I told you, two to one against the pearl being inside it.
+There remained two busts, and it was obvious that he would go for the
+London one first. I warned the inmates of the house, so as to avoid
+a second tragedy, and we went down with the happiest results. By that
+time, of course, I knew for certain that it was the Borgia pearl that we
+were after. The name of the murdered man linked the one event with the
+other. There only remained a single bust--the Reading one--and the pearl
+must be there. I bought it in your presence from the owner--and there it
+lies.”
+
+We sat in silence for a moment.
+
+“Well,” said Lestrade, “I've seen you handle a good many cases, Mr.
+Holmes, but I don't know that I ever knew a more workmanlike one than
+that. We're not jealous of you at Scotland Yard. No, sir, we are very
+proud of you, and if you come down to-morrow there's not a man, from
+the oldest inspector to the youngest constable, who wouldn't be glad to
+shake you by the hand.”
+
+“Thank you!” said Holmes. “Thank you!” and as he turned away it seemed
+to me that he was more nearly moved by the softer human emotions than I
+had ever seen him. A moment later he was the cold and practical thinker
+once more. “Put the pearl in the safe, Watson,” said he, “and get out
+the papers of the Conk-Singleton forgery case. Good-bye, Lestrade. If
+any little problem comes your way I shall be happy, if I can, to give
+you a hint or two as to its solution.”
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                       THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                       Vol. 27  JUNE, 1904
+                 THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                      By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+IX.--The Adventure of the Three Students.
+
+
+IT was in the year '95 that a combination of events, into which I need
+not enter, caused Mr. Sherlock Holmes and myself to spend some weeks in
+one of our great University towns, and it was during this time that the
+small but instructive adventure which I am about to relate befell us. It
+will be obvious that any details which would help the reader to exactly
+identify the college or the criminal would be injudicious and offensive.
+So painful a scandal may well be allowed to die out. With due discretion
+the incident itself may, however, be described, since it serves to
+illustrate some of those qualities for which my friend was remarkable.
+I will endeavour in my statement to avoid such terms as would serve
+to limit the events to any particular place, or give a clue as to the
+people concerned.
+
+We were residing at the time in furnished lodgings close to a library
+where Sherlock Holmes was pursuing some laborious researches in early
+English charters--researches which led to results so striking that they
+may be the subject of one of my future narratives. Here it was that one
+evening we received a visit from an acquaintance, Mr. Hilton Soames,
+tutor and lecturer at the College of St. Luke's. Mr. Soames was a tall,
+spare man, of a nervous and excitable temperament. I had always known
+him to be restless in his manner, but on this particular occasion he was
+in such a state of uncontrollable agitation that it was clear something
+very unusual had occurred.
+
+“I trust, Mr. Holmes, that you can spare me a few hours of your valuable
+time. We have had a very painful incident at St. Luke's, and really, but
+for the happy chance of your being in the town, I should have been at a
+loss what to do.”
+
+“I am very busy just now, and I desire no distractions,” my friend
+answered. “I should much prefer that you called in the aid of the
+police.”
+
+“No, no, my dear sir; such a course is utterly impossible. When once the
+law is evoked it cannot be stayed again, and this is just one of those
+cases where, for the credit of the college, it is most essential to
+avoid scandal. Your discretion is as well known as your powers, and you
+are the one man in the world who can help me. I beg you, Mr. Holmes, to
+do what you can.”
+
+My friend's temper had not improved since he had been deprived of the
+congenial surroundings of Baker Street. Without his scrap-books, his
+chemicals, and his homely untidiness, he was an uncomfortable man. He
+shrugged his shoulders in ungracious acquiescence, while our visitor
+in hurried words and with much excitable gesticulation poured forth his
+story.
+
+“I must explain to you, Mr. Holmes, that to-morrow is the first day
+of the examination for the Fortescue Scholarship. I am one of the
+examiners. My subject is Greek, and the first of the papers consists of
+a large passage of Greek translation which the candidate has not seen.
+This passage is printed on the examination paper, and it would naturally
+be an immense advantage if the candidate could prepare it in advance.
+For this reason great care is taken to keep the paper secret.
+
+“To-day about three o'clock the proofs of this paper arrived from the
+printers. The exercise consists of half a chapter of Thucydides. I had
+to read it over carefully, as the text must be absolutely correct. At
+four-thirty my task was not yet completed. I had, however, promised to
+take tea in a friend's rooms, so I left the proof upon my desk. I was
+absent rather more than an hour.
+
+“You are aware, Mr. Holmes, that our college doors are double--a green
+baize one within and a heavy oak one without. As I approached my outer
+door I was amazed to see a key in it. For an instant I imagined that I
+had left my own there, but on feeling in my pocket I found that it was
+all right. The only duplicate which existed, so far as I knew, was that
+which belonged to my servant, Bannister, a man who has looked after my
+room for ten years, and whose honesty is absolutely above suspicion. I
+found that the key was indeed his, that he had entered my room to know
+if I wanted tea, and that he had very carelessly left the key in the
+door when he came out. His visit to my room must have been within a very
+few minutes of my leaving it. His forgetfulness about the key would
+have mattered little upon any other occasion, but on this one day it has
+produced the most deplorable consequences.
+
+“The moment I looked at my table I was aware that someone had rummaged
+among my papers. The proof was in three long slips. I had left them all
+together. Now, I found that one of them was lying on the floor, one was
+on the side table near the window, and the third was where I had left
+it.”
+
+Holmes stirred for the first time.
+
+“The first page on the floor, the second in the window, the third where
+you left it,” said he.
+
+“Exactly, Mr. Holmes. You amaze me. How could you possibly know that?”
+
+“Pray continue your very interesting statement.”
+
+“For an instant I imagined that Bannister had taken the unpardonable
+liberty of examining my papers. He denied it, however, with the utmost
+earnestness, and I am convinced that he was speaking the truth. The
+alternative was that someone passing had observed the key in the door,
+had known that I was out, and had entered to look at the papers. A large
+sum of money is at stake, for the scholarship is a very valuable one,
+and an unscrupulous man might very well run a risk in order to gain an
+advantage over his fellows.
+
+“Bannister was very much upset by the incident. He had nearly fainted
+when we found that the papers had undoubtedly been tampered with. I gave
+him a little brandy and left him collapsed in a chair while I made a
+most careful examination of the room. I soon saw that the intruder had
+left other traces of his presence besides the rumpled papers. On the
+table in the window were several shreds from a pencil which had been
+sharpened. A broken tip of lead was lying there also. Evidently the
+rascal had copied the paper in a great hurry, had broken his pencil, and
+had been compelled to put a fresh point to it.”
+
+“Excellent!” said Holmes, who was recovering his good-humour as his
+attention became more engrossed by the case. “Fortune has been your
+friend.”
+
+“This was not all. I have a new writing-table with a fine surface of red
+leather. I am prepared to swear, and so is Bannister, that it was
+smooth and unstained. Now I found a clean cut in it about three inches
+long--not a mere scratch, but a positive cut. Not only this, but on
+the table I found a small ball of black dough, or clay, with specks
+of something which looks like sawdust in it. I am convinced that
+these marks were left by the man who rifled the papers. There were no
+footmarks and no other evidence as to his identity. I was at my wits'
+ends, when suddenly the happy thought occurred to me that you were in
+the town, and I came straight round to put the matter into your hands.
+Do help me, Mr. Holmes! You see my dilemma. Either I must find the
+man or else the examination must be postponed until fresh papers are
+prepared, and since this cannot be done without explanation there
+will ensue a hideous scandal, which will throw a cloud not only on the
+college, but on the University. Above all things I desire to settle the
+matter quietly and discreetly.”
+
+“I shall be happy to look into it and to give you such advice as I
+can,” said Holmes, rising and putting on his overcoat. “The case is not
+entirely devoid of interest. Had anyone visited you in your room after
+the papers came to you?”
+
+“Yes; young Daulat Ras, an Indian student who lives on the same stair,
+came in to ask me some particulars about the examination.”
+
+“For which he was entered?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“And the papers were on your table?”
+
+“To the best of my belief they were rolled up.”
+
+“But might be recognised as proofs?”
+
+“Possibly.”
+
+“No one else in your room?”
+
+“No.”
+
+“Did anyone know that these proofs would be there?”
+
+“No one save the printer.”
+
+“Did this man Bannister know?”
+
+“No, certainly not. No one knew.”
+
+“Where is Bannister now?”
+
+“He was very ill, poor fellow. I left him collapsed in the chair. I was
+in such a hurry to come to you.”
+
+“You left your door open?”
+
+“I locked up the papers first.”
+
+“Then it amounts to this, Mr. Soames, that unless the Indian student
+recognised the roll as being proofs, the man who tampered with them came
+upon them accidentally without knowing that they were there.”
+
+“So it seems to me.”
+
+Holmes gave an enigmatic smile.
+
+“Well,” said he, “let us go round. Not one of your cases,
+Watson--mental, not physical. All right; come if you want to. Now, Mr.
+Soames--at your disposal!”
+
+
+The sitting-room of our client opened by a long, low, latticed window on
+to the ancient lichen-tinted court of the old college. A Gothic arched
+door led to a worn stone staircase. On the ground floor was the tutor's
+room. Above were three students, one on each story. It was already
+twilight when we reached the scene of our problem. Holmes halted and
+looked earnestly at the window. Then he approached it, and, standing on
+tiptoe with his neck craned, he looked into the room.
+
+“He must have entered through the door. There is no opening except the
+one pane,” said our learned guide.
+
+“Dear me!” said Holmes, and he smiled in a singular way as he glanced at
+our companion. “Well, if there is nothing to be learned here we had best
+go inside.”
+
+The lecturer unlocked the outer door and ushered us into his room. We
+stood at the entrance while Holmes made an examination of the carpet.
+
+“I am afraid there are no signs here,” said he. “One could hardly hope
+for any upon so dry a day. Your servant seems to have quite recovered.
+You left him in a chair, you say; which chair?”
+
+“By the window there.”
+
+“I see. Near this little table. You can come in now. I have finished
+with the carpet. Let us take the little table first. Of course, what has
+happened is very clear. The man entered and took the papers, sheet by
+sheet, from the central table. He carried them over to the window table,
+because from there he could see if you came across the courtyard, and so
+could effect an escape.”
+
+“As a matter of fact he could not,” said Soames, “for I entered by the
+side door.”
+
+“Ah, that's good! Well, anyhow, that was in his mind. Let me see the
+three strips. No finger impressions--no! Well, he carried over this one
+first and he copied it. How long would it take him to do that, using
+every possible contraction? A quarter of an hour, not less. Then he
+tossed it down and seized the next. He was in the midst of that when
+your return caused him to make a very hurried retreat--VERY hurried,
+since he had not time to replace the papers which would tell you that he
+had been there. You were not aware of any hurrying feet on the stair as
+you entered the outer door?”
+
+“No, I can't say I was.”
+
+“Well, he wrote so furiously that he broke his pencil, and had, as you
+observe, to sharpen it again. This is of interest, Watson. The pencil
+was not an ordinary one. It was above the usual size, with a soft lead;
+the outer colour was dark blue, the maker's name was printed in silver
+lettering, and the piece remaining is only about an inch and a half
+long. Look for such a pencil, Mr. Soames, and you have got your man.
+When I add that he possesses a large and very blunt knife, you have an
+additional aid.”
+
+Mr. Soames was somewhat overwhelmed by this flood of information. “I can
+follow the other points,” said he, “but really, in this matter of the
+length----”
+
+Holmes held out a small chip with the letters NN and a space of clear
+wood after them.
+
+“You see?”
+
+“No, I fear that even now----”
+
+“Watson, I have always done you an injustice. There are others. What
+could this NN be? It is at the end of a word. You are aware that Johann
+Faber is the most common maker's name. Is it not clear that there is
+just as much of the pencil left as usually follows the Johann?” He held
+the small table sideways to the electric light. “I was hoping that if
+the paper on which he wrote was thin some trace of it might come through
+upon this polished surface. No, I see nothing. I don't think there is
+anything more to be learned here. Now for the central table. This small
+pellet is, I presume, the black, doughy mass you spoke of. Roughly
+pyramidal in shape and hollowed out, I perceive. As you say, there
+appear to be grains of sawdust in it. Dear me, this is very interesting.
+And the cut--a positive tear, I see. It began with a thin scratch and
+ended in a jagged hole. I am much indebted to you for directing my
+attention to this case, Mr. Soames. Where does that door lead to?”
+
+“To my bedroom.”
+
+“Have you been in it since your adventure?”
+
+“No; I came straight away for you.”
+
+“I should like to have a glance round. What a charming, old-fashioned
+room! Perhaps you will kindly wait a minute until I have examined the
+floor. No, I see nothing. What about this curtain? You hang your clothes
+behind it. If anyone were forced to conceal himself in this room he must
+do it there, since the bed is too low and the wardrobe too shallow. No
+one there, I suppose?”
+
+As Holmes drew the curtain I was aware, from some little rigidity and
+alertness of his attitude, that he was prepared for an emergency. As
+a matter of fact the drawn curtain disclosed nothing but three or four
+suits of clothes hanging from a line of pegs. Holmes turned away and
+stooped suddenly to the floor.
+
+“Halloa! What's this?” said he.
+
+It was a small pyramid of black, putty-like stuff, exactly like the one
+upon the table of the study. Holmes held it out on his open palm in the
+glare of the electric light.
+
+“Your visitor seems to have left traces in your bedroom as well as in
+your sitting-room, Mr. Soames.”
+
+“What could he have wanted there?”
+
+“I think it is clear enough. You came back by an unexpected way, and so
+he had no warning until you were at the very door. What could he do?
+He caught up everything which would betray him and he rushed into your
+bedroom to conceal himself.”
+
+“Good gracious, Mr. Holmes, do you mean to tell me that all the time I
+was talking to Bannister in this room we had the man prisoner if we had
+only known it?”
+
+“So I read it.”
+
+“Surely there is another alternative, Mr. Holmes. I don't know whether
+you observed my bedroom window?”
+
+“Lattice-paned, lead framework, three separate windows, one swinging on
+hinge and large enough to admit a man.”
+
+“Exactly. And it looks out on an angle of the courtyard so as to be
+partly invisible. The man might have effected his entrance there, left
+traces as he passed through the bedroom, and, finally, finding the door
+open have escaped that way.”
+
+Holmes shook his head impatiently.
+
+“Let us be practical,” said he. “I understand you to say that there are
+three students who use this stair and are in the habit of passing your
+door?”
+
+“Yes, there are.”
+
+“And they are all in for this examination?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Have you any reason to suspect any one of them more than the others?”
+
+Soames hesitated.
+
+“It is a very delicate question,” said he. “One hardly likes to throw
+suspicion where there are no proofs.”
+
+“Let us hear the suspicions. I will look after the proofs.”
+
+“I will tell you, then, in a few words the character of the three men
+who inhabit these rooms. The lower of the three is Gilchrist, a fine
+scholar and athlete; plays in the Rugby team and the cricket team for
+the college, and got his Blue for the hurdles and the long jump. He is
+a fine, manly fellow. His father was the notorious Sir Jabez Gilchrist,
+who ruined himself on the turf. My scholar has been left very poor, but
+he is hard-working and industrious. He will do well.
+
+“The second floor is inhabited by Daulat Ras, the Indian. He is a quiet,
+inscrutable fellow, as most of those Indians are. He is well up in his
+work, though his Greek is his weak subject. He is steady and methodical.
+
+“The top floor belongs to Miles McLaren. He is a brilliant fellow when
+he chooses to work--one of the brightest intellects of the University,
+but he is wayward, dissipated, and unprincipled. He was nearly expelled
+over a card scandal in his first year. He has been idling all this term,
+and he must look forward with dread to the examination.”
+
+“Then it is he whom you suspect?”
+
+“I dare not go so far as that. But of the three he is perhaps the least
+unlikely.”
+
+“Exactly. Now, Mr. Soames, let us have a look at your servant,
+Bannister.”
+
+He was a little, white-faced, clean-shaven, grizzly-haired fellow of
+fifty. He was still suffering from this sudden disturbance of the quiet
+routine of his life. His plump face was twitching with his nervousness,
+and his fingers could not keep still.
+
+“We are investigating this unhappy business, Bannister,” said his
+master.
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“I understand,” said Holmes, “that you left your key in the door?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“Was it not very extraordinary that you should do this on the very day
+when there were these papers inside?”
+
+“It was most unfortunate, sir. But I have occasionally done the same
+thing at other times.”
+
+“When did you enter the room?”
+
+“It was about half-past four. That is Mr. Soames's tea time.”
+
+“How long did you stay?”
+
+“When I saw that he was absent I withdrew at once.”
+
+“Did you look at these papers on the table?”
+
+“No, sir; certainly not.”
+
+“How came you to leave the key in the door?”
+
+“I had the tea-tray in my hand. I thought I would come back for the key.
+Then I forgot.”
+
+“Has the outer door a spring lock?”
+
+“No, sir.”
+
+“Then it was open all the time?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“Anyone in the room could get out?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“When Mr. Soames returned and called for you, you were very much
+disturbed?”
+
+“Yes, sir. Such a thing has never happened during the many years that I
+have been here. I nearly fainted, sir.”
+
+“So I understand. Where were you when you began to feel bad?”
+
+“Where was I, sir? Why, here, near the door.”
+
+“That is singular, because you sat down in that chair over yonder near
+the corner. Why did you pass these other chairs?”
+
+“I don't know, sir. It didn't matter to me where I sat.”
+
+“I really don't think he knew much about it, Mr. Holmes. He was looking
+very bad--quite ghastly.”
+
+“You stayed here when your master left?”
+
+“Only for a minute or so. Then I locked the door and went to my room.”
+
+“Whom do you suspect?”
+
+“Oh, I would not venture to say, sir. I don't believe there is any
+gentleman in this University who is capable of profiting by such an
+action. No, sir, I'll not believe it.”
+
+“Thank you; that will do,” said Holmes. “Oh, one more word. You have not
+mentioned to any of the three gentlemen whom you attend that anything is
+amiss?”
+
+“No, sir; not a word.”
+
+“You haven't seen any of them?”
+
+“No, sir.”
+
+“Very good. Now, Mr. Soames, we will take a walk in the quadrangle, if
+you please.”
+
+Three yellow squares of light shone above us in the gathering gloom.
+
+“Your three birds are all in their nests,” said Holmes, looking up.
+“Halloa! What's that? One of them seems restless enough.”
+
+It was the Indian, whose dark silhouette appeared suddenly upon his
+blind. He was pacing swiftly up and down his room.
+
+“I should like to have a peep at each of them,” said Holmes. “Is it
+possible?”
+
+“No difficulty in the world,” Soames answered. “This set of rooms is
+quite the oldest in the college, and it is not unusual for visitors to
+go over them. Come along, and I will personally conduct you.”
+
+“No names, please!” said Holmes, as we knocked at Gilchrist's door. A
+tall, flaxen-haired, slim young fellow opened it, and made us welcome
+when he understood our errand. There were some really curious pieces of
+mediaeval domestic architecture within. Holmes was so charmed with
+one of them that he insisted on drawing it on his note-book, broke his
+pencil, had to borrow one from our host, and finally borrowed a knife to
+sharpen his own. The same curious accident happened to him in the rooms
+of the Indian--a silent, little, hook-nosed fellow, who eyed us askance
+and was obviously glad when Holmes's architectural studies had come to
+an end. I could not see that in either case Holmes had come upon the
+clue for which he was searching. Only at the third did our visit prove
+abortive. The outer door would not open to our knock, and nothing more
+substantial than a torrent of bad language came from behind it. “I
+don't care who you are. You can go to blazes!” roared the angry voice.
+“To-morrow's the exam, and I won't be drawn by anyone.”
+
+“A rude fellow,” said our guide, flushing with anger as we withdrew
+down the stair. “Of course, he did not realize that it was I who was
+knocking, but none the less his conduct was very uncourteous, and,
+indeed, under the circumstances rather suspicious.”
+
+Holmes's response was a curious one.
+
+“Can you tell me his exact height?” he asked.
+
+“Really, Mr. Holmes, I cannot undertake to say. He is taller than the
+Indian, not so tall as Gilchrist. I suppose five foot six would be about
+it.”
+
+“That is very important,” said Holmes. “And now, Mr. Soames, I wish you
+good-night.”
+
+Our guide cried aloud in his astonishment and dismay. “Good gracious,
+Mr. Holmes, you are surely not going to leave me in this abrupt fashion!
+You don't seem to realize the position. To-morrow is the examination. I
+must take some definite action to-night. I cannot allow the examination
+to be held if one of the papers has been tampered with. The situation
+must be faced.”
+
+“You must leave it as it is. I shall drop round early to-morrow morning
+and chat the matter over. It is possible that I may be in a position
+then to indicate some course of action. Meanwhile you change
+nothing--nothing at all.”
+
+“Very good, Mr. Holmes.”
+
+“You can be perfectly easy in your mind. We shall certainly find some
+way out of your difficulties. I will take the black clay with me, also
+the pencil cuttings. Good-bye.”
+
+When we were out in the darkness of the quadrangle we again looked up at
+the windows. The Indian still paced his room. The others were invisible.
+
+“Well, Watson, what do you think of it?” Holmes asked, as we came out
+into the main street. “Quite a little parlour game--sort of three-card
+trick, is it not? There are your three men. It must be one of them. You
+take your choice. Which is yours?”
+
+“The foul-mouthed fellow at the top. He is the one with the worst
+record. And yet that Indian was a sly fellow also. Why should he be
+pacing his room all the time?”
+
+“There is nothing in that. Many men do it when they are trying to learn
+anything by heart.”
+
+“He looked at us in a queer way.”
+
+“So would you if a flock of strangers came in on you when you were
+preparing for an examination next day, and every moment was of
+value. No, I see nothing in that. Pencils, too, and knives--all was
+satisfactory. But that fellow DOES puzzle me.”
+
+“Who?”
+
+“Why, Bannister, the servant. What's his game in the matter?”
+
+“He impressed me as being a perfectly honest man.”
+
+“So he did me. That's the puzzling part. Why should a perfectly
+honest man--well, well, here's a large stationer's. We shall begin our
+researches here.”
+
+There were only four stationers of any consequence in the town, and at
+each Holmes produced his pencil chips and bid high for a duplicate. All
+were agreed that one could be ordered, but that it was not a usual size
+of pencil and that it was seldom kept in stock. My friend did not
+appear to be depressed by his failure, but shrugged his shoulders in
+half-humorous resignation.
+
+“No good, my dear Watson. This, the best and only final clue, has run
+to nothing. But, indeed, I have little doubt that we can build up a
+sufficient case without it. By Jove! my dear fellow, it is nearly nine,
+and the landlady babbled of green peas at seven-thirty. What with your
+eternal tobacco, Watson, and your irregularity at meals, I expect that
+you will get notice to quit and that I shall share your downfall--not,
+however, before we have solved the problem of the nervous tutor, the
+careless servant, and the three enterprising students.”
+
+
+Holmes made no further allusion to the matter that day, though he sat
+lost in thought for a long time after our belated dinner. At eight in
+the morning he came into my room just as I finished my toilet.
+
+“Well, Watson,” said he, “it is time we went down to St. Luke's. Can you
+do without breakfast?”
+
+“Certainly.”
+
+“Soames will be in a dreadful fidget until we are able to tell him
+something positive.”
+
+“Have you anything positive to tell him?”
+
+“I think so.”
+
+“You have formed a conclusion?”
+
+“Yes, my dear Watson; I have solved the mystery.”
+
+“But what fresh evidence could you have got?”
+
+“Aha! It is not for nothing that I have turned myself out of bed at the
+untimely hour of six. I have put in two hours' hard work and covered at
+least five miles, with something to show for it. Look at that!”
+
+He held out his hand. On the palm were three little pyramids of black,
+doughy clay.
+
+“Why, Holmes, you had only two yesterday!”
+
+“And one more this morning. It is a fair argument that wherever No. 3
+came from is also the source of Nos. 1 and 2. Eh, Watson? Well, come
+along and put friend Soames out of his pain.”
+
+
+The unfortunate tutor was certainly in a state of pitiable agitation
+when we found him in his chambers. In a few hours the examination would
+commence, and he was still in the dilemma between making the facts
+public and allowing the culprit to compete for the valuable scholarship.
+He could hardly stand still, so great was his mental agitation, and he
+ran towards Holmes with two eager hands outstretched.
+
+“Thank Heaven that you have come! I feared that you had given it up in
+despair. What am I to do? Shall the examination proceed?”
+
+“Yes; let it proceed by all means.”
+
+“But this rascal----?”
+
+“He shall not compete.”
+
+“You know him?”
+
+“I think so. If this matter is not to become public we must give
+ourselves certain powers, and resolve ourselves into a small private
+court-martial. You there, if you please, Soames! Watson, you here! I'll
+take the arm-chair in the middle. I think that we are now sufficiently
+imposing to strike terror into a guilty breast. Kindly ring the bell!”
+
+Bannister entered, and shrunk back in evident surprise and fear at our
+judicial appearance.
+
+“You will kindly close the door,” said Holmes. “Now, Bannister, will you
+please tell us the truth about yesterday's incident?”
+
+The man turned white to the roots of his hair.
+
+“I have told you everything, sir.”
+
+“Nothing to add?”
+
+“Nothing at all, sir.”
+
+“Well, then, I must make some suggestions to you. When you sat down
+on that chair yesterday, did you do so in order to conceal some object
+which would have shown who had been in the room?”
+
+Bannister's face was ghastly.
+
+“No, sir; certainly not.”
+
+“It is only a suggestion,” said Holmes, suavely. “I frankly admit that
+I am unable to prove it. But it seems probable enough, since the moment
+that Mr. Soames's back was turned you released the man who was hiding in
+that bedroom.”
+
+Bannister licked his dry lips.
+
+“There was no man, sir.”
+
+“Ah, that's a pity, Bannister. Up to now you may have spoken the truth,
+but now I know that you have lied.”
+
+The man's face set in sullen defiance.
+
+“There was no man, sir.”
+
+“Come, come, Bannister!”
+
+“No, sir; there was no one.”
+
+“In that case you can give us no further information. Would you please
+remain in the room? Stand over there near the bedroom door. Now, Soames,
+I am going to ask you to have the great kindness to go up to the room of
+young Gilchrist, and to ask him to step down into yours.”
+
+An instant later the tutor returned, bringing with him the student. He
+was a fine figure of a man, tall, lithe, and agile, with a springy step
+and a pleasant, open face. His troubled blue eyes glanced at each of us,
+and finally rested with an expression of blank dismay upon Bannister in
+the farther corner.
+
+“Just close the door,” said Holmes. “Now, Mr. Gilchrist, we are all
+quite alone here, and no one need ever know one word of what passes
+between us. We can be perfectly frank with each other. We want to know,
+Mr. Gilchrist, how you, an honourable man, ever came to commit such an
+action as that of yesterday?”
+
+The unfortunate young man staggered back and cast a look full of horror
+and reproach at Bannister.
+
+“No, no, Mr. Gilchrist, sir; I never said a word--never one word!” cried
+the servant.
+
+“No, but you have now,” said Holmes. “Now, sir, you must see that after
+Bannister's words your position is hopeless, and that your only chance
+lies in a frank confession.”
+
+For a moment Gilchrist, with upraised hand, tried to control his
+writhing features. The next he had thrown himself on his knees beside
+the table and, burying his face in his hands, he had burst into a storm
+of passionate sobbing.
+
+“Come, come,” said Holmes, kindly; “it is human to err, and at least
+no one can accuse you of being a callous criminal. Perhaps it would be
+easier for you if I were to tell Mr. Soames what occurred, and you can
+check me where I am wrong. Shall I do so? Well, well, don't trouble to
+answer. Listen, and see that I do you no injustice.
+
+“From the moment, Mr. Soames, that you said to me that no one, not even
+Bannister, could have told that the papers were in your room, the case
+began to take a definite shape in my mind. The printer one could, of
+course, dismiss. He could examine the papers in his own office. The
+Indian I also thought nothing of. If the proofs were in a roll he
+could not possibly know what they were. On the other hand, it seemed an
+unthinkable coincidence that a man should dare to enter the room,
+and that by chance on that very day the papers were on the table. I
+dismissed that. The man who entered knew that the papers were there. How
+did he know?
+
+“When I approached your room I examined the window. You amused me by
+supposing that I was contemplating the possibility of someone having
+in broad daylight, under the eyes of all these opposite rooms, forced
+himself through it. Such an idea was absurd. I was measuring how tall
+a man would need to be in order to see as he passed what papers were on
+the central table. I am six feet high, and I could do it with an effort.
+No one less than that would have a chance. Already you see I had reason
+to think that if one of your three students was a man of unusual height
+he was the most worth watching of the three.
+
+“I entered and I took you into my confidence as to the suggestions of
+the side table. Of the centre table I could make nothing, until in
+your description of Gilchrist you mentioned that he was a long-distance
+jumper. Then the whole thing came to me in an instant, and I only needed
+certain corroborative proofs, which I speedily obtained.
+
+“What happened was this. This young fellow had employed his afternoon at
+the athletic grounds, where he had been practising the jump. He returned
+carrying his jumping shoes, which are provided, as you are aware, with
+several sharp spikes. As he passed your window he saw, by means of his
+great height, these proofs upon your table, and conjectured what they
+were. No harm would have been done had it not been that as he passed
+your door he perceived the key which had been left by the carelessness
+of your servant. A sudden impulse came over him to enter and see if they
+were indeed the proofs. It was not a dangerous exploit, for he could
+always pretend that he had simply looked in to ask a question.
+
+“Well, when he saw that they were indeed the proofs, it was then that
+he yielded to temptation. He put his shoes on the table. What was it you
+put on that chair near the window?”
+
+“Gloves,” said the young man.
+
+Holmes looked triumphantly at Bannister. “He put his gloves on the
+chair, and he took the proofs, sheet by sheet, to copy them. He thought
+the tutor must return by the main gate, and that he would see him. As we
+know, he came back by the side gate. Suddenly he heard him at the very
+door. There was no possible escape. He forgot his gloves, but he caught
+up his shoes and darted into the bedroom. You observe that the scratch
+on that table is slight at one side, but deepens in the direction of the
+bedroom door. That in itself is enough to show us that the shoe had been
+drawn in that direction and that the culprit had taken refuge there. The
+earth round the spike had been left on the table, and a second sample
+was loosened and fell in the bedroom. I may add that I walked out to the
+athletic grounds this morning, saw that tenacious black clay is used in
+the jumping-pit, and carried away a specimen of it, together with
+some of the fine tan or sawdust which is strewn over it to prevent the
+athlete from slipping. Have I told the truth, Mr. Gilchrist?”
+
+The student had drawn himself erect.
+
+“Yes, sir, it is true,” said he.
+
+“Good heavens, have you nothing to add?” cried Soames.
+
+“Yes, sir, I have, but the shock of this disgraceful exposure has
+bewildered me. I have a letter here, Mr. Soames, which I wrote to you
+early this morning in the middle of a restless night. It was before I
+knew that my sin had found me out. Here it is, sir. You will see that I
+have said, 'I have determined not to go in for the examination. I have
+been offered a commission in the Rhodesian Police, and I am going out to
+South Africa at once.”'
+
+“I am indeed pleased to hear that you did not intend to profit by your
+unfair advantage,” said Soames. “But why did you change your purpose?”
+
+Gilchrist pointed to Bannister.
+
+“There is the man who set me in the right path,” said he.
+
+“Come now, Bannister,” said Holmes. “It will be clear to you from what
+I have said that only you could have let this young man out, since you
+were left in the room, and must have locked the door when you went out.
+As to his escaping by that window, it was incredible. Can you not clear
+up the last point in this mystery, and tell us the reasons for your
+action?”
+
+“It was simple enough, sir, if you only had known; but with all your
+cleverness it was impossible that you could know. Time was, sir, when
+I was butler to old Sir Jabez Gilchrist, this young gentleman's father.
+When he was ruined I came to the college as servant, but I never forgot
+my old employer because he was down in the world. I watched his son all
+I could for the sake of the old days. Well, sir, when I came into this
+room yesterday when the alarm was given, the very first thing I saw was
+Mr. Gilchrist's tan gloves a-lying in that chair. I knew those gloves
+well, and I understood their message. If Mr. Soames saw them the game
+was up. I flopped down into that chair, and nothing would budge me until
+Mr. Soames he went for you. Then out came my poor young master, whom I
+had dandled on my knee, and confessed it all to me. Wasn't it natural,
+sir, that I should save him, and wasn't it natural also that I should
+try to speak to him as his dead father would have done, and make him
+understand that he could not profit by such a deed? Could you blame me,
+sir?”
+
+“No, indeed,” said Holmes, heartily, springing to his feet. “Well,
+Soames, I think we have cleared your little problem up, and our
+breakfast awaits us at home. Come, Watson! As to you, sir, I trust that
+a bright future awaits you in Rhodesia. For once you have fallen low.
+Let us see in the future how high you can rise.”
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 28  JULY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
+
+
+
+
+X.--The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez.
+
+
+WHEN I look at the three massive manuscript volumes which contain our
+work for the year 1894 I confess that it is very difficult for me,
+out of such a wealth of material, to select the cases which are most
+interesting in themselves and at the same time most conducive to a
+display of those peculiar powers for which my friend was famous. As I
+turn over the pages I see my notes upon the repulsive story of the red
+leech and the terrible death of Crosby the banker. Here also I find an
+account of the Addleton tragedy and the singular contents of the ancient
+British barrow. The famous Smith-Mortimer succession case comes also
+within this period, and so does the tracking and arrest of Huret, the
+Boulevard assassin--an exploit which won for Holmes an autograph letter
+of thanks from the French President and the Order of the Legion of
+Honour. Each of these would furnish a narrative, but on the whole I am
+of opinion that none of them unite so many singular points of interest
+as the episode of Yoxley Old Place, which includes not only the
+lamentable death of young Willoughby Smith, but also those subsequent
+developments which threw so curious a light upon the causes of the
+crime.
+
+It was a wild, tempestuous night towards the close of November. Holmes
+and I sat together in silence all the evening, he engaged with a
+powerful lens deciphering the remains of the original inscription upon
+a palimpsest, I deep in a recent treatise upon surgery. Outside the
+wind howled down Baker Street, while the rain beat fiercely against the
+windows. It was strange there in the very depths of the town, with ten
+miles of man's handiwork on every side of us, to feel the iron grip of
+Nature, and to be conscious that to the huge elemental forces all London
+was no more than the molehills that dot the fields. I walked to the
+window and looked out on the deserted street. The occasional lamps
+gleamed on the expanse of muddy road and shining pavement. A single cab
+was splashing its way from the Oxford Street end.
+
+“Well, Watson, it's as well we have not to turn out to-night,” said
+Holmes, laying aside his lens and rolling up the palimpsest. “I've done
+enough for one sitting. It is trying work for the eyes. So far as I can
+make out it is nothing more exciting than an Abbey's accounts dating
+from the second half of the fifteenth century. Halloa! halloa! halloa!
+What's this?”
+
+Amid the droning of the wind there had come the stamping of a horse's
+hoofs and the long grind of a wheel as it rasped against the kerb. The
+cab which I had seen had pulled up at our door.
+
+“What can he want?” I ejaculated, as a man stepped out of it.
+
+“Want! He wants us. And we, my poor Watson, want overcoats and cravats
+and goloshes, and every aid that man ever invented to fight the weather.
+Wait a bit, though! There's the cab off again! There's hope yet. He'd
+have kept it if he had wanted us to come. Run down, my dear fellow, and
+open the door, for all virtuous folk have been long in bed.”
+
+When the light of the hall lamp fell upon our midnight visitor I had no
+difficulty in recognising him. It was young Stanley Hopkins, a promising
+detective, in whose career Holmes had several times shown a very
+practical interest.
+
+“Is he in?” he asked, eagerly.
+
+“Come up, my dear sir,” said Holmes's voice from above. “I hope you have
+no designs upon us on such a night as this.”
+
+
+The detective mounted the stairs, and our lamp gleamed upon his shining
+waterproof. I helped him out of it while Holmes knocked a blaze out of
+the logs in the grate.
+
+“Now, my dear Hopkins, draw up and warm your toes,” said he. “Here's
+a cigar, and the doctor has a prescription containing hot water and a
+lemon which is good medicine on a night like this. It must be something
+important which has brought you out in such a gale.”
+
+“It is indeed, Mr. Holmes. I've had a bustling afternoon, I promise you.
+Did you see anything of the Yoxley case in the latest editions?”
+
+“I've seen nothing later than the fifteenth century to-day.”
+
+“Well, it was only a paragraph, and all wrong at that, so you have not
+missed anything. I haven't let the grass grow under my feet. It's down
+in Kent, seven miles from Chatham and three from the railway line. I was
+wired for at three-fifteen, reached Yoxley Old Place at five, conducted
+my investigation, was back at Charing Cross by the last train, and
+straight to you by cab.”
+
+“Which means, I suppose, that you are not quite clear about your case?”
+
+“It means that I can make neither head nor tail of it. So far as I can
+see it is just as tangled a business as ever I handled, and yet at first
+it seemed so simple that one couldn't go wrong. There's no motive, Mr.
+Holmes. That's what bothers me--I can't put my hand on a motive. Here's
+a man dead--there's no denying that--but, so far as I can see, no reason
+on earth why anyone should wish him harm.”
+
+Holmes lit his cigar and leaned back in his chair.
+
+“Let us hear about it,” said he.
+
+“I've got my facts pretty clear,” said Stanley Hopkins. “All I want now
+is to know what they all mean. The story, so far as I can make it out,
+is like this. Some years ago this country house, Yoxley Old Place, was
+taken by an elderly man, who gave the name of Professor Coram. He was
+an invalid, keeping his bed half the time, and the other half hobbling
+round the house with a stick or being pushed about the grounds by the
+gardener in a bath-chair. He was well liked by the few neighbours who
+called upon him, and he has the reputation down there of being a very
+learned man. His household used to consist of an elderly housekeeper,
+Mrs. Marker, and of a maid, Susan Tarlton. These have both been with him
+since his arrival, and they seem to be women of excellent character. The
+Professor is writing a learned book, and he found it necessary about
+a year ago to engage a secretary. The first two that he tried were
+not successes; but the third, Mr. Willoughby Smith, a very young man
+straight from the University, seems to have been just what his employer
+wanted. His work consisted in writing all the morning to the Professor's
+dictation, and he usually spent the evening in hunting up references and
+passages which bore upon the next day's work. This Willoughby Smith has
+nothing against him either as a boy at Uppingham or as a young man at
+Cambridge. I have seen his testimonials, and from the first he was a
+decent, quiet, hardworking fellow, with no weak spot in him at all.
+And yet this is the lad who has met his death this morning in the
+Professor's study under circumstances which can point only to murder.”
+
+The wind howled and screamed at the windows. Holmes and I drew closer to
+the fire while the young inspector slowly and point by point developed
+his singular narrative.
+
+“If you were to search all England,” said he, “I don't suppose you could
+find a household more self-contained or free from outside influences.
+Whole weeks would pass and not one of them go past the garden gate. The
+Professor was buried in his work and existed for nothing else. Young
+Smith knew nobody in the neighbourhood, and lived very much as his
+employer did. The two women had nothing to take them from the
+house. Mortimer the gardener, who wheels the bath-chair, is an Army
+pensioner--an old Crimean man of excellent character. He does not live
+in the house, but in a three-roomed cottage at the other end of the
+garden. Those are the only people that you would find within the grounds
+of Yoxley Old Place. At the same time, the gate of the garden is a
+hundred yards from the main London to Chatham road. It opens with a
+latch, and there is nothing to prevent anyone from walking in.
+
+“Now I will give you the evidence of Susan Tarlton, who is the only
+person who can say anything positive about the matter. It was in the
+forenoon, between eleven and twelve. She was engaged at the moment in
+hanging some curtains in the upstairs front bedroom. Professor Coram was
+still in bed, for when the weather is bad he seldom rises before midday.
+The housekeeper was busied with some work in the back of the
+house. Willoughby Smith had been in his bedroom, which he uses as a
+sitting-room; but the maid heard him at that moment pass along the
+passage and descend to the study immediately below her. She did not
+see him, but she says that she could not be mistaken in his quick, firm
+tread. She did not hear the study door close, but a minute or so later
+there was a dreadful cry in the room below. It was a wild, hoarse
+scream, so strange and unnatural that it might have come either from a
+man or a woman. At the same instant there was a heavy thud, which shook
+the old house, and then all was silence. The maid stood petrified for a
+moment, and then, recovering her courage, she ran downstairs. The study
+door was shut, and she opened it. Inside young Mr. Willoughby Smith was
+stretched upon the floor. At first she could see no injury, but as she
+tried to raise him she saw that blood was pouring from the underside of
+his neck. It was pierced by a very small but very deep wound, which had
+divided the carotid artery. The instrument with which the injury had
+been inflicted lay upon the carpet beside him. It was one of those small
+sealing-wax knives to be found on old-fashioned writing-tables, with
+an ivory handle and a stiff blade. It was part of the fittings of the
+Professor's own desk.
+
+“At first the maid thought that young Smith was already dead, but on
+pouring some water from the carafe over his forehead he opened his eyes
+for an instant. 'The Professor,' he murmured--'it was she.' The maid is
+prepared to swear that those were the exact words. He tried desperately
+to say something else, and he held his right hand up in the air. Then he
+fell back dead.
+
+“In the meantime the housekeeper had also arrived upon the scene, but
+she was just too late to catch the young man's dying words. Leaving
+Susan with the body, she hurried to the Professor's room. He was sitting
+up in bed horribly agitated, for he had heard enough to convince him
+that something terrible had occurred. Mrs. Marker is prepared to swear
+that the Professor was still in his night-clothes, and, indeed, it was
+impossible for him to dress without the help of Mortimer, whose orders
+were to come at twelve o'clock. The Professor declares that he heard the
+distant cry, but that he knows nothing more. He can give no explanation
+of the young man's last words, 'The Professor--it was she,' but imagines
+that they were the outcome of delirium. He believes that Willoughby
+Smith had not an enemy in the world, and can give no reason for the
+crime. His first action was to send Mortimer the gardener for the local
+police. A little later the chief constable sent for me. Nothing was
+moved before I got there, and strict orders were given that no one
+should walk upon the paths leading to the house. It was a splendid
+chance of putting your theories into practice, Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
+There was really nothing wanting.”
+
+“Except Mr. Sherlock Holmes,” said my companion, with a somewhat bitter
+smile. “Well, let us hear about it. What sort of job did you make of
+it?”
+
+“I must ask you first, Mr. Holmes, to glance at this rough plan, which
+will give you a general idea of the position of the Professor's study
+and the various points of the case. It will help you in following my
+investigation.”
+
+He unfolded the rough chart, which I here reproduce, and he laid it
+across Holmes's knee. I rose, and, standing behind Holmes, I studied it
+over his shoulder.
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+“It is very rough, of course, and it only deals with the points
+which seem to me to be essential. All the rest you will see later for
+yourself. Now, first of all, presuming that the assassin entered the
+house, how did he or she come in? Undoubtedly by the garden path and the
+back door, from which there is direct access to the study. Any other way
+would have been exceedingly complicated. The escape must have also been
+made along that line, for of the two other exits from the room one was
+blocked by Susan as she ran downstairs and the other leads straight to
+the Professor's bedroom. I therefore directed my attention at once
+to the garden path, which was saturated with recent rain and would
+certainly show any footmarks.
+
+“My examination showed me that I was dealing with a cautious and expert
+criminal. No footmarks were to be found on the path. There could be no
+question, however, that someone had passed along the grass border which
+lines the path, and that he had done so in order to avoid leaving a
+track. I could not find anything in the nature of a distinct impression,
+but the grass was trodden down and someone had undoubtedly passed. It
+could only have been the murderer, since neither the gardener nor anyone
+else had been there that morning and the rain had only begun during the
+night.”
+
+“One moment,” said Holmes. “Where does this path lead to?”
+
+“To the road.”
+
+“How long is it?”
+
+“A hundred yards or so.”
+
+“At the point where the path passes through the gate you could surely
+pick up the tracks?”
+
+“Unfortunately, the path was tiled at that point.”
+
+“Well, on the road itself?”
+
+“No; it was all trodden into mire.”
+
+“Tut-tut! Well, then, these tracks upon the grass, were they coming or
+going?”
+
+“It was impossible to say. There was never any outline.”
+
+“A large foot or a small?”
+
+“You could not distinguish.”
+
+Holmes gave an ejaculation of impatience.
+
+“It has been pouring rain and blowing a hurricane ever since,” said
+he. “It will be harder to read now than that palimpsest. Well, well, it
+can't be helped. What did you do, Hopkins, after you had made certain
+that you had made certain of nothing?”
+
+“I think I made certain of a good deal, Mr. Holmes. I knew that someone
+had entered the house cautiously from without. I next examined the
+corridor. It is lined with cocoanut matting and had taken no
+impression of any kind. This brought me into the study itself. It is a
+scantily-furnished room. The main article is a large writing-table with
+a fixed bureau. This bureau consists of a double column of drawers
+with a central small cupboard between them. The drawers were open, the
+cupboard locked. The drawers, it seems, were always open, and nothing
+of value was kept in them. There were some papers of importance in the
+cupboard, but there were no signs that this had been tampered with, and
+the Professor assures me that nothing was missing. It is certain that no
+robbery has been committed.
+
+“I come now to the body of the young man. It was found near the bureau,
+and just to the left of it, as marked upon that chart. The stab was
+on the right side of the neck and from behind forwards, so that it is
+almost impossible that it could have been self-inflicted.”
+
+“Unless he fell upon the knife,” said Holmes.
+
+“Exactly. The idea crossed my mind. But we found the knife some feet
+away from the body, so that seems impossible. Then, of course, there are
+the man's own dying words. And, finally, there was this very important
+piece of evidence which was found clasped in the dead man's right hand.”
+
+From his pocket Stanley Hopkins drew a small paper packet. He unfolded
+it and disclosed a golden pince-nez, with two broken ends of black
+silk cord dangling from the end of it. “Willoughby Smith had excellent
+sight,” he added. “There can be no question that this was snatched from
+the face or the person of the assassin.”
+
+Sherlock Holmes took the glasses into his hand and examined them with
+the utmost attention and interest. He held them on his nose, endeavoured
+to read through them, went to the window and stared up the street with
+them, looked at them most minutely in the full light of the lamp, and
+finally, with a chuckle, seated himself at the table and wrote a few
+lines upon a sheet of paper, which he tossed across to Stanley Hopkins.
+
+“That's the best I can do for you,” said he. “It may prove to be of some
+use.”
+
+The astonished detective read the note aloud. It ran as follows:--
+
+“Wanted, a woman of good address, attired like a lady. She has a
+remarkably thick nose, with eyes which are set close upon either side
+of it. She has a puckered forehead, a peering expression, and probably
+rounded shoulders. There are indications that she has had recourse to an
+optician at least twice during the last few months. As her glasses are
+of remarkable strength and as opticians are not very numerous, there
+should be no difficulty in tracing her.”
+
+Holmes smiled at the astonishment of Hopkins, which must have been
+reflected upon my features.
+
+“Surely my deductions are simplicity itself,” said he. “It would be
+difficult to name any articles which afford a finer field for inference
+than a pair of glasses, especially so remarkable a pair as these. That
+they belong to a woman I infer from their delicacy, and also, of course,
+from the last words of the dying man. As to her being a person of
+refinement and well dressed, they are, as you perceive, handsomely
+mounted in solid gold, and it is inconceivable that anyone who wore such
+glasses could be slatternly in other respects. You will find that the
+clips are too wide for your nose, showing that the lady's nose was very
+broad at the base. This sort of nose is usually a short and coarse one,
+but there are a sufficient number of exceptions to prevent me from being
+dogmatic or from insisting upon this point in my description. My own
+face is a narrow one, and yet I find that I cannot get my eyes into the
+centre, or near the centre, of these glasses. Therefore the lady's eyes
+are set very near to the sides of the nose. You will perceive, Watson,
+that the glasses are concave and of unusual strength. A lady whose
+vision has been so extremely contracted all her life is sure to have the
+physical characteristics of such vision, which are seen in the forehead,
+the eyelids, and the shoulders.”
+
+“Yes,” I said, “I can follow each of your arguments. I confess, however,
+that I am unable to understand how you arrive at the double visit to the
+optician.”
+
+Holmes took the glasses in his hand.
+
+“You will perceive,” he said, “that the clips are lined with tiny
+bands of cork to soften the pressure upon the nose. One of these is
+discoloured and worn to some slight extent, but the other is new.
+Evidently one has fallen off and been replaced. I should judge that the
+older of them has not been there more than a few months. They
+exactly correspond, so I gather that the lady went back to the same
+establishment for the second.”
+
+“By George, it's marvellous!” cried Hopkins, in an ecstasy of
+admiration. “To think that I had all that evidence in my hand and
+never knew it! I had intended, however, to go the round of the London
+opticians.”
+
+“Of course you would. Meanwhile, have you anything more to tell us about
+the case?”
+
+“Nothing, Mr. Holmes. I think that you know as much as I do
+now--probably more. We have had inquiries made as to any stranger seen
+on the country roads or at the railway station. We have heard of none.
+What beats me is the utter want of all object in the crime. Not a ghost
+of a motive can anyone suggest.”
+
+“Ah! there I am not in a position to help you. But I suppose you want us
+to come out to-morrow?”
+
+“If it is not asking too much, Mr. Holmes. There's a train from Charing
+Cross to Chatham at six in the morning, and we should be at Yoxley Old
+Place between eight and nine.”
+
+“Then we shall take it. Your case has certainly some features of great
+interest, and I shall be delighted to look into it. Well, it's nearly
+one, and we had best get a few hours' sleep. I dare say you can manage
+all right on the sofa in front of the fire. I'll light my spirit-lamp
+and give you a cup of coffee before we start.”
+
+
+The gale had blown itself out next day, but it was a bitter morning when
+we started upon our journey. We saw the cold winter sun rise over the
+dreary marshes of the Thames and the long, sullen reaches of the river,
+which I shall ever associate with our pursuit of the Andaman Islander
+in the earlier days of our career. After a long and weary journey we
+alighted at a small station some miles from Chatham. While a horse was
+being put into a trap at the local inn we snatched a hurried breakfast,
+and so we were all ready for business when we at last arrived at Yoxley
+Old Place. A constable met us at the garden gate.
+
+“Well, Wilson, any news?”
+
+“No, sir, nothing.”
+
+“No reports of any stranger seen?”
+
+“No, sir. Down at the station they are certain that no stranger either
+came or went yesterday.”
+
+“Have you had inquiries made at inns and lodgings?”
+
+“Yes, sir; there is no one that we cannot account for.”
+
+“Well, it's only a reasonable walk to Chatham. Anyone might stay there,
+or take a train without being observed. This is the garden path of
+which I spoke, Mr. Holmes. I'll pledge my word there was no mark on it
+yesterday.”
+
+“On which side were the marks on the grass?”
+
+“This side, sir. This narrow margin of grass between the path and the
+flower-bed. I can't see the traces now, but they were clear to me then.”
+
+“Yes, yes; someone has passed along,” said Holmes, stooping over the
+grass border. “Our lady must have picked her steps carefully, must she
+not, since on the one side she would leave a track on the path, and on
+the other an even clearer one on the soft bed?”
+
+“Yes, sir, she must have been a cool hand.”
+
+I saw an intent look pass over Holmes's face.
+
+“You say that she must have come back this way?”
+
+“Yes, sir; there is no other.”
+
+“On this strip of grass?”
+
+“Certainly, Mr. Holmes.”
+
+“Hum! It was a very remarkable performance--very remarkable. Well, I
+think we have exhausted the path. Let us go farther. This garden door is
+usually kept open, I suppose? Then this visitor had nothing to do but
+to walk in. The idea of murder was not in her mind, or she would have
+provided herself with some sort of weapon, instead of having to pick
+this knife off the writing-table. She advanced along this corridor,
+leaving no traces upon the cocoanut matting. Then she found herself in
+this study. How long was she there? We have no means of judging.”
+
+“Not more than a few minutes, sir. I forgot to tell you that Mrs.
+Marker, the housekeeper, had been in there tidying not very long
+before--about a quarter of an hour, she says.”
+
+“Well, that gives us a limit. Our lady enters this room and what does
+she do? She goes over to the writing-table. What for? Not for anything
+in the drawers. If there had been anything worth her taking it would
+surely have been locked up. No; it was for something in that wooden
+bureau. Halloa! what is that scratch upon the face of it? Just hold a
+match, Watson. Why did you not tell me of this, Hopkins?”
+
+The mark which he was examining began upon the brass work on the
+right-hand side of the keyhole, and extended for about four inches,
+where it had scratched the varnish from the surface.
+
+“I noticed it, Mr. Holmes. But you'll always find scratches round a
+keyhole.”
+
+“This is recent, quite recent. See how the brass shines where it is
+cut. An old scratch would be the same colour as the surface. Look at it
+through my lens. There's the varnish, too, like earth on each side of a
+furrow. Is Mrs. Marker there?”
+
+A sad-faced, elderly woman came into the room.
+
+“Did you dust this bureau yesterday morning?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“Did you notice this scratch?”
+
+“No, sir, I did not.”
+
+“I am sure you did not, for a duster would have swept away these shreds
+of varnish. Who has the key of this bureau?”
+
+“The Professor keeps it on his watch-chain.”
+
+“Is it a simple key?”
+
+“No, sir; it is a Chubb's key.”
+
+“Very good. Mrs. Marker, you can go. Now we are making a little
+progress. Our lady enters the room, advances to the bureau, and either
+opens it or tries to do so. While she is thus engaged young Willoughby
+Smith enters the room. In her hurry to withdraw the key she makes this
+scratch upon the door. He seizes her, and she, snatching up the nearest
+object, which happens to be this knife, strikes at him in order to make
+him let go his hold. The blow is a fatal one. He falls and she escapes,
+either with or without the object for which she has come. Is Susan the
+maid there? Could anyone have got away through that door after the time
+that you heard the cry, Susan?”
+
+“No sir; it is impossible. Before I got down the stair I'd have seen
+anyone in the passage. Besides, the door never opened, for I would have
+heard it.”
+
+“That settles this exit. Then no doubt the lady went out the way she
+came. I understand that this other passage leads only to the Professor's
+room. There is no exit that way?”
+
+“No, sir.”
+
+“We shall go down it and make the acquaintance of the Professor. Halloa,
+Hopkins! this is very important, very important indeed. The Professor's
+corridor is also lined with cocoanut matting.”
+
+“Well, sir, what of that?”
+
+“Don't you see any bearing upon the case? Well, well, I don't insist
+upon it. No doubt I am wrong. And yet it seems to me to be suggestive.
+Come with me and introduce me.”
+
+We passed down the passage, which was of the same length as that which
+led to the garden. At the end was a short flight of steps ending in
+a door. Our guide knocked, and then ushered us into the Professor's
+bedroom.
+
+It was a very large chamber, lined with innumerable volumes, which had
+overflowed from the shelves and lay in piles in the corners, or were
+stacked all round at the base of the cases. The bed was in the centre
+of the room, and in it, propped up with pillows, was the owner of the
+house. I have seldom seen a more remarkable-looking person. It was a
+gaunt, aquiline face which was turned towards us, with piercing dark
+eyes, which lurked in deep hollows under overhung and tufted brows. His
+hair and beard were white, save that the latter was curiously stained
+with yellow around his mouth. A cigarette glowed amid the tangle of
+white hair, and the air of the room was fetid with stale tobacco-smoke.
+As he held out his hand to Holmes I perceived that it also was stained
+yellow with nicotine.
+
+“A smoker, Mr. Holmes?” said he, speaking well-chosen English with a
+curious little mincing accent. “Pray take a cigarette. And you, sir? I
+can recommend them, for I have them especially prepared by Ionides of
+Alexandria. He sends me a thousand at a time, and I grieve to say that I
+have to arrange for a fresh supply every fortnight. Bad, sir, very bad,
+but an old man has few pleasures. Tobacco and my work--that is all that
+is left to me.”
+
+Holmes had lit a cigarette, and was shooting little darting glances all
+over the room.
+
+“Tobacco and my work, but now only tobacco,” the old man exclaimed.
+“Alas! what a fatal interruption! Who could have foreseen such a
+terrible catastrophe? So estimable a young man! I assure you that after
+a few months' training he was an admirable assistant. What do you think
+of the matter, Mr. Holmes?”
+
+“I have not yet made up my mind.”
+
+“I shall indeed be indebted to you if you can throw a light where all is
+so dark to us. To a poor bookworm and invalid like myself such a blow
+is paralyzing. I seem to have lost the faculty of thought. But you are
+a man of action--you are a man of affairs. It is part of the everyday
+routine of your life. You can preserve your balance in every emergency.
+We are fortunate indeed in having you at our side.”
+
+Holmes was pacing up and down one side of the room whilst the old
+Professor was talking. I observed that he was smoking with extraordinary
+rapidity. It was evident that he shared our host's liking for the fresh
+Alexandrian cigarettes.
+
+“Yes, sir, it is a crushing blow,” said the old man. “That is my MAGNUM
+OPUS--the pile of papers on the side table yonder. It is my analysis of
+the documents found in the Coptic monasteries of Syria and Egypt, a work
+which will cut deep at the very foundations of revealed religion.
+With my enfeebled health I do not know whether I shall ever be able to
+complete it now that my assistant has been taken from me. Dear me, Mr.
+Holmes; why, you are even a quicker smoker than I am myself.”
+
+Holmes smiled.
+
+“I am a connoisseur,” said he, taking another cigarette from the
+box--his fourth--and lighting it from the stub of that which he had
+finished. “I will not trouble you with any lengthy cross-examination,
+Professor Coram, since I gather that you were in bed at the time of the
+crime and could know nothing about it. I would only ask this. What
+do you imagine that this poor fellow meant by his last words: 'The
+Professor--it was she'?”
+
+The Professor shook his head.
+
+“Susan is a country girl,” said he, “and you know the incredible
+stupidity of that class. I fancy that the poor fellow murmured some
+incoherent delirious words, and that she twisted them into this
+meaningless message.”
+
+“I see. You have no explanation yourself of the tragedy?”
+
+“Possibly an accident; possibly--I only breathe it among ourselves--a
+suicide. Young men have their hidden troubles--some affair of the heart,
+perhaps, which we have never known. It is a more probable supposition
+than murder.”
+
+“But the eye-glasses?”
+
+“Ah! I am only a student--a man of dreams. I cannot explain the
+practical things of life. But still, we are aware, my friend, that
+love-gages may take strange shapes. By all means take another cigarette.
+It is a pleasure to see anyone appreciate them so. A fan, a glove,
+glasses--who knows what article may be carried as a token or treasured
+when a man puts an end to his life? This gentleman speaks of footsteps
+in the grass; but, after all, it is easy to be mistaken on such a point.
+As to the knife, it might well be thrown far from the unfortunate man as
+he fell. It is possible that I speak as a child, but to me it seems that
+Willoughby Smith has met his fate by his own hand.”
+
+Holmes seemed struck by the theory thus put forward, and he continued to
+walk up and down for some time, lost in thought and consuming cigarette
+after cigarette.
+
+“Tell me, Professor Coram,” he said, at last, “what is in that cupboard
+in the bureau?”
+
+“Nothing that would help a thief. Family papers, letters from my poor
+wife, diplomas of Universities which have done me honour. Here is the
+key. You can look for yourself.”
+
+Holmes picked up the key and looked at it for an instant; then he handed
+it back.
+
+“No; I hardly think that it would help me,” said he. “I should prefer
+to go quietly down to your garden and turn the whole matter over in my
+head. There is something to be said for the theory of suicide which
+you have put forward. We must apologize for having intruded upon you,
+Professor Coram, and I promise that we won't disturb you until after
+lunch. At two o'clock we will come again and report to you anything
+which may have happened in the interval.”
+
+Holmes was curiously distrait, and we walked up and down the garden path
+for some time in silence.
+
+“Have you a clue?” I asked, at last.
+
+“It depends upon those cigarettes that I smoked,” said he. “It is
+possible that I am utterly mistaken. The cigarettes will show me.”
+
+“My dear Holmes,” I exclaimed, “how on earth----”
+
+“Well, well, you may see for yourself. If not, there's no harm done. Of
+course, we always have the optician clue to fall back upon, but I take
+a short cut when I can get it. Ah, here is the good Mrs. Marker! Let us
+enjoy five minutes of instructive conversation with her.”
+
+I may have remarked before that Holmes had, when he liked, a peculiarly
+ingratiating way with women, and that he very readily established terms
+of confidence with them. In half the time which he had named he had
+captured the housekeeper's goodwill, and was chatting with her as if he
+had known her for years.
+
+“Yes, Mr. Holmes, it is as you say, sir. He does smoke something
+terrible. All day and sometimes all night, sir. I've seen that room of
+a morning--well, sir, you'd have thought it was a London fog. Poor young
+Mr. Smith, he was a smoker also, but not as bad as the Professor. His
+health--well, I don't know that it's better nor worse for the smoking.”
+
+“Ah!” said Holmes, “but it kills the appetite.”
+
+“Well, I don't know about that, sir.”
+
+“I suppose the Professor eats hardly anything?”
+
+“Well, he is variable. I'll say that for him.”
+
+“I'll wager he took no breakfast this morning, and won't face his lunch
+after all the cigarettes I saw him consume.”
+
+“Well, you're out there, sir, as it happens, for he ate a remarkable big
+breakfast this morning. I don't know when I've known him make a
+better one, and he's ordered a good dish of cutlets for his lunch. I'm
+surprised myself, for since I came into that room yesterday and saw
+young Mr. Smith lying there on the floor I couldn't bear to look at
+food. Well, it takes all sorts to make a world, and the Professor hasn't
+let it take his appetite away.”
+
+We loitered the morning away in the garden. Stanley Hopkins had gone
+down to the village to look into some rumours of a strange woman who had
+been seen by some children on the Chatham Road the previous morning. As
+to my friend, all his usual energy seemed to have deserted him. I had
+never known him handle a case in such a half-hearted fashion. Even the
+news brought back by Hopkins that he had found the children and that
+they had undoubtedly seen a woman exactly corresponding with Holmes's
+description, and wearing either spectacles or eye-glasses, failed to
+rouse any sign of keen interest. He was more attentive when Susan, who
+waited upon us at lunch, volunteered the information that she believed
+Mr. Smith had been out for a walk yesterday morning, and that he had
+only returned half an hour before the tragedy occurred. I could not
+myself see the bearing of this incident, but I clearly perceived that
+Holmes was weaving it into the general scheme which he had formed in his
+brain. Suddenly he sprang from his chair and glanced at his watch. “Two
+o'clock, gentlemen,” said he. “We must go up and have it out with our
+friend the Professor.”
+
+The old man had just finished his lunch, and certainly his empty dish
+bore evidence to the good appetite with which his housekeeper had
+credited him. He was, indeed, a weird figure as he turned his white mane
+and his glowing eyes towards us. The eternal cigarette smouldered in his
+mouth. He had been dressed and was seated in an arm-chair by the fire.
+
+“Well, Mr. Holmes, have you solved this mystery yet?” He shoved the
+large tin of cigarettes which stood on a table beside him towards my
+companion. Holmes stretched out his hand at the same moment, and between
+them they tipped the box over the edge. For a minute or two we were all
+on our knees retrieving stray cigarettes from impossible places. When
+we rose again I observed that Holmes's eyes were shining and his cheeks
+tinged with colour. Only at a crisis have I seen those battle-signals
+flying.
+
+“Yes,” said he, “I have solved it.”
+
+Stanley Hopkins and I stared in amazement. Something like a sneer
+quivered over the gaunt features of the old Professor.
+
+“Indeed! In the garden?”
+
+“No, here.”
+
+“Here! When?”
+
+“This instant.”
+
+“You are surely joking, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. You compel me to tell you
+that this is too serious a matter to be treated in such a fashion.”
+
+“I have forged and tested every link of my chain, Professor Coram, and
+I am sure that it is sound. What your motives are or what exact part you
+play in this strange business I am not yet able to say. In a few
+minutes I shall probably hear it from your own lips. Meanwhile I will
+reconstruct what is past for your benefit, so that you may know the
+information which I still require.
+
+“A lady yesterday entered your study. She came with the intention of
+possessing herself of certain documents which were in your bureau. She
+had a key of her own. I have had an opportunity of examining yours, and
+I do not find that slight discolouration which the scratch made upon the
+varnish would have produced. You were not an accessory, therefore, and
+she came, so far as I can read the evidence, without your knowledge to
+rob you.”
+
+The Professor blew a cloud from his lips. “This is most interesting and
+instructive,” said he. “Have you no more to add? Surely, having traced
+this lady so far, you can also say what has become of her.”
+
+“I will endeavour to do so. In the first place she was seized by your
+secretary, and stabbed him in order to escape. This catastrophe I am
+inclined to regard as an unhappy accident, for I am convinced that the
+lady had no intention of inflicting so grievous an injury. An assassin
+does not come unarmed. Horrified by what she had done she rushed wildly
+away from the scene of the tragedy. Unfortunately for her she had lost
+her glasses in the scuffle, and as she was extremely short-sighted she
+was really helpless without them. She ran down a corridor, which she
+imagined to be that by which she had come--both were lined with cocoanut
+matting--and it was only when it was too late that she understood that
+she had taken the wrong passage and that her retreat was cut off behind
+her. What was she to do? She could not go back. She could not remain
+where she was. She must go on. She went on. She mounted a stair, pushed
+open a door, and found herself in your room.”
+
+The old man sat with his mouth open staring wildly at Holmes. Amazement
+and fear were stamped upon his expressive features. Now, with an effort,
+he shrugged his shoulders and burst into insincere laughter.
+
+“All very fine, Mr. Holmes,” said he. “But there is one little flaw
+in your splendid theory. I was myself in my room, and I never left it
+during the day.”
+
+“I am aware of that, Professor Coram.”
+
+“And you mean to say that I could lie upon that bed and not be aware
+that a woman had entered my room?”
+
+“I never said so. You WERE aware of it. You spoke with her. You
+recognised her. You aided her to escape.”
+
+Again the Professor burst into high-keyed laughter. He had risen to his
+feet and his eyes glowed like embers.
+
+“You are mad!” he cried. “You are talking insanely. I helped her to
+escape? Where is she now?”
+
+“She is there,” said Holmes, and he pointed to a high bookcase in the
+corner of the room.
+
+I saw the old man throw up his arms, a terrible convulsion passed over
+his grim face, and he fell back in his chair. At the same instant the
+bookcase at which Holmes pointed swung round upon a hinge, and a woman
+rushed out into the room. “You are right!” she cried, in a strange
+foreign voice. “You are right! I am here.”
+
+She was brown with the dust and draped with the cobwebs which had come
+from the walls of her hiding-place. Her face, too, was streaked with
+grime, and at the best she could never have been handsome, for she had
+the exact physical characteristics which Holmes had divined, with, in
+addition, a long and obstinate chin. What with her natural blindness,
+and what with the change from dark to light, she stood as one dazed,
+blinking about her to see where and who we were. And yet, in spite of
+all these disadvantages, there was a certain nobility in the woman's
+bearing, a gallantry in the defiant chin and in the upraised head, which
+compelled something of respect and admiration. Stanley Hopkins had laid
+his hand upon her arm and claimed her as his prisoner, but she waved
+him aside gently, and yet with an overmastering dignity which compelled
+obedience. The old man lay back in his chair, with a twitching face, and
+stared at her with brooding eyes.
+
+“Yes, sir, I am your prisoner,” she said. “From where I stood I could
+hear everything, and I know that you have learned the truth. I confess
+it all. It was I who killed the young man. But you are right, you who
+say it was an accident. I did not even know that it was a knife which
+I held in my hand, for in my despair I snatched anything from the table
+and struck at him to make him let me go. It is the truth that I tell.”
+
+“Madam,” said Holmes, “I am sure that it is the truth. I fear that you
+are far from well.”
+
+She had turned a dreadful colour, the more ghastly under the dark
+dust-streaks upon her face. She seated herself on the side of the bed;
+then she resumed.
+
+“I have only a little time here,” she said, “but I would have you to
+know the whole truth. I am this man's wife. He is not an Englishman. He
+is a Russian. His name I will not tell.”
+
+For the first time the old man stirred. “God bless you, Anna!” he cried.
+“God bless you!”
+
+She cast a look of the deepest disdain in his direction. “Why should you
+cling so hard to that wretched life of yours, Sergius?” said she. “It
+has done harm to many and good to none--not even to yourself. However,
+it is not for me to cause the frail thread to be snapped before God's
+time. I have enough already upon my soul since I crossed the threshold
+of this cursed house. But I must speak or I shall be too late.
+
+“I have said, gentlemen, that I am this man's wife. He was fifty and I
+a foolish girl of twenty when we married. It was in a city of Russia, a
+University--I will not name the place.”
+
+“God bless you, Anna!” murmured the old man again.
+
+“We were reformers--revolutionists--Nihilists, you understand. He and I
+and many more. Then there came a time of trouble, a police officer was
+killed, many were arrested, evidence was wanted, and in order to save
+his own life and to earn a great reward my husband betrayed his own wife
+and his companions. Yes, we were all arrested upon his confession. Some
+of us found our way to the gallows and some to Siberia. I was among
+these last, but my term was not for life. My husband came to England
+with his ill-gotten gains, and has lived in quiet ever since, knowing
+well that if the Brotherhood knew where he was not a week would pass
+before justice would be done.”
+
+The old man reached out a trembling hand and helped himself to a
+cigarette. “I am in your hands, Anna,” said he. “You were always good to
+me.”
+
+“I have not yet told you the height of his villainy,” said she. “Among
+our comrades of the Order there was one who was the friend of my heart.
+He was noble, unselfish, loving--all that my husband was not. He hated
+violence. We were all guilty--if that is guilt--but he was not. He wrote
+for ever dissuading us from such a course. These letters would have
+saved him. So would my diary, in which from day to day I had entered
+both my feelings towards him and the view which each of us had taken. My
+husband found and kept both diary and letters. He hid them, and he tried
+hard to swear away the young man's life. In this he failed, but Alexis
+was sent a convict to Siberia, where now, at this moment, he works in
+a salt mine. Think of that, you villain, you villain; now, now, at this
+very moment, Alexis, a man whose name you are not worthy to speak, works
+and lives like a slave, and yet I have your life in my hands and I let
+you go.”
+
+“You were always a noble woman, Anna,” said the old man, puffing at his
+cigarette.
+
+She had risen, but she fell back again with a little cry of pain.
+
+“I must finish,” she said. “When my term was over I set myself to get
+the diary and letters which, if sent to the Russian Government, would
+procure my friend's release. I knew that my husband had come to England.
+After months of searching I discovered where he was. I knew that he
+still had the diary, for when I was in Siberia I had a letter from him
+once reproaching me and quoting some passages from its pages. Yet I was
+sure that with his revengeful nature he would never give it to me of his
+own free will. I must get it for myself. With this object I engaged an
+agent from a private detective firm, who entered my husband's house as
+secretary--it was your second secretary, Sergius, the one who left you
+so hurriedly. He found that papers were kept in the cupboard, and he got
+an impression of the key. He would not go farther. He furnished me with
+a plan of the house, and he told me that in the forenoon the study was
+always empty, as the secretary was employed up here. So at last I took
+my courage in both hands and I came down to get the papers for myself. I
+succeeded, but at what a cost!
+
+“I had just taken the papers and was locking the cupboard when the young
+man seized me. I had seen him already that morning. He had met me in
+the road and I had asked him to tell me where Professor Coram lived, not
+knowing that he was in his employ.”
+
+“Exactly! exactly!” said Holmes. “The secretary came back and told his
+employer of the woman he had met. Then in his last breath he tried to
+send a message that it was she--the she whom he had just discussed with
+him.”
+
+“You must let me speak,” said the woman, in an imperative voice, and
+her face contracted as if in pain. “When he had fallen I rushed from the
+room, chose the wrong door, and found myself in my husband's room. He
+spoke of giving me up. I showed him that if he did so his life was in my
+hands. If he gave me to the law I could give him to the Brotherhood. It
+was not that I wished to live for my own sake, but it was that I desired
+to accomplish my purpose. He knew that I would do what I said--that
+his own fate was involved in mine. For that reason and for no other he
+shielded me. He thrust me into that dark hiding-place, a relic of old
+days, known only to himself. He took his meals in his own room, and so
+was able to give me part of his food. It was agreed that when the police
+left the house I should slip away by night and come back no more. But in
+some way you have read our plans.” She tore from the bosom of her dress
+a small packet. “These are my last words,” said she; “here is the packet
+which will save Alexis. I confide it to your honour and to your love of
+justice. Take it! You will deliver it at the Russian Embassy. Now I have
+done my duty, and----”
+
+“Stop her!” cried Holmes. He had bounded across the room and had
+wrenched a small phial from her hand.
+
+“Too late!” she said, sinking back on the bed. “Too late! I took the
+poison before I left my hiding-place. My head swims! I am going! I
+charge you, sir, to remember the packet.”
+
+
+“A simple case, and yet in some ways an instructive one,” Holmes
+remarked, as we travelled back to town. “It hinged from the outset upon
+the pince-nez. But for the fortunate chance of the dying man having
+seized these I am not sure that we could ever have reached our solution.
+It was clear to me from the strength of the glasses that the wearer must
+have been very blind and helpless when deprived of them. When you asked
+me to believe that she walked along a narrow strip of grass without
+once making a false step I remarked, as you may remember, that it was
+a noteworthy performance. In my mind I set it down as an impossible
+performance, save in the unlikely case that she had a second pair of
+glasses. I was forced, therefore, to seriously consider the hypothesis
+that she had remained within the house. On perceiving the similarity of
+the two corridors it became clear that she might very easily have made
+such a mistake, and in that case it was evident that she must have
+entered the Professor's room. I was keenly on the alert, therefore,
+for whatever would bear out this supposition, and I examined the room
+narrowly for anything in the shape of a hiding-place. The carpet seemed
+continuous and firmly nailed, so I dismissed the idea of a trap-door.
+There might well be a recess behind the books. As you are aware, such
+devices are common in old libraries. I observed that books were piled
+on the floor at all other points, but that one bookcase was left clear.
+This, then, might be the door. I could see no marks to guide me, but the
+carpet was of a dun colour, which lends itself very well to examination.
+I therefore smoked a great number of those excellent cigarettes, and I
+dropped the ash all over the space in front of the suspected bookcase.
+It was a simple trick, but exceedingly effective. I then went downstairs
+and I ascertained, in your presence, Watson, without your perceiving
+the drift of my remarks, that Professor Coram's consumption of food had
+increased--as one would expect when he is supplying a second person. We
+then ascended to the room again, when, by upsetting the cigarette-box,
+I obtained a very excellent view of the floor, and was able to see quite
+clearly, from the traces upon the cigarette ash, that the prisoner had,
+in our absence, come out from her retreat. Well, Hopkins, here we are at
+Charing Cross, and I congratulate you on having brought your case to
+a successful conclusion. You are going to head-quarters, no doubt. I
+think, Watson, you and I will drive together to the Russian Embassy.”
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 28  AUGUST, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+XI.--The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter.
+
+
+WE were fairly accustomed to receive weird telegrams at Baker Street,
+but I have a particular recollection of one which reached us on a gloomy
+February morning some seven or eight years ago and gave Mr. Sherlock
+Holmes a puzzled quarter of an hour. It was addressed to him, and ran
+thus:--
+
+“Please await me. Terrible misfortune. Right wing three-quarter missing;
+indispensable to morrow.--OVERTON.”
+
+“Strand post-mark and dispatched ten-thirty-six,” said Holmes, reading
+it over and over. “Mr. Overton was evidently considerably excited when
+he sent it, and somewhat incoherent in consequence. Well, well, he will
+be here, I dare say, by the time I have looked through the TIMES, and
+then we shall know all about it. Even the most insignificant problem
+would be welcome in these stagnant days.”
+
+Things had indeed been very slow with us, and I had learned to dread
+such periods of inaction, for I knew by experience that my companion's
+brain was so abnormally active that it was dangerous to leave it without
+material upon which to work. For years I had gradually weaned him
+from that drug mania which had threatened once to check his remarkable
+career. Now I knew that under ordinary conditions he no longer craved
+for this artificial stimulus, but I was well aware that the fiend was
+not dead, but sleeping; and I have known that the sleep was a light one
+and the waking near when in periods of idleness I have seen the drawn
+look upon Holmes's ascetic face, and the brooding of his deep-set and
+inscrutable eyes. Therefore I blessed this Mr. Overton, whoever he might
+be, since he had come with his enigmatic message to break that dangerous
+calm which brought more peril to my friend than all the storms of his
+tempestuous life.
+
+As we had expected, the telegram was soon followed by its sender, and
+the card of Mr. Cyril Overton, of Trinity College, Cambridge, announced
+the arrival of an enormous young man, sixteen stone of solid bone and
+muscle, who spanned the doorway with his broad shoulders and looked
+from one of us to the other with a comely face which was haggard with
+anxiety.
+
+“Mr. Sherlock Holmes?”
+
+My companion bowed.
+
+“I've been down to Scotland Yard, Mr. Holmes. I saw Inspector Stanley
+Hopkins. He advised me to come to you. He said the case, so far as he
+could see, was more in your line than in that of the regular police.”
+
+“Pray sit down and tell me what is the matter.”
+
+“It's awful, Mr. Holmes, simply awful! I wonder my hair isn't grey.
+Godfrey Staunton--you've heard of him, of course? He's simply the hinge
+that the whole team turns on. I'd rather spare two from the pack
+and have Godfrey for my three-quarter line. Whether it's passing, or
+tackling, or dribbling, there's no one to touch him; and then, he's got
+the head and can hold us all together. What am I to do? That's what I
+ask you, Mr. Holmes. There's Moorhouse, first reserve, but he is trained
+as a half, and he always edges right in on to the scrum instead of
+keeping out on the touch-line. He's a fine place-kick, it's true, but,
+then, he has no judgment, and he can't sprint for nuts. Why, Morton
+or Johnson, the Oxford fliers, could romp round him. Stevenson is
+fast enough, but he couldn't drop from the twenty-five line, and a
+three-quarter who can't either punt or drop isn't worth a place for
+pace alone. No, Mr. Holmes, we are done unless you can help me to find
+Godfrey Staunton.”
+
+My friend had listened with amused surprise to this long speech, which
+was poured forth with extraordinary vigour and earnestness, every point
+being driven home by the slapping of a brawny hand upon the speaker's
+knee. When our visitor was silent Holmes stretched out his hand and took
+down letter “S” of his commonplace book. For once he dug in vain into
+that mine of varied information.
+
+“There is Arthur H. Staunton, the rising young forger,” said he, “and
+there was Henry Staunton, whom I helped to hang, but Godfrey Staunton is
+a new name to me.”
+
+It was our visitor's turn to look surprised.
+
+“Why, Mr. Holmes, I thought you knew things,” said he. “I suppose, then,
+if you have never heard of Godfrey Staunton you don't know Cyril Overton
+either?”
+
+Holmes shook his head good-humouredly.
+
+“Great Scot!” cried the athlete. “Why, I was first reserve for England
+against Wales, and I've skippered the 'Varsity all this year. But that's
+nothing! I didn't think there was a soul in England who didn't know
+Godfrey Staunton, the crack three-quarter, Cambridge, Blackheath, and
+five Internationals. Good Lord! Mr. Holmes, where HAVE you lived?”
+
+Holmes laughed at the young giant's naive astonishment.
+
+“You live in a different world to me, Mr. Overton, a sweeter and
+healthier one. My ramifications stretch out into many sections of
+society, but never, I am happy to say, into amateur sport, which is the
+best and soundest thing in England. However, your unexpected visit this
+morning shows me that even in that world of fresh air and fair play
+there may be work for me to do; so now, my good sir, I beg you to sit
+down and to tell me slowly and quietly exactly what it is that has
+occurred, and how you desire that I should help you.”
+
+Young Overton's face assumed the bothered look of the man who is more
+accustomed to using his muscles than his wits; but by degrees, with many
+repetitions and obscurities which I may omit from his narrative, he laid
+his strange story before us.
+
+
+“It's this way, Mr. Holmes. As I have said, I am the skipper of the
+Rugger team of Cambridge 'Varsity, and Godfrey Staunton is my best man.
+To-morrow we play Oxford. Yesterday we all came up and we settled at
+Bentley's private hotel. At ten o'clock I went round and saw that all
+the fellows had gone to roost, for I believe in strict training and
+plenty of sleep to keep a team fit. I had a word or two with Godfrey
+before he turned in. He seemed to me to be pale and bothered. I asked
+him what was the matter. He said he was all right--just a touch of
+headache. I bade him good-night and left him. Half an hour later the
+porter tells me that a rough-looking man with a beard called with a note
+for Godfrey. He had not gone to bed and the note was taken to his room.
+Godfrey read it and fell back in a chair as if he had been pole-axed.
+The porter was so scared that he was going to fetch me, but Godfrey
+stopped him, had a drink of water, and pulled himself together. Then
+he went downstairs, said a few words to the man who was waiting in the
+hall, and the two of them went off together. The last that the porter
+saw of them, they were almost running down the street in the direction
+of the Strand. This morning Godfrey's room was empty, his bed had never
+been slept in, and his things were all just as I had seen them the night
+before. He had gone off at a moment's notice with this stranger, and no
+word has come from him since. I don't believe he will ever come back. He
+was a sportsman, was Godfrey, down to his marrow, and he wouldn't have
+stopped his training and let in his skipper if it were not for some
+cause that was too strong for him. No; I feel as if he were gone for
+good and we should never see him again.”
+
+
+Sherlock Holmes listened with the deepest attention to this singular
+narrative.
+
+“What did you do?” he asked.
+
+“I wired to Cambridge to learn if anything had been heard of him there.
+I have had an answer. No one has seen him.”
+
+“Could he have got back to Cambridge?”
+
+“Yes, there is a late train--quarter-past eleven.”
+
+“But so far as you can ascertain he did not take it?”
+
+“No, he has not been seen.”
+
+“What did you do next?”
+
+“I wired to Lord Mount-James.”
+
+“Why to Lord Mount-James?”
+
+“Godfrey is an orphan, and Lord Mount-James is his nearest relative--his
+uncle, I believe.”
+
+“Indeed. This throws new light upon the matter. Lord Mount-James is one
+of the richest men in England.”
+
+“So I've heard Godfrey say.”
+
+“And your friend was closely related?”
+
+“Yes, he was his heir, and the old boy is nearly eighty--cram full of
+gout, too. They say he could chalk his billiard-cue with his knuckles.
+He never allowed Godfrey a shilling in his life, for he is an absolute
+miser, but it will all come to him right enough.”
+
+“Have you heard from Lord Mount-James?”
+
+“No.”
+
+“What motive could your friend have in going to Lord Mount-James?”
+
+“Well, something was worrying him the night before, and if it was to do
+with money it is possible that he would make for his nearest relative
+who had so much of it, though from all I have heard he would not have
+much chance of getting it. Godfrey was not fond of the old man. He would
+not go if he could help it.”
+
+“Well, we can soon determine that. If your friend was going to his
+relative, Lord Mount-James, you have then to explain the visit of this
+rough-looking fellow at so late an hour, and the agitation that was
+caused by his coming.”
+
+Cyril Overton pressed his hands to his head. “I can make nothing of it,”
+ said he.
+
+“Well, well, I have a clear day, and I shall be happy to look into the
+matter,” said Holmes. “I should strongly recommend you to make your
+preparations for your match without reference to this young gentleman.
+It must, as you say, have been an overpowering necessity which tore him
+away in such a fashion, and the same necessity is likely to hold him
+away. Let us step round together to this hotel, and see if the porter
+can throw any fresh light upon the matter.”
+
+Sherlock Holmes was a past-master in the art of putting a humble
+witness at his ease, and very soon, in the privacy of Godfrey Staunton's
+abandoned room, he had extracted all that the porter had to tell.
+The visitor of the night before was not a gentleman, neither was he
+a working man. He was simply what the porter described as a
+“medium-looking chap”; a man of fifty, beard grizzled, pale face,
+quietly dressed. He seemed himself to be agitated. The porter had
+observed his hand trembling when he had held out the note. Godfrey
+Staunton had crammed the note into his pocket. Staunton had not shaken
+hands with the man in the hall. They had exchanged a few sentences, of
+which the porter had only distinguished the one word “time.” Then they
+had hurried off in the manner described. It was just half-past ten by
+the hall clock.
+
+“Let me see,” said Holmes, seating himself on Staunton's bed. “You are
+the day porter, are you not?”
+
+“Yes, sir; I go off duty at eleven.”
+
+“The night porter saw nothing, I suppose?”
+
+“No, sir; one theatre party came in late. No one else.”
+
+“Were you on duty all day yesterday?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“Did you take any messages to Mr. Staunton?”
+
+“Yes, sir; one telegram.”
+
+“Ah! that's interesting. What o'clock was this?”
+
+“About six.”
+
+“Where was Mr. Staunton when he received it?”
+
+“Here in his room.”
+
+“Were you present when he opened it?”
+
+“Yes, sir; I waited to see if there was an answer.”
+
+“Well, was there?”
+
+“Yes, sir. He wrote an answer.”
+
+“Did you take it?”
+
+“No; he took it himself.”
+
+“But he wrote it in your presence?”
+
+“Yes, sir. I was standing by the door, and he with his back turned at
+that table. When he had written it he said, 'All right, porter, I will
+take this myself.'”
+
+“What did he write it with?”
+
+“A pen, sir.”
+
+“Was the telegraphic form one of these on the table?”
+
+“Yes, sir; it was the top one.”
+
+Holmes rose. Taking the forms he carried them over to the window and
+carefully examined that which was uppermost.
+
+“It is a pity he did not write in pencil,” said he, throwing them down
+again with a shrug of disappointment. “As you have no doubt frequently
+observed, Watson, the impression usually goes through--a fact which has
+dissolved many a happy marriage. However, I can find no trace here. I
+rejoice, however, to perceive that he wrote with a broad-pointed quill
+pen, and I can hardly doubt that we will find some impression upon this
+blotting-pad. Ah, yes, surely this is the very thing!”
+
+He tore off a strip of the blotting-paper and turned towards us the
+following hieroglyphic:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Cyril Overton was much excited. “Hold it to the glass!” he cried.
+
+“That is unnecessary,” said Holmes. “The paper is thin, and the reverse
+will give the message. Here it is.” He turned it over and we read:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+“So that is the tail end of the telegram which Godfrey Staunton
+dispatched within a few hours of his disappearance. There are at least
+six words of the message which have escaped us; but what remains--'Stand
+by us for God's sake!'--proves that this young man saw a formidable
+danger which approached him, and from which someone else could protect
+him. 'US,' mark you! Another person was involved. Who should it be but
+the pale-faced, bearded man, who seemed himself in so nervous a state?
+What, then, is the connection between Godfrey Staunton and the bearded
+man? And what is the third source from which each of them sought for
+help against pressing danger? Our inquiry has already narrowed down to
+that.”
+
+“We have only to find to whom that telegram is addressed,” I suggested.
+
+“Exactly, my dear Watson. Your reflection, though profound, had already
+crossed my mind. But I dare say it may have come to your notice that if
+you walk into a post-office and demand to see the counterfoil of another
+man's message there may be some disinclination on the part of the
+officials to oblige you. There is so much red tape in these matters!
+However, I have no doubt that with a little delicacy and finesse the end
+may be attained. Meanwhile, I should like in your presence, Mr. Overton,
+to go through these papers which have been left upon the table.”
+
+There were a number of letters, bills, and note-books, which Holmes
+turned over and examined with quick, nervous fingers and darting,
+penetrating eyes. “Nothing here,” he said, at last. “By the way, I
+suppose your friend was a healthy young fellow--nothing amiss with him?”
+
+“Sound as a bell.”
+
+“Have you ever known him ill?”
+
+“Not a day. He has been laid up with a hack, and once he slipped his
+knee-cap, but that was nothing.”
+
+“Perhaps he was not so strong as you suppose. I should think he may have
+had some secret trouble. With your assent I will put one or two of these
+papers in my pocket, in case they should bear upon our future inquiry.”
+
+“One moment! one moment!” cried a querulous voice, and we looked up to
+find a queer little old man, jerking and twitching in the doorway. He
+was dressed in rusty black, with a very broad brimmed top-hat and a
+loose white necktie--the whole effect being that of a very rustic parson
+or of an undertaker's mute. Yet, in spite of his shabby and even absurd
+appearance, his voice had a sharp crackle, and his manner a quick
+intensity which commanded attention.
+
+“Who are you, sir, and by what right do you touch this gentleman's
+papers?” he asked.
+
+“I am a private detective, and I am endeavouring to explain his
+disappearance.”
+
+“Oh, you are, are you? And who instructed you, eh?”
+
+“This gentleman, Mr. Staunton's friend, was referred to me by Scotland
+Yard.”
+
+“Who are you, sir?”
+
+“I am Cyril Overton.”
+
+“Then it is you who sent me a telegram. My name is Lord Mount-James. I
+came round as quickly as the Bayswater 'bus would bring me. So you have
+instructed a detective?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“And are you prepared to meet the cost?”
+
+“I have no doubt, sir, that my friend Godfrey, when we find him, will be
+prepared to do that.”
+
+“But if he is never found, eh? Answer me that!”
+
+“In that case no doubt his family----”
+
+“Nothing of the sort, sir!” screamed the little man. “Don't look to me
+for a penny--not a penny! You understand that, Mr. Detective! I am all
+the family that this young man has got, and I tell you that I am not
+responsible. If he has any expectations it is due to the fact that I
+have never wasted money, and I do not propose to begin to do so now. As
+to those papers with which you are making so free, I may tell you that
+in case there should be anything of any value among them you will be
+held strictly to account for what you do with them.”
+
+“Very good, sir,” said Sherlock Holmes. “May I ask in the meanwhile
+whether you have yourself any theory to account for this young man's
+disappearance?”
+
+“No, sir, I have not. He is big enough and old enough to look after
+himself, and if he is so foolish as to lose himself I entirely refuse to
+accept the responsibility of hunting for him.”
+
+“I quite understand your position,” said Holmes, with a mischievous
+twinkle in his eyes. “Perhaps you don't quite understand mine. Godfrey
+Staunton appears to have been a poor man. If he has been kidnapped it
+could not have been for anything which he himself possesses. The fame
+of your wealth has gone abroad, Lord Mount-James, and it is entirely
+possible that a gang of thieves have secured your nephew in order to
+gain from him some information as to your house, your habits, and your
+treasure.”
+
+The face of our unpleasant little visitor turned as white as his
+neckcloth.
+
+“Heavens, sir, what an idea! I never thought of such villainy! What
+inhuman rogues there are in the world! But Godfrey is a fine lad--a
+staunch lad. Nothing would induce him to give his old uncle away. I'll
+have the plate moved over to the bank this evening. In the meantime
+spare no pains, Mr. Detective! I beg you to leave no stone unturned to
+bring him safely back. As to money, well, so far as a fiver, or even a
+tenner, goes, you can always look to me.”
+
+Even in his chastened frame of mind the noble miser could give us no
+information which could help us, for he knew little of the private life
+of his nephew. Our only clue lay in the truncated telegram, and with a
+copy of this in his hand Holmes set forth to find a second link for
+his chain. We had shaken off Lord Mount-James, and Overton had gone to
+consult with the other members of his team over the misfortune which had
+befallen them.
+
+There was a telegraph-office at a short distance from the hotel. We
+halted outside it.
+
+“It's worth trying, Watson,” said Holmes. “Of course, with a warrant we
+could demand to see the counterfoils, but we have not reached that stage
+yet. I don't suppose they remember faces in so busy a place. Let us
+venture it.”
+
+“I am sorry to trouble you,” said he, in his blandest manner, to the
+young woman behind the grating; “there is some small mistake about a
+telegram I sent yesterday. I have had no answer, and I very much fear
+that I must have omitted to put my name at the end. Could you tell me if
+this was so?”
+
+The young woman turned over a sheaf of counterfoils.
+
+“What o'clock was it?” she asked.
+
+“A little after six.”
+
+“Whom was it to?”
+
+Holmes put his finger to his lips and glanced at me. “The last words
+in it were 'for God's sake,'” he whispered, confidentially; “I am very
+anxious at getting no answer.”
+
+The young woman separated one of the forms.
+
+“This is it. There is no name,” said she, smoothing it out upon the
+counter.
+
+“Then that, of course, accounts for my getting no answer,” said Holmes.
+“Dear me, how very stupid of me, to be sure! Good morning, miss, and
+many thanks for having relieved my mind.” He chuckled and rubbed his
+hands when we found ourselves in the street once more.
+
+“Well?” I asked.
+
+“We progress, my dear Watson, we progress. I had seven different schemes
+for getting a glimpse of that telegram, but I could hardly hope to
+succeed the very first time.”
+
+“And what have you gained?”
+
+“A starting-point for our investigation.” He hailed a cab. “King's Cross
+Station,” said he.
+
+“We have a journey, then?”
+
+“Yes; I think we must run down to Cambridge together. All the
+indications seem to me to point in that direction.”
+
+“Tell me,” I asked, as we rattled up Gray's Inn Road, “have you any
+suspicion yet as to the cause of the disappearance? I don't think that
+among all our cases I have known one where the motives are more obscure.
+Surely you don't really imagine that he may be kidnapped in order to
+give information against his wealthy uncle?”
+
+“I confess, my dear Watson, that that does not appeal to me as a very
+probable explanation. It struck me, however, as being the one which was
+most likely to interest that exceedingly unpleasant old person.”
+
+“It certainly did that. But what are your alternatives?”
+
+“I could mention several. You must admit that it is curious and
+suggestive that this incident should occur on the eve of this important
+match, and should involve the only man whose presence seems essential
+to the success of the side. It may, of course, be coincidence, but it
+is interesting. Amateur sport is free from betting, but a good deal of
+outside betting goes on among the public, and it is possible that it
+might be worth someone's while to get at a player as the ruffians of
+the turf get at a race-horse. There is one explanation. A second
+very obvious one is that this young man really is the heir of a great
+property, however modest his means may at present be, and it is not
+impossible that a plot to hold him for ransom might be concocted.”
+
+“These theories take no account of the telegram.”
+
+“Quite true, Watson. The telegram still remains the only solid thing
+with which we have to deal, and we must not permit our attention to
+wander away from it. It is to gain light upon the purpose of this
+telegram that we are now upon our way to Cambridge. The path of our
+investigation is at present obscure, but I shall be very much surprised
+if before evening we have not cleared it up or made a considerable
+advance along it.”
+
+It was already dark when we reached the old University city. Holmes took
+a cab at the station, and ordered the man to drive to the house of Dr.
+Leslie Armstrong. A few minutes later we had stopped at a large mansion
+in the busiest thoroughfare. We were shown in, and after a long wait
+were at last admitted into the consulting-room, where we found the
+doctor seated behind his table.
+
+It argues the degree in which I had lost touch with my profession that
+the name of Leslie Armstrong was unknown to me. Now I am aware that he
+is not only one of the heads of the medical school of the University,
+but a thinker of European reputation in more than one branch of science.
+Yet even without knowing his brilliant record one could not fail to be
+impressed by a mere glance at the man, the square, massive face, the
+brooding eyes under the thatched brows, and the granite moulding of the
+inflexible jaw. A man of deep character, a man with an alert mind, grim,
+ascetic, self-contained, formidable--so I read Dr. Leslie Armstrong. He
+held my friend's card in his hand, and he looked up with no very pleased
+expression upon his dour features.
+
+“I have heard your name, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and I am aware of your
+profession, one of which I by no means approve.”
+
+“In that, doctor, you will find yourself in agreement with every
+criminal in the country,” said my friend, quietly.
+
+“So far as your efforts are directed towards the suppression of crime,
+sir, they must have the support of every reasonable member of the
+community, though I cannot doubt that the official machinery is amply
+sufficient for the purpose. Where your calling is more open to criticism
+is when you pry into the secrets of private individuals, when you rake
+up family matters which are better hidden, and when you incidentally
+waste the time of men who are more busy than yourself. At the present
+moment, for example, I should be writing a treatise instead of
+conversing with you.”
+
+“No doubt, doctor; and yet the conversation may prove more important
+than the treatise. Incidentally I may tell you that we are doing the
+reverse of what you very justly blame, and that we are endeavouring
+to prevent anything like public exposure of private matters which must
+necessarily follow when once the case is fairly in the hands of the
+official police. You may look upon me simply as an irregular pioneer who
+goes in front of the regular forces of the country. I have come to ask
+you about Mr. Godfrey Staunton.”
+
+“What about him?”
+
+“You know him, do you not?”
+
+“He is an intimate friend of mine.”
+
+“You are aware that he has disappeared?”
+
+“Ah, indeed!” There was no change of expression in the rugged features
+of the doctor.
+
+“He left his hotel last night. He has not been heard of.”
+
+“No doubt he will return.”
+
+“To-morrow is the 'Varsity football match.”
+
+“I have no sympathy with these childish games. The young man's fate
+interests me deeply, since I know him and like him. The football match
+does not come within my horizon at all.”
+
+“I claim your sympathy, then, in my investigation of Mr. Staunton's
+fate. Do you know where he is?”
+
+“Certainly not.”
+
+“You have not seen him since yesterday?”
+
+“No, I have not.”
+
+“Was Mr. Staunton a healthy man?”
+
+“Absolutely.”
+
+“Did you ever know him ill?”
+
+“Never.”
+
+Holmes popped a sheet of paper before the doctor's eyes. “Then perhaps
+you will explain this receipted bill for thirteen guineas, paid by Mr.
+Godfrey Staunton last month to Dr. Leslie Armstrong of Cambridge. I
+picked it out from among the papers upon his desk.”
+
+The doctor flushed with anger.
+
+“I do not feel that there is any reason why I should render an
+explanation to you, Mr. Holmes.”
+
+Holmes replaced the bill in his note-book. “If you prefer a public
+explanation it must come sooner or later,” said he. “I have already told
+you that I can hush up that which others will be bound to publish, and
+you would really be wiser to take me into your complete confidence.”
+
+“I know nothing about it.”
+
+“Did you hear from Mr. Staunton in London?”
+
+“Certainly not.”
+
+“Dear me, dear me; the post-office again!” Holmes sighed, wearily.
+“A most urgent telegram was dispatched to you from London by Godfrey
+Staunton at six-fifteen yesterday evening--a telegram which is
+undoubtedly associated with his disappearance--and yet you have not had
+it. It is most culpable. I shall certainly go down to the office here
+and register a complaint.”
+
+Dr. Leslie Armstrong sprang up from behind his desk, and his dark face
+was crimson with fury.
+
+“I'll trouble you to walk out of my house, sir,” said he. “You can tell
+your employer, Lord Mount-James, that I do not wish to have anything to
+do either with him or with his agents. No, sir, not another word!” He
+rang the bell furiously. “John, show these gentlemen out!” A pompous
+butler ushered us severely to the door, and we found ourselves in the
+street. Holmes burst out laughing.
+
+“Dr. Leslie Armstrong is certainly a man of energy and character,” said
+he. “I have not seen a man who, if he turned his talents that way, was
+more calculated to fill the gap left by the illustrious Moriarty.
+And now, my poor Watson, here we are, stranded and friendless in this
+inhospitable town, which we cannot leave without abandoning our case.
+This little inn just opposite Armstrong's house is singularly adapted to
+our needs. If you would engage a front room and purchase the necessaries
+for the night, I may have time to make a few inquiries.”
+
+These few inquiries proved, however, to be a more lengthy proceeding
+than Holmes had imagined, for he did not return to the inn until nearly
+nine o'clock. He was pale and dejected, stained with dust, and exhausted
+with hunger and fatigue. A cold supper was ready upon the table, and
+when his needs were satisfied and his pipe alight he was ready to take
+that half comic and wholly philosophic view which was natural to him
+when his affairs were going awry. The sound of carriage wheels caused
+him to rise and glance out of the window. A brougham and pair of greys
+under the glare of a gas-lamp stood before the doctor's door.
+
+“It's been out three hours,” said Holmes; “started at half-past six, and
+here it is back again. That gives a radius of ten or twelve miles, and
+he does it once, or sometimes twice, a day.”
+
+“No unusual thing for a doctor in practice.”
+
+“But Armstrong is not really a doctor in practice. He is a lecturer and
+a consultant, but he does not care for general practice, which distracts
+him from his literary work. Why, then, does he make these long journeys,
+which must be exceedingly irksome to him, and who is it that he visits?”
+
+“His coachman----”
+
+“My dear Watson, can you doubt that it was to him that I first applied?
+I do not know whether it came from his own innate depravity or from the
+promptings of his master, but he was rude enough to set a dog at me.
+Neither dog nor man liked the look of my stick, however, and the matter
+fell through. Relations were strained after that, and further inquiries
+out of the question. All that I have learned I got from a friendly
+native in the yard of our own inn. It was he who told me of the doctor's
+habits and of his daily journey. At that instant, to give point to his
+words, the carriage came round to the door.”
+
+“Could you not follow it?”
+
+“Excellent, Watson! You are scintillating this evening. The idea did
+cross my mind. There is, as you may have observed, a bicycle shop next
+to our inn. Into this I rushed, engaged a bicycle, and was able to get
+started before the carriage was quite out of sight. I rapidly overtook
+it, and then, keeping at a discreet distance of a hundred yards or so, I
+followed its lights until we were clear of the town. We had got well out
+on the country road when a somewhat mortifying incident occurred. The
+carriage stopped, the doctor alighted, walked swiftly back to where I
+had also halted, and told me in an excellent sardonic fashion that
+he feared the road was narrow, and that he hoped his carriage did not
+impede the passage of my bicycle. Nothing could have been more admirable
+than his way of putting it. I at once rode past the carriage, and,
+keeping to the main road, I went on for a few miles, and then halted in
+a convenient place to see if the carriage passed. There was no sign of
+it, however, and so it became evident that it had turned down one of
+several side roads which I had observed. I rode back, but again saw
+nothing of the carriage, and now, as you perceive, it has returned after
+me. Of course, I had at the outset no particular reason to connect
+these journeys with the disappearance of Godfrey Staunton, and was only
+inclined to investigate them on the general grounds that everything
+which concerns Dr. Armstrong is at present of interest to us; but, now
+that I find he keeps so keen a look-out upon anyone who may follow him
+on these excursions, the affair appears more important, and I shall not
+be satisfied until I have made the matter clear.”
+
+“We can follow him to-morrow.”
+
+“Can we? It is not so easy as you seem to think. You are not familiar
+with Cambridgeshire scenery, are you? It does not lend itself to
+concealment. All this country that I passed over to-night is as flat and
+clean as the palm of your hand, and the man we are following is no fool,
+as he very clearly showed to-night. I have wired to Overton to let us
+know any fresh London developments at this address, and in the meantime
+we can only concentrate our attention upon Dr. Armstrong, whose name
+the obliging young lady at the office allowed me to read upon the
+counterfoil of Staunton's urgent message. He knows where the young man
+is--to that I'll swear--and if he knows, then it must be our own fault
+if we cannot manage to know also. At present it must be admitted that
+the odd trick is in his possession, and, as you are aware, Watson, it is
+not my habit to leave the game in that condition.”
+
+And yet the next day brought us no nearer to the solution of the
+mystery. A note was handed in after breakfast, which Holmes passed
+across to me with a smile.
+
+“Sir,” it ran, “I can assure you that you are wasting your time in
+dogging my movements. I have, as you discovered last night, a window at
+the back of my brougham, and if you desire a twenty-mile ride which will
+lead you to the spot from which you started, you have only to follow me.
+Meanwhile, I can inform you that no spying upon me can in any way help
+Mr. Godfrey Staunton, and I am convinced that the best service you can
+do to that gentleman is to return at once to London and to report to
+your employer that you are unable to trace him. Your time in Cambridge
+will certainly be wasted.
+
+“Yours faithfully,
+
+“LESLIE ARMSTRONG.”
+
+
+“An outspoken, honest antagonist is the doctor,” said Holmes. “Well,
+well, he excites my curiosity, and I must really know more before I
+leave him.”
+
+“His carriage is at his door now,” said I. “There he is stepping into
+it. I saw him glance up at our window as he did so. Suppose I try my
+luck upon the bicycle?”
+
+“No, no, my dear Watson! With all respect for your natural acumen I do
+not think that you are quite a match for the worthy doctor. I think that
+possibly I can attain our end by some independent explorations of my
+own. I am afraid that I must leave you to your own devices, as the
+appearance of TWO inquiring strangers upon a sleepy countryside might
+excite more gossip than I care for. No doubt you will find some sights
+to amuse you in this venerable city, and I hope to bring back a more
+favourable report to you before evening.”
+
+Once more, however, my friend was destined to be disappointed. He came
+back at night weary and unsuccessful.
+
+“I have had a blank day, Watson. Having got the doctor's general
+direction, I spent the day in visiting all the villages upon that side
+of Cambridge, and comparing notes with publicans and other local news
+agencies. I have covered some ground: Chesterton, Histon, Waterbeach,
+and Oakington have each been explored and have each proved
+disappointing. The daily appearance of a brougham and pair could hardly
+have been overlooked in such Sleepy Hollows. The doctor has scored once
+more. Is there a telegram for me?”
+
+“Yes; I opened it. Here it is: 'Ask for Pompey from Jeremy Dixon,
+Trinity College.' I don't understand it.”
+
+“Oh, it is clear enough. It is from our friend Overton, and is in answer
+to a question from me. I'll just send round a note to Mr. Jeremy Dixon,
+and then I have no doubt that our luck will turn. By the way, is there
+any news of the match?”
+
+“Yes, the local evening paper has an excellent account in its last
+edition. Oxford won by a goal and two tries. The last sentences of
+the description say: 'The defeat of the Light Blues may be entirely
+attributed to the unfortunate absence of the crack International,
+Godfrey Staunton, whose want was felt at every instant of the game. The
+lack of combination in the three-quarter line and their weakness both
+in attack and defence more than neutralized the efforts of a heavy and
+hard-working pack.'”
+
+“Then our friend Overton's forebodings have been justified,” said
+Holmes. “Personally I am in agreement with Dr. Armstrong, and football
+does not come within my horizon. Early to bed to-night, Watson, for I
+foresee that to-morrow may be an eventful day.”
+
+
+I was horrified by my first glimpse of Holmes next morning, for he
+sat by the fire holding his tiny hypodermic syringe. I associated that
+instrument with the single weakness of his nature, and I feared the
+worst when I saw it glittering in his hand. He laughed at my expression
+of dismay, and laid it upon the table.
+
+“No, no, my dear fellow, there is no cause for alarm. It is not upon
+this occasion the instrument of evil, but it will rather prove to be the
+key which will unlock our mystery. On this syringe I base all my hopes.
+I have just returned from a small scouting expedition and everything is
+favourable. Eat a good breakfast, Watson, for I propose to get upon Dr.
+Armstrong's trail to-day, and once on it I will not stop for rest or
+food until I run him to his burrow.”
+
+“In that case,” said I, “we had best carry our breakfast with us, for he
+is making an early start. His carriage is at the door.”
+
+“Never mind. Let him go. He will be clever if he can drive where I
+cannot follow him. When you have finished come downstairs with me, and
+I will introduce you to a detective who is a very eminent specialist in
+the work that lies before us.”
+
+When we descended I followed Holmes into the stable yard, where
+he opened the door of a loose-box and led out a squat, lop-eared,
+white-and-tan dog, something between a beagle and a foxhound.
+
+“Let me introduce you to Pompey,” said he. “Pompey is the pride of the
+local draghounds, no very great flier, as his build will show, but
+a staunch hound on a scent. Well, Pompey, you may not be fast, but
+I expect you will be too fast for a couple of middle-aged London
+gentlemen, so I will take the liberty of fastening this leather leash to
+your collar. Now, boy, come along, and show what you can do.” He led him
+across to the doctor's door. The dog sniffed round for an instant, and
+then with a shrill whine of excitement started off down the street,
+tugging at his leash in his efforts to go faster. In half an hour, we
+were clear of the town and hastening down a country road.
+
+“What have you done, Holmes?” I asked.
+
+“A threadbare and venerable device, but useful upon occasion. I walked
+into the doctor's yard this morning and shot my syringe full of aniseed
+over the hind wheel. A draghound will follow aniseed from here to John
+o' Groat's, and our friend Armstrong would have to drive through the Cam
+before he would shake Pompey off his trail. Oh, the cunning rascal! This
+is how he gave me the slip the other night.”
+
+The dog had suddenly turned out of the main road into a grass-grown
+lane. Half a mile farther this opened into another broad road, and the
+trail turned hard to the right in the direction of the town, which we
+had just quitted. The road took a sweep to the south of the town and
+continued in the opposite direction to that in which we started.
+
+“This DETOUR has been entirely for our benefit, then?” said Holmes. “No
+wonder that my inquiries among those villages led to nothing. The doctor
+has certainly played the game for all it is worth, and one would like to
+know the reason for such elaborate deception. This should be the village
+of Trumpington to the right of us. And, by Jove! here is the brougham
+coming round the corner. Quick, Watson, quick, or we are done!”
+
+He sprang through a gate into a field, dragging the reluctant Pompey
+after him. We had hardly got under the shelter of the hedge when the
+carriage rattled past. I caught a glimpse of Dr. Armstrong within, his
+shoulders bowed, his head sunk on his hands, the very image of distress.
+I could tell by my companion's graver face that he also had seen.
+
+“I fear there is some dark ending to our quest,” said he. “It cannot
+be long before we know it. Come, Pompey! Ah, it is the cottage in the
+field!”
+
+There could be no doubt that we had reached the end of our journey.
+Pompey ran about and whined eagerly outside the gate where the marks of
+the brougham's wheels were still to be seen. A footpath led across to
+the lonely cottage. Holmes tied the dog to the hedge, and we hastened
+onwards. My friend knocked at the little rustic door, and knocked again
+without response. And yet the cottage was not deserted, for a low sound
+came to our ears--a kind of drone of misery and despair, which was
+indescribably melancholy. Holmes paused irresolute, and then he glanced
+back at the road which we had just traversed. A brougham was coming down
+it, and there could be no mistaking those grey horses.
+
+“By Jove, the doctor is coming back!” cried Holmes. “That settles it. We
+are bound to see what it means before he comes.”
+
+He opened the door and we stepped into the hall. The droning sound
+swelled louder upon our ears until it became one long, deep wail of
+distress. It came from upstairs. Holmes darted up and I followed him. He
+pushed open a half-closed door and we both stood appalled at the sight
+before us.
+
+A woman, young and beautiful, was lying dead upon the bed. Her calm,
+pale face, with dim, wide-opened blue eyes, looked upward from amid a
+great tangle of golden hair. At the foot of the bed, half sitting, half
+kneeling, his face buried in the clothes, was a young man, whose frame
+was racked by his sobs. So absorbed was he by his bitter grief that he
+never looked up until Holmes's hand was on his shoulder.
+
+“Are you Mr. Godfrey Staunton?”
+
+“Yes, yes; I am--but you are too late. She is dead.”
+
+The man was so dazed that he could not be made to understand that we
+were anything but doctors who had been sent to his assistance. Holmes
+was endeavouring to utter a few words of consolation, and to explain the
+alarm which had been caused to his friends by his sudden disappearance,
+when there was a step upon the stairs, and there was the heavy, stern,
+questioning face of Dr. Armstrong at the door.
+
+“So, gentlemen,” said he, “you have attained your end, and have
+certainly chosen a particularly delicate moment for your intrusion. I
+would not brawl in the presence of death, but I can assure you that if I
+were a younger man your monstrous conduct would not pass with impunity.”
+
+“Excuse me, Dr. Armstrong, I think we are a little at cross-purposes,”
+ said my friend, with dignity. “If you could step downstairs with us we
+may each be able to give some light to the other upon this miserable
+affair.”
+
+A minute later the grim doctor and ourselves were in the sitting-room
+below.
+
+“Well, sir?” said he.
+
+“I wish you to understand, in the first place, that I am not employed
+by Lord Mount-James, and that my sympathies in this matter are entirely
+against that nobleman. When a man is lost it is my duty to ascertain his
+fate, but having done so the matter ends so far as I am concerned; and
+so long as there is nothing criminal, I am much more anxious to hush up
+private scandals than to give them publicity. If, as I imagine, there is
+no breach of the law in this matter, you can absolutely depend upon my
+discretion and my co-operation in keeping the facts out of the papers.”
+
+Dr. Armstrong took a quick step forward and wrung Holmes by the hand.
+
+“You are a good fellow,” said he. “I had misjudged you. I thank Heaven
+that my compunction at leaving poor Staunton all alone in this plight
+caused me to turn my carriage back, and so to make your acquaintance.
+Knowing as much as you do, the situation is very easily explained.
+A year ago Godfrey Staunton lodged in London for a time, and became
+passionately attached to his landlady's daughter, whom he married. She
+was as good as she was beautiful, and as intelligent as she was good.
+No man need be ashamed of such a wife. But Godfrey was the heir to this
+crabbed old nobleman, and it was quite certain that the news of his
+marriage would have been the end of his inheritance. I knew the lad
+well, and I loved him for his many excellent qualities. I did all I
+could to help him to keep things straight. We did our very best to keep
+the thing from everyone, for when once such a whisper gets about it is
+not long before everyone has heard it. Thanks to this lonely cottage and
+his own discretion, Godfrey has up to now succeeded. Their secret was
+known to no one save to me and to one excellent servant who has at
+present gone for assistance to Trumpington. But at last there came a
+terrible blow in the shape of dangerous illness to his wife. It was
+consumption of the most virulent kind. The poor boy was half crazed with
+grief, and yet he had to go to London to play this match, for he could
+not get out of it without explanations which would expose his secret. I
+tried to cheer him up by a wire, and he sent me one in reply imploring
+me to do all I could. This was the telegram which you appear in some
+inexplicable way to have seen. I did not tell him how urgent the danger
+was, for I knew that he could do no good here, but I sent the truth to
+the girl's father, and he very injudiciously communicated it to Godfrey.
+The result was that he came straight away in a state bordering on
+frenzy, and has remained in the same state, kneeling at the end of her
+bed, until this morning death put an end to her sufferings. That is all,
+Mr. Holmes, and I am sure that I can rely upon your discretion and that
+of your friend.”
+
+Holmes grasped the doctor's hand.
+
+“Come, Watson,” said he, and we passed from that house of grief into the
+pale sunlight of the winter day.
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 28  SEPTEMBER, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+XII.--The Adventure of the Abbey Grange.
+
+
+It was on a bitterly cold and frosty morning during the winter of '97
+that I was awakened by a tugging at my shoulder. It was Holmes. The
+candle in his hand shone upon his eager, stooping face and told me at a
+glance that something was amiss.
+
+“Come, Watson, come!” he cried. “The game is afoot. Not a word! Into
+your clothes and come!”
+
+Ten minutes later we were both in a cab and rattling through the silent
+streets on our way to Charing Cross Station. The first faint winter's
+dawn was beginning to appear, and we could dimly see the occasional
+figure of an early workman as he passed us, blurred and indistinct in
+the opalescent London reek. Holmes nestled in silence into his heavy
+coat, and I was glad to do the same, for the air was most bitter and
+neither of us had broken our fast. It was not until we had consumed some
+hot tea at the station, and taken our places in the Kentish train, that
+we were sufficiently thawed, he to speak and I to listen. Holmes drew a
+note from his pocket and read it aloud:--
+
+               “Abbey Grange, Marsham, Kent,
+                            “3.30 a.m.
+   “MY DEAR MR. HOLMES,--I should be very glad of your immediate
+   assistance in what promises to be a most remarkable case.
+   It is something quite in your line.  Except for releasing the lady
+   I will see that everything is kept exactly as I have found it,
+   but I beg you not to lose an instant, as it is difficult to leave
+   Sir Eustace there.
+               “Yours faithfully, STANLEY HOPKINS.”
+
+“Hopkins has called me in seven times, and on each occasion his summons
+has been entirely justified,” said Holmes. “I fancy that every one of
+his cases has found its way into your collection, and I must admit,
+Watson, that you have some power of selection which atones for much
+which I deplore in your narratives. Your fatal habit of looking at
+everything from the point of view of a story instead of as a scientific
+exercise has ruined what might have been an instructive and even
+classical series of demonstrations. You slur over work of the utmost
+finesse and delicacy in order to dwell upon sensational details which
+may excite, but cannot possibly instruct, the reader.”
+
+“Why do you not write them yourself?” I said, with some bitterness.
+
+“I will, my dear Watson, I will. At present I am, as you know, fairly
+busy, but I propose to devote my declining years to the composition of a
+text-book which shall focus the whole art of detection into one volume.
+Our present research appears to be a case of murder.”
+
+“You think this Sir Eustace is dead, then?”
+
+“I should say so. Hopkins's writing shows considerable agitation, and he
+is not an emotional man. Yes, I gather there has been violence, and
+that the body is left for our inspection. A mere suicide would not
+have caused him to send for me. As to the release of the lady, it would
+appear that she has been locked in her room during the tragedy. We
+are moving in high life, Watson; crackling paper, 'E.B.' monogram,
+coat-of-arms, picturesque address. I think that friend Hopkins will live
+up to his reputation and that we shall have an interesting morning. The
+crime was committed before twelve last night.”
+
+“How can you possibly tell?”
+
+“By an inspection of the trains and by reckoning the time. The local
+police had to be called in, they had to communicate with Scotland Yard,
+Hopkins had to go out, and he in turn had to send for me. All that makes
+a fair night's work. Well, here we are at Chislehurst Station, and we
+shall soon set our doubts at rest.”
+
+A drive of a couple of miles through narrow country lanes brought us
+to a park gate, which was opened for us by an old lodge-keeper, whose
+haggard face bore the reflection of some great disaster. The avenue ran
+through a noble park, between lines of ancient elms, and ended in a low,
+widespread house, pillared in front after the fashion of Palladio. The
+central part was evidently of a great age and shrouded in ivy, but the
+large windows showed that modern changes had been carried out, and one
+wing of the house appeared to be entirely new. The youthful figure and
+alert, eager face of Inspector Stanley Hopkins confronted us in the open
+doorway.
+
+“I'm very glad you have come, Mr. Holmes. And you too, Dr. Watson! But,
+indeed, if I had my time over again I should not have troubled you, for
+since the lady has come to herself she has given so clear an account of
+the affair that there is not much left for us to do. You remember that
+Lewisham gang of burglars?”
+
+“What, the three Randalls?”
+
+“Exactly; the father and two sons. It's their work. I have not a doubt
+of it. They did a job at Sydenham a fortnight ago, and were seen and
+described. Rather cool to do another so soon and so near, but it is
+they, beyond all doubt. It's a hanging matter this time.”
+
+“Sir Eustace is dead, then?”
+
+“Yes; his head was knocked in with his own poker.”
+
+“Sir Eustace Brackenstall, the driver tells me.”
+
+“Exactly--one of the richest men in Kent. Lady Brackenstall is in the
+morning-room. Poor lady, she has had a most dreadful experience. She
+seemed half dead when I saw her first. I think you had best see her
+and hear her account of the facts. Then we will examine the dining-room
+together.”
+
+Lady Brackenstall was no ordinary person. Seldom have I seen so graceful
+a figure, so womanly a presence, and so beautiful a face. She was a
+blonde, golden-haired, blue-eyed, and would, no doubt, have had the
+perfect complexion which goes with such colouring had not her recent
+experience left her drawn and haggard. Her sufferings were physical as
+well as mental, for over one eye rose a hideous, plum-coloured swelling,
+which her maid, a tall, austere woman, was bathing assiduously with
+vinegar and water. The lady lay back exhausted upon a couch, but her
+quick, observant gaze as we entered the room, and the alert expression
+of her beautiful features, showed that neither her wits nor her courage
+had been shaken by her terrible experience. She was enveloped in a
+loose dressing-gown of blue and silver, but a black sequin-covered
+dinner-dress was hung upon the couch beside her.
+
+“I have told you all that happened, Mr. Hopkins,” she said, wearily;
+“could you not repeat it for me? Well, if you think it necessary, I will
+tell these gentlemen what occurred. Have they been in the dining-room
+yet?”
+
+“I thought they had better hear your ladyship's story first.”
+
+“I shall be glad when you can arrange matters. It is horrible to me to
+think of him still lying there.” She shuddered and buried her face in
+her hands. As she did so the loose gown fell back from her forearms.
+Holmes uttered an exclamation.
+
+“You have other injuries, madam! What is this?” Two vivid red spots
+stood out on one of the white, round limbs. She hastily covered it.
+
+“It is nothing. It has no connection with the hideous business of last
+night. If you and your friend will sit down I will tell you all I can.
+
+“I am the wife of Sir Eustace Brackenstall. I have been married about
+a year. I suppose that it is no use my attempting to conceal that our
+marriage has not been a happy one. I fear that all our neighbours would
+tell you that, even if I were to attempt to deny it. Perhaps the fault
+may be partly mine. I was brought up in the freer, less conventional
+atmosphere of South Australia, and this English life, with its
+proprieties and its primness, is not congenial to me. But the main
+reason lies in the one fact which is notorious to everyone, and that is
+that Sir Eustace was a confirmed drunkard. To be with such a man for an
+hour is unpleasant. Can you imagine what it means for a sensitive
+and high-spirited woman to be tied to him for day and night? It is a
+sacrilege, a crime, a villainy to hold that such a marriage is binding.
+I say that these monstrous laws of yours will bring a curse upon the
+land--Heaven will not let such wickedness endure.” For an instant she
+sat up, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes blazing from under the terrible
+mark upon her brow. Then the strong, soothing hand of the austere maid
+drew her head down on to the cushion, and the wild anger died away into
+passionate sobbing. At last she continued:--
+
+“I will tell you about last night. You are aware, perhaps, that in this
+house all servants sleep in the modern wing. This central block is made
+up of the dwelling-rooms, with the kitchen behind and our bedroom above.
+My maid Theresa sleeps above my room. There is no one else, and no sound
+could alarm those who are in the farther wing. This must have been well
+known to the robbers, or they would not have acted as they did.
+
+“Sir Eustace retired about half-past ten. The servants had already gone
+to their quarters. Only my maid was up, and she had remained in her room
+at the top of the house until I needed her services. I sat until after
+eleven in this room, absorbed in a book. Then I walked round to see
+that all was right before I went upstairs. It was my custom to do this
+myself, for, as I have explained, Sir Eustace was not always to be
+trusted. I went into the kitchen, the butler's pantry, the gun-room,
+the billiard-room, the drawing-room, and finally the dining-room. As I
+approached the window, which is covered with thick curtains, I suddenly
+felt the wind blow upon my face and realized that it was open. I flung
+the curtain aside and found myself face to face with a broad-shouldered,
+elderly man who had just stepped into the room. The window is a long
+French one, which really forms a door leading to the lawn. I held my
+bedroom candle lit in my hand, and, by its light, behind the first man I
+saw two others, who were in the act of entering. I stepped back, but the
+fellow was on me in an instant. He caught me first by the wrist and then
+by the throat. I opened my mouth to scream, but he struck me a savage
+blow with his fist over the eye, and felled me to the ground. I must
+have been unconscious for a few minutes, for when I came to myself I
+found that they had torn down the bell-rope and had secured me tightly
+to the oaken chair which stands at the head of the dining-room table. I
+was so firmly bound that I could not move, and a handkerchief round my
+mouth prevented me from uttering any sound. It was at this instant that
+my unfortunate husband entered the room. He had evidently heard some
+suspicious sounds, and he came prepared for such a scene as he found.
+He was dressed in his shirt and trousers, with his favourite blackthorn
+cudgel in his hand. He rushed at one of the burglars, but another--it
+was the elderly man--stooped, picked the poker out of the grate, and
+struck him a horrible blow as he passed. He fell without a groan, and
+never moved again. I fainted once more, but again it could only have
+been a very few minutes during which I was insensible. When I opened my
+eyes I found that they had collected the silver from the sideboard, and
+they had drawn a bottle of wine which stood there. Each of them had a
+glass in his hand. I have already told you, have I not, that one was
+elderly, with a beard, and the others young, hairless lads. They might
+have been a father with his two sons. They talked together in whispers.
+Then they came over and made sure that I was still securely bound.
+Finally they withdrew, closing the window after them. It was quite a
+quarter of an hour before I got my mouth free. When I did so my screams
+brought the maid to my assistance. The other servants were soon alarmed,
+and we sent for the local police, who instantly communicated with
+London. That is really all that I can tell you, gentlemen, and I trust
+that it will not be necessary for me to go over so painful a story
+again.”
+
+“Any questions, Mr. Holmes?” asked Hopkins.
+
+“I will not impose any further tax upon Lady Brackenstall's patience and
+time,” said Holmes. “Before I go into the dining-room I should like to
+hear your experience.” He looked at the maid.
+
+“I saw the men before ever they came into the house,” said she. “As I
+sat by my bedroom window I saw three men in the moonlight down by the
+lodge gate yonder, but I thought nothing of it at the time. It was more
+than an hour after that I heard my mistress scream, and down I ran, to
+find her, poor lamb, just as she says, and him on the floor with his
+blood and brains over the room. It was enough to drive a woman out of
+her wits, tied there, and her very dress spotted with him; but she never
+wanted courage, did Miss Mary Fraser of Adelaide, and Lady Brackenstall
+of Abbey Grange hasn't learned new ways. You've questioned her long
+enough, you gentlemen, and now she is coming to her own room, just with
+her old Theresa, to get the rest that she badly needs.”
+
+With a motherly tenderness the gaunt woman put her arm round her
+mistress and led her from the room.
+
+“She has been with her all her life,” said Hopkins. “Nursed her as
+a baby, and came with her to England when they first left Australia
+eighteen months ago. Theresa Wright is her name, and the kind of maid
+you don't pick up nowadays. This way, Mr. Holmes, if you please!”
+
+The keen interest had passed out of Holmes's expressive face, and I
+knew that with the mystery all the charm of the case had departed. There
+still remained an arrest to be effected, but what were these commonplace
+rogues that he should soil his hands with them? An abstruse and learned
+specialist who finds that he has been called in for a case of measles
+would experience something of the annoyance which I read in my
+friend's eyes. Yet the scene in the dining-room of the Abbey Grange was
+sufficiently strange to arrest his attention and to recall his waning
+interest.
+
+It was a very large and high chamber, with carved oak ceiling, oaken
+panelling, and a fine array of deer's heads and ancient weapons around
+the walls. At the farther end from the door was the high French window
+of which we had heard. Three smaller windows on the right-hand side
+filled the apartment with cold winter sunshine. On the left was a large,
+deep fireplace, with a massive, over-hanging oak mantelpiece. Beside
+the fireplace was a heavy oaken chair with arms and cross-bars at the
+bottom. In and out through the open woodwork was woven a crimson cord,
+which was secured at each side to the crosspiece below. In releasing the
+lady the cord had been slipped off her, but the knots with which it had
+been secured still remained. These details only struck our attention
+afterwards, for our thoughts were entirely absorbed by the terrible
+object which lay upon the tiger-skin hearthrug in front of the fire.
+
+It was the body of a tall, well-made man, about forty years of age.
+He lay upon his back, his face upturned, with his white teeth grinning
+through his short black beard. His two clenched hands were raised
+above his head, and a heavy blackthorn stick lay across them. His dark,
+handsome, aquiline features were convulsed into a spasm of vindictive
+hatred, which had set his dead face in a terribly fiendish expression.
+He had evidently been in his bed when the alarm had broken out, for he
+wore a foppish embroidered night-shirt, and his bare feet projected from
+his trousers. His head was horribly injured, and the whole room bore
+witness to the savage ferocity of the blow which had struck him down.
+Beside him lay the heavy poker, bent into a curve by the concussion.
+Holmes examined both it and the indescribable wreck which it had
+wrought.
+
+“He must be a powerful man, this elder Randall,” he remarked.
+
+“Yes,” said Hopkins. “I have some record of the fellow, and he is a
+rough customer.”
+
+“You should have no difficulty in getting him.”
+
+“Not the slightest. We have been on the look-out for him, and there was
+some idea that he had got away to America. Now that we know the gang are
+here I don't see how they can escape. We have the news at every seaport
+already, and a reward will be offered before evening. What beats me is
+how they could have done so mad a thing, knowing that the lady could
+describe them, and that we could not fail to recognise the description.”
+
+“Exactly. One would have expected that they would have silenced Lady
+Brackenstall as well.”
+
+“They may not have realized,” I suggested, “that she had recovered from
+her faint.”
+
+“That is likely enough. If she seemed to be senseless they would not
+take her life. What about this poor fellow, Hopkins? I seem to have
+heard some queer stories about him.”
+
+“He was a good-hearted man when he was sober, but a perfect fiend when
+he was drunk, or rather when he was half drunk, for he seldom really
+went the whole way. The devil seemed to be in him at such times, and he
+was capable of anything. From what I hear, in spite of all his wealth
+and his title, he very nearly came our way once or twice. There was
+a scandal about his drenching a dog with petroleum and setting it on
+fire--her ladyship's dog, to make the matter worse--and that was only
+hushed up with difficulty. Then he threw a decanter at that maid,
+Theresa Wright; there was trouble about that. On the whole, and between
+ourselves, it will be a brighter house without him. What are you looking
+at now?”
+
+Holmes was down on his knees examining with great attention the
+knots upon the red cord with which the lady had been secured. Then he
+carefully scrutinized the broken and frayed end where it had snapped off
+when the burglar had dragged it down.
+
+“When this was pulled down the bell in the kitchen must have rung
+loudly,” he remarked.
+
+“No one could hear it. The kitchen stands right at the back of the
+house.”
+
+“How did the burglar know no one would hear it? How dared he pull at a
+bell-rope in that reckless fashion?”
+
+“Exactly, Mr. Holmes, exactly. You put the very question which I have
+asked myself again and again. There can be no doubt that this fellow
+must have known the house and its habits. He must have perfectly
+understood that the servants would all be in bed at that comparatively
+early hour, and that no one could possibly hear a bell ring in the
+kitchen. Therefore he must have been in close league with one of the
+servants. Surely that is evident. But there are eight servants, and all
+of good character.”
+
+“Other things being equal,” said Holmes, “one would suspect the one
+at whose head the master threw a decanter. And yet that would involve
+treachery towards the mistress to whom this woman seems devoted. Well,
+well, the point is a minor one, and when you have Randall you will
+probably find no difficulty in securing his accomplice. The lady's story
+certainly seems to be corroborated, if it needed corroboration, by every
+detail which we see before us.” He walked to the French window and threw
+it open. “There are no signs here, but the ground is iron hard, and one
+would not expect them. I see that these candles on the mantelpiece have
+been lighted.”
+
+“Yes; it was by their light and that of the lady's bedroom candle that
+the burglars saw their way about.”
+
+“And what did they take?”
+
+“Well, they did not take much--only half-a-dozen articles of plate off
+the sideboard. Lady Brackenstall thinks that they were themselves so
+disturbed by the death of Sir Eustace that they did not ransack the
+house as they would otherwise have done.”
+
+“No doubt that is true. And yet they drank some wine, I understand.”
+
+“To steady their own nerves.”
+
+“Exactly. These three glasses upon the sideboard have been untouched, I
+suppose?”
+
+“Yes; and the bottle stands as they left it.”
+
+“Let us look at it. Halloa! halloa! what is this?”
+
+The three glasses were grouped together, all of them tinged with wine,
+and one of them containing some dregs of bees-wing. The bottle stood
+near them, two-thirds full, and beside it lay a long, deeply-stained
+cork. Its appearance and the dust upon the bottle showed that it was no
+common vintage which the murderers had enjoyed.
+
+A change had come over Holmes's manner. He had lost his listless
+expression, and again I saw an alert light of interest in his keen,
+deep-set eyes. He raised the cork and examined it minutely.
+
+“How did they draw it?” he asked.
+
+Hopkins pointed to a half-opened drawer. In it lay some table linen and
+a large cork-screw.
+
+“Did Lady Brackenstall say that screw was used?”
+
+“No; you remember that she was senseless at the moment when the bottle
+was opened.”
+
+“Quite so. As a matter of fact that screw was NOT used. This bottle was
+opened by a pocket-screw, probably contained in a knife, and not more
+than an inch and a half long. If you examine the top of the cork you
+will observe that the screw was driven in three times before the cork
+was extracted. It has never been transfixed. This long screw would
+have transfixed it and drawn it with a single pull. When you catch this
+fellow you will find that he has one of these multiplex knives in his
+possession.”
+
+“Excellent!” said Hopkins.
+
+“But these glasses do puzzle me, I confess. Lady Brackenstall actually
+SAW the three men drinking, did she not?”
+
+“Yes; she was clear about that.”
+
+“Then there is an end of it. What more is to be said? And yet you must
+admit that the three glasses are very remarkable, Hopkins. What, you
+see nothing remarkable! Well, well, let it pass. Perhaps when a man has
+special knowledge and special powers like my own it rather encourages
+him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand. Of
+course, it must be a mere chance about the glasses. Well, good morning,
+Hopkins. I don't see that I can be of any use to you, and you appear
+to have your case very clear. You will let me know when Randall is
+arrested, and any further developments which may occur. I trust that I
+shall soon have to congratulate you upon a successful conclusion. Come,
+Watson, I fancy that we may employ ourselves more profitably at home.”
+
+During our return journey I could see by Holmes's face that he was much
+puzzled by something which he had observed. Every now and then, by an
+effort, he would throw off the impression and talk as if the matter were
+clear, but then his doubts would settle down upon him again, and his
+knitted brows and abstracted eyes would show that his thoughts had gone
+back once more to the great dining-room of the Abbey Grange in which
+this midnight tragedy had been enacted. At last, by a sudden impulse,
+just as our train was crawling out of a suburban station, he sprang on
+to the platform and pulled me out after him.
+
+“Excuse me, my dear fellow,” said he, as we watched the rear carriages
+of our train disappearing round a curve; “I am sorry to make you the
+victim of what may seem a mere whim, but on my life, Watson, I simply
+CAN'T leave that case in this condition. Every instinct that I possess
+cries out against it. It's wrong--it's all wrong--I'll swear that it's
+wrong. And yet the lady's story was complete, the maid's corroboration
+was sufficient, the detail was fairly exact. What have I to put against
+that? Three wine-glasses, that is all. But if I had not taken things for
+granted, if I had examined everything with the care which I would have
+shown had we approached the case DE NOVO and had no cut-and-dried story
+to warp my mind, would I not then have found something more definite
+to go upon? Of course I should. Sit down on this bench, Watson, until a
+train for Chislehurst arrives, and allow me to lay the evidence before
+you, imploring you in the first instance to dismiss from your mind the
+idea that anything which the maid or her mistress may have said must
+necessarily be true. The lady's charming personality must not be
+permitted to warp our judgment.
+
+“Surely there are details in her story which, if we looked at it in cold
+blood, would excite our suspicion. These burglars made a considerable
+haul at Sydenham a fortnight ago. Some account of them and of their
+appearance was in the papers, and would naturally occur to anyone who
+wished to invent a story in which imaginary robbers should play a part.
+As a matter of fact, burglars who have done a good stroke of business
+are, as a rule, only too glad to enjoy the proceeds in peace and quiet
+without embarking on another perilous undertaking. Again, it is unusual
+for burglars to operate at so early an hour; it is unusual for burglars
+to strike a lady to prevent her screaming, since one would imagine that
+was the sure way to make her scream; it is unusual for them to commit
+murder when their numbers are sufficient to overpower one man; it is
+unusual for them to be content with a limited plunder when there is
+much more within their reach; and finally I should say that it was very
+unusual for such men to leave a bottle half empty. How do all these
+unusuals strike you, Watson?”
+
+“Their cumulative effect is certainly considerable, and yet each of them
+is quite possible in itself. The most unusual thing of all, as it seems
+to me, is that the lady should be tied to the chair.”
+
+“Well, I am not so clear about that, Watson; for it is evident that they
+must either kill her or else secure her in such a way that she could
+not give immediate notice of their escape. But at any rate I have shown,
+have I not, that there is a certain element of improbability about
+the lady's story? And now on the top of this comes the incident of the
+wine-glasses.”
+
+“What about the wine-glasses?”
+
+“Can you see them in your mind's eye?”
+
+“I see them clearly.”
+
+“We are told that three men drank from them. Does that strike you as
+likely?”
+
+“Why not? There was wine in each glass.”
+
+“Exactly; but there was bees-wing only in one glass. You must have
+noticed that fact. What does that suggest to your mind?”
+
+“The last glass filled would be most likely to contain bees-wing.”
+
+“Not at all. The bottle was full of it, and it is inconceivable that
+the first two glasses were clear and the third heavily charged with it.
+There are two possible explanations, and only two. One is that after the
+second glass was filled the bottle was violently agitated, and so the
+third glass received the bees-wing. That does not appear probable. No,
+no; I am sure that I am right.”
+
+“What, then, do you suppose?”
+
+“That only two glasses were used, and that the dregs of both were poured
+into a third glass, so as to give the false impression that three people
+had been here. In that way all the bees-wing would be in the last glass,
+would it not? Yes, I am convinced that this is so. But if I have hit
+upon the true explanation of this one small phenomenon, then in
+an instant the case rises from the commonplace to the exceedingly
+remarkable, for it can only mean that Lady Brackenstall and her maid
+have deliberately lied to us, that not one word of their story is to be
+believed, that they have some very strong reason for covering the real
+criminal, and that we must construct our case for ourselves without any
+help from them. That is the mission which now lies before us, and here,
+Watson, is the Chislehurst train.”
+
+The household of the Abbey Grange were much surprised at our return, but
+Sherlock Holmes, finding that Stanley Hopkins had gone off to report to
+head-quarters, took possession of the dining-room, locked the door upon
+the inside, and devoted himself for two hours to one of those minute
+and laborious investigations which formed the solid basis on which his
+brilliant edifices of deduction were reared. Seated in a corner like an
+interested student who observes the demonstration of his professor,
+I followed every step of that remarkable research. The window, the
+curtains, the carpet, the chair, the rope--each in turn was minutely
+examined and duly pondered. The body of the unfortunate baronet had been
+removed, but all else remained as we had seen it in the morning. Then,
+to my astonishment, Holmes climbed up on to the massive mantelpiece. Far
+above his head hung the few inches of red cord which were still attached
+to the wire. For a long time he gazed upward at it, and then in an
+attempt to get nearer to it he rested his knee upon a wooden bracket on
+the wall. This brought his hand within a few inches of the broken end of
+the rope, but it was not this so much as the bracket itself which seemed
+to engage his attention. Finally he sprang down with an ejaculation of
+satisfaction.
+
+“It's all right, Watson,” said he. “We have got our case--one of the
+most remarkable in our collection. But, dear me, how slow-witted I have
+been, and how nearly I have committed the blunder of my lifetime! Now, I
+think that with a few missing links my chain is almost complete.”
+
+“You have got your men?”
+
+“Man, Watson, man. Only one, but a very formidable person. Strong as a
+lion--witness the blow that bent that poker. Six foot three in height,
+active as a squirrel, dexterous with his fingers; finally, remarkably
+quick-witted, for this whole ingenious story is of his concoction. Yes,
+Watson, we have come upon the handiwork of a very remarkable individual.
+And yet in that bell-rope he has given us a clue which should not have
+left us a doubt.”
+
+“Where was the clue?”
+
+“Well, if you were to pull down a bell-rope, Watson, where would you
+expect it to break? Surely at the spot where it is attached to the wire.
+Why should it break three inches from the top as this one has done?”
+
+“Because it is frayed there?”
+
+“Exactly. This end, which we can examine, is frayed. He was cunning
+enough to do that with his knife. But the other end is not frayed. You
+could not observe that from here, but if you were on the mantelpiece you
+would see that it is cut clean off without any mark of fraying whatever.
+You can reconstruct what occurred. The man needed the rope. He would not
+tear it down for fear of giving the alarm by ringing the bell. What did
+he do? He sprang up on the mantelpiece, could not quite reach it, put
+his knee on the bracket--you will see the impression in the dust--and so
+got his knife to bear upon the cord. I could not reach the place by at
+least three inches, from which I infer that he is at least three inches
+a bigger man than I. Look at that mark upon the seat of the oaken chair!
+What is it?”
+
+“Blood.”
+
+“Undoubtedly it is blood. This alone puts the lady's story out of court.
+If she were seated on the chair when the crime was done, how comes
+that mark? No, no; she was placed in the chair AFTER the death of her
+husband. I'll wager that the black dress shows a corresponding mark to
+this. We have not yet met our Waterloo, Watson, but this is our Marengo,
+for it begins in defeat and ends in victory. I should like now to have a
+few words with the nurse Theresa. We must be wary for awhile, if we are
+to get the information which we want.”
+
+She was an interesting person, this stern Australian nurse. Taciturn,
+suspicious, ungracious, it took some time before Holmes's pleasant
+manner and frank acceptance of all that she said thawed her into a
+corresponding amiability. She did not attempt to conceal her hatred for
+her late employer.
+
+“Yes, sir, it is true that he threw the decanter at me. I heard him call
+my mistress a name, and I told him that he would not dare to speak so if
+her brother had been there. Then it was that he threw it at me. He might
+have thrown a dozen if he had but left my bonny bird alone. He was for
+ever ill-treating her, and she too proud to complain. She will not even
+tell me all that he has done to her. She never told me of those marks on
+her arm that you saw this morning, but I know very well that they come
+from a stab with a hat-pin. The sly fiend--Heaven forgive me that I
+should speak of him so, now that he is dead, but a fiend he was if
+ever one walked the earth. He was all honey when first we met him, only
+eighteen months ago, and we both feel as if it were eighteen years. She
+had only just arrived in London. Yes, it was her first voyage--she had
+never been from home before. He won her with his title and his money
+and his false London ways. If she made a mistake she has paid for it,
+if ever a woman did. What month did we meet him? Well, I tell you it was
+just after we arrived. We arrived in June, and it was July. They were
+married in January of last year. Yes, she is down in the morning-room
+again, and I have no doubt she will see you, but you must not ask too
+much of her, for she has gone through all that flesh and blood will
+stand.”
+
+Lady Brackenstall was reclining on the same couch, but looked brighter
+than before. The maid had entered with us, and began once more to foment
+the bruise upon her mistress's brow.
+
+“I hope,” said the lady, “that you have not come to cross-examine me
+again?”
+
+“No,” Holmes answered, in his gentlest voice, “I will not cause you any
+unnecessary trouble, Lady Brackenstall, and my whole desire is to make
+things easy for you, for I am convinced that you are a much-tried woman.
+If you will treat me as a friend and trust me you may find that I will
+justify your trust.”
+
+“What do you want me to do?”
+
+“To tell me the truth.”
+
+“Mr. Holmes!”
+
+“No, no, Lady Brackenstall, it is no use. You may have heard of any
+little reputation which I possess. I will stake it all on the fact that
+your story is an absolute fabrication.”
+
+Mistress and maid were both staring at Holmes with pale faces and
+frightened eyes.
+
+“You are an impudent fellow!” cried Theresa. “Do you mean to say that my
+mistress has told a lie?”
+
+Holmes rose from his chair.
+
+“Have you nothing to tell me?”
+
+“I have told you everything.”
+
+“Think once more, Lady Brackenstall. Would it not be better to be
+frank?”
+
+For an instant there was hesitation in her beautiful face. Then some new
+strong thought caused it to set like a mask.
+
+“I have told you all I know.”
+
+Holmes took his hat and shrugged his shoulders. “I am sorry,” he said,
+and without another word we left the room and the house. There was a
+pond in the park, and to this my friend led the way. It was frozen
+over, but a single hole was left for the convenience of a solitary
+swan. Holmes gazed at it and then passed on to the lodge gate. There
+he scribbled a short note for Stanley Hopkins and left it with the
+lodge-keeper.
+
+“It may be a hit or it may be a miss, but we are bound to do something
+for friend Hopkins, just to justify this second visit,” said he. “I will
+not quite take him into my confidence yet. I think our next scene of
+operations must be the shipping office of the Adelaide-Southampton line,
+which stands at the end of Pall Mall, if I remember right. There is a
+second line of steamers which connect South Australia with England, but
+we will draw the larger cover first.”
+
+Holmes's card sent in to the manager ensured instant attention, and he
+was not long in acquiring all the information which he needed. In June
+of '95 only one of their line had reached a home port. It was the ROCK
+OF GIBRALTAR, their largest and best boat. A reference to the passenger
+list showed that Miss Fraser of Adelaide, with her maid, had made the
+voyage in her. The boat was now on her way to Australia, somewhere to
+the south of the Suez Canal. Her officers were the same as in '95,
+with one exception. The first officer, Mr. Jack Croker, had been made a
+captain and was to take charge of their new ship, the BASS ROCK, sailing
+in two days' time from Southampton. He lived at Sydenham, but he was
+likely to be in that morning for instructions, if we cared to wait for
+him.
+
+No; Mr. Holmes had no desire to see him, but would be glad to know more
+about his record and character.
+
+His record was magnificent. There was not an officer in the fleet to
+touch him. As to his character, he was reliable on duty, but a wild,
+desperate fellow off the deck of his ship, hot-headed, excitable, but
+loyal, honest, and kind-hearted. That was the pith of the information
+with which Holmes left the office of the Adelaide-Southampton company.
+Thence he drove to Scotland Yard, but instead of entering he sat in
+his cab with his brows drawn down, lost in profound thought. Finally he
+drove round to the Charing Cross telegraph office, sent off a message,
+and then, at last, we made for Baker Street once more.
+
+“No, I couldn't do it, Watson,” said he, as we re-entered our room.
+“Once that warrant was made out nothing on earth would save him. Once
+or twice in my career I feel that I have done more real harm by my
+discovery of the criminal than ever he had done by his crime. I have
+learned caution now, and I had rather play tricks with the law of
+England than with my own conscience. Let us know a little more before we
+act.”
+
+Before evening we had a visit from Inspector Stanley Hopkins. Things
+were not going very well with him.
+
+“I believe that you are a wizard, Mr. Holmes. I really do sometimes
+think that you have powers that are not human. Now, how on earth could
+you know that the stolen silver was at the bottom of that pond?”
+
+“I didn't know it.”
+
+“But you told me to examine it.”
+
+“You got it, then?”
+
+“Yes, I got it.”
+
+“I am very glad if I have helped you.”
+
+“But you haven't helped me. You have made the affair far more difficult.
+What sort of burglars are they who steal silver and then throw it into
+the nearest pond?”
+
+“It was certainly rather eccentric behaviour. I was merely going on the
+idea that if the silver had been taken by persons who did not want it,
+who merely took it for a blind as it were, then they would naturally be
+anxious to get rid of it.”
+
+“But why should such an idea cross your mind?”
+
+“Well, I thought it was possible. When they came out through the French
+window there was the pond, with one tempting little hole in the ice,
+right in front of their noses. Could there be a better hiding-place?”
+
+“Ah, a hiding-place--that is better!” cried Stanley Hopkins. “Yes, yes,
+I see it all now! It was early, there were folk upon the roads, they
+were afraid of being seen with the silver, so they sank it in the pond,
+intending to return for it when the coast was clear. Excellent, Mr.
+Holmes--that is better than your idea of a blind.”
+
+“Quite so; you have got an admirable theory. I have no doubt that my
+own ideas were quite wild, but you must admit that they have ended in
+discovering the silver.”
+
+“Yes, sir, yes. It was all your doing. But I have had a bad set-back.”
+
+“A set-back?”
+
+“Yes, Mr. Holmes. The Randall gang were arrested in New York this
+morning.”
+
+“Dear me, Hopkins! That is certainly rather against your theory that
+they committed a murder in Kent last night.”
+
+“It is fatal, Mr. Holmes, absolutely fatal. Still, there are other gangs
+of three besides the Randalls, or it may be some new gang of which the
+police have never heard.”
+
+“Quite so; it is perfectly possible. What, are you off?”
+
+“Yes, Mr. Holmes; there is no rest for me until I have got to the bottom
+of the business. I suppose you have no hint to give me?”
+
+“I have given you one.”
+
+“Which?”
+
+“Well, I suggested a blind.”
+
+“But why, Mr. Holmes, why?”
+
+“Ah, that's the question, of course. But I commend the idea to your
+mind. You might possibly find that there was something in it. You won't
+stop for dinner? Well, good-bye, and let us know how you get on.”
+
+Dinner was over and the table cleared before Holmes alluded to the
+matter again. He had lit his pipe and held his slippered feet to the
+cheerful blaze of the fire. Suddenly he looked at his watch.
+
+“I expect developments, Watson.”
+
+“When?”
+
+“Now--within a few minutes. I dare say you thought I acted rather badly
+to Stanley Hopkins just now?”
+
+“I trust your judgment.”
+
+“A very sensible reply, Watson. You must look at it this way: what
+I know is unofficial; what he knows is official. I have the right to
+private judgment, but he has none. He must disclose all, or he is a
+traitor to his service. In a doubtful case I would not put him in so
+painful a position, and so I reserve my information until my own mind is
+clear upon the matter.”
+
+“But when will that be?”
+
+“The time has come. You will now be present at the last scene of a
+remarkable little drama.”
+
+There was a sound upon the stairs, and our door was opened to admit as
+fine a specimen of manhood as ever passed through it. He was a very
+tall young man, golden-moustached, blue-eyed, with a skin which had been
+burned by tropical suns, and a springy step which showed that the huge
+frame was as active as it was strong. He closed the door behind him, and
+then he stood with clenched hands and heaving breast, choking down some
+overmastering emotion.
+
+“Sit down, Captain Croker. You got my telegram?”
+
+Our visitor sank into an arm-chair and looked from one to the other of
+us with questioning eyes.
+
+“I got your telegram, and I came at the hour you said. I heard that you
+had been down to the office. There was no getting away from you. Let's
+hear the worst. What are you going to do with me? Arrest me? Speak out,
+man! You can't sit there and play with me like a cat with a mouse.”
+
+“Give him a cigar,” said Holmes. “Bite on that, Captain Croker, and
+don't let your nerves run away with you. I should not sit here smoking
+with you if I thought that you were a common criminal, you may be sure
+of that. Be frank with me, and we may do some good. Play tricks with me,
+and I'll crush you.”
+
+“What do you wish me to do?”
+
+“To give me a true account of all that happened at the Abbey Grange last
+night--a TRUE account, mind you, with nothing added and nothing taken
+off. I know so much already that if you go one inch off the straight
+I'll blow this police whistle from my window and the affair goes out of
+my hands for ever.”
+
+The sailor thought for a little. Then he struck his leg with his great,
+sun-burned hand.
+
+“I'll chance it,” he cried. “I believe you are a man of your word, and
+a white man, and I'll tell you the whole story. But one thing I will say
+first. So far as I am concerned I regret nothing and I fear nothing, and
+I would do it all again and be proud of the job. Curse the beast, if
+he had as many lives as a cat he would owe them all to me! But it's
+the lady, Mary--Mary Fraser--for never will I call her by that accursed
+name. When I think of getting her into trouble, I who would give my life
+just to bring one smile to her dear face, it's that that turns my soul
+into water. And yet--and yet--what less could I do? I'll tell you my
+story, gentlemen, and then I'll ask you as man to man what less could I
+do.
+
+“I must go back a bit. You seem to know everything, so I expect that you
+know that I met her when she was a passenger and I was first officer
+of the ROCK OF GIBRALTAR. From the first day I met her she was the only
+woman to me. Every day of that voyage I loved her more, and many a time
+since have I kneeled down in the darkness of the night watch and kissed
+the deck of that ship because I knew her dear feet had trod it. She was
+never engaged to me. She treated me as fairly as ever a woman treated
+a man. I have no complaint to make. It was all love on my side, and all
+good comradeship and friendship on hers. When we parted she was a free
+woman, but I could never again be a free man.
+
+“Next time I came back from sea I heard of her marriage. Well, why
+shouldn't she marry whom she liked? Title and money--who could carry
+them better than she? She was born for all that is beautiful and dainty.
+I didn't grieve over her marriage. I was not such a selfish hound as
+that. I just rejoiced that good luck had come her way, and that she had
+not thrown herself away on a penniless sailor. That's how I loved Mary
+Fraser.
+
+“Well, I never thought to see her again; but last voyage I was promoted,
+and the new boat was not yet launched, so I had to wait for a couple of
+months with my people at Sydenham. One day out in a country lane I met
+Theresa Wright, her old maid. She told me about her, about him, about
+everything. I tell you, gentlemen, it nearly drove me mad. This drunken
+hound, that he should dare to raise his hand to her whose boots he was
+not worthy to lick! I met Theresa again. Then I met Mary herself--and
+met her again. Then she would meet me no more. But the other day I had a
+notice that I was to start on my voyage within a week, and I determined
+that I would see her once before I left. Theresa was always my friend,
+for she loved Mary and hated this villain almost as much as I did. From
+her I learned the ways of the house. Mary used to sit up reading in her
+own little room downstairs. I crept round there last night and scratched
+at the window. At first she would not open to me, but in her heart I
+know that now she loves me, and she could not leave me in the frosty
+night. She whispered to me to come round to the big front window, and
+I found it open before me so as to let me into the dining-room. Again
+I heard from her own lips things that made my blood boil, and again
+I cursed this brute who mishandled the woman that I loved. Well,
+gentlemen, I was standing with her just inside the window, in all
+innocence, as Heaven is my judge, when he rushed like a madman into the
+room, called her the vilest name that a man could use to a woman, and
+welted her across the face with the stick he had in his hand. I had
+sprung for the poker, and it was a fair fight between us. See here on my
+arm where his first blow fell. Then it was my turn, and I went through
+him as if he had been a rotten pumpkin. Do you think I was sorry? Not I!
+It was his life or mine, but far more than that it was his life or hers,
+for how could I leave her in the power of this madman? That was how I
+killed him. Was I wrong? Well, then, what would either of you gentlemen
+have done if you had been in my position?”
+
+“She had screamed when he struck her, and that brought old Theresa down
+from the room above. There was a bottle of wine on the sideboard, and I
+opened it and poured a little between Mary's lips, for she was half dead
+with the shock. Then I took a drop myself. Theresa was as cool as
+ice, and it was her plot as much as mine. We must make it appear that
+burglars had done the thing. Theresa kept on repeating our story to her
+mistress, while I swarmed up and cut the rope of the bell. Then I lashed
+her in her chair, and frayed out the end of the rope to make it look
+natural, else they would wonder how in the world a burglar could have
+got up there to cut it. Then I gathered up a few plates and pots of
+silver, to carry out the idea of a robbery, and there I left them with
+orders to give the alarm when I had a quarter of an hour's start. I
+dropped the silver into the pond and made off for Sydenham, feeling that
+for once in my life I had done a real good night's work. And that's the
+truth and the whole truth, Mr. Holmes, if it costs me my neck.”
+
+Holmes smoked for some time in silence. Then he crossed the room and
+shook our visitor by the hand.
+
+“That's what I think,” said he. “I know that every word is true, for you
+have hardly said a word which I did not know. No one but an acrobat or a
+sailor could have got up to that bell-rope from the bracket, and no one
+but a sailor could have made the knots with which the cord was fastened
+to the chair. Only once had this lady been brought into contact with
+sailors, and that was on her voyage, and it was someone of her own class
+of life, since she was trying hard to shield him and so showing that she
+loved him. You see how easy it was for me to lay my hands upon you when
+once I had started upon the right trail.”
+
+“I thought the police never could have seen through our dodge.”
+
+“And the police haven't; nor will they, to the best of my belief. Now,
+look here, Captain Croker, this is a very serious matter, though I am
+willing to admit that you acted under the most extreme provocation to
+which any man could be subjected. I am not sure that in defence of your
+own life your action will not be pronounced legitimate. However, that is
+for a British jury to decide. Meanwhile I have so much sympathy for you
+that if you choose to disappear in the next twenty-four hours I will
+promise you that no one will hinder you.”
+
+“And then it will all come out?”
+
+“Certainly it will come out.”
+
+The sailor flushed with anger.
+
+“What sort of proposal is that to make a man? I know enough of law to
+understand that Mary would be had as accomplice. Do you think I would
+leave her alone to face the music while I slunk away? No, sir; let them
+do their worst upon me, but for Heaven's sake, Mr. Holmes, find some way
+of keeping my poor Mary out of the courts.”
+
+Holmes for a second time held out his hand to the sailor.
+
+“I was only testing you, and you ring true every time. Well, it is a
+great responsibility that I take upon myself, but I have given Hopkins
+an excellent hint, and if he can't avail himself of it I can do no more.
+See here, Captain Croker, we'll do this in due form of law. You are the
+prisoner. Watson, you are a British jury, and I never met a man who was
+more eminently fitted to represent one. I am the judge. Now, gentleman
+of the jury, you have heard the evidence. Do you find the prisoner
+guilty or not guilty?”
+
+“Not guilty, my lord,” said I.
+
+“Vox populi, vox Dei. You are acquitted, Captain Croker. So long as the
+law does not find some other victim you are safe from me. Come back
+to this lady in a year, and may her future and yours justify us in the
+judgment which we have pronounced this night.”
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 28  DECEMBER, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+XIII.--The Adventure of the Second Stain.
+
+
+I HAD intended “The Adventure of the Abbey Grange” to be the last of
+those exploits of my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, which I should ever
+communicate to the public. This resolution of mine was not due to any
+lack of material, since I have notes of many hundreds of cases to which
+I have never alluded, nor was it caused by any waning interest on the
+part of my readers in the singular personality and unique methods of
+this remarkable man. The real reason lay in the reluctance which Mr.
+Holmes has shown to the continued publication of his experiences.
+So long as he was in actual professional practice the records of
+his successes were of some practical value to him; but since he
+has definitely retired from London and betaken himself to study and
+bee-farming on the Sussex Downs, notoriety has become hateful to him,
+and he has peremptorily requested that his wishes in this matter should
+be strictly observed. It was only upon my representing to him that I
+had given a promise that “The Adventure of the Second Stain” should be
+published when the times were ripe, and pointing out to him that it is
+only appropriate that this long series of episodes should culminate in
+the most important international case which he has ever been called
+upon to handle, that I at last succeeded in obtaining his consent that a
+carefully-guarded account of the incident should at last be laid before
+the public. If in telling the story I seem to be somewhat vague in
+certain details the public will readily understand that there is an
+excellent reason for my reticence.
+
+
+It was, then, in a year, and even in a decade, that shall be nameless,
+that upon one Tuesday morning in autumn we found two visitors of
+European fame within the walls of our humble room in Baker Street. The
+one, austere, high-nosed, eagle-eyed, and dominant, was none other than
+the illustrious Lord Bellinger, twice Premier of Britain. The other,
+dark, clear-cut, and elegant, hardly yet of middle age, and endowed with
+every beauty of body and of mind, was the Right Honourable Trelawney
+Hope, Secretary for European Affairs, and the most rising statesman in
+the country. They sat side by side upon our paper-littered settee,
+and it was easy to see from their worn and anxious faces that it was
+business of the most pressing importance which had brought them. The
+Premier's thin, blue-veined hands were clasped tightly over the ivory
+head of his umbrella, and his gaunt, ascetic face looked gloomily from
+Holmes to me. The European Secretary pulled nervously at his moustache
+and fidgeted with the seals of his watch-chain.
+
+“When I discovered my loss, Mr. Holmes, which was at eight o'clock this
+morning, I at once informed the Prime Minister. It was at his suggestion
+that we have both come to you.”
+
+“Have you informed the police?”
+
+“No, sir,” said the Prime Minister, with the quick, decisive manner for
+which he was famous. “We have not done so, nor is it possible that we
+should do so. To inform the police must, in the long run, mean to inform
+the public. This is what we particularly desire to avoid.”
+
+“And why, sir?”
+
+“Because the document in question is of such immense importance that
+its publication might very easily--I might almost say probably--lead to
+European complications of the utmost moment. It is not too much to say
+that peace or war may hang upon the issue. Unless its recovery can be
+attended with the utmost secrecy, then it may as well not be recovered
+at all, for all that is aimed at by those who have taken it is that its
+contents should be generally known.”
+
+“I understand. Now, Mr. Trelawney Hope, I should be much obliged if
+you would tell me exactly the circumstances under which this document
+disappeared.”
+
+“That can be done in a very few words, Mr. Holmes. The letter--for it
+was a letter from a foreign potentate--was received six days ago. It
+was of such importance that I have never left it in my safe, but I have
+taken it across each evening to my house in Whitehall Terrace, and kept
+it in my bedroom in a locked despatch-box. It was there last night. Of
+that I am certain. I actually opened the box while I was dressing for
+dinner, and saw the document inside. This morning it was gone. The
+despatch-box had stood beside the glass upon my dressing-table all
+night. I am a light sleeper, and so is my wife. We are both prepared to
+swear that no one could have entered the room during the night. And yet
+I repeat that the paper is gone.”
+
+“What time did you dine?”
+
+“Half-past seven.”
+
+“How long was it before you went to bed?”
+
+“My wife had gone to the theatre. I waited up for her. It was half-past
+eleven before we went to our room.”
+
+“Then for four hours the despatch-box had lain unguarded?”
+
+“No one is ever permitted to enter that room save the housemaid in the
+morning, and my valet, or my wife's maid, during the rest of the day.
+They are both trusty servants who have been with us for some time.
+Besides, neither of them could possibly have known that there was
+anything more valuable than the ordinary departmental papers in my
+despatch-box.”
+
+“Who did know of the existence of that letter?”
+
+“No one in the house.”
+
+“Surely your wife knew?”
+
+“No, sir; I had said nothing to my wife until I missed the paper this
+morning.”
+
+The Premier nodded approvingly.
+
+“I have long known, sir, how high is your sense of public duty,” said
+he. “I am convinced that in the case of a secret of this importance it
+would rise superior to the most intimate domestic ties.”
+
+The European Secretary bowed.
+
+“You do me no more than justice, sir. Until this morning I have never
+breathed one word to my wife upon this matter.”
+
+“Could she have guessed?”
+
+“No, Mr. Holmes, she could not have guessed--nor could anyone have
+guessed.”
+
+“Have you lost any documents before?”
+
+“No, sir.”
+
+“Who is there in England who did know of the existence of this letter?”
+
+“Each member of the Cabinet was informed of it yesterday; but the pledge
+of secrecy which attends every Cabinet meeting was increased by the
+solemn warning which was given by the Prime Minister. Good heavens,
+to think that within a few hours I should myself have lost it!” His
+handsome face was distorted with a spasm of despair, and his hands
+tore at his hair. For a moment we caught a glimpse of the natural man,
+impulsive, ardent, keenly sensitive. The next the aristocratic mask was
+replaced, and the gentle voice had returned. “Besides the members of
+the Cabinet there are two, or possibly three, departmental officials who
+know of the letter. No one else in England, Mr. Holmes, I assure you.”
+
+“But abroad?”
+
+“I believe that no one abroad has seen it save the man who wrote it. I
+am well convinced that his Ministers--that the usual official channels
+have not been employed.”
+
+Holmes considered for some little time.
+
+“Now, sir, I must ask you more particularly what this document is, and
+why its disappearance should have such momentous consequences?”
+
+The two statesmen exchanged a quick glance and the Premier's shaggy
+eyebrows gathered in a frown.
+
+“Mr. Holmes, the envelope is a long, thin one of pale blue colour. There
+is a seal of red wax stamped with a crouching lion. It is addressed in
+large, bold handwriting to--”
+
+“I fear, sir,” said Holmes, “that, interesting and indeed essential as
+these details are, my inquiries must go more to the root of things. What
+WAS the letter?”
+
+“That is a State secret of the utmost importance, and I fear that I
+cannot tell you, nor do I see that it is necessary. If by the aid of the
+powers which you are said to possess you can find such an envelope as
+I describe with its enclosure, you will have deserved well of your
+country, and earned any reward which it lies in our power to bestow.”
+
+Sherlock Holmes rose with a smile.
+
+“You are two of the most busy men in the country,” said he, “and in
+my own small way I have also a good many calls upon me. I regret
+exceedingly that I cannot help you in this matter, and any continuation
+of this interview would be a waste of time.”
+
+The Premier sprang to his feet with that quick, fierce gleam of his
+deep-set eyes before which a Cabinet has cowered. “I am not accustomed,
+sir----” he began, but mastered his anger and resumed his seat. For a
+minute or more we all sat in silence. Then the old statesman shrugged
+his shoulders.
+
+“We must accept your terms, Mr. Holmes. No doubt you are right, and
+it is unreasonable for us to expect you to act unless we give you our
+entire confidence.”
+
+“I agree with you, sir,” said the younger statesman.
+
+“Then I will tell you, relying entirely upon your honour and that of
+your colleague, Dr. Watson. I may appeal to your patriotism also, for
+I could not imagine a greater misfortune for the country than that this
+affair should come out.”
+
+“You may safely trust us.”
+
+“The letter, then, is from a certain foreign potentate who has been
+ruffled by some recent Colonial developments of this country. It
+has been written hurriedly and upon his own responsibility entirely.
+Inquiries have shown that his Ministers know nothing of the matter.
+At the same time it is couched in so unfortunate a manner, and certain
+phrases in it are of so provocative a character, that its publication
+would undoubtedly lead to a most dangerous state of feeling in this
+country. There would be such a ferment, sir, that I do not hesitate to
+say that within a week of the publication of that letter this country
+would be involved in a great war.”
+
+Holmes wrote a name upon a slip of paper and handed it to the Premier.
+
+“Exactly. It was he. And it is this letter--this letter which may well
+mean the expenditure of a thousand millions and the lives of a hundred
+thousand men--which has become lost in this unaccountable fashion.”
+
+“Have you informed the sender?”
+
+“Yes, sir, a cipher telegram has been despatched.”
+
+“Perhaps he desires the publication of the letter.”
+
+“No, sir, we have strong reason to believe that he already understands
+that he has acted in an indiscreet and hot-headed manner. It would be a
+greater blow to him and to his country than to us if this letter were to
+come out.”
+
+“If this is so, whose interest is it that the letter should come out?
+Why should anyone desire to steal it or to publish it?”
+
+“There, Mr. Holmes, you take me into regions of high international
+politics. But if you consider the European situation you will have no
+difficulty in perceiving the motive. The whole of Europe is an armed
+camp. There is a double league which makes a fair balance of military
+power. Great Britain holds the scales. If Britain were driven into
+war with one confederacy, it would assure the supremacy of the other
+confederacy, whether they joined in the war or not. Do you follow?”
+
+“Very clearly. It is then the interest of the enemies of this potentate
+to secure and publish this letter, so as to make a breach between his
+country and ours?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“And to whom would this document be sent if it fell into the hands of an
+enemy?”
+
+“To any of the great Chancelleries of Europe. It is probably speeding on
+its way thither at the present instant as fast as steam can take it.”
+
+Mr. Trelawney Hope dropped his head on his chest and groaned aloud. The
+Premier placed his hand kindly upon his shoulder.
+
+“It is your misfortune, my dear fellow. No one can blame you. There is
+no precaution which you have neglected. Now, Mr. Holmes, you are in full
+possession of the facts. What course do you recommend?”
+
+Holmes shook his head mournfully.
+
+“You think, sir, that unless this document is recovered there will be
+war?”
+
+“I think it is very probable.”
+
+“Then, sir, prepare for war.”
+
+“That is a hard saying, Mr. Holmes.”
+
+“Consider the facts, sir. It is inconceivable that it was taken after
+eleven-thirty at night, since I understand that Mr. Hope and his wife
+were both in the room from that hour until the loss was found out.
+It was taken, then, yesterday evening between seven-thirty and
+eleven-thirty, probably near the earlier hour, since whoever took it
+evidently knew that it was there and would naturally secure it as early
+as possible. Now, sir, if a document of this importance were taken at
+that hour, where can it be now? No one has any reason to retain it. It
+has been passed rapidly on to those who need it. What chance have we now
+to overtake or even to trace it? It is beyond our reach.”
+
+The Prime Minister rose from the settee.
+
+“What you say is perfectly logical, Mr. Holmes. I feel that the matter
+is indeed out of our hands.”
+
+“Let us presume, for argument's sake, that the document was taken by the
+maid or by the valet----”
+
+“They are both old and tried servants.”
+
+“I understand you to say that your room is on the second floor, that
+there is no entrance from without, and that from within no one could go
+up unobserved. It must, then, be somebody in the house who has taken it.
+To whom would the thief take it? To one of several international spies
+and secret agents, whose names are tolerably familiar to me. There are
+three who may be said to be the heads of their profession. I will begin
+my research by going round and finding if each of them is at his post.
+If one is missing--especially if he has disappeared since last night--we
+will have some indication as to where the document has gone.”
+
+“Why should he be missing?” asked the European Secretary. “He would take
+the letter to an Embassy in London, as likely as not.”
+
+“I fancy not. These agents work independently, and their relations with
+the Embassies are often strained.”
+
+The Prime Minister nodded his acquiescence.
+
+“I believe you are right, Mr. Holmes. He would take so valuable a prize
+to head-quarters with his own hands. I think that your course of action
+is an excellent one. Meanwhile, Hope, we cannot neglect all our other
+duties on account of this one misfortune. Should there be any fresh
+developments during the day we shall communicate with you, and you will
+no doubt let us know the results of your own inquiries.”
+
+The two statesmen bowed and walked gravely from the room.
+
+When our illustrious visitors had departed Holmes lit his pipe in
+silence, and sat for some time lost in the deepest thought. I had opened
+the morning paper and was immersed in a sensational crime which had
+occurred in London the night before, when my friend gave an exclamation,
+sprang to his feet, and laid his pipe down upon the mantelpiece.
+
+“Yes,” said he, “there is no better way of approaching it. The situation
+is desperate, but not hopeless. Even now, if we could be sure which of
+them has taken it, it is just possible that it has not yet passed out of
+his hands. After all, it is a question of money with these fellows, and
+I have the British Treasury behind me. If it's on the market I'll buy
+it--if it means another penny on the income-tax. It is conceivable
+that the fellow might hold it back to see what bids come from this
+side before he tries his luck on the other. There are only those three
+capable of playing so bold a game; there are Oberstein, La Rothiere, and
+Eduardo Lucas. I will see each of them.”
+
+I glanced at my morning paper.
+
+“Is that Eduardo Lucas of Godolphin Street?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“You will not see him.”
+
+“Why not?”
+
+“He was murdered in his house last night.”
+
+My friend has so often astonished me in the course of our adventures
+that it was with a sense of exultation that I realized how completely I
+had astonished him. He stared in amazement, and then snatched the
+paper from my hands. This was the paragraph which I had been engaged in
+reading when he rose from his chair:--
+
+
+                    “MURDER IN WESTMINSTER.
+
+“A crime of mysterious character was committed last night at 16,
+Godolphin Street, one of the old-fashioned and secluded rows of
+eighteenth-century houses which lie between the river and the Abbey,
+almost in the shadow of the great Tower of the Houses of Parliament.
+This small but select mansion has been inhabited for some years by Mr.
+Eduardo Lucas, well known in society circles both on account of his
+charming personality and because he has the well-deserved reputation
+of being one of the best amateur tenors in the country. Mr. Lucas is an
+unmarried man, thirty-four years of age, and his establishment consists
+of Mrs. Pringle, an elderly housekeeper, and of Mitton, his valet. The
+former retires early and sleeps at the top of the house. The valet was
+out for the evening, visiting a friend at Hammersmith. From ten o'clock
+onwards Mr. Lucas had the house to himself. What occurred during that
+time has not yet transpired, but at a quarter to twelve Police-constable
+Barrett, passing along Godolphin Street, observed that the door of No.
+16 was ajar. He knocked, but received no answer. Perceiving a light
+in the front room he advanced into the passage and again knocked, but
+without reply. He then pushed open the door and entered. The room was in
+a state of wild disorder, the furniture being all swept to one side, and
+one chair lying on its back in the centre. Beside this chair, and still
+grasping one of its legs, lay the unfortunate tenant of the house. He
+had been stabbed to the heart and must have died instantly. The knife
+with which the crime had been committed was a curved Indian dagger,
+plucked down from a trophy of Oriental arms which adorned one of the
+walls. Robbery does not appear to have been the motive of the crime, for
+there had been no attempt to remove the valuable contents of the room.
+Mr. Eduardo Lucas was so well known and popular that his violent and
+mysterious fate will arouse painful interest and intense sympathy in a
+wide-spread circle of friends.”
+
+“Well, Watson, what do you make of this?” asked Holmes, after a long
+pause.
+
+“It is an amazing coincidence.”
+
+“A coincidence! Here is one of the three men whom we had named as
+possible actors in this drama, and he meets a violent death during the
+very hours when we know that that drama was being enacted. The odds are
+enormous against its being coincidence. No figures could express them.
+No, my dear Watson, the two events are connected--MUST be connected. It
+is for us to find the connection.”
+
+“But now the official police must know all.”
+
+“Not at all. They know all they see at Godolphin Street. They know--and
+shall know--nothing of Whitehall Terrace. Only WE know of both events,
+and can trace the relation between them. There is one obvious point
+which would, in any case, have turned my suspicions against Lucas.
+Godolphin Street, Westminster, is only a few minutes' walk from
+Whitehall Terrace. The other secret agents whom I have named live in
+the extreme West-end. It was easier, therefore, for Lucas than for the
+others to establish a connection or receive a message from the
+European Secretary's household--a small thing, and yet where events are
+compressed into a few hours it may prove essential. Halloa! what have we
+here?”
+
+Mrs. Hudson had appeared with a lady's card upon her salver. Holmes
+glanced at it, raised his eyebrows, and handed it over to me.
+
+“Ask Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope if she will be kind enough to step up,”
+ said he.
+
+A moment later our modest apartment, already so distinguished that
+morning, was further honoured by the entrance of the most lovely woman
+in London. I had often heard of the beauty of the youngest daughter of
+the Duke of Belminster, but no description of it, and no contemplation
+of colourless photographs, had prepared me for the subtle, delicate
+charm and the beautiful colouring of that exquisite head. And yet as
+we saw it that autumn morning, it was not its beauty which would be the
+first thing to impress the observer. The cheek was lovely, but it was
+paled with emotion; the eyes were bright, but it was the brightness
+of fever; the sensitive mouth was tight and drawn in an effort after
+self-command. Terror--not beauty--was what sprang first to the eye as
+our fair visitor stood framed for an instant in the open door.
+
+“Has my husband been here, Mr. Holmes?”
+
+“Yes, madam, he has been here.”
+
+“Mr. Holmes, I implore you not to tell him that I came here.” Holmes
+bowed coldly, and motioned the lady to a chair.
+
+“Your ladyship places me in a very delicate position. I beg that you
+will sit down and tell me what you desire; but I fear that I cannot make
+any unconditional promise.”
+
+She swept across the room and seated herself with her back to the
+window. It was a queenly presence--tall, graceful, and intensely
+womanly.
+
+“Mr. Holmes,” she said, and her white-gloved hands clasped and unclasped
+as she spoke--“I will speak frankly to you in the hope that it may
+induce you to speak frankly in return. There is complete confidence
+between my husband and me on all matters save one. That one is politics.
+On this his lips are sealed. He tells me nothing. Now, I am aware that
+there was a most deplorable occurrence in our house last night. I know
+that a paper has disappeared. But because the matter is political my
+husband refuses to take me into his complete confidence. Now it is
+essential--essential, I say--that I should thoroughly understand it. You
+are the only other person, save only these politicians, who knows the
+true facts. I beg you, then, Mr. Holmes, to tell me exactly what has
+happened and what it will lead to. Tell me all, Mr. Holmes. Let no
+regard for your client's interests keep you silent, for I assure you
+that his interests, if he would only see it, would be best served by
+taking me into his complete confidence. What was this paper which was
+stolen?”
+
+“Madam, what you ask me is really impossible.”
+
+She groaned and sank her face in her hands.
+
+“You must see that this is so, madam. If your husband thinks fit to keep
+you in the dark over this matter, is it for me, who has only learned the
+true facts under the pledge of professional secrecy, to tell what he has
+withheld? It is not fair to ask it. It is him whom you must ask.”
+
+“I have asked him. I come to you as a last resource. But without your
+telling me anything definite, Mr. Holmes, you may do a great service if
+you would enlighten me on one point.”
+
+“What is it, madam?”
+
+“Is my husband's political career likely to suffer through this
+incident?”
+
+“Well, madam, unless it is set right it may certainly have a very
+unfortunate effect.”
+
+“Ah!” She drew in her breath sharply as one whose doubts are resolved.
+
+“One more question, Mr. Holmes. From an expression which my husband
+dropped in the first shock of this disaster I understood that terrible
+public consequences might arise from the loss of this document.”
+
+“If he said so, I certainly cannot deny it.”
+
+“Of what nature are they?”
+
+“Nay, madam, there again you ask me more than I can possibly answer.”
+
+“Then I will take up no more of your time. I cannot blame you, Mr.
+Holmes, for having refused to speak more freely, and you on your side
+will not, I am sure, think the worse of me because I desire, even
+against his will, to share my husband's anxieties. Once more I beg that
+you will say nothing of my visit.” She looked back at us from the door,
+and I had a last impression of that beautiful haunted face, the startled
+eyes, and the drawn mouth. Then she was gone.
+
+“Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department,” said Holmes, with a
+smile, when the dwindling frou-frou of skirts had ended in the slam
+of the front door. “What was the fair lady's game? What did she really
+want?”
+
+“Surely her own statement is clear and her anxiety very natural.”
+
+“Hum! Think of her appearance, Watson--her manner, her suppressed
+excitement, her restlessness, her tenacity in asking questions. Remember
+that she comes of a caste who do not lightly show emotion.”
+
+“She was certainly much moved.”
+
+“Remember also the curious earnestness with which she assured us that it
+was best for her husband that she should know all. What did she mean by
+that? And you must have observed, Watson, how she manoeuvred to have the
+light at her back. She did not wish us to read her expression.”
+
+“Yes; she chose the one chair in the room.”
+
+“And yet the motives of women are so inscrutable. You remember the
+woman at Margate whom I suspected for the same reason. No powder on her
+nose--that proved to be the correct solution. How can you build on such
+a quicksand? Their most trivial action may mean volumes, or their most
+extraordinary conduct may depend upon a hairpin or a curling-tongs. Good
+morning, Watson.”
+
+“You are off?”
+
+“Yes; I will wile away the morning at Godolphin Street with our friends
+of the regular establishment. With Eduardo Lucas lies the solution of
+our problem, though I must admit that I have not an inkling as to what
+form it may take. It is a capital mistake to theorize in advance of
+the facts. Do you stay on guard, my good Watson, and receive any fresh
+visitors. I'll join you at lunch if I am able.”
+
+
+All that day and the next and the next Holmes was in a mood which his
+friends would call taciturn, and others morose. He ran out and ran in,
+smoked incessantly, played snatches on his violin, sank into reveries,
+devoured sandwiches at irregular hours, and hardly answered the casual
+questions which I put to him. It was evident to me that things were not
+going well with him or his quest. He would say nothing of the case, and
+it was from the papers that I learned the particulars of the inquest,
+and the arrest with the subsequent release of John Mitton, the valet of
+the deceased. The coroner's jury brought in the obvious “Wilful Murder,”
+ but the parties remained as unknown as ever. No motive was suggested.
+The room was full of articles of value, but none had been taken. The
+dead man's papers had not been tampered with. They were carefully
+examined, and showed that he was a keen student of international
+politics, an indefatigable gossip, a remarkable linguist, and an
+untiring letter-writer. He had been on intimate terms with the leading
+politicians of several countries. But nothing sensational was discovered
+among the documents which filled his drawers. As to his relations with
+women, they appeared to have been promiscuous but superficial. He had
+many acquaintances among them, but few friends, and no one whom he
+loved. His habits were regular, his conduct inoffensive. His death was
+an absolute mystery, and likely to remain so.
+
+As to the arrest of John Mitton, the valet, it was a counsel of despair
+as an alternative to absolute inaction. But no case could be sustained
+against him. He had visited friends in Hammersmith that night. The ALIBI
+was complete. It is true that he started home at an hour which should
+have brought him to Westminster before the time when the crime was
+discovered, but his own explanation that he had walked part of the way
+seemed probable enough in view of the fineness of the night. He had
+actually arrived at twelve o'clock, and appeared to be overwhelmed
+by the unexpected tragedy. He had always been on good terms with his
+master. Several of the dead man's possessions--notably a small case of
+razors--had been found in the valet's boxes, but he explained that they
+had been presents from the deceased, and the housekeeper was able to
+corroborate the story. Mitton had been in Lucas's employment for three
+years. It was noticeable that Lucas did not take Mitton on the Continent
+with him. Sometimes he visited Paris for three months on end, but Mitton
+was left in charge of the Godolphin Street house. As to the housekeeper,
+she had heard nothing on the night of the crime. If her master had a
+visitor he had himself admitted him.
+
+So for three mornings the mystery remained, so far as I could follow it
+in the papers. If Holmes knew more he kept his own counsel, but, as he
+told me that Inspector Lestrade had taken him into his confidence in the
+case, I knew that he was in close touch with every development. Upon
+the fourth day there appeared a long telegram from Paris which seemed to
+solve the whole question.
+
+“A discovery has just been made by the Parisian police,” said the DAILY
+TELEGRAPH, “which raises the veil which hung round the tragic fate of
+Mr. Eduardo Lucas, who met his death by violence last Monday night
+at Godolphin Street, Westminster. Our readers will remember that
+the deceased gentleman was found stabbed in his room, and that some
+suspicion attached to his valet, but that the case broke down on an
+ALIBI. Yesterday a lady, who has been known as Mme. Henri Fournaye,
+occupying a small villa in the Rue Austerlitz, was reported to the
+authorities by her servants as being insane. An examination showed that
+she had indeed developed mania of a dangerous and permanent form.
+On inquiry the police have discovered that Mme. Henri Fournaye only
+returned from a journey to London on Tuesday last, and there is
+evidence to connect her with the crime at Westminster. A comparison of
+photographs has proved conclusively that M. Henri Fournaye and Eduardo
+Lucas were really one and the same person, and that the deceased had for
+some reason lived a double life in London and Paris. Mme. Fournaye,
+who is of Creole origin, is of an extremely excitable nature, and has
+suffered in the past from attacks of jealousy which have amounted to
+frenzy. It is conjectured that it was in one of these that she committed
+the terrible crime which has caused such a sensation in London. Her
+movements upon the Monday night have not yet been traced, but it is
+undoubted that a woman answering to her description attracted much
+attention at Charing Cross Station on Tuesday morning by the wildness
+of her appearance and the violence of her gestures. It is probable,
+therefore, that the crime was either committed when insane, or that
+its immediate effect was to drive the unhappy woman out of her mind. At
+present she is unable to give any coherent account of the past, and the
+doctors hold out no hopes of the re-establishment of her reason. There
+is evidence that a woman, who might have been Mme. Fournaye, was seen
+for some hours on Monday night watching the house in Godolphin Street.”
+
+“What do you think of that, Holmes?” I had read the account aloud to
+him, while he finished his breakfast.
+
+“My dear Watson,” said he, as he rose from the table and paced up and
+down the room, “you are most long-suffering, but if I have told you
+nothing in the last three days it is because there is nothing to tell.
+Even now this report from Paris does not help us much.”
+
+“Surely it is final as regards the man's death.”
+
+“The man's death is a mere incident--a trivial episode--in comparison
+with our real task, which is to trace this document and save a European
+catastrophe. Only one important thing has happened in the last three
+days, and that is that nothing has happened. I get reports almost hourly
+from the Government, and it is certain that nowhere in Europe is there
+any sign of trouble. Now, if this letter were loose--no, it CAN'T be
+loose--but if it isn't loose, where can it be? Who has it? Why is it
+held back? That's the question that beats in my brain like a hammer. Was
+it, indeed, a coincidence that Lucas should meet his death on the night
+when the letter disappeared? Did the letter ever reach him? If so, why
+is it not among his papers? Did this mad wife of his carry it off with
+her? If so, is it in her house in Paris? How could I search for it
+without the French police having their suspicions aroused? It is a case,
+my dear Watson, where the law is as dangerous to us as the criminals
+are. Every man's hand is against us, and yet the interests at stake are
+colossal. Should I bring it to a successful conclusion it will certainly
+represent the crowning glory of my career. Ah, here is my latest from
+the front!” He glanced hurriedly at the note which had been handed in.
+“Halloa! Lestrade seems to have observed something of interest. Put on
+your hat, Watson, and we will stroll down together to Westminster.”
+
+It was my first visit to the scene of the crime--a high, dingy,
+narrow-chested house, prim, formal, and solid, like the century which
+gave it birth. Lestrade's bulldog features gazed out at us from the
+front window, and he greeted us warmly when a big constable had opened
+the door and let us in. The room into which we were shown was that in
+which the crime had been committed, but no trace of it now remained,
+save an ugly, irregular stain upon the carpet. This carpet was a small
+square drugget in the centre of the room, surrounded by a broad expanse
+of beautiful, old-fashioned wood-flooring in square blocks highly
+polished. Over the fireplace was a magnificent trophy of weapons, one of
+which had been used on that tragic night. In the window was a sumptuous
+writing-desk, and every detail of the apartment, the pictures, the rugs,
+and the hangings, all pointed to a taste which was luxurious to the
+verge of effeminacy.
+
+“Seen the Paris news?” asked Lestrade.
+
+Holmes nodded.
+
+“Our French friends seem to have touched the spot this time. No doubt
+it's just as they say. She knocked at the door--surprise visit, I
+guess, for he kept his life in water-tight compartments. He let her
+in--couldn't keep her in the street. She told him how she had traced
+him, reproached him, one thing led to another, and then with that dagger
+so handy the end soon came. It wasn't all done in an instant, though,
+for these chairs were all swept over yonder, and he had one in his hand
+as if he had tried to hold her off with it. We've got it all clear as if
+we had seen it.”
+
+Holmes raised his eyebrows.
+
+“And yet you have sent for me?”
+
+“Ah, yes, that's another matter--a mere trifle, but the sort of thing
+you take an interest in--queer, you know, and what you might call
+freakish. It has nothing to do with the main fact--can't have, on the
+face of it.”
+
+“What is it, then?”
+
+“Well, you know, after a crime of this sort we are very careful to keep
+things in their position. Nothing has been moved. Officer in charge here
+day and night. This morning, as the man was buried and the investigation
+over--so far as this room is concerned--we thought we could tidy up
+a bit. This carpet. You see, it is not fastened down; only just laid
+there. We had occasion to raise it. We found----”
+
+“Yes? You found----”
+
+Holmes's face grew tense with anxiety.
+
+“Well, I'm sure you would never guess in a hundred years what we did
+find. You see that stain on the carpet? Well, a great deal must have
+soaked through, must it not?”
+
+“Undoubtedly it must.”
+
+“Well, you will be surprised to hear that there is no stain on the white
+woodwork to correspond.”
+
+“No stain! But there must----”
+
+“Yes; so you would say. But the fact remains that there isn't.”
+
+He took the corner of the carpet in his hand and, turning it over, he
+showed that it was indeed as he said.
+
+“But the underside is as stained as the upper. It must have left a
+mark.”
+
+Lestrade chuckled with delight at having puzzled the famous expert.
+
+“Now I'll show you the explanation. There IS a second stain, but it does
+not correspond with the other. See for yourself.” As he spoke he turned
+over another portion of the carpet, and there, sure enough, was a great
+crimson spill upon the square white facing of the old-fashioned floor.
+“What do you make of that, Mr. Holmes?”
+
+“Why, it is simple enough. The two stains did correspond, but the carpet
+has been turned round. As it was square and unfastened it was easily
+done.”
+
+“The official police don't need you, Mr. Holmes, to tell them that the
+carpet must have been turned round. That's clear enough, for the stains
+lie above each other--if you lay it over this way. But what I want to
+know is, who shifted the carpet, and why?”
+
+I could see from Holmes's rigid face that he was vibrating with inward
+excitement.
+
+“Look here, Lestrade,” said he, “has that constable in the passage been
+in charge of the place all the time?”
+
+“Yes, he has.”
+
+“Well, take my advice. Examine him carefully. Don't do it before us.
+We'll wait here. You take him into the back room. You'll be more likely
+to get a confession out of him alone. Ask him how he dared to admit
+people and leave them alone in this room. Don't ask him if he has done
+it. Take it for granted. Tell him you KNOW someone has been here. Press
+him. Tell him that a full confession is his only chance of forgiveness.
+Do exactly what I tell you!”
+
+“By George, if he knows I'll have it out of him!” cried Lestrade. He
+darted into the hall, and a few moments later his bullying voice sounded
+from the back room.
+
+“Now, Watson, now!” cried Holmes, with frenzied eagerness. All the
+demoniacal force of the man masked behind that listless manner burst out
+in a paroxysm of energy. He tore the drugget from the floor, and in an
+instant was down on his hands and knees clawing at each of the squares
+of wood beneath it. One turned sideways as he dug his nails into the
+edge of it. It hinged back like the lid of a box. A small black cavity
+opened beneath it. Holmes plunged his eager hand into it, and drew it
+out with a bitter snarl of anger and disappointment. It was empty.
+
+“Quick, Watson, quick! Get it back again!” The wooden lid was replaced,
+and the drugget had only just been drawn straight when Lestrade's voice
+was heard in the passage. He found Holmes leaning languidly against
+the mantelpiece, resigned and patient, endeavouring to conceal his
+irrepressible yawns.
+
+“Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Holmes. I can see that you are bored to
+death with the whole affair. Well, he has confessed, all right. Come
+in here, MacPherson. Let these gentlemen hear of your most inexcusable
+conduct.”
+
+The big constable, very hot and penitent, sidled into the room.
+
+“I meant no harm, sir, I'm sure. The young woman came to the door last
+evening--mistook the house, she did. And then we got talking. It's
+lonesome, when you're on duty here all day.”
+
+“Well, what happened then?”
+
+“She wanted to see where the crime was done--had read about it in the
+papers, she said. She was a very respectable, well-spoken young woman,
+sir, and I saw no harm in letting her have a peep. When she saw that
+mark on the carpet, down she dropped on the floor, and lay as if she
+were dead. I ran to the back and got some water, but I could not bring
+her to. Then I went round the corner to the Ivy Plant for some brandy,
+and by the time I had brought it back the young woman had recovered and
+was off--ashamed of herself, I dare say, and dared not face me.”
+
+“How about moving that drugget?”
+
+“Well, sir, it was a bit rumpled, certainly, when I came back. You see,
+she fell on it, and it lies on a polished floor with nothing to keep it
+in place. I straightened it out afterwards.”
+
+“It's a lesson to you that you can't deceive me, Constable MacPherson,”
+ said Lestrade, with dignity. “No doubt you thought that your breach of
+duty could never be discovered, and yet a mere glance at that drugget
+was enough to convince me that someone had been admitted to the room.
+It's lucky for you, my man, that nothing is missing, or you would find
+yourself in Queer Street. I'm sorry to have called you down over such a
+petty business, Mr. Holmes, but I thought the point of the second stain
+not corresponding with the first would interest you.”
+
+“Certainly, it was most interesting. Has this woman only been here once,
+constable?”
+
+“Yes, sir, only once.”
+
+“Who was she?”
+
+“Don't know the name, sir. Was answering an advertisement about
+type-writing, and came to the wrong number--very pleasant, genteel young
+woman, sir.”
+
+“Tall? Handsome?”
+
+“Yes, sir; she was a well-grown young woman. I suppose you might say
+she was handsome. Perhaps some would say she was very handsome. 'Oh,
+officer, do let me have a peep!' says she. She had pretty, coaxing ways,
+as you might say, and I thought there was no harm in letting her just
+put her head through the door.”
+
+“How was she dressed?”
+
+“Quiet, sir--a long mantle down to her feet.”
+
+“What time was it?”
+
+“It was just growing dusk at the time. They were lighting the lamps as I
+came back with the brandy.”
+
+“Very good,” said Holmes. “Come, Watson, I think that we have more
+important work elsewhere.”
+
+As we left the house Lestrade remained in the front room, while the
+repentant constable opened the door to let us out. Holmes turned on the
+step and held up something in his hand. The constable stared intently.
+
+“Good Lord, sir!” he cried, with amazement on his face. Holmes put his
+finger on his lips, replaced his hand in his breast-pocket, and burst
+out laughing as we turned down the street. “Excellent!” said he. “Come,
+friend Watson, the curtain rings up for the last act. You will be
+relieved to hear that there will be no war, that the Right Honourable
+Trelawney Hope will suffer no set-back in his brilliant career, that the
+indiscreet Sovereign will receive no punishment for his indiscretion,
+that the Prime Minister will have no European complication to deal with,
+and that with a little tact and management upon our part nobody will be
+a penny the worse for what might have been a very ugly incident.”
+
+My mind filled with admiration for this extraordinary man.
+
+“You have solved it!” I cried.
+
+“Hardly that, Watson. There are some points which are as dark as ever.
+But we have so much that it will be our own fault if we cannot get the
+rest. We will go straight to Whitehall Terrace and bring the matter to a
+head.”
+
+When we arrived at the residence of the European Secretary it was for
+Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope that Sherlock Holmes inquired. We were shown
+into the morning-room.
+
+“Mr. Holmes!” said the lady, and her face was pink with her indignation,
+“this is surely most unfair and ungenerous upon your part. I desired,
+as I have explained, to keep my visit to you a secret, lest my husband
+should think that I was intruding into his affairs. And yet you
+compromise me by coming here and so showing that there are business
+relations between us.”
+
+“Unfortunately, madam, I had no possible alternative. I have been
+commissioned to recover this immensely important paper. I must therefore
+ask you, madam, to be kind enough to place it in my hands.”
+
+The lady sprang to her feet, with the colour all dashed in an instant
+from her beautiful face. Her eyes glazed--she tottered--I thought that
+she would faint. Then with a grand effort she rallied from the shock,
+and a supreme astonishment and indignation chased every other expression
+from her features.
+
+“You--you insult me, Mr. Holmes.”
+
+“Come, come, madam, it is useless. Give up the letter.”
+
+She darted to the bell.
+
+“The butler shall show you out.”
+
+“Do not ring, Lady Hilda. If you do, then all my earnest efforts to
+avoid a scandal will be frustrated. Give up the letter and all will be
+set right. If you will work with me I can arrange everything. If you
+work against me I must expose you.”
+
+She stood grandly defiant, a queenly figure, her eyes fixed upon his as
+if she would read his very soul. Her hand was on the bell, but she had
+forborne to ring it.
+
+“You are trying to frighten me. It is not a very manly thing, Mr.
+Holmes, to come here and browbeat a woman. You say that you know
+something. What is it that you know?”
+
+“Pray sit down, madam. You will hurt yourself there if you fall. I will
+not speak until you sit down. Thank you.”
+
+“I give you five minutes, Mr. Holmes.”
+
+“One is enough, Lady Hilda. I know of your visit to Eduardo Lucas, of
+your giving him this document, of your ingenious return to the room
+last night, and of the manner in which you took the letter from the
+hiding-place under the carpet.”
+
+She stared at him with an ashen face and gulped twice before she could
+speak.
+
+“You are mad, Mr. Holmes--you are mad!” she cried, at last.
+
+He drew a small piece of cardboard from his pocket. It was the face of a
+woman cut out of a portrait.
+
+“I have carried this because I thought it might be useful,” said he.
+“The policeman has recognised it.”
+
+She gave a gasp and her head dropped back in the chair.
+
+“Come, Lady Hilda. You have the letter. The matter may still be
+adjusted. I have no desire to bring trouble to you. My duty ends when
+I have returned the lost letter to your husband. Take my advice and be
+frank with me; it is your only chance.”
+
+Her courage was admirable. Even now she would not own defeat.
+
+“I tell you again, Mr. Holmes, that you are under some absurd illusion.”
+
+Holmes rose from his chair.
+
+“I am sorry for you, Lady Hilda. I have done my best for you; I can see
+that it is all in vain.”
+
+He rang the bell. The butler entered.
+
+“Is Mr. Trelawney Hope at home?”
+
+“He will be home, sir, at a quarter to one.”
+
+Holmes glanced at his watch.
+
+“Still a quarter of an hour,” said he. “Very good, I shall wait.”
+
+The butler had hardly closed the door behind him when Lady Hilda
+was down on her knees at Holmes's feet, her hands out-stretched, her
+beautiful face upturned and wet with her tears.
+
+“Oh, spare me, Mr. Holmes! Spare me!” she pleaded, in a frenzy of
+supplication. “For Heaven's sake, don't tell him! I love him so! I would
+not bring one shadow on his life, and this I know would break his noble
+heart.”
+
+Holmes raised the lady. “I am thankful, madam, that you have come to
+your senses even at this last moment! There is not an instant to lose.
+Where is the letter?”
+
+She darted across to a writing-desk, unlocked it, and drew out a long
+blue envelope.
+
+“Here it is, Mr. Holmes. Would to Heaven I had never seen it!”
+
+“How can we return it?” Holmes muttered. “Quick, quick, we must think of
+some way! Where is the despatch-box?”
+
+“Still in his bedroom.”
+
+“What a stroke of luck! Quick, madam, bring it here!”
+
+A moment later she had appeared with a red flat box in her hand.
+
+“How did you open it before? You have a duplicate key? Yes, of course
+you have. Open it!”
+
+From out of her bosom Lady Hilda had drawn a small key. The box flew
+open. It was stuffed with papers. Holmes thrust the blue envelope deep
+down into the heart of them, between the leaves of some other document.
+The box was shut, locked, and returned to the bedroom.
+
+“Now we are ready for him,” said Holmes; “we have still ten minutes.
+I am going far to screen you, Lady Hilda. In return you will spend
+the time in telling me frankly the real meaning of this extraordinary
+affair.”
+
+“Mr. Holmes, I will tell you everything,” cried the lady. “Oh, Mr.
+Holmes, I would cut off my right hand before I gave him a moment of
+sorrow! There is no woman in all London who loves her husband as I
+do, and yet if he knew how I have acted--how I have been compelled to
+act--he would never forgive me. For his own honour stands so high that
+he could not forget or pardon a lapse in another. Help me, Mr. Holmes!
+My happiness, his happiness, our very lives are at stake!”
+
+“Quick, madam, the time grows short!”
+
+“It was a letter of mine, Mr. Holmes, an indiscreet letter written
+before my marriage--a foolish letter, a letter of an impulsive, loving
+girl. I meant no harm, and yet he would have thought it criminal. Had he
+read that letter his confidence would have been for ever destroyed.
+It is years since I wrote it. I had thought that the whole matter was
+forgotten. Then at last I heard from this man, Lucas, that it had passed
+into his hands, and that he would lay it before my husband. I implored
+his mercy. He said that he would return my letter if I would bring him a
+certain document which he described in my husband's despatch-box. He had
+some spy in the office who had told him of its existence. He assured me
+that no harm could come to my husband. Put yourself in my position, Mr.
+Holmes! What was I to do?”
+
+“Take your husband into your confidence.”
+
+“I could not, Mr. Holmes, I could not! On the one side seemed certain
+ruin; on the other, terrible as it seemed to take my husband's paper,
+still in a matter of politics I could not understand the consequences,
+while in a matter of love and trust they were only too clear to me.
+I did it, Mr. Holmes! I took an impression of his key; this man Lucas
+furnished a duplicate. I opened his despatch-box, took the paper, and
+conveyed it to Godolphin Street.”
+
+“What happened there, madam?”
+
+“I tapped at the door as agreed. Lucas opened it. I followed him into
+his room, leaving the hall door ajar behind me, for I feared to be alone
+with the man. I remember that there was a woman outside as I entered.
+Our business was soon done. He had my letter on his desk; I handed him
+the document. He gave me the letter. At this instant there was a sound
+at the door. There were steps in the passage. Lucas quickly turned
+back the drugget, thrust the document into some hiding-place there, and
+covered it over.
+
+“What happened after that is like some fearful dream. I have a vision of
+a dark, frantic face, of a woman's voice, which screamed in French, 'My
+waiting is not in vain. At last, at last I have found you with her!'
+There was a savage struggle. I saw him with a chair in his hand, a knife
+gleamed in hers. I rushed from the horrible scene, ran from the house,
+and only next morning in the paper did I learn the dreadful result. That
+night I was happy, for I had my letter, and I had not seen yet what the
+future would bring.
+
+“It was the next morning that I realized that I had only exchanged one
+trouble for another. My husband's anguish at the loss of his paper went
+to my heart. I could hardly prevent myself from there and then kneeling
+down at his feet and telling him what I had done. But that again would
+mean a confession of the past. I came to you that morning in order to
+understand the full enormity of my offence. From the instant that I
+grasped it my whole mind was turned to the one thought of getting back
+my husband's paper. It must still be where Lucas had placed it, for it
+was concealed before this dreadful woman entered the room. If it had not
+been for her coming, I should not have known where his hiding-place was.
+How was I to get into the room? For two days I watched the place, but
+the door was never left open. Last night I made a last attempt. What I
+did and how I succeeded, you have already learned. I brought the paper
+back with me, and thought of destroying it since I could see no way of
+returning it, without confessing my guilt to my husband. Heavens, I hear
+his step upon the stair!”
+
+The European Secretary burst excitedly into the room.
+
+“Any news, Mr. Holmes, any news?” he cried.
+
+“I have some hopes.”
+
+“Ah, thank heaven!” His face became radiant. “The Prime Minister is
+lunching with me. May he share your hopes? He has nerves of steel, and
+yet I know that he has hardly slept since this terrible event. Jacobs,
+will you ask the Prime Minister to come up? As to you, dear, I fear that
+this is a matter of politics. We will join you in a few minutes in the
+dining-room.”
+
+The Prime Minister's manner was subdued, but I could see by the gleam
+of his eyes and the twitchings of his bony hands that he shared the
+excitement of his young colleague.
+
+“I understand that you have something to report, Mr. Holmes?”
+
+“Purely negative as yet,” my friend answered. “I have inquired at every
+point where it might be, and I am sure that there is no danger to be
+apprehended.”
+
+“But that is not enough, Mr. Holmes. We cannot live for ever on such a
+volcano. We must have something definite.”
+
+“I am in hopes of getting it. That is why I am here. The more I think of
+the matter the more convinced I am that the letter has never left this
+house.”
+
+“Mr. Holmes!”
+
+“If it had it would certainly have been public by now.”
+
+“But why should anyone take it in order to keep it in his house?”
+
+“I am not convinced that anyone did take it.”
+
+“Then how could it leave the despatch-box?”
+
+“I am not convinced that it ever did leave the despatch-box.”
+
+“Mr. Holmes, this joking is very ill-timed. You have my assurance that
+it left the box.”
+
+“Have you examined the box since Tuesday morning?”
+
+“No; it was not necessary.”
+
+“You may conceivably have overlooked it.”
+
+“Impossible, I say.”
+
+“But I am not convinced of it; I have known such things to happen. I
+presume there are other papers there. Well, it may have got mixed with
+them.”
+
+“It was on the top.”
+
+“Someone may have shaken the box and displaced it.”
+
+“No, no; I had everything out.”
+
+“Surely it is easily decided, Hope,” said the Premier. “Let us have the
+despatch-box brought in.”
+
+The Secretary rang the bell.
+
+“Jacobs, bring down my despatch-box. This is a farcical waste of time,
+but still, if nothing else will satisfy you, it shall be done. Thank
+you, Jacobs; put it here. I have always had the key on my watch-chain.
+Here are the papers, you see. Letter from Lord Merrow, report from Sir
+Charles Hardy, memorandum from Belgrade, note on the Russo-German grain
+taxes, letter from Madrid, note from Lord Flowers--good heavens! what is
+this? Lord Bellinger! Lord Bellinger!”
+
+The Premier snatched the blue envelope from his hand.
+
+“Yes, it is it--and the letter is intact. Hope, I congratulate you.”
+
+“Thank you! Thank you! What a weight from my heart. But this is
+inconceivable--impossible. Mr. Holmes, you are a wizard, a sorcerer! How
+did you know it was there?”
+
+“Because I knew it was nowhere else.”
+
+“I cannot believe my eyes!” He ran wildly to the door. “Where is my
+wife? I must tell her that all is well. Hilda! Hilda!” we heard his
+voice on the stairs.
+
+The Premier looked at Holmes with twinkling eyes.
+
+“Come, sir,” said he. “There is more in this than meets the eye. How
+came the letter back in the box?”
+
+Holmes turned away smiling from the keen scrutiny of those wonderful
+eyes.
+
+“We also have our diplomatic secrets,” said he, and picking up his hat
+he turned to the door.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by
+Arthur Conan Doyle
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
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+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
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+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Return of Sherlock Holmes
+       Magazine Edition
+
+Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+Release Date: February, 1995 [EBook #221]
+Last Updated: March 6, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Keller, Joanne Brown, Frank Sadowski, Roger Squires,
+and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto" cellpadding="4" border="3">
+<tr>
+<td>
+THERE IS AN ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF THIS TITLE WHICH MAY VIEWED AT EBOOK <big><b><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/108">
+[# 108 ]</a></b></big>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By Arthur Conan Doyle.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <h5>
+      <br /> <br /> THE STRAND MAGAZINE<br /> 1903<br /> THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK
+      HOLMES.<br /> By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.<br /> <br /> <br />
+    </h5>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      Contents
+    </h2>
+    <table summary="">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> I.&mdash;The Adventure of the Empty House.
+            </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II.&mdash;The Adventure of the Norwood
+            Builder. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> III.&mdash;The Adventure of the Dancing
+            Men. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> IV.&mdash;The Adventure of the Solitary
+            Cyclist. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> V.&mdash;The Adventure of the Priory
+            School. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> VI.&mdash;The Adventure of Black Peter.
+            </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> VII.&mdash;The Adventure of Charles
+            Augustus Milverton. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> VIII.&mdash;The Adventure of the Six
+            Napoleons. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> IX.&mdash;The Adventure of the Three
+            Students. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> X.&mdash;The Adventure of the Golden
+            Pince-Nez. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> XI.&mdash;The Adventure of the Missing
+            Three-Quarter. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> XII.&mdash;The Adventure of the Abbey
+            Grange. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> XIII.&mdash;The Adventure of the Second
+            Stain. </a>
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                    Vol. 26  OCTOBER, 1903
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+</pre>
+    <h2>
+      I.&mdash;The Adventure of the Empty House.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      IT was in the spring of the year 1894 that all London was interested, and
+      the fashionable world dismayed, by the murder of the Honourable Ronald
+      Adair under most unusual and inexplicable circumstances. The public has
+      already learned those particulars of the crime which came out in the
+      police investigation; but a good deal was suppressed upon that occasion,
+      since the case for the prosecution was so overwhelmingly strong that it
+      was not necessary to bring forward all the facts. Only now, at the end of
+      nearly ten years, am I allowed to supply those missing links which make up
+      the whole of that remarkable chain. The crime was of interest in itself,
+      but that interest was as nothing to me compared to the inconceivable
+      sequel, which afforded me the greatest shock and surprise of any event in
+      my adventurous life. Even now, after this long interval, I find myself
+      thrilling as I think of it, and feeling once more that sudden flood of
+      joy, amazement, and incredulity which utterly submerged my mind. Let me
+      say to that public which has shown some interest in those glimpses which I
+      have occasionally given them of the thoughts and actions of a very
+      remarkable man that they are not to blame me if I have not shared my
+      knowledge with them, for I should have considered it my first duty to have
+      done so had I not been barred by a positive prohibition from his own lips,
+      which was only withdrawn upon the third of last month.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It can be imagined that my close intimacy with Sherlock Holmes had
+      interested me deeply in crime, and that after his disappearance I never
+      failed to read with care the various problems which came before the
+      public, and I even attempted more than once for my own private
+      satisfaction to employ his methods in their solution, though with
+      indifferent success. There was none, however, which appealed to me like
+      this tragedy of Ronald Adair. As I read the evidence at the inquest, which
+      led up to a verdict of wilful murder against some person or persons
+      unknown, I realized more clearly than I had ever done the loss which the
+      community had sustained by the death of Sherlock Holmes. There were points
+      about this strange business which would, I was sure, have specially
+      appealed to him, and the efforts of the police would have been
+      supplemented, or more probably anticipated, by the trained observation and
+      the alert mind of the first criminal agent in Europe. All day as I drove
+      upon my round I turned over the case in my mind, and found no explanation
+      which appeared to me to be adequate. At the risk of telling a twice-told
+      tale I will recapitulate the facts as they were known to the public at the
+      conclusion of the inquest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Honourable Ronald Adair was the second son of the Earl of Maynooth, at
+      that time Governor of one of the Australian Colonies. Adair's mother had
+      returned from Australia to undergo the operation for cataract, and she,
+      her son Ronald, and her daughter Hilda were living together at 427, Park
+      Lane. The youth moved in the best society, had, so far as was known, no
+      enemies, and no particular vices. He had been engaged to Miss Edith
+      Woodley, of Carstairs, but the engagement had been broken off by mutual
+      consent some months before, and there was no sign that it had left any
+      very profound feeling behind it. For the rest the man's life moved in a
+      narrow and conventional circle, for his habits were quiet and his nature
+      unemotional. Yet it was upon this easy-going young aristocrat that death
+      came in most strange and unexpected form between the hours of ten and
+      eleven-twenty on the night of March 30, 1894.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ronald Adair was fond of cards, playing continually, but never for such
+      stakes as would hurt him. He was a member of the Baldwin, the Cavendish,
+      and the Bagatelle card clubs. It was shown that after dinner on the day of
+      his death he had played a rubber of whist at the latter club. He had also
+      played there in the afternoon. The evidence of those who had played with
+      him&mdash;Mr. Murray, Sir John Hardy, and Colonel Moran&mdash;showed that
+      the game was whist, and that there was a fairly equal fall of the cards.
+      Adair might have lost five pounds, but not more. His fortune was a
+      considerable one, and such a loss could not in any way affect him. He had
+      played nearly every day at one club or other, but he was a cautious
+      player, and usually rose a winner. It came out in evidence that in
+      partnership with Colonel Moran he had actually won as much as four hundred
+      and twenty pounds in a sitting some weeks before from Godfrey Milner and
+      Lord Balmoral. So much for his recent history, as it came out at the
+      inquest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the evening of the crime he returned from the club exactly at ten. His
+      mother and sister were out spending the evening with a relation. The
+      servant deposed that she heard him enter the front room on the second
+      floor, generally used as his sitting-room. She had lit a fire there, and
+      as it smoked she had opened the window. No sound was heard from the room
+      until eleven-twenty, the hour of the return of Lady Maynooth and her
+      daughter. Desiring to say good-night, she had attempted to enter her son's
+      room. The door was locked on the inside, and no answer could be got to
+      their cries and knocking. Help was obtained and the door forced. The
+      unfortunate young man was found lying near the table. His head had been
+      horribly mutilated by an expanding revolver bullet, but no weapon of any
+      sort was to be found in the room. On the table lay two bank-notes for ten
+      pounds each and seventeen pounds ten in silver and gold, the money
+      arranged in little piles of varying amount. There were some figures also
+      upon a sheet of paper with the names of some club friends opposite to
+      them, from which it was conjectured that before his death he was
+      endeavouring to make out his losses or winnings at cards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A minute examination of the circumstances served only to make the case
+      more complex. In the first place, no reason could be given why the young
+      man should have fastened the door upon the inside. There was the
+      possibility that the murderer had done this and had afterwards escaped by
+      the window. The drop was at least twenty feet, however, and a bed of
+      crocuses in full bloom lay beneath. Neither the flowers nor the earth
+      showed any sign of having been disturbed, nor were there any marks upon
+      the narrow strip of grass which separated the house from the road.
+      Apparently, therefore, it was the young man himself who had fastened the
+      door. But how did he come by his death? No one could have climbed up to
+      the window without leaving traces. Suppose a man had fired through the
+      window, it would indeed be a remarkable shot who could with a revolver
+      inflict so deadly a wound. Again, Park Lane is a frequented thoroughfare,
+      and there is a cab-stand within a hundred yards of the house. No one had
+      heard a shot. And yet there was the dead man, and there the revolver
+      bullet, which had mushroomed out, as soft-nosed bullets will, and so
+      inflicted a wound which must have caused instantaneous death. Such were
+      the circumstances of the Park Lane Mystery, which were further complicated
+      by entire absence of motive, since, as I have said, young Adair was not
+      known to have any enemy, and no attempt had been made to remove the money
+      or valuables in the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All day I turned these facts over in my mind, endeavouring to hit upon
+      some theory which could reconcile them all, and to find that line of least
+      resistance which my poor friend had declared to be the starting-point of
+      every investigation. I confess that I made little progress. In the evening
+      I strolled across the Park, and found myself about six o'clock at the
+      Oxford Street end of Park Lane. A group of loafers upon the pavements, all
+      staring up at a particular window, directed me to the house which I had
+      come to see. A tall, thin man with coloured glasses, whom I strongly
+      suspected of being a plain-clothes detective, was pointing out some theory
+      of his own, while the others crowded round to listen to what he said. I
+      got as near him as I could, but his observations seemed to me to be
+      absurd, so I withdrew again in some disgust. As I did so I struck against
+      an elderly deformed man, who had been behind me, and I knocked down
+      several books which he was carrying. I remember that as I picked them up I
+      observed the title of one of them, &ldquo;The Origin of Tree Worship,&rdquo; and it
+      struck me that the fellow must be some poor bibliophile who, either as a
+      trade or as a hobby, was a collector of obscure volumes. I endeavoured to
+      apologize for the accident, but it was evident that these books which I
+      had so unfortunately maltreated were very precious objects in the eyes of
+      their owner. With a snarl of contempt he turned upon his heel, and I saw
+      his curved back and white side-whiskers disappear among the throng.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My observations of No. 427, Park Lane did little to clear up the problem
+      in which I was interested. The house was separated from the street by a
+      low wall and railing, the whole not more than five feet high. It was
+      perfectly easy, therefore, for anyone to get into the garden, but the
+      window was entirely inaccessible, since there was no water-pipe or
+      anything which could help the most active man to climb it. More puzzled
+      than ever I retraced my steps to Kensington. I had not been in my study
+      five minutes when the maid entered to say that a person desired to see me.
+      To my astonishment it was none other than my strange old book-collector,
+      his sharp, wizened face peering out from a frame of white hair, and his
+      precious volumes, a dozen of them at least, wedged under his right arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're surprised to see me, sir,&rdquo; said he, in a strange, croaking voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I acknowledged that I was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I've a conscience, sir, and when I chanced to see you go into this
+      house, as I came hobbling after you, I thought to myself, I'll just step
+      in and see that kind gentleman, and tell him that if I was a bit gruff in
+      my manner there was not any harm meant, and that I am much obliged to him
+      for picking up my books.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You make too much of a trifle,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;May I ask how you knew who I
+      was?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, sir, if it isn't too great a liberty, I am a neighbour of yours,
+      for you'll find my little bookshop at the corner of Church Street, and
+      very happy to see you, I am sure. Maybe you collect yourself, sir; here's
+      'British Birds,' and 'Catullus,' and 'The Holy War'&mdash;a bargain every
+      one of them. With five volumes you could just fill that gap on that second
+      shelf. It looks untidy, does it not, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me. When I turned again
+      Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at me across my study table. I rose
+      to my feet, stared at him for some seconds in utter amazement, and then it
+      appears that I must have fainted for the first and the last time in my
+      life. Certainly a grey mist swirled before my eyes, and when it cleared I
+      found my collar-ends undone and the tingling after-taste of brandy upon my
+      lips. Holmes was bending over my chair, his flask in his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Watson,&rdquo; said the well-remembered voice, &ldquo;I owe you a thousand
+      apologies. I had no idea that you would be so affected.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I gripped him by the arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Holmes!&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;Is it really you? Can it indeed be that you are alive?
+      Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing out of that awful abyss?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wait a moment,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Are you sure that you are really fit to discuss
+      things? I have given you a serious shock by my unnecessarily dramatic
+      reappearance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am all right, but indeed, Holmes, I can hardly believe my eyes. Good
+      heavens, to think that you&mdash;you of all men&mdash;should be standing
+      in my study!&rdquo; Again I gripped him by the sleeve and felt the thin, sinewy
+      arm beneath it. &ldquo;Well, you're not a spirit, anyhow,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;My dear
+      chap, I am overjoyed to see you. Sit down and tell me how you came alive
+      out of that dreadful chasm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sat opposite to me and lit a cigarette in his old nonchalant manner. He
+      was dressed in the seedy frock-coat of the book merchant, but the rest of
+      that individual lay in a pile of white hair and old books upon the table.
+      Holmes looked even thinner and keener than of old, but there was a
+      dead-white tinge in his aquiline face which told me that his life recently
+      had not been a healthy one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad to stretch myself, Watson,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;It is no joke when a tall
+      man has to take a foot off his stature for several hours on end. Now, my
+      dear fellow, in the matter of these explanations we have, if I may ask for
+      your co-operation, a hard and dangerous night's work in front of us.
+      Perhaps it would be better if I gave you an account of the whole situation
+      when that work is finished.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am full of curiosity. I should much prefer to hear now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll come with me to-night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When you like and where you like.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is indeed like the old days. We shall have time for a mouthful of
+      dinner before we need go. Well, then, about that chasm. I had no serious
+      difficulty in getting out of it, for the very simple reason that I never
+      was in it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You never were in it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Watson, I never was in it. My note to you was absolutely genuine. I
+      had little doubt that I had come to the end of my career when I perceived
+      the somewhat sinister figure of the late Professor Moriarty standing upon
+      the narrow pathway which led to safety. I read an inexorable purpose in
+      his grey eyes. I exchanged some remarks with him, therefore, and obtained
+      his courteous permission to write the short note which you afterwards
+      received. I left it with my cigarette-box and my stick and I walked along
+      the pathway, Moriarty still at my heels. When I reached the end I stood at
+      bay. He drew no weapon, but he rushed at me and threw his long arms around
+      me. He knew that his own game was up, and was only anxious to revenge
+      himself upon me. We tottered together upon the brink of the fall. I have
+      some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling,
+      which has more than once been very useful to me. I slipped through his
+      grip, and he with a horrible scream kicked madly for a few seconds and
+      clawed the air with both his hands. But for all his efforts he could not
+      get his balance, and over he went. With my face over the brink I saw him
+      fall for a long way. Then he struck a rock, bounded off, and splashed into
+      the water.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I listened with amazement to this explanation, which Holmes delivered
+      between the puffs of his cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the tracks!&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;I saw with my own eyes that two went down the
+      path and none returned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It came about in this way. The instant that the Professor had disappeared
+      it struck me what a really extraordinarily lucky chance Fate had placed in
+      my way. I knew that Moriarty was not the only man who had sworn my death.
+      There were at least three others whose desire for vengeance upon me would
+      only be increased by the death of their leader. They were all most
+      dangerous men. One or other would certainly get me. On the other hand, if
+      all the world was convinced that I was dead they would take liberties,
+      these men, they would lay themselves open, and sooner or later I could
+      destroy them. Then it would be time for me to announce that I was still in
+      the land of the living. So rapidly does the brain act that I believe I had
+      thought this all out before Professor Moriarty had reached the bottom of
+      the Reichenbach Fall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I stood up and examined the rocky wall behind me. In your picturesque
+      account of the matter, which I read with great interest some months later,
+      you assert that the wall was sheer. This was not literally true. A few
+      small footholds presented themselves, and there was some indication of a
+      ledge. The cliff is so high that to climb it all was an obvious
+      impossibility, and it was equally impossible to make my way along the wet
+      path without leaving some tracks. I might, it is true, have reversed my
+      boots, as I have done on similar occasions, but the sight of three sets of
+      tracks in one direction would certainly have suggested a deception. On the
+      whole, then, it was best that I should risk the climb. It was not a
+      pleasant business, Watson. The fall roared beneath me. I am not a fanciful
+      person, but I give you my word that I seemed to hear Moriarty's voice
+      screaming at me out of the abyss. A mistake would have been fatal. More
+      than once, as tufts of grass came out in my hand or my foot slipped in the
+      wet notches of the rock, I thought that I was gone. But I struggled
+      upwards, and at last I reached a ledge several feet deep and covered with
+      soft green moss, where I could lie unseen in the most perfect comfort.
+      There I was stretched when you, my dear Watson, and all your following
+      were investigating in the most sympathetic and inefficient manner the
+      circumstances of my death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At last, when you had all formed your inevitable and totally erroneous
+      conclusions, you departed for the hotel and I was left alone. I had
+      imagined that I had reached the end of my adventures, but a very
+      unexpected occurrence showed me that there were surprises still in store
+      for me. A huge rock, falling from above, boomed past me, struck the path,
+      and bounded over into the chasm. For an instant I thought that it was an
+      accident; but a moment later, looking up, I saw a man's head against the
+      darkening sky, and another stone struck the very ledge upon which I was
+      stretched, within a foot of my head. Of course, the meaning of this was
+      obvious. Moriarty had not been alone. A confederate&mdash;and even that
+      one glance had told me how dangerous a man that confederate was&mdash;had
+      kept guard while the Professor had attacked me. From a distance, unseen by
+      me, he had been a witness of his friend's death and of my escape. He had
+      waited, and then, making his way round to the top of the cliff, he had
+      endeavoured to succeed where his comrade had failed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not take long to think about it, Watson. Again I saw that grim face
+      look over the cliff, and I knew that it was the precursor of another
+      stone. I scrambled down on to the path. I don't think I could have done it
+      in cold blood. It was a hundred times more difficult than getting up. But
+      I had no time to think of the danger, for another stone sang past me as I
+      hung by my hands from the edge of the ledge. Halfway down I slipped, but
+      by the blessing of God I landed, torn and bleeding, upon the path. I took
+      to my heels, did ten miles over the mountains in the darkness, and a week
+      later I found myself in Florence with the certainty that no one in the
+      world knew what had become of me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had only one confidant&mdash;my brother Mycroft. I owe you many
+      apologies, my dear Watson, but it was all-important that it should be
+      thought I was dead, and it is quite certain that you would not have
+      written so convincing an account of my unhappy end had you not yourself
+      thought that it was true. Several times during the last three years I have
+      taken up my pen to write to you, but always I feared lest your
+      affectionate regard for me should tempt you to some indiscretion which
+      would betray my secret. For that reason I turned away from you this
+      evening when you upset my books, for I was in danger at the time, and any
+      show of surprise and emotion upon your part might have drawn attention to
+      my identity and led to the most deplorable and irreparable results. As to
+      Mycroft, I had to confide in him in order to obtain the money which I
+      needed. The course of events in London did not run so well as I had hoped,
+      for the trial of the Moriarty gang left two of its most dangerous members,
+      my own most vindictive enemies, at liberty. I travelled for two years in
+      Tibet, therefore, and amused myself by visiting Lhassa and spending some
+      days with the head Llama. You may have read of the remarkable explorations
+      of a Norwegian named Sigerson, but I am sure that it never occurred to you
+      that you were receiving news of your friend. I then passed through Persia,
+      looked in at Mecca, and paid a short but interesting visit to the Khalifa
+      at Khartoum, the results of which I have communicated to the Foreign
+      Office. Returning to France I spent some months in a research into the
+      coal-tar derivatives, which I conducted in a laboratory at Montpelier, in
+      the South of France. Having concluded this to my satisfaction, and
+      learning that only one of my enemies was now left in London, I was about
+      to return when my movements were hastened by the news of this very
+      remarkable Park Lane Mystery, which not only appealed to me by its own
+      merits, but which seemed to offer some most peculiar personal
+      opportunities. I came over at once to London, called in my own person at
+      Baker Street, threw Mrs. Hudson into violent hysterics, and found that
+      Mycroft had preserved my rooms and my papers exactly as they had always
+      been. So it was, my dear Watson, that at two o'clock to-day I found myself
+      in my old arm-chair in my own old room, and only wishing that I could have
+      seen my old friend Watson in the other chair which he has so often
+      adorned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Such was the remarkable narrative to which I listened on that April
+      evening&mdash;a narrative which would have been utterly incredible to me
+      had it not been confirmed by the actual sight of the tall, spare figure
+      and the keen, eager face, which I had never thought to see again. In some
+      manner he had learned of my own sad bereavement, and his sympathy was
+      shown in his manner rather than in his words. &ldquo;Work is the best antidote
+      to sorrow, my dear Watson,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and I have a piece of work for us
+      both to-night which, if we can bring it to a successful conclusion, will
+      in itself justify a man's life on this planet.&rdquo; In vain I begged him to
+      tell me more. &ldquo;You will hear and see enough before morning,&rdquo; he answered.
+      &ldquo;We have three years of the past to discuss. Let that suffice until
+      half-past nine, when we start upon the notable adventure of the empty
+      house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was indeed like old times when, at that hour, I found myself seated
+      beside him in a hansom, my revolver in my pocket and the thrill of
+      adventure in my heart. Holmes was cold and stern and silent. As the gleam
+      of the street-lamps flashed upon his austere features I saw that his brows
+      were drawn down in thought and his thin lips compressed. I knew not what
+      wild beast we were about to hunt down in the dark jungle of criminal
+      London, but I was well assured from the bearing of this master huntsman
+      that the adventure was a most grave one, while the sardonic smile which
+      occasionally broke through his ascetic gloom boded little good for the
+      object of our quest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had imagined that we were bound for Baker Street, but Holmes stopped the
+      cab at the corner of Cavendish Square. I observed that as he stepped out
+      he gave a most searching glance to right and left, and at every subsequent
+      street corner he took the utmost pains to assure that he was not followed.
+      Our route was certainly a singular one. Holmes's knowledge of the byways
+      of London was extraordinary, and on this occasion he passed rapidly, and
+      with an assured step, through a network of mews and stables the very
+      existence of which I had never known. We emerged at last into a small
+      road, lined with old, gloomy houses, which led us into Manchester Street,
+      and so to Blandford Street. Here he turned swiftly down a narrow passage,
+      passed through a wooden gate into a deserted yard, and then opened with a
+      key the back door of a house. We entered together and he closed it behind
+      us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The place was pitch-dark, but it was evident to me that it was an empty
+      house. Our feet creaked and crackled over the bare planking, and my
+      outstretched hand touched a wall from which the paper was hanging in
+      ribbons. Holmes's cold, thin fingers closed round my wrist and led me
+      forwards down a long hall, until I dimly saw the murky fanlight over the
+      door. Here Holmes turned suddenly to the right, and we found ourselves in
+      a large, square, empty room, heavily shadowed in the corners, but faintly
+      lit in the centre from the lights of the street beyond. There was no lamp
+      near and the window was thick with dust, so that we could only just
+      discern each other's figures within. My companion put his hand upon my
+      shoulder and his lips close to my ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know where we are?&rdquo; he whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely that is Baker Street,&rdquo; I answered, staring through the dim window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. We are in Camden House, which stands opposite to our own old
+      quarters.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why are we here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because it commands so excellent a view of that picturesque pile. Might I
+      trouble you, my dear Watson, to draw a little nearer to the window, taking
+      every precaution not to show yourself, and then to look up at our old
+      rooms&mdash;the starting-point of so many of our little adventures? We
+      will see if my three years of absence have entirely taken away my power to
+      surprise you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I crept forward and looked across at the familiar window. As my eyes fell
+      upon it I gave a gasp and a cry of amazement. The blind was down and a
+      strong light was burning in the room. The shadow of a man who was seated
+      in a chair within was thrown in hard, black outline upon the luminous
+      screen of the window. There was no mistaking the poise of the head, the
+      squareness of the shoulders, the sharpness of the features. The face was
+      turned half-round, and the effect was that of one of those black
+      silhouettes which our grandparents loved to frame. It was a perfect
+      reproduction of Holmes. So amazed was I that I threw out my hand to make
+      sure that the man himself was standing beside me. He was quivering with
+      silent laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens!&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;It is marvellous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I trust that age doth not wither nor custom stale my infinite variety,'&rdquo;
+       said he, and I recognised in his voice the joy and pride which the artist
+      takes in his own creation. &ldquo;It really is rather like me, is it not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should be prepared to swear that it was you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The credit of the execution is due to Monsieur Oscar Meunier, of
+      Grenoble, who spent some days in doing the moulding. It is a bust in wax.
+      The rest I arranged myself during my visit to Baker Street this
+      afternoon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because, my dear Watson, I had the strongest possible reason for wishing
+      certain people to think that I was there when I was really elsewhere.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you thought the rooms were watched?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I KNEW that they were watched.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By whom?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By my old enemies, Watson. By the charming society whose leader lies in
+      the Reichenbach Fall. You must remember that they knew, and only they
+      knew, that I was still alive. Sooner or later they believed that I should
+      come back to my rooms. They watched them continuously, and this morning
+      they saw me arrive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I recognised their sentinel when I glanced out of my window. He
+      is a harmless enough fellow, Parker by name, a garroter by trade, and a
+      remarkable performer upon the Jew's harp. I cared nothing for him. But I
+      cared a great deal for the much more formidable person who was behind him,
+      the bosom friend of Moriarty, the man who dropped the rocks over the
+      cliff, the most cunning and dangerous criminal in London. That is the man
+      who is after me to-night, Watson, and that is the man who is quite unaware
+      that we are after HIM.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My friend's plans were gradually revealing themselves. From this
+      convenient retreat the watchers were being watched and the trackers
+      tracked. That angular shadow up yonder was the bait and we were the
+      hunters. In silence we stood together in the darkness and watched the
+      hurrying figures who passed and repassed in front of us. Holmes was silent
+      and motionless; but I could tell that he was keenly alert, and that his
+      eyes were fixed intently upon the stream of passers-by. It was a bleak and
+      boisterous night, and the wind whistled shrilly down the long street. Many
+      people were moving to and fro, most of them muffled in their coats and
+      cravats. Once or twice it seemed to me that I had seen the same figure
+      before, and I especially noticed two men who appeared to be sheltering
+      themselves from the wind in the doorway of a house some distance up the
+      street. I tried to draw my companion's attention to them, but he gave a
+      little ejaculation of impatience and continued to stare into the street.
+      More than once he fidgeted with his feet and tapped rapidly with his
+      fingers upon the wall. It was evident to me that he was becoming uneasy
+      and that his plans were not working out altogether as he had hoped. At
+      last, as midnight approached and the street gradually cleared, he paced up
+      and down the room in uncontrollable agitation. I was about to make some
+      remark to him when I raised my eyes to the lighted window and again
+      experienced almost as great a surprise as before. I clutched Holmes's arm
+      and pointed upwards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The shadow has moved!&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was, indeed, no longer the profile, but the back, which was turned
+      towards us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three years had certainly not smoothed the asperities of his temper or his
+      impatience with a less active intelligence than his own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course it has moved,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Am I such a farcical bungler, Watson,
+      that I should erect an obvious dummy and expect that some of the sharpest
+      men in Europe would be deceived by it? We have been in this room two
+      hours, and Mrs. Hudson has made some change in that figure eight times, or
+      once in every quarter of an hour. She works it from the front so that her
+      shadow may never be seen. Ah!&rdquo; He drew in his breath with a shrill,
+      excited intake. In the dim light I saw his head thrown forward, his whole
+      attitude rigid with attention. Outside, the street was absolutely
+      deserted. Those two men might still be crouching in the doorway, but I
+      could no longer see them. All was still and dark, save only that brilliant
+      yellow screen in front of us with the black figure outlined upon its
+      centre. Again in the utter silence I heard that thin, sibilant note which
+      spoke of intense suppressed excitement. An instant later he pulled me back
+      into the blackest corner of the room, and I felt his warning hand upon my
+      lips. The fingers which clutched me were quivering. Never had I known my
+      friend more moved, and yet the dark street still stretched lonely and
+      motionless before us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But suddenly I was aware of that which his keener senses had already
+      distinguished. A low, stealthy sound came to my ears, not from the
+      direction of Baker Street, but from the back of the very house in which we
+      lay concealed. A door opened and shut. An instant later steps crept down
+      the passage&mdash;steps which were meant to be silent, but which
+      reverberated harshly through the empty house. Holmes crouched back against
+      the wall and I did the same, my hand closing upon the handle of my
+      revolver. Peering through the gloom, I saw the vague outline of a man, a
+      shade blacker than the blackness of the open door. He stood for an
+      instant, and then he crept forward, crouching, menacing, into the room. He
+      was within three yards of us, this sinister figure, and I had braced
+      myself to meet his spring, before I realized that he had no idea of our
+      presence. He passed close beside us, stole over to the window, and very
+      softly and noiselessly raised it for half a foot. As he sank to the level
+      of this opening the light of the street, no longer dimmed by the dusty
+      glass, fell full upon his face. The man seemed to be beside himself with
+      excitement. His two eyes shone like stars and his features were working
+      convulsively. He was an elderly man, with a thin, projecting nose, a high,
+      bald forehead, and a huge grizzled moustache. An opera-hat was pushed to
+      the back of his head, and an evening dress shirt-front gleamed out through
+      his open overcoat. His face was gaunt and swarthy, scored with deep,
+      savage lines. In his hand he carried what appeared to be a stick, but as
+      he laid it down upon the floor it gave a metallic clang. Then from the
+      pocket of his overcoat he drew a bulky object, and he busied himself in
+      some task which ended with a loud, sharp click, as if a spring or bolt had
+      fallen into its place. Still kneeling upon the floor he bent forward and
+      threw all his weight and strength upon some lever, with the result that
+      there came a long, whirling, grinding noise, ending once more in a
+      powerful click. He straightened himself then, and I saw that what he held
+      in his hand was a sort of gun, with a curiously misshapen butt. He opened
+      it at the breech, put something in, and snapped the breech-block. Then,
+      crouching down, he rested the end of the barrel upon the ledge of the open
+      window, and I saw his long moustache droop over the stock and his eye
+      gleam as it peered along the sights. I heard a little sigh of satisfaction
+      as he cuddled the butt into his shoulder, and saw that amazing target, the
+      black man on the yellow ground, standing clear at the end of his fore
+      sight. For an instant he was rigid and motionless. Then his finger
+      tightened on the trigger. There was a strange, loud whiz and a long,
+      silvery tinkle of broken glass. At that instant Holmes sprang like a tiger
+      on to the marksman's back and hurled him flat upon his face. He was up
+      again in a moment, and with convulsive strength he seized Holmes by the
+      throat; but I struck him on the head with the butt of my revolver and he
+      dropped again upon the floor. I fell upon him, and as I held him my
+      comrade blew a shrill call upon a whistle. There was the clatter of
+      running feet upon the pavement, and two policemen in uniform, with one
+      plain-clothes detective, rushed through the front entrance and into the
+      room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That you, Lestrade?&rdquo; said Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Mr. Holmes. I took the job myself. It's good to see you back in
+      London, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you want a little unofficial help. Three undetected murders in
+      one year won't do, Lestrade. But you handled the Molesey Mystery with less
+      than your usual&mdash;that's to say, you handled it fairly well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We had all risen to our feet, our prisoner breathing hard, with a stalwart
+      constable on each side of him. Already a few loiterers had begun to
+      collect in the street. Holmes stepped up to the window, closed it, and
+      dropped the blinds. Lestrade had produced two candles and the policemen
+      had uncovered their lanterns. I was able at last to have a good look at
+      our prisoner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a tremendously virile and yet sinister face which was turned
+      towards us. With the brow of a philosopher above and the jaw of a
+      sensualist below, the man must have started with great capacities for good
+      or for evil. But one could not look upon his cruel blue eyes, with their
+      drooping, cynical lids, or upon the fierce, aggressive nose and the
+      threatening, deep-lined brow, without reading Nature's plainest
+      danger-signals. He took no heed of any of us, but his eyes were fixed upon
+      Holmes's face with an expression in which hatred and amazement were
+      equally blended. &ldquo;You fiend!&rdquo; he kept on muttering. &ldquo;You clever, clever
+      fiend!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Colonel!&rdquo; said Holmes, arranging his rumpled collar; &ldquo;'journeys end
+      in lovers' meetings,' as the old play says. I don't think I have had the
+      pleasure of seeing you since you favoured me with those attentions as I
+      lay on the ledge above the Reichenbach Fall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel still stared at my friend like a man in a trance. &ldquo;You
+      cunning, cunning fiend!&rdquo; was all that he could say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have not introduced you yet,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;This, gentlemen, is Colonel
+      Sebastian Moran, once of Her Majesty's Indian Army, and the best heavy
+      game shot that our Eastern Empire has ever produced. I believe I am
+      correct, Colonel, in saying that your bag of tigers still remains
+      unrivalled?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The fierce old man said nothing, but still glared at my companion; with
+      his savage eyes and bristling moustache he was wonderfully like a tiger
+      himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder that my very simple stratagem could deceive so old a shikari,&rdquo;
+       said Holmes. &ldquo;It must be very familiar to you. Have you not tethered a
+      young kid under a tree, lain above it with your rifle, and waited for the
+      bait to bring up your tiger? This empty house is my tree and you are my
+      tiger. You have possibly had other guns in reserve in case there should be
+      several tigers, or in the unlikely supposition of your own aim failing
+      you. These,&rdquo; he pointed around, &ldquo;are my other guns. The parallel is
+      exact.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Moran sprang forward, with a snarl of rage, but the constables
+      dragged him back. The fury upon his face was terrible to look at.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I confess that you had one small surprise for me,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;I did
+      not anticipate that you would yourself make use of this empty house and
+      this convenient front window. I had imagined you as operating from the
+      street, where my friend Lestrade and his merry men were awaiting you. With
+      that exception all has gone as I expected.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Moran turned to the official detective.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may or may not have just cause for arresting me,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;but at
+      least there can be no reason why I should submit to the gibes of this
+      person. If I am in the hands of the law let things be done in a legal
+      way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, that's reasonable enough,&rdquo; said Lestrade. &ldquo;Nothing further you have
+      to say, Mr. Holmes, before we go?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes had picked up the powerful air-gun from the floor and was examining
+      its mechanism.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An admirable and unique weapon,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;noiseless and of tremendous
+      power. I knew Von Herder, the blind German mechanic, who constructed it to
+      the order of the late Professor Moriarty. For years I have been aware of
+      its existence, though I have never before had the opportunity of handling
+      it. I commend it very specially to your attention, Lestrade, and also the
+      bullets which fit it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can trust us to look after that, Mr. Holmes,&rdquo; said Lestrade, as the
+      whole party moved towards the door. &ldquo;Anything further to say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only to ask what charge you intend to prefer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What charge, sir? Why, of course, the attempted murder of Mr. Sherlock
+      Holmes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so, Lestrade. I do not propose to appear in the matter at all. To
+      you, and to you only, belongs the credit of the remarkable arrest which
+      you have effected. Yes, Lestrade, I congratulate you! With your usual
+      happy mixture of cunning and audacity you have got him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Got him! Got whom, Mr. Holmes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The man that the whole force has been seeking in vain&mdash;Colonel
+      Sebastian Moran, who shot the Honourable Ronald Adair with an expanding
+      bullet from an air-gun through the open window of the second-floor front
+      of No. 427, Park Lane, upon the 30th of last month. That's the charge,
+      Lestrade. And now, Watson, if you can endure the draught from a broken
+      window, I think that half an hour in my study over a cigar may afford you
+      some profitable amusement.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Our old chambers had been left unchanged through the supervision of
+      Mycroft Holmes and the immediate care of Mrs. Hudson. As I entered I saw,
+      it is true, an unwonted tidiness, but the old landmarks were all in their
+      place. There were the chemical corner and the acid-stained, deal-topped
+      table. There upon a shelf was the row of formidable scrap-books and books
+      of reference which many of our fellow-citizens would have been so glad to
+      burn. The diagrams, the violin-case, and the pipe-rack&mdash;even the
+      Persian slipper which contained the tobacco&mdash;all met my eyes as I
+      glanced round me. There were two occupants of the room&mdash;one Mrs.
+      Hudson, who beamed upon us both as we entered; the other the strange dummy
+      which had played so important a part in the evening's adventures. It was a
+      wax-coloured model of my friend, so admirably done that it was a perfect
+      facsimile. It stood on a small pedestal table with an old dressing-gown of
+      Holmes's so draped round it that the illusion from the street was
+      absolutely perfect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope you preserved all precautions, Mrs. Hudson?&rdquo; said Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I went to it on my knees, sir, just as you told me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excellent. You carried the thing out very well. Did you observe where the
+      bullet went?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir. I'm afraid it has spoilt your beautiful bust, for it passed
+      right through the head and flattened itself on the wall. I picked it up
+      from the carpet. Here it is!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes held it out to me. &ldquo;A soft revolver bullet, as you perceive,
+      Watson. There's genius in that, for who would expect to find such a thing
+      fired from an air-gun. All right, Mrs. Hudson, I am much obliged for your
+      assistance. And now, Watson, let me see you in your old seat once more,
+      for there are several points which I should like to discuss with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had thrown off the seedy frock-coat, and now he was the Holmes of old
+      in the mouse-coloured dressing-gown which he took from his effigy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The old shikari's nerves have not lost their steadiness nor his eyes
+      their keenness,&rdquo; said he, with a laugh, as he inspected the shattered
+      forehead of his bust.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Plumb in the middle of the back of the head and smack through the brain.
+      He was the best shot in India, and I expect that there are few better in
+      London. Have you heard the name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I have not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well, such is fame! But, then, if I remember aright, you had not
+      heard the name of Professor James Moriarty, who had one of the great
+      brains of the century. Just give me down my index of biographies from the
+      shelf.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned over the pages lazily, leaning back in his chair and blowing
+      great clouds from his cigar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My collection of M's is a fine one,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Moriarty himself is enough
+      to make any letter illustrious, and here is Morgan the poisoner, and
+      Merridew of abominable memory, and Mathews, who knocked out my left canine
+      in the waiting-room at Charing Cross, and, finally, here is our friend of
+      to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He handed over the book, and I read: &ldquo;MORAN, SEBASTIAN, COLONEL.
+      Unemployed. Formerly 1st Bengalore Pioneers. Born London, 1840. Son of Sir
+      Augustus Moran, C.B., once British Minister to Persia. Educated Eton and
+      Oxford. Served in Jowaki Campaign, Afghan Campaign, Charasiab
+      (despatches), Sherpur, and Cabul. Author of 'Heavy Game of the Western
+      Himalayas,' 1881; 'Three Months in the Jungle,' 1884. Address: Conduit
+      Street. Clubs: The Anglo-Indian, the Tankerville, the Bagatelle Card
+      Club.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      On the margin was written, in Holmes's precise hand: &ldquo;The second most
+      dangerous man in London.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is astonishing,&rdquo; said I, as I handed back the volume. &ldquo;The man's
+      career is that of an honourable soldier.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; Holmes answered. &ldquo;Up to a certain point he did well. He was
+      always a man of iron nerve, and the story is still told in India how he
+      crawled down a drain after a wounded man-eating tiger. There are some
+      trees, Watson, which grow to a certain height and then suddenly develop
+      some unsightly eccentricity. You will see it often in humans. I have a
+      theory that the individual represents in his development the whole
+      procession of his ancestors, and that such a sudden turn to good or evil
+      stands for some strong influence which came into the line of his pedigree.
+      The person becomes, as it were, the epitome of the history of his own
+      family.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is surely rather fanciful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I don't insist upon it. Whatever the cause, Colonel Moran began to
+      go wrong. Without any open scandal, he still made India too hot to hold
+      him. He retired, came to London, and again acquired an evil name. It was
+      at this time that he was sought out by Professor Moriarty, to whom for a
+      time he was chief of the staff. Moriarty supplied him liberally with money
+      and used him only in one or two very high-class jobs which no ordinary
+      criminal could have undertaken. You may have some recollection of the
+      death of Mrs. Stewart, of Lauder, in 1887. Not? Well, I am sure Moran was
+      at the bottom of it; but nothing could be proved. So cleverly was the
+      Colonel concealed that even when the Moriarty gang was broken up we could
+      not incriminate him. You remember at that date, when I called upon you in
+      your rooms, how I put up the shutters for fear of air-guns? No doubt you
+      thought me fanciful. I knew exactly what I was doing, for I knew of the
+      existence of this remarkable gun, and I knew also that one of the best
+      shots in the world would be behind it. When we were in Switzerland he
+      followed us with Moriarty, and it was undoubtedly he who gave me that evil
+      five minutes on the Reichenbach ledge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may think that I read the papers with some attention during my
+      sojourn in France, on the look-out for any chance of laying him by the
+      heels. So long as he was free in London my life would really not have been
+      worth living. Night and day the shadow would have been over me, and sooner
+      or later his chance must have come. What could I do? I could not shoot him
+      at sight, or I should myself be in the dock. There was no use appealing to
+      a magistrate. They cannot interfere on the strength of what would appear
+      to them to be a wild suspicion. So I could do nothing. But I watched the
+      criminal news, knowing that sooner or later I should get him. Then came
+      the death of this Ronald Adair. My chance had come at last! Knowing what I
+      did, was it not certain that Colonel Moran had done it? He had played
+      cards with the lad; he had followed him home from the club; he had shot
+      him through the open window. There was not a doubt of it. The bullets
+      alone are enough to put his head in a noose. I came over at once. I was
+      seen by the sentinel, who would, I knew, direct the Colonel's attention to
+      my presence. He could not fail to connect my sudden return with his crime
+      and to be terribly alarmed. I was sure that he would make an attempt to
+      get me out of the way AT ONCE, and would bring round his murderous weapon
+      for that purpose. I left him an excellent mark in the window, and, having
+      warned the police that they might be needed&mdash;by the way, Watson, you
+      spotted their presence in that doorway with unerring accuracy&mdash;I took
+      up what seemed to me to be a judicious post for observation, never
+      dreaming that he would choose the same spot for his attack. Now, my dear
+      Watson, does anything remain for me to explain?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;You have not made it clear what was Colonel Moran's motive
+      in murdering the Honourable Ronald Adair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! my dear Watson, there we come into those realms of conjecture where
+      the most logical mind may be at fault. Each may form his own hypothesis
+      upon the present evidence, and yours is as likely to be correct as mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have formed one, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think that it is not difficult to explain the facts. It came out in
+      evidence that Colonel Moran and young Adair had between them won a
+      considerable amount of money. Now, Moran undoubtedly played foul&mdash;of
+      that I have long been aware. I believe that on the day of the murder Adair
+      had discovered that Moran was cheating. Very likely he had spoken to him
+      privately, and had threatened to expose him unless he voluntarily resigned
+      his membership of the club and promised not to play cards again. It is
+      unlikely that a youngster like Adair would at once make a hideous scandal
+      by exposing a well-known man so much older than himself. Probably he acted
+      as I suggest. The exclusion from his clubs would mean ruin to Moran, who
+      lived by his ill-gotten card gains. He therefore murdered Adair, who at
+      the time was endeavouring to work out how much money he should himself
+      return, since he could not profit by his partner's foul play. He locked
+      the door lest the ladies should surprise him and insist upon knowing what
+      he was doing with these names and coins. Will it pass?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no doubt that you have hit upon the truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will be verified or disproved at the trial. Meanwhile, come what may,
+      Colonel Moran will trouble us no more, the famous air-gun of Von Herder
+      will embellish the Scotland Yard Museum, and once again Mr. Sherlock
+      Holmes is free to devote his life to examining those interesting little
+      problems which the complex life of London so plentifully presents.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <hr />
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 26  NOVEMBER, 1903
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      II.&mdash;The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;FROM the point of view of the criminal expert,&rdquo; said Mr. Sherlock Holmes,
+      &ldquo;London has become a singularly uninteresting city since the death of the
+      late lamented Professor Moriarty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can hardly think that you would find many decent citizens to agree with
+      you,&rdquo; I answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well, I must not be selfish,&rdquo; said he, with a smile, as he pushed
+      back his chair from the breakfast-table. &ldquo;The community is certainly the
+      gainer, and no one the loser, save the poor out-of-work specialist, whose
+      occupation has gone. With that man in the field one's morning paper
+      presented infinite possibilities. Often it was only the smallest trace,
+      Watson, the faintest indication, and yet it was enough to tell me that the
+      great malignant brain was there, as the gentlest tremors of the edges of
+      the web remind one of the foul spider which lurks in the centre. Petty
+      thefts, wanton assaults, purposeless outrage&mdash;to the man who held the
+      clue all could be worked into one connected whole. To the scientific
+      student of the higher criminal world no capital in Europe offered the
+      advantages which London then possessed. But now&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; He shrugged
+      his shoulders in humorous deprecation of the state of things which he had
+      himself done so much to produce.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the time of which I speak Holmes had been back for some months, and I,
+      at his request, had sold my practice and returned to share the old
+      quarters in Baker Street. A young doctor, named Verner, had purchased my
+      small Kensington practice, and given with astonishingly little demur the
+      highest price that I ventured to ask&mdash;an incident which only
+      explained itself some years later when I found that Verner was a distant
+      relation of Holmes's, and that it was my friend who had really found the
+      money.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our months of partnership had not been so uneventful as he had stated, for
+      I find, on looking over my notes, that this period includes the case of
+      the papers of Ex-President Murillo, and also the shocking affair of the
+      Dutch steamship FRIESLAND, which so nearly cost us both our lives. His
+      cold and proud nature was always averse, however, to anything in the shape
+      of public applause, and he bound me in the most stringent terms to say no
+      further word of himself, his methods, or his successes&mdash;a prohibition
+      which, as I have explained, has only now been removed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Sherlock Holmes was leaning back in his chair after his whimsical
+      protest, and was unfolding his morning paper in a leisurely fashion, when
+      our attention was arrested by a tremendous ring at the bell, followed
+      immediately by a hollow drumming sound, as if someone were beating on the
+      outer door with his fist. As it opened there came a tumultuous rush into
+      the hall, rapid feet clattered up the stair, and an instant later a
+      wild-eyed and frantic young man, pale, dishevelled, and palpitating, burst
+      into the room. He looked from one to the other of us, and under our gaze
+      of inquiry he became conscious that some apology was needed for this
+      unceremonious entry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sorry, Mr. Holmes,&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;You mustn't blame me. I am nearly mad.
+      Mr. Holmes, I am the unhappy John Hector McFarlane.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He made the announcement as if the name alone would explain both his visit
+      and its manner; but I could see by my companion's unresponsive face that
+      it meant no more to him than to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have a cigarette, Mr. McFarlane,&rdquo; said he, pushing his case across. &ldquo;I am
+      sure that with your symptoms my friend Dr. Watson here would prescribe a
+      sedative. The weather has been so very warm these last few days. Now, if
+      you feel a little more composed, I should be glad if you would sit down in
+      that chair and tell us very slowly and quietly who you are and what it is
+      that you want. You mentioned your name as if I should recognise it, but I
+      assure you that, beyond the obvious facts that you are a bachelor, a
+      solicitor, a Freemason, and an asthmatic, I know nothing whatever about
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Familiar as I was with my friend's methods, it was not difficult for me to
+      follow his deductions, and to observe the untidiness of attire, the sheaf
+      of legal papers, the watch-charm, and the breathing which had prompted
+      them. Our client, however, stared in amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I am all that, Mr. Holmes, and in addition I am the most unfortunate
+      man at this moment in London. For Heaven's sake don't abandon me, Mr.
+      Holmes! If they come to arrest me before I have finished my story, make
+      them give me time so that I may tell you the whole truth. I could go to
+      gaol happy if I knew that you were working for me outside.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Arrest you!&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;This is really most grati&mdash;most
+      interesting. On what charge do you expect to be arrested?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon the charge of murdering Mr. Jonas Oldacre, of Lower Norwood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My companion's expressive face showed a sympathy which was not, I am
+      afraid, entirely unmixed with satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;it was only this moment at breakfast that I was
+      saying to my friend, Dr. Watson, that sensational cases had disappeared
+      out of our papers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Our visitor stretched forward a quivering hand and picked up the DAILY
+      TELEGRAPH, which still lay upon Holmes's knee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you had looked at it, sir, you would have seen at a glance what the
+      errand is on which I have come to you this morning. I feel as if my name
+      and my misfortune must be in every man's mouth.&rdquo; He turned it over to
+      expose the central page. &ldquo;Here it is, and with your permission I will read
+      it to you. Listen to this, Mr. Holmes. The head-lines are: 'Mysterious
+      Affair at Lower Norwood. Disappearance of a Well-known Builder. Suspicion
+      of Murder and Arson. A Clue to the Criminal.' That is the clue which they
+      are already following, Mr. Holmes, and I know that it leads infallibly to
+      me. I have been followed from London Bridge Station, and I am sure that
+      they are only waiting for the warrant to arrest me. It will break my
+      mother's heart&mdash;it will break her heart!&rdquo; He wrung his hands in an
+      agony of apprehension, and swayed backwards and forwards in his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked with interest upon this man, who was accused of being the
+      perpetrator of a crime of violence. He was flaxen-haired and handsome in a
+      washed-out negative fashion, with frightened blue eyes and a clean-shaven
+      face, with a weak, sensitive mouth. His age may have been about
+      twenty-seven; his dress and bearing that of a gentleman. From the pocket
+      of his light summer overcoat protruded the bundle of endorsed papers which
+      proclaimed his profession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must use what time we have,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Watson, would you have the
+      kindness to take the paper and to read me the paragraph in question?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Underneath the vigorous head-lines which our client had quoted I read the
+      following suggestive narrative:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Late last night, or early this morning, an incident occurred at Lower
+      Norwood which points, it is feared, to a serious crime. Mr. Jonas Oldacre
+      is a well-known resident of that suburb, where he has carried on his
+      business as a builder for many years. Mr. Oldacre is a bachelor, fifty-two
+      years of age, and lives in Deep Dene House, at the Sydenham end of the
+      road of that name. He has had the reputation of being a man of eccentric
+      habits, secretive and retiring. For some years he has practically
+      withdrawn from the business, in which he is said to have amassed
+      considerable wealth. A small timber-yard still exists, however, at the
+      back of the house, and last night, about twelve o'clock, an alarm was
+      given that one of the stacks was on fire. The engines were soon upon the
+      spot, but the dry wood burned with great fury, and it was impossible to
+      arrest the conflagration until the stack had been entirely consumed. Up to
+      this point the incident bore the appearance of an ordinary accident, but
+      fresh indications seem to point to serious crime. Surprise was expressed
+      at the absence of the master of the establishment from the scene of the
+      fire, and an inquiry followed, which showed that he had disappeared from
+      the house. An examination of his room revealed that the bed had not been
+      slept in, that a safe which stood in it was open, that a number of
+      important papers were scattered about the room, and, finally, that there
+      were signs of a murderous struggle, slight traces of blood being found
+      within the room, and an oaken walking-stick, which also showed stains of
+      blood upon the handle. It is known that Mr. Jonas Oldacre had received a
+      late visitor in his bedroom upon that night, and the stick found has been
+      identified as the property of this person, who is a young London solicitor
+      named John Hector McFarlane, junior partner of Graham and McFarlane, of
+      426, Gresham Buildings, E.C. The police believe that they have evidence in
+      their possession which supplies a very convincing motive for the crime,
+      and altogether it cannot be doubted that sensational developments will
+      follow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      LATER.&mdash;It is rumoured as we go to press that Mr. John Hector
+      McFarlane has actually been arrested on the charge of the murder of Mr.
+      Jonas Oldacre. It is at least certain that a warrant has been issued.
+      There have been further and sinister developments in the investigation at
+      Norwood. Besides the signs of a struggle in the room of the unfortunate
+      builder it is now known that the French windows of his bedroom (which is
+      on the ground floor) were found to be open, that there were marks as if
+      some bulky object had been dragged across to the wood-pile, and, finally,
+      it is asserted that charred remains have been found among the charcoal
+      ashes of the fire. The police theory is that a most sensational crime has
+      been committed, that the victim was clubbed to death in his own bedroom,
+      his papers rifled, and his dead body dragged across to the wood-stack,
+      which was then ignited so as to hide all traces of the crime. The conduct
+      of the criminal investigation has been left in the experienced hands of
+      Inspector Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, who is following up the clues with
+      his accustomed energy and sagacity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sherlock Holmes listened with closed eyes and finger-tips together to this
+      remarkable account.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The case has certainly some points of interest,&rdquo; said he, in his languid
+      fashion. &ldquo;May I ask, in the first place, Mr. McFarlane, how it is that you
+      are still at liberty, since there appears to be enough evidence to justify
+      your arrest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I live at Torrington Lodge, Blackheath, with my parents, Mr. Holmes; but
+      last night, having to do business very late with Mr. Jonas Oldacre, I
+      stayed at an hotel in Norwood, and came to my business from there. I knew
+      nothing of this affair until I was in the train, when I read what you have
+      just heard. I at once saw the horrible danger of my position, and I
+      hurried to put the case into your hands. I have no doubt that I should
+      have been arrested either at my City office or at my home. A man followed
+      me from London Bridge Station, and I have no doubt&mdash;Great Heaven,
+      what is that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a clang of the bell, followed instantly by heavy steps upon the
+      stair. A moment later our old friend Lestrade appeared in the doorway.
+      Over his shoulder I caught a glimpse of one or two uniformed policemen
+      outside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. John Hector McFarlane?&rdquo; said Lestrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our unfortunate client rose with a ghastly face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I arrest you for the wilful murder of Mr. Jonas Oldacre, of Lower
+      Norwood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      McFarlane turned to us with a gesture of despair, and sank into his chair
+      once more like one who is crushed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One moment, Lestrade,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Half an hour more or less can make
+      no difference to you, and the gentleman was about to give us an account of
+      this very interesting affair, which might aid us in clearing it up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think there will be no difficulty in clearing it up,&rdquo; said Lestrade,
+      grimly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None the less, with your permission, I should be much interested to hear
+      his account.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Mr. Holmes, it is difficult for me to refuse you anything, for you
+      have been of use to the force once or twice in the past, and we owe you a
+      good turn at Scotland Yard,&rdquo; said Lestrade. &ldquo;At the same time I must
+      remain with my prisoner, and I am bound to warn him that anything he may
+      say will appear in evidence against him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish nothing better,&rdquo; said our client. &ldquo;All I ask is that you should
+      hear and recognise the absolute truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lestrade looked at his watch. &ldquo;I'll give you half an hour,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must explain first,&rdquo; said McFarlane, &ldquo;that I knew nothing of Mr. Jonas
+      Oldacre. His name was familiar to me, for many years ago my parents were
+      acquainted with him, but they drifted apart. I was very much surprised,
+      therefore, when yesterday, about three o'clock in the afternoon, he walked
+      into my office in the City. But I was still more astonished when he told
+      me the object of his visit. He had in his hand several sheets of a
+      note-book, covered with scribbled writing&mdash;here they are&mdash;and he
+      laid them on my table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Here is my will,' said he. 'I want you, Mr. McFarlane, to cast it into
+      proper legal shape. I will sit here while you do so.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I set myself to copy it, and you can imagine my astonishment when I found
+      that, with some reservations, he had left all his property to me. He was a
+      strange little, ferret-like man, with white eyelashes, and when I looked
+      up at him I found his keen grey eyes fixed upon me with an amused
+      expression. I could hardly believe my own senses as I read the terms of
+      the will; but he explained that he was a bachelor with hardly any living
+      relation, that he had known my parents in his youth, and that he had
+      always heard of me as a very deserving young man, and was assured that his
+      money would be in worthy hands. Of course, I could only stammer out my
+      thanks. The will was duly finished, signed, and witnessed by my clerk.
+      This is it on the blue paper, and these slips, as I have explained, are
+      the rough draft. Mr. Jonas Oldacre then informed me that there were a
+      number of documents&mdash;building leases, title-deeds, mortgages, scrip,
+      and so forth&mdash;which it was necessary that I should see and
+      understand. He said that his mind would not be easy until the whole thing
+      was settled, and he begged me to come out to his house at Norwood that
+      night, bringing the will with me, and to arrange matters. 'Remember, my
+      boy, not one word to your parents about the affair until everything is
+      settled. We will keep it as a little surprise for them.' He was very
+      insistent upon this point, and made me promise it faithfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can imagine, Mr. Holmes, that I was not in a humour to refuse him
+      anything that he might ask. He was my benefactor, and all my desire was to
+      carry out his wishes in every particular. I sent a telegram home,
+      therefore, to say that I had important business on hand, and that it was
+      impossible for me to say how late I might be. Mr. Oldacre had told me that
+      he would like me to have supper with him at nine, as he might not be home
+      before that hour. I had some difficulty in finding his house, however, and
+      it was nearly half-past before I reached it. I found him&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One moment!&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Who opened the door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A middle-aged woman, who was, I suppose, his housekeeper.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And it was she, I presume, who mentioned your name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly,&rdquo; said McFarlane.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray proceed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      McFarlane wiped his damp brow and then continued his narrative:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was shown by this woman into a sitting-room, where a frugal supper was
+      laid out. Afterwards Mr. Jonas Oldacre led me into his bedroom, in which
+      there stood a heavy safe. This he opened and took out a mass of documents,
+      which we went over together. It was between eleven and twelve when we
+      finished. He remarked that we must not disturb the housekeeper. He showed
+      me out through his own French window, which had been open all this time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was the blind down?&rdquo; asked Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not be sure, but I believe that it was only half down. Yes, I
+      remember how he pulled it up in order to swing open the window. I could
+      not find my stick, and he said, 'Never mind, my boy; I shall see a good
+      deal of you now, I hope, and I will keep your stick until you come back to
+      claim it.' I left him there, the safe open, and the papers made up in
+      packets upon the table. It was so late that I could not get back to
+      Blackheath, so I spent the night at the Anerley Arms, and I knew nothing
+      more until I read of this horrible affair in the morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anything more that you would like to ask, Mr. Holmes?&rdquo; said Lestrade,
+      whose eyebrows had gone up once or twice during this remarkable
+      explanation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not until I have been to Blackheath.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean to Norwood,&rdquo; said Lestrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes; no doubt that is what I must have meant,&rdquo; said Holmes, with his
+      enigmatical smile. Lestrade had learned by more experiences than he would
+      care to acknowledge that that razor-like brain could cut through that
+      which was impenetrable to him. I saw him look curiously at my companion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I should like to have a word with you presently, Mr. Sherlock
+      Holmes,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Now, Mr. McFarlane, two of my constables are at the
+      door and there is a four-wheeler waiting.&rdquo; The wretched young man arose,
+      and with a last beseeching glance at us walked from the room. The officers
+      conducted him to the cab, but Lestrade remained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes had picked up the pages which formed the rough draft of the will,
+      and was looking at them with the keenest interest upon his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are some points about that document, Lestrade, are there not?&rdquo; said
+      he, pushing them over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The official looked at them with a puzzled expression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can read the first few lines, and these in the middle of the second
+      page, and one or two at the end. Those are as clear as print,&rdquo; said he;
+      &ldquo;but the writing in between is very bad, and there are three places where
+      I cannot read it at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you make of that?&rdquo; said Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, what do YOU make of it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That it was written in a train; the good writing represents stations, the
+      bad writing movement, and the very bad writing passing over points. A
+      scientific expert would pronounce at once that this was drawn up on a
+      suburban line, since nowhere save in the immediate vicinity of a great
+      city could there be so quick a succession of points. Granting that his
+      whole journey was occupied in drawing up the will, then the train was an
+      express, only stopping once between Norwood and London Bridge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lestrade began to laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are too many for me when you begin to get on your theories, Mr.
+      Holmes,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;How does this bear on the case?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it corroborates the young man's story to the extent that the will
+      was drawn up by Jonas Oldacre in his journey yesterday. It is curious&mdash;is
+      it not?&mdash;that a man should draw up so important a document in so
+      haphazard a fashion. It suggests that he did not think it was going to be
+      of much practical importance. If a man drew up a will which he did not
+      intend ever to be effective he might do it so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, he drew up his own death-warrant at the same time,&rdquo; said Lestrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you think so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it is quite possible; but the case is not clear to me yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not clear? Well, if that isn't clear, what COULD be clear? Here is a
+      young man who learns suddenly that if a certain older man dies he will
+      succeed to a fortune. What does he do? He says nothing to anyone, but he
+      arranges that he shall go out on some pretext to see his client that
+      night; he waits until the only other person in the house is in bed, and
+      then in the solitude of a man's room he murders him, burns his body in the
+      wood-pile, and departs to a neighbouring hotel. The blood-stains in the
+      room and also on the stick are very slight. It is probable that he
+      imagined his crime to be a bloodless one, and hoped that if the body were
+      consumed it would hide all traces of the method of his death&mdash;traces
+      which for some reason must have pointed to him. Is all this not obvious?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It strikes me, my good Lestrade, as being just a trifle too obvious,&rdquo;
+       said Holmes. &ldquo;You do not add imagination to your other great qualities;
+      but if you could for one moment put yourself in the place of this young
+      man, would you choose the very night after the will had been made to
+      commit your crime? Would it not seem dangerous to you to make so very
+      close a relation between the two incidents? Again, would you choose an
+      occasion when you are known to be in the house, when a servant has let you
+      in? And, finally, would you take the great pains to conceal the body and
+      yet leave your own stick as a sign that you were the criminal? Confess,
+      Lestrade, that all this is very unlikely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to the stick, Mr. Holmes, you know as well as I do that a criminal is
+      often flurried and does things which a cool man would avoid. He was very
+      likely afraid to go back to the room. Give me another theory that would
+      fit the facts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could very easily give you half-a-dozen,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Here, for
+      example, is a very possible and even probable one. I make you a free
+      present of it. The older man is showing documents which are of evident
+      value. A passing tramp sees them through the window, the blind of which is
+      only half down. Exit the solicitor. Enter the tramp! He seizes a stick,
+      which he observes there, kills Oldacre, and departs after burning the
+      body.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should the tramp burn the body?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the matter of that why should McFarlane?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To hide some evidence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly the tramp wanted to hide that any murder at all had been
+      committed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why did the tramp take nothing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because they were papers that he could not negotiate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lestrade shook his head, though it seemed to me that his manner was less
+      absolutely assured than before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you may look for your tramp, and while you are
+      finding him we will hold on to our man. The future will show which is
+      right. Just notice this point, Mr. Holmes: that so far as we know none of
+      the papers were removed, and that the prisoner is the one man in the world
+      who had no reason for removing them, since he was heir-at-law and would
+      come into them in any case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My friend seemed struck by this remark.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't mean to deny that the evidence is in some ways very strongly in
+      favour of your theory,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I only wish to point out that there are
+      other theories possible. As you say, the future will decide. Good morning!
+      I dare say that in the course of the day I shall drop in at Norwood and
+      see how you are getting on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When the detective departed my friend rose and made his preparations for
+      the day's work with the alert air of a man who has a congenial task before
+      him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My first movement, Watson,&rdquo; said he, as he bustled into his frock-coat,
+      &ldquo;must, as I said, be in the direction of Blackheath.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why not Norwood?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because we have in this case one singular incident coming close to the
+      heels of another singular incident. The police are making the mistake of
+      concentrating their attention upon the second, because it happens to be
+      the one which is actually criminal. But it is evident to me that the
+      logical way to approach the case is to begin by trying to throw some light
+      upon the first incident&mdash;the curious will, so suddenly made, and to
+      so unexpected an heir. It may do something to simplify what followed. No,
+      my dear fellow, I don't think you can help me. There is no prospect of
+      danger, or I should not dream of stirring out without you. I trust that
+      when I see you in the evening I will be able to report that I have been
+      able to do something for this unfortunate youngster who has thrown himself
+      upon my protection.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was late when my friend returned, and I could see by a glance at his
+      haggard and anxious face that the high hopes with which he had started had
+      not been fulfilled. For an hour he droned away upon his violin,
+      endeavouring to soothe his own ruffled spirits. At last he flung down the
+      instrument and plunged into a detailed account of his misadventures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's all going wrong, Watson&mdash;all as wrong as it can go. I kept a
+      bold face before Lestrade, but, upon my soul, I believe that for once the
+      fellow is on the right track and we are on the wrong. All my instincts are
+      one way and all the facts are the other, and I much fear that British
+      juries have not yet attained that pitch of intelligence when they will
+      give the preference to my theories over Lestrade's facts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you go to Blackheath?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Watson, I went there, and I found very quickly that the late
+      lamented Oldacre was a pretty considerable black-guard. The father was
+      away in search of his son. The mother was at home&mdash;a little, fluffy,
+      blue-eyed person, in a tremor of fear and indignation. Of course, she
+      would not admit even the possibility of his guilt. But she would not
+      express either surprise or regret over the fate of Oldacre. On the
+      contrary, she spoke of him with such bitterness that she was unconsciously
+      considerably strengthening the case of the police, for, of course, if her
+      son had heard her speak of the man in this fashion it would predispose him
+      towards hatred and violence. 'He was more like a malignant and cunning ape
+      than a human being,' said she, 'and he always was, ever since he was a
+      young man.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'You knew him at that time?' said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Yes, I knew him well; in fact, he was an old suitor of mine. Thank
+      Heaven that I had the sense to turn away from him and to marry a better,
+      if a poorer, man. I was engaged to him, Mr. Holmes, when I heard a
+      shocking story of how he had turned a cat loose in an aviary, and I was so
+      horrified at his brutal cruelty that I would have nothing more to do with
+      him.' She rummaged in a bureau, and presently she produced a photograph of
+      a woman, shamefully defaced and mutilated with a knife. 'That is my own
+      photograph,' she said. 'He sent it to me in that state, with his curse,
+      upon my wedding morning.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Well,' said I, 'at least he has forgiven you now, since he has left all
+      his property to your son.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Neither my son nor I want anything from Jonas Oldacre, dead or alive,'
+      she cried, with a proper spirit. 'There is a God in Heaven, Mr. Holmes,
+      and that same God who has punished that wicked man will show in His own
+      good time that my son's hands are guiltless of his blood.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I tried one or two leads, but could get at nothing which would help
+      our hypothesis, and several points which would make against it. I gave it
+      up at last and off I went to Norwood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This place, Deep Dene House, is a big modern villa of staring brick,
+      standing back in its own grounds, with a laurel-clumped lawn in front of
+      it. To the right and some distance back from the road was the timber-yard
+      which had been the scene of the fire. Here's a rough plan on a leaf of my
+      note-book. This window on the left is the one which opens into Oldacre's
+      room. You can look into it from the road, you see. That is about the only
+      bit of consolation I have had to-day. Lestrade was not there, but his head
+      constable did the honours. They had just made a great treasure-trove. They
+      had spent the morning raking among the ashes of the burned wood-pile, and
+      besides the charred organic remains they had secured several discoloured
+      metal discs. I examined them with care, and there was no doubt that they
+      were trouser buttons. I even distinguished that one of them was marked
+      with the name of 'Hyams,' who was Oldacre's tailor. I then worked the lawn
+      very carefully for signs and traces, but this drought has made everything
+      as hard as iron. Nothing was to be seen save that some body or bundle had
+      been dragged through a low privet hedge which is in a line with the
+      wood-pile. All that, of course, fits in with the official theory. I
+      crawled about the lawn with an August sun on my back, but I got up at the
+      end of an hour no wiser than before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, after this fiasco I went into the bedroom and examined that also.
+      The blood-stains were very slight, mere smears and discolorations, but
+      undoubtedly fresh. The stick had been removed, but there also the marks
+      were slight. There is no doubt about the stick belonging to our client. He
+      admits it. Footmarks of both men could be made out on the carpet, but none
+      of any third person, which again is a trick for the other side. They were
+      piling up their score all the time and we were at a standstill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only one little gleam of hope did I get&mdash;and yet it amounted to
+      nothing. I examined the contents of the safe, most of which had been taken
+      out and left on the table. The papers had been made up into sealed
+      envelopes, one or two of which had been opened by the police. They were
+      not, so far as I could judge, of any great value, nor did the bank-book
+      show that Mr. Oldacre was in such very affluent circumstances. But it
+      seemed to me that all the papers were not there. There were allusions to
+      some deeds&mdash;possibly the more valuable&mdash;which I could not find.
+      This, of course, if we could definitely prove it, would turn Lestrade's
+      argument against himself, for who would steal a thing if he knew that he
+      would shortly inherit it?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Finally, having drawn every other cover and picked up no scent, I tried
+      my luck with the housekeeper. Mrs. Lexington is her name, a little, dark,
+      silent person, with suspicious and sidelong eyes. She could tell us
+      something if she would&mdash;I am convinced of it. But she was as close as
+      wax. Yes, she had let Mr. McFarlane in at half-past nine. She wished her
+      hand had withered before she had done so. She had gone to bed at half-past
+      ten. Her room was at the other end of the house, and she could hear
+      nothing of what passed. Mr. McFarlane had left his hat, and to the best of
+      her belief his stick, in the hall. She had been awakened by the alarm of
+      fire. Her poor, dear master had certainly been murdered. Had he any
+      enemies? Well, every man had enemies, but Mr. Oldacre kept himself very
+      much to himself, and only met people in the way of business. She had seen
+      the buttons, and was sure that they belonged to the clothes which he had
+      worn last night. The wood-pile was very dry, for it had not rained for a
+      month. It burned like tinder, and by the time she reached the spot nothing
+      could be seen but flames. She and all the firemen smelled the burned flesh
+      from inside it. She knew nothing of the papers, nor of Mr. Oldacre's
+      private affairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So, my dear Watson, there's my report of a failure. And yet&mdash;and yet&mdash;&ldquo;&mdash;he
+      clenched his thin hands in a paroxysm of conviction&mdash;&ldquo;I KNOW it's all
+      wrong. I feel it in my bones. There is something that has not come out,
+      and that housekeeper knows it. There was a sort of sulky defiance in her
+      eyes, which only goes with guilty knowledge. However, there's no good
+      talking any more about it, Watson; but unless some lucky chance comes our
+      way I fear that the Norwood Disappearance Case will not figure in that
+      chronicle of our successes which I foresee that a patient public will
+      sooner or later have to endure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;the man's appearance would go far with any jury?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is a dangerous argument, my dear Watson. You remember that terrible
+      murderer, Bert Stevens, who wanted us to get him off in '87? Was there
+      ever a more mild-mannered, Sunday-school young man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unless we succeed in establishing an alternative theory this man is lost.
+      You can hardly find a flaw in the case which can now be presented against
+      him, and all further investigation has served to strengthen it. By the
+      way, there is one curious little point about those papers which may serve
+      us as the starting-point for an inquiry. On looking over the bank-book I
+      found that the low state of the balance was principally due to large
+      cheques which have been made out during the last year to Mr. Cornelius. I
+      confess that I should be interested to know who this Mr. Cornelius may be
+      with whom a retired builder has such very large transactions. Is it
+      possible that he has had a hand in the affair? Cornelius might be a
+      broker, but we have found no scrip to correspond with these large
+      payments. Failing any other indication my researches must now take the
+      direction of an inquiry at the bank for the gentleman who has cashed these
+      cheques. But I fear, my dear fellow, that our case will end ingloriously
+      by Lestrade hanging our client, which will certainly be a triumph for
+      Scotland Yard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I do not know how far Sherlock Holmes took any sleep that night, but when
+      I came down to breakfast I found him pale and harassed, his bright eyes
+      the brighter for the dark shadows round them. The carpet round his chair
+      was littered with cigarette-ends and with the early editions of the
+      morning papers. An open telegram lay upon the table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you think of this, Watson?&rdquo; he asked, tossing it across.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was from Norwood, and ran as follows:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     &ldquo;IMPORTANT FRESH EVIDENCE TO HAND.  MCFARLANE'S GUILT
+     DEFINITELY ESTABLISHED.  ADVISE YOU TO ABANDON CASE.
+     &mdash;LESTRADE.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This sounds serious,&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is Lestrade's little cock-a-doodle of victory,&rdquo; Holmes answered, with
+      a bitter smile. &ldquo;And yet it may be premature to abandon the case. After
+      all, important fresh evidence is a two-edged thing, and may possibly cut
+      in a very different direction to that which Lestrade imagines. Take your
+      breakfast, Watson, and we will go out together and see what we can do. I
+      feel as if I shall need your company and your moral support to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My friend had no breakfast himself, for it was one of his peculiarities
+      that in his more intense moments he would permit himself no food, and I
+      have known him presume upon his iron strength until he has fainted from
+      pure inanition. &ldquo;At present I cannot spare energy and nerve force for
+      digestion,&rdquo; he would say in answer to my medical remonstrances. I was not
+      surprised, therefore, when this morning he left his untouched meal behind
+      him and started with me for Norwood. A crowd of morbid sightseers were
+      still gathered round Deep Dene House, which was just such a suburban villa
+      as I had pictured. Within the gates Lestrade met us, his face flushed with
+      victory, his manner grossly triumphant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Mr. Holmes, have you proved us to be wrong yet? Have you found your
+      tramp?&rdquo; he cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have formed no conclusion whatever,&rdquo; my companion answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But we formed ours yesterday, and now it proves to be correct; so you
+      must acknowledge that we have been a little in front of you this time, Mr.
+      Holmes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You certainly have the air of something unusual having occurred,&rdquo; said
+      Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lestrade laughed loudly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't like being beaten any more than the rest of us do,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;A
+      man can't expect always to have it his own way, can he, Dr. Watson? Step
+      this way, if you please, gentlemen, and I think I can convince you once
+      for all that it was John McFarlane who did this crime.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He led us through the passage and out into a dark hall beyond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is where young McFarlane must have come out to get his hat after the
+      crime was done,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Now, look at this.&rdquo; With dramatic suddenness he
+      struck a match and by its light exposed a stain of blood upon the
+      whitewashed wall. As he held the match nearer I saw that it was more than
+      a stain. It was the well-marked print of a thumb.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look at that with your magnifying glass, Mr. Holmes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I am doing so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are aware that no two thumb marks are alike?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have heard something of the kind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then, will you please compare that print with this wax impression
+      of young McFarlane's right thumb, taken by my orders this morning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As he held the waxen print close to the blood-stain it did not take a
+      magnifying glass to see that the two were undoubtedly from the same thumb.
+      It was evident to me that our unfortunate client was lost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is final,&rdquo; said Lestrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, that is final,&rdquo; I involuntarily echoed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is final,&rdquo; said Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Something in his tone caught my ear, and I turned to look at him. An
+      extraordinary change had come over his face. It was writhing with inward
+      merriment. His two eyes were shining like stars. It seemed to me that he
+      was making desperate efforts to restrain a convulsive attack of laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me! Dear me!&rdquo; he said at last. &ldquo;Well, now, who would have thought
+      it? And how deceptive appearances may be, to be sure! Such a nice young
+      man to look at! It is a lesson to us not to trust our own judgment, is it
+      not, Lestrade?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, some of us are a little too much inclined to be cocksure, Mr.
+      Holmes,&rdquo; said Lestrade. The man's insolence was maddening, but we could
+      not resent it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a providential thing that this young man should press his right
+      thumb against the wall in taking his hat from the peg! Such a very natural
+      action, too, if you come to think of it.&rdquo; Holmes was outwardly calm, but
+      his whole body gave a wriggle of suppressed excitement as he spoke. &ldquo;By
+      the way, Lestrade, who made this remarkable discovery?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was the housekeeper, Mrs. Lexington, who drew the night constable's
+      attention to it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where was the night constable?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He remained on guard in the bedroom where the crime was committed, so as
+      to see that nothing was touched.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why didn't the police see this mark yesterday?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we had no particular reason to make a careful examination of the
+      hall. Besides, it's not in a very prominent place, as you see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, of course not. I suppose there is no doubt that the mark was
+      there yesterday?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lestrade looked at Holmes as if he thought he was going out of his mind. I
+      confess that I was myself surprised both at his hilarious manner and at
+      his rather wild observation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know whether you think that McFarlane came out of gaol in the
+      dead of the night in order to strengthen the evidence against himself,&rdquo;
+       said Lestrade. &ldquo;I leave it to any expert in the world whether that is not
+      the mark of his thumb.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is unquestionably the mark of his thumb.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There, that's enough,&rdquo; said Lestrade. &ldquo;I am a practical man, Mr. Holmes,
+      and when I have got my evidence I come to my conclusions. If you have
+      anything to say you will find me writing my report in the sitting-room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes had recovered his equanimity, though I still seemed to detect
+      gleams of amusement in his expression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me, this is a very sad development, Watson, is it not?&rdquo; said he.
+      &ldquo;And yet there are singular points about it which hold out some hopes for
+      our client.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am delighted to hear it,&rdquo; said I, heartily. &ldquo;I was afraid it was all up
+      with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would hardly go so far as to say that, my dear Watson. The fact is that
+      there is one really serious flaw in this evidence to which our friend
+      attaches so much importance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed, Holmes! What is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only this: that I KNOW that that mark was not there when I examined the
+      hall yesterday. And now, Watson, let us have a little stroll round in the
+      sunshine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With a confused brain, but with a heart into which some warmth of hope was
+      returning, I accompanied my friend in a walk round the garden. Holmes took
+      each face of the house in turn and examined it with great interest. He
+      then led the way inside and went over the whole building from basement to
+      attics. Most of the rooms were unfurnished, but none the less Holmes
+      inspected them all minutely. Finally, on the top corridor, which ran
+      outside three untenanted bedrooms, he again was seized with a spasm of
+      merriment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are really some very unique features about this case, Watson,&rdquo; said
+      he. &ldquo;I think it is time now that we took our friend Lestrade into our
+      confidence. He has had his little smile at our expense, and perhaps we may
+      do as much by him if my reading of this problem proves to be correct. Yes,
+      yes; I think I see how we should approach it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Scotland Yard inspector was still writing in the parlour when Holmes
+      interrupted him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understood that you were writing a report of this case,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you think it may be a little premature? I can't help thinking that
+      your evidence is not complete.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lestrade knew my friend too well to disregard his words. He laid down his
+      pen and looked curiously at him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean, Mr. Holmes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only that there is an important witness whom you have not seen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you produce him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then do so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will do my best. How many constables have you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are three within call.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excellent!&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;May I ask if they are all large, able-bodied
+      men with powerful voices?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no doubt they are, though I fail to see what their voices have to
+      do with it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps I can help you to see that and one or two other things as well,&rdquo;
+       said Holmes. &ldquo;Kindly summon your men, and I will try.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Five minutes later three policemen had assembled in the hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the outhouse you will find a considerable quantity of straw,&rdquo; said
+      Holmes. &ldquo;I will ask you to carry in two bundles of it. I think it will be
+      of the greatest assistance in producing the witness whom I require. Thank
+      you very much. I believe you have some matches in your pocket, Watson.
+      Now, Mr. Lestrade, I will ask you all to accompany me to the top landing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As I have said, there was a broad corridor there, which ran outside three
+      empty bedrooms. At one end of the corridor we were all marshalled by
+      Sherlock Holmes, the constables grinning and Lestrade staring at my friend
+      with amazement, expectation, and derision chasing each other across his
+      features. Holmes stood before us with the air of a conjurer who is
+      performing a trick.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would you kindly send one of your constables for two buckets of water?
+      Put the straw on the floor here, free from the wall on either side. Now I
+      think that we are all ready.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lestrade's face had begun to grow red and angry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know whether you are playing a game with us, Mr. Sherlock
+      Holmes,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;If you know anything, you can surely say it without all
+      this tomfoolery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I assure you, my good Lestrade, that I have an excellent reason for
+      everything that I do. You may possibly remember that you chaffed me a
+      little some hours ago, when the sun seemed on your side of the hedge, so
+      you must not grudge me a little pomp and ceremony now. Might I ask you,
+      Watson, to open that window, and then to put a match to the edge of the
+      straw?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I did so, and, driven by the draught, a coil of grey smoke swirled down
+      the corridor, while the dry straw crackled and flamed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now we must see if we can find this witness for you, Lestrade. Might I
+      ask you all to join in the cry of 'Fire!'? Now, then; one, two, three&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fire!&rdquo; we all yelled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you. I will trouble you once again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fire!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just once more, gentlemen, and all together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fire!&rdquo; The shout must have rung over Norwood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It had hardly died away when an amazing thing happened. A door suddenly
+      flew open out of what appeared to be solid wall at the end of the
+      corridor, and a little, wizened man darted out of it, like a rabbit out of
+      its burrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Capital!&rdquo; said Holmes, calmly. &ldquo;Watson, a bucket of water over the straw.
+      That will do! Lestrade, allow me to present you with your principal
+      missing witness, Mr. Jonas Oldacre.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The detective stared at the new-comer with blank amazement. The latter was
+      blinking in the bright light of the corridor, and peering at us and at the
+      smouldering fire. It was an odious face&mdash;crafty, vicious, malignant,
+      with shifty, light-grey eyes and white eyelashes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What's this, then?&rdquo; said Lestrade at last. &ldquo;What have you been doing all
+      this time, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Oldacre gave an uneasy laugh, shrinking back from the furious red face of
+      the angry detective.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have done no harm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No harm? You have done your best to get an innocent man hanged. If it
+      wasn't for this gentleman here, I am not sure that you would not have
+      succeeded.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The wretched creature began to whimper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure, sir, it was only my practical joke.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! a joke, was it? You won't find the laugh on your side, I promise you.
+      Take him down and keep him in the sitting-room until I come. Mr. Holmes,&rdquo;
+       he continued, when they had gone, &ldquo;I could not speak before the
+      constables, but I don't mind saying, in the presence of Dr. Watson, that
+      this is the brightest thing that you have done yet, though it is a mystery
+      to me how you did it. You have saved an innocent man's life, and you have
+      prevented a very grave scandal, which would have ruined my reputation in
+      the Force.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes smiled and clapped Lestrade upon the shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Instead of being ruined, my good sir, you will find that your reputation
+      has been enormously enhanced. Just make a few alterations in that report
+      which you were writing, and they will understand how hard it is to throw
+      dust in the eyes of Inspector Lestrade.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you don't want your name to appear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all. The work is its own reward. Perhaps I shall get the credit
+      also at some distant day when I permit my zealous historian to lay out his
+      foolscap once more&mdash;eh, Watson? Well, now, let us see where this rat
+      has been lurking.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A lath-and-plaster partition had been run across the passage six feet from
+      the end, with a door cunningly concealed in it. It was lit within by slits
+      under the eaves. A few articles of furniture and a supply of food and
+      water were within, together with a number of books and papers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's the advantage of being a builder,&rdquo; said Holmes, as we came out.
+      &ldquo;He was able to fix up his own little hiding-place without any confederate&mdash;save,
+      of course, that precious housekeeper of his, whom I should lose no time in
+      adding to your bag, Lestrade.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll take your advice. But how did you know of this place, Mr. Holmes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I made up my mind that the fellow was in hiding in the house. When I
+      paced one corridor and found it six feet shorter than the corresponding
+      one below, it was pretty clear where he was. I thought he had not the
+      nerve to lie quiet before an alarm of fire. We could, of course, have gone
+      in and taken him, but it amused me to make him reveal himself; besides, I
+      owed you a little mystification, Lestrade, for your chaff in the morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, sir, you certainly got equal with me on that. But how in the world
+      did you know that he was in the house at all?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The thumb-mark, Lestrade. You said it was final; and so it was, in a very
+      different sense. I knew it had not been there the day before. I pay a good
+      deal of attention to matters of detail, as you may have observed, and I
+      had examined the hall and was sure that the wall was clear. Therefore, it
+      had been put on during the night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But how?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very simply. When those packets were sealed up, Jonas Oldacre got
+      McFarlane to secure one of the seals by putting his thumb upon the soft
+      wax. It would be done so quickly and so naturally that I dare say the
+      young man himself has no recollection of it. Very likely it just so
+      happened, and Oldacre had himself no notion of the use he would put it to.
+      Brooding over the case in that den of his, it suddenly struck him what
+      absolutely damning evidence he could make against McFarlane by using that
+      thumb-mark. It was the simplest thing in the world for him to take a wax
+      impression from the seal, to moisten it in as much blood as he could get
+      from a pin-prick, and to put the mark upon the wall during the night,
+      either with his own hand or with that of his housekeeper. If you examine
+      among those documents which he took with him into his retreat I will lay
+      you a wager that you find the seal with the thumb-mark upon it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wonderful!&rdquo; said Lestrade. &ldquo;Wonderful! It's all as clear as crystal, as
+      you put it. But what is the object of this deep deception, Mr. Holmes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was amusing to me to see how the detective's overbearing manner had
+      changed suddenly to that of a child asking questions of its teacher.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I don't think that is very hard to explain. A very deep, malicious,
+      vindictive person is the gentleman who is now awaiting us downstairs. You
+      know that he was once refused by McFarlane's mother? You don't! I told you
+      that you should go to Blackheath first and Norwood afterwards. Well, this
+      injury, as he would consider it, has rankled in his wicked, scheming
+      brain, and all his life he has longed for vengeance, but never seen his
+      chance. During the last year or two things have gone against him&mdash;secret
+      speculation, I think&mdash;and he finds himself in a bad way. He
+      determines to swindle his creditors, and for this purpose he pays large
+      cheques to a certain Mr. Cornelius, who is, I imagine, himself under
+      another name. I have not traced these cheques yet, but I have no doubt
+      that they were banked under that name at some provincial town where
+      Oldacre from time to time led a double existence. He intended to change
+      his name altogether, draw this money, and vanish, starting life again
+      elsewhere.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, that's likely enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would strike him that in disappearing he might throw all pursuit off
+      his track, and at the same time have an ample and crushing revenge upon
+      his old sweetheart, if he could give the impression that he had been
+      murdered by her only child. It was a masterpiece of villainy, and he
+      carried it out like a master. The idea of the will, which would give an
+      obvious motive for the crime, the secret visit unknown to his own parents,
+      the retention of the stick, the blood, and the animal remains and buttons
+      in the wood-pile, all were admirable. It was a net from which it seemed to
+      me a few hours ago that there was no possible escape. But he had not that
+      supreme gift of the artist, the knowledge of when to stop. He wished to
+      improve that which was already perfect&mdash;to draw the rope tighter yet
+      round the neck of his unfortunate victim&mdash;and so he ruined all. Let
+      us descend, Lestrade. There are just one or two questions that I would ask
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The malignant creature was seated in his own parlour with a policeman upon
+      each side of him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was a joke, my good sir, a practical joke, nothing more,&rdquo; he whined
+      incessantly. &ldquo;I assure you, sir, that I simply concealed myself in order
+      to see the effect of my disappearance, and I am sure that you would not be
+      so unjust as to imagine that I would have allowed any harm to befall poor
+      young Mr. McFarlane.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's for a jury to decide,&rdquo; said Lestrade. &ldquo;Anyhow, we shall have you
+      on a charge of conspiracy, if not for attempted murder.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you'll probably find that your creditors will impound the banking
+      account of Mr. Cornelius,&rdquo; said Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The little man started and turned his malignant eyes upon my friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have to thank you for a good deal,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Perhaps I'll pay my debt
+      some day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes smiled indulgently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fancy that for some few years you will find your time very fully
+      occupied,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;By the way, what was it you put into the wood-pile
+      besides your old trousers? A dead dog, or rabbits, or what? You won't
+      tell? Dear me, how very unkind of you! Well, well, I dare say that a
+      couple of rabbits would account both for the blood and for the charred
+      ashes. If ever you write an account, Watson, you can make rabbits serve
+      your turn.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <hr />
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 26  DECEMBER, 1903
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      III.&mdash;The Adventure of the Dancing Men.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      HOLMES had been seated for some hours in silence with his long, thin back
+      curved over a chemical vessel in which he was brewing a particularly
+      malodorous product. His head was sunk upon his breast, and he looked from
+      my point of view like a strange, lank bird, with dull grey plumage and a
+      black top-knot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So, Watson,&rdquo; said he, suddenly, &ldquo;you do not propose to invest in South
+      African securities?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I gave a start of astonishment. Accustomed as I was to Holmes's curious
+      faculties, this sudden intrusion into my most intimate thoughts was
+      utterly inexplicable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How on earth do you know that?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He wheeled round upon his stool, with a steaming test-tube in his hand and
+      a gleam of amusement in his deep-set eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Watson, confess yourself utterly taken aback,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ought to make you sign a paper to that effect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because in five minutes you will say that it is all so absurdly simple.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure that I shall say nothing of the kind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, my dear Watson&rdquo;&mdash;he propped his test-tube in the rack and
+      began to lecture with the air of a professor addressing his class&mdash;&ldquo;it
+      is not really difficult to construct a series of inferences, each
+      dependent upon its predecessor and each simple in itself. If, after doing
+      so, one simply knocks out all the central inferences and presents one's
+      audience with the starting-point and the conclusion, one may produce a
+      startling, though possibly a meretricious, effect. Now, it was not really
+      difficult, by an inspection of the groove between your left forefinger and
+      thumb, to feel sure that you did NOT propose to invest your small capital
+      in the goldfields.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see no connection.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very likely not; but I can quickly show you a close connection. Here are
+      the missing links of the very simple chain: 1. You had chalk between your
+      left finger and thumb when you returned from the club last night. 2. You
+      put chalk there when you play billiards to steady the cue. 3. You never
+      play billiards except with Thurston. 4. You told me four weeks ago that
+      Thurston had an option on some South African property which would expire
+      in a month, and which he desired you to share with him. 5. Your
+      cheque-book is locked in my drawer, and you have not asked for the key. 6.
+      You do not propose to invest your money in this manner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How absurdly simple!&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so!&rdquo; said he, a little nettled. &ldquo;Every problem becomes very
+      childish when once it is explained to you. Here is an unexplained one. See
+      what you can make of that, friend Watson.&rdquo; He tossed a sheet of paper upon
+      the table and turned once more to his chemical analysis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked with amazement at the absurd hieroglyphics upon the paper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Holmes, it is a child's drawing,&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, that's your idea!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What else should it be?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is what Mr. Hilton Cubitt, of Riding Thorpe Manor, Norfolk, is very
+      anxious to know. This little conundrum came by the first post, and he was
+      to follow by the next train. There's a ring at the bell, Watson. I should
+      not be very much surprised if this were he.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A heavy step was heard upon the stairs, and an instant later there entered
+      a tall, ruddy, clean-shaven gentleman, whose clear eyes and florid cheeks
+      told of a life led far from the fogs of Baker Street. He seemed to bring a
+      whiff of his strong, fresh, bracing, east-coast air with him as he
+      entered. Having shaken hands with each of us, he was about to sit down
+      when his eye rested upon the paper with the curious markings, which I had
+      just examined and left upon the table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Mr. Holmes, what do you make of these?&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;They told me
+      that you were fond of queer mysteries, and I don't think you can find a
+      queerer one than that. I sent the paper on ahead so that you might have
+      time to study it before I came.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is certainly rather a curious production,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;At first
+      sight it would appear to be some childish prank. It consists of a number
+      of absurd little figures dancing across the paper upon which they are
+      drawn. Why should you attribute any importance to so grotesque an object?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never should, Mr. Holmes. But my wife does. It is frightening her to
+      death. She says nothing, but I can see terror in her eyes. That's why I
+      want to sift the matter to the bottom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes held up the paper so that the sunlight shone full upon it. It was a
+      page torn from a note-book. The markings were done in pencil, and ran in
+      this way:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      GRAPHIC
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes examined it for some time, and then, folding it carefully up, he
+      placed it in his pocket-book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This promises to be a most interesting and unusual case,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;You
+      gave me a few particulars in your letter, Mr. Hilton Cubitt, but I should
+      be very much obliged if you would kindly go over it all again for the
+      benefit of my friend, Dr. Watson.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm not much of a story-teller,&rdquo; said our visitor, nervously clasping and
+      unclasping his great, strong hands. &ldquo;You'll just ask me anything that I
+      don't make clear. I'll begin at the time of my marriage last year; but I
+      want to say first of all that, though I'm not a rich man, my people have
+      been at Ridling Thorpe for a matter of five centuries, and there is no
+      better known family in the County of Norfolk. Last year I came up to
+      London for the Jubilee, and I stopped at a boarding-house in Russell
+      Square, because Parker, the vicar of our parish, was staying in it. There
+      was an American young lady there&mdash;Patrick was the name&mdash;Elsie
+      Patrick. In some way we became friends, until before my month was up I was
+      as much in love as a man could be. We were quietly married at a registry
+      office, and we returned to Norfolk a wedded couple. You'll think it very
+      mad, Mr. Holmes, that a man of a good old family should marry a wife in
+      this fashion, knowing nothing of her past or of her people; but if you saw
+      her and knew her it would help you to understand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She was very straight about it, was Elsie. I can't say that she did not
+      give me every chance of getting out of it if I wished to do so. 'I have
+      had some very disagreeable associations in my life,' said she; 'I wish to
+      forget all about them. I would rather never allude to the past, for it is
+      very painful to me. If you take me, Hilton, you will take a woman who has
+      nothing that she need be personally ashamed of; but you will have to be
+      content with my word for it, and to allow me to be silent as to all that
+      passed up to the time when I became yours. If these conditions are too
+      hard, then go back to Norfolk and leave me to the lonely life in which you
+      found me.' It was only the day before our wedding that she said those very
+      words to me. I told her that I was content to take her on her own terms,
+      and I have been as good as my word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we have been married now for a year, and very happy we have been.
+      But about a month ago, at the end of June, I saw for the first time signs
+      of trouble. One day my wife received a letter from America. I saw the
+      American stamp. She turned deadly white, read the letter, and threw it
+      into the fire. She made no allusion to it afterwards, and I made none, for
+      a promise is a promise; but she has never known an easy hour from that
+      moment. There is always a look of fear upon her face&mdash;a look as if
+      she were waiting and expecting. She would do better to trust me. She would
+      find that I was her best friend. But until she speaks I can say nothing.
+      Mind you, she is a truthful woman, Mr. Holmes, and whatever trouble there
+      may have been in her past life it has been no fault of hers. I am only a
+      simple Norfolk squire, but there is not a man in England who ranks his
+      family honour more highly than I do. She knows it well, and she knew it
+      well before she married me. She would never bring any stain upon it&mdash;of
+      that I am sure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, now I come to the queer part of my story. About a week ago&mdash;it
+      was the Tuesday of last week&mdash;I found on one of the window-sills a
+      number of absurd little dancing figures, like these upon the paper. They
+      were scrawled with chalk. I thought that it was the stable-boy who had
+      drawn them, but the lad swore he knew nothing about it. Anyhow, they had
+      come there during the night. I had them washed out, and I only mentioned
+      the matter to my wife afterwards. To my surprise she took it very
+      seriously, and begged me if any more came to let her see them. None did
+      come for a week, and then yesterday morning I found this paper lying on
+      the sun-dial in the garden. I showed it to Elsie, and down she dropped in
+      a dead faint. Since then she has looked like a woman in a dream, half
+      dazed, and with terror always lurking in her eyes. It was then that I
+      wrote and sent the paper to you, Mr. Holmes. It was not a thing that I
+      could take to the police, for they would have laughed at me, but you will
+      tell me what to do. I am not a rich man; but if there is any danger
+      threatening my little woman I would spend my last copper to shield her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was a fine creature, this man of the old English soil, simple,
+      straight, and gentle, with his great, earnest blue eyes and broad, comely
+      face. His love for his wife and his trust in her shone in his features.
+      Holmes had listened to his story with the utmost attention, and now he sat
+      for some time in silent thought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you think, Mr. Cubitt,&rdquo; said he, at last, &ldquo;that your best plan
+      would be to make a direct appeal to your wife, and to ask her to share her
+      secret with you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Hilton Cubitt shook his massive head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A promise is a promise, Mr. Holmes. If Elsie wished to tell me she would.
+      If not, it is not for me to force her confidence. But I am justified in
+      taking my own line&mdash;and I will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I will help you with all my heart. In the first place, have you
+      heard of any strangers being seen in your neighbourhood?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I presume that it is a very quiet place. Any fresh face would cause
+      comment?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the immediate neighbourhood, yes. But we have several small
+      watering-places not very far away. And the farmers take in lodgers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These hieroglyphics have evidently a meaning. If it is a purely arbitrary
+      one it may be impossible for us to solve it. If, on the other hand, it is
+      systematic, I have no doubt that we shall get to the bottom of it. But
+      this particular sample is so short that I can do nothing, and the facts
+      which you have brought me are so indefinite that we have no basis for an
+      investigation. I would suggest that you return to Norfolk, that you keep a
+      keen look-out, and that you take an exact copy of any fresh dancing men
+      which may appear. It is a thousand pities that we have not a reproduction
+      of those which were done in chalk upon the window-sill. Make a discreet
+      inquiry also as to any strangers in the neighbourhood. When you have
+      collected some fresh evidence come to me again. That is the best advice
+      which I can give you, Mr. Hilton Cubitt. If there are any pressing fresh
+      developments I shall be always ready to run down and see you in your
+      Norfolk home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The interview left Sherlock Holmes very thoughtful, and several times in
+      the next few days I saw him take his slip of paper from his note-book and
+      look long and earnestly at the curious figures inscribed upon it. He made
+      no allusion to the affair, however, until one afternoon a fortnight or so
+      later. I was going out when he called me back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You had better stay here, Watson.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I had a wire from Hilton Cubitt this morning&mdash;you remember
+      Hilton Cubitt, of the dancing men? He was to reach Liverpool Street at
+      one-twenty. He may be here at any moment. I gather from his wire that
+      there have been some new incidents of importance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We had not long to wait, for our Norfolk squire came straight from the
+      station as fast as a hansom could bring him. He was looking worried and
+      depressed, with tired eyes and a lined forehead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's getting on my nerves, this business, Mr. Holmes,&rdquo; said he, as he
+      sank, like a wearied man, into an arm-chair. &ldquo;It's bad enough to feel that
+      you are surrounded by unseen, unknown folk, who have some kind of design
+      upon you; but when, in addition to that, you know that it is just killing
+      your wife by inches, then it becomes as much as flesh and blood can
+      endure. She's wearing away under it&mdash;just wearing away before my
+      eyes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has she said anything yet?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Mr. Holmes, she has not. And yet there have been times when the poor
+      girl has wanted to speak, and yet could not quite bring herself to take
+      the plunge. I have tried to help her; but I dare say I did it clumsily,
+      and scared her off from it. She has spoken about my old family, and our
+      reputation in the county, and our pride in our unsullied honour, and I
+      always felt it was leading to the point; but somehow it turned off before
+      we got there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you have found out something for yourself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A good deal, Mr. Holmes. I have several fresh dancing men pictures for
+      you to examine, and, what is more important, I have seen the fellow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, the man who draws them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I saw him at his work. But I will tell you everything in order. When
+      I got back after my visit to you, the very first thing I saw next morning
+      was a fresh crop of dancing men. They had been drawn in chalk upon the
+      black wooden door of the tool-house, which stands beside the lawn in full
+      view of the front windows. I took an exact copy, and here it is.&rdquo; He
+      unfolded a paper and laid it upon the table. Here is a copy of the
+      hieroglyphics:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      GRAPHIC
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excellent!&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Excellent! Pray continue.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When I had taken the copy I rubbed out the marks; but two mornings later
+      a fresh inscription had appeared. I have a copy of it here&rdquo;:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      GRAPHIC
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes rubbed his hands and chuckled with delight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Our material is rapidly accumulating,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Three days later a message was left scrawled upon paper, and placed under
+      a pebble upon the sun-dial. Here it is. The characters are, as you see,
+      exactly the same as the last one. After that I determined to lie in wait;
+      so I got out my revolver and I sat up in my study, which overlooks the
+      lawn and garden. About two in the morning I was seated by the window, all
+      being dark save for the moonlight outside, when I heard steps behind me,
+      and there was my wife in her dressing-gown. She implored me to come to
+      bed. I told her frankly that I wished to see who it was who played such
+      absurd tricks upon us. She answered that it was some senseless practical
+      joke, and that I should not take any notice of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'If it really annoys you, Hilton, we might go and travel, you and I, and
+      so avoid this nuisance.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'What, be driven out of our own house by a practical joker?' said I.
+      'Why, we should have the whole county laughing at us.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Well, come to bed,' said she, 'and we can discuss it in the morning.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Suddenly, as she spoke, I saw her white face grow whiter yet in the
+      moonlight, and her hand tightened upon my shoulder. Something was moving
+      in the shadow of the tool-house. I saw a dark, creeping figure which
+      crawled round the corner and squatted in front of the door. Seizing my
+      pistol I was rushing out, when my wife threw her arms round me and held me
+      with convulsive strength. I tried to throw her off, but she clung to me
+      most desperately. At last I got clear, but by the time I had opened the
+      door and reached the house the creature was gone. He had left a trace of
+      his presence, however, for there on the door was the very same arrangement
+      of dancing men which had already twice appeared, and which I have copied
+      on that paper. There was no other sign of the fellow anywhere, though I
+      ran all over the grounds. And yet the amazing thing is that he must have
+      been there all the time, for when I examined the door again in the morning
+      he had scrawled some more of his pictures under the line which I had
+      already seen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you that fresh drawing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; it is very short, but I made a copy of it, and here it is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again he produced a paper. The new dance was in this form:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      GRAPHIC
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me,&rdquo; said Holmes&mdash;and I could see by his eyes that he was much
+      excited&mdash;&ldquo;was this a mere addition to the first, or did it appear to
+      be entirely separate?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was on a different panel of the door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excellent! This is far the most important of all for our purpose. It
+      fills me with hopes. Now, Mr. Hilton Cubitt, please continue your most
+      interesting statement.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have nothing more to say, Mr. Holmes, except that I was angry with my
+      wife that night for having held me back when I might have caught the
+      skulking rascal. She said that she feared that I might come to harm. For
+      an instant it had crossed my mind that perhaps what she really feared was
+      that HE might come to harm, for I could not doubt that she knew who this
+      man was and what he meant by these strange signals. But there is a tone in
+      my wife's voice, Mr. Holmes, and a look in her eyes which forbid doubt,
+      and I am sure that it was indeed my own safety that was in her mind.
+      There's the whole case, and now I want your advice as to what I ought to
+      do. My own inclination is to put half-a-dozen of my farm lads in the
+      shrubbery, and when this fellow comes again to give him such a hiding that
+      he will leave us in peace for the future.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear it is too deep a case for such simple remedies,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;How
+      long can you stay in London?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must go back to-day. I would not leave my wife alone all night for
+      anything. She is very nervous and begged me to come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I dare say you are right. But if you could have stopped I might possibly
+      have been able to return with you in a day or two. Meanwhile you will
+      leave me these papers, and I think that it is very likely that I shall be
+      able to pay you a visit shortly and to throw some light upon your case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sherlock Holmes preserved his calm professional manner until our visitor
+      had left us, although it was easy for me, who knew him so well, to see
+      that he was profoundly excited. The moment that Hilton Cubitt's broad back
+      had disappeared through the door my comrade rushed to the table, laid out
+      all the slips of paper containing dancing men in front of him, and threw
+      himself into an intricate and elaborate calculation. For two hours I
+      watched him as he covered sheet after sheet of paper with figures and
+      letters, so completely absorbed in his task that he had evidently
+      forgotten my presence. Sometimes he was making progress and whistled and
+      sang at his work; sometimes he was puzzled, and would sit for long spells
+      with a furrowed brow and a vacant eye. Finally he sprang from his chair
+      with a cry of satisfaction, and walked up and down the room rubbing his
+      hands together. Then he wrote a long telegram upon a cable form. &ldquo;If my
+      answer to this is as I hope, you will have a very pretty case to add to
+      your collection, Watson,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I expect that we shall be able to go
+      down to Norfolk to-morrow, and to take our friend some very definite news
+      as to the secret of his annoyance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I confess that I was filled with curiosity, but I was aware that Holmes
+      liked to make his disclosures at his own time and in his own way; so I
+      waited until it should suit him to take me into his confidence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But there was a delay in that answering telegram, and two days of
+      impatience followed, during which Holmes pricked up his ears at every ring
+      of the bell. On the evening of the second there came a letter from Hilton
+      Cubitt. All was quiet with him, save that a long inscription had appeared
+      that morning upon the pedestal of the sun-dial. He inclosed a copy of it,
+      which is here reproduced:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      GRAPHIC
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes bent over this grotesque frieze for some minutes, and then suddenly
+      sprang to his feet with an exclamation of surprise and dismay. His face
+      was haggard with anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have let this affair go far enough,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Is there a train to
+      North Walsham to-night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I turned up the time-table. The last had just gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we shall breakfast early and take the very first in the morning,&rdquo;
+       said Holmes. &ldquo;Our presence is most urgently needed. Ah! here is our
+      expected cablegram. One moment, Mrs. Hudson; there may be an answer. No,
+      that is quite as I expected. This message makes it even more essential
+      that we should not lose an hour in letting Hilton Cubitt know how matters
+      stand, for it is a singular and a dangerous web in which our simple
+      Norfolk squire is entangled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So, indeed, it proved, and as I come to the dark conclusion of a story
+      which had seemed to me to be only childish and bizarre I experience once
+      again the dismay and horror with which I was filled. Would that I had some
+      brighter ending to communicate to my readers, but these are the chronicles
+      of fact, and I must follow to their dark crisis the strange chain of
+      events which for some days made Ridling Thorpe Manor a household word
+      through the length and breadth of England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had hardly alighted at North Walsham, and mentioned the name of our
+      destination, when the station-master hurried towards us. &ldquo;I suppose that
+      you are the detectives from London?&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A look of annoyance passed over Holmes's face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What makes you think such a thing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because Inspector Martin from Norwich has just passed through. But maybe
+      you are the surgeons. She's not dead&mdash;or wasn't by last accounts. You
+      may be in time to save her yet&mdash;though it be for the gallows.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes's brow was dark with anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are going to Ridling Thorpe Manor,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;but we have heard
+      nothing of what has passed there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a terrible business,&rdquo; said the station-master. &ldquo;They are shot, both
+      Mr. Hilton Cubitt and his wife. She shot him and then herself&mdash;so the
+      servants say. He's dead and her life is despaired of. Dear, dear, one of
+      the oldest families in the County of Norfolk, and one of the most
+      honoured.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Without a word Holmes hurried to a carriage, and during the long seven
+      miles' drive he never opened his mouth. Seldom have I seen him so utterly
+      despondent. He had been uneasy during all our journey from town, and I had
+      observed that he had turned over the morning papers with anxious
+      attention; but now this sudden realization of his worst fears left him in
+      a blank melancholy. He leaned back in his seat, lost in gloomy
+      speculation. Yet there was much around to interest us, for we were passing
+      through as singular a country-side as any in England, where a few
+      scattered cottages represented the population of to-day, while on every
+      hand enormous square-towered churches bristled up from the flat, green
+      landscape and told of the glory and prosperity of old East Anglia. At last
+      the violet rim of the German Ocean appeared over the green edge of the
+      Norfolk coast, and the driver pointed with his whip to two old brick and
+      timber gables which projected from a grove of trees. &ldquo;That's Ridling
+      Thorpe Manor,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we drove up to the porticoed front door I observed in front of it,
+      beside the tennis lawn, the black tool-house and the pedestalled sun-dial
+      with which we had such strange associations. A dapper little man, with a
+      quick, alert manner and a waxed moustache, had just descended from a high
+      dog-cart. He introduced himself as Inspector Martin, of the Norfolk
+      Constabulary, and he was considerably astonished when he heard the name of
+      my companion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Mr. Holmes, the crime was only committed at three this morning. How
+      could you hear of it in London and get to the spot as soon as I?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I anticipated it. I came in the hope of preventing it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you must have important evidence of which we are ignorant, for they
+      were said to be a most united couple.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have only the evidence of the dancing men,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;I will
+      explain the matter to you later. Meanwhile, since it is too late to
+      prevent this tragedy, I am very anxious that I should use the knowledge
+      which I possess in order to ensure that justice be done. Will you
+      associate me in your investigation, or will you prefer that I should act
+      independently?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should be proud to feel that we were acting together, Mr. Holmes,&rdquo; said
+      the inspector, earnestly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that case I should be glad to hear the evidence and to examine the
+      premises without an instant of unnecessary delay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Martin had the good sense to allow my friend to do things in his
+      own fashion, and contented himself with carefully noting the results. The
+      local surgeon, an old, white-haired man, had just come down from Mrs.
+      Hilton Cubitt's room, and he reported that her injuries were serious, but
+      not necessarily fatal. The bullet had passed through the front of her
+      brain, and it would probably be some time before she could regain
+      consciousness. On the question of whether she had been shot or had shot
+      herself he would not venture to express any decided opinion. Certainly the
+      bullet had been discharged at very close quarters. There was only the one
+      pistol found in the room, two barrels of which had been emptied. Mr.
+      Hilton Cubitt had been shot through the heart. It was equally conceivable
+      that he had shot her and then himself, or that she had been the criminal,
+      for the revolver lay upon the floor midway between them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has he been moved?&rdquo; asked Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have moved nothing except the lady. We could not leave her lying
+      wounded upon the floor.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long have you been here, doctor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Since four o'clock.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anyone else?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, the constable here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you have touched nothing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have acted with great discretion. Who sent for you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The housemaid, Saunders.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was it she who gave the alarm?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She and Mrs. King, the cook.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are they now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the kitchen, I believe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I think we had better hear their story at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The old hall, oak-panelled and high-windowed, had been turned into a court
+      of investigation. Holmes sat in a great, old-fashioned chair, his
+      inexorable eyes gleaming out of his haggard face. I could read in them a
+      set purpose to devote his life to this quest until the client whom he had
+      failed to save should at last be avenged. The trim Inspector Martin, the
+      old, grey-headed country doctor, myself, and a stolid village policeman
+      made up the rest of that strange company.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two women told their story clearly enough. They had been aroused from
+      their sleep by the sound of an explosion, which had been followed a minute
+      later by a second one. They slept in adjoining rooms, and Mrs. King had
+      rushed in to Saunders. Together they had descended the stairs. The door of
+      the study was open and a candle was burning upon the table. Their master
+      lay upon his face in the centre of the room. He was quite dead. Near the
+      window his wife was crouching, her head leaning against the wall. She was
+      horribly wounded, and the side of her face was red with blood. She
+      breathed heavily, but was incapable of saying anything. The passage, as
+      well as the room, was full of smoke and the smell of powder. The window
+      was certainly shut and fastened upon the inside. Both women were positive
+      upon the point. They had at once sent for the doctor and for the
+      constable. Then, with the aid of the groom and the stable-boy, they had
+      conveyed their injured mistress to her room. Both she and her husband had
+      occupied the bed. She was clad in her dress&mdash;he in his dressing-gown,
+      over his night clothes. Nothing had been moved in the study. So far as
+      they knew there had never been any quarrel between husband and wife. They
+      had always looked upon them as a very united couple.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These were the main points of the servants' evidence. In answer to
+      Inspector Martin they were clear that every door was fastened upon the
+      inside, and that no one could have escaped from the house. In answer to
+      Holmes they both remembered that they were conscious of the smell of
+      powder from the moment that they ran out of their rooms upon the top
+      floor. &ldquo;I commend that fact very carefully to your attention,&rdquo; said Holmes
+      to his professional colleague. &ldquo;And now I think that we are in a position
+      to undertake a thorough examination of the room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The study proved to be a small chamber, lined on three sides with books,
+      and with a writing-table facing an ordinary window, which looked out upon
+      the garden. Our first attention was given to the body of the unfortunate
+      squire, whose huge frame lay stretched across the room. His disordered
+      dress showed that he had been hastily aroused from sleep. The bullet had
+      been fired at him from the front, and had remained in his body after
+      penetrating the heart. His death had certainly been instantaneous and
+      painless. There was no powder-marking either upon his dressing-gown or on
+      his hands. According to the country surgeon the lady had stains upon her
+      face, but none upon her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The absence of the latter means nothing, though its presence may mean
+      everything,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Unless the powder from a badly-fitting
+      cartridge happens to spurt backwards, one may fire many shots without
+      leaving a sign. I would suggest that Mr. Cubitt's body may now be removed.
+      I suppose, doctor, you have not recovered the bullet which wounded the
+      lady?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A serious operation will be necessary before that can be done. But there
+      are still four cartridges in the revolver. Two have been fired and two
+      wounds inflicted, so that each bullet can be accounted for.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So it would seem,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Perhaps you can account also for the
+      bullet which has so obviously struck the edge of the window?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had turned suddenly, and his long, thin finger was pointing to a hole
+      which had been drilled right through the lower window-sash about an inch
+      above the bottom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By George!&rdquo; cried the inspector. &ldquo;How ever did you see that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I looked for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wonderful!&rdquo; said the country doctor. &ldquo;You are certainly right, sir. Then
+      a third shot has been fired, and therefore a third person must have been
+      present. But who could that have been and how could he have got away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is the problem which we are now about to solve,&rdquo; said Sherlock
+      Holmes. &ldquo;You remember, Inspector Martin, when the servants said that on
+      leaving their room they were at once conscious of a smell of powder I
+      remarked that the point was an extremely important one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir; but I confess I did not quite follow you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It suggested that at the time of the firing the window as well as the
+      door of the room had been open. Otherwise the fumes of powder could not
+      have been blown so rapidly through the house. A draught in the room was
+      necessary for that. Both door and window were only open for a very short
+      time, however.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you prove that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because the candle has not guttered.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Capital!&rdquo; cried the inspector. &ldquo;Capital!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Feeling sure that the window had been open at the time of the tragedy I
+      conceived that there might have been a third person in the affair, who
+      stood outside this opening and fired through it. Any shot directed at this
+      person might hit the sash. I looked, and there, sure enough, was the
+      bullet mark!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But how came the window to be shut and fastened?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The woman's first instinct would be to shut and fasten the window. But,
+      halloa! what is this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a lady's hand-bag which stood upon the study table&mdash;a trim
+      little hand-bag of crocodile-skin and silver. Holmes opened it and turned
+      the contents out. There were twenty fifty-pound notes of the Bank of
+      England, held together by an india-rubber band&mdash;nothing else.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This must be preserved, for it will figure in the trial,&rdquo; said Holmes, as
+      he handed the bag with its contents to the inspector. &ldquo;It is now necessary
+      that we should try to throw some light upon this third bullet, which has
+      clearly, from the splintering of the wood, been fired from inside the
+      room. I should like to see Mrs. King, the cook, again. You said, Mrs.
+      King, that you were awakened by a LOUD explosion. When you said that, did
+      you mean that it seemed to you to be louder than the second one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, sir, it wakened me from my sleep, and so it is hard to judge. But
+      it did seem very loud.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't think that it might have been two shots fired almost at the
+      same instant?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure I couldn't say, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe that it was undoubtedly so. I rather think, Inspector Martin,
+      that we have now exhausted all that this room can teach us. If you will
+      kindly step round with me, we shall see what fresh evidence the garden has
+      to offer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A flower-bed extended up to the study window, and we all broke into an
+      exclamation as we approached it. The flowers were trampled down, and the
+      soft soil was imprinted all over with footmarks. Large, masculine feet
+      they were, with peculiarly long, sharp toes. Holmes hunted about among the
+      grass and leaves like a retriever after a wounded bird. Then, with a cry
+      of satisfaction, he bent forward and picked up a little brazen cylinder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought so,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;the revolver had an ejector, and here is the
+      third cartridge. I really think, Inspector Martin, that our case is almost
+      complete.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The country inspector's face had shown his intense amazement at the rapid
+      and masterful progress of Holmes's investigation. At first he had shown
+      some disposition to assert his own position; but now he was overcome with
+      admiration and ready to follow without question wherever Holmes led.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whom do you suspect?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll go into that later. There are several points in this problem which I
+      have not been able to explain to you yet. Now that I have got so far I had
+      best proceed on my own lines, and then clear the whole matter up once and
+      for all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just as you wish, Mr. Holmes, so long as we get our man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no desire to make mysteries, but it is impossible at the moment of
+      action to enter into long and complex explanations. I have the threads of
+      this affair all in my hand. Even if this lady should never recover
+      consciousness we can still reconstruct the events of last night and ensure
+      that justice be done. First of all I wish to know whether there is any inn
+      in this neighbourhood known as 'Elrige's'?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The servants were cross-questioned, but none of them had heard of such a
+      place. The stable-boy threw a light upon the matter by remembering that a
+      farmer of that name lived some miles off in the direction of East Ruston.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it a lonely farm?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very lonely, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps they have not heard yet of all that happened here during the
+      night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maybe not, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes thought for a little and then a curious smile played over his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Saddle a horse, my lad,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I shall wish you to take a note to
+      Elrige's Farm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took from his pocket the various slips of the dancing men. With these
+      in front of him he worked for some time at the study-table. Finally he
+      handed a note to the boy, with directions to put it into the hands of the
+      person to whom it was addressed, and especially to answer no questions of
+      any sort which might be put to him. I saw the outside of the note,
+      addressed in straggling, irregular characters, very unlike Holmes's usual
+      precise hand. It was consigned to Mr. Abe Slaney, Elrige's Farm, East
+      Ruston, Norfolk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, inspector,&rdquo; Holmes remarked, &ldquo;that you would do well to
+      telegraph for an escort, as, if my calculations prove to be correct, you
+      may have a particularly dangerous prisoner to convey to the county gaol.
+      The boy who takes this note could no doubt forward your telegram. If there
+      is an afternoon train to town, Watson, I think we should do well to take
+      it, as I have a chemical analysis of some interest to finish, and this
+      investigation draws rapidly to a close.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When the youth had been dispatched with the note, Sherlock Holmes gave his
+      instructions to the servants. If any visitor were to call asking for Mrs.
+      Hilton Cubitt no information should be given as to her condition, but he
+      was to be shown at once into the drawing-room. He impressed these points
+      upon them with the utmost earnestness. Finally he led the way into the
+      drawing-room with the remark that the business was now out of our hands,
+      and that we must while away the time as best we might until we could see
+      what was in store for us. The doctor had departed to his patients, and
+      only the inspector and myself remained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think that I can help you to pass an hour in an interesting and
+      profitable manner,&rdquo; said Holmes, drawing his chair up to the table and
+      spreading out in front of him the various papers upon which were recorded
+      the antics of the dancing men. &ldquo;As to you, friend Watson, I owe you every
+      atonement for having allowed your natural curiosity to remain so long
+      unsatisfied. To you, inspector, the whole incident may appeal as a
+      remarkable professional study. I must tell you first of all the
+      interesting circumstances connected with the previous consultations which
+      Mr. Hilton Cubitt has had with me in Baker Street.&rdquo; He then shortly
+      recapitulated the facts which have already been recorded. &ldquo;I have here in
+      front of me these singular productions, at which one might smile had they
+      not proved themselves to be the fore-runners of so terrible a tragedy. I
+      am fairly familiar with all forms of secret writings, and am myself the
+      author of a trifling monograph upon the subject, in which I analyze one
+      hundred and sixty separate ciphers; but I confess that this is entirely
+      new to me. The object of those who invented the system has apparently been
+      to conceal that these characters convey a message, and to give the idea
+      that they are the mere random sketches of children.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Having once recognised, however, that the symbols stood for letters, and
+      having applied the rules which guide us in all forms of secret writings,
+      the solution was easy enough. The first message submitted to me was so
+      short that it was impossible for me to do more than to say with some
+      confidence that the symbol XXX stood for E. As you are aware, E is the
+      most common letter in the English alphabet, and it predominates to so
+      marked an extent that even in a short sentence one would expect to find it
+      most often. Out of fifteen symbols in the first message four were the
+      same, so it was reasonable to set this down as E. It is true that in some
+      cases the figure was bearing a flag and in some cases not, but it was
+      probable from the way in which the flags were distributed that they were
+      used to break the sentence up into words. I accepted this as a hypothesis,
+      and noted that E was represented by XXX.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But now came the real difficulty of the inquiry. The order of the English
+      letters after E is by no means well marked, and any preponderance which
+      may be shown in an average of a printed sheet may be reversed in a single
+      short sentence. Speaking roughly, T, A, O, I, N, S, H, R, D, and L are the
+      numerical order in which letters occur; but T, A, O, and I are very nearly
+      abreast of each other, and it would be an endless task to try each
+      combination until a meaning was arrived at. I, therefore, waited for fresh
+      material. In my second interview with Mr. Hilton Cubitt he was able to
+      give me two other short sentences and one message, which appeared&mdash;since
+      there was no flag&mdash;to be a single word. Here are the symbols. Now, in
+      the single word I have already got the two E's coming second and fourth in
+      a word of five letters. It might be 'sever,' or 'lever,' or 'never.' There
+      can be no question that the latter as a reply to an appeal is far the most
+      probable, and the circumstances pointed to its being a reply written by
+      the lady. Accepting it as correct, we are now able to say that the symbols
+      XXX stand respectively for N, V, and R.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Even now I was in considerable difficulty, but a happy thought put me in
+      possession of several other letters. It occurred to me that if these
+      appeals came, as I expected, from someone who had been intimate with the
+      lady in her early life, a combination which contained two E's with three
+      letters between might very well stand for the name 'ELSIE.' On examination
+      I found that such a combination formed the termination of the message
+      which was three times repeated. It was certainly some appeal to 'Elsie.'
+      In this way I had got my L, S, and I. But what appeal could it be? There
+      were only four letters in the word which preceded 'Elsie,' and it ended in
+      E. Surely the word must be 'COME.' I tried all other four letters ending
+      in E, but could find none to fit the case. So now I was in possession of
+      C, O, and M, and I was in a position to attack the first message once
+      more, dividing it into words and putting dots for each symbol which was
+      still unknown. So treated it worked out in this fashion:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+       .M .ERE ..E  SL.NE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now the first letter CAN only be A, which is a most useful discovery,
+      since it occurs no fewer than three times in this short sentence, and the
+      H is also apparent in the second word. Now it becomes:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+        AM  HERE  A.E  SLANE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Or, filling in the obvious vacancies in the name:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+        AM  HERE  ABE  SLANEY.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      I had so many letters now that I could proceed with considerable
+      confidence to the second message, which worked out in this fashion:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+        A.  ELRI.ES.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Here I could only make sense by putting T and G for the missing letters,
+      and supposing that the name was that of some house or inn at which the
+      writer was staying.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Inspector Martin and I had listened with the utmost interest to the full
+      and clear account of how my friend had produced results which had led to
+      so complete a command over our difficulties.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did you do then, sir?&rdquo; asked the inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had every reason to suppose that this Abe Slaney was an American, since
+      Abe is an American contraction, and since a letter from America had been
+      the starting-point of all the trouble. I had also every cause to think
+      that there was some criminal secret in the matter. The lady's allusions to
+      her past and her refusal to take her husband into her confidence both
+      pointed in that direction. I therefore cabled to my friend, Wilson
+      Hargreave, of the New York Police Bureau, who has more than once made use
+      of my knowledge of London crime. I asked him whether the name of Abe
+      Slaney was known to him. Here is his reply: 'The most dangerous crook in
+      Chicago.' On the very evening upon which I had his answer Hilton Cubitt
+      sent me the last message from Slaney. Working with known letters it took
+      this form:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+         ELSIE .RE.ARE  TO  MEET  THY  GO.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The addition of a P and a D completed a message which showed me that the
+      rascal was proceeding from persuasion to threats, and my knowledge of the
+      crooks of Chicago prepared me to find that he might very rapidly put his
+      words into action. I at once came to Norfolk with my friend and colleague,
+      Dr. Watson, but, unhappily, only in time to find that the worst had
+      already occurred.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a privilege to be associated with you in the handling of a case,&rdquo;
+       said the inspector, warmly. &ldquo;You will excuse me, however, if I speak
+      frankly to you. You are only answerable to yourself, but I have to answer
+      to my superiors. If this Abe Slaney, living at Elrige's, is indeed the
+      murderer, and if he has made his escape while I am seated here, I should
+      certainly get into serious trouble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You need not be uneasy. He will not try to escape.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To fly would be a confession of guilt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then let us go to arrest him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I expect him here every instant.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why should he come?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I have written and asked him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But this is incredible, Mr. Holmes! Why should he come because you have
+      asked him? Would not such a request rather rouse his suspicions and cause
+      him to fly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I have known how to frame the letter,&rdquo; said Sherlock Holmes. &ldquo;In
+      fact, if I am not very much mistaken, here is the gentleman himself coming
+      up the drive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A man was striding up the path which led to the door. He was a tall,
+      handsome, swarthy fellow, clad in a suit of grey flannel, with a Panama
+      hat, a bristling black beard, and a great, aggressive hooked nose, and
+      flourishing a cane as he walked. He swaggered up the path as if the place
+      belonged to him, and we heard his loud, confident peal at the bell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, gentlemen,&rdquo; said Holmes, quietly, &ldquo;that we had best take up our
+      position behind the door. Every precaution is necessary when dealing with
+      such a fellow. You will need your handcuffs, inspector. You can leave the
+      talking to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We waited in silence for a minute&mdash;one of those minutes which one can
+      never forget. Then the door opened and the man stepped in. In an instant
+      Holmes clapped a pistol to his head and Martin slipped the handcuffs over
+      his wrists. It was all done so swiftly and deftly that the fellow was
+      helpless before he knew that he was attacked. He glared from one to the
+      other of us with a pair of blazing black eyes. Then he burst into a bitter
+      laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, gentlemen, you have the drop on me this time. I seem to have
+      knocked up against something hard. But I came here in answer to a letter
+      from Mrs. Hilton Cubitt. Don't tell me that she is in this? Don't tell me
+      that she helped to set a trap for me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mrs. Hilton Cubitt was seriously injured and is at death's door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man gave a hoarse cry of grief which rang through the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're crazy!&rdquo; he cried, fiercely. &ldquo;It was he that was hurt, not she. Who
+      would have hurt little Elsie? I may have threatened her, God forgive me,
+      but I would not have touched a hair of her pretty head. Take it back&mdash;you!
+      Say that she is not hurt!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She was found badly wounded by the side of her dead husband.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sank with a deep groan on to the settee and buried his face in his
+      manacled hands. For five minutes he was silent. Then he raised his face
+      once more, and spoke with the cold composure of despair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have nothing to hide from you, gentlemen,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;If I shot the man
+      he had his shot at me, and there's no murder in that. But if you think I
+      could have hurt that woman, then you don't know either me or her. I tell
+      you there was never a man in this world loved a woman more than I loved
+      her. I had a right to her. She was pledged to me years ago. Who was this
+      Englishman that he should come between us? I tell you that I had the first
+      right to her, and that I was only claiming my own.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She broke away from your influence when she found the man that you are,&rdquo;
+       said Holmes, sternly. &ldquo;She fled from America to avoid you, and she married
+      an honourable gentleman in England. You dogged her and followed her and
+      made her life a misery to her in order to induce her to abandon the
+      husband whom she loved and respected in order to fly with you, whom she
+      feared and hated. You have ended by bringing about the death of a noble
+      man and driving his wife to suicide. That is your record in this business,
+      Mr. Abe Slaney, and you will answer for it to the law.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If Elsie dies I care nothing what becomes of me,&rdquo; said the American. He
+      opened one of his hands and looked at a note crumpled up in his palm. &ldquo;See
+      here, mister,&rdquo; he cried, with a gleam of suspicion in his eyes, &ldquo;you're
+      not trying to scare me over this, are you? If the lady is hurt as bad as
+      you say, who was it that wrote this note?&rdquo; He tossed it forwards on to the
+      table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wrote it to bring you here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You wrote it? There was no one on earth outside the Joint who knew the
+      secret of the dancing men. How came you to write it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What one man can invent another can discover,&rdquo; said Holmes. There is a
+      cab coming to convey you to Norwich, Mr. Slaney. But, meanwhile, you have
+      time to make some small reparation for the injury you have wrought. Are
+      you aware that Mrs. Hilton Cubitt has herself lain under grave suspicion
+      of the murder of her husband, and that it was only my presence here and
+      the knowledge which I happened to possess which has saved her from the
+      accusation? The least that you owe her is to make it clear to the whole
+      world that she was in no way, directly or indirectly, responsible for his
+      tragic end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ask nothing better,&rdquo; said the American. &ldquo;I guess the very best case I
+      can make for myself is the absolute naked truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is my duty to warn you that it will be used against you,&rdquo; cried the
+      inspector, with the magnificent fair-play of the British criminal law.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Slaney shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll chance that,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;First of all, I want you gentlemen to
+      understand that I have known this lady since she was a child. There were
+      seven of us in a gang in Chicago, and Elsie's father was the boss of the
+      Joint. He was a clever man, was old Patrick. It was he who invented that
+      writing, which would pass as a child's scrawl unless you just happened to
+      have the key to it. Well, Elsie learned some of our ways; but she couldn't
+      stand the business, and she had a bit of honest money of her own, so she
+      gave us all the slip and got away to London. She had been engaged to me,
+      and she would have married me, I believe, if I had taken over another
+      profession; but she would have nothing to do with anything on the cross.
+      It was only after her marriage to this Englishman that I was able to find
+      out where she was. I wrote to her, but got no answer. After that I came
+      over, and, as letters were no use, I put my messages where she could read
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I have been here a month now. I lived in that farm, where I had a
+      room down below, and could get in and out every night, and no one the
+      wiser. I tried all I could to coax Elsie away. I knew that she read the
+      messages, for once she wrote an answer under one of them. Then my temper
+      got the better of me, and I began to threaten her. She sent me a letter
+      then, imploring me to go away and saying that it would break her heart if
+      any scandal should come upon her husband. She said that she would come
+      down when her husband was asleep at three in the morning, and speak with
+      me through the end window, if I would go away afterwards and leave her in
+      peace. She came down and brought money with her, trying to bribe me to go.
+      This made me mad, and I caught her arm and tried to pull her through the
+      window. At that moment in rushed the husband with his revolver in his
+      hand. Elsie had sunk down upon the floor, and we were face to face. I was
+      heeled also, and I held up my gun to scare him off and let me get away. He
+      fired and missed me. I pulled off almost at the same instant, and down he
+      dropped. I made away across the garden, and as I went I heard the window
+      shut behind me. That's God's truth, gentlemen, every word of it, and I
+      heard no more about it until that lad came riding up with a note which
+      made me walk in here, like a jay, and give myself into your hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A cab had driven up whilst the American had been talking. Two uniformed
+      policemen sat inside. Inspector Martin rose and touched his prisoner on
+      the shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is time for us to go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can I see her first?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, she is not conscious. Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I only hope that if ever
+      again I have an important case I shall have the good fortune to have you
+      by my side.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We stood at the window and watched the cab drive away. As I turned back my
+      eye caught the pellet of paper which the prisoner had tossed upon the
+      table. It was the note with which Holmes had decoyed him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See if you can read it, Watson,&rdquo; said he, with a smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It contained no word, but this little line of dancing men:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      GRAPHIC
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you use the code which I have explained,&rdquo; said Holmes, &ldquo;you will find
+      that it simply means 'Come here at once.' I was convinced that it was an
+      invitation which he would not refuse, since he could never imagine that it
+      could come from anyone but the lady. And so, my dear Watson, we have ended
+      by turning the dancing men to good when they have so often been the agents
+      of evil, and I think that I have fulfilled my promise of giving you
+      something unusual for your note-book. Three-forty is our train, and I
+      fancy we should be back in Baker Street for dinner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Only one word of epilogue. The American, Abe Slaney, was condemned to
+      death at the winter assizes at Norwich; but his penalty was changed to
+      penal servitude in consideration of mitigating circumstances, and the
+      certainty that Hilton Cubitt had fired the first shot. Of Mrs. Hilton
+      Cubitt I only know that I have heard she recovered entirely, and that she
+      still remains a widow, devoting her whole life to the care of the poor and
+      to the administration of her husband's estate.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                    Vol. 27  JANUARY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      IV.&mdash;The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      FROM the years 1894 to 1901 inclusive Mr. Sherlock Holmes was a very busy
+      man. It is safe to say that there was no public case of any difficulty in
+      which he was not consulted during those eight years, and there were
+      hundreds of private cases, some of them of the most intricate and
+      extraordinary character, in which he played a prominent part. Many
+      startling successes and a few unavoidable failures were the outcome of
+      this long period of continuous work. As I have preserved very full notes
+      of all these cases, and was myself personally engaged in many of them, it
+      may be imagined that it is no easy task to know which I should select to
+      lay before the public. I shall, however, preserve my former rule, and give
+      the preference to those cases which derive their interest not so much from
+      the brutality of the crime as from the ingenuity and dramatic quality of
+      the solution. For this reason I will now lay before the reader the facts
+      connected with Miss Violet Smith, the solitary cyclist of Charlington, and
+      the curious sequel of our investigation, which culminated in unexpected
+      tragedy. It is true that the circumstances did not admit of any striking
+      illustration of those powers for which my friend was famous, but there
+      were some points about the case which made it stand out in those long
+      records of crime from which I gather the material for these little
+      narratives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On referring to my note-book for the year 1895 I find that it was upon
+      Saturday, the 23rd of April, that we first heard of Miss Violet Smith. Her
+      visit was, I remember, extremely unwelcome to Holmes, for he was immersed
+      at the moment in a very abstruse and complicated problem concerning the
+      peculiar persecution to which John Vincent Harden, the well-known tobacco
+      millionaire, had been subjected. My friend, who loved above all things
+      precision and concentration of thought, resented anything which distracted
+      his attention from the matter in hand. And yet without a harshness which
+      was foreign to his nature it was impossible to refuse to listen to the
+      story of the young and beautiful woman, tall, graceful, and queenly, who
+      presented herself at Baker Street late in the evening and implored his
+      assistance and advice. It was vain to urge that his time was already fully
+      occupied, for the young lady had come with the determination to tell her
+      story, and it was evident that nothing short of force could get her out of
+      the room until she had done so. With a resigned air and a somewhat weary
+      smile, Holmes begged the beautiful intruder to take a seat and to inform
+      us what it was that was troubling her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At least it cannot be your health,&rdquo; said he, as his keen eyes darted over
+      her; &ldquo;so ardent a bicyclist must be full of energy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She glanced down in surprise at her own feet, and I observed the slight
+      roughening of the side of the sole caused by the friction of the edge of
+      the pedal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I bicycle a good deal, Mr. Holmes, and that has something to do with
+      my visit to you to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My friend took the lady's ungloved hand and examined it with as close an
+      attention and as little sentiment as a scientist would show to a specimen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will excuse me, I am sure. It is my business,&rdquo; said he, as he dropped
+      it. &ldquo;I nearly fell into the error of supposing that you were typewriting.
+      Of course, it is obvious that it is music. You observe the spatulate
+      finger-end, Watson, which is common to both professions? There is a
+      spirituality about the face, however&rdquo;&mdash;he gently turned it towards
+      the light&mdash;&ldquo;which the typewriter does not generate. This lady is a
+      musician.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Mr. Holmes, I teach music.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the country, I presume, from your complexion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir; near Farnham, on the borders of Surrey.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A beautiful neighbourhood and full of the most interesting associations.
+      You remember, Watson, that it was near there that we took Archie Stamford,
+      the forger. Now, Miss Violet, what has happened to you near Farnham, on
+      the borders of Surrey?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young lady, with great clearness and composure, made the following
+      curious statement:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My father is dead, Mr. Holmes. He was James Smith, who conducted the
+      orchestra at the old Imperial Theatre. My mother and I were left without a
+      relation in the world except one uncle, Ralph Smith, who went to Africa
+      twenty-five years ago, and we have never had a word from him since. When
+      father died we were left very poor, but one day we were told that there
+      was an advertisement in the TIMES inquiring for our whereabouts. You can
+      imagine how excited we were, for we thought that someone had left us a
+      fortune. We went at once to the lawyer whose name was given in the paper.
+      There we met two gentlemen, Mr. Carruthers and Mr. Woodley, who were home
+      on a visit from South Africa. They said that my uncle was a friend of
+      theirs, that he died some months before in great poverty in Johannesburg,
+      and that he had asked them with his last breath to hunt up his relations
+      and see that they were in no want. It seemed strange to us that Uncle
+      Ralph, who took no notice of us when he was alive, should be so careful to
+      look after us when he was dead; but Mr. Carruthers explained that the
+      reason was that my uncle had just heard of the death of his brother, and
+      so felt responsible for our fate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excuse me,&rdquo; said Holmes; &ldquo;when was this interview?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Last December&mdash;four months ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray proceed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Woodley seemed to me to be a most odious person. He was for ever
+      making eyes at me&mdash;a coarse, puffy-faced, red-moustached young man,
+      with his hair plastered down on each side of his forehead. I thought that
+      he was perfectly hateful&mdash;and I was sure that Cyril would not wish me
+      to know such a person.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Cyril is his name!&rdquo; said Holmes, smiling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young lady blushed and laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Mr. Holmes; Cyril Morton, an electrical engineer, and we hope to be
+      married at the end of the summer. Dear me, how DID I get talking about
+      him? What I wished to say was that Mr. Woodley was perfectly odious, but
+      that Mr. Carruthers, who was a much older man, was more agreeable. He was
+      a dark, sallow, clean-shaven, silent person; but he had polite manners and
+      a pleasant smile. He inquired how we were left, and on finding that we
+      were very poor he suggested that I should come and teach music to his only
+      daughter, aged ten. I said that I did not like to leave my mother, on
+      which he suggested that I should go home to her every week-end, and he
+      offered me a hundred a year, which was certainly splendid pay. So it ended
+      by my accepting, and I went down to Chiltern Grange, about six miles from
+      Farnham. Mr. Carruthers was a widower, but he had engaged a
+      lady-housekeeper, a very respectable, elderly person, called Mrs. Dixon,
+      to look after his establishment. The child was a dear, and everything
+      promised well. Mr. Carruthers was very kind and very musical, and we had
+      most pleasant evenings together. Every week-end I went home to my mother
+      in town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The first flaw in my happiness was the arrival of the red-moustached Mr.
+      Woodley. He came for a visit of a week, and oh, it seemed three months to
+      me! He was a dreadful person, a bully to everyone else, but to me
+      something infinitely worse. He made odious love to me, boasted of his
+      wealth, said that if I married him I would have the finest diamonds in
+      London, and finally, when I would have nothing to do with him, he seized
+      me in his arms one day after dinner&mdash;he was hideously strong&mdash;and
+      he swore that he would not let me go until I had kissed him. Mr.
+      Carruthers came in and tore him off from me, on which he turned upon his
+      own host, knocking him down and cutting his face open. That was the end of
+      his visit, as you can imagine. Mr. Carruthers apologized to me next day,
+      and assured me that I should never be exposed to such an insult again. I
+      have not seen Mr. Woodley since.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now, Mr. Holmes, I come at last to the special thing which has caused
+      me to ask your advice to-day. You must know that every Saturday forenoon I
+      ride on my bicycle to Farnham Station in order to get the 12.22 to town.
+      The road from Chiltern Grange is a lonely one, and at one spot it is
+      particularly so, for it lies for over a mile between Charlington Heath
+      upon one side and the woods which lie round Charlington Hall upon the
+      other. You could not find a more lonely tract of road anywhere, and it is
+      quite rare to meet so much as a cart, or a peasant, until you reach the
+      high road near Crooksbury Hill. Two weeks ago I was passing this place
+      when I chanced to look back over my shoulder, and about two hundred yards
+      behind me I saw a man, also on a bicycle. He seemed to be a middle-aged
+      man, with a short, dark beard. I looked back before I reached Farnham, but
+      the man was gone, so I thought no more about it. But you can imagine how
+      surprised I was, Mr. Holmes, when on my return on the Monday I saw the
+      same man on the same stretch of road. My astonishment was increased when
+      the incident occurred again, exactly as before, on the following Saturday
+      and Monday. He always kept his distance and did not molest me in any way,
+      but still it certainly was very odd. I mentioned it to Mr. Carruthers, who
+      seemed interested in what I said, and told me that he had ordered a horse
+      and trap, so that in future I should not pass over these lonely roads
+      without some companion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The horse and trap were to have come this week, but for some reason they
+      were not delivered, and again I had to cycle to the station. That was this
+      morning. You can think that I looked out when I came to Charlington Heath,
+      and there, sure enough, was the man, exactly as he had been the two weeks
+      before. He always kept so far from me that I could not clearly see his
+      face, but it was certainly someone whom I did not know. He was dressed in
+      a dark suit with a cloth cap. The only thing about his face that I could
+      clearly see was his dark beard. To-day I was not alarmed, but I was filled
+      with curiosity, and I determined to find out who he was and what he
+      wanted. I slowed down my machine, but he slowed down his. Then I stopped
+      altogether, but he stopped also. Then I laid a trap for him. There is a
+      sharp turning of the road, and I pedalled very quickly round this, and
+      then I stopped and waited. I expected him to shoot round and pass me
+      before he could stop. But he never appeared. Then I went back and looked
+      round the corner. I could see a mile of road, but he was not on it. To
+      make it the more extraordinary, there was no side road at this point down
+      which he could have gone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes chuckled and rubbed his hands. &ldquo;This case certainly presents some
+      features of its own,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;How much time elapsed between your turning
+      the corner and your discovery that the road was clear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two or three minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then he could not have retreated down the road, and you say that there
+      are no side roads?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then he certainly took a footpath on one side or the other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It could not have been on the side of the heath or I should have seen
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So by the process of exclusion we arrive at the fact that he made his way
+      towards Charlington Hall, which, as I understand, is situated in its own
+      grounds on one side of the road. Anything else?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, Mr. Holmes, save that I was so perplexed that I felt I should
+      not be happy until I had seen you and had your advice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes sat in silence for some little time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is the gentleman to whom you are engaged?&rdquo; he asked, at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is in the Midland Electrical Company, at Coventry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He would not pay you a surprise visit?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Mr. Holmes! As if I should not know him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you had any other admirers?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Several before I knew Cyril.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And since?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There was this dreadful man, Woodley, if you can call him an admirer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one else?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Our fair client seemed a little confused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who was he?&rdquo; asked Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, it may be a mere fancy of mine; but it has seemed to me sometimes
+      that my employer, Mr. Carruthers, takes a great deal of interest in me. We
+      are thrown rather together. I play his accompaniments in the evening. He
+      has never said anything. He is a perfect gentleman. But a girl always
+      knows.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha!&rdquo; Holmes looked grave. &ldquo;What does he do for a living?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is a rich man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No carriages or horses?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, at least he is fairly well-to-do. But he goes into the City two or
+      three times a week. He is deeply interested in South African gold shares.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will let me know any fresh development, Miss Smith. I am very busy
+      just now, but I will find time to make some inquiries into your case. In
+      the meantime take no step without letting me know. Good-bye, and I trust
+      that we shall have nothing but good news from you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is part of the settled order of Nature that such a girl should have
+      followers,&rdquo; said Holmes, as he pulled at his meditative pipe, &ldquo;but for
+      choice not on bicycles in lonely country roads. Some secretive lover,
+      beyond all doubt. But there are curious and suggestive details about the
+      case, Watson.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That he should appear only at that point?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. Our first effort must be to find who are the tenants of
+      Charlington Hall. Then, again, how about the connection between Carruthers
+      and Woodley, since they appear to be men of such a different type? How
+      came they BOTH to be so keen upon looking up Ralph Smith's relations? One
+      more point. What sort of a MENAGE is it which pays double the market price
+      for a governess, but does not keep a horse although six miles from the
+      station? Odd, Watson&mdash;very odd!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will go down?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, my dear fellow, YOU will go down. This may be some trifling intrigue,
+      and I cannot break my other important research for the sake of it. On
+      Monday you will arrive early at Farnham; you will conceal yourself near
+      Charlington Heath; you will observe these facts for yourself, and act as
+      your own judgment advises. Then, having inquired as to the occupants of
+      the Hall, you will come back to me and report. And now, Watson, not
+      another word of the matter until we have a few solid stepping-stones on
+      which we may hope to get across to our solution.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We had ascertained from the lady that she went down upon the Monday by the
+      train which leaves Waterloo at 9.50, so I started early and caught the
+      9.13. At Farnham Station I had no difficulty in being directed to
+      Charlington Heath. It was impossible to mistake the scene of the young
+      lady's adventure, for the road runs between the open heath on one side and
+      an old yew hedge upon the other, surrounding a park which is studded with
+      magnificent trees. There was a main gateway of lichen-studded stone, each
+      side pillar surmounted by mouldering heraldic emblems; but besides this
+      central carriage drive I observed several points where there were gaps in
+      the hedge and paths leading through them. The house was invisible from the
+      road, but the surroundings all spoke of gloom and decay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The heath was covered with golden patches of flowering gorse, gleaming
+      magnificently in the light of the bright spring sunshine. Behind one of
+      these clumps I took up my position, so as to command both the gateway of
+      the Hall and a long stretch of the road upon either side. It had been
+      deserted when I left it, but now I saw a cyclist riding down it from the
+      opposite direction to that in which I had come. He was clad in a dark
+      suit, and I saw that he had a black beard. On reaching the end of the
+      Charlington grounds he sprang from his machine and led it through a gap in
+      the hedge, disappearing from my view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A quarter of an hour passed and then a second cyclist appeared. This time
+      it was the young lady coming from the station. I saw her look about her as
+      she came to the Charlington hedge. An instant later the man emerged from
+      his hiding-place, sprang upon his cycle, and followed her. In all the
+      broad landscape those were the only moving figures, the graceful girl
+      sitting very straight upon her machine, and the man behind her bending low
+      over his handle-bar, with a curiously furtive suggestion in every
+      movement. She looked back at him and slowed her pace. He slowed also. She
+      stopped. He at once stopped too, keeping two hundred yards behind her. Her
+      next movement was as unexpected as it was spirited. She suddenly whisked
+      her wheels round and dashed straight at him! He was as quick as she,
+      however, and darted off in desperate flight. Presently she came back up
+      the road again, her head haughtily in the air, not deigning to take any
+      further notice of her silent attendant. He had turned also, and still kept
+      his distance until the curve of the road hid them from my sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remained in my hiding-place, and it was well that I did so, for
+      presently the man reappeared cycling slowly back. He turned in at the Hall
+      gates and dismounted from his machine. For some few minutes I could see
+      him standing among the trees. His hands were raised and he seemed to be
+      settling his necktie. Then he mounted his cycle and rode away from me down
+      the drive towards the Hall. I ran across the heath and peered through the
+      trees. Far away I could catch glimpses of the old grey building with its
+      bristling Tudor chimneys, but the drive ran through a dense shrubbery, and
+      I saw no more of my man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, it seemed to me that I had done a fairly good morning's work, and
+      I walked back in high spirits to Farnham. The local house-agent could tell
+      me nothing about Charlington Hall, and referred me to a well-known firm in
+      Pall Mall. There I halted on my way home, and met with courtesy from the
+      representative. No, I could not have Charlington Hall for the summer. I
+      was just too late. It had been let about a month ago. Mr. Williamson was
+      the name of the tenant. He was a respectable elderly gentleman. The polite
+      agent was afraid he could say no more, as the affairs of his clients were
+      not matters which he could discuss.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Sherlock Holmes listened with attention to the long report which I was
+      able to present to him that evening, but it did not elicit that word of
+      curt praise which I had hoped for and should have valued. On the contrary,
+      his austere face was even more severe than usual as he commented upon the
+      things that I had done and the things that I had not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your hiding-place, my dear Watson, was very faulty. You should have been
+      behind the hedge; then you would have had a close view of this interesting
+      person. As it is you were some hundreds of yards away, and can tell me
+      even less than Miss Smith. She thinks she does not know the man; I am
+      convinced she does. Why, otherwise, should he be so desperately anxious
+      that she should not get so near him as to see his features? You describe
+      him as bending over the handle-bar. Concealment again, you see. You really
+      have done remarkably badly. He returns to the house and you want to find
+      out who he is. You come to a London house-agent!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What should I have done?&rdquo; I cried, with some heat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gone to the nearest public-house. That is the centre of country gossip.
+      They would have told you every name, from the master to the scullery-maid.
+      Williamson! It conveys nothing to my mind. If he is an elderly man he is
+      not this active cyclist who sprints away from that athletic young lady's
+      pursuit. What have we gained by your expedition? The knowledge that the
+      girl's story is true. I never doubted it. That there is a connection
+      between the cyclist and the Hall. I never doubted that either. That the
+      Hall is tenanted by Williamson. Who's the better for that? Well, well, my
+      dear sir, don't look so depressed. We can do little more until next
+      Saturday, and in the meantime I may make one or two inquiries myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Next morning we had a note from Miss Smith, recounting shortly and
+      accurately the very incidents which I had seen, but the pith of the letter
+      lay in the postscript:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure that you will respect my confidence, Mr. Holmes, when I tell
+      you that my place here has become difficult owing to the fact that my
+      employer has proposed marriage to me. I am convinced that his feelings are
+      most deep and most honourable. At the same time my promise is, of course,
+      given. He took my refusal very seriously, but also very gently. You can
+      understand, however, that the situation is a little strained.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Our young friend seems to be getting into deep waters,&rdquo; said Holmes,
+      thoughtfully, as he finished the letter. &ldquo;The case certainly presents more
+      features of interest and more possibility of development than I had
+      originally thought. I should be none the worse for a quiet, peaceful day
+      in the country, and I am inclined to run down this afternoon and test one
+      or two theories which I have formed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes's quiet day in the country had a singular termination, for he
+      arrived at Baker Street late in the evening with a cut lip and a
+      discoloured lump upon his forehead, besides a general air of dissipation
+      which would have made his own person the fitting object of a Scotland Yard
+      investigation. He was immensely tickled by his own adventures, and laughed
+      heartily as he recounted them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I get so little active exercise that it is always a treat,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;You
+      are aware that I have some proficiency in the good old British sport of
+      boxing. Occasionally it is of service. To-day, for example, I should have
+      come to very ignominious grief without it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I begged him to tell me what had occurred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I found that country pub which I had already recommended to your notice,
+      and there I made my discreet inquiries. I was in the bar, and a garrulous
+      landlord was giving me all that I wanted. Williamson is a white-bearded
+      man, and he lives alone with a small staff of servants at the Hall. There
+      is some rumour that he is or has been a clergyman; but one or two
+      incidents of his short residence at the Hall struck me as peculiarly
+      unecclesiastical. I have already made some inquiries at a clerical agency,
+      and they tell me that there WAS a man of that name in orders whose career
+      has been a singularly dark one. The landlord further informed me that
+      there are usually week-end visitors&mdash;'a warm lot, sir'&mdash;at the
+      Hall, and especially one gentleman with a red moustache, Mr. Woodley by
+      name, who was always there. We had got as far as this when who should walk
+      in but the gentleman himself, who had been drinking his beer in the
+      tap-room and had heard the whole conversation. Who was I? What did I want?
+      What did I mean by asking questions? He had a fine flow of language, and
+      his adjectives were very vigorous. He ended a string of abuse by a vicious
+      back-hander which I failed to entirely avoid. The next few minutes were
+      delicious. It was a straight left against a slogging ruffian. I emerged as
+      you see me. Mr. Woodley went home in a cart. So ended my country trip, and
+      it must be confessed that, however enjoyable, my day on the Surrey border
+      has not been much more profitable than your own.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Thursday brought us another letter from our client.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will not be surprised, Mr. Holmes,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;to hear that I am
+      leaving Mr. Carruthers's employment. Even the high pay cannot reconcile me
+      to the discomforts of my situation. On Saturday I come up to town and I do
+      not intend to return. Mr. Carruthers has got a trap, and so the dangers of
+      the lonely road, if there ever were any dangers, are now over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to the special cause of my leaving, it is not merely the strained
+      situation with Mr. Carruthers, but it is the reappearance of that odious
+      man, Mr. Woodley. He was always hideous, but he looks more awful than ever
+      now, for he appears to have had an accident and he is much disfigured. I
+      saw him out of the window, but I am glad to say I did not meet him. He had
+      a long talk with Mr. Carruthers, who seemed much excited afterwards.
+      Woodley must be staying in the neighbourhood, for he did not sleep here,
+      and yet I caught a glimpse of him again this morning slinking about in the
+      shrubbery. I would sooner have a savage wild animal loose about the place.
+      I loathe and fear him more than I can say. How CAN Mr. Carruthers endure
+      such a creature for a moment? However, all my troubles will be over on
+      Saturday.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I trust, Watson; so I trust,&rdquo; said Holmes, gravely. &ldquo;There is some
+      deep intrigue going on round that little woman, and it is our duty to see
+      that no one molests her upon that last journey. I think, Watson, that we
+      must spare time to run down together on Saturday morning, and make sure
+      that this curious and inconclusive investigation has no untoward ending.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I confess that I had not up to now taken a very serious view of the case,
+      which had seemed to me rather grotesque and bizarre than dangerous. That a
+      man should lie in wait for and follow a very handsome woman is no
+      unheard-of thing, and if he had so little audacity that he not only dared
+      not address her, but even fled from her approach, he was not a very
+      formidable assailant. The ruffian Woodley was a very different person,
+      but, except on one occasion, he had not molested our client, and now he
+      visited the house of Carruthers without intruding upon her presence. The
+      man on the bicycle was doubtless a member of those week-end parties at the
+      Hall of which the publican had spoken; but who he was or what he wanted
+      was as obscure as ever. It was the severity of Holmes's manner and the
+      fact that he slipped a revolver into his pocket before leaving our rooms
+      which impressed me with the feeling that tragedy might prove to lurk
+      behind this curious train of events.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A rainy night had been followed by a glorious morning, and the
+      heath-covered country-side with the glowing clumps of flowering gorse
+      seemed all the more beautiful to eyes which were weary of the duns and
+      drabs and slate-greys of London. Holmes and I walked along the broad,
+      sandy road inhaling the fresh morning air, and rejoicing in the music of
+      the birds and the fresh breath of the spring. From a rise of the road on
+      the shoulder of Crooksbury Hill we could see the grim Hall bristling out
+      from amidst the ancient oaks, which, old as they were, were still younger
+      than the building which they surrounded. Holmes pointed down the long
+      tract of road which wound, a reddish yellow band, between the brown of the
+      heath and the budding green of the woods. Far away, a black dot, we could
+      see a vehicle moving in our direction. Holmes gave an exclamation of
+      impatience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had given a margin of half an hour,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;If that is her trap she
+      must be making for the earlier train. I fear, Watson, that she will be
+      past Charlington before we can possibly meet her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      From the instant that we passed the rise we could no longer see the
+      vehicle, but we hastened onwards at such a pace that my sedentary life
+      began to tell upon me, and I was compelled to fall behind. Holmes,
+      however, was always in training, for he had inexhaustible stores of
+      nervous energy upon which to draw. His springy step never slowed until
+      suddenly, when he was a hundred yards in front of me, he halted, and I saw
+      him throw up his hand with a gesture of grief and despair. At the same
+      instant an empty dog-cart, the horse cantering, the reins trailing,
+      appeared round the curve of the road and rattled swiftly towards us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too late, Watson; too late!&rdquo; cried Holmes, as I ran panting to his side.
+      &ldquo;Fool that I was not to allow for that earlier train! It's abduction,
+      Watson&mdash;abduction! Murder! Heaven knows what! Block the road! Stop
+      the horse! That's right. Now, jump in, and let us see if I can repair the
+      consequences of my own blunder.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We had sprung into the dog-cart, and Holmes, after turning the horse, gave
+      it a sharp cut with the whip, and we flew back along the road. As we
+      turned the curve the whole stretch of road between the Hall and the heath
+      was opened up. I grasped Holmes's arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's the man!&rdquo; I gasped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A solitary cyclist was coming towards us. His head was down and his
+      shoulders rounded as he put every ounce of energy that he possessed on to
+      the pedals. He was flying like a racer. Suddenly he raised his bearded
+      face, saw us close to him, and pulled up, springing from his machine. That
+      coal-black beard was in singular contrast to the pallor of his face, and
+      his eyes were as bright as if he had a fever. He stared at us and at the
+      dog-cart. Then a look of amazement came over his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Halloa! Stop there!&rdquo; he shouted, holding his bicycle to block our road.
+      &ldquo;Where did you get that dog-cart? Pull up, man!&rdquo; he yelled, drawing a
+      pistol from his side pocket. &ldquo;Pull up, I say, or, by George, I'll put a
+      bullet into your horse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes threw the reins into my lap and sprang down from the cart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're the man we want to see. Where is Miss Violet Smith?&rdquo; he said, in
+      his quick, clear way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's what I am asking you. You're in her dog-cart. You ought to know
+      where she is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We met the dog-cart on the road. There was no one in it. We drove back to
+      help the young lady.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Lord! Good Lord! what shall I do?&rdquo; cried the stranger, in an ecstasy
+      of despair. &ldquo;They've got her, that hellhound Woodley and the blackguard
+      parson. Come, man, come, if you really are her friend. Stand by me and
+      we'll save her, if I have to leave my carcass in Charlington Wood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He ran distractedly, his pistol in his hand, towards a gap in the hedge.
+      Holmes followed him, and I, leaving the horse grazing beside the road,
+      followed Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is where they came through,&rdquo; said he, pointing to the marks of
+      several feet upon the muddy path. &ldquo;Halloa! Stop a minute! Who's this in
+      the bush?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a young fellow about seventeen, dressed like an ostler, with
+      leather cords and gaiters. He lay upon his back, his knees drawn up, a
+      terrible cut upon his head. He was insensible, but alive. A glance at his
+      wound told me that it had not penetrated the bone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's Peter, the groom,&rdquo; cried the stranger. &ldquo;He drove her. The beasts
+      have pulled him off and clubbed him. Let him lie; we can't do him any
+      good, but we may save her from the worst fate that can befall a woman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We ran frantically down the path, which wound among the trees. We had
+      reached the shrubbery which surrounded the house when Holmes pulled up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They didn't go to the house. Here are their marks on the left&mdash;here,
+      beside the laurel bushes! Ah, I said so!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As he spoke a woman's shrill scream&mdash;a scream which vibrated with a
+      frenzy of horror&mdash;burst from the thick green clump of bushes in front
+      of us. It ended suddenly on its highest note with a choke and a gurgle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This way! This way! They are in the bowling alley,&rdquo; cried the stranger,
+      darting through the bushes. &ldquo;Ah, the cowardly dogs! Follow me, gentlemen!
+      Too late! too late! by the living Jingo!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We had broken suddenly into a lovely glade of greensward surrounded by
+      ancient trees. On the farther side of it, under the shadow of a mighty
+      oak, there stood a singular group of three people. One was a woman, our
+      client, drooping and faint, a handkerchief round her mouth. Opposite her
+      stood a brutal, heavy-faced, red-moustached young man, his gaitered legs
+      parted wide, one arm akimbo, the other waving a riding-crop, his whole
+      attitude suggestive of triumphant bravado. Between them an elderly,
+      grey-bearded man, wearing a short surplice over a light tweed suit, had
+      evidently just completed the wedding service, for he pocketed his
+      prayer-book as we appeared and slapped the sinister bridegroom upon the
+      back in jovial congratulation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're married!&rdquo; I gasped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on!&rdquo; cried our guide; &ldquo;come on!&rdquo; He rushed across the glade, Holmes
+      and I at his heels. As we approached, the lady staggered against the trunk
+      of the tree for support. Williamson, the ex-clergyman, bowed to us with
+      mock politeness, and the bully Woodley advanced with a shout of brutal and
+      exultant laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can take your beard off, Bob,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I know you right enough.
+      Well, you and your pals have just come in time for me to be able to
+      introduce you to Mrs. Woodley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Our guide's answer was a singular one. He snatched off the dark beard
+      which had disguised him and threw it on the ground, disclosing a long,
+      sallow, clean-shaven face below it. Then he raised his revolver and
+      covered the young ruffian, who was advancing upon him with his dangerous
+      riding-crop swinging in his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said our ally, &ldquo;I AM Bob Carruthers, and I'll see this woman
+      righted if I have to swing for it. I told you what I'd do if you molested
+      her, and, by the Lord, I'll be as good as my word!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're too late. She's my wife!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, she's your widow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His revolver cracked, and I saw the blood spurt from the front of
+      Woodley's waistcoat. He spun round with a scream and fell upon his back,
+      his hideous red face turning suddenly to a dreadful mottled pallor. The
+      old man, still clad in his surplice, burst into such a string of foul
+      oaths as I have never heard, and pulled out a revolver of his own, but
+      before he could raise it he was looking down the barrel of Holmes's
+      weapon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Enough of this,&rdquo; said my friend, coldly. &ldquo;Drop that pistol! Watson, pick
+      it up! Hold it to his head! Thank you. You, Carruthers, give me that
+      revolver. We'll have no more violence. Come, hand it over!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are you, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My name is Sherlock Holmes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Lord!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have heard of me, I see. I will represent the official police until
+      their arrival. Here, you!&rdquo; he shouted to a frightened groom who had
+      appeared at the edge of the glade. &ldquo;Come here. Take this note as hard as
+      you can ride to Farnham.&rdquo; He scribbled a few words upon a leaf from his
+      note-book. &ldquo;Give it to the superintendent at the police-station. Until he
+      comes I must detain you all under my personal custody.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The strong, masterful personality of Holmes dominated the tragic scene,
+      and all were equally puppets in his hands. Williamson and Carruthers found
+      themselves carrying the wounded Woodley into the house, and I gave my arm
+      to the frightened girl. The injured man was laid on his bed, and at
+      Holmes's request I examined him. I carried my report to where he sat in
+      the old tapestry-hung dining-room with his two prisoners before him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will live,&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; cried Carruthers, springing out of his chair. &ldquo;I'll go upstairs
+      and finish him first. Do you tell me that that girl, that angel, is to be
+      tied to Roaring Jack Woodley for life?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You need not concern yourself about that,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;There are two
+      very good reasons why she should under no circumstances be his wife. In
+      the first place, we are very safe in questioning Mr. Williamson's right to
+      solemnize a marriage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have been ordained,&rdquo; cried the old rascal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And also unfrocked.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Once a clergyman, always a clergyman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think not. How about the license?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We had a license for the marriage. I have it here in my pocket.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you got it by a trick. But in any case a forced marriage is no
+      marriage, but it is a very serious felony, as you will discover before you
+      have finished. You'll have time to think the point out during the next ten
+      years or so, unless I am mistaken. As to you, Carruthers, you would have
+      done better to keep your pistol in your pocket.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I begin to think so, Mr. Holmes; but when I thought of all the precaution
+      I had taken to shield this girl&mdash;for I loved her, Mr. Holmes, and it
+      is the only time that ever I knew what love was&mdash;it fairly drove me
+      mad to think that she was in the power of the greatest brute and bully in
+      South Africa, a man whose name is a holy terror from Kimberley to
+      Johannesburg. Why, Mr. Holmes, you'll hardly believe it, but ever since
+      that girl has been in my employment I never once let her go past this
+      house, where I knew these rascals were lurking, without following her on
+      my bicycle just to see that she came to no harm. I kept my distance from
+      her, and I wore a beard so that she should not recognise me, for she is a
+      good and high-spirited girl, and she wouldn't have stayed in my employment
+      long if she had thought that I was following her about the country roads.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why didn't you tell her of her danger?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because then, again, she would have left me, and I couldn't bear to face
+      that. Even if she couldn't love me it was a great deal to me just to see
+      her dainty form about the house, and to hear the sound of her voice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you call that love, Mr. Carruthers, but I should call it
+      selfishness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maybe the two things go together. Anyhow, I couldn't let her go. Besides,
+      with this crowd about, it was well that she should have someone near to
+      look after her. Then when the cable came I knew they were bound to make a
+      move.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What cable?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carruthers took a telegram from his pocket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's it,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was short and concise:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The old man is dead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hum!&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;I think I see how things worked, and I can understand
+      how this message would, as you say, bring them to a head. But while we
+      wait you might tell me what you can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The old reprobate with the surplice burst into a volley of bad language.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By Heaven,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;if you squeal on us, Bob Carruthers, I'll serve you
+      as you served Jack Woodley. You can bleat about the girl to your heart's
+      content, for that's your own affair, but if you round on your pals to this
+      plain-clothes copper it will be the worst day's work that ever you did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your reverence need not be excited,&rdquo; said Holmes, lighting a cigarette.
+      &ldquo;The case is clear enough against you, and all I ask is a few details for
+      my private curiosity. However, if there's any difficulty in your telling
+      me I'll do the talking, and then you will see how far you have a chance of
+      holding back your secrets. In the first place, three of you came from
+      South Africa on this game&mdash;you Williamson, you Carruthers, and
+      Woodley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lie number one,&rdquo; said the old man; &ldquo;I never saw either of them until two
+      months ago, and I have never been in Africa in my life, so you can put
+      that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Busybody Holmes!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What he says is true,&rdquo; said Carruthers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well, two of you came over. His reverence is our own home-made
+      article. You had known Ralph Smith in South Africa. You had reason to
+      believe he would not live long. You found out that his niece would inherit
+      his fortune. How's that&mdash;eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carruthers nodded and Williamson swore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She was next-of-kin, no doubt, and you were aware that the old fellow
+      would make no will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Couldn't read or write,&rdquo; said Carruthers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you came over, the two of you, and hunted up the girl. The idea was
+      that one of you was to marry her and the other have a share of the
+      plunder. For some reason Woodley was chosen as the husband. Why was that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We played cards for her on the voyage. He won.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. You got the young lady into your service, and there Woodley was to
+      do the courting. She recognised the drunken brute that he was, and would
+      have nothing to do with him. Meanwhile, your arrangement was rather upset
+      by the fact that you had yourself fallen in love with the lady. You could
+      no longer bear the idea of this ruffian owning her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, by George, I couldn't!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There was a quarrel between you. He left you in a rage, and began to make
+      his own plans independently of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It strikes me, Williamson, there isn't very much that we can tell this
+      gentleman,&rdquo; cried Carruthers, with a bitter laugh. &ldquo;Yes, we quarreled, and
+      he knocked me down. I am level with him on that, anyhow. Then I lost sight
+      of him. That was when he picked up with this cast padre here. I found that
+      they had set up house-keeping together at this place on the line that she
+      had to pass for the station. I kept my eye on her after that, for I knew
+      there was some devilry in the wind. I saw them from time to time, for I
+      was anxious to know what they were after. Two days ago Woodley came up to
+      my house with this cable, which showed that Ralph Smith was dead. He asked
+      me if I would stand by the bargain. I said I would not. He asked me if I
+      would marry the girl myself and give him a share. I said I would willingly
+      do so, but that she would not have me. He said, 'Let us get her married
+      first, and after a week or two she may see things a bit different.' I said
+      I would have nothing to do with violence. So he went off cursing, like the
+      foul-mouthed blackguard that he was, and swearing that he would have her
+      yet. She was leaving me this week-end, and I had got a trap to take her to
+      the station, but I was so uneasy in my mind that I followed her on my
+      bicycle. She had got a start, however, and before I could catch her the
+      mischief was done. The first thing I knew about it was when I saw you two
+      gentlemen driving back in her dog-cart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes rose and tossed the end of his cigarette into the grate. &ldquo;I have
+      been very obtuse, Watson,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;When in your report you said that you
+      had seen the cyclist as you thought arrange his necktie in the shrubbery,
+      that alone should have told me all. However, we may congratulate ourselves
+      upon a curious and in some respects a unique case. I perceive three of the
+      county constabulary in the drive, and I am glad to see that the little
+      ostler is able to keep pace with them; so it is likely that neither he nor
+      the interesting bridegroom will be permanently damaged by their morning's
+      adventures. I think, Watson, that in your medical capacity you might wait
+      upon Miss Smith and tell her that if she is sufficiently recovered we
+      shall be happy to escort her to her mother's home. If she is not quite
+      convalescent you will find that a hint that we were about to telegraph to
+      a young electrician in the Midlands would probably complete the cure. As
+      to you, Mr. Carruthers, I think that you have done what you could to make
+      amends for your share in an evil plot. There is my card, sir, and if my
+      evidence can be of help to you in your trial it shall be at your
+      disposal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In the whirl of our incessant activity it has often been difficult for me,
+      as the reader has probably observed, to round off my narratives, and to
+      give those final details which the curious might expect. Each case has
+      been the prelude to another, and the crisis once over the actors have
+      passed for ever out of our busy lives. I find, however, a short note at
+      the end of my manuscripts dealing with this case, in which I have put it
+      upon record that Miss Violet Smith did indeed inherit a large fortune, and
+      that she is now the wife of Cyril Morton, the senior partner of Morton
+      &amp; Kennedy, the famous Westminster electricians. Williamson and Woodley
+      were both tried for abduction and assault, the former getting seven years
+      and the latter ten. Of the fate of Carruthers I have no record, but I am
+      sure that his assault was not viewed very gravely by the Court, since
+      Woodley had the reputation of being a most dangerous ruffian, and I think
+      that a few months were sufficient to satisfy the demands of justice.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 27  FEBRUARY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      V.&mdash;The Adventure of the Priory School.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WE have had some dramatic entrances and exits upon our small stage at
+      Baker Street, but I cannot recollect anything more sudden and startling
+      than the first appearance of Thorneycroft Huxtable, M.A., Ph.D., etc. His
+      card, which seemed too small to carry the weight of his academic
+      distinctions, preceded him by a few seconds, and then he entered himself&mdash;so
+      large, so pompous, and so dignified that he was the very embodiment of
+      self-possession and solidity. And yet his first action when the door had
+      closed behind him was to stagger against the table, whence he slipped down
+      upon the floor, and there was that majestic figure prostrate and
+      insensible upon our bearskin hearthrug.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had sprung to our feet, and for a few moments we stared in silent
+      amazement at this ponderous piece of wreckage, which told of some sudden
+      and fatal storm far out on the ocean of life. Then Holmes hurried with a
+      cushion for his head and I with brandy for his lips. The heavy white face
+      was seamed with lines of trouble, the hanging pouches under the closed
+      eyes were leaden in colour, the loose mouth drooped dolorously at the
+      corners, the rolling chins were unshaven. Collar and shirt bore the grime
+      of a long journey, and the hair bristled unkempt from the well-shaped
+      head. It was a sorely-stricken man who lay before us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, Watson?&rdquo; asked Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Absolute exhaustion&mdash;possibly mere hunger and fatigue,&rdquo; said I, with
+      my finger on the thready pulse, where the stream of life trickled thin and
+      small.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Return ticket from Mackleton, in the North of England,&rdquo; said Holmes,
+      drawing it from the watch-pocket. &ldquo;It is not twelve o'clock yet. He has
+      certainly been an early starter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The puckered eyelids had begun to quiver, and now a pair of vacant, grey
+      eyes looked up at us. An instant later the man had scrambled on to his
+      feet, his face crimson with shame.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgive this weakness, Mr. Holmes; I have been a little overwrought.
+      Thank you, if I might have a glass of milk and a biscuit I have no doubt
+      that I should be better. I came personally, Mr. Holmes, in order to ensure
+      that you would return with me. I feared that no telegram would convince
+      you of the absolute urgency of the case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When you are quite restored&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am quite well again. I cannot imagine how I came to be so weak. I wish
+      you, Mr. Holmes, to come to Mackleton with me by the next train.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My friend shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My colleague, Dr. Watson, could tell you that we are very busy at
+      present. I am retained in this case of the Ferrers Documents, and the
+      Abergavenny murder is coming up for trial. Only a very important issue
+      could call me from London at present.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Important!&rdquo; Our visitor threw up his hands. &ldquo;Have you heard nothing of
+      the abduction of the only son of the Duke of Holdernesse?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! the late Cabinet Minister?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. We had tried to keep it out of the papers, but there was some
+      rumour in the GLOBE last night. I thought it might have reached your
+      ears.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes shot out his long, thin arm and picked out Volume &ldquo;H&rdquo; in his
+      encyclopaedia of reference.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Holdernesse, 6th Duke, K.G., P.C.'&mdash;half the alphabet! 'Baron
+      Beverley, Earl of Carston'&mdash;dear me, what a list! 'Lord Lieutenant of
+      Hallamshire since 1900. Married Edith, daughter of Sir Charles Appledore,
+      1888. Heir and only child, Lord Saltire. Owns about two hundred and fifty
+      thousand acres. Minerals in Lancashire and Wales. Address: Carlton House
+      Terrace; Holdernesse Hall, Hallamshire; Carston Castle, Bangor, Wales.
+      Lord of the Admiralty, 1872; Chief Secretary of State for&mdash;' Well,
+      well, this man is certainly one of the greatest subjects of the Crown!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The greatest and perhaps the wealthiest. I am aware, Mr. Holmes, that you
+      take a very high line in professional matters, and that you are prepared
+      to work for the work's sake. I may tell you, however, that his Grace has
+      already intimated that a cheque for five thousand pounds will be handed
+      over to the person who can tell him where his son is, and another thousand
+      to him who can name the man, or men, who have taken him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a princely offer,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Watson, I think that we shall
+      accompany Dr. Huxtable back to the North of England. And now, Dr.
+      Huxtable, when you have consumed that milk you will kindly tell me what
+      has happened, when it happened, how it happened, and, finally, what Dr.
+      Thorneycroft Huxtable, of the Priory School, near Mackleton, has to do
+      with the matter, and why he comes three days after an event&mdash;the
+      state of your chin gives the date&mdash;to ask for my humble services.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Our visitor had consumed his milk and biscuits. The light had come back to
+      his eyes and the colour to his cheeks as he set himself with great vigour
+      and lucidity to explain the situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must inform you, gentlemen, that the Priory is a preparatory school, of
+      which I am the founder and principal. 'Huxtable's Sidelights on Horace'
+      may possibly recall my name to your memories. The Priory is, without
+      exception, the best and most select preparatory school in England. Lord
+      Leverstoke, the Earl of Blackwater, Sir Cathcart Soames&mdash;they all
+      have entrusted their sons to me. But I felt that my school had reached its
+      zenith when, three weeks ago, the Duke of Holdernesse sent Mr. James
+      Wilder, his secretary, with the intimation that young Lord Saltire, ten
+      years old, his only son and heir, was about to be committed to my charge.
+      Little did I think that this would be the prelude to the most crushing
+      misfortune of my life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On May 1st the boy arrived, that being the beginning of the summer term.
+      He was a charming youth, and he soon fell into our ways. I may tell you&mdash;I
+      trust that I am not indiscreet, but half-confidences are absurd in such a
+      case&mdash;that he was not entirely happy at home. It is an open secret
+      that the Duke's married life had not been a peaceful one, and the matter
+      had ended in a separation by mutual consent, the Duchess taking up her
+      residence in the South of France. This had occurred very shortly before,
+      and the boy's sympathies are known to have been strongly with his mother.
+      He moped after her departure from Holdernesse Hall, and it was for this
+      reason that the Duke desired to send him to my establishment. In a
+      fortnight the boy was quite at home with us, and was apparently absolutely
+      happy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was last seen on the night of May 13th&mdash;that is, the night of
+      last Monday. His room was on the second floor, and was approached through
+      another larger room in which two boys were sleeping. These boys saw and
+      heard nothing, so that it is certain that young Saltire did not pass out
+      that way. His window was open, and there is a stout ivy plant leading to
+      the ground. We could trace no footmarks below, but it is sure that this is
+      the only possible exit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His absence was discovered at seven o'clock on Tuesday morning. His bed
+      had been slept in. He had dressed himself fully before going off in his
+      usual school suit of black Eton jacket and dark grey trousers. There were
+      no signs that anyone had entered the room, and it is quite certain that
+      anything in the nature of cries, or a struggle, would have been heard,
+      since Caunter, the elder boy in the inner room, is a very light sleeper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When Lord Saltire's disappearance was discovered I at once called a roll
+      of the whole establishment, boys, masters, and servants. It was then that
+      we ascertained that Lord Saltire had not been alone in his flight.
+      Heidegger, the German master, was missing. His room was on the second
+      floor, at the farther end of the building, facing the same way as Lord
+      Saltire's. His bed had also been slept in; but he had apparently gone away
+      partly dressed, since his shirt and socks were lying on the floor. He had
+      undoubtedly let himself down by the ivy, for we could see the marks of his
+      feet where he had landed on the lawn. His bicycle was kept in a small shed
+      beside this lawn, and it also was gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He had been with me for two years, and came with the best references; but
+      he was a silent, morose man, not very popular either with masters or boys.
+      No trace could be found of the fugitives, and now on Thursday morning we
+      are as ignorant as we were on Tuesday. Inquiry was, of course, made at
+      once at Holdernesse Hall. It is only a few miles away, and we imagined
+      that in some sudden attack of home-sickness he had gone back to his
+      father; but nothing had been heard of him. The Duke is greatly agitated&mdash;and
+      as to me, you have seen yourselves the state of nervous prostration to
+      which the suspense and the responsibility have reduced me. Mr. Holmes, if
+      ever you put forward your full powers, I implore you to do so now, for
+      never in your life could you have a case which is more worthy of them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sherlock Holmes had listened with the utmost intentness to the statement
+      of the unhappy schoolmaster. His drawn brows and the deep furrow between
+      them showed that he needed no exhortation to concentrate all his attention
+      upon a problem which, apart from the tremendous interests involved, must
+      appeal so directly to his love of the complex and the unusual. He now drew
+      out his note-book and jotted down one or two memoranda.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have been very remiss in not coming to me sooner,&rdquo; said he, severely.
+      &ldquo;You start me on my investigation with a very serious handicap. It is
+      inconceivable, for example, that this ivy and this lawn would have yielded
+      nothing to an expert observer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not to blame, Mr. Holmes. His Grace was extremely desirous to avoid
+      all public scandal. He was afraid of his family unhappiness being dragged
+      before the world. He has a deep horror of anything of the kind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But there has been some official investigation?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, and it has proved most disappointing. An apparent clue was at
+      once obtained, since a boy and a young man were reported to have been seen
+      leaving a neighbouring station by an early train. Only last night we had
+      news that the couple had been hunted down in Liverpool, and they prove to
+      have no connection whatever with the matter in hand. Then it was that in
+      my despair and disappointment, after a sleepless night, I came straight to
+      you by the early train.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose the local investigation was relaxed while this false clue was
+      being followed up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was entirely dropped.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So that three days have been wasted. The affair has been most deplorably
+      handled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I feel it, and admit it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And yet the problem should be capable of ultimate solution. I shall be
+      very happy to look into it. Have you been able to trace any connection
+      between the missing boy and this German master?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was he in the master's class?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; he never exchanged a word with him so far as I know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is certainly very singular. Had the boy a bicycle?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was any other bicycle missing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that certain?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, now, you do not mean to seriously suggest that this German rode off
+      upon a bicycle in the dead of the night bearing the boy in his arms?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then what is the theory in your mind?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The bicycle may have been a blind. It may have been hidden somewhere and
+      the pair gone off on foot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so; but it seems rather an absurd blind, does it not? Were there
+      other bicycles in this shed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Several.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would he not have hidden A COUPLE had he desired to give the idea that
+      they had gone off upon them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose he would.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course he would. The blind theory won't do. But the incident is an
+      admirable starting-point for an investigation. After all, a bicycle is not
+      an easy thing to conceal or to destroy. One other question. Did anyone
+      call to see the boy on the day before he disappeared?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did he get any letters?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; one letter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From whom?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From his father.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you open the boys' letters?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know it was from the father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The coat of arms was on the envelope, and it was addressed in the Duke's
+      peculiar stiff hand. Besides, the Duke remembers having written.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When had he a letter before that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not for several days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Had he ever one from France?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; never.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see the point of my questions, of course. Either the boy was carried
+      off by force or he went of his own free will. In the latter case you would
+      expect that some prompting from outside would be needed to make so young a
+      lad do such a thing. If he has had no visitors, that prompting must have
+      come in letters. Hence I try to find out who were his correspondents.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear I cannot help you much. His only correspondent, so far as I know,
+      was his own father.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who wrote to him on the very day of his disappearance. Were the relations
+      between father and son very friendly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His Grace is never very friendly with anyone. He is completely immersed
+      in large public questions, and is rather inaccessible to all ordinary
+      emotions. But he was always kind to the boy in his own way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the sympathies of the latter were with the mother?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did he say so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Duke, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens, no!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then how could you know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have had some confidential talks with Mr. James Wilder, his Grace's
+      secretary. It was he who gave me the information about Lord Saltire's
+      feelings.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. By the way, that last letter of the Duke's&mdash;was it found in
+      the boy's room after he was gone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; he had taken it with him. I think, Mr. Holmes, it is time that we
+      were leaving for Euston.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will order a four-wheeler. In a quarter of an hour we shall be at your
+      service. If you are telegraphing home, Mr. Huxtable, it would be well to
+      allow the people in your neighbourhood to imagine that the inquiry is
+      still going on in Liverpool, or wherever else that red herring led your
+      pack. In the meantime I will do a little quiet work at your own doors, and
+      perhaps the scent is not so cold but that two old hounds like Watson and
+      myself may get a sniff of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      That evening found us in the cold, bracing atmosphere of the Peak country,
+      in which Dr. Huxtable's famous school is situated. It was already dark
+      when we reached it. A card was lying on the hall table, and the butler
+      whispered something to his master, who turned to us with agitation in
+      every heavy feature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Duke is here,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;The Duke and Mr. Wilder are in the study.
+      Come, gentlemen, and I will introduce you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was, of course, familiar with the pictures of the famous statesman, but
+      the man himself was very different from his representation. He was a tall
+      and stately person, scrupulously dressed, with a drawn, thin face, and a
+      nose which was grotesquely curved and long. His complexion was of a dead
+      pallor, which was more startling by contrast with a long, dwindling beard
+      of vivid red, which flowed down over his white waistcoat, with his
+      watch-chain gleaming through its fringe. Such was the stately presence who
+      looked stonily at us from the centre of Dr. Huxtable's hearthrug. Beside
+      him stood a very young man, whom I understood to be Wilder, the private
+      secretary. He was small, nervous, alert, with intelligent, light-blue eyes
+      and mobile features. It was he who at once, in an incisive and positive
+      tone, opened the conversation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I called this morning, Dr. Huxtable, too late to prevent you from
+      starting for London. I learned that your object was to invite Mr. Sherlock
+      Holmes to undertake the conduct of this case. His Grace is surprised, Dr.
+      Huxtable, that you should have taken such a step without consulting him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When I learned that the police had failed&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His Grace is by no means convinced that the police have failed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But surely, Mr. Wilder&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are well aware, Dr. Huxtable, that his Grace is particularly anxious
+      to avoid all public scandal. He prefers to take as few people as possible
+      into his confidence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The matter can be easily remedied,&rdquo; said the brow-beaten doctor; &ldquo;Mr.
+      Sherlock Holmes can return to London by the morning train.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hardly that, Doctor, hardly that,&rdquo; said Holmes, in his blandest voice.
+      &ldquo;This northern air is invigorating and pleasant, so I propose to spend a
+      few days upon your moors, and to occupy my mind as best I may. Whether I
+      have the shelter of your roof or of the village inn is, of course, for you
+      to decide.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I could see that the unfortunate doctor was in the last stage of
+      indecision, from which he was rescued by the deep, sonorous voice of the
+      red-bearded Duke, which boomed out like a dinner-gong.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I agree with Mr. Wilder, Dr. Huxtable, that you would have done wisely to
+      consult me. But since Mr. Holmes has already been taken into your
+      confidence, it would indeed be absurd that we should not avail ourselves
+      of his services. Far from going to the inn, Mr. Holmes, I should be
+      pleased if you would come and stay with me at Holdernesse Hall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thank your Grace. For the purposes of my investigation I think that it
+      would be wiser for me to remain at the scene of the mystery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just as you like, Mr. Holmes. Any information which Mr. Wilder or I can
+      give you is, of course, at your disposal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will probably be necessary for me to see you at the Hall,&rdquo; said
+      Holmes. &ldquo;I would only ask you now, sir, whether you have formed any
+      explanation in your own mind as to the mysterious disappearance of your
+      son?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir, I have not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excuse me if I allude to that which is painful to you, but I have no
+      alternative. Do you think that the Duchess had anything to do with the
+      matter?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The great Minister showed perceptible hesitation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not think so,&rdquo; he said, at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The other most obvious explanation is that the child has been kidnapped
+      for the purpose of levying ransom. You have not had any demand of the
+      sort?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One more question, your Grace. I understand that you wrote to your son
+      upon the day when this incident occurred.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; I wrote upon the day before.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. But he received it on that day?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was there anything in your letter which might have unbalanced him or
+      induced him to take such a step?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir, certainly not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you post that letter yourself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The nobleman's reply was interrupted by his secretary, who broke in with
+      some heat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His Grace is not in the habit of posting letters himself,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;This
+      letter was laid with others upon the study table, and I myself put them in
+      the post-bag.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are sure this one was among them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; I observed it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How many letters did your Grace write that day?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twenty or thirty. I have a large correspondence. But surely this is
+      somewhat irrelevant?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not entirely,&rdquo; said Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For my own part,&rdquo; the Duke continued, &ldquo;I have advised the police to turn
+      their attention to the South of France. I have already said that I do not
+      believe that the Duchess would encourage so monstrous an action, but the
+      lad had the most wrong-headed opinions, and it is possible that he may
+      have fled to her, aided and abetted by this German. I think, Dr. Huxtable,
+      that we will now return to the Hall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I could see that there were other questions which Holmes would have wished
+      to put; but the nobleman's abrupt manner showed that the interview was at
+      an end. It was evident that to his intensely aristocratic nature this
+      discussion of his intimate family affairs with a stranger was most
+      abhorrent, and that he feared lest every fresh question would throw a
+      fiercer light into the discreetly shadowed corners of his ducal history.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the nobleman and his secretary had left, my friend flung himself at
+      once with characteristic eagerness into the investigation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boy's chamber was carefully examined, and yielded nothing save the
+      absolute conviction that it was only through the window that he could have
+      escaped. The German master's room and effects gave no further clue. In his
+      case a trailer of ivy had given way under his weight, and we saw by the
+      light of a lantern the mark on the lawn where his heels had come down.
+      That one dint in the short green grass was the only material witness left
+      of this inexplicable nocturnal flight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sherlock Holmes left the house alone, and only returned after eleven. He
+      had obtained a large ordnance map of the neighbourhood, and this he
+      brought into my room, where he laid it out on the bed, and, having
+      balanced the lamp in the middle of it, he began to smoke over it, and
+      occasionally to point out objects of interest with the reeking amber of
+      his pipe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This case grows upon me, Watson,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;There are decidedly some
+      points of interest in connection with it. In this early stage I want you
+      to realize those geographical features which may have a good deal to do
+      with our investigation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      GRAPHIC
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look at this map. This dark square is the Priory School. I'll put a pin
+      in it. Now, this line is the main road. You see that it runs east and west
+      past the school, and you see also that there is no side road for a mile
+      either way. If these two folk passed away by road it was THIS road.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By a singular and happy chance we are able to some extent to check what
+      passed along this road during the night in question. At this point, where
+      my pipe is now resting, a country constable was on duty from twelve to
+      six. It is, as you perceive, the first cross road on the east side. This
+      man declares that he was not absent from his post for an instant, and he
+      is positive that neither boy nor man could have gone that way unseen. I
+      have spoken with this policeman to-night, and he appears to me to be a
+      perfectly reliable person. That blocks this end. We have now to deal with
+      the other. There is an inn here, the Red Bull, the landlady of which was
+      ill. She had sent to Mackleton for a doctor, but he did not arrive until
+      morning, being absent at another case. The people at the inn were alert
+      all night, awaiting his coming, and one or other of them seems to have
+      continually had an eye upon the road. They declare that no one passed. If
+      their evidence is good, then we are fortunate enough to be able to block
+      the west, and also to be able to say that the fugitives did NOT use the
+      road at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the bicycle?&rdquo; I objected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so. We will come to the bicycle presently. To continue our
+      reasoning: if these people did not go by the road, they must have
+      traversed the country to the north of the house or to the south of the
+      house. That is certain. Let us weigh the one against the other. On the
+      south of the house is, as you perceive, a large district of arable land,
+      cut up into small fields, with stone walls between them. There, I admit
+      that a bicycle is impossible. We can dismiss the idea. We turn to the
+      country on the north. Here there lies a grove of trees, marked as the
+      'Ragged Shaw,' and on the farther side stretches a great rolling moor,
+      Lower Gill Moor, extending for ten miles and sloping gradually upwards.
+      Here, at one side of this wilderness, is Holdernesse Hall, ten miles by
+      road, but only six across the moor. It is a peculiarly desolate plain. A
+      few moor farmers have small holdings, where they rear sheep and cattle.
+      Except these, the plover and the curlew are the only inhabitants until you
+      come to the Chesterfield high road. There is a church there, you see, a
+      few cottages, and an inn. Beyond that the hills become precipitous. Surely
+      it is here to the north that our quest must lie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the bicycle?&rdquo; I persisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well!&rdquo; said Holmes, impatiently. &ldquo;A good cyclist does not need a
+      high road. The moor is intersected with paths and the moon was at the
+      full. Halloa! what is this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was an agitated knock at the door, and an instant afterwards Dr.
+      Huxtable was in the room. In his hand he held a blue cricket-cap, with a
+      white chevron on the peak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At last we have a clue!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Thank Heaven! at last we are on the
+      dear boy's track! It is his cap.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where was it found?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the van of the gipsies who camped on the moor. They left on Tuesday.
+      To-day the police traced them down and examined their caravan. This was
+      found.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do they account for it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They shuffled and lied&mdash;said that they found it on the moor on
+      Tuesday morning. They know where he is, the rascals! Thank goodness, they
+      are all safe under lock and key. Either the fear of the law or the Duke's
+      purse will certainly get out of them all that they know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So far, so good,&rdquo; said Holmes, when the doctor had at last left the room.
+      &ldquo;It at least bears out the theory that it is on the side of the Lower Gill
+      Moor that we must hope for results. The police have really done nothing
+      locally, save the arrest of these gipsies. Look here, Watson! There is a
+      watercourse across the moor. You see it marked here in the map. In some
+      parts it widens into a morass. This is particularly so in the region
+      between Holdernesse Hall and the school. It is vain to look elsewhere for
+      tracks in this dry weather; but at THAT point there is certainly a chance
+      of some record being left. I will call you early to-morrow morning, and
+      you and I will try if we can throw some little light upon the mystery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The day was just breaking when I woke to find the long, thin form of
+      Holmes by my bedside. He was fully dressed, and had apparently already
+      been out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have done the lawn and the bicycle shed,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I have also had a
+      ramble through the Ragged Shaw. Now, Watson, there is cocoa ready in the
+      next room. I must beg you to hurry, for we have a great day before us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His eyes shone, and his cheek was flushed with the exhilaration of the
+      master workman who sees his work lie ready before him. A very different
+      Holmes, this active, alert man, from the introspective and pallid dreamer
+      of Baker Street. I felt, as I looked upon that supple figure, alive with
+      nervous energy, that it was indeed a strenuous day that awaited us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And yet it opened in the blackest disappointment. With high hopes we
+      struck across the peaty, russet moor, intersected with a thousand sheep
+      paths, until we came to the broad, light-green belt which marked the
+      morass between us and Holdernesse. Certainly, if the lad had gone
+      homewards, he must have passed this, and he could not pass it without
+      leaving his traces. But no sign of him or the German could be seen. With a
+      darkening face my friend strode along the margin, eagerly observant of
+      every muddy stain upon the mossy surface. Sheep-marks there were in
+      profusion, and at one place, some miles down, cows had left their tracks.
+      Nothing more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Check number one,&rdquo; said Holmes, looking gloomily over the rolling expanse
+      of the moor. &ldquo;There is another morass down yonder and a narrow neck
+      between. Halloa! halloa! halloa! what have we here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We had come on a small black ribbon of pathway. In the middle of it,
+      clearly marked on the sodden soil, was the track of a bicycle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hurrah!&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;We have it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Holmes was shaking his head, and his face was puzzled and expectant
+      rather than joyous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A bicycle, certainly, but not THE bicycle,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I am familiar with
+      forty-two different impressions left by tyres. This, as you perceive, is a
+      Dunlop, with a patch upon the outer cover. Heidegger's tyres were
+      Palmer's, leaving longitudinal stripes. Aveling, the mathematical master,
+      was sure upon the point. Therefore, it is not Heidegger's track.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The boy's, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly, if we could prove a bicycle to have been in his possession. But
+      this we have utterly failed to do. This track, as you perceive, was made
+      by a rider who was going from the direction of the school.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Or towards it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, my dear Watson. The more deeply sunk impression is, of course,
+      the hind wheel, upon which the weight rests. You perceive several places
+      where it has passed across and obliterated the more shallow mark of the
+      front one. It was undoubtedly heading away from the school. It may or may
+      not be connected with our inquiry, but we will follow it backwards before
+      we go any farther.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We did so, and at the end of a few hundred yards lost the tracks as we
+      emerged from the boggy portion of the moor. Following the path backwards,
+      we picked out another spot, where a spring trickled across it. Here, once
+      again, was the mark of the bicycle, though nearly obliterated by the hoofs
+      of cows. After that there was no sign, but the path ran right on into
+      Ragged Shaw, the wood which backed on to the school. From this wood the
+      cycle must have emerged. Holmes sat down on a boulder and rested his chin
+      in his hands. I had smoked two cigarettes before he moved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well,&rdquo; said he, at last. &ldquo;It is, of course, possible that a cunning
+      man might change the tyre of his bicycle in order to leave unfamiliar
+      tracks. A criminal who was capable of such a thought is a man whom I
+      should be proud to do business with. We will leave this question undecided
+      and hark back to our morass again, for we have left a good deal
+      unexplored.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We continued our systematic survey of the edge of the sodden portion of
+      the moor, and soon our perseverance was gloriously rewarded. Right across
+      the lower part of the bog lay a miry path. Holmes gave a cry of delight as
+      he approached it. An impression like a fine bundle of telegraph wires ran
+      down the centre of it. It was the Palmer tyre.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here is Herr Heidegger, sure enough!&rdquo; cried Holmes, exultantly. &ldquo;My
+      reasoning seems to have been pretty sound, Watson.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I congratulate you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But we have a long way still to go. Kindly walk clear of the path. Now
+      let us follow the trail. I fear that it will not lead very far.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We found, however, as we advanced that this portion of the moor is
+      intersected with soft patches, and, though we frequently lost sight of the
+      track, we always succeeded in picking it up once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you observe,&rdquo; said Holmes, &ldquo;that the rider is now undoubtedly forcing
+      the pace? There can be no doubt of it. Look at this impression, where you
+      get both tyres clear. The one is as deep as the other. That can only mean
+      that the rider is throwing his weight on to the handle-bar, as a man does
+      when he is sprinting. By Jove! he has had a fall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a broad, irregular smudge covering some yards of the track. Then
+      there were a few footmarks, and the tyre reappeared once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A side-slip,&rdquo; I suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes held up a crumpled branch of flowering gorse. To my horror I
+      perceived that the yellow blossoms were all dabbled with crimson. On the
+      path, too, and among the heather were dark stains of clotted blood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bad!&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Bad! Stand clear, Watson! Not an unnecessary
+      footstep! What do I read here? He fell wounded, he stood up, he remounted,
+      he proceeded. But there is no other track. Cattle on this side path. He
+      was surely not gored by a bull? Impossible! But I see no traces of anyone
+      else. We must push on, Watson. Surely with stains as well as the track to
+      guide us he cannot escape us now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Our search was not a very long one. The tracks of the tyre began to curve
+      fantastically upon the wet and shining path. Suddenly, as I looked ahead,
+      the gleam of metal caught my eye from amid the thick gorse bushes. Out of
+      them we dragged a bicycle, Palmer-tyred, one pedal bent, and the whole
+      front of it horribly smeared and slobbered with blood. On the other side
+      of the bushes a shoe was projecting. We ran round, and there lay the
+      unfortunate rider. He was a tall man, full bearded, with spectacles, one
+      glass of which had been knocked out. The cause of his death was a
+      frightful blow upon the head, which had crushed in part of his skull. That
+      he could have gone on after receiving such an injury said much for the
+      vitality and courage of the man. He wore shoes, but no socks, and his open
+      coat disclosed a night-shirt beneath it. It was undoubtedly the German
+      master.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes turned the body over reverently, and examined it with great
+      attention. He then sat in deep thought for a time, and I could see by his
+      ruffled brow that this grim discovery had not, in his opinion, advanced us
+      much in our inquiry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a little difficult to know what to do, Watson,&rdquo; said he, at last.
+      &ldquo;My own inclinations are to push this inquiry on, for we have already lost
+      so much time that we cannot afford to waste another hour. On the other
+      hand, we are bound to inform the police of the discovery, and to see that
+      this poor fellow's body is looked after.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could take a note back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I need your company and assistance. Wait a bit! There is a fellow
+      cutting peat up yonder. Bring him over here, and he will guide the
+      police.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I brought the peasant across, and Holmes dispatched the frightened man
+      with a note to Dr. Huxtable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Watson,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;we have picked up two clues this morning. One is
+      the bicycle with the Palmer tyre, and we see what that has led to. The
+      other is the bicycle with the patched Dunlop. Before we start to
+      investigate that, let us try to realize what we DO know so as to make the
+      most of it, and to separate the essential from the accidental.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;First of all I wish to impress upon you that the boy certainly left of
+      his own free will. He got down from his window and he went off, either
+      alone or with someone. That is sure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, now, let us turn to this unfortunate German master. The boy was
+      fully dressed when he fled. Therefore, he foresaw what he would do. But
+      the German went without his socks. He certainly acted on very short
+      notice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Undoubtedly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why did he go? Because, from his bedroom window, he saw the flight of the
+      boy. Because he wished to overtake him and bring him back. He seized his
+      bicycle, pursued the lad, and in pursuing him met his death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So it would seem.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now I come to the critical part of my argument. The natural action of a
+      man in pursuing a little boy would be to run after him. He would know that
+      he could overtake him. But the German does not do so. He turns to his
+      bicycle. I am told that he was an excellent cyclist. He would not do this
+      if he did not see that the boy had some swift means of escape.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The other bicycle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us continue our reconstruction. He meets his death five miles from
+      the school&mdash;not by a bullet, mark you, which even a lad might
+      conceivably discharge, but by a savage blow dealt by a vigorous arm. The
+      lad, then, HAD a companion in his flight. And the flight was a swift one,
+      since it took five miles before an expert cyclist could overtake them. Yet
+      we survey the ground round the scene of the tragedy. What do we find? A
+      few cattle tracks, nothing more. I took a wide sweep round, and there is
+      no path within fifty yards. Another cyclist could have had nothing to do
+      with the actual murder. Nor were there any human footmarks.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Holmes,&rdquo; I cried, &ldquo;this is impossible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Admirable!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A most illuminating remark. It IS impossible as I
+      state it, and therefore I must in some respect have stated it wrong. Yet
+      you saw for yourself. Can you suggest any fallacy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He could not have fractured his skull in a fall?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In a morass, Watson?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am at my wit's end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tut, tut; we have solved some worse problems. At least we have plenty of
+      material, if we can only use it. Come, then, and, having exhausted the
+      Palmer, let us see what the Dunlop with the patched cover has to offer
+      us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We picked up the track and followed it onwards for some distance; but soon
+      the moor rose into a long, heather-tufted curve, and we left the
+      watercourse behind us. No further help from tracks could be hoped for. At
+      the spot where we saw the last of the Dunlop tyre it might equally have
+      led to Holdernesse Hall, the stately towers of which rose some miles to
+      our left, or to a low, grey village which lay in front of us, and marked
+      the position of the Chesterfield high road.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we approached the forbidding and squalid inn, with the sign of a
+      game-cock above the door, Holmes gave a sudden groan and clutched me by
+      the shoulder to save himself from falling. He had had one of those violent
+      strains of the ankle which leave a man helpless. With difficulty he limped
+      up to the door, where a squat, dark, elderly man was smoking a black clay
+      pipe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How are you, Mr. Reuben Hayes?&rdquo; said Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are you, and how do you get my name so pat?&rdquo; the countryman answered,
+      with a suspicious flash of a pair of cunning eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it's printed on the board above your head. It's easy to see a man
+      who is master of his own house. I suppose you haven't such a thing as a
+      carriage in your stables?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; I have not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can hardly put my foot to the ground.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't put it to the ground.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I can't walk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then, hop.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Reuben Hayes's manner was far from gracious, but Holmes took it with
+      admirable good-humour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, my man,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;This is really rather an awkward fix for
+      me. I don't mind how I get on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither do I,&rdquo; said the morose landlord.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The matter is very important. I would offer you a sovereign for the use
+      of a bicycle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The landlord pricked up his ears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where do you want to go?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To Holdernesse Hall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pals of the Dook, I suppose?&rdquo; said the landlord, surveying our
+      mud-stained garments with ironical eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes laughed good-naturedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He'll be glad to see us, anyhow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because we bring him news of his lost son.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The landlord gave a very visible start.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, you're on his track?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has been heard of in Liverpool. They expect to get him every hour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again a swift change passed over the heavy, unshaven face. His manner was
+      suddenly genial.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've less reason to wish the Dook well than most men,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;for I
+      was his head coachman once, and cruel bad he treated me. It was him that
+      sacked me without a character on the word of a lying corn-chandler. But
+      I'm glad to hear that the young lord was heard of in Liverpool, and I'll
+      help you to take the news to the Hall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;We'll have some food first. Then you can bring
+      round the bicycle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't got a bicycle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes held up a sovereign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I tell you, man, that I haven't got one. I'll let you have two horses as
+      far as the Hall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well,&rdquo; said Holmes, &ldquo;we'll talk about it when we've had something
+      to eat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When we were left alone in the stone-flagged kitchen it was astonishing
+      how rapidly that sprained ankle recovered. It was nearly nightfall, and we
+      had eaten nothing since early morning, so that we spent some time over our
+      meal. Holmes was lost in thought, and once or twice he walked over to the
+      window and stared earnestly out. It opened on to a squalid courtyard. In
+      the far corner was a smithy, where a grimy lad was at work. On the other
+      side were the stables. Holmes had sat down again after one of these
+      excursions, when he suddenly sprang out of his chair with a loud
+      exclamation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By Heaven, Watson, I believe that I've got it!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Yes, yes, it
+      must be so. Watson, do you remember seeing any cow-tracks to-day?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, several.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, everywhere. They were at the morass, and again on the path, and
+      again near where poor Heidegger met his death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. Well, now, Watson, how many cows did you see on the moor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't remember seeing any.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Strange, Watson, that we should see tracks all along our line, but never
+      a cow on the whole moor; very strange, Watson, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, it is strange.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Watson, make an effort; throw your mind back! Can you see those
+      tracks upon the path?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you recall that the tracks were sometimes like that, Watson&rdquo;&mdash;he
+      arranged a number of bread-crumbs in this fashion&mdash;:::::&mdash;&ldquo;and
+      sometimes like this&rdquo;&mdash;:.:.:.:. &mdash;&ldquo;and occasionally like this&rdquo;&mdash;.
+      '. '. '. &ldquo;Can you remember that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I cannot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I can. I could swear to it. However, we will go back at our leisure
+      and verify it. What a blind beetle I have been not to draw my conclusion!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what is your conclusion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only that it is a remarkable cow which walks, canters, and gallops. By
+      George, Watson, it was no brain of a country publican that thought out
+      such a blind as that! The coast seems to be clear, save for that lad in
+      the smithy. Let us slip out and see what we can see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There were two rough-haired, unkempt horses in the tumble-down stable.
+      Holmes raised the hind leg of one of them and laughed aloud.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Old shoes, but newly shod&mdash;old shoes, but new nails. This case
+      deserves to be a classic. Let us go across to the smithy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The lad continued his work without regarding us. I saw Holmes's eye
+      darting to right and left among the litter of iron and wood which was
+      scattered about the floor. Suddenly, however, we heard a step behind us,
+      and there was the landlord, his heavy eyebrows drawn over his savage eyes,
+      his swarthy features convulsed with passion. He held a short, metal-headed
+      stick in his hand, and he advanced in so menacing a fashion that I was
+      right glad to feel the revolver in my pocket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You infernal spies!&rdquo; the man cried. &ldquo;What are you doing there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Mr. Reuben Hayes,&rdquo; said Holmes, coolly, &ldquo;one might think that you
+      were afraid of our finding something out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man mastered himself with a violent effort, and his grim mouth
+      loosened into a false laugh, which was more menacing than his frown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're welcome to all you can find out in my smithy,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;But look
+      here, mister, I don't care for folk poking about my place without my
+      leave, so the sooner you pay your score and get out of this the better I
+      shall be pleased.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All right, Mr. Hayes&mdash;no harm meant,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;We have been
+      having a look at your horses, but I think I'll walk after all. It's not
+      far, I believe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not more than two miles to the Hall gates. That's the road to the left.&rdquo;
+       He watched us with sullen eyes until we had left his premises.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We did not go very far along the road, for Holmes stopped the instant that
+      the curve hid us from the landlord's view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were warm, as the children say, at that inn,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I seem to grow
+      colder every step that I take away from it. No, no; I can't possibly leave
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am convinced,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that this Reuben Hayes knows all about it. A
+      more self-evident villain I never saw.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! he impressed you in that way, did he? There are the horses, there is
+      the smithy. Yes, it is an interesting place, this Fighting Cock. I think
+      we shall have another look at it in an unobtrusive way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A long, sloping hillside, dotted with grey limestone boulders, stretched
+      behind us. We had turned off the road, and were making our way up the
+      hill, when, looking in the direction of Holdernesse Hall, I saw a cyclist
+      coming swiftly along.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get down, Watson!&rdquo; cried Holmes, with a heavy hand upon my shoulder. We
+      had hardly sunk from view when the man flew past us on the road. Amid a
+      rolling cloud of dust I caught a glimpse of a pale, agitated face&mdash;a
+      face with horror in every lineament, the mouth open, the eyes staring
+      wildly in front. It was like some strange caricature of the dapper James
+      Wilder whom we had seen the night before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Duke's secretary!&rdquo; cried Holmes. &ldquo;Come, Watson, let us see what he
+      does.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We scrambled from rock to rock until in a few moments we had made our way
+      to a point from which we could see the front door of the inn. Wilder's
+      bicycle was leaning against the wall beside it. No one was moving about
+      the house, nor could we catch a glimpse of any faces at the windows.
+      Slowly the twilight crept down as the sun sank behind the high towers of
+      Holdernesse Hall. Then in the gloom we saw the two side-lamps of a trap
+      light up in the stable yard of the inn, and shortly afterwards heard the
+      rattle of hoofs, as it wheeled out into the road and tore off at a furious
+      pace in the direction of Chesterfield.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you make of that, Watson?&rdquo; Holmes whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It looks like a flight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A single man in a dog-cart, so far as I could see. Well, it certainly was
+      not Mr. James Wilder, for there he is at the door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A red square of light had sprung out of the darkness. In the middle of it
+      was the black figure of the secretary, his head advanced, peering out into
+      the night. It was evident that he was expecting someone. Then at last
+      there were steps in the road, a second figure was visible for an instant
+      against the light, the door shut, and all was black once more. Five
+      minutes later a lamp was lit in a room upon the first floor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems to be a curious class of custom that is done by the Fighting
+      Cock,&rdquo; said Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The bar is on the other side.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so. These are what one may call the private guests. Now, what in
+      the world is Mr. James Wilder doing in that den at this hour of night, and
+      who is the companion who comes to meet him there? Come, Watson, we must
+      really take a risk and try to investigate this a little more closely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Together we stole down to the road and crept across to the door of the
+      inn. The bicycle still leaned against the wall. Holmes struck a match and
+      held it to the back wheel, and I heard him chuckle as the light fell upon
+      a patched Dunlop tyre. Up above us was the lighted window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must have a peep through that, Watson. If you bend your back and
+      support yourself upon the wall, I think that I can manage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      An instant later his feet were on my shoulders. But he was hardly up
+      before he was down again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, my friend,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;our day's work has been quite long enough. I
+      think that we have gathered all that we can. It's a long walk to the
+      school, and the sooner we get started the better.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He hardly opened his lips during that weary trudge across the moor, nor
+      would he enter the school when he reached it, but went on to Mackleton
+      Station, whence he could send some telegrams. Late at night I heard him
+      consoling Dr. Huxtable, prostrated by the tragedy of his master's death,
+      and later still he entered my room as alert and vigorous as he had been
+      when he started in the morning. &ldquo;All goes well, my friend,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I
+      promise that before to-morrow evening we shall have reached the solution
+      of the mystery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At eleven o'clock next morning my friend and I were walking up the famous
+      yew avenue of Holdernesse Hall. We were ushered through the magnificent
+      Elizabethan doorway and into his Grace's study. There we found Mr. James
+      Wilder, demure and courtly, but with some trace of that wild terror of the
+      night before still lurking in his furtive eyes and in his twitching
+      features.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have come to see his Grace? I am sorry; but the fact is that the Duke
+      is far from well. He has been very much upset by the tragic news. We
+      received a telegram from Dr. Huxtable yesterday afternoon, which told us
+      of your discovery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must see the Duke, Mr. Wilder.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But he is in his room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I must go to his room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe he is in his bed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will see him there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes's cold and inexorable manner showed the secretary that it was
+      useless to argue with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good, Mr. Holmes; I will tell him that you are here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      After half an hour's delay the great nobleman appeared. His face was more
+      cadaverous than ever, his shoulders had rounded, and he seemed to me to be
+      an altogether older man than he had been the morning before. He greeted us
+      with a stately courtesy and seated himself at his desk, his red beard
+      streaming down on to the table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Mr. Holmes?&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But my friend's eyes were fixed upon the secretary, who stood by his
+      master's chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, your Grace, that I could speak more freely in Mr. Wilder's
+      absence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man turned a shade paler and cast a malignant glance at Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If your Grace wishes&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes; you had better go. Now, Mr. Holmes, what have you to say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My friend waited until the door had closed behind the retreating
+      secretary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fact is, your Grace,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that my colleague, Dr. Watson, and
+      myself had an assurance from Dr. Huxtable that a reward had been offered
+      in this case. I should like to have this confirmed from your own lips.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly, Mr. Holmes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It amounted, if I am correctly informed, to five thousand pounds to
+      anyone who will tell you where your son is?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And another thousand to the man who will name the person or persons who
+      keep him in custody?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Under the latter heading is included, no doubt, not only those who may
+      have taken him away, but also those who conspire to keep him in his
+      present position?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes,&rdquo; cried the Duke, impatiently. &ldquo;If you do your work well, Mr.
+      Sherlock Holmes, you will have no reason to complain of niggardly
+      treatment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My friend rubbed his thin hands together with an appearance of avidity
+      which was a surprise to me, who knew his frugal tastes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fancy that I see your Grace's cheque-book upon the table,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I
+      should be glad if you would make me out a cheque for six thousand pounds.
+      It would be as well, perhaps, for you to cross it. The Capital and
+      Counties Bank, Oxford Street branch, are my agents.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His Grace sat very stern and upright in his chair, and looked stonily at
+      my friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is this a joke, Mr. Holmes? It is hardly a subject for pleasantry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all, your Grace. I was never more earnest in my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean that I have earned the reward. I know where your son is, and I
+      know some, at least, of those who are holding him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Duke's beard had turned more aggressively red than ever against his
+      ghastly white face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is he?&rdquo; he gasped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is, or was last night, at the Fighting Cock Inn, about two miles from
+      your park gate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Duke fell back in his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And whom do you accuse?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sherlock Holmes's answer was an astounding one. He stepped swiftly forward
+      and touched the Duke upon the shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I accuse YOU,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;And now, your Grace, I'll trouble you for that
+      cheque.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Never shall I forget the Duke's appearance as he sprang up and clawed with
+      his hands like one who is sinking into an abyss. Then, with an
+      extraordinary effort of aristocratic self-command, he sat down and sank
+      his face in his hands. It was some minutes before he spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How much do you know?&rdquo; he asked at last, without raising his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I saw you together last night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does anyone else besides your friend know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have spoken to no one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Duke took a pen in his quivering fingers and opened his cheque-book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall be as good as my word, Mr. Holmes. I am about to write your
+      cheque, however unwelcome the information which you have gained may be to
+      me. When the offer was first made I little thought the turn which events
+      might take. But you and your friend are men of discretion, Mr. Holmes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hardly understand your Grace.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must put it plainly, Mr. Holmes. If only you two know of this incident,
+      there is no reason why it should go any farther. I think twelve thousand
+      pounds is the sum that I owe you, is it not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Holmes smiled and shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear, your Grace, that matters can hardly be arranged so easily. There
+      is the death of this schoolmaster to be accounted for.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But James knew nothing of that. You cannot hold him responsible for that.
+      It was the work of this brutal ruffian whom he had the misfortune to
+      employ.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must take the view, your Grace, that when a man embarks upon a crime he
+      is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Morally, Mr. Holmes. No doubt you are right. But surely not in the eyes
+      of the law. A man cannot be condemned for a murder at which he was not
+      present, and which he loathes and abhors as much as you do. The instant
+      that he heard of it he made a complete confession to me, so filled was he
+      with horror and remorse. He lost not an hour in breaking entirely with the
+      murderer. Oh, Mr. Holmes, you must save him&mdash;you must save him! I
+      tell you that you must save him!&rdquo; The Duke had dropped the last attempt at
+      self-command, and was pacing the room with a convulsed face and with his
+      clenched hands raving in the air. At last he mastered himself and sat down
+      once more at his desk. &ldquo;I appreciate your conduct in coming here before
+      you spoke to anyone else,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;At least, we may take counsel how far
+      we can minimize this hideous scandal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;I think, your Grace, that this can only be done
+      by absolute and complete frankness between us. I am disposed to help your
+      Grace to the best of my ability; but in order to do so I must understand
+      to the last detail how the matter stands. I realize that your words
+      applied to Mr. James Wilder, and that he is not the murderer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; the murderer has escaped.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sherlock Holmes smiled demurely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your Grace can hardly have heard of any small reputation which I possess,
+      or you would not imagine that it is so easy to escape me. Mr. Reuben Hayes
+      was arrested at Chesterfield on my information at eleven o'clock last
+      night. I had a telegram from the head of the local police before I left
+      the school this morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Duke leaned back in his chair and stared with amazement at my friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You seem to have powers that are hardly human,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;So Reuben Hayes
+      is taken? I am right glad to hear it, if it will not react upon the fate
+      of James.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your secretary?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir; my son.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was Holmes's turn to look astonished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I confess that this is entirely new to me, your Grace. I must beg you to
+      be more explicit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will conceal nothing from you. I agree with you that complete
+      frankness, however painful it may be to me, is the best policy in this
+      desperate situation to which James's folly and jealousy have reduced us.
+      When I was a very young man, Mr. Holmes, I loved with such a love as comes
+      only once in a lifetime. I offered the lady marriage, but she refused it
+      on the grounds that such a match might mar my career. Had she lived I
+      would certainly never have married anyone else. She died, and left this
+      one child, whom for her sake I have cherished and cared for. I could not
+      acknowledge the paternity to the world; but I gave him the best of
+      educations, and since he came to manhood I have kept him near my person.
+      He surprised my secret, and has presumed ever since upon the claim which
+      he has upon me and upon his power of provoking a scandal, which would be
+      abhorrent to me. His presence had something to do with the unhappy issue
+      of my marriage. Above all, he hated my young legitimate heir from the
+      first with a persistent hatred. You may well ask me why, under these
+      circumstances, I still kept James under my roof. I answer that it was
+      because I could see his mother's face in his, and that for her dear sake
+      there was no end to my long-suffering. All her pretty ways, too&mdash;there
+      was not one of them which he could not suggest and bring back to my
+      memory. I COULD not send him away. But I feared so much lest he should do
+      Arthur&mdash;that is, Lord Saltire&mdash;a mischief that I dispatched him
+      for safety to Dr. Huxtable's school.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;James came into contact with this fellow Hayes because the man was a
+      tenant of mine, and James acted as agent. The fellow was a rascal from the
+      beginning; but in some extraordinary way James became intimate with him.
+      He had always a taste for low company. When James determined to kidnap
+      Lord Saltire it was of this man's service that he availed himself. You
+      remember that I wrote to Arthur upon that last day. Well, James opened the
+      letter and inserted a note asking Arthur to meet him in a little wood
+      called the Ragged Shaw, which is near to the school. He used the Duchess's
+      name, and in that way got the boy to come. That evening James bicycled
+      over&mdash;I am telling you what he has himself confessed to me&mdash;and
+      he told Arthur, whom he met in the wood, that his mother longed to see
+      him, that she was awaiting him on the moor, and that if he would come back
+      into the wood at midnight he would find a man with a horse, who would take
+      him to her. Poor Arthur fell into the trap. He came to the appointment and
+      found this fellow Hayes with a led pony. Arthur mounted, and they set off
+      together. It appears&mdash;though this James only heard yesterday&mdash;that
+      they were pursued, that Hayes struck the pursuer with his stick, and that
+      the man died of his injuries. Hayes brought Arthur to his public-house,
+      the Fighting Cock, where he was confined in an upper room, under the care
+      of Mrs. Hayes, who is a kindly woman, but entirely under the control of
+      her brutal husband.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Mr. Holmes, that was the state of affairs when I first saw you two
+      days ago. I had no more idea of the truth than you. You will ask me what
+      was James's motive in doing such a deed. I answer that there was a great
+      deal which was unreasoning and fanatical in the hatred which he bore my
+      heir. In his view he should himself have been heir of all my estates, and
+      he deeply resented those social laws which made it impossible. At the same
+      time he had a definite motive also. He was eager that I should break the
+      entail, and he was of opinion that it lay in my power to do so. He
+      intended to make a bargain with me&mdash;to restore Arthur if I would
+      break the entail, and so make it possible for the estate to be left to him
+      by will. He knew well that I should never willingly invoke the aid of the
+      police against him. I say that he would have proposed such a bargain to
+      me, but he did not actually do so, for events moved too quickly for him,
+      and he had not time to put his plans into practice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What brought all his wicked scheme to wreck was your discovery of this
+      man Heidegger's dead body. James was seized with horror at the news. It
+      came to us yesterday as we sat together in this study. Dr. Huxtable had
+      sent a telegram. James was so overwhelmed with grief and agitation that my
+      suspicions, which had never been entirely absent, rose instantly to a
+      certainty, and I taxed him with the deed. He made a complete voluntary
+      confession. Then he implored me to keep his secret for three days longer,
+      so as to give his wretched accomplice a chance of saving his guilty life.
+      I yielded&mdash;as I have always yielded&mdash;to his prayers, and
+      instantly James hurried off to the Fighting Cock to warn Hayes and give
+      him the means of flight. I could not go there by daylight without
+      provoking comment, but as soon as night fell I hurried off to see my dear
+      Arthur. I found him safe and well, but horrified beyond expression by the
+      dreadful deed he had witnessed. In deference to my promise, and much
+      against my will, I consented to leave him there for three days under the
+      charge of Mrs. Hayes, since it was evident that it was impossible to
+      inform the police where he was without telling them also who was the
+      murderer, and I could not see how that murderer could be punished without
+      ruin to my unfortunate James. You asked for frankness, Mr. Holmes, and I
+      have taken you at your word, for I have now told you everything without an
+      attempt at circumlocution or concealment. Do you in turn be as frank with
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;In the first place, your Grace, I am bound to tell
+      you that you have placed yourself in a most serious position in the eyes
+      of the law. You have condoned a felony and you have aided the escape of a
+      murderer; for I cannot doubt that any money which was taken by James
+      Wilder to aid his accomplice in his flight came from your Grace's purse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Duke bowed his assent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is indeed a most serious matter. Even more culpable in my opinion,
+      your Grace, is your attitude towards your younger son. You leave him in
+      this den for three days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Under solemn promises&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are promises to such people as these? You have no guarantee that he
+      will not be spirited away again. To humour your guilty elder son you have
+      exposed your innocent younger son to imminent and unnecessary danger. It
+      was a most unjustifiable action.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The proud lord of Holdernesse was not accustomed to be so rated in his own
+      ducal hall. The blood flushed into his high forehead, but his conscience
+      held him dumb.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will help you, but on one condition only. It is that you ring for the
+      footman and let me give such orders as I like.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Without a word the Duke pressed the electric bell. A servant entered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will be glad to hear,&rdquo; said Holmes, &ldquo;that your young master is found.
+      It is the Duke's desire that the carriage shall go at once to the Fighting
+      Cock Inn to bring Lord Saltire home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said Holmes, when the rejoicing lackey had disappeared, &ldquo;having
+      secured the future, we can afford to be more lenient with the past. I am
+      not in an official position, and there is no reason, so long as the ends
+      of justice are served, why I should disclose all that I know. As to Hayes
+      I say nothing. The gallows awaits him, and I would do nothing to save him
+      from it. What he will divulge I cannot tell, but I have no doubt that your
+      Grace could make him understand that it is to his interest to be silent.
+      From the police point of view he will have kidnapped the boy for the
+      purpose of ransom. If they do not themselves find it out I see no reason
+      why I should prompt them to take a broader point of view. I would warn
+      your Grace, however, that the continued presence of Mr. James Wilder in
+      your household can only lead to misfortune.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand that, Mr. Holmes, and it is already settled that he shall
+      leave me for ever and go to seek his fortune in Australia.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that case, your Grace, since you have yourself stated that any
+      unhappiness in your married life was caused by his presence, I would
+      suggest that you make such amends as you can to the Duchess, and that you
+      try to resume those relations which have been so unhappily interrupted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That also I have arranged, Mr. Holmes. I wrote to the Duchess this
+      morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that case,&rdquo; said Holmes, rising, &ldquo;I think that my friend and I can
+      congratulate ourselves upon several most happy results from our little
+      visit to the North. There is one other small point upon which I desire
+      some light. This fellow Hayes had shod his horses with shoes which
+      counterfeited the tracks of cows. Was it from Mr. Wilder that he learned
+      so extraordinary a device?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Duke stood in thought for a moment, with a look of intense surprise on
+      his face. Then he opened a door and showed us into a large room furnished
+      as a museum. He led the way to a glass case in a corner, and pointed to
+      the inscription.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These shoes,&rdquo; it ran, &ldquo;were dug up in the moat of Holdernesse Hall. They
+      are for the use of horses; but they are shaped below with a cloven foot of
+      iron, so as to throw pursuers off the track. They are supposed to have
+      belonged to some of the marauding Barons of Holdernesse in the Middle
+      Ages.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes opened the case, and moistening his finger he passed it along the
+      shoe. A thin film of recent mud was left upon his skin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said he, as he replaced the glass. &ldquo;It is the second most
+      interesting object that I have seen in the North.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the first?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes folded up his cheque and placed it carefully in his note-book. &ldquo;I
+      am a poor man,&rdquo; said he, as he patted it affectionately and thrust it into
+      the depths of his inner pocket.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 27  MARCH, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VI.&mdash;The Adventure of Black Peter.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      I HAVE never known my friend to be in better form, both mental and
+      physical, than in the year '95. His increasing fame had brought with it an
+      immense practice, and I should be guilty of an indiscretion if I were even
+      to hint at the identity of some of the illustrious clients who crossed our
+      humble threshold in Baker Street. Holmes, however, like all great artists,
+      lived for his art's sake, and, save in the case of the Duke of
+      Holdernesse, I have seldom known him claim any large reward for his
+      inestimable services. So unworldly was he&mdash;or so capricious&mdash;that
+      he frequently refused his help to the powerful and wealthy where the
+      problem made no appeal to his sympathies, while he would devote weeks of
+      most intense application to the affairs of some humble client whose case
+      presented those strange and dramatic qualities which appealed to his
+      imagination and challenged his ingenuity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this memorable year '95 a curious and incongruous succession of cases
+      had engaged his attention, ranging from his famous investigation of the
+      sudden death of Cardinal Tosca&mdash;an inquiry which was carried out by
+      him at the express desire of His Holiness the Pope&mdash;down to his
+      arrest of Wilson, the notorious canary-trainer, which removed a
+      plague-spot from the East-End of London. Close on the heels of these two
+      famous cases came the tragedy of Woodman's Lee, and the very obscure
+      circumstances which surrounded the death of Captain Peter Carey. No record
+      of the doings of Mr. Sherlock Holmes would be complete which did not
+      include some account of this very unusual affair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the first week of July my friend had been absent so often and so
+      long from our lodgings that I knew he had something on hand. The fact that
+      several rough-looking men called during that time and inquired for Captain
+      Basil made me understand that Holmes was working somewhere under one of
+      the numerous disguises and names with which he concealed his own
+      formidable identity. He had at least five small refuges in different parts
+      of London in which he was able to change his personality. He said nothing
+      of his business to me, and it was not my habit to force a confidence. The
+      first positive sign which he gave me of the direction which his
+      investigation was taking was an extraordinary one. He had gone out before
+      breakfast, and I had sat down to mine, when he strode into the room, his
+      hat upon his head and a huge barbed-headed spear tucked like an umbrella
+      under his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good gracious, Holmes!&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;You don't mean to say that you have
+      been walking about London with that thing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I drove to the butcher's and back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The butcher's?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I return with an excellent appetite. There can be no question, my
+      dear Watson, of the value of exercise before breakfast. But I am prepared
+      to bet that you will not guess the form that my exercise has taken.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not attempt it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He chuckled as he poured out the coffee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you could have looked into Allardyce's back shop you would have seen a
+      dead pig swung from a hook in the ceiling, and a gentleman in his
+      shirt-sleeves furiously stabbing at it with this weapon. I was that
+      energetic person, and I have satisfied myself that by no exertion of my
+      strength can I transfix the pig with a single blow. Perhaps you would care
+      to try?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not for worlds. But why were you doing this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because it seemed to me to have an indirect bearing upon the mystery of
+      Woodman's Lee. Ah, Hopkins, I got your wire last night, and I have been
+      expecting you. Come and join us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Our visitor was an exceedingly alert man, thirty years of age, dressed in
+      a quiet tweed suit, but retaining the erect bearing of one who was
+      accustomed to official uniform. I recognised him at once as Stanley
+      Hopkins, a young police inspector for whose future Holmes had high hopes,
+      while he in turn professed the admiration and respect of a pupil for the
+      scientific methods of the famous amateur. Hopkins's brow was clouded, and
+      he sat down with an air of deep dejection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, thank you, sir. I breakfasted before I came round. I spent the night
+      in town, for I came up yesterday to report.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what had you to report?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Failure, sir; absolute failure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have made no progress?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me! I must have a look at the matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish to heavens that you would, Mr. Holmes. It's my first big chance,
+      and I am at my wit's end. For goodness' sake come down and lend me a
+      hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well, it just happens that I have already read all the available
+      evidence, including the report of the inquest, with some care. By the way,
+      what do you make of that tobacco-pouch found on the scene of the crime? Is
+      there no clue there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Hopkins looked surprised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was the man's own pouch, sir. His initials were inside it. And it was
+      of seal-skin&mdash;and he an old sealer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But he had no pipe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir, we could find no pipe; indeed, he smoked very little. And yet he
+      might have kept some tobacco for his friends.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt. I only mention it because if I had been handling the case I
+      should have been inclined to make that the starting-point of my
+      investigation. However, my friend Dr. Watson knows nothing of this matter,
+      and I should be none the worse for hearing the sequence of events once
+      more. Just give us some short sketch of the essentials.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Stanley Hopkins drew a slip of paper from his pocket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have a few dates here which will give you the career of the dead man,
+      Captain Peter Carey. He was born in '45&mdash;fifty years of age. He was a
+      most daring and successful seal and whale fisher. In 1883 he commanded the
+      steam sealer SEA UNICORN, of Dundee. He had then had several successful
+      voyages in succession, and in the following year, 1884, he retired. After
+      that he travelled for some years, and finally he bought a small place
+      called Woodman's Lee, near Forest Row, in Sussex. There he has lived for
+      six years, and there he died just a week ago to-day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There were some most singular points about the man. In ordinary life he
+      was a strict Puritan&mdash;a silent, gloomy fellow. His household
+      consisted of his wife, his daughter, aged twenty, and two female servants.
+      These last were continually changing, for it was never a very cheery
+      situation, and sometimes it became past all bearing. The man was an
+      intermittent drunkard, and when he had the fit on him he was a perfect
+      fiend. He has been known to drive his wife and his daughter out of doors
+      in the middle of the night, and flog them through the park until the whole
+      village outside the gates was aroused by their screams.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was summoned once for a savage assault upon the old vicar, who had
+      called upon him to remonstrate with him upon his conduct. In short, Mr.
+      Holmes, you would go far before you found a more dangerous man than Peter
+      Carey, and I have heard that he bore the same character when he commanded
+      his ship. He was known in the trade as Black Peter, and the name was given
+      him, not only on account of his swarthy features and the colour of his
+      huge beard, but for the humours which were the terror of all around him. I
+      need not say that he was loathed and avoided by every one of his
+      neighbours, and that I have not heard one single word of sorrow about his
+      terrible end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must have read in the account of the inquest about the man's cabin,
+      Mr. Holmes; but perhaps your friend here has not heard of it. He had built
+      himself a wooden outhouse&mdash;he always called it 'the cabin'&mdash;a
+      few hundred yards from his house, and it was here that he slept every
+      night. It was a little, single-roomed hut, sixteen feet by ten. He kept
+      the key in his pocket, made his own bed, cleaned it himself, and allowed
+      no other foot to cross the threshold. There are small windows on each
+      side, which were covered by curtains and never opened. One of these
+      windows was turned towards the high road, and when the light burned in it
+      at night the folk used to point it out to each other and wonder what Black
+      Peter was doing in there. That's the window, Mr. Holmes, which gave us one
+      of the few bits of positive evidence that came out at the inquest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You remember that a stonemason, named Slater, walking from Forest Row
+      about one o'clock in the morning&mdash;two days before the murder&mdash;stopped
+      as he passed the grounds and looked at the square of light still shining
+      among the trees. He swears that the shadow of a man's head turned sideways
+      was clearly visible on the blind, and that this shadow was certainly not
+      that of Peter Carey, whom he knew well. It was that of a bearded man, but
+      the beard was short and bristled forwards in a way very different from
+      that of the captain. So he says, but he had been two hours in the
+      public-house, and it is some distance from the road to the window.
+      Besides, this refers to the Monday, and the crime was done upon the
+      Wednesday.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the Tuesday Peter Carey was in one of his blackest moods, flushed with
+      drink and as savage as a dangerous wild beast. He roamed about the house,
+      and the women ran for it when they heard him coming. Late in the evening
+      he went down to his own hut. About two o'clock the following morning his
+      daughter, who slept with her window open, heard a most fearful yell from
+      that direction, but it was no unusual thing for him to bawl and shout when
+      he was in drink, so no notice was taken. On rising at seven one of the
+      maids noticed that the door of the hut was open, but so great was the
+      terror which the man caused that it was midday before anyone would venture
+      down to see what had become of him. Peeping into the open door they saw a
+      sight which sent them flying with white faces into the village. Within an
+      hour I was on the spot and had taken over the case.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I have fairly steady nerves, as you know, Mr. Holmes, but I give
+      you my word that I got a shake when I put my head into that little house.
+      It was droning like a harmonium with the flies and bluebottles, and the
+      floor and walls were like a slaughter-house. He had called it a cabin, and
+      a cabin it was sure enough, for you would have thought that you were in a
+      ship. There was a bunk at one end, a sea-chest, maps and charts, a picture
+      of the SEA UNICORN, a line of log-books on a shelf, all exactly as one
+      would expect to find it in a captain's room. And there in the middle of it
+      was the man himself, his face twisted like a lost soul in torment, and his
+      great brindled beard stuck upwards in his agony. Right through his broad
+      breast a steel harpoon had been driven, and it had sunk deep into the wood
+      of the wall behind him. He was pinned like a beetle on a card. Of course,
+      he was quite dead, and had been so from the instant that he had uttered
+      that last yell of agony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know your methods, sir, and I applied them. Before I permitted anything
+      to be moved I examined most carefully the ground outside, and also the
+      floor of the room. There were no footmarks.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Meaning that you saw none?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I assure you, sir, that there were none.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My good Hopkins, I have investigated many crimes, but I have never yet
+      seen one which was committed by a flying creature. As long as the criminal
+      remains upon two legs so long must there be some indentation, some
+      abrasion, some trifling displacement which can be detected by the
+      scientific searcher. It is incredible that this blood-bespattered room
+      contained no trace which could have aided us. I understand, however, from
+      the inquest that there were some objects which you failed to overlook?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young inspector winced at my companion's ironical comments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was a fool not to call you in at the time, Mr. Holmes. However, that's
+      past praying for now. Yes, there were several objects in the room which
+      called for special attention. One was the harpoon with which the deed was
+      committed. It had been snatched down from a rack on the wall. Two others
+      remained there, and there was a vacant place for the third. On the stock
+      was engraved 'Ss. SEA UNICORN, Dundee.' This seemed to establish that the
+      crime had been done in a moment of fury, and that the murderer had seized
+      the first weapon which came in his way. The fact that the crime was
+      committed at two in the morning, and yet Peter Carey was fully dressed,
+      suggested that he had an appointment with the murderer, which is borne out
+      by the fact that a bottle of rum and two dirty glasses stood upon the
+      table.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Holmes; &ldquo;I think that both inferences are permissible. Was
+      there any other spirit but rum in the room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; there was a tantalus containing brandy and whisky on the sea-chest.
+      It is of no importance to us, however, since the decanters were full, and
+      it had therefore not been used.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For all that its presence has some significance,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;However,
+      let us hear some more about the objects which do seem to you to bear upon
+      the case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There was this tobacco-pouch upon the table.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What part of the table?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It lay in the middle. It was of coarse seal-skin&mdash;the
+      straight-haired skin, with a leather thong to bind it. Inside was 'P.C.'
+      on the flap. There was half an ounce of strong ship's tobacco in it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excellent! What more?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Stanley Hopkins drew from his pocket a drab-covered note-book. The outside
+      was rough and worn, the leaves discoloured. On the first page were written
+      the initials &ldquo;J.H.N.&rdquo; and the date &ldquo;1883.&rdquo; Holmes laid it on the table and
+      examined it in his minute way, while Hopkins and I gazed over each
+      shoulder. On the second page were the printed letters &ldquo;C.P.R.,&rdquo; and then
+      came several sheets of numbers. Another heading was Argentine, another
+      Costa Rica, and another San Paulo, each with pages of signs and figures
+      after it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you make of these?&rdquo; asked Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They appear to be lists of Stock Exchange securities. I thought that
+      'J.H.N.' were the initials of a broker, and that 'C.P.R.' may have been
+      his client.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Try Canadian Pacific Railway,&rdquo; said Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Stanley Hopkins swore between his teeth and struck his thigh with his
+      clenched hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a fool I have been!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Of course, it is as you say. Then
+      'J.H.N.' are the only initials we have to solve. I have already examined
+      the old Stock Exchange lists, and I can find no one in 1883 either in the
+      House or among the outside brokers whose initials correspond with these.
+      Yet I feel that the clue is the most important one that I hold. You will
+      admit, Mr. Holmes, that there is a possibility that these initials are
+      those of the second person who was present&mdash;in other words, of the
+      murderer. I would also urge that the introduction into the case of a
+      document relating to large masses of valuable securities gives us for the
+      first time some indication of a motive for the crime.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sherlock Holmes's face showed that he was thoroughly taken aback by this
+      new development.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must admit both your points,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I confess that this note-book,
+      which did not appear at the inquest, modifies any views which I may have
+      formed. I had come to a theory of the crime in which I can find no place
+      for this. Have you endeavoured to trace any of the securities here
+      mentioned?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Inquiries are now being made at the offices, but I fear that the complete
+      register of the stockholders of these South American concerns is in South
+      America, and that some weeks must elapse before we can trace the shares.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes had been examining the cover of the note-book with his magnifying
+      lens.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely there is some discolouration here,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, it is a blood-stain. I told you that I picked the book off the
+      floor.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was the blood-stain above or below?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the side next the boards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which proves, of course, that the book was dropped after the crime was
+      committed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly, Mr. Holmes. I appreciated that point, and I conjectured that it
+      was dropped by the murderer in his hurried flight. It lay near the door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose that none of these securities have been found among the
+      property of the dead man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you any reason to suspect robbery?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir. Nothing seemed to have been touched.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me, it is certainly a very interesting case. Then there was a knife,
+      was there not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A sheath-knife, still in its sheath. It lay at the feet of the dead man.
+      Mrs. Carey has identified it as being her husband's property.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes was lost in thought for some time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said he, at last, &ldquo;I suppose I shall have to come out and have a
+      look at it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Stanley Hopkins gave a cry of joy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you, sir. That will indeed be a weight off my mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes shook his finger at the inspector.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would have been an easier task a week ago,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;But even now my
+      visit may not be entirely fruitless. Watson, if you can spare the time I
+      should be very glad of your company. If you will call a four-wheeler,
+      Hopkins, we shall be ready to start for Forest Row in a quarter of an
+      hour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Alighting at the small wayside station, we drove for some miles through
+      the remains of widespread woods, which were once part of that great forest
+      which for so long held the Saxon invaders at bay&mdash;the impenetrable
+      &ldquo;weald,&rdquo; for sixty years the bulwark of Britain. Vast sections of it have
+      been cleared, for this is the seat of the first iron-works of the country,
+      and the trees have been felled to smelt the ore. Now the richer fields of
+      the North have absorbed the trade, and nothing save these ravaged groves
+      and great scars in the earth show the work of the past. Here in a clearing
+      upon the green slope of a hill stood a long, low stone house, approached
+      by a curving drive running through the fields. Nearer the road, and
+      surrounded on three sides by bushes, was a small outhouse, one window and
+      the door facing in our direction. It was the scene of the murder!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Stanley Hopkins led us first to the house, where he introduced us to a
+      haggard, grey-haired woman, the widow of the murdered man, whose gaunt and
+      deep-lined face, with the furtive look of terror in the depths of her
+      red-rimmed eyes, told of the years of hardship and ill-usage which she had
+      endured. With her was her daughter, a pale, fair-haired girl, whose eyes
+      blazed defiantly at us as she told us that she was glad that her father
+      was dead, and that she blessed the hand which had struck him down. It was
+      a terrible household that Black Peter Carey had made for himself, and it
+      was with a sense of relief that we found ourselves in the sunlight again
+      and making our way along a path which had been worn across the fields by
+      the feet of the dead man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The outhouse was the simplest of dwellings, wooden-walled, shingle-roofed,
+      one window beside the door and one on the farther side. Stanley Hopkins
+      drew the key from his pocket, and had stooped to the lock, when he paused
+      with a look of attention and surprise upon his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Someone has been tampering with it,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There could be no doubt of the fact. The woodwork was cut and the
+      scratches showed white through the paint, as if they had been that instant
+      done. Holmes had been examining the window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Someone has tried to force this also. Whoever it was has failed to make
+      his way in. He must have been a very poor burglar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is a most extraordinary thing,&rdquo; said the inspector; &ldquo;I could swear
+      that these marks were not here yesterday evening.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some curious person from the village, perhaps,&rdquo; I suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very unlikely. Few of them would dare to set foot in the grounds, far
+      less try to force their way into the cabin. What do you think of it, Mr.
+      Holmes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think that fortune is very kind to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that the person will come again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is very probable. He came expecting to find the door open. He tried to
+      get in with the blade of a very small penknife. He could not manage it.
+      What would he do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come again next night with a more useful tool.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I should say. It will be our fault if we are not there to receive him.
+      Meanwhile, let me see the inside of the cabin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The traces of the tragedy had been removed, but the furniture within the
+      little room still stood as it had been on the night of the crime. For two
+      hours, with most intense concentration, Holmes examined every object in
+      turn, but his face showed that his quest was not a successful one. Once
+      only he paused in his patient investigation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you taken anything off this shelf, Hopkins?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; I have moved nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Something has been taken. There is less dust in this corner of the shelf
+      than elsewhere. It may have been a book lying on its side. It may have
+      been a box. Well, well, I can do nothing more. Let us walk in these
+      beautiful woods, Watson, and give a few hours to the birds and the
+      flowers. We shall meet you here later, Hopkins, and see if we can come to
+      closer quarters with the gentleman who has paid this visit in the night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was past eleven o'clock when we formed our little ambuscade. Hopkins
+      was for leaving the door of the hut open, but Holmes was of the opinion
+      that this would rouse the suspicions of the stranger. The lock was a
+      perfectly simple one, and only a strong blade was needed to push it back.
+      Holmes also suggested that we should wait, not inside the hut, but outside
+      it among the bushes which grew round the farther window. In this way we
+      should be able to watch our man if he struck a light, and see what his
+      object was in this stealthy nocturnal visit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a long and melancholy vigil, and yet brought with it something of
+      the thrill which the hunter feels when he lies beside the water pool and
+      waits for the coming of the thirsty beast of prey. What savage creature
+      was it which might steal upon us out of the darkness? Was it a fierce
+      tiger of crime, which could only be taken fighting hard with flashing fang
+      and claw, or would it prove to be some skulking jackal, dangerous only to
+      the weak and unguarded?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In absolute silence we crouched amongst the bushes, waiting for whatever
+      might come. At first the steps of a few belated villagers, or the sound of
+      voices from the village, lightened our vigil; but one by one these
+      interruptions died away and an absolute stillness fell upon us, save for
+      the chimes of the distant church, which told us of the progress of the
+      night, and for the rustle and whisper of a fine rain falling amid the
+      foliage which roofed us in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Half-past two had chimed, and it was the darkest hour which precedes the
+      dawn, when we all started as a low but sharp click came from the direction
+      of the gate. Someone had entered the drive. Again there was a long
+      silence, and I had begun to fear that it was a false alarm, when a
+      stealthy step was heard upon the other side of the hut, and a moment later
+      a metallic scraping and clinking. The man was trying to force the lock!
+      This time his skill was greater or his tool was better, for there was a
+      sudden snap and the creak of the hinges. Then a match was struck, and next
+      instant the steady light from a candle filled the interior of the hut.
+      Through the gauze curtain our eyes were all riveted upon the scene within.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The nocturnal visitor was a young man, frail and thin, with a black
+      moustache which intensified the deadly pallor of his face. He could not
+      have been much above twenty years of age. I have never seen any human
+      being who appeared to be in such a pitiable fright, for his teeth were
+      visibly chattering and he was shaking in every limb. He was dressed like a
+      gentleman, in Norfolk jacket and knickerbockers, with a cloth cap upon his
+      head. We watched him staring round with frightened eyes. Then he laid the
+      candle-end upon the table and disappeared from our view into one of the
+      corners. He returned with a large book, one of the log-books which formed
+      a line upon the shelves. Leaning on the table he rapidly turned over the
+      leaves of this volume until he came to the entry which he sought. Then,
+      with an angry gesture of his clenched hand, he closed the book, replaced
+      it in the corner, and put out the light. He had hardly turned to leave the
+      hut when Hopkins's hand was on the fellow's collar, and I heard his loud
+      gasp of terror as he understood that he was taken. The candle was re-lit,
+      and there was our wretched captive shivering and cowering in the grasp of
+      the detective. He sank down upon the sea-chest, and looked helplessly from
+      one of us to the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, my fine fellow,&rdquo; said Stanley Hopkins, &ldquo;who are you, and what do you
+      want here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man pulled himself together and faced us with an effort at
+      self-composure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are detectives, I suppose?&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;You imagine I am connected with
+      the death of Captain Peter Carey. I assure you that I am innocent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll see about that,&rdquo; said Hopkins. &ldquo;First of all, what is your name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is John Hopley Neligan.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I saw Holmes and Hopkins exchange a quick glance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are you doing here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can I speak confidentially?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, certainly not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should I tell you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you have no answer it may go badly with you at the trial.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young man winced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I will tell you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Why should I not? And yet I hate to
+      think of this old scandal gaining a new lease of life. Did you ever hear
+      of Dawson and Neligan?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I could see from Hopkins's face that he never had; but Holmes was keenly
+      interested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean the West-country bankers,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;They failed for a million,
+      ruined half the county families of Cornwall, and Neligan disappeared.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. Neligan was my father.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At last we were getting something positive, and yet it seemed a long gap
+      between an absconding banker and Captain Peter Carey pinned against the
+      wall with one of his own harpoons. We all listened intently to the young
+      man's words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was my father who was really concerned. Dawson had retired. I was only
+      ten years of age at the time, but I was old enough to feel the shame and
+      horror of it all. It has always been said that my father stole all the
+      securities and fled. It is not true. It was his belief that if he were
+      given time in which to realize them all would be well and every creditor
+      paid in full. He started in his little yacht for Norway just before the
+      warrant was issued for his arrest. I can remember that last night when he
+      bade farewell to my mother. He left us a list of the securities he was
+      taking, and he swore that he would come back with his honour cleared, and
+      that none who had trusted him would suffer. Well, no word was ever heard
+      from him again. Both the yacht and he vanished utterly. We believed, my
+      mother and I, that he and it, with the securities that he had taken with
+      him, were at the bottom of the sea. We had a faithful friend, however, who
+      is a business man, and it was he who discovered some time ago that some of
+      the securities which my father had with him have reappeared on the London
+      market. You can imagine our amazement. I spent months in trying to trace
+      them, and at last, after many doublings and difficulties, I discovered
+      that the original seller had been Captain Peter Carey, the owner of this
+      hut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally, I made some inquiries about the man. I found that he had been
+      in command of a whaler which was due to return from the Arctic seas at the
+      very time when my father was crossing to Norway. The autumn of that year
+      was a stormy one, and there was a long succession of southerly gales. My
+      father's yacht may well have been blown to the north, and there met by
+      Captain Peter Carey's ship. If that were so, what had become of my father?
+      In any case, if I could prove from Peter Carey's evidence how these
+      securities came on the market it would be a proof that my father had not
+      sold them, and that he had no view to personal profit when he took them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I came down to Sussex with the intention of seeing the captain, but it
+      was at this moment that his terrible death occurred. I read at the inquest
+      a description of his cabin, in which it stated that the old log-books of
+      his vessel were preserved in it. It struck me that if I could see what
+      occurred in the month of August, 1883, on board the SEA UNICORN, I might
+      settle the mystery of my father's fate. I tried last night to get at these
+      log-books, but was unable to open the door. To-night I tried again, and
+      succeeded; but I find that the pages which deal with that month have been
+      torn from the book. It was at that moment I found myself a prisoner in
+      your hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that all?&rdquo; asked Hopkins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, that is all.&rdquo; His eyes shifted as he said it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have nothing else to tell us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He hesitated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; there is nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have not been here before last night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then how do you account for THAT?&rdquo; cried Hopkins, as he held up the
+      damning note-book, with the initials of our prisoner on the first leaf and
+      the blood-stain on the cover.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wretched man collapsed. He sank his face in his hands and trembled all
+      over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where did you get it?&rdquo; he groaned. &ldquo;I did not know. I thought I had lost
+      it at the hotel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is enough,&rdquo; said Hopkins, sternly. &ldquo;Whatever else you have to say
+      you must say in court. You will walk down with me now to the
+      police-station. Well, Mr. Holmes, I am very much obliged to you and to
+      your friend for coming down to help me. As it turns out your presence was
+      unnecessary, and I would have brought the case to this successful issue
+      without you; but none the less I am very grateful. Rooms have been
+      reserved for you at the Brambletye Hotel, so we can all walk down to the
+      village together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Watson, what do you think of it?&rdquo; asked Holmes, as we travelled
+      back next morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can see that you are not satisfied.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes, my dear Watson, I am perfectly satisfied. At the same time
+      Stanley Hopkins's methods do not commend themselves to me. I am
+      disappointed in Stanley Hopkins. I had hoped for better things from him.
+      One should always look for a possible alternative and provide against it.
+      It is the first rule of criminal investigation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, then, is the alternative?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The line of investigation which I have myself been pursuing. It may give
+      us nothing. I cannot tell. But at least I shall follow it to the end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Several letters were waiting for Holmes at Baker Street. He snatched one
+      of them up, opened it, and burst out into a triumphant chuckle of
+      laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excellent, Watson. The alternative develops. Have you telegraph forms?
+      Just write a couple of messages for me: 'Sumner, Shipping Agent, Ratcliff
+      Highway. Send three men on, to arrive ten to-morrow morning.&mdash;Basil.'
+      That's my name in those parts. The other is: 'Inspector Stanley Hopkins,
+      46, Lord Street, Brixton. Come breakfast to-morrow at nine-thirty.
+      Important. Wire if unable to come.&mdash;Sherlock Holmes.' There, Watson,
+      this infernal case has haunted me for ten days. I hereby banish it
+      completely from my presence. To-morrow I trust that we shall hear the last
+      of it for ever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sharp at the hour named Inspector Stanley Hopkins appeared, and we sat
+      down together to the excellent breakfast which Mrs. Hudson had prepared.
+      The young detective was in high spirits at his success.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You really think that your solution must be correct?&rdquo; asked Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could not imagine a more complete case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It did not seem to me conclusive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You astonish me, Mr. Holmes. What more could one ask for?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does your explanation cover every point?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Undoubtedly. I find that young Neligan arrived at the Brambletye Hotel on
+      the very day of the crime. He came on the pretence of playing golf. His
+      room was on the ground-floor, and he could get out when he liked. That
+      very night he went down to Woodman's Lee, saw Peter Carey at the hut,
+      quarrelled with him, and killed him with the harpoon. Then, horrified by
+      what he had done, he fled out of the hut, dropping the note-book which he
+      had brought with him in order to question Peter Carey about these
+      different securities. You may have observed that some of them were marked
+      with ticks, and the others&mdash;the great majority&mdash;were not. Those
+      which are ticked have been traced on the London market; but the others
+      presumably were still in the possession of Carey, and young Neligan,
+      according to his own account, was anxious to recover them in order to do
+      the right thing by his father's creditors. After his flight he did not
+      dare to approach the hut again for some time; but at last he forced
+      himself to do so in order to obtain the information which he needed.
+      Surely that is all simple and obvious?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes smiled and shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems to me to have only one drawback, Hopkins, and that is that it is
+      intrinsically impossible. Have you tried to drive a harpoon through a
+      body? No? Tut, tut, my dear sir, you must really pay attention to these
+      details. My friend Watson could tell you that I spent a whole morning in
+      that exercise. It is no easy matter, and requires a strong and practised
+      arm. But this blow was delivered with such violence that the head of the
+      weapon sank deep into the wall. Do you imagine that this anaemic youth was
+      capable of so frightful an assault? Is he the man who hobnobbed in rum and
+      water with Black Peter in the dead of the night? Was it his profile that
+      was seen on the blind two nights before? No, no, Hopkins; it is another
+      and a more formidable person for whom we must seek.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The detective's face had grown longer and longer during Holmes's speech.
+      His hopes and his ambitions were all crumbling about him. But he would not
+      abandon his position without a struggle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can't deny that Neligan was present that night, Mr. Holmes. The book
+      will prove that. I fancy that I have evidence enough to satisfy a jury,
+      even if you are able to pick a hole in it. Besides, Mr. Holmes, I have
+      laid my hand upon MY man. As to this terrible person of yours, where is
+      he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I rather fancy that he is on the stair,&rdquo; said Holmes, serenely. &ldquo;I think,
+      Watson, that you would do well to put that revolver where you can reach
+      it.&rdquo; He rose, and laid a written paper upon a side-table. &ldquo;Now we are
+      ready,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There had been some talking in gruff voices outside, and now Mrs. Hudson
+      opened the door to say that there were three men inquiring for Captain
+      Basil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Show them in one by one,&rdquo; said Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first who entered was a little ribston-pippin of a man, with ruddy
+      cheeks and fluffy white side-whiskers. Holmes had drawn a letter from his
+      pocket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What name?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;James Lancaster.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, Lancaster, but the berth is full. Here is half a sovereign
+      for your trouble. Just step into this room and wait there for a few
+      minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The second man was a long, dried-up creature, with lank hair and sallow
+      cheeks. His name was Hugh Pattins. He also received his dismissal, his
+      half-sovereign, and the order to wait.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The third applicant was a man of remarkable appearance. A fierce bull-dog
+      face was framed in a tangle of hair and beard, and two bold dark eyes
+      gleamed behind the cover of thick, tufted, overhung eyebrows. He saluted
+      and stood sailor-fashion, turning his cap round in his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your name?&rdquo; asked Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Patrick Cairns.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harpooner?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir. Twenty-six voyages.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dundee, I suppose?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And ready to start with an exploring ship?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What wages?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eight pounds a month.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could you start at once?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As soon as I get my kit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you your papers?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo; He took a sheaf of worn and greasy forms from his pocket.
+      Holmes glanced over them and returned them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are just the man I want,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Here's the agreement on the
+      side-table. If you sign it the whole matter will be settled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The seaman lurched across the room and took up the pen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall I sign here?&rdquo; he asked, stooping over the table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes leaned over his shoulder and passed both hands over his neck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This will do,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I heard a click of steel and a bellow like an enraged bull. The next
+      instant Holmes and the seaman were rolling on the ground together. He was
+      a man of such gigantic strength that, even with the handcuffs which Holmes
+      had so deftly fastened upon his wrists, he would have very quickly
+      overpowered my friend had Hopkins and I not rushed to his rescue. Only
+      when I pressed the cold muzzle of the revolver to his temple did he at
+      last understand that resistance was vain. We lashed his ankles with cord
+      and rose breathless from the struggle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must really apologize, Hopkins,&rdquo; said Sherlock Holmes; &ldquo;I fear that the
+      scrambled eggs are cold. However, you will enjoy the rest of your
+      breakfast all the better, will you not, for the thought that you have
+      brought your case to a triumphant conclusion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Stanley Hopkins was speechless with amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know what to say, Mr. Holmes,&rdquo; he blurted out at last, with a
+      very red face. &ldquo;It seems to me that I have been making a fool of myself
+      from the beginning. I understand now, what I should never have forgotten,
+      that I am the pupil and you are the master. Even now I see what you have
+      done, but I don't know how you did it, or what it signifies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well,&rdquo; said Holmes, good-humouredly. &ldquo;We all learn by experience,
+      and your lesson this time is that you should never lose sight of the
+      alternative. You were so absorbed in young Neligan that you could not
+      spare a thought to Patrick Cairns, the true murderer of Peter Carey.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The hoarse voice of the seaman broke in on our conversation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See here, mister,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I make no complaint of being man-handled in
+      this fashion, but I would have you call things by their right names. You
+      say I murdered Peter Carey; I say I KILLED Peter Carey, and there's all
+      the difference. Maybe you don't believe what I say. Maybe you think I am
+      just slinging you a yarn.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Let us hear what you have to say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's soon told, and, by the Lord, every word of it is truth. I knew Black
+      Peter, and when he pulled out his knife I whipped a harpoon through him
+      sharp, for I knew that it was him or me. That's how he died. You can call
+      it murder. Anyhow, I'd as soon die with a rope round my neck as with Black
+      Peter's knife in my heart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How came you there?&rdquo; asked Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll tell it you from the beginning. Just sit me up a little so as I can
+      speak easy. It was in '83 that it happened&mdash;August of that year.
+      Peter Carey was master of the SEA UNICORN, and I was spare harpooner. We
+      were coming out of the ice-pack on our way home, with head winds and a
+      week's southerly gale, when we picked up a little craft that had been
+      blown north. There was one man on her&mdash;a landsman. The crew had
+      thought she would founder, and had made for the Norwegian coast in the
+      dinghy. I guess they were all drowned. Well, we took him on board, this
+      man, and he and the skipper had some long talks in the cabin. All the
+      baggage we took off with him was one tin box. So far as I know, the man's
+      name was never mentioned, and on the second night he disappeared as if he
+      had never been. It was given out that he had either thrown himself
+      overboard or fallen overboard in the heavy weather that we were having.
+      Only one man knew what had happened to him, and that was me, for with my
+      own eyes I saw the skipper tip up his heels and put him over the rail in
+      the middle watch of a dark night, two days before we sighted the Shetland
+      lights.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I kept my knowledge to myself and waited to see what would come of
+      it. When we got back to Scotland it was easily hushed up, and nobody asked
+      any questions. A stranger died by an accident, and it was nobody's
+      business to inquire. Shortly after Peter Carey gave up the sea, and it was
+      long years before I could find where he was. I guessed that he had done
+      the deed for the sake of what was in that tin box, and that he could
+      afford now to pay me well for keeping my mouth shut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I found out where he was through a sailor man that had met him in London,
+      and down I went to squeeze him. The first night he was reasonable enough,
+      and was ready to give me what would make me free of the sea for life. We
+      were to fix it all two nights later. When I came I found him three parts
+      drunk and in a vile temper. We sat down and we drank and we yarned about
+      old times, but the more he drank the less I liked the look on his face. I
+      spotted that harpoon upon the wall, and I thought I might need it before I
+      was through. Then at last he broke out at me, spitting and cursing, with
+      murder in his eyes and a great clasp-knife in his hand. He had not time to
+      get it from the sheath before I had the harpoon through him. Heavens! what
+      a yell he gave; and his face gets between me and my sleep! I stood there,
+      with his blood splashing round me, and I waited for a bit; but all was
+      quiet, so I took heart once more. I looked round, and there was the tin
+      box on a shelf. I had as much right to it as Peter Carey, anyhow, so I
+      took it with me and left the hut. Like a fool I left my baccy-pouch upon
+      the table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now I'll tell you the queerest part of the whole story. I had hardly got
+      outside the hut when I heard someone coming, and I hid among the bushes. A
+      man came slinking along, went into the hut, gave a cry as if he had seen a
+      ghost, and legged it as hard as he could run until he was out of sight.
+      Who he was or what he wanted is more than I can tell. For my part I walked
+      ten miles, got a train at Tunbridge Wells, and so reached London, and no
+      one the wiser.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, when I came to examine the box I found there was no money in it,
+      and nothing but papers that I would not dare to sell. I had lost my hold
+      on Black Peter, and was stranded in London without a shilling. There was
+      only my trade left. I saw these advertisements about harpooners and high
+      wages, so I went to the shipping agents, and they sent me here. That's all
+      I know, and I say again that if I killed Black Peter the law should give
+      me thanks, for I saved them the price of a hempen rope.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A very clear statement,&rdquo; said Holmes, rising and lighting his pipe. &ldquo;I
+      think, Hopkins, that you should lose no time in conveying your prisoner to
+      a place of safety. This room is not well adapted for a cell, and Mr.
+      Patrick Cairns occupies too large a proportion of our carpet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Holmes,&rdquo; said Hopkins, &ldquo;I do not know how to express my gratitude.
+      Even now I do not understand how you attained this result.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Simply by having the good fortune to get the right clue from the
+      beginning. It is very possible if I had known about this note-book it
+      might have led away my thoughts, as it did yours. But all I heard pointed
+      in the one direction. The amazing strength, the skill in the use of the
+      harpoon, the rum and water, the seal-skin tobacco-pouch, with the coarse
+      tobacco&mdash;all these pointed to a seaman, and one who had been a
+      whaler. I was convinced that the initials 'P.C.' upon the pouch were a
+      coincidence, and not those of Peter Carey, since he seldom smoked, and no
+      pipe was found in his cabin. You remember that I asked whether whisky and
+      brandy were in the cabin. You said they were. How many landsmen are there
+      who would drink rum when they could get these other spirits? Yes, I was
+      certain it was a seaman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And how did you find him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear sir, the problem had become a very simple one. If it were a
+      seaman, it could only be a seaman who had been with him on the SEA
+      UNICORN. So far as I could learn he had sailed in no other ship. I spent
+      three days in wiring to Dundee, and at the end of that time I had
+      ascertained the names of the crew of the SEA UNICORN in 1883. When I found
+      Patrick Cairns among the harpooners my research was nearing its end. I
+      argued that the man was probably in London, and that he would desire to
+      leave the country for a time. I therefore spent some days in the East-end,
+      devised an Arctic expedition, put forth tempting terms for harpooners who
+      would serve under Captain Basil&mdash;and behold the result!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wonderful!&rdquo; cried Hopkins. &ldquo;Wonderful!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must obtain the release of young Neligan as soon as possible,&rdquo; said
+      Holmes. &ldquo;I confess that I think you owe him some apology. The tin box must
+      be returned to him, but, of course, the securities which Peter Carey has
+      sold are lost for ever. There's the cab, Hopkins, and you can remove your
+      man. If you want me for the trial, my address and that of Watson will be
+      somewhere in Norway&mdash;I'll send particulars later.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <hr />
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 27  APRIL, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VII.&mdash;The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      IT is years since the incidents of which I speak took place, and yet it is
+      with diffidence that I allude to them. For a long time, even with the
+      utmost discretion and reticence, it would have been impossible to make the
+      facts public; but now the principal person concerned is beyond the reach
+      of human law, and with due suppression the story may be told in such
+      fashion as to injure no one. It records an absolutely unique experience in
+      the career both of Mr. Sherlock Holmes and of myself. The reader will
+      excuse me if I conceal the date or any other fact by which he might trace
+      the actual occurrence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had been out for one of our evening rambles, Holmes and I, and had
+      returned about six o'clock on a cold, frosty winter's evening. As Holmes
+      turned up the lamp the light fell upon a card on the table. He glanced at
+      it, and then, with an ejaculation of disgust, threw it on the floor. I
+      picked it up and read:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+             CHARLES AUGUSTUS MILVERTON,
+                  APPLEDORE TOWERS,
+            AGENT.              HAMPSTEAD.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is he?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The worst man in London,&rdquo; Holmes answered, as he sat down and stretched
+      his legs before the fire. &ldquo;Is anything on the back of the card?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I turned it over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will call at 6.30&mdash;C.A.M.,&rdquo; I read.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hum! He's about due. Do you feel a creeping, shrinking sensation, Watson,
+      when you stand before the serpents in the Zoo and see the slithery,
+      gliding, venomous creatures, with their deadly eyes and wicked, flattened
+      faces? Well, that's how Milverton impresses me. I've had to do with fifty
+      murderers in my career, but the worst of them never gave me the repulsion
+      which I have for this fellow. And yet I can't get out of doing business
+      with him&mdash;indeed, he is here at my invitation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But who is he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll tell you, Watson. He is the king of all the blackmailers. Heaven
+      help the man, and still more the woman, whose secret and reputation come
+      into the power of Milverton. With a smiling face and a heart of marble he
+      will squeeze and squeeze until he has drained them dry. The fellow is a
+      genius in his way, and would have made his mark in some more savoury
+      trade. His method is as follows: He allows it to be known that he is
+      prepared to pay very high sums for letters which compromise people of
+      wealth or position. He receives these wares not only from treacherous
+      valets or maids, but frequently from genteel ruffians who have gained the
+      confidence and affection of trusting women. He deals with no niggard hand.
+      I happen to know that he paid seven hundred pounds to a footman for a note
+      two lines in length, and that the ruin of a noble family was the result.
+      Everything which is in the market goes to Milverton, and there are
+      hundreds in this great city who turn white at his name. No one knows where
+      his grip may fall, for he is far too rich and far too cunning to work from
+      hand to mouth. He will hold a card back for years in order to play it at
+      the moment when the stake is best worth winning. I have said that he is
+      the worst man in London, and I would ask you how could one compare the
+      ruffian who in hot blood bludgeons his mate with this man, who
+      methodically and at his leisure tortures the soul and wrings the nerves in
+      order to add to his already swollen money-bags?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I had seldom heard my friend speak with such intensity of feeling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But surely,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;the fellow must be within the grasp of the law?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Technically, no doubt, but practically not. What would it profit a woman,
+      for example, to get him a few months' imprisonment if her own ruin must
+      immediately follow? His victims dare not hit back. If ever he blackmailed
+      an innocent person, then, indeed, we should have him; but he is as cunning
+      as the Evil One. No, no; we must find other ways to fight him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why is he here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because an illustrious client has placed her piteous case in my hands. It
+      is the Lady Eva Brackwell, the most beautiful DEBUTANTE of last season.
+      She is to be married in a fortnight to the Earl of Dovercourt. This fiend
+      has several imprudent letters&mdash;imprudent, Watson, nothing worse&mdash;which
+      were written to an impecunious young squire in the country. They would
+      suffice to break off the match. Milverton will send the letters to the
+      Earl unless a large sum of money is paid him. I have been commissioned to
+      meet him, and&mdash;to make the best terms I can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At that instant there was a clatter and a rattle in the street below.
+      Looking down I saw a stately carriage and pair, the brilliant lamps
+      gleaming on the glossy haunches of the noble chestnuts. A footman opened
+      the door, and a small, stout man in a shaggy astrachan overcoat descended.
+      A minute later he was in the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Charles Augustus Milverton was a man of fifty, with a large, intellectual
+      head, a round, plump, hairless face, a perpetual frozen smile, and two
+      keen grey eyes, which gleamed brightly from behind broad, golden-rimmed
+      glasses. There was something of Mr. Pickwick's benevolence in his
+      appearance, marred only by the insincerity of the fixed smile and by the
+      hard glitter of those restless and penetrating eyes. His voice was as
+      smooth and suave as his countenance, as he advanced with a plump little
+      hand extended, murmuring his regret for having missed us at his first
+      visit. Holmes disregarded the outstretched hand and looked at him with a
+      face of granite. Milverton's smile broadened; he shrugged his shoulders,
+      removed his overcoat, folded it with great deliberation over the back of a
+      chair, and then took a seat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This gentleman?&rdquo; said he, with a wave in my direction. &ldquo;Is it discreet?
+      Is it right?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dr. Watson is my friend and partner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good, Mr. Holmes. It is only in your client's interests that I
+      protested. The matter is so very delicate&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dr. Watson has already heard of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we can proceed to business. You say that you are acting for Lady
+      Eva. Has she empowered you to accept my terms?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are your terms?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seven thousand pounds.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the alternative?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear sir, it is painful for me to discuss it; but if the money is not
+      paid on the 14th there certainly will be no marriage on the 18th.&rdquo; His
+      insufferable smile was more complacent than ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes thought for a little.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You appear to me,&rdquo; he said, at last, &ldquo;to be taking matters too much for
+      granted. I am, of course, familiar with the contents of these letters. My
+      client will certainly do what I may advise. I shall counsel her to tell
+      her future husband the whole story and to trust to his generosity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Milverton chuckled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You evidently do not know the Earl,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the baffled look upon Holmes's face I could see clearly that he did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What harm is there in the letters?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are sprightly&mdash;very sprightly,&rdquo; Milverton answered. &ldquo;The lady
+      was a charming correspondent. But I can assure you that the Earl of
+      Dovercourt would fail to appreciate them. However, since you think
+      otherwise, we will let it rest at that. It is purely a matter of business.
+      If you think that it is in the best interests of your client that these
+      letters should be placed in the hands of the Earl, then you would indeed
+      be foolish to pay so large a sum of money to regain them.&rdquo; He rose and
+      seized his astrachan coat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes was grey with anger and mortification.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wait a little,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You go too fast. We would certainly make every
+      effort to avoid scandal in so delicate a matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Milverton relapsed into his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was sure that you would see it in that light,&rdquo; he purred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At the same time,&rdquo; Holmes continued, &ldquo;Lady Eva is not a wealthy woman. I
+      assure you that two thousand pounds would be a drain upon her resources,
+      and that the sum you name is utterly beyond her power. I beg, therefore,
+      that you will moderate your demands, and that you will return the letters
+      at the price I indicate, which is, I assure you, the highest that you can
+      get.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Milverton's smile broadened and his eyes twinkled humorously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am aware that what you say is true about the lady's resources,&rdquo; said
+      he. &ldquo;At the same time, you must admit that the occasion of a lady's
+      marriage is a very suitable time for her friends and relatives to make
+      some little effort upon her behalf. They may hesitate as to an acceptable
+      wedding present. Let me assure them that this little bundle of letters
+      would give more joy than all the candelabra and butter-dishes in London.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is impossible,&rdquo; said Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me, dear me, how unfortunate!&rdquo; cried Milverton, taking out a bulky
+      pocket-book. &ldquo;I cannot help thinking that ladies are ill-advised in not
+      making an effort. Look at this!&rdquo; He held up a little note with a
+      coat-of-arms upon the envelope. &ldquo;That belongs to&mdash;well, perhaps it is
+      hardly fair to tell the name until to-morrow morning. But at that time it
+      will be in the hands of the lady's husband. And all because she will not
+      find a beggarly sum which she could get by turning her diamonds into
+      paste. It IS such a pity. Now, you remember the sudden end of the
+      engagement between the Honourable Miss Miles and Colonel Dorking? Only two
+      days before the wedding there was a paragraph in the MORNING POST to say
+      that it was all off. And why? It is almost incredible, but the absurd sum
+      of twelve hundred pounds would have settled the whole question. Is it not
+      pitiful? And here I find you, a man of sense, boggling about terms when
+      your client's future and honour are at stake. You surprise me, Mr.
+      Holmes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What I say is true,&rdquo; Holmes answered. &ldquo;The money cannot be found. Surely
+      it is better for you to take the substantial sum which I offer than to
+      ruin this woman's career, which can profit you in no way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There you make a mistake, Mr. Holmes. An exposure would profit me
+      indirectly to a considerable extent. I have eight or ten similar cases
+      maturing. If it was circulated among them that I had made a severe example
+      of the Lady Eva I should find all of them much more open to reason. You
+      see my point?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes sprang from his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get behind him, Watson! Don't let him out! Now, sir, let us see the
+      contents of that note-book.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Milverton had glided as quick as a rat to the side of the room, and stood
+      with his back against the wall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Holmes, Mr. Holmes,&rdquo; he said, turning the front of his coat and
+      exhibiting the butt of a large revolver, which projected from the inside
+      pocket. &ldquo;I have been expecting you to do something original. This has been
+      done so often, and what good has ever come from it? I assure you that I am
+      armed to the teeth, and I am perfectly prepared to use my weapons, knowing
+      that the law will support me. Besides, your supposition that I would bring
+      the letters here in a note-book is entirely mistaken. I would do nothing
+      so foolish. And now, gentlemen, I have one or two little interviews this
+      evening, and it is a long drive to Hampstead.&rdquo; He stepped forward, took up
+      his coat, laid his hand on his revolver, and turned to the door. I picked
+      up a chair, but Holmes shook his head and I laid it down again. With bow,
+      a smile, and a twinkle Milverton was out of the room, and a few moments
+      after we heard the slam of the carriage door and the rattle of the wheels
+      as he drove away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes sat motionless by the fire, his hands buried deep in his trouser
+      pockets, his chin sunk upon his breast, his eyes fixed upon the glowing
+      embers. For half an hour he was silent and still. Then, with the gesture
+      of a man who has taken his decision, he sprang to his feet and passed into
+      his bedroom. A little later a rakish young workman with a goatee beard and
+      a swagger lit his clay pipe at the lamp before descending into the street.
+      &ldquo;I'll be back some time, Watson,&rdquo; said he, and vanished into the night. I
+      understood that he had opened his campaign against Charles Augustus
+      Milverton; but I little dreamed the strange shape which that campaign was
+      destined to take.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For some days Holmes came and went at all hours in this attire, but beyond
+      a remark that his time was spent at Hampstead, and that it was not wasted,
+      I knew nothing of what he was doing. At last, however, on a wild,
+      tempestuous evening, when the wind screamed and rattled against the
+      windows, he returned from his last expedition, and having removed his
+      disguise he sat before the fire and laughed heartily in his silent inward
+      fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You would not call me a marrying man, Watson?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, indeed!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll be interested to hear that I am engaged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear fellow! I congrat&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To Milverton's housemaid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens, Holmes!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wanted information, Watson.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely you have gone too far?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was a most necessary step. I am a plumber with a rising business,
+      Escott by name. I have walked out with her each evening, and I have talked
+      with her. Good heavens, those talks! However, I have got all I wanted. I
+      know Milverton's house as I know the palm of my hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the girl, Holmes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can't help it, my dear Watson. You must play your cards as best you
+      can when such a stake is on the table. However, I rejoice to say that I
+      have a hated rival who will certainly cut me out the instant that my back
+      is turned. What a splendid night it is!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You like this weather?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It suits my purpose. Watson, I mean to burgle Milverton's house
+      to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I had a catching of the breath, and my skin went cold at the words, which
+      were slowly uttered in a tone of concentrated resolution. As a flash of
+      lightning in the night shows up in an instant every detail of a wide
+      landscape, so at one glance I seemed to see every possible result of such
+      an action&mdash;the detection, the capture, the honoured career ending in
+      irreparable failure and disgrace, my friend himself lying at the mercy of
+      the odious Milverton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For Heaven's sake, Holmes, think what you are doing,&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear fellow, I have given it every consideration. I am never
+      precipitate in my actions, nor would I adopt so energetic and indeed so
+      dangerous a course if any other were possible. Let us look at the matter
+      clearly and fairly. I suppose that you will admit that the action is
+      morally justifiable, though technically criminal. To burgle his house is
+      no more than to forcibly take his pocket-book&mdash;an action in which you
+      were prepared to aid me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I turned it over in my mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;it is morally justifiable so long as our object is to take
+      no articles save those which are used for an illegal purpose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. Since it is morally justifiable I have only to consider the
+      question of personal risk. Surely a gentleman should not lay much stress
+      upon this when a lady is in most desperate need of his help?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will be in such a false position.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, that is part of the risk. There is no other possible way of
+      regaining these letters. The unfortunate lady has not the money, and there
+      are none of her people in whom she could confide. To-morrow is the last
+      day of grace, and unless we can get the letters to-night this villain will
+      be as good as his word and will bring about her ruin. I must, therefore,
+      abandon my client to her fate or I must play this last card. Between
+      ourselves, Watson, it's a sporting duel between this fellow Milverton and
+      me. He had, as you saw, the best of the first exchanges; but my
+      self-respect and my reputation are concerned to fight it to a finish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I don't like it; but I suppose it must be,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;When do we
+      start?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not coming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you are not going,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I give you my word of honour&mdash;and
+      I never broke it in my life&mdash;that I will take a cab straight to the
+      police-station and give you away unless you let me share this adventure
+      with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can't help me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know that? You can't tell what may happen. Anyway, my
+      resolution is taken. Other people beside you have self-respect and even
+      reputations.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes had looked annoyed, but his brow cleared, and he clapped me on the
+      shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so. We have shared the same room for
+      some years, and it would be amusing if we ended by sharing the same cell.
+      You know, Watson, I don't mind confessing to you that I have always had an
+      idea that I would have made a highly efficient criminal. This is the
+      chance of my lifetime in that direction. See here!&rdquo; He took a neat little
+      leather case out of a drawer, and opening it he exhibited a number of
+      shining instruments. &ldquo;This is a first-class, up-to-date burgling kit, with
+      nickel-plated jemmy, diamond-tipped glass-cutter, adaptable keys, and
+      every modern improvement which the march of civilization demands. Here,
+      too, is my dark lantern. Everything is in order. Have you a pair of silent
+      shoes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have rubber-soled tennis shoes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excellent. And a mask?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can make a couple out of black silk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can see that you have a strong natural turn for this sort of thing.
+      Very good; do you make the masks. We shall have some cold supper before we
+      start. It is now nine-thirty. At eleven we shall drive as far as Church
+      Row. It is a quarter of an hour's walk from there to Appledore Towers. We
+      shall be at work before midnight. Milverton is a heavy sleeper and retires
+      punctually at ten-thirty. With any luck we should be back here by two,
+      with the Lady Eva's letters in my pocket.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes and I put on our dress-clothes, so that we might appear to be two
+      theatre-goers homeward bound. In Oxford Street we picked up a hansom and
+      drove to an address in Hampstead. Here we paid off our cab, and with our
+      great-coats buttoned up, for it was bitterly cold and the wind seemed to
+      blow through us, we walked along the edge of the Heath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a business that needs delicate treatment,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;These
+      documents are contained in a safe in the fellow's study, and the study is
+      the ante-room of his bed-chamber. On the other hand, like all these stout,
+      little men who do themselves well, he is a plethoric sleeper. Agatha&mdash;that's
+      my FIANCEE&mdash;says it is a joke in the servants' hall that it's
+      impossible to wake the master. He has a secretary who is devoted to his
+      interests and never budges from the study all day. That's why we are going
+      at night. Then he has a beast of a dog which roams the garden. I met
+      Agatha late the last two evenings, and she locks the brute up so as to
+      give me a clear run. This is the house, this big one in its own grounds.
+      Through the gate&mdash;now to the right among the laurels. We might put on
+      our masks here, I think. You see, there is not a glimmer of light in any
+      of the windows, and everything is working splendidly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With our black silk face-coverings, which turned us into two of the most
+      truculent figures in London, we stole up to the silent, gloomy house. A
+      sort of tiled veranda extended along one side of it, lined by several
+      windows and two doors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's his bedroom,&rdquo; Holmes whispered. &ldquo;This door opens straight into the
+      study. It would suit us best, but it is bolted as well as locked, and we
+      should make too much noise getting in. Come round here. There's a
+      greenhouse which opens into the drawing-room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The place was locked, but Holmes removed a circle of glass and turned the
+      key from the inside. An instant afterwards he had closed the door behind
+      us, and we had become felons in the eyes of the law. The thick, warm air
+      of the conservatory and the rich, choking fragrance of exotic plants took
+      us by the throat. He seized my hand in the darkness and led me swiftly
+      past banks of shrubs which brushed against our faces. Holmes had
+      remarkable powers, carefully cultivated, of seeing in the dark. Still
+      holding my hand in one of his he opened a door, and I was vaguely
+      conscious that we had entered a large room in which a cigar had been
+      smoked not long before. He felt his way among the furniture, opened
+      another door, and closed it behind us. Putting out my hand I felt several
+      coats hanging from the wall, and I understood that I was in a passage. We
+      passed along it, and Holmes very gently opened a door upon the right-hand
+      side. Something rushed out at us and my heart sprang into my mouth, but I
+      could have laughed when I realized that it was the cat. A fire was burning
+      in this new room, and again the air was heavy with tobacco smoke. Holmes
+      entered on tiptoe, waited for me to follow, and then very gently closed
+      the door. We were in Milverton's study, and a PORTIERE at the farther side
+      showed the entrance to his bedroom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a good fire, and the room was illuminated by it. Near the door I
+      saw the gleam of an electric switch, but it was unnecessary, even if it
+      had been safe, to turn it on. At one side of the fireplace was a heavy
+      curtain, which covered the bay window we had seen from outside. On the
+      other side was the door which communicated with the veranda. A desk stood
+      in the centre, with a turning chair of shining red leather. Opposite was a
+      large bookcase, with a marble bust of Athene on the top. In the corner
+      between the bookcase and the wall there stood a tall green safe, the
+      firelight flashing back from the polished brass knobs upon its face.
+      Holmes stole across and looked at it. Then he crept to the door of the
+      bedroom, and stood with slanting head listening intently. No sound came
+      from within. Meanwhile it had struck me that it would be wise to secure
+      our retreat through the outer door, so I examined it. To my amazement it
+      was neither locked nor bolted! I touched Holmes on the arm, and he turned
+      his masked face in that direction. I saw him start, and he was evidently
+      as surprised as I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't like it,&rdquo; he whispered, putting his lips to my very ear. &ldquo;I can't
+      quite make it out. Anyhow, we have no time to lose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can I do anything?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; stand by the door. If you hear anyone come, bolt it on the inside,
+      and we can get away as we came. If they come the other way, we can get
+      through the door if our job is done, or hide behind these window curtains
+      if it is not. Do you understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded and stood by the door. My first feeling of fear had passed away,
+      and I thrilled now with a keener zest than I had ever enjoyed when we were
+      the defenders of the law instead of its defiers. The high object of our
+      mission, the consciousness that it was unselfish and chivalrous, the
+      villainous character of our opponent, all added to the sporting interest
+      of the adventure. Far from feeling guilty, I rejoiced and exulted in our
+      dangers. With a glow of admiration I watched Holmes unrolling his case of
+      instruments and choosing his tool with the calm, scientific accuracy of a
+      surgeon who performs a delicate operation. I knew that the opening of
+      safes was a particular hobby with him, and I understood the joy which it
+      gave him to be confronted with this green and gold monster, the dragon
+      which held in its maw the reputations of many fair ladies. Turning up the
+      cuffs of his dress-coat&mdash;he had placed his overcoat on a chair&mdash;Holmes
+      laid out two drills, a jemmy, and several skeleton keys. I stood at the
+      centre door with my eyes glancing at each of the others, ready for any
+      emergency; though, indeed, my plans were somewhat vague as to what I
+      should do if we were interrupted. For half an hour Holmes worked with
+      concentrated energy, laying down one tool, picking up another, handling
+      each with the strength and delicacy of the trained mechanic. Finally I
+      heard a click, the broad green door swung open, and inside I had a glimpse
+      of a number of paper packets, each tied, sealed, and inscribed. Holmes
+      picked one out, but it was hard to read by the flickering fire, and he
+      drew out his little dark lantern, for it was too dangerous, with Milverton
+      in the next room, to switch on the electric light. Suddenly I saw him
+      halt, listen intently, and then in an instant he had swung the door of the
+      safe to, picked up his coat, stuffed his tools into the pockets, and
+      darted behind the window curtain, motioning me to do the same.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was only when I had joined him there that I heard what had alarmed his
+      quicker senses. There was a noise somewhere within the house. A door
+      slammed in the distance. Then a confused, dull murmur broke itself into
+      the measured thud of heavy footsteps rapidly approaching. They were in the
+      passage outside the room. They paused at the door. The door opened. There
+      was a sharp snick as the electric light was turned on. The door closed
+      once more, and the pungent reek of a strong cigar was borne to our
+      nostrils. Then the footsteps continued backwards and forwards, backwards
+      and forwards, within a few yards of us. Finally, there was a creak from a
+      chair, and the footsteps ceased. Then a key clicked in a lock and I heard
+      the rustle of papers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So far I had not dared to look out, but now I gently parted the division
+      of the curtains in front of me and peeped through. From the pressure of
+      Holmes's shoulder against mine I knew that he was sharing my observations.
+      Right in front of us, and almost within our reach, was the broad, rounded
+      back of Milverton. It was evident that we had entirely miscalculated his
+      movements, that he had never been to his bedroom, but that he had been
+      sitting up in some smoking or billiard room in the farther wing of the
+      house, the windows of which we had not seen. His broad, grizzled head,
+      with its shining patch of baldness, was in the immediate foreground of our
+      vision. He was leaning far back in the red leather chair, his legs
+      outstretched, a long black cigar projecting at an angle from his mouth. He
+      wore a semi-military smoking jacket, claret-coloured, with a black velvet
+      collar. In his hand he held a long legal document, which he was reading in
+      an indolent fashion, blowing rings of tobacco smoke from his lips as he
+      did so. There was no promise of a speedy departure in his composed bearing
+      and his comfortable attitude.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I felt Holmes's hand steal into mine and give me a reassuring shake, as if
+      to say that the situation was within his powers and that he was easy in
+      his mind. I was not sure whether he had seen what was only too obvious
+      from my position, that the door of the safe was imperfectly closed, and
+      that Milverton might at any moment observe it. In my own mind I had
+      determined that if I were sure, from the rigidity of his gaze, that it had
+      caught his eye, I would at once spring out, throw my great-coat over his
+      head, pinion him, and leave the rest to Holmes. But Milverton never looked
+      up. He was languidly interested by the papers in his hand, and page after
+      page was turned as he followed the argument of the lawyer. At least, I
+      thought, when he has finished the document and the cigar he will go to his
+      room; but before he had reached the end of either there came a remarkable
+      development which turned our thoughts into quite another channel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Several times I had observed that Milverton looked at his watch, and once
+      he had risen and sat down again, with a gesture of impatience. The idea,
+      however, that he might have an appointment at so strange an hour never
+      occurred to me until a faint sound reached my ears from the veranda
+      outside. Milverton dropped his papers and sat rigid in his chair. The
+      sound was repeated, and then there came a gentle tap at the door.
+      Milverton rose and opened it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said he, curtly, &ldquo;you are nearly half an hour late.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So this was the explanation of the unlocked door and of the nocturnal
+      vigil of Milverton. There was the gentle rustle of a woman's dress. I had
+      closed the slit between the curtains as Milverton's face had turned in our
+      direction, but now I ventured very carefully to open it once more. He had
+      resumed his seat, the cigar still projecting at an insolent angle from the
+      corner of his mouth. In front of him, in the full glare of the electric
+      light, there stood a tall, slim, dark woman, a veil over her face, a
+      mantle drawn round her chin. Her breath came quick and fast, and every
+      inch of the lithe figure was quivering with strong emotion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Milverton, &ldquo;you've made me lose a good night's rest, my dear.
+      I hope you'll prove worth it. You couldn't come any other time&mdash;eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, if you couldn't you couldn't. If the Countess is a hard mistress
+      you have your chance to get level with her now. Bless the girl, what are
+      you shivering about? That's right! Pull yourself together! Now, let us get
+      down to business.&rdquo; He took a note from the drawer of his desk. &ldquo;You say
+      that you have five letters which compromise the Countess d'Albert. You
+      want to sell them. I want to buy them. So far so good. It only remains to
+      fix a price. I should want to inspect the letters, of course. If they are
+      really good specimens&mdash;Great heavens, is it you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman without a word had raised her veil and dropped the mantle from
+      her chin. It was a dark, handsome, clear-cut face which confronted
+      Milverton, a face with a curved nose, strong, dark eyebrows shading hard,
+      glittering eyes, and a straight, thin-lipped mouth set in a dangerous
+      smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is I,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;the woman whose life you have ruined.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Milverton laughed, but fear vibrated in his voice. &ldquo;You were so very
+      obstinate,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Why did you drive me to such extremities? I assure
+      you I wouldn't hurt a fly of my own accord, but every man has his
+      business, and what was I to do? I put the price well within your means.
+      You would not pay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you sent the letters to my husband, and he&mdash;the noblest gentleman
+      that ever lived, a man whose boots I was never worthy to lace&mdash;he
+      broke his gallant heart and died. You remember that last night when I came
+      through that door I begged and prayed you for mercy, and you laughed in my
+      face as you are trying to laugh now, only your coward heart cannot keep
+      your lips from twitching? Yes, you never thought to see me here again, but
+      it was that night which taught me how I could meet you face to face, and
+      alone. Well, Charles Milverton, what have you to say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't imagine that you can bully me,&rdquo; said he, rising to his feet. &ldquo;I
+      have only to raise my voice, and I could call my servants and have you
+      arrested. But I will make allowance for your natural anger. Leave the room
+      at once as you came, and I will say no more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman stood with her hand buried in her bosom, and the same deadly
+      smile on her thin lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will ruin no more lives as you ruined mine. You will wring no more
+      hearts as you wrung mine. I will free the world of a poisonous thing. Take
+      that, you hound, and that!&mdash;and that!&mdash;and that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had drawn a little, gleaming revolver, and emptied barrel after barrel
+      into Milverton's body, the muzzle within two feet of his shirt front. He
+      shrank away and then fell forward upon the table, coughing furiously and
+      clawing among the papers. Then he staggered to his feet, received another
+      shot, and rolled upon the floor. &ldquo;You've done me,&rdquo; he cried, and lay
+      still. The woman looked at him intently and ground her heel into his
+      upturned face. She looked again, but there was no sound or movement. I
+      heard a sharp rustle, the night air blew into the heated room, and the
+      avenger was gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No interference upon our part could have saved the man from his fate; but
+      as the woman poured bullet after bullet into Milverton's shrinking body I
+      was about to spring out, when I felt Holmes's cold, strong grasp upon my
+      wrist. I understood the whole argument of that firm, restraining grip&mdash;that
+      it was no affair of ours; that justice had overtaken a villain; that we
+      had our own duties and our own objects which were not to be lost sight of.
+      But hardly had the woman rushed from the room when Holmes, with swift,
+      silent steps, was over at the other door. He turned the key in the lock.
+      At the same instant we heard voices in the house and the sound of hurrying
+      feet. The revolver shots had roused the household. With perfect coolness
+      Holmes slipped across to the safe, filled his two arms with bundles of
+      letters, and poured them all into the fire. Again and again he did it,
+      until the safe was empty. Someone turned the handle and beat upon the
+      outside of the door. Holmes looked swiftly round. The letter which had
+      been the messenger of death for Milverton lay, all mottled with his blood,
+      upon the table. Holmes tossed it in among the blazing papers. Then he drew
+      the key from the outer door, passed through after me, and locked it on the
+      outside. &ldquo;This way, Watson,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;we can scale the garden wall in
+      this direction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I could not have believed that an alarm could have spread so swiftly.
+      Looking back, the huge house was one blaze of light. The front door was
+      open, and figures were rushing down the drive. The whole garden was alive
+      with people, and one fellow raised a view-halloa as we emerged from the
+      veranda and followed hard at our heels. Holmes seemed to know the ground
+      perfectly, and he threaded his way swiftly among a plantation of small
+      trees, I close at his heels, and our foremost pursuer panting behind us.
+      It was a six-foot wall which barred our path, but he sprang to the top and
+      over. As I did the same I felt the hand of the man behind me grab at my
+      ankle; but I kicked myself free and scrambled over a glass-strewn coping.
+      I fell upon my face among some bushes; but Holmes had me on my feet in an
+      instant, and together we dashed away across the huge expanse of Hampstead
+      Heath. We had run two miles, I suppose, before Holmes at last halted and
+      listened intently. All was absolute silence behind us. We had shaken off
+      our pursuers and were safe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had breakfasted and were smoking our morning pipe on the day after the
+      remarkable experience which I have recorded when Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland
+      Yard, very solemn and impressive, was ushered into our modest
+      sitting-room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good morning, Mr. Holmes,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;good morning. May I ask if you are
+      very busy just now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not too busy to listen to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought that, perhaps, if you had nothing particular on hand, you might
+      care to assist us in a most remarkable case which occurred only last night
+      at Hampstead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;What was that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A murder&mdash;a most dramatic and remarkable murder. I know how keen you
+      are upon these things, and I would take it as a great favour if you would
+      step down to Appledore Towers and give us the benefit of your advice. It
+      is no ordinary crime. We have had our eyes upon this Mr. Milverton for
+      some time, and, between ourselves, he was a bit of a villain. He is known
+      to have held papers which he used for blackmailing purposes. These papers
+      have all been burned by the murderers. No article of value was taken, as
+      it is probable that the criminals were men of good position, whose sole
+      object was to prevent social exposure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Criminals!&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Plural!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, there were two of them. They were, as nearly as possible, captured
+      red-handed. We have their foot-marks, we have their description; it's ten
+      to one that we trace them. The first fellow was a bit too active, but the
+      second was caught by the under-gardener and only got away after a
+      struggle. He was a middle-sized, strongly-built man&mdash;square jaw,
+      thick neck, moustache, a mask over his eyes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's rather vague,&rdquo; said Sherlock Holmes. &ldquo;Why, it might be a
+      description of Watson!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's true,&rdquo; said the inspector, with much amusement. &ldquo;It might be a
+      description of Watson.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I am afraid I can't help you, Lestrade,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;The fact is
+      that I knew this fellow Milverton, that I considered him one of the most
+      dangerous men in London, and that I think there are certain crimes which
+      the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private
+      revenge. No, it's no use arguing. I have made up my mind. My sympathies
+      are with the criminals rather than with the victim, and I will not handle
+      this case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes had not said one word to me about the tragedy which we had
+      witnessed, but I observed all the morning that he was in his most
+      thoughtful mood, and he gave me the impression, from his vacant eyes and
+      his abstracted manner, of a man who is striving to recall something to his
+      memory. We were in the middle of our lunch when he suddenly sprang to his
+      feet. &ldquo;By Jove, Watson; I've got it!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Take your hat! Come with
+      me!&rdquo; He hurried at his top speed down Baker Street and along Oxford
+      Street, until we had almost reached Regent Circus. Here on the left hand
+      there stands a shop window filled with photographs of the celebrities and
+      beauties of the day. Holmes's eyes fixed themselves upon one of them, and
+      following his gaze I saw the picture of a regal and stately lady in Court
+      dress, with a high diamond tiara upon her noble head. I looked at that
+      delicately-curved nose, at the marked eyebrows, at the straight mouth, and
+      the strong little chin beneath it. Then I caught my breath as I read the
+      time-honoured title of the great nobleman and statesman whose wife she had
+      been. My eyes met those of Holmes, and he put his finger to his lips as we
+      turned away from the window.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 27  MAY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VIII.&mdash;The Adventure of the Six Napoleons.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      IT was no very unusual thing for Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, to look
+      in upon us of an evening, and his visits were welcome to Sherlock Holmes,
+      for they enabled him to keep in touch with all that was going on at the
+      police head-quarters. In return for the news which Lestrade would bring,
+      Holmes was always ready to listen with attention to the details of any
+      case upon which the detective was engaged, and was able occasionally,
+      without any active interference, to give some hint or suggestion drawn
+      from his own vast knowledge and experience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On this particular evening Lestrade had spoken of the weather and the
+      newspapers. Then he had fallen silent, puffing thoughtfully at his cigar.
+      Holmes looked keenly at him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anything remarkable on hand?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no, Mr. Holmes, nothing very particular.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then tell me about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lestrade laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Mr. Holmes, there is no use denying that there IS something on my
+      mind. And yet it is such an absurd business that I hesitated to bother you
+      about it. On the other hand, although it is trivial, it is undoubtedly
+      queer, and I know that you have a taste for all that is out of the common.
+      But in my opinion it comes more in Dr. Watson's line than ours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Disease?&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madness, anyhow. And a queer madness too! You wouldn't think there was
+      anyone living at this time of day who had such a hatred of Napoleon the
+      First that he would break any image of him that he could see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes sank back in his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's no business of mine,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. That's what I said. But then, when the man commits burglary in
+      order to break images which are not his own, that brings it away from the
+      doctor and on to the policeman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes sat up again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Burglary! This is more interesting. Let me hear the details.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lestrade took out his official note-book and refreshed his memory from its
+      pages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The first case reported was four days ago,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;It was at the shop
+      of Morse Hudson, who has a place for the sale of pictures and statues in
+      the Kennington Road. The assistant had left the front shop for an instant
+      when he heard a crash, and hurrying in he found a plaster bust of
+      Napoleon, which stood with several other works of art upon the counter,
+      lying shivered into fragments. He rushed out into the road, but, although
+      several passers-by declared that they had noticed a man run out of the
+      shop, he could neither see anyone nor could he find any means of
+      identifying the rascal. It seemed to be one of those senseless acts of
+      Hooliganism which occur from time to time, and it was reported to the
+      constable on the beat as such. The plaster cast was not worth more than a
+      few shillings, and the whole affair appeared to be too childish for any
+      particular investigation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The second case, however, was more serious and also more singular. It
+      occurred only last night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In Kennington Road, and within a few hundred yards of Morse Hudson's
+      shop, there lives a well-known medical practitioner, named Dr. Barnicot,
+      who has one of the largest practices upon the south side of the Thames.
+      His residence and principal consulting-room is at Kennington Road, but he
+      has a branch surgery and dispensary at Lower Brixton Road, two miles away.
+      This Dr. Barnicot is an enthusiastic admirer of Napoleon, and his house is
+      full of books, pictures, and relics of the French Emperor. Some little
+      time ago he purchased from Morse Hudson two duplicate plaster casts of the
+      famous head of Napoleon by the French sculptor, Devine. One of these he
+      placed in his hall in the house at Kennington Road, and the other on the
+      mantelpiece of the surgery at Lower Brixton. Well, when Dr. Barnicot came
+      down this morning he was astonished to find that his house had been
+      burgled during the night, but that nothing had been taken save the plaster
+      head from the hall. It had been carried out and had been dashed savagely
+      against the garden wall, under which its splintered fragments were
+      discovered.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes rubbed his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is certainly very novel,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought it would please you. But I have not got to the end yet. Dr.
+      Barnicot was due at his surgery at twelve o'clock, and you can imagine his
+      amazement when, on arriving there, he found that the window had been
+      opened in the night, and that the broken pieces of his second bust were
+      strewn all over the room. It had been smashed to atoms where it stood. In
+      neither case were there any signs which could give us a clue as to the
+      criminal or lunatic who had done the mischief. Now, Mr. Holmes, you have
+      got the facts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are singular, not to say grotesque,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;May I ask whether
+      the two busts smashed in Dr. Barnicot's rooms were the exact duplicates of
+      the one which was destroyed in Morse Hudson's shop?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They were taken from the same mould.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such a fact must tell against the theory that the man who breaks them is
+      influenced by any general hatred of Napoleon. Considering how many
+      hundreds of statues of the great Emperor must exist in London, it is too
+      much to suppose such a coincidence as that a promiscuous iconoclast should
+      chance to begin upon three specimens of the same bust.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I thought as you do,&rdquo; said Lestrade. &ldquo;On the other hand, this Morse
+      Hudson is the purveyor of busts in that part of London, and these three
+      were the only ones which had been in his shop for years. So, although, as
+      you say, there are many hundreds of statues in London, it is very probable
+      that these three were the only ones in that district. Therefore, a local
+      fanatic would begin with them. What do you think, Dr. Watson?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are no limits to the possibilities of monomania,&rdquo; I answered.
+      &ldquo;There is the condition which the modern French psychologists have called
+      the 'idee fixe,' which may be trifling in character, and accompanied by
+      complete sanity in every other way. A man who had read deeply about
+      Napoleon, or who had possibly received some hereditary family injury
+      through the great war, might conceivably form such an 'idee fixe' and
+      under its influence be capable of any fantastic outrage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That won't do, my dear Watson,&rdquo; said Holmes, shaking his head; &ldquo;for no
+      amount of 'idee fixe' would enable your interesting monomaniac to find out
+      where these busts were situated.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, how do YOU explain it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't attempt to do so. I would only observe that there is a certain
+      method in the gentleman's eccentric proceedings. For example, in Dr.
+      Barnicot's hall, where a sound might arouse the family, the bust was taken
+      outside before being broken, whereas in the surgery, where there was less
+      danger of an alarm, it was smashed where it stood. The affair seems
+      absurdly trifling, and yet I dare call nothing trivial when I reflect that
+      some of my most classic cases have had the least promising commencement.
+      You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the Abernetty
+      family was first brought to my notice by the depth which the parsley had
+      sunk into the butter upon a hot day. I can't afford, therefore, to smile
+      at your three broken busts, Lestrade, and I shall be very much obliged to
+      you if you will let me hear of any fresh developments of so singular a
+      chain of events.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The development for which my friend had asked came in a quicker and an
+      infinitely more tragic form than he could have imagined. I was still
+      dressing in my bedroom next morning when there was a tap at the door and
+      Holmes entered, a telegram in his hand. He read it aloud:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come instantly, 131, Pitt Street, Kensington.&mdash;Lestrade.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, then?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't know&mdash;may be anything. But I suspect it is the sequel of the
+      story of the statues. In that case our friend, the image-breaker, has
+      begun operations in another quarter of London. There's coffee on the
+      table, Watson, and I have a cab at the door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In half an hour we had reached Pitt Street, a quiet little backwater just
+      beside one of the briskest currents of London life. No. 131 was one of a
+      row, all flat-chested, respectable, and most unromantic dwellings. As we
+      drove up we found the railings in front of the house lined by a curious
+      crowd. Holmes whistled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By George! it's attempted murder at the least. Nothing less will hold the
+      London message-boy. There's a deed of violence indicated in that fellow's
+      round shoulders and outstretched neck. What's this, Watson? The top steps
+      swilled down and the other ones dry. Footsteps enough, anyhow! Well, well,
+      there's Lestrade at the front window, and we shall soon know all about
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The official received us with a very grave face and showed us into a
+      sitting-room, where an exceedingly unkempt and agitated elderly man, clad
+      in a flannel dressing-gown, was pacing up and down. He was introduced to
+      us as the owner of the house&mdash;Mr. Horace Harker, of the Central Press
+      Syndicate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's the Napoleon bust business again,&rdquo; said Lestrade. &ldquo;You seemed
+      interested last night, Mr. Holmes, so I thought perhaps you would be glad
+      to be present now that the affair has taken a very much graver turn.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What has it turned to, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To murder. Mr. Harker, will you tell these gentlemen exactly what has
+      occurred?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man in the dressing-gown turned upon us with a most melancholy face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's an extraordinary thing,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that all my life I have been
+      collecting other people's news, and now that a real piece of news has come
+      my own way I am so confused and bothered that I can't put two words
+      together. If I had come in here as a journalist I should have interviewed
+      myself and had two columns in every evening paper. As it is I am giving
+      away valuable copy by telling my story over and over to a string of
+      different people, and I can make no use of it myself. However, I've heard
+      your name, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and if you'll only explain this queer
+      business I shall be paid for my trouble in telling you the story.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes sat down and listened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It all seems to centre round that bust of Napoleon which I bought for
+      this very room about four months ago. I picked it up cheap from Harding
+      Brothers, two doors from the High Street Station. A great deal of my
+      journalistic work is done at night, and I often write until the early
+      morning. So it was to-day. I was sitting in my den, which is at the back
+      of the top of the house, about three o'clock, when I was convinced that I
+      heard some sounds downstairs. I listened, but they were not repeated, and
+      I concluded that they came from outside. Then suddenly, about five minutes
+      later, there came a most horrible yell&mdash;the most dreadful sound, Mr.
+      Holmes, that ever I heard. It will ring in my ears as long as I live. I
+      sat frozen with horror for a minute or two. Then I seized the poker and
+      went downstairs. When I entered this room I found the window wide open,
+      and I at once observed that the bust was gone from the mantelpiece. Why
+      any burglar should take such a thing passes my understanding, for it was
+      only a plaster cast and of no real value whatever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can see for yourself that anyone going out through that open window
+      could reach the front doorstep by taking a long stride. This was clearly
+      what the burglar had done, so I went round and opened the door. Stepping
+      out into the dark I nearly fell over a dead man who was lying there. I ran
+      back for a light, and there was the poor fellow, a great gash in his
+      throat and the whole place swimming in blood. He lay on his back, his
+      knees drawn up, and his mouth horribly open. I shall see him in my dreams.
+      I had just time to blow on my police-whistle, and then I must have
+      fainted, for I knew nothing more until I found the policeman standing over
+      me in the hall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, who was the murdered man?&rdquo; asked Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's nothing to show who he was,&rdquo; said Lestrade. &ldquo;You shall see the
+      body at the mortuary, but we have made nothing of it up to now. He is a
+      tall man, sunburned, very powerful, not more than thirty. He is poorly
+      dressed, and yet does not appear to be a labourer. A horn-handled clasp
+      knife was lying in a pool of blood beside him. Whether it was the weapon
+      which did the deed, or whether it belonged to the dead man, I do not know.
+      There was no name on his clothing, and nothing in his pockets save an
+      apple, some string, a shilling map of London, and a photograph. Here it
+      is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was evidently taken by a snap-shot from a small camera. It represented
+      an alert, sharp-featured simian man with thick eyebrows, and a very
+      peculiar projection of the lower part of the face like the muzzle of a
+      baboon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what became of the bust?&rdquo; asked Holmes, after a careful study of this
+      picture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We had news of it just before you came. It has been found in the front
+      garden of an empty house in Campden House Road. It was broken into
+      fragments. I am going round now to see it. Will you come?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly. I must just take one look round.&rdquo; He examined the carpet and
+      the window. &ldquo;The fellow had either very long legs or was a most active
+      man,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;With an area beneath, it was no mean feat to reach that
+      window-ledge and open that window. Getting back was comparatively simple.
+      Are you coming with us to see the remains of your bust, Mr. Harker?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The disconsolate journalist had seated himself at a writing-table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must try and make something of it,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;though I have no doubt
+      that the first editions of the evening papers are out already with full
+      details. It's like my luck! You remember when the stand fell at Doncaster?
+      Well, I was the only journalist in the stand, and my journal the only one
+      that had no account of it, for I was too shaken to write it. And now I'll
+      be too late with a murder done on my own doorstep.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As we left the room we heard his pen travelling shrilly over the foolscap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The spot where the fragments of the bust had been found was only a few
+      hundred yards away. For the first time our eyes rested upon this
+      presentment of the great Emperor, which seemed to raise such frantic and
+      destructive hatred in the mind of the unknown. It lay scattered in
+      splintered shards upon the grass. Holmes picked up several of them and
+      examined them carefully. I was convinced from his intent face and his
+      purposeful manner that at last he was upon a clue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; asked Lestrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have a long way to go yet,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;And yet&mdash;and yet&mdash;well,
+      we have some suggestive facts to act upon. The possession of this trifling
+      bust was worth more in the eyes of this strange criminal than a human
+      life. That is one point. Then there is the singular fact that he did not
+      break it in the house, or immediately outside the house, if to break it
+      was his sole object.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was rattled and bustled by meeting this other fellow. He hardly knew
+      what he was doing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, that's likely enough. But I wish to call your attention very
+      particularly to the position of this house in the garden of which the bust
+      was destroyed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lestrade looked about him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was an empty house, and so he knew that he would not be disturbed in
+      the garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, but there is another empty house farther up the street which he must
+      have passed before he came to this one. Why did he not break it there,
+      since it is evident that every yard that he carried it increased the risk
+      of someone meeting him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I give it up,&rdquo; said Lestrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes pointed to the street lamp above our heads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He could see what he was doing here and he could not there. That was his
+      reason.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By Jove! that's true,&rdquo; said the detective. &ldquo;Now that I come to think of
+      it, Dr. Barnicot's bust was broken not far from his red lamp. Well, Mr.
+      Holmes, what are we to do with that fact?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To remember it&mdash;to docket it. We may come on something later which
+      will bear upon it. What steps do you propose to take now, Lestrade?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The most practical way of getting at it, in my opinion, is to identify
+      the dead man. There should be no difficulty about that. When we have found
+      who he is and who his associates are, we should have a good start in
+      learning what he was doing in Pitt Street last night, and who it was who
+      met him and killed him on the doorstep of Mr. Horace Harker. Don't you
+      think so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt; and yet it is not quite the way in which I should approach the
+      case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What would you do, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you must not let me influence you in any way! I suggest that you go
+      on your line and I on mine. We can compare notes afterwards, and each will
+      supplement the other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good,&rdquo; said Lestrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you are going back to Pitt Street you might see Mr. Horace Harker.
+      Tell him from me that I have quite made up my mind, and that it is certain
+      that a dangerous homicidal lunatic with Napoleonic delusions was in his
+      house last night. It will be useful for his article.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lestrade stared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't seriously believe that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't I? Well, perhaps I don't. But I am sure that it will interest Mr.
+      Horace Harker and the subscribers of the Central Press Syndicate. Now,
+      Watson, I think that we shall find that we have a long and rather complex
+      day's work before us. I should be glad, Lestrade, if you could make it
+      convenient to meet us at Baker Street at six o'clock this evening. Until
+      then I should like to keep this photograph found in the dead man's pocket.
+      It is possible that I may have to ask your company and assistance upon a
+      small expedition which will have be undertaken to-night, if my chain of
+      reasoning should prove to be correct. Until then, good-bye and good luck!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sherlock Holmes and I walked together to the High Street, where he stopped
+      at the shop of Harding Brothers, whence the bust had been purchased. A
+      young assistant informed us that Mr. Harding would be absent until after
+      noon, and that he was himself a newcomer who could give us no information.
+      Holmes's face showed his disappointment and annoyance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well, we can't expect to have it all our own way, Watson,&rdquo; he said,
+      at last. &ldquo;We must come back in the afternoon if Mr. Harding will not be
+      here until then. I am, as you have no doubt surmised, endeavouring to
+      trace these busts to their source, in order to find if there is not
+      something peculiar which may account for their remarkable fate. Let us
+      make for Mr. Morse Hudson, of the Kennington Road, and see if he can throw
+      any light upon the problem.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A drive of an hour brought us to the picture-dealer's establishment. He
+      was a small, stout man with a red face and a peppery manner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir. On my very counter, sir,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;What we pay rates and taxes
+      for I don't know, when any ruffian can come in and break one's goods. Yes,
+      sir, it was I who sold Dr. Barnicot his two statues. Disgraceful, sir! A
+      Nihilist plot, that's what I make it. No one but an Anarchist would go
+      about breaking statues. Red republicans, that's what I call 'em. Who did I
+      get the statues from? I don't see what that has to do with it. Well, if
+      you really want to know, I got them from Gelder and Co., in Church Street,
+      Stepney. They are a well-known house in the trade, and have been this
+      twenty years. How many had I? Three&mdash;two and one are three&mdash;two
+      of Dr. Barnicot's and one smashed in broad daylight on my own counter. Do
+      I know that photograph? No, I don't. Yes, I do, though. Why, it's Beppo.
+      He was a kind of Italian piece-work man, who made himself useful in the
+      shop. He could carve a bit and gild and frame, and do odd jobs. The fellow
+      left me last week, and I've heard nothing of him since. No, I don't know
+      where he came from nor where he went to. I have nothing against him while
+      he was here. He was gone two days before the bust was smashed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, that's all we could reasonably expect to get from Morse Hudson,&rdquo;
+       said Holmes, as we emerged from the shop. &ldquo;We have this Beppo as a common
+      factor, both in Kennington and in Kensington, so that is worth a ten-mile
+      drive. Now, Watson, let us make for Gelder and Co., of Stepney, the source
+      and origin of busts. I shall be surprised if we don't get some help down
+      there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In rapid succession we passed through the fringe of fashionable London,
+      hotel London, theatrical London, literary London, commercial London, and,
+      finally, maritime London, till we came to a riverside city of a hundred
+      thousand souls, where the tenement houses swelter and reek with the
+      outcasts of Europe. Here, in a broad thoroughfare, once the abode of
+      wealthy City merchants, we found the sculpture works for which we
+      searched. Outside was a considerable yard full of monumental masonry.
+      Inside was a large room in which fifty workers were carving or moulding.
+      The manager, a big blond German, received us civilly, and gave a clear
+      answer to all Holmes's questions. A reference to his books showed that
+      hundreds of casts had been taken from a marble copy of Devine's head of
+      Napoleon, but that the three which had been sent to Morse Hudson a year or
+      so before had been half of a batch of six, the other three being sent to
+      Harding Brothers, of Kensington. There was no reason why those six should
+      be different to any of the other casts. He could suggest no possible cause
+      why anyone should wish to destroy them&mdash;in fact, he laughed at the
+      idea. Their wholesale price was six shillings, but the retailer would get
+      twelve or more. The cast was taken in two moulds from each side of the
+      face, and then these two profiles of plaster of Paris were joined together
+      to make the complete bust. The work was usually done by Italians in the
+      room we were in. When finished the busts were put on a table in the
+      passage to dry, and afterwards stored. That was all he could tell us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the production of the photograph had a remarkable effect upon the
+      manager. His face flushed with anger, and his brows knotted over his blue
+      Teutonic eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, the rascal!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Yes, indeed, I know him very well. This has
+      always been a respectable establishment, and the only time that we have
+      ever had the police in it was over this very fellow. It was more than a
+      year ago now. He knifed another Italian in the street, and then he came to
+      the works with the police on his heels, and he was taken here. Beppo was
+      his name&mdash;his second name I never knew. Serve me right for engaging a
+      man with such a face. But he was a good workman, one of the best.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did he get?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The man lived and he got off with a year. I have no doubt he is out now;
+      but he has not dared to show his nose here. We have a cousin of his here,
+      and I dare say he could tell you where he is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; cried Holmes, &ldquo;not a word to the cousin&mdash;not a word, I beg
+      you. The matter is very important, and the farther I go with it the more
+      important it seems to grow. When you referred in your ledger to the sale
+      of those casts I observed that the date was June 3rd of last year. Could
+      you give me the date when Beppo was arrested?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could tell you roughly by the pay-list,&rdquo; the manager answered. &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo;
+       he continued, after some turning over of pages, &ldquo;he was paid last on May
+      20th.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;I don't think that I need intrude upon your
+      time and patience any more.&rdquo; With a last word of caution that he should
+      say nothing as to our researches we turned our faces westward once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The afternoon was far advanced before we were able to snatch a hasty
+      luncheon at a restaurant. A news-bill at the entrance announced
+      &ldquo;Kensington Outrage. Murder by a Madman,&rdquo; and the contents of the paper
+      showed that Mr. Horace Harker had got his account into print after all.
+      Two columns were occupied with a highly sensational and flowery rendering
+      of the whole incident. Holmes propped it against the cruet-stand and read
+      it while he ate. Once or twice he chuckled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is all right, Watson,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Listen to this: 'It is satisfactory
+      to know that there can be no difference of opinion upon this case, since
+      Mr. Lestrade, one of the most experienced members of the official force,
+      and Mr. Sherlock Holmes, the well-known consulting expert, have each come
+      to the conclusion that the grotesque series of incidents, which have ended
+      in so tragic a fashion, arise from lunacy rather than from deliberate
+      crime. No explanation save mental aberration can cover the facts.' The
+      Press, Watson, is a most valuable institution if you only know how to use
+      it. And now, if you have quite finished, we will hark back to Kensington
+      and see what the manager of Harding Brothers has to say to the matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The founder of that great emporium proved to be a brisk, crisp little
+      person, very dapper and quick, with a clear head and a ready tongue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, I have already read the account in the evening papers. Mr.
+      Horace Harker is a customer of ours. We supplied him with the bust some
+      months ago. We ordered three busts of that sort from Gelder and Co., of
+      Stepney. They are all sold now. To whom? Oh, I dare say by consulting our
+      sales book we could very easily tell you. Yes, we have the entries here.
+      One to Mr. Harker, you see, and one to Mr. Josiah Brown, of Laburnum
+      Lodge, Laburnum Vale, Chiswick, and one to Mr. Sandeford, of Lower Grove
+      Road, Reading. No, I have never seen this face which you show me in the
+      photograph. You would hardly forget it, would you, sir, for I've seldom
+      seen an uglier. Have we any Italians on the staff? Yes, sir, we have
+      several among our workpeople and cleaners. I dare say they might get a
+      peep at that sales book if they wanted to. There is no particular reason
+      for keeping a watch upon that book. Well, well, it's a very strange
+      business, and I hope that you'll let me know if anything comes of your
+      inquiries.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes had taken several notes during Mr. Harding's evidence, and I could
+      see that he was thoroughly satisfied by the turn which affairs were
+      taking. He made no remark, however, save that, unless we hurried, we
+      should be late for our appointment with Lestrade. Sure enough, when we
+      reached Baker Street the detective was already there, and we found him
+      pacing up and down in a fever of impatience. His look of importance showed
+      that his day's work had not been in vain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;What luck, Mr. Holmes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have had a very busy day, and not entirely a wasted one,&rdquo; my friend
+      explained. &ldquo;We have seen both the retailers and also the wholesale
+      manufacturers. I can trace each of the busts now from the beginning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The busts!&rdquo; cried Lestrade. &ldquo;Well, well, you have your own methods, Mr.
+      Sherlock Holmes, and it is not for me to say a word against them, but I
+      think I have done a better day's work than you. I have identified the dead
+      man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't say so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And found a cause for the crime.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Splendid!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have an inspector who makes a specialty of Saffron Hill and the
+      Italian quarter. Well, this dead man had some Catholic emblem round his
+      neck, and that, along with his colour, made me think he was from the
+      South. Inspector Hill knew him the moment he caught sight of him. His name
+      is Pietro Venucci, from Naples, and he is one of the greatest cut-throats
+      in London. He is connected with the Mafia, which, as you know, is a secret
+      political society, enforcing its decrees by murder. Now you see how the
+      affair begins to clear up. The other fellow is probably an Italian also,
+      and a member of the Mafia. He has broken the rules in some fashion. Pietro
+      is set upon his track. Probably the photograph we found in his pocket is
+      the man himself, so that he may not knife the wrong person. He dogs the
+      fellow, he sees him enter a house, he waits outside for him, and in the
+      scuffle he receives his own death-wound. How is that, Mr. Sherlock
+      Holmes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes clapped his hands approvingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excellent, Lestrade, excellent!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;But I didn't quite follow
+      your explanation of the destruction of the busts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The busts! You never can get those busts out of your head. After all,
+      that is nothing; petty larceny, six months at the most. It is the murder
+      that we are really investigating, and I tell you that I am gathering all
+      the threads into my hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the next stage?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is a very simple one. I shall go down with Hill to the Italian quarter,
+      find the man whose photograph we have got, and arrest him on the charge of
+      murder. Will you come with us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think not. I fancy we can attain our end in a simpler way. I can't say
+      for certain, because it all depends&mdash;well, it all depends upon a
+      factor which is completely outside our control. But I have great hopes&mdash;in
+      fact, the betting is exactly two to one&mdash;that if you will come with
+      us to-night I shall be able to help you to lay him by the heels.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the Italian quarter?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; I fancy Chiswick is an address which is more likely to find him. If
+      you will come with me to Chiswick to-night, Lestrade, I'll promise to go
+      to the Italian quarter with you to-morrow, and no harm will be done by the
+      delay. And now I think that a few hours' sleep would do us all good, for I
+      do not propose to leave before eleven o'clock, and it is unlikely that we
+      shall be back before morning. You'll dine with us, Lestrade, and then you
+      are welcome to the sofa until it is time for us to start. In the meantime,
+      Watson, I should be glad if you would ring for an express messenger, for I
+      have a letter to send, and it is important that it should go at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes spent the evening in rummaging among the files of the old daily
+      papers with which one of our lumber-rooms was packed. When at last he
+      descended it was with triumph in his eyes, but he said nothing to either
+      of us as to the result of his researches. For my own part, I had followed
+      step by step the methods by which he had traced the various windings of
+      this complex case, and, though I could not yet perceive the goal which we
+      would reach, I understood clearly that Holmes expected this grotesque
+      criminal to make an attempt upon the two remaining busts, one of which, I
+      remembered, was at Chiswick. No doubt the object of our journey was to
+      catch him in the very act, and I could not but admire the cunning with
+      which my friend had inserted a wrong clue in the evening paper, so as to
+      give the fellow the idea that he could continue his scheme with impunity.
+      I was not surprised when Holmes suggested that I should take my revolver
+      with me. He had himself picked up the loaded hunting-crop which was his
+      favourite weapon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A four-wheeler was at the door at eleven, and in it we drove to a spot at
+      the other side of Hammersmith Bridge. Here the cabman was directed to
+      wait. A short walk brought us to a secluded road fringed with pleasant
+      houses, each standing in its own grounds. In the light of a street lamp we
+      read &ldquo;Laburnum Villa&rdquo; upon the gate-post of one of them. The occupants had
+      evidently retired to rest, for all was dark save for a fanlight over the
+      hall door, which shed a single blurred circle on to the garden path. The
+      wooden fence which separated the grounds from the road threw a dense black
+      shadow upon the inner side, and here it was that we crouched.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear that you'll have a long wait,&rdquo; Holmes whispered. &ldquo;We may thank our
+      stars that it is not raining. I don't think we can even venture to smoke
+      to pass the time. However, it's a two to one chance that we get something
+      to pay us for our trouble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It proved, however, that our vigil was not to be so long as Holmes had led
+      us to fear, and it ended in a very sudden and singular fashion. In an
+      instant, without the least sound to warn us of his coming, the garden gate
+      swung open, and a lithe, dark figure, as swift and active as an ape,
+      rushed up the garden path. We saw it whisk past the light thrown from over
+      the door and disappear against the black shadow of the house. There was a
+      long pause, during which we held our breath, and then a very gentle
+      creaking sound came to our ears. The window was being opened. The noise
+      ceased, and again there was a long silence. The fellow was making his way
+      into the house. We saw the sudden flash of a dark lantern inside the room.
+      What he sought was evidently not there, for again we saw the flash through
+      another blind, and then through another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us get to the open window. We will nab him as he climbs out,&rdquo;
+       Lestrade whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But before we could move the man had emerged again. As he came out into
+      the glimmering patch of light we saw that he carried something white under
+      his arm. He looked stealthily all round him. The silence of the deserted
+      street reassured him. Turning his back upon us he laid down his burden,
+      and the next instant there was the sound of a sharp tap, followed by a
+      clatter and rattle. The man was so intent upon what he was doing that he
+      never heard our steps as we stole across the grass plot. With the bound of
+      a tiger Holmes was on his back, and an instant later Lestrade and I had
+      him by either wrist and the handcuffs had been fastened. As we turned him
+      over I saw a hideous, sallow face, with writhing, furious features,
+      glaring up at us, and I knew that it was indeed the man of the photograph
+      whom we had secured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it was not our prisoner to whom Holmes was giving his attention.
+      Squatted on the doorstep, he was engaged in most carefully examining that
+      which the man had brought from the house. It was a bust of Napoleon like
+      the one which we had seen that morning, and it had been broken into
+      similar fragments. Carefully Holmes held each separate shard to the light,
+      but in no way did it differ from any other shattered piece of plaster. He
+      had just completed his examination when the hall lights flew up, the door
+      opened, and the owner of the house, a jovial, rotund figure in shirt and
+      trousers, presented himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Josiah Brown, I suppose?&rdquo; said Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir; and you, no doubt, are Mr. Sherlock Holmes? I had the note
+      which you sent by the express messenger, and I did exactly what you told
+      me. We locked every door on the inside and awaited developments. Well, I'm
+      very glad to see that you have got the rascal. I hope, gentlemen, that you
+      will come in and have some refreshment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      However, Lestrade was anxious to get his man into safe quarters, so within
+      a few minutes our cab had been summoned and we were all four upon our way
+      to London. Not a word would our captive say; but he glared at us from the
+      shadow of his matted hair, and once, when my hand seemed within his reach,
+      he snapped at it like a hungry wolf. We stayed long enough at the
+      police-station to learn that a search of his clothing revealed nothing
+      save a few shillings and a long sheath knife, the handle of which bore
+      copious traces of recent blood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's all right,&rdquo; said Lestrade, as we parted. &ldquo;Hill knows all these
+      gentry, and he will give a name to him. You'll find that my theory of the
+      Mafia will work out all right. But I'm sure I am exceedingly obliged to
+      you, Mr. Holmes, for the workmanlike way in which you laid hands upon him.
+      I don't quite understand it all yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear it is rather too late an hour for explanations,&rdquo; said Holmes.
+      &ldquo;Besides, there are one or two details which are not finished off, and it
+      is one of those cases which are worth working out to the very end. If you
+      will come round once more to my rooms at six o'clock to-morrow I think I
+      shall be able to show you that even now you have not grasped the entire
+      meaning of this business, which presents some features which make it
+      absolutely original in the history of crime. If ever I permit you to
+      chronicle any more of my little problems, Watson, I foresee that you will
+      enliven your pages by an account of the singular adventure of the
+      Napoleonic busts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When we met again next evening Lestrade was furnished with much
+      information concerning our prisoner. His name, it appeared, was Beppo,
+      second name unknown. He was a well-known ne'er-do-well among the Italian
+      colony. He had once been a skilful sculptor and had earned an honest
+      living, but he had taken to evil courses and had twice already been in
+      gaol&mdash;once for a petty theft and once, as we had already heard, for
+      stabbing a fellow-countryman. He could talk English perfectly well. His
+      reasons for destroying the busts were still unknown, and he refused to
+      answer any questions upon the subject; but the police had discovered that
+      these same busts might very well have been made by his own hands, since he
+      was engaged in this class of work at the establishment of Gelder and Co.
+      To all this information, much of which we already knew, Holmes listened
+      with polite attention; but I, who knew him so well, could clearly see that
+      his thoughts were elsewhere, and I detected a mixture of mingled
+      uneasiness and expectation beneath that mask which he was wont to assume.
+      At last he started in his chair and his eyes brightened. There had been a
+      ring at the bell. A minute later we heard steps upon the stairs, and an
+      elderly, red-faced man with grizzled side-whiskers was ushered in. In his
+      right hand he carried an old-fashioned carpet-bag, which he placed upon
+      the table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Mr. Sherlock Holmes here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My friend bowed and smiled. &ldquo;Mr. Sandeford, of Reading, I suppose?&rdquo; said
+      he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, I fear that I am a little late; but the trains were awkward.
+      You wrote to me about a bust that is in my possession.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have your letter here. You said, 'I desire to possess a copy of
+      Devine's Napoleon, and am prepared to pay you ten pounds for the one which
+      is in your possession.' Is that right?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was very much surprised at your letter, for I could not imagine how you
+      knew that I owned such a thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course you must have been surprised, but the explanation is very
+      simple. Mr. Harding, of Harding Brothers, said that they had sold you
+      their last copy, and he gave me your address.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, that was it, was it? Did he tell you what I paid for it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, he did not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I am an honest man, though not a very rich one. I only gave fifteen
+      shillings for the bust, and I think you ought to know that before I take
+      ten pounds from you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure the scruple does you honour, Mr. Sandeford. But I have named
+      that price, so I intend to stick to it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it is very handsome of you, Mr. Holmes. I brought the bust up with
+      me, as you asked me to do. Here it is!&rdquo; He opened his bag, and at last we
+      saw placed upon our table a complete specimen of that bust which we had
+      already seen more than once in fragments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes took a paper from his pocket and laid a ten-pound note upon the
+      table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will kindly sign that paper, Mr. Sandeford, in the presence of these
+      witnesses. It is simply to say that you transfer every possible right that
+      you ever had in the bust to me. I am a methodical man, you see, and you
+      never know what turn events might take afterwards. Thank you, Mr.
+      Sandeford; here is your money, and I wish you a very good evening.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When our visitor had disappeared Sherlock Holmes's movements were such as
+      to rivet our attention. He began by taking a clean white cloth from a
+      drawer and laying it over the table. Then he placed his newly-acquired
+      bust in the centre of the cloth. Finally, he picked up his hunting-crop
+      and struck Napoleon a sharp blow on the top of the head. The figure broke
+      into fragments, and Holmes bent eagerly over the shattered remains. Next
+      instant, with a loud shout of triumph, he held up one splinter, in which a
+      round, dark object was fixed like a plum in a pudding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;let me introduce you to the famous black pearl of
+      the Borgias.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lestrade and I sat silent for a moment, and then, with a spontaneous
+      impulse, we both broke out clapping as at the well-wrought crisis of a
+      play. A flush of colour sprang to Holmes's pale cheeks, and he bowed to us
+      like the master dramatist who receives the homage of his audience. It was
+      at such moments that for an instant he ceased to be a reasoning machine,
+      and betrayed his human love for admiration and applause. The same
+      singularly proud and reserved nature which turned away with disdain from
+      popular notoriety was capable of being moved to its depths by spontaneous
+      wonder and praise from a friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, gentlemen,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;it is the most famous pearl now existing in
+      the world, and it has been my good fortune, by a connected chain of
+      inductive reasoning, to trace it from the Prince of Colonna's bedroom at
+      the Dacre Hotel, where it was lost, to the interior of this, the last of
+      the six busts of Napoleon which were manufactured by Gelder and Co., of
+      Stepney. You will remember, Lestrade, the sensation caused by the
+      disappearance of this valuable jewel, and the vain efforts of the London
+      police to recover it. I was myself consulted upon the case; but I was
+      unable to throw any light upon it. Suspicion fell upon the maid of the
+      Princess, who was an Italian, and it was proved that she had a brother in
+      London, but we failed to trace any connection between them. The maid's
+      name was Lucretia Venucci, and there is no doubt in my mind that this
+      Pietro who was murdered two nights ago was the brother. I have been
+      looking up the dates in the old files of the paper, and I find that the
+      disappearance of the pearl was exactly two days before the arrest of Beppo
+      for some crime of violence, an event which took place in the factory of
+      Gelder and Co., at the very moment when these busts were being made. Now
+      you clearly see the sequence of events, though you see them, of course, in
+      the inverse order to the way in which they presented themselves to me.
+      Beppo had the pearl in his possession. He may have stolen it from Pietro,
+      he may have been Pietro's confederate, he may have been the go-between of
+      Pietro and his sister. It is of no consequence to us which is the correct
+      solution.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The main fact is that he HAD the pearl, and at that moment, when it was
+      on his person, he was pursued by the police. He made for the factory in
+      which he worked, and he knew that he had only a few minutes in which to
+      conceal this enormously valuable prize, which would otherwise be found on
+      him when he was searched. Six plaster casts of Napoleon were drying in the
+      passage. One of them was still soft. In an instant Beppo, a skilful
+      workman, made a small hole in the wet plaster, dropped in the pearl, and
+      with a few touches covered over the aperture once more. It was an
+      admirable hiding-place. No one could possibly find it. But Beppo was
+      condemned to a year's imprisonment, and in the meanwhile his six busts
+      were scattered over London. He could not tell which contained his
+      treasure. Only by breaking them could he see. Even shaking would tell him
+      nothing, for as the plaster was wet it was probable that the pearl would
+      adhere to it&mdash;as, in fact, it has done. Beppo did not despair, and he
+      conducted his search with considerable ingenuity and perseverance. Through
+      a cousin who works with Gelder he found out the retail firms who had
+      bought the busts. He managed to find employment with Morse Hudson, and in
+      that way tracked down three of them. The pearl was not there. Then, with
+      the help of some Italian EMPLOYEE, he succeeded in finding out where the
+      other three busts had gone. The first was at Harker's. There he was dogged
+      by his confederate, who held Beppo responsible for the loss of the pearl,
+      and he stabbed him in the scuffle which followed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If he was his confederate why should he carry his photograph?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As a means of tracing him if he wished to inquire about him from any
+      third person. That was the obvious reason. Well, after the murder I
+      calculated that Beppo would probably hurry rather than delay his
+      movements. He would fear that the police would read his secret, and so he
+      hastened on before they should get ahead of him. Of course, I could not
+      say that he had not found the pearl in Harker's bust. I had not even
+      concluded for certain that it was the pearl; but it was evident to me that
+      he was looking for something, since he carried the bust past the other
+      houses in order to break it in the garden which had a lamp overlooking it.
+      Since Harker's bust was one in three the chances were exactly as I told
+      you, two to one against the pearl being inside it. There remained two
+      busts, and it was obvious that he would go for the London one first. I
+      warned the inmates of the house, so as to avoid a second tragedy, and we
+      went down with the happiest results. By that time, of course, I knew for
+      certain that it was the Borgia pearl that we were after. The name of the
+      murdered man linked the one event with the other. There only remained a
+      single bust&mdash;the Reading one&mdash;and the pearl must be there. I
+      bought it in your presence from the owner&mdash;and there it lies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We sat in silence for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Lestrade, &ldquo;I've seen you handle a good many cases, Mr.
+      Holmes, but I don't know that I ever knew a more workmanlike one than
+      that. We're not jealous of you at Scotland Yard. No, sir, we are very
+      proud of you, and if you come down to-morrow there's not a man, from the
+      oldest inspector to the youngest constable, who wouldn't be glad to shake
+      you by the hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you!&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Thank you!&rdquo; and as he turned away it seemed to
+      me that he was more nearly moved by the softer human emotions than I had
+      ever seen him. A moment later he was the cold and practical thinker once
+      more. &ldquo;Put the pearl in the safe, Watson,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and get out the
+      papers of the Conk-Singleton forgery case. Good-bye, Lestrade. If any
+      little problem comes your way I shall be happy, if I can, to give you a
+      hint or two as to its solution.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <hr />
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                       THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                       Vol. 27  JUNE, 1904
+                 THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                      By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      IX.&mdash;The Adventure of the Three Students.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      IT was in the year '95 that a combination of events, into which I need not
+      enter, caused Mr. Sherlock Holmes and myself to spend some weeks in one of
+      our great University towns, and it was during this time that the small but
+      instructive adventure which I am about to relate befell us. It will be
+      obvious that any details which would help the reader to exactly identify
+      the college or the criminal would be injudicious and offensive. So painful
+      a scandal may well be allowed to die out. With due discretion the incident
+      itself may, however, be described, since it serves to illustrate some of
+      those qualities for which my friend was remarkable. I will endeavour in my
+      statement to avoid such terms as would serve to limit the events to any
+      particular place, or give a clue as to the people concerned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were residing at the time in furnished lodgings close to a library
+      where Sherlock Holmes was pursuing some laborious researches in early
+      English charters&mdash;researches which led to results so striking that
+      they may be the subject of one of my future narratives. Here it was that
+      one evening we received a visit from an acquaintance, Mr. Hilton Soames,
+      tutor and lecturer at the College of St. Luke's. Mr. Soames was a tall,
+      spare man, of a nervous and excitable temperament. I had always known him
+      to be restless in his manner, but on this particular occasion he was in
+      such a state of uncontrollable agitation that it was clear something very
+      unusual had occurred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I trust, Mr. Holmes, that you can spare me a few hours of your valuable
+      time. We have had a very painful incident at St. Luke's, and really, but
+      for the happy chance of your being in the town, I should have been at a
+      loss what to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very busy just now, and I desire no distractions,&rdquo; my friend
+      answered. &ldquo;I should much prefer that you called in the aid of the police.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, my dear sir; such a course is utterly impossible. When once the
+      law is evoked it cannot be stayed again, and this is just one of those
+      cases where, for the credit of the college, it is most essential to avoid
+      scandal. Your discretion is as well known as your powers, and you are the
+      one man in the world who can help me. I beg you, Mr. Holmes, to do what
+      you can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My friend's temper had not improved since he had been deprived of the
+      congenial surroundings of Baker Street. Without his scrap-books, his
+      chemicals, and his homely untidiness, he was an uncomfortable man. He
+      shrugged his shoulders in ungracious acquiescence, while our visitor in
+      hurried words and with much excitable gesticulation poured forth his
+      story.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must explain to you, Mr. Holmes, that to-morrow is the first day of the
+      examination for the Fortescue Scholarship. I am one of the examiners. My
+      subject is Greek, and the first of the papers consists of a large passage
+      of Greek translation which the candidate has not seen. This passage is
+      printed on the examination paper, and it would naturally be an immense
+      advantage if the candidate could prepare it in advance. For this reason
+      great care is taken to keep the paper secret.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To-day about three o'clock the proofs of this paper arrived from the
+      printers. The exercise consists of half a chapter of Thucydides. I had to
+      read it over carefully, as the text must be absolutely correct. At
+      four-thirty my task was not yet completed. I had, however, promised to
+      take tea in a friend's rooms, so I left the proof upon my desk. I was
+      absent rather more than an hour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are aware, Mr. Holmes, that our college doors are double&mdash;a
+      green baize one within and a heavy oak one without. As I approached my
+      outer door I was amazed to see a key in it. For an instant I imagined that
+      I had left my own there, but on feeling in my pocket I found that it was
+      all right. The only duplicate which existed, so far as I knew, was that
+      which belonged to my servant, Bannister, a man who has looked after my
+      room for ten years, and whose honesty is absolutely above suspicion. I
+      found that the key was indeed his, that he had entered my room to know if
+      I wanted tea, and that he had very carelessly left the key in the door
+      when he came out. His visit to my room must have been within a very few
+      minutes of my leaving it. His forgetfulness about the key would have
+      mattered little upon any other occasion, but on this one day it has
+      produced the most deplorable consequences.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The moment I looked at my table I was aware that someone had rummaged
+      among my papers. The proof was in three long slips. I had left them all
+      together. Now, I found that one of them was lying on the floor, one was on
+      the side table near the window, and the third was where I had left it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes stirred for the first time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The first page on the floor, the second in the window, the third where
+      you left it,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly, Mr. Holmes. You amaze me. How could you possibly know that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray continue your very interesting statement.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For an instant I imagined that Bannister had taken the unpardonable
+      liberty of examining my papers. He denied it, however, with the utmost
+      earnestness, and I am convinced that he was speaking the truth. The
+      alternative was that someone passing had observed the key in the door, had
+      known that I was out, and had entered to look at the papers. A large sum
+      of money is at stake, for the scholarship is a very valuable one, and an
+      unscrupulous man might very well run a risk in order to gain an advantage
+      over his fellows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bannister was very much upset by the incident. He had nearly fainted when
+      we found that the papers had undoubtedly been tampered with. I gave him a
+      little brandy and left him collapsed in a chair while I made a most
+      careful examination of the room. I soon saw that the intruder had left
+      other traces of his presence besides the rumpled papers. On the table in
+      the window were several shreds from a pencil which had been sharpened. A
+      broken tip of lead was lying there also. Evidently the rascal had copied
+      the paper in a great hurry, had broken his pencil, and had been compelled
+      to put a fresh point to it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excellent!&rdquo; said Holmes, who was recovering his good-humour as his
+      attention became more engrossed by the case. &ldquo;Fortune has been your
+      friend.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This was not all. I have a new writing-table with a fine surface of red
+      leather. I am prepared to swear, and so is Bannister, that it was smooth
+      and unstained. Now I found a clean cut in it about three inches long&mdash;not
+      a mere scratch, but a positive cut. Not only this, but on the table I
+      found a small ball of black dough, or clay, with specks of something which
+      looks like sawdust in it. I am convinced that these marks were left by the
+      man who rifled the papers. There were no footmarks and no other evidence
+      as to his identity. I was at my wits' ends, when suddenly the happy
+      thought occurred to me that you were in the town, and I came straight
+      round to put the matter into your hands. Do help me, Mr. Holmes! You see
+      my dilemma. Either I must find the man or else the examination must be
+      postponed until fresh papers are prepared, and since this cannot be done
+      without explanation there will ensue a hideous scandal, which will throw a
+      cloud not only on the college, but on the University. Above all things I
+      desire to settle the matter quietly and discreetly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall be happy to look into it and to give you such advice as I can,&rdquo;
+       said Holmes, rising and putting on his overcoat. &ldquo;The case is not entirely
+      devoid of interest. Had anyone visited you in your room after the papers
+      came to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; young Daulat Ras, an Indian student who lives on the same stair,
+      came in to ask me some particulars about the examination.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For which he was entered?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the papers were on your table?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To the best of my belief they were rolled up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But might be recognised as proofs?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one else in your room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did anyone know that these proofs would be there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one save the printer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did this man Bannister know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, certainly not. No one knew.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is Bannister now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was very ill, poor fellow. I left him collapsed in the chair. I was in
+      such a hurry to come to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You left your door open?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I locked up the papers first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then it amounts to this, Mr. Soames, that unless the Indian student
+      recognised the roll as being proofs, the man who tampered with them came
+      upon them accidentally without knowing that they were there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So it seems to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes gave an enigmatic smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;let us go round. Not one of your cases, Watson&mdash;mental,
+      not physical. All right; come if you want to. Now, Mr. Soames&mdash;at
+      your disposal!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The sitting-room of our client opened by a long, low, latticed window on
+      to the ancient lichen-tinted court of the old college. A Gothic arched
+      door led to a worn stone staircase. On the ground floor was the tutor's
+      room. Above were three students, one on each story. It was already
+      twilight when we reached the scene of our problem. Holmes halted and
+      looked earnestly at the window. Then he approached it, and, standing on
+      tiptoe with his neck craned, he looked into the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He must have entered through the door. There is no opening except the one
+      pane,&rdquo; said our learned guide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; said Holmes, and he smiled in a singular way as he glanced at
+      our companion. &ldquo;Well, if there is nothing to be learned here we had best
+      go inside.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The lecturer unlocked the outer door and ushered us into his room. We
+      stood at the entrance while Holmes made an examination of the carpet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid there are no signs here,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;One could hardly hope for
+      any upon so dry a day. Your servant seems to have quite recovered. You
+      left him in a chair, you say; which chair?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By the window there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. Near this little table. You can come in now. I have finished with
+      the carpet. Let us take the little table first. Of course, what has
+      happened is very clear. The man entered and took the papers, sheet by
+      sheet, from the central table. He carried them over to the window table,
+      because from there he could see if you came across the courtyard, and so
+      could effect an escape.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As a matter of fact he could not,&rdquo; said Soames, &ldquo;for I entered by the
+      side door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, that's good! Well, anyhow, that was in his mind. Let me see the three
+      strips. No finger impressions&mdash;no! Well, he carried over this one
+      first and he copied it. How long would it take him to do that, using every
+      possible contraction? A quarter of an hour, not less. Then he tossed it
+      down and seized the next. He was in the midst of that when your return
+      caused him to make a very hurried retreat&mdash;VERY hurried, since he had
+      not time to replace the papers which would tell you that he had been
+      there. You were not aware of any hurrying feet on the stair as you entered
+      the outer door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I can't say I was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, he wrote so furiously that he broke his pencil, and had, as you
+      observe, to sharpen it again. This is of interest, Watson. The pencil was
+      not an ordinary one. It was above the usual size, with a soft lead; the
+      outer colour was dark blue, the maker's name was printed in silver
+      lettering, and the piece remaining is only about an inch and a half long.
+      Look for such a pencil, Mr. Soames, and you have got your man. When I add
+      that he possesses a large and very blunt knife, you have an additional
+      aid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Soames was somewhat overwhelmed by this flood of information. &ldquo;I can
+      follow the other points,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;but really, in this matter of the
+      length&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes held out a small chip with the letters NN and a space of clear wood
+      after them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I fear that even now&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Watson, I have always done you an injustice. There are others. What could
+      this NN be? It is at the end of a word. You are aware that Johann Faber is
+      the most common maker's name. Is it not clear that there is just as much
+      of the pencil left as usually follows the Johann?&rdquo; He held the small table
+      sideways to the electric light. &ldquo;I was hoping that if the paper on which
+      he wrote was thin some trace of it might come through upon this polished
+      surface. No, I see nothing. I don't think there is anything more to be
+      learned here. Now for the central table. This small pellet is, I presume,
+      the black, doughy mass you spoke of. Roughly pyramidal in shape and
+      hollowed out, I perceive. As you say, there appear to be grains of sawdust
+      in it. Dear me, this is very interesting. And the cut&mdash;a positive
+      tear, I see. It began with a thin scratch and ended in a jagged hole. I am
+      much indebted to you for directing my attention to this case, Mr. Soames.
+      Where does that door lead to?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To my bedroom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you been in it since your adventure?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; I came straight away for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should like to have a glance round. What a charming, old-fashioned
+      room! Perhaps you will kindly wait a minute until I have examined the
+      floor. No, I see nothing. What about this curtain? You hang your clothes
+      behind it. If anyone were forced to conceal himself in this room he must
+      do it there, since the bed is too low and the wardrobe too shallow. No one
+      there, I suppose?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As Holmes drew the curtain I was aware, from some little rigidity and
+      alertness of his attitude, that he was prepared for an emergency. As a
+      matter of fact the drawn curtain disclosed nothing but three or four suits
+      of clothes hanging from a line of pegs. Holmes turned away and stooped
+      suddenly to the floor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Halloa! What's this?&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a small pyramid of black, putty-like stuff, exactly like the one
+      upon the table of the study. Holmes held it out on his open palm in the
+      glare of the electric light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your visitor seems to have left traces in your bedroom as well as in your
+      sitting-room, Mr. Soames.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What could he have wanted there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think it is clear enough. You came back by an unexpected way, and so he
+      had no warning until you were at the very door. What could he do? He
+      caught up everything which would betray him and he rushed into your
+      bedroom to conceal himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good gracious, Mr. Holmes, do you mean to tell me that all the time I was
+      talking to Bannister in this room we had the man prisoner if we had only
+      known it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I read it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely there is another alternative, Mr. Holmes. I don't know whether you
+      observed my bedroom window?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lattice-paned, lead framework, three separate windows, one swinging on
+      hinge and large enough to admit a man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. And it looks out on an angle of the courtyard so as to be partly
+      invisible. The man might have effected his entrance there, left traces as
+      he passed through the bedroom, and, finally, finding the door open have
+      escaped that way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes shook his head impatiently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us be practical,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I understand you to say that there are
+      three students who use this stair and are in the habit of passing your
+      door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, there are.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And they are all in for this examination?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you any reason to suspect any one of them more than the others?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Soames hesitated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a very delicate question,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;One hardly likes to throw
+      suspicion where there are no proofs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us hear the suspicions. I will look after the proofs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will tell you, then, in a few words the character of the three men who
+      inhabit these rooms. The lower of the three is Gilchrist, a fine scholar
+      and athlete; plays in the Rugby team and the cricket team for the college,
+      and got his Blue for the hurdles and the long jump. He is a fine, manly
+      fellow. His father was the notorious Sir Jabez Gilchrist, who ruined
+      himself on the turf. My scholar has been left very poor, but he is
+      hard-working and industrious. He will do well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The second floor is inhabited by Daulat Ras, the Indian. He is a quiet,
+      inscrutable fellow, as most of those Indians are. He is well up in his
+      work, though his Greek is his weak subject. He is steady and methodical.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The top floor belongs to Miles McLaren. He is a brilliant fellow when he
+      chooses to work&mdash;one of the brightest intellects of the University,
+      but he is wayward, dissipated, and unprincipled. He was nearly expelled
+      over a card scandal in his first year. He has been idling all this term,
+      and he must look forward with dread to the examination.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then it is he whom you suspect?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I dare not go so far as that. But of the three he is perhaps the least
+      unlikely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. Now, Mr. Soames, let us have a look at your servant, Bannister.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was a little, white-faced, clean-shaven, grizzly-haired fellow of
+      fifty. He was still suffering from this sudden disturbance of the quiet
+      routine of his life. His plump face was twitching with his nervousness,
+      and his fingers could not keep still.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are investigating this unhappy business, Bannister,&rdquo; said his master.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; said Holmes, &ldquo;that you left your key in the door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was it not very extraordinary that you should do this on the very day
+      when there were these papers inside?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was most unfortunate, sir. But I have occasionally done the same thing
+      at other times.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When did you enter the room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was about half-past four. That is Mr. Soames's tea time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long did you stay?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When I saw that he was absent I withdrew at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you look at these papers on the table?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir; certainly not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How came you to leave the key in the door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had the tea-tray in my hand. I thought I would come back for the key.
+      Then I forgot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has the outer door a spring lock?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then it was open all the time?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anyone in the room could get out?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When Mr. Soames returned and called for you, you were very much
+      disturbed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir. Such a thing has never happened during the many years that I
+      have been here. I nearly fainted, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I understand. Where were you when you began to feel bad?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where was I, sir? Why, here, near the door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is singular, because you sat down in that chair over yonder near the
+      corner. Why did you pass these other chairs?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know, sir. It didn't matter to me where I sat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I really don't think he knew much about it, Mr. Holmes. He was looking
+      very bad&mdash;quite ghastly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You stayed here when your master left?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only for a minute or so. Then I locked the door and went to my room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whom do you suspect?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I would not venture to say, sir. I don't believe there is any
+      gentleman in this University who is capable of profiting by such an
+      action. No, sir, I'll not believe it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you; that will do,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Oh, one more word. You have not
+      mentioned to any of the three gentlemen whom you attend that anything is
+      amiss?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir; not a word.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You haven't seen any of them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good. Now, Mr. Soames, we will take a walk in the quadrangle, if you
+      please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Three yellow squares of light shone above us in the gathering gloom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your three birds are all in their nests,&rdquo; said Holmes, looking up.
+      &ldquo;Halloa! What's that? One of them seems restless enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the Indian, whose dark silhouette appeared suddenly upon his blind.
+      He was pacing swiftly up and down his room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should like to have a peep at each of them,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Is it
+      possible?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No difficulty in the world,&rdquo; Soames answered. &ldquo;This set of rooms is quite
+      the oldest in the college, and it is not unusual for visitors to go over
+      them. Come along, and I will personally conduct you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No names, please!&rdquo; said Holmes, as we knocked at Gilchrist's door. A
+      tall, flaxen-haired, slim young fellow opened it, and made us welcome when
+      he understood our errand. There were some really curious pieces of
+      mediaeval domestic architecture within. Holmes was so charmed with one of
+      them that he insisted on drawing it on his note-book, broke his pencil,
+      had to borrow one from our host, and finally borrowed a knife to sharpen
+      his own. The same curious accident happened to him in the rooms of the
+      Indian&mdash;a silent, little, hook-nosed fellow, who eyed us askance and
+      was obviously glad when Holmes's architectural studies had come to an end.
+      I could not see that in either case Holmes had come upon the clue for
+      which he was searching. Only at the third did our visit prove abortive.
+      The outer door would not open to our knock, and nothing more substantial
+      than a torrent of bad language came from behind it. &ldquo;I don't care who you
+      are. You can go to blazes!&rdquo; roared the angry voice. &ldquo;To-morrow's the exam,
+      and I won't be drawn by anyone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A rude fellow,&rdquo; said our guide, flushing with anger as we withdrew down
+      the stair. &ldquo;Of course, he did not realize that it was I who was knocking,
+      but none the less his conduct was very uncourteous, and, indeed, under the
+      circumstances rather suspicious.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes's response was a curious one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you tell me his exact height?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really, Mr. Holmes, I cannot undertake to say. He is taller than the
+      Indian, not so tall as Gilchrist. I suppose five foot six would be about
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is very important,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;And now, Mr. Soames, I wish you
+      good-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Our guide cried aloud in his astonishment and dismay. &ldquo;Good gracious, Mr.
+      Holmes, you are surely not going to leave me in this abrupt fashion! You
+      don't seem to realize the position. To-morrow is the examination. I must
+      take some definite action to-night. I cannot allow the examination to be
+      held if one of the papers has been tampered with. The situation must be
+      faced.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must leave it as it is. I shall drop round early to-morrow morning
+      and chat the matter over. It is possible that I may be in a position then
+      to indicate some course of action. Meanwhile you change nothing&mdash;nothing
+      at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good, Mr. Holmes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can be perfectly easy in your mind. We shall certainly find some way
+      out of your difficulties. I will take the black clay with me, also the
+      pencil cuttings. Good-bye.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When we were out in the darkness of the quadrangle we again looked up at
+      the windows. The Indian still paced his room. The others were invisible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Watson, what do you think of it?&rdquo; Holmes asked, as we came out into
+      the main street. &ldquo;Quite a little parlour game&mdash;sort of three-card
+      trick, is it not? There are your three men. It must be one of them. You
+      take your choice. Which is yours?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The foul-mouthed fellow at the top. He is the one with the worst record.
+      And yet that Indian was a sly fellow also. Why should he be pacing his
+      room all the time?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is nothing in that. Many men do it when they are trying to learn
+      anything by heart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He looked at us in a queer way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So would you if a flock of strangers came in on you when you were
+      preparing for an examination next day, and every moment was of value. No,
+      I see nothing in that. Pencils, too, and knives&mdash;all was
+      satisfactory. But that fellow DOES puzzle me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Bannister, the servant. What's his game in the matter?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He impressed me as being a perfectly honest man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So he did me. That's the puzzling part. Why should a perfectly honest man&mdash;well,
+      well, here's a large stationer's. We shall begin our researches here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There were only four stationers of any consequence in the town, and at
+      each Holmes produced his pencil chips and bid high for a duplicate. All
+      were agreed that one could be ordered, but that it was not a usual size of
+      pencil and that it was seldom kept in stock. My friend did not appear to
+      be depressed by his failure, but shrugged his shoulders in half-humorous
+      resignation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No good, my dear Watson. This, the best and only final clue, has run to
+      nothing. But, indeed, I have little doubt that we can build up a
+      sufficient case without it. By Jove! my dear fellow, it is nearly nine,
+      and the landlady babbled of green peas at seven-thirty. What with your
+      eternal tobacco, Watson, and your irregularity at meals, I expect that you
+      will get notice to quit and that I shall share your downfall&mdash;not,
+      however, before we have solved the problem of the nervous tutor, the
+      careless servant, and the three enterprising students.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes made no further allusion to the matter that day, though he sat lost
+      in thought for a long time after our belated dinner. At eight in the
+      morning he came into my room just as I finished my toilet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Watson,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;it is time we went down to St. Luke's. Can you
+      do without breakfast?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Soames will be in a dreadful fidget until we are able to tell him
+      something positive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you anything positive to tell him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have formed a conclusion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, my dear Watson; I have solved the mystery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what fresh evidence could you have got?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aha! It is not for nothing that I have turned myself out of bed at the
+      untimely hour of six. I have put in two hours' hard work and covered at
+      least five miles, with something to show for it. Look at that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He held out his hand. On the palm were three little pyramids of black,
+      doughy clay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Holmes, you had only two yesterday!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And one more this morning. It is a fair argument that wherever No. 3 came
+      from is also the source of Nos. 1 and 2. Eh, Watson? Well, come along and
+      put friend Soames out of his pain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The unfortunate tutor was certainly in a state of pitiable agitation when
+      we found him in his chambers. In a few hours the examination would
+      commence, and he was still in the dilemma between making the facts public
+      and allowing the culprit to compete for the valuable scholarship. He could
+      hardly stand still, so great was his mental agitation, and he ran towards
+      Holmes with two eager hands outstretched.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank Heaven that you have come! I feared that you had given it up in
+      despair. What am I to do? Shall the examination proceed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; let it proceed by all means.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But this rascal&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He shall not compete.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think so. If this matter is not to become public we must give ourselves
+      certain powers, and resolve ourselves into a small private court-martial.
+      You there, if you please, Soames! Watson, you here! I'll take the
+      arm-chair in the middle. I think that we are now sufficiently imposing to
+      strike terror into a guilty breast. Kindly ring the bell!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bannister entered, and shrunk back in evident surprise and fear at our
+      judicial appearance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will kindly close the door,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Now, Bannister, will you
+      please tell us the truth about yesterday's incident?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man turned white to the roots of his hair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have told you everything, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing to add?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing at all, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then, I must make some suggestions to you. When you sat down on
+      that chair yesterday, did you do so in order to conceal some object which
+      would have shown who had been in the room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bannister's face was ghastly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir; certainly not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is only a suggestion,&rdquo; said Holmes, suavely. &ldquo;I frankly admit that I
+      am unable to prove it. But it seems probable enough, since the moment that
+      Mr. Soames's back was turned you released the man who was hiding in that
+      bedroom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bannister licked his dry lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There was no man, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, that's a pity, Bannister. Up to now you may have spoken the truth,
+      but now I know that you have lied.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man's face set in sullen defiance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There was no man, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, come, Bannister!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir; there was no one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that case you can give us no further information. Would you please
+      remain in the room? Stand over there near the bedroom door. Now, Soames, I
+      am going to ask you to have the great kindness to go up to the room of
+      young Gilchrist, and to ask him to step down into yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      An instant later the tutor returned, bringing with him the student. He was
+      a fine figure of a man, tall, lithe, and agile, with a springy step and a
+      pleasant, open face. His troubled blue eyes glanced at each of us, and
+      finally rested with an expression of blank dismay upon Bannister in the
+      farther corner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just close the door,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Now, Mr. Gilchrist, we are all quite
+      alone here, and no one need ever know one word of what passes between us.
+      We can be perfectly frank with each other. We want to know, Mr. Gilchrist,
+      how you, an honourable man, ever came to commit such an action as that of
+      yesterday?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The unfortunate young man staggered back and cast a look full of horror
+      and reproach at Bannister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, Mr. Gilchrist, sir; I never said a word&mdash;never one word!&rdquo;
+       cried the servant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but you have now,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Now, sir, you must see that after
+      Bannister's words your position is hopeless, and that your only chance
+      lies in a frank confession.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For a moment Gilchrist, with upraised hand, tried to control his writhing
+      features. The next he had thrown himself on his knees beside the table
+      and, burying his face in his hands, he had burst into a storm of
+      passionate sobbing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, come,&rdquo; said Holmes, kindly; &ldquo;it is human to err, and at least no
+      one can accuse you of being a callous criminal. Perhaps it would be easier
+      for you if I were to tell Mr. Soames what occurred, and you can check me
+      where I am wrong. Shall I do so? Well, well, don't trouble to answer.
+      Listen, and see that I do you no injustice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From the moment, Mr. Soames, that you said to me that no one, not even
+      Bannister, could have told that the papers were in your room, the case
+      began to take a definite shape in my mind. The printer one could, of
+      course, dismiss. He could examine the papers in his own office. The Indian
+      I also thought nothing of. If the proofs were in a roll he could not
+      possibly know what they were. On the other hand, it seemed an unthinkable
+      coincidence that a man should dare to enter the room, and that by chance
+      on that very day the papers were on the table. I dismissed that. The man
+      who entered knew that the papers were there. How did he know?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When I approached your room I examined the window. You amused me by
+      supposing that I was contemplating the possibility of someone having in
+      broad daylight, under the eyes of all these opposite rooms, forced himself
+      through it. Such an idea was absurd. I was measuring how tall a man would
+      need to be in order to see as he passed what papers were on the central
+      table. I am six feet high, and I could do it with an effort. No one less
+      than that would have a chance. Already you see I had reason to think that
+      if one of your three students was a man of unusual height he was the most
+      worth watching of the three.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I entered and I took you into my confidence as to the suggestions of the
+      side table. Of the centre table I could make nothing, until in your
+      description of Gilchrist you mentioned that he was a long-distance jumper.
+      Then the whole thing came to me in an instant, and I only needed certain
+      corroborative proofs, which I speedily obtained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What happened was this. This young fellow had employed his afternoon at
+      the athletic grounds, where he had been practising the jump. He returned
+      carrying his jumping shoes, which are provided, as you are aware, with
+      several sharp spikes. As he passed your window he saw, by means of his
+      great height, these proofs upon your table, and conjectured what they
+      were. No harm would have been done had it not been that as he passed your
+      door he perceived the key which had been left by the carelessness of your
+      servant. A sudden impulse came over him to enter and see if they were
+      indeed the proofs. It was not a dangerous exploit, for he could always
+      pretend that he had simply looked in to ask a question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, when he saw that they were indeed the proofs, it was then that he
+      yielded to temptation. He put his shoes on the table. What was it you put
+      on that chair near the window?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gloves,&rdquo; said the young man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes looked triumphantly at Bannister. &ldquo;He put his gloves on the chair,
+      and he took the proofs, sheet by sheet, to copy them. He thought the tutor
+      must return by the main gate, and that he would see him. As we know, he
+      came back by the side gate. Suddenly he heard him at the very door. There
+      was no possible escape. He forgot his gloves, but he caught up his shoes
+      and darted into the bedroom. You observe that the scratch on that table is
+      slight at one side, but deepens in the direction of the bedroom door. That
+      in itself is enough to show us that the shoe had been drawn in that
+      direction and that the culprit had taken refuge there. The earth round the
+      spike had been left on the table, and a second sample was loosened and
+      fell in the bedroom. I may add that I walked out to the athletic grounds
+      this morning, saw that tenacious black clay is used in the jumping-pit,
+      and carried away a specimen of it, together with some of the fine tan or
+      sawdust which is strewn over it to prevent the athlete from slipping. Have
+      I told the truth, Mr. Gilchrist?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The student had drawn himself erect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, it is true,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens, have you nothing to add?&rdquo; cried Soames.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, I have, but the shock of this disgraceful exposure has
+      bewildered me. I have a letter here, Mr. Soames, which I wrote to you
+      early this morning in the middle of a restless night. It was before I knew
+      that my sin had found me out. Here it is, sir. You will see that I have
+      said, 'I have determined not to go in for the examination. I have been
+      offered a commission in the Rhodesian Police, and I am going out to South
+      Africa at once.&rdquo;'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am indeed pleased to hear that you did not intend to profit by your
+      unfair advantage,&rdquo; said Soames. &ldquo;But why did you change your purpose?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Gilchrist pointed to Bannister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is the man who set me in the right path,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come now, Bannister,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;It will be clear to you from what I
+      have said that only you could have let this young man out, since you were
+      left in the room, and must have locked the door when you went out. As to
+      his escaping by that window, it was incredible. Can you not clear up the
+      last point in this mystery, and tell us the reasons for your action?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was simple enough, sir, if you only had known; but with all your
+      cleverness it was impossible that you could know. Time was, sir, when I
+      was butler to old Sir Jabez Gilchrist, this young gentleman's father. When
+      he was ruined I came to the college as servant, but I never forgot my old
+      employer because he was down in the world. I watched his son all I could
+      for the sake of the old days. Well, sir, when I came into this room
+      yesterday when the alarm was given, the very first thing I saw was Mr.
+      Gilchrist's tan gloves a-lying in that chair. I knew those gloves well,
+      and I understood their message. If Mr. Soames saw them the game was up. I
+      flopped down into that chair, and nothing would budge me until Mr. Soames
+      he went for you. Then out came my poor young master, whom I had dandled on
+      my knee, and confessed it all to me. Wasn't it natural, sir, that I should
+      save him, and wasn't it natural also that I should try to speak to him as
+      his dead father would have done, and make him understand that he could not
+      profit by such a deed? Could you blame me, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, indeed,&rdquo; said Holmes, heartily, springing to his feet. &ldquo;Well, Soames,
+      I think we have cleared your little problem up, and our breakfast awaits
+      us at home. Come, Watson! As to you, sir, I trust that a bright future
+      awaits you in Rhodesia. For once you have fallen low. Let us see in the
+      future how high you can rise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <hr />
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 28  JULY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010">
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+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      X.&mdash;The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WHEN I look at the three massive manuscript volumes which contain our work
+      for the year 1894 I confess that it is very difficult for me, out of such
+      a wealth of material, to select the cases which are most interesting in
+      themselves and at the same time most conducive to a display of those
+      peculiar powers for which my friend was famous. As I turn over the pages I
+      see my notes upon the repulsive story of the red leech and the terrible
+      death of Crosby the banker. Here also I find an account of the Addleton
+      tragedy and the singular contents of the ancient British barrow. The
+      famous Smith-Mortimer succession case comes also within this period, and
+      so does the tracking and arrest of Huret, the Boulevard assassin&mdash;an
+      exploit which won for Holmes an autograph letter of thanks from the French
+      President and the Order of the Legion of Honour. Each of these would
+      furnish a narrative, but on the whole I am of opinion that none of them
+      unite so many singular points of interest as the episode of Yoxley Old
+      Place, which includes not only the lamentable death of young Willoughby
+      Smith, but also those subsequent developments which threw so curious a
+      light upon the causes of the crime.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a wild, tempestuous night towards the close of November. Holmes and
+      I sat together in silence all the evening, he engaged with a powerful lens
+      deciphering the remains of the original inscription upon a palimpsest, I
+      deep in a recent treatise upon surgery. Outside the wind howled down Baker
+      Street, while the rain beat fiercely against the windows. It was strange
+      there in the very depths of the town, with ten miles of man's handiwork on
+      every side of us, to feel the iron grip of Nature, and to be conscious
+      that to the huge elemental forces all London was no more than the
+      molehills that dot the fields. I walked to the window and looked out on
+      the deserted street. The occasional lamps gleamed on the expanse of muddy
+      road and shining pavement. A single cab was splashing its way from the
+      Oxford Street end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Watson, it's as well we have not to turn out to-night,&rdquo; said
+      Holmes, laying aside his lens and rolling up the palimpsest. &ldquo;I've done
+      enough for one sitting. It is trying work for the eyes. So far as I can
+      make out it is nothing more exciting than an Abbey's accounts dating from
+      the second half of the fifteenth century. Halloa! halloa! halloa! What's
+      this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Amid the droning of the wind there had come the stamping of a horse's
+      hoofs and the long grind of a wheel as it rasped against the kerb. The cab
+      which I had seen had pulled up at our door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What can he want?&rdquo; I ejaculated, as a man stepped out of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Want! He wants us. And we, my poor Watson, want overcoats and cravats and
+      goloshes, and every aid that man ever invented to fight the weather. Wait
+      a bit, though! There's the cab off again! There's hope yet. He'd have kept
+      it if he had wanted us to come. Run down, my dear fellow, and open the
+      door, for all virtuous folk have been long in bed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When the light of the hall lamp fell upon our midnight visitor I had no
+      difficulty in recognising him. It was young Stanley Hopkins, a promising
+      detective, in whose career Holmes had several times shown a very practical
+      interest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is he in?&rdquo; he asked, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come up, my dear sir,&rdquo; said Holmes's voice from above. &ldquo;I hope you have
+      no designs upon us on such a night as this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The detective mounted the stairs, and our lamp gleamed upon his shining
+      waterproof. I helped him out of it while Holmes knocked a blaze out of the
+      logs in the grate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, my dear Hopkins, draw up and warm your toes,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Here's a
+      cigar, and the doctor has a prescription containing hot water and a lemon
+      which is good medicine on a night like this. It must be something
+      important which has brought you out in such a gale.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is indeed, Mr. Holmes. I've had a bustling afternoon, I promise you.
+      Did you see anything of the Yoxley case in the latest editions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've seen nothing later than the fifteenth century to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it was only a paragraph, and all wrong at that, so you have not
+      missed anything. I haven't let the grass grow under my feet. It's down in
+      Kent, seven miles from Chatham and three from the railway line. I was
+      wired for at three-fifteen, reached Yoxley Old Place at five, conducted my
+      investigation, was back at Charing Cross by the last train, and straight
+      to you by cab.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which means, I suppose, that you are not quite clear about your case?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It means that I can make neither head nor tail of it. So far as I can see
+      it is just as tangled a business as ever I handled, and yet at first it
+      seemed so simple that one couldn't go wrong. There's no motive, Mr.
+      Holmes. That's what bothers me&mdash;I can't put my hand on a motive.
+      Here's a man dead&mdash;there's no denying that&mdash;but, so far as I can
+      see, no reason on earth why anyone should wish him harm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes lit his cigar and leaned back in his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us hear about it,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've got my facts pretty clear,&rdquo; said Stanley Hopkins. &ldquo;All I want now is
+      to know what they all mean. The story, so far as I can make it out, is
+      like this. Some years ago this country house, Yoxley Old Place, was taken
+      by an elderly man, who gave the name of Professor Coram. He was an
+      invalid, keeping his bed half the time, and the other half hobbling round
+      the house with a stick or being pushed about the grounds by the gardener
+      in a bath-chair. He was well liked by the few neighbours who called upon
+      him, and he has the reputation down there of being a very learned man. His
+      household used to consist of an elderly housekeeper, Mrs. Marker, and of a
+      maid, Susan Tarlton. These have both been with him since his arrival, and
+      they seem to be women of excellent character. The Professor is writing a
+      learned book, and he found it necessary about a year ago to engage a
+      secretary. The first two that he tried were not successes; but the third,
+      Mr. Willoughby Smith, a very young man straight from the University, seems
+      to have been just what his employer wanted. His work consisted in writing
+      all the morning to the Professor's dictation, and he usually spent the
+      evening in hunting up references and passages which bore upon the next
+      day's work. This Willoughby Smith has nothing against him either as a boy
+      at Uppingham or as a young man at Cambridge. I have seen his testimonials,
+      and from the first he was a decent, quiet, hardworking fellow, with no
+      weak spot in him at all. And yet this is the lad who has met his death
+      this morning in the Professor's study under circumstances which can point
+      only to murder.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The wind howled and screamed at the windows. Holmes and I drew closer to
+      the fire while the young inspector slowly and point by point developed his
+      singular narrative.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you were to search all England,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I don't suppose you could
+      find a household more self-contained or free from outside influences.
+      Whole weeks would pass and not one of them go past the garden gate. The
+      Professor was buried in his work and existed for nothing else. Young Smith
+      knew nobody in the neighbourhood, and lived very much as his employer did.
+      The two women had nothing to take them from the house. Mortimer the
+      gardener, who wheels the bath-chair, is an Army pensioner&mdash;an old
+      Crimean man of excellent character. He does not live in the house, but in
+      a three-roomed cottage at the other end of the garden. Those are the only
+      people that you would find within the grounds of Yoxley Old Place. At the
+      same time, the gate of the garden is a hundred yards from the main London
+      to Chatham road. It opens with a latch, and there is nothing to prevent
+      anyone from walking in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now I will give you the evidence of Susan Tarlton, who is the only person
+      who can say anything positive about the matter. It was in the forenoon,
+      between eleven and twelve. She was engaged at the moment in hanging some
+      curtains in the upstairs front bedroom. Professor Coram was still in bed,
+      for when the weather is bad he seldom rises before midday. The housekeeper
+      was busied with some work in the back of the house. Willoughby Smith had
+      been in his bedroom, which he uses as a sitting-room; but the maid heard
+      him at that moment pass along the passage and descend to the study
+      immediately below her. She did not see him, but she says that she could
+      not be mistaken in his quick, firm tread. She did not hear the study door
+      close, but a minute or so later there was a dreadful cry in the room
+      below. It was a wild, hoarse scream, so strange and unnatural that it
+      might have come either from a man or a woman. At the same instant there
+      was a heavy thud, which shook the old house, and then all was silence. The
+      maid stood petrified for a moment, and then, recovering her courage, she
+      ran downstairs. The study door was shut, and she opened it. Inside young
+      Mr. Willoughby Smith was stretched upon the floor. At first she could see
+      no injury, but as she tried to raise him she saw that blood was pouring
+      from the underside of his neck. It was pierced by a very small but very
+      deep wound, which had divided the carotid artery. The instrument with
+      which the injury had been inflicted lay upon the carpet beside him. It was
+      one of those small sealing-wax knives to be found on old-fashioned
+      writing-tables, with an ivory handle and a stiff blade. It was part of the
+      fittings of the Professor's own desk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At first the maid thought that young Smith was already dead, but on
+      pouring some water from the carafe over his forehead he opened his eyes
+      for an instant. 'The Professor,' he murmured&mdash;'it was she.' The maid
+      is prepared to swear that those were the exact words. He tried desperately
+      to say something else, and he held his right hand up in the air. Then he
+      fell back dead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the meantime the housekeeper had also arrived upon the scene, but she
+      was just too late to catch the young man's dying words. Leaving Susan with
+      the body, she hurried to the Professor's room. He was sitting up in bed
+      horribly agitated, for he had heard enough to convince him that something
+      terrible had occurred. Mrs. Marker is prepared to swear that the Professor
+      was still in his night-clothes, and, indeed, it was impossible for him to
+      dress without the help of Mortimer, whose orders were to come at twelve
+      o'clock. The Professor declares that he heard the distant cry, but that he
+      knows nothing more. He can give no explanation of the young man's last
+      words, 'The Professor&mdash;it was she,' but imagines that they were the
+      outcome of delirium. He believes that Willoughby Smith had not an enemy in
+      the world, and can give no reason for the crime. His first action was to
+      send Mortimer the gardener for the local police. A little later the chief
+      constable sent for me. Nothing was moved before I got there, and strict
+      orders were given that no one should walk upon the paths leading to the
+      house. It was a splendid chance of putting your theories into practice,
+      Mr. Sherlock Holmes. There was really nothing wanting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Except Mr. Sherlock Holmes,&rdquo; said my companion, with a somewhat bitter
+      smile. &ldquo;Well, let us hear about it. What sort of job did you make of it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must ask you first, Mr. Holmes, to glance at this rough plan, which
+      will give you a general idea of the position of the Professor's study and
+      the various points of the case. It will help you in following my
+      investigation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He unfolded the rough chart, which I here reproduce, and he laid it across
+      Holmes's knee. I rose, and, standing behind Holmes, I studied it over his
+      shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      GRAPHIC
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is very rough, of course, and it only deals with the points which seem
+      to me to be essential. All the rest you will see later for yourself. Now,
+      first of all, presuming that the assassin entered the house, how did he or
+      she come in? Undoubtedly by the garden path and the back door, from which
+      there is direct access to the study. Any other way would have been
+      exceedingly complicated. The escape must have also been made along that
+      line, for of the two other exits from the room one was blocked by Susan as
+      she ran downstairs and the other leads straight to the Professor's
+      bedroom. I therefore directed my attention at once to the garden path,
+      which was saturated with recent rain and would certainly show any
+      footmarks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My examination showed me that I was dealing with a cautious and expert
+      criminal. No footmarks were to be found on the path. There could be no
+      question, however, that someone had passed along the grass border which
+      lines the path, and that he had done so in order to avoid leaving a track.
+      I could not find anything in the nature of a distinct impression, but the
+      grass was trodden down and someone had undoubtedly passed. It could only
+      have been the murderer, since neither the gardener nor anyone else had
+      been there that morning and the rain had only begun during the night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One moment,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Where does this path lead to?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To the road.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A hundred yards or so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At the point where the path passes through the gate you could surely pick
+      up the tracks?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unfortunately, the path was tiled at that point.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, on the road itself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; it was all trodden into mire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tut-tut! Well, then, these tracks upon the grass, were they coming or
+      going?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was impossible to say. There was never any outline.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A large foot or a small?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You could not distinguish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes gave an ejaculation of impatience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been pouring rain and blowing a hurricane ever since,&rdquo; said he.
+      &ldquo;It will be harder to read now than that palimpsest. Well, well, it can't
+      be helped. What did you do, Hopkins, after you had made certain that you
+      had made certain of nothing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I made certain of a good deal, Mr. Holmes. I knew that someone
+      had entered the house cautiously from without. I next examined the
+      corridor. It is lined with cocoanut matting and had taken no impression of
+      any kind. This brought me into the study itself. It is a
+      scantily-furnished room. The main article is a large writing-table with a
+      fixed bureau. This bureau consists of a double column of drawers with a
+      central small cupboard between them. The drawers were open, the cupboard
+      locked. The drawers, it seems, were always open, and nothing of value was
+      kept in them. There were some papers of importance in the cupboard, but
+      there were no signs that this had been tampered with, and the Professor
+      assures me that nothing was missing. It is certain that no robbery has
+      been committed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I come now to the body of the young man. It was found near the bureau,
+      and just to the left of it, as marked upon that chart. The stab was on the
+      right side of the neck and from behind forwards, so that it is almost
+      impossible that it could have been self-inflicted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unless he fell upon the knife,&rdquo; said Holmes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. The idea crossed my mind. But we found the knife some feet away
+      from the body, so that seems impossible. Then, of course, there are the
+      man's own dying words. And, finally, there was this very important piece
+      of evidence which was found clasped in the dead man's right hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      From his pocket Stanley Hopkins drew a small paper packet. He unfolded it
+      and disclosed a golden pince-nez, with two broken ends of black silk cord
+      dangling from the end of it. &ldquo;Willoughby Smith had excellent sight,&rdquo; he
+      added. &ldquo;There can be no question that this was snatched from the face or
+      the person of the assassin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sherlock Holmes took the glasses into his hand and examined them with the
+      utmost attention and interest. He held them on his nose, endeavoured to
+      read through them, went to the window and stared up the street with them,
+      looked at them most minutely in the full light of the lamp, and finally,
+      with a chuckle, seated himself at the table and wrote a few lines upon a
+      sheet of paper, which he tossed across to Stanley Hopkins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's the best I can do for you,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;It may prove to be of some
+      use.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The astonished detective read the note aloud. It ran as follows:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wanted, a woman of good address, attired like a lady. She has a
+      remarkably thick nose, with eyes which are set close upon either side of
+      it. She has a puckered forehead, a peering expression, and probably
+      rounded shoulders. There are indications that she has had recourse to an
+      optician at least twice during the last few months. As her glasses are of
+      remarkable strength and as opticians are not very numerous, there should
+      be no difficulty in tracing her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes smiled at the astonishment of Hopkins, which must have been
+      reflected upon my features.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely my deductions are simplicity itself,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;It would be
+      difficult to name any articles which afford a finer field for inference
+      than a pair of glasses, especially so remarkable a pair as these. That
+      they belong to a woman I infer from their delicacy, and also, of course,
+      from the last words of the dying man. As to her being a person of
+      refinement and well dressed, they are, as you perceive, handsomely mounted
+      in solid gold, and it is inconceivable that anyone who wore such glasses
+      could be slatternly in other respects. You will find that the clips are
+      too wide for your nose, showing that the lady's nose was very broad at the
+      base. This sort of nose is usually a short and coarse one, but there are a
+      sufficient number of exceptions to prevent me from being dogmatic or from
+      insisting upon this point in my description. My own face is a narrow one,
+      and yet I find that I cannot get my eyes into the centre, or near the
+      centre, of these glasses. Therefore the lady's eyes are set very near to
+      the sides of the nose. You will perceive, Watson, that the glasses are
+      concave and of unusual strength. A lady whose vision has been so extremely
+      contracted all her life is sure to have the physical characteristics of
+      such vision, which are seen in the forehead, the eyelids, and the
+      shoulders.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;I can follow each of your arguments. I confess, however,
+      that I am unable to understand how you arrive at the double visit to the
+      optician.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes took the glasses in his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will perceive,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that the clips are lined with tiny bands of
+      cork to soften the pressure upon the nose. One of these is discoloured and
+      worn to some slight extent, but the other is new. Evidently one has fallen
+      off and been replaced. I should judge that the older of them has not been
+      there more than a few months. They exactly correspond, so I gather that
+      the lady went back to the same establishment for the second.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By George, it's marvellous!&rdquo; cried Hopkins, in an ecstasy of admiration.
+      &ldquo;To think that I had all that evidence in my hand and never knew it! I had
+      intended, however, to go the round of the London opticians.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course you would. Meanwhile, have you anything more to tell us about
+      the case?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, Mr. Holmes. I think that you know as much as I do now&mdash;probably
+      more. We have had inquiries made as to any stranger seen on the country
+      roads or at the railway station. We have heard of none. What beats me is
+      the utter want of all object in the crime. Not a ghost of a motive can
+      anyone suggest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! there I am not in a position to help you. But I suppose you want us
+      to come out to-morrow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If it is not asking too much, Mr. Holmes. There's a train from Charing
+      Cross to Chatham at six in the morning, and we should be at Yoxley Old
+      Place between eight and nine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we shall take it. Your case has certainly some features of great
+      interest, and I shall be delighted to look into it. Well, it's nearly one,
+      and we had best get a few hours' sleep. I dare say you can manage all
+      right on the sofa in front of the fire. I'll light my spirit-lamp and give
+      you a cup of coffee before we start.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The gale had blown itself out next day, but it was a bitter morning when
+      we started upon our journey. We saw the cold winter sun rise over the
+      dreary marshes of the Thames and the long, sullen reaches of the river,
+      which I shall ever associate with our pursuit of the Andaman Islander in
+      the earlier days of our career. After a long and weary journey we alighted
+      at a small station some miles from Chatham. While a horse was being put
+      into a trap at the local inn we snatched a hurried breakfast, and so we
+      were all ready for business when we at last arrived at Yoxley Old Place. A
+      constable met us at the garden gate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Wilson, any news?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir, nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No reports of any stranger seen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir. Down at the station they are certain that no stranger either
+      came or went yesterday.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you had inquiries made at inns and lodgings?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir; there is no one that we cannot account for.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it's only a reasonable walk to Chatham. Anyone might stay there, or
+      take a train without being observed. This is the garden path of which I
+      spoke, Mr. Holmes. I'll pledge my word there was no mark on it yesterday.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On which side were the marks on the grass?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This side, sir. This narrow margin of grass between the path and the
+      flower-bed. I can't see the traces now, but they were clear to me then.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes; someone has passed along,&rdquo; said Holmes, stooping over the grass
+      border. &ldquo;Our lady must have picked her steps carefully, must she not,
+      since on the one side she would leave a track on the path, and on the
+      other an even clearer one on the soft bed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, she must have been a cool hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I saw an intent look pass over Holmes's face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You say that she must have come back this way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir; there is no other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On this strip of grass?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly, Mr. Holmes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hum! It was a very remarkable performance&mdash;very remarkable. Well, I
+      think we have exhausted the path. Let us go farther. This garden door is
+      usually kept open, I suppose? Then this visitor had nothing to do but to
+      walk in. The idea of murder was not in her mind, or she would have
+      provided herself with some sort of weapon, instead of having to pick this
+      knife off the writing-table. She advanced along this corridor, leaving no
+      traces upon the cocoanut matting. Then she found herself in this study.
+      How long was she there? We have no means of judging.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not more than a few minutes, sir. I forgot to tell you that Mrs. Marker,
+      the housekeeper, had been in there tidying not very long before&mdash;about
+      a quarter of an hour, she says.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, that gives us a limit. Our lady enters this room and what does she
+      do? She goes over to the writing-table. What for? Not for anything in the
+      drawers. If there had been anything worth her taking it would surely have
+      been locked up. No; it was for something in that wooden bureau. Halloa!
+      what is that scratch upon the face of it? Just hold a match, Watson. Why
+      did you not tell me of this, Hopkins?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The mark which he was examining began upon the brass work on the
+      right-hand side of the keyhole, and extended for about four inches, where
+      it had scratched the varnish from the surface.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I noticed it, Mr. Holmes. But you'll always find scratches round a
+      keyhole.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is recent, quite recent. See how the brass shines where it is cut.
+      An old scratch would be the same colour as the surface. Look at it through
+      my lens. There's the varnish, too, like earth on each side of a furrow. Is
+      Mrs. Marker there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A sad-faced, elderly woman came into the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you dust this bureau yesterday morning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you notice this scratch?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir, I did not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure you did not, for a duster would have swept away these shreds of
+      varnish. Who has the key of this bureau?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Professor keeps it on his watch-chain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it a simple key?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir; it is a Chubb's key.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good. Mrs. Marker, you can go. Now we are making a little progress.
+      Our lady enters the room, advances to the bureau, and either opens it or
+      tries to do so. While she is thus engaged young Willoughby Smith enters
+      the room. In her hurry to withdraw the key she makes this scratch upon the
+      door. He seizes her, and she, snatching up the nearest object, which
+      happens to be this knife, strikes at him in order to make him let go his
+      hold. The blow is a fatal one. He falls and she escapes, either with or
+      without the object for which she has come. Is Susan the maid there? Could
+      anyone have got away through that door after the time that you heard the
+      cry, Susan?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No sir; it is impossible. Before I got down the stair I'd have seen
+      anyone in the passage. Besides, the door never opened, for I would have
+      heard it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That settles this exit. Then no doubt the lady went out the way she came.
+      I understand that this other passage leads only to the Professor's room.
+      There is no exit that way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall go down it and make the acquaintance of the Professor. Halloa,
+      Hopkins! this is very important, very important indeed. The Professor's
+      corridor is also lined with cocoanut matting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, sir, what of that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you see any bearing upon the case? Well, well, I don't insist upon
+      it. No doubt I am wrong. And yet it seems to me to be suggestive. Come
+      with me and introduce me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We passed down the passage, which was of the same length as that which led
+      to the garden. At the end was a short flight of steps ending in a door.
+      Our guide knocked, and then ushered us into the Professor's bedroom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a very large chamber, lined with innumerable volumes, which had
+      overflowed from the shelves and lay in piles in the corners, or were
+      stacked all round at the base of the cases. The bed was in the centre of
+      the room, and in it, propped up with pillows, was the owner of the house.
+      I have seldom seen a more remarkable-looking person. It was a gaunt,
+      aquiline face which was turned towards us, with piercing dark eyes, which
+      lurked in deep hollows under overhung and tufted brows. His hair and beard
+      were white, save that the latter was curiously stained with yellow around
+      his mouth. A cigarette glowed amid the tangle of white hair, and the air
+      of the room was fetid with stale tobacco-smoke. As he held out his hand to
+      Holmes I perceived that it also was stained yellow with nicotine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A smoker, Mr. Holmes?&rdquo; said he, speaking well-chosen English with a
+      curious little mincing accent. &ldquo;Pray take a cigarette. And you, sir? I can
+      recommend them, for I have them especially prepared by Ionides of
+      Alexandria. He sends me a thousand at a time, and I grieve to say that I
+      have to arrange for a fresh supply every fortnight. Bad, sir, very bad,
+      but an old man has few pleasures. Tobacco and my work&mdash;that is all
+      that is left to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes had lit a cigarette, and was shooting little darting glances all
+      over the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tobacco and my work, but now only tobacco,&rdquo; the old man exclaimed. &ldquo;Alas!
+      what a fatal interruption! Who could have foreseen such a terrible
+      catastrophe? So estimable a young man! I assure you that after a few
+      months' training he was an admirable assistant. What do you think of the
+      matter, Mr. Holmes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have not yet made up my mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall indeed be indebted to you if you can throw a light where all is
+      so dark to us. To a poor bookworm and invalid like myself such a blow is
+      paralyzing. I seem to have lost the faculty of thought. But you are a man
+      of action&mdash;you are a man of affairs. It is part of the everyday
+      routine of your life. You can preserve your balance in every emergency. We
+      are fortunate indeed in having you at our side.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes was pacing up and down one side of the room whilst the old
+      Professor was talking. I observed that he was smoking with extraordinary
+      rapidity. It was evident that he shared our host's liking for the fresh
+      Alexandrian cigarettes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, it is a crushing blow,&rdquo; said the old man. &ldquo;That is my MAGNUM
+      OPUS&mdash;the pile of papers on the side table yonder. It is my analysis
+      of the documents found in the Coptic monasteries of Syria and Egypt, a
+      work which will cut deep at the very foundations of revealed religion.
+      With my enfeebled health I do not know whether I shall ever be able to
+      complete it now that my assistant has been taken from me. Dear me, Mr.
+      Holmes; why, you are even a quicker smoker than I am myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am a connoisseur,&rdquo; said he, taking another cigarette from the box&mdash;his
+      fourth&mdash;and lighting it from the stub of that which he had finished.
+      &ldquo;I will not trouble you with any lengthy cross-examination, Professor
+      Coram, since I gather that you were in bed at the time of the crime and
+      could know nothing about it. I would only ask this. What do you imagine
+      that this poor fellow meant by his last words: 'The Professor&mdash;it was
+      she'?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Professor shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Susan is a country girl,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and you know the incredible stupidity
+      of that class. I fancy that the poor fellow murmured some incoherent
+      delirious words, and that she twisted them into this meaningless message.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. You have no explanation yourself of the tragedy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly an accident; possibly&mdash;I only breathe it among ourselves&mdash;a
+      suicide. Young men have their hidden troubles&mdash;some affair of the
+      heart, perhaps, which we have never known. It is a more probable
+      supposition than murder.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the eye-glasses?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! I am only a student&mdash;a man of dreams. I cannot explain the
+      practical things of life. But still, we are aware, my friend, that
+      love-gages may take strange shapes. By all means take another cigarette.
+      It is a pleasure to see anyone appreciate them so. A fan, a glove, glasses&mdash;who
+      knows what article may be carried as a token or treasured when a man puts
+      an end to his life? This gentleman speaks of footsteps in the grass; but,
+      after all, it is easy to be mistaken on such a point. As to the knife, it
+      might well be thrown far from the unfortunate man as he fell. It is
+      possible that I speak as a child, but to me it seems that Willoughby Smith
+      has met his fate by his own hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes seemed struck by the theory thus put forward, and he continued to
+      walk up and down for some time, lost in thought and consuming cigarette
+      after cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me, Professor Coram,&rdquo; he said, at last, &ldquo;what is in that cupboard in
+      the bureau?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing that would help a thief. Family papers, letters from my poor
+      wife, diplomas of Universities which have done me honour. Here is the key.
+      You can look for yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes picked up the key and looked at it for an instant; then he handed
+      it back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; I hardly think that it would help me,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I should prefer to
+      go quietly down to your garden and turn the whole matter over in my head.
+      There is something to be said for the theory of suicide which you have put
+      forward. We must apologize for having intruded upon you, Professor Coram,
+      and I promise that we won't disturb you until after lunch. At two o'clock
+      we will come again and report to you anything which may have happened in
+      the interval.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes was curiously distrait, and we walked up and down the garden path
+      for some time in silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you a clue?&rdquo; I asked, at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It depends upon those cigarettes that I smoked,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;It is possible
+      that I am utterly mistaken. The cigarettes will show me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Holmes,&rdquo; I exclaimed, &ldquo;how on earth&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well, you may see for yourself. If not, there's no harm done. Of
+      course, we always have the optician clue to fall back upon, but I take a
+      short cut when I can get it. Ah, here is the good Mrs. Marker! Let us
+      enjoy five minutes of instructive conversation with her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I may have remarked before that Holmes had, when he liked, a peculiarly
+      ingratiating way with women, and that he very readily established terms of
+      confidence with them. In half the time which he had named he had captured
+      the housekeeper's goodwill, and was chatting with her as if he had known
+      her for years.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Mr. Holmes, it is as you say, sir. He does smoke something terrible.
+      All day and sometimes all night, sir. I've seen that room of a morning&mdash;well,
+      sir, you'd have thought it was a London fog. Poor young Mr. Smith, he was
+      a smoker also, but not as bad as the Professor. His health&mdash;well, I
+      don't know that it's better nor worse for the smoking.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said Holmes, &ldquo;but it kills the appetite.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I don't know about that, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose the Professor eats hardly anything?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, he is variable. I'll say that for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll wager he took no breakfast this morning, and won't face his lunch
+      after all the cigarettes I saw him consume.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you're out there, sir, as it happens, for he ate a remarkable big
+      breakfast this morning. I don't know when I've known him make a better
+      one, and he's ordered a good dish of cutlets for his lunch. I'm surprised
+      myself, for since I came into that room yesterday and saw young Mr. Smith
+      lying there on the floor I couldn't bear to look at food. Well, it takes
+      all sorts to make a world, and the Professor hasn't let it take his
+      appetite away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We loitered the morning away in the garden. Stanley Hopkins had gone down
+      to the village to look into some rumours of a strange woman who had been
+      seen by some children on the Chatham Road the previous morning. As to my
+      friend, all his usual energy seemed to have deserted him. I had never
+      known him handle a case in such a half-hearted fashion. Even the news
+      brought back by Hopkins that he had found the children and that they had
+      undoubtedly seen a woman exactly corresponding with Holmes's description,
+      and wearing either spectacles or eye-glasses, failed to rouse any sign of
+      keen interest. He was more attentive when Susan, who waited upon us at
+      lunch, volunteered the information that she believed Mr. Smith had been
+      out for a walk yesterday morning, and that he had only returned half an
+      hour before the tragedy occurred. I could not myself see the bearing of
+      this incident, but I clearly perceived that Holmes was weaving it into the
+      general scheme which he had formed in his brain. Suddenly he sprang from
+      his chair and glanced at his watch. &ldquo;Two o'clock, gentlemen,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;We
+      must go up and have it out with our friend the Professor.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man had just finished his lunch, and certainly his empty dish bore
+      evidence to the good appetite with which his housekeeper had credited him.
+      He was, indeed, a weird figure as he turned his white mane and his glowing
+      eyes towards us. The eternal cigarette smouldered in his mouth. He had
+      been dressed and was seated in an arm-chair by the fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Mr. Holmes, have you solved this mystery yet?&rdquo; He shoved the large
+      tin of cigarettes which stood on a table beside him towards my companion.
+      Holmes stretched out his hand at the same moment, and between them they
+      tipped the box over the edge. For a minute or two we were all on our knees
+      retrieving stray cigarettes from impossible places. When we rose again I
+      observed that Holmes's eyes were shining and his cheeks tinged with
+      colour. Only at a crisis have I seen those battle-signals flying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I have solved it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Stanley Hopkins and I stared in amazement. Something like a sneer quivered
+      over the gaunt features of the old Professor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed! In the garden?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here! When?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This instant.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are surely joking, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. You compel me to tell you
+      that this is too serious a matter to be treated in such a fashion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have forged and tested every link of my chain, Professor Coram, and I
+      am sure that it is sound. What your motives are or what exact part you
+      play in this strange business I am not yet able to say. In a few minutes I
+      shall probably hear it from your own lips. Meanwhile I will reconstruct
+      what is past for your benefit, so that you may know the information which
+      I still require.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A lady yesterday entered your study. She came with the intention of
+      possessing herself of certain documents which were in your bureau. She had
+      a key of her own. I have had an opportunity of examining yours, and I do
+      not find that slight discolouration which the scratch made upon the
+      varnish would have produced. You were not an accessory, therefore, and she
+      came, so far as I can read the evidence, without your knowledge to rob
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Professor blew a cloud from his lips. &ldquo;This is most interesting and
+      instructive,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Have you no more to add? Surely, having traced
+      this lady so far, you can also say what has become of her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will endeavour to do so. In the first place she was seized by your
+      secretary, and stabbed him in order to escape. This catastrophe I am
+      inclined to regard as an unhappy accident, for I am convinced that the
+      lady had no intention of inflicting so grievous an injury. An assassin
+      does not come unarmed. Horrified by what she had done she rushed wildly
+      away from the scene of the tragedy. Unfortunately for her she had lost her
+      glasses in the scuffle, and as she was extremely short-sighted she was
+      really helpless without them. She ran down a corridor, which she imagined
+      to be that by which she had come&mdash;both were lined with cocoanut
+      matting&mdash;and it was only when it was too late that she understood
+      that she had taken the wrong passage and that her retreat was cut off
+      behind her. What was she to do? She could not go back. She could not
+      remain where she was. She must go on. She went on. She mounted a stair,
+      pushed open a door, and found herself in your room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man sat with his mouth open staring wildly at Holmes. Amazement
+      and fear were stamped upon his expressive features. Now, with an effort,
+      he shrugged his shoulders and burst into insincere laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All very fine, Mr. Holmes,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;But there is one little flaw in
+      your splendid theory. I was myself in my room, and I never left it during
+      the day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am aware of that, Professor Coram.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you mean to say that I could lie upon that bed and not be aware that
+      a woman had entered my room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never said so. You WERE aware of it. You spoke with her. You recognised
+      her. You aided her to escape.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again the Professor burst into high-keyed laughter. He had risen to his
+      feet and his eyes glowed like embers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are mad!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;You are talking insanely. I helped her to
+      escape? Where is she now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is there,&rdquo; said Holmes, and he pointed to a high bookcase in the
+      corner of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I saw the old man throw up his arms, a terrible convulsion passed over his
+      grim face, and he fell back in his chair. At the same instant the bookcase
+      at which Holmes pointed swung round upon a hinge, and a woman rushed out
+      into the room. &ldquo;You are right!&rdquo; she cried, in a strange foreign voice.
+      &ldquo;You are right! I am here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was brown with the dust and draped with the cobwebs which had come
+      from the walls of her hiding-place. Her face, too, was streaked with
+      grime, and at the best she could never have been handsome, for she had the
+      exact physical characteristics which Holmes had divined, with, in
+      addition, a long and obstinate chin. What with her natural blindness, and
+      what with the change from dark to light, she stood as one dazed, blinking
+      about her to see where and who we were. And yet, in spite of all these
+      disadvantages, there was a certain nobility in the woman's bearing, a
+      gallantry in the defiant chin and in the upraised head, which compelled
+      something of respect and admiration. Stanley Hopkins had laid his hand
+      upon her arm and claimed her as his prisoner, but she waved him aside
+      gently, and yet with an overmastering dignity which compelled obedience.
+      The old man lay back in his chair, with a twitching face, and stared at
+      her with brooding eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, I am your prisoner,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;From where I stood I could hear
+      everything, and I know that you have learned the truth. I confess it all.
+      It was I who killed the young man. But you are right, you who say it was
+      an accident. I did not even know that it was a knife which I held in my
+      hand, for in my despair I snatched anything from the table and struck at
+      him to make him let me go. It is the truth that I tell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; said Holmes, &ldquo;I am sure that it is the truth. I fear that you are
+      far from well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had turned a dreadful colour, the more ghastly under the dark
+      dust-streaks upon her face. She seated herself on the side of the bed;
+      then she resumed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have only a little time here,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;but I would have you to know
+      the whole truth. I am this man's wife. He is not an Englishman. He is a
+      Russian. His name I will not tell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For the first time the old man stirred. &ldquo;God bless you, Anna!&rdquo; he cried.
+      &ldquo;God bless you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She cast a look of the deepest disdain in his direction. &ldquo;Why should you
+      cling so hard to that wretched life of yours, Sergius?&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;It has
+      done harm to many and good to none&mdash;not even to yourself. However, it
+      is not for me to cause the frail thread to be snapped before God's time. I
+      have enough already upon my soul since I crossed the threshold of this
+      cursed house. But I must speak or I shall be too late.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have said, gentlemen, that I am this man's wife. He was fifty and I a
+      foolish girl of twenty when we married. It was in a city of Russia, a
+      University&mdash;I will not name the place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God bless you, Anna!&rdquo; murmured the old man again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were reformers&mdash;revolutionists&mdash;Nihilists, you understand.
+      He and I and many more. Then there came a time of trouble, a police
+      officer was killed, many were arrested, evidence was wanted, and in order
+      to save his own life and to earn a great reward my husband betrayed his
+      own wife and his companions. Yes, we were all arrested upon his
+      confession. Some of us found our way to the gallows and some to Siberia. I
+      was among these last, but my term was not for life. My husband came to
+      England with his ill-gotten gains, and has lived in quiet ever since,
+      knowing well that if the Brotherhood knew where he was not a week would
+      pass before justice would be done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man reached out a trembling hand and helped himself to a
+      cigarette. &ldquo;I am in your hands, Anna,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;You were always good to
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have not yet told you the height of his villainy,&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;Among our
+      comrades of the Order there was one who was the friend of my heart. He was
+      noble, unselfish, loving&mdash;all that my husband was not. He hated
+      violence. We were all guilty&mdash;if that is guilt&mdash;but he was not.
+      He wrote for ever dissuading us from such a course. These letters would
+      have saved him. So would my diary, in which from day to day I had entered
+      both my feelings towards him and the view which each of us had taken. My
+      husband found and kept both diary and letters. He hid them, and he tried
+      hard to swear away the young man's life. In this he failed, but Alexis was
+      sent a convict to Siberia, where now, at this moment, he works in a salt
+      mine. Think of that, you villain, you villain; now, now, at this very
+      moment, Alexis, a man whose name you are not worthy to speak, works and
+      lives like a slave, and yet I have your life in my hands and I let you
+      go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were always a noble woman, Anna,&rdquo; said the old man, puffing at his
+      cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had risen, but she fell back again with a little cry of pain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must finish,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;When my term was over I set myself to get the
+      diary and letters which, if sent to the Russian Government, would procure
+      my friend's release. I knew that my husband had come to England. After
+      months of searching I discovered where he was. I knew that he still had
+      the diary, for when I was in Siberia I had a letter from him once
+      reproaching me and quoting some passages from its pages. Yet I was sure
+      that with his revengeful nature he would never give it to me of his own
+      free will. I must get it for myself. With this object I engaged an agent
+      from a private detective firm, who entered my husband's house as secretary&mdash;it
+      was your second secretary, Sergius, the one who left you so hurriedly. He
+      found that papers were kept in the cupboard, and he got an impression of
+      the key. He would not go farther. He furnished me with a plan of the
+      house, and he told me that in the forenoon the study was always empty, as
+      the secretary was employed up here. So at last I took my courage in both
+      hands and I came down to get the papers for myself. I succeeded, but at
+      what a cost!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had just taken the papers and was locking the cupboard when the young
+      man seized me. I had seen him already that morning. He had met me in the
+      road and I had asked him to tell me where Professor Coram lived, not
+      knowing that he was in his employ.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly! exactly!&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;The secretary came back and told his
+      employer of the woman he had met. Then in his last breath he tried to send
+      a message that it was she&mdash;the she whom he had just discussed with
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must let me speak,&rdquo; said the woman, in an imperative voice, and her
+      face contracted as if in pain. &ldquo;When he had fallen I rushed from the room,
+      chose the wrong door, and found myself in my husband's room. He spoke of
+      giving me up. I showed him that if he did so his life was in my hands. If
+      he gave me to the law I could give him to the Brotherhood. It was not that
+      I wished to live for my own sake, but it was that I desired to accomplish
+      my purpose. He knew that I would do what I said&mdash;that his own fate
+      was involved in mine. For that reason and for no other he shielded me. He
+      thrust me into that dark hiding-place, a relic of old days, known only to
+      himself. He took his meals in his own room, and so was able to give me
+      part of his food. It was agreed that when the police left the house I
+      should slip away by night and come back no more. But in some way you have
+      read our plans.&rdquo; She tore from the bosom of her dress a small packet.
+      &ldquo;These are my last words,&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;here is the packet which will save
+      Alexis. I confide it to your honour and to your love of justice. Take it!
+      You will deliver it at the Russian Embassy. Now I have done my duty, and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stop her!&rdquo; cried Holmes. He had bounded across the room and had wrenched
+      a small phial from her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too late!&rdquo; she said, sinking back on the bed. &ldquo;Too late! I took the
+      poison before I left my hiding-place. My head swims! I am going! I charge
+      you, sir, to remember the packet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A simple case, and yet in some ways an instructive one,&rdquo; Holmes remarked,
+      as we travelled back to town. &ldquo;It hinged from the outset upon the
+      pince-nez. But for the fortunate chance of the dying man having seized
+      these I am not sure that we could ever have reached our solution. It was
+      clear to me from the strength of the glasses that the wearer must have
+      been very blind and helpless when deprived of them. When you asked me to
+      believe that she walked along a narrow strip of grass without once making
+      a false step I remarked, as you may remember, that it was a noteworthy
+      performance. In my mind I set it down as an impossible performance, save
+      in the unlikely case that she had a second pair of glasses. I was forced,
+      therefore, to seriously consider the hypothesis that she had remained
+      within the house. On perceiving the similarity of the two corridors it
+      became clear that she might very easily have made such a mistake, and in
+      that case it was evident that she must have entered the Professor's room.
+      I was keenly on the alert, therefore, for whatever would bear out this
+      supposition, and I examined the room narrowly for anything in the shape of
+      a hiding-place. The carpet seemed continuous and firmly nailed, so I
+      dismissed the idea of a trap-door. There might well be a recess behind the
+      books. As you are aware, such devices are common in old libraries. I
+      observed that books were piled on the floor at all other points, but that
+      one bookcase was left clear. This, then, might be the door. I could see no
+      marks to guide me, but the carpet was of a dun colour, which lends itself
+      very well to examination. I therefore smoked a great number of those
+      excellent cigarettes, and I dropped the ash all over the space in front of
+      the suspected bookcase. It was a simple trick, but exceedingly effective.
+      I then went downstairs and I ascertained, in your presence, Watson,
+      without your perceiving the drift of my remarks, that Professor Coram's
+      consumption of food had increased&mdash;as one would expect when he is
+      supplying a second person. We then ascended to the room again, when, by
+      upsetting the cigarette-box, I obtained a very excellent view of the
+      floor, and was able to see quite clearly, from the traces upon the
+      cigarette ash, that the prisoner had, in our absence, come out from her
+      retreat. Well, Hopkins, here we are at Charing Cross, and I congratulate
+      you on having brought your case to a successful conclusion. You are going
+      to head-quarters, no doubt. I think, Watson, you and I will drive together
+      to the Russian Embassy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <hr />
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 28  AUGUST, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XI.&mdash;The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WE were fairly accustomed to receive weird telegrams at Baker Street, but
+      I have a particular recollection of one which reached us on a gloomy
+      February morning some seven or eight years ago and gave Mr. Sherlock
+      Holmes a puzzled quarter of an hour. It was addressed to him, and ran
+      thus:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Please await me. Terrible misfortune. Right wing three-quarter missing;
+      indispensable to morrow.&mdash;OVERTON.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Strand post-mark and dispatched ten-thirty-six,&rdquo; said Holmes, reading it
+      over and over. &ldquo;Mr. Overton was evidently considerably excited when he
+      sent it, and somewhat incoherent in consequence. Well, well, he will be
+      here, I dare say, by the time I have looked through the TIMES, and then we
+      shall know all about it. Even the most insignificant problem would be
+      welcome in these stagnant days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Things had indeed been very slow with us, and I had learned to dread such
+      periods of inaction, for I knew by experience that my companion's brain
+      was so abnormally active that it was dangerous to leave it without
+      material upon which to work. For years I had gradually weaned him from
+      that drug mania which had threatened once to check his remarkable career.
+      Now I knew that under ordinary conditions he no longer craved for this
+      artificial stimulus, but I was well aware that the fiend was not dead, but
+      sleeping; and I have known that the sleep was a light one and the waking
+      near when in periods of idleness I have seen the drawn look upon Holmes's
+      ascetic face, and the brooding of his deep-set and inscrutable eyes.
+      Therefore I blessed this Mr. Overton, whoever he might be, since he had
+      come with his enigmatic message to break that dangerous calm which brought
+      more peril to my friend than all the storms of his tempestuous life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we had expected, the telegram was soon followed by its sender, and the
+      card of Mr. Cyril Overton, of Trinity College, Cambridge, announced the
+      arrival of an enormous young man, sixteen stone of solid bone and muscle,
+      who spanned the doorway with his broad shoulders and looked from one of us
+      to the other with a comely face which was haggard with anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Sherlock Holmes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My companion bowed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've been down to Scotland Yard, Mr. Holmes. I saw Inspector Stanley
+      Hopkins. He advised me to come to you. He said the case, so far as he
+      could see, was more in your line than in that of the regular police.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray sit down and tell me what is the matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's awful, Mr. Holmes, simply awful! I wonder my hair isn't grey.
+      Godfrey Staunton&mdash;you've heard of him, of course? He's simply the
+      hinge that the whole team turns on. I'd rather spare two from the pack and
+      have Godfrey for my three-quarter line. Whether it's passing, or tackling,
+      or dribbling, there's no one to touch him; and then, he's got the head and
+      can hold us all together. What am I to do? That's what I ask you, Mr.
+      Holmes. There's Moorhouse, first reserve, but he is trained as a half, and
+      he always edges right in on to the scrum instead of keeping out on the
+      touch-line. He's a fine place-kick, it's true, but, then, he has no
+      judgment, and he can't sprint for nuts. Why, Morton or Johnson, the Oxford
+      fliers, could romp round him. Stevenson is fast enough, but he couldn't
+      drop from the twenty-five line, and a three-quarter who can't either punt
+      or drop isn't worth a place for pace alone. No, Mr. Holmes, we are done
+      unless you can help me to find Godfrey Staunton.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My friend had listened with amused surprise to this long speech, which was
+      poured forth with extraordinary vigour and earnestness, every point being
+      driven home by the slapping of a brawny hand upon the speaker's knee. When
+      our visitor was silent Holmes stretched out his hand and took down letter
+      &ldquo;S&rdquo; of his commonplace book. For once he dug in vain into that mine of
+      varied information.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is Arthur H. Staunton, the rising young forger,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and
+      there was Henry Staunton, whom I helped to hang, but Godfrey Staunton is a
+      new name to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was our visitor's turn to look surprised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Mr. Holmes, I thought you knew things,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I suppose, then,
+      if you have never heard of Godfrey Staunton you don't know Cyril Overton
+      either?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes shook his head good-humouredly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Great Scot!&rdquo; cried the athlete. &ldquo;Why, I was first reserve for England
+      against Wales, and I've skippered the 'Varsity all this year. But that's
+      nothing! I didn't think there was a soul in England who didn't know
+      Godfrey Staunton, the crack three-quarter, Cambridge, Blackheath, and five
+      Internationals. Good Lord! Mr. Holmes, where HAVE you lived?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes laughed at the young giant's naive astonishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You live in a different world to me, Mr. Overton, a sweeter and healthier
+      one. My ramifications stretch out into many sections of society, but
+      never, I am happy to say, into amateur sport, which is the best and
+      soundest thing in England. However, your unexpected visit this morning
+      shows me that even in that world of fresh air and fair play there may be
+      work for me to do; so now, my good sir, I beg you to sit down and to tell
+      me slowly and quietly exactly what it is that has occurred, and how you
+      desire that I should help you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Young Overton's face assumed the bothered look of the man who is more
+      accustomed to using his muscles than his wits; but by degrees, with many
+      repetitions and obscurities which I may omit from his narrative, he laid
+      his strange story before us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's this way, Mr. Holmes. As I have said, I am the skipper of the Rugger
+      team of Cambridge 'Varsity, and Godfrey Staunton is my best man. To-morrow
+      we play Oxford. Yesterday we all came up and we settled at Bentley's
+      private hotel. At ten o'clock I went round and saw that all the fellows
+      had gone to roost, for I believe in strict training and plenty of sleep to
+      keep a team fit. I had a word or two with Godfrey before he turned in. He
+      seemed to me to be pale and bothered. I asked him what was the matter. He
+      said he was all right&mdash;just a touch of headache. I bade him
+      good-night and left him. Half an hour later the porter tells me that a
+      rough-looking man with a beard called with a note for Godfrey. He had not
+      gone to bed and the note was taken to his room. Godfrey read it and fell
+      back in a chair as if he had been pole-axed. The porter was so scared that
+      he was going to fetch me, but Godfrey stopped him, had a drink of water,
+      and pulled himself together. Then he went downstairs, said a few words to
+      the man who was waiting in the hall, and the two of them went off
+      together. The last that the porter saw of them, they were almost running
+      down the street in the direction of the Strand. This morning Godfrey's
+      room was empty, his bed had never been slept in, and his things were all
+      just as I had seen them the night before. He had gone off at a moment's
+      notice with this stranger, and no word has come from him since. I don't
+      believe he will ever come back. He was a sportsman, was Godfrey, down to
+      his marrow, and he wouldn't have stopped his training and let in his
+      skipper if it were not for some cause that was too strong for him. No; I
+      feel as if he were gone for good and we should never see him again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sherlock Holmes listened with the deepest attention to this singular
+      narrative.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did you do?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wired to Cambridge to learn if anything had been heard of him there. I
+      have had an answer. No one has seen him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could he have got back to Cambridge?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, there is a late train&mdash;quarter-past eleven.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But so far as you can ascertain he did not take it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, he has not been seen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did you do next?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wired to Lord Mount-James.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why to Lord Mount-James?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Godfrey is an orphan, and Lord Mount-James is his nearest relative&mdash;his
+      uncle, I believe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed. This throws new light upon the matter. Lord Mount-James is one of
+      the richest men in England.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I've heard Godfrey say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And your friend was closely related?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, he was his heir, and the old boy is nearly eighty&mdash;cram full of
+      gout, too. They say he could chalk his billiard-cue with his knuckles. He
+      never allowed Godfrey a shilling in his life, for he is an absolute miser,
+      but it will all come to him right enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you heard from Lord Mount-James?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What motive could your friend have in going to Lord Mount-James?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, something was worrying him the night before, and if it was to do
+      with money it is possible that he would make for his nearest relative who
+      had so much of it, though from all I have heard he would not have much
+      chance of getting it. Godfrey was not fond of the old man. He would not go
+      if he could help it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we can soon determine that. If your friend was going to his
+      relative, Lord Mount-James, you have then to explain the visit of this
+      rough-looking fellow at so late an hour, and the agitation that was caused
+      by his coming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cyril Overton pressed his hands to his head. &ldquo;I can make nothing of it,&rdquo;
+       said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well, I have a clear day, and I shall be happy to look into the
+      matter,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;I should strongly recommend you to make your
+      preparations for your match without reference to this young gentleman. It
+      must, as you say, have been an overpowering necessity which tore him away
+      in such a fashion, and the same necessity is likely to hold him away. Let
+      us step round together to this hotel, and see if the porter can throw any
+      fresh light upon the matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sherlock Holmes was a past-master in the art of putting a humble witness
+      at his ease, and very soon, in the privacy of Godfrey Staunton's abandoned
+      room, he had extracted all that the porter had to tell. The visitor of the
+      night before was not a gentleman, neither was he a working man. He was
+      simply what the porter described as a &ldquo;medium-looking chap&rdquo;; a man of
+      fifty, beard grizzled, pale face, quietly dressed. He seemed himself to be
+      agitated. The porter had observed his hand trembling when he had held out
+      the note. Godfrey Staunton had crammed the note into his pocket. Staunton
+      had not shaken hands with the man in the hall. They had exchanged a few
+      sentences, of which the porter had only distinguished the one word &ldquo;time.&rdquo;
+       Then they had hurried off in the manner described. It was just half-past
+      ten by the hall clock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me see,&rdquo; said Holmes, seating himself on Staunton's bed. &ldquo;You are the
+      day porter, are you not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir; I go off duty at eleven.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The night porter saw nothing, I suppose?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir; one theatre party came in late. No one else.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Were you on duty all day yesterday?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you take any messages to Mr. Staunton?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir; one telegram.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! that's interesting. What o'clock was this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About six.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where was Mr. Staunton when he received it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here in his room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Were you present when he opened it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir; I waited to see if there was an answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, was there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir. He wrote an answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you take it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; he took it himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But he wrote it in your presence?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir. I was standing by the door, and he with his back turned at that
+      table. When he had written it he said, 'All right, porter, I will take
+      this myself.'&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did he write it with?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A pen, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was the telegraphic form one of these on the table?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir; it was the top one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes rose. Taking the forms he carried them over to the window and
+      carefully examined that which was uppermost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a pity he did not write in pencil,&rdquo; said he, throwing them down
+      again with a shrug of disappointment. &ldquo;As you have no doubt frequently
+      observed, Watson, the impression usually goes through&mdash;a fact which
+      has dissolved many a happy marriage. However, I can find no trace here. I
+      rejoice, however, to perceive that he wrote with a broad-pointed quill
+      pen, and I can hardly doubt that we will find some impression upon this
+      blotting-pad. Ah, yes, surely this is the very thing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He tore off a strip of the blotting-paper and turned towards us the
+      following hieroglyphic:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      GRAPHIC
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cyril Overton was much excited. &ldquo;Hold it to the glass!&rdquo; he cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is unnecessary,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;The paper is thin, and the reverse
+      will give the message. Here it is.&rdquo; He turned it over and we read:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      GRAPHIC
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So that is the tail end of the telegram which Godfrey Staunton dispatched
+      within a few hours of his disappearance. There are at least six words of
+      the message which have escaped us; but what remains&mdash;'Stand by us for
+      God's sake!'&mdash;proves that this young man saw a formidable danger
+      which approached him, and from which someone else could protect him. 'US,'
+      mark you! Another person was involved. Who should it be but the
+      pale-faced, bearded man, who seemed himself in so nervous a state? What,
+      then, is the connection between Godfrey Staunton and the bearded man? And
+      what is the third source from which each of them sought for help against
+      pressing danger? Our inquiry has already narrowed down to that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have only to find to whom that telegram is addressed,&rdquo; I suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly, my dear Watson. Your reflection, though profound, had already
+      crossed my mind. But I dare say it may have come to your notice that if
+      you walk into a post-office and demand to see the counterfoil of another
+      man's message there may be some disinclination on the part of the
+      officials to oblige you. There is so much red tape in these matters!
+      However, I have no doubt that with a little delicacy and finesse the end
+      may be attained. Meanwhile, I should like in your presence, Mr. Overton,
+      to go through these papers which have been left upon the table.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There were a number of letters, bills, and note-books, which Holmes turned
+      over and examined with quick, nervous fingers and darting, penetrating
+      eyes. &ldquo;Nothing here,&rdquo; he said, at last. &ldquo;By the way, I suppose your friend
+      was a healthy young fellow&mdash;nothing amiss with him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sound as a bell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you ever known him ill?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a day. He has been laid up with a hack, and once he slipped his
+      knee-cap, but that was nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps he was not so strong as you suppose. I should think he may have
+      had some secret trouble. With your assent I will put one or two of these
+      papers in my pocket, in case they should bear upon our future inquiry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One moment! one moment!&rdquo; cried a querulous voice, and we looked up to
+      find a queer little old man, jerking and twitching in the doorway. He was
+      dressed in rusty black, with a very broad brimmed top-hat and a loose
+      white necktie&mdash;the whole effect being that of a very rustic parson or
+      of an undertaker's mute. Yet, in spite of his shabby and even absurd
+      appearance, his voice had a sharp crackle, and his manner a quick
+      intensity which commanded attention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are you, sir, and by what right do you touch this gentleman's
+      papers?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am a private detective, and I am endeavouring to explain his
+      disappearance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you are, are you? And who instructed you, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This gentleman, Mr. Staunton's friend, was referred to me by Scotland
+      Yard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are you, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am Cyril Overton.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then it is you who sent me a telegram. My name is Lord Mount-James. I
+      came round as quickly as the Bayswater 'bus would bring me. So you have
+      instructed a detective?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And are you prepared to meet the cost?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no doubt, sir, that my friend Godfrey, when we find him, will be
+      prepared to do that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But if he is never found, eh? Answer me that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that case no doubt his family&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing of the sort, sir!&rdquo; screamed the little man. &ldquo;Don't look to me for
+      a penny&mdash;not a penny! You understand that, Mr. Detective! I am all
+      the family that this young man has got, and I tell you that I am not
+      responsible. If he has any expectations it is due to the fact that I have
+      never wasted money, and I do not propose to begin to do so now. As to
+      those papers with which you are making so free, I may tell you that in
+      case there should be anything of any value among them you will be held
+      strictly to account for what you do with them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good, sir,&rdquo; said Sherlock Holmes. &ldquo;May I ask in the meanwhile
+      whether you have yourself any theory to account for this young man's
+      disappearance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir, I have not. He is big enough and old enough to look after
+      himself, and if he is so foolish as to lose himself I entirely refuse to
+      accept the responsibility of hunting for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I quite understand your position,&rdquo; said Holmes, with a mischievous
+      twinkle in his eyes. &ldquo;Perhaps you don't quite understand mine. Godfrey
+      Staunton appears to have been a poor man. If he has been kidnapped it
+      could not have been for anything which he himself possesses. The fame of
+      your wealth has gone abroad, Lord Mount-James, and it is entirely possible
+      that a gang of thieves have secured your nephew in order to gain from him
+      some information as to your house, your habits, and your treasure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The face of our unpleasant little visitor turned as white as his
+      neckcloth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heavens, sir, what an idea! I never thought of such villainy! What
+      inhuman rogues there are in the world! But Godfrey is a fine lad&mdash;a
+      staunch lad. Nothing would induce him to give his old uncle away. I'll
+      have the plate moved over to the bank this evening. In the meantime spare
+      no pains, Mr. Detective! I beg you to leave no stone unturned to bring him
+      safely back. As to money, well, so far as a fiver, or even a tenner, goes,
+      you can always look to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Even in his chastened frame of mind the noble miser could give us no
+      information which could help us, for he knew little of the private life of
+      his nephew. Our only clue lay in the truncated telegram, and with a copy
+      of this in his hand Holmes set forth to find a second link for his chain.
+      We had shaken off Lord Mount-James, and Overton had gone to consult with
+      the other members of his team over the misfortune which had befallen them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a telegraph-office at a short distance from the hotel. We halted
+      outside it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's worth trying, Watson,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Of course, with a warrant we
+      could demand to see the counterfoils, but we have not reached that stage
+      yet. I don't suppose they remember faces in so busy a place. Let us
+      venture it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry to trouble you,&rdquo; said he, in his blandest manner, to the young
+      woman behind the grating; &ldquo;there is some small mistake about a telegram I
+      sent yesterday. I have had no answer, and I very much fear that I must
+      have omitted to put my name at the end. Could you tell me if this was so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young woman turned over a sheaf of counterfoils.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What o'clock was it?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A little after six.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whom was it to?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes put his finger to his lips and glanced at me. &ldquo;The last words in it
+      were 'for God's sake,'&rdquo; he whispered, confidentially; &ldquo;I am very anxious
+      at getting no answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young woman separated one of the forms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is it. There is no name,&rdquo; said she, smoothing it out upon the
+      counter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then that, of course, accounts for my getting no answer,&rdquo; said Holmes.
+      &ldquo;Dear me, how very stupid of me, to be sure! Good morning, miss, and many
+      thanks for having relieved my mind.&rdquo; He chuckled and rubbed his hands when
+      we found ourselves in the street once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We progress, my dear Watson, we progress. I had seven different schemes
+      for getting a glimpse of that telegram, but I could hardly hope to succeed
+      the very first time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what have you gained?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A starting-point for our investigation.&rdquo; He hailed a cab. &ldquo;King's Cross
+      Station,&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have a journey, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; I think we must run down to Cambridge together. All the indications
+      seem to me to point in that direction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me,&rdquo; I asked, as we rattled up Gray's Inn Road, &ldquo;have you any
+      suspicion yet as to the cause of the disappearance? I don't think that
+      among all our cases I have known one where the motives are more obscure.
+      Surely you don't really imagine that he may be kidnapped in order to give
+      information against his wealthy uncle?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I confess, my dear Watson, that that does not appeal to me as a very
+      probable explanation. It struck me, however, as being the one which was
+      most likely to interest that exceedingly unpleasant old person.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It certainly did that. But what are your alternatives?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could mention several. You must admit that it is curious and suggestive
+      that this incident should occur on the eve of this important match, and
+      should involve the only man whose presence seems essential to the success
+      of the side. It may, of course, be coincidence, but it is interesting.
+      Amateur sport is free from betting, but a good deal of outside betting
+      goes on among the public, and it is possible that it might be worth
+      someone's while to get at a player as the ruffians of the turf get at a
+      race-horse. There is one explanation. A second very obvious one is that
+      this young man really is the heir of a great property, however modest his
+      means may at present be, and it is not impossible that a plot to hold him
+      for ransom might be concocted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These theories take no account of the telegram.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite true, Watson. The telegram still remains the only solid thing with
+      which we have to deal, and we must not permit our attention to wander away
+      from it. It is to gain light upon the purpose of this telegram that we are
+      now upon our way to Cambridge. The path of our investigation is at present
+      obscure, but I shall be very much surprised if before evening we have not
+      cleared it up or made a considerable advance along it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was already dark when we reached the old University city. Holmes took a
+      cab at the station, and ordered the man to drive to the house of Dr.
+      Leslie Armstrong. A few minutes later we had stopped at a large mansion in
+      the busiest thoroughfare. We were shown in, and after a long wait were at
+      last admitted into the consulting-room, where we found the doctor seated
+      behind his table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It argues the degree in which I had lost touch with my profession that the
+      name of Leslie Armstrong was unknown to me. Now I am aware that he is not
+      only one of the heads of the medical school of the University, but a
+      thinker of European reputation in more than one branch of science. Yet
+      even without knowing his brilliant record one could not fail to be
+      impressed by a mere glance at the man, the square, massive face, the
+      brooding eyes under the thatched brows, and the granite moulding of the
+      inflexible jaw. A man of deep character, a man with an alert mind, grim,
+      ascetic, self-contained, formidable&mdash;so I read Dr. Leslie Armstrong.
+      He held my friend's card in his hand, and he looked up with no very
+      pleased expression upon his dour features.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have heard your name, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and I am aware of your
+      profession, one of which I by no means approve.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that, doctor, you will find yourself in agreement with every criminal
+      in the country,&rdquo; said my friend, quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So far as your efforts are directed towards the suppression of crime,
+      sir, they must have the support of every reasonable member of the
+      community, though I cannot doubt that the official machinery is amply
+      sufficient for the purpose. Where your calling is more open to criticism
+      is when you pry into the secrets of private individuals, when you rake up
+      family matters which are better hidden, and when you incidentally waste
+      the time of men who are more busy than yourself. At the present moment,
+      for example, I should be writing a treatise instead of conversing with
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt, doctor; and yet the conversation may prove more important than
+      the treatise. Incidentally I may tell you that we are doing the reverse of
+      what you very justly blame, and that we are endeavouring to prevent
+      anything like public exposure of private matters which must necessarily
+      follow when once the case is fairly in the hands of the official police.
+      You may look upon me simply as an irregular pioneer who goes in front of
+      the regular forces of the country. I have come to ask you about Mr.
+      Godfrey Staunton.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What about him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know him, do you not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is an intimate friend of mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are aware that he has disappeared?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, indeed!&rdquo; There was no change of expression in the rugged features of
+      the doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He left his hotel last night. He has not been heard of.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt he will return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To-morrow is the 'Varsity football match.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no sympathy with these childish games. The young man's fate
+      interests me deeply, since I know him and like him. The football match
+      does not come within my horizon at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I claim your sympathy, then, in my investigation of Mr. Staunton's fate.
+      Do you know where he is?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have not seen him since yesterday?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I have not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was Mr. Staunton a healthy man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Absolutely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you ever know him ill?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes popped a sheet of paper before the doctor's eyes. &ldquo;Then perhaps you
+      will explain this receipted bill for thirteen guineas, paid by Mr. Godfrey
+      Staunton last month to Dr. Leslie Armstrong of Cambridge. I picked it out
+      from among the papers upon his desk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The doctor flushed with anger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not feel that there is any reason why I should render an explanation
+      to you, Mr. Holmes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes replaced the bill in his note-book. &ldquo;If you prefer a public
+      explanation it must come sooner or later,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I have already told
+      you that I can hush up that which others will be bound to publish, and you
+      would really be wiser to take me into your complete confidence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know nothing about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you hear from Mr. Staunton in London?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me, dear me; the post-office again!&rdquo; Holmes sighed, wearily. &ldquo;A most
+      urgent telegram was dispatched to you from London by Godfrey Staunton at
+      six-fifteen yesterday evening&mdash;a telegram which is undoubtedly
+      associated with his disappearance&mdash;and yet you have not had it. It is
+      most culpable. I shall certainly go down to the office here and register a
+      complaint.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr. Leslie Armstrong sprang up from behind his desk, and his dark face was
+      crimson with fury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll trouble you to walk out of my house, sir,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;You can tell
+      your employer, Lord Mount-James, that I do not wish to have anything to do
+      either with him or with his agents. No, sir, not another word!&rdquo; He rang
+      the bell furiously. &ldquo;John, show these gentlemen out!&rdquo; A pompous butler
+      ushered us severely to the door, and we found ourselves in the street.
+      Holmes burst out laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dr. Leslie Armstrong is certainly a man of energy and character,&rdquo; said
+      he. &ldquo;I have not seen a man who, if he turned his talents that way, was
+      more calculated to fill the gap left by the illustrious Moriarty. And now,
+      my poor Watson, here we are, stranded and friendless in this inhospitable
+      town, which we cannot leave without abandoning our case. This little inn
+      just opposite Armstrong's house is singularly adapted to our needs. If you
+      would engage a front room and purchase the necessaries for the night, I
+      may have time to make a few inquiries.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      These few inquiries proved, however, to be a more lengthy proceeding than
+      Holmes had imagined, for he did not return to the inn until nearly nine
+      o'clock. He was pale and dejected, stained with dust, and exhausted with
+      hunger and fatigue. A cold supper was ready upon the table, and when his
+      needs were satisfied and his pipe alight he was ready to take that half
+      comic and wholly philosophic view which was natural to him when his
+      affairs were going awry. The sound of carriage wheels caused him to rise
+      and glance out of the window. A brougham and pair of greys under the glare
+      of a gas-lamp stood before the doctor's door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's been out three hours,&rdquo; said Holmes; &ldquo;started at half-past six, and
+      here it is back again. That gives a radius of ten or twelve miles, and he
+      does it once, or sometimes twice, a day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No unusual thing for a doctor in practice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But Armstrong is not really a doctor in practice. He is a lecturer and a
+      consultant, but he does not care for general practice, which distracts him
+      from his literary work. Why, then, does he make these long journeys, which
+      must be exceedingly irksome to him, and who is it that he visits?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His coachman&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Watson, can you doubt that it was to him that I first applied? I
+      do not know whether it came from his own innate depravity or from the
+      promptings of his master, but he was rude enough to set a dog at me.
+      Neither dog nor man liked the look of my stick, however, and the matter
+      fell through. Relations were strained after that, and further inquiries
+      out of the question. All that I have learned I got from a friendly native
+      in the yard of our own inn. It was he who told me of the doctor's habits
+      and of his daily journey. At that instant, to give point to his words, the
+      carriage came round to the door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could you not follow it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excellent, Watson! You are scintillating this evening. The idea did cross
+      my mind. There is, as you may have observed, a bicycle shop next to our
+      inn. Into this I rushed, engaged a bicycle, and was able to get started
+      before the carriage was quite out of sight. I rapidly overtook it, and
+      then, keeping at a discreet distance of a hundred yards or so, I followed
+      its lights until we were clear of the town. We had got well out on the
+      country road when a somewhat mortifying incident occurred. The carriage
+      stopped, the doctor alighted, walked swiftly back to where I had also
+      halted, and told me in an excellent sardonic fashion that he feared the
+      road was narrow, and that he hoped his carriage did not impede the passage
+      of my bicycle. Nothing could have been more admirable than his way of
+      putting it. I at once rode past the carriage, and, keeping to the main
+      road, I went on for a few miles, and then halted in a convenient place to
+      see if the carriage passed. There was no sign of it, however, and so it
+      became evident that it had turned down one of several side roads which I
+      had observed. I rode back, but again saw nothing of the carriage, and now,
+      as you perceive, it has returned after me. Of course, I had at the outset
+      no particular reason to connect these journeys with the disappearance of
+      Godfrey Staunton, and was only inclined to investigate them on the general
+      grounds that everything which concerns Dr. Armstrong is at present of
+      interest to us; but, now that I find he keeps so keen a look-out upon
+      anyone who may follow him on these excursions, the affair appears more
+      important, and I shall not be satisfied until I have made the matter
+      clear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can follow him to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can we? It is not so easy as you seem to think. You are not familiar with
+      Cambridgeshire scenery, are you? It does not lend itself to concealment.
+      All this country that I passed over to-night is as flat and clean as the
+      palm of your hand, and the man we are following is no fool, as he very
+      clearly showed to-night. I have wired to Overton to let us know any fresh
+      London developments at this address, and in the meantime we can only
+      concentrate our attention upon Dr. Armstrong, whose name the obliging
+      young lady at the office allowed me to read upon the counterfoil of
+      Staunton's urgent message. He knows where the young man is&mdash;to that
+      I'll swear&mdash;and if he knows, then it must be our own fault if we
+      cannot manage to know also. At present it must be admitted that the odd
+      trick is in his possession, and, as you are aware, Watson, it is not my
+      habit to leave the game in that condition.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And yet the next day brought us no nearer to the solution of the mystery.
+      A note was handed in after breakfast, which Holmes passed across to me
+      with a smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; it ran, &ldquo;I can assure you that you are wasting your time in dogging
+      my movements. I have, as you discovered last night, a window at the back
+      of my brougham, and if you desire a twenty-mile ride which will lead you
+      to the spot from which you started, you have only to follow me. Meanwhile,
+      I can inform you that no spying upon me can in any way help Mr. Godfrey
+      Staunton, and I am convinced that the best service you can do to that
+      gentleman is to return at once to London and to report to your employer
+      that you are unable to trace him. Your time in Cambridge will certainly be
+      wasted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yours faithfully,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;LESLIE ARMSTRONG.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An outspoken, honest antagonist is the doctor,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Well, well,
+      he excites my curiosity, and I must really know more before I leave him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His carriage is at his door now,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;There he is stepping into it.
+      I saw him glance up at our window as he did so. Suppose I try my luck upon
+      the bicycle?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, my dear Watson! With all respect for your natural acumen I do not
+      think that you are quite a match for the worthy doctor. I think that
+      possibly I can attain our end by some independent explorations of my own.
+      I am afraid that I must leave you to your own devices, as the appearance
+      of TWO inquiring strangers upon a sleepy countryside might excite more
+      gossip than I care for. No doubt you will find some sights to amuse you in
+      this venerable city, and I hope to bring back a more favourable report to
+      you before evening.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Once more, however, my friend was destined to be disappointed. He came
+      back at night weary and unsuccessful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have had a blank day, Watson. Having got the doctor's general
+      direction, I spent the day in visiting all the villages upon that side of
+      Cambridge, and comparing notes with publicans and other local news
+      agencies. I have covered some ground: Chesterton, Histon, Waterbeach, and
+      Oakington have each been explored and have each proved disappointing. The
+      daily appearance of a brougham and pair could hardly have been overlooked
+      in such Sleepy Hollows. The doctor has scored once more. Is there a
+      telegram for me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; I opened it. Here it is: 'Ask for Pompey from Jeremy Dixon, Trinity
+      College.' I don't understand it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, it is clear enough. It is from our friend Overton, and is in answer
+      to a question from me. I'll just send round a note to Mr. Jeremy Dixon,
+      and then I have no doubt that our luck will turn. By the way, is there any
+      news of the match?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, the local evening paper has an excellent account in its last
+      edition. Oxford won by a goal and two tries. The last sentences of the
+      description say: 'The defeat of the Light Blues may be entirely attributed
+      to the unfortunate absence of the crack International, Godfrey Staunton,
+      whose want was felt at every instant of the game. The lack of combination
+      in the three-quarter line and their weakness both in attack and defence
+      more than neutralized the efforts of a heavy and hard-working pack.'&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then our friend Overton's forebodings have been justified,&rdquo; said Holmes.
+      &ldquo;Personally I am in agreement with Dr. Armstrong, and football does not
+      come within my horizon. Early to bed to-night, Watson, for I foresee that
+      to-morrow may be an eventful day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was horrified by my first glimpse of Holmes next morning, for he sat by
+      the fire holding his tiny hypodermic syringe. I associated that instrument
+      with the single weakness of his nature, and I feared the worst when I saw
+      it glittering in his hand. He laughed at my expression of dismay, and laid
+      it upon the table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, my dear fellow, there is no cause for alarm. It is not upon this
+      occasion the instrument of evil, but it will rather prove to be the key
+      which will unlock our mystery. On this syringe I base all my hopes. I have
+      just returned from a small scouting expedition and everything is
+      favourable. Eat a good breakfast, Watson, for I propose to get upon Dr.
+      Armstrong's trail to-day, and once on it I will not stop for rest or food
+      until I run him to his burrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that case,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;we had best carry our breakfast with us, for he
+      is making an early start. His carriage is at the door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind. Let him go. He will be clever if he can drive where I cannot
+      follow him. When you have finished come downstairs with me, and I will
+      introduce you to a detective who is a very eminent specialist in the work
+      that lies before us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When we descended I followed Holmes into the stable yard, where he opened
+      the door of a loose-box and led out a squat, lop-eared, white-and-tan dog,
+      something between a beagle and a foxhound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me introduce you to Pompey,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Pompey is the pride of the
+      local draghounds, no very great flier, as his build will show, but a
+      staunch hound on a scent. Well, Pompey, you may not be fast, but I expect
+      you will be too fast for a couple of middle-aged London gentlemen, so I
+      will take the liberty of fastening this leather leash to your collar. Now,
+      boy, come along, and show what you can do.&rdquo; He led him across to the
+      doctor's door. The dog sniffed round for an instant, and then with a
+      shrill whine of excitement started off down the street, tugging at his
+      leash in his efforts to go faster. In half an hour, we were clear of the
+      town and hastening down a country road.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What have you done, Holmes?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A threadbare and venerable device, but useful upon occasion. I walked
+      into the doctor's yard this morning and shot my syringe full of aniseed
+      over the hind wheel. A draghound will follow aniseed from here to John o'
+      Groat's, and our friend Armstrong would have to drive through the Cam
+      before he would shake Pompey off his trail. Oh, the cunning rascal! This
+      is how he gave me the slip the other night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The dog had suddenly turned out of the main road into a grass-grown lane.
+      Half a mile farther this opened into another broad road, and the trail
+      turned hard to the right in the direction of the town, which we had just
+      quitted. The road took a sweep to the south of the town and continued in
+      the opposite direction to that in which we started.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This DETOUR has been entirely for our benefit, then?&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;No
+      wonder that my inquiries among those villages led to nothing. The doctor
+      has certainly played the game for all it is worth, and one would like to
+      know the reason for such elaborate deception. This should be the village
+      of Trumpington to the right of us. And, by Jove! here is the brougham
+      coming round the corner. Quick, Watson, quick, or we are done!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sprang through a gate into a field, dragging the reluctant Pompey after
+      him. We had hardly got under the shelter of the hedge when the carriage
+      rattled past. I caught a glimpse of Dr. Armstrong within, his shoulders
+      bowed, his head sunk on his hands, the very image of distress. I could
+      tell by my companion's graver face that he also had seen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear there is some dark ending to our quest,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;It cannot be
+      long before we know it. Come, Pompey! Ah, it is the cottage in the field!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There could be no doubt that we had reached the end of our journey. Pompey
+      ran about and whined eagerly outside the gate where the marks of the
+      brougham's wheels were still to be seen. A footpath led across to the
+      lonely cottage. Holmes tied the dog to the hedge, and we hastened onwards.
+      My friend knocked at the little rustic door, and knocked again without
+      response. And yet the cottage was not deserted, for a low sound came to
+      our ears&mdash;a kind of drone of misery and despair, which was
+      indescribably melancholy. Holmes paused irresolute, and then he glanced
+      back at the road which we had just traversed. A brougham was coming down
+      it, and there could be no mistaking those grey horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By Jove, the doctor is coming back!&rdquo; cried Holmes. &ldquo;That settles it. We
+      are bound to see what it means before he comes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He opened the door and we stepped into the hall. The droning sound swelled
+      louder upon our ears until it became one long, deep wail of distress. It
+      came from upstairs. Holmes darted up and I followed him. He pushed open a
+      half-closed door and we both stood appalled at the sight before us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A woman, young and beautiful, was lying dead upon the bed. Her calm, pale
+      face, with dim, wide-opened blue eyes, looked upward from amid a great
+      tangle of golden hair. At the foot of the bed, half sitting, half
+      kneeling, his face buried in the clothes, was a young man, whose frame was
+      racked by his sobs. So absorbed was he by his bitter grief that he never
+      looked up until Holmes's hand was on his shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you Mr. Godfrey Staunton?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes; I am&mdash;but you are too late. She is dead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man was so dazed that he could not be made to understand that we were
+      anything but doctors who had been sent to his assistance. Holmes was
+      endeavouring to utter a few words of consolation, and to explain the alarm
+      which had been caused to his friends by his sudden disappearance, when
+      there was a step upon the stairs, and there was the heavy, stern,
+      questioning face of Dr. Armstrong at the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So, gentlemen,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you have attained your end, and have certainly
+      chosen a particularly delicate moment for your intrusion. I would not
+      brawl in the presence of death, but I can assure you that if I were a
+      younger man your monstrous conduct would not pass with impunity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excuse me, Dr. Armstrong, I think we are a little at cross-purposes,&rdquo;
+       said my friend, with dignity. &ldquo;If you could step downstairs with us we may
+      each be able to give some light to the other upon this miserable affair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A minute later the grim doctor and ourselves were in the sitting-room
+      below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, sir?&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish you to understand, in the first place, that I am not employed by
+      Lord Mount-James, and that my sympathies in this matter are entirely
+      against that nobleman. When a man is lost it is my duty to ascertain his
+      fate, but having done so the matter ends so far as I am concerned; and so
+      long as there is nothing criminal, I am much more anxious to hush up
+      private scandals than to give them publicity. If, as I imagine, there is
+      no breach of the law in this matter, you can absolutely depend upon my
+      discretion and my co-operation in keeping the facts out of the papers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr. Armstrong took a quick step forward and wrung Holmes by the hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a good fellow,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I had misjudged you. I thank Heaven
+      that my compunction at leaving poor Staunton all alone in this plight
+      caused me to turn my carriage back, and so to make your acquaintance.
+      Knowing as much as you do, the situation is very easily explained. A year
+      ago Godfrey Staunton lodged in London for a time, and became passionately
+      attached to his landlady's daughter, whom he married. She was as good as
+      she was beautiful, and as intelligent as she was good. No man need be
+      ashamed of such a wife. But Godfrey was the heir to this crabbed old
+      nobleman, and it was quite certain that the news of his marriage would
+      have been the end of his inheritance. I knew the lad well, and I loved him
+      for his many excellent qualities. I did all I could to help him to keep
+      things straight. We did our very best to keep the thing from everyone, for
+      when once such a whisper gets about it is not long before everyone has
+      heard it. Thanks to this lonely cottage and his own discretion, Godfrey
+      has up to now succeeded. Their secret was known to no one save to me and
+      to one excellent servant who has at present gone for assistance to
+      Trumpington. But at last there came a terrible blow in the shape of
+      dangerous illness to his wife. It was consumption of the most virulent
+      kind. The poor boy was half crazed with grief, and yet he had to go to
+      London to play this match, for he could not get out of it without
+      explanations which would expose his secret. I tried to cheer him up by a
+      wire, and he sent me one in reply imploring me to do all I could. This was
+      the telegram which you appear in some inexplicable way to have seen. I did
+      not tell him how urgent the danger was, for I knew that he could do no
+      good here, but I sent the truth to the girl's father, and he very
+      injudiciously communicated it to Godfrey. The result was that he came
+      straight away in a state bordering on frenzy, and has remained in the same
+      state, kneeling at the end of her bed, until this morning death put an end
+      to her sufferings. That is all, Mr. Holmes, and I am sure that I can rely
+      upon your discretion and that of your friend.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes grasped the doctor's hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, Watson,&rdquo; said he, and we passed from that house of grief into the
+      pale sunlight of the winter day.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 28  SEPTEMBER, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XII.&mdash;The Adventure of the Abbey Grange.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It was on a bitterly cold and frosty morning during the winter of '97 that
+      I was awakened by a tugging at my shoulder. It was Holmes. The candle in
+      his hand shone upon his eager, stooping face and told me at a glance that
+      something was amiss.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, Watson, come!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your
+      clothes and come!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ten minutes later we were both in a cab and rattling through the silent
+      streets on our way to Charing Cross Station. The first faint winter's dawn
+      was beginning to appear, and we could dimly see the occasional figure of
+      an early workman as he passed us, blurred and indistinct in the opalescent
+      London reek. Holmes nestled in silence into his heavy coat, and I was glad
+      to do the same, for the air was most bitter and neither of us had broken
+      our fast. It was not until we had consumed some hot tea at the station,
+      and taken our places in the Kentish train, that we were sufficiently
+      thawed, he to speak and I to listen. Holmes drew a note from his pocket
+      and read it aloud:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+               &ldquo;Abbey Grange, Marsham, Kent,
+                            &ldquo;3.30 a.m.
+   &ldquo;MY DEAR MR. HOLMES,&mdash;I should be very glad of your immediate
+   assistance in what promises to be a most remarkable case.
+   It is something quite in your line.  Except for releasing the lady
+   I will see that everything is kept exactly as I have found it,
+   but I beg you not to lose an instant, as it is difficult to leave
+   Sir Eustace there.
+               &ldquo;Yours faithfully, STANLEY HOPKINS.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hopkins has called me in seven times, and on each occasion his summons
+      has been entirely justified,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;I fancy that every one of his
+      cases has found its way into your collection, and I must admit, Watson,
+      that you have some power of selection which atones for much which I
+      deplore in your narratives. Your fatal habit of looking at everything from
+      the point of view of a story instead of as a scientific exercise has
+      ruined what might have been an instructive and even classical series of
+      demonstrations. You slur over work of the utmost finesse and delicacy in
+      order to dwell upon sensational details which may excite, but cannot
+      possibly instruct, the reader.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why do you not write them yourself?&rdquo; I said, with some bitterness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will, my dear Watson, I will. At present I am, as you know, fairly
+      busy, but I propose to devote my declining years to the composition of a
+      text-book which shall focus the whole art of detection into one volume.
+      Our present research appears to be a case of murder.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think this Sir Eustace is dead, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should say so. Hopkins's writing shows considerable agitation, and he
+      is not an emotional man. Yes, I gather there has been violence, and that
+      the body is left for our inspection. A mere suicide would not have caused
+      him to send for me. As to the release of the lady, it would appear that
+      she has been locked in her room during the tragedy. We are moving in high
+      life, Watson; crackling paper, 'E.B.' monogram, coat-of-arms, picturesque
+      address. I think that friend Hopkins will live up to his reputation and
+      that we shall have an interesting morning. The crime was committed before
+      twelve last night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can you possibly tell?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By an inspection of the trains and by reckoning the time. The local
+      police had to be called in, they had to communicate with Scotland Yard,
+      Hopkins had to go out, and he in turn had to send for me. All that makes a
+      fair night's work. Well, here we are at Chislehurst Station, and we shall
+      soon set our doubts at rest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A drive of a couple of miles through narrow country lanes brought us to a
+      park gate, which was opened for us by an old lodge-keeper, whose haggard
+      face bore the reflection of some great disaster. The avenue ran through a
+      noble park, between lines of ancient elms, and ended in a low, widespread
+      house, pillared in front after the fashion of Palladio. The central part
+      was evidently of a great age and shrouded in ivy, but the large windows
+      showed that modern changes had been carried out, and one wing of the house
+      appeared to be entirely new. The youthful figure and alert, eager face of
+      Inspector Stanley Hopkins confronted us in the open doorway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm very glad you have come, Mr. Holmes. And you too, Dr. Watson! But,
+      indeed, if I had my time over again I should not have troubled you, for
+      since the lady has come to herself she has given so clear an account of
+      the affair that there is not much left for us to do. You remember that
+      Lewisham gang of burglars?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, the three Randalls?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly; the father and two sons. It's their work. I have not a doubt of
+      it. They did a job at Sydenham a fortnight ago, and were seen and
+      described. Rather cool to do another so soon and so near, but it is they,
+      beyond all doubt. It's a hanging matter this time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir Eustace is dead, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; his head was knocked in with his own poker.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir Eustace Brackenstall, the driver tells me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly&mdash;one of the richest men in Kent. Lady Brackenstall is in the
+      morning-room. Poor lady, she has had a most dreadful experience. She
+      seemed half dead when I saw her first. I think you had best see her and
+      hear her account of the facts. Then we will examine the dining-room
+      together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Brackenstall was no ordinary person. Seldom have I seen so graceful a
+      figure, so womanly a presence, and so beautiful a face. She was a blonde,
+      golden-haired, blue-eyed, and would, no doubt, have had the perfect
+      complexion which goes with such colouring had not her recent experience
+      left her drawn and haggard. Her sufferings were physical as well as
+      mental, for over one eye rose a hideous, plum-coloured swelling, which her
+      maid, a tall, austere woman, was bathing assiduously with vinegar and
+      water. The lady lay back exhausted upon a couch, but her quick, observant
+      gaze as we entered the room, and the alert expression of her beautiful
+      features, showed that neither her wits nor her courage had been shaken by
+      her terrible experience. She was enveloped in a loose dressing-gown of
+      blue and silver, but a black sequin-covered dinner-dress was hung upon the
+      couch beside her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have told you all that happened, Mr. Hopkins,&rdquo; she said, wearily;
+      &ldquo;could you not repeat it for me? Well, if you think it necessary, I will
+      tell these gentlemen what occurred. Have they been in the dining-room
+      yet?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought they had better hear your ladyship's story first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall be glad when you can arrange matters. It is horrible to me to
+      think of him still lying there.&rdquo; She shuddered and buried her face in her
+      hands. As she did so the loose gown fell back from her forearms. Holmes
+      uttered an exclamation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have other injuries, madam! What is this?&rdquo; Two vivid red spots stood
+      out on one of the white, round limbs. She hastily covered it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is nothing. It has no connection with the hideous business of last
+      night. If you and your friend will sit down I will tell you all I can.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am the wife of Sir Eustace Brackenstall. I have been married about a
+      year. I suppose that it is no use my attempting to conceal that our
+      marriage has not been a happy one. I fear that all our neighbours would
+      tell you that, even if I were to attempt to deny it. Perhaps the fault may
+      be partly mine. I was brought up in the freer, less conventional
+      atmosphere of South Australia, and this English life, with its proprieties
+      and its primness, is not congenial to me. But the main reason lies in the
+      one fact which is notorious to everyone, and that is that Sir Eustace was
+      a confirmed drunkard. To be with such a man for an hour is unpleasant. Can
+      you imagine what it means for a sensitive and high-spirited woman to be
+      tied to him for day and night? It is a sacrilege, a crime, a villainy to
+      hold that such a marriage is binding. I say that these monstrous laws of
+      yours will bring a curse upon the land&mdash;Heaven will not let such
+      wickedness endure.&rdquo; For an instant she sat up, her cheeks flushed, and her
+      eyes blazing from under the terrible mark upon her brow. Then the strong,
+      soothing hand of the austere maid drew her head down on to the cushion,
+      and the wild anger died away into passionate sobbing. At last she
+      continued:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will tell you about last night. You are aware, perhaps, that in this
+      house all servants sleep in the modern wing. This central block is made up
+      of the dwelling-rooms, with the kitchen behind and our bedroom above. My
+      maid Theresa sleeps above my room. There is no one else, and no sound
+      could alarm those who are in the farther wing. This must have been well
+      known to the robbers, or they would not have acted as they did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir Eustace retired about half-past ten. The servants had already gone to
+      their quarters. Only my maid was up, and she had remained in her room at
+      the top of the house until I needed her services. I sat until after eleven
+      in this room, absorbed in a book. Then I walked round to see that all was
+      right before I went upstairs. It was my custom to do this myself, for, as
+      I have explained, Sir Eustace was not always to be trusted. I went into
+      the kitchen, the butler's pantry, the gun-room, the billiard-room, the
+      drawing-room, and finally the dining-room. As I approached the window,
+      which is covered with thick curtains, I suddenly felt the wind blow upon
+      my face and realized that it was open. I flung the curtain aside and found
+      myself face to face with a broad-shouldered, elderly man who had just
+      stepped into the room. The window is a long French one, which really forms
+      a door leading to the lawn. I held my bedroom candle lit in my hand, and,
+      by its light, behind the first man I saw two others, who were in the act
+      of entering. I stepped back, but the fellow was on me in an instant. He
+      caught me first by the wrist and then by the throat. I opened my mouth to
+      scream, but he struck me a savage blow with his fist over the eye, and
+      felled me to the ground. I must have been unconscious for a few minutes,
+      for when I came to myself I found that they had torn down the bell-rope
+      and had secured me tightly to the oaken chair which stands at the head of
+      the dining-room table. I was so firmly bound that I could not move, and a
+      handkerchief round my mouth prevented me from uttering any sound. It was
+      at this instant that my unfortunate husband entered the room. He had
+      evidently heard some suspicious sounds, and he came prepared for such a
+      scene as he found. He was dressed in his shirt and trousers, with his
+      favourite blackthorn cudgel in his hand. He rushed at one of the burglars,
+      but another&mdash;it was the elderly man&mdash;stooped, picked the poker
+      out of the grate, and struck him a horrible blow as he passed. He fell
+      without a groan, and never moved again. I fainted once more, but again it
+      could only have been a very few minutes during which I was insensible.
+      When I opened my eyes I found that they had collected the silver from the
+      sideboard, and they had drawn a bottle of wine which stood there. Each of
+      them had a glass in his hand. I have already told you, have I not, that
+      one was elderly, with a beard, and the others young, hairless lads. They
+      might have been a father with his two sons. They talked together in
+      whispers. Then they came over and made sure that I was still securely
+      bound. Finally they withdrew, closing the window after them. It was quite
+      a quarter of an hour before I got my mouth free. When I did so my screams
+      brought the maid to my assistance. The other servants were soon alarmed,
+      and we sent for the local police, who instantly communicated with London.
+      That is really all that I can tell you, gentlemen, and I trust that it
+      will not be necessary for me to go over so painful a story again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any questions, Mr. Holmes?&rdquo; asked Hopkins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not impose any further tax upon Lady Brackenstall's patience and
+      time,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Before I go into the dining-room I should like to
+      hear your experience.&rdquo; He looked at the maid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I saw the men before ever they came into the house,&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;As I sat
+      by my bedroom window I saw three men in the moonlight down by the lodge
+      gate yonder, but I thought nothing of it at the time. It was more than an
+      hour after that I heard my mistress scream, and down I ran, to find her,
+      poor lamb, just as she says, and him on the floor with his blood and
+      brains over the room. It was enough to drive a woman out of her wits, tied
+      there, and her very dress spotted with him; but she never wanted courage,
+      did Miss Mary Fraser of Adelaide, and Lady Brackenstall of Abbey Grange
+      hasn't learned new ways. You've questioned her long enough, you gentlemen,
+      and now she is coming to her own room, just with her old Theresa, to get
+      the rest that she badly needs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With a motherly tenderness the gaunt woman put her arm round her mistress
+      and led her from the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has been with her all her life,&rdquo; said Hopkins. &ldquo;Nursed her as a baby,
+      and came with her to England when they first left Australia eighteen
+      months ago. Theresa Wright is her name, and the kind of maid you don't
+      pick up nowadays. This way, Mr. Holmes, if you please!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The keen interest had passed out of Holmes's expressive face, and I knew
+      that with the mystery all the charm of the case had departed. There still
+      remained an arrest to be effected, but what were these commonplace rogues
+      that he should soil his hands with them? An abstruse and learned
+      specialist who finds that he has been called in for a case of measles
+      would experience something of the annoyance which I read in my friend's
+      eyes. Yet the scene in the dining-room of the Abbey Grange was
+      sufficiently strange to arrest his attention and to recall his waning
+      interest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a very large and high chamber, with carved oak ceiling, oaken
+      panelling, and a fine array of deer's heads and ancient weapons around the
+      walls. At the farther end from the door was the high French window of
+      which we had heard. Three smaller windows on the right-hand side filled
+      the apartment with cold winter sunshine. On the left was a large, deep
+      fireplace, with a massive, over-hanging oak mantelpiece. Beside the
+      fireplace was a heavy oaken chair with arms and cross-bars at the bottom.
+      In and out through the open woodwork was woven a crimson cord, which was
+      secured at each side to the crosspiece below. In releasing the lady the
+      cord had been slipped off her, but the knots with which it had been
+      secured still remained. These details only struck our attention
+      afterwards, for our thoughts were entirely absorbed by the terrible object
+      which lay upon the tiger-skin hearthrug in front of the fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the body of a tall, well-made man, about forty years of age. He lay
+      upon his back, his face upturned, with his white teeth grinning through
+      his short black beard. His two clenched hands were raised above his head,
+      and a heavy blackthorn stick lay across them. His dark, handsome, aquiline
+      features were convulsed into a spasm of vindictive hatred, which had set
+      his dead face in a terribly fiendish expression. He had evidently been in
+      his bed when the alarm had broken out, for he wore a foppish embroidered
+      night-shirt, and his bare feet projected from his trousers. His head was
+      horribly injured, and the whole room bore witness to the savage ferocity
+      of the blow which had struck him down. Beside him lay the heavy poker,
+      bent into a curve by the concussion. Holmes examined both it and the
+      indescribable wreck which it had wrought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He must be a powerful man, this elder Randall,&rdquo; he remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Hopkins. &ldquo;I have some record of the fellow, and he is a rough
+      customer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You should have no difficulty in getting him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not the slightest. We have been on the look-out for him, and there was
+      some idea that he had got away to America. Now that we know the gang are
+      here I don't see how they can escape. We have the news at every seaport
+      already, and a reward will be offered before evening. What beats me is how
+      they could have done so mad a thing, knowing that the lady could describe
+      them, and that we could not fail to recognise the description.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. One would have expected that they would have silenced Lady
+      Brackenstall as well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They may not have realized,&rdquo; I suggested, &ldquo;that she had recovered from
+      her faint.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is likely enough. If she seemed to be senseless they would not take
+      her life. What about this poor fellow, Hopkins? I seem to have heard some
+      queer stories about him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was a good-hearted man when he was sober, but a perfect fiend when he
+      was drunk, or rather when he was half drunk, for he seldom really went the
+      whole way. The devil seemed to be in him at such times, and he was capable
+      of anything. From what I hear, in spite of all his wealth and his title,
+      he very nearly came our way once or twice. There was a scandal about his
+      drenching a dog with petroleum and setting it on fire&mdash;her ladyship's
+      dog, to make the matter worse&mdash;and that was only hushed up with
+      difficulty. Then he threw a decanter at that maid, Theresa Wright; there
+      was trouble about that. On the whole, and between ourselves, it will be a
+      brighter house without him. What are you looking at now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes was down on his knees examining with great attention the knots upon
+      the red cord with which the lady had been secured. Then he carefully
+      scrutinized the broken and frayed end where it had snapped off when the
+      burglar had dragged it down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When this was pulled down the bell in the kitchen must have rung loudly,&rdquo;
+       he remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one could hear it. The kitchen stands right at the back of the house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How did the burglar know no one would hear it? How dared he pull at a
+      bell-rope in that reckless fashion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly, Mr. Holmes, exactly. You put the very question which I have
+      asked myself again and again. There can be no doubt that this fellow must
+      have known the house and its habits. He must have perfectly understood
+      that the servants would all be in bed at that comparatively early hour,
+      and that no one could possibly hear a bell ring in the kitchen. Therefore
+      he must have been in close league with one of the servants. Surely that is
+      evident. But there are eight servants, and all of good character.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Other things being equal,&rdquo; said Holmes, &ldquo;one would suspect the one at
+      whose head the master threw a decanter. And yet that would involve
+      treachery towards the mistress to whom this woman seems devoted. Well,
+      well, the point is a minor one, and when you have Randall you will
+      probably find no difficulty in securing his accomplice. The lady's story
+      certainly seems to be corroborated, if it needed corroboration, by every
+      detail which we see before us.&rdquo; He walked to the French window and threw
+      it open. &ldquo;There are no signs here, but the ground is iron hard, and one
+      would not expect them. I see that these candles on the mantelpiece have
+      been lighted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; it was by their light and that of the lady's bedroom candle that the
+      burglars saw their way about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what did they take?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, they did not take much&mdash;only half-a-dozen articles of plate
+      off the sideboard. Lady Brackenstall thinks that they were themselves so
+      disturbed by the death of Sir Eustace that they did not ransack the house
+      as they would otherwise have done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt that is true. And yet they drank some wine, I understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To steady their own nerves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. These three glasses upon the sideboard have been untouched, I
+      suppose?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; and the bottle stands as they left it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us look at it. Halloa! halloa! what is this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The three glasses were grouped together, all of them tinged with wine, and
+      one of them containing some dregs of bees-wing. The bottle stood near
+      them, two-thirds full, and beside it lay a long, deeply-stained cork. Its
+      appearance and the dust upon the bottle showed that it was no common
+      vintage which the murderers had enjoyed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A change had come over Holmes's manner. He had lost his listless
+      expression, and again I saw an alert light of interest in his keen,
+      deep-set eyes. He raised the cork and examined it minutely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How did they draw it?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hopkins pointed to a half-opened drawer. In it lay some table linen and a
+      large cork-screw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did Lady Brackenstall say that screw was used?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; you remember that she was senseless at the moment when the bottle was
+      opened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so. As a matter of fact that screw was NOT used. This bottle was
+      opened by a pocket-screw, probably contained in a knife, and not more than
+      an inch and a half long. If you examine the top of the cork you will
+      observe that the screw was driven in three times before the cork was
+      extracted. It has never been transfixed. This long screw would have
+      transfixed it and drawn it with a single pull. When you catch this fellow
+      you will find that he has one of these multiplex knives in his
+      possession.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excellent!&rdquo; said Hopkins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But these glasses do puzzle me, I confess. Lady Brackenstall actually SAW
+      the three men drinking, did she not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; she was clear about that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then there is an end of it. What more is to be said? And yet you must
+      admit that the three glasses are very remarkable, Hopkins. What, you see
+      nothing remarkable! Well, well, let it pass. Perhaps when a man has
+      special knowledge and special powers like my own it rather encourages him
+      to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand. Of course, it
+      must be a mere chance about the glasses. Well, good morning, Hopkins. I
+      don't see that I can be of any use to you, and you appear to have your
+      case very clear. You will let me know when Randall is arrested, and any
+      further developments which may occur. I trust that I shall soon have to
+      congratulate you upon a successful conclusion. Come, Watson, I fancy that
+      we may employ ourselves more profitably at home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      During our return journey I could see by Holmes's face that he was much
+      puzzled by something which he had observed. Every now and then, by an
+      effort, he would throw off the impression and talk as if the matter were
+      clear, but then his doubts would settle down upon him again, and his
+      knitted brows and abstracted eyes would show that his thoughts had gone
+      back once more to the great dining-room of the Abbey Grange in which this
+      midnight tragedy had been enacted. At last, by a sudden impulse, just as
+      our train was crawling out of a suburban station, he sprang on to the
+      platform and pulled me out after him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excuse me, my dear fellow,&rdquo; said he, as we watched the rear carriages of
+      our train disappearing round a curve; &ldquo;I am sorry to make you the victim
+      of what may seem a mere whim, but on my life, Watson, I simply CAN'T leave
+      that case in this condition. Every instinct that I possess cries out
+      against it. It's wrong&mdash;it's all wrong&mdash;I'll swear that it's
+      wrong. And yet the lady's story was complete, the maid's corroboration was
+      sufficient, the detail was fairly exact. What have I to put against that?
+      Three wine-glasses, that is all. But if I had not taken things for
+      granted, if I had examined everything with the care which I would have
+      shown had we approached the case DE NOVO and had no cut-and-dried story to
+      warp my mind, would I not then have found something more definite to go
+      upon? Of course I should. Sit down on this bench, Watson, until a train
+      for Chislehurst arrives, and allow me to lay the evidence before you,
+      imploring you in the first instance to dismiss from your mind the idea
+      that anything which the maid or her mistress may have said must
+      necessarily be true. The lady's charming personality must not be permitted
+      to warp our judgment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely there are details in her story which, if we looked at it in cold
+      blood, would excite our suspicion. These burglars made a considerable haul
+      at Sydenham a fortnight ago. Some account of them and of their appearance
+      was in the papers, and would naturally occur to anyone who wished to
+      invent a story in which imaginary robbers should play a part. As a matter
+      of fact, burglars who have done a good stroke of business are, as a rule,
+      only too glad to enjoy the proceeds in peace and quiet without embarking
+      on another perilous undertaking. Again, it is unusual for burglars to
+      operate at so early an hour; it is unusual for burglars to strike a lady
+      to prevent her screaming, since one would imagine that was the sure way to
+      make her scream; it is unusual for them to commit murder when their
+      numbers are sufficient to overpower one man; it is unusual for them to be
+      content with a limited plunder when there is much more within their reach;
+      and finally I should say that it was very unusual for such men to leave a
+      bottle half empty. How do all these unusuals strike you, Watson?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Their cumulative effect is certainly considerable, and yet each of them
+      is quite possible in itself. The most unusual thing of all, as it seems to
+      me, is that the lady should be tied to the chair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I am not so clear about that, Watson; for it is evident that they
+      must either kill her or else secure her in such a way that she could not
+      give immediate notice of their escape. But at any rate I have shown, have
+      I not, that there is a certain element of improbability about the lady's
+      story? And now on the top of this comes the incident of the wine-glasses.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What about the wine-glasses?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you see them in your mind's eye?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see them clearly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are told that three men drank from them. Does that strike you as
+      likely?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not? There was wine in each glass.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly; but there was bees-wing only in one glass. You must have noticed
+      that fact. What does that suggest to your mind?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The last glass filled would be most likely to contain bees-wing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all. The bottle was full of it, and it is inconceivable that the
+      first two glasses were clear and the third heavily charged with it. There
+      are two possible explanations, and only two. One is that after the second
+      glass was filled the bottle was violently agitated, and so the third glass
+      received the bees-wing. That does not appear probable. No, no; I am sure
+      that I am right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, then, do you suppose?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That only two glasses were used, and that the dregs of both were poured
+      into a third glass, so as to give the false impression that three people
+      had been here. In that way all the bees-wing would be in the last glass,
+      would it not? Yes, I am convinced that this is so. But if I have hit upon
+      the true explanation of this one small phenomenon, then in an instant the
+      case rises from the commonplace to the exceedingly remarkable, for it can
+      only mean that Lady Brackenstall and her maid have deliberately lied to
+      us, that not one word of their story is to be believed, that they have
+      some very strong reason for covering the real criminal, and that we must
+      construct our case for ourselves without any help from them. That is the
+      mission which now lies before us, and here, Watson, is the Chislehurst
+      train.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The household of the Abbey Grange were much surprised at our return, but
+      Sherlock Holmes, finding that Stanley Hopkins had gone off to report to
+      head-quarters, took possession of the dining-room, locked the door upon
+      the inside, and devoted himself for two hours to one of those minute and
+      laborious investigations which formed the solid basis on which his
+      brilliant edifices of deduction were reared. Seated in a corner like an
+      interested student who observes the demonstration of his professor, I
+      followed every step of that remarkable research. The window, the curtains,
+      the carpet, the chair, the rope&mdash;each in turn was minutely examined
+      and duly pondered. The body of the unfortunate baronet had been removed,
+      but all else remained as we had seen it in the morning. Then, to my
+      astonishment, Holmes climbed up on to the massive mantelpiece. Far above
+      his head hung the few inches of red cord which were still attached to the
+      wire. For a long time he gazed upward at it, and then in an attempt to get
+      nearer to it he rested his knee upon a wooden bracket on the wall. This
+      brought his hand within a few inches of the broken end of the rope, but it
+      was not this so much as the bracket itself which seemed to engage his
+      attention. Finally he sprang down with an ejaculation of satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's all right, Watson,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;We have got our case&mdash;one of the
+      most remarkable in our collection. But, dear me, how slow-witted I have
+      been, and how nearly I have committed the blunder of my lifetime! Now, I
+      think that with a few missing links my chain is almost complete.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have got your men?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Man, Watson, man. Only one, but a very formidable person. Strong as a
+      lion&mdash;witness the blow that bent that poker. Six foot three in
+      height, active as a squirrel, dexterous with his fingers; finally,
+      remarkably quick-witted, for this whole ingenious story is of his
+      concoction. Yes, Watson, we have come upon the handiwork of a very
+      remarkable individual. And yet in that bell-rope he has given us a clue
+      which should not have left us a doubt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where was the clue?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, if you were to pull down a bell-rope, Watson, where would you
+      expect it to break? Surely at the spot where it is attached to the wire.
+      Why should it break three inches from the top as this one has done?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because it is frayed there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. This end, which we can examine, is frayed. He was cunning enough
+      to do that with his knife. But the other end is not frayed. You could not
+      observe that from here, but if you were on the mantelpiece you would see
+      that it is cut clean off without any mark of fraying whatever. You can
+      reconstruct what occurred. The man needed the rope. He would not tear it
+      down for fear of giving the alarm by ringing the bell. What did he do? He
+      sprang up on the mantelpiece, could not quite reach it, put his knee on
+      the bracket&mdash;you will see the impression in the dust&mdash;and so got
+      his knife to bear upon the cord. I could not reach the place by at least
+      three inches, from which I infer that he is at least three inches a bigger
+      man than I. Look at that mark upon the seat of the oaken chair! What is
+      it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Blood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Undoubtedly it is blood. This alone puts the lady's story out of court.
+      If she were seated on the chair when the crime was done, how comes that
+      mark? No, no; she was placed in the chair AFTER the death of her husband.
+      I'll wager that the black dress shows a corresponding mark to this. We
+      have not yet met our Waterloo, Watson, but this is our Marengo, for it
+      begins in defeat and ends in victory. I should like now to have a few
+      words with the nurse Theresa. We must be wary for awhile, if we are to get
+      the information which we want.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was an interesting person, this stern Australian nurse. Taciturn,
+      suspicious, ungracious, it took some time before Holmes's pleasant manner
+      and frank acceptance of all that she said thawed her into a corresponding
+      amiability. She did not attempt to conceal her hatred for her late
+      employer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, it is true that he threw the decanter at me. I heard him call
+      my mistress a name, and I told him that he would not dare to speak so if
+      her brother had been there. Then it was that he threw it at me. He might
+      have thrown a dozen if he had but left my bonny bird alone. He was for
+      ever ill-treating her, and she too proud to complain. She will not even
+      tell me all that he has done to her. She never told me of those marks on
+      her arm that you saw this morning, but I know very well that they come
+      from a stab with a hat-pin. The sly fiend&mdash;Heaven forgive me that I
+      should speak of him so, now that he is dead, but a fiend he was if ever
+      one walked the earth. He was all honey when first we met him, only
+      eighteen months ago, and we both feel as if it were eighteen years. She
+      had only just arrived in London. Yes, it was her first voyage&mdash;she
+      had never been from home before. He won her with his title and his money
+      and his false London ways. If she made a mistake she has paid for it, if
+      ever a woman did. What month did we meet him? Well, I tell you it was just
+      after we arrived. We arrived in June, and it was July. They were married
+      in January of last year. Yes, she is down in the morning-room again, and I
+      have no doubt she will see you, but you must not ask too much of her, for
+      she has gone through all that flesh and blood will stand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Brackenstall was reclining on the same couch, but looked brighter
+      than before. The maid had entered with us, and began once more to foment
+      the bruise upon her mistress's brow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope,&rdquo; said the lady, &ldquo;that you have not come to cross-examine me
+      again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; Holmes answered, in his gentlest voice, &ldquo;I will not cause you any
+      unnecessary trouble, Lady Brackenstall, and my whole desire is to make
+      things easy for you, for I am convinced that you are a much-tried woman.
+      If you will treat me as a friend and trust me you may find that I will
+      justify your trust.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you want me to do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To tell me the truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Holmes!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, Lady Brackenstall, it is no use. You may have heard of any little
+      reputation which I possess. I will stake it all on the fact that your
+      story is an absolute fabrication.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mistress and maid were both staring at Holmes with pale faces and
+      frightened eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are an impudent fellow!&rdquo; cried Theresa. &ldquo;Do you mean to say that my
+      mistress has told a lie?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes rose from his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you nothing to tell me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have told you everything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Think once more, Lady Brackenstall. Would it not be better to be frank?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For an instant there was hesitation in her beautiful face. Then some new
+      strong thought caused it to set like a mask.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have told you all I know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes took his hat and shrugged his shoulders. &ldquo;I am sorry,&rdquo; he said, and
+      without another word we left the room and the house. There was a pond in
+      the park, and to this my friend led the way. It was frozen over, but a
+      single hole was left for the convenience of a solitary swan. Holmes gazed
+      at it and then passed on to the lodge gate. There he scribbled a short
+      note for Stanley Hopkins and left it with the lodge-keeper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may be a hit or it may be a miss, but we are bound to do something for
+      friend Hopkins, just to justify this second visit,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I will not
+      quite take him into my confidence yet. I think our next scene of
+      operations must be the shipping office of the Adelaide-Southampton line,
+      which stands at the end of Pall Mall, if I remember right. There is a
+      second line of steamers which connect South Australia with England, but we
+      will draw the larger cover first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes's card sent in to the manager ensured instant attention, and he was
+      not long in acquiring all the information which he needed. In June of '95
+      only one of their line had reached a home port. It was the ROCK OF
+      GIBRALTAR, their largest and best boat. A reference to the passenger list
+      showed that Miss Fraser of Adelaide, with her maid, had made the voyage in
+      her. The boat was now on her way to Australia, somewhere to the south of
+      the Suez Canal. Her officers were the same as in '95, with one exception.
+      The first officer, Mr. Jack Croker, had been made a captain and was to
+      take charge of their new ship, the BASS ROCK, sailing in two days' time
+      from Southampton. He lived at Sydenham, but he was likely to be in that
+      morning for instructions, if we cared to wait for him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No; Mr. Holmes had no desire to see him, but would be glad to know more
+      about his record and character.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His record was magnificent. There was not an officer in the fleet to touch
+      him. As to his character, he was reliable on duty, but a wild, desperate
+      fellow off the deck of his ship, hot-headed, excitable, but loyal, honest,
+      and kind-hearted. That was the pith of the information with which Holmes
+      left the office of the Adelaide-Southampton company. Thence he drove to
+      Scotland Yard, but instead of entering he sat in his cab with his brows
+      drawn down, lost in profound thought. Finally he drove round to the
+      Charing Cross telegraph office, sent off a message, and then, at last, we
+      made for Baker Street once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I couldn't do it, Watson,&rdquo; said he, as we re-entered our room. &ldquo;Once
+      that warrant was made out nothing on earth would save him. Once or twice
+      in my career I feel that I have done more real harm by my discovery of the
+      criminal than ever he had done by his crime. I have learned caution now,
+      and I had rather play tricks with the law of England than with my own
+      conscience. Let us know a little more before we act.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Before evening we had a visit from Inspector Stanley Hopkins. Things were
+      not going very well with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe that you are a wizard, Mr. Holmes. I really do sometimes think
+      that you have powers that are not human. Now, how on earth could you know
+      that the stolen silver was at the bottom of that pond?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn't know it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you told me to examine it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You got it, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I got it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very glad if I have helped you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you haven't helped me. You have made the affair far more difficult.
+      What sort of burglars are they who steal silver and then throw it into the
+      nearest pond?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was certainly rather eccentric behaviour. I was merely going on the
+      idea that if the silver had been taken by persons who did not want it, who
+      merely took it for a blind as it were, then they would naturally be
+      anxious to get rid of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why should such an idea cross your mind?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I thought it was possible. When they came out through the French
+      window there was the pond, with one tempting little hole in the ice, right
+      in front of their noses. Could there be a better hiding-place?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, a hiding-place&mdash;that is better!&rdquo; cried Stanley Hopkins. &ldquo;Yes,
+      yes, I see it all now! It was early, there were folk upon the roads, they
+      were afraid of being seen with the silver, so they sank it in the pond,
+      intending to return for it when the coast was clear. Excellent, Mr. Holmes&mdash;that
+      is better than your idea of a blind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so; you have got an admirable theory. I have no doubt that my own
+      ideas were quite wild, but you must admit that they have ended in
+      discovering the silver.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, yes. It was all your doing. But I have had a bad set-back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A set-back?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Mr. Holmes. The Randall gang were arrested in New York this
+      morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me, Hopkins! That is certainly rather against your theory that they
+      committed a murder in Kent last night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is fatal, Mr. Holmes, absolutely fatal. Still, there are other gangs
+      of three besides the Randalls, or it may be some new gang of which the
+      police have never heard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so; it is perfectly possible. What, are you off?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Mr. Holmes; there is no rest for me until I have got to the bottom
+      of the business. I suppose you have no hint to give me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have given you one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I suggested a blind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why, Mr. Holmes, why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, that's the question, of course. But I commend the idea to your mind.
+      You might possibly find that there was something in it. You won't stop for
+      dinner? Well, good-bye, and let us know how you get on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dinner was over and the table cleared before Holmes alluded to the matter
+      again. He had lit his pipe and held his slippered feet to the cheerful
+      blaze of the fire. Suddenly he looked at his watch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I expect developments, Watson.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now&mdash;within a few minutes. I dare say you thought I acted rather
+      badly to Stanley Hopkins just now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I trust your judgment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A very sensible reply, Watson. You must look at it this way: what I know
+      is unofficial; what he knows is official. I have the right to private
+      judgment, but he has none. He must disclose all, or he is a traitor to his
+      service. In a doubtful case I would not put him in so painful a position,
+      and so I reserve my information until my own mind is clear upon the
+      matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But when will that be?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The time has come. You will now be present at the last scene of a
+      remarkable little drama.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a sound upon the stairs, and our door was opened to admit as
+      fine a specimen of manhood as ever passed through it. He was a very tall
+      young man, golden-moustached, blue-eyed, with a skin which had been burned
+      by tropical suns, and a springy step which showed that the huge frame was
+      as active as it was strong. He closed the door behind him, and then he
+      stood with clenched hands and heaving breast, choking down some
+      overmastering emotion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit down, Captain Croker. You got my telegram?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Our visitor sank into an arm-chair and looked from one to the other of us
+      with questioning eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I got your telegram, and I came at the hour you said. I heard that you
+      had been down to the office. There was no getting away from you. Let's
+      hear the worst. What are you going to do with me? Arrest me? Speak out,
+      man! You can't sit there and play with me like a cat with a mouse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give him a cigar,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Bite on that, Captain Croker, and don't
+      let your nerves run away with you. I should not sit here smoking with you
+      if I thought that you were a common criminal, you may be sure of that. Be
+      frank with me, and we may do some good. Play tricks with me, and I'll
+      crush you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you wish me to do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To give me a true account of all that happened at the Abbey Grange last
+      night&mdash;a TRUE account, mind you, with nothing added and nothing taken
+      off. I know so much already that if you go one inch off the straight I'll
+      blow this police whistle from my window and the affair goes out of my
+      hands for ever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The sailor thought for a little. Then he struck his leg with his great,
+      sun-burned hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll chance it,&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;I believe you are a man of your word, and a
+      white man, and I'll tell you the whole story. But one thing I will say
+      first. So far as I am concerned I regret nothing and I fear nothing, and I
+      would do it all again and be proud of the job. Curse the beast, if he had
+      as many lives as a cat he would owe them all to me! But it's the lady,
+      Mary&mdash;Mary Fraser&mdash;for never will I call her by that accursed
+      name. When I think of getting her into trouble, I who would give my life
+      just to bring one smile to her dear face, it's that that turns my soul
+      into water. And yet&mdash;and yet&mdash;what less could I do? I'll tell
+      you my story, gentlemen, and then I'll ask you as man to man what less
+      could I do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must go back a bit. You seem to know everything, so I expect that you
+      know that I met her when she was a passenger and I was first officer of
+      the ROCK OF GIBRALTAR. From the first day I met her she was the only woman
+      to me. Every day of that voyage I loved her more, and many a time since
+      have I kneeled down in the darkness of the night watch and kissed the deck
+      of that ship because I knew her dear feet had trod it. She was never
+      engaged to me. She treated me as fairly as ever a woman treated a man. I
+      have no complaint to make. It was all love on my side, and all good
+      comradeship and friendship on hers. When we parted she was a free woman,
+      but I could never again be a free man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Next time I came back from sea I heard of her marriage. Well, why
+      shouldn't she marry whom she liked? Title and money&mdash;who could carry
+      them better than she? She was born for all that is beautiful and dainty. I
+      didn't grieve over her marriage. I was not such a selfish hound as that. I
+      just rejoiced that good luck had come her way, and that she had not thrown
+      herself away on a penniless sailor. That's how I loved Mary Fraser.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I never thought to see her again; but last voyage I was promoted,
+      and the new boat was not yet launched, so I had to wait for a couple of
+      months with my people at Sydenham. One day out in a country lane I met
+      Theresa Wright, her old maid. She told me about her, about him, about
+      everything. I tell you, gentlemen, it nearly drove me mad. This drunken
+      hound, that he should dare to raise his hand to her whose boots he was not
+      worthy to lick! I met Theresa again. Then I met Mary herself&mdash;and met
+      her again. Then she would meet me no more. But the other day I had a
+      notice that I was to start on my voyage within a week, and I determined
+      that I would see her once before I left. Theresa was always my friend, for
+      she loved Mary and hated this villain almost as much as I did. From her I
+      learned the ways of the house. Mary used to sit up reading in her own
+      little room downstairs. I crept round there last night and scratched at
+      the window. At first she would not open to me, but in her heart I know
+      that now she loves me, and she could not leave me in the frosty night. She
+      whispered to me to come round to the big front window, and I found it open
+      before me so as to let me into the dining-room. Again I heard from her own
+      lips things that made my blood boil, and again I cursed this brute who
+      mishandled the woman that I loved. Well, gentlemen, I was standing with
+      her just inside the window, in all innocence, as Heaven is my judge, when
+      he rushed like a madman into the room, called her the vilest name that a
+      man could use to a woman, and welted her across the face with the stick he
+      had in his hand. I had sprung for the poker, and it was a fair fight
+      between us. See here on my arm where his first blow fell. Then it was my
+      turn, and I went through him as if he had been a rotten pumpkin. Do you
+      think I was sorry? Not I! It was his life or mine, but far more than that
+      it was his life or hers, for how could I leave her in the power of this
+      madman? That was how I killed him. Was I wrong? Well, then, what would
+      either of you gentlemen have done if you had been in my position?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She had screamed when he struck her, and that brought old Theresa down
+      from the room above. There was a bottle of wine on the sideboard, and I
+      opened it and poured a little between Mary's lips, for she was half dead
+      with the shock. Then I took a drop myself. Theresa was as cool as ice, and
+      it was her plot as much as mine. We must make it appear that burglars had
+      done the thing. Theresa kept on repeating our story to her mistress, while
+      I swarmed up and cut the rope of the bell. Then I lashed her in her chair,
+      and frayed out the end of the rope to make it look natural, else they
+      would wonder how in the world a burglar could have got up there to cut it.
+      Then I gathered up a few plates and pots of silver, to carry out the idea
+      of a robbery, and there I left them with orders to give the alarm when I
+      had a quarter of an hour's start. I dropped the silver into the pond and
+      made off for Sydenham, feeling that for once in my life I had done a real
+      good night's work. And that's the truth and the whole truth, Mr. Holmes,
+      if it costs me my neck.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes smoked for some time in silence. Then he crossed the room and shook
+      our visitor by the hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's what I think,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;I know that every word is true, for you
+      have hardly said a word which I did not know. No one but an acrobat or a
+      sailor could have got up to that bell-rope from the bracket, and no one
+      but a sailor could have made the knots with which the cord was fastened to
+      the chair. Only once had this lady been brought into contact with sailors,
+      and that was on her voyage, and it was someone of her own class of life,
+      since she was trying hard to shield him and so showing that she loved him.
+      You see how easy it was for me to lay my hands upon you when once I had
+      started upon the right trail.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought the police never could have seen through our dodge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the police haven't; nor will they, to the best of my belief. Now,
+      look here, Captain Croker, this is a very serious matter, though I am
+      willing to admit that you acted under the most extreme provocation to
+      which any man could be subjected. I am not sure that in defence of your
+      own life your action will not be pronounced legitimate. However, that is
+      for a British jury to decide. Meanwhile I have so much sympathy for you
+      that if you choose to disappear in the next twenty-four hours I will
+      promise you that no one will hinder you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And then it will all come out?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly it will come out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The sailor flushed with anger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What sort of proposal is that to make a man? I know enough of law to
+      understand that Mary would be had as accomplice. Do you think I would
+      leave her alone to face the music while I slunk away? No, sir; let them do
+      their worst upon me, but for Heaven's sake, Mr. Holmes, find some way of
+      keeping my poor Mary out of the courts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes for a second time held out his hand to the sailor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was only testing you, and you ring true every time. Well, it is a great
+      responsibility that I take upon myself, but I have given Hopkins an
+      excellent hint, and if he can't avail himself of it I can do no more. See
+      here, Captain Croker, we'll do this in due form of law. You are the
+      prisoner. Watson, you are a British jury, and I never met a man who was
+      more eminently fitted to represent one. I am the judge. Now, gentleman of
+      the jury, you have heard the evidence. Do you find the prisoner guilty or
+      not guilty?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not guilty, my lord,&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Vox populi, vox Dei. You are acquitted, Captain Croker. So long as the
+      law does not find some other victim you are safe from me. Come back to
+      this lady in a year, and may her future and yours justify us in the
+      judgment which we have pronounced this night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <hr />
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 28  DECEMBER, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      XIII.&mdash;The Adventure of the Second Stain.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      I HAD intended &ldquo;The Adventure of the Abbey Grange&rdquo; to be the last of those
+      exploits of my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, which I should ever
+      communicate to the public. This resolution of mine was not due to any lack
+      of material, since I have notes of many hundreds of cases to which I have
+      never alluded, nor was it caused by any waning interest on the part of my
+      readers in the singular personality and unique methods of this remarkable
+      man. The real reason lay in the reluctance which Mr. Holmes has shown to
+      the continued publication of his experiences. So long as he was in actual
+      professional practice the records of his successes were of some practical
+      value to him; but since he has definitely retired from London and betaken
+      himself to study and bee-farming on the Sussex Downs, notoriety has become
+      hateful to him, and he has peremptorily requested that his wishes in this
+      matter should be strictly observed. It was only upon my representing to
+      him that I had given a promise that &ldquo;The Adventure of the Second Stain&rdquo;
+       should be published when the times were ripe, and pointing out to him that
+      it is only appropriate that this long series of episodes should culminate
+      in the most important international case which he has ever been called
+      upon to handle, that I at last succeeded in obtaining his consent that a
+      carefully-guarded account of the incident should at last be laid before
+      the public. If in telling the story I seem to be somewhat vague in certain
+      details the public will readily understand that there is an excellent
+      reason for my reticence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was, then, in a year, and even in a decade, that shall be nameless,
+      that upon one Tuesday morning in autumn we found two visitors of European
+      fame within the walls of our humble room in Baker Street. The one,
+      austere, high-nosed, eagle-eyed, and dominant, was none other than the
+      illustrious Lord Bellinger, twice Premier of Britain. The other, dark,
+      clear-cut, and elegant, hardly yet of middle age, and endowed with every
+      beauty of body and of mind, was the Right Honourable Trelawney Hope,
+      Secretary for European Affairs, and the most rising statesman in the
+      country. They sat side by side upon our paper-littered settee, and it was
+      easy to see from their worn and anxious faces that it was business of the
+      most pressing importance which had brought them. The Premier's thin,
+      blue-veined hands were clasped tightly over the ivory head of his
+      umbrella, and his gaunt, ascetic face looked gloomily from Holmes to me.
+      The European Secretary pulled nervously at his moustache and fidgeted with
+      the seals of his watch-chain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When I discovered my loss, Mr. Holmes, which was at eight o'clock this
+      morning, I at once informed the Prime Minister. It was at his suggestion
+      that we have both come to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you informed the police?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir,&rdquo; said the Prime Minister, with the quick, decisive manner for
+      which he was famous. &ldquo;We have not done so, nor is it possible that we
+      should do so. To inform the police must, in the long run, mean to inform
+      the public. This is what we particularly desire to avoid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because the document in question is of such immense importance that its
+      publication might very easily&mdash;I might almost say probably&mdash;lead
+      to European complications of the utmost moment. It is not too much to say
+      that peace or war may hang upon the issue. Unless its recovery can be
+      attended with the utmost secrecy, then it may as well not be recovered at
+      all, for all that is aimed at by those who have taken it is that its
+      contents should be generally known.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand. Now, Mr. Trelawney Hope, I should be much obliged if you
+      would tell me exactly the circumstances under which this document
+      disappeared.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That can be done in a very few words, Mr. Holmes. The letter&mdash;for it
+      was a letter from a foreign potentate&mdash;was received six days ago. It
+      was of such importance that I have never left it in my safe, but I have
+      taken it across each evening to my house in Whitehall Terrace, and kept it
+      in my bedroom in a locked despatch-box. It was there last night. Of that I
+      am certain. I actually opened the box while I was dressing for dinner, and
+      saw the document inside. This morning it was gone. The despatch-box had
+      stood beside the glass upon my dressing-table all night. I am a light
+      sleeper, and so is my wife. We are both prepared to swear that no one
+      could have entered the room during the night. And yet I repeat that the
+      paper is gone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What time did you dine?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Half-past seven.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long was it before you went to bed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My wife had gone to the theatre. I waited up for her. It was half-past
+      eleven before we went to our room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then for four hours the despatch-box had lain unguarded?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one is ever permitted to enter that room save the housemaid in the
+      morning, and my valet, or my wife's maid, during the rest of the day. They
+      are both trusty servants who have been with us for some time. Besides,
+      neither of them could possibly have known that there was anything more
+      valuable than the ordinary departmental papers in my despatch-box.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who did know of the existence of that letter?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one in the house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely your wife knew?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir; I had said nothing to my wife until I missed the paper this
+      morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Premier nodded approvingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have long known, sir, how high is your sense of public duty,&rdquo; said he.
+      &ldquo;I am convinced that in the case of a secret of this importance it would
+      rise superior to the most intimate domestic ties.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The European Secretary bowed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You do me no more than justice, sir. Until this morning I have never
+      breathed one word to my wife upon this matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could she have guessed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Mr. Holmes, she could not have guessed&mdash;nor could anyone have
+      guessed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you lost any documents before?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is there in England who did know of the existence of this letter?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Each member of the Cabinet was informed of it yesterday; but the pledge
+      of secrecy which attends every Cabinet meeting was increased by the solemn
+      warning which was given by the Prime Minister. Good heavens, to think that
+      within a few hours I should myself have lost it!&rdquo; His handsome face was
+      distorted with a spasm of despair, and his hands tore at his hair. For a
+      moment we caught a glimpse of the natural man, impulsive, ardent, keenly
+      sensitive. The next the aristocratic mask was replaced, and the gentle
+      voice had returned. &ldquo;Besides the members of the Cabinet there are two, or
+      possibly three, departmental officials who know of the letter. No one else
+      in England, Mr. Holmes, I assure you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But abroad?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe that no one abroad has seen it save the man who wrote it. I am
+      well convinced that his Ministers&mdash;that the usual official channels
+      have not been employed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes considered for some little time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, sir, I must ask you more particularly what this document is, and why
+      its disappearance should have such momentous consequences?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two statesmen exchanged a quick glance and the Premier's shaggy
+      eyebrows gathered in a frown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Holmes, the envelope is a long, thin one of pale blue colour. There
+      is a seal of red wax stamped with a crouching lion. It is addressed in
+      large, bold handwriting to&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear, sir,&rdquo; said Holmes, &ldquo;that, interesting and indeed essential as
+      these details are, my inquiries must go more to the root of things. What
+      WAS the letter?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is a State secret of the utmost importance, and I fear that I cannot
+      tell you, nor do I see that it is necessary. If by the aid of the powers
+      which you are said to possess you can find such an envelope as I describe
+      with its enclosure, you will have deserved well of your country, and
+      earned any reward which it lies in our power to bestow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sherlock Holmes rose with a smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are two of the most busy men in the country,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and in my own
+      small way I have also a good many calls upon me. I regret exceedingly that
+      I cannot help you in this matter, and any continuation of this interview
+      would be a waste of time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Premier sprang to his feet with that quick, fierce gleam of his
+      deep-set eyes before which a Cabinet has cowered. &ldquo;I am not accustomed,
+      sir&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; he began, but mastered his anger and resumed his seat.
+      For a minute or more we all sat in silence. Then the old statesman
+      shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must accept your terms, Mr. Holmes. No doubt you are right, and it is
+      unreasonable for us to expect you to act unless we give you our entire
+      confidence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I agree with you, sir,&rdquo; said the younger statesman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I will tell you, relying entirely upon your honour and that of your
+      colleague, Dr. Watson. I may appeal to your patriotism also, for I could
+      not imagine a greater misfortune for the country than that this affair
+      should come out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may safely trust us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The letter, then, is from a certain foreign potentate who has been
+      ruffled by some recent Colonial developments of this country. It has been
+      written hurriedly and upon his own responsibility entirely. Inquiries have
+      shown that his Ministers know nothing of the matter. At the same time it
+      is couched in so unfortunate a manner, and certain phrases in it are of so
+      provocative a character, that its publication would undoubtedly lead to a
+      most dangerous state of feeling in this country. There would be such a
+      ferment, sir, that I do not hesitate to say that within a week of the
+      publication of that letter this country would be involved in a great war.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes wrote a name upon a slip of paper and handed it to the Premier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. It was he. And it is this letter&mdash;this letter which may
+      well mean the expenditure of a thousand millions and the lives of a
+      hundred thousand men&mdash;which has become lost in this unaccountable
+      fashion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you informed the sender?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, a cipher telegram has been despatched.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps he desires the publication of the letter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir, we have strong reason to believe that he already understands
+      that he has acted in an indiscreet and hot-headed manner. It would be a
+      greater blow to him and to his country than to us if this letter were to
+      come out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If this is so, whose interest is it that the letter should come out? Why
+      should anyone desire to steal it or to publish it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There, Mr. Holmes, you take me into regions of high international
+      politics. But if you consider the European situation you will have no
+      difficulty in perceiving the motive. The whole of Europe is an armed camp.
+      There is a double league which makes a fair balance of military power.
+      Great Britain holds the scales. If Britain were driven into war with one
+      confederacy, it would assure the supremacy of the other confederacy,
+      whether they joined in the war or not. Do you follow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very clearly. It is then the interest of the enemies of this potentate to
+      secure and publish this letter, so as to make a breach between his country
+      and ours?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And to whom would this document be sent if it fell into the hands of an
+      enemy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To any of the great Chancelleries of Europe. It is probably speeding on
+      its way thither at the present instant as fast as steam can take it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Trelawney Hope dropped his head on his chest and groaned aloud. The
+      Premier placed his hand kindly upon his shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is your misfortune, my dear fellow. No one can blame you. There is no
+      precaution which you have neglected. Now, Mr. Holmes, you are in full
+      possession of the facts. What course do you recommend?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes shook his head mournfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think, sir, that unless this document is recovered there will be
+      war?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think it is very probable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, sir, prepare for war.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is a hard saying, Mr. Holmes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Consider the facts, sir. It is inconceivable that it was taken after
+      eleven-thirty at night, since I understand that Mr. Hope and his wife were
+      both in the room from that hour until the loss was found out. It was
+      taken, then, yesterday evening between seven-thirty and eleven-thirty,
+      probably near the earlier hour, since whoever took it evidently knew that
+      it was there and would naturally secure it as early as possible. Now, sir,
+      if a document of this importance were taken at that hour, where can it be
+      now? No one has any reason to retain it. It has been passed rapidly on to
+      those who need it. What chance have we now to overtake or even to trace
+      it? It is beyond our reach.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Prime Minister rose from the settee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What you say is perfectly logical, Mr. Holmes. I feel that the matter is
+      indeed out of our hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us presume, for argument's sake, that the document was taken by the
+      maid or by the valet&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are both old and tried servants.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand you to say that your room is on the second floor, that there
+      is no entrance from without, and that from within no one could go up
+      unobserved. It must, then, be somebody in the house who has taken it. To
+      whom would the thief take it? To one of several international spies and
+      secret agents, whose names are tolerably familiar to me. There are three
+      who may be said to be the heads of their profession. I will begin my
+      research by going round and finding if each of them is at his post. If one
+      is missing&mdash;especially if he has disappeared since last night&mdash;we
+      will have some indication as to where the document has gone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should he be missing?&rdquo; asked the European Secretary. &ldquo;He would take
+      the letter to an Embassy in London, as likely as not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fancy not. These agents work independently, and their relations with
+      the Embassies are often strained.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Prime Minister nodded his acquiescence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe you are right, Mr. Holmes. He would take so valuable a prize to
+      head-quarters with his own hands. I think that your course of action is an
+      excellent one. Meanwhile, Hope, we cannot neglect all our other duties on
+      account of this one misfortune. Should there be any fresh developments
+      during the day we shall communicate with you, and you will no doubt let us
+      know the results of your own inquiries.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two statesmen bowed and walked gravely from the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When our illustrious visitors had departed Holmes lit his pipe in silence,
+      and sat for some time lost in the deepest thought. I had opened the
+      morning paper and was immersed in a sensational crime which had occurred
+      in London the night before, when my friend gave an exclamation, sprang to
+      his feet, and laid his pipe down upon the mantelpiece.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;there is no better way of approaching it. The situation
+      is desperate, but not hopeless. Even now, if we could be sure which of
+      them has taken it, it is just possible that it has not yet passed out of
+      his hands. After all, it is a question of money with these fellows, and I
+      have the British Treasury behind me. If it's on the market I'll buy it&mdash;if
+      it means another penny on the income-tax. It is conceivable that the
+      fellow might hold it back to see what bids come from this side before he
+      tries his luck on the other. There are only those three capable of playing
+      so bold a game; there are Oberstein, La Rothiere, and Eduardo Lucas. I
+      will see each of them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I glanced at my morning paper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that Eduardo Lucas of Godolphin Street?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will not see him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was murdered in his house last night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My friend has so often astonished me in the course of our adventures that
+      it was with a sense of exultation that I realized how completely I had
+      astonished him. He stared in amazement, and then snatched the paper from
+      my hands. This was the paragraph which I had been engaged in reading when
+      he rose from his chair:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                    &ldquo;MURDER IN WESTMINSTER.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A crime of mysterious character was committed last night at 16, Godolphin
+      Street, one of the old-fashioned and secluded rows of eighteenth-century
+      houses which lie between the river and the Abbey, almost in the shadow of
+      the great Tower of the Houses of Parliament. This small but select mansion
+      has been inhabited for some years by Mr. Eduardo Lucas, well known in
+      society circles both on account of his charming personality and because he
+      has the well-deserved reputation of being one of the best amateur tenors
+      in the country. Mr. Lucas is an unmarried man, thirty-four years of age,
+      and his establishment consists of Mrs. Pringle, an elderly housekeeper,
+      and of Mitton, his valet. The former retires early and sleeps at the top
+      of the house. The valet was out for the evening, visiting a friend at
+      Hammersmith. From ten o'clock onwards Mr. Lucas had the house to himself.
+      What occurred during that time has not yet transpired, but at a quarter to
+      twelve Police-constable Barrett, passing along Godolphin Street, observed
+      that the door of No. 16 was ajar. He knocked, but received no answer.
+      Perceiving a light in the front room he advanced into the passage and
+      again knocked, but without reply. He then pushed open the door and
+      entered. The room was in a state of wild disorder, the furniture being all
+      swept to one side, and one chair lying on its back in the centre. Beside
+      this chair, and still grasping one of its legs, lay the unfortunate tenant
+      of the house. He had been stabbed to the heart and must have died
+      instantly. The knife with which the crime had been committed was a curved
+      Indian dagger, plucked down from a trophy of Oriental arms which adorned
+      one of the walls. Robbery does not appear to have been the motive of the
+      crime, for there had been no attempt to remove the valuable contents of
+      the room. Mr. Eduardo Lucas was so well known and popular that his violent
+      and mysterious fate will arouse painful interest and intense sympathy in a
+      wide-spread circle of friends.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Watson, what do you make of this?&rdquo; asked Holmes, after a long
+      pause.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is an amazing coincidence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A coincidence! Here is one of the three men whom we had named as possible
+      actors in this drama, and he meets a violent death during the very hours
+      when we know that that drama was being enacted. The odds are enormous
+      against its being coincidence. No figures could express them. No, my dear
+      Watson, the two events are connected&mdash;MUST be connected. It is for us
+      to find the connection.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But now the official police must know all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all. They know all they see at Godolphin Street. They know&mdash;and
+      shall know&mdash;nothing of Whitehall Terrace. Only WE know of both
+      events, and can trace the relation between them. There is one obvious
+      point which would, in any case, have turned my suspicions against Lucas.
+      Godolphin Street, Westminster, is only a few minutes' walk from Whitehall
+      Terrace. The other secret agents whom I have named live in the extreme
+      West-end. It was easier, therefore, for Lucas than for the others to
+      establish a connection or receive a message from the European Secretary's
+      household&mdash;a small thing, and yet where events are compressed into a
+      few hours it may prove essential. Halloa! what have we here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Hudson had appeared with a lady's card upon her salver. Holmes
+      glanced at it, raised his eyebrows, and handed it over to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ask Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope if she will be kind enough to step up,&rdquo;
+       said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A moment later our modest apartment, already so distinguished that
+      morning, was further honoured by the entrance of the most lovely woman in
+      London. I had often heard of the beauty of the youngest daughter of the
+      Duke of Belminster, but no description of it, and no contemplation of
+      colourless photographs, had prepared me for the subtle, delicate charm and
+      the beautiful colouring of that exquisite head. And yet as we saw it that
+      autumn morning, it was not its beauty which would be the first thing to
+      impress the observer. The cheek was lovely, but it was paled with emotion;
+      the eyes were bright, but it was the brightness of fever; the sensitive
+      mouth was tight and drawn in an effort after self-command. Terror&mdash;not
+      beauty&mdash;was what sprang first to the eye as our fair visitor stood
+      framed for an instant in the open door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has my husband been here, Mr. Holmes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, madam, he has been here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Holmes, I implore you not to tell him that I came here.&rdquo; Holmes bowed
+      coldly, and motioned the lady to a chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your ladyship places me in a very delicate position. I beg that you will
+      sit down and tell me what you desire; but I fear that I cannot make any
+      unconditional promise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She swept across the room and seated herself with her back to the window.
+      It was a queenly presence&mdash;tall, graceful, and intensely womanly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Holmes,&rdquo; she said, and her white-gloved hands clasped and unclasped
+      as she spoke&mdash;&ldquo;I will speak frankly to you in the hope that it may
+      induce you to speak frankly in return. There is complete confidence
+      between my husband and me on all matters save one. That one is politics.
+      On this his lips are sealed. He tells me nothing. Now, I am aware that
+      there was a most deplorable occurrence in our house last night. I know
+      that a paper has disappeared. But because the matter is political my
+      husband refuses to take me into his complete confidence. Now it is
+      essential&mdash;essential, I say&mdash;that I should thoroughly understand
+      it. You are the only other person, save only these politicians, who knows
+      the true facts. I beg you, then, Mr. Holmes, to tell me exactly what has
+      happened and what it will lead to. Tell me all, Mr. Holmes. Let no regard
+      for your client's interests keep you silent, for I assure you that his
+      interests, if he would only see it, would be best served by taking me into
+      his complete confidence. What was this paper which was stolen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madam, what you ask me is really impossible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She groaned and sank her face in her hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must see that this is so, madam. If your husband thinks fit to keep
+      you in the dark over this matter, is it for me, who has only learned the
+      true facts under the pledge of professional secrecy, to tell what he has
+      withheld? It is not fair to ask it. It is him whom you must ask.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have asked him. I come to you as a last resource. But without your
+      telling me anything definite, Mr. Holmes, you may do a great service if
+      you would enlighten me on one point.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, madam?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is my husband's political career likely to suffer through this incident?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, madam, unless it is set right it may certainly have a very
+      unfortunate effect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; She drew in her breath sharply as one whose doubts are resolved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One more question, Mr. Holmes. From an expression which my husband
+      dropped in the first shock of this disaster I understood that terrible
+      public consequences might arise from the loss of this document.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If he said so, I certainly cannot deny it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of what nature are they?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, madam, there again you ask me more than I can possibly answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I will take up no more of your time. I cannot blame you, Mr. Holmes,
+      for having refused to speak more freely, and you on your side will not, I
+      am sure, think the worse of me because I desire, even against his will, to
+      share my husband's anxieties. Once more I beg that you will say nothing of
+      my visit.&rdquo; She looked back at us from the door, and I had a last
+      impression of that beautiful haunted face, the startled eyes, and the
+      drawn mouth. Then she was gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department,&rdquo; said Holmes, with a smile,
+      when the dwindling frou-frou of skirts had ended in the slam of the front
+      door. &ldquo;What was the fair lady's game? What did she really want?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely her own statement is clear and her anxiety very natural.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hum! Think of her appearance, Watson&mdash;her manner, her suppressed
+      excitement, her restlessness, her tenacity in asking questions. Remember
+      that she comes of a caste who do not lightly show emotion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She was certainly much moved.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remember also the curious earnestness with which she assured us that it
+      was best for her husband that she should know all. What did she mean by
+      that? And you must have observed, Watson, how she manoeuvred to have the
+      light at her back. She did not wish us to read her expression.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; she chose the one chair in the room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And yet the motives of women are so inscrutable. You remember the woman
+      at Margate whom I suspected for the same reason. No powder on her nose&mdash;that
+      proved to be the correct solution. How can you build on such a quicksand?
+      Their most trivial action may mean volumes, or their most extraordinary
+      conduct may depend upon a hairpin or a curling-tongs. Good morning,
+      Watson.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are off?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; I will wile away the morning at Godolphin Street with our friends of
+      the regular establishment. With Eduardo Lucas lies the solution of our
+      problem, though I must admit that I have not an inkling as to what form it
+      may take. It is a capital mistake to theorize in advance of the facts. Do
+      you stay on guard, my good Watson, and receive any fresh visitors. I'll
+      join you at lunch if I am able.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      All that day and the next and the next Holmes was in a mood which his
+      friends would call taciturn, and others morose. He ran out and ran in,
+      smoked incessantly, played snatches on his violin, sank into reveries,
+      devoured sandwiches at irregular hours, and hardly answered the casual
+      questions which I put to him. It was evident to me that things were not
+      going well with him or his quest. He would say nothing of the case, and it
+      was from the papers that I learned the particulars of the inquest, and the
+      arrest with the subsequent release of John Mitton, the valet of the
+      deceased. The coroner's jury brought in the obvious &ldquo;Wilful Murder,&rdquo; but
+      the parties remained as unknown as ever. No motive was suggested. The room
+      was full of articles of value, but none had been taken. The dead man's
+      papers had not been tampered with. They were carefully examined, and
+      showed that he was a keen student of international politics, an
+      indefatigable gossip, a remarkable linguist, and an untiring
+      letter-writer. He had been on intimate terms with the leading politicians
+      of several countries. But nothing sensational was discovered among the
+      documents which filled his drawers. As to his relations with women, they
+      appeared to have been promiscuous but superficial. He had many
+      acquaintances among them, but few friends, and no one whom he loved. His
+      habits were regular, his conduct inoffensive. His death was an absolute
+      mystery, and likely to remain so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As to the arrest of John Mitton, the valet, it was a counsel of despair as
+      an alternative to absolute inaction. But no case could be sustained
+      against him. He had visited friends in Hammersmith that night. The ALIBI
+      was complete. It is true that he started home at an hour which should have
+      brought him to Westminster before the time when the crime was discovered,
+      but his own explanation that he had walked part of the way seemed probable
+      enough in view of the fineness of the night. He had actually arrived at
+      twelve o'clock, and appeared to be overwhelmed by the unexpected tragedy.
+      He had always been on good terms with his master. Several of the dead
+      man's possessions&mdash;notably a small case of razors&mdash;had been
+      found in the valet's boxes, but he explained that they had been presents
+      from the deceased, and the housekeeper was able to corroborate the story.
+      Mitton had been in Lucas's employment for three years. It was noticeable
+      that Lucas did not take Mitton on the Continent with him. Sometimes he
+      visited Paris for three months on end, but Mitton was left in charge of
+      the Godolphin Street house. As to the housekeeper, she had heard nothing
+      on the night of the crime. If her master had a visitor he had himself
+      admitted him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So for three mornings the mystery remained, so far as I could follow it in
+      the papers. If Holmes knew more he kept his own counsel, but, as he told
+      me that Inspector Lestrade had taken him into his confidence in the case,
+      I knew that he was in close touch with every development. Upon the fourth
+      day there appeared a long telegram from Paris which seemed to solve the
+      whole question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A discovery has just been made by the Parisian police,&rdquo; said the DAILY
+      TELEGRAPH, &ldquo;which raises the veil which hung round the tragic fate of Mr.
+      Eduardo Lucas, who met his death by violence last Monday night at
+      Godolphin Street, Westminster. Our readers will remember that the deceased
+      gentleman was found stabbed in his room, and that some suspicion attached
+      to his valet, but that the case broke down on an ALIBI. Yesterday a lady,
+      who has been known as Mme. Henri Fournaye, occupying a small villa in the
+      Rue Austerlitz, was reported to the authorities by her servants as being
+      insane. An examination showed that she had indeed developed mania of a
+      dangerous and permanent form. On inquiry the police have discovered that
+      Mme. Henri Fournaye only returned from a journey to London on Tuesday
+      last, and there is evidence to connect her with the crime at Westminster.
+      A comparison of photographs has proved conclusively that M. Henri Fournaye
+      and Eduardo Lucas were really one and the same person, and that the
+      deceased had for some reason lived a double life in London and Paris. Mme.
+      Fournaye, who is of Creole origin, is of an extremely excitable nature,
+      and has suffered in the past from attacks of jealousy which have amounted
+      to frenzy. It is conjectured that it was in one of these that she
+      committed the terrible crime which has caused such a sensation in London.
+      Her movements upon the Monday night have not yet been traced, but it is
+      undoubted that a woman answering to her description attracted much
+      attention at Charing Cross Station on Tuesday morning by the wildness of
+      her appearance and the violence of her gestures. It is probable,
+      therefore, that the crime was either committed when insane, or that its
+      immediate effect was to drive the unhappy woman out of her mind. At
+      present she is unable to give any coherent account of the past, and the
+      doctors hold out no hopes of the re-establishment of her reason. There is
+      evidence that a woman, who might have been Mme. Fournaye, was seen for
+      some hours on Monday night watching the house in Godolphin Street.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you think of that, Holmes?&rdquo; I had read the account aloud to him,
+      while he finished his breakfast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Watson,&rdquo; said he, as he rose from the table and paced up and down
+      the room, &ldquo;you are most long-suffering, but if I have told you nothing in
+      the last three days it is because there is nothing to tell. Even now this
+      report from Paris does not help us much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely it is final as regards the man's death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The man's death is a mere incident&mdash;a trivial episode&mdash;in
+      comparison with our real task, which is to trace this document and save a
+      European catastrophe. Only one important thing has happened in the last
+      three days, and that is that nothing has happened. I get reports almost
+      hourly from the Government, and it is certain that nowhere in Europe is
+      there any sign of trouble. Now, if this letter were loose&mdash;no, it
+      CAN'T be loose&mdash;but if it isn't loose, where can it be? Who has it?
+      Why is it held back? That's the question that beats in my brain like a
+      hammer. Was it, indeed, a coincidence that Lucas should meet his death on
+      the night when the letter disappeared? Did the letter ever reach him? If
+      so, why is it not among his papers? Did this mad wife of his carry it off
+      with her? If so, is it in her house in Paris? How could I search for it
+      without the French police having their suspicions aroused? It is a case,
+      my dear Watson, where the law is as dangerous to us as the criminals are.
+      Every man's hand is against us, and yet the interests at stake are
+      colossal. Should I bring it to a successful conclusion it will certainly
+      represent the crowning glory of my career. Ah, here is my latest from the
+      front!&rdquo; He glanced hurriedly at the note which had been handed in.
+      &ldquo;Halloa! Lestrade seems to have observed something of interest. Put on
+      your hat, Watson, and we will stroll down together to Westminster.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was my first visit to the scene of the crime&mdash;a high, dingy,
+      narrow-chested house, prim, formal, and solid, like the century which gave
+      it birth. Lestrade's bulldog features gazed out at us from the front
+      window, and he greeted us warmly when a big constable had opened the door
+      and let us in. The room into which we were shown was that in which the
+      crime had been committed, but no trace of it now remained, save an ugly,
+      irregular stain upon the carpet. This carpet was a small square drugget in
+      the centre of the room, surrounded by a broad expanse of beautiful,
+      old-fashioned wood-flooring in square blocks highly polished. Over the
+      fireplace was a magnificent trophy of weapons, one of which had been used
+      on that tragic night. In the window was a sumptuous writing-desk, and
+      every detail of the apartment, the pictures, the rugs, and the hangings,
+      all pointed to a taste which was luxurious to the verge of effeminacy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seen the Paris news?&rdquo; asked Lestrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Our French friends seem to have touched the spot this time. No doubt it's
+      just as they say. She knocked at the door&mdash;surprise visit, I guess,
+      for he kept his life in water-tight compartments. He let her in&mdash;couldn't
+      keep her in the street. She told him how she had traced him, reproached
+      him, one thing led to another, and then with that dagger so handy the end
+      soon came. It wasn't all done in an instant, though, for these chairs were
+      all swept over yonder, and he had one in his hand as if he had tried to
+      hold her off with it. We've got it all clear as if we had seen it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes raised his eyebrows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And yet you have sent for me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, yes, that's another matter&mdash;a mere trifle, but the sort of thing
+      you take an interest in&mdash;queer, you know, and what you might call
+      freakish. It has nothing to do with the main fact&mdash;can't have, on the
+      face of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you know, after a crime of this sort we are very careful to keep
+      things in their position. Nothing has been moved. Officer in charge here
+      day and night. This morning, as the man was buried and the investigation
+      over&mdash;so far as this room is concerned&mdash;we thought we could tidy
+      up a bit. This carpet. You see, it is not fastened down; only just laid
+      there. We had occasion to raise it. We found&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes? You found&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes's face grew tense with anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I'm sure you would never guess in a hundred years what we did find.
+      You see that stain on the carpet? Well, a great deal must have soaked
+      through, must it not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Undoubtedly it must.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you will be surprised to hear that there is no stain on the white
+      woodwork to correspond.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No stain! But there must&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; so you would say. But the fact remains that there isn't.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took the corner of the carpet in his hand and, turning it over, he
+      showed that it was indeed as he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the underside is as stained as the upper. It must have left a mark.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lestrade chuckled with delight at having puzzled the famous expert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now I'll show you the explanation. There IS a second stain, but it does
+      not correspond with the other. See for yourself.&rdquo; As he spoke he turned
+      over another portion of the carpet, and there, sure enough, was a great
+      crimson spill upon the square white facing of the old-fashioned floor.
+      &ldquo;What do you make of that, Mr. Holmes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, it is simple enough. The two stains did correspond, but the carpet
+      has been turned round. As it was square and unfastened it was easily
+      done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The official police don't need you, Mr. Holmes, to tell them that the
+      carpet must have been turned round. That's clear enough, for the stains
+      lie above each other&mdash;if you lay it over this way. But what I want to
+      know is, who shifted the carpet, and why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I could see from Holmes's rigid face that he was vibrating with inward
+      excitement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, Lestrade,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;has that constable in the passage been in
+      charge of the place all the time?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, he has.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, take my advice. Examine him carefully. Don't do it before us. We'll
+      wait here. You take him into the back room. You'll be more likely to get a
+      confession out of him alone. Ask him how he dared to admit people and
+      leave them alone in this room. Don't ask him if he has done it. Take it
+      for granted. Tell him you KNOW someone has been here. Press him. Tell him
+      that a full confession is his only chance of forgiveness. Do exactly what
+      I tell you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By George, if he knows I'll have it out of him!&rdquo; cried Lestrade. He
+      darted into the hall, and a few moments later his bullying voice sounded
+      from the back room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Watson, now!&rdquo; cried Holmes, with frenzied eagerness. All the
+      demoniacal force of the man masked behind that listless manner burst out
+      in a paroxysm of energy. He tore the drugget from the floor, and in an
+      instant was down on his hands and knees clawing at each of the squares of
+      wood beneath it. One turned sideways as he dug his nails into the edge of
+      it. It hinged back like the lid of a box. A small black cavity opened
+      beneath it. Holmes plunged his eager hand into it, and drew it out with a
+      bitter snarl of anger and disappointment. It was empty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quick, Watson, quick! Get it back again!&rdquo; The wooden lid was replaced,
+      and the drugget had only just been drawn straight when Lestrade's voice
+      was heard in the passage. He found Holmes leaning languidly against the
+      mantelpiece, resigned and patient, endeavouring to conceal his
+      irrepressible yawns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Holmes. I can see that you are bored to
+      death with the whole affair. Well, he has confessed, all right. Come in
+      here, MacPherson. Let these gentlemen hear of your most inexcusable
+      conduct.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The big constable, very hot and penitent, sidled into the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I meant no harm, sir, I'm sure. The young woman came to the door last
+      evening&mdash;mistook the house, she did. And then we got talking. It's
+      lonesome, when you're on duty here all day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, what happened then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She wanted to see where the crime was done&mdash;had read about it in the
+      papers, she said. She was a very respectable, well-spoken young woman,
+      sir, and I saw no harm in letting her have a peep. When she saw that mark
+      on the carpet, down she dropped on the floor, and lay as if she were dead.
+      I ran to the back and got some water, but I could not bring her to. Then I
+      went round the corner to the Ivy Plant for some brandy, and by the time I
+      had brought it back the young woman had recovered and was off&mdash;ashamed
+      of herself, I dare say, and dared not face me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How about moving that drugget?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, sir, it was a bit rumpled, certainly, when I came back. You see,
+      she fell on it, and it lies on a polished floor with nothing to keep it in
+      place. I straightened it out afterwards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a lesson to you that you can't deceive me, Constable MacPherson,&rdquo;
+       said Lestrade, with dignity. &ldquo;No doubt you thought that your breach of
+      duty could never be discovered, and yet a mere glance at that drugget was
+      enough to convince me that someone had been admitted to the room. It's
+      lucky for you, my man, that nothing is missing, or you would find yourself
+      in Queer Street. I'm sorry to have called you down over such a petty
+      business, Mr. Holmes, but I thought the point of the second stain not
+      corresponding with the first would interest you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly, it was most interesting. Has this woman only been here once,
+      constable?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, only once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who was she?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't know the name, sir. Was answering an advertisement about
+      type-writing, and came to the wrong number&mdash;very pleasant, genteel
+      young woman, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tall? Handsome?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir; she was a well-grown young woman. I suppose you might say she
+      was handsome. Perhaps some would say she was very handsome. 'Oh, officer,
+      do let me have a peep!' says she. She had pretty, coaxing ways, as you
+      might say, and I thought there was no harm in letting her just put her
+      head through the door.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How was she dressed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quiet, sir&mdash;a long mantle down to her feet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What time was it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was just growing dusk at the time. They were lighting the lamps as I
+      came back with the brandy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good,&rdquo; said Holmes. &ldquo;Come, Watson, I think that we have more
+      important work elsewhere.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As we left the house Lestrade remained in the front room, while the
+      repentant constable opened the door to let us out. Holmes turned on the
+      step and held up something in his hand. The constable stared intently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Lord, sir!&rdquo; he cried, with amazement on his face. Holmes put his
+      finger on his lips, replaced his hand in his breast-pocket, and burst out
+      laughing as we turned down the street. &ldquo;Excellent!&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Come, friend
+      Watson, the curtain rings up for the last act. You will be relieved to
+      hear that there will be no war, that the Right Honourable Trelawney Hope
+      will suffer no set-back in his brilliant career, that the indiscreet
+      Sovereign will receive no punishment for his indiscretion, that the Prime
+      Minister will have no European complication to deal with, and that with a
+      little tact and management upon our part nobody will be a penny the worse
+      for what might have been a very ugly incident.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My mind filled with admiration for this extraordinary man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have solved it!&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hardly that, Watson. There are some points which are as dark as ever. But
+      we have so much that it will be our own fault if we cannot get the rest.
+      We will go straight to Whitehall Terrace and bring the matter to a head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When we arrived at the residence of the European Secretary it was for Lady
+      Hilda Trelawney Hope that Sherlock Holmes inquired. We were shown into the
+      morning-room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Holmes!&rdquo; said the lady, and her face was pink with her indignation,
+      &ldquo;this is surely most unfair and ungenerous upon your part. I desired, as I
+      have explained, to keep my visit to you a secret, lest my husband should
+      think that I was intruding into his affairs. And yet you compromise me by
+      coming here and so showing that there are business relations between us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unfortunately, madam, I had no possible alternative. I have been
+      commissioned to recover this immensely important paper. I must therefore
+      ask you, madam, to be kind enough to place it in my hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The lady sprang to her feet, with the colour all dashed in an instant from
+      her beautiful face. Her eyes glazed&mdash;she tottered&mdash;I thought
+      that she would faint. Then with a grand effort she rallied from the shock,
+      and a supreme astonishment and indignation chased every other expression
+      from her features.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&mdash;you insult me, Mr. Holmes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, come, madam, it is useless. Give up the letter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She darted to the bell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The butler shall show you out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not ring, Lady Hilda. If you do, then all my earnest efforts to avoid
+      a scandal will be frustrated. Give up the letter and all will be set
+      right. If you will work with me I can arrange everything. If you work
+      against me I must expose you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stood grandly defiant, a queenly figure, her eyes fixed upon his as if
+      she would read his very soul. Her hand was on the bell, but she had
+      forborne to ring it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are trying to frighten me. It is not a very manly thing, Mr. Holmes,
+      to come here and browbeat a woman. You say that you know something. What
+      is it that you know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray sit down, madam. You will hurt yourself there if you fall. I will
+      not speak until you sit down. Thank you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I give you five minutes, Mr. Holmes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One is enough, Lady Hilda. I know of your visit to Eduardo Lucas, of your
+      giving him this document, of your ingenious return to the room last night,
+      and of the manner in which you took the letter from the hiding-place under
+      the carpet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stared at him with an ashen face and gulped twice before she could
+      speak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are mad, Mr. Holmes&mdash;you are mad!&rdquo; she cried, at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He drew a small piece of cardboard from his pocket. It was the face of a
+      woman cut out of a portrait.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have carried this because I thought it might be useful,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;The
+      policeman has recognised it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She gave a gasp and her head dropped back in the chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, Lady Hilda. You have the letter. The matter may still be adjusted.
+      I have no desire to bring trouble to you. My duty ends when I have
+      returned the lost letter to your husband. Take my advice and be frank with
+      me; it is your only chance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her courage was admirable. Even now she would not own defeat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I tell you again, Mr. Holmes, that you are under some absurd illusion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes rose from his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry for you, Lady Hilda. I have done my best for you; I can see
+      that it is all in vain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rang the bell. The butler entered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Mr. Trelawney Hope at home?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will be home, sir, at a quarter to one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes glanced at his watch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still a quarter of an hour,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Very good, I shall wait.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The butler had hardly closed the door behind him when Lady Hilda was down
+      on her knees at Holmes's feet, her hands out-stretched, her beautiful face
+      upturned and wet with her tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, spare me, Mr. Holmes! Spare me!&rdquo; she pleaded, in a frenzy of
+      supplication. &ldquo;For Heaven's sake, don't tell him! I love him so! I would
+      not bring one shadow on his life, and this I know would break his noble
+      heart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes raised the lady. &ldquo;I am thankful, madam, that you have come to your
+      senses even at this last moment! There is not an instant to lose. Where is
+      the letter?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She darted across to a writing-desk, unlocked it, and drew out a long blue
+      envelope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here it is, Mr. Holmes. Would to Heaven I had never seen it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can we return it?&rdquo; Holmes muttered. &ldquo;Quick, quick, we must think of
+      some way! Where is the despatch-box?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still in his bedroom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a stroke of luck! Quick, madam, bring it here!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A moment later she had appeared with a red flat box in her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How did you open it before? You have a duplicate key? Yes, of course you
+      have. Open it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      From out of her bosom Lady Hilda had drawn a small key. The box flew open.
+      It was stuffed with papers. Holmes thrust the blue envelope deep down into
+      the heart of them, between the leaves of some other document. The box was
+      shut, locked, and returned to the bedroom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now we are ready for him,&rdquo; said Holmes; &ldquo;we have still ten minutes. I am
+      going far to screen you, Lady Hilda. In return you will spend the time in
+      telling me frankly the real meaning of this extraordinary affair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Holmes, I will tell you everything,&rdquo; cried the lady. &ldquo;Oh, Mr. Holmes,
+      I would cut off my right hand before I gave him a moment of sorrow! There
+      is no woman in all London who loves her husband as I do, and yet if he
+      knew how I have acted&mdash;how I have been compelled to act&mdash;he
+      would never forgive me. For his own honour stands so high that he could
+      not forget or pardon a lapse in another. Help me, Mr. Holmes! My
+      happiness, his happiness, our very lives are at stake!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quick, madam, the time grows short!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was a letter of mine, Mr. Holmes, an indiscreet letter written before
+      my marriage&mdash;a foolish letter, a letter of an impulsive, loving girl.
+      I meant no harm, and yet he would have thought it criminal. Had he read
+      that letter his confidence would have been for ever destroyed. It is years
+      since I wrote it. I had thought that the whole matter was forgotten. Then
+      at last I heard from this man, Lucas, that it had passed into his hands,
+      and that he would lay it before my husband. I implored his mercy. He said
+      that he would return my letter if I would bring him a certain document
+      which he described in my husband's despatch-box. He had some spy in the
+      office who had told him of its existence. He assured me that no harm could
+      come to my husband. Put yourself in my position, Mr. Holmes! What was I to
+      do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take your husband into your confidence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could not, Mr. Holmes, I could not! On the one side seemed certain
+      ruin; on the other, terrible as it seemed to take my husband's paper,
+      still in a matter of politics I could not understand the consequences,
+      while in a matter of love and trust they were only too clear to me. I did
+      it, Mr. Holmes! I took an impression of his key; this man Lucas furnished
+      a duplicate. I opened his despatch-box, took the paper, and conveyed it to
+      Godolphin Street.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What happened there, madam?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I tapped at the door as agreed. Lucas opened it. I followed him into his
+      room, leaving the hall door ajar behind me, for I feared to be alone with
+      the man. I remember that there was a woman outside as I entered. Our
+      business was soon done. He had my letter on his desk; I handed him the
+      document. He gave me the letter. At this instant there was a sound at the
+      door. There were steps in the passage. Lucas quickly turned back the
+      drugget, thrust the document into some hiding-place there, and covered it
+      over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What happened after that is like some fearful dream. I have a vision of a
+      dark, frantic face, of a woman's voice, which screamed in French, 'My
+      waiting is not in vain. At last, at last I have found you with her!' There
+      was a savage struggle. I saw him with a chair in his hand, a knife gleamed
+      in hers. I rushed from the horrible scene, ran from the house, and only
+      next morning in the paper did I learn the dreadful result. That night I
+      was happy, for I had my letter, and I had not seen yet what the future
+      would bring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was the next morning that I realized that I had only exchanged one
+      trouble for another. My husband's anguish at the loss of his paper went to
+      my heart. I could hardly prevent myself from there and then kneeling down
+      at his feet and telling him what I had done. But that again would mean a
+      confession of the past. I came to you that morning in order to understand
+      the full enormity of my offence. From the instant that I grasped it my
+      whole mind was turned to the one thought of getting back my husband's
+      paper. It must still be where Lucas had placed it, for it was concealed
+      before this dreadful woman entered the room. If it had not been for her
+      coming, I should not have known where his hiding-place was. How was I to
+      get into the room? For two days I watched the place, but the door was
+      never left open. Last night I made a last attempt. What I did and how I
+      succeeded, you have already learned. I brought the paper back with me, and
+      thought of destroying it since I could see no way of returning it, without
+      confessing my guilt to my husband. Heavens, I hear his step upon the
+      stair!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The European Secretary burst excitedly into the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any news, Mr. Holmes, any news?&rdquo; he cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have some hopes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, thank heaven!&rdquo; His face became radiant. &ldquo;The Prime Minister is
+      lunching with me. May he share your hopes? He has nerves of steel, and yet
+      I know that he has hardly slept since this terrible event. Jacobs, will
+      you ask the Prime Minister to come up? As to you, dear, I fear that this
+      is a matter of politics. We will join you in a few minutes in the
+      dining-room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Prime Minister's manner was subdued, but I could see by the gleam of
+      his eyes and the twitchings of his bony hands that he shared the
+      excitement of his young colleague.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand that you have something to report, Mr. Holmes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Purely negative as yet,&rdquo; my friend answered. &ldquo;I have inquired at every
+      point where it might be, and I am sure that there is no danger to be
+      apprehended.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But that is not enough, Mr. Holmes. We cannot live for ever on such a
+      volcano. We must have something definite.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am in hopes of getting it. That is why I am here. The more I think of
+      the matter the more convinced I am that the letter has never left this
+      house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Holmes!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If it had it would certainly have been public by now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why should anyone take it in order to keep it in his house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not convinced that anyone did take it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then how could it leave the despatch-box?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not convinced that it ever did leave the despatch-box.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Holmes, this joking is very ill-timed. You have my assurance that it
+      left the box.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you examined the box since Tuesday morning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; it was not necessary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may conceivably have overlooked it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Impossible, I say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I am not convinced of it; I have known such things to happen. I
+      presume there are other papers there. Well, it may have got mixed with
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was on the top.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Someone may have shaken the box and displaced it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no; I had everything out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely it is easily decided, Hope,&rdquo; said the Premier. &ldquo;Let us have the
+      despatch-box brought in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Secretary rang the bell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jacobs, bring down my despatch-box. This is a farcical waste of time, but
+      still, if nothing else will satisfy you, it shall be done. Thank you,
+      Jacobs; put it here. I have always had the key on my watch-chain. Here are
+      the papers, you see. Letter from Lord Merrow, report from Sir Charles
+      Hardy, memorandum from Belgrade, note on the Russo-German grain taxes,
+      letter from Madrid, note from Lord Flowers&mdash;good heavens! what is
+      this? Lord Bellinger! Lord Bellinger!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Premier snatched the blue envelope from his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, it is it&mdash;and the letter is intact. Hope, I congratulate you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you! Thank you! What a weight from my heart. But this is
+      inconceivable&mdash;impossible. Mr. Holmes, you are a wizard, a sorcerer!
+      How did you know it was there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I knew it was nowhere else.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot believe my eyes!&rdquo; He ran wildly to the door. &ldquo;Where is my wife?
+      I must tell her that all is well. Hilda! Hilda!&rdquo; we heard his voice on the
+      stairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Premier looked at Holmes with twinkling eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, sir,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;There is more in this than meets the eye. How came
+      the letter back in the box?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Holmes turned away smiling from the keen scrutiny of those wonderful eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We also have our diplomatic secrets,&rdquo; said he, and picking up his hat he
+      turned to the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
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+Project Gutenberg's The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Return of Sherlock Holmes
+       Magazine Edition
+
+Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+Release Date: July 10, 2008 [EBook #221]
+Original Release Date: February, 1995
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Keller, Joanne Brown, Frank Sadowski,
+and Roger Squires
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+
+By Arthur Conan Doyle.
+
+
+
+Contents:
+
+     The Adventure of the Empty House.
+     The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.
+     The Adventure of the Dancing Men.
+     The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist.
+     The Adventure of the Priory School.
+     The Adventure of Black Peter.
+     The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.
+     The Adventure of the Six Napoleons.
+     The Adventure of the Three Students.
+     The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez.
+     The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter.
+     The Adventure of the Abbey Grange.
+     The Adventure of the Second Stain.]
+
+
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 26  OCTOBER, 1903
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+I.--The Adventure of the Empty House.
+
+
+IT was in the spring of the year 1894 that all London was interested,
+and the fashionable world dismayed, by the murder of the Honourable
+Ronald Adair under most unusual and inexplicable circumstances. The
+public has already learned those particulars of the crime which came out
+in the police investigation; but a good deal was suppressed upon that
+occasion, since the case for the prosecution was so overwhelmingly
+strong that it was not necessary to bring forward all the facts. Only
+now, at the end of nearly ten years, am I allowed to supply those
+missing links which make up the whole of that remarkable chain. The
+crime was of interest in itself, but that interest was as nothing to
+me compared to the inconceivable sequel, which afforded me the greatest
+shock and surprise of any event in my adventurous life. Even now,
+after this long interval, I find myself thrilling as I think of it, and
+feeling once more that sudden flood of joy, amazement, and incredulity
+which utterly submerged my mind. Let me say to that public which has
+shown some interest in those glimpses which I have occasionally given
+them of the thoughts and actions of a very remarkable man that they
+are not to blame me if I have not shared my knowledge with them, for I
+should have considered it my first duty to have done so had I not been
+barred by a positive prohibition from his own lips, which was only
+withdrawn upon the third of last month.
+
+It can be imagined that my close intimacy with Sherlock Holmes had
+interested me deeply in crime, and that after his disappearance I never
+failed to read with care the various problems which came before
+the public, and I even attempted more than once for my own private
+satisfaction to employ his methods in their solution, though with
+indifferent success. There was none, however, which appealed to me like
+this tragedy of Ronald Adair. As I read the evidence at the inquest,
+which led up to a verdict of wilful murder against some person or
+persons unknown, I realized more clearly than I had ever done the loss
+which the community had sustained by the death of Sherlock Holmes. There
+were points about this strange business which would, I was sure, have
+specially appealed to him, and the efforts of the police would have been
+supplemented, or more probably anticipated, by the trained observation
+and the alert mind of the first criminal agent in Europe. All day as
+I drove upon my round I turned over the case in my mind, and found no
+explanation which appeared to me to be adequate. At the risk of telling
+a twice-told tale I will recapitulate the facts as they were known to
+the public at the conclusion of the inquest.
+
+The Honourable Ronald Adair was the second son of the Earl of Maynooth,
+at that time Governor of one of the Australian Colonies. Adair's mother
+had returned from Australia to undergo the operation for cataract, and
+she, her son Ronald, and her daughter Hilda were living together at
+427, Park Lane. The youth moved in the best society, had, so far as was
+known, no enemies, and no particular vices. He had been engaged to Miss
+Edith Woodley, of Carstairs, but the engagement had been broken off by
+mutual consent some months before, and there was no sign that it had
+left any very profound feeling behind it. For the rest the man's life
+moved in a narrow and conventional circle, for his habits were quiet and
+his nature unemotional. Yet it was upon this easy-going young aristocrat
+that death came in most strange and unexpected form between the hours of
+ten and eleven-twenty on the night of March 30, 1894.
+
+Ronald Adair was fond of cards, playing continually, but never for such
+stakes as would hurt him. He was a member of the Baldwin, the Cavendish,
+and the Bagatelle card clubs. It was shown that after dinner on the day
+of his death he had played a rubber of whist at the latter club. He had
+also played there in the afternoon. The evidence of those who had played
+with him--Mr. Murray, Sir John Hardy, and Colonel Moran--showed that
+the game was whist, and that there was a fairly equal fall of the cards.
+Adair might have lost five pounds, but not more. His fortune was a
+considerable one, and such a loss could not in any way affect him. He
+had played nearly every day at one club or other, but he was a cautious
+player, and usually rose a winner. It came out in evidence that in
+partnership with Colonel Moran he had actually won as much as four
+hundred and twenty pounds in a sitting some weeks before from Godfrey
+Milner and Lord Balmoral. So much for his recent history, as it came out
+at the inquest.
+
+On the evening of the crime he returned from the club exactly at ten.
+His mother and sister were out spending the evening with a relation. The
+servant deposed that she heard him enter the front room on the second
+floor, generally used as his sitting-room. She had lit a fire there, and
+as it smoked she had opened the window. No sound was heard from the room
+until eleven-twenty, the hour of the return of Lady Maynooth and her
+daughter. Desiring to say good-night, she had attempted to enter her
+son's room. The door was locked on the inside, and no answer could be
+got to their cries and knocking. Help was obtained and the door forced.
+The unfortunate young man was found lying near the table. His head had
+been horribly mutilated by an expanding revolver bullet, but no weapon
+of any sort was to be found in the room. On the table lay two bank-notes
+for ten pounds each and seventeen pounds ten in silver and gold, the
+money arranged in little piles of varying amount. There were some
+figures also upon a sheet of paper with the names of some club friends
+opposite to them, from which it was conjectured that before his death he
+was endeavouring to make out his losses or winnings at cards.
+
+A minute examination of the circumstances served only to make the case
+more complex. In the first place, no reason could be given why the
+young man should have fastened the door upon the inside. There was the
+possibility that the murderer had done this and had afterwards escaped
+by the window. The drop was at least twenty feet, however, and a bed of
+crocuses in full bloom lay beneath. Neither the flowers nor the earth
+showed any sign of having been disturbed, nor were there any marks
+upon the narrow strip of grass which separated the house from the road.
+Apparently, therefore, it was the young man himself who had fastened the
+door. But how did he come by his death? No one could have climbed up to
+the window without leaving traces. Suppose a man had fired through the
+window, it would indeed be a remarkable shot who could with a
+revolver inflict so deadly a wound. Again, Park Lane is a frequented
+thoroughfare, and there is a cab-stand within a hundred yards of the
+house. No one had heard a shot. And yet there was the dead man, and
+there the revolver bullet, which had mushroomed out, as soft-nosed
+bullets will, and so inflicted a wound which must have caused
+instantaneous death. Such were the circumstances of the Park Lane
+Mystery, which were further complicated by entire absence of motive,
+since, as I have said, young Adair was not known to have any enemy, and
+no attempt had been made to remove the money or valuables in the room.
+
+All day I turned these facts over in my mind, endeavouring to hit upon
+some theory which could reconcile them all, and to find that line
+of least resistance which my poor friend had declared to be the
+starting-point of every investigation. I confess that I made little
+progress. In the evening I strolled across the Park, and found myself
+about six o'clock at the Oxford Street end of Park Lane. A group of
+loafers upon the pavements, all staring up at a particular window,
+directed me to the house which I had come to see. A tall, thin man with
+coloured glasses, whom I strongly suspected of being a plain-clothes
+detective, was pointing out some theory of his own, while the others
+crowded round to listen to what he said. I got as near him as I could,
+but his observations seemed to me to be absurd, so I withdrew again in
+some disgust. As I did so I struck against an elderly deformed man,
+who had been behind me, and I knocked down several books which he was
+carrying. I remember that as I picked them up I observed the title of
+one of them, "The Origin of Tree Worship," and it struck me that the
+fellow must be some poor bibliophile who, either as a trade or as a
+hobby, was a collector of obscure volumes. I endeavoured to apologize
+for the accident, but it was evident that these books which I had so
+unfortunately maltreated were very precious objects in the eyes of their
+owner. With a snarl of contempt he turned upon his heel, and I saw his
+curved back and white side-whiskers disappear among the throng.
+
+My observations of No. 427, Park Lane did little to clear up the problem
+in which I was interested. The house was separated from the street by
+a low wall and railing, the whole not more than five feet high. It was
+perfectly easy, therefore, for anyone to get into the garden, but the
+window was entirely inaccessible, since there was no water-pipe or
+anything which could help the most active man to climb it. More puzzled
+than ever I retraced my steps to Kensington. I had not been in my study
+five minutes when the maid entered to say that a person desired to
+see me. To my astonishment it was none other than my strange old
+book-collector, his sharp, wizened face peering out from a frame of
+white hair, and his precious volumes, a dozen of them at least, wedged
+under his right arm.
+
+"You're surprised to see me, sir," said he, in a strange, croaking
+voice.
+
+I acknowledged that I was.
+
+"Well, I've a conscience, sir, and when I chanced to see you go into
+this house, as I came hobbling after you, I thought to myself, I'll just
+step in and see that kind gentleman, and tell him that if I was a bit
+gruff in my manner there was not any harm meant, and that I am much
+obliged to him for picking up my books."
+
+"You make too much of a trifle," said I. "May I ask how you knew who I
+was?"
+
+"Well, sir, if it isn't too great a liberty, I am a neighbour of yours,
+for you'll find my little bookshop at the corner of Church Street,
+and very happy to see you, I am sure. Maybe you collect yourself, sir;
+here's 'British Birds,' and 'Catullus,' and 'The Holy War'--a bargain
+every one of them. With five volumes you could just fill that gap on
+that second shelf. It looks untidy, does it not, sir?"
+
+I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me. When I turned again
+Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at me across my study table. I rose
+to my feet, stared at him for some seconds in utter amazement, and then
+it appears that I must have fainted for the first and the last time
+in my life. Certainly a grey mist swirled before my eyes, and when it
+cleared I found my collar-ends undone and the tingling after-taste of
+brandy upon my lips. Holmes was bending over my chair, his flask in his
+hand.
+
+"My dear Watson," said the well-remembered voice, "I owe you a thousand
+apologies. I had no idea that you would be so affected."
+
+I gripped him by the arm.
+
+"Holmes!" I cried. "Is it really you? Can it indeed be that you are
+alive? Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing out of that awful
+abyss?"
+
+"Wait a moment," said he. "Are you sure that you are really fit to
+discuss things? I have given you a serious shock by my unnecessarily
+dramatic reappearance."
+
+"I am all right, but indeed, Holmes, I can hardly believe my eyes. Good
+heavens, to think that you--you of all men--should be standing in my
+study!" Again I gripped him by the sleeve and felt the thin, sinewy arm
+beneath it. "Well, you're not a spirit, anyhow," said I. "My dear chap,
+I am overjoyed to see you. Sit down and tell me how you came alive out
+of that dreadful chasm."
+
+He sat opposite to me and lit a cigarette in his old nonchalant manner.
+He was dressed in the seedy frock-coat of the book merchant, but the
+rest of that individual lay in a pile of white hair and old books upon
+the table. Holmes looked even thinner and keener than of old, but there
+was a dead-white tinge in his aquiline face which told me that his life
+recently had not been a healthy one.
+
+"I am glad to stretch myself, Watson," said he. "It is no joke when a
+tall man has to take a foot off his stature for several hours on end.
+Now, my dear fellow, in the matter of these explanations we have, if
+I may ask for your co-operation, a hard and dangerous night's work in
+front of us. Perhaps it would be better if I gave you an account of the
+whole situation when that work is finished."
+
+"I am full of curiosity. I should much prefer to hear now."
+
+"You'll come with me to-night?"
+
+"When you like and where you like."
+
+"This is indeed like the old days. We shall have time for a mouthful of
+dinner before we need go. Well, then, about that chasm. I had no serious
+difficulty in getting out of it, for the very simple reason that I never
+was in it."
+
+"You never were in it?"
+
+"No, Watson, I never was in it. My note to you was absolutely genuine.
+I had little doubt that I had come to the end of my career when I
+perceived the somewhat sinister figure of the late Professor Moriarty
+standing upon the narrow pathway which led to safety. I read an
+inexorable purpose in his grey eyes. I exchanged some remarks with him,
+therefore, and obtained his courteous permission to write the short note
+which you afterwards received. I left it with my cigarette-box and my
+stick and I walked along the pathway, Moriarty still at my heels. When
+I reached the end I stood at bay. He drew no weapon, but he rushed at me
+and threw his long arms around me. He knew that his own game was up, and
+was only anxious to revenge himself upon me. We tottered together upon
+the brink of the fall. I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or
+the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very
+useful to me. I slipped through his grip, and he with a horrible scream
+kicked madly for a few seconds and clawed the air with both his hands.
+But for all his efforts he could not get his balance, and over he went.
+With my face over the brink I saw him fall for a long way. Then he
+struck a rock, bounded off, and splashed into the water."
+
+I listened with amazement to this explanation, which Holmes delivered
+between the puffs of his cigarette.
+
+"But the tracks!" I cried. "I saw with my own eyes that two went down
+the path and none returned."
+
+"It came about in this way. The instant that the Professor had
+disappeared it struck me what a really extraordinarily lucky chance Fate
+had placed in my way. I knew that Moriarty was not the only man who
+had sworn my death. There were at least three others whose desire for
+vengeance upon me would only be increased by the death of their leader.
+They were all most dangerous men. One or other would certainly get me.
+On the other hand, if all the world was convinced that I was dead they
+would take liberties, these men, they would lay themselves open, and
+sooner or later I could destroy them. Then it would be time for me to
+announce that I was still in the land of the living. So rapidly does
+the brain act that I believe I had thought this all out before Professor
+Moriarty had reached the bottom of the Reichenbach Fall.
+
+"I stood up and examined the rocky wall behind me. In your picturesque
+account of the matter, which I read with great interest some months
+later, you assert that the wall was sheer. This was not literally
+true. A few small footholds presented themselves, and there was some
+indication of a ledge. The cliff is so high that to climb it all was
+an obvious impossibility, and it was equally impossible to make my way
+along the wet path without leaving some tracks. I might, it is true,
+have reversed my boots, as I have done on similar occasions, but the
+sight of three sets of tracks in one direction would certainly have
+suggested a deception. On the whole, then, it was best that I should
+risk the climb. It was not a pleasant business, Watson. The fall roared
+beneath me. I am not a fanciful person, but I give you my word that
+I seemed to hear Moriarty's voice screaming at me out of the abyss. A
+mistake would have been fatal. More than once, as tufts of grass came
+out in my hand or my foot slipped in the wet notches of the rock, I
+thought that I was gone. But I struggled upwards, and at last I reached
+a ledge several feet deep and covered with soft green moss, where I
+could lie unseen in the most perfect comfort. There I was stretched when
+you, my dear Watson, and all your following were investigating in the
+most sympathetic and inefficient manner the circumstances of my death.
+
+"At last, when you had all formed your inevitable and totally erroneous
+conclusions, you departed for the hotel and I was left alone. I had
+imagined that I had reached the end of my adventures, but a very
+unexpected occurrence showed me that there were surprises still in store
+for me. A huge rock, falling from above, boomed past me, struck the
+path, and bounded over into the chasm. For an instant I thought that
+it was an accident; but a moment later, looking up, I saw a man's head
+against the darkening sky, and another stone struck the very ledge upon
+which I was stretched, within a foot of my head. Of course, the meaning
+of this was obvious. Moriarty had not been alone. A confederate--and
+even that one glance had told me how dangerous a man that confederate
+was--had kept guard while the Professor had attacked me. From a
+distance, unseen by me, he had been a witness of his friend's death and
+of my escape. He had waited, and then, making his way round to the
+top of the cliff, he had endeavoured to succeed where his comrade had
+failed.
+
+"I did not take long to think about it, Watson. Again I saw that grim
+face look over the cliff, and I knew that it was the precursor of
+another stone. I scrambled down on to the path. I don't think I could
+have done it in cold blood. It was a hundred times more difficult than
+getting up. But I had no time to think of the danger, for another stone
+sang past me as I hung by my hands from the edge of the ledge. Halfway
+down I slipped, but by the blessing of God I landed, torn and bleeding,
+upon the path. I took to my heels, did ten miles over the mountains
+in the darkness, and a week later I found myself in Florence with the
+certainty that no one in the world knew what had become of me.
+
+"I had only one confidant--my brother Mycroft. I owe you many apologies,
+my dear Watson, but it was all-important that it should be thought I
+was dead, and it is quite certain that you would not have written so
+convincing an account of my unhappy end had you not yourself thought
+that it was true. Several times during the last three years I have taken
+up my pen to write to you, but always I feared lest your affectionate
+regard for me should tempt you to some indiscretion which would betray
+my secret. For that reason I turned away from you this evening when
+you upset my books, for I was in danger at the time, and any show of
+surprise and emotion upon your part might have drawn attention to my
+identity and led to the most deplorable and irreparable results. As to
+Mycroft, I had to confide in him in order to obtain the money which
+I needed. The course of events in London did not run so well as I had
+hoped, for the trial of the Moriarty gang left two of its most dangerous
+members, my own most vindictive enemies, at liberty. I travelled for
+two years in Tibet, therefore, and amused myself by visiting Lhassa
+and spending some days with the head Llama. You may have read of the
+remarkable explorations of a Norwegian named Sigerson, but I am sure
+that it never occurred to you that you were receiving news of your
+friend. I then passed through Persia, looked in at Mecca, and paid a
+short but interesting visit to the Khalifa at Khartoum, the results of
+which I have communicated to the Foreign Office. Returning to France I
+spent some months in a research into the coal-tar derivatives, which I
+conducted in a laboratory at Montpelier, in the South of France. Having
+concluded this to my satisfaction, and learning that only one of my
+enemies was now left in London, I was about to return when my movements
+were hastened by the news of this very remarkable Park Lane Mystery,
+which not only appealed to me by its own merits, but which seemed to
+offer some most peculiar personal opportunities. I came over at once to
+London, called in my own person at Baker Street, threw Mrs. Hudson into
+violent hysterics, and found that Mycroft had preserved my rooms and my
+papers exactly as they had always been. So it was, my dear Watson, that
+at two o'clock to-day I found myself in my old arm-chair in my own old
+room, and only wishing that I could have seen my old friend Watson in
+the other chair which he has so often adorned."
+
+Such was the remarkable narrative to which I listened on that April
+evening--a narrative which would have been utterly incredible to me had
+it not been confirmed by the actual sight of the tall, spare figure and
+the keen, eager face, which I had never thought to see again. In some
+manner he had learned of my own sad bereavement, and his sympathy was
+shown in his manner rather than in his words. "Work is the best antidote
+to sorrow, my dear Watson," said he, "and I have a piece of work for us
+both to-night which, if we can bring it to a successful conclusion, will
+in itself justify a man's life on this planet." In vain I begged him
+to tell me more. "You will hear and see enough before morning," he
+answered. "We have three years of the past to discuss. Let that suffice
+until half-past nine, when we start upon the notable adventure of the
+empty house."
+
+It was indeed like old times when, at that hour, I found myself seated
+beside him in a hansom, my revolver in my pocket and the thrill of
+adventure in my heart. Holmes was cold and stern and silent. As the
+gleam of the street-lamps flashed upon his austere features I saw that
+his brows were drawn down in thought and his thin lips compressed. I
+knew not what wild beast we were about to hunt down in the dark jungle
+of criminal London, but I was well assured from the bearing of this
+master huntsman that the adventure was a most grave one, while the
+sardonic smile which occasionally broke through his ascetic gloom boded
+little good for the object of our quest.
+
+I had imagined that we were bound for Baker Street, but Holmes stopped
+the cab at the corner of Cavendish Square. I observed that as he stepped
+out he gave a most searching glance to right and left, and at every
+subsequent street corner he took the utmost pains to assure that he was
+not followed. Our route was certainly a singular one. Holmes's knowledge
+of the byways of London was extraordinary, and on this occasion he
+passed rapidly, and with an assured step, through a network of mews and
+stables the very existence of which I had never known. We emerged at
+last into a small road, lined with old, gloomy houses, which led us into
+Manchester Street, and so to Blandford Street. Here he turned swiftly
+down a narrow passage, passed through a wooden gate into a deserted
+yard, and then opened with a key the back door of a house. We entered
+together and he closed it behind us.
+
+The place was pitch-dark, but it was evident to me that it was an empty
+house. Our feet creaked and crackled over the bare planking, and my
+outstretched hand touched a wall from which the paper was hanging in
+ribbons. Holmes's cold, thin fingers closed round my wrist and led me
+forwards down a long hall, until I dimly saw the murky fanlight over the
+door. Here Holmes turned suddenly to the right, and we found ourselves
+in a large, square, empty room, heavily shadowed in the corners, but
+faintly lit in the centre from the lights of the street beyond. There
+was no lamp near and the window was thick with dust, so that we could
+only just discern each other's figures within. My companion put his hand
+upon my shoulder and his lips close to my ear.
+
+"Do you know where we are?" he whispered.
+
+"Surely that is Baker Street," I answered, staring through the dim
+window.
+
+"Exactly. We are in Camden House, which stands opposite to our own old
+quarters."
+
+"But why are we here?"
+
+"Because it commands so excellent a view of that picturesque pile. Might
+I trouble you, my dear Watson, to draw a little nearer to the window,
+taking every precaution not to show yourself, and then to look up at our
+old rooms--the starting-point of so many of our little adventures? We
+will see if my three years of absence have entirely taken away my power
+to surprise you."
+
+I crept forward and looked across at the familiar window. As my eyes
+fell upon it I gave a gasp and a cry of amazement. The blind was down
+and a strong light was burning in the room. The shadow of a man who
+was seated in a chair within was thrown in hard, black outline upon the
+luminous screen of the window. There was no mistaking the poise of the
+head, the squareness of the shoulders, the sharpness of the features.
+The face was turned half-round, and the effect was that of one of
+those black silhouettes which our grandparents loved to frame. It was a
+perfect reproduction of Holmes. So amazed was I that I threw out my
+hand to make sure that the man himself was standing beside me. He was
+quivering with silent laughter.
+
+"Well?" said he.
+
+"Good heavens!" I cried. "It is marvellous."
+
+"I trust that age doth not wither nor custom stale my infinite
+variety,'" said he, and I recognised in his voice the joy and pride
+which the artist takes in his own creation. "It really is rather like
+me, is it not?"
+
+"I should be prepared to swear that it was you."
+
+"The credit of the execution is due to Monsieur Oscar Meunier, of
+Grenoble, who spent some days in doing the moulding. It is a bust in
+wax. The rest I arranged myself during my visit to Baker Street this
+afternoon."
+
+"But why?"
+
+"Because, my dear Watson, I had the strongest possible reason for
+wishing certain people to think that I was there when I was really
+elsewhere."
+
+"And you thought the rooms were watched?"
+
+"I KNEW that they were watched."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"By my old enemies, Watson. By the charming society whose leader lies
+in the Reichenbach Fall. You must remember that they knew, and only
+they knew, that I was still alive. Sooner or later they believed that I
+should come back to my rooms. They watched them continuously, and this
+morning they saw me arrive."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Because I recognised their sentinel when I glanced out of my window. He
+is a harmless enough fellow, Parker by name, a garroter by trade, and a
+remarkable performer upon the Jew's harp. I cared nothing for him. But
+I cared a great deal for the much more formidable person who was behind
+him, the bosom friend of Moriarty, the man who dropped the rocks over
+the cliff, the most cunning and dangerous criminal in London. That is
+the man who is after me to-night, Watson, and that is the man who is
+quite unaware that we are after HIM."
+
+My friend's plans were gradually revealing themselves. From this
+convenient retreat the watchers were being watched and the trackers
+tracked. That angular shadow up yonder was the bait and we were the
+hunters. In silence we stood together in the darkness and watched the
+hurrying figures who passed and repassed in front of us. Holmes was
+silent and motionless; but I could tell that he was keenly alert, and
+that his eyes were fixed intently upon the stream of passers-by. It was
+a bleak and boisterous night, and the wind whistled shrilly down the
+long street. Many people were moving to and fro, most of them muffled in
+their coats and cravats. Once or twice it seemed to me that I had seen
+the same figure before, and I especially noticed two men who appeared
+to be sheltering themselves from the wind in the doorway of a house
+some distance up the street. I tried to draw my companion's attention
+to them, but he gave a little ejaculation of impatience and continued
+to stare into the street. More than once he fidgeted with his feet and
+tapped rapidly with his fingers upon the wall. It was evident to me
+that he was becoming uneasy and that his plans were not working out
+altogether as he had hoped. At last, as midnight approached and
+the street gradually cleared, he paced up and down the room in
+uncontrollable agitation. I was about to make some remark to him when
+I raised my eyes to the lighted window and again experienced almost as
+great a surprise as before. I clutched Holmes's arm and pointed upwards.
+
+"The shadow has moved!" I cried.
+
+It was, indeed, no longer the profile, but the back, which was turned
+towards us.
+
+Three years had certainly not smoothed the asperities of his temper or
+his impatience with a less active intelligence than his own.
+
+"Of course it has moved," said he. "Am I such a farcical bungler,
+Watson, that I should erect an obvious dummy and expect that some of
+the sharpest men in Europe would be deceived by it? We have been in
+this room two hours, and Mrs. Hudson has made some change in that figure
+eight times, or once in every quarter of an hour. She works it from the
+front so that her shadow may never be seen. Ah!" He drew in his breath
+with a shrill, excited intake. In the dim light I saw his head thrown
+forward, his whole attitude rigid with attention. Outside, the street
+was absolutely deserted. Those two men might still be crouching in the
+doorway, but I could no longer see them. All was still and dark, save
+only that brilliant yellow screen in front of us with the black figure
+outlined upon its centre. Again in the utter silence I heard that thin,
+sibilant note which spoke of intense suppressed excitement. An instant
+later he pulled me back into the blackest corner of the room, and I
+felt his warning hand upon my lips. The fingers which clutched me were
+quivering. Never had I known my friend more moved, and yet the dark
+street still stretched lonely and motionless before us.
+
+But suddenly I was aware of that which his keener senses had already
+distinguished. A low, stealthy sound came to my ears, not from the
+direction of Baker Street, but from the back of the very house in which
+we lay concealed. A door opened and shut. An instant later steps
+crept down the passage--steps which were meant to be silent, but which
+reverberated harshly through the empty house. Holmes crouched back
+against the wall and I did the same, my hand closing upon the handle
+of my revolver. Peering through the gloom, I saw the vague outline of a
+man, a shade blacker than the blackness of the open door. He stood for
+an instant, and then he crept forward, crouching, menacing, into the
+room. He was within three yards of us, this sinister figure, and I had
+braced myself to meet his spring, before I realized that he had no idea
+of our presence. He passed close beside us, stole over to the window,
+and very softly and noiselessly raised it for half a foot. As he sank to
+the level of this opening the light of the street, no longer dimmed by
+the dusty glass, fell full upon his face. The man seemed to be beside
+himself with excitement. His two eyes shone like stars and his
+features were working convulsively. He was an elderly man, with a thin,
+projecting nose, a high, bald forehead, and a huge grizzled moustache.
+An opera-hat was pushed to the back of his head, and an evening dress
+shirt-front gleamed out through his open overcoat. His face was gaunt
+and swarthy, scored with deep, savage lines. In his hand he carried what
+appeared to be a stick, but as he laid it down upon the floor it gave
+a metallic clang. Then from the pocket of his overcoat he drew a bulky
+object, and he busied himself in some task which ended with a loud,
+sharp click, as if a spring or bolt had fallen into its place. Still
+kneeling upon the floor he bent forward and threw all his weight and
+strength upon some lever, with the result that there came a long,
+whirling, grinding noise, ending once more in a powerful click. He
+straightened himself then, and I saw that what he held in his hand was
+a sort of gun, with a curiously misshapen butt. He opened it at the
+breech, put something in, and snapped the breech-block. Then, crouching
+down, he rested the end of the barrel upon the ledge of the open window,
+and I saw his long moustache droop over the stock and his eye gleam as
+it peered along the sights. I heard a little sigh of satisfaction as
+he cuddled the butt into his shoulder, and saw that amazing target, the
+black man on the yellow ground, standing clear at the end of his fore
+sight. For an instant he was rigid and motionless. Then his finger
+tightened on the trigger. There was a strange, loud whiz and a long,
+silvery tinkle of broken glass. At that instant Holmes sprang like a
+tiger on to the marksman's back and hurled him flat upon his face. He
+was up again in a moment, and with convulsive strength he seized Holmes
+by the throat; but I struck him on the head with the butt of my revolver
+and he dropped again upon the floor. I fell upon him, and as I held him
+my comrade blew a shrill call upon a whistle. There was the clatter of
+running feet upon the pavement, and two policemen in uniform, with one
+plain-clothes detective, rushed through the front entrance and into the
+room.
+
+"That you, Lestrade?" said Holmes.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes. I took the job myself. It's good to see you back in
+London, sir."
+
+"I think you want a little unofficial help. Three undetected murders in
+one year won't do, Lestrade. But you handled the Molesey Mystery with
+less than your usual--that's to say, you handled it fairly well."
+
+We had all risen to our feet, our prisoner breathing hard, with a
+stalwart constable on each side of him. Already a few loiterers had
+begun to collect in the street. Holmes stepped up to the window, closed
+it, and dropped the blinds. Lestrade had produced two candles and the
+policemen had uncovered their lanterns. I was able at last to have a
+good look at our prisoner.
+
+It was a tremendously virile and yet sinister face which was turned
+towards us. With the brow of a philosopher above and the jaw of a
+sensualist below, the man must have started with great capacities for
+good or for evil. But one could not look upon his cruel blue eyes, with
+their drooping, cynical lids, or upon the fierce, aggressive nose and
+the threatening, deep-lined brow, without reading Nature's plainest
+danger-signals. He took no heed of any of us, but his eyes were fixed
+upon Holmes's face with an expression in which hatred and amazement were
+equally blended. "You fiend!" he kept on muttering. "You clever, clever
+fiend!"
+
+"Ah, Colonel!" said Holmes, arranging his rumpled collar; "'journeys end
+in lovers' meetings,' as the old play says. I don't think I have had the
+pleasure of seeing you since you favoured me with those attentions as I
+lay on the ledge above the Reichenbach Fall."
+
+The Colonel still stared at my friend like a man in a trance. "You
+cunning, cunning fiend!" was all that he could say.
+
+"I have not introduced you yet," said Holmes. "This, gentlemen, is
+Colonel Sebastian Moran, once of Her Majesty's Indian Army, and the best
+heavy game shot that our Eastern Empire has ever produced. I believe
+I am correct, Colonel, in saying that your bag of tigers still remains
+unrivalled?"
+
+The fierce old man said nothing, but still glared at my companion; with
+his savage eyes and bristling moustache he was wonderfully like a tiger
+himself.
+
+"I wonder that my very simple stratagem could deceive so old a shikari,"
+said Holmes. "It must be very familiar to you. Have you not tethered a
+young kid under a tree, lain above it with your rifle, and waited for
+the bait to bring up your tiger? This empty house is my tree and you
+are my tiger. You have possibly had other guns in reserve in case there
+should be several tigers, or in the unlikely supposition of your own aim
+failing you. These," he pointed around, "are my other guns. The parallel
+is exact."
+
+Colonel Moran sprang forward, with a snarl of rage, but the constables
+dragged him back. The fury upon his face was terrible to look at.
+
+"I confess that you had one small surprise for me," said Holmes. "I did
+not anticipate that you would yourself make use of this empty house and
+this convenient front window. I had imagined you as operating from the
+street, where my friend Lestrade and his merry men were awaiting you.
+With that exception all has gone as I expected."
+
+Colonel Moran turned to the official detective.
+
+"You may or may not have just cause for arresting me," said he, "but at
+least there can be no reason why I should submit to the gibes of this
+person. If I am in the hands of the law let things be done in a legal
+way."
+
+"Well, that's reasonable enough," said Lestrade. "Nothing further you
+have to say, Mr. Holmes, before we go?"
+
+Holmes had picked up the powerful air-gun from the floor and was
+examining its mechanism.
+
+"An admirable and unique weapon," said he, "noiseless and of tremendous
+power. I knew Von Herder, the blind German mechanic, who constructed it
+to the order of the late Professor Moriarty. For years I have been aware
+of its existence, though I have never before had the opportunity of
+handling it. I commend it very specially to your attention, Lestrade,
+and also the bullets which fit it."
+
+"You can trust us to look after that, Mr. Holmes," said Lestrade, as the
+whole party moved towards the door. "Anything further to say?"
+
+"Only to ask what charge you intend to prefer?"
+
+"What charge, sir? Why, of course, the attempted murder of Mr. Sherlock
+Holmes."
+
+"Not so, Lestrade. I do not propose to appear in the matter at all. To
+you, and to you only, belongs the credit of the remarkable arrest which
+you have effected. Yes, Lestrade, I congratulate you! With your usual
+happy mixture of cunning and audacity you have got him."
+
+"Got him! Got whom, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"The man that the whole force has been seeking in vain--Colonel
+Sebastian Moran, who shot the Honourable Ronald Adair with an expanding
+bullet from an air-gun through the open window of the second-floor front
+of No. 427, Park Lane, upon the 30th of last month. That's the charge,
+Lestrade. And now, Watson, if you can endure the draught from a broken
+window, I think that half an hour in my study over a cigar may afford
+you some profitable amusement."
+
+
+Our old chambers had been left unchanged through the supervision of
+Mycroft Holmes and the immediate care of Mrs. Hudson. As I entered I
+saw, it is true, an unwonted tidiness, but the old landmarks were all
+in their place. There were the chemical corner and the acid-stained,
+deal-topped table. There upon a shelf was the row of formidable
+scrap-books and books of reference which many of our fellow-citizens
+would have been so glad to burn. The diagrams, the violin-case, and the
+pipe-rack--even the Persian slipper which contained the tobacco--all met
+my eyes as I glanced round me. There were two occupants of the room--one
+Mrs. Hudson, who beamed upon us both as we entered; the other the
+strange dummy which had played so important a part in the evening's
+adventures. It was a wax-coloured model of my friend, so admirably done
+that it was a perfect facsimile. It stood on a small pedestal table with
+an old dressing-gown of Holmes's so draped round it that the illusion
+from the street was absolutely perfect.
+
+"I hope you preserved all precautions, Mrs. Hudson?" said Holmes.
+
+"I went to it on my knees, sir, just as you told me."
+
+"Excellent. You carried the thing out very well. Did you observe where
+the bullet went?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I'm afraid it has spoilt your beautiful bust, for it passed
+right through the head and flattened itself on the wall. I picked it up
+from the carpet. Here it is!"
+
+Holmes held it out to me. "A soft revolver bullet, as you perceive,
+Watson. There's genius in that, for who would expect to find such a
+thing fired from an air-gun. All right, Mrs. Hudson, I am much obliged
+for your assistance. And now, Watson, let me see you in your old seat
+once more, for there are several points which I should like to discuss
+with you."
+
+He had thrown off the seedy frock-coat, and now he was the Holmes of old
+in the mouse-coloured dressing-gown which he took from his effigy.
+
+"The old shikari's nerves have not lost their steadiness nor his eyes
+their keenness," said he, with a laugh, as he inspected the shattered
+forehead of his bust.
+
+"Plumb in the middle of the back of the head and smack through the
+brain. He was the best shot in India, and I expect that there are few
+better in London. Have you heard the name?"
+
+"No, I have not."
+
+"Well, well, such is fame! But, then, if I remember aright, you had not
+heard the name of Professor James Moriarty, who had one of the great
+brains of the century. Just give me down my index of biographies from
+the shelf."
+
+He turned over the pages lazily, leaning back in his chair and blowing
+great clouds from his cigar.
+
+"My collection of M's is a fine one," said he. "Moriarty himself is
+enough to make any letter illustrious, and here is Morgan the poisoner,
+and Merridew of abominable memory, and Mathews, who knocked out my left
+canine in the waiting-room at Charing Cross, and, finally, here is our
+friend of to-night."
+
+He handed over the book, and I read: "MORAN, SEBASTIAN, COLONEL.
+Unemployed. Formerly 1st Bengalore Pioneers. Born London, 1840. Son of
+Sir Augustus Moran, C.B., once British Minister to Persia. Educated
+Eton and Oxford. Served in Jowaki Campaign, Afghan Campaign, Charasiab
+(despatches), Sherpur, and Cabul. Author of 'Heavy Game of the Western
+Himalayas,' 1881; 'Three Months in the Jungle,' 1884. Address: Conduit
+Street. Clubs: The Anglo-Indian, the Tankerville, the Bagatelle Card
+Club."
+
+On the margin was written, in Holmes's precise hand: "The second most
+dangerous man in London."
+
+"This is astonishing," said I, as I handed back the volume. "The man's
+career is that of an honourable soldier."
+
+"It is true," Holmes answered. "Up to a certain point he did well. He
+was always a man of iron nerve, and the story is still told in India how
+he crawled down a drain after a wounded man-eating tiger. There are some
+trees, Watson, which grow to a certain height and then suddenly develop
+some unsightly eccentricity. You will see it often in humans. I have
+a theory that the individual represents in his development the whole
+procession of his ancestors, and that such a sudden turn to good or
+evil stands for some strong influence which came into the line of his
+pedigree. The person becomes, as it were, the epitome of the history of
+his own family."
+
+"It is surely rather fanciful."
+
+"Well, I don't insist upon it. Whatever the cause, Colonel Moran began
+to go wrong. Without any open scandal, he still made India too hot to
+hold him. He retired, came to London, and again acquired an evil name.
+It was at this time that he was sought out by Professor Moriarty,
+to whom for a time he was chief of the staff. Moriarty supplied him
+liberally with money and used him only in one or two very high-class
+jobs which no ordinary criminal could have undertaken. You may have
+some recollection of the death of Mrs. Stewart, of Lauder, in 1887.
+Not? Well, I am sure Moran was at the bottom of it; but nothing could
+be proved. So cleverly was the Colonel concealed that even when the
+Moriarty gang was broken up we could not incriminate him. You remember
+at that date, when I called upon you in your rooms, how I put up the
+shutters for fear of air-guns? No doubt you thought me fanciful. I knew
+exactly what I was doing, for I knew of the existence of this remarkable
+gun, and I knew also that one of the best shots in the world would be
+behind it. When we were in Switzerland he followed us with Moriarty,
+and it was undoubtedly he who gave me that evil five minutes on the
+Reichenbach ledge.
+
+"You may think that I read the papers with some attention during my
+sojourn in France, on the look-out for any chance of laying him by the
+heels. So long as he was free in London my life would really not have
+been worth living. Night and day the shadow would have been over me, and
+sooner or later his chance must have come. What could I do? I could not
+shoot him at sight, or I should myself be in the dock. There was no use
+appealing to a magistrate. They cannot interfere on the strength of what
+would appear to them to be a wild suspicion. So I could do nothing. But
+I watched the criminal news, knowing that sooner or later I should get
+him. Then came the death of this Ronald Adair. My chance had come at
+last! Knowing what I did, was it not certain that Colonel Moran had done
+it? He had played cards with the lad; he had followed him home from the
+club; he had shot him through the open window. There was not a doubt of
+it. The bullets alone are enough to put his head in a noose. I came
+over at once. I was seen by the sentinel, who would, I knew, direct
+the Colonel's attention to my presence. He could not fail to connect my
+sudden return with his crime and to be terribly alarmed. I was sure that
+he would make an attempt to get me out of the way AT ONCE, and would
+bring round his murderous weapon for that purpose. I left him an
+excellent mark in the window, and, having warned the police that they
+might be needed--by the way, Watson, you spotted their presence in that
+doorway with unerring accuracy--I took up what seemed to me to be a
+judicious post for observation, never dreaming that he would choose the
+same spot for his attack. Now, my dear Watson, does anything remain for
+me to explain?"
+
+"Yes," said I. "You have not made it clear what was Colonel Moran's
+motive in murdering the Honourable Ronald Adair."
+
+"Ah! my dear Watson, there we come into those realms of conjecture where
+the most logical mind may be at fault. Each may form his own hypothesis
+upon the present evidence, and yours is as likely to be correct as
+mine."
+
+"You have formed one, then?"
+
+"I think that it is not difficult to explain the facts. It came out
+in evidence that Colonel Moran and young Adair had between them won a
+considerable amount of money. Now, Moran undoubtedly played foul--of
+that I have long been aware. I believe that on the day of the murder
+Adair had discovered that Moran was cheating. Very likely he had spoken
+to him privately, and had threatened to expose him unless he voluntarily
+resigned his membership of the club and promised not to play cards
+again. It is unlikely that a youngster like Adair would at once make a
+hideous scandal by exposing a well-known man so much older than himself.
+Probably he acted as I suggest. The exclusion from his clubs would mean
+ruin to Moran, who lived by his ill-gotten card gains. He therefore
+murdered Adair, who at the time was endeavouring to work out how
+much money he should himself return, since he could not profit by his
+partner's foul play. He locked the door lest the ladies should surprise
+him and insist upon knowing what he was doing with these names and
+coins. Will it pass?"
+
+"I have no doubt that you have hit upon the truth."
+
+"It will be verified or disproved at the trial. Meanwhile, come what
+may, Colonel Moran will trouble us no more, the famous air-gun of Von
+Herder will embellish the Scotland Yard Museum, and once again
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes is free to devote his life to examining those
+interesting little problems which the complex life of London so
+plentifully presents."
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 26  NOVEMBER, 1903
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+
+II.--The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.
+
+
+"FROM the point of view of the criminal expert," said Mr. Sherlock
+Holmes, "London has become a singularly uninteresting city since the
+death of the late lamented Professor Moriarty."
+
+"I can hardly think that you would find many decent citizens to agree
+with you," I answered.
+
+"Well, well, I must not be selfish," said he, with a smile, as he pushed
+back his chair from the breakfast-table. "The community is certainly
+the gainer, and no one the loser, save the poor out-of-work specialist,
+whose occupation has gone. With that man in the field one's morning
+paper presented infinite possibilities. Often it was only the smallest
+trace, Watson, the faintest indication, and yet it was enough to tell me
+that the great malignant brain was there, as the gentlest tremors of
+the edges of the web remind one of the foul spider which lurks in the
+centre. Petty thefts, wanton assaults, purposeless outrage--to the man
+who held the clue all could be worked into one connected whole. To the
+scientific student of the higher criminal world no capital in Europe
+offered the advantages which London then possessed. But now----" He
+shrugged his shoulders in humorous deprecation of the state of things
+which he had himself done so much to produce.
+
+At the time of which I speak Holmes had been back for some months, and
+I, at his request, had sold my practice and returned to share the old
+quarters in Baker Street. A young doctor, named Verner, had purchased my
+small Kensington practice, and given with astonishingly little demur the
+highest price that I ventured to ask--an incident which only explained
+itself some years later when I found that Verner was a distant relation
+of Holmes's, and that it was my friend who had really found the money.
+
+Our months of partnership had not been so uneventful as he had stated,
+for I find, on looking over my notes, that this period includes the case
+of the papers of Ex-President Murillo, and also the shocking affair of
+the Dutch steamship FRIESLAND, which so nearly cost us both our lives.
+His cold and proud nature was always averse, however, to anything in the
+shape of public applause, and he bound me in the most stringent terms
+to say no further word of himself, his methods, or his successes--a
+prohibition which, as I have explained, has only now been removed.
+
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes was leaning back in his chair after his whimsical
+protest, and was unfolding his morning paper in a leisurely fashion,
+when our attention was arrested by a tremendous ring at the bell,
+followed immediately by a hollow drumming sound, as if someone were
+beating on the outer door with his fist. As it opened there came a
+tumultuous rush into the hall, rapid feet clattered up the stair, and an
+instant later a wild-eyed and frantic young man, pale, dishevelled, and
+palpitating, burst into the room. He looked from one to the other of us,
+and under our gaze of inquiry he became conscious that some apology was
+needed for this unceremonious entry.
+
+"I'm sorry, Mr. Holmes," he cried. "You mustn't blame me. I am nearly
+mad. Mr. Holmes, I am the unhappy John Hector McFarlane."
+
+He made the announcement as if the name alone would explain both his
+visit and its manner; but I could see by my companion's unresponsive
+face that it meant no more to him than to me.
+
+"Have a cigarette, Mr. McFarlane," said he, pushing his case across.
+"I am sure that with your symptoms my friend Dr. Watson here would
+prescribe a sedative. The weather has been so very warm these last few
+days. Now, if you feel a little more composed, I should be glad if you
+would sit down in that chair and tell us very slowly and quietly who you
+are and what it is that you want. You mentioned your name as if I should
+recognise it, but I assure you that, beyond the obvious facts that
+you are a bachelor, a solicitor, a Freemason, and an asthmatic, I know
+nothing whatever about you."
+
+Familiar as I was with my friend's methods, it was not difficult for me
+to follow his deductions, and to observe the untidiness of attire, the
+sheaf of legal papers, the watch-charm, and the breathing which had
+prompted them. Our client, however, stared in amazement.
+
+"Yes, I am all that, Mr. Holmes, and in addition I am the most
+unfortunate man at this moment in London. For Heaven's sake don't
+abandon me, Mr. Holmes! If they come to arrest me before I have finished
+my story, make them give me time so that I may tell you the whole
+truth. I could go to gaol happy if I knew that you were working for me
+outside."
+
+"Arrest you!" said Holmes. "This is really most grati--most interesting.
+On what charge do you expect to be arrested?"
+
+"Upon the charge of murdering Mr. Jonas Oldacre, of Lower Norwood."
+
+My companion's expressive face showed a sympathy which was not, I am
+afraid, entirely unmixed with satisfaction.
+
+"Dear me," said he; "it was only this moment at breakfast that I was
+saying to my friend, Dr. Watson, that sensational cases had disappeared
+out of our papers."
+
+Our visitor stretched forward a quivering hand and picked up the DAILY
+TELEGRAPH, which still lay upon Holmes's knee.
+
+"If you had looked at it, sir, you would have seen at a glance what the
+errand is on which I have come to you this morning. I feel as if my name
+and my misfortune must be in every man's mouth." He turned it over to
+expose the central page. "Here it is, and with your permission I
+will read it to you. Listen to this, Mr. Holmes. The head-lines are:
+'Mysterious Affair at Lower Norwood. Disappearance of a Well-known
+Builder. Suspicion of Murder and Arson. A Clue to the Criminal.' That is
+the clue which they are already following, Mr. Holmes, and I know that
+it leads infallibly to me. I have been followed from London Bridge
+Station, and I am sure that they are only waiting for the warrant to
+arrest me. It will break my mother's heart--it will break her heart!"
+He wrung his hands in an agony of apprehension, and swayed backwards and
+forwards in his chair.
+
+I looked with interest upon this man, who was accused of being the
+perpetrator of a crime of violence. He was flaxen-haired and handsome
+in a washed-out negative fashion, with frightened blue eyes and a
+clean-shaven face, with a weak, sensitive mouth. His age may have been
+about twenty-seven; his dress and bearing that of a gentleman. From the
+pocket of his light summer overcoat protruded the bundle of endorsed
+papers which proclaimed his profession.
+
+"We must use what time we have," said Holmes. "Watson, would you
+have the kindness to take the paper and to read me the paragraph in
+question?"
+
+Underneath the vigorous head-lines which our client had quoted I read
+the following suggestive narrative:--
+
+
+Late last night, or early this morning, an incident occurred at Lower
+Norwood which points, it is feared, to a serious crime. Mr. Jonas
+Oldacre is a well-known resident of that suburb, where he has carried
+on his business as a builder for many years. Mr. Oldacre is a bachelor,
+fifty-two years of age, and lives in Deep Dene House, at the Sydenham
+end of the road of that name. He has had the reputation of being a
+man of eccentric habits, secretive and retiring. For some years he has
+practically withdrawn from the business, in which he is said to have
+amassed considerable wealth. A small timber-yard still exists, however,
+at the back of the house, and last night, about twelve o'clock, an alarm
+was given that one of the stacks was on fire. The engines were soon upon
+the spot, but the dry wood burned with great fury, and it was impossible
+to arrest the conflagration until the stack had been entirely consumed.
+Up to this point the incident bore the appearance of an ordinary
+accident, but fresh indications seem to point to serious crime. Surprise
+was expressed at the absence of the master of the establishment from
+the scene of the fire, and an inquiry followed, which showed that he had
+disappeared from the house. An examination of his room revealed that the
+bed had not been slept in, that a safe which stood in it was open,
+that a number of important papers were scattered about the room, and,
+finally, that there were signs of a murderous struggle, slight traces
+of blood being found within the room, and an oaken walking-stick, which
+also showed stains of blood upon the handle. It is known that Mr. Jonas
+Oldacre had received a late visitor in his bedroom upon that night, and
+the stick found has been identified as the property of this person, who
+is a young London solicitor named John Hector McFarlane, junior partner
+of Graham and McFarlane, of 426, Gresham Buildings, E.C. The police
+believe that they have evidence in their possession which supplies
+a very convincing motive for the crime, and altogether it cannot be
+doubted that sensational developments will follow.
+
+LATER.--It is rumoured as we go to press that Mr. John Hector McFarlane
+has actually been arrested on the charge of the murder of Mr. Jonas
+Oldacre. It is at least certain that a warrant has been issued. There
+have been further and sinister developments in the investigation at
+Norwood. Besides the signs of a struggle in the room of the unfortunate
+builder it is now known that the French windows of his bedroom (which is
+on the ground floor) were found to be open, that there were marks as
+if some bulky object had been dragged across to the wood-pile, and,
+finally, it is asserted that charred remains have been found among the
+charcoal ashes of the fire. The police theory is that a most sensational
+crime has been committed, that the victim was clubbed to death in his
+own bedroom, his papers rifled, and his dead body dragged across to
+the wood-stack, which was then ignited so as to hide all traces of the
+crime. The conduct of the criminal investigation has been left in
+the experienced hands of Inspector Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, who is
+following up the clues with his accustomed energy and sagacity.
+
+
+Sherlock Holmes listened with closed eyes and finger-tips together to
+this remarkable account.
+
+"The case has certainly some points of interest," said he, in his
+languid fashion. "May I ask, in the first place, Mr. McFarlane, how
+it is that you are still at liberty, since there appears to be enough
+evidence to justify your arrest?"
+
+"I live at Torrington Lodge, Blackheath, with my parents, Mr. Holmes;
+but last night, having to do business very late with Mr. Jonas Oldacre,
+I stayed at an hotel in Norwood, and came to my business from there. I
+knew nothing of this affair until I was in the train, when I read what
+you have just heard. I at once saw the horrible danger of my position,
+and I hurried to put the case into your hands. I have no doubt that I
+should have been arrested either at my City office or at my home. A
+man followed me from London Bridge Station, and I have no doubt--Great
+Heaven, what is that?"
+
+It was a clang of the bell, followed instantly by heavy steps upon the
+stair. A moment later our old friend Lestrade appeared in the doorway.
+Over his shoulder I caught a glimpse of one or two uniformed policemen
+outside.
+
+"Mr. John Hector McFarlane?" said Lestrade.
+
+Our unfortunate client rose with a ghastly face.
+
+"I arrest you for the wilful murder of Mr. Jonas Oldacre, of Lower
+Norwood."
+
+McFarlane turned to us with a gesture of despair, and sank into his
+chair once more like one who is crushed.
+
+"One moment, Lestrade," said Holmes. "Half an hour more or less can make
+no difference to you, and the gentleman was about to give us an account
+of this very interesting affair, which might aid us in clearing it up."
+
+"I think there will be no difficulty in clearing it up," said Lestrade,
+grimly.
+
+"None the less, with your permission, I should be much interested to
+hear his account."
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, it is difficult for me to refuse you anything, for
+you have been of use to the force once or twice in the past, and we owe
+you a good turn at Scotland Yard," said Lestrade. "At the same time I
+must remain with my prisoner, and I am bound to warn him that anything
+he may say will appear in evidence against him."
+
+"I wish nothing better," said our client. "All I ask is that you should
+hear and recognise the absolute truth."
+
+Lestrade looked at his watch. "I'll give you half an hour," said he.
+
+"I must explain first," said McFarlane, "that I knew nothing of Mr.
+Jonas Oldacre. His name was familiar to me, for many years ago my
+parents were acquainted with him, but they drifted apart. I was very
+much surprised, therefore, when yesterday, about three o'clock in the
+afternoon, he walked into my office in the City. But I was still more
+astonished when he told me the object of his visit. He had in his hand
+several sheets of a note-book, covered with scribbled writing--here they
+are--and he laid them on my table.
+
+"'Here is my will,' said he. 'I want you, Mr. McFarlane, to cast it into
+proper legal shape. I will sit here while you do so.'
+
+"I set myself to copy it, and you can imagine my astonishment when I
+found that, with some reservations, he had left all his property to me.
+He was a strange little, ferret-like man, with white eyelashes, and
+when I looked up at him I found his keen grey eyes fixed upon me with
+an amused expression. I could hardly believe my own senses as I read the
+terms of the will; but he explained that he was a bachelor with hardly
+any living relation, that he had known my parents in his youth, and that
+he had always heard of me as a very deserving young man, and was assured
+that his money would be in worthy hands. Of course, I could only stammer
+out my thanks. The will was duly finished, signed, and witnessed by
+my clerk. This is it on the blue paper, and these slips, as I have
+explained, are the rough draft. Mr. Jonas Oldacre then informed me
+that there were a number of documents--building leases, title-deeds,
+mortgages, scrip, and so forth--which it was necessary that I should see
+and understand. He said that his mind would not be easy until the whole
+thing was settled, and he begged me to come out to his house at
+Norwood that night, bringing the will with me, and to arrange matters.
+'Remember, my boy, not one word to your parents about the affair until
+everything is settled. We will keep it as a little surprise for
+them.' He was very insistent upon this point, and made me promise it
+faithfully.
+
+"You can imagine, Mr. Holmes, that I was not in a humour to refuse him
+anything that he might ask. He was my benefactor, and all my desire was
+to carry out his wishes in every particular. I sent a telegram home,
+therefore, to say that I had important business on hand, and that it was
+impossible for me to say how late I might be. Mr. Oldacre had told me
+that he would like me to have supper with him at nine, as he might not
+be home before that hour. I had some difficulty in finding his house,
+however, and it was nearly half-past before I reached it. I found him--"
+
+"One moment!" said Holmes. "Who opened the door?"
+
+"A middle-aged woman, who was, I suppose, his housekeeper."
+
+"And it was she, I presume, who mentioned your name?"
+
+"Exactly," said McFarlane.
+
+"Pray proceed."
+
+McFarlane wiped his damp brow and then continued his narrative:--
+
+"I was shown by this woman into a sitting-room, where a frugal supper
+was laid out. Afterwards Mr. Jonas Oldacre led me into his bedroom, in
+which there stood a heavy safe. This he opened and took out a mass of
+documents, which we went over together. It was between eleven and twelve
+when we finished. He remarked that we must not disturb the housekeeper.
+He showed me out through his own French window, which had been open all
+this time."
+
+"Was the blind down?" asked Holmes.
+
+"I will not be sure, but I believe that it was only half down. Yes, I
+remember how he pulled it up in order to swing open the window. I could
+not find my stick, and he said, 'Never mind, my boy; I shall see a good
+deal of you now, I hope, and I will keep your stick until you come back
+to claim it.' I left him there, the safe open, and the papers made up
+in packets upon the table. It was so late that I could not get back to
+Blackheath, so I spent the night at the Anerley Arms, and I knew nothing
+more until I read of this horrible affair in the morning."
+
+"Anything more that you would like to ask, Mr. Holmes?" said Lestrade,
+whose eyebrows had gone up once or twice during this remarkable
+explanation.
+
+"Not until I have been to Blackheath."
+
+"You mean to Norwood," said Lestrade.
+
+"Oh, yes; no doubt that is what I must have meant," said Holmes, with
+his enigmatical smile. Lestrade had learned by more experiences than he
+would care to acknowledge that that razor-like brain could cut through
+that which was impenetrable to him. I saw him look curiously at my
+companion.
+
+"I think I should like to have a word with you presently, Mr. Sherlock
+Holmes," said he. "Now, Mr. McFarlane, two of my constables are at the
+door and there is a four-wheeler waiting." The wretched young man
+arose, and with a last beseeching glance at us walked from the room. The
+officers conducted him to the cab, but Lestrade remained.
+
+Holmes had picked up the pages which formed the rough draft of the will,
+and was looking at them with the keenest interest upon his face.
+
+"There are some points about that document, Lestrade, are there not?"
+said he, pushing them over.
+
+The official looked at them with a puzzled expression.
+
+"I can read the first few lines, and these in the middle of the second
+page, and one or two at the end. Those are as clear as print," said
+he; "but the writing in between is very bad, and there are three places
+where I cannot read it at all."
+
+"What do you make of that?" said Holmes.
+
+"Well, what do YOU make of it?"
+
+"That it was written in a train; the good writing represents stations,
+the bad writing movement, and the very bad writing passing over points.
+A scientific expert would pronounce at once that this was drawn up on a
+suburban line, since nowhere save in the immediate vicinity of a great
+city could there be so quick a succession of points. Granting that his
+whole journey was occupied in drawing up the will, then the train was an
+express, only stopping once between Norwood and London Bridge."
+
+Lestrade began to laugh.
+
+"You are too many for me when you begin to get on your theories, Mr.
+Holmes," said he. "How does this bear on the case?"
+
+"Well, it corroborates the young man's story to the extent that the
+will was drawn up by Jonas Oldacre in his journey yesterday. It is
+curious--is it not?--that a man should draw up so important a document
+in so haphazard a fashion. It suggests that he did not think it was
+going to be of much practical importance. If a man drew up a will which
+he did not intend ever to be effective he might do it so."
+
+"Well, he drew up his own death-warrant at the same time," said
+Lestrade.
+
+"Oh, you think so?"
+
+"Don't you?"
+
+"Well, it is quite possible; but the case is not clear to me yet."
+
+"Not clear? Well, if that isn't clear, what COULD be clear? Here is a
+young man who learns suddenly that if a certain older man dies he will
+succeed to a fortune. What does he do? He says nothing to anyone, but
+he arranges that he shall go out on some pretext to see his client that
+night; he waits until the only other person in the house is in bed, and
+then in the solitude of a man's room he murders him, burns his body in
+the wood-pile, and departs to a neighbouring hotel. The blood-stains in
+the room and also on the stick are very slight. It is probable that he
+imagined his crime to be a bloodless one, and hoped that if the
+body were consumed it would hide all traces of the method of his
+death--traces which for some reason must have pointed to him. Is all
+this not obvious?"
+
+"It strikes me, my good Lestrade, as being just a trifle too obvious,"
+said Holmes. "You do not add imagination to your other great qualities;
+but if you could for one moment put yourself in the place of this young
+man, would you choose the very night after the will had been made to
+commit your crime? Would it not seem dangerous to you to make so very
+close a relation between the two incidents? Again, would you choose an
+occasion when you are known to be in the house, when a servant has let
+you in? And, finally, would you take the great pains to conceal the
+body and yet leave your own stick as a sign that you were the criminal?
+Confess, Lestrade, that all this is very unlikely."
+
+"As to the stick, Mr. Holmes, you know as well as I do that a criminal
+is often flurried and does things which a cool man would avoid. He was
+very likely afraid to go back to the room. Give me another theory that
+would fit the facts."
+
+"I could very easily give you half-a-dozen," said Holmes. "Here, for
+example, is a very possible and even probable one. I make you a free
+present of it. The older man is showing documents which are of evident
+value. A passing tramp sees them through the window, the blind of which
+is only half down. Exit the solicitor. Enter the tramp! He seizes a
+stick, which he observes there, kills Oldacre, and departs after burning
+the body."
+
+"Why should the tramp burn the body?"
+
+"For the matter of that why should McFarlane?"
+
+"To hide some evidence."
+
+"Possibly the tramp wanted to hide that any murder at all had been
+committed."
+
+"And why did the tramp take nothing?"
+
+"Because they were papers that he could not negotiate."
+
+Lestrade shook his head, though it seemed to me that his manner was less
+absolutely assured than before.
+
+"Well, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you may look for your tramp, and while you
+are finding him we will hold on to our man. The future will show which
+is right. Just notice this point, Mr. Holmes: that so far as we know
+none of the papers were removed, and that the prisoner is the one man in
+the world who had no reason for removing them, since he was heir-at-law
+and would come into them in any case."
+
+My friend seemed struck by this remark.
+
+"I don't mean to deny that the evidence is in some ways very strongly
+in favour of your theory," said he. "I only wish to point out that there
+are other theories possible. As you say, the future will decide. Good
+morning! I dare say that in the course of the day I shall drop in at
+Norwood and see how you are getting on."
+
+When the detective departed my friend rose and made his preparations
+for the day's work with the alert air of a man who has a congenial task
+before him.
+
+"My first movement, Watson," said he, as he bustled into his frock-coat,
+"must, as I said, be in the direction of Blackheath."
+
+"And why not Norwood?"
+
+"Because we have in this case one singular incident coming close to the
+heels of another singular incident. The police are making the mistake of
+concentrating their attention upon the second, because it happens to
+be the one which is actually criminal. But it is evident to me that the
+logical way to approach the case is to begin by trying to throw some
+light upon the first incident--the curious will, so suddenly made, and
+to so unexpected an heir. It may do something to simplify what followed.
+No, my dear fellow, I don't think you can help me. There is no prospect
+of danger, or I should not dream of stirring out without you. I trust
+that when I see you in the evening I will be able to report that I have
+been able to do something for this unfortunate youngster who has thrown
+himself upon my protection."
+
+It was late when my friend returned, and I could see by a glance at his
+haggard and anxious face that the high hopes with which he had started
+had not been fulfilled. For an hour he droned away upon his violin,
+endeavouring to soothe his own ruffled spirits. At last he flung down
+the instrument and plunged into a detailed account of his misadventures.
+
+"It's all going wrong, Watson--all as wrong as it can go. I kept a bold
+face before Lestrade, but, upon my soul, I believe that for once the
+fellow is on the right track and we are on the wrong. All my instincts
+are one way and all the facts are the other, and I much fear that
+British juries have not yet attained that pitch of intelligence when
+they will give the preference to my theories over Lestrade's facts."
+
+"Did you go to Blackheath?"
+
+"Yes, Watson, I went there, and I found very quickly that the late
+lamented Oldacre was a pretty considerable black-guard. The father was
+away in search of his son. The mother was at home--a little, fluffy,
+blue-eyed person, in a tremor of fear and indignation. Of course, she
+would not admit even the possibility of his guilt. But she would not
+express either surprise or regret over the fate of Oldacre. On
+the contrary, she spoke of him with such bitterness that she was
+unconsciously considerably strengthening the case of the police, for,
+of course, if her son had heard her speak of the man in this fashion it
+would predispose him towards hatred and violence. 'He was more like a
+malignant and cunning ape than a human being,' said she, 'and he always
+was, ever since he was a young man.'
+
+"'You knew him at that time?' said I.
+
+"'Yes, I knew him well; in fact, he was an old suitor of mine. Thank
+Heaven that I had the sense to turn away from him and to marry a better,
+if a poorer, man. I was engaged to him, Mr. Holmes, when I heard a
+shocking story of how he had turned a cat loose in an aviary, and I was
+so horrified at his brutal cruelty that I would have nothing more to
+do with him.' She rummaged in a bureau, and presently she produced a
+photograph of a woman, shamefully defaced and mutilated with a knife.
+'That is my own photograph,' she said. 'He sent it to me in that state,
+with his curse, upon my wedding morning.'
+
+"'Well,' said I, 'at least he has forgiven you now, since he has left
+all his property to your son.'
+
+"'Neither my son nor I want anything from Jonas Oldacre, dead or alive,'
+she cried, with a proper spirit. 'There is a God in Heaven, Mr. Holmes,
+and that same God who has punished that wicked man will show in His own
+good time that my son's hands are guiltless of his blood.'
+
+"Well, I tried one or two leads, but could get at nothing which would
+help our hypothesis, and several points which would make against it. I
+gave it up at last and off I went to Norwood.
+
+"This place, Deep Dene House, is a big modern villa of staring brick,
+standing back in its own grounds, with a laurel-clumped lawn in front
+of it. To the right and some distance back from the road was the
+timber-yard which had been the scene of the fire. Here's a rough plan on
+a leaf of my note-book. This window on the left is the one which opens
+into Oldacre's room. You can look into it from the road, you see. That
+is about the only bit of consolation I have had to-day. Lestrade was
+not there, but his head constable did the honours. They had just made a
+great treasure-trove. They had spent the morning raking among the ashes
+of the burned wood-pile, and besides the charred organic remains they
+had secured several discoloured metal discs. I examined them with
+care, and there was no doubt that they were trouser buttons. I even
+distinguished that one of them was marked with the name of 'Hyams,' who
+was Oldacre's tailor. I then worked the lawn very carefully for signs
+and traces, but this drought has made everything as hard as iron.
+Nothing was to be seen save that some body or bundle had been dragged
+through a low privet hedge which is in a line with the wood-pile. All
+that, of course, fits in with the official theory. I crawled about the
+lawn with an August sun on my back, but I got up at the end of an hour
+no wiser than before.
+
+"Well, after this fiasco I went into the bedroom and examined that also.
+The blood-stains were very slight, mere smears and discolorations, but
+undoubtedly fresh. The stick had been removed, but there also the marks
+were slight. There is no doubt about the stick belonging to our client.
+He admits it. Footmarks of both men could be made out on the carpet,
+but none of any third person, which again is a trick for the other
+side. They were piling up their score all the time and we were at a
+standstill.
+
+"Only one little gleam of hope did I get--and yet it amounted to
+nothing. I examined the contents of the safe, most of which had been
+taken out and left on the table. The papers had been made up into sealed
+envelopes, one or two of which had been opened by the police. They were
+not, so far as I could judge, of any great value, nor did the bank-book
+show that Mr. Oldacre was in such very affluent circumstances. But it
+seemed to me that all the papers were not there. There were allusions to
+some deeds--possibly the more valuable--which I could not find. This, of
+course, if we could definitely prove it, would turn Lestrade's argument
+against himself, for who would steal a thing if he knew that he would
+shortly inherit it?
+
+"Finally, having drawn every other cover and picked up no scent, I tried
+my luck with the housekeeper. Mrs. Lexington is her name, a little,
+dark, silent person, with suspicious and sidelong eyes. She could tell
+us something if she would--I am convinced of it. But she was as close as
+wax. Yes, she had let Mr. McFarlane in at half-past nine. She wished
+her hand had withered before she had done so. She had gone to bed at
+half-past ten. Her room was at the other end of the house, and she could
+hear nothing of what passed. Mr. McFarlane had left his hat, and to the
+best of her belief his stick, in the hall. She had been awakened by the
+alarm of fire. Her poor, dear master had certainly been murdered. Had he
+any enemies? Well, every man had enemies, but Mr. Oldacre kept himself
+very much to himself, and only met people in the way of business. She
+had seen the buttons, and was sure that they belonged to the clothes
+which he had worn last night. The wood-pile was very dry, for it had not
+rained for a month. It burned like tinder, and by the time she reached
+the spot nothing could be seen but flames. She and all the firemen
+smelled the burned flesh from inside it. She knew nothing of the papers,
+nor of Mr. Oldacre's private affairs.
+
+"So, my dear Watson, there's my report of a failure. And yet--and
+yet--"--he clenched his thin hands in a paroxysm of conviction--"I KNOW
+it's all wrong. I feel it in my bones. There is something that has
+not come out, and that housekeeper knows it. There was a sort of sulky
+defiance in her eyes, which only goes with guilty knowledge. However,
+there's no good talking any more about it, Watson; but unless some lucky
+chance comes our way I fear that the Norwood Disappearance Case will not
+figure in that chronicle of our successes which I foresee that a patient
+public will sooner or later have to endure."
+
+"Surely," said I, "the man's appearance would go far with any jury?"
+
+"That is a dangerous argument, my dear Watson. You remember that
+terrible murderer, Bert Stevens, who wanted us to get him off in '87?
+Was there ever a more mild-mannered, Sunday-school young man?"
+
+"It is true."
+
+"Unless we succeed in establishing an alternative theory this man is
+lost. You can hardly find a flaw in the case which can now be presented
+against him, and all further investigation has served to strengthen it.
+By the way, there is one curious little point about those papers which
+may serve us as the starting-point for an inquiry. On looking over the
+bank-book I found that the low state of the balance was principally due
+to large cheques which have been made out during the last year to Mr.
+Cornelius. I confess that I should be interested to know who this
+Mr. Cornelius may be with whom a retired builder has such very large
+transactions. Is it possible that he has had a hand in the affair?
+Cornelius might be a broker, but we have found no scrip to correspond
+with these large payments. Failing any other indication my researches
+must now take the direction of an inquiry at the bank for the gentleman
+who has cashed these cheques. But I fear, my dear fellow, that our
+case will end ingloriously by Lestrade hanging our client, which will
+certainly be a triumph for Scotland Yard."
+
+I do not know how far Sherlock Holmes took any sleep that night, but
+when I came down to breakfast I found him pale and harassed, his bright
+eyes the brighter for the dark shadows round them. The carpet round his
+chair was littered with cigarette-ends and with the early editions of
+the morning papers. An open telegram lay upon the table.
+
+"What do you think of this, Watson?" he asked, tossing it across.
+
+It was from Norwood, and ran as follows:--
+
+     "IMPORTANT FRESH EVIDENCE TO HAND.  MCFARLANE'S GUILT
+     DEFINITELY ESTABLISHED.  ADVISE YOU TO ABANDON CASE.
+     --LESTRADE."
+
+"This sounds serious," said I.
+
+"It is Lestrade's little cock-a-doodle of victory," Holmes answered,
+with a bitter smile. "And yet it may be premature to abandon the case.
+After all, important fresh evidence is a two-edged thing, and may
+possibly cut in a very different direction to that which Lestrade
+imagines. Take your breakfast, Watson, and we will go out together and
+see what we can do. I feel as if I shall need your company and your
+moral support to-day."
+
+My friend had no breakfast himself, for it was one of his peculiarities
+that in his more intense moments he would permit himself no food, and I
+have known him presume upon his iron strength until he has fainted from
+pure inanition. "At present I cannot spare energy and nerve force for
+digestion," he would say in answer to my medical remonstrances. I was
+not surprised, therefore, when this morning he left his untouched meal
+behind him and started with me for Norwood. A crowd of morbid sightseers
+were still gathered round Deep Dene House, which was just such a
+suburban villa as I had pictured. Within the gates Lestrade met us, his
+face flushed with victory, his manner grossly triumphant.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, have you proved us to be wrong yet? Have you found
+your tramp?" he cried.
+
+"I have formed no conclusion whatever," my companion answered.
+
+"But we formed ours yesterday, and now it proves to be correct; so you
+must acknowledge that we have been a little in front of you this time,
+Mr. Holmes."
+
+"You certainly have the air of something unusual having occurred," said
+Holmes.
+
+Lestrade laughed loudly.
+
+"You don't like being beaten any more than the rest of us do," said he.
+"A man can't expect always to have it his own way, can he, Dr. Watson?
+Step this way, if you please, gentlemen, and I think I can convince you
+once for all that it was John McFarlane who did this crime."
+
+He led us through the passage and out into a dark hall beyond.
+
+"This is where young McFarlane must have come out to get his hat
+after the crime was done," said he. "Now, look at this." With dramatic
+suddenness he struck a match and by its light exposed a stain of blood
+upon the whitewashed wall. As he held the match nearer I saw that it was
+more than a stain. It was the well-marked print of a thumb.
+
+"Look at that with your magnifying glass, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"Yes, I am doing so."
+
+"You are aware that no two thumb marks are alike?"
+
+"I have heard something of the kind."
+
+"Well, then, will you please compare that print with this wax impression
+of young McFarlane's right thumb, taken by my orders this morning?"
+
+As he held the waxen print close to the blood-stain it did not take
+a magnifying glass to see that the two were undoubtedly from the same
+thumb. It was evident to me that our unfortunate client was lost.
+
+"That is final," said Lestrade.
+
+"Yes, that is final," I involuntarily echoed.
+
+"It is final," said Holmes.
+
+Something in his tone caught my ear, and I turned to look at him. An
+extraordinary change had come over his face. It was writhing with inward
+merriment. His two eyes were shining like stars. It seemed to me that
+he was making desperate efforts to restrain a convulsive attack of
+laughter.
+
+"Dear me! Dear me!" he said at last. "Well, now, who would have thought
+it? And how deceptive appearances may be, to be sure! Such a nice young
+man to look at! It is a lesson to us not to trust our own judgment, is
+it not, Lestrade?"
+
+"Yes, some of us are a little too much inclined to be cocksure, Mr.
+Holmes," said Lestrade. The man's insolence was maddening, but we could
+not resent it.
+
+"What a providential thing that this young man should press his right
+thumb against the wall in taking his hat from the peg! Such a very
+natural action, too, if you come to think of it." Holmes was outwardly
+calm, but his whole body gave a wriggle of suppressed excitement as he
+spoke. "By the way, Lestrade, who made this remarkable discovery?"
+
+"It was the housekeeper, Mrs. Lexington, who drew the night constable's
+attention to it."
+
+"Where was the night constable?"
+
+"He remained on guard in the bedroom where the crime was committed, so
+as to see that nothing was touched."
+
+"But why didn't the police see this mark yesterday?"
+
+"Well, we had no particular reason to make a careful examination of the
+hall. Besides, it's not in a very prominent place, as you see."
+
+"No, no, of course not. I suppose there is no doubt that the mark was
+there yesterday?"
+
+Lestrade looked at Holmes as if he thought he was going out of his mind.
+I confess that I was myself surprised both at his hilarious manner and
+at his rather wild observation.
+
+"I don't know whether you think that McFarlane came out of gaol in the
+dead of the night in order to strengthen the evidence against himself,"
+said Lestrade. "I leave it to any expert in the world whether that is
+not the mark of his thumb."
+
+"It is unquestionably the mark of his thumb."
+
+"There, that's enough," said Lestrade. "I am a practical man, Mr.
+Holmes, and when I have got my evidence I come to my conclusions. If
+you have anything to say you will find me writing my report in the
+sitting-room."
+
+Holmes had recovered his equanimity, though I still seemed to detect
+gleams of amusement in his expression.
+
+"Dear me, this is a very sad development, Watson, is it not?" said he.
+"And yet there are singular points about it which hold out some hopes
+for our client."
+
+"I am delighted to hear it," said I, heartily. "I was afraid it was all
+up with him."
+
+"I would hardly go so far as to say that, my dear Watson. The fact is
+that there is one really serious flaw in this evidence to which our
+friend attaches so much importance."
+
+"Indeed, Holmes! What is it?"
+
+"Only this: that I KNOW that that mark was not there when I examined the
+hall yesterday. And now, Watson, let us have a little stroll round in
+the sunshine."
+
+With a confused brain, but with a heart into which some warmth of hope
+was returning, I accompanied my friend in a walk round the garden.
+Holmes took each face of the house in turn and examined it with great
+interest. He then led the way inside and went over the whole building
+from basement to attics. Most of the rooms were unfurnished, but
+none the less Holmes inspected them all minutely. Finally, on the top
+corridor, which ran outside three untenanted bedrooms, he again was
+seized with a spasm of merriment.
+
+"There are really some very unique features about this case, Watson,"
+said he. "I think it is time now that we took our friend Lestrade into
+our confidence. He has had his little smile at our expense, and perhaps
+we may do as much by him if my reading of this problem proves to be
+correct. Yes, yes; I think I see how we should approach it."
+
+The Scotland Yard inspector was still writing in the parlour when Holmes
+interrupted him.
+
+"I understood that you were writing a report of this case," said he.
+
+"So I am."
+
+"Don't you think it may be a little premature? I can't help thinking
+that your evidence is not complete."
+
+Lestrade knew my friend too well to disregard his words. He laid down
+his pen and looked curiously at him.
+
+"What do you mean, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Only that there is an important witness whom you have not seen."
+
+"Can you produce him?"
+
+"I think I can."
+
+"Then do so."
+
+"I will do my best. How many constables have you?"
+
+"There are three within call."
+
+"Excellent!" said Holmes. "May I ask if they are all large, able-bodied
+men with powerful voices?"
+
+"I have no doubt they are, though I fail to see what their voices have
+to do with it."
+
+"Perhaps I can help you to see that and one or two other things as
+well," said Holmes. "Kindly summon your men, and I will try."
+
+Five minutes later three policemen had assembled in the hall.
+
+"In the outhouse you will find a considerable quantity of straw," said
+Holmes. "I will ask you to carry in two bundles of it. I think it will
+be of the greatest assistance in producing the witness whom I require.
+Thank you very much. I believe you have some matches in your pocket,
+Watson. Now, Mr. Lestrade, I will ask you all to accompany me to the top
+landing."
+
+As I have said, there was a broad corridor there, which ran outside
+three empty bedrooms. At one end of the corridor we were all marshalled
+by Sherlock Holmes, the constables grinning and Lestrade staring at
+my friend with amazement, expectation, and derision chasing each other
+across his features. Holmes stood before us with the air of a conjurer
+who is performing a trick.
+
+"Would you kindly send one of your constables for two buckets of water?
+Put the straw on the floor here, free from the wall on either side. Now
+I think that we are all ready."
+
+Lestrade's face had begun to grow red and angry.
+
+"I don't know whether you are playing a game with us, Mr. Sherlock
+Holmes," said he. "If you know anything, you can surely say it without
+all this tomfoolery."
+
+"I assure you, my good Lestrade, that I have an excellent reason for
+everything that I do. You may possibly remember that you chaffed me a
+little some hours ago, when the sun seemed on your side of the hedge, so
+you must not grudge me a little pomp and ceremony now. Might I ask you,
+Watson, to open that window, and then to put a match to the edge of the
+straw?"
+
+I did so, and, driven by the draught, a coil of grey smoke swirled down
+the corridor, while the dry straw crackled and flamed.
+
+"Now we must see if we can find this witness for you, Lestrade. Might I
+ask you all to join in the cry of 'Fire!'? Now, then; one, two, three--"
+
+"Fire!" we all yelled.
+
+"Thank you. I will trouble you once again."
+
+"Fire!"
+
+"Just once more, gentlemen, and all together."
+
+"Fire!" The shout must have rung over Norwood.
+
+It had hardly died away when an amazing thing happened. A door suddenly
+flew open out of what appeared to be solid wall at the end of the
+corridor, and a little, wizened man darted out of it, like a rabbit out
+of its burrow.
+
+"Capital!" said Holmes, calmly. "Watson, a bucket of water over the
+straw. That will do! Lestrade, allow me to present you with your
+principal missing witness, Mr. Jonas Oldacre."
+
+The detective stared at the new-comer with blank amazement. The latter
+was blinking in the bright light of the corridor, and peering at us
+and at the smouldering fire. It was an odious face--crafty, vicious,
+malignant, with shifty, light-grey eyes and white eyelashes.
+
+"What's this, then?" said Lestrade at last. "What have you been doing
+all this time, eh?"
+
+Oldacre gave an uneasy laugh, shrinking back from the furious red face
+of the angry detective.
+
+"I have done no harm."
+
+"No harm? You have done your best to get an innocent man hanged. If it
+wasn't for this gentleman here, I am not sure that you would not have
+succeeded."
+
+The wretched creature began to whimper.
+
+"I am sure, sir, it was only my practical joke."
+
+"Oh! a joke, was it? You won't find the laugh on your side, I promise
+you. Take him down and keep him in the sitting-room until I come. Mr.
+Holmes," he continued, when they had gone, "I could not speak before the
+constables, but I don't mind saying, in the presence of Dr. Watson,
+that this is the brightest thing that you have done yet, though it is a
+mystery to me how you did it. You have saved an innocent man's life,
+and you have prevented a very grave scandal, which would have ruined my
+reputation in the Force."
+
+Holmes smiled and clapped Lestrade upon the shoulder.
+
+"Instead of being ruined, my good sir, you will find that your
+reputation has been enormously enhanced. Just make a few alterations in
+that report which you were writing, and they will understand how hard it
+is to throw dust in the eyes of Inspector Lestrade."
+
+"And you don't want your name to appear?"
+
+"Not at all. The work is its own reward. Perhaps I shall get the credit
+also at some distant day when I permit my zealous historian to lay out
+his foolscap once more--eh, Watson? Well, now, let us see where this rat
+has been lurking."
+
+A lath-and-plaster partition had been run across the passage six feet
+from the end, with a door cunningly concealed in it. It was lit within
+by slits under the eaves. A few articles of furniture and a supply of
+food and water were within, together with a number of books and papers.
+
+"There's the advantage of being a builder," said Holmes, as we came
+out. "He was able to fix up his own little hiding-place without any
+confederate--save, of course, that precious housekeeper of his, whom I
+should lose no time in adding to your bag, Lestrade."
+
+"I'll take your advice. But how did you know of this place, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"I made up my mind that the fellow was in hiding in the house. When I
+paced one corridor and found it six feet shorter than the corresponding
+one below, it was pretty clear where he was. I thought he had not the
+nerve to lie quiet before an alarm of fire. We could, of course, have
+gone in and taken him, but it amused me to make him reveal himself;
+besides, I owed you a little mystification, Lestrade, for your chaff in
+the morning."
+
+"Well, sir, you certainly got equal with me on that. But how in the
+world did you know that he was in the house at all?"
+
+"The thumb-mark, Lestrade. You said it was final; and so it was, in a
+very different sense. I knew it had not been there the day before. I pay
+a good deal of attention to matters of detail, as you may have observed,
+and I had examined the hall and was sure that the wall was clear.
+Therefore, it had been put on during the night."
+
+"But how?"
+
+"Very simply. When those packets were sealed up, Jonas Oldacre got
+McFarlane to secure one of the seals by putting his thumb upon the soft
+wax. It would be done so quickly and so naturally that I dare say the
+young man himself has no recollection of it. Very likely it just so
+happened, and Oldacre had himself no notion of the use he would put it
+to. Brooding over the case in that den of his, it suddenly struck him
+what absolutely damning evidence he could make against McFarlane by
+using that thumb-mark. It was the simplest thing in the world for him to
+take a wax impression from the seal, to moisten it in as much blood as
+he could get from a pin-prick, and to put the mark upon the wall during
+the night, either with his own hand or with that of his housekeeper.
+If you examine among those documents which he took with him into
+his retreat I will lay you a wager that you find the seal with the
+thumb-mark upon it."
+
+"Wonderful!" said Lestrade. "Wonderful! It's all as clear as crystal, as
+you put it. But what is the object of this deep deception, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+It was amusing to me to see how the detective's overbearing manner had
+changed suddenly to that of a child asking questions of its teacher.
+
+"Well, I don't think that is very hard to explain. A very deep,
+malicious, vindictive person is the gentleman who is now awaiting us
+downstairs. You know that he was once refused by McFarlane's mother?
+You don't! I told you that you should go to Blackheath first and Norwood
+afterwards. Well, this injury, as he would consider it, has rankled
+in his wicked, scheming brain, and all his life he has longed for
+vengeance, but never seen his chance. During the last year or two things
+have gone against him--secret speculation, I think--and he finds himself
+in a bad way. He determines to swindle his creditors, and for this
+purpose he pays large cheques to a certain Mr. Cornelius, who is, I
+imagine, himself under another name. I have not traced these cheques
+yet, but I have no doubt that they were banked under that name at some
+provincial town where Oldacre from time to time led a double existence.
+He intended to change his name altogether, draw this money, and vanish,
+starting life again elsewhere."
+
+"Well, that's likely enough."
+
+"It would strike him that in disappearing he might throw all pursuit off
+his track, and at the same time have an ample and crushing revenge upon
+his old sweetheart, if he could give the impression that he had been
+murdered by her only child. It was a masterpiece of villainy, and he
+carried it out like a master. The idea of the will, which would give
+an obvious motive for the crime, the secret visit unknown to his own
+parents, the retention of the stick, the blood, and the animal remains
+and buttons in the wood-pile, all were admirable. It was a net from
+which it seemed to me a few hours ago that there was no possible escape.
+But he had not that supreme gift of the artist, the knowledge of when to
+stop. He wished to improve that which was already perfect--to draw the
+rope tighter yet round the neck of his unfortunate victim--and so
+he ruined all. Let us descend, Lestrade. There are just one or two
+questions that I would ask him."
+
+The malignant creature was seated in his own parlour with a policeman
+upon each side of him.
+
+"It was a joke, my good sir, a practical joke, nothing more," he whined
+incessantly. "I assure you, sir, that I simply concealed myself in order
+to see the effect of my disappearance, and I am sure that you would not
+be so unjust as to imagine that I would have allowed any harm to befall
+poor young Mr. McFarlane."
+
+"That's for a jury to decide," said Lestrade. "Anyhow, we shall have you
+on a charge of conspiracy, if not for attempted murder."
+
+"And you'll probably find that your creditors will impound the banking
+account of Mr. Cornelius," said Holmes.
+
+The little man started and turned his malignant eyes upon my friend.
+
+"I have to thank you for a good deal," said he. "Perhaps I'll pay my
+debt some day."
+
+Holmes smiled indulgently.
+
+"I fancy that for some few years you will find your time very fully
+occupied," said he. "By the way, what was it you put into the wood-pile
+besides your old trousers? A dead dog, or rabbits, or what? You won't
+tell? Dear me, how very unkind of you! Well, well, I dare say that a
+couple of rabbits would account both for the blood and for the charred
+ashes. If ever you write an account, Watson, you can make rabbits serve
+your turn."
+
+
+*****
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 26  DECEMBER, 1903
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+III.--The Adventure of the Dancing Men.
+
+
+HOLMES had been seated for some hours in silence with his long,
+thin back curved over a chemical vessel in which he was brewing a
+particularly malodorous product. His head was sunk upon his breast, and
+he looked from my point of view like a strange, lank bird, with dull
+grey plumage and a black top-knot.
+
+"So, Watson," said he, suddenly, "you do not propose to invest in South
+African securities?"
+
+I gave a start of astonishment. Accustomed as I was to Holmes's curious
+faculties, this sudden intrusion into my most intimate thoughts was
+utterly inexplicable.
+
+"How on earth do you know that?" I asked.
+
+He wheeled round upon his stool, with a steaming test-tube in his hand
+and a gleam of amusement in his deep-set eyes.
+
+"Now, Watson, confess yourself utterly taken aback," said he.
+
+"I am."
+
+"I ought to make you sign a paper to that effect."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because in five minutes you will say that it is all so absurdly
+simple."
+
+"I am sure that I shall say nothing of the kind."
+
+"You see, my dear Watson"--he propped his test-tube in the rack and
+began to lecture with the air of a professor addressing his class--"it
+is not really difficult to construct a series of inferences, each
+dependent upon its predecessor and each simple in itself. If, after
+doing so, one simply knocks out all the central inferences and presents
+one's audience with the starting-point and the conclusion, one may
+produce a startling, though possibly a meretricious, effect. Now, it was
+not really difficult, by an inspection of the groove between your left
+forefinger and thumb, to feel sure that you did NOT propose to invest
+your small capital in the goldfields."
+
+"I see no connection."
+
+"Very likely not; but I can quickly show you a close connection. Here
+are the missing links of the very simple chain: 1. You had chalk between
+your left finger and thumb when you returned from the club last night.
+2. You put chalk there when you play billiards to steady the cue. 3. You
+never play billiards except with Thurston. 4. You told me four weeks ago
+that Thurston had an option on some South African property which would
+expire in a month, and which he desired you to share with him. 5. Your
+cheque-book is locked in my drawer, and you have not asked for the key.
+6. You do not propose to invest your money in this manner."
+
+"How absurdly simple!" I cried.
+
+"Quite so!" said he, a little nettled. "Every problem becomes very
+childish when once it is explained to you. Here is an unexplained one.
+See what you can make of that, friend Watson." He tossed a sheet of
+paper upon the table and turned once more to his chemical analysis.
+
+I looked with amazement at the absurd hieroglyphics upon the paper.
+
+"Why, Holmes, it is a child's drawing," I cried.
+
+"Oh, that's your idea!"
+
+"What else should it be?"
+
+"That is what Mr. Hilton Cubitt, of Riding Thorpe Manor, Norfolk, is
+very anxious to know. This little conundrum came by the first post, and
+he was to follow by the next train. There's a ring at the bell, Watson.
+I should not be very much surprised if this were he."
+
+A heavy step was heard upon the stairs, and an instant later there
+entered a tall, ruddy, clean-shaven gentleman, whose clear eyes and
+florid cheeks told of a life led far from the fogs of Baker Street. He
+seemed to bring a whiff of his strong, fresh, bracing, east-coast air
+with him as he entered. Having shaken hands with each of us, he was
+about to sit down when his eye rested upon the paper with the curious
+markings, which I had just examined and left upon the table.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, what do you make of these?" he cried. "They told me
+that you were fond of queer mysteries, and I don't think you can find a
+queerer one than that. I sent the paper on ahead so that you might have
+time to study it before I came."
+
+"It is certainly rather a curious production," said Holmes. "At first
+sight it would appear to be some childish prank. It consists of a number
+of absurd little figures dancing across the paper upon which they
+are drawn. Why should you attribute any importance to so grotesque an
+object?"
+
+"I never should, Mr. Holmes. But my wife does. It is frightening her to
+death. She says nothing, but I can see terror in her eyes. That's why I
+want to sift the matter to the bottom."
+
+Holmes held up the paper so that the sunlight shone full upon it. It was
+a page torn from a note-book. The markings were done in pencil, and ran
+in this way:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Holmes examined it for some time, and then, folding it carefully up, he
+placed it in his pocket-book.
+
+"This promises to be a most interesting and unusual case," said he.
+"You gave me a few particulars in your letter, Mr. Hilton Cubitt, but I
+should be very much obliged if you would kindly go over it all again for
+the benefit of my friend, Dr. Watson."
+
+"I'm not much of a story-teller," said our visitor, nervously clasping
+and unclasping his great, strong hands. "You'll just ask me anything
+that I don't make clear. I'll begin at the time of my marriage last
+year; but I want to say first of all that, though I'm not a rich man, my
+people have been at Ridling Thorpe for a matter of five centuries, and
+there is no better known family in the County of Norfolk. Last year I
+came up to London for the Jubilee, and I stopped at a boarding-house in
+Russell Square, because Parker, the vicar of our parish, was staying in
+it. There was an American young lady there--Patrick was the name--Elsie
+Patrick. In some way we became friends, until before my month was up
+I was as much in love as a man could be. We were quietly married at
+a registry office, and we returned to Norfolk a wedded couple. You'll
+think it very mad, Mr. Holmes, that a man of a good old family should
+marry a wife in this fashion, knowing nothing of her past or of her
+people; but if you saw her and knew her it would help you to understand.
+
+"She was very straight about it, was Elsie. I can't say that she did not
+give me every chance of getting out of it if I wished to do so. 'I have
+had some very disagreeable associations in my life,' said she; 'I wish
+to forget all about them. I would rather never allude to the past, for
+it is very painful to me. If you take me, Hilton, you will take a woman
+who has nothing that she need be personally ashamed of; but you will
+have to be content with my word for it, and to allow me to be silent
+as to all that passed up to the time when I became yours. If these
+conditions are too hard, then go back to Norfolk and leave me to the
+lonely life in which you found me.' It was only the day before our
+wedding that she said those very words to me. I told her that I was
+content to take her on her own terms, and I have been as good as my
+word.
+
+"Well, we have been married now for a year, and very happy we have been.
+But about a month ago, at the end of June, I saw for the first time
+signs of trouble. One day my wife received a letter from America. I saw
+the American stamp. She turned deadly white, read the letter, and threw
+it into the fire. She made no allusion to it afterwards, and I made
+none, for a promise is a promise; but she has never known an easy hour
+from that moment. There is always a look of fear upon her face--a look
+as if she were waiting and expecting. She would do better to trust me.
+She would find that I was her best friend. But until she speaks I can
+say nothing. Mind you, she is a truthful woman, Mr. Holmes, and whatever
+trouble there may have been in her past life it has been no fault of
+hers. I am only a simple Norfolk squire, but there is not a man in
+England who ranks his family honour more highly than I do. She knows it
+well, and she knew it well before she married me. She would never bring
+any stain upon it--of that I am sure.
+
+"Well, now I come to the queer part of my story. About a week ago--it
+was the Tuesday of last week--I found on one of the window-sills a
+number of absurd little dancing figures, like these upon the paper. They
+were scrawled with chalk. I thought that it was the stable-boy who had
+drawn them, but the lad swore he knew nothing about it. Anyhow, they had
+come there during the night. I had them washed out, and I only mentioned
+the matter to my wife afterwards. To my surprise she took it very
+seriously, and begged me if any more came to let her see them. None did
+come for a week, and then yesterday morning I found this paper lying on
+the sun-dial in the garden. I showed it to Elsie, and down she dropped
+in a dead faint. Since then she has looked like a woman in a dream, half
+dazed, and with terror always lurking in her eyes. It was then that I
+wrote and sent the paper to you, Mr. Holmes. It was not a thing that
+I could take to the police, for they would have laughed at me, but you
+will tell me what to do. I am not a rich man; but if there is any danger
+threatening my little woman I would spend my last copper to shield her."
+
+He was a fine creature, this man of the old English soil, simple,
+straight, and gentle, with his great, earnest blue eyes and broad,
+comely face. His love for his wife and his trust in her shone in his
+features. Holmes had listened to his story with the utmost attention,
+and now he sat for some time in silent thought.
+
+"Don't you think, Mr. Cubitt," said he, at last, "that your best plan
+would be to make a direct appeal to your wife, and to ask her to share
+her secret with you?"
+
+Hilton Cubitt shook his massive head.
+
+"A promise is a promise, Mr. Holmes. If Elsie wished to tell me she
+would. If not, it is not for me to force her confidence. But I am
+justified in taking my own line--and I will."
+
+"Then I will help you with all my heart. In the first place, have you
+heard of any strangers being seen in your neighbourhood?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I presume that it is a very quiet place. Any fresh face would cause
+comment?"
+
+"In the immediate neighbourhood, yes. But we have several small
+watering-places not very far away. And the farmers take in lodgers."
+
+"These hieroglyphics have evidently a meaning. If it is a purely
+arbitrary one it may be impossible for us to solve it. If, on the other
+hand, it is systematic, I have no doubt that we shall get to the bottom
+of it. But this particular sample is so short that I can do nothing, and
+the facts which you have brought me are so indefinite that we have no
+basis for an investigation. I would suggest that you return to Norfolk,
+that you keep a keen look-out, and that you take an exact copy of any
+fresh dancing men which may appear. It is a thousand pities that we
+have not a reproduction of those which were done in chalk upon the
+window-sill. Make a discreet inquiry also as to any strangers in the
+neighbourhood. When you have collected some fresh evidence come to me
+again. That is the best advice which I can give you, Mr. Hilton Cubitt.
+If there are any pressing fresh developments I shall be always ready to
+run down and see you in your Norfolk home."
+
+The interview left Sherlock Holmes very thoughtful, and several times
+in the next few days I saw him take his slip of paper from his note-book
+and look long and earnestly at the curious figures inscribed upon it. He
+made no allusion to the affair, however, until one afternoon a fortnight
+or so later. I was going out when he called me back.
+
+"You had better stay here, Watson."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I had a wire from Hilton Cubitt this morning--you remember
+Hilton Cubitt, of the dancing men? He was to reach Liverpool Street at
+one-twenty. He may be here at any moment. I gather from his wire that
+there have been some new incidents of importance."
+
+We had not long to wait, for our Norfolk squire came straight from the
+station as fast as a hansom could bring him. He was looking worried and
+depressed, with tired eyes and a lined forehead.
+
+"It's getting on my nerves, this business, Mr. Holmes," said he, as he
+sank, like a wearied man, into an arm-chair. "It's bad enough to feel
+that you are surrounded by unseen, unknown folk, who have some kind of
+design upon you; but when, in addition to that, you know that it is just
+killing your wife by inches, then it becomes as much as flesh and blood
+can endure. She's wearing away under it--just wearing away before my
+eyes."
+
+"Has she said anything yet?"
+
+"No, Mr. Holmes, she has not. And yet there have been times when the
+poor girl has wanted to speak, and yet could not quite bring herself
+to take the plunge. I have tried to help her; but I dare say I did
+it clumsily, and scared her off from it. She has spoken about my old
+family, and our reputation in the county, and our pride in our unsullied
+honour, and I always felt it was leading to the point; but somehow it
+turned off before we got there."
+
+"But you have found out something for yourself?"
+
+"A good deal, Mr. Holmes. I have several fresh dancing men pictures for
+you to examine, and, what is more important, I have seen the fellow."
+
+"What, the man who draws them?"
+
+"Yes, I saw him at his work. But I will tell you everything in order.
+When I got back after my visit to you, the very first thing I saw next
+morning was a fresh crop of dancing men. They had been drawn in chalk
+upon the black wooden door of the tool-house, which stands beside the
+lawn in full view of the front windows. I took an exact copy, and here
+it is." He unfolded a paper and laid it upon the table. Here is a copy
+of the hieroglyphics:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"Excellent!" said Holmes. "Excellent! Pray continue."
+
+"When I had taken the copy I rubbed out the marks; but two mornings
+later a fresh inscription had appeared. I have a copy of it here":--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Holmes rubbed his hands and chuckled with delight.
+
+"Our material is rapidly accumulating," said he.
+
+"Three days later a message was left scrawled upon paper, and placed
+under a pebble upon the sun-dial. Here it is. The characters are, as you
+see, exactly the same as the last one. After that I determined to lie in
+wait; so I got out my revolver and I sat up in my study, which overlooks
+the lawn and garden. About two in the morning I was seated by the
+window, all being dark save for the moonlight outside, when I heard
+steps behind me, and there was my wife in her dressing-gown. She
+implored me to come to bed. I told her frankly that I wished to see who
+it was who played such absurd tricks upon us. She answered that it was
+some senseless practical joke, and that I should not take any notice of
+it.
+
+"'If it really annoys you, Hilton, we might go and travel, you and I,
+and so avoid this nuisance.'
+
+"'What, be driven out of our own house by a practical joker?' said I.
+'Why, we should have the whole county laughing at us.'
+
+"'Well, come to bed,' said she, 'and we can discuss it in the morning.'
+
+"Suddenly, as she spoke, I saw her white face grow whiter yet in the
+moonlight, and her hand tightened upon my shoulder. Something was moving
+in the shadow of the tool-house. I saw a dark, creeping figure which
+crawled round the corner and squatted in front of the door. Seizing my
+pistol I was rushing out, when my wife threw her arms round me and held
+me with convulsive strength. I tried to throw her off, but she clung to
+me most desperately. At last I got clear, but by the time I had opened
+the door and reached the house the creature was gone. He had left a
+trace of his presence, however, for there on the door was the very same
+arrangement of dancing men which had already twice appeared, and which
+I have copied on that paper. There was no other sign of the fellow
+anywhere, though I ran all over the grounds. And yet the amazing thing
+is that he must have been there all the time, for when I examined the
+door again in the morning he had scrawled some more of his pictures
+under the line which I had already seen."
+
+"Have you that fresh drawing?"
+
+"Yes; it is very short, but I made a copy of it, and here it is."
+
+Again he produced a paper. The new dance was in this form:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"Tell me," said Holmes--and I could see by his eyes that he was much
+excited--"was this a mere addition to the first, or did it appear to be
+entirely separate?"
+
+"It was on a different panel of the door."
+
+"Excellent! This is far the most important of all for our purpose. It
+fills me with hopes. Now, Mr. Hilton Cubitt, please continue your most
+interesting statement."
+
+"I have nothing more to say, Mr. Holmes, except that I was angry with
+my wife that night for having held me back when I might have caught the
+skulking rascal. She said that she feared that I might come to harm. For
+an instant it had crossed my mind that perhaps what she really feared
+was that HE might come to harm, for I could not doubt that she knew who
+this man was and what he meant by these strange signals. But there is a
+tone in my wife's voice, Mr. Holmes, and a look in her eyes which forbid
+doubt, and I am sure that it was indeed my own safety that was in her
+mind. There's the whole case, and now I want your advice as to what I
+ought to do. My own inclination is to put half-a-dozen of my farm lads
+in the shrubbery, and when this fellow comes again to give him such a
+hiding that he will leave us in peace for the future."
+
+"I fear it is too deep a case for such simple remedies," said Holmes.
+"How long can you stay in London?"
+
+"I must go back to-day. I would not leave my wife alone all night for
+anything. She is very nervous and begged me to come back."
+
+"I dare say you are right. But if you could have stopped I might
+possibly have been able to return with you in a day or two. Meanwhile
+you will leave me these papers, and I think that it is very likely that
+I shall be able to pay you a visit shortly and to throw some light upon
+your case."
+
+Sherlock Holmes preserved his calm professional manner until our visitor
+had left us, although it was easy for me, who knew him so well, to see
+that he was profoundly excited. The moment that Hilton Cubitt's broad
+back had disappeared through the door my comrade rushed to the table,
+laid out all the slips of paper containing dancing men in front of him,
+and threw himself into an intricate and elaborate calculation. For
+two hours I watched him as he covered sheet after sheet of paper with
+figures and letters, so completely absorbed in his task that he had
+evidently forgotten my presence. Sometimes he was making progress and
+whistled and sang at his work; sometimes he was puzzled, and would sit
+for long spells with a furrowed brow and a vacant eye. Finally he sprang
+from his chair with a cry of satisfaction, and walked up and down the
+room rubbing his hands together. Then he wrote a long telegram upon a
+cable form. "If my answer to this is as I hope, you will have a very
+pretty case to add to your collection, Watson," said he. "I expect that
+we shall be able to go down to Norfolk to-morrow, and to take our friend
+some very definite news as to the secret of his annoyance."
+
+I confess that I was filled with curiosity, but I was aware that Holmes
+liked to make his disclosures at his own time and in his own way; so I
+waited until it should suit him to take me into his confidence.
+
+But there was a delay in that answering telegram, and two days of
+impatience followed, during which Holmes pricked up his ears at every
+ring of the bell. On the evening of the second there came a letter from
+Hilton Cubitt. All was quiet with him, save that a long inscription had
+appeared that morning upon the pedestal of the sun-dial. He inclosed a
+copy of it, which is here reproduced:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Holmes bent over this grotesque frieze for some minutes, and then
+suddenly sprang to his feet with an exclamation of surprise and dismay.
+His face was haggard with anxiety.
+
+"We have let this affair go far enough," said he. "Is there a train to
+North Walsham to-night?"
+
+I turned up the time-table. The last had just gone.
+
+"Then we shall breakfast early and take the very first in the morning,"
+said Holmes. "Our presence is most urgently needed. Ah! here is our
+expected cablegram. One moment, Mrs. Hudson; there may be an answer. No,
+that is quite as I expected. This message makes it even more essential
+that we should not lose an hour in letting Hilton Cubitt know how
+matters stand, for it is a singular and a dangerous web in which our
+simple Norfolk squire is entangled."
+
+So, indeed, it proved, and as I come to the dark conclusion of a story
+which had seemed to me to be only childish and bizarre I experience once
+again the dismay and horror with which I was filled. Would that I had
+some brighter ending to communicate to my readers, but these are the
+chronicles of fact, and I must follow to their dark crisis the strange
+chain of events which for some days made Ridling Thorpe Manor a
+household word through the length and breadth of England.
+
+We had hardly alighted at North Walsham, and mentioned the name of our
+destination, when the station-master hurried towards us. "I suppose that
+you are the detectives from London?" said he.
+
+A look of annoyance passed over Holmes's face.
+
+"What makes you think such a thing?"
+
+"Because Inspector Martin from Norwich has just passed through. But
+maybe you are the surgeons. She's not dead--or wasn't by last accounts.
+You may be in time to save her yet--though it be for the gallows."
+
+Holmes's brow was dark with anxiety.
+
+"We are going to Ridling Thorpe Manor," said he, "but we have heard
+nothing of what has passed there."
+
+"It's a terrible business," said the station-master. "They are shot,
+both Mr. Hilton Cubitt and his wife. She shot him and then herself--so
+the servants say. He's dead and her life is despaired of. Dear, dear,
+one of the oldest families in the County of Norfolk, and one of the most
+honoured."
+
+Without a word Holmes hurried to a carriage, and during the long seven
+miles' drive he never opened his mouth. Seldom have I seen him so
+utterly despondent. He had been uneasy during all our journey from
+town, and I had observed that he had turned over the morning papers with
+anxious attention; but now this sudden realization of his worst fears
+left him in a blank melancholy. He leaned back in his seat, lost in
+gloomy speculation. Yet there was much around to interest us, for we
+were passing through as singular a country-side as any in England, where
+a few scattered cottages represented the population of to-day, while on
+every hand enormous square-towered churches bristled up from the flat,
+green landscape and told of the glory and prosperity of old East Anglia.
+At last the violet rim of the German Ocean appeared over the green edge
+of the Norfolk coast, and the driver pointed with his whip to two old
+brick and timber gables which projected from a grove of trees. "That's
+Ridling Thorpe Manor," said he.
+
+As we drove up to the porticoed front door I observed in front of
+it, beside the tennis lawn, the black tool-house and the pedestalled
+sun-dial with which we had such strange associations. A dapper little
+man, with a quick, alert manner and a waxed moustache, had just
+descended from a high dog-cart. He introduced himself as Inspector
+Martin, of the Norfolk Constabulary, and he was considerably astonished
+when he heard the name of my companion.
+
+"Why, Mr. Holmes, the crime was only committed at three this morning.
+How could you hear of it in London and get to the spot as soon as I?"
+
+"I anticipated it. I came in the hope of preventing it."
+
+"Then you must have important evidence of which we are ignorant, for
+they were said to be a most united couple."
+
+"I have only the evidence of the dancing men," said Holmes. "I will
+explain the matter to you later. Meanwhile, since it is too late to
+prevent this tragedy, I am very anxious that I should use the knowledge
+which I possess in order to ensure that justice be done. Will you
+associate me in your investigation, or will you prefer that I should act
+independently?"
+
+"I should be proud to feel that we were acting together, Mr. Holmes,"
+said the inspector, earnestly.
+
+"In that case I should be glad to hear the evidence and to examine the
+premises without an instant of unnecessary delay."
+
+Inspector Martin had the good sense to allow my friend to do things
+in his own fashion, and contented himself with carefully noting the
+results. The local surgeon, an old, white-haired man, had just come down
+from Mrs. Hilton Cubitt's room, and he reported that her injuries were
+serious, but not necessarily fatal. The bullet had passed through the
+front of her brain, and it would probably be some time before she could
+regain consciousness. On the question of whether she had been shot or
+had shot herself he would not venture to express any decided opinion.
+Certainly the bullet had been discharged at very close quarters. There
+was only the one pistol found in the room, two barrels of which had
+been emptied. Mr. Hilton Cubitt had been shot through the heart. It was
+equally conceivable that he had shot her and then himself, or that
+she had been the criminal, for the revolver lay upon the floor midway
+between them.
+
+"Has he been moved?" asked Holmes.
+
+"We have moved nothing except the lady. We could not leave her lying
+wounded upon the floor."
+
+"How long have you been here, doctor?"
+
+"Since four o'clock."
+
+"Anyone else?"
+
+"Yes, the constable here."
+
+"And you have touched nothing?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"You have acted with great discretion. Who sent for you?"
+
+"The housemaid, Saunders."
+
+"Was it she who gave the alarm?"
+
+"She and Mrs. King, the cook."
+
+"Where are they now?"
+
+"In the kitchen, I believe."
+
+"Then I think we had better hear their story at once."
+
+The old hall, oak-panelled and high-windowed, had been turned into a
+court of investigation. Holmes sat in a great, old-fashioned chair, his
+inexorable eyes gleaming out of his haggard face. I could read in them
+a set purpose to devote his life to this quest until the client whom he
+had failed to save should at last be avenged. The trim Inspector Martin,
+the old, grey-headed country doctor, myself, and a stolid village
+policeman made up the rest of that strange company.
+
+The two women told their story clearly enough. They had been aroused
+from their sleep by the sound of an explosion, which had been followed
+a minute later by a second one. They slept in adjoining rooms, and Mrs.
+King had rushed in to Saunders. Together they had descended the stairs.
+The door of the study was open and a candle was burning upon the table.
+Their master lay upon his face in the centre of the room. He was quite
+dead. Near the window his wife was crouching, her head leaning against
+the wall. She was horribly wounded, and the side of her face was red
+with blood. She breathed heavily, but was incapable of saying anything.
+The passage, as well as the room, was full of smoke and the smell of
+powder. The window was certainly shut and fastened upon the inside. Both
+women were positive upon the point. They had at once sent for the
+doctor and for the constable. Then, with the aid of the groom and the
+stable-boy, they had conveyed their injured mistress to her room. Both
+she and her husband had occupied the bed. She was clad in her dress--he
+in his dressing-gown, over his night clothes. Nothing had been moved in
+the study. So far as they knew there had never been any quarrel between
+husband and wife. They had always looked upon them as a very united
+couple.
+
+These were the main points of the servants' evidence. In answer to
+Inspector Martin they were clear that every door was fastened upon the
+inside, and that no one could have escaped from the house. In answer
+to Holmes they both remembered that they were conscious of the smell
+of powder from the moment that they ran out of their rooms upon the
+top floor. "I commend that fact very carefully to your attention," said
+Holmes to his professional colleague. "And now I think that we are in a
+position to undertake a thorough examination of the room."
+
+The study proved to be a small chamber, lined on three sides with books,
+and with a writing-table facing an ordinary window, which looked out
+upon the garden. Our first attention was given to the body of the
+unfortunate squire, whose huge frame lay stretched across the room. His
+disordered dress showed that he had been hastily aroused from sleep.
+The bullet had been fired at him from the front, and had remained in
+his body after penetrating the heart. His death had certainly been
+instantaneous and painless. There was no powder-marking either upon his
+dressing-gown or on his hands. According to the country surgeon the lady
+had stains upon her face, but none upon her hand.
+
+"The absence of the latter means nothing, though its presence may
+mean everything," said Holmes. "Unless the powder from a badly-fitting
+cartridge happens to spurt backwards, one may fire many shots without
+leaving a sign. I would suggest that Mr. Cubitt's body may now be
+removed. I suppose, doctor, you have not recovered the bullet which
+wounded the lady?"
+
+"A serious operation will be necessary before that can be done. But
+there are still four cartridges in the revolver. Two have been fired and
+two wounds inflicted, so that each bullet can be accounted for."
+
+"So it would seem," said Holmes. "Perhaps you can account also for the
+bullet which has so obviously struck the edge of the window?"
+
+He had turned suddenly, and his long, thin finger was pointing to a hole
+which had been drilled right through the lower window-sash about an inch
+above the bottom.
+
+"By George!" cried the inspector. "How ever did you see that?"
+
+"Because I looked for it."
+
+"Wonderful!" said the country doctor. "You are certainly right, sir.
+Then a third shot has been fired, and therefore a third person must have
+been present. But who could that have been and how could he have got
+away?"
+
+"That is the problem which we are now about to solve," said Sherlock
+Holmes. "You remember, Inspector Martin, when the servants said that on
+leaving their room they were at once conscious of a smell of powder I
+remarked that the point was an extremely important one?"
+
+"Yes, sir; but I confess I did not quite follow you."
+
+"It suggested that at the time of the firing the window as well as the
+door of the room had been open. Otherwise the fumes of powder could not
+have been blown so rapidly through the house. A draught in the room was
+necessary for that. Both door and window were only open for a very short
+time, however."
+
+"How do you prove that?"
+
+"Because the candle has not guttered."
+
+"Capital!" cried the inspector. "Capital!"
+
+"Feeling sure that the window had been open at the time of the tragedy
+I conceived that there might have been a third person in the affair, who
+stood outside this opening and fired through it. Any shot directed at
+this person might hit the sash. I looked, and there, sure enough, was
+the bullet mark!"
+
+"But how came the window to be shut and fastened?"
+
+"The woman's first instinct would be to shut and fasten the window. But,
+halloa! what is this?"
+
+It was a lady's hand-bag which stood upon the study table--a trim little
+hand-bag of crocodile-skin and silver. Holmes opened it and turned
+the contents out. There were twenty fifty-pound notes of the Bank of
+England, held together by an india-rubber band--nothing else.
+
+"This must be preserved, for it will figure in the trial," said Holmes,
+as he handed the bag with its contents to the inspector. "It is now
+necessary that we should try to throw some light upon this third bullet,
+which has clearly, from the splintering of the wood, been fired from
+inside the room. I should like to see Mrs. King, the cook, again. You
+said, Mrs. King, that you were awakened by a LOUD explosion. When you
+said that, did you mean that it seemed to you to be louder than the
+second one?"
+
+"Well, sir, it wakened me from my sleep, and so it is hard to judge. But
+it did seem very loud."
+
+"You don't think that it might have been two shots fired almost at the
+same instant?"
+
+"I am sure I couldn't say, sir."
+
+"I believe that it was undoubtedly so. I rather think, Inspector Martin,
+that we have now exhausted all that this room can teach us. If you will
+kindly step round with me, we shall see what fresh evidence the garden
+has to offer."
+
+A flower-bed extended up to the study window, and we all broke into an
+exclamation as we approached it. The flowers were trampled down, and the
+soft soil was imprinted all over with footmarks. Large, masculine feet
+they were, with peculiarly long, sharp toes. Holmes hunted about among
+the grass and leaves like a retriever after a wounded bird. Then, with
+a cry of satisfaction, he bent forward and picked up a little brazen
+cylinder.
+
+"I thought so," said he; "the revolver had an ejector, and here is the
+third cartridge. I really think, Inspector Martin, that our case is
+almost complete."
+
+The country inspector's face had shown his intense amazement at the
+rapid and masterful progress of Holmes's investigation. At first he
+had shown some disposition to assert his own position; but now he was
+overcome with admiration and ready to follow without question wherever
+Holmes led.
+
+"Whom do you suspect?" he asked.
+
+"I'll go into that later. There are several points in this problem which
+I have not been able to explain to you yet. Now that I have got so far
+I had best proceed on my own lines, and then clear the whole matter up
+once and for all."
+
+"Just as you wish, Mr. Holmes, so long as we get our man."
+
+"I have no desire to make mysteries, but it is impossible at the moment
+of action to enter into long and complex explanations. I have the
+threads of this affair all in my hand. Even if this lady should never
+recover consciousness we can still reconstruct the events of last night
+and ensure that justice be done. First of all I wish to know whether
+there is any inn in this neighbourhood known as 'Elrige's'?"
+
+The servants were cross-questioned, but none of them had heard of such a
+place. The stable-boy threw a light upon the matter by remembering that
+a farmer of that name lived some miles off in the direction of East
+Ruston.
+
+"Is it a lonely farm?"
+
+"Very lonely, sir."
+
+"Perhaps they have not heard yet of all that happened here during the
+night?"
+
+"Maybe not, sir."
+
+Holmes thought for a little and then a curious smile played over his
+face.
+
+"Saddle a horse, my lad," said he. "I shall wish you to take a note to
+Elrige's Farm."
+
+He took from his pocket the various slips of the dancing men. With these
+in front of him he worked for some time at the study-table. Finally he
+handed a note to the boy, with directions to put it into the hands
+of the person to whom it was addressed, and especially to answer no
+questions of any sort which might be put to him. I saw the outside of
+the note, addressed in straggling, irregular characters, very unlike
+Holmes's usual precise hand. It was consigned to Mr. Abe Slaney,
+Elrige's Farm, East Ruston, Norfolk.
+
+"I think, inspector," Holmes remarked, "that you would do well to
+telegraph for an escort, as, if my calculations prove to be correct, you
+may have a particularly dangerous prisoner to convey to the county gaol.
+The boy who takes this note could no doubt forward your telegram. If
+there is an afternoon train to town, Watson, I think we should do well
+to take it, as I have a chemical analysis of some interest to finish,
+and this investigation draws rapidly to a close."
+
+When the youth had been dispatched with the note, Sherlock Holmes gave
+his instructions to the servants. If any visitor were to call asking for
+Mrs. Hilton Cubitt no information should be given as to her condition,
+but he was to be shown at once into the drawing-room. He impressed these
+points upon them with the utmost earnestness. Finally he led the way
+into the drawing-room with the remark that the business was now out of
+our hands, and that we must while away the time as best we might until
+we could see what was in store for us. The doctor had departed to his
+patients, and only the inspector and myself remained.
+
+"I think that I can help you to pass an hour in an interesting and
+profitable manner," said Holmes, drawing his chair up to the table
+and spreading out in front of him the various papers upon which were
+recorded the antics of the dancing men. "As to you, friend Watson, I owe
+you every atonement for having allowed your natural curiosity to remain
+so long unsatisfied. To you, inspector, the whole incident may appeal
+as a remarkable professional study. I must tell you first of all the
+interesting circumstances connected with the previous consultations
+which Mr. Hilton Cubitt has had with me in Baker Street." He then
+shortly recapitulated the facts which have already been recorded. "I
+have here in front of me these singular productions, at which one
+might smile had they not proved themselves to be the fore-runners of
+so terrible a tragedy. I am fairly familiar with all forms of secret
+writings, and am myself the author of a trifling monograph upon the
+subject, in which I analyze one hundred and sixty separate ciphers;
+but I confess that this is entirely new to me. The object of those who
+invented the system has apparently been to conceal that these characters
+convey a message, and to give the idea that they are the mere random
+sketches of children.
+
+"Having once recognised, however, that the symbols stood for letters,
+and having applied the rules which guide us in all forms of secret
+writings, the solution was easy enough. The first message submitted to
+me was so short that it was impossible for me to do more than to say
+with some confidence that the symbol XXX stood for E. As you are aware,
+E is the most common letter in the English alphabet, and it predominates
+to so marked an extent that even in a short sentence one would expect
+to find it most often. Out of fifteen symbols in the first message four
+were the same, so it was reasonable to set this down as E. It is true
+that in some cases the figure was bearing a flag and in some cases not,
+but it was probable from the way in which the flags were distributed
+that they were used to break the sentence up into words. I accepted this
+as a hypothesis, and noted that E was represented by XXX.
+
+"But now came the real difficulty of the inquiry. The order of
+the English letters after E is by no means well marked, and any
+preponderance which may be shown in an average of a printed sheet may be
+reversed in a single short sentence. Speaking roughly, T, A, O, I, N, S,
+H, R, D, and L are the numerical order in which letters occur; but T,
+A, O, and I are very nearly abreast of each other, and it would be an
+endless task to try each combination until a meaning was arrived at. I,
+therefore, waited for fresh material. In my second interview with Mr.
+Hilton Cubitt he was able to give me two other short sentences and one
+message, which appeared--since there was no flag--to be a single word.
+Here are the symbols. Now, in the single word I have already got the
+two E's coming second and fourth in a word of five letters. It might
+be 'sever,' or 'lever,' or 'never.' There can be no question that
+the latter as a reply to an appeal is far the most probable, and
+the circumstances pointed to its being a reply written by the lady.
+Accepting it as correct, we are now able to say that the symbols XXX
+stand respectively for N, V, and R.
+
+"Even now I was in considerable difficulty, but a happy thought put me
+in possession of several other letters. It occurred to me that if these
+appeals came, as I expected, from someone who had been intimate with the
+lady in her early life, a combination which contained two E's with
+three letters between might very well stand for the name 'ELSIE.' On
+examination I found that such a combination formed the termination of
+the message which was three times repeated. It was certainly some appeal
+to 'Elsie.' In this way I had got my L, S, and I. But what appeal could
+it be? There were only four letters in the word which preceded 'Elsie,'
+and it ended in E. Surely the word must be 'COME.' I tried all other
+four letters ending in E, but could find none to fit the case. So now I
+was in possession of C, O, and M, and I was in a position to attack the
+first message once more, dividing it into words and putting dots for
+each symbol which was still unknown. So treated it worked out in this
+fashion:--
+
+       .M .ERE ..E  SL.NE.
+
+"Now the first letter CAN only be A, which is a most useful discovery,
+since it occurs no fewer than three times in this short sentence, and
+the H is also apparent in the second word. Now it becomes:--
+
+        AM  HERE  A.E  SLANE.
+
+Or, filling in the obvious vacancies in the name:--
+
+        AM  HERE  ABE  SLANEY.
+
+I had so many letters now that I could proceed with considerable
+confidence to the second message, which worked out in this fashion:--
+
+        A.  ELRI.ES.
+
+Here I could only make sense by putting T and G for the missing letters,
+and supposing that the name was that of some house or inn at which the
+writer was staying."
+
+Inspector Martin and I had listened with the utmost interest to the full
+and clear account of how my friend had produced results which had led to
+so complete a command over our difficulties.
+
+"What did you do then, sir?" asked the inspector.
+
+"I had every reason to suppose that this Abe Slaney was an American,
+since Abe is an American contraction, and since a letter from America
+had been the starting-point of all the trouble. I had also every cause
+to think that there was some criminal secret in the matter. The lady's
+allusions to her past and her refusal to take her husband into her
+confidence both pointed in that direction. I therefore cabled to my
+friend, Wilson Hargreave, of the New York Police Bureau, who has more
+than once made use of my knowledge of London crime. I asked him whether
+the name of Abe Slaney was known to him. Here is his reply: 'The most
+dangerous crook in Chicago.' On the very evening upon which I had his
+answer Hilton Cubitt sent me the last message from Slaney. Working with
+known letters it took this form:--
+
+         ELSIE .RE.ARE  TO  MEET  THY  GO.
+
+The addition of a P and a D completed a message which showed me that the
+rascal was proceeding from persuasion to threats, and my knowledge of
+the crooks of Chicago prepared me to find that he might very rapidly
+put his words into action. I at once came to Norfolk with my friend and
+colleague, Dr. Watson, but, unhappily, only in time to find that the
+worst had already occurred."
+
+"It is a privilege to be associated with you in the handling of a case,"
+said the inspector, warmly. "You will excuse me, however, if I speak
+frankly to you. You are only answerable to yourself, but I have to
+answer to my superiors. If this Abe Slaney, living at Elrige's, is
+indeed the murderer, and if he has made his escape while I am seated
+here, I should certainly get into serious trouble."
+
+"You need not be uneasy. He will not try to escape."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"To fly would be a confession of guilt."
+
+"Then let us go to arrest him."
+
+"I expect him here every instant."
+
+"But why should he come?"
+
+"Because I have written and asked him."
+
+"But this is incredible, Mr. Holmes! Why should he come because you
+have asked him? Would not such a request rather rouse his suspicions and
+cause him to fly?"
+
+"I think I have known how to frame the letter," said Sherlock Holmes.
+"In fact, if I am not very much mistaken, here is the gentleman himself
+coming up the drive."
+
+A man was striding up the path which led to the door. He was a tall,
+handsome, swarthy fellow, clad in a suit of grey flannel, with a Panama
+hat, a bristling black beard, and a great, aggressive hooked nose, and
+flourishing a cane as he walked. He swaggered up the path as if the
+place belonged to him, and we heard his loud, confident peal at the
+bell.
+
+"I think, gentlemen," said Holmes, quietly, "that we had best take up
+our position behind the door. Every precaution is necessary when dealing
+with such a fellow. You will need your handcuffs, inspector. You can
+leave the talking to me."
+
+We waited in silence for a minute--one of those minutes which one can
+never forget. Then the door opened and the man stepped in. In an instant
+Holmes clapped a pistol to his head and Martin slipped the handcuffs
+over his wrists. It was all done so swiftly and deftly that the fellow
+was helpless before he knew that he was attacked. He glared from one to
+the other of us with a pair of blazing black eyes. Then he burst into a
+bitter laugh.
+
+"Well, gentlemen, you have the drop on me this time. I seem to have
+knocked up against something hard. But I came here in answer to a letter
+from Mrs. Hilton Cubitt. Don't tell me that she is in this? Don't tell
+me that she helped to set a trap for me?"
+
+"Mrs. Hilton Cubitt was seriously injured and is at death's door."
+
+The man gave a hoarse cry of grief which rang through the house.
+
+"You're crazy!" he cried, fiercely. "It was he that was hurt, not she.
+Who would have hurt little Elsie? I may have threatened her, God forgive
+me, but I would not have touched a hair of her pretty head. Take it
+back--you! Say that she is not hurt!"
+
+"She was found badly wounded by the side of her dead husband."
+
+He sank with a deep groan on to the settee and buried his face in his
+manacled hands. For five minutes he was silent. Then he raised his face
+once more, and spoke with the cold composure of despair.
+
+"I have nothing to hide from you, gentlemen," said he. "If I shot the
+man he had his shot at me, and there's no murder in that. But if you
+think I could have hurt that woman, then you don't know either me or
+her. I tell you there was never a man in this world loved a woman more
+than I loved her. I had a right to her. She was pledged to me years ago.
+Who was this Englishman that he should come between us? I tell you that
+I had the first right to her, and that I was only claiming my own."
+
+"She broke away from your influence when she found the man that you
+are," said Holmes, sternly. "She fled from America to avoid you, and she
+married an honourable gentleman in England. You dogged her and followed
+her and made her life a misery to her in order to induce her to abandon
+the husband whom she loved and respected in order to fly with you, whom
+she feared and hated. You have ended by bringing about the death of a
+noble man and driving his wife to suicide. That is your record in this
+business, Mr. Abe Slaney, and you will answer for it to the law."
+
+"If Elsie dies I care nothing what becomes of me," said the American.
+He opened one of his hands and looked at a note crumpled up in his palm.
+"See here, mister," he cried, with a gleam of suspicion in his eyes,
+"you're not trying to scare me over this, are you? If the lady is
+hurt as bad as you say, who was it that wrote this note?" He tossed it
+forwards on to the table.
+
+"I wrote it to bring you here."
+
+"You wrote it? There was no one on earth outside the Joint who knew the
+secret of the dancing men. How came you to write it?"
+
+"What one man can invent another can discover," said Holmes. There is
+a cab coming to convey you to Norwich, Mr. Slaney. But, meanwhile, you
+have time to make some small reparation for the injury you have wrought.
+Are you aware that Mrs. Hilton Cubitt has herself lain under grave
+suspicion of the murder of her husband, and that it was only my presence
+here and the knowledge which I happened to possess which has saved her
+from the accusation? The least that you owe her is to make it clear
+to the whole world that she was in no way, directly or indirectly,
+responsible for his tragic end."
+
+"I ask nothing better," said the American. "I guess the very best case I
+can make for myself is the absolute naked truth."
+
+"It is my duty to warn you that it will be used against you," cried the
+inspector, with the magnificent fair-play of the British criminal law.
+
+Slaney shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I'll chance that," said he. "First of all, I want you gentlemen to
+understand that I have known this lady since she was a child. There were
+seven of us in a gang in Chicago, and Elsie's father was the boss of the
+Joint. He was a clever man, was old Patrick. It was he who invented that
+writing, which would pass as a child's scrawl unless you just happened
+to have the key to it. Well, Elsie learned some of our ways; but she
+couldn't stand the business, and she had a bit of honest money of her
+own, so she gave us all the slip and got away to London. She had been
+engaged to me, and she would have married me, I believe, if I had taken
+over another profession; but she would have nothing to do with anything
+on the cross. It was only after her marriage to this Englishman that I
+was able to find out where she was. I wrote to her, but got no answer.
+After that I came over, and, as letters were no use, I put my messages
+where she could read them.
+
+"Well, I have been here a month now. I lived in that farm, where I had
+a room down below, and could get in and out every night, and no one the
+wiser. I tried all I could to coax Elsie away. I knew that she read the
+messages, for once she wrote an answer under one of them. Then my temper
+got the better of me, and I began to threaten her. She sent me a letter
+then, imploring me to go away and saying that it would break her heart
+if any scandal should come upon her husband. She said that she would
+come down when her husband was asleep at three in the morning, and speak
+with me through the end window, if I would go away afterwards and leave
+her in peace. She came down and brought money with her, trying to bribe
+me to go. This made me mad, and I caught her arm and tried to pull
+her through the window. At that moment in rushed the husband with his
+revolver in his hand. Elsie had sunk down upon the floor, and we were
+face to face. I was heeled also, and I held up my gun to scare him off
+and let me get away. He fired and missed me. I pulled off almost at the
+same instant, and down he dropped. I made away across the garden, and as
+I went I heard the window shut behind me. That's God's truth, gentlemen,
+every word of it, and I heard no more about it until that lad came
+riding up with a note which made me walk in here, like a jay, and give
+myself into your hands."
+
+A cab had driven up whilst the American had been talking. Two uniformed
+policemen sat inside. Inspector Martin rose and touched his prisoner on
+the shoulder.
+
+"It is time for us to go."
+
+"Can I see her first?"
+
+"No, she is not conscious. Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I only hope that if ever
+again I have an important case I shall have the good fortune to have you
+by my side."
+
+We stood at the window and watched the cab drive away. As I turned back
+my eye caught the pellet of paper which the prisoner had tossed upon the
+table. It was the note with which Holmes had decoyed him.
+
+"See if you can read it, Watson," said he, with a smile.
+
+It contained no word, but this little line of dancing men:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"If you use the code which I have explained," said Holmes, "you will
+find that it simply means 'Come here at once.' I was convinced that
+it was an invitation which he would not refuse, since he could never
+imagine that it could come from anyone but the lady. And so, my dear
+Watson, we have ended by turning the dancing men to good when they have
+so often been the agents of evil, and I think that I have fulfilled my
+promise of giving you something unusual for your note-book. Three-forty
+is our train, and I fancy we should be back in Baker Street for dinner."
+
+
+Only one word of epilogue. The American, Abe Slaney, was condemned to
+death at the winter assizes at Norwich; but his penalty was changed to
+penal servitude in consideration of mitigating circumstances, and the
+certainty that Hilton Cubitt had fired the first shot. Of Mrs. Hilton
+Cubitt I only know that I have heard she recovered entirely, and that
+she still remains a widow, devoting her whole life to the care of the
+poor and to the administration of her husband's estate.
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                    Vol. 27  JANUARY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+IV.--The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist.
+
+
+FROM the years 1894 to 1901 inclusive Mr. Sherlock Holmes was a very
+busy man. It is safe to say that there was no public case of any
+difficulty in which he was not consulted during those eight years, and
+there were hundreds of private cases, some of them of the most intricate
+and extraordinary character, in which he played a prominent part. Many
+startling successes and a few unavoidable failures were the outcome of
+this long period of continuous work. As I have preserved very full notes
+of all these cases, and was myself personally engaged in many of them,
+it may be imagined that it is no easy task to know which I should select
+to lay before the public. I shall, however, preserve my former rule, and
+give the preference to those cases which derive their interest not so
+much from the brutality of the crime as from the ingenuity and dramatic
+quality of the solution. For this reason I will now lay before the
+reader the facts connected with Miss Violet Smith, the solitary cyclist
+of Charlington, and the curious sequel of our investigation, which
+culminated in unexpected tragedy. It is true that the circumstances
+did not admit of any striking illustration of those powers for which my
+friend was famous, but there were some points about the case which made
+it stand out in those long records of crime from which I gather the
+material for these little narratives.
+
+On referring to my note-book for the year 1895 I find that it was upon
+Saturday, the 23rd of April, that we first heard of Miss Violet Smith.
+Her visit was, I remember, extremely unwelcome to Holmes, for he was
+immersed at the moment in a very abstruse and complicated problem
+concerning the peculiar persecution to which John Vincent Harden, the
+well-known tobacco millionaire, had been subjected. My friend, who
+loved above all things precision and concentration of thought, resented
+anything which distracted his attention from the matter in hand. And yet
+without a harshness which was foreign to his nature it was impossible
+to refuse to listen to the story of the young and beautiful woman, tall,
+graceful, and queenly, who presented herself at Baker Street late in the
+evening and implored his assistance and advice. It was vain to urge that
+his time was already fully occupied, for the young lady had come with
+the determination to tell her story, and it was evident that nothing
+short of force could get her out of the room until she had done so. With
+a resigned air and a somewhat weary smile, Holmes begged the beautiful
+intruder to take a seat and to inform us what it was that was troubling
+her.
+
+"At least it cannot be your health," said he, as his keen eyes darted
+over her; "so ardent a bicyclist must be full of energy."
+
+She glanced down in surprise at her own feet, and I observed the slight
+roughening of the side of the sole caused by the friction of the edge of
+the pedal.
+
+"Yes, I bicycle a good deal, Mr. Holmes, and that has something to do
+with my visit to you to-day."
+
+My friend took the lady's ungloved hand and examined it with as close
+an attention and as little sentiment as a scientist would show to a
+specimen.
+
+"You will excuse me, I am sure. It is my business," said he, as he
+dropped it. "I nearly fell into the error of supposing that you were
+typewriting. Of course, it is obvious that it is music. You observe the
+spatulate finger-end, Watson, which is common to both professions? There
+is a spirituality about the face, however"--he gently turned it towards
+the light--"which the typewriter does not generate. This lady is a
+musician."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes, I teach music."
+
+"In the country, I presume, from your complexion."
+
+"Yes, sir; near Farnham, on the borders of Surrey."
+
+"A beautiful neighbourhood and full of the most interesting
+associations. You remember, Watson, that it was near there that we took
+Archie Stamford, the forger. Now, Miss Violet, what has happened to you
+near Farnham, on the borders of Surrey?"
+
+The young lady, with great clearness and composure, made the following
+curious statement:--
+
+"My father is dead, Mr. Holmes. He was James Smith, who conducted the
+orchestra at the old Imperial Theatre. My mother and I were left without
+a relation in the world except one uncle, Ralph Smith, who went to
+Africa twenty-five years ago, and we have never had a word from him
+since. When father died we were left very poor, but one day we were
+told that there was an advertisement in the TIMES inquiring for our
+whereabouts. You can imagine how excited we were, for we thought that
+someone had left us a fortune. We went at once to the lawyer whose name
+was given in the paper. There we met two gentlemen, Mr. Carruthers and
+Mr. Woodley, who were home on a visit from South Africa. They said that
+my uncle was a friend of theirs, that he died some months before in
+great poverty in Johannesburg, and that he had asked them with his last
+breath to hunt up his relations and see that they were in no want. It
+seemed strange to us that Uncle Ralph, who took no notice of us when he
+was alive, should be so careful to look after us when he was dead; but
+Mr. Carruthers explained that the reason was that my uncle had just
+heard of the death of his brother, and so felt responsible for our
+fate."
+
+"Excuse me," said Holmes; "when was this interview?"
+
+"Last December--four months ago."
+
+"Pray proceed."
+
+"Mr. Woodley seemed to me to be a most odious person. He was for ever
+making eyes at me--a coarse, puffy-faced, red-moustached young man, with
+his hair plastered down on each side of his forehead. I thought that he
+was perfectly hateful--and I was sure that Cyril would not wish me to
+know such a person."
+
+"Oh, Cyril is his name!" said Holmes, smiling.
+
+The young lady blushed and laughed.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes; Cyril Morton, an electrical engineer, and we hope
+to be married at the end of the summer. Dear me, how DID I get talking
+about him? What I wished to say was that Mr. Woodley was perfectly
+odious, but that Mr. Carruthers, who was a much older man, was more
+agreeable. He was a dark, sallow, clean-shaven, silent person; but he
+had polite manners and a pleasant smile. He inquired how we were left,
+and on finding that we were very poor he suggested that I should come
+and teach music to his only daughter, aged ten. I said that I did not
+like to leave my mother, on which he suggested that I should go home
+to her every week-end, and he offered me a hundred a year, which was
+certainly splendid pay. So it ended by my accepting, and I went down
+to Chiltern Grange, about six miles from Farnham. Mr. Carruthers was
+a widower, but he had engaged a lady-housekeeper, a very respectable,
+elderly person, called Mrs. Dixon, to look after his establishment. The
+child was a dear, and everything promised well. Mr. Carruthers was very
+kind and very musical, and we had most pleasant evenings together. Every
+week-end I went home to my mother in town.
+
+"The first flaw in my happiness was the arrival of the red-moustached
+Mr. Woodley. He came for a visit of a week, and oh, it seemed three
+months to me! He was a dreadful person, a bully to everyone else, but to
+me something infinitely worse. He made odious love to me, boasted of his
+wealth, said that if I married him I would have the finest diamonds in
+London, and finally, when I would have nothing to do with him, he seized
+me in his arms one day after dinner--he was hideously strong--and he
+swore that he would not let me go until I had kissed him. Mr. Carruthers
+came in and tore him off from me, on which he turned upon his own host,
+knocking him down and cutting his face open. That was the end of his
+visit, as you can imagine. Mr. Carruthers apologized to me next day,
+and assured me that I should never be exposed to such an insult again. I
+have not seen Mr. Woodley since.
+
+"And now, Mr. Holmes, I come at last to the special thing which has
+caused me to ask your advice to-day. You must know that every Saturday
+forenoon I ride on my bicycle to Farnham Station in order to get the
+12.22 to town. The road from Chiltern Grange is a lonely one, and at
+one spot it is particularly so, for it lies for over a mile between
+Charlington Heath upon one side and the woods which lie round
+Charlington Hall upon the other. You could not find a more lonely tract
+of road anywhere, and it is quite rare to meet so much as a cart, or a
+peasant, until you reach the high road near Crooksbury Hill. Two
+weeks ago I was passing this place when I chanced to look back over my
+shoulder, and about two hundred yards behind me I saw a man, also on a
+bicycle. He seemed to be a middle-aged man, with a short, dark beard. I
+looked back before I reached Farnham, but the man was gone, so I thought
+no more about it. But you can imagine how surprised I was, Mr. Holmes,
+when on my return on the Monday I saw the same man on the same stretch
+of road. My astonishment was increased when the incident occurred again,
+exactly as before, on the following Saturday and Monday. He always kept
+his distance and did not molest me in any way, but still it certainly
+was very odd. I mentioned it to Mr. Carruthers, who seemed interested in
+what I said, and told me that he had ordered a horse and trap, so
+that in future I should not pass over these lonely roads without some
+companion.
+
+"The horse and trap were to have come this week, but for some reason
+they were not delivered, and again I had to cycle to the station.
+That was this morning. You can think that I looked out when I came to
+Charlington Heath, and there, sure enough, was the man, exactly as he
+had been the two weeks before. He always kept so far from me that I
+could not clearly see his face, but it was certainly someone whom I did
+not know. He was dressed in a dark suit with a cloth cap. The only thing
+about his face that I could clearly see was his dark beard. To-day I was
+not alarmed, but I was filled with curiosity, and I determined to find
+out who he was and what he wanted. I slowed down my machine, but he
+slowed down his. Then I stopped altogether, but he stopped also. Then
+I laid a trap for him. There is a sharp turning of the road, and I
+pedalled very quickly round this, and then I stopped and waited. I
+expected him to shoot round and pass me before he could stop. But he
+never appeared. Then I went back and looked round the corner. I
+could see a mile of road, but he was not on it. To make it the more
+extraordinary, there was no side road at this point down which he could
+have gone."
+
+Holmes chuckled and rubbed his hands. "This case certainly presents
+some features of its own," said he. "How much time elapsed between your
+turning the corner and your discovery that the road was clear?"
+
+"Two or three minutes."
+
+"Then he could not have retreated down the road, and you say that there
+are no side roads?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Then he certainly took a footpath on one side or the other."
+
+"It could not have been on the side of the heath or I should have seen
+him."
+
+"So by the process of exclusion we arrive at the fact that he made his
+way towards Charlington Hall, which, as I understand, is situated in its
+own grounds on one side of the road. Anything else?"
+
+"Nothing, Mr. Holmes, save that I was so perplexed that I felt I should
+not be happy until I had seen you and had your advice."
+
+Holmes sat in silence for some little time.
+
+"Where is the gentleman to whom you are engaged?" he asked, at last.
+
+"He is in the Midland Electrical Company, at Coventry."
+
+"He would not pay you a surprise visit?"
+
+"Oh, Mr. Holmes! As if I should not know him!"
+
+"Have you had any other admirers?"
+
+"Several before I knew Cyril."
+
+"And since?"
+
+"There was this dreadful man, Woodley, if you can call him an admirer."
+
+"No one else?"
+
+Our fair client seemed a little confused.
+
+"Who was he?" asked Holmes.
+
+"Oh, it may be a mere fancy of mine; but it has seemed to me sometimes
+that my employer, Mr. Carruthers, takes a great deal of interest in me.
+We are thrown rather together. I play his accompaniments in the evening.
+He has never said anything. He is a perfect gentleman. But a girl always
+knows."
+
+"Ha!" Holmes looked grave. "What does he do for a living?"
+
+"He is a rich man."
+
+"No carriages or horses?"
+
+"Well, at least he is fairly well-to-do. But he goes into the City two
+or three times a week. He is deeply interested in South African gold
+shares."
+
+"You will let me know any fresh development, Miss Smith. I am very busy
+just now, but I will find time to make some inquiries into your case. In
+the meantime take no step without letting me know. Good-bye, and I trust
+that we shall have nothing but good news from you."
+
+"It is part of the settled order of Nature that such a girl should have
+followers," said Holmes, as he pulled at his meditative pipe, "but for
+choice not on bicycles in lonely country roads. Some secretive lover,
+beyond all doubt. But there are curious and suggestive details about the
+case, Watson."
+
+"That he should appear only at that point?"
+
+"Exactly. Our first effort must be to find who are the tenants of
+Charlington Hall. Then, again, how about the connection between
+Carruthers and Woodley, since they appear to be men of such a different
+type? How came they BOTH to be so keen upon looking up Ralph Smith's
+relations? One more point. What sort of a MENAGE is it which pays double
+the market price for a governess, but does not keep a horse although six
+miles from the station? Odd, Watson--very odd!"
+
+"You will go down?"
+
+"No, my dear fellow, YOU will go down. This may be some trifling
+intrigue, and I cannot break my other important research for the sake
+of it. On Monday you will arrive early at Farnham; you will conceal
+yourself near Charlington Heath; you will observe these facts for
+yourself, and act as your own judgment advises. Then, having inquired as
+to the occupants of the Hall, you will come back to me and report. And
+now, Watson, not another word of the matter until we have a few solid
+stepping-stones on which we may hope to get across to our solution."
+
+We had ascertained from the lady that she went down upon the Monday by
+the train which leaves Waterloo at 9.50, so I started early and caught
+the 9.13. At Farnham Station I had no difficulty in being directed to
+Charlington Heath. It was impossible to mistake the scene of the young
+lady's adventure, for the road runs between the open heath on one side
+and an old yew hedge upon the other, surrounding a park which is studded
+with magnificent trees. There was a main gateway of lichen-studded
+stone, each side pillar surmounted by mouldering heraldic emblems; but
+besides this central carriage drive I observed several points where
+there were gaps in the hedge and paths leading through them. The house
+was invisible from the road, but the surroundings all spoke of gloom and
+decay.
+
+The heath was covered with golden patches of flowering gorse, gleaming
+magnificently in the light of the bright spring sunshine. Behind one of
+these clumps I took up my position, so as to command both the gateway
+of the Hall and a long stretch of the road upon either side. It had been
+deserted when I left it, but now I saw a cyclist riding down it from the
+opposite direction to that in which I had come. He was clad in a dark
+suit, and I saw that he had a black beard. On reaching the end of the
+Charlington grounds he sprang from his machine and led it through a gap
+in the hedge, disappearing from my view.
+
+A quarter of an hour passed and then a second cyclist appeared. This
+time it was the young lady coming from the station. I saw her look
+about her as she came to the Charlington hedge. An instant later the man
+emerged from his hiding-place, sprang upon his cycle, and followed
+her. In all the broad landscape those were the only moving figures, the
+graceful girl sitting very straight upon her machine, and the man behind
+her bending low over his handle-bar, with a curiously furtive suggestion
+in every movement. She looked back at him and slowed her pace. He slowed
+also. She stopped. He at once stopped too, keeping two hundred yards
+behind her. Her next movement was as unexpected as it was spirited. She
+suddenly whisked her wheels round and dashed straight at him! He was as
+quick as she, however, and darted off in desperate flight. Presently she
+came back up the road again, her head haughtily in the air, not deigning
+to take any further notice of her silent attendant. He had turned also,
+and still kept his distance until the curve of the road hid them from my
+sight.
+
+I remained in my hiding-place, and it was well that I did so, for
+presently the man reappeared cycling slowly back. He turned in at the
+Hall gates and dismounted from his machine. For some few minutes I could
+see him standing among the trees. His hands were raised and he seemed to
+be settling his necktie. Then he mounted his cycle and rode away from
+me down the drive towards the Hall. I ran across the heath and peered
+through the trees. Far away I could catch glimpses of the old grey
+building with its bristling Tudor chimneys, but the drive ran through a
+dense shrubbery, and I saw no more of my man.
+
+However, it seemed to me that I had done a fairly good morning's work,
+and I walked back in high spirits to Farnham. The local house-agent
+could tell me nothing about Charlington Hall, and referred me to a
+well-known firm in Pall Mall. There I halted on my way home, and met
+with courtesy from the representative. No, I could not have Charlington
+Hall for the summer. I was just too late. It had been let about a month
+ago. Mr. Williamson was the name of the tenant. He was a respectable
+elderly gentleman. The polite agent was afraid he could say no more, as
+the affairs of his clients were not matters which he could discuss.
+
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes listened with attention to the long report which I
+was able to present to him that evening, but it did not elicit that
+word of curt praise which I had hoped for and should have valued. On
+the contrary, his austere face was even more severe than usual as he
+commented upon the things that I had done and the things that I had not.
+
+"Your hiding-place, my dear Watson, was very faulty. You should have
+been behind the hedge; then you would have had a close view of this
+interesting person. As it is you were some hundreds of yards away, and
+can tell me even less than Miss Smith. She thinks she does not know
+the man; I am convinced she does. Why, otherwise, should he be so
+desperately anxious that she should not get so near him as to see his
+features? You describe him as bending over the handle-bar. Concealment
+again, you see. You really have done remarkably badly. He returns to
+the house and you want to find out who he is. You come to a London
+house-agent!"
+
+"What should I have done?" I cried, with some heat.
+
+"Gone to the nearest public-house. That is the centre of country
+gossip. They would have told you every name, from the master to the
+scullery-maid. Williamson! It conveys nothing to my mind. If he is an
+elderly man he is not this active cyclist who sprints away from that
+athletic young lady's pursuit. What have we gained by your expedition?
+The knowledge that the girl's story is true. I never doubted it. That
+there is a connection between the cyclist and the Hall. I never doubted
+that either. That the Hall is tenanted by Williamson. Who's the better
+for that? Well, well, my dear sir, don't look so depressed. We can do
+little more until next Saturday, and in the meantime I may make one or
+two inquiries myself."
+
+Next morning we had a note from Miss Smith, recounting shortly and
+accurately the very incidents which I had seen, but the pith of the
+letter lay in the postscript:--
+
+"I am sure that you will respect my confidence, Mr. Holmes, when I tell
+you that my place here has become difficult owing to the fact that my
+employer has proposed marriage to me. I am convinced that his feelings
+are most deep and most honourable. At the same time my promise is, of
+course, given. He took my refusal very seriously, but also very gently.
+You can understand, however, that the situation is a little strained."
+
+"Our young friend seems to be getting into deep waters," said Holmes,
+thoughtfully, as he finished the letter. "The case certainly presents
+more features of interest and more possibility of development than I had
+originally thought. I should be none the worse for a quiet, peaceful day
+in the country, and I am inclined to run down this afternoon and test
+one or two theories which I have formed."
+
+Holmes's quiet day in the country had a singular termination, for
+he arrived at Baker Street late in the evening with a cut lip and a
+discoloured lump upon his forehead, besides a general air of dissipation
+which would have made his own person the fitting object of a Scotland
+Yard investigation. He was immensely tickled by his own adventures, and
+laughed heartily as he recounted them.
+
+"I get so little active exercise that it is always a treat," said he.
+"You are aware that I have some proficiency in the good old British
+sport of boxing. Occasionally it is of service. To-day, for example, I
+should have come to very ignominious grief without it."
+
+I begged him to tell me what had occurred.
+
+"I found that country pub which I had already recommended to your
+notice, and there I made my discreet inquiries. I was in the bar, and
+a garrulous landlord was giving me all that I wanted. Williamson is a
+white-bearded man, and he lives alone with a small staff of servants at
+the Hall. There is some rumour that he is or has been a clergyman; but
+one or two incidents of his short residence at the Hall struck me as
+peculiarly unecclesiastical. I have already made some inquiries at a
+clerical agency, and they tell me that there WAS a man of that name in
+orders whose career has been a singularly dark one. The landlord further
+informed me that there are usually week-end visitors--'a warm lot,
+sir'--at the Hall, and especially one gentleman with a red moustache,
+Mr. Woodley by name, who was always there. We had got as far as this
+when who should walk in but the gentleman himself, who had been drinking
+his beer in the tap-room and had heard the whole conversation. Who was
+I? What did I want? What did I mean by asking questions? He had a fine
+flow of language, and his adjectives were very vigorous. He ended a
+string of abuse by a vicious back-hander which I failed to entirely
+avoid. The next few minutes were delicious. It was a straight left
+against a slogging ruffian. I emerged as you see me. Mr. Woodley went
+home in a cart. So ended my country trip, and it must be confessed that,
+however enjoyable, my day on the Surrey border has not been much more
+profitable than your own."
+
+The Thursday brought us another letter from our client.
+
+"You will not be surprised, Mr. Holmes," said she, "to hear that I am
+leaving Mr. Carruthers's employment. Even the high pay cannot reconcile
+me to the discomforts of my situation. On Saturday I come up to town
+and I do not intend to return. Mr. Carruthers has got a trap, and so
+the dangers of the lonely road, if there ever were any dangers, are now
+over.
+
+"As to the special cause of my leaving, it is not merely the strained
+situation with Mr. Carruthers, but it is the reappearance of that odious
+man, Mr. Woodley. He was always hideous, but he looks more awful
+than ever now, for he appears to have had an accident and he is much
+disfigured. I saw him out of the window, but I am glad to say I did
+not meet him. He had a long talk with Mr. Carruthers, who seemed much
+excited afterwards. Woodley must be staying in the neighbourhood, for he
+did not sleep here, and yet I caught a glimpse of him again this morning
+slinking about in the shrubbery. I would sooner have a savage wild
+animal loose about the place. I loathe and fear him more than I can say.
+How CAN Mr. Carruthers endure such a creature for a moment? However, all
+my troubles will be over on Saturday."
+
+"So I trust, Watson; so I trust," said Holmes, gravely. "There is some
+deep intrigue going on round that little woman, and it is our duty to
+see that no one molests her upon that last journey. I think, Watson,
+that we must spare time to run down together on Saturday morning,
+and make sure that this curious and inconclusive investigation has no
+untoward ending."
+
+I confess that I had not up to now taken a very serious view of
+the case, which had seemed to me rather grotesque and bizarre than
+dangerous. That a man should lie in wait for and follow a very handsome
+woman is no unheard-of thing, and if he had so little audacity that he
+not only dared not address her, but even fled from her approach, he
+was not a very formidable assailant. The ruffian Woodley was a very
+different person, but, except on one occasion, he had not molested our
+client, and now he visited the house of Carruthers without intruding
+upon her presence. The man on the bicycle was doubtless a member of
+those week-end parties at the Hall of which the publican had spoken; but
+who he was or what he wanted was as obscure as ever. It was the severity
+of Holmes's manner and the fact that he slipped a revolver into his
+pocket before leaving our rooms which impressed me with the feeling that
+tragedy might prove to lurk behind this curious train of events.
+
+A rainy night had been followed by a glorious morning, and the
+heath-covered country-side with the glowing clumps of flowering gorse
+seemed all the more beautiful to eyes which were weary of the duns and
+drabs and slate-greys of London. Holmes and I walked along the broad,
+sandy road inhaling the fresh morning air, and rejoicing in the music of
+the birds and the fresh breath of the spring. From a rise of the road on
+the shoulder of Crooksbury Hill we could see the grim Hall bristling
+out from amidst the ancient oaks, which, old as they were, were still
+younger than the building which they surrounded. Holmes pointed down the
+long tract of road which wound, a reddish yellow band, between the brown
+of the heath and the budding green of the woods. Far away, a black
+dot, we could see a vehicle moving in our direction. Holmes gave an
+exclamation of impatience.
+
+"I had given a margin of half an hour," said he. "If that is her trap
+she must be making for the earlier train. I fear, Watson, that she will
+be past Charlington before we can possibly meet her."
+
+From the instant that we passed the rise we could no longer see the
+vehicle, but we hastened onwards at such a pace that my sedentary life
+began to tell upon me, and I was compelled to fall behind. Holmes,
+however, was always in training, for he had inexhaustible stores of
+nervous energy upon which to draw. His springy step never slowed until
+suddenly, when he was a hundred yards in front of me, he halted, and I
+saw him throw up his hand with a gesture of grief and despair. At the
+same instant an empty dog-cart, the horse cantering, the reins trailing,
+appeared round the curve of the road and rattled swiftly towards us.
+
+"Too late, Watson; too late!" cried Holmes, as I ran panting to his
+side. "Fool that I was not to allow for that earlier train! It's
+abduction, Watson--abduction! Murder! Heaven knows what! Block the road!
+Stop the horse! That's right. Now, jump in, and let us see if I can
+repair the consequences of my own blunder."
+
+We had sprung into the dog-cart, and Holmes, after turning the horse,
+gave it a sharp cut with the whip, and we flew back along the road. As
+we turned the curve the whole stretch of road between the Hall and the
+heath was opened up. I grasped Holmes's arm.
+
+"That's the man!" I gasped.
+
+A solitary cyclist was coming towards us. His head was down and his
+shoulders rounded as he put every ounce of energy that he possessed
+on to the pedals. He was flying like a racer. Suddenly he raised his
+bearded face, saw us close to him, and pulled up, springing from his
+machine. That coal-black beard was in singular contrast to the pallor of
+his face, and his eyes were as bright as if he had a fever. He stared at
+us and at the dog-cart. Then a look of amazement came over his face.
+
+"Halloa! Stop there!" he shouted, holding his bicycle to block our road.
+"Where did you get that dog-cart? Pull up, man!" he yelled, drawing a
+pistol from his side pocket. "Pull up, I say, or, by George, I'll put a
+bullet into your horse."
+
+Holmes threw the reins into my lap and sprang down from the cart.
+
+"You're the man we want to see. Where is Miss Violet Smith?" he said, in
+his quick, clear way.
+
+"That's what I am asking you. You're in her dog-cart. You ought to know
+where she is."
+
+"We met the dog-cart on the road. There was no one in it. We drove back
+to help the young lady."
+
+"Good Lord! Good Lord! what shall I do?" cried the stranger, in an
+ecstasy of despair. "They've got her, that hellhound Woodley and the
+blackguard parson. Come, man, come, if you really are her friend. Stand
+by me and we'll save her, if I have to leave my carcass in Charlington
+Wood."
+
+He ran distractedly, his pistol in his hand, towards a gap in the hedge.
+Holmes followed him, and I, leaving the horse grazing beside the road,
+followed Holmes.
+
+"This is where they came through," said he, pointing to the marks of
+several feet upon the muddy path. "Halloa! Stop a minute! Who's this in
+the bush?"
+
+It was a young fellow about seventeen, dressed like an ostler, with
+leather cords and gaiters. He lay upon his back, his knees drawn up, a
+terrible cut upon his head. He was insensible, but alive. A glance at
+his wound told me that it had not penetrated the bone.
+
+"That's Peter, the groom," cried the stranger. "He drove her. The beasts
+have pulled him off and clubbed him. Let him lie; we can't do him any
+good, but we may save her from the worst fate that can befall a woman."
+
+We ran frantically down the path, which wound among the trees. We had
+reached the shrubbery which surrounded the house when Holmes pulled up.
+
+"They didn't go to the house. Here are their marks on the left--here,
+beside the laurel bushes! Ah, I said so!"
+
+As he spoke a woman's shrill scream--a scream which vibrated with a
+frenzy of horror--burst from the thick green clump of bushes in front of
+us. It ended suddenly on its highest note with a choke and a gurgle.
+
+"This way! This way! They are in the bowling alley," cried the
+stranger, darting through the bushes. "Ah, the cowardly dogs! Follow me,
+gentlemen! Too late! too late! by the living Jingo!"
+
+We had broken suddenly into a lovely glade of greensward surrounded by
+ancient trees. On the farther side of it, under the shadow of a mighty
+oak, there stood a singular group of three people. One was a woman, our
+client, drooping and faint, a handkerchief round her mouth. Opposite her
+stood a brutal, heavy-faced, red-moustached young man, his gaitered legs
+parted wide, one arm akimbo, the other waving a riding-crop, his whole
+attitude suggestive of triumphant bravado. Between them an elderly,
+grey-bearded man, wearing a short surplice over a light tweed suit,
+had evidently just completed the wedding service, for he pocketed his
+prayer-book as we appeared and slapped the sinister bridegroom upon the
+back in jovial congratulation.
+
+"They're married!" I gasped.
+
+"Come on!" cried our guide; "come on!" He rushed across the glade,
+Holmes and I at his heels. As we approached, the lady staggered against
+the trunk of the tree for support. Williamson, the ex-clergyman, bowed
+to us with mock politeness, and the bully Woodley advanced with a shout
+of brutal and exultant laughter.
+
+"You can take your beard off, Bob," said he. "I know you right enough.
+Well, you and your pals have just come in time for me to be able to
+introduce you to Mrs. Woodley."
+
+Our guide's answer was a singular one. He snatched off the dark beard
+which had disguised him and threw it on the ground, disclosing a long,
+sallow, clean-shaven face below it. Then he raised his revolver and
+covered the young ruffian, who was advancing upon him with his dangerous
+riding-crop swinging in his hand.
+
+"Yes," said our ally, "I AM Bob Carruthers, and I'll see this woman
+righted if I have to swing for it. I told you what I'd do if you
+molested her, and, by the Lord, I'll be as good as my word!"
+
+"You're too late. She's my wife!"
+
+"No, she's your widow."
+
+His revolver cracked, and I saw the blood spurt from the front of
+Woodley's waistcoat. He spun round with a scream and fell upon his back,
+his hideous red face turning suddenly to a dreadful mottled pallor. The
+old man, still clad in his surplice, burst into such a string of foul
+oaths as I have never heard, and pulled out a revolver of his own, but
+before he could raise it he was looking down the barrel of Holmes's
+weapon.
+
+"Enough of this," said my friend, coldly. "Drop that pistol! Watson,
+pick it up! Hold it to his head! Thank you. You, Carruthers, give me
+that revolver. We'll have no more violence. Come, hand it over!"
+
+"Who are you, then?"
+
+"My name is Sherlock Holmes."
+
+"Good Lord!"
+
+"You have heard of me, I see. I will represent the official police until
+their arrival. Here, you!" he shouted to a frightened groom who had
+appeared at the edge of the glade. "Come here. Take this note as hard as
+you can ride to Farnham." He scribbled a few words upon a leaf from his
+note-book. "Give it to the superintendent at the police-station. Until
+he comes I must detain you all under my personal custody."
+
+The strong, masterful personality of Holmes dominated the tragic scene,
+and all were equally puppets in his hands. Williamson and Carruthers
+found themselves carrying the wounded Woodley into the house, and I gave
+my arm to the frightened girl. The injured man was laid on his bed, and
+at Holmes's request I examined him. I carried my report to where he sat
+in the old tapestry-hung dining-room with his two prisoners before him.
+
+"He will live," said I.
+
+"What!" cried Carruthers, springing out of his chair. "I'll go upstairs
+and finish him first. Do you tell me that that girl, that angel, is to
+be tied to Roaring Jack Woodley for life?"
+
+"You need not concern yourself about that," said Holmes. "There are two
+very good reasons why she should under no circumstances be his wife. In
+the first place, we are very safe in questioning Mr. Williamson's right
+to solemnize a marriage."
+
+"I have been ordained," cried the old rascal.
+
+"And also unfrocked."
+
+"Once a clergyman, always a clergyman."
+
+"I think not. How about the license?"
+
+"We had a license for the marriage. I have it here in my pocket."
+
+"Then you got it by a trick. But in any case a forced marriage is no
+marriage, but it is a very serious felony, as you will discover before
+you have finished. You'll have time to think the point out during the
+next ten years or so, unless I am mistaken. As to you, Carruthers, you
+would have done better to keep your pistol in your pocket."
+
+"I begin to think so, Mr. Holmes; but when I thought of all the
+precaution I had taken to shield this girl--for I loved her, Mr. Holmes,
+and it is the only time that ever I knew what love was--it fairly drove
+me mad to think that she was in the power of the greatest brute and
+bully in South Africa, a man whose name is a holy terror from Kimberley
+to Johannesburg. Why, Mr. Holmes, you'll hardly believe it, but ever
+since that girl has been in my employment I never once let her go past
+this house, where I knew these rascals were lurking, without following
+her on my bicycle just to see that she came to no harm. I kept my
+distance from her, and I wore a beard so that she should not recognise
+me, for she is a good and high-spirited girl, and she wouldn't have
+stayed in my employment long if she had thought that I was following her
+about the country roads."
+
+"Why didn't you tell her of her danger?"
+
+"Because then, again, she would have left me, and I couldn't bear to
+face that. Even if she couldn't love me it was a great deal to me just
+to see her dainty form about the house, and to hear the sound of her
+voice."
+
+"Well," said I, "you call that love, Mr. Carruthers, but I should call
+it selfishness."
+
+"Maybe the two things go together. Anyhow, I couldn't let her go.
+Besides, with this crowd about, it was well that she should have someone
+near to look after her. Then when the cable came I knew they were bound
+to make a move."
+
+"What cable?"
+
+Carruthers took a telegram from his pocket.
+
+"That's it," said he.
+
+It was short and concise:--
+
+"The old man is dead."
+
+"Hum!" said Holmes. "I think I see how things worked, and I can
+understand how this message would, as you say, bring them to a head. But
+while we wait you might tell me what you can."
+
+The old reprobate with the surplice burst into a volley of bad language.
+
+"By Heaven," said he, "if you squeal on us, Bob Carruthers, I'll serve
+you as you served Jack Woodley. You can bleat about the girl to your
+heart's content, for that's your own affair, but if you round on your
+pals to this plain-clothes copper it will be the worst day's work that
+ever you did."
+
+"Your reverence need not be excited," said Holmes, lighting a cigarette.
+"The case is clear enough against you, and all I ask is a few details
+for my private curiosity. However, if there's any difficulty in your
+telling me I'll do the talking, and then you will see how far you have
+a chance of holding back your secrets. In the first place, three of you
+came from South Africa on this game--you Williamson, you Carruthers, and
+Woodley."
+
+"Lie number one," said the old man; "I never saw either of them until
+two months ago, and I have never been in Africa in my life, so you can
+put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Busybody Holmes!"
+
+"What he says is true," said Carruthers.
+
+"Well, well, two of you came over. His reverence is our own home-made
+article. You had known Ralph Smith in South Africa. You had reason
+to believe he would not live long. You found out that his niece would
+inherit his fortune. How's that--eh?"
+
+Carruthers nodded and Williamson swore.
+
+"She was next-of-kin, no doubt, and you were aware that the old fellow
+would make no will."
+
+"Couldn't read or write," said Carruthers.
+
+"So you came over, the two of you, and hunted up the girl. The idea
+was that one of you was to marry her and the other have a share of the
+plunder. For some reason Woodley was chosen as the husband. Why was
+that?"
+
+"We played cards for her on the voyage. He won."
+
+"I see. You got the young lady into your service, and there Woodley was
+to do the courting. She recognised the drunken brute that he was, and
+would have nothing to do with him. Meanwhile, your arrangement was
+rather upset by the fact that you had yourself fallen in love with the
+lady. You could no longer bear the idea of this ruffian owning her."
+
+"No, by George, I couldn't!"
+
+"There was a quarrel between you. He left you in a rage, and began to
+make his own plans independently of you."
+
+"It strikes me, Williamson, there isn't very much that we can tell this
+gentleman," cried Carruthers, with a bitter laugh. "Yes, we quarreled,
+and he knocked me down. I am level with him on that, anyhow. Then I lost
+sight of him. That was when he picked up with this cast padre here. I
+found that they had set up house-keeping together at this place on the
+line that she had to pass for the station. I kept my eye on her after
+that, for I knew there was some devilry in the wind. I saw them from
+time to time, for I was anxious to know what they were after. Two days
+ago Woodley came up to my house with this cable, which showed that Ralph
+Smith was dead. He asked me if I would stand by the bargain. I said I
+would not. He asked me if I would marry the girl myself and give him a
+share. I said I would willingly do so, but that she would not have me.
+He said, 'Let us get her married first, and after a week or two she
+may see things a bit different.' I said I would have nothing to do with
+violence. So he went off cursing, like the foul-mouthed blackguard that
+he was, and swearing that he would have her yet. She was leaving me this
+week-end, and I had got a trap to take her to the station, but I was
+so uneasy in my mind that I followed her on my bicycle. She had got a
+start, however, and before I could catch her the mischief was done. The
+first thing I knew about it was when I saw you two gentlemen driving
+back in her dog-cart."
+
+Holmes rose and tossed the end of his cigarette into the grate. "I have
+been very obtuse, Watson," said he. "When in your report you said that
+you had seen the cyclist as you thought arrange his necktie in
+the shrubbery, that alone should have told me all. However, we may
+congratulate ourselves upon a curious and in some respects a unique
+case. I perceive three of the county constabulary in the drive, and I am
+glad to see that the little ostler is able to keep pace with them; so
+it is likely that neither he nor the interesting bridegroom will be
+permanently damaged by their morning's adventures. I think, Watson, that
+in your medical capacity you might wait upon Miss Smith and tell her
+that if she is sufficiently recovered we shall be happy to escort her to
+her mother's home. If she is not quite convalescent you will find that
+a hint that we were about to telegraph to a young electrician in the
+Midlands would probably complete the cure. As to you, Mr. Carruthers, I
+think that you have done what you could to make amends for your share in
+an evil plot. There is my card, sir, and if my evidence can be of help
+to you in your trial it shall be at your disposal."
+
+
+In the whirl of our incessant activity it has often been difficult for
+me, as the reader has probably observed, to round off my narratives, and
+to give those final details which the curious might expect. Each case
+has been the prelude to another, and the crisis once over the actors
+have passed for ever out of our busy lives. I find, however, a short
+note at the end of my manuscripts dealing with this case, in which I
+have put it upon record that Miss Violet Smith did indeed inherit a
+large fortune, and that she is now the wife of Cyril Morton, the senior
+partner of Morton & Kennedy, the famous Westminster electricians.
+Williamson and Woodley were both tried for abduction and assault, the
+former getting seven years and the latter ten. Of the fate of Carruthers
+I have no record, but I am sure that his assault was not viewed very
+gravely by the Court, since Woodley had the reputation of being a most
+dangerous ruffian, and I think that a few months were sufficient to
+satisfy the demands of justice.
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 27  FEBRUARY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+V.--The Adventure of the Priory School.
+
+
+WE have had some dramatic entrances and exits upon our small stage at
+Baker Street, but I cannot recollect anything more sudden and startling
+than the first appearance of Thorneycroft Huxtable, M.A., Ph.D., etc.
+His card, which seemed too small to carry the weight of his academic
+distinctions, preceded him by a few seconds, and then he entered
+himself--so large, so pompous, and so dignified that he was the very
+embodiment of self-possession and solidity. And yet his first action
+when the door had closed behind him was to stagger against the table,
+whence he slipped down upon the floor, and there was that majestic
+figure prostrate and insensible upon our bearskin hearthrug.
+
+We had sprung to our feet, and for a few moments we stared in silent
+amazement at this ponderous piece of wreckage, which told of some sudden
+and fatal storm far out on the ocean of life. Then Holmes hurried with
+a cushion for his head and I with brandy for his lips. The heavy white
+face was seamed with lines of trouble, the hanging pouches under the
+closed eyes were leaden in colour, the loose mouth drooped dolorously at
+the corners, the rolling chins were unshaven. Collar and shirt bore
+the grime of a long journey, and the hair bristled unkempt from the
+well-shaped head. It was a sorely-stricken man who lay before us.
+
+"What is it, Watson?" asked Holmes.
+
+"Absolute exhaustion--possibly mere hunger and fatigue," said I, with my
+finger on the thready pulse, where the stream of life trickled thin and
+small.
+
+"Return ticket from Mackleton, in the North of England," said Holmes,
+drawing it from the watch-pocket. "It is not twelve o'clock yet. He has
+certainly been an early starter."
+
+The puckered eyelids had begun to quiver, and now a pair of vacant, grey
+eyes looked up at us. An instant later the man had scrambled on to his
+feet, his face crimson with shame.
+
+"Forgive this weakness, Mr. Holmes; I have been a little overwrought.
+Thank you, if I might have a glass of milk and a biscuit I have no doubt
+that I should be better. I came personally, Mr. Holmes, in order to
+ensure that you would return with me. I feared that no telegram would
+convince you of the absolute urgency of the case."
+
+"When you are quite restored---"
+
+"I am quite well again. I cannot imagine how I came to be so weak. I
+wish you, Mr. Holmes, to come to Mackleton with me by the next train."
+
+My friend shook his head.
+
+"My colleague, Dr. Watson, could tell you that we are very busy at
+present. I am retained in this case of the Ferrers Documents, and the
+Abergavenny murder is coming up for trial. Only a very important issue
+could call me from London at present."
+
+"Important!" Our visitor threw up his hands. "Have you heard nothing of
+the abduction of the only son of the Duke of Holdernesse?"
+
+"What! the late Cabinet Minister?"
+
+"Exactly. We had tried to keep it out of the papers, but there was some
+rumour in the GLOBE last night. I thought it might have reached your
+ears."
+
+Holmes shot out his long, thin arm and picked out Volume "H" in his
+encyclopaedia of reference.
+
+"'Holdernesse, 6th Duke, K.G., P.C.'--half the alphabet! 'Baron
+Beverley, Earl of Carston'--dear me, what a list! 'Lord Lieutenant
+of Hallamshire since 1900. Married Edith, daughter of Sir Charles
+Appledore, 1888. Heir and only child, Lord Saltire. Owns about two
+hundred and fifty thousand acres. Minerals in Lancashire and Wales.
+Address: Carlton House Terrace; Holdernesse Hall, Hallamshire; Carston
+Castle, Bangor, Wales. Lord of the Admiralty, 1872; Chief Secretary
+of State for--' Well, well, this man is certainly one of the greatest
+subjects of the Crown!"
+
+"The greatest and perhaps the wealthiest. I am aware, Mr. Holmes, that
+you take a very high line in professional matters, and that you are
+prepared to work for the work's sake. I may tell you, however, that his
+Grace has already intimated that a cheque for five thousand pounds will
+be handed over to the person who can tell him where his son is, and
+another thousand to him who can name the man, or men, who have taken
+him."
+
+"It is a princely offer," said Holmes. "Watson, I think that we shall
+accompany Dr. Huxtable back to the North of England. And now, Dr.
+Huxtable, when you have consumed that milk you will kindly tell me what
+has happened, when it happened, how it happened, and, finally, what Dr.
+Thorneycroft Huxtable, of the Priory School, near Mackleton, has to do
+with the matter, and why he comes three days after an event--the state
+of your chin gives the date--to ask for my humble services."
+
+Our visitor had consumed his milk and biscuits. The light had come back
+to his eyes and the colour to his cheeks as he set himself with great
+vigour and lucidity to explain the situation.
+
+"I must inform you, gentlemen, that the Priory is a preparatory school,
+of which I am the founder and principal. 'Huxtable's Sidelights on
+Horace' may possibly recall my name to your memories. The Priory is,
+without exception, the best and most select preparatory school
+in England. Lord Leverstoke, the Earl of Blackwater, Sir Cathcart
+Soames--they all have entrusted their sons to me. But I felt that
+my school had reached its zenith when, three weeks ago, the Duke of
+Holdernesse sent Mr. James Wilder, his secretary, with the intimation
+that young Lord Saltire, ten years old, his only son and heir, was about
+to be committed to my charge. Little did I think that this would be the
+prelude to the most crushing misfortune of my life.
+
+"On May 1st the boy arrived, that being the beginning of the summer
+term. He was a charming youth, and he soon fell into our ways. I may
+tell you--I trust that I am not indiscreet, but half-confidences are
+absurd in such a case--that he was not entirely happy at home. It is an
+open secret that the Duke's married life had not been a peaceful one,
+and the matter had ended in a separation by mutual consent, the Duchess
+taking up her residence in the South of France. This had occurred very
+shortly before, and the boy's sympathies are known to have been strongly
+with his mother. He moped after her departure from Holdernesse Hall,
+and it was for this reason that the Duke desired to send him to my
+establishment. In a fortnight the boy was quite at home with us, and was
+apparently absolutely happy.
+
+"He was last seen on the night of May 13th--that is, the night of last
+Monday. His room was on the second floor, and was approached through
+another larger room in which two boys were sleeping. These boys saw and
+heard nothing, so that it is certain that young Saltire did not pass out
+that way. His window was open, and there is a stout ivy plant leading to
+the ground. We could trace no footmarks below, but it is sure that this
+is the only possible exit.
+
+"His absence was discovered at seven o'clock on Tuesday morning. His bed
+had been slept in. He had dressed himself fully before going off in his
+usual school suit of black Eton jacket and dark grey trousers. There
+were no signs that anyone had entered the room, and it is quite certain
+that anything in the nature of cries, or a struggle, would have been
+heard, since Caunter, the elder boy in the inner room, is a very light
+sleeper.
+
+"When Lord Saltire's disappearance was discovered I at once called a
+roll of the whole establishment, boys, masters, and servants. It was
+then that we ascertained that Lord Saltire had not been alone in his
+flight. Heidegger, the German master, was missing. His room was on the
+second floor, at the farther end of the building, facing the same way
+as Lord Saltire's. His bed had also been slept in; but he had apparently
+gone away partly dressed, since his shirt and socks were lying on the
+floor. He had undoubtedly let himself down by the ivy, for we could see
+the marks of his feet where he had landed on the lawn. His bicycle was
+kept in a small shed beside this lawn, and it also was gone.
+
+"He had been with me for two years, and came with the best references;
+but he was a silent, morose man, not very popular either with masters
+or boys. No trace could be found of the fugitives, and now on Thursday
+morning we are as ignorant as we were on Tuesday. Inquiry was, of
+course, made at once at Holdernesse Hall. It is only a few miles away,
+and we imagined that in some sudden attack of home-sickness he had
+gone back to his father; but nothing had been heard of him. The Duke is
+greatly agitated--and as to me, you have seen yourselves the state of
+nervous prostration to which the suspense and the responsibility have
+reduced me. Mr. Holmes, if ever you put forward your full powers, I
+implore you to do so now, for never in your life could you have a case
+which is more worthy of them."
+
+Sherlock Holmes had listened with the utmost intentness to the statement
+of the unhappy schoolmaster. His drawn brows and the deep furrow
+between them showed that he needed no exhortation to concentrate all
+his attention upon a problem which, apart from the tremendous interests
+involved, must appeal so directly to his love of the complex and the
+unusual. He now drew out his note-book and jotted down one or two
+memoranda.
+
+"You have been very remiss in not coming to me sooner," said he,
+severely. "You start me on my investigation with a very serious
+handicap. It is inconceivable, for example, that this ivy and this lawn
+would have yielded nothing to an expert observer."
+
+"I am not to blame, Mr. Holmes. His Grace was extremely desirous to
+avoid all public scandal. He was afraid of his family unhappiness being
+dragged before the world. He has a deep horror of anything of the kind."
+
+"But there has been some official investigation?"
+
+"Yes, sir, and it has proved most disappointing. An apparent clue was
+at once obtained, since a boy and a young man were reported to have been
+seen leaving a neighbouring station by an early train. Only last night
+we had news that the couple had been hunted down in Liverpool, and they
+prove to have no connection whatever with the matter in hand. Then it
+was that in my despair and disappointment, after a sleepless night, I
+came straight to you by the early train."
+
+"I suppose the local investigation was relaxed while this false clue was
+being followed up?"
+
+"It was entirely dropped."
+
+"So that three days have been wasted. The affair has been most
+deplorably handled."
+
+"I feel it, and admit it."
+
+"And yet the problem should be capable of ultimate solution. I shall be
+very happy to look into it. Have you been able to trace any connection
+between the missing boy and this German master?"
+
+"None at all."
+
+"Was he in the master's class?"
+
+"No; he never exchanged a word with him so far as I know."
+
+"That is certainly very singular. Had the boy a bicycle?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Was any other bicycle missing?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Is that certain?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"Well, now, you do not mean to seriously suggest that this German rode
+off upon a bicycle in the dead of the night bearing the boy in his
+arms?"
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"Then what is the theory in your mind?"
+
+"The bicycle may have been a blind. It may have been hidden somewhere
+and the pair gone off on foot."
+
+"Quite so; but it seems rather an absurd blind, does it not? Were there
+other bicycles in this shed?"
+
+"Several."
+
+"Would he not have hidden A COUPLE had he desired to give the idea that
+they had gone off upon them?"
+
+"I suppose he would."
+
+"Of course he would. The blind theory won't do. But the incident is an
+admirable starting-point for an investigation. After all, a bicycle
+is not an easy thing to conceal or to destroy. One other question. Did
+anyone call to see the boy on the day before he disappeared?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did he get any letters?"
+
+"Yes; one letter."
+
+"From whom?"
+
+"From his father."
+
+"Do you open the boys' letters?"
+
+"No."
+
+"How do you know it was from the father?"
+
+"The coat of arms was on the envelope, and it was addressed in the
+Duke's peculiar stiff hand. Besides, the Duke remembers having written."
+
+"When had he a letter before that?"
+
+"Not for several days."
+
+"Had he ever one from France?"
+
+"No; never.
+
+"You see the point of my questions, of course. Either the boy was
+carried off by force or he went of his own free will. In the latter case
+you would expect that some prompting from outside would be needed to
+make so young a lad do such a thing. If he has had no visitors, that
+prompting must have come in letters. Hence I try to find out who were
+his correspondents."
+
+"I fear I cannot help you much. His only correspondent, so far as I
+know, was his own father."
+
+"Who wrote to him on the very day of his disappearance. Were the
+relations between father and son very friendly?"
+
+"His Grace is never very friendly with anyone. He is completely immersed
+in large public questions, and is rather inaccessible to all ordinary
+emotions. But he was always kind to the boy in his own way."
+
+"But the sympathies of the latter were with the mother?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did he say so?"
+
+"No."
+
+"The Duke, then?"
+
+"Good heavens, no!"
+
+"Then how could you know?"
+
+"I have had some confidential talks with Mr. James Wilder, his Grace's
+secretary. It was he who gave me the information about Lord Saltire's
+feelings."
+
+"I see. By the way, that last letter of the Duke's--was it found in the
+boy's room after he was gone?"
+
+"No; he had taken it with him. I think, Mr. Holmes, it is time that we
+were leaving for Euston."
+
+"I will order a four-wheeler. In a quarter of an hour we shall be at
+your service. If you are telegraphing home, Mr. Huxtable, it would
+be well to allow the people in your neighbourhood to imagine that
+the inquiry is still going on in Liverpool, or wherever else that red
+herring led your pack. In the meantime I will do a little quiet work at
+your own doors, and perhaps the scent is not so cold but that two old
+hounds like Watson and myself may get a sniff of it."
+
+
+That evening found us in the cold, bracing atmosphere of the Peak
+country, in which Dr. Huxtable's famous school is situated. It was
+already dark when we reached it. A card was lying on the hall table,
+and the butler whispered something to his master, who turned to us with
+agitation in every heavy feature.
+
+"The Duke is here," said he. "The Duke and Mr. Wilder are in the study.
+Come, gentlemen, and I will introduce you."
+
+I was, of course, familiar with the pictures of the famous statesman,
+but the man himself was very different from his representation. He was a
+tall and stately person, scrupulously dressed, with a drawn, thin face,
+and a nose which was grotesquely curved and long. His complexion was
+of a dead pallor, which was more startling by contrast with a long,
+dwindling beard of vivid red, which flowed down over his white
+waistcoat, with his watch-chain gleaming through its fringe. Such was
+the stately presence who looked stonily at us from the centre of
+Dr. Huxtable's hearthrug. Beside him stood a very young man, whom I
+understood to be Wilder, the private secretary. He was small, nervous,
+alert, with intelligent, light-blue eyes and mobile features. It was he
+who at once, in an incisive and positive tone, opened the conversation.
+
+"I called this morning, Dr. Huxtable, too late to prevent you from
+starting for London. I learned that your object was to invite Mr.
+Sherlock Holmes to undertake the conduct of this case. His Grace is
+surprised, Dr. Huxtable, that you should have taken such a step without
+consulting him."
+
+"When I learned that the police had failed----"
+
+"His Grace is by no means convinced that the police have failed."
+
+"But surely, Mr. Wilder----"
+
+"You are well aware, Dr. Huxtable, that his Grace is particularly
+anxious to avoid all public scandal. He prefers to take as few people as
+possible into his confidence."
+
+"The matter can be easily remedied," said the brow-beaten doctor; "Mr.
+Sherlock Holmes can return to London by the morning train."
+
+"Hardly that, Doctor, hardly that," said Holmes, in his blandest voice.
+"This northern air is invigorating and pleasant, so I propose to spend a
+few days upon your moors, and to occupy my mind as best I may. Whether
+I have the shelter of your roof or of the village inn is, of course, for
+you to decide."
+
+I could see that the unfortunate doctor was in the last stage of
+indecision, from which he was rescued by the deep, sonorous voice of the
+red-bearded Duke, which boomed out like a dinner-gong.
+
+"I agree with Mr. Wilder, Dr. Huxtable, that you would have done wisely
+to consult me. But since Mr. Holmes has already been taken into your
+confidence, it would indeed be absurd that we should not avail ourselves
+of his services. Far from going to the inn, Mr. Holmes, I should be
+pleased if you would come and stay with me at Holdernesse Hall."
+
+"I thank your Grace. For the purposes of my investigation I think that
+it would be wiser for me to remain at the scene of the mystery."
+
+"Just as you like, Mr. Holmes. Any information which Mr. Wilder or I can
+give you is, of course, at your disposal."
+
+"It will probably be necessary for me to see you at the Hall," said
+Holmes. "I would only ask you now, sir, whether you have formed any
+explanation in your own mind as to the mysterious disappearance of your
+son?"
+
+"No, sir, I have not."
+
+"Excuse me if I allude to that which is painful to you, but I have no
+alternative. Do you think that the Duchess had anything to do with the
+matter?"
+
+The great Minister showed perceptible hesitation.
+
+"I do not think so," he said, at last.
+
+"The other most obvious explanation is that the child has been kidnapped
+for the purpose of levying ransom. You have not had any demand of the
+sort?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"One more question, your Grace. I understand that you wrote to your son
+upon the day when this incident occurred."
+
+"No; I wrote upon the day before."
+
+"Exactly. But he received it on that day?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was there anything in your letter which might have unbalanced him or
+induced him to take such a step?"
+
+"No, sir, certainly not."
+
+"Did you post that letter yourself?"
+
+The nobleman's reply was interrupted by his secretary, who broke in with
+some heat.
+
+"His Grace is not in the habit of posting letters himself," said he.
+"This letter was laid with others upon the study table, and I myself put
+them in the post-bag."
+
+"You are sure this one was among them?"
+
+"Yes; I observed it."
+
+"How many letters did your Grace write that day?"
+
+"Twenty or thirty. I have a large correspondence. But surely this is
+somewhat irrelevant?"
+
+"Not entirely," said Holmes.
+
+"For my own part," the Duke continued, "I have advised the police to
+turn their attention to the South of France. I have already said that I
+do not believe that the Duchess would encourage so monstrous an action,
+but the lad had the most wrong-headed opinions, and it is possible that
+he may have fled to her, aided and abetted by this German. I think, Dr.
+Huxtable, that we will now return to the Hall."
+
+I could see that there were other questions which Holmes would have
+wished to put; but the nobleman's abrupt manner showed that the
+interview was at an end. It was evident that to his intensely
+aristocratic nature this discussion of his intimate family affairs
+with a stranger was most abhorrent, and that he feared lest every
+fresh question would throw a fiercer light into the discreetly shadowed
+corners of his ducal history.
+
+When the nobleman and his secretary had left, my friend flung himself at
+once with characteristic eagerness into the investigation.
+
+The boy's chamber was carefully examined, and yielded nothing save the
+absolute conviction that it was only through the window that he could
+have escaped. The German master's room and effects gave no further clue.
+In his case a trailer of ivy had given way under his weight, and we saw
+by the light of a lantern the mark on the lawn where his heels had
+come down. That one dint in the short green grass was the only material
+witness left of this inexplicable nocturnal flight.
+
+Sherlock Holmes left the house alone, and only returned after eleven.
+He had obtained a large ordnance map of the neighbourhood, and this
+he brought into my room, where he laid it out on the bed, and, having
+balanced the lamp in the middle of it, he began to smoke over it, and
+occasionally to point out objects of interest with the reeking amber of
+his pipe.
+
+"This case grows upon me, Watson," said he. "There are decidedly some
+points of interest in connection with it. In this early stage I want you
+to realize those geographical features which may have a good deal to do
+with our investigation.
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"Look at this map. This dark square is the Priory School. I'll put a pin
+in it. Now, this line is the main road. You see that it runs east and
+west past the school, and you see also that there is no side road for
+a mile either way. If these two folk passed away by road it was THIS
+road."
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"By a singular and happy chance we are able to some extent to check
+what passed along this road during the night in question. At this point,
+where my pipe is now resting, a country constable was on duty from
+twelve to six. It is, as you perceive, the first cross road on the east
+side. This man declares that he was not absent from his post for an
+instant, and he is positive that neither boy nor man could have gone
+that way unseen. I have spoken with this policeman to-night, and he
+appears to me to be a perfectly reliable person. That blocks this end.
+We have now to deal with the other. There is an inn here, the Red Bull,
+the landlady of which was ill. She had sent to Mackleton for a doctor,
+but he did not arrive until morning, being absent at another case. The
+people at the inn were alert all night, awaiting his coming, and one or
+other of them seems to have continually had an eye upon the road. They
+declare that no one passed. If their evidence is good, then we are
+fortunate enough to be able to block the west, and also to be able to
+say that the fugitives did NOT use the road at all."
+
+"But the bicycle?" I objected.
+
+"Quite so. We will come to the bicycle presently. To continue our
+reasoning: if these people did not go by the road, they must have
+traversed the country to the north of the house or to the south of the
+house. That is certain. Let us weigh the one against the other. On the
+south of the house is, as you perceive, a large district of arable land,
+cut up into small fields, with stone walls between them. There, I admit
+that a bicycle is impossible. We can dismiss the idea. We turn to the
+country on the north. Here there lies a grove of trees, marked as the
+'Ragged Shaw,' and on the farther side stretches a great rolling moor,
+Lower Gill Moor, extending for ten miles and sloping gradually upwards.
+Here, at one side of this wilderness, is Holdernesse Hall, ten miles by
+road, but only six across the moor. It is a peculiarly desolate plain. A
+few moor farmers have small holdings, where they rear sheep and cattle.
+Except these, the plover and the curlew are the only inhabitants until
+you come to the Chesterfield high road. There is a church there,
+you see, a few cottages, and an inn. Beyond that the hills become
+precipitous. Surely it is here to the north that our quest must lie."
+
+"But the bicycle?" I persisted.
+
+"Well, well!" said Holmes, impatiently. "A good cyclist does not need
+a high road. The moor is intersected with paths and the moon was at the
+full. Halloa! what is this?"
+
+There was an agitated knock at the door, and an instant afterwards Dr.
+Huxtable was in the room. In his hand he held a blue cricket-cap, with a
+white chevron on the peak.
+
+"At last we have a clue!" he cried. "Thank Heaven! at last we are on the
+dear boy's track! It is his cap."
+
+"Where was it found?"
+
+"In the van of the gipsies who camped on the moor. They left on Tuesday.
+To-day the police traced them down and examined their caravan. This was
+found."
+
+"How do they account for it?"
+
+"They shuffled and lied--said that they found it on the moor on Tuesday
+morning. They know where he is, the rascals! Thank goodness, they are
+all safe under lock and key. Either the fear of the law or the Duke's
+purse will certainly get out of them all that they know."
+
+"So far, so good," said Holmes, when the doctor had at last left the
+room. "It at least bears out the theory that it is on the side of the
+Lower Gill Moor that we must hope for results. The police have really
+done nothing locally, save the arrest of these gipsies. Look here,
+Watson! There is a watercourse across the moor. You see it marked here
+in the map. In some parts it widens into a morass. This is particularly
+so in the region between Holdernesse Hall and the school. It is vain to
+look elsewhere for tracks in this dry weather; but at THAT point there
+is certainly a chance of some record being left. I will call you early
+to-morrow morning, and you and I will try if we can throw some little
+light upon the mystery."
+
+The day was just breaking when I woke to find the long, thin form of
+Holmes by my bedside. He was fully dressed, and had apparently already
+been out.
+
+"I have done the lawn and the bicycle shed," said he. "I have also had a
+ramble through the Ragged Shaw. Now, Watson, there is cocoa ready in the
+next room. I must beg you to hurry, for we have a great day before us."
+
+His eyes shone, and his cheek was flushed with the exhilaration of the
+master workman who sees his work lie ready before him. A very different
+Holmes, this active, alert man, from the introspective and pallid
+dreamer of Baker Street. I felt, as I looked upon that supple figure,
+alive with nervous energy, that it was indeed a strenuous day that
+awaited us.
+
+And yet it opened in the blackest disappointment. With high hopes we
+struck across the peaty, russet moor, intersected with a thousand sheep
+paths, until we came to the broad, light-green belt which marked the
+morass between us and Holdernesse. Certainly, if the lad had gone
+homewards, he must have passed this, and he could not pass it without
+leaving his traces. But no sign of him or the German could be seen. With
+a darkening face my friend strode along the margin, eagerly observant
+of every muddy stain upon the mossy surface. Sheep-marks there were
+in profusion, and at one place, some miles down, cows had left their
+tracks. Nothing more.
+
+"Check number one," said Holmes, looking gloomily over the rolling
+expanse of the moor. "There is another morass down yonder and a narrow
+neck between. Halloa! halloa! halloa! what have we here?"
+
+We had come on a small black ribbon of pathway. In the middle of it,
+clearly marked on the sodden soil, was the track of a bicycle.
+
+"Hurrah!" I cried. "We have it."
+
+But Holmes was shaking his head, and his face was puzzled and expectant
+rather than joyous.
+
+"A bicycle, certainly, but not THE bicycle," said he. "I am familiar
+with forty-two different impressions left by tyres. This, as you
+perceive, is a Dunlop, with a patch upon the outer cover. Heidegger's
+tyres were Palmer's, leaving longitudinal stripes. Aveling, the
+mathematical master, was sure upon the point. Therefore, it is not
+Heidegger's track."
+
+"The boy's, then?"
+
+"Possibly, if we could prove a bicycle to have been in his possession.
+But this we have utterly failed to do. This track, as you perceive, was
+made by a rider who was going from the direction of the school."
+
+"Or towards it?"
+
+"No, no, my dear Watson. The more deeply sunk impression is, of course,
+the hind wheel, upon which the weight rests. You perceive several places
+where it has passed across and obliterated the more shallow mark of the
+front one. It was undoubtedly heading away from the school. It may or
+may not be connected with our inquiry, but we will follow it backwards
+before we go any farther."
+
+We did so, and at the end of a few hundred yards lost the tracks as
+we emerged from the boggy portion of the moor. Following the path
+backwards, we picked out another spot, where a spring trickled across
+it. Here, once again, was the mark of the bicycle, though nearly
+obliterated by the hoofs of cows. After that there was no sign, but
+the path ran right on into Ragged Shaw, the wood which backed on to the
+school. From this wood the cycle must have emerged. Holmes sat down on
+a boulder and rested his chin in his hands. I had smoked two cigarettes
+before he moved.
+
+"Well, well," said he, at last. "It is, of course, possible that a
+cunning man might change the tyre of his bicycle in order to leave
+unfamiliar tracks. A criminal who was capable of such a thought is a man
+whom I should be proud to do business with. We will leave this question
+undecided and hark back to our morass again, for we have left a good
+deal unexplored."
+
+We continued our systematic survey of the edge of the sodden portion
+of the moor, and soon our perseverance was gloriously rewarded. Right
+across the lower part of the bog lay a miry path. Holmes gave a cry
+of delight as he approached it. An impression like a fine bundle of
+telegraph wires ran down the centre of it. It was the Palmer tyre.
+
+"Here is Herr Heidegger, sure enough!" cried Holmes, exultantly. "My
+reasoning seems to have been pretty sound, Watson."
+
+"I congratulate you."
+
+"But we have a long way still to go. Kindly walk clear of the path. Now
+let us follow the trail. I fear that it will not lead very far."
+
+We found, however, as we advanced that this portion of the moor is
+intersected with soft patches, and, though we frequently lost sight of
+the track, we always succeeded in picking it up once more.
+
+"Do you observe," said Holmes, "that the rider is now undoubtedly
+forcing the pace? There can be no doubt of it. Look at this impression,
+where you get both tyres clear. The one is as deep as the other.
+That can only mean that the rider is throwing his weight on to the
+handle-bar, as a man does when he is sprinting. By Jove! he has had a
+fall."
+
+There was a broad, irregular smudge covering some yards of the track.
+Then there were a few footmarks, and the tyre reappeared once more.
+
+"A side-slip," I suggested.
+
+Holmes held up a crumpled branch of flowering gorse. To my horror I
+perceived that the yellow blossoms were all dabbled with crimson. On the
+path, too, and among the heather were dark stains of clotted blood.
+
+"Bad!" said Holmes. "Bad! Stand clear, Watson! Not an unnecessary
+footstep! What do I read here? He fell wounded, he stood up, he
+remounted, he proceeded. But there is no other track. Cattle on this
+side path. He was surely not gored by a bull? Impossible! But I see no
+traces of anyone else. We must push on, Watson. Surely with stains as
+well as the track to guide us he cannot escape us now."
+
+Our search was not a very long one. The tracks of the tyre began to
+curve fantastically upon the wet and shining path. Suddenly, as I
+looked ahead, the gleam of metal caught my eye from amid the thick gorse
+bushes. Out of them we dragged a bicycle, Palmer-tyred, one pedal bent,
+and the whole front of it horribly smeared and slobbered with blood. On
+the other side of the bushes a shoe was projecting. We ran round, and
+there lay the unfortunate rider. He was a tall man, full bearded, with
+spectacles, one glass of which had been knocked out. The cause of his
+death was a frightful blow upon the head, which had crushed in part of
+his skull. That he could have gone on after receiving such an injury
+said much for the vitality and courage of the man. He wore shoes, but
+no socks, and his open coat disclosed a night-shirt beneath it. It was
+undoubtedly the German master.
+
+Holmes turned the body over reverently, and examined it with great
+attention. He then sat in deep thought for a time, and I could see
+by his ruffled brow that this grim discovery had not, in his opinion,
+advanced us much in our inquiry.
+
+"It is a little difficult to know what to do, Watson," said he, at last.
+"My own inclinations are to push this inquiry on, for we have already
+lost so much time that we cannot afford to waste another hour. On the
+other hand, we are bound to inform the police of the discovery, and to
+see that this poor fellow's body is looked after."
+
+"I could take a note back."
+
+"But I need your company and assistance. Wait a bit! There is a fellow
+cutting peat up yonder. Bring him over here, and he will guide the
+police."
+
+I brought the peasant across, and Holmes dispatched the frightened man
+with a note to Dr. Huxtable.
+
+"Now, Watson," said he, "we have picked up two clues this morning. One
+is the bicycle with the Palmer tyre, and we see what that has led to.
+The other is the bicycle with the patched Dunlop. Before we start to
+investigate that, let us try to realize what we DO know so as to make
+the most of it, and to separate the essential from the accidental."
+
+"First of all I wish to impress upon you that the boy certainly left of
+his own free will. He got down from his window and he went off, either
+alone or with someone. That is sure."
+
+I assented.
+
+"Well, now, let us turn to this unfortunate German master. The boy was
+fully dressed when he fled. Therefore, he foresaw what he would do.
+But the German went without his socks. He certainly acted on very short
+notice."
+
+"Undoubtedly."
+
+"Why did he go? Because, from his bedroom window, he saw the flight of
+the boy. Because he wished to overtake him and bring him back. He seized
+his bicycle, pursued the lad, and in pursuing him met his death."
+
+"So it would seem."
+
+"Now I come to the critical part of my argument. The natural action of
+a man in pursuing a little boy would be to run after him. He would know
+that he could overtake him. But the German does not do so. He turns to
+his bicycle. I am told that he was an excellent cyclist. He would not do
+this if he did not see that the boy had some swift means of escape."
+
+"The other bicycle."
+
+"Let us continue our reconstruction. He meets his death five miles
+from the school--not by a bullet, mark you, which even a lad might
+conceivably discharge, but by a savage blow dealt by a vigorous arm.
+The lad, then, HAD a companion in his flight. And the flight was a swift
+one, since it took five miles before an expert cyclist could overtake
+them. Yet we survey the ground round the scene of the tragedy. What do
+we find? A few cattle tracks, nothing more. I took a wide sweep round,
+and there is no path within fifty yards. Another cyclist could have
+had nothing to do with the actual murder. Nor were there any human
+footmarks."
+
+"Holmes," I cried, "this is impossible."
+
+"Admirable!" he said. "A most illuminating remark. It IS impossible as I
+state it, and therefore I must in some respect have stated it wrong. Yet
+you saw for yourself. Can you suggest any fallacy?"
+
+"He could not have fractured his skull in a fall?"
+
+"In a morass, Watson?"
+
+"I am at my wit's end."
+
+"Tut, tut; we have solved some worse problems. At least we have plenty
+of material, if we can only use it. Come, then, and, having exhausted
+the Palmer, let us see what the Dunlop with the patched cover has to
+offer us."
+
+We picked up the track and followed it onwards for some distance; but
+soon the moor rose into a long, heather-tufted curve, and we left the
+watercourse behind us. No further help from tracks could be hoped for.
+At the spot where we saw the last of the Dunlop tyre it might equally
+have led to Holdernesse Hall, the stately towers of which rose some
+miles to our left, or to a low, grey village which lay in front of us,
+and marked the position of the Chesterfield high road.
+
+As we approached the forbidding and squalid inn, with the sign of a
+game-cock above the door, Holmes gave a sudden groan and clutched me
+by the shoulder to save himself from falling. He had had one of those
+violent strains of the ankle which leave a man helpless. With difficulty
+he limped up to the door, where a squat, dark, elderly man was smoking a
+black clay pipe.
+
+"How are you, Mr. Reuben Hayes?" said Holmes.
+
+"Who are you, and how do you get my name so pat?" the countryman
+answered, with a suspicious flash of a pair of cunning eyes.
+
+"Well, it's printed on the board above your head. It's easy to see a man
+who is master of his own house. I suppose you haven't such a thing as a
+carriage in your stables?"
+
+"No; I have not."
+
+"I can hardly put my foot to the ground."
+
+"Don't put it to the ground."
+
+"But I can't walk."
+
+"Well, then, hop."
+
+Mr. Reuben Hayes's manner was far from gracious, but Holmes took it with
+admirable good-humour.
+
+"Look here, my man," said he. "This is really rather an awkward fix for
+me. I don't mind how I get on."
+
+"Neither do I," said the morose landlord.
+
+"The matter is very important. I would offer you a sovereign for the use
+of a bicycle."
+
+The landlord pricked up his ears.
+
+"Where do you want to go?"
+
+"To Holdernesse Hall."
+
+"Pals of the Dook, I suppose?" said the landlord, surveying our
+mud-stained garments with ironical eyes.
+
+Holmes laughed good-naturedly.
+
+"He'll be glad to see us, anyhow."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because we bring him news of his lost son."
+
+The landlord gave a very visible start.
+
+"What, you're on his track?"
+
+"He has been heard of in Liverpool. They expect to get him every hour."
+
+Again a swift change passed over the heavy, unshaven face. His manner
+was suddenly genial.
+
+"I've less reason to wish the Dook well than most men," said he, "for I
+was his head coachman once, and cruel bad he treated me. It was him that
+sacked me without a character on the word of a lying corn-chandler. But
+I'm glad to hear that the young lord was heard of in Liverpool, and I'll
+help you to take the news to the Hall."
+
+"Thank you," said Holmes. "We'll have some food first. Then you can
+bring round the bicycle."
+
+"I haven't got a bicycle."
+
+Holmes held up a sovereign.
+
+"I tell you, man, that I haven't got one. I'll let you have two horses
+as far as the Hall."
+
+"Well, well," said Holmes, "we'll talk about it when we've had something
+to eat."
+
+When we were left alone in the stone-flagged kitchen it was astonishing
+how rapidly that sprained ankle recovered. It was nearly nightfall, and
+we had eaten nothing since early morning, so that we spent some time
+over our meal. Holmes was lost in thought, and once or twice he walked
+over to the window and stared earnestly out. It opened on to a squalid
+courtyard. In the far corner was a smithy, where a grimy lad was at
+work. On the other side were the stables. Holmes had sat down again
+after one of these excursions, when he suddenly sprang out of his chair
+with a loud exclamation.
+
+"By Heaven, Watson, I believe that I've got it!" he cried. "Yes, yes, it
+must be so. Watson, do you remember seeing any cow-tracks to-day?"
+
+"Yes, several."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Well, everywhere. They were at the morass, and again on the path, and
+again near where poor Heidegger met his death."
+
+"Exactly. Well, now, Watson, how many cows did you see on the moor?"
+
+"I don't remember seeing any."
+
+"Strange, Watson, that we should see tracks all along our line, but
+never a cow on the whole moor; very strange, Watson, eh?"
+
+"Yes, it is strange."
+
+"Now, Watson, make an effort; throw your mind back! Can you see those
+tracks upon the path?"
+
+"Yes, I can."
+
+"Can you recall that the tracks were sometimes like that, Watson"--he
+arranged a number of bread-crumbs in this fashion--:::::--"and sometimes
+like this"--:.:.:.:. --"and occasionally like this"--. '. '. '. "Can you
+remember that?"
+
+"No, I cannot."
+
+"But I can. I could swear to it. However, we will go back at our
+leisure and verify it. What a blind beetle I have been not to draw my
+conclusion!"
+
+"And what is your conclusion?"
+
+"Only that it is a remarkable cow which walks, canters, and gallops. By
+George, Watson, it was no brain of a country publican that thought out
+such a blind as that! The coast seems to be clear, save for that lad in
+the smithy. Let us slip out and see what we can see."
+
+There were two rough-haired, unkempt horses in the tumble-down stable.
+Holmes raised the hind leg of one of them and laughed aloud.
+
+"Old shoes, but newly shod--old shoes, but new nails. This case deserves
+to be a classic. Let us go across to the smithy."
+
+The lad continued his work without regarding us. I saw Holmes's eye
+darting to right and left among the litter of iron and wood which was
+scattered about the floor. Suddenly, however, we heard a step behind
+us, and there was the landlord, his heavy eyebrows drawn over his savage
+eyes, his swarthy features convulsed with passion. He held a short,
+metal-headed stick in his hand, and he advanced in so menacing a fashion
+that I was right glad to feel the revolver in my pocket.
+
+"You infernal spies!" the man cried. "What are you doing there?"
+
+"Why, Mr. Reuben Hayes," said Holmes, coolly, "one might think that you
+were afraid of our finding something out."
+
+The man mastered himself with a violent effort, and his grim mouth
+loosened into a false laugh, which was more menacing than his frown.
+
+"You're welcome to all you can find out in my smithy," said he. "But
+look here, mister, I don't care for folk poking about my place without
+my leave, so the sooner you pay your score and get out of this the
+better I shall be pleased."
+
+"All right, Mr. Hayes--no harm meant," said Holmes. "We have been having
+a look at your horses, but I think I'll walk after all. It's not far, I
+believe."
+
+"Not more than two miles to the Hall gates. That's the road to the
+left." He watched us with sullen eyes until we had left his premises.
+
+We did not go very far along the road, for Holmes stopped the instant
+that the curve hid us from the landlord's view.
+
+"We were warm, as the children say, at that inn," said he. "I seem
+to grow colder every step that I take away from it. No, no; I can't
+possibly leave it."
+
+"I am convinced," said I, "that this Reuben Hayes knows all about it. A
+more self-evident villain I never saw."
+
+"Oh! he impressed you in that way, did he? There are the horses, there
+is the smithy. Yes, it is an interesting place, this Fighting Cock. I
+think we shall have another look at it in an unobtrusive way."
+
+A long, sloping hillside, dotted with grey limestone boulders, stretched
+behind us. We had turned off the road, and were making our way up
+the hill, when, looking in the direction of Holdernesse Hall, I saw a
+cyclist coming swiftly along.
+
+"Get down, Watson!" cried Holmes, with a heavy hand upon my shoulder. We
+had hardly sunk from view when the man flew past us on the road. Amid
+a rolling cloud of dust I caught a glimpse of a pale, agitated face--a
+face with horror in every lineament, the mouth open, the eyes staring
+wildly in front. It was like some strange caricature of the dapper James
+Wilder whom we had seen the night before.
+
+"The Duke's secretary!" cried Holmes. "Come, Watson, let us see what he
+does."
+
+We scrambled from rock to rock until in a few moments we had made
+our way to a point from which we could see the front door of the inn.
+Wilder's bicycle was leaning against the wall beside it. No one was
+moving about the house, nor could we catch a glimpse of any faces at the
+windows. Slowly the twilight crept down as the sun sank behind the high
+towers of Holdernesse Hall. Then in the gloom we saw the two side-lamps
+of a trap light up in the stable yard of the inn, and shortly afterwards
+heard the rattle of hoofs, as it wheeled out into the road and tore off
+at a furious pace in the direction of Chesterfield.
+
+"What do you make of that, Watson?" Holmes whispered.
+
+"It looks like a flight."
+
+"A single man in a dog-cart, so far as I could see. Well, it certainly
+was not Mr. James Wilder, for there he is at the door."
+
+A red square of light had sprung out of the darkness. In the middle of
+it was the black figure of the secretary, his head advanced, peering out
+into the night. It was evident that he was expecting someone. Then at
+last there were steps in the road, a second figure was visible for an
+instant against the light, the door shut, and all was black once more.
+Five minutes later a lamp was lit in a room upon the first floor.
+
+"It seems to be a curious class of custom that is done by the Fighting
+Cock," said Holmes.
+
+"The bar is on the other side."
+
+"Quite so. These are what one may call the private guests. Now, what in
+the world is Mr. James Wilder doing in that den at this hour of night,
+and who is the companion who comes to meet him there? Come, Watson,
+we must really take a risk and try to investigate this a little more
+closely."
+
+Together we stole down to the road and crept across to the door of the
+inn. The bicycle still leaned against the wall. Holmes struck a match
+and held it to the back wheel, and I heard him chuckle as the light fell
+upon a patched Dunlop tyre. Up above us was the lighted window.
+
+"I must have a peep through that, Watson. If you bend your back and
+support yourself upon the wall, I think that I can manage."
+
+An instant later his feet were on my shoulders. But he was hardly up
+before he was down again.
+
+"Come, my friend," said he, "our day's work has been quite long enough.
+I think that we have gathered all that we can. It's a long walk to the
+school, and the sooner we get started the better."
+
+He hardly opened his lips during that weary trudge across the moor, nor
+would he enter the school when he reached it, but went on to Mackleton
+Station, whence he could send some telegrams. Late at night I heard him
+consoling Dr. Huxtable, prostrated by the tragedy of his master's death,
+and later still he entered my room as alert and vigorous as he had been
+when he started in the morning. "All goes well, my friend," said he. "I
+promise that before to-morrow evening we shall have reached the solution
+of the mystery."
+
+
+At eleven o'clock next morning my friend and I were walking up the
+famous yew avenue of Holdernesse Hall. We were ushered through the
+magnificent Elizabethan doorway and into his Grace's study. There we
+found Mr. James Wilder, demure and courtly, but with some trace of that
+wild terror of the night before still lurking in his furtive eyes and in
+his twitching features.
+
+"You have come to see his Grace? I am sorry; but the fact is that the
+Duke is far from well. He has been very much upset by the tragic news.
+We received a telegram from Dr. Huxtable yesterday afternoon, which told
+us of your discovery."
+
+"I must see the Duke, Mr. Wilder."
+
+"But he is in his room."
+
+"Then I must go to his room."
+
+"I believe he is in his bed."
+
+"I will see him there."
+
+Holmes's cold and inexorable manner showed the secretary that it was
+useless to argue with him.
+
+"Very good, Mr. Holmes; I will tell him that you are here."
+
+After half an hour's delay the great nobleman appeared. His face was
+more cadaverous than ever, his shoulders had rounded, and he seemed to
+me to be an altogether older man than he had been the morning before. He
+greeted us with a stately courtesy and seated himself at his desk, his
+red beard streaming down on to the table.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes?" said he.
+
+But my friend's eyes were fixed upon the secretary, who stood by his
+master's chair.
+
+"I think, your Grace, that I could speak more freely in Mr. Wilder's
+absence."
+
+The man turned a shade paler and cast a malignant glance at Holmes.
+
+"If your Grace wishes----"
+
+"Yes, yes; you had better go. Now, Mr. Holmes, what have you to say?"
+
+My friend waited until the door had closed behind the retreating
+secretary.
+
+"The fact is, your Grace," said he, "that my colleague, Dr. Watson, and
+myself had an assurance from Dr. Huxtable that a reward had been offered
+in this case. I should like to have this confirmed from your own lips."
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"It amounted, if I am correctly informed, to five thousand pounds to
+anyone who will tell you where your son is?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"And another thousand to the man who will name the person or persons who
+keep him in custody?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"Under the latter heading is included, no doubt, not only those who
+may have taken him away, but also those who conspire to keep him in his
+present position?"
+
+"Yes, yes," cried the Duke, impatiently. "If you do your work well,
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you will have no reason to complain of niggardly
+treatment."
+
+My friend rubbed his thin hands together with an appearance of avidity
+which was a surprise to me, who knew his frugal tastes.
+
+"I fancy that I see your Grace's cheque-book upon the table," said he.
+"I should be glad if you would make me out a cheque for six thousand
+pounds. It would be as well, perhaps, for you to cross it. The Capital
+and Counties Bank, Oxford Street branch, are my agents."
+
+His Grace sat very stern and upright in his chair, and looked stonily at
+my friend.
+
+"Is this a joke, Mr. Holmes? It is hardly a subject for pleasantry."
+
+"Not at all, your Grace. I was never more earnest in my life."
+
+"What do you mean, then?"
+
+"I mean that I have earned the reward. I know where your son is, and I
+know some, at least, of those who are holding him."
+
+The Duke's beard had turned more aggressively red than ever against his
+ghastly white face.
+
+"Where is he?" he gasped.
+
+"He is, or was last night, at the Fighting Cock Inn, about two miles
+from your park gate."
+
+The Duke fell back in his chair.
+
+"And whom do you accuse?"
+
+Sherlock Holmes's answer was an astounding one. He stepped swiftly
+forward and touched the Duke upon the shoulder.
+
+"I accuse YOU," said he. "And now, your Grace, I'll trouble you for that
+cheque."
+
+Never shall I forget the Duke's appearance as he sprang up and clawed
+with his hands like one who is sinking into an abyss. Then, with an
+extraordinary effort of aristocratic self-command, he sat down and sank
+his face in his hands. It was some minutes before he spoke.
+
+"How much do you know?" he asked at last, without raising his head.
+
+"I saw you together last night."
+
+"Does anyone else besides your friend know?"
+
+"I have spoken to no one."
+
+The Duke took a pen in his quivering fingers and opened his cheque-book.
+
+"I shall be as good as my word, Mr. Holmes. I am about to write your
+cheque, however unwelcome the information which you have gained may be
+to me. When the offer was first made I little thought the turn which
+events might take. But you and your friend are men of discretion, Mr.
+Holmes?"
+
+"I hardly understand your Grace."
+
+"I must put it plainly, Mr. Holmes. If only you two know of this
+incident, there is no reason why it should go any farther. I think
+twelve thousand pounds is the sum that I owe you, is it not?"
+
+But Holmes smiled and shook his head.
+
+"I fear, your Grace, that matters can hardly be arranged so easily.
+There is the death of this schoolmaster to be accounted for."
+
+"But James knew nothing of that. You cannot hold him responsible for
+that. It was the work of this brutal ruffian whom he had the misfortune
+to employ."
+
+"I must take the view, your Grace, that when a man embarks upon a crime
+he is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from it."
+
+"Morally, Mr. Holmes. No doubt you are right. But surely not in the eyes
+of the law. A man cannot be condemned for a murder at which he was not
+present, and which he loathes and abhors as much as you do. The instant
+that he heard of it he made a complete confession to me, so filled was
+he with horror and remorse. He lost not an hour in breaking entirely
+with the murderer. Oh, Mr. Holmes, you must save him--you must save
+him! I tell you that you must save him!" The Duke had dropped the last
+attempt at self-command, and was pacing the room with a convulsed face
+and with his clenched hands raving in the air. At last he mastered
+himself and sat down once more at his desk. "I appreciate your conduct
+in coming here before you spoke to anyone else," said he. "At least, we
+may take counsel how far we can minimize this hideous scandal."
+
+"Exactly," said Holmes. "I think, your Grace, that this can only be done
+by absolute and complete frankness between us. I am disposed to help
+your Grace to the best of my ability; but in order to do so I must
+understand to the last detail how the matter stands. I realize that your
+words applied to Mr. James Wilder, and that he is not the murderer."
+
+"No; the murderer has escaped."
+
+Sherlock Holmes smiled demurely.
+
+"Your Grace can hardly have heard of any small reputation which I
+possess, or you would not imagine that it is so easy to escape me. Mr.
+Reuben Hayes was arrested at Chesterfield on my information at eleven
+o'clock last night. I had a telegram from the head of the local police
+before I left the school this morning."
+
+The Duke leaned back in his chair and stared with amazement at my
+friend.
+
+"You seem to have powers that are hardly human," said he. "So Reuben
+Hayes is taken? I am right glad to hear it, if it will not react upon
+the fate of James."
+
+"Your secretary?"
+
+"No, sir; my son."
+
+It was Holmes's turn to look astonished.
+
+"I confess that this is entirely new to me, your Grace. I must beg you
+to be more explicit."
+
+"I will conceal nothing from you. I agree with you that complete
+frankness, however painful it may be to me, is the best policy in this
+desperate situation to which James's folly and jealousy have reduced
+us. When I was a very young man, Mr. Holmes, I loved with such a love
+as comes only once in a lifetime. I offered the lady marriage, but she
+refused it on the grounds that such a match might mar my career. Had she
+lived I would certainly never have married anyone else. She died, and
+left this one child, whom for her sake I have cherished and cared for.
+I could not acknowledge the paternity to the world; but I gave him the
+best of educations, and since he came to manhood I have kept him near
+my person. He surprised my secret, and has presumed ever since upon the
+claim which he has upon me and upon his power of provoking a scandal,
+which would be abhorrent to me. His presence had something to do
+with the unhappy issue of my marriage. Above all, he hated my young
+legitimate heir from the first with a persistent hatred. You may well
+ask me why, under these circumstances, I still kept James under my roof.
+I answer that it was because I could see his mother's face in his, and
+that for her dear sake there was no end to my long-suffering. All her
+pretty ways, too--there was not one of them which he could not suggest
+and bring back to my memory. I COULD not send him away. But I feared so
+much lest he should do Arthur--that is, Lord Saltire--a mischief that I
+dispatched him for safety to Dr. Huxtable's school.
+
+"James came into contact with this fellow Hayes because the man was a
+tenant of mine, and James acted as agent. The fellow was a rascal from
+the beginning; but in some extraordinary way James became intimate with
+him. He had always a taste for low company. When James determined
+to kidnap Lord Saltire it was of this man's service that he availed
+himself. You remember that I wrote to Arthur upon that last day. Well,
+James opened the letter and inserted a note asking Arthur to meet him
+in a little wood called the Ragged Shaw, which is near to the school.
+He used the Duchess's name, and in that way got the boy to come. That
+evening James bicycled over--I am telling you what he has himself
+confessed to me--and he told Arthur, whom he met in the wood, that his
+mother longed to see him, that she was awaiting him on the moor, and
+that if he would come back into the wood at midnight he would find a man
+with a horse, who would take him to her. Poor Arthur fell into the trap.
+He came to the appointment and found this fellow Hayes with a led pony.
+Arthur mounted, and they set off together. It appears--though this James
+only heard yesterday--that they were pursued, that Hayes struck the
+pursuer with his stick, and that the man died of his injuries. Hayes
+brought Arthur to his public-house, the Fighting Cock, where he was
+confined in an upper room, under the care of Mrs. Hayes, who is a kindly
+woman, but entirely under the control of her brutal husband.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, that was the state of affairs when I first saw you
+two days ago. I had no more idea of the truth than you. You will ask me
+what was James's motive in doing such a deed. I answer that there was
+a great deal which was unreasoning and fanatical in the hatred which
+he bore my heir. In his view he should himself have been heir of all
+my estates, and he deeply resented those social laws which made it
+impossible. At the same time he had a definite motive also. He was eager
+that I should break the entail, and he was of opinion that it lay in my
+power to do so. He intended to make a bargain with me--to restore Arthur
+if I would break the entail, and so make it possible for the estate
+to be left to him by will. He knew well that I should never willingly
+invoke the aid of the police against him. I say that he would have
+proposed such a bargain to me, but he did not actually do so, for events
+moved too quickly for him, and he had not time to put his plans into
+practice.
+
+"What brought all his wicked scheme to wreck was your discovery of this
+man Heidegger's dead body. James was seized with horror at the news. It
+came to us yesterday as we sat together in this study. Dr. Huxtable had
+sent a telegram. James was so overwhelmed with grief and agitation that
+my suspicions, which had never been entirely absent, rose instantly to
+a certainty, and I taxed him with the deed. He made a complete voluntary
+confession. Then he implored me to keep his secret for three days
+longer, so as to give his wretched accomplice a chance of saving his
+guilty life. I yielded--as I have always yielded--to his prayers, and
+instantly James hurried off to the Fighting Cock to warn Hayes and
+give him the means of flight. I could not go there by daylight without
+provoking comment, but as soon as night fell I hurried off to see my
+dear Arthur. I found him safe and well, but horrified beyond expression
+by the dreadful deed he had witnessed. In deference to my promise, and
+much against my will, I consented to leave him there for three days
+under the charge of Mrs. Hayes, since it was evident that it was
+impossible to inform the police where he was without telling them also
+who was the murderer, and I could not see how that murderer could be
+punished without ruin to my unfortunate James. You asked for frankness,
+Mr. Holmes, and I have taken you at your word, for I have now told you
+everything without an attempt at circumlocution or concealment. Do you
+in turn be as frank with me."
+
+"I will," said Holmes. "In the first place, your Grace, I am bound to
+tell you that you have placed yourself in a most serious position in
+the eyes of the law. You have condoned a felony and you have aided the
+escape of a murderer; for I cannot doubt that any money which was taken
+by James Wilder to aid his accomplice in his flight came from your
+Grace's purse."
+
+The Duke bowed his assent.
+
+"This is indeed a most serious matter. Even more culpable in my opinion,
+your Grace, is your attitude towards your younger son. You leave him in
+this den for three days."
+
+"Under solemn promises----"
+
+"What are promises to such people as these? You have no guarantee that
+he will not be spirited away again. To humour your guilty elder son
+you have exposed your innocent younger son to imminent and unnecessary
+danger. It was a most unjustifiable action."
+
+The proud lord of Holdernesse was not accustomed to be so rated in
+his own ducal hall. The blood flushed into his high forehead, but his
+conscience held him dumb.
+
+"I will help you, but on one condition only. It is that you ring for the
+footman and let me give such orders as I like."
+
+Without a word the Duke pressed the electric bell. A servant entered.
+
+"You will be glad to hear," said Holmes, "that your young master is
+found. It is the Duke's desire that the carriage shall go at once to the
+Fighting Cock Inn to bring Lord Saltire home.
+
+"Now," said Holmes, when the rejoicing lackey had disappeared, "having
+secured the future, we can afford to be more lenient with the past. I am
+not in an official position, and there is no reason, so long as the
+ends of justice are served, why I should disclose all that I know. As to
+Hayes I say nothing. The gallows awaits him, and I would do nothing
+to save him from it. What he will divulge I cannot tell, but I have
+no doubt that your Grace could make him understand that it is to his
+interest to be silent. From the police point of view he will have
+kidnapped the boy for the purpose of ransom. If they do not themselves
+find it out I see no reason why I should prompt them to take a broader
+point of view. I would warn your Grace, however, that the continued
+presence of Mr. James Wilder in your household can only lead to
+misfortune."
+
+"I understand that, Mr. Holmes, and it is already settled that he shall
+leave me for ever and go to seek his fortune in Australia."
+
+"In that case, your Grace, since you have yourself stated that any
+unhappiness in your married life was caused by his presence, I would
+suggest that you make such amends as you can to the Duchess, and
+that you try to resume those relations which have been so unhappily
+interrupted."
+
+"That also I have arranged, Mr. Holmes. I wrote to the Duchess this
+morning."
+
+"In that case," said Holmes, rising, "I think that my friend and I can
+congratulate ourselves upon several most happy results from our little
+visit to the North. There is one other small point upon which I desire
+some light. This fellow Hayes had shod his horses with shoes which
+counterfeited the tracks of cows. Was it from Mr. Wilder that he learned
+so extraordinary a device?"
+
+The Duke stood in thought for a moment, with a look of intense surprise
+on his face. Then he opened a door and showed us into a large room
+furnished as a museum. He led the way to a glass case in a corner, and
+pointed to the inscription.
+
+"These shoes," it ran, "were dug up in the moat of Holdernesse Hall.
+They are for the use of horses; but they are shaped below with a cloven
+foot of iron, so as to throw pursuers off the track. They are supposed
+to have belonged to some of the marauding Barons of Holdernesse in the
+Middle Ages."
+
+Holmes opened the case, and moistening his finger he passed it along the
+shoe. A thin film of recent mud was left upon his skin.
+
+"Thank you," said he, as he replaced the glass. "It is the second most
+interesting object that I have seen in the North."
+
+"And the first?"
+
+Holmes folded up his cheque and placed it carefully in his note-book.
+"I am a poor man," said he, as he patted it affectionately and thrust it
+into the depths of his inner pocket.
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 27  MARCH, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+VI.--The Adventure of Black Peter.
+
+
+I HAVE never known my friend to be in better form, both mental and
+physical, than in the year '95. His increasing fame had brought with it
+an immense practice, and I should be guilty of an indiscretion if I
+were even to hint at the identity of some of the illustrious clients who
+crossed our humble threshold in Baker Street. Holmes, however, like all
+great artists, lived for his art's sake, and, save in the case of the
+Duke of Holdernesse, I have seldom known him claim any large reward for
+his inestimable services. So unworldly was he--or so capricious--that
+he frequently refused his help to the powerful and wealthy where the
+problem made no appeal to his sympathies, while he would devote weeks of
+most intense application to the affairs of some humble client whose case
+presented those strange and dramatic qualities which appealed to his
+imagination and challenged his ingenuity.
+
+In this memorable year '95 a curious and incongruous succession of cases
+had engaged his attention, ranging from his famous investigation of the
+sudden death of Cardinal Tosca--an inquiry which was carried out by him
+at the express desire of His Holiness the Pope--down to his arrest of
+Wilson, the notorious canary-trainer, which removed a plague-spot from
+the East-End of London. Close on the heels of these two famous cases
+came the tragedy of Woodman's Lee, and the very obscure circumstances
+which surrounded the death of Captain Peter Carey. No record of the
+doings of Mr. Sherlock Holmes would be complete which did not include
+some account of this very unusual affair.
+
+During the first week of July my friend had been absent so often and so
+long from our lodgings that I knew he had something on hand. The fact
+that several rough-looking men called during that time and inquired for
+Captain Basil made me understand that Holmes was working somewhere under
+one of the numerous disguises and names with which he concealed his own
+formidable identity. He had at least five small refuges in different
+parts of London in which he was able to change his personality. He
+said nothing of his business to me, and it was not my habit to force a
+confidence. The first positive sign which he gave me of the direction
+which his investigation was taking was an extraordinary one. He had gone
+out before breakfast, and I had sat down to mine, when he strode into
+the room, his hat upon his head and a huge barbed-headed spear tucked
+like an umbrella under his arm.
+
+"Good gracious, Holmes!" I cried. "You don't mean to say that you have
+been walking about London with that thing?"
+
+"I drove to the butcher's and back."
+
+"The butcher's?"
+
+"And I return with an excellent appetite. There can be no question,
+my dear Watson, of the value of exercise before breakfast. But I am
+prepared to bet that you will not guess the form that my exercise has
+taken."
+
+"I will not attempt it."
+
+He chuckled as he poured out the coffee.
+
+"If you could have looked into Allardyce's back shop you would have
+seen a dead pig swung from a hook in the ceiling, and a gentleman in
+his shirt-sleeves furiously stabbing at it with this weapon. I was that
+energetic person, and I have satisfied myself that by no exertion of my
+strength can I transfix the pig with a single blow. Perhaps you would
+care to try?"
+
+"Not for worlds. But why were you doing this?"
+
+"Because it seemed to me to have an indirect bearing upon the mystery of
+Woodman's Lee. Ah, Hopkins, I got your wire last night, and I have been
+expecting you. Come and join us."
+
+Our visitor was an exceedingly alert man, thirty years of age, dressed
+in a quiet tweed suit, but retaining the erect bearing of one who was
+accustomed to official uniform. I recognised him at once as Stanley
+Hopkins, a young police inspector for whose future Holmes had high
+hopes, while he in turn professed the admiration and respect of a pupil
+for the scientific methods of the famous amateur. Hopkins's brow was
+clouded, and he sat down with an air of deep dejection.
+
+"No, thank you, sir. I breakfasted before I came round. I spent the
+night in town, for I came up yesterday to report."
+
+"And what had you to report?"
+
+"Failure, sir; absolute failure."
+
+"You have made no progress?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Dear me! I must have a look at the matter."
+
+"I wish to heavens that you would, Mr. Holmes. It's my first big chance,
+and I am at my wit's end. For goodness' sake come down and lend me a
+hand."
+
+"Well, well, it just happens that I have already read all the available
+evidence, including the report of the inquest, with some care. By the
+way, what do you make of that tobacco-pouch found on the scene of the
+crime? Is there no clue there?"
+
+Hopkins looked surprised.
+
+"It was the man's own pouch, sir. His initials were inside it. And it
+was of seal-skin--and he an old sealer."
+
+"But he had no pipe."
+
+"No, sir, we could find no pipe; indeed, he smoked very little. And yet
+he might have kept some tobacco for his friends."
+
+"No doubt. I only mention it because if I had been handling the case
+I should have been inclined to make that the starting-point of my
+investigation. However, my friend Dr. Watson knows nothing of this
+matter, and I should be none the worse for hearing the sequence of
+events once more. Just give us some short sketch of the essentials."
+
+Stanley Hopkins drew a slip of paper from his pocket.
+
+"I have a few dates here which will give you the career of the dead man,
+Captain Peter Carey. He was born in '45--fifty years of age. He was a
+most daring and successful seal and whale fisher. In 1883 he commanded
+the steam sealer SEA UNICORN, of Dundee. He had then had several
+successful voyages in succession, and in the following year, 1884, he
+retired. After that he travelled for some years, and finally he bought
+a small place called Woodman's Lee, near Forest Row, in Sussex. There he
+has lived for six years, and there he died just a week ago to-day.
+
+"There were some most singular points about the man. In ordinary life he
+was a strict Puritan--a silent, gloomy fellow. His household consisted
+of his wife, his daughter, aged twenty, and two female servants.
+These last were continually changing, for it was never a very cheery
+situation, and sometimes it became past all bearing. The man was an
+intermittent drunkard, and when he had the fit on him he was a perfect
+fiend. He has been known to drive his wife and his daughter out of doors
+in the middle of the night, and flog them through the park until the
+whole village outside the gates was aroused by their screams.
+
+"He was summoned once for a savage assault upon the old vicar, who had
+called upon him to remonstrate with him upon his conduct. In short,
+Mr. Holmes, you would go far before you found a more dangerous man than
+Peter Carey, and I have heard that he bore the same character when he
+commanded his ship. He was known in the trade as Black Peter, and the
+name was given him, not only on account of his swarthy features and the
+colour of his huge beard, but for the humours which were the terror of
+all around him. I need not say that he was loathed and avoided by every
+one of his neighbours, and that I have not heard one single word of
+sorrow about his terrible end.
+
+"You must have read in the account of the inquest about the man's cabin,
+Mr. Holmes; but perhaps your friend here has not heard of it. He had
+built himself a wooden outhouse--he always called it 'the cabin'--a few
+hundred yards from his house, and it was here that he slept every night.
+It was a little, single-roomed hut, sixteen feet by ten. He kept the
+key in his pocket, made his own bed, cleaned it himself, and allowed no
+other foot to cross the threshold. There are small windows on each side,
+which were covered by curtains and never opened. One of these windows
+was turned towards the high road, and when the light burned in it at
+night the folk used to point it out to each other and wonder what Black
+Peter was doing in there. That's the window, Mr. Holmes, which gave us
+one of the few bits of positive evidence that came out at the inquest.
+
+"You remember that a stonemason, named Slater, walking from Forest Row
+about one o'clock in the morning--two days before the murder--stopped
+as he passed the grounds and looked at the square of light still shining
+among the trees. He swears that the shadow of a man's head turned
+sideways was clearly visible on the blind, and that this shadow was
+certainly not that of Peter Carey, whom he knew well. It was that of a
+bearded man, but the beard was short and bristled forwards in a way
+very different from that of the captain. So he says, but he had been two
+hours in the public-house, and it is some distance from the road to the
+window. Besides, this refers to the Monday, and the crime was done upon
+the Wednesday.
+
+"On the Tuesday Peter Carey was in one of his blackest moods, flushed
+with drink and as savage as a dangerous wild beast. He roamed about the
+house, and the women ran for it when they heard him coming. Late in the
+evening he went down to his own hut. About two o'clock the following
+morning his daughter, who slept with her window open, heard a most
+fearful yell from that direction, but it was no unusual thing for him to
+bawl and shout when he was in drink, so no notice was taken. On rising
+at seven one of the maids noticed that the door of the hut was open, but
+so great was the terror which the man caused that it was midday before
+anyone would venture down to see what had become of him. Peeping into
+the open door they saw a sight which sent them flying with white faces
+into the village. Within an hour I was on the spot and had taken over
+the case.
+
+"Well, I have fairly steady nerves, as you know, Mr. Holmes, but I
+give you my word that I got a shake when I put my head into that little
+house. It was droning like a harmonium with the flies and bluebottles,
+and the floor and walls were like a slaughter-house. He had called it a
+cabin, and a cabin it was sure enough, for you would have thought that
+you were in a ship. There was a bunk at one end, a sea-chest, maps and
+charts, a picture of the SEA UNICORN, a line of log-books on a shelf,
+all exactly as one would expect to find it in a captain's room. And
+there in the middle of it was the man himself, his face twisted like a
+lost soul in torment, and his great brindled beard stuck upwards in his
+agony. Right through his broad breast a steel harpoon had been driven,
+and it had sunk deep into the wood of the wall behind him. He was pinned
+like a beetle on a card. Of course, he was quite dead, and had been so
+from the instant that he had uttered that last yell of agony.
+
+"I know your methods, sir, and I applied them. Before I permitted
+anything to be moved I examined most carefully the ground outside, and
+also the floor of the room. There were no footmarks."
+
+"Meaning that you saw none?"
+
+"I assure you, sir, that there were none."
+
+"My good Hopkins, I have investigated many crimes, but I have never
+yet seen one which was committed by a flying creature. As long as the
+criminal remains upon two legs so long must there be some indentation,
+some abrasion, some trifling displacement which can be detected by the
+scientific searcher. It is incredible that this blood-bespattered room
+contained no trace which could have aided us. I understand, however,
+from the inquest that there were some objects which you failed to
+overlook?"
+
+The young inspector winced at my companion's ironical comments.
+
+"I was a fool not to call you in at the time, Mr. Holmes. However,
+that's past praying for now. Yes, there were several objects in the room
+which called for special attention. One was the harpoon with which the
+deed was committed. It had been snatched down from a rack on the wall.
+Two others remained there, and there was a vacant place for the third.
+On the stock was engraved 'Ss. SEA UNICORN, Dundee.' This seemed to
+establish that the crime had been done in a moment of fury, and that
+the murderer had seized the first weapon which came in his way. The fact
+that the crime was committed at two in the morning, and yet Peter
+Carey was fully dressed, suggested that he had an appointment with the
+murderer, which is borne out by the fact that a bottle of rum and two
+dirty glasses stood upon the table."
+
+"Yes," said Holmes; "I think that both inferences are permissible. Was
+there any other spirit but rum in the room?"
+
+"Yes; there was a tantalus containing brandy and whisky on the
+sea-chest. It is of no importance to us, however, since the decanters
+were full, and it had therefore not been used."
+
+"For all that its presence has some significance," said Holmes.
+"However, let us hear some more about the objects which do seem to you
+to bear upon the case."
+
+"There was this tobacco-pouch upon the table."
+
+"What part of the table?"
+
+"It lay in the middle. It was of coarse seal-skin--the straight-haired
+skin, with a leather thong to bind it. Inside was 'P.C.' on the flap.
+There was half an ounce of strong ship's tobacco in it."
+
+"Excellent! What more?"
+
+Stanley Hopkins drew from his pocket a drab-covered note-book. The
+outside was rough and worn, the leaves discoloured. On the first page
+were written the initials "J.H.N." and the date "1883." Holmes laid
+it on the table and examined it in his minute way, while Hopkins and I
+gazed over each shoulder. On the second page were the printed letters
+"C.P.R.," and then came several sheets of numbers. Another heading was
+Argentine, another Costa Rica, and another San Paulo, each with pages of
+signs and figures after it.
+
+"What do you make of these?" asked Holmes.
+
+"They appear to be lists of Stock Exchange securities. I thought that
+'J.H.N.' were the initials of a broker, and that 'C.P.R.' may have been
+his client."
+
+"Try Canadian Pacific Railway," said Holmes.
+
+Stanley Hopkins swore between his teeth and struck his thigh with his
+clenched hand.
+
+"What a fool I have been!" he cried. "Of course, it is as you say. Then
+'J.H.N.' are the only initials we have to solve. I have already examined
+the old Stock Exchange lists, and I can find no one in 1883 either in
+the House or among the outside brokers whose initials correspond with
+these. Yet I feel that the clue is the most important one that I hold.
+You will admit, Mr. Holmes, that there is a possibility that these
+initials are those of the second person who was present--in other words,
+of the murderer. I would also urge that the introduction into the case
+of a document relating to large masses of valuable securities gives us
+for the first time some indication of a motive for the crime."
+
+Sherlock Holmes's face showed that he was thoroughly taken aback by this
+new development.
+
+"I must admit both your points," said he. "I confess that this
+note-book, which did not appear at the inquest, modifies any views which
+I may have formed. I had come to a theory of the crime in which I
+can find no place for this. Have you endeavoured to trace any of the
+securities here mentioned?"
+
+"Inquiries are now being made at the offices, but I fear that the
+complete register of the stockholders of these South American concerns
+is in South America, and that some weeks must elapse before we can trace
+the shares."
+
+Holmes had been examining the cover of the note-book with his magnifying
+lens.
+
+"Surely there is some discolouration here," said he.
+
+"Yes, sir, it is a blood-stain. I told you that I picked the book off
+the floor."
+
+"Was the blood-stain above or below?"
+
+"On the side next the boards."
+
+"Which proves, of course, that the book was dropped after the crime was
+committed."
+
+"Exactly, Mr. Holmes. I appreciated that point, and I conjectured that
+it was dropped by the murderer in his hurried flight. It lay near the
+door."
+
+"I suppose that none of these securities have been found among the
+property of the dead man?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Have you any reason to suspect robbery?"
+
+"No, sir. Nothing seemed to have been touched."
+
+"Dear me, it is certainly a very interesting case. Then there was a
+knife, was there not?"
+
+"A sheath-knife, still in its sheath. It lay at the feet of the dead
+man. Mrs. Carey has identified it as being her husband's property."
+
+Holmes was lost in thought for some time.
+
+"Well," said he, at last, "I suppose I shall have to come out and have a
+look at it."
+
+Stanley Hopkins gave a cry of joy.
+
+"Thank you, sir. That will indeed be a weight off my mind."
+
+Holmes shook his finger at the inspector.
+
+"It would have been an easier task a week ago," said he. "But even now
+my visit may not be entirely fruitless. Watson, if you can spare
+the time I should be very glad of your company. If you will call a
+four-wheeler, Hopkins, we shall be ready to start for Forest Row in a
+quarter of an hour."
+
+
+Alighting at the small wayside station, we drove for some miles through
+the remains of widespread woods, which were once part of that
+great forest which for so long held the Saxon invaders at bay--the
+impenetrable "weald," for sixty years the bulwark of Britain. Vast
+sections of it have been cleared, for this is the seat of the first
+iron-works of the country, and the trees have been felled to smelt the
+ore. Now the richer fields of the North have absorbed the trade, and
+nothing save these ravaged groves and great scars in the earth show
+the work of the past. Here in a clearing upon the green slope of a hill
+stood a long, low stone house, approached by a curving drive running
+through the fields. Nearer the road, and surrounded on three sides by
+bushes, was a small outhouse, one window and the door facing in our
+direction. It was the scene of the murder!
+
+Stanley Hopkins led us first to the house, where he introduced us to a
+haggard, grey-haired woman, the widow of the murdered man, whose gaunt
+and deep-lined face, with the furtive look of terror in the depths of
+her red-rimmed eyes, told of the years of hardship and ill-usage which
+she had endured. With her was her daughter, a pale, fair-haired girl,
+whose eyes blazed defiantly at us as she told us that she was glad that
+her father was dead, and that she blessed the hand which had struck him
+down. It was a terrible household that Black Peter Carey had made for
+himself, and it was with a sense of relief that we found ourselves in
+the sunlight again and making our way along a path which had been worn
+across the fields by the feet of the dead man.
+
+The outhouse was the simplest of dwellings, wooden-walled,
+shingle-roofed, one window beside the door and one on the farther side.
+Stanley Hopkins drew the key from his pocket, and had stooped to the
+lock, when he paused with a look of attention and surprise upon his
+face.
+
+"Someone has been tampering with it," he said.
+
+There could be no doubt of the fact. The woodwork was cut and the
+scratches showed white through the paint, as if they had been that
+instant done. Holmes had been examining the window.
+
+"Someone has tried to force this also. Whoever it was has failed to make
+his way in. He must have been a very poor burglar."
+
+"This is a most extraordinary thing," said the inspector; "I could swear
+that these marks were not here yesterday evening."
+
+"Some curious person from the village, perhaps," I suggested.
+
+"Very unlikely. Few of them would dare to set foot in the grounds, far
+less try to force their way into the cabin. What do you think of it, Mr.
+Holmes?"
+
+"I think that fortune is very kind to us."
+
+"You mean that the person will come again?"
+
+"It is very probable. He came expecting to find the door open. He tried
+to get in with the blade of a very small penknife. He could not manage
+it. What would he do?"
+
+"Come again next night with a more useful tool."
+
+"So I should say. It will be our fault if we are not there to receive
+him. Meanwhile, let me see the inside of the cabin."
+
+The traces of the tragedy had been removed, but the furniture within the
+little room still stood as it had been on the night of the crime. For
+two hours, with most intense concentration, Holmes examined every object
+in turn, but his face showed that his quest was not a successful one.
+Once only he paused in his patient investigation.
+
+"Have you taken anything off this shelf, Hopkins?"
+
+"No; I have moved nothing."
+
+"Something has been taken. There is less dust in this corner of the
+shelf than elsewhere. It may have been a book lying on its side. It may
+have been a box. Well, well, I can do nothing more. Let us walk in
+these beautiful woods, Watson, and give a few hours to the birds and the
+flowers. We shall meet you here later, Hopkins, and see if we can come
+to closer quarters with the gentleman who has paid this visit in the
+night."
+
+It was past eleven o'clock when we formed our little ambuscade. Hopkins
+was for leaving the door of the hut open, but Holmes was of the opinion
+that this would rouse the suspicions of the stranger. The lock was a
+perfectly simple one, and only a strong blade was needed to push it
+back. Holmes also suggested that we should wait, not inside the hut, but
+outside it among the bushes which grew round the farther window. In this
+way we should be able to watch our man if he struck a light, and see
+what his object was in this stealthy nocturnal visit.
+
+It was a long and melancholy vigil, and yet brought with it something of
+the thrill which the hunter feels when he lies beside the water pool and
+waits for the coming of the thirsty beast of prey. What savage creature
+was it which might steal upon us out of the darkness? Was it a fierce
+tiger of crime, which could only be taken fighting hard with flashing
+fang and claw, or would it prove to be some skulking jackal, dangerous
+only to the weak and unguarded?
+
+In absolute silence we crouched amongst the bushes, waiting for whatever
+might come. At first the steps of a few belated villagers, or the sound
+of voices from the village, lightened our vigil; but one by one these
+interruptions died away and an absolute stillness fell upon us, save for
+the chimes of the distant church, which told us of the progress of the
+night, and for the rustle and whisper of a fine rain falling amid the
+foliage which roofed us in.
+
+Half-past two had chimed, and it was the darkest hour which precedes
+the dawn, when we all started as a low but sharp click came from the
+direction of the gate. Someone had entered the drive. Again there was a
+long silence, and I had begun to fear that it was a false alarm, when
+a stealthy step was heard upon the other side of the hut, and a moment
+later a metallic scraping and clinking. The man was trying to force the
+lock! This time his skill was greater or his tool was better, for there
+was a sudden snap and the creak of the hinges. Then a match was struck,
+and next instant the steady light from a candle filled the interior of
+the hut. Through the gauze curtain our eyes were all riveted upon the
+scene within.
+
+The nocturnal visitor was a young man, frail and thin, with a black
+moustache which intensified the deadly pallor of his face. He could not
+have been much above twenty years of age. I have never seen any human
+being who appeared to be in such a pitiable fright, for his teeth were
+visibly chattering and he was shaking in every limb. He was dressed like
+a gentleman, in Norfolk jacket and knickerbockers, with a cloth cap upon
+his head. We watched him staring round with frightened eyes. Then he
+laid the candle-end upon the table and disappeared from our view into
+one of the corners. He returned with a large book, one of the log-books
+which formed a line upon the shelves. Leaning on the table he rapidly
+turned over the leaves of this volume until he came to the entry which
+he sought. Then, with an angry gesture of his clenched hand, he closed
+the book, replaced it in the corner, and put out the light. He had
+hardly turned to leave the hut when Hopkins's hand was on the fellow's
+collar, and I heard his loud gasp of terror as he understood that he
+was taken. The candle was re-lit, and there was our wretched captive
+shivering and cowering in the grasp of the detective. He sank down upon
+the sea-chest, and looked helplessly from one of us to the other.
+
+"Now, my fine fellow," said Stanley Hopkins, "who are you, and what do
+you want here?"
+
+The man pulled himself together and faced us with an effort at
+self-composure.
+
+"You are detectives, I suppose?" said he. "You imagine I am connected
+with the death of Captain Peter Carey. I assure you that I am innocent."
+
+"We'll see about that," said Hopkins. "First of all, what is your name?"
+
+"It is John Hopley Neligan."
+
+I saw Holmes and Hopkins exchange a quick glance.
+
+"What are you doing here?"
+
+"Can I speak confidentially?"
+
+"No, certainly not."
+
+"Why should I tell you?"
+
+"If you have no answer it may go badly with you at the trial."
+
+The young man winced.
+
+"Well, I will tell you," he said. "Why should I not? And yet I hate to
+think of this old scandal gaining a new lease of life. Did you ever hear
+of Dawson and Neligan?"
+
+I could see from Hopkins's face that he never had; but Holmes was keenly
+interested.
+
+"You mean the West-country bankers," said he. "They failed for a
+million, ruined half the county families of Cornwall, and Neligan
+disappeared."
+
+"Exactly. Neligan was my father."
+
+At last we were getting something positive, and yet it seemed a long gap
+between an absconding banker and Captain Peter Carey pinned against the
+wall with one of his own harpoons. We all listened intently to the young
+man's words.
+
+"It was my father who was really concerned. Dawson had retired. I was
+only ten years of age at the time, but I was old enough to feel the
+shame and horror of it all. It has always been said that my father stole
+all the securities and fled. It is not true. It was his belief that if
+he were given time in which to realize them all would be well and every
+creditor paid in full. He started in his little yacht for Norway just
+before the warrant was issued for his arrest. I can remember that last
+night when he bade farewell to my mother. He left us a list of the
+securities he was taking, and he swore that he would come back with his
+honour cleared, and that none who had trusted him would suffer. Well,
+no word was ever heard from him again. Both the yacht and he vanished
+utterly. We believed, my mother and I, that he and it, with the
+securities that he had taken with him, were at the bottom of the sea. We
+had a faithful friend, however, who is a business man, and it was he who
+discovered some time ago that some of the securities which my father
+had with him have reappeared on the London market. You can imagine our
+amazement. I spent months in trying to trace them, and at last, after
+many doublings and difficulties, I discovered that the original seller
+had been Captain Peter Carey, the owner of this hut.
+
+"Naturally, I made some inquiries about the man. I found that he had
+been in command of a whaler which was due to return from the Arctic seas
+at the very time when my father was crossing to Norway. The autumn of
+that year was a stormy one, and there was a long succession of southerly
+gales. My father's yacht may well have been blown to the north, and
+there met by Captain Peter Carey's ship. If that were so, what had
+become of my father? In any case, if I could prove from Peter Carey's
+evidence how these securities came on the market it would be a proof
+that my father had not sold them, and that he had no view to personal
+profit when he took them.
+
+"I came down to Sussex with the intention of seeing the captain, but
+it was at this moment that his terrible death occurred. I read at the
+inquest a description of his cabin, in which it stated that the old
+log-books of his vessel were preserved in it. It struck me that if I
+could see what occurred in the month of August, 1883, on board the SEA
+UNICORN, I might settle the mystery of my father's fate. I tried last
+night to get at these log-books, but was unable to open the door.
+To-night I tried again, and succeeded; but I find that the pages which
+deal with that month have been torn from the book. It was at that moment
+I found myself a prisoner in your hands."
+
+"Is that all?" asked Hopkins.
+
+"Yes, that is all." His eyes shifted as he said it.
+
+"You have nothing else to tell us?"
+
+He hesitated.
+
+"No; there is nothing."
+
+"You have not been here before last night?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then how do you account for THAT?" cried Hopkins, as he held up the
+damning note-book, with the initials of our prisoner on the first leaf
+and the blood-stain on the cover.
+
+The wretched man collapsed. He sank his face in his hands and trembled
+all over.
+
+"Where did you get it?" he groaned. "I did not know. I thought I had
+lost it at the hotel."
+
+"That is enough," said Hopkins, sternly. "Whatever else you have to
+say you must say in court. You will walk down with me now to the
+police-station. Well, Mr. Holmes, I am very much obliged to you and to
+your friend for coming down to help me. As it turns out your presence
+was unnecessary, and I would have brought the case to this successful
+issue without you; but none the less I am very grateful. Rooms have been
+reserved for you at the Brambletye Hotel, so we can all walk down to the
+village together."
+
+"Well, Watson, what do you think of it?" asked Holmes, as we travelled
+back next morning.
+
+"I can see that you are not satisfied."
+
+"Oh, yes, my dear Watson, I am perfectly satisfied. At the same
+time Stanley Hopkins's methods do not commend themselves to me. I am
+disappointed in Stanley Hopkins. I had hoped for better things from him.
+One should always look for a possible alternative and provide against
+it. It is the first rule of criminal investigation."
+
+"What, then, is the alternative?"
+
+"The line of investigation which I have myself been pursuing. It may
+give us nothing. I cannot tell. But at least I shall follow it to the
+end."
+
+Several letters were waiting for Holmes at Baker Street. He snatched
+one of them up, opened it, and burst out into a triumphant chuckle of
+laughter.
+
+"Excellent, Watson. The alternative develops. Have you telegraph
+forms? Just write a couple of messages for me: 'Sumner, Shipping
+Agent, Ratcliff Highway. Send three men on, to arrive ten to-morrow
+morning.--Basil.' That's my name in those parts. The other is:
+'Inspector Stanley Hopkins, 46, Lord Street, Brixton. Come breakfast
+to-morrow at nine-thirty. Important. Wire if unable to come.--Sherlock
+Holmes.' There, Watson, this infernal case has haunted me for ten days.
+I hereby banish it completely from my presence. To-morrow I trust that
+we shall hear the last of it for ever."
+
+Sharp at the hour named Inspector Stanley Hopkins appeared, and we sat
+down together to the excellent breakfast which Mrs. Hudson had prepared.
+The young detective was in high spirits at his success.
+
+"You really think that your solution must be correct?" asked Holmes.
+
+"I could not imagine a more complete case."
+
+"It did not seem to me conclusive."
+
+"You astonish me, Mr. Holmes. What more could one ask for?"
+
+"Does your explanation cover every point?"
+
+"Undoubtedly. I find that young Neligan arrived at the Brambletye Hotel
+on the very day of the crime. He came on the pretence of playing golf.
+His room was on the ground-floor, and he could get out when he liked.
+That very night he went down to Woodman's Lee, saw Peter Carey at
+the hut, quarrelled with him, and killed him with the harpoon. Then,
+horrified by what he had done, he fled out of the hut, dropping the
+note-book which he had brought with him in order to question Peter Carey
+about these different securities. You may have observed that some of
+them were marked with ticks, and the others--the great majority--were
+not. Those which are ticked have been traced on the London market; but
+the others presumably were still in the possession of Carey, and young
+Neligan, according to his own account, was anxious to recover them in
+order to do the right thing by his father's creditors. After his flight
+he did not dare to approach the hut again for some time; but at last
+he forced himself to do so in order to obtain the information which he
+needed. Surely that is all simple and obvious?"
+
+Holmes smiled and shook his head.
+
+"It seems to me to have only one drawback, Hopkins, and that is that it
+is intrinsically impossible. Have you tried to drive a harpoon through a
+body? No? Tut, tut, my dear sir, you must really pay attention to these
+details. My friend Watson could tell you that I spent a whole morning in
+that exercise. It is no easy matter, and requires a strong and practised
+arm. But this blow was delivered with such violence that the head of the
+weapon sank deep into the wall. Do you imagine that this anaemic youth
+was capable of so frightful an assault? Is he the man who hobnobbed
+in rum and water with Black Peter in the dead of the night? Was it his
+profile that was seen on the blind two nights before? No, no, Hopkins;
+it is another and a more formidable person for whom we must seek."
+
+The detective's face had grown longer and longer during Holmes's speech.
+His hopes and his ambitions were all crumbling about him. But he would
+not abandon his position without a struggle.
+
+"You can't deny that Neligan was present that night, Mr. Holmes. The
+book will prove that. I fancy that I have evidence enough to satisfy a
+jury, even if you are able to pick a hole in it. Besides, Mr. Holmes,
+I have laid my hand upon MY man. As to this terrible person of yours,
+where is he?"
+
+"I rather fancy that he is on the stair," said Holmes, serenely. "I
+think, Watson, that you would do well to put that revolver where you can
+reach it." He rose, and laid a written paper upon a side-table. "Now we
+are ready," said he.
+
+There had been some talking in gruff voices outside, and now Mrs. Hudson
+opened the door to say that there were three men inquiring for Captain
+Basil.
+
+"Show them in one by one," said Holmes.
+
+The first who entered was a little ribston-pippin of a man, with ruddy
+cheeks and fluffy white side-whiskers. Holmes had drawn a letter from
+his pocket.
+
+"What name?" he asked.
+
+"James Lancaster."
+
+"I am sorry, Lancaster, but the berth is full. Here is half a sovereign
+for your trouble. Just step into this room and wait there for a few
+minutes."
+
+The second man was a long, dried-up creature, with lank hair and sallow
+cheeks. His name was Hugh Pattins. He also received his dismissal, his
+half-sovereign, and the order to wait.
+
+The third applicant was a man of remarkable appearance. A fierce
+bull-dog face was framed in a tangle of hair and beard, and two bold
+dark eyes gleamed behind the cover of thick, tufted, overhung eyebrows.
+He saluted and stood sailor-fashion, turning his cap round in his hands.
+
+"Your name?" asked Holmes.
+
+"Patrick Cairns."
+
+"Harpooner?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Twenty-six voyages."
+
+"Dundee, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And ready to start with an exploring ship?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"What wages?"
+
+"Eight pounds a month."
+
+"Could you start at once?"
+
+"As soon as I get my kit."
+
+"Have you your papers?"
+
+"Yes, sir." He took a sheaf of worn and greasy forms from his pocket.
+Holmes glanced over them and returned them.
+
+"You are just the man I want," said he. "Here's the agreement on the
+side-table. If you sign it the whole matter will be settled."
+
+The seaman lurched across the room and took up the pen.
+
+"Shall I sign here?" he asked, stooping over the table.
+
+Holmes leaned over his shoulder and passed both hands over his neck.
+
+"This will do," said he.
+
+I heard a click of steel and a bellow like an enraged bull. The next
+instant Holmes and the seaman were rolling on the ground together. He
+was a man of such gigantic strength that, even with the handcuffs
+which Holmes had so deftly fastened upon his wrists, he would have
+very quickly overpowered my friend had Hopkins and I not rushed to
+his rescue. Only when I pressed the cold muzzle of the revolver to his
+temple did he at last understand that resistance was vain. We lashed his
+ankles with cord and rose breathless from the struggle.
+
+"I must really apologize, Hopkins," said Sherlock Holmes; "I fear that
+the scrambled eggs are cold. However, you will enjoy the rest of your
+breakfast all the better, will you not, for the thought that you have
+brought your case to a triumphant conclusion."
+
+Stanley Hopkins was speechless with amazement.
+
+"I don't know what to say, Mr. Holmes," he blurted out at last, with a
+very red face. "It seems to me that I have been making a fool of
+myself from the beginning. I understand now, what I should never have
+forgotten, that I am the pupil and you are the master. Even now I
+see what you have done, but I don't know how you did it, or what it
+signifies."
+
+"Well, well," said Holmes, good-humouredly. "We all learn by experience,
+and your lesson this time is that you should never lose sight of the
+alternative. You were so absorbed in young Neligan that you could not
+spare a thought to Patrick Cairns, the true murderer of Peter Carey."
+
+The hoarse voice of the seaman broke in on our conversation.
+
+"See here, mister," said he, "I make no complaint of being man-handled
+in this fashion, but I would have you call things by their right names.
+You say I murdered Peter Carey; I say I KILLED Peter Carey, and there's
+all the difference. Maybe you don't believe what I say. Maybe you think
+I am just slinging you a yarn."
+
+"Not at all," said Holmes. "Let us hear what you have to say."
+
+"It's soon told, and, by the Lord, every word of it is truth. I knew
+Black Peter, and when he pulled out his knife I whipped a harpoon
+through him sharp, for I knew that it was him or me. That's how he died.
+You can call it murder. Anyhow, I'd as soon die with a rope round my
+neck as with Black Peter's knife in my heart."
+
+"How came you there?" asked Holmes.
+
+"I'll tell it you from the beginning. Just sit me up a little so as I
+can speak easy. It was in '83 that it happened--August of that year.
+Peter Carey was master of the SEA UNICORN, and I was spare harpooner. We
+were coming out of the ice-pack on our way home, with head winds and a
+week's southerly gale, when we picked up a little craft that had been
+blown north. There was one man on her--a landsman. The crew had thought
+she would founder, and had made for the Norwegian coast in the dinghy.
+I guess they were all drowned. Well, we took him on board, this man, and
+he and the skipper had some long talks in the cabin. All the baggage we
+took off with him was one tin box. So far as I know, the man's name was
+never mentioned, and on the second night he disappeared as if he had
+never been. It was given out that he had either thrown himself overboard
+or fallen overboard in the heavy weather that we were having. Only one
+man knew what had happened to him, and that was me, for with my own
+eyes I saw the skipper tip up his heels and put him over the rail in the
+middle watch of a dark night, two days before we sighted the Shetland
+lights.
+
+"Well, I kept my knowledge to myself and waited to see what would come
+of it. When we got back to Scotland it was easily hushed up, and nobody
+asked any questions. A stranger died by an accident, and it was nobody's
+business to inquire. Shortly after Peter Carey gave up the sea, and it
+was long years before I could find where he was. I guessed that he had
+done the deed for the sake of what was in that tin box, and that he
+could afford now to pay me well for keeping my mouth shut.
+
+"I found out where he was through a sailor man that had met him
+in London, and down I went to squeeze him. The first night he was
+reasonable enough, and was ready to give me what would make me free of
+the sea for life. We were to fix it all two nights later. When I came
+I found him three parts drunk and in a vile temper. We sat down and we
+drank and we yarned about old times, but the more he drank the less I
+liked the look on his face. I spotted that harpoon upon the wall, and I
+thought I might need it before I was through. Then at last he broke
+out at me, spitting and cursing, with murder in his eyes and a great
+clasp-knife in his hand. He had not time to get it from the sheath
+before I had the harpoon through him. Heavens! what a yell he gave; and
+his face gets between me and my sleep! I stood there, with his blood
+splashing round me, and I waited for a bit; but all was quiet, so I took
+heart once more. I looked round, and there was the tin box on a shelf. I
+had as much right to it as Peter Carey, anyhow, so I took it with me and
+left the hut. Like a fool I left my baccy-pouch upon the table.
+
+"Now I'll tell you the queerest part of the whole story. I had hardly
+got outside the hut when I heard someone coming, and I hid among the
+bushes. A man came slinking along, went into the hut, gave a cry as if
+he had seen a ghost, and legged it as hard as he could run until he was
+out of sight. Who he was or what he wanted is more than I can tell.
+For my part I walked ten miles, got a train at Tunbridge Wells, and so
+reached London, and no one the wiser.
+
+"Well, when I came to examine the box I found there was no money in it,
+and nothing but papers that I would not dare to sell. I had lost my hold
+on Black Peter, and was stranded in London without a shilling. There was
+only my trade left. I saw these advertisements about harpooners and high
+wages, so I went to the shipping agents, and they sent me here. That's
+all I know, and I say again that if I killed Black Peter the law should
+give me thanks, for I saved them the price of a hempen rope."
+
+"A very clear statement," said Holmes, rising and lighting his pipe. "I
+think, Hopkins, that you should lose no time in conveying your prisoner
+to a place of safety. This room is not well adapted for a cell, and Mr.
+Patrick Cairns occupies too large a proportion of our carpet."
+
+"Mr. Holmes," said Hopkins, "I do not know how to express my gratitude.
+Even now I do not understand how you attained this result."
+
+"Simply by having the good fortune to get the right clue from the
+beginning. It is very possible if I had known about this note-book
+it might have led away my thoughts, as it did yours. But all I heard
+pointed in the one direction. The amazing strength, the skill in the use
+of the harpoon, the rum and water, the seal-skin tobacco-pouch, with the
+coarse tobacco--all these pointed to a seaman, and one who had been a
+whaler. I was convinced that the initials 'P.C.' upon the pouch were a
+coincidence, and not those of Peter Carey, since he seldom smoked, and
+no pipe was found in his cabin. You remember that I asked whether whisky
+and brandy were in the cabin. You said they were. How many landsmen are
+there who would drink rum when they could get these other spirits? Yes,
+I was certain it was a seaman."
+
+"And how did you find him?"
+
+"My dear sir, the problem had become a very simple one. If it were
+a seaman, it could only be a seaman who had been with him on the SEA
+UNICORN. So far as I could learn he had sailed in no other ship. I
+spent three days in wiring to Dundee, and at the end of that time I had
+ascertained the names of the crew of the SEA UNICORN in 1883. When I
+found Patrick Cairns among the harpooners my research was nearing its
+end. I argued that the man was probably in London, and that he would
+desire to leave the country for a time. I therefore spent some days in
+the East-end, devised an Arctic expedition, put forth tempting terms for
+harpooners who would serve under Captain Basil--and behold the result!"
+
+"Wonderful!" cried Hopkins. "Wonderful!"
+
+"You must obtain the release of young Neligan as soon as possible," said
+Holmes. "I confess that I think you owe him some apology. The tin box
+must be returned to him, but, of course, the securities which Peter
+Carey has sold are lost for ever. There's the cab, Hopkins, and you can
+remove your man. If you want me for the trial, my address and that of
+Watson will be somewhere in Norway--I'll send particulars later."
+
+
+*****
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 27  APRIL, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+VII.--The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.
+
+
+IT is years since the incidents of which I speak took place, and yet it
+is with diffidence that I allude to them. For a long time, even with the
+utmost discretion and reticence, it would have been impossible to make
+the facts public; but now the principal person concerned is beyond the
+reach of human law, and with due suppression the story may be told
+in such fashion as to injure no one. It records an absolutely unique
+experience in the career both of Mr. Sherlock Holmes and of myself. The
+reader will excuse me if I conceal the date or any other fact by which
+he might trace the actual occurrence.
+
+We had been out for one of our evening rambles, Holmes and I, and had
+returned about six o'clock on a cold, frosty winter's evening. As Holmes
+turned up the lamp the light fell upon a card on the table. He glanced
+at it, and then, with an ejaculation of disgust, threw it on the floor.
+I picked it up and read:--
+
+             CHARLES AUGUSTUS MILVERTON,
+                  APPLEDORE TOWERS,
+            AGENT.              HAMPSTEAD.
+
+"Who is he?" I asked.
+
+"The worst man in London," Holmes answered, as he sat down and stretched
+his legs before the fire. "Is anything on the back of the card?"
+
+I turned it over.
+
+"Will call at 6.30--C.A.M.," I read.
+
+"Hum! He's about due. Do you feel a creeping, shrinking sensation,
+Watson, when you stand before the serpents in the Zoo and see the
+slithery, gliding, venomous creatures, with their deadly eyes and
+wicked, flattened faces? Well, that's how Milverton impresses me. I've
+had to do with fifty murderers in my career, but the worst of them never
+gave me the repulsion which I have for this fellow. And yet I can't get
+out of doing business with him--indeed, he is here at my invitation."
+
+"But who is he?"
+
+"I'll tell you, Watson. He is the king of all the blackmailers. Heaven
+help the man, and still more the woman, whose secret and reputation come
+into the power of Milverton. With a smiling face and a heart of marble
+he will squeeze and squeeze until he has drained them dry. The fellow is
+a genius in his way, and would have made his mark in some more savoury
+trade. His method is as follows: He allows it to be known that he is
+prepared to pay very high sums for letters which compromise people of
+wealth or position. He receives these wares not only from treacherous
+valets or maids, but frequently from genteel ruffians who have gained
+the confidence and affection of trusting women. He deals with no niggard
+hand. I happen to know that he paid seven hundred pounds to a footman
+for a note two lines in length, and that the ruin of a noble family was
+the result. Everything which is in the market goes to Milverton, and
+there are hundreds in this great city who turn white at his name. No
+one knows where his grip may fall, for he is far too rich and far too
+cunning to work from hand to mouth. He will hold a card back for years
+in order to play it at the moment when the stake is best worth winning.
+I have said that he is the worst man in London, and I would ask you how
+could one compare the ruffian who in hot blood bludgeons his mate with
+this man, who methodically and at his leisure tortures the soul and
+wrings the nerves in order to add to his already swollen money-bags?"
+
+I had seldom heard my friend speak with such intensity of feeling.
+
+"But surely," said I, "the fellow must be within the grasp of the law?"
+
+"Technically, no doubt, but practically not. What would it profit a
+woman, for example, to get him a few months' imprisonment if her own
+ruin must immediately follow? His victims dare not hit back. If ever he
+blackmailed an innocent person, then, indeed, we should have him; but he
+is as cunning as the Evil One. No, no; we must find other ways to fight
+him."
+
+"And why is he here?"
+
+"Because an illustrious client has placed her piteous case in my hands.
+It is the Lady Eva Brackwell, the most beautiful DEBUTANTE of last
+season. She is to be married in a fortnight to the Earl of Dovercourt.
+This fiend has several imprudent letters--imprudent, Watson, nothing
+worse--which were written to an impecunious young squire in the country.
+They would suffice to break off the match. Milverton will send the
+letters to the Earl unless a large sum of money is paid him. I have been
+commissioned to meet him, and--to make the best terms I can."
+
+At that instant there was a clatter and a rattle in the street below.
+Looking down I saw a stately carriage and pair, the brilliant lamps
+gleaming on the glossy haunches of the noble chestnuts. A footman
+opened the door, and a small, stout man in a shaggy astrachan overcoat
+descended. A minute later he was in the room.
+
+Charles Augustus Milverton was a man of fifty, with a large,
+intellectual head, a round, plump, hairless face, a perpetual frozen
+smile, and two keen grey eyes, which gleamed brightly from behind broad,
+golden-rimmed glasses. There was something of Mr. Pickwick's benevolence
+in his appearance, marred only by the insincerity of the fixed smile and
+by the hard glitter of those restless and penetrating eyes. His voice
+was as smooth and suave as his countenance, as he advanced with a plump
+little hand extended, murmuring his regret for having missed us at his
+first visit. Holmes disregarded the outstretched hand and looked at him
+with a face of granite. Milverton's smile broadened; he shrugged his
+shoulders, removed his overcoat, folded it with great deliberation over
+the back of a chair, and then took a seat.
+
+"This gentleman?" said he, with a wave in my direction. "Is it discreet?
+Is it right?"
+
+"Dr. Watson is my friend and partner."
+
+"Very good, Mr. Holmes. It is only in your client's interests that I
+protested. The matter is so very delicate----"
+
+"Dr. Watson has already heard of it."
+
+"Then we can proceed to business. You say that you are acting for Lady
+Eva. Has she empowered you to accept my terms?"
+
+"What are your terms?"
+
+"Seven thousand pounds."
+
+"And the alternative?"
+
+"My dear sir, it is painful for me to discuss it; but if the money is
+not paid on the 14th there certainly will be no marriage on the 18th."
+His insufferable smile was more complacent than ever.
+
+Holmes thought for a little.
+
+"You appear to me," he said, at last, "to be taking matters too much for
+granted. I am, of course, familiar with the contents of these letters.
+My client will certainly do what I may advise. I shall counsel her to
+tell her future husband the whole story and to trust to his generosity."
+
+Milverton chuckled.
+
+"You evidently do not know the Earl," said he.
+
+From the baffled look upon Holmes's face I could see clearly that he
+did.
+
+"What harm is there in the letters?" he asked.
+
+"They are sprightly--very sprightly," Milverton answered. "The lady
+was a charming correspondent. But I can assure you that the Earl of
+Dovercourt would fail to appreciate them. However, since you think
+otherwise, we will let it rest at that. It is purely a matter of
+business. If you think that it is in the best interests of your client
+that these letters should be placed in the hands of the Earl, then you
+would indeed be foolish to pay so large a sum of money to regain them."
+He rose and seized his astrachan coat.
+
+Holmes was grey with anger and mortification.
+
+"Wait a little," he said. "You go too fast. We would certainly make
+every effort to avoid scandal in so delicate a matter."
+
+Milverton relapsed into his chair.
+
+"I was sure that you would see it in that light," he purred.
+
+"At the same time," Holmes continued, "Lady Eva is not a wealthy
+woman. I assure you that two thousand pounds would be a drain upon her
+resources, and that the sum you name is utterly beyond her power. I beg,
+therefore, that you will moderate your demands, and that you will return
+the letters at the price I indicate, which is, I assure you, the highest
+that you can get."
+
+Milverton's smile broadened and his eyes twinkled humorously.
+
+"I am aware that what you say is true about the lady's resources," said
+he. "At the same time, you must admit that the occasion of a lady's
+marriage is a very suitable time for her friends and relatives to
+make some little effort upon her behalf. They may hesitate as to an
+acceptable wedding present. Let me assure them that this little bundle
+of letters would give more joy than all the candelabra and butter-dishes
+in London."
+
+"It is impossible," said Holmes.
+
+"Dear me, dear me, how unfortunate!" cried Milverton, taking out a bulky
+pocket-book. "I cannot help thinking that ladies are ill-advised in
+not making an effort. Look at this!" He held up a little note with a
+coat-of-arms upon the envelope. "That belongs to--well, perhaps it is
+hardly fair to tell the name until to-morrow morning. But at that time
+it will be in the hands of the lady's husband. And all because she will
+not find a beggarly sum which she could get by turning her diamonds
+into paste. It IS such a pity. Now, you remember the sudden end of the
+engagement between the Honourable Miss Miles and Colonel Dorking? Only
+two days before the wedding there was a paragraph in the MORNING POST
+to say that it was all off. And why? It is almost incredible, but
+the absurd sum of twelve hundred pounds would have settled the whole
+question. Is it not pitiful? And here I find you, a man of sense,
+boggling about terms when your client's future and honour are at stake.
+You surprise me, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"What I say is true," Holmes answered. "The money cannot be found.
+Surely it is better for you to take the substantial sum which I offer
+than to ruin this woman's career, which can profit you in no way?"
+
+"There you make a mistake, Mr. Holmes. An exposure would profit me
+indirectly to a considerable extent. I have eight or ten similar cases
+maturing. If it was circulated among them that I had made a severe
+example of the Lady Eva I should find all of them much more open to
+reason. You see my point?"
+
+Holmes sprang from his chair.
+
+"Get behind him, Watson! Don't let him out! Now, sir, let us see the
+contents of that note-book."
+
+Milverton had glided as quick as a rat to the side of the room, and
+stood with his back against the wall.
+
+"Mr. Holmes, Mr. Holmes," he said, turning the front of his coat and
+exhibiting the butt of a large revolver, which projected from the inside
+pocket. "I have been expecting you to do something original. This has
+been done so often, and what good has ever come from it? I assure you
+that I am armed to the teeth, and I am perfectly prepared to use my
+weapons, knowing that the law will support me. Besides, your supposition
+that I would bring the letters here in a note-book is entirely mistaken.
+I would do nothing so foolish. And now, gentlemen, I have one or two
+little interviews this evening, and it is a long drive to Hampstead."
+He stepped forward, took up his coat, laid his hand on his revolver, and
+turned to the door. I picked up a chair, but Holmes shook his head and
+I laid it down again. With bow, a smile, and a twinkle Milverton was out
+of the room, and a few moments after we heard the slam of the carriage
+door and the rattle of the wheels as he drove away.
+
+Holmes sat motionless by the fire, his hands buried deep in his trouser
+pockets, his chin sunk upon his breast, his eyes fixed upon the glowing
+embers. For half an hour he was silent and still. Then, with the gesture
+of a man who has taken his decision, he sprang to his feet and passed
+into his bedroom. A little later a rakish young workman with a goatee
+beard and a swagger lit his clay pipe at the lamp before descending into
+the street. "I'll be back some time, Watson," said he, and vanished into
+the night. I understood that he had opened his campaign against Charles
+Augustus Milverton; but I little dreamed the strange shape which that
+campaign was destined to take.
+
+For some days Holmes came and went at all hours in this attire, but
+beyond a remark that his time was spent at Hampstead, and that it was
+not wasted, I knew nothing of what he was doing. At last, however, on
+a wild, tempestuous evening, when the wind screamed and rattled against
+the windows, he returned from his last expedition, and having removed
+his disguise he sat before the fire and laughed heartily in his silent
+inward fashion.
+
+"You would not call me a marrying man, Watson?"
+
+"No, indeed!"
+
+"You'll be interested to hear that I am engaged."
+
+"My dear fellow! I congrat----"
+
+"To Milverton's housemaid."
+
+"Good heavens, Holmes!"
+
+"I wanted information, Watson."
+
+"Surely you have gone too far?"
+
+"It was a most necessary step. I am a plumber with a rising business,
+Escott by name. I have walked out with her each evening, and I have
+talked with her. Good heavens, those talks! However, I have got all I
+wanted. I know Milverton's house as I know the palm of my hand."
+
+"But the girl, Holmes?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"You can't help it, my dear Watson. You must play your cards as best you
+can when such a stake is on the table. However, I rejoice to say that
+I have a hated rival who will certainly cut me out the instant that my
+back is turned. What a splendid night it is!"
+
+"You like this weather?"
+
+"It suits my purpose. Watson, I mean to burgle Milverton's house
+to-night."
+
+I had a catching of the breath, and my skin went cold at the words,
+which were slowly uttered in a tone of concentrated resolution. As a
+flash of lightning in the night shows up in an instant every detail of
+a wide landscape, so at one glance I seemed to see every possible result
+of such an action--the detection, the capture, the honoured career
+ending in irreparable failure and disgrace, my friend himself lying at
+the mercy of the odious Milverton.
+
+"For Heaven's sake, Holmes, think what you are doing," I cried.
+
+"My dear fellow, I have given it every consideration. I am never
+precipitate in my actions, nor would I adopt so energetic and indeed so
+dangerous a course if any other were possible. Let us look at the matter
+clearly and fairly. I suppose that you will admit that the action is
+morally justifiable, though technically criminal. To burgle his house
+is no more than to forcibly take his pocket-book--an action in which you
+were prepared to aid me."
+
+I turned it over in my mind.
+
+"Yes," I said; "it is morally justifiable so long as our object is to
+take no articles save those which are used for an illegal purpose."
+
+"Exactly. Since it is morally justifiable I have only to consider the
+question of personal risk. Surely a gentleman should not lay much stress
+upon this when a lady is in most desperate need of his help?"
+
+"You will be in such a false position."
+
+"Well, that is part of the risk. There is no other possible way of
+regaining these letters. The unfortunate lady has not the money, and
+there are none of her people in whom she could confide. To-morrow is
+the last day of grace, and unless we can get the letters to-night this
+villain will be as good as his word and will bring about her ruin. I
+must, therefore, abandon my client to her fate or I must play this
+last card. Between ourselves, Watson, it's a sporting duel between
+this fellow Milverton and me. He had, as you saw, the best of the first
+exchanges; but my self-respect and my reputation are concerned to fight
+it to a finish."
+
+"Well, I don't like it; but I suppose it must be," said I. "When do we
+start?"
+
+"You are not coming."
+
+"Then you are not going," said I. "I give you my word of honour--and
+I never broke it in my life--that I will take a cab straight to the
+police-station and give you away unless you let me share this adventure
+with you."
+
+"You can't help me."
+
+"How do you know that? You can't tell what may happen. Anyway, my
+resolution is taken. Other people beside you have self-respect and even
+reputations."
+
+Holmes had looked annoyed, but his brow cleared, and he clapped me on
+the shoulder.
+
+"Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so. We have shared the same room
+for some years, and it would be amusing if we ended by sharing the
+same cell. You know, Watson, I don't mind confessing to you that I have
+always had an idea that I would have made a highly efficient criminal.
+This is the chance of my lifetime in that direction. See here!" He took
+a neat little leather case out of a drawer, and opening it he exhibited
+a number of shining instruments. "This is a first-class, up-to-date
+burgling kit, with nickel-plated jemmy, diamond-tipped glass-cutter,
+adaptable keys, and every modern improvement which the march of
+civilization demands. Here, too, is my dark lantern. Everything is in
+order. Have you a pair of silent shoes?"
+
+"I have rubber-soled tennis shoes."
+
+"Excellent. And a mask?"
+
+"I can make a couple out of black silk."
+
+"I can see that you have a strong natural turn for this sort of thing.
+Very good; do you make the masks. We shall have some cold supper before
+we start. It is now nine-thirty. At eleven we shall drive as far as
+Church Row. It is a quarter of an hour's walk from there to Appledore
+Towers. We shall be at work before midnight. Milverton is a heavy
+sleeper and retires punctually at ten-thirty. With any luck we should be
+back here by two, with the Lady Eva's letters in my pocket."
+
+Holmes and I put on our dress-clothes, so that we might appear to be two
+theatre-goers homeward bound. In Oxford Street we picked up a hansom and
+drove to an address in Hampstead. Here we paid off our cab, and with our
+great-coats buttoned up, for it was bitterly cold and the wind seemed to
+blow through us, we walked along the edge of the Heath.
+
+"It's a business that needs delicate treatment," said Holmes. "These
+documents are contained in a safe in the fellow's study, and the study
+is the ante-room of his bed-chamber. On the other hand, like all these
+stout, little men who do themselves well, he is a plethoric sleeper.
+Agatha--that's my FIANCEE--says it is a joke in the servants' hall that
+it's impossible to wake the master. He has a secretary who is devoted to
+his interests and never budges from the study all day. That's why we are
+going at night. Then he has a beast of a dog which roams the garden. I
+met Agatha late the last two evenings, and she locks the brute up so
+as to give me a clear run. This is the house, this big one in its own
+grounds. Through the gate--now to the right among the laurels. We might
+put on our masks here, I think. You see, there is not a glimmer of light
+in any of the windows, and everything is working splendidly."
+
+With our black silk face-coverings, which turned us into two of the most
+truculent figures in London, we stole up to the silent, gloomy house.
+A sort of tiled veranda extended along one side of it, lined by several
+windows and two doors.
+
+"That's his bedroom," Holmes whispered. "This door opens straight into
+the study. It would suit us best, but it is bolted as well as locked,
+and we should make too much noise getting in. Come round here. There's a
+greenhouse which opens into the drawing-room."
+
+The place was locked, but Holmes removed a circle of glass and turned
+the key from the inside. An instant afterwards he had closed the door
+behind us, and we had become felons in the eyes of the law. The thick,
+warm air of the conservatory and the rich, choking fragrance of exotic
+plants took us by the throat. He seized my hand in the darkness and led
+me swiftly past banks of shrubs which brushed against our faces. Holmes
+had remarkable powers, carefully cultivated, of seeing in the dark.
+Still holding my hand in one of his he opened a door, and I was vaguely
+conscious that we had entered a large room in which a cigar had been
+smoked not long before. He felt his way among the furniture, opened
+another door, and closed it behind us. Putting out my hand I felt
+several coats hanging from the wall, and I understood that I was in a
+passage. We passed along it, and Holmes very gently opened a door upon
+the right-hand side. Something rushed out at us and my heart sprang into
+my mouth, but I could have laughed when I realized that it was the cat.
+A fire was burning in this new room, and again the air was heavy with
+tobacco smoke. Holmes entered on tiptoe, waited for me to follow, and
+then very gently closed the door. We were in Milverton's study, and a
+PORTIERE at the farther side showed the entrance to his bedroom.
+
+It was a good fire, and the room was illuminated by it. Near the door I
+saw the gleam of an electric switch, but it was unnecessary, even if it
+had been safe, to turn it on. At one side of the fireplace was a heavy
+curtain, which covered the bay window we had seen from outside. On the
+other side was the door which communicated with the veranda. A desk
+stood in the centre, with a turning chair of shining red leather.
+Opposite was a large bookcase, with a marble bust of Athene on the top.
+In the corner between the bookcase and the wall there stood a tall green
+safe, the firelight flashing back from the polished brass knobs upon its
+face. Holmes stole across and looked at it. Then he crept to the door of
+the bedroom, and stood with slanting head listening intently. No sound
+came from within. Meanwhile it had struck me that it would be wise
+to secure our retreat through the outer door, so I examined it. To my
+amazement it was neither locked nor bolted! I touched Holmes on the arm,
+and he turned his masked face in that direction. I saw him start, and he
+was evidently as surprised as I.
+
+"I don't like it," he whispered, putting his lips to my very ear. "I
+can't quite make it out. Anyhow, we have no time to lose."
+
+"Can I do anything?"
+
+"Yes; stand by the door. If you hear anyone come, bolt it on the inside,
+and we can get away as we came. If they come the other way, we can
+get through the door if our job is done, or hide behind these window
+curtains if it is not. Do you understand?"
+
+I nodded and stood by the door. My first feeling of fear had passed
+away, and I thrilled now with a keener zest than I had ever enjoyed when
+we were the defenders of the law instead of its defiers. The high object
+of our mission, the consciousness that it was unselfish and chivalrous,
+the villainous character of our opponent, all added to the sporting
+interest of the adventure. Far from feeling guilty, I rejoiced and
+exulted in our dangers. With a glow of admiration I watched Holmes
+unrolling his case of instruments and choosing his tool with the calm,
+scientific accuracy of a surgeon who performs a delicate operation. I
+knew that the opening of safes was a particular hobby with him, and I
+understood the joy which it gave him to be confronted with this green
+and gold monster, the dragon which held in its maw the reputations of
+many fair ladies. Turning up the cuffs of his dress-coat--he had placed
+his overcoat on a chair--Holmes laid out two drills, a jemmy, and
+several skeleton keys. I stood at the centre door with my eyes glancing
+at each of the others, ready for any emergency; though, indeed, my plans
+were somewhat vague as to what I should do if we were interrupted. For
+half an hour Holmes worked with concentrated energy, laying down one
+tool, picking up another, handling each with the strength and delicacy
+of the trained mechanic. Finally I heard a click, the broad green door
+swung open, and inside I had a glimpse of a number of paper packets,
+each tied, sealed, and inscribed. Holmes picked one out, but it was hard
+to read by the flickering fire, and he drew out his little dark lantern,
+for it was too dangerous, with Milverton in the next room, to switch on
+the electric light. Suddenly I saw him halt, listen intently, and then
+in an instant he had swung the door of the safe to, picked up his
+coat, stuffed his tools into the pockets, and darted behind the window
+curtain, motioning me to do the same.
+
+It was only when I had joined him there that I heard what had alarmed
+his quicker senses. There was a noise somewhere within the house. A door
+slammed in the distance. Then a confused, dull murmur broke itself into
+the measured thud of heavy footsteps rapidly approaching. They were in
+the passage outside the room. They paused at the door. The door opened.
+There was a sharp snick as the electric light was turned on. The door
+closed once more, and the pungent reek of a strong cigar was borne
+to our nostrils. Then the footsteps continued backwards and forwards,
+backwards and forwards, within a few yards of us. Finally, there was a
+creak from a chair, and the footsteps ceased. Then a key clicked in a
+lock and I heard the rustle of papers.
+
+So far I had not dared to look out, but now I gently parted the division
+of the curtains in front of me and peeped through. From the pressure
+of Holmes's shoulder against mine I knew that he was sharing my
+observations. Right in front of us, and almost within our reach, was the
+broad, rounded back of Milverton. It was evident that we had entirely
+miscalculated his movements, that he had never been to his bedroom,
+but that he had been sitting up in some smoking or billiard room in the
+farther wing of the house, the windows of which we had not seen. His
+broad, grizzled head, with its shining patch of baldness, was in the
+immediate foreground of our vision. He was leaning far back in the red
+leather chair, his legs outstretched, a long black cigar projecting
+at an angle from his mouth. He wore a semi-military smoking jacket,
+claret-coloured, with a black velvet collar. In his hand he held a long
+legal document, which he was reading in an indolent fashion, blowing
+rings of tobacco smoke from his lips as he did so. There was no promise
+of a speedy departure in his composed bearing and his comfortable
+attitude.
+
+I felt Holmes's hand steal into mine and give me a reassuring shake, as
+if to say that the situation was within his powers and that he was
+easy in his mind. I was not sure whether he had seen what was only too
+obvious from my position, that the door of the safe was imperfectly
+closed, and that Milverton might at any moment observe it. In my own
+mind I had determined that if I were sure, from the rigidity of his
+gaze, that it had caught his eye, I would at once spring out, throw my
+great-coat over his head, pinion him, and leave the rest to Holmes. But
+Milverton never looked up. He was languidly interested by the papers in
+his hand, and page after page was turned as he followed the argument of
+the lawyer. At least, I thought, when he has finished the document and
+the cigar he will go to his room; but before he had reached the end of
+either there came a remarkable development which turned our thoughts
+into quite another channel.
+
+Several times I had observed that Milverton looked at his watch, and
+once he had risen and sat down again, with a gesture of impatience. The
+idea, however, that he might have an appointment at so strange an
+hour never occurred to me until a faint sound reached my ears from
+the veranda outside. Milverton dropped his papers and sat rigid in his
+chair. The sound was repeated, and then there came a gentle tap at the
+door. Milverton rose and opened it.
+
+"Well," said he, curtly, "you are nearly half an hour late."
+
+So this was the explanation of the unlocked door and of the nocturnal
+vigil of Milverton. There was the gentle rustle of a woman's dress. I
+had closed the slit between the curtains as Milverton's face had turned
+in our direction, but now I ventured very carefully to open it once
+more. He had resumed his seat, the cigar still projecting at an insolent
+angle from the corner of his mouth. In front of him, in the full glare
+of the electric light, there stood a tall, slim, dark woman, a veil over
+her face, a mantle drawn round her chin. Her breath came quick and fast,
+and every inch of the lithe figure was quivering with strong emotion.
+
+"Well," said Milverton, "you've made me lose a good night's rest,
+my dear. I hope you'll prove worth it. You couldn't come any other
+time--eh?"
+
+The woman shook her head.
+
+"Well, if you couldn't you couldn't. If the Countess is a hard mistress
+you have your chance to get level with her now. Bless the girl, what are
+you shivering about? That's right! Pull yourself together! Now, let us
+get down to business." He took a note from the drawer of his desk. "You
+say that you have five letters which compromise the Countess d'Albert.
+You want to sell them. I want to buy them. So far so good. It only
+remains to fix a price. I should want to inspect the letters, of course.
+If they are really good specimens--Great heavens, is it you?"
+
+The woman without a word had raised her veil and dropped the mantle
+from her chin. It was a dark, handsome, clear-cut face which confronted
+Milverton, a face with a curved nose, strong, dark eyebrows shading
+hard, glittering eyes, and a straight, thin-lipped mouth set in a
+dangerous smile.
+
+"It is I," she said; "the woman whose life you have ruined."
+
+Milverton laughed, but fear vibrated in his voice. "You were so very
+obstinate," said he. "Why did you drive me to such extremities? I
+assure you I wouldn't hurt a fly of my own accord, but every man has his
+business, and what was I to do? I put the price well within your means.
+You would not pay."
+
+"So you sent the letters to my husband, and he--the noblest gentleman
+that ever lived, a man whose boots I was never worthy to lace--he broke
+his gallant heart and died. You remember that last night when I came
+through that door I begged and prayed you for mercy, and you laughed in
+my face as you are trying to laugh now, only your coward heart cannot
+keep your lips from twitching? Yes, you never thought to see me here
+again, but it was that night which taught me how I could meet you face
+to face, and alone. Well, Charles Milverton, what have you to say?"
+
+"Don't imagine that you can bully me," said he, rising to his feet. "I
+have only to raise my voice, and I could call my servants and have you
+arrested. But I will make allowance for your natural anger. Leave the
+room at once as you came, and I will say no more."
+
+The woman stood with her hand buried in her bosom, and the same deadly
+smile on her thin lips.
+
+"You will ruin no more lives as you ruined mine. You will wring no more
+hearts as you wrung mine. I will free the world of a poisonous thing.
+Take that, you hound, and that!--and that!--and that!"
+
+She had drawn a little, gleaming revolver, and emptied barrel after
+barrel into Milverton's body, the muzzle within two feet of his shirt
+front. He shrank away and then fell forward upon the table, coughing
+furiously and clawing among the papers. Then he staggered to his feet,
+received another shot, and rolled upon the floor. "You've done me," he
+cried, and lay still. The woman looked at him intently and ground her
+heel into his upturned face. She looked again, but there was no sound
+or movement. I heard a sharp rustle, the night air blew into the heated
+room, and the avenger was gone.
+
+No interference upon our part could have saved the man from his fate;
+but as the woman poured bullet after bullet into Milverton's shrinking
+body I was about to spring out, when I felt Holmes's cold, strong grasp
+upon my wrist. I understood the whole argument of that firm, restraining
+grip--that it was no affair of ours; that justice had overtaken a
+villain; that we had our own duties and our own objects which were not
+to be lost sight of. But hardly had the woman rushed from the room when
+Holmes, with swift, silent steps, was over at the other door. He turned
+the key in the lock. At the same instant we heard voices in the house
+and the sound of hurrying feet. The revolver shots had roused the
+household. With perfect coolness Holmes slipped across to the safe,
+filled his two arms with bundles of letters, and poured them all into
+the fire. Again and again he did it, until the safe was empty. Someone
+turned the handle and beat upon the outside of the door. Holmes looked
+swiftly round. The letter which had been the messenger of death for
+Milverton lay, all mottled with his blood, upon the table. Holmes tossed
+it in among the blazing papers. Then he drew the key from the outer
+door, passed through after me, and locked it on the outside. "This way,
+Watson," said he; "we can scale the garden wall in this direction."
+
+I could not have believed that an alarm could have spread so swiftly.
+Looking back, the huge house was one blaze of light. The front door
+was open, and figures were rushing down the drive. The whole garden was
+alive with people, and one fellow raised a view-halloa as we emerged
+from the veranda and followed hard at our heels. Holmes seemed to know
+the ground perfectly, and he threaded his way swiftly among a plantation
+of small trees, I close at his heels, and our foremost pursuer panting
+behind us. It was a six-foot wall which barred our path, but he sprang
+to the top and over. As I did the same I felt the hand of the man behind
+me grab at my ankle; but I kicked myself free and scrambled over a
+glass-strewn coping. I fell upon my face among some bushes; but Holmes
+had me on my feet in an instant, and together we dashed away across the
+huge expanse of Hampstead Heath. We had run two miles, I suppose, before
+Holmes at last halted and listened intently. All was absolute silence
+behind us. We had shaken off our pursuers and were safe.
+
+
+We had breakfasted and were smoking our morning pipe on the day after
+the remarkable experience which I have recorded when Mr. Lestrade, of
+Scotland Yard, very solemn and impressive, was ushered into our modest
+sitting-room.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Holmes," said he; "good morning. May I ask if you are
+very busy just now?"
+
+"Not too busy to listen to you."
+
+"I thought that, perhaps, if you had nothing particular on hand, you
+might care to assist us in a most remarkable case which occurred only
+last night at Hampstead."
+
+"Dear me!" said Holmes. "What was that?"
+
+"A murder--a most dramatic and remarkable murder. I know how keen you
+are upon these things, and I would take it as a great favour if you
+would step down to Appledore Towers and give us the benefit of your
+advice. It is no ordinary crime. We have had our eyes upon this Mr.
+Milverton for some time, and, between ourselves, he was a bit of a
+villain. He is known to have held papers which he used for blackmailing
+purposes. These papers have all been burned by the murderers. No article
+of value was taken, as it is probable that the criminals were men of
+good position, whose sole object was to prevent social exposure."
+
+"Criminals!" said Holmes. "Plural!"
+
+"Yes, there were two of them. They were, as nearly as possible, captured
+red-handed. We have their foot-marks, we have their description; it's
+ten to one that we trace them. The first fellow was a bit too active,
+but the second was caught by the under-gardener and only got away after
+a struggle. He was a middle-sized, strongly-built man--square jaw, thick
+neck, moustache, a mask over his eyes."
+
+"That's rather vague," said Sherlock Holmes. "Why, it might be a
+description of Watson!"
+
+"It's true," said the inspector, with much amusement. "It might be a
+description of Watson."
+
+"Well, I am afraid I can't help you, Lestrade," said Holmes. "The fact
+is that I knew this fellow Milverton, that I considered him one of the
+most dangerous men in London, and that I think there are certain crimes
+which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify
+private revenge. No, it's no use arguing. I have made up my mind. My
+sympathies are with the criminals rather than with the victim, and I
+will not handle this case."
+
+
+Holmes had not said one word to me about the tragedy which we had
+witnessed, but I observed all the morning that he was in his most
+thoughtful mood, and he gave me the impression, from his vacant eyes and
+his abstracted manner, of a man who is striving to recall something to
+his memory. We were in the middle of our lunch when he suddenly sprang
+to his feet. "By Jove, Watson; I've got it!" he cried. "Take your hat!
+Come with me!" He hurried at his top speed down Baker Street and along
+Oxford Street, until we had almost reached Regent Circus. Here on the
+left hand there stands a shop window filled with photographs of the
+celebrities and beauties of the day. Holmes's eyes fixed themselves upon
+one of them, and following his gaze I saw the picture of a regal and
+stately lady in Court dress, with a high diamond tiara upon her noble
+head. I looked at that delicately-curved nose, at the marked eyebrows,
+at the straight mouth, and the strong little chin beneath it. Then I
+caught my breath as I read the time-honoured title of the great nobleman
+and statesman whose wife she had been. My eyes met those of Holmes, and
+he put his finger to his lips as we turned away from the window.
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 27  MAY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+VIII.--The Adventure of the Six Napoleons.
+
+
+IT was no very unusual thing for Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, to
+look in upon us of an evening, and his visits were welcome to Sherlock
+Holmes, for they enabled him to keep in touch with all that was going on
+at the police head-quarters. In return for the news which Lestrade would
+bring, Holmes was always ready to listen with attention to the
+details of any case upon which the detective was engaged, and was able
+occasionally, without any active interference, to give some hint or
+suggestion drawn from his own vast knowledge and experience.
+
+On this particular evening Lestrade had spoken of the weather and the
+newspapers. Then he had fallen silent, puffing thoughtfully at his
+cigar. Holmes looked keenly at him.
+
+"Anything remarkable on hand?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, no, Mr. Holmes, nothing very particular."
+
+"Then tell me about it."
+
+Lestrade laughed.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, there is no use denying that there IS something on my
+mind. And yet it is such an absurd business that I hesitated to
+bother you about it. On the other hand, although it is trivial, it is
+undoubtedly queer, and I know that you have a taste for all that is out
+of the common. But in my opinion it comes more in Dr. Watson's line than
+ours."
+
+"Disease?" said I.
+
+"Madness, anyhow. And a queer madness too! You wouldn't think there was
+anyone living at this time of day who had such a hatred of Napoleon the
+First that he would break any image of him that he could see."
+
+Holmes sank back in his chair.
+
+"That's no business of mine," said he.
+
+"Exactly. That's what I said. But then, when the man commits burglary
+in order to break images which are not his own, that brings it away from
+the doctor and on to the policeman."
+
+Holmes sat up again.
+
+"Burglary! This is more interesting. Let me hear the details."
+
+Lestrade took out his official note-book and refreshed his memory from
+its pages.
+
+"The first case reported was four days ago," said he. "It was at the
+shop of Morse Hudson, who has a place for the sale of pictures and
+statues in the Kennington Road. The assistant had left the front shop
+for an instant when he heard a crash, and hurrying in he found a plaster
+bust of Napoleon, which stood with several other works of art upon the
+counter, lying shivered into fragments. He rushed out into the road,
+but, although several passers-by declared that they had noticed a man
+run out of the shop, he could neither see anyone nor could he find any
+means of identifying the rascal. It seemed to be one of those senseless
+acts of Hooliganism which occur from time to time, and it was reported
+to the constable on the beat as such. The plaster cast was not worth
+more than a few shillings, and the whole affair appeared to be too
+childish for any particular investigation.
+
+"The second case, however, was more serious and also more singular. It
+occurred only last night.
+
+"In Kennington Road, and within a few hundred yards of Morse Hudson's
+shop, there lives a well-known medical practitioner, named Dr. Barnicot,
+who has one of the largest practices upon the south side of the Thames.
+His residence and principal consulting-room is at Kennington Road, but
+he has a branch surgery and dispensary at Lower Brixton Road, two miles
+away. This Dr. Barnicot is an enthusiastic admirer of Napoleon, and his
+house is full of books, pictures, and relics of the French Emperor. Some
+little time ago he purchased from Morse Hudson two duplicate plaster
+casts of the famous head of Napoleon by the French sculptor, Devine. One
+of these he placed in his hall in the house at Kennington Road, and the
+other on the mantelpiece of the surgery at Lower Brixton. Well, when Dr.
+Barnicot came down this morning he was astonished to find that his house
+had been burgled during the night, but that nothing had been taken save
+the plaster head from the hall. It had been carried out and had been
+dashed savagely against the garden wall, under which its splintered
+fragments were discovered."
+
+Holmes rubbed his hands.
+
+"This is certainly very novel," said he.
+
+"I thought it would please you. But I have not got to the end yet. Dr.
+Barnicot was due at his surgery at twelve o'clock, and you can imagine
+his amazement when, on arriving there, he found that the window had been
+opened in the night, and that the broken pieces of his second bust were
+strewn all over the room. It had been smashed to atoms where it stood.
+In neither case were there any signs which could give us a clue as to
+the criminal or lunatic who had done the mischief. Now, Mr. Holmes, you
+have got the facts."
+
+"They are singular, not to say grotesque," said Holmes. "May I ask
+whether the two busts smashed in Dr. Barnicot's rooms were the exact
+duplicates of the one which was destroyed in Morse Hudson's shop?"
+
+"They were taken from the same mould."
+
+"Such a fact must tell against the theory that the man who breaks them
+is influenced by any general hatred of Napoleon. Considering how many
+hundreds of statues of the great Emperor must exist in London, it is
+too much to suppose such a coincidence as that a promiscuous iconoclast
+should chance to begin upon three specimens of the same bust."
+
+"Well, I thought as you do," said Lestrade. "On the other hand, this
+Morse Hudson is the purveyor of busts in that part of London, and these
+three were the only ones which had been in his shop for years. So,
+although, as you say, there are many hundreds of statues in London, it
+is very probable that these three were the only ones in that district.
+Therefore, a local fanatic would begin with them. What do you think, Dr.
+Watson?"
+
+"There are no limits to the possibilities of monomania," I answered.
+"There is the condition which the modern French psychologists have
+called the 'idee fixe,' which may be trifling in character, and
+accompanied by complete sanity in every other way. A man who had read
+deeply about Napoleon, or who had possibly received some hereditary
+family injury through the great war, might conceivably form such
+an 'idee fixe' and under its influence be capable of any fantastic
+outrage."
+
+"That won't do, my dear Watson," said Holmes, shaking his head; "for no
+amount of 'idee fixe' would enable your interesting monomaniac to find
+out where these busts were situated."
+
+"Well, how do YOU explain it?"
+
+"I don't attempt to do so. I would only observe that there is a certain
+method in the gentleman's eccentric proceedings. For example, in Dr.
+Barnicot's hall, where a sound might arouse the family, the bust was
+taken outside before being broken, whereas in the surgery, where there
+was less danger of an alarm, it was smashed where it stood. The affair
+seems absurdly trifling, and yet I dare call nothing trivial when I
+reflect that some of my most classic cases have had the least promising
+commencement. You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of
+the Abernetty family was first brought to my notice by the depth which
+the parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day. I can't afford,
+therefore, to smile at your three broken busts, Lestrade, and I shall
+be very much obliged to you if you will let me hear of any fresh
+developments of so singular a chain of events."
+
+
+The development for which my friend had asked came in a quicker and an
+infinitely more tragic form than he could have imagined. I was still
+dressing in my bedroom next morning when there was a tap at the door and
+Holmes entered, a telegram in his hand. He read it aloud:--
+
+"Come instantly, 131, Pitt Street, Kensington.--Lestrade."
+
+"What is it, then?" I asked.
+
+"Don't know--may be anything. But I suspect it is the sequel of the
+story of the statues. In that case our friend, the image-breaker, has
+begun operations in another quarter of London. There's coffee on the
+table, Watson, and I have a cab at the door."
+
+In half an hour we had reached Pitt Street, a quiet little backwater
+just beside one of the briskest currents of London life. No. 131 was one
+of a row, all flat-chested, respectable, and most unromantic dwellings.
+As we drove up we found the railings in front of the house lined by a
+curious crowd. Holmes whistled.
+
+"By George! it's attempted murder at the least. Nothing less will hold
+the London message-boy. There's a deed of violence indicated in that
+fellow's round shoulders and outstretched neck. What's this, Watson? The
+top steps swilled down and the other ones dry. Footsteps enough, anyhow!
+Well, well, there's Lestrade at the front window, and we shall soon know
+all about it."
+
+The official received us with a very grave face and showed us into a
+sitting-room, where an exceedingly unkempt and agitated elderly
+man, clad in a flannel dressing-gown, was pacing up and down. He was
+introduced to us as the owner of the house--Mr. Horace Harker, of the
+Central Press Syndicate.
+
+"It's the Napoleon bust business again," said Lestrade. "You seemed
+interested last night, Mr. Holmes, so I thought perhaps you would be
+glad to be present now that the affair has taken a very much graver
+turn."
+
+"What has it turned to, then?"
+
+"To murder. Mr. Harker, will you tell these gentlemen exactly what has
+occurred?"
+
+The man in the dressing-gown turned upon us with a most melancholy face.
+
+"It's an extraordinary thing," said he, "that all my life I have been
+collecting other people's news, and now that a real piece of news has
+come my own way I am so confused and bothered that I can't put two
+words together. If I had come in here as a journalist I should have
+interviewed myself and had two columns in every evening paper. As it is
+I am giving away valuable copy by telling my story over and over to a
+string of different people, and I can make no use of it myself. However,
+I've heard your name, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and if you'll only explain
+this queer business I shall be paid for my trouble in telling you the
+story."
+
+Holmes sat down and listened.
+
+"It all seems to centre round that bust of Napoleon which I bought for
+this very room about four months ago. I picked it up cheap from Harding
+Brothers, two doors from the High Street Station. A great deal of my
+journalistic work is done at night, and I often write until the early
+morning. So it was to-day. I was sitting in my den, which is at the back
+of the top of the house, about three o'clock, when I was convinced that
+I heard some sounds downstairs. I listened, but they were not repeated,
+and I concluded that they came from outside. Then suddenly, about five
+minutes later, there came a most horrible yell--the most dreadful sound,
+Mr. Holmes, that ever I heard. It will ring in my ears as long as I
+live. I sat frozen with horror for a minute or two. Then I seized the
+poker and went downstairs. When I entered this room I found the window
+wide open, and I at once observed that the bust was gone from the
+mantelpiece. Why any burglar should take such a thing passes my
+understanding, for it was only a plaster cast and of no real value
+whatever.
+
+"You can see for yourself that anyone going out through that open window
+could reach the front doorstep by taking a long stride. This was clearly
+what the burglar had done, so I went round and opened the door. Stepping
+out into the dark I nearly fell over a dead man who was lying there. I
+ran back for a light, and there was the poor fellow, a great gash in his
+throat and the whole place swimming in blood. He lay on his back, his
+knees drawn up, and his mouth horribly open. I shall see him in my
+dreams. I had just time to blow on my police-whistle, and then I must
+have fainted, for I knew nothing more until I found the policeman
+standing over me in the hall."
+
+"Well, who was the murdered man?" asked Holmes.
+
+"There's nothing to show who he was," said Lestrade. "You shall see the
+body at the mortuary, but we have made nothing of it up to now. He is a
+tall man, sunburned, very powerful, not more than thirty. He is poorly
+dressed, and yet does not appear to be a labourer. A horn-handled clasp
+knife was lying in a pool of blood beside him. Whether it was the weapon
+which did the deed, or whether it belonged to the dead man, I do not
+know. There was no name on his clothing, and nothing in his pockets save
+an apple, some string, a shilling map of London, and a photograph. Here
+it is."
+
+It was evidently taken by a snap-shot from a small camera. It
+represented an alert, sharp-featured simian man with thick eyebrows, and
+a very peculiar projection of the lower part of the face like the muzzle
+of a baboon.
+
+"And what became of the bust?" asked Holmes, after a careful study of
+this picture.
+
+"We had news of it just before you came. It has been found in the front
+garden of an empty house in Campden House Road. It was broken into
+fragments. I am going round now to see it. Will you come?"
+
+"Certainly. I must just take one look round." He examined the carpet and
+the window. "The fellow had either very long legs or was a most active
+man," said he. "With an area beneath, it was no mean feat to reach
+that window-ledge and open that window. Getting back was comparatively
+simple. Are you coming with us to see the remains of your bust, Mr.
+Harker?"
+
+The disconsolate journalist had seated himself at a writing-table.
+
+"I must try and make something of it," said he, "though I have no doubt
+that the first editions of the evening papers are out already with
+full details. It's like my luck! You remember when the stand fell at
+Doncaster? Well, I was the only journalist in the stand, and my journal
+the only one that had no account of it, for I was too shaken to write
+it. And now I'll be too late with a murder done on my own doorstep."
+
+As we left the room we heard his pen travelling shrilly over the
+foolscap.
+
+The spot where the fragments of the bust had been found was only a
+few hundred yards away. For the first time our eyes rested upon this
+presentment of the great Emperor, which seemed to raise such frantic
+and destructive hatred in the mind of the unknown. It lay scattered in
+splintered shards upon the grass. Holmes picked up several of them and
+examined them carefully. I was convinced from his intent face and his
+purposeful manner that at last he was upon a clue.
+
+"Well?" asked Lestrade.
+
+Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"We have a long way to go yet," said he. "And yet--and yet--well, we
+have some suggestive facts to act upon. The possession of this trifling
+bust was worth more in the eyes of this strange criminal than a human
+life. That is one point. Then there is the singular fact that he did not
+break it in the house, or immediately outside the house, if to break it
+was his sole object."
+
+"He was rattled and bustled by meeting this other fellow. He hardly knew
+what he was doing."
+
+"Well, that's likely enough. But I wish to call your attention very
+particularly to the position of this house in the garden of which the
+bust was destroyed."
+
+Lestrade looked about him.
+
+"It was an empty house, and so he knew that he would not be disturbed in
+the garden."
+
+"Yes, but there is another empty house farther up the street which he
+must have passed before he came to this one. Why did he not break it
+there, since it is evident that every yard that he carried it increased
+the risk of someone meeting him?"
+
+"I give it up," said Lestrade.
+
+Holmes pointed to the street lamp above our heads.
+
+"He could see what he was doing here and he could not there. That was
+his reason."
+
+"By Jove! that's true," said the detective. "Now that I come to think of
+it, Dr. Barnicot's bust was broken not far from his red lamp. Well, Mr.
+Holmes, what are we to do with that fact?"
+
+"To remember it--to docket it. We may come on something later which will
+bear upon it. What steps do you propose to take now, Lestrade?"
+
+"The most practical way of getting at it, in my opinion, is to identify
+the dead man. There should be no difficulty about that. When we have
+found who he is and who his associates are, we should have a good start
+in learning what he was doing in Pitt Street last night, and who it was
+who met him and killed him on the doorstep of Mr. Horace Harker. Don't
+you think so?"
+
+"No doubt; and yet it is not quite the way in which I should approach
+the case."
+
+"What would you do, then?"
+
+"Oh, you must not let me influence you in any way! I suggest that you
+go on your line and I on mine. We can compare notes afterwards, and each
+will supplement the other."
+
+"Very good," said Lestrade.
+
+"If you are going back to Pitt Street you might see Mr. Horace Harker.
+Tell him from me that I have quite made up my mind, and that it is
+certain that a dangerous homicidal lunatic with Napoleonic delusions was
+in his house last night. It will be useful for his article."
+
+Lestrade stared.
+
+"You don't seriously believe that?"
+
+Holmes smiled.
+
+"Don't I? Well, perhaps I don't. But I am sure that it will interest Mr.
+Horace Harker and the subscribers of the Central Press Syndicate.
+Now, Watson, I think that we shall find that we have a long and rather
+complex day's work before us. I should be glad, Lestrade, if you could
+make it convenient to meet us at Baker Street at six o'clock this
+evening. Until then I should like to keep this photograph found in the
+dead man's pocket. It is possible that I may have to ask your company
+and assistance upon a small expedition which will have be undertaken
+to-night, if my chain of reasoning should prove to be correct. Until
+then, good-bye and good luck!"
+
+Sherlock Holmes and I walked together to the High Street, where he
+stopped at the shop of Harding Brothers, whence the bust had been
+purchased. A young assistant informed us that Mr. Harding would be
+absent until after noon, and that he was himself a newcomer who could
+give us no information. Holmes's face showed his disappointment and
+annoyance.
+
+"Well, well, we can't expect to have it all our own way, Watson," he
+said, at last. "We must come back in the afternoon if Mr. Harding
+will not be here until then. I am, as you have no doubt surmised,
+endeavouring to trace these busts to their source, in order to find if
+there is not something peculiar which may account for their remarkable
+fate. Let us make for Mr. Morse Hudson, of the Kennington Road, and see
+if he can throw any light upon the problem."
+
+A drive of an hour brought us to the picture-dealer's establishment. He
+was a small, stout man with a red face and a peppery manner.
+
+"Yes, sir. On my very counter, sir," said he. "What we pay rates and
+taxes for I don't know, when any ruffian can come in and break one's
+goods. Yes, sir, it was I who sold Dr. Barnicot his two statues.
+Disgraceful, sir! A Nihilist plot, that's what I make it. No one but an
+Anarchist would go about breaking statues. Red republicans, that's what
+I call 'em. Who did I get the statues from? I don't see what that has to
+do with it. Well, if you really want to know, I got them from Gelder
+and Co., in Church Street, Stepney. They are a well-known house in the
+trade, and have been this twenty years. How many had I? Three--two and
+one are three--two of Dr. Barnicot's and one smashed in broad daylight
+on my own counter. Do I know that photograph? No, I don't. Yes, I do,
+though. Why, it's Beppo. He was a kind of Italian piece-work man, who
+made himself useful in the shop. He could carve a bit and gild and
+frame, and do odd jobs. The fellow left me last week, and I've heard
+nothing of him since. No, I don't know where he came from nor where he
+went to. I have nothing against him while he was here. He was gone two
+days before the bust was smashed."
+
+"Well, that's all we could reasonably expect to get from Morse Hudson,"
+said Holmes, as we emerged from the shop. "We have this Beppo as a
+common factor, both in Kennington and in Kensington, so that is worth a
+ten-mile drive. Now, Watson, let us make for Gelder and Co., of Stepney,
+the source and origin of busts. I shall be surprised if we don't get
+some help down there."
+
+In rapid succession we passed through the fringe of fashionable London,
+hotel London, theatrical London, literary London, commercial London,
+and, finally, maritime London, till we came to a riverside city of a
+hundred thousand souls, where the tenement houses swelter and reek with
+the outcasts of Europe. Here, in a broad thoroughfare, once the abode
+of wealthy City merchants, we found the sculpture works for which we
+searched. Outside was a considerable yard full of monumental masonry.
+Inside was a large room in which fifty workers were carving or moulding.
+The manager, a big blond German, received us civilly, and gave a clear
+answer to all Holmes's questions. A reference to his books showed that
+hundreds of casts had been taken from a marble copy of Devine's head of
+Napoleon, but that the three which had been sent to Morse Hudson a year
+or so before had been half of a batch of six, the other three being sent
+to Harding Brothers, of Kensington. There was no reason why those six
+should be different to any of the other casts. He could suggest no
+possible cause why anyone should wish to destroy them--in fact, he
+laughed at the idea. Their wholesale price was six shillings, but the
+retailer would get twelve or more. The cast was taken in two moulds from
+each side of the face, and then these two profiles of plaster of Paris
+were joined together to make the complete bust. The work was usually
+done by Italians in the room we were in. When finished the busts were
+put on a table in the passage to dry, and afterwards stored. That was
+all he could tell us.
+
+But the production of the photograph had a remarkable effect upon the
+manager. His face flushed with anger, and his brows knotted over his
+blue Teutonic eyes.
+
+"Ah, the rascal!" he cried. "Yes, indeed, I know him very well. This has
+always been a respectable establishment, and the only time that we have
+ever had the police in it was over this very fellow. It was more than a
+year ago now. He knifed another Italian in the street, and then he came
+to the works with the police on his heels, and he was taken here. Beppo
+was his name--his second name I never knew. Serve me right for engaging
+a man with such a face. But he was a good workman, one of the best."
+
+"What did he get?"
+
+"The man lived and he got off with a year. I have no doubt he is out
+now; but he has not dared to show his nose here. We have a cousin of his
+here, and I dare say he could tell you where he is."
+
+"No, no," cried Holmes, "not a word to the cousin--not a word, I beg
+you. The matter is very important, and the farther I go with it the more
+important it seems to grow. When you referred in your ledger to the sale
+of those casts I observed that the date was June 3rd of last year. Could
+you give me the date when Beppo was arrested?"
+
+"I could tell you roughly by the pay-list," the manager answered. "Yes,"
+he continued, after some turning over of pages, "he was paid last on May
+20th."
+
+"Thank you," said Holmes. "I don't think that I need intrude upon your
+time and patience any more." With a last word of caution that he should
+say nothing as to our researches we turned our faces westward once more.
+
+The afternoon was far advanced before we were able to snatch a hasty
+luncheon at a restaurant. A news-bill at the entrance announced
+"Kensington Outrage. Murder by a Madman," and the contents of the paper
+showed that Mr. Horace Harker had got his account into print after
+all. Two columns were occupied with a highly sensational and flowery
+rendering of the whole incident. Holmes propped it against the
+cruet-stand and read it while he ate. Once or twice he chuckled.
+
+"This is all right, Watson," said he. "Listen to this: 'It is
+satisfactory to know that there can be no difference of opinion upon
+this case, since Mr. Lestrade, one of the most experienced members of
+the official force, and Mr. Sherlock Holmes, the well-known consulting
+expert, have each come to the conclusion that the grotesque series of
+incidents, which have ended in so tragic a fashion, arise from lunacy
+rather than from deliberate crime. No explanation save mental aberration
+can cover the facts.' The Press, Watson, is a most valuable institution
+if you only know how to use it. And now, if you have quite finished,
+we will hark back to Kensington and see what the manager of Harding
+Brothers has to say to the matter."
+
+The founder of that great emporium proved to be a brisk, crisp little
+person, very dapper and quick, with a clear head and a ready tongue.
+
+"Yes, sir, I have already read the account in the evening papers. Mr.
+Horace Harker is a customer of ours. We supplied him with the bust some
+months ago. We ordered three busts of that sort from Gelder and Co., of
+Stepney. They are all sold now. To whom? Oh, I dare say by consulting
+our sales book we could very easily tell you. Yes, we have the entries
+here. One to Mr. Harker, you see, and one to Mr. Josiah Brown, of
+Laburnum Lodge, Laburnum Vale, Chiswick, and one to Mr. Sandeford, of
+Lower Grove Road, Reading. No, I have never seen this face which you
+show me in the photograph. You would hardly forget it, would you, sir,
+for I've seldom seen an uglier. Have we any Italians on the staff? Yes,
+sir, we have several among our workpeople and cleaners. I dare say
+they might get a peep at that sales book if they wanted to. There is no
+particular reason for keeping a watch upon that book. Well, well, it's
+a very strange business, and I hope that you'll let me know if anything
+comes of your inquiries."
+
+Holmes had taken several notes during Mr. Harding's evidence, and I
+could see that he was thoroughly satisfied by the turn which affairs
+were taking. He made no remark, however, save that, unless we hurried,
+we should be late for our appointment with Lestrade. Sure enough, when
+we reached Baker Street the detective was already there, and we found
+him pacing up and down in a fever of impatience. His look of importance
+showed that his day's work had not been in vain.
+
+"Well?" he asked. "What luck, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"We have had a very busy day, and not entirely a wasted one," my friend
+explained. "We have seen both the retailers and also the wholesale
+manufacturers. I can trace each of the busts now from the beginning."
+
+"The busts!" cried Lestrade. "Well, well, you have your own methods, Mr.
+Sherlock Holmes, and it is not for me to say a word against them, but
+I think I have done a better day's work than you. I have identified the
+dead man."
+
+"You don't say so?"
+
+"And found a cause for the crime."
+
+"Splendid!"
+
+"We have an inspector who makes a specialty of Saffron Hill and the
+Italian quarter. Well, this dead man had some Catholic emblem round his
+neck, and that, along with his colour, made me think he was from the
+South. Inspector Hill knew him the moment he caught sight of him. His
+name is Pietro Venucci, from Naples, and he is one of the greatest
+cut-throats in London. He is connected with the Mafia, which, as you
+know, is a secret political society, enforcing its decrees by murder.
+Now you see how the affair begins to clear up. The other fellow is
+probably an Italian also, and a member of the Mafia. He has broken
+the rules in some fashion. Pietro is set upon his track. Probably the
+photograph we found in his pocket is the man himself, so that he may not
+knife the wrong person. He dogs the fellow, he sees him enter a house,
+he waits outside for him, and in the scuffle he receives his own
+death-wound. How is that, Mr. Sherlock Holmes?"
+
+Holmes clapped his hands approvingly.
+
+"Excellent, Lestrade, excellent!" he cried. "But I didn't quite follow
+your explanation of the destruction of the busts."
+
+"The busts! You never can get those busts out of your head. After all,
+that is nothing; petty larceny, six months at the most. It is the murder
+that we are really investigating, and I tell you that I am gathering all
+the threads into my hands."
+
+"And the next stage?"
+
+"Is a very simple one. I shall go down with Hill to the Italian quarter,
+find the man whose photograph we have got, and arrest him on the charge
+of murder. Will you come with us?"
+
+"I think not. I fancy we can attain our end in a simpler way. I can't
+say for certain, because it all depends--well, it all depends upon
+a factor which is completely outside our control. But I have great
+hopes--in fact, the betting is exactly two to one--that if you will come
+with us to-night I shall be able to help you to lay him by the heels."
+
+"In the Italian quarter?"
+
+"No; I fancy Chiswick is an address which is more likely to find him. If
+you will come with me to Chiswick to-night, Lestrade, I'll promise to go
+to the Italian quarter with you to-morrow, and no harm will be done by
+the delay. And now I think that a few hours' sleep would do us all good,
+for I do not propose to leave before eleven o'clock, and it is unlikely
+that we shall be back before morning. You'll dine with us, Lestrade, and
+then you are welcome to the sofa until it is time for us to start. In
+the meantime, Watson, I should be glad if you would ring for an express
+messenger, for I have a letter to send, and it is important that it
+should go at once."
+
+Holmes spent the evening in rummaging among the files of the old daily
+papers with which one of our lumber-rooms was packed. When at last he
+descended it was with triumph in his eyes, but he said nothing to
+either of us as to the result of his researches. For my own part, I had
+followed step by step the methods by which he had traced the various
+windings of this complex case, and, though I could not yet perceive the
+goal which we would reach, I understood clearly that Holmes expected
+this grotesque criminal to make an attempt upon the two remaining busts,
+one of which, I remembered, was at Chiswick. No doubt the object of our
+journey was to catch him in the very act, and I could not but admire the
+cunning with which my friend had inserted a wrong clue in the evening
+paper, so as to give the fellow the idea that he could continue his
+scheme with impunity. I was not surprised when Holmes suggested that
+I should take my revolver with me. He had himself picked up the loaded
+hunting-crop which was his favourite weapon.
+
+A four-wheeler was at the door at eleven, and in it we drove to a spot
+at the other side of Hammersmith Bridge. Here the cabman was directed to
+wait. A short walk brought us to a secluded road fringed with pleasant
+houses, each standing in its own grounds. In the light of a street
+lamp we read "Laburnum Villa" upon the gate-post of one of them. The
+occupants had evidently retired to rest, for all was dark save for a
+fanlight over the hall door, which shed a single blurred circle on to
+the garden path. The wooden fence which separated the grounds from the
+road threw a dense black shadow upon the inner side, and here it was
+that we crouched.
+
+"I fear that you'll have a long wait," Holmes whispered. "We may thank
+our stars that it is not raining. I don't think we can even venture to
+smoke to pass the time. However, it's a two to one chance that we get
+something to pay us for our trouble."
+
+It proved, however, that our vigil was not to be so long as Holmes had
+led us to fear, and it ended in a very sudden and singular fashion. In
+an instant, without the least sound to warn us of his coming, the garden
+gate swung open, and a lithe, dark figure, as swift and active as an
+ape, rushed up the garden path. We saw it whisk past the light thrown
+from over the door and disappear against the black shadow of the house.
+There was a long pause, during which we held our breath, and then a very
+gentle creaking sound came to our ears. The window was being opened. The
+noise ceased, and again there was a long silence. The fellow was making
+his way into the house. We saw the sudden flash of a dark lantern inside
+the room. What he sought was evidently not there, for again we saw the
+flash through another blind, and then through another.
+
+"Let us get to the open window. We will nab him as he climbs out,"
+Lestrade whispered.
+
+But before we could move the man had emerged again. As he came out into
+the glimmering patch of light we saw that he carried something white
+under his arm. He looked stealthily all round him. The silence of the
+deserted street reassured him. Turning his back upon us he laid down
+his burden, and the next instant there was the sound of a sharp tap,
+followed by a clatter and rattle. The man was so intent upon what he was
+doing that he never heard our steps as we stole across the grass plot.
+With the bound of a tiger Holmes was on his back, and an instant later
+Lestrade and I had him by either wrist and the handcuffs had been
+fastened. As we turned him over I saw a hideous, sallow face, with
+writhing, furious features, glaring up at us, and I knew that it was
+indeed the man of the photograph whom we had secured.
+
+But it was not our prisoner to whom Holmes was giving his attention.
+Squatted on the doorstep, he was engaged in most carefully examining
+that which the man had brought from the house. It was a bust of Napoleon
+like the one which we had seen that morning, and it had been broken
+into similar fragments. Carefully Holmes held each separate shard to
+the light, but in no way did it differ from any other shattered piece of
+plaster. He had just completed his examination when the hall lights flew
+up, the door opened, and the owner of the house, a jovial, rotund figure
+in shirt and trousers, presented himself.
+
+"Mr. Josiah Brown, I suppose?" said Holmes.
+
+"Yes, sir; and you, no doubt, are Mr. Sherlock Holmes? I had the note
+which you sent by the express messenger, and I did exactly what you told
+me. We locked every door on the inside and awaited developments. Well,
+I'm very glad to see that you have got the rascal. I hope, gentlemen,
+that you will come in and have some refreshment."
+
+However, Lestrade was anxious to get his man into safe quarters, so
+within a few minutes our cab had been summoned and we were all four upon
+our way to London. Not a word would our captive say; but he glared at us
+from the shadow of his matted hair, and once, when my hand seemed within
+his reach, he snapped at it like a hungry wolf. We stayed long enough
+at the police-station to learn that a search of his clothing revealed
+nothing save a few shillings and a long sheath knife, the handle of
+which bore copious traces of recent blood.
+
+"That's all right," said Lestrade, as we parted. "Hill knows all these
+gentry, and he will give a name to him. You'll find that my theory of
+the Mafia will work out all right. But I'm sure I am exceedingly obliged
+to you, Mr. Holmes, for the workmanlike way in which you laid hands upon
+him. I don't quite understand it all yet."
+
+"I fear it is rather too late an hour for explanations," said Holmes.
+"Besides, there are one or two details which are not finished off, and
+it is one of those cases which are worth working out to the very end.
+If you will come round once more to my rooms at six o'clock to-morrow I
+think I shall be able to show you that even now you have not grasped the
+entire meaning of this business, which presents some features which make
+it absolutely original in the history of crime. If ever I permit you
+to chronicle any more of my little problems, Watson, I foresee that you
+will enliven your pages by an account of the singular adventure of the
+Napoleonic busts."
+
+
+When we met again next evening Lestrade was furnished with much
+information concerning our prisoner. His name, it appeared, was Beppo,
+second name unknown. He was a well-known ne'er-do-well among the Italian
+colony. He had once been a skilful sculptor and had earned an honest
+living, but he had taken to evil courses and had twice already been
+in gaol--once for a petty theft and once, as we had already heard, for
+stabbing a fellow-countryman. He could talk English perfectly well. His
+reasons for destroying the busts were still unknown, and he refused to
+answer any questions upon the subject; but the police had discovered
+that these same busts might very well have been made by his own hands,
+since he was engaged in this class of work at the establishment of
+Gelder and Co. To all this information, much of which we already knew,
+Holmes listened with polite attention; but I, who knew him so well,
+could clearly see that his thoughts were elsewhere, and I detected a
+mixture of mingled uneasiness and expectation beneath that mask which
+he was wont to assume. At last he started in his chair and his eyes
+brightened. There had been a ring at the bell. A minute later we heard
+steps upon the stairs, and an elderly, red-faced man with grizzled
+side-whiskers was ushered in. In his right hand he carried an
+old-fashioned carpet-bag, which he placed upon the table.
+
+"Is Mr. Sherlock Holmes here?"
+
+My friend bowed and smiled. "Mr. Sandeford, of Reading, I suppose?" said
+he.
+
+"Yes, sir, I fear that I am a little late; but the trains were awkward.
+You wrote to me about a bust that is in my possession."
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"I have your letter here. You said, 'I desire to possess a copy of
+Devine's Napoleon, and am prepared to pay you ten pounds for the one
+which is in your possession.' Is that right?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"I was very much surprised at your letter, for I could not imagine how
+you knew that I owned such a thing."
+
+"Of course you must have been surprised, but the explanation is very
+simple. Mr. Harding, of Harding Brothers, said that they had sold you
+their last copy, and he gave me your address."
+
+"Oh, that was it, was it? Did he tell you what I paid for it?"
+
+"No, he did not."
+
+"Well, I am an honest man, though not a very rich one. I only gave
+fifteen shillings for the bust, and I think you ought to know that
+before I take ten pounds from you."
+
+"I am sure the scruple does you honour, Mr. Sandeford. But I have named
+that price, so I intend to stick to it."
+
+"Well, it is very handsome of you, Mr. Holmes. I brought the bust up
+with me, as you asked me to do. Here it is!" He opened his bag, and at
+last we saw placed upon our table a complete specimen of that bust which
+we had already seen more than once in fragments.
+
+Holmes took a paper from his pocket and laid a ten-pound note upon the
+table.
+
+"You will kindly sign that paper, Mr. Sandeford, in the presence of
+these witnesses. It is simply to say that you transfer every possible
+right that you ever had in the bust to me. I am a methodical man, you
+see, and you never know what turn events might take afterwards. Thank
+you, Mr. Sandeford; here is your money, and I wish you a very good
+evening."
+
+When our visitor had disappeared Sherlock Holmes's movements were such
+as to rivet our attention. He began by taking a clean white cloth from
+a drawer and laying it over the table. Then he placed his newly-acquired
+bust in the centre of the cloth. Finally, he picked up his hunting-crop
+and struck Napoleon a sharp blow on the top of the head. The figure
+broke into fragments, and Holmes bent eagerly over the shattered
+remains. Next instant, with a loud shout of triumph, he held up one
+splinter, in which a round, dark object was fixed like a plum in a
+pudding.
+
+"Gentlemen," he cried, "let me introduce you to the famous black pearl
+of the Borgias."
+
+Lestrade and I sat silent for a moment, and then, with a spontaneous
+impulse, we both broke out clapping as at the well-wrought crisis of a
+play. A flush of colour sprang to Holmes's pale cheeks, and he bowed to
+us like the master dramatist who receives the homage of his audience.
+It was at such moments that for an instant he ceased to be a reasoning
+machine, and betrayed his human love for admiration and applause. The
+same singularly proud and reserved nature which turned away with disdain
+from popular notoriety was capable of being moved to its depths by
+spontaneous wonder and praise from a friend.
+
+"Yes, gentlemen," said he, "it is the most famous pearl now existing
+in the world, and it has been my good fortune, by a connected chain of
+inductive reasoning, to trace it from the Prince of Colonna's bedroom at
+the Dacre Hotel, where it was lost, to the interior of this, the last of
+the six busts of Napoleon which were manufactured by Gelder and Co.,
+of Stepney. You will remember, Lestrade, the sensation caused by the
+disappearance of this valuable jewel, and the vain efforts of the London
+police to recover it. I was myself consulted upon the case; but I was
+unable to throw any light upon it. Suspicion fell upon the maid of the
+Princess, who was an Italian, and it was proved that she had a brother
+in London, but we failed to trace any connection between them. The
+maid's name was Lucretia Venucci, and there is no doubt in my mind that
+this Pietro who was murdered two nights ago was the brother. I have been
+looking up the dates in the old files of the paper, and I find that the
+disappearance of the pearl was exactly two days before the arrest of
+Beppo for some crime of violence, an event which took place in the
+factory of Gelder and Co., at the very moment when these busts were
+being made. Now you clearly see the sequence of events, though you see
+them, of course, in the inverse order to the way in which they presented
+themselves to me. Beppo had the pearl in his possession. He may have
+stolen it from Pietro, he may have been Pietro's confederate, he
+may have been the go-between of Pietro and his sister. It is of no
+consequence to us which is the correct solution.
+
+"The main fact is that he HAD the pearl, and at that moment, when it was
+on his person, he was pursued by the police. He made for the factory in
+which he worked, and he knew that he had only a few minutes in which to
+conceal this enormously valuable prize, which would otherwise be found
+on him when he was searched. Six plaster casts of Napoleon were drying
+in the passage. One of them was still soft. In an instant Beppo, a
+skilful workman, made a small hole in the wet plaster, dropped in the
+pearl, and with a few touches covered over the aperture once more. It
+was an admirable hiding-place. No one could possibly find it. But Beppo
+was condemned to a year's imprisonment, and in the meanwhile his six
+busts were scattered over London. He could not tell which contained his
+treasure. Only by breaking them could he see. Even shaking would tell
+him nothing, for as the plaster was wet it was probable that the pearl
+would adhere to it--as, in fact, it has done. Beppo did not despair, and
+he conducted his search with considerable ingenuity and perseverance.
+Through a cousin who works with Gelder he found out the retail firms who
+had bought the busts. He managed to find employment with Morse Hudson,
+and in that way tracked down three of them. The pearl was not there.
+Then, with the help of some Italian EMPLOYEE, he succeeded in finding out
+where the other three busts had gone. The first was at Harker's. There
+he was dogged by his confederate, who held Beppo responsible for the
+loss of the pearl, and he stabbed him in the scuffle which followed."
+
+"If he was his confederate why should he carry his photograph?" I asked.
+
+"As a means of tracing him if he wished to inquire about him from any
+third person. That was the obvious reason. Well, after the murder
+I calculated that Beppo would probably hurry rather than delay his
+movements. He would fear that the police would read his secret, and so
+he hastened on before they should get ahead of him. Of course, I could
+not say that he had not found the pearl in Harker's bust. I had not even
+concluded for certain that it was the pearl; but it was evident to me
+that he was looking for something, since he carried the bust past
+the other houses in order to break it in the garden which had a lamp
+overlooking it. Since Harker's bust was one in three the chances were
+exactly as I told you, two to one against the pearl being inside it.
+There remained two busts, and it was obvious that he would go for the
+London one first. I warned the inmates of the house, so as to avoid
+a second tragedy, and we went down with the happiest results. By that
+time, of course, I knew for certain that it was the Borgia pearl that we
+were after. The name of the murdered man linked the one event with the
+other. There only remained a single bust--the Reading one--and the pearl
+must be there. I bought it in your presence from the owner--and there it
+lies."
+
+We sat in silence for a moment.
+
+"Well," said Lestrade, "I've seen you handle a good many cases, Mr.
+Holmes, but I don't know that I ever knew a more workmanlike one than
+that. We're not jealous of you at Scotland Yard. No, sir, we are very
+proud of you, and if you come down to-morrow there's not a man, from
+the oldest inspector to the youngest constable, who wouldn't be glad to
+shake you by the hand."
+
+"Thank you!" said Holmes. "Thank you!" and as he turned away it seemed
+to me that he was more nearly moved by the softer human emotions than I
+had ever seen him. A moment later he was the cold and practical thinker
+once more. "Put the pearl in the safe, Watson," said he, "and get out
+the papers of the Conk-Singleton forgery case. Good-bye, Lestrade. If
+any little problem comes your way I shall be happy, if I can, to give
+you a hint or two as to its solution."
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                       THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                       Vol. 27  JUNE, 1904
+                 THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                      By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+IX.--The Adventure of the Three Students.
+
+
+IT was in the year '95 that a combination of events, into which I need
+not enter, caused Mr. Sherlock Holmes and myself to spend some weeks in
+one of our great University towns, and it was during this time that the
+small but instructive adventure which I am about to relate befell us. It
+will be obvious that any details which would help the reader to exactly
+identify the college or the criminal would be injudicious and offensive.
+So painful a scandal may well be allowed to die out. With due discretion
+the incident itself may, however, be described, since it serves to
+illustrate some of those qualities for which my friend was remarkable.
+I will endeavour in my statement to avoid such terms as would serve
+to limit the events to any particular place, or give a clue as to the
+people concerned.
+
+We were residing at the time in furnished lodgings close to a library
+where Sherlock Holmes was pursuing some laborious researches in early
+English charters--researches which led to results so striking that they
+may be the subject of one of my future narratives. Here it was that one
+evening we received a visit from an acquaintance, Mr. Hilton Soames,
+tutor and lecturer at the College of St. Luke's. Mr. Soames was a tall,
+spare man, of a nervous and excitable temperament. I had always known
+him to be restless in his manner, but on this particular occasion he was
+in such a state of uncontrollable agitation that it was clear something
+very unusual had occurred.
+
+"I trust, Mr. Holmes, that you can spare me a few hours of your valuable
+time. We have had a very painful incident at St. Luke's, and really, but
+for the happy chance of your being in the town, I should have been at a
+loss what to do."
+
+"I am very busy just now, and I desire no distractions," my friend
+answered. "I should much prefer that you called in the aid of the
+police."
+
+"No, no, my dear sir; such a course is utterly impossible. When once the
+law is evoked it cannot be stayed again, and this is just one of those
+cases where, for the credit of the college, it is most essential to
+avoid scandal. Your discretion is as well known as your powers, and you
+are the one man in the world who can help me. I beg you, Mr. Holmes, to
+do what you can."
+
+My friend's temper had not improved since he had been deprived of the
+congenial surroundings of Baker Street. Without his scrap-books, his
+chemicals, and his homely untidiness, he was an uncomfortable man. He
+shrugged his shoulders in ungracious acquiescence, while our visitor
+in hurried words and with much excitable gesticulation poured forth his
+story.
+
+"I must explain to you, Mr. Holmes, that to-morrow is the first day
+of the examination for the Fortescue Scholarship. I am one of the
+examiners. My subject is Greek, and the first of the papers consists of
+a large passage of Greek translation which the candidate has not seen.
+This passage is printed on the examination paper, and it would naturally
+be an immense advantage if the candidate could prepare it in advance.
+For this reason great care is taken to keep the paper secret.
+
+"To-day about three o'clock the proofs of this paper arrived from the
+printers. The exercise consists of half a chapter of Thucydides. I had
+to read it over carefully, as the text must be absolutely correct. At
+four-thirty my task was not yet completed. I had, however, promised to
+take tea in a friend's rooms, so I left the proof upon my desk. I was
+absent rather more than an hour.
+
+"You are aware, Mr. Holmes, that our college doors are double--a green
+baize one within and a heavy oak one without. As I approached my outer
+door I was amazed to see a key in it. For an instant I imagined that I
+had left my own there, but on feeling in my pocket I found that it was
+all right. The only duplicate which existed, so far as I knew, was that
+which belonged to my servant, Bannister, a man who has looked after my
+room for ten years, and whose honesty is absolutely above suspicion. I
+found that the key was indeed his, that he had entered my room to know
+if I wanted tea, and that he had very carelessly left the key in the
+door when he came out. His visit to my room must have been within a very
+few minutes of my leaving it. His forgetfulness about the key would
+have mattered little upon any other occasion, but on this one day it has
+produced the most deplorable consequences.
+
+"The moment I looked at my table I was aware that someone had rummaged
+among my papers. The proof was in three long slips. I had left them all
+together. Now, I found that one of them was lying on the floor, one was
+on the side table near the window, and the third was where I had left
+it."
+
+Holmes stirred for the first time.
+
+"The first page on the floor, the second in the window, the third where
+you left it," said he.
+
+"Exactly, Mr. Holmes. You amaze me. How could you possibly know that?"
+
+"Pray continue your very interesting statement."
+
+"For an instant I imagined that Bannister had taken the unpardonable
+liberty of examining my papers. He denied it, however, with the utmost
+earnestness, and I am convinced that he was speaking the truth. The
+alternative was that someone passing had observed the key in the door,
+had known that I was out, and had entered to look at the papers. A large
+sum of money is at stake, for the scholarship is a very valuable one,
+and an unscrupulous man might very well run a risk in order to gain an
+advantage over his fellows.
+
+"Bannister was very much upset by the incident. He had nearly fainted
+when we found that the papers had undoubtedly been tampered with. I gave
+him a little brandy and left him collapsed in a chair while I made a
+most careful examination of the room. I soon saw that the intruder had
+left other traces of his presence besides the rumpled papers. On the
+table in the window were several shreds from a pencil which had been
+sharpened. A broken tip of lead was lying there also. Evidently the
+rascal had copied the paper in a great hurry, had broken his pencil, and
+had been compelled to put a fresh point to it."
+
+"Excellent!" said Holmes, who was recovering his good-humour as his
+attention became more engrossed by the case. "Fortune has been your
+friend."
+
+"This was not all. I have a new writing-table with a fine surface of red
+leather. I am prepared to swear, and so is Bannister, that it was
+smooth and unstained. Now I found a clean cut in it about three inches
+long--not a mere scratch, but a positive cut. Not only this, but on
+the table I found a small ball of black dough, or clay, with specks
+of something which looks like sawdust in it. I am convinced that
+these marks were left by the man who rifled the papers. There were no
+footmarks and no other evidence as to his identity. I was at my wits'
+ends, when suddenly the happy thought occurred to me that you were in
+the town, and I came straight round to put the matter into your hands.
+Do help me, Mr. Holmes! You see my dilemma. Either I must find the
+man or else the examination must be postponed until fresh papers are
+prepared, and since this cannot be done without explanation there
+will ensue a hideous scandal, which will throw a cloud not only on the
+college, but on the University. Above all things I desire to settle the
+matter quietly and discreetly."
+
+"I shall be happy to look into it and to give you such advice as I
+can," said Holmes, rising and putting on his overcoat. "The case is not
+entirely devoid of interest. Had anyone visited you in your room after
+the papers came to you?"
+
+"Yes; young Daulat Ras, an Indian student who lives on the same stair,
+came in to ask me some particulars about the examination."
+
+"For which he was entered?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And the papers were on your table?"
+
+"To the best of my belief they were rolled up."
+
+"But might be recognised as proofs?"
+
+"Possibly."
+
+"No one else in your room?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did anyone know that these proofs would be there?"
+
+"No one save the printer."
+
+"Did this man Bannister know?"
+
+"No, certainly not. No one knew."
+
+"Where is Bannister now?"
+
+"He was very ill, poor fellow. I left him collapsed in the chair. I was
+in such a hurry to come to you."
+
+"You left your door open?"
+
+"I locked up the papers first."
+
+"Then it amounts to this, Mr. Soames, that unless the Indian student
+recognised the roll as being proofs, the man who tampered with them came
+upon them accidentally without knowing that they were there."
+
+"So it seems to me."
+
+Holmes gave an enigmatic smile.
+
+"Well," said he, "let us go round. Not one of your cases,
+Watson--mental, not physical. All right; come if you want to. Now, Mr.
+Soames--at your disposal!"
+
+
+The sitting-room of our client opened by a long, low, latticed window on
+to the ancient lichen-tinted court of the old college. A Gothic arched
+door led to a worn stone staircase. On the ground floor was the tutor's
+room. Above were three students, one on each story. It was already
+twilight when we reached the scene of our problem. Holmes halted and
+looked earnestly at the window. Then he approached it, and, standing on
+tiptoe with his neck craned, he looked into the room.
+
+"He must have entered through the door. There is no opening except the
+one pane," said our learned guide.
+
+"Dear me!" said Holmes, and he smiled in a singular way as he glanced at
+our companion. "Well, if there is nothing to be learned here we had best
+go inside."
+
+The lecturer unlocked the outer door and ushered us into his room. We
+stood at the entrance while Holmes made an examination of the carpet.
+
+"I am afraid there are no signs here," said he. "One could hardly hope
+for any upon so dry a day. Your servant seems to have quite recovered.
+You left him in a chair, you say; which chair?"
+
+"By the window there."
+
+"I see. Near this little table. You can come in now. I have finished
+with the carpet. Let us take the little table first. Of course, what has
+happened is very clear. The man entered and took the papers, sheet by
+sheet, from the central table. He carried them over to the window table,
+because from there he could see if you came across the courtyard, and so
+could effect an escape."
+
+"As a matter of fact he could not," said Soames, "for I entered by the
+side door."
+
+"Ah, that's good! Well, anyhow, that was in his mind. Let me see the
+three strips. No finger impressions--no! Well, he carried over this one
+first and he copied it. How long would it take him to do that, using
+every possible contraction? A quarter of an hour, not less. Then he
+tossed it down and seized the next. He was in the midst of that when
+your return caused him to make a very hurried retreat--VERY hurried,
+since he had not time to replace the papers which would tell you that he
+had been there. You were not aware of any hurrying feet on the stair as
+you entered the outer door?"
+
+"No, I can't say I was."
+
+"Well, he wrote so furiously that he broke his pencil, and had, as you
+observe, to sharpen it again. This is of interest, Watson. The pencil
+was not an ordinary one. It was above the usual size, with a soft lead;
+the outer colour was dark blue, the maker's name was printed in silver
+lettering, and the piece remaining is only about an inch and a half
+long. Look for such a pencil, Mr. Soames, and you have got your man.
+When I add that he possesses a large and very blunt knife, you have an
+additional aid."
+
+Mr. Soames was somewhat overwhelmed by this flood of information. "I can
+follow the other points," said he, "but really, in this matter of the
+length----"
+
+Holmes held out a small chip with the letters NN and a space of clear
+wood after them.
+
+"You see?"
+
+"No, I fear that even now----"
+
+"Watson, I have always done you an injustice. There are others. What
+could this NN be? It is at the end of a word. You are aware that Johann
+Faber is the most common maker's name. Is it not clear that there is
+just as much of the pencil left as usually follows the Johann?" He held
+the small table sideways to the electric light. "I was hoping that if
+the paper on which he wrote was thin some trace of it might come through
+upon this polished surface. No, I see nothing. I don't think there is
+anything more to be learned here. Now for the central table. This small
+pellet is, I presume, the black, doughy mass you spoke of. Roughly
+pyramidal in shape and hollowed out, I perceive. As you say, there
+appear to be grains of sawdust in it. Dear me, this is very interesting.
+And the cut--a positive tear, I see. It began with a thin scratch and
+ended in a jagged hole. I am much indebted to you for directing my
+attention to this case, Mr. Soames. Where does that door lead to?"
+
+"To my bedroom."
+
+"Have you been in it since your adventure?"
+
+"No; I came straight away for you."
+
+"I should like to have a glance round. What a charming, old-fashioned
+room! Perhaps you will kindly wait a minute until I have examined the
+floor. No, I see nothing. What about this curtain? You hang your clothes
+behind it. If anyone were forced to conceal himself in this room he must
+do it there, since the bed is too low and the wardrobe too shallow. No
+one there, I suppose?"
+
+As Holmes drew the curtain I was aware, from some little rigidity and
+alertness of his attitude, that he was prepared for an emergency. As
+a matter of fact the drawn curtain disclosed nothing but three or four
+suits of clothes hanging from a line of pegs. Holmes turned away and
+stooped suddenly to the floor.
+
+"Halloa! What's this?" said he.
+
+It was a small pyramid of black, putty-like stuff, exactly like the one
+upon the table of the study. Holmes held it out on his open palm in the
+glare of the electric light.
+
+"Your visitor seems to have left traces in your bedroom as well as in
+your sitting-room, Mr. Soames."
+
+"What could he have wanted there?"
+
+"I think it is clear enough. You came back by an unexpected way, and so
+he had no warning until you were at the very door. What could he do?
+He caught up everything which would betray him and he rushed into your
+bedroom to conceal himself."
+
+"Good gracious, Mr. Holmes, do you mean to tell me that all the time I
+was talking to Bannister in this room we had the man prisoner if we had
+only known it?"
+
+"So I read it."
+
+"Surely there is another alternative, Mr. Holmes. I don't know whether
+you observed my bedroom window?"
+
+"Lattice-paned, lead framework, three separate windows, one swinging on
+hinge and large enough to admit a man."
+
+"Exactly. And it looks out on an angle of the courtyard so as to be
+partly invisible. The man might have effected his entrance there, left
+traces as he passed through the bedroom, and, finally, finding the door
+open have escaped that way."
+
+Holmes shook his head impatiently.
+
+"Let us be practical," said he. "I understand you to say that there are
+three students who use this stair and are in the habit of passing your
+door?"
+
+"Yes, there are."
+
+"And they are all in for this examination?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Have you any reason to suspect any one of them more than the others?"
+
+Soames hesitated.
+
+"It is a very delicate question," said he. "One hardly likes to throw
+suspicion where there are no proofs."
+
+"Let us hear the suspicions. I will look after the proofs."
+
+"I will tell you, then, in a few words the character of the three men
+who inhabit these rooms. The lower of the three is Gilchrist, a fine
+scholar and athlete; plays in the Rugby team and the cricket team for
+the college, and got his Blue for the hurdles and the long jump. He is
+a fine, manly fellow. His father was the notorious Sir Jabez Gilchrist,
+who ruined himself on the turf. My scholar has been left very poor, but
+he is hard-working and industrious. He will do well.
+
+"The second floor is inhabited by Daulat Ras, the Indian. He is a quiet,
+inscrutable fellow, as most of those Indians are. He is well up in his
+work, though his Greek is his weak subject. He is steady and methodical.
+
+"The top floor belongs to Miles McLaren. He is a brilliant fellow when
+he chooses to work--one of the brightest intellects of the University,
+but he is wayward, dissipated, and unprincipled. He was nearly expelled
+over a card scandal in his first year. He has been idling all this term,
+and he must look forward with dread to the examination."
+
+"Then it is he whom you suspect?"
+
+"I dare not go so far as that. But of the three he is perhaps the least
+unlikely."
+
+"Exactly. Now, Mr. Soames, let us have a look at your servant,
+Bannister."
+
+He was a little, white-faced, clean-shaven, grizzly-haired fellow of
+fifty. He was still suffering from this sudden disturbance of the quiet
+routine of his life. His plump face was twitching with his nervousness,
+and his fingers could not keep still.
+
+"We are investigating this unhappy business, Bannister," said his
+master.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I understand," said Holmes, "that you left your key in the door?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Was it not very extraordinary that you should do this on the very day
+when there were these papers inside?"
+
+"It was most unfortunate, sir. But I have occasionally done the same
+thing at other times."
+
+"When did you enter the room?"
+
+"It was about half-past four. That is Mr. Soames's tea time."
+
+"How long did you stay?"
+
+"When I saw that he was absent I withdrew at once."
+
+"Did you look at these papers on the table?"
+
+"No, sir; certainly not."
+
+"How came you to leave the key in the door?"
+
+"I had the tea-tray in my hand. I thought I would come back for the key.
+Then I forgot."
+
+"Has the outer door a spring lock?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then it was open all the time?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Anyone in the room could get out?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"When Mr. Soames returned and called for you, you were very much
+disturbed?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Such a thing has never happened during the many years that I
+have been here. I nearly fainted, sir."
+
+"So I understand. Where were you when you began to feel bad?"
+
+"Where was I, sir? Why, here, near the door."
+
+"That is singular, because you sat down in that chair over yonder near
+the corner. Why did you pass these other chairs?"
+
+"I don't know, sir. It didn't matter to me where I sat."
+
+"I really don't think he knew much about it, Mr. Holmes. He was looking
+very bad--quite ghastly."
+
+"You stayed here when your master left?"
+
+"Only for a minute or so. Then I locked the door and went to my room."
+
+"Whom do you suspect?"
+
+"Oh, I would not venture to say, sir. I don't believe there is any
+gentleman in this University who is capable of profiting by such an
+action. No, sir, I'll not believe it."
+
+"Thank you; that will do," said Holmes. "Oh, one more word. You have not
+mentioned to any of the three gentlemen whom you attend that anything is
+amiss?"
+
+"No, sir; not a word."
+
+"You haven't seen any of them?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Very good. Now, Mr. Soames, we will take a walk in the quadrangle, if
+you please."
+
+Three yellow squares of light shone above us in the gathering gloom.
+
+"Your three birds are all in their nests," said Holmes, looking up.
+"Halloa! What's that? One of them seems restless enough."
+
+It was the Indian, whose dark silhouette appeared suddenly upon his
+blind. He was pacing swiftly up and down his room.
+
+"I should like to have a peep at each of them," said Holmes. "Is it
+possible?"
+
+"No difficulty in the world," Soames answered. "This set of rooms is
+quite the oldest in the college, and it is not unusual for visitors to
+go over them. Come along, and I will personally conduct you."
+
+"No names, please!" said Holmes, as we knocked at Gilchrist's door. A
+tall, flaxen-haired, slim young fellow opened it, and made us welcome
+when he understood our errand. There were some really curious pieces of
+mediaeval domestic architecture within. Holmes was so charmed with
+one of them that he insisted on drawing it on his note-book, broke his
+pencil, had to borrow one from our host, and finally borrowed a knife to
+sharpen his own. The same curious accident happened to him in the rooms
+of the Indian--a silent, little, hook-nosed fellow, who eyed us askance
+and was obviously glad when Holmes's architectural studies had come to
+an end. I could not see that in either case Holmes had come upon the
+clue for which he was searching. Only at the third did our visit prove
+abortive. The outer door would not open to our knock, and nothing more
+substantial than a torrent of bad language came from behind it. "I
+don't care who you are. You can go to blazes!" roared the angry voice.
+"To-morrow's the exam, and I won't be drawn by anyone."
+
+"A rude fellow," said our guide, flushing with anger as we withdrew
+down the stair. "Of course, he did not realize that it was I who was
+knocking, but none the less his conduct was very uncourteous, and,
+indeed, under the circumstances rather suspicious."
+
+Holmes's response was a curious one.
+
+"Can you tell me his exact height?" he asked.
+
+"Really, Mr. Holmes, I cannot undertake to say. He is taller than the
+Indian, not so tall as Gilchrist. I suppose five foot six would be about
+it."
+
+"That is very important," said Holmes. "And now, Mr. Soames, I wish you
+good-night."
+
+Our guide cried aloud in his astonishment and dismay. "Good gracious,
+Mr. Holmes, you are surely not going to leave me in this abrupt fashion!
+You don't seem to realize the position. To-morrow is the examination. I
+must take some definite action to-night. I cannot allow the examination
+to be held if one of the papers has been tampered with. The situation
+must be faced."
+
+"You must leave it as it is. I shall drop round early to-morrow morning
+and chat the matter over. It is possible that I may be in a position
+then to indicate some course of action. Meanwhile you change
+nothing--nothing at all."
+
+"Very good, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"You can be perfectly easy in your mind. We shall certainly find some
+way out of your difficulties. I will take the black clay with me, also
+the pencil cuttings. Good-bye."
+
+When we were out in the darkness of the quadrangle we again looked up at
+the windows. The Indian still paced his room. The others were invisible.
+
+"Well, Watson, what do you think of it?" Holmes asked, as we came out
+into the main street. "Quite a little parlour game--sort of three-card
+trick, is it not? There are your three men. It must be one of them. You
+take your choice. Which is yours?"
+
+"The foul-mouthed fellow at the top. He is the one with the worst
+record. And yet that Indian was a sly fellow also. Why should he be
+pacing his room all the time?"
+
+"There is nothing in that. Many men do it when they are trying to learn
+anything by heart."
+
+"He looked at us in a queer way."
+
+"So would you if a flock of strangers came in on you when you were
+preparing for an examination next day, and every moment was of
+value. No, I see nothing in that. Pencils, too, and knives--all was
+satisfactory. But that fellow DOES puzzle me."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Why, Bannister, the servant. What's his game in the matter?"
+
+"He impressed me as being a perfectly honest man."
+
+"So he did me. That's the puzzling part. Why should a perfectly
+honest man--well, well, here's a large stationer's. We shall begin our
+researches here."
+
+There were only four stationers of any consequence in the town, and at
+each Holmes produced his pencil chips and bid high for a duplicate. All
+were agreed that one could be ordered, but that it was not a usual size
+of pencil and that it was seldom kept in stock. My friend did not
+appear to be depressed by his failure, but shrugged his shoulders in
+half-humorous resignation.
+
+"No good, my dear Watson. This, the best and only final clue, has run
+to nothing. But, indeed, I have little doubt that we can build up a
+sufficient case without it. By Jove! my dear fellow, it is nearly nine,
+and the landlady babbled of green peas at seven-thirty. What with your
+eternal tobacco, Watson, and your irregularity at meals, I expect that
+you will get notice to quit and that I shall share your downfall--not,
+however, before we have solved the problem of the nervous tutor, the
+careless servant, and the three enterprising students."
+
+
+Holmes made no further allusion to the matter that day, though he sat
+lost in thought for a long time after our belated dinner. At eight in
+the morning he came into my room just as I finished my toilet.
+
+"Well, Watson," said he, "it is time we went down to St. Luke's. Can you
+do without breakfast?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Soames will be in a dreadful fidget until we are able to tell him
+something positive."
+
+"Have you anything positive to tell him?"
+
+"I think so."
+
+"You have formed a conclusion?"
+
+"Yes, my dear Watson; I have solved the mystery."
+
+"But what fresh evidence could you have got?"
+
+"Aha! It is not for nothing that I have turned myself out of bed at the
+untimely hour of six. I have put in two hours' hard work and covered at
+least five miles, with something to show for it. Look at that!"
+
+He held out his hand. On the palm were three little pyramids of black,
+doughy clay.
+
+"Why, Holmes, you had only two yesterday!"
+
+"And one more this morning. It is a fair argument that wherever No. 3
+came from is also the source of Nos. 1 and 2. Eh, Watson? Well, come
+along and put friend Soames out of his pain."
+
+
+The unfortunate tutor was certainly in a state of pitiable agitation
+when we found him in his chambers. In a few hours the examination would
+commence, and he was still in the dilemma between making the facts
+public and allowing the culprit to compete for the valuable scholarship.
+He could hardly stand still, so great was his mental agitation, and he
+ran towards Holmes with two eager hands outstretched.
+
+"Thank Heaven that you have come! I feared that you had given it up in
+despair. What am I to do? Shall the examination proceed?"
+
+"Yes; let it proceed by all means."
+
+"But this rascal----?"
+
+"He shall not compete."
+
+"You know him?"
+
+"I think so. If this matter is not to become public we must give
+ourselves certain powers, and resolve ourselves into a small private
+court-martial. You there, if you please, Soames! Watson, you here! I'll
+take the arm-chair in the middle. I think that we are now sufficiently
+imposing to strike terror into a guilty breast. Kindly ring the bell!"
+
+Bannister entered, and shrunk back in evident surprise and fear at our
+judicial appearance.
+
+"You will kindly close the door," said Holmes. "Now, Bannister, will you
+please tell us the truth about yesterday's incident?"
+
+The man turned white to the roots of his hair.
+
+"I have told you everything, sir."
+
+"Nothing to add?"
+
+"Nothing at all, sir."
+
+"Well, then, I must make some suggestions to you. When you sat down
+on that chair yesterday, did you do so in order to conceal some object
+which would have shown who had been in the room?"
+
+Bannister's face was ghastly.
+
+"No, sir; certainly not."
+
+"It is only a suggestion," said Holmes, suavely. "I frankly admit that
+I am unable to prove it. But it seems probable enough, since the moment
+that Mr. Soames's back was turned you released the man who was hiding in
+that bedroom."
+
+Bannister licked his dry lips.
+
+"There was no man, sir."
+
+"Ah, that's a pity, Bannister. Up to now you may have spoken the truth,
+but now I know that you have lied."
+
+The man's face set in sullen defiance.
+
+"There was no man, sir."
+
+"Come, come, Bannister!"
+
+"No, sir; there was no one."
+
+"In that case you can give us no further information. Would you please
+remain in the room? Stand over there near the bedroom door. Now, Soames,
+I am going to ask you to have the great kindness to go up to the room of
+young Gilchrist, and to ask him to step down into yours."
+
+An instant later the tutor returned, bringing with him the student. He
+was a fine figure of a man, tall, lithe, and agile, with a springy step
+and a pleasant, open face. His troubled blue eyes glanced at each of us,
+and finally rested with an expression of blank dismay upon Bannister in
+the farther corner.
+
+"Just close the door," said Holmes. "Now, Mr. Gilchrist, we are all
+quite alone here, and no one need ever know one word of what passes
+between us. We can be perfectly frank with each other. We want to know,
+Mr. Gilchrist, how you, an honourable man, ever came to commit such an
+action as that of yesterday?"
+
+The unfortunate young man staggered back and cast a look full of horror
+and reproach at Bannister.
+
+"No, no, Mr. Gilchrist, sir; I never said a word--never one word!" cried
+the servant.
+
+"No, but you have now," said Holmes. "Now, sir, you must see that after
+Bannister's words your position is hopeless, and that your only chance
+lies in a frank confession."
+
+For a moment Gilchrist, with upraised hand, tried to control his
+writhing features. The next he had thrown himself on his knees beside
+the table and, burying his face in his hands, he had burst into a storm
+of passionate sobbing.
+
+"Come, come," said Holmes, kindly; "it is human to err, and at least
+no one can accuse you of being a callous criminal. Perhaps it would be
+easier for you if I were to tell Mr. Soames what occurred, and you can
+check me where I am wrong. Shall I do so? Well, well, don't trouble to
+answer. Listen, and see that I do you no injustice.
+
+"From the moment, Mr. Soames, that you said to me that no one, not even
+Bannister, could have told that the papers were in your room, the case
+began to take a definite shape in my mind. The printer one could, of
+course, dismiss. He could examine the papers in his own office. The
+Indian I also thought nothing of. If the proofs were in a roll he
+could not possibly know what they were. On the other hand, it seemed an
+unthinkable coincidence that a man should dare to enter the room,
+and that by chance on that very day the papers were on the table. I
+dismissed that. The man who entered knew that the papers were there. How
+did he know?
+
+"When I approached your room I examined the window. You amused me by
+supposing that I was contemplating the possibility of someone having
+in broad daylight, under the eyes of all these opposite rooms, forced
+himself through it. Such an idea was absurd. I was measuring how tall
+a man would need to be in order to see as he passed what papers were on
+the central table. I am six feet high, and I could do it with an effort.
+No one less than that would have a chance. Already you see I had reason
+to think that if one of your three students was a man of unusual height
+he was the most worth watching of the three.
+
+"I entered and I took you into my confidence as to the suggestions of
+the side table. Of the centre table I could make nothing, until in
+your description of Gilchrist you mentioned that he was a long-distance
+jumper. Then the whole thing came to me in an instant, and I only needed
+certain corroborative proofs, which I speedily obtained.
+
+"What happened was this. This young fellow had employed his afternoon at
+the athletic grounds, where he had been practising the jump. He returned
+carrying his jumping shoes, which are provided, as you are aware, with
+several sharp spikes. As he passed your window he saw, by means of his
+great height, these proofs upon your table, and conjectured what they
+were. No harm would have been done had it not been that as he passed
+your door he perceived the key which had been left by the carelessness
+of your servant. A sudden impulse came over him to enter and see if they
+were indeed the proofs. It was not a dangerous exploit, for he could
+always pretend that he had simply looked in to ask a question.
+
+"Well, when he saw that they were indeed the proofs, it was then that
+he yielded to temptation. He put his shoes on the table. What was it you
+put on that chair near the window?"
+
+"Gloves," said the young man.
+
+Holmes looked triumphantly at Bannister. "He put his gloves on the
+chair, and he took the proofs, sheet by sheet, to copy them. He thought
+the tutor must return by the main gate, and that he would see him. As we
+know, he came back by the side gate. Suddenly he heard him at the very
+door. There was no possible escape. He forgot his gloves, but he caught
+up his shoes and darted into the bedroom. You observe that the scratch
+on that table is slight at one side, but deepens in the direction of the
+bedroom door. That in itself is enough to show us that the shoe had been
+drawn in that direction and that the culprit had taken refuge there. The
+earth round the spike had been left on the table, and a second sample
+was loosened and fell in the bedroom. I may add that I walked out to the
+athletic grounds this morning, saw that tenacious black clay is used in
+the jumping-pit, and carried away a specimen of it, together with
+some of the fine tan or sawdust which is strewn over it to prevent the
+athlete from slipping. Have I told the truth, Mr. Gilchrist?"
+
+The student had drawn himself erect.
+
+"Yes, sir, it is true," said he.
+
+"Good heavens, have you nothing to add?" cried Soames.
+
+"Yes, sir, I have, but the shock of this disgraceful exposure has
+bewildered me. I have a letter here, Mr. Soames, which I wrote to you
+early this morning in the middle of a restless night. It was before I
+knew that my sin had found me out. Here it is, sir. You will see that I
+have said, 'I have determined not to go in for the examination. I have
+been offered a commission in the Rhodesian Police, and I am going out to
+South Africa at once."'
+
+"I am indeed pleased to hear that you did not intend to profit by your
+unfair advantage," said Soames. "But why did you change your purpose?"
+
+Gilchrist pointed to Bannister.
+
+"There is the man who set me in the right path," said he.
+
+"Come now, Bannister," said Holmes. "It will be clear to you from what
+I have said that only you could have let this young man out, since you
+were left in the room, and must have locked the door when you went out.
+As to his escaping by that window, it was incredible. Can you not clear
+up the last point in this mystery, and tell us the reasons for your
+action?"
+
+"It was simple enough, sir, if you only had known; but with all your
+cleverness it was impossible that you could know. Time was, sir, when
+I was butler to old Sir Jabez Gilchrist, this young gentleman's father.
+When he was ruined I came to the college as servant, but I never forgot
+my old employer because he was down in the world. I watched his son all
+I could for the sake of the old days. Well, sir, when I came into this
+room yesterday when the alarm was given, the very first thing I saw was
+Mr. Gilchrist's tan gloves a-lying in that chair. I knew those gloves
+well, and I understood their message. If Mr. Soames saw them the game
+was up. I flopped down into that chair, and nothing would budge me until
+Mr. Soames he went for you. Then out came my poor young master, whom I
+had dandled on my knee, and confessed it all to me. Wasn't it natural,
+sir, that I should save him, and wasn't it natural also that I should
+try to speak to him as his dead father would have done, and make him
+understand that he could not profit by such a deed? Could you blame me,
+sir?"
+
+"No, indeed," said Holmes, heartily, springing to his feet. "Well,
+Soames, I think we have cleared your little problem up, and our
+breakfast awaits us at home. Come, Watson! As to you, sir, I trust that
+a bright future awaits you in Rhodesia. For once you have fallen low.
+Let us see in the future how high you can rise."
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 28  JULY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
+
+
+
+
+X.--The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez.
+
+
+WHEN I look at the three massive manuscript volumes which contain our
+work for the year 1894 I confess that it is very difficult for me,
+out of such a wealth of material, to select the cases which are most
+interesting in themselves and at the same time most conducive to a
+display of those peculiar powers for which my friend was famous. As I
+turn over the pages I see my notes upon the repulsive story of the red
+leech and the terrible death of Crosby the banker. Here also I find an
+account of the Addleton tragedy and the singular contents of the ancient
+British barrow. The famous Smith-Mortimer succession case comes also
+within this period, and so does the tracking and arrest of Huret, the
+Boulevard assassin--an exploit which won for Holmes an autograph letter
+of thanks from the French President and the Order of the Legion of
+Honour. Each of these would furnish a narrative, but on the whole I am
+of opinion that none of them unite so many singular points of interest
+as the episode of Yoxley Old Place, which includes not only the
+lamentable death of young Willoughby Smith, but also those subsequent
+developments which threw so curious a light upon the causes of the
+crime.
+
+It was a wild, tempestuous night towards the close of November. Holmes
+and I sat together in silence all the evening, he engaged with a
+powerful lens deciphering the remains of the original inscription upon
+a palimpsest, I deep in a recent treatise upon surgery. Outside the
+wind howled down Baker Street, while the rain beat fiercely against the
+windows. It was strange there in the very depths of the town, with ten
+miles of man's handiwork on every side of us, to feel the iron grip of
+Nature, and to be conscious that to the huge elemental forces all London
+was no more than the molehills that dot the fields. I walked to the
+window and looked out on the deserted street. The occasional lamps
+gleamed on the expanse of muddy road and shining pavement. A single cab
+was splashing its way from the Oxford Street end.
+
+"Well, Watson, it's as well we have not to turn out to-night," said
+Holmes, laying aside his lens and rolling up the palimpsest. "I've done
+enough for one sitting. It is trying work for the eyes. So far as I can
+make out it is nothing more exciting than an Abbey's accounts dating
+from the second half of the fifteenth century. Halloa! halloa! halloa!
+What's this?"
+
+Amid the droning of the wind there had come the stamping of a horse's
+hoofs and the long grind of a wheel as it rasped against the kerb. The
+cab which I had seen had pulled up at our door.
+
+"What can he want?" I ejaculated, as a man stepped out of it.
+
+"Want! He wants us. And we, my poor Watson, want overcoats and cravats
+and goloshes, and every aid that man ever invented to fight the weather.
+Wait a bit, though! There's the cab off again! There's hope yet. He'd
+have kept it if he had wanted us to come. Run down, my dear fellow, and
+open the door, for all virtuous folk have been long in bed."
+
+When the light of the hall lamp fell upon our midnight visitor I had no
+difficulty in recognising him. It was young Stanley Hopkins, a promising
+detective, in whose career Holmes had several times shown a very
+practical interest.
+
+"Is he in?" he asked, eagerly.
+
+"Come up, my dear sir," said Holmes's voice from above. "I hope you have
+no designs upon us on such a night as this."
+
+
+The detective mounted the stairs, and our lamp gleamed upon his shining
+waterproof. I helped him out of it while Holmes knocked a blaze out of
+the logs in the grate.
+
+"Now, my dear Hopkins, draw up and warm your toes," said he. "Here's
+a cigar, and the doctor has a prescription containing hot water and a
+lemon which is good medicine on a night like this. It must be something
+important which has brought you out in such a gale."
+
+"It is indeed, Mr. Holmes. I've had a bustling afternoon, I promise you.
+Did you see anything of the Yoxley case in the latest editions?"
+
+"I've seen nothing later than the fifteenth century to-day."
+
+"Well, it was only a paragraph, and all wrong at that, so you have not
+missed anything. I haven't let the grass grow under my feet. It's down
+in Kent, seven miles from Chatham and three from the railway line. I was
+wired for at three-fifteen, reached Yoxley Old Place at five, conducted
+my investigation, was back at Charing Cross by the last train, and
+straight to you by cab."
+
+"Which means, I suppose, that you are not quite clear about your case?"
+
+"It means that I can make neither head nor tail of it. So far as I can
+see it is just as tangled a business as ever I handled, and yet at first
+it seemed so simple that one couldn't go wrong. There's no motive, Mr.
+Holmes. That's what bothers me--I can't put my hand on a motive. Here's
+a man dead--there's no denying that--but, so far as I can see, no reason
+on earth why anyone should wish him harm."
+
+Holmes lit his cigar and leaned back in his chair.
+
+"Let us hear about it," said he.
+
+"I've got my facts pretty clear," said Stanley Hopkins. "All I want now
+is to know what they all mean. The story, so far as I can make it out,
+is like this. Some years ago this country house, Yoxley Old Place, was
+taken by an elderly man, who gave the name of Professor Coram. He was
+an invalid, keeping his bed half the time, and the other half hobbling
+round the house with a stick or being pushed about the grounds by the
+gardener in a bath-chair. He was well liked by the few neighbours who
+called upon him, and he has the reputation down there of being a very
+learned man. His household used to consist of an elderly housekeeper,
+Mrs. Marker, and of a maid, Susan Tarlton. These have both been with him
+since his arrival, and they seem to be women of excellent character. The
+Professor is writing a learned book, and he found it necessary about
+a year ago to engage a secretary. The first two that he tried were
+not successes; but the third, Mr. Willoughby Smith, a very young man
+straight from the University, seems to have been just what his employer
+wanted. His work consisted in writing all the morning to the Professor's
+dictation, and he usually spent the evening in hunting up references and
+passages which bore upon the next day's work. This Willoughby Smith has
+nothing against him either as a boy at Uppingham or as a young man at
+Cambridge. I have seen his testimonials, and from the first he was a
+decent, quiet, hardworking fellow, with no weak spot in him at all.
+And yet this is the lad who has met his death this morning in the
+Professor's study under circumstances which can point only to murder."
+
+The wind howled and screamed at the windows. Holmes and I drew closer to
+the fire while the young inspector slowly and point by point developed
+his singular narrative.
+
+"If you were to search all England," said he, "I don't suppose you could
+find a household more self-contained or free from outside influences.
+Whole weeks would pass and not one of them go past the garden gate. The
+Professor was buried in his work and existed for nothing else. Young
+Smith knew nobody in the neighbourhood, and lived very much as his
+employer did. The two women had nothing to take them from the
+house. Mortimer the gardener, who wheels the bath-chair, is an Army
+pensioner--an old Crimean man of excellent character. He does not live
+in the house, but in a three-roomed cottage at the other end of the
+garden. Those are the only people that you would find within the grounds
+of Yoxley Old Place. At the same time, the gate of the garden is a
+hundred yards from the main London to Chatham road. It opens with a
+latch, and there is nothing to prevent anyone from walking in.
+
+"Now I will give you the evidence of Susan Tarlton, who is the only
+person who can say anything positive about the matter. It was in the
+forenoon, between eleven and twelve. She was engaged at the moment in
+hanging some curtains in the upstairs front bedroom. Professor Coram was
+still in bed, for when the weather is bad he seldom rises before midday.
+The housekeeper was busied with some work in the back of the
+house. Willoughby Smith had been in his bedroom, which he uses as a
+sitting-room; but the maid heard him at that moment pass along the
+passage and descend to the study immediately below her. She did not
+see him, but she says that she could not be mistaken in his quick, firm
+tread. She did not hear the study door close, but a minute or so later
+there was a dreadful cry in the room below. It was a wild, hoarse
+scream, so strange and unnatural that it might have come either from a
+man or a woman. At the same instant there was a heavy thud, which shook
+the old house, and then all was silence. The maid stood petrified for a
+moment, and then, recovering her courage, she ran downstairs. The study
+door was shut, and she opened it. Inside young Mr. Willoughby Smith was
+stretched upon the floor. At first she could see no injury, but as she
+tried to raise him she saw that blood was pouring from the underside of
+his neck. It was pierced by a very small but very deep wound, which had
+divided the carotid artery. The instrument with which the injury had
+been inflicted lay upon the carpet beside him. It was one of those small
+sealing-wax knives to be found on old-fashioned writing-tables, with
+an ivory handle and a stiff blade. It was part of the fittings of the
+Professor's own desk.
+
+"At first the maid thought that young Smith was already dead, but on
+pouring some water from the carafe over his forehead he opened his eyes
+for an instant. 'The Professor,' he murmured--'it was she.' The maid is
+prepared to swear that those were the exact words. He tried desperately
+to say something else, and he held his right hand up in the air. Then he
+fell back dead.
+
+"In the meantime the housekeeper had also arrived upon the scene, but
+she was just too late to catch the young man's dying words. Leaving
+Susan with the body, she hurried to the Professor's room. He was sitting
+up in bed horribly agitated, for he had heard enough to convince him
+that something terrible had occurred. Mrs. Marker is prepared to swear
+that the Professor was still in his night-clothes, and, indeed, it was
+impossible for him to dress without the help of Mortimer, whose orders
+were to come at twelve o'clock. The Professor declares that he heard the
+distant cry, but that he knows nothing more. He can give no explanation
+of the young man's last words, 'The Professor--it was she,' but imagines
+that they were the outcome of delirium. He believes that Willoughby
+Smith had not an enemy in the world, and can give no reason for the
+crime. His first action was to send Mortimer the gardener for the local
+police. A little later the chief constable sent for me. Nothing was
+moved before I got there, and strict orders were given that no one
+should walk upon the paths leading to the house. It was a splendid
+chance of putting your theories into practice, Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
+There was really nothing wanting."
+
+"Except Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said my companion, with a somewhat bitter
+smile. "Well, let us hear about it. What sort of job did you make of
+it?"
+
+"I must ask you first, Mr. Holmes, to glance at this rough plan, which
+will give you a general idea of the position of the Professor's study
+and the various points of the case. It will help you in following my
+investigation."
+
+He unfolded the rough chart, which I here reproduce, and he laid it
+across Holmes's knee. I rose, and, standing behind Holmes, I studied it
+over his shoulder.
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"It is very rough, of course, and it only deals with the points
+which seem to me to be essential. All the rest you will see later for
+yourself. Now, first of all, presuming that the assassin entered the
+house, how did he or she come in? Undoubtedly by the garden path and the
+back door, from which there is direct access to the study. Any other way
+would have been exceedingly complicated. The escape must have also been
+made along that line, for of the two other exits from the room one was
+blocked by Susan as she ran downstairs and the other leads straight to
+the Professor's bedroom. I therefore directed my attention at once
+to the garden path, which was saturated with recent rain and would
+certainly show any footmarks.
+
+"My examination showed me that I was dealing with a cautious and expert
+criminal. No footmarks were to be found on the path. There could be no
+question, however, that someone had passed along the grass border which
+lines the path, and that he had done so in order to avoid leaving a
+track. I could not find anything in the nature of a distinct impression,
+but the grass was trodden down and someone had undoubtedly passed. It
+could only have been the murderer, since neither the gardener nor anyone
+else had been there that morning and the rain had only begun during the
+night."
+
+"One moment," said Holmes. "Where does this path lead to?"
+
+"To the road."
+
+"How long is it?"
+
+"A hundred yards or so."
+
+"At the point where the path passes through the gate you could surely
+pick up the tracks?"
+
+"Unfortunately, the path was tiled at that point."
+
+"Well, on the road itself?"
+
+"No; it was all trodden into mire."
+
+"Tut-tut! Well, then, these tracks upon the grass, were they coming or
+going?"
+
+"It was impossible to say. There was never any outline."
+
+"A large foot or a small?"
+
+"You could not distinguish."
+
+Holmes gave an ejaculation of impatience.
+
+"It has been pouring rain and blowing a hurricane ever since," said
+he. "It will be harder to read now than that palimpsest. Well, well, it
+can't be helped. What did you do, Hopkins, after you had made certain
+that you had made certain of nothing?"
+
+"I think I made certain of a good deal, Mr. Holmes. I knew that someone
+had entered the house cautiously from without. I next examined the
+corridor. It is lined with cocoanut matting and had taken no
+impression of any kind. This brought me into the study itself. It is a
+scantily-furnished room. The main article is a large writing-table with
+a fixed bureau. This bureau consists of a double column of drawers
+with a central small cupboard between them. The drawers were open, the
+cupboard locked. The drawers, it seems, were always open, and nothing
+of value was kept in them. There were some papers of importance in the
+cupboard, but there were no signs that this had been tampered with, and
+the Professor assures me that nothing was missing. It is certain that no
+robbery has been committed.
+
+"I come now to the body of the young man. It was found near the bureau,
+and just to the left of it, as marked upon that chart. The stab was
+on the right side of the neck and from behind forwards, so that it is
+almost impossible that it could have been self-inflicted."
+
+"Unless he fell upon the knife," said Holmes.
+
+"Exactly. The idea crossed my mind. But we found the knife some feet
+away from the body, so that seems impossible. Then, of course, there are
+the man's own dying words. And, finally, there was this very important
+piece of evidence which was found clasped in the dead man's right hand."
+
+From his pocket Stanley Hopkins drew a small paper packet. He unfolded
+it and disclosed a golden pince-nez, with two broken ends of black
+silk cord dangling from the end of it. "Willoughby Smith had excellent
+sight," he added. "There can be no question that this was snatched from
+the face or the person of the assassin."
+
+Sherlock Holmes took the glasses into his hand and examined them with
+the utmost attention and interest. He held them on his nose, endeavoured
+to read through them, went to the window and stared up the street with
+them, looked at them most minutely in the full light of the lamp, and
+finally, with a chuckle, seated himself at the table and wrote a few
+lines upon a sheet of paper, which he tossed across to Stanley Hopkins.
+
+"That's the best I can do for you," said he. "It may prove to be of some
+use."
+
+The astonished detective read the note aloud. It ran as follows:--
+
+"Wanted, a woman of good address, attired like a lady. She has a
+remarkably thick nose, with eyes which are set close upon either side
+of it. She has a puckered forehead, a peering expression, and probably
+rounded shoulders. There are indications that she has had recourse to an
+optician at least twice during the last few months. As her glasses are
+of remarkable strength and as opticians are not very numerous, there
+should be no difficulty in tracing her."
+
+Holmes smiled at the astonishment of Hopkins, which must have been
+reflected upon my features.
+
+"Surely my deductions are simplicity itself," said he. "It would be
+difficult to name any articles which afford a finer field for inference
+than a pair of glasses, especially so remarkable a pair as these. That
+they belong to a woman I infer from their delicacy, and also, of course,
+from the last words of the dying man. As to her being a person of
+refinement and well dressed, they are, as you perceive, handsomely
+mounted in solid gold, and it is inconceivable that anyone who wore such
+glasses could be slatternly in other respects. You will find that the
+clips are too wide for your nose, showing that the lady's nose was very
+broad at the base. This sort of nose is usually a short and coarse one,
+but there are a sufficient number of exceptions to prevent me from being
+dogmatic or from insisting upon this point in my description. My own
+face is a narrow one, and yet I find that I cannot get my eyes into the
+centre, or near the centre, of these glasses. Therefore the lady's eyes
+are set very near to the sides of the nose. You will perceive, Watson,
+that the glasses are concave and of unusual strength. A lady whose
+vision has been so extremely contracted all her life is sure to have the
+physical characteristics of such vision, which are seen in the forehead,
+the eyelids, and the shoulders."
+
+"Yes," I said, "I can follow each of your arguments. I confess, however,
+that I am unable to understand how you arrive at the double visit to the
+optician."
+
+Holmes took the glasses in his hand.
+
+"You will perceive," he said, "that the clips are lined with tiny
+bands of cork to soften the pressure upon the nose. One of these is
+discoloured and worn to some slight extent, but the other is new.
+Evidently one has fallen off and been replaced. I should judge that the
+older of them has not been there more than a few months. They
+exactly correspond, so I gather that the lady went back to the same
+establishment for the second."
+
+"By George, it's marvellous!" cried Hopkins, in an ecstasy of
+admiration. "To think that I had all that evidence in my hand and
+never knew it! I had intended, however, to go the round of the London
+opticians."
+
+"Of course you would. Meanwhile, have you anything more to tell us about
+the case?"
+
+"Nothing, Mr. Holmes. I think that you know as much as I do
+now--probably more. We have had inquiries made as to any stranger seen
+on the country roads or at the railway station. We have heard of none.
+What beats me is the utter want of all object in the crime. Not a ghost
+of a motive can anyone suggest."
+
+"Ah! there I am not in a position to help you. But I suppose you want us
+to come out to-morrow?"
+
+"If it is not asking too much, Mr. Holmes. There's a train from Charing
+Cross to Chatham at six in the morning, and we should be at Yoxley Old
+Place between eight and nine."
+
+"Then we shall take it. Your case has certainly some features of great
+interest, and I shall be delighted to look into it. Well, it's nearly
+one, and we had best get a few hours' sleep. I dare say you can manage
+all right on the sofa in front of the fire. I'll light my spirit-lamp
+and give you a cup of coffee before we start."
+
+
+The gale had blown itself out next day, but it was a bitter morning when
+we started upon our journey. We saw the cold winter sun rise over the
+dreary marshes of the Thames and the long, sullen reaches of the river,
+which I shall ever associate with our pursuit of the Andaman Islander
+in the earlier days of our career. After a long and weary journey we
+alighted at a small station some miles from Chatham. While a horse was
+being put into a trap at the local inn we snatched a hurried breakfast,
+and so we were all ready for business when we at last arrived at Yoxley
+Old Place. A constable met us at the garden gate.
+
+"Well, Wilson, any news?"
+
+"No, sir, nothing."
+
+"No reports of any stranger seen?"
+
+"No, sir. Down at the station they are certain that no stranger either
+came or went yesterday."
+
+"Have you had inquiries made at inns and lodgings?"
+
+"Yes, sir; there is no one that we cannot account for."
+
+"Well, it's only a reasonable walk to Chatham. Anyone might stay there,
+or take a train without being observed. This is the garden path of
+which I spoke, Mr. Holmes. I'll pledge my word there was no mark on it
+yesterday."
+
+"On which side were the marks on the grass?"
+
+"This side, sir. This narrow margin of grass between the path and the
+flower-bed. I can't see the traces now, but they were clear to me then."
+
+"Yes, yes; someone has passed along," said Holmes, stooping over the
+grass border. "Our lady must have picked her steps carefully, must she
+not, since on the one side she would leave a track on the path, and on
+the other an even clearer one on the soft bed?"
+
+"Yes, sir, she must have been a cool hand."
+
+I saw an intent look pass over Holmes's face.
+
+"You say that she must have come back this way?"
+
+"Yes, sir; there is no other."
+
+"On this strip of grass?"
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"Hum! It was a very remarkable performance--very remarkable. Well, I
+think we have exhausted the path. Let us go farther. This garden door is
+usually kept open, I suppose? Then this visitor had nothing to do but
+to walk in. The idea of murder was not in her mind, or she would have
+provided herself with some sort of weapon, instead of having to pick
+this knife off the writing-table. She advanced along this corridor,
+leaving no traces upon the cocoanut matting. Then she found herself in
+this study. How long was she there? We have no means of judging."
+
+"Not more than a few minutes, sir. I forgot to tell you that Mrs.
+Marker, the housekeeper, had been in there tidying not very long
+before--about a quarter of an hour, she says."
+
+"Well, that gives us a limit. Our lady enters this room and what does
+she do? She goes over to the writing-table. What for? Not for anything
+in the drawers. If there had been anything worth her taking it would
+surely have been locked up. No; it was for something in that wooden
+bureau. Halloa! what is that scratch upon the face of it? Just hold a
+match, Watson. Why did you not tell me of this, Hopkins?"
+
+The mark which he was examining began upon the brass work on the
+right-hand side of the keyhole, and extended for about four inches,
+where it had scratched the varnish from the surface.
+
+"I noticed it, Mr. Holmes. But you'll always find scratches round a
+keyhole."
+
+"This is recent, quite recent. See how the brass shines where it is
+cut. An old scratch would be the same colour as the surface. Look at it
+through my lens. There's the varnish, too, like earth on each side of a
+furrow. Is Mrs. Marker there?"
+
+A sad-faced, elderly woman came into the room.
+
+"Did you dust this bureau yesterday morning?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Did you notice this scratch?"
+
+"No, sir, I did not."
+
+"I am sure you did not, for a duster would have swept away these shreds
+of varnish. Who has the key of this bureau?"
+
+"The Professor keeps it on his watch-chain."
+
+"Is it a simple key?"
+
+"No, sir; it is a Chubb's key."
+
+"Very good. Mrs. Marker, you can go. Now we are making a little
+progress. Our lady enters the room, advances to the bureau, and either
+opens it or tries to do so. While she is thus engaged young Willoughby
+Smith enters the room. In her hurry to withdraw the key she makes this
+scratch upon the door. He seizes her, and she, snatching up the nearest
+object, which happens to be this knife, strikes at him in order to make
+him let go his hold. The blow is a fatal one. He falls and she escapes,
+either with or without the object for which she has come. Is Susan the
+maid there? Could anyone have got away through that door after the time
+that you heard the cry, Susan?"
+
+"No sir; it is impossible. Before I got down the stair I'd have seen
+anyone in the passage. Besides, the door never opened, for I would have
+heard it."
+
+"That settles this exit. Then no doubt the lady went out the way she
+came. I understand that this other passage leads only to the Professor's
+room. There is no exit that way?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"We shall go down it and make the acquaintance of the Professor. Halloa,
+Hopkins! this is very important, very important indeed. The Professor's
+corridor is also lined with cocoanut matting."
+
+"Well, sir, what of that?"
+
+"Don't you see any bearing upon the case? Well, well, I don't insist
+upon it. No doubt I am wrong. And yet it seems to me to be suggestive.
+Come with me and introduce me."
+
+We passed down the passage, which was of the same length as that which
+led to the garden. At the end was a short flight of steps ending in
+a door. Our guide knocked, and then ushered us into the Professor's
+bedroom.
+
+It was a very large chamber, lined with innumerable volumes, which had
+overflowed from the shelves and lay in piles in the corners, or were
+stacked all round at the base of the cases. The bed was in the centre
+of the room, and in it, propped up with pillows, was the owner of the
+house. I have seldom seen a more remarkable-looking person. It was a
+gaunt, aquiline face which was turned towards us, with piercing dark
+eyes, which lurked in deep hollows under overhung and tufted brows. His
+hair and beard were white, save that the latter was curiously stained
+with yellow around his mouth. A cigarette glowed amid the tangle of
+white hair, and the air of the room was fetid with stale tobacco-smoke.
+As he held out his hand to Holmes I perceived that it also was stained
+yellow with nicotine.
+
+"A smoker, Mr. Holmes?" said he, speaking well-chosen English with a
+curious little mincing accent. "Pray take a cigarette. And you, sir? I
+can recommend them, for I have them especially prepared by Ionides of
+Alexandria. He sends me a thousand at a time, and I grieve to say that I
+have to arrange for a fresh supply every fortnight. Bad, sir, very bad,
+but an old man has few pleasures. Tobacco and my work--that is all that
+is left to me."
+
+Holmes had lit a cigarette, and was shooting little darting glances all
+over the room.
+
+"Tobacco and my work, but now only tobacco," the old man exclaimed.
+"Alas! what a fatal interruption! Who could have foreseen such a
+terrible catastrophe? So estimable a young man! I assure you that after
+a few months' training he was an admirable assistant. What do you think
+of the matter, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"I have not yet made up my mind."
+
+"I shall indeed be indebted to you if you can throw a light where all is
+so dark to us. To a poor bookworm and invalid like myself such a blow
+is paralyzing. I seem to have lost the faculty of thought. But you are
+a man of action--you are a man of affairs. It is part of the everyday
+routine of your life. You can preserve your balance in every emergency.
+We are fortunate indeed in having you at our side."
+
+Holmes was pacing up and down one side of the room whilst the old
+Professor was talking. I observed that he was smoking with extraordinary
+rapidity. It was evident that he shared our host's liking for the fresh
+Alexandrian cigarettes.
+
+"Yes, sir, it is a crushing blow," said the old man. "That is my MAGNUM
+OPUS--the pile of papers on the side table yonder. It is my analysis of
+the documents found in the Coptic monasteries of Syria and Egypt, a work
+which will cut deep at the very foundations of revealed religion.
+With my enfeebled health I do not know whether I shall ever be able to
+complete it now that my assistant has been taken from me. Dear me, Mr.
+Holmes; why, you are even a quicker smoker than I am myself."
+
+Holmes smiled.
+
+"I am a connoisseur," said he, taking another cigarette from the
+box--his fourth--and lighting it from the stub of that which he had
+finished. "I will not trouble you with any lengthy cross-examination,
+Professor Coram, since I gather that you were in bed at the time of the
+crime and could know nothing about it. I would only ask this. What
+do you imagine that this poor fellow meant by his last words: 'The
+Professor--it was she'?"
+
+The Professor shook his head.
+
+"Susan is a country girl," said he, "and you know the incredible
+stupidity of that class. I fancy that the poor fellow murmured some
+incoherent delirious words, and that she twisted them into this
+meaningless message."
+
+"I see. You have no explanation yourself of the tragedy?"
+
+"Possibly an accident; possibly--I only breathe it among ourselves--a
+suicide. Young men have their hidden troubles--some affair of the heart,
+perhaps, which we have never known. It is a more probable supposition
+than murder."
+
+"But the eye-glasses?"
+
+"Ah! I am only a student--a man of dreams. I cannot explain the
+practical things of life. But still, we are aware, my friend, that
+love-gages may take strange shapes. By all means take another cigarette.
+It is a pleasure to see anyone appreciate them so. A fan, a glove,
+glasses--who knows what article may be carried as a token or treasured
+when a man puts an end to his life? This gentleman speaks of footsteps
+in the grass; but, after all, it is easy to be mistaken on such a point.
+As to the knife, it might well be thrown far from the unfortunate man as
+he fell. It is possible that I speak as a child, but to me it seems that
+Willoughby Smith has met his fate by his own hand."
+
+Holmes seemed struck by the theory thus put forward, and he continued to
+walk up and down for some time, lost in thought and consuming cigarette
+after cigarette.
+
+"Tell me, Professor Coram," he said, at last, "what is in that cupboard
+in the bureau?"
+
+"Nothing that would help a thief. Family papers, letters from my poor
+wife, diplomas of Universities which have done me honour. Here is the
+key. You can look for yourself."
+
+Holmes picked up the key and looked at it for an instant; then he handed
+it back.
+
+"No; I hardly think that it would help me," said he. "I should prefer
+to go quietly down to your garden and turn the whole matter over in my
+head. There is something to be said for the theory of suicide which
+you have put forward. We must apologize for having intruded upon you,
+Professor Coram, and I promise that we won't disturb you until after
+lunch. At two o'clock we will come again and report to you anything
+which may have happened in the interval."
+
+Holmes was curiously distrait, and we walked up and down the garden path
+for some time in silence.
+
+"Have you a clue?" I asked, at last.
+
+"It depends upon those cigarettes that I smoked," said he. "It is
+possible that I am utterly mistaken. The cigarettes will show me."
+
+"My dear Holmes," I exclaimed, "how on earth----"
+
+"Well, well, you may see for yourself. If not, there's no harm done. Of
+course, we always have the optician clue to fall back upon, but I take
+a short cut when I can get it. Ah, here is the good Mrs. Marker! Let us
+enjoy five minutes of instructive conversation with her."
+
+I may have remarked before that Holmes had, when he liked, a peculiarly
+ingratiating way with women, and that he very readily established terms
+of confidence with them. In half the time which he had named he had
+captured the housekeeper's goodwill, and was chatting with her as if he
+had known her for years.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes, it is as you say, sir. He does smoke something
+terrible. All day and sometimes all night, sir. I've seen that room of
+a morning--well, sir, you'd have thought it was a London fog. Poor young
+Mr. Smith, he was a smoker also, but not as bad as the Professor. His
+health--well, I don't know that it's better nor worse for the smoking."
+
+"Ah!" said Holmes, "but it kills the appetite."
+
+"Well, I don't know about that, sir."
+
+"I suppose the Professor eats hardly anything?"
+
+"Well, he is variable. I'll say that for him."
+
+"I'll wager he took no breakfast this morning, and won't face his lunch
+after all the cigarettes I saw him consume."
+
+"Well, you're out there, sir, as it happens, for he ate a remarkable big
+breakfast this morning. I don't know when I've known him make a
+better one, and he's ordered a good dish of cutlets for his lunch. I'm
+surprised myself, for since I came into that room yesterday and saw
+young Mr. Smith lying there on the floor I couldn't bear to look at
+food. Well, it takes all sorts to make a world, and the Professor hasn't
+let it take his appetite away."
+
+We loitered the morning away in the garden. Stanley Hopkins had gone
+down to the village to look into some rumours of a strange woman who had
+been seen by some children on the Chatham Road the previous morning. As
+to my friend, all his usual energy seemed to have deserted him. I had
+never known him handle a case in such a half-hearted fashion. Even the
+news brought back by Hopkins that he had found the children and that
+they had undoubtedly seen a woman exactly corresponding with Holmes's
+description, and wearing either spectacles or eye-glasses, failed to
+rouse any sign of keen interest. He was more attentive when Susan, who
+waited upon us at lunch, volunteered the information that she believed
+Mr. Smith had been out for a walk yesterday morning, and that he had
+only returned half an hour before the tragedy occurred. I could not
+myself see the bearing of this incident, but I clearly perceived that
+Holmes was weaving it into the general scheme which he had formed in his
+brain. Suddenly he sprang from his chair and glanced at his watch. "Two
+o'clock, gentlemen," said he. "We must go up and have it out with our
+friend the Professor."
+
+The old man had just finished his lunch, and certainly his empty dish
+bore evidence to the good appetite with which his housekeeper had
+credited him. He was, indeed, a weird figure as he turned his white mane
+and his glowing eyes towards us. The eternal cigarette smouldered in his
+mouth. He had been dressed and was seated in an arm-chair by the fire.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, have you solved this mystery yet?" He shoved the
+large tin of cigarettes which stood on a table beside him towards my
+companion. Holmes stretched out his hand at the same moment, and between
+them they tipped the box over the edge. For a minute or two we were all
+on our knees retrieving stray cigarettes from impossible places. When
+we rose again I observed that Holmes's eyes were shining and his cheeks
+tinged with colour. Only at a crisis have I seen those battle-signals
+flying.
+
+"Yes," said he, "I have solved it."
+
+Stanley Hopkins and I stared in amazement. Something like a sneer
+quivered over the gaunt features of the old Professor.
+
+"Indeed! In the garden?"
+
+"No, here."
+
+"Here! When?"
+
+"This instant."
+
+"You are surely joking, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. You compel me to tell you
+that this is too serious a matter to be treated in such a fashion."
+
+"I have forged and tested every link of my chain, Professor Coram, and
+I am sure that it is sound. What your motives are or what exact part you
+play in this strange business I am not yet able to say. In a few
+minutes I shall probably hear it from your own lips. Meanwhile I will
+reconstruct what is past for your benefit, so that you may know the
+information which I still require.
+
+"A lady yesterday entered your study. She came with the intention of
+possessing herself of certain documents which were in your bureau. She
+had a key of her own. I have had an opportunity of examining yours, and
+I do not find that slight discolouration which the scratch made upon the
+varnish would have produced. You were not an accessory, therefore, and
+she came, so far as I can read the evidence, without your knowledge to
+rob you."
+
+The Professor blew a cloud from his lips. "This is most interesting and
+instructive," said he. "Have you no more to add? Surely, having traced
+this lady so far, you can also say what has become of her."
+
+"I will endeavour to do so. In the first place she was seized by your
+secretary, and stabbed him in order to escape. This catastrophe I am
+inclined to regard as an unhappy accident, for I am convinced that the
+lady had no intention of inflicting so grievous an injury. An assassin
+does not come unarmed. Horrified by what she had done she rushed wildly
+away from the scene of the tragedy. Unfortunately for her she had lost
+her glasses in the scuffle, and as she was extremely short-sighted she
+was really helpless without them. She ran down a corridor, which she
+imagined to be that by which she had come--both were lined with cocoanut
+matting--and it was only when it was too late that she understood that
+she had taken the wrong passage and that her retreat was cut off behind
+her. What was she to do? She could not go back. She could not remain
+where she was. She must go on. She went on. She mounted a stair, pushed
+open a door, and found herself in your room."
+
+The old man sat with his mouth open staring wildly at Holmes. Amazement
+and fear were stamped upon his expressive features. Now, with an effort,
+he shrugged his shoulders and burst into insincere laughter.
+
+"All very fine, Mr. Holmes," said he. "But there is one little flaw
+in your splendid theory. I was myself in my room, and I never left it
+during the day."
+
+"I am aware of that, Professor Coram."
+
+"And you mean to say that I could lie upon that bed and not be aware
+that a woman had entered my room?"
+
+"I never said so. You WERE aware of it. You spoke with her. You
+recognised her. You aided her to escape."
+
+Again the Professor burst into high-keyed laughter. He had risen to his
+feet and his eyes glowed like embers.
+
+"You are mad!" he cried. "You are talking insanely. I helped her to
+escape? Where is she now?"
+
+"She is there," said Holmes, and he pointed to a high bookcase in the
+corner of the room.
+
+I saw the old man throw up his arms, a terrible convulsion passed over
+his grim face, and he fell back in his chair. At the same instant the
+bookcase at which Holmes pointed swung round upon a hinge, and a woman
+rushed out into the room. "You are right!" she cried, in a strange
+foreign voice. "You are right! I am here."
+
+She was brown with the dust and draped with the cobwebs which had come
+from the walls of her hiding-place. Her face, too, was streaked with
+grime, and at the best she could never have been handsome, for she had
+the exact physical characteristics which Holmes had divined, with, in
+addition, a long and obstinate chin. What with her natural blindness,
+and what with the change from dark to light, she stood as one dazed,
+blinking about her to see where and who we were. And yet, in spite of
+all these disadvantages, there was a certain nobility in the woman's
+bearing, a gallantry in the defiant chin and in the upraised head, which
+compelled something of respect and admiration. Stanley Hopkins had laid
+his hand upon her arm and claimed her as his prisoner, but she waved
+him aside gently, and yet with an overmastering dignity which compelled
+obedience. The old man lay back in his chair, with a twitching face, and
+stared at her with brooding eyes.
+
+"Yes, sir, I am your prisoner," she said. "From where I stood I could
+hear everything, and I know that you have learned the truth. I confess
+it all. It was I who killed the young man. But you are right, you who
+say it was an accident. I did not even know that it was a knife which
+I held in my hand, for in my despair I snatched anything from the table
+and struck at him to make him let me go. It is the truth that I tell."
+
+"Madam," said Holmes, "I am sure that it is the truth. I fear that you
+are far from well."
+
+She had turned a dreadful colour, the more ghastly under the dark
+dust-streaks upon her face. She seated herself on the side of the bed;
+then she resumed.
+
+"I have only a little time here," she said, "but I would have you to
+know the whole truth. I am this man's wife. He is not an Englishman. He
+is a Russian. His name I will not tell."
+
+For the first time the old man stirred. "God bless you, Anna!" he cried.
+"God bless you!"
+
+She cast a look of the deepest disdain in his direction. "Why should you
+cling so hard to that wretched life of yours, Sergius?" said she. "It
+has done harm to many and good to none--not even to yourself. However,
+it is not for me to cause the frail thread to be snapped before God's
+time. I have enough already upon my soul since I crossed the threshold
+of this cursed house. But I must speak or I shall be too late.
+
+"I have said, gentlemen, that I am this man's wife. He was fifty and I
+a foolish girl of twenty when we married. It was in a city of Russia, a
+University--I will not name the place."
+
+"God bless you, Anna!" murmured the old man again.
+
+"We were reformers--revolutionists--Nihilists, you understand. He and I
+and many more. Then there came a time of trouble, a police officer was
+killed, many were arrested, evidence was wanted, and in order to save
+his own life and to earn a great reward my husband betrayed his own wife
+and his companions. Yes, we were all arrested upon his confession. Some
+of us found our way to the gallows and some to Siberia. I was among
+these last, but my term was not for life. My husband came to England
+with his ill-gotten gains, and has lived in quiet ever since, knowing
+well that if the Brotherhood knew where he was not a week would pass
+before justice would be done."
+
+The old man reached out a trembling hand and helped himself to a
+cigarette. "I am in your hands, Anna," said he. "You were always good to
+me."
+
+"I have not yet told you the height of his villainy," said she. "Among
+our comrades of the Order there was one who was the friend of my heart.
+He was noble, unselfish, loving--all that my husband was not. He hated
+violence. We were all guilty--if that is guilt--but he was not. He wrote
+for ever dissuading us from such a course. These letters would have
+saved him. So would my diary, in which from day to day I had entered
+both my feelings towards him and the view which each of us had taken. My
+husband found and kept both diary and letters. He hid them, and he tried
+hard to swear away the young man's life. In this he failed, but Alexis
+was sent a convict to Siberia, where now, at this moment, he works in
+a salt mine. Think of that, you villain, you villain; now, now, at this
+very moment, Alexis, a man whose name you are not worthy to speak, works
+and lives like a slave, and yet I have your life in my hands and I let
+you go."
+
+"You were always a noble woman, Anna," said the old man, puffing at his
+cigarette.
+
+She had risen, but she fell back again with a little cry of pain.
+
+"I must finish," she said. "When my term was over I set myself to get
+the diary and letters which, if sent to the Russian Government, would
+procure my friend's release. I knew that my husband had come to England.
+After months of searching I discovered where he was. I knew that he
+still had the diary, for when I was in Siberia I had a letter from him
+once reproaching me and quoting some passages from its pages. Yet I was
+sure that with his revengeful nature he would never give it to me of his
+own free will. I must get it for myself. With this object I engaged an
+agent from a private detective firm, who entered my husband's house as
+secretary--it was your second secretary, Sergius, the one who left you
+so hurriedly. He found that papers were kept in the cupboard, and he got
+an impression of the key. He would not go farther. He furnished me with
+a plan of the house, and he told me that in the forenoon the study was
+always empty, as the secretary was employed up here. So at last I took
+my courage in both hands and I came down to get the papers for myself. I
+succeeded, but at what a cost!
+
+"I had just taken the papers and was locking the cupboard when the young
+man seized me. I had seen him already that morning. He had met me in
+the road and I had asked him to tell me where Professor Coram lived, not
+knowing that he was in his employ."
+
+"Exactly! exactly!" said Holmes. "The secretary came back and told his
+employer of the woman he had met. Then in his last breath he tried to
+send a message that it was she--the she whom he had just discussed with
+him."
+
+"You must let me speak," said the woman, in an imperative voice, and
+her face contracted as if in pain. "When he had fallen I rushed from the
+room, chose the wrong door, and found myself in my husband's room. He
+spoke of giving me up. I showed him that if he did so his life was in my
+hands. If he gave me to the law I could give him to the Brotherhood. It
+was not that I wished to live for my own sake, but it was that I desired
+to accomplish my purpose. He knew that I would do what I said--that
+his own fate was involved in mine. For that reason and for no other he
+shielded me. He thrust me into that dark hiding-place, a relic of old
+days, known only to himself. He took his meals in his own room, and so
+was able to give me part of his food. It was agreed that when the police
+left the house I should slip away by night and come back no more. But in
+some way you have read our plans." She tore from the bosom of her dress
+a small packet. "These are my last words," said she; "here is the packet
+which will save Alexis. I confide it to your honour and to your love of
+justice. Take it! You will deliver it at the Russian Embassy. Now I have
+done my duty, and----"
+
+"Stop her!" cried Holmes. He had bounded across the room and had
+wrenched a small phial from her hand.
+
+"Too late!" she said, sinking back on the bed. "Too late! I took the
+poison before I left my hiding-place. My head swims! I am going! I
+charge you, sir, to remember the packet."
+
+
+"A simple case, and yet in some ways an instructive one," Holmes
+remarked, as we travelled back to town. "It hinged from the outset upon
+the pince-nez. But for the fortunate chance of the dying man having
+seized these I am not sure that we could ever have reached our solution.
+It was clear to me from the strength of the glasses that the wearer must
+have been very blind and helpless when deprived of them. When you asked
+me to believe that she walked along a narrow strip of grass without
+once making a false step I remarked, as you may remember, that it was
+a noteworthy performance. In my mind I set it down as an impossible
+performance, save in the unlikely case that she had a second pair of
+glasses. I was forced, therefore, to seriously consider the hypothesis
+that she had remained within the house. On perceiving the similarity of
+the two corridors it became clear that she might very easily have made
+such a mistake, and in that case it was evident that she must have
+entered the Professor's room. I was keenly on the alert, therefore,
+for whatever would bear out this supposition, and I examined the room
+narrowly for anything in the shape of a hiding-place. The carpet seemed
+continuous and firmly nailed, so I dismissed the idea of a trap-door.
+There might well be a recess behind the books. As you are aware, such
+devices are common in old libraries. I observed that books were piled
+on the floor at all other points, but that one bookcase was left clear.
+This, then, might be the door. I could see no marks to guide me, but the
+carpet was of a dun colour, which lends itself very well to examination.
+I therefore smoked a great number of those excellent cigarettes, and I
+dropped the ash all over the space in front of the suspected bookcase.
+It was a simple trick, but exceedingly effective. I then went downstairs
+and I ascertained, in your presence, Watson, without your perceiving
+the drift of my remarks, that Professor Coram's consumption of food had
+increased--as one would expect when he is supplying a second person. We
+then ascended to the room again, when, by upsetting the cigarette-box,
+I obtained a very excellent view of the floor, and was able to see quite
+clearly, from the traces upon the cigarette ash, that the prisoner had,
+in our absence, come out from her retreat. Well, Hopkins, here we are at
+Charing Cross, and I congratulate you on having brought your case to
+a successful conclusion. You are going to head-quarters, no doubt. I
+think, Watson, you and I will drive together to the Russian Embassy."
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 28  AUGUST, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+XI.--The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter.
+
+
+WE were fairly accustomed to receive weird telegrams at Baker Street,
+but I have a particular recollection of one which reached us on a gloomy
+February morning some seven or eight years ago and gave Mr. Sherlock
+Holmes a puzzled quarter of an hour. It was addressed to him, and ran
+thus:--
+
+"Please await me. Terrible misfortune. Right wing three-quarter missing;
+indispensable to morrow.--OVERTON."
+
+"Strand post-mark and dispatched ten-thirty-six," said Holmes, reading
+it over and over. "Mr. Overton was evidently considerably excited when
+he sent it, and somewhat incoherent in consequence. Well, well, he will
+be here, I dare say, by the time I have looked through the TIMES, and
+then we shall know all about it. Even the most insignificant problem
+would be welcome in these stagnant days."
+
+Things had indeed been very slow with us, and I had learned to dread
+such periods of inaction, for I knew by experience that my companion's
+brain was so abnormally active that it was dangerous to leave it without
+material upon which to work. For years I had gradually weaned him
+from that drug mania which had threatened once to check his remarkable
+career. Now I knew that under ordinary conditions he no longer craved
+for this artificial stimulus, but I was well aware that the fiend was
+not dead, but sleeping; and I have known that the sleep was a light one
+and the waking near when in periods of idleness I have seen the drawn
+look upon Holmes's ascetic face, and the brooding of his deep-set and
+inscrutable eyes. Therefore I blessed this Mr. Overton, whoever he might
+be, since he had come with his enigmatic message to break that dangerous
+calm which brought more peril to my friend than all the storms of his
+tempestuous life.
+
+As we had expected, the telegram was soon followed by its sender, and
+the card of Mr. Cyril Overton, of Trinity College, Cambridge, announced
+the arrival of an enormous young man, sixteen stone of solid bone and
+muscle, who spanned the doorway with his broad shoulders and looked
+from one of us to the other with a comely face which was haggard with
+anxiety.
+
+"Mr. Sherlock Holmes?"
+
+My companion bowed.
+
+"I've been down to Scotland Yard, Mr. Holmes. I saw Inspector Stanley
+Hopkins. He advised me to come to you. He said the case, so far as he
+could see, was more in your line than in that of the regular police."
+
+"Pray sit down and tell me what is the matter."
+
+"It's awful, Mr. Holmes, simply awful! I wonder my hair isn't grey.
+Godfrey Staunton--you've heard of him, of course? He's simply the hinge
+that the whole team turns on. I'd rather spare two from the pack
+and have Godfrey for my three-quarter line. Whether it's passing, or
+tackling, or dribbling, there's no one to touch him; and then, he's got
+the head and can hold us all together. What am I to do? That's what I
+ask you, Mr. Holmes. There's Moorhouse, first reserve, but he is trained
+as a half, and he always edges right in on to the scrum instead of
+keeping out on the touch-line. He's a fine place-kick, it's true, but,
+then, he has no judgment, and he can't sprint for nuts. Why, Morton
+or Johnson, the Oxford fliers, could romp round him. Stevenson is
+fast enough, but he couldn't drop from the twenty-five line, and a
+three-quarter who can't either punt or drop isn't worth a place for
+pace alone. No, Mr. Holmes, we are done unless you can help me to find
+Godfrey Staunton."
+
+My friend had listened with amused surprise to this long speech, which
+was poured forth with extraordinary vigour and earnestness, every point
+being driven home by the slapping of a brawny hand upon the speaker's
+knee. When our visitor was silent Holmes stretched out his hand and took
+down letter "S" of his commonplace book. For once he dug in vain into
+that mine of varied information.
+
+"There is Arthur H. Staunton, the rising young forger," said he, "and
+there was Henry Staunton, whom I helped to hang, but Godfrey Staunton is
+a new name to me."
+
+It was our visitor's turn to look surprised.
+
+"Why, Mr. Holmes, I thought you knew things," said he. "I suppose, then,
+if you have never heard of Godfrey Staunton you don't know Cyril Overton
+either?"
+
+Holmes shook his head good-humouredly.
+
+"Great Scot!" cried the athlete. "Why, I was first reserve for England
+against Wales, and I've skippered the 'Varsity all this year. But that's
+nothing! I didn't think there was a soul in England who didn't know
+Godfrey Staunton, the crack three-quarter, Cambridge, Blackheath, and
+five Internationals. Good Lord! Mr. Holmes, where HAVE you lived?"
+
+Holmes laughed at the young giant's naive astonishment.
+
+"You live in a different world to me, Mr. Overton, a sweeter and
+healthier one. My ramifications stretch out into many sections of
+society, but never, I am happy to say, into amateur sport, which is the
+best and soundest thing in England. However, your unexpected visit this
+morning shows me that even in that world of fresh air and fair play
+there may be work for me to do; so now, my good sir, I beg you to sit
+down and to tell me slowly and quietly exactly what it is that has
+occurred, and how you desire that I should help you."
+
+Young Overton's face assumed the bothered look of the man who is more
+accustomed to using his muscles than his wits; but by degrees, with many
+repetitions and obscurities which I may omit from his narrative, he laid
+his strange story before us.
+
+
+"It's this way, Mr. Holmes. As I have said, I am the skipper of the
+Rugger team of Cambridge 'Varsity, and Godfrey Staunton is my best man.
+To-morrow we play Oxford. Yesterday we all came up and we settled at
+Bentley's private hotel. At ten o'clock I went round and saw that all
+the fellows had gone to roost, for I believe in strict training and
+plenty of sleep to keep a team fit. I had a word or two with Godfrey
+before he turned in. He seemed to me to be pale and bothered. I asked
+him what was the matter. He said he was all right--just a touch of
+headache. I bade him good-night and left him. Half an hour later the
+porter tells me that a rough-looking man with a beard called with a note
+for Godfrey. He had not gone to bed and the note was taken to his room.
+Godfrey read it and fell back in a chair as if he had been pole-axed.
+The porter was so scared that he was going to fetch me, but Godfrey
+stopped him, had a drink of water, and pulled himself together. Then
+he went downstairs, said a few words to the man who was waiting in the
+hall, and the two of them went off together. The last that the porter
+saw of them, they were almost running down the street in the direction
+of the Strand. This morning Godfrey's room was empty, his bed had never
+been slept in, and his things were all just as I had seen them the night
+before. He had gone off at a moment's notice with this stranger, and no
+word has come from him since. I don't believe he will ever come back. He
+was a sportsman, was Godfrey, down to his marrow, and he wouldn't have
+stopped his training and let in his skipper if it were not for some
+cause that was too strong for him. No; I feel as if he were gone for
+good and we should never see him again."
+
+
+Sherlock Holmes listened with the deepest attention to this singular
+narrative.
+
+"What did you do?" he asked.
+
+"I wired to Cambridge to learn if anything had been heard of him there.
+I have had an answer. No one has seen him."
+
+"Could he have got back to Cambridge?"
+
+"Yes, there is a late train--quarter-past eleven."
+
+"But so far as you can ascertain he did not take it?"
+
+"No, he has not been seen."
+
+"What did you do next?"
+
+"I wired to Lord Mount-James."
+
+"Why to Lord Mount-James?"
+
+"Godfrey is an orphan, and Lord Mount-James is his nearest relative--his
+uncle, I believe."
+
+"Indeed. This throws new light upon the matter. Lord Mount-James is one
+of the richest men in England."
+
+"So I've heard Godfrey say."
+
+"And your friend was closely related?"
+
+"Yes, he was his heir, and the old boy is nearly eighty--cram full of
+gout, too. They say he could chalk his billiard-cue with his knuckles.
+He never allowed Godfrey a shilling in his life, for he is an absolute
+miser, but it will all come to him right enough."
+
+"Have you heard from Lord Mount-James?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What motive could your friend have in going to Lord Mount-James?"
+
+"Well, something was worrying him the night before, and if it was to do
+with money it is possible that he would make for his nearest relative
+who had so much of it, though from all I have heard he would not have
+much chance of getting it. Godfrey was not fond of the old man. He would
+not go if he could help it."
+
+"Well, we can soon determine that. If your friend was going to his
+relative, Lord Mount-James, you have then to explain the visit of this
+rough-looking fellow at so late an hour, and the agitation that was
+caused by his coming."
+
+Cyril Overton pressed his hands to his head. "I can make nothing of it,"
+said he.
+
+"Well, well, I have a clear day, and I shall be happy to look into the
+matter," said Holmes. "I should strongly recommend you to make your
+preparations for your match without reference to this young gentleman.
+It must, as you say, have been an overpowering necessity which tore him
+away in such a fashion, and the same necessity is likely to hold him
+away. Let us step round together to this hotel, and see if the porter
+can throw any fresh light upon the matter."
+
+Sherlock Holmes was a past-master in the art of putting a humble
+witness at his ease, and very soon, in the privacy of Godfrey Staunton's
+abandoned room, he had extracted all that the porter had to tell.
+The visitor of the night before was not a gentleman, neither was he
+a working man. He was simply what the porter described as a
+"medium-looking chap"; a man of fifty, beard grizzled, pale face,
+quietly dressed. He seemed himself to be agitated. The porter had
+observed his hand trembling when he had held out the note. Godfrey
+Staunton had crammed the note into his pocket. Staunton had not shaken
+hands with the man in the hall. They had exchanged a few sentences, of
+which the porter had only distinguished the one word "time." Then they
+had hurried off in the manner described. It was just half-past ten by
+the hall clock.
+
+"Let me see," said Holmes, seating himself on Staunton's bed. "You are
+the day porter, are you not?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I go off duty at eleven."
+
+"The night porter saw nothing, I suppose?"
+
+"No, sir; one theatre party came in late. No one else."
+
+"Were you on duty all day yesterday?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Did you take any messages to Mr. Staunton?"
+
+"Yes, sir; one telegram."
+
+"Ah! that's interesting. What o'clock was this?"
+
+"About six."
+
+"Where was Mr. Staunton when he received it?"
+
+"Here in his room."
+
+"Were you present when he opened it?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I waited to see if there was an answer."
+
+"Well, was there?"
+
+"Yes, sir. He wrote an answer."
+
+"Did you take it?"
+
+"No; he took it himself."
+
+"But he wrote it in your presence?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I was standing by the door, and he with his back turned at
+that table. When he had written it he said, 'All right, porter, I will
+take this myself.'"
+
+"What did he write it with?"
+
+"A pen, sir."
+
+"Was the telegraphic form one of these on the table?"
+
+"Yes, sir; it was the top one."
+
+Holmes rose. Taking the forms he carried them over to the window and
+carefully examined that which was uppermost.
+
+"It is a pity he did not write in pencil," said he, throwing them down
+again with a shrug of disappointment. "As you have no doubt frequently
+observed, Watson, the impression usually goes through--a fact which has
+dissolved many a happy marriage. However, I can find no trace here. I
+rejoice, however, to perceive that he wrote with a broad-pointed quill
+pen, and I can hardly doubt that we will find some impression upon this
+blotting-pad. Ah, yes, surely this is the very thing!"
+
+He tore off a strip of the blotting-paper and turned towards us the
+following hieroglyphic:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Cyril Overton was much excited. "Hold it to the glass!" he cried.
+
+"That is unnecessary," said Holmes. "The paper is thin, and the reverse
+will give the message. Here it is." He turned it over and we read:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"So that is the tail end of the telegram which Godfrey Staunton
+dispatched within a few hours of his disappearance. There are at least
+six words of the message which have escaped us; but what remains--'Stand
+by us for God's sake!'--proves that this young man saw a formidable
+danger which approached him, and from which someone else could protect
+him. 'US,' mark you! Another person was involved. Who should it be but
+the pale-faced, bearded man, who seemed himself in so nervous a state?
+What, then, is the connection between Godfrey Staunton and the bearded
+man? And what is the third source from which each of them sought for
+help against pressing danger? Our inquiry has already narrowed down to
+that."
+
+"We have only to find to whom that telegram is addressed," I suggested.
+
+"Exactly, my dear Watson. Your reflection, though profound, had already
+crossed my mind. But I dare say it may have come to your notice that if
+you walk into a post-office and demand to see the counterfoil of another
+man's message there may be some disinclination on the part of the
+officials to oblige you. There is so much red tape in these matters!
+However, I have no doubt that with a little delicacy and finesse the end
+may be attained. Meanwhile, I should like in your presence, Mr. Overton,
+to go through these papers which have been left upon the table."
+
+There were a number of letters, bills, and note-books, which Holmes
+turned over and examined with quick, nervous fingers and darting,
+penetrating eyes. "Nothing here," he said, at last. "By the way, I
+suppose your friend was a healthy young fellow--nothing amiss with him?"
+
+"Sound as a bell."
+
+"Have you ever known him ill?"
+
+"Not a day. He has been laid up with a hack, and once he slipped his
+knee-cap, but that was nothing."
+
+"Perhaps he was not so strong as you suppose. I should think he may have
+had some secret trouble. With your assent I will put one or two of these
+papers in my pocket, in case they should bear upon our future inquiry."
+
+"One moment! one moment!" cried a querulous voice, and we looked up to
+find a queer little old man, jerking and twitching in the doorway. He
+was dressed in rusty black, with a very broad brimmed top-hat and a
+loose white necktie--the whole effect being that of a very rustic parson
+or of an undertaker's mute. Yet, in spite of his shabby and even absurd
+appearance, his voice had a sharp crackle, and his manner a quick
+intensity which commanded attention.
+
+"Who are you, sir, and by what right do you touch this gentleman's
+papers?" he asked.
+
+"I am a private detective, and I am endeavouring to explain his
+disappearance."
+
+"Oh, you are, are you? And who instructed you, eh?"
+
+"This gentleman, Mr. Staunton's friend, was referred to me by Scotland
+Yard."
+
+"Who are you, sir?"
+
+"I am Cyril Overton."
+
+"Then it is you who sent me a telegram. My name is Lord Mount-James. I
+came round as quickly as the Bayswater 'bus would bring me. So you have
+instructed a detective?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And are you prepared to meet the cost?"
+
+"I have no doubt, sir, that my friend Godfrey, when we find him, will be
+prepared to do that."
+
+"But if he is never found, eh? Answer me that!"
+
+"In that case no doubt his family----"
+
+"Nothing of the sort, sir!" screamed the little man. "Don't look to me
+for a penny--not a penny! You understand that, Mr. Detective! I am all
+the family that this young man has got, and I tell you that I am not
+responsible. If he has any expectations it is due to the fact that I
+have never wasted money, and I do not propose to begin to do so now. As
+to those papers with which you are making so free, I may tell you that
+in case there should be anything of any value among them you will be
+held strictly to account for what you do with them."
+
+"Very good, sir," said Sherlock Holmes. "May I ask in the meanwhile
+whether you have yourself any theory to account for this young man's
+disappearance?"
+
+"No, sir, I have not. He is big enough and old enough to look after
+himself, and if he is so foolish as to lose himself I entirely refuse to
+accept the responsibility of hunting for him."
+
+"I quite understand your position," said Holmes, with a mischievous
+twinkle in his eyes. "Perhaps you don't quite understand mine. Godfrey
+Staunton appears to have been a poor man. If he has been kidnapped it
+could not have been for anything which he himself possesses. The fame
+of your wealth has gone abroad, Lord Mount-James, and it is entirely
+possible that a gang of thieves have secured your nephew in order to
+gain from him some information as to your house, your habits, and your
+treasure."
+
+The face of our unpleasant little visitor turned as white as his
+neckcloth.
+
+"Heavens, sir, what an idea! I never thought of such villainy! What
+inhuman rogues there are in the world! But Godfrey is a fine lad--a
+staunch lad. Nothing would induce him to give his old uncle away. I'll
+have the plate moved over to the bank this evening. In the meantime
+spare no pains, Mr. Detective! I beg you to leave no stone unturned to
+bring him safely back. As to money, well, so far as a fiver, or even a
+tenner, goes, you can always look to me."
+
+Even in his chastened frame of mind the noble miser could give us no
+information which could help us, for he knew little of the private life
+of his nephew. Our only clue lay in the truncated telegram, and with a
+copy of this in his hand Holmes set forth to find a second link for
+his chain. We had shaken off Lord Mount-James, and Overton had gone to
+consult with the other members of his team over the misfortune which had
+befallen them.
+
+There was a telegraph-office at a short distance from the hotel. We
+halted outside it.
+
+"It's worth trying, Watson," said Holmes. "Of course, with a warrant we
+could demand to see the counterfoils, but we have not reached that stage
+yet. I don't suppose they remember faces in so busy a place. Let us
+venture it."
+
+"I am sorry to trouble you," said he, in his blandest manner, to the
+young woman behind the grating; "there is some small mistake about a
+telegram I sent yesterday. I have had no answer, and I very much fear
+that I must have omitted to put my name at the end. Could you tell me if
+this was so?"
+
+The young woman turned over a sheaf of counterfoils.
+
+"What o'clock was it?" she asked.
+
+"A little after six."
+
+"Whom was it to?"
+
+Holmes put his finger to his lips and glanced at me. "The last words
+in it were 'for God's sake,'" he whispered, confidentially; "I am very
+anxious at getting no answer."
+
+The young woman separated one of the forms.
+
+"This is it. There is no name," said she, smoothing it out upon the
+counter.
+
+"Then that, of course, accounts for my getting no answer," said Holmes.
+"Dear me, how very stupid of me, to be sure! Good morning, miss, and
+many thanks for having relieved my mind." He chuckled and rubbed his
+hands when we found ourselves in the street once more.
+
+"Well?" I asked.
+
+"We progress, my dear Watson, we progress. I had seven different schemes
+for getting a glimpse of that telegram, but I could hardly hope to
+succeed the very first time."
+
+"And what have you gained?"
+
+"A starting-point for our investigation." He hailed a cab. "King's Cross
+Station," said he.
+
+"We have a journey, then?"
+
+"Yes; I think we must run down to Cambridge together. All the
+indications seem to me to point in that direction."
+
+"Tell me," I asked, as we rattled up Gray's Inn Road, "have you any
+suspicion yet as to the cause of the disappearance? I don't think that
+among all our cases I have known one where the motives are more obscure.
+Surely you don't really imagine that he may be kidnapped in order to
+give information against his wealthy uncle?"
+
+"I confess, my dear Watson, that that does not appeal to me as a very
+probable explanation. It struck me, however, as being the one which was
+most likely to interest that exceedingly unpleasant old person."
+
+"It certainly did that. But what are your alternatives?"
+
+"I could mention several. You must admit that it is curious and
+suggestive that this incident should occur on the eve of this important
+match, and should involve the only man whose presence seems essential
+to the success of the side. It may, of course, be coincidence, but it
+is interesting. Amateur sport is free from betting, but a good deal of
+outside betting goes on among the public, and it is possible that it
+might be worth someone's while to get at a player as the ruffians of
+the turf get at a race-horse. There is one explanation. A second
+very obvious one is that this young man really is the heir of a great
+property, however modest his means may at present be, and it is not
+impossible that a plot to hold him for ransom might be concocted."
+
+"These theories take no account of the telegram."
+
+"Quite true, Watson. The telegram still remains the only solid thing
+with which we have to deal, and we must not permit our attention to
+wander away from it. It is to gain light upon the purpose of this
+telegram that we are now upon our way to Cambridge. The path of our
+investigation is at present obscure, but I shall be very much surprised
+if before evening we have not cleared it up or made a considerable
+advance along it."
+
+It was already dark when we reached the old University city. Holmes took
+a cab at the station, and ordered the man to drive to the house of Dr.
+Leslie Armstrong. A few minutes later we had stopped at a large mansion
+in the busiest thoroughfare. We were shown in, and after a long wait
+were at last admitted into the consulting-room, where we found the
+doctor seated behind his table.
+
+It argues the degree in which I had lost touch with my profession that
+the name of Leslie Armstrong was unknown to me. Now I am aware that he
+is not only one of the heads of the medical school of the University,
+but a thinker of European reputation in more than one branch of science.
+Yet even without knowing his brilliant record one could not fail to be
+impressed by a mere glance at the man, the square, massive face, the
+brooding eyes under the thatched brows, and the granite moulding of the
+inflexible jaw. A man of deep character, a man with an alert mind, grim,
+ascetic, self-contained, formidable--so I read Dr. Leslie Armstrong. He
+held my friend's card in his hand, and he looked up with no very pleased
+expression upon his dour features.
+
+"I have heard your name, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and I am aware of your
+profession, one of which I by no means approve."
+
+"In that, doctor, you will find yourself in agreement with every
+criminal in the country," said my friend, quietly.
+
+"So far as your efforts are directed towards the suppression of crime,
+sir, they must have the support of every reasonable member of the
+community, though I cannot doubt that the official machinery is amply
+sufficient for the purpose. Where your calling is more open to criticism
+is when you pry into the secrets of private individuals, when you rake
+up family matters which are better hidden, and when you incidentally
+waste the time of men who are more busy than yourself. At the present
+moment, for example, I should be writing a treatise instead of
+conversing with you."
+
+"No doubt, doctor; and yet the conversation may prove more important
+than the treatise. Incidentally I may tell you that we are doing the
+reverse of what you very justly blame, and that we are endeavouring
+to prevent anything like public exposure of private matters which must
+necessarily follow when once the case is fairly in the hands of the
+official police. You may look upon me simply as an irregular pioneer who
+goes in front of the regular forces of the country. I have come to ask
+you about Mr. Godfrey Staunton."
+
+"What about him?"
+
+"You know him, do you not?"
+
+"He is an intimate friend of mine."
+
+"You are aware that he has disappeared?"
+
+"Ah, indeed!" There was no change of expression in the rugged features
+of the doctor.
+
+"He left his hotel last night. He has not been heard of."
+
+"No doubt he will return."
+
+"To-morrow is the 'Varsity football match."
+
+"I have no sympathy with these childish games. The young man's fate
+interests me deeply, since I know him and like him. The football match
+does not come within my horizon at all."
+
+"I claim your sympathy, then, in my investigation of Mr. Staunton's
+fate. Do you know where he is?"
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"You have not seen him since yesterday?"
+
+"No, I have not."
+
+"Was Mr. Staunton a healthy man?"
+
+"Absolutely."
+
+"Did you ever know him ill?"
+
+"Never."
+
+Holmes popped a sheet of paper before the doctor's eyes. "Then perhaps
+you will explain this receipted bill for thirteen guineas, paid by Mr.
+Godfrey Staunton last month to Dr. Leslie Armstrong of Cambridge. I
+picked it out from among the papers upon his desk."
+
+The doctor flushed with anger.
+
+"I do not feel that there is any reason why I should render an
+explanation to you, Mr. Holmes."
+
+Holmes replaced the bill in his note-book. "If you prefer a public
+explanation it must come sooner or later," said he. "I have already told
+you that I can hush up that which others will be bound to publish, and
+you would really be wiser to take me into your complete confidence."
+
+"I know nothing about it."
+
+"Did you hear from Mr. Staunton in London?"
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"Dear me, dear me; the post-office again!" Holmes sighed, wearily.
+"A most urgent telegram was dispatched to you from London by Godfrey
+Staunton at six-fifteen yesterday evening--a telegram which is
+undoubtedly associated with his disappearance--and yet you have not had
+it. It is most culpable. I shall certainly go down to the office here
+and register a complaint."
+
+Dr. Leslie Armstrong sprang up from behind his desk, and his dark face
+was crimson with fury.
+
+"I'll trouble you to walk out of my house, sir," said he. "You can tell
+your employer, Lord Mount-James, that I do not wish to have anything to
+do either with him or with his agents. No, sir, not another word!" He
+rang the bell furiously. "John, show these gentlemen out!" A pompous
+butler ushered us severely to the door, and we found ourselves in the
+street. Holmes burst out laughing.
+
+"Dr. Leslie Armstrong is certainly a man of energy and character," said
+he. "I have not seen a man who, if he turned his talents that way, was
+more calculated to fill the gap left by the illustrious Moriarty.
+And now, my poor Watson, here we are, stranded and friendless in this
+inhospitable town, which we cannot leave without abandoning our case.
+This little inn just opposite Armstrong's house is singularly adapted to
+our needs. If you would engage a front room and purchase the necessaries
+for the night, I may have time to make a few inquiries."
+
+These few inquiries proved, however, to be a more lengthy proceeding
+than Holmes had imagined, for he did not return to the inn until nearly
+nine o'clock. He was pale and dejected, stained with dust, and exhausted
+with hunger and fatigue. A cold supper was ready upon the table, and
+when his needs were satisfied and his pipe alight he was ready to take
+that half comic and wholly philosophic view which was natural to him
+when his affairs were going awry. The sound of carriage wheels caused
+him to rise and glance out of the window. A brougham and pair of greys
+under the glare of a gas-lamp stood before the doctor's door.
+
+"It's been out three hours," said Holmes; "started at half-past six, and
+here it is back again. That gives a radius of ten or twelve miles, and
+he does it once, or sometimes twice, a day."
+
+"No unusual thing for a doctor in practice."
+
+"But Armstrong is not really a doctor in practice. He is a lecturer and
+a consultant, but he does not care for general practice, which distracts
+him from his literary work. Why, then, does he make these long journeys,
+which must be exceedingly irksome to him, and who is it that he visits?"
+
+"His coachman----"
+
+"My dear Watson, can you doubt that it was to him that I first applied?
+I do not know whether it came from his own innate depravity or from the
+promptings of his master, but he was rude enough to set a dog at me.
+Neither dog nor man liked the look of my stick, however, and the matter
+fell through. Relations were strained after that, and further inquiries
+out of the question. All that I have learned I got from a friendly
+native in the yard of our own inn. It was he who told me of the doctor's
+habits and of his daily journey. At that instant, to give point to his
+words, the carriage came round to the door."
+
+"Could you not follow it?"
+
+"Excellent, Watson! You are scintillating this evening. The idea did
+cross my mind. There is, as you may have observed, a bicycle shop next
+to our inn. Into this I rushed, engaged a bicycle, and was able to get
+started before the carriage was quite out of sight. I rapidly overtook
+it, and then, keeping at a discreet distance of a hundred yards or so, I
+followed its lights until we were clear of the town. We had got well out
+on the country road when a somewhat mortifying incident occurred. The
+carriage stopped, the doctor alighted, walked swiftly back to where I
+had also halted, and told me in an excellent sardonic fashion that
+he feared the road was narrow, and that he hoped his carriage did not
+impede the passage of my bicycle. Nothing could have been more admirable
+than his way of putting it. I at once rode past the carriage, and,
+keeping to the main road, I went on for a few miles, and then halted in
+a convenient place to see if the carriage passed. There was no sign of
+it, however, and so it became evident that it had turned down one of
+several side roads which I had observed. I rode back, but again saw
+nothing of the carriage, and now, as you perceive, it has returned after
+me. Of course, I had at the outset no particular reason to connect
+these journeys with the disappearance of Godfrey Staunton, and was only
+inclined to investigate them on the general grounds that everything
+which concerns Dr. Armstrong is at present of interest to us; but, now
+that I find he keeps so keen a look-out upon anyone who may follow him
+on these excursions, the affair appears more important, and I shall not
+be satisfied until I have made the matter clear."
+
+"We can follow him to-morrow."
+
+"Can we? It is not so easy as you seem to think. You are not familiar
+with Cambridgeshire scenery, are you? It does not lend itself to
+concealment. All this country that I passed over to-night is as flat and
+clean as the palm of your hand, and the man we are following is no fool,
+as he very clearly showed to-night. I have wired to Overton to let us
+know any fresh London developments at this address, and in the meantime
+we can only concentrate our attention upon Dr. Armstrong, whose name
+the obliging young lady at the office allowed me to read upon the
+counterfoil of Staunton's urgent message. He knows where the young man
+is--to that I'll swear--and if he knows, then it must be our own fault
+if we cannot manage to know also. At present it must be admitted that
+the odd trick is in his possession, and, as you are aware, Watson, it is
+not my habit to leave the game in that condition."
+
+And yet the next day brought us no nearer to the solution of the
+mystery. A note was handed in after breakfast, which Holmes passed
+across to me with a smile.
+
+"Sir," it ran, "I can assure you that you are wasting your time in
+dogging my movements. I have, as you discovered last night, a window at
+the back of my brougham, and if you desire a twenty-mile ride which will
+lead you to the spot from which you started, you have only to follow me.
+Meanwhile, I can inform you that no spying upon me can in any way help
+Mr. Godfrey Staunton, and I am convinced that the best service you can
+do to that gentleman is to return at once to London and to report to
+your employer that you are unable to trace him. Your time in Cambridge
+will certainly be wasted.
+
+"Yours faithfully,
+
+"LESLIE ARMSTRONG."
+
+
+"An outspoken, honest antagonist is the doctor," said Holmes. "Well,
+well, he excites my curiosity, and I must really know more before I
+leave him."
+
+"His carriage is at his door now," said I. "There he is stepping into
+it. I saw him glance up at our window as he did so. Suppose I try my
+luck upon the bicycle?"
+
+"No, no, my dear Watson! With all respect for your natural acumen I do
+not think that you are quite a match for the worthy doctor. I think that
+possibly I can attain our end by some independent explorations of my
+own. I am afraid that I must leave you to your own devices, as the
+appearance of TWO inquiring strangers upon a sleepy countryside might
+excite more gossip than I care for. No doubt you will find some sights
+to amuse you in this venerable city, and I hope to bring back a more
+favourable report to you before evening."
+
+Once more, however, my friend was destined to be disappointed. He came
+back at night weary and unsuccessful.
+
+"I have had a blank day, Watson. Having got the doctor's general
+direction, I spent the day in visiting all the villages upon that side
+of Cambridge, and comparing notes with publicans and other local news
+agencies. I have covered some ground: Chesterton, Histon, Waterbeach,
+and Oakington have each been explored and have each proved
+disappointing. The daily appearance of a brougham and pair could hardly
+have been overlooked in such Sleepy Hollows. The doctor has scored once
+more. Is there a telegram for me?"
+
+"Yes; I opened it. Here it is: 'Ask for Pompey from Jeremy Dixon,
+Trinity College.' I don't understand it."
+
+"Oh, it is clear enough. It is from our friend Overton, and is in answer
+to a question from me. I'll just send round a note to Mr. Jeremy Dixon,
+and then I have no doubt that our luck will turn. By the way, is there
+any news of the match?"
+
+"Yes, the local evening paper has an excellent account in its last
+edition. Oxford won by a goal and two tries. The last sentences of
+the description say: 'The defeat of the Light Blues may be entirely
+attributed to the unfortunate absence of the crack International,
+Godfrey Staunton, whose want was felt at every instant of the game. The
+lack of combination in the three-quarter line and their weakness both
+in attack and defence more than neutralized the efforts of a heavy and
+hard-working pack.'"
+
+"Then our friend Overton's forebodings have been justified," said
+Holmes. "Personally I am in agreement with Dr. Armstrong, and football
+does not come within my horizon. Early to bed to-night, Watson, for I
+foresee that to-morrow may be an eventful day."
+
+
+I was horrified by my first glimpse of Holmes next morning, for he
+sat by the fire holding his tiny hypodermic syringe. I associated that
+instrument with the single weakness of his nature, and I feared the
+worst when I saw it glittering in his hand. He laughed at my expression
+of dismay, and laid it upon the table.
+
+"No, no, my dear fellow, there is no cause for alarm. It is not upon
+this occasion the instrument of evil, but it will rather prove to be the
+key which will unlock our mystery. On this syringe I base all my hopes.
+I have just returned from a small scouting expedition and everything is
+favourable. Eat a good breakfast, Watson, for I propose to get upon Dr.
+Armstrong's trail to-day, and once on it I will not stop for rest or
+food until I run him to his burrow."
+
+"In that case," said I, "we had best carry our breakfast with us, for he
+is making an early start. His carriage is at the door."
+
+"Never mind. Let him go. He will be clever if he can drive where I
+cannot follow him. When you have finished come downstairs with me, and
+I will introduce you to a detective who is a very eminent specialist in
+the work that lies before us."
+
+When we descended I followed Holmes into the stable yard, where
+he opened the door of a loose-box and led out a squat, lop-eared,
+white-and-tan dog, something between a beagle and a foxhound.
+
+"Let me introduce you to Pompey," said he. "Pompey is the pride of the
+local draghounds, no very great flier, as his build will show, but
+a staunch hound on a scent. Well, Pompey, you may not be fast, but
+I expect you will be too fast for a couple of middle-aged London
+gentlemen, so I will take the liberty of fastening this leather leash to
+your collar. Now, boy, come along, and show what you can do." He led him
+across to the doctor's door. The dog sniffed round for an instant, and
+then with a shrill whine of excitement started off down the street,
+tugging at his leash in his efforts to go faster. In half an hour, we
+were clear of the town and hastening down a country road.
+
+"What have you done, Holmes?" I asked.
+
+"A threadbare and venerable device, but useful upon occasion. I walked
+into the doctor's yard this morning and shot my syringe full of aniseed
+over the hind wheel. A draghound will follow aniseed from here to John
+o' Groat's, and our friend Armstrong would have to drive through the Cam
+before he would shake Pompey off his trail. Oh, the cunning rascal! This
+is how he gave me the slip the other night."
+
+The dog had suddenly turned out of the main road into a grass-grown
+lane. Half a mile farther this opened into another broad road, and the
+trail turned hard to the right in the direction of the town, which we
+had just quitted. The road took a sweep to the south of the town and
+continued in the opposite direction to that in which we started.
+
+"This DETOUR has been entirely for our benefit, then?" said Holmes. "No
+wonder that my inquiries among those villages led to nothing. The doctor
+has certainly played the game for all it is worth, and one would like to
+know the reason for such elaborate deception. This should be the village
+of Trumpington to the right of us. And, by Jove! here is the brougham
+coming round the corner. Quick, Watson, quick, or we are done!"
+
+He sprang through a gate into a field, dragging the reluctant Pompey
+after him. We had hardly got under the shelter of the hedge when the
+carriage rattled past. I caught a glimpse of Dr. Armstrong within, his
+shoulders bowed, his head sunk on his hands, the very image of distress.
+I could tell by my companion's graver face that he also had seen.
+
+"I fear there is some dark ending to our quest," said he. "It cannot
+be long before we know it. Come, Pompey! Ah, it is the cottage in the
+field!"
+
+There could be no doubt that we had reached the end of our journey.
+Pompey ran about and whined eagerly outside the gate where the marks of
+the brougham's wheels were still to be seen. A footpath led across to
+the lonely cottage. Holmes tied the dog to the hedge, and we hastened
+onwards. My friend knocked at the little rustic door, and knocked again
+without response. And yet the cottage was not deserted, for a low sound
+came to our ears--a kind of drone of misery and despair, which was
+indescribably melancholy. Holmes paused irresolute, and then he glanced
+back at the road which we had just traversed. A brougham was coming down
+it, and there could be no mistaking those grey horses.
+
+"By Jove, the doctor is coming back!" cried Holmes. "That settles it. We
+are bound to see what it means before he comes."
+
+He opened the door and we stepped into the hall. The droning sound
+swelled louder upon our ears until it became one long, deep wail of
+distress. It came from upstairs. Holmes darted up and I followed him. He
+pushed open a half-closed door and we both stood appalled at the sight
+before us.
+
+A woman, young and beautiful, was lying dead upon the bed. Her calm,
+pale face, with dim, wide-opened blue eyes, looked upward from amid a
+great tangle of golden hair. At the foot of the bed, half sitting, half
+kneeling, his face buried in the clothes, was a young man, whose frame
+was racked by his sobs. So absorbed was he by his bitter grief that he
+never looked up until Holmes's hand was on his shoulder.
+
+"Are you Mr. Godfrey Staunton?"
+
+"Yes, yes; I am--but you are too late. She is dead."
+
+The man was so dazed that he could not be made to understand that we
+were anything but doctors who had been sent to his assistance. Holmes
+was endeavouring to utter a few words of consolation, and to explain the
+alarm which had been caused to his friends by his sudden disappearance,
+when there was a step upon the stairs, and there was the heavy, stern,
+questioning face of Dr. Armstrong at the door.
+
+"So, gentlemen," said he, "you have attained your end, and have
+certainly chosen a particularly delicate moment for your intrusion. I
+would not brawl in the presence of death, but I can assure you that if I
+were a younger man your monstrous conduct would not pass with impunity."
+
+"Excuse me, Dr. Armstrong, I think we are a little at cross-purposes,"
+said my friend, with dignity. "If you could step downstairs with us we
+may each be able to give some light to the other upon this miserable
+affair."
+
+A minute later the grim doctor and ourselves were in the sitting-room
+below.
+
+"Well, sir?" said he.
+
+"I wish you to understand, in the first place, that I am not employed
+by Lord Mount-James, and that my sympathies in this matter are entirely
+against that nobleman. When a man is lost it is my duty to ascertain his
+fate, but having done so the matter ends so far as I am concerned; and
+so long as there is nothing criminal, I am much more anxious to hush up
+private scandals than to give them publicity. If, as I imagine, there is
+no breach of the law in this matter, you can absolutely depend upon my
+discretion and my co-operation in keeping the facts out of the papers."
+
+Dr. Armstrong took a quick step forward and wrung Holmes by the hand.
+
+"You are a good fellow," said he. "I had misjudged you. I thank Heaven
+that my compunction at leaving poor Staunton all alone in this plight
+caused me to turn my carriage back, and so to make your acquaintance.
+Knowing as much as you do, the situation is very easily explained.
+A year ago Godfrey Staunton lodged in London for a time, and became
+passionately attached to his landlady's daughter, whom he married. She
+was as good as she was beautiful, and as intelligent as she was good.
+No man need be ashamed of such a wife. But Godfrey was the heir to this
+crabbed old nobleman, and it was quite certain that the news of his
+marriage would have been the end of his inheritance. I knew the lad
+well, and I loved him for his many excellent qualities. I did all I
+could to help him to keep things straight. We did our very best to keep
+the thing from everyone, for when once such a whisper gets about it is
+not long before everyone has heard it. Thanks to this lonely cottage and
+his own discretion, Godfrey has up to now succeeded. Their secret was
+known to no one save to me and to one excellent servant who has at
+present gone for assistance to Trumpington. But at last there came a
+terrible blow in the shape of dangerous illness to his wife. It was
+consumption of the most virulent kind. The poor boy was half crazed with
+grief, and yet he had to go to London to play this match, for he could
+not get out of it without explanations which would expose his secret. I
+tried to cheer him up by a wire, and he sent me one in reply imploring
+me to do all I could. This was the telegram which you appear in some
+inexplicable way to have seen. I did not tell him how urgent the danger
+was, for I knew that he could do no good here, but I sent the truth to
+the girl's father, and he very injudiciously communicated it to Godfrey.
+The result was that he came straight away in a state bordering on
+frenzy, and has remained in the same state, kneeling at the end of her
+bed, until this morning death put an end to her sufferings. That is all,
+Mr. Holmes, and I am sure that I can rely upon your discretion and that
+of your friend."
+
+Holmes grasped the doctor's hand.
+
+"Come, Watson," said he, and we passed from that house of grief into the
+pale sunlight of the winter day.
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 28  SEPTEMBER, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+XII.--The Adventure of the Abbey Grange.
+
+
+It was on a bitterly cold and frosty morning during the winter of '97
+that I was awakened by a tugging at my shoulder. It was Holmes. The
+candle in his hand shone upon his eager, stooping face and told me at a
+glance that something was amiss.
+
+"Come, Watson, come!" he cried. "The game is afoot. Not a word! Into
+your clothes and come!"
+
+Ten minutes later we were both in a cab and rattling through the silent
+streets on our way to Charing Cross Station. The first faint winter's
+dawn was beginning to appear, and we could dimly see the occasional
+figure of an early workman as he passed us, blurred and indistinct in
+the opalescent London reek. Holmes nestled in silence into his heavy
+coat, and I was glad to do the same, for the air was most bitter and
+neither of us had broken our fast. It was not until we had consumed some
+hot tea at the station, and taken our places in the Kentish train, that
+we were sufficiently thawed, he to speak and I to listen. Holmes drew a
+note from his pocket and read it aloud:--
+
+               "Abbey Grange, Marsham, Kent,
+                            "3.30 a.m.
+   "MY DEAR MR. HOLMES,--I should be very glad of your immediate
+   assistance in what promises to be a most remarkable case.
+   It is something quite in your line.  Except for releasing the lady
+   I will see that everything is kept exactly as I have found it,
+   but I beg you not to lose an instant, as it is difficult to leave
+   Sir Eustace there.
+               "Yours faithfully, STANLEY HOPKINS."
+
+"Hopkins has called me in seven times, and on each occasion his summons
+has been entirely justified," said Holmes. "I fancy that every one of
+his cases has found its way into your collection, and I must admit,
+Watson, that you have some power of selection which atones for much
+which I deplore in your narratives. Your fatal habit of looking at
+everything from the point of view of a story instead of as a scientific
+exercise has ruined what might have been an instructive and even
+classical series of demonstrations. You slur over work of the utmost
+finesse and delicacy in order to dwell upon sensational details which
+may excite, but cannot possibly instruct, the reader."
+
+"Why do you not write them yourself?" I said, with some bitterness.
+
+"I will, my dear Watson, I will. At present I am, as you know, fairly
+busy, but I propose to devote my declining years to the composition of a
+text-book which shall focus the whole art of detection into one volume.
+Our present research appears to be a case of murder."
+
+"You think this Sir Eustace is dead, then?"
+
+"I should say so. Hopkins's writing shows considerable agitation, and he
+is not an emotional man. Yes, I gather there has been violence, and
+that the body is left for our inspection. A mere suicide would not
+have caused him to send for me. As to the release of the lady, it would
+appear that she has been locked in her room during the tragedy. We
+are moving in high life, Watson; crackling paper, 'E.B.' monogram,
+coat-of-arms, picturesque address. I think that friend Hopkins will live
+up to his reputation and that we shall have an interesting morning. The
+crime was committed before twelve last night."
+
+"How can you possibly tell?"
+
+"By an inspection of the trains and by reckoning the time. The local
+police had to be called in, they had to communicate with Scotland Yard,
+Hopkins had to go out, and he in turn had to send for me. All that makes
+a fair night's work. Well, here we are at Chislehurst Station, and we
+shall soon set our doubts at rest."
+
+A drive of a couple of miles through narrow country lanes brought us
+to a park gate, which was opened for us by an old lodge-keeper, whose
+haggard face bore the reflection of some great disaster. The avenue ran
+through a noble park, between lines of ancient elms, and ended in a low,
+widespread house, pillared in front after the fashion of Palladio. The
+central part was evidently of a great age and shrouded in ivy, but the
+large windows showed that modern changes had been carried out, and one
+wing of the house appeared to be entirely new. The youthful figure and
+alert, eager face of Inspector Stanley Hopkins confronted us in the open
+doorway.
+
+"I'm very glad you have come, Mr. Holmes. And you too, Dr. Watson! But,
+indeed, if I had my time over again I should not have troubled you, for
+since the lady has come to herself she has given so clear an account of
+the affair that there is not much left for us to do. You remember that
+Lewisham gang of burglars?"
+
+"What, the three Randalls?"
+
+"Exactly; the father and two sons. It's their work. I have not a doubt
+of it. They did a job at Sydenham a fortnight ago, and were seen and
+described. Rather cool to do another so soon and so near, but it is
+they, beyond all doubt. It's a hanging matter this time."
+
+"Sir Eustace is dead, then?"
+
+"Yes; his head was knocked in with his own poker."
+
+"Sir Eustace Brackenstall, the driver tells me."
+
+"Exactly--one of the richest men in Kent. Lady Brackenstall is in the
+morning-room. Poor lady, she has had a most dreadful experience. She
+seemed half dead when I saw her first. I think you had best see her
+and hear her account of the facts. Then we will examine the dining-room
+together."
+
+Lady Brackenstall was no ordinary person. Seldom have I seen so graceful
+a figure, so womanly a presence, and so beautiful a face. She was a
+blonde, golden-haired, blue-eyed, and would, no doubt, have had the
+perfect complexion which goes with such colouring had not her recent
+experience left her drawn and haggard. Her sufferings were physical as
+well as mental, for over one eye rose a hideous, plum-coloured swelling,
+which her maid, a tall, austere woman, was bathing assiduously with
+vinegar and water. The lady lay back exhausted upon a couch, but her
+quick, observant gaze as we entered the room, and the alert expression
+of her beautiful features, showed that neither her wits nor her courage
+had been shaken by her terrible experience. She was enveloped in a
+loose dressing-gown of blue and silver, but a black sequin-covered
+dinner-dress was hung upon the couch beside her.
+
+"I have told you all that happened, Mr. Hopkins," she said, wearily;
+"could you not repeat it for me? Well, if you think it necessary, I will
+tell these gentlemen what occurred. Have they been in the dining-room
+yet?"
+
+"I thought they had better hear your ladyship's story first."
+
+"I shall be glad when you can arrange matters. It is horrible to me to
+think of him still lying there." She shuddered and buried her face in
+her hands. As she did so the loose gown fell back from her forearms.
+Holmes uttered an exclamation.
+
+"You have other injuries, madam! What is this?" Two vivid red spots
+stood out on one of the white, round limbs. She hastily covered it.
+
+"It is nothing. It has no connection with the hideous business of last
+night. If you and your friend will sit down I will tell you all I can.
+
+"I am the wife of Sir Eustace Brackenstall. I have been married about
+a year. I suppose that it is no use my attempting to conceal that our
+marriage has not been a happy one. I fear that all our neighbours would
+tell you that, even if I were to attempt to deny it. Perhaps the fault
+may be partly mine. I was brought up in the freer, less conventional
+atmosphere of South Australia, and this English life, with its
+proprieties and its primness, is not congenial to me. But the main
+reason lies in the one fact which is notorious to everyone, and that is
+that Sir Eustace was a confirmed drunkard. To be with such a man for an
+hour is unpleasant. Can you imagine what it means for a sensitive
+and high-spirited woman to be tied to him for day and night? It is a
+sacrilege, a crime, a villainy to hold that such a marriage is binding.
+I say that these monstrous laws of yours will bring a curse upon the
+land--Heaven will not let such wickedness endure." For an instant she
+sat up, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes blazing from under the terrible
+mark upon her brow. Then the strong, soothing hand of the austere maid
+drew her head down on to the cushion, and the wild anger died away into
+passionate sobbing. At last she continued:--
+
+"I will tell you about last night. You are aware, perhaps, that in this
+house all servants sleep in the modern wing. This central block is made
+up of the dwelling-rooms, with the kitchen behind and our bedroom above.
+My maid Theresa sleeps above my room. There is no one else, and no sound
+could alarm those who are in the farther wing. This must have been well
+known to the robbers, or they would not have acted as they did.
+
+"Sir Eustace retired about half-past ten. The servants had already gone
+to their quarters. Only my maid was up, and she had remained in her room
+at the top of the house until I needed her services. I sat until after
+eleven in this room, absorbed in a book. Then I walked round to see
+that all was right before I went upstairs. It was my custom to do this
+myself, for, as I have explained, Sir Eustace was not always to be
+trusted. I went into the kitchen, the butler's pantry, the gun-room,
+the billiard-room, the drawing-room, and finally the dining-room. As I
+approached the window, which is covered with thick curtains, I suddenly
+felt the wind blow upon my face and realized that it was open. I flung
+the curtain aside and found myself face to face with a broad-shouldered,
+elderly man who had just stepped into the room. The window is a long
+French one, which really forms a door leading to the lawn. I held my
+bedroom candle lit in my hand, and, by its light, behind the first man I
+saw two others, who were in the act of entering. I stepped back, but the
+fellow was on me in an instant. He caught me first by the wrist and then
+by the throat. I opened my mouth to scream, but he struck me a savage
+blow with his fist over the eye, and felled me to the ground. I must
+have been unconscious for a few minutes, for when I came to myself I
+found that they had torn down the bell-rope and had secured me tightly
+to the oaken chair which stands at the head of the dining-room table. I
+was so firmly bound that I could not move, and a handkerchief round my
+mouth prevented me from uttering any sound. It was at this instant that
+my unfortunate husband entered the room. He had evidently heard some
+suspicious sounds, and he came prepared for such a scene as he found.
+He was dressed in his shirt and trousers, with his favourite blackthorn
+cudgel in his hand. He rushed at one of the burglars, but another--it
+was the elderly man--stooped, picked the poker out of the grate, and
+struck him a horrible blow as he passed. He fell without a groan, and
+never moved again. I fainted once more, but again it could only have
+been a very few minutes during which I was insensible. When I opened my
+eyes I found that they had collected the silver from the sideboard, and
+they had drawn a bottle of wine which stood there. Each of them had a
+glass in his hand. I have already told you, have I not, that one was
+elderly, with a beard, and the others young, hairless lads. They might
+have been a father with his two sons. They talked together in whispers.
+Then they came over and made sure that I was still securely bound.
+Finally they withdrew, closing the window after them. It was quite a
+quarter of an hour before I got my mouth free. When I did so my screams
+brought the maid to my assistance. The other servants were soon alarmed,
+and we sent for the local police, who instantly communicated with
+London. That is really all that I can tell you, gentlemen, and I trust
+that it will not be necessary for me to go over so painful a story
+again."
+
+"Any questions, Mr. Holmes?" asked Hopkins.
+
+"I will not impose any further tax upon Lady Brackenstall's patience and
+time," said Holmes. "Before I go into the dining-room I should like to
+hear your experience." He looked at the maid.
+
+"I saw the men before ever they came into the house," said she. "As I
+sat by my bedroom window I saw three men in the moonlight down by the
+lodge gate yonder, but I thought nothing of it at the time. It was more
+than an hour after that I heard my mistress scream, and down I ran, to
+find her, poor lamb, just as she says, and him on the floor with his
+blood and brains over the room. It was enough to drive a woman out of
+her wits, tied there, and her very dress spotted with him; but she never
+wanted courage, did Miss Mary Fraser of Adelaide, and Lady Brackenstall
+of Abbey Grange hasn't learned new ways. You've questioned her long
+enough, you gentlemen, and now she is coming to her own room, just with
+her old Theresa, to get the rest that she badly needs."
+
+With a motherly tenderness the gaunt woman put her arm round her
+mistress and led her from the room.
+
+"She has been with her all her life," said Hopkins. "Nursed her as
+a baby, and came with her to England when they first left Australia
+eighteen months ago. Theresa Wright is her name, and the kind of maid
+you don't pick up nowadays. This way, Mr. Holmes, if you please!"
+
+The keen interest had passed out of Holmes's expressive face, and I
+knew that with the mystery all the charm of the case had departed. There
+still remained an arrest to be effected, but what were these commonplace
+rogues that he should soil his hands with them? An abstruse and learned
+specialist who finds that he has been called in for a case of measles
+would experience something of the annoyance which I read in my
+friend's eyes. Yet the scene in the dining-room of the Abbey Grange was
+sufficiently strange to arrest his attention and to recall his waning
+interest.
+
+It was a very large and high chamber, with carved oak ceiling, oaken
+panelling, and a fine array of deer's heads and ancient weapons around
+the walls. At the farther end from the door was the high French window
+of which we had heard. Three smaller windows on the right-hand side
+filled the apartment with cold winter sunshine. On the left was a large,
+deep fireplace, with a massive, over-hanging oak mantelpiece. Beside
+the fireplace was a heavy oaken chair with arms and cross-bars at the
+bottom. In and out through the open woodwork was woven a crimson cord,
+which was secured at each side to the crosspiece below. In releasing the
+lady the cord had been slipped off her, but the knots with which it had
+been secured still remained. These details only struck our attention
+afterwards, for our thoughts were entirely absorbed by the terrible
+object which lay upon the tiger-skin hearthrug in front of the fire.
+
+It was the body of a tall, well-made man, about forty years of age.
+He lay upon his back, his face upturned, with his white teeth grinning
+through his short black beard. His two clenched hands were raised
+above his head, and a heavy blackthorn stick lay across them. His dark,
+handsome, aquiline features were convulsed into a spasm of vindictive
+hatred, which had set his dead face in a terribly fiendish expression.
+He had evidently been in his bed when the alarm had broken out, for he
+wore a foppish embroidered night-shirt, and his bare feet projected from
+his trousers. His head was horribly injured, and the whole room bore
+witness to the savage ferocity of the blow which had struck him down.
+Beside him lay the heavy poker, bent into a curve by the concussion.
+Holmes examined both it and the indescribable wreck which it had
+wrought.
+
+"He must be a powerful man, this elder Randall," he remarked.
+
+"Yes," said Hopkins. "I have some record of the fellow, and he is a
+rough customer."
+
+"You should have no difficulty in getting him."
+
+"Not the slightest. We have been on the look-out for him, and there was
+some idea that he had got away to America. Now that we know the gang are
+here I don't see how they can escape. We have the news at every seaport
+already, and a reward will be offered before evening. What beats me is
+how they could have done so mad a thing, knowing that the lady could
+describe them, and that we could not fail to recognise the description."
+
+"Exactly. One would have expected that they would have silenced Lady
+Brackenstall as well."
+
+"They may not have realized," I suggested, "that she had recovered from
+her faint."
+
+"That is likely enough. If she seemed to be senseless they would not
+take her life. What about this poor fellow, Hopkins? I seem to have
+heard some queer stories about him."
+
+"He was a good-hearted man when he was sober, but a perfect fiend when
+he was drunk, or rather when he was half drunk, for he seldom really
+went the whole way. The devil seemed to be in him at such times, and he
+was capable of anything. From what I hear, in spite of all his wealth
+and his title, he very nearly came our way once or twice. There was
+a scandal about his drenching a dog with petroleum and setting it on
+fire--her ladyship's dog, to make the matter worse--and that was only
+hushed up with difficulty. Then he threw a decanter at that maid,
+Theresa Wright; there was trouble about that. On the whole, and between
+ourselves, it will be a brighter house without him. What are you looking
+at now?"
+
+Holmes was down on his knees examining with great attention the
+knots upon the red cord with which the lady had been secured. Then he
+carefully scrutinized the broken and frayed end where it had snapped off
+when the burglar had dragged it down.
+
+"When this was pulled down the bell in the kitchen must have rung
+loudly," he remarked.
+
+"No one could hear it. The kitchen stands right at the back of the
+house."
+
+"How did the burglar know no one would hear it? How dared he pull at a
+bell-rope in that reckless fashion?"
+
+"Exactly, Mr. Holmes, exactly. You put the very question which I have
+asked myself again and again. There can be no doubt that this fellow
+must have known the house and its habits. He must have perfectly
+understood that the servants would all be in bed at that comparatively
+early hour, and that no one could possibly hear a bell ring in the
+kitchen. Therefore he must have been in close league with one of the
+servants. Surely that is evident. But there are eight servants, and all
+of good character."
+
+"Other things being equal," said Holmes, "one would suspect the one
+at whose head the master threw a decanter. And yet that would involve
+treachery towards the mistress to whom this woman seems devoted. Well,
+well, the point is a minor one, and when you have Randall you will
+probably find no difficulty in securing his accomplice. The lady's story
+certainly seems to be corroborated, if it needed corroboration, by every
+detail which we see before us." He walked to the French window and threw
+it open. "There are no signs here, but the ground is iron hard, and one
+would not expect them. I see that these candles on the mantelpiece have
+been lighted."
+
+"Yes; it was by their light and that of the lady's bedroom candle that
+the burglars saw their way about."
+
+"And what did they take?"
+
+"Well, they did not take much--only half-a-dozen articles of plate off
+the sideboard. Lady Brackenstall thinks that they were themselves so
+disturbed by the death of Sir Eustace that they did not ransack the
+house as they would otherwise have done."
+
+"No doubt that is true. And yet they drank some wine, I understand."
+
+"To steady their own nerves."
+
+"Exactly. These three glasses upon the sideboard have been untouched, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Yes; and the bottle stands as they left it."
+
+"Let us look at it. Halloa! halloa! what is this?"
+
+The three glasses were grouped together, all of them tinged with wine,
+and one of them containing some dregs of bees-wing. The bottle stood
+near them, two-thirds full, and beside it lay a long, deeply-stained
+cork. Its appearance and the dust upon the bottle showed that it was no
+common vintage which the murderers had enjoyed.
+
+A change had come over Holmes's manner. He had lost his listless
+expression, and again I saw an alert light of interest in his keen,
+deep-set eyes. He raised the cork and examined it minutely.
+
+"How did they draw it?" he asked.
+
+Hopkins pointed to a half-opened drawer. In it lay some table linen and
+a large cork-screw.
+
+"Did Lady Brackenstall say that screw was used?"
+
+"No; you remember that she was senseless at the moment when the bottle
+was opened."
+
+"Quite so. As a matter of fact that screw was NOT used. This bottle was
+opened by a pocket-screw, probably contained in a knife, and not more
+than an inch and a half long. If you examine the top of the cork you
+will observe that the screw was driven in three times before the cork
+was extracted. It has never been transfixed. This long screw would
+have transfixed it and drawn it with a single pull. When you catch this
+fellow you will find that he has one of these multiplex knives in his
+possession."
+
+"Excellent!" said Hopkins.
+
+"But these glasses do puzzle me, I confess. Lady Brackenstall actually
+SAW the three men drinking, did she not?"
+
+"Yes; she was clear about that."
+
+"Then there is an end of it. What more is to be said? And yet you must
+admit that the three glasses are very remarkable, Hopkins. What, you
+see nothing remarkable! Well, well, let it pass. Perhaps when a man has
+special knowledge and special powers like my own it rather encourages
+him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand. Of
+course, it must be a mere chance about the glasses. Well, good morning,
+Hopkins. I don't see that I can be of any use to you, and you appear
+to have your case very clear. You will let me know when Randall is
+arrested, and any further developments which may occur. I trust that I
+shall soon have to congratulate you upon a successful conclusion. Come,
+Watson, I fancy that we may employ ourselves more profitably at home."
+
+During our return journey I could see by Holmes's face that he was much
+puzzled by something which he had observed. Every now and then, by an
+effort, he would throw off the impression and talk as if the matter were
+clear, but then his doubts would settle down upon him again, and his
+knitted brows and abstracted eyes would show that his thoughts had gone
+back once more to the great dining-room of the Abbey Grange in which
+this midnight tragedy had been enacted. At last, by a sudden impulse,
+just as our train was crawling out of a suburban station, he sprang on
+to the platform and pulled me out after him.
+
+"Excuse me, my dear fellow," said he, as we watched the rear carriages
+of our train disappearing round a curve; "I am sorry to make you the
+victim of what may seem a mere whim, but on my life, Watson, I simply
+CAN'T leave that case in this condition. Every instinct that I possess
+cries out against it. It's wrong--it's all wrong--I'll swear that it's
+wrong. And yet the lady's story was complete, the maid's corroboration
+was sufficient, the detail was fairly exact. What have I to put against
+that? Three wine-glasses, that is all. But if I had not taken things for
+granted, if I had examined everything with the care which I would have
+shown had we approached the case DE NOVO and had no cut-and-dried story
+to warp my mind, would I not then have found something more definite
+to go upon? Of course I should. Sit down on this bench, Watson, until a
+train for Chislehurst arrives, and allow me to lay the evidence before
+you, imploring you in the first instance to dismiss from your mind the
+idea that anything which the maid or her mistress may have said must
+necessarily be true. The lady's charming personality must not be
+permitted to warp our judgment.
+
+"Surely there are details in her story which, if we looked at it in cold
+blood, would excite our suspicion. These burglars made a considerable
+haul at Sydenham a fortnight ago. Some account of them and of their
+appearance was in the papers, and would naturally occur to anyone who
+wished to invent a story in which imaginary robbers should play a part.
+As a matter of fact, burglars who have done a good stroke of business
+are, as a rule, only too glad to enjoy the proceeds in peace and quiet
+without embarking on another perilous undertaking. Again, it is unusual
+for burglars to operate at so early an hour; it is unusual for burglars
+to strike a lady to prevent her screaming, since one would imagine that
+was the sure way to make her scream; it is unusual for them to commit
+murder when their numbers are sufficient to overpower one man; it is
+unusual for them to be content with a limited plunder when there is
+much more within their reach; and finally I should say that it was very
+unusual for such men to leave a bottle half empty. How do all these
+unusuals strike you, Watson?"
+
+"Their cumulative effect is certainly considerable, and yet each of them
+is quite possible in itself. The most unusual thing of all, as it seems
+to me, is that the lady should be tied to the chair."
+
+"Well, I am not so clear about that, Watson; for it is evident that they
+must either kill her or else secure her in such a way that she could
+not give immediate notice of their escape. But at any rate I have shown,
+have I not, that there is a certain element of improbability about
+the lady's story? And now on the top of this comes the incident of the
+wine-glasses."
+
+"What about the wine-glasses?"
+
+"Can you see them in your mind's eye?"
+
+"I see them clearly."
+
+"We are told that three men drank from them. Does that strike you as
+likely?"
+
+"Why not? There was wine in each glass."
+
+"Exactly; but there was bees-wing only in one glass. You must have
+noticed that fact. What does that suggest to your mind?"
+
+"The last glass filled would be most likely to contain bees-wing."
+
+"Not at all. The bottle was full of it, and it is inconceivable that
+the first two glasses were clear and the third heavily charged with it.
+There are two possible explanations, and only two. One is that after the
+second glass was filled the bottle was violently agitated, and so the
+third glass received the bees-wing. That does not appear probable. No,
+no; I am sure that I am right."
+
+"What, then, do you suppose?"
+
+"That only two glasses were used, and that the dregs of both were poured
+into a third glass, so as to give the false impression that three people
+had been here. In that way all the bees-wing would be in the last glass,
+would it not? Yes, I am convinced that this is so. But if I have hit
+upon the true explanation of this one small phenomenon, then in
+an instant the case rises from the commonplace to the exceedingly
+remarkable, for it can only mean that Lady Brackenstall and her maid
+have deliberately lied to us, that not one word of their story is to be
+believed, that they have some very strong reason for covering the real
+criminal, and that we must construct our case for ourselves without any
+help from them. That is the mission which now lies before us, and here,
+Watson, is the Chislehurst train."
+
+The household of the Abbey Grange were much surprised at our return, but
+Sherlock Holmes, finding that Stanley Hopkins had gone off to report to
+head-quarters, took possession of the dining-room, locked the door upon
+the inside, and devoted himself for two hours to one of those minute
+and laborious investigations which formed the solid basis on which his
+brilliant edifices of deduction were reared. Seated in a corner like an
+interested student who observes the demonstration of his professor,
+I followed every step of that remarkable research. The window, the
+curtains, the carpet, the chair, the rope--each in turn was minutely
+examined and duly pondered. The body of the unfortunate baronet had been
+removed, but all else remained as we had seen it in the morning. Then,
+to my astonishment, Holmes climbed up on to the massive mantelpiece. Far
+above his head hung the few inches of red cord which were still attached
+to the wire. For a long time he gazed upward at it, and then in an
+attempt to get nearer to it he rested his knee upon a wooden bracket on
+the wall. This brought his hand within a few inches of the broken end of
+the rope, but it was not this so much as the bracket itself which seemed
+to engage his attention. Finally he sprang down with an ejaculation of
+satisfaction.
+
+"It's all right, Watson," said he. "We have got our case--one of the
+most remarkable in our collection. But, dear me, how slow-witted I have
+been, and how nearly I have committed the blunder of my lifetime! Now, I
+think that with a few missing links my chain is almost complete."
+
+"You have got your men?"
+
+"Man, Watson, man. Only one, but a very formidable person. Strong as a
+lion--witness the blow that bent that poker. Six foot three in height,
+active as a squirrel, dexterous with his fingers; finally, remarkably
+quick-witted, for this whole ingenious story is of his concoction. Yes,
+Watson, we have come upon the handiwork of a very remarkable individual.
+And yet in that bell-rope he has given us a clue which should not have
+left us a doubt."
+
+"Where was the clue?"
+
+"Well, if you were to pull down a bell-rope, Watson, where would you
+expect it to break? Surely at the spot where it is attached to the wire.
+Why should it break three inches from the top as this one has done?"
+
+"Because it is frayed there?"
+
+"Exactly. This end, which we can examine, is frayed. He was cunning
+enough to do that with his knife. But the other end is not frayed. You
+could not observe that from here, but if you were on the mantelpiece you
+would see that it is cut clean off without any mark of fraying whatever.
+You can reconstruct what occurred. The man needed the rope. He would not
+tear it down for fear of giving the alarm by ringing the bell. What did
+he do? He sprang up on the mantelpiece, could not quite reach it, put
+his knee on the bracket--you will see the impression in the dust--and so
+got his knife to bear upon the cord. I could not reach the place by at
+least three inches, from which I infer that he is at least three inches
+a bigger man than I. Look at that mark upon the seat of the oaken chair!
+What is it?"
+
+"Blood."
+
+"Undoubtedly it is blood. This alone puts the lady's story out of court.
+If she were seated on the chair when the crime was done, how comes
+that mark? No, no; she was placed in the chair AFTER the death of her
+husband. I'll wager that the black dress shows a corresponding mark to
+this. We have not yet met our Waterloo, Watson, but this is our Marengo,
+for it begins in defeat and ends in victory. I should like now to have a
+few words with the nurse Theresa. We must be wary for awhile, if we are
+to get the information which we want."
+
+She was an interesting person, this stern Australian nurse. Taciturn,
+suspicious, ungracious, it took some time before Holmes's pleasant
+manner and frank acceptance of all that she said thawed her into a
+corresponding amiability. She did not attempt to conceal her hatred for
+her late employer.
+
+"Yes, sir, it is true that he threw the decanter at me. I heard him call
+my mistress a name, and I told him that he would not dare to speak so if
+her brother had been there. Then it was that he threw it at me. He might
+have thrown a dozen if he had but left my bonny bird alone. He was for
+ever ill-treating her, and she too proud to complain. She will not even
+tell me all that he has done to her. She never told me of those marks on
+her arm that you saw this morning, but I know very well that they come
+from a stab with a hat-pin. The sly fiend--Heaven forgive me that I
+should speak of him so, now that he is dead, but a fiend he was if
+ever one walked the earth. He was all honey when first we met him, only
+eighteen months ago, and we both feel as if it were eighteen years. She
+had only just arrived in London. Yes, it was her first voyage--she had
+never been from home before. He won her with his title and his money
+and his false London ways. If she made a mistake she has paid for it,
+if ever a woman did. What month did we meet him? Well, I tell you it was
+just after we arrived. We arrived in June, and it was July. They were
+married in January of last year. Yes, she is down in the morning-room
+again, and I have no doubt she will see you, but you must not ask too
+much of her, for she has gone through all that flesh and blood will
+stand."
+
+Lady Brackenstall was reclining on the same couch, but looked brighter
+than before. The maid had entered with us, and began once more to foment
+the bruise upon her mistress's brow.
+
+"I hope," said the lady, "that you have not come to cross-examine me
+again?"
+
+"No," Holmes answered, in his gentlest voice, "I will not cause you any
+unnecessary trouble, Lady Brackenstall, and my whole desire is to make
+things easy for you, for I am convinced that you are a much-tried woman.
+If you will treat me as a friend and trust me you may find that I will
+justify your trust."
+
+"What do you want me to do?"
+
+"To tell me the truth."
+
+"Mr. Holmes!"
+
+"No, no, Lady Brackenstall, it is no use. You may have heard of any
+little reputation which I possess. I will stake it all on the fact that
+your story is an absolute fabrication."
+
+Mistress and maid were both staring at Holmes with pale faces and
+frightened eyes.
+
+"You are an impudent fellow!" cried Theresa. "Do you mean to say that my
+mistress has told a lie?"
+
+Holmes rose from his chair.
+
+"Have you nothing to tell me?"
+
+"I have told you everything."
+
+"Think once more, Lady Brackenstall. Would it not be better to be
+frank?"
+
+For an instant there was hesitation in her beautiful face. Then some new
+strong thought caused it to set like a mask.
+
+"I have told you all I know."
+
+Holmes took his hat and shrugged his shoulders. "I am sorry," he said,
+and without another word we left the room and the house. There was a
+pond in the park, and to this my friend led the way. It was frozen
+over, but a single hole was left for the convenience of a solitary
+swan. Holmes gazed at it and then passed on to the lodge gate. There
+he scribbled a short note for Stanley Hopkins and left it with the
+lodge-keeper.
+
+"It may be a hit or it may be a miss, but we are bound to do something
+for friend Hopkins, just to justify this second visit," said he. "I will
+not quite take him into my confidence yet. I think our next scene of
+operations must be the shipping office of the Adelaide-Southampton line,
+which stands at the end of Pall Mall, if I remember right. There is a
+second line of steamers which connect South Australia with England, but
+we will draw the larger cover first."
+
+Holmes's card sent in to the manager ensured instant attention, and he
+was not long in acquiring all the information which he needed. In June
+of '95 only one of their line had reached a home port. It was the ROCK
+OF GIBRALTAR, their largest and best boat. A reference to the passenger
+list showed that Miss Fraser of Adelaide, with her maid, had made the
+voyage in her. The boat was now on her way to Australia, somewhere to
+the south of the Suez Canal. Her officers were the same as in '95,
+with one exception. The first officer, Mr. Jack Croker, had been made a
+captain and was to take charge of their new ship, the BASS ROCK, sailing
+in two days' time from Southampton. He lived at Sydenham, but he was
+likely to be in that morning for instructions, if we cared to wait for
+him.
+
+No; Mr. Holmes had no desire to see him, but would be glad to know more
+about his record and character.
+
+His record was magnificent. There was not an officer in the fleet to
+touch him. As to his character, he was reliable on duty, but a wild,
+desperate fellow off the deck of his ship, hot-headed, excitable, but
+loyal, honest, and kind-hearted. That was the pith of the information
+with which Holmes left the office of the Adelaide-Southampton company.
+Thence he drove to Scotland Yard, but instead of entering he sat in
+his cab with his brows drawn down, lost in profound thought. Finally he
+drove round to the Charing Cross telegraph office, sent off a message,
+and then, at last, we made for Baker Street once more.
+
+"No, I couldn't do it, Watson," said he, as we re-entered our room.
+"Once that warrant was made out nothing on earth would save him. Once
+or twice in my career I feel that I have done more real harm by my
+discovery of the criminal than ever he had done by his crime. I have
+learned caution now, and I had rather play tricks with the law of
+England than with my own conscience. Let us know a little more before we
+act."
+
+Before evening we had a visit from Inspector Stanley Hopkins. Things
+were not going very well with him.
+
+"I believe that you are a wizard, Mr. Holmes. I really do sometimes
+think that you have powers that are not human. Now, how on earth could
+you know that the stolen silver was at the bottom of that pond?"
+
+"I didn't know it."
+
+"But you told me to examine it."
+
+"You got it, then?"
+
+"Yes, I got it."
+
+"I am very glad if I have helped you."
+
+"But you haven't helped me. You have made the affair far more difficult.
+What sort of burglars are they who steal silver and then throw it into
+the nearest pond?"
+
+"It was certainly rather eccentric behaviour. I was merely going on the
+idea that if the silver had been taken by persons who did not want it,
+who merely took it for a blind as it were, then they would naturally be
+anxious to get rid of it."
+
+"But why should such an idea cross your mind?"
+
+"Well, I thought it was possible. When they came out through the French
+window there was the pond, with one tempting little hole in the ice,
+right in front of their noses. Could there be a better hiding-place?"
+
+"Ah, a hiding-place--that is better!" cried Stanley Hopkins. "Yes, yes,
+I see it all now! It was early, there were folk upon the roads, they
+were afraid of being seen with the silver, so they sank it in the pond,
+intending to return for it when the coast was clear. Excellent, Mr.
+Holmes--that is better than your idea of a blind."
+
+"Quite so; you have got an admirable theory. I have no doubt that my
+own ideas were quite wild, but you must admit that they have ended in
+discovering the silver."
+
+"Yes, sir, yes. It was all your doing. But I have had a bad set-back."
+
+"A set-back?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes. The Randall gang were arrested in New York this
+morning."
+
+"Dear me, Hopkins! That is certainly rather against your theory that
+they committed a murder in Kent last night."
+
+"It is fatal, Mr. Holmes, absolutely fatal. Still, there are other gangs
+of three besides the Randalls, or it may be some new gang of which the
+police have never heard."
+
+"Quite so; it is perfectly possible. What, are you off?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes; there is no rest for me until I have got to the bottom
+of the business. I suppose you have no hint to give me?"
+
+"I have given you one."
+
+"Which?"
+
+"Well, I suggested a blind."
+
+"But why, Mr. Holmes, why?"
+
+"Ah, that's the question, of course. But I commend the idea to your
+mind. You might possibly find that there was something in it. You won't
+stop for dinner? Well, good-bye, and let us know how you get on."
+
+Dinner was over and the table cleared before Holmes alluded to the
+matter again. He had lit his pipe and held his slippered feet to the
+cheerful blaze of the fire. Suddenly he looked at his watch.
+
+"I expect developments, Watson."
+
+"When?"
+
+"Now--within a few minutes. I dare say you thought I acted rather badly
+to Stanley Hopkins just now?"
+
+"I trust your judgment."
+
+"A very sensible reply, Watson. You must look at it this way: what
+I know is unofficial; what he knows is official. I have the right to
+private judgment, but he has none. He must disclose all, or he is a
+traitor to his service. In a doubtful case I would not put him in so
+painful a position, and so I reserve my information until my own mind is
+clear upon the matter."
+
+"But when will that be?"
+
+"The time has come. You will now be present at the last scene of a
+remarkable little drama."
+
+There was a sound upon the stairs, and our door was opened to admit as
+fine a specimen of manhood as ever passed through it. He was a very
+tall young man, golden-moustached, blue-eyed, with a skin which had been
+burned by tropical suns, and a springy step which showed that the huge
+frame was as active as it was strong. He closed the door behind him, and
+then he stood with clenched hands and heaving breast, choking down some
+overmastering emotion.
+
+"Sit down, Captain Croker. You got my telegram?"
+
+Our visitor sank into an arm-chair and looked from one to the other of
+us with questioning eyes.
+
+"I got your telegram, and I came at the hour you said. I heard that you
+had been down to the office. There was no getting away from you. Let's
+hear the worst. What are you going to do with me? Arrest me? Speak out,
+man! You can't sit there and play with me like a cat with a mouse."
+
+"Give him a cigar," said Holmes. "Bite on that, Captain Croker, and
+don't let your nerves run away with you. I should not sit here smoking
+with you if I thought that you were a common criminal, you may be sure
+of that. Be frank with me, and we may do some good. Play tricks with me,
+and I'll crush you."
+
+"What do you wish me to do?"
+
+"To give me a true account of all that happened at the Abbey Grange last
+night--a TRUE account, mind you, with nothing added and nothing taken
+off. I know so much already that if you go one inch off the straight
+I'll blow this police whistle from my window and the affair goes out of
+my hands for ever."
+
+The sailor thought for a little. Then he struck his leg with his great,
+sun-burned hand.
+
+"I'll chance it," he cried. "I believe you are a man of your word, and
+a white man, and I'll tell you the whole story. But one thing I will say
+first. So far as I am concerned I regret nothing and I fear nothing, and
+I would do it all again and be proud of the job. Curse the beast, if
+he had as many lives as a cat he would owe them all to me! But it's
+the lady, Mary--Mary Fraser--for never will I call her by that accursed
+name. When I think of getting her into trouble, I who would give my life
+just to bring one smile to her dear face, it's that that turns my soul
+into water. And yet--and yet--what less could I do? I'll tell you my
+story, gentlemen, and then I'll ask you as man to man what less could I
+do.
+
+"I must go back a bit. You seem to know everything, so I expect that you
+know that I met her when she was a passenger and I was first officer
+of the ROCK OF GIBRALTAR. From the first day I met her she was the only
+woman to me. Every day of that voyage I loved her more, and many a time
+since have I kneeled down in the darkness of the night watch and kissed
+the deck of that ship because I knew her dear feet had trod it. She was
+never engaged to me. She treated me as fairly as ever a woman treated
+a man. I have no complaint to make. It was all love on my side, and all
+good comradeship and friendship on hers. When we parted she was a free
+woman, but I could never again be a free man.
+
+"Next time I came back from sea I heard of her marriage. Well, why
+shouldn't she marry whom she liked? Title and money--who could carry
+them better than she? She was born for all that is beautiful and dainty.
+I didn't grieve over her marriage. I was not such a selfish hound as
+that. I just rejoiced that good luck had come her way, and that she had
+not thrown herself away on a penniless sailor. That's how I loved Mary
+Fraser.
+
+"Well, I never thought to see her again; but last voyage I was promoted,
+and the new boat was not yet launched, so I had to wait for a couple of
+months with my people at Sydenham. One day out in a country lane I met
+Theresa Wright, her old maid. She told me about her, about him, about
+everything. I tell you, gentlemen, it nearly drove me mad. This drunken
+hound, that he should dare to raise his hand to her whose boots he was
+not worthy to lick! I met Theresa again. Then I met Mary herself--and
+met her again. Then she would meet me no more. But the other day I had a
+notice that I was to start on my voyage within a week, and I determined
+that I would see her once before I left. Theresa was always my friend,
+for she loved Mary and hated this villain almost as much as I did. From
+her I learned the ways of the house. Mary used to sit up reading in her
+own little room downstairs. I crept round there last night and scratched
+at the window. At first she would not open to me, but in her heart I
+know that now she loves me, and she could not leave me in the frosty
+night. She whispered to me to come round to the big front window, and
+I found it open before me so as to let me into the dining-room. Again
+I heard from her own lips things that made my blood boil, and again
+I cursed this brute who mishandled the woman that I loved. Well,
+gentlemen, I was standing with her just inside the window, in all
+innocence, as Heaven is my judge, when he rushed like a madman into the
+room, called her the vilest name that a man could use to a woman, and
+welted her across the face with the stick he had in his hand. I had
+sprung for the poker, and it was a fair fight between us. See here on my
+arm where his first blow fell. Then it was my turn, and I went through
+him as if he had been a rotten pumpkin. Do you think I was sorry? Not I!
+It was his life or mine, but far more than that it was his life or hers,
+for how could I leave her in the power of this madman? That was how I
+killed him. Was I wrong? Well, then, what would either of you gentlemen
+have done if you had been in my position?"
+
+"She had screamed when he struck her, and that brought old Theresa down
+from the room above. There was a bottle of wine on the sideboard, and I
+opened it and poured a little between Mary's lips, for she was half dead
+with the shock. Then I took a drop myself. Theresa was as cool as
+ice, and it was her plot as much as mine. We must make it appear that
+burglars had done the thing. Theresa kept on repeating our story to her
+mistress, while I swarmed up and cut the rope of the bell. Then I lashed
+her in her chair, and frayed out the end of the rope to make it look
+natural, else they would wonder how in the world a burglar could have
+got up there to cut it. Then I gathered up a few plates and pots of
+silver, to carry out the idea of a robbery, and there I left them with
+orders to give the alarm when I had a quarter of an hour's start. I
+dropped the silver into the pond and made off for Sydenham, feeling that
+for once in my life I had done a real good night's work. And that's the
+truth and the whole truth, Mr. Holmes, if it costs me my neck."
+
+Holmes smoked for some time in silence. Then he crossed the room and
+shook our visitor by the hand.
+
+"That's what I think," said he. "I know that every word is true, for you
+have hardly said a word which I did not know. No one but an acrobat or a
+sailor could have got up to that bell-rope from the bracket, and no one
+but a sailor could have made the knots with which the cord was fastened
+to the chair. Only once had this lady been brought into contact with
+sailors, and that was on her voyage, and it was someone of her own class
+of life, since she was trying hard to shield him and so showing that she
+loved him. You see how easy it was for me to lay my hands upon you when
+once I had started upon the right trail."
+
+"I thought the police never could have seen through our dodge."
+
+"And the police haven't; nor will they, to the best of my belief. Now,
+look here, Captain Croker, this is a very serious matter, though I am
+willing to admit that you acted under the most extreme provocation to
+which any man could be subjected. I am not sure that in defence of your
+own life your action will not be pronounced legitimate. However, that is
+for a British jury to decide. Meanwhile I have so much sympathy for you
+that if you choose to disappear in the next twenty-four hours I will
+promise you that no one will hinder you."
+
+"And then it will all come out?"
+
+"Certainly it will come out."
+
+The sailor flushed with anger.
+
+"What sort of proposal is that to make a man? I know enough of law to
+understand that Mary would be had as accomplice. Do you think I would
+leave her alone to face the music while I slunk away? No, sir; let them
+do their worst upon me, but for Heaven's sake, Mr. Holmes, find some way
+of keeping my poor Mary out of the courts."
+
+Holmes for a second time held out his hand to the sailor.
+
+"I was only testing you, and you ring true every time. Well, it is a
+great responsibility that I take upon myself, but I have given Hopkins
+an excellent hint, and if he can't avail himself of it I can do no more.
+See here, Captain Croker, we'll do this in due form of law. You are the
+prisoner. Watson, you are a British jury, and I never met a man who was
+more eminently fitted to represent one. I am the judge. Now, gentleman
+of the jury, you have heard the evidence. Do you find the prisoner
+guilty or not guilty?"
+
+"Not guilty, my lord," said I.
+
+"Vox populi, vox Dei. You are acquitted, Captain Croker. So long as the
+law does not find some other victim you are safe from me. Come back
+to this lady in a year, and may her future and yours justify us in the
+judgment which we have pronounced this night."
+
+
+*****
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 28  DECEMBER, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+
+
+XIII.--The Adventure of the Second Stain.
+
+
+I HAD intended "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange" to be the last of
+those exploits of my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, which I should ever
+communicate to the public. This resolution of mine was not due to any
+lack of material, since I have notes of many hundreds of cases to which
+I have never alluded, nor was it caused by any waning interest on the
+part of my readers in the singular personality and unique methods of
+this remarkable man. The real reason lay in the reluctance which Mr.
+Holmes has shown to the continued publication of his experiences.
+So long as he was in actual professional practice the records of
+his successes were of some practical value to him; but since he
+has definitely retired from London and betaken himself to study and
+bee-farming on the Sussex Downs, notoriety has become hateful to him,
+and he has peremptorily requested that his wishes in this matter should
+be strictly observed. It was only upon my representing to him that I
+had given a promise that "The Adventure of the Second Stain" should be
+published when the times were ripe, and pointing out to him that it is
+only appropriate that this long series of episodes should culminate in
+the most important international case which he has ever been called
+upon to handle, that I at last succeeded in obtaining his consent that a
+carefully-guarded account of the incident should at last be laid before
+the public. If in telling the story I seem to be somewhat vague in
+certain details the public will readily understand that there is an
+excellent reason for my reticence.
+
+
+It was, then, in a year, and even in a decade, that shall be nameless,
+that upon one Tuesday morning in autumn we found two visitors of
+European fame within the walls of our humble room in Baker Street. The
+one, austere, high-nosed, eagle-eyed, and dominant, was none other than
+the illustrious Lord Bellinger, twice Premier of Britain. The other,
+dark, clear-cut, and elegant, hardly yet of middle age, and endowed with
+every beauty of body and of mind, was the Right Honourable Trelawney
+Hope, Secretary for European Affairs, and the most rising statesman in
+the country. They sat side by side upon our paper-littered settee,
+and it was easy to see from their worn and anxious faces that it was
+business of the most pressing importance which had brought them. The
+Premier's thin, blue-veined hands were clasped tightly over the ivory
+head of his umbrella, and his gaunt, ascetic face looked gloomily from
+Holmes to me. The European Secretary pulled nervously at his moustache
+and fidgeted with the seals of his watch-chain.
+
+"When I discovered my loss, Mr. Holmes, which was at eight o'clock this
+morning, I at once informed the Prime Minister. It was at his suggestion
+that we have both come to you."
+
+"Have you informed the police?"
+
+"No, sir," said the Prime Minister, with the quick, decisive manner for
+which he was famous. "We have not done so, nor is it possible that we
+should do so. To inform the police must, in the long run, mean to inform
+the public. This is what we particularly desire to avoid."
+
+"And why, sir?"
+
+"Because the document in question is of such immense importance that
+its publication might very easily--I might almost say probably--lead to
+European complications of the utmost moment. It is not too much to say
+that peace or war may hang upon the issue. Unless its recovery can be
+attended with the utmost secrecy, then it may as well not be recovered
+at all, for all that is aimed at by those who have taken it is that its
+contents should be generally known."
+
+"I understand. Now, Mr. Trelawney Hope, I should be much obliged if
+you would tell me exactly the circumstances under which this document
+disappeared."
+
+"That can be done in a very few words, Mr. Holmes. The letter--for it
+was a letter from a foreign potentate--was received six days ago. It
+was of such importance that I have never left it in my safe, but I have
+taken it across each evening to my house in Whitehall Terrace, and kept
+it in my bedroom in a locked despatch-box. It was there last night. Of
+that I am certain. I actually opened the box while I was dressing for
+dinner, and saw the document inside. This morning it was gone. The
+despatch-box had stood beside the glass upon my dressing-table all
+night. I am a light sleeper, and so is my wife. We are both prepared to
+swear that no one could have entered the room during the night. And yet
+I repeat that the paper is gone."
+
+"What time did you dine?"
+
+"Half-past seven."
+
+"How long was it before you went to bed?"
+
+"My wife had gone to the theatre. I waited up for her. It was half-past
+eleven before we went to our room."
+
+"Then for four hours the despatch-box had lain unguarded?"
+
+"No one is ever permitted to enter that room save the housemaid in the
+morning, and my valet, or my wife's maid, during the rest of the day.
+They are both trusty servants who have been with us for some time.
+Besides, neither of them could possibly have known that there was
+anything more valuable than the ordinary departmental papers in my
+despatch-box."
+
+"Who did know of the existence of that letter?"
+
+"No one in the house."
+
+"Surely your wife knew?"
+
+"No, sir; I had said nothing to my wife until I missed the paper this
+morning."
+
+The Premier nodded approvingly.
+
+"I have long known, sir, how high is your sense of public duty," said
+he. "I am convinced that in the case of a secret of this importance it
+would rise superior to the most intimate domestic ties."
+
+The European Secretary bowed.
+
+"You do me no more than justice, sir. Until this morning I have never
+breathed one word to my wife upon this matter."
+
+"Could she have guessed?"
+
+"No, Mr. Holmes, she could not have guessed--nor could anyone have
+guessed."
+
+"Have you lost any documents before?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Who is there in England who did know of the existence of this letter?"
+
+"Each member of the Cabinet was informed of it yesterday; but the pledge
+of secrecy which attends every Cabinet meeting was increased by the
+solemn warning which was given by the Prime Minister. Good heavens,
+to think that within a few hours I should myself have lost it!" His
+handsome face was distorted with a spasm of despair, and his hands
+tore at his hair. For a moment we caught a glimpse of the natural man,
+impulsive, ardent, keenly sensitive. The next the aristocratic mask was
+replaced, and the gentle voice had returned. "Besides the members of
+the Cabinet there are two, or possibly three, departmental officials who
+know of the letter. No one else in England, Mr. Holmes, I assure you."
+
+"But abroad?"
+
+"I believe that no one abroad has seen it save the man who wrote it. I
+am well convinced that his Ministers--that the usual official channels
+have not been employed."
+
+Holmes considered for some little time.
+
+"Now, sir, I must ask you more particularly what this document is, and
+why its disappearance should have such momentous consequences?"
+
+The two statesmen exchanged a quick glance and the Premier's shaggy
+eyebrows gathered in a frown.
+
+"Mr. Holmes, the envelope is a long, thin one of pale blue colour. There
+is a seal of red wax stamped with a crouching lion. It is addressed in
+large, bold handwriting to--"
+
+"I fear, sir," said Holmes, "that, interesting and indeed essential as
+these details are, my inquiries must go more to the root of things. What
+WAS the letter?"
+
+"That is a State secret of the utmost importance, and I fear that I
+cannot tell you, nor do I see that it is necessary. If by the aid of the
+powers which you are said to possess you can find such an envelope as
+I describe with its enclosure, you will have deserved well of your
+country, and earned any reward which it lies in our power to bestow."
+
+Sherlock Holmes rose with a smile.
+
+"You are two of the most busy men in the country," said he, "and in
+my own small way I have also a good many calls upon me. I regret
+exceedingly that I cannot help you in this matter, and any continuation
+of this interview would be a waste of time."
+
+The Premier sprang to his feet with that quick, fierce gleam of his
+deep-set eyes before which a Cabinet has cowered. "I am not accustomed,
+sir----" he began, but mastered his anger and resumed his seat. For a
+minute or more we all sat in silence. Then the old statesman shrugged
+his shoulders.
+
+"We must accept your terms, Mr. Holmes. No doubt you are right, and
+it is unreasonable for us to expect you to act unless we give you our
+entire confidence."
+
+"I agree with you, sir," said the younger statesman.
+
+"Then I will tell you, relying entirely upon your honour and that of
+your colleague, Dr. Watson. I may appeal to your patriotism also, for
+I could not imagine a greater misfortune for the country than that this
+affair should come out."
+
+"You may safely trust us."
+
+"The letter, then, is from a certain foreign potentate who has been
+ruffled by some recent Colonial developments of this country. It
+has been written hurriedly and upon his own responsibility entirely.
+Inquiries have shown that his Ministers know nothing of the matter.
+At the same time it is couched in so unfortunate a manner, and certain
+phrases in it are of so provocative a character, that its publication
+would undoubtedly lead to a most dangerous state of feeling in this
+country. There would be such a ferment, sir, that I do not hesitate to
+say that within a week of the publication of that letter this country
+would be involved in a great war."
+
+Holmes wrote a name upon a slip of paper and handed it to the Premier.
+
+"Exactly. It was he. And it is this letter--this letter which may well
+mean the expenditure of a thousand millions and the lives of a hundred
+thousand men--which has become lost in this unaccountable fashion."
+
+"Have you informed the sender?"
+
+"Yes, sir, a cipher telegram has been despatched."
+
+"Perhaps he desires the publication of the letter."
+
+"No, sir, we have strong reason to believe that he already understands
+that he has acted in an indiscreet and hot-headed manner. It would be a
+greater blow to him and to his country than to us if this letter were to
+come out."
+
+"If this is so, whose interest is it that the letter should come out?
+Why should anyone desire to steal it or to publish it?"
+
+"There, Mr. Holmes, you take me into regions of high international
+politics. But if you consider the European situation you will have no
+difficulty in perceiving the motive. The whole of Europe is an armed
+camp. There is a double league which makes a fair balance of military
+power. Great Britain holds the scales. If Britain were driven into
+war with one confederacy, it would assure the supremacy of the other
+confederacy, whether they joined in the war or not. Do you follow?"
+
+"Very clearly. It is then the interest of the enemies of this potentate
+to secure and publish this letter, so as to make a breach between his
+country and ours?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And to whom would this document be sent if it fell into the hands of an
+enemy?"
+
+"To any of the great Chancelleries of Europe. It is probably speeding on
+its way thither at the present instant as fast as steam can take it."
+
+Mr. Trelawney Hope dropped his head on his chest and groaned aloud. The
+Premier placed his hand kindly upon his shoulder.
+
+"It is your misfortune, my dear fellow. No one can blame you. There is
+no precaution which you have neglected. Now, Mr. Holmes, you are in full
+possession of the facts. What course do you recommend?"
+
+Holmes shook his head mournfully.
+
+"You think, sir, that unless this document is recovered there will be
+war?"
+
+"I think it is very probable."
+
+"Then, sir, prepare for war."
+
+"That is a hard saying, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"Consider the facts, sir. It is inconceivable that it was taken after
+eleven-thirty at night, since I understand that Mr. Hope and his wife
+were both in the room from that hour until the loss was found out.
+It was taken, then, yesterday evening between seven-thirty and
+eleven-thirty, probably near the earlier hour, since whoever took it
+evidently knew that it was there and would naturally secure it as early
+as possible. Now, sir, if a document of this importance were taken at
+that hour, where can it be now? No one has any reason to retain it. It
+has been passed rapidly on to those who need it. What chance have we now
+to overtake or even to trace it? It is beyond our reach."
+
+The Prime Minister rose from the settee.
+
+"What you say is perfectly logical, Mr. Holmes. I feel that the matter
+is indeed out of our hands."
+
+"Let us presume, for argument's sake, that the document was taken by the
+maid or by the valet----"
+
+"They are both old and tried servants."
+
+"I understand you to say that your room is on the second floor, that
+there is no entrance from without, and that from within no one could go
+up unobserved. It must, then, be somebody in the house who has taken it.
+To whom would the thief take it? To one of several international spies
+and secret agents, whose names are tolerably familiar to me. There are
+three who may be said to be the heads of their profession. I will begin
+my research by going round and finding if each of them is at his post.
+If one is missing--especially if he has disappeared since last night--we
+will have some indication as to where the document has gone."
+
+"Why should he be missing?" asked the European Secretary. "He would take
+the letter to an Embassy in London, as likely as not."
+
+"I fancy not. These agents work independently, and their relations with
+the Embassies are often strained."
+
+The Prime Minister nodded his acquiescence.
+
+"I believe you are right, Mr. Holmes. He would take so valuable a prize
+to head-quarters with his own hands. I think that your course of action
+is an excellent one. Meanwhile, Hope, we cannot neglect all our other
+duties on account of this one misfortune. Should there be any fresh
+developments during the day we shall communicate with you, and you will
+no doubt let us know the results of your own inquiries."
+
+The two statesmen bowed and walked gravely from the room.
+
+When our illustrious visitors had departed Holmes lit his pipe in
+silence, and sat for some time lost in the deepest thought. I had opened
+the morning paper and was immersed in a sensational crime which had
+occurred in London the night before, when my friend gave an exclamation,
+sprang to his feet, and laid his pipe down upon the mantelpiece.
+
+"Yes," said he, "there is no better way of approaching it. The situation
+is desperate, but not hopeless. Even now, if we could be sure which of
+them has taken it, it is just possible that it has not yet passed out of
+his hands. After all, it is a question of money with these fellows, and
+I have the British Treasury behind me. If it's on the market I'll buy
+it--if it means another penny on the income-tax. It is conceivable
+that the fellow might hold it back to see what bids come from this
+side before he tries his luck on the other. There are only those three
+capable of playing so bold a game; there are Oberstein, La Rothiere, and
+Eduardo Lucas. I will see each of them."
+
+I glanced at my morning paper.
+
+"Is that Eduardo Lucas of Godolphin Street?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You will not see him."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"He was murdered in his house last night."
+
+My friend has so often astonished me in the course of our adventures
+that it was with a sense of exultation that I realized how completely I
+had astonished him. He stared in amazement, and then snatched the
+paper from my hands. This was the paragraph which I had been engaged in
+reading when he rose from his chair:--
+
+
+                    "MURDER IN WESTMINSTER.
+
+"A crime of mysterious character was committed last night at 16,
+Godolphin Street, one of the old-fashioned and secluded rows of
+eighteenth-century houses which lie between the river and the Abbey,
+almost in the shadow of the great Tower of the Houses of Parliament.
+This small but select mansion has been inhabited for some years by Mr.
+Eduardo Lucas, well known in society circles both on account of his
+charming personality and because he has the well-deserved reputation
+of being one of the best amateur tenors in the country. Mr. Lucas is an
+unmarried man, thirty-four years of age, and his establishment consists
+of Mrs. Pringle, an elderly housekeeper, and of Mitton, his valet. The
+former retires early and sleeps at the top of the house. The valet was
+out for the evening, visiting a friend at Hammersmith. From ten o'clock
+onwards Mr. Lucas had the house to himself. What occurred during that
+time has not yet transpired, but at a quarter to twelve Police-constable
+Barrett, passing along Godolphin Street, observed that the door of No.
+16 was ajar. He knocked, but received no answer. Perceiving a light
+in the front room he advanced into the passage and again knocked, but
+without reply. He then pushed open the door and entered. The room was in
+a state of wild disorder, the furniture being all swept to one side, and
+one chair lying on its back in the centre. Beside this chair, and still
+grasping one of its legs, lay the unfortunate tenant of the house. He
+had been stabbed to the heart and must have died instantly. The knife
+with which the crime had been committed was a curved Indian dagger,
+plucked down from a trophy of Oriental arms which adorned one of the
+walls. Robbery does not appear to have been the motive of the crime, for
+there had been no attempt to remove the valuable contents of the room.
+Mr. Eduardo Lucas was so well known and popular that his violent and
+mysterious fate will arouse painful interest and intense sympathy in a
+wide-spread circle of friends."
+
+"Well, Watson, what do you make of this?" asked Holmes, after a long
+pause.
+
+"It is an amazing coincidence."
+
+"A coincidence! Here is one of the three men whom we had named as
+possible actors in this drama, and he meets a violent death during the
+very hours when we know that that drama was being enacted. The odds are
+enormous against its being coincidence. No figures could express them.
+No, my dear Watson, the two events are connected--MUST be connected. It
+is for us to find the connection."
+
+"But now the official police must know all."
+
+"Not at all. They know all they see at Godolphin Street. They know--and
+shall know--nothing of Whitehall Terrace. Only WE know of both events,
+and can trace the relation between them. There is one obvious point
+which would, in any case, have turned my suspicions against Lucas.
+Godolphin Street, Westminster, is only a few minutes' walk from
+Whitehall Terrace. The other secret agents whom I have named live in
+the extreme West-end. It was easier, therefore, for Lucas than for the
+others to establish a connection or receive a message from the
+European Secretary's household--a small thing, and yet where events are
+compressed into a few hours it may prove essential. Halloa! what have we
+here?"
+
+Mrs. Hudson had appeared with a lady's card upon her salver. Holmes
+glanced at it, raised his eyebrows, and handed it over to me.
+
+"Ask Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope if she will be kind enough to step up,"
+said he.
+
+A moment later our modest apartment, already so distinguished that
+morning, was further honoured by the entrance of the most lovely woman
+in London. I had often heard of the beauty of the youngest daughter of
+the Duke of Belminster, but no description of it, and no contemplation
+of colourless photographs, had prepared me for the subtle, delicate
+charm and the beautiful colouring of that exquisite head. And yet as
+we saw it that autumn morning, it was not its beauty which would be the
+first thing to impress the observer. The cheek was lovely, but it was
+paled with emotion; the eyes were bright, but it was the brightness
+of fever; the sensitive mouth was tight and drawn in an effort after
+self-command. Terror--not beauty--was what sprang first to the eye as
+our fair visitor stood framed for an instant in the open door.
+
+"Has my husband been here, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Yes, madam, he has been here."
+
+"Mr. Holmes, I implore you not to tell him that I came here." Holmes
+bowed coldly, and motioned the lady to a chair.
+
+"Your ladyship places me in a very delicate position. I beg that you
+will sit down and tell me what you desire; but I fear that I cannot make
+any unconditional promise."
+
+She swept across the room and seated herself with her back to the
+window. It was a queenly presence--tall, graceful, and intensely
+womanly.
+
+"Mr. Holmes," she said, and her white-gloved hands clasped and unclasped
+as she spoke--"I will speak frankly to you in the hope that it may
+induce you to speak frankly in return. There is complete confidence
+between my husband and me on all matters save one. That one is politics.
+On this his lips are sealed. He tells me nothing. Now, I am aware that
+there was a most deplorable occurrence in our house last night. I know
+that a paper has disappeared. But because the matter is political my
+husband refuses to take me into his complete confidence. Now it is
+essential--essential, I say--that I should thoroughly understand it. You
+are the only other person, save only these politicians, who knows the
+true facts. I beg you, then, Mr. Holmes, to tell me exactly what has
+happened and what it will lead to. Tell me all, Mr. Holmes. Let no
+regard for your client's interests keep you silent, for I assure you
+that his interests, if he would only see it, would be best served by
+taking me into his complete confidence. What was this paper which was
+stolen?"
+
+"Madam, what you ask me is really impossible."
+
+She groaned and sank her face in her hands.
+
+"You must see that this is so, madam. If your husband thinks fit to keep
+you in the dark over this matter, is it for me, who has only learned the
+true facts under the pledge of professional secrecy, to tell what he has
+withheld? It is not fair to ask it. It is him whom you must ask."
+
+"I have asked him. I come to you as a last resource. But without your
+telling me anything definite, Mr. Holmes, you may do a great service if
+you would enlighten me on one point."
+
+"What is it, madam?"
+
+"Is my husband's political career likely to suffer through this
+incident?"
+
+"Well, madam, unless it is set right it may certainly have a very
+unfortunate effect."
+
+"Ah!" She drew in her breath sharply as one whose doubts are resolved.
+
+"One more question, Mr. Holmes. From an expression which my husband
+dropped in the first shock of this disaster I understood that terrible
+public consequences might arise from the loss of this document."
+
+"If he said so, I certainly cannot deny it."
+
+"Of what nature are they?"
+
+"Nay, madam, there again you ask me more than I can possibly answer."
+
+"Then I will take up no more of your time. I cannot blame you, Mr.
+Holmes, for having refused to speak more freely, and you on your side
+will not, I am sure, think the worse of me because I desire, even
+against his will, to share my husband's anxieties. Once more I beg that
+you will say nothing of my visit." She looked back at us from the door,
+and I had a last impression of that beautiful haunted face, the startled
+eyes, and the drawn mouth. Then she was gone.
+
+"Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department," said Holmes, with a
+smile, when the dwindling frou-frou of skirts had ended in the slam
+of the front door. "What was the fair lady's game? What did she really
+want?"
+
+"Surely her own statement is clear and her anxiety very natural."
+
+"Hum! Think of her appearance, Watson--her manner, her suppressed
+excitement, her restlessness, her tenacity in asking questions. Remember
+that she comes of a caste who do not lightly show emotion."
+
+"She was certainly much moved."
+
+"Remember also the curious earnestness with which she assured us that it
+was best for her husband that she should know all. What did she mean by
+that? And you must have observed, Watson, how she manoeuvred to have the
+light at her back. She did not wish us to read her expression."
+
+"Yes; she chose the one chair in the room."
+
+"And yet the motives of women are so inscrutable. You remember the
+woman at Margate whom I suspected for the same reason. No powder on her
+nose--that proved to be the correct solution. How can you build on such
+a quicksand? Their most trivial action may mean volumes, or their most
+extraordinary conduct may depend upon a hairpin or a curling-tongs. Good
+morning, Watson."
+
+"You are off?"
+
+"Yes; I will wile away the morning at Godolphin Street with our friends
+of the regular establishment. With Eduardo Lucas lies the solution of
+our problem, though I must admit that I have not an inkling as to what
+form it may take. It is a capital mistake to theorize in advance of
+the facts. Do you stay on guard, my good Watson, and receive any fresh
+visitors. I'll join you at lunch if I am able."
+
+
+All that day and the next and the next Holmes was in a mood which his
+friends would call taciturn, and others morose. He ran out and ran in,
+smoked incessantly, played snatches on his violin, sank into reveries,
+devoured sandwiches at irregular hours, and hardly answered the casual
+questions which I put to him. It was evident to me that things were not
+going well with him or his quest. He would say nothing of the case, and
+it was from the papers that I learned the particulars of the inquest,
+and the arrest with the subsequent release of John Mitton, the valet of
+the deceased. The coroner's jury brought in the obvious "Wilful Murder,"
+but the parties remained as unknown as ever. No motive was suggested.
+The room was full of articles of value, but none had been taken. The
+dead man's papers had not been tampered with. They were carefully
+examined, and showed that he was a keen student of international
+politics, an indefatigable gossip, a remarkable linguist, and an
+untiring letter-writer. He had been on intimate terms with the leading
+politicians of several countries. But nothing sensational was discovered
+among the documents which filled his drawers. As to his relations with
+women, they appeared to have been promiscuous but superficial. He had
+many acquaintances among them, but few friends, and no one whom he
+loved. His habits were regular, his conduct inoffensive. His death was
+an absolute mystery, and likely to remain so.
+
+As to the arrest of John Mitton, the valet, it was a counsel of despair
+as an alternative to absolute inaction. But no case could be sustained
+against him. He had visited friends in Hammersmith that night. The ALIBI
+was complete. It is true that he started home at an hour which should
+have brought him to Westminster before the time when the crime was
+discovered, but his own explanation that he had walked part of the way
+seemed probable enough in view of the fineness of the night. He had
+actually arrived at twelve o'clock, and appeared to be overwhelmed
+by the unexpected tragedy. He had always been on good terms with his
+master. Several of the dead man's possessions--notably a small case of
+razors--had been found in the valet's boxes, but he explained that they
+had been presents from the deceased, and the housekeeper was able to
+corroborate the story. Mitton had been in Lucas's employment for three
+years. It was noticeable that Lucas did not take Mitton on the Continent
+with him. Sometimes he visited Paris for three months on end, but Mitton
+was left in charge of the Godolphin Street house. As to the housekeeper,
+she had heard nothing on the night of the crime. If her master had a
+visitor he had himself admitted him.
+
+So for three mornings the mystery remained, so far as I could follow it
+in the papers. If Holmes knew more he kept his own counsel, but, as he
+told me that Inspector Lestrade had taken him into his confidence in the
+case, I knew that he was in close touch with every development. Upon
+the fourth day there appeared a long telegram from Paris which seemed to
+solve the whole question.
+
+"A discovery has just been made by the Parisian police," said the DAILY
+TELEGRAPH, "which raises the veil which hung round the tragic fate of
+Mr. Eduardo Lucas, who met his death by violence last Monday night
+at Godolphin Street, Westminster. Our readers will remember that
+the deceased gentleman was found stabbed in his room, and that some
+suspicion attached to his valet, but that the case broke down on an
+ALIBI. Yesterday a lady, who has been known as Mme. Henri Fournaye,
+occupying a small villa in the Rue Austerlitz, was reported to the
+authorities by her servants as being insane. An examination showed that
+she had indeed developed mania of a dangerous and permanent form.
+On inquiry the police have discovered that Mme. Henri Fournaye only
+returned from a journey to London on Tuesday last, and there is
+evidence to connect her with the crime at Westminster. A comparison of
+photographs has proved conclusively that M. Henri Fournaye and Eduardo
+Lucas were really one and the same person, and that the deceased had for
+some reason lived a double life in London and Paris. Mme. Fournaye,
+who is of Creole origin, is of an extremely excitable nature, and has
+suffered in the past from attacks of jealousy which have amounted to
+frenzy. It is conjectured that it was in one of these that she committed
+the terrible crime which has caused such a sensation in London. Her
+movements upon the Monday night have not yet been traced, but it is
+undoubted that a woman answering to her description attracted much
+attention at Charing Cross Station on Tuesday morning by the wildness
+of her appearance and the violence of her gestures. It is probable,
+therefore, that the crime was either committed when insane, or that
+its immediate effect was to drive the unhappy woman out of her mind. At
+present she is unable to give any coherent account of the past, and the
+doctors hold out no hopes of the re-establishment of her reason. There
+is evidence that a woman, who might have been Mme. Fournaye, was seen
+for some hours on Monday night watching the house in Godolphin Street."
+
+"What do you think of that, Holmes?" I had read the account aloud to
+him, while he finished his breakfast.
+
+"My dear Watson," said he, as he rose from the table and paced up and
+down the room, "you are most long-suffering, but if I have told you
+nothing in the last three days it is because there is nothing to tell.
+Even now this report from Paris does not help us much."
+
+"Surely it is final as regards the man's death."
+
+"The man's death is a mere incident--a trivial episode--in comparison
+with our real task, which is to trace this document and save a European
+catastrophe. Only one important thing has happened in the last three
+days, and that is that nothing has happened. I get reports almost hourly
+from the Government, and it is certain that nowhere in Europe is there
+any sign of trouble. Now, if this letter were loose--no, it CAN'T be
+loose--but if it isn't loose, where can it be? Who has it? Why is it
+held back? That's the question that beats in my brain like a hammer. Was
+it, indeed, a coincidence that Lucas should meet his death on the night
+when the letter disappeared? Did the letter ever reach him? If so, why
+is it not among his papers? Did this mad wife of his carry it off with
+her? If so, is it in her house in Paris? How could I search for it
+without the French police having their suspicions aroused? It is a case,
+my dear Watson, where the law is as dangerous to us as the criminals
+are. Every man's hand is against us, and yet the interests at stake are
+colossal. Should I bring it to a successful conclusion it will certainly
+represent the crowning glory of my career. Ah, here is my latest from
+the front!" He glanced hurriedly at the note which had been handed in.
+"Halloa! Lestrade seems to have observed something of interest. Put on
+your hat, Watson, and we will stroll down together to Westminster."
+
+It was my first visit to the scene of the crime--a high, dingy,
+narrow-chested house, prim, formal, and solid, like the century which
+gave it birth. Lestrade's bulldog features gazed out at us from the
+front window, and he greeted us warmly when a big constable had opened
+the door and let us in. The room into which we were shown was that in
+which the crime had been committed, but no trace of it now remained,
+save an ugly, irregular stain upon the carpet. This carpet was a small
+square drugget in the centre of the room, surrounded by a broad expanse
+of beautiful, old-fashioned wood-flooring in square blocks highly
+polished. Over the fireplace was a magnificent trophy of weapons, one of
+which had been used on that tragic night. In the window was a sumptuous
+writing-desk, and every detail of the apartment, the pictures, the rugs,
+and the hangings, all pointed to a taste which was luxurious to the
+verge of effeminacy.
+
+"Seen the Paris news?" asked Lestrade.
+
+Holmes nodded.
+
+"Our French friends seem to have touched the spot this time. No doubt
+it's just as they say. She knocked at the door--surprise visit, I
+guess, for he kept his life in water-tight compartments. He let her
+in--couldn't keep her in the street. She told him how she had traced
+him, reproached him, one thing led to another, and then with that dagger
+so handy the end soon came. It wasn't all done in an instant, though,
+for these chairs were all swept over yonder, and he had one in his hand
+as if he had tried to hold her off with it. We've got it all clear as if
+we had seen it."
+
+Holmes raised his eyebrows.
+
+"And yet you have sent for me?"
+
+"Ah, yes, that's another matter--a mere trifle, but the sort of thing
+you take an interest in--queer, you know, and what you might call
+freakish. It has nothing to do with the main fact--can't have, on the
+face of it."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+"Well, you know, after a crime of this sort we are very careful to keep
+things in their position. Nothing has been moved. Officer in charge here
+day and night. This morning, as the man was buried and the investigation
+over--so far as this room is concerned--we thought we could tidy up
+a bit. This carpet. You see, it is not fastened down; only just laid
+there. We had occasion to raise it. We found----"
+
+"Yes? You found----"
+
+Holmes's face grew tense with anxiety.
+
+"Well, I'm sure you would never guess in a hundred years what we did
+find. You see that stain on the carpet? Well, a great deal must have
+soaked through, must it not?"
+
+"Undoubtedly it must."
+
+"Well, you will be surprised to hear that there is no stain on the white
+woodwork to correspond."
+
+"No stain! But there must----"
+
+"Yes; so you would say. But the fact remains that there isn't."
+
+He took the corner of the carpet in his hand and, turning it over, he
+showed that it was indeed as he said.
+
+"But the underside is as stained as the upper. It must have left a
+mark."
+
+Lestrade chuckled with delight at having puzzled the famous expert.
+
+"Now I'll show you the explanation. There IS a second stain, but it does
+not correspond with the other. See for yourself." As he spoke he turned
+over another portion of the carpet, and there, sure enough, was a great
+crimson spill upon the square white facing of the old-fashioned floor.
+"What do you make of that, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Why, it is simple enough. The two stains did correspond, but the carpet
+has been turned round. As it was square and unfastened it was easily
+done."
+
+"The official police don't need you, Mr. Holmes, to tell them that the
+carpet must have been turned round. That's clear enough, for the stains
+lie above each other--if you lay it over this way. But what I want to
+know is, who shifted the carpet, and why?"
+
+I could see from Holmes's rigid face that he was vibrating with inward
+excitement.
+
+"Look here, Lestrade," said he, "has that constable in the passage been
+in charge of the place all the time?"
+
+"Yes, he has."
+
+"Well, take my advice. Examine him carefully. Don't do it before us.
+We'll wait here. You take him into the back room. You'll be more likely
+to get a confession out of him alone. Ask him how he dared to admit
+people and leave them alone in this room. Don't ask him if he has done
+it. Take it for granted. Tell him you KNOW someone has been here. Press
+him. Tell him that a full confession is his only chance of forgiveness.
+Do exactly what I tell you!"
+
+"By George, if he knows I'll have it out of him!" cried Lestrade. He
+darted into the hall, and a few moments later his bullying voice sounded
+from the back room.
+
+"Now, Watson, now!" cried Holmes, with frenzied eagerness. All the
+demoniacal force of the man masked behind that listless manner burst out
+in a paroxysm of energy. He tore the drugget from the floor, and in an
+instant was down on his hands and knees clawing at each of the squares
+of wood beneath it. One turned sideways as he dug his nails into the
+edge of it. It hinged back like the lid of a box. A small black cavity
+opened beneath it. Holmes plunged his eager hand into it, and drew it
+out with a bitter snarl of anger and disappointment. It was empty.
+
+"Quick, Watson, quick! Get it back again!" The wooden lid was replaced,
+and the drugget had only just been drawn straight when Lestrade's voice
+was heard in the passage. He found Holmes leaning languidly against
+the mantelpiece, resigned and patient, endeavouring to conceal his
+irrepressible yawns.
+
+"Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Holmes. I can see that you are bored to
+death with the whole affair. Well, he has confessed, all right. Come
+in here, MacPherson. Let these gentlemen hear of your most inexcusable
+conduct."
+
+The big constable, very hot and penitent, sidled into the room.
+
+"I meant no harm, sir, I'm sure. The young woman came to the door last
+evening--mistook the house, she did. And then we got talking. It's
+lonesome, when you're on duty here all day."
+
+"Well, what happened then?"
+
+"She wanted to see where the crime was done--had read about it in the
+papers, she said. She was a very respectable, well-spoken young woman,
+sir, and I saw no harm in letting her have a peep. When she saw that
+mark on the carpet, down she dropped on the floor, and lay as if she
+were dead. I ran to the back and got some water, but I could not bring
+her to. Then I went round the corner to the Ivy Plant for some brandy,
+and by the time I had brought it back the young woman had recovered and
+was off--ashamed of herself, I dare say, and dared not face me."
+
+"How about moving that drugget?"
+
+"Well, sir, it was a bit rumpled, certainly, when I came back. You see,
+she fell on it, and it lies on a polished floor with nothing to keep it
+in place. I straightened it out afterwards."
+
+"It's a lesson to you that you can't deceive me, Constable MacPherson,"
+said Lestrade, with dignity. "No doubt you thought that your breach of
+duty could never be discovered, and yet a mere glance at that drugget
+was enough to convince me that someone had been admitted to the room.
+It's lucky for you, my man, that nothing is missing, or you would find
+yourself in Queer Street. I'm sorry to have called you down over such a
+petty business, Mr. Holmes, but I thought the point of the second stain
+not corresponding with the first would interest you."
+
+"Certainly, it was most interesting. Has this woman only been here once,
+constable?"
+
+"Yes, sir, only once."
+
+"Who was she?"
+
+"Don't know the name, sir. Was answering an advertisement about
+type-writing, and came to the wrong number--very pleasant, genteel young
+woman, sir."
+
+"Tall? Handsome?"
+
+"Yes, sir; she was a well-grown young woman. I suppose you might say
+she was handsome. Perhaps some would say she was very handsome. 'Oh,
+officer, do let me have a peep!' says she. She had pretty, coaxing ways,
+as you might say, and I thought there was no harm in letting her just
+put her head through the door."
+
+"How was she dressed?"
+
+"Quiet, sir--a long mantle down to her feet."
+
+"What time was it?"
+
+"It was just growing dusk at the time. They were lighting the lamps as I
+came back with the brandy."
+
+"Very good," said Holmes. "Come, Watson, I think that we have more
+important work elsewhere."
+
+As we left the house Lestrade remained in the front room, while the
+repentant constable opened the door to let us out. Holmes turned on the
+step and held up something in his hand. The constable stared intently.
+
+"Good Lord, sir!" he cried, with amazement on his face. Holmes put his
+finger on his lips, replaced his hand in his breast-pocket, and burst
+out laughing as we turned down the street. "Excellent!" said he. "Come,
+friend Watson, the curtain rings up for the last act. You will be
+relieved to hear that there will be no war, that the Right Honourable
+Trelawney Hope will suffer no set-back in his brilliant career, that the
+indiscreet Sovereign will receive no punishment for his indiscretion,
+that the Prime Minister will have no European complication to deal with,
+and that with a little tact and management upon our part nobody will be
+a penny the worse for what might have been a very ugly incident."
+
+My mind filled with admiration for this extraordinary man.
+
+"You have solved it!" I cried.
+
+"Hardly that, Watson. There are some points which are as dark as ever.
+But we have so much that it will be our own fault if we cannot get the
+rest. We will go straight to Whitehall Terrace and bring the matter to a
+head."
+
+When we arrived at the residence of the European Secretary it was for
+Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope that Sherlock Holmes inquired. We were shown
+into the morning-room.
+
+"Mr. Holmes!" said the lady, and her face was pink with her indignation,
+"this is surely most unfair and ungenerous upon your part. I desired,
+as I have explained, to keep my visit to you a secret, lest my husband
+should think that I was intruding into his affairs. And yet you
+compromise me by coming here and so showing that there are business
+relations between us."
+
+"Unfortunately, madam, I had no possible alternative. I have been
+commissioned to recover this immensely important paper. I must therefore
+ask you, madam, to be kind enough to place it in my hands."
+
+The lady sprang to her feet, with the colour all dashed in an instant
+from her beautiful face. Her eyes glazed--she tottered--I thought that
+she would faint. Then with a grand effort she rallied from the shock,
+and a supreme astonishment and indignation chased every other expression
+from her features.
+
+"You--you insult me, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"Come, come, madam, it is useless. Give up the letter."
+
+She darted to the bell.
+
+"The butler shall show you out."
+
+"Do not ring, Lady Hilda. If you do, then all my earnest efforts to
+avoid a scandal will be frustrated. Give up the letter and all will be
+set right. If you will work with me I can arrange everything. If you
+work against me I must expose you."
+
+She stood grandly defiant, a queenly figure, her eyes fixed upon his as
+if she would read his very soul. Her hand was on the bell, but she had
+forborne to ring it.
+
+"You are trying to frighten me. It is not a very manly thing, Mr.
+Holmes, to come here and browbeat a woman. You say that you know
+something. What is it that you know?"
+
+"Pray sit down, madam. You will hurt yourself there if you fall. I will
+not speak until you sit down. Thank you."
+
+"I give you five minutes, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"One is enough, Lady Hilda. I know of your visit to Eduardo Lucas, of
+your giving him this document, of your ingenious return to the room
+last night, and of the manner in which you took the letter from the
+hiding-place under the carpet."
+
+She stared at him with an ashen face and gulped twice before she could
+speak.
+
+"You are mad, Mr. Holmes--you are mad!" she cried, at last.
+
+He drew a small piece of cardboard from his pocket. It was the face of a
+woman cut out of a portrait.
+
+"I have carried this because I thought it might be useful," said he.
+"The policeman has recognised it."
+
+She gave a gasp and her head dropped back in the chair.
+
+"Come, Lady Hilda. You have the letter. The matter may still be
+adjusted. I have no desire to bring trouble to you. My duty ends when
+I have returned the lost letter to your husband. Take my advice and be
+frank with me; it is your only chance."
+
+Her courage was admirable. Even now she would not own defeat.
+
+"I tell you again, Mr. Holmes, that you are under some absurd illusion."
+
+Holmes rose from his chair.
+
+"I am sorry for you, Lady Hilda. I have done my best for you; I can see
+that it is all in vain."
+
+He rang the bell. The butler entered.
+
+"Is Mr. Trelawney Hope at home?"
+
+"He will be home, sir, at a quarter to one."
+
+Holmes glanced at his watch.
+
+"Still a quarter of an hour," said he. "Very good, I shall wait."
+
+The butler had hardly closed the door behind him when Lady Hilda
+was down on her knees at Holmes's feet, her hands out-stretched, her
+beautiful face upturned and wet with her tears.
+
+"Oh, spare me, Mr. Holmes! Spare me!" she pleaded, in a frenzy of
+supplication. "For Heaven's sake, don't tell him! I love him so! I would
+not bring one shadow on his life, and this I know would break his noble
+heart."
+
+Holmes raised the lady. "I am thankful, madam, that you have come to
+your senses even at this last moment! There is not an instant to lose.
+Where is the letter?"
+
+She darted across to a writing-desk, unlocked it, and drew out a long
+blue envelope.
+
+"Here it is, Mr. Holmes. Would to Heaven I had never seen it!"
+
+"How can we return it?" Holmes muttered. "Quick, quick, we must think of
+some way! Where is the despatch-box?"
+
+"Still in his bedroom."
+
+"What a stroke of luck! Quick, madam, bring it here!"
+
+A moment later she had appeared with a red flat box in her hand.
+
+"How did you open it before? You have a duplicate key? Yes, of course
+you have. Open it!"
+
+From out of her bosom Lady Hilda had drawn a small key. The box flew
+open. It was stuffed with papers. Holmes thrust the blue envelope deep
+down into the heart of them, between the leaves of some other document.
+The box was shut, locked, and returned to the bedroom.
+
+"Now we are ready for him," said Holmes; "we have still ten minutes.
+I am going far to screen you, Lady Hilda. In return you will spend
+the time in telling me frankly the real meaning of this extraordinary
+affair."
+
+"Mr. Holmes, I will tell you everything," cried the lady. "Oh, Mr.
+Holmes, I would cut off my right hand before I gave him a moment of
+sorrow! There is no woman in all London who loves her husband as I
+do, and yet if he knew how I have acted--how I have been compelled to
+act--he would never forgive me. For his own honour stands so high that
+he could not forget or pardon a lapse in another. Help me, Mr. Holmes!
+My happiness, his happiness, our very lives are at stake!"
+
+"Quick, madam, the time grows short!"
+
+"It was a letter of mine, Mr. Holmes, an indiscreet letter written
+before my marriage--a foolish letter, a letter of an impulsive, loving
+girl. I meant no harm, and yet he would have thought it criminal. Had he
+read that letter his confidence would have been for ever destroyed.
+It is years since I wrote it. I had thought that the whole matter was
+forgotten. Then at last I heard from this man, Lucas, that it had passed
+into his hands, and that he would lay it before my husband. I implored
+his mercy. He said that he would return my letter if I would bring him a
+certain document which he described in my husband's despatch-box. He had
+some spy in the office who had told him of its existence. He assured me
+that no harm could come to my husband. Put yourself in my position, Mr.
+Holmes! What was I to do?"
+
+"Take your husband into your confidence."
+
+"I could not, Mr. Holmes, I could not! On the one side seemed certain
+ruin; on the other, terrible as it seemed to take my husband's paper,
+still in a matter of politics I could not understand the consequences,
+while in a matter of love and trust they were only too clear to me.
+I did it, Mr. Holmes! I took an impression of his key; this man Lucas
+furnished a duplicate. I opened his despatch-box, took the paper, and
+conveyed it to Godolphin Street."
+
+"What happened there, madam?"
+
+"I tapped at the door as agreed. Lucas opened it. I followed him into
+his room, leaving the hall door ajar behind me, for I feared to be alone
+with the man. I remember that there was a woman outside as I entered.
+Our business was soon done. He had my letter on his desk; I handed him
+the document. He gave me the letter. At this instant there was a sound
+at the door. There were steps in the passage. Lucas quickly turned
+back the drugget, thrust the document into some hiding-place there, and
+covered it over.
+
+"What happened after that is like some fearful dream. I have a vision of
+a dark, frantic face, of a woman's voice, which screamed in French, 'My
+waiting is not in vain. At last, at last I have found you with her!'
+There was a savage struggle. I saw him with a chair in his hand, a knife
+gleamed in hers. I rushed from the horrible scene, ran from the house,
+and only next morning in the paper did I learn the dreadful result. That
+night I was happy, for I had my letter, and I had not seen yet what the
+future would bring.
+
+"It was the next morning that I realized that I had only exchanged one
+trouble for another. My husband's anguish at the loss of his paper went
+to my heart. I could hardly prevent myself from there and then kneeling
+down at his feet and telling him what I had done. But that again would
+mean a confession of the past. I came to you that morning in order to
+understand the full enormity of my offence. From the instant that I
+grasped it my whole mind was turned to the one thought of getting back
+my husband's paper. It must still be where Lucas had placed it, for it
+was concealed before this dreadful woman entered the room. If it had not
+been for her coming, I should not have known where his hiding-place was.
+How was I to get into the room? For two days I watched the place, but
+the door was never left open. Last night I made a last attempt. What I
+did and how I succeeded, you have already learned. I brought the paper
+back with me, and thought of destroying it since I could see no way of
+returning it, without confessing my guilt to my husband. Heavens, I hear
+his step upon the stair!"
+
+The European Secretary burst excitedly into the room.
+
+"Any news, Mr. Holmes, any news?" he cried.
+
+"I have some hopes."
+
+"Ah, thank heaven!" His face became radiant. "The Prime Minister is
+lunching with me. May he share your hopes? He has nerves of steel, and
+yet I know that he has hardly slept since this terrible event. Jacobs,
+will you ask the Prime Minister to come up? As to you, dear, I fear that
+this is a matter of politics. We will join you in a few minutes in the
+dining-room."
+
+The Prime Minister's manner was subdued, but I could see by the gleam
+of his eyes and the twitchings of his bony hands that he shared the
+excitement of his young colleague.
+
+"I understand that you have something to report, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Purely negative as yet," my friend answered. "I have inquired at every
+point where it might be, and I am sure that there is no danger to be
+apprehended."
+
+"But that is not enough, Mr. Holmes. We cannot live for ever on such a
+volcano. We must have something definite."
+
+"I am in hopes of getting it. That is why I am here. The more I think of
+the matter the more convinced I am that the letter has never left this
+house."
+
+"Mr. Holmes!"
+
+"If it had it would certainly have been public by now."
+
+"But why should anyone take it in order to keep it in his house?"
+
+"I am not convinced that anyone did take it."
+
+"Then how could it leave the despatch-box?"
+
+"I am not convinced that it ever did leave the despatch-box."
+
+"Mr. Holmes, this joking is very ill-timed. You have my assurance that
+it left the box."
+
+"Have you examined the box since Tuesday morning?"
+
+"No; it was not necessary."
+
+"You may conceivably have overlooked it."
+
+"Impossible, I say."
+
+"But I am not convinced of it; I have known such things to happen. I
+presume there are other papers there. Well, it may have got mixed with
+them."
+
+"It was on the top."
+
+"Someone may have shaken the box and displaced it."
+
+"No, no; I had everything out."
+
+"Surely it is easily decided, Hope," said the Premier. "Let us have the
+despatch-box brought in."
+
+The Secretary rang the bell.
+
+"Jacobs, bring down my despatch-box. This is a farcical waste of time,
+but still, if nothing else will satisfy you, it shall be done. Thank
+you, Jacobs; put it here. I have always had the key on my watch-chain.
+Here are the papers, you see. Letter from Lord Merrow, report from Sir
+Charles Hardy, memorandum from Belgrade, note on the Russo-German grain
+taxes, letter from Madrid, note from Lord Flowers--good heavens! what is
+this? Lord Bellinger! Lord Bellinger!"
+
+The Premier snatched the blue envelope from his hand.
+
+"Yes, it is it--and the letter is intact. Hope, I congratulate you."
+
+"Thank you! Thank you! What a weight from my heart. But this is
+inconceivable--impossible. Mr. Holmes, you are a wizard, a sorcerer! How
+did you know it was there?"
+
+"Because I knew it was nowhere else."
+
+"I cannot believe my eyes!" He ran wildly to the door. "Where is my
+wife? I must tell her that all is well. Hilda! Hilda!" we heard his
+voice on the stairs.
+
+The Premier looked at Holmes with twinkling eyes.
+
+"Come, sir," said he. "There is more in this than meets the eye. How
+came the letter back in the box?"
+
+Holmes turned away smiling from the keen scrutiny of those wonderful
+eyes.
+
+"We also have our diplomatic secrets," said he, and picking up his hat
+he turned to the door.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by 
+Arthur Conan Doyle
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+Project Gutenberg's Return of Sherlock Holmes [Magazine Edition]
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+Title: The Return of Sherlock Holmes
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+Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
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+Release Date: February, 1995  [Etext #221B]
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+Edition: 11
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+--------------------------------------------------------------
+This edition of _The Return of Sherlock Holmes_ rholm10a.txt
+is based on the PG etext rholm10.txt (prepared by Charles Keller
+keller@ra.msstate.edu from a 1905 Doubleday-Collier edition)
+and proof-read so as to duplicate the original publication
+of these stories (using facsimiles) in The Strand Magazine
+by Joanne Brown brownjm@admin1.unbsj.ca, Frank Sadowski
+fsdw@db1.cc.rochester.edu, & Roger Squires rsquires@unm.edu.
+Thanks also to The Hounds of the Internet (blocka@beloit.edu
+for more info) for their assistance and encouragement.
+--------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+ THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+ By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+I. -- The Adventure of the Empty House.
+
+
+IT was in the spring of the year 1894 that all London was
+interested, and the fashionable world dismayed, by the murder of
+the Honourable Ronald Adair under most unusual and inexplicable
+circumstances.  The public has already learned those particulars
+of the crime which came out in the police investigation; but a
+good deal was suppressed upon that occasion, since the case for
+the prosecution was so overwhelmingly strong that it was not
+necessary to bring forward all the facts.  Only now, at the end
+of nearly ten years, am I allowed to supply those missing links
+which make up the whole of that remarkable chain.  The crime was
+of interest in itself, but that interest was as nothing to me
+compared to the inconceivable sequel, which afforded me the
+greatest shock and surprise of any event in my adventurous life.
+Even now, after this long interval, I find myself thrilling as
+I think of it, and feeling once more that sudden flood of joy,
+amazement, and incredulity which utterly submerged my mind.
+Let me say to that public which has shown some interest in those
+glimpses which I have occasionally given them of the thoughts
+and actions of a very remarkable man that they are not to blame
+me if I have not shared my knowledge with them, for I should
+have considered it my first duty to have done so had I not been
+barred by a positive prohibition from his own lips, which was
+only withdrawn upon the third of last month.
+
+It can be imagined that my close intimacy with Sherlock Holmes
+had interested me deeply in crime, and that after his
+disappearance I never failed to read with care the various
+problems which came before the public, and I even attempted more
+than once for my own private satisfaction to employ his methods
+in their solution, though with indifferent success.  There was
+none, however, which appealed to me like this tragedy of Ronald
+Adair.  As I read the evidence at the inquest, which led up to
+a verdict of wilful murder against some person or persons
+unknown, I realized more clearly than I had ever done the loss
+which the community had sustained by the death of Sherlock
+Holmes.  There were points about this strange business which
+would, I was sure, have specially appealed to him, and the
+efforts of the police would have been supplemented, or more
+probably anticipated, by the trained observation and the alert
+mind of the first criminal agent in Europe.  All day as I drove
+upon my round I turned over the case in my mind, and found no
+explanation which appeared to me to be adequate.  At the risk of
+telling a twice-told tale I will recapitulate the facts as they
+were known to the public at the conclusion of the inquest.
+
+The Honourable Ronald Adair was the second son of the Earl
+of Maynooth, at that time Governor of one of the Australian
+Colonies.  Adair's mother had returned from Australia to
+undergo the operation for cataract, and she, her son Ronald,
+and her daughter Hilda were living together at 427, Park Lane.
+The youth moved in the best society, had, so far as was known,
+no enemies, and no particular vices.  He had been engaged to Miss
+Edith Woodley, of Carstairs, but the engagement had been broken
+off by mutual consent some months before, and there was no sign
+that it had left any very profound feeling behind it.  For the
+rest the man's life moved in a narrow and conventional circle,
+for his habits were quiet and his nature unemotional.  Yet it
+was upon this easy-going young aristocrat that death came in
+most strange and unexpected form between the hours of ten and
+eleven-twenty on the night of March 30, 1894.
+
+Ronald Adair was fond of cards, playing continually, but never
+for such stakes as would hurt him.  He was a member of the
+Baldwin, the Cavendish, and the Bagatelle card clubs.  It was
+shown that after dinner on the day of his death he had played
+a rubber of whist at the latter club.  He had also played there
+in the afternoon.  The evidence of those who had played with him
+-- Mr. Murray, Sir John Hardy, and Colonel Moran -- showed that
+the game was whist, and that there was a fairly equal fall of
+the cards.  Adair might have lost five pounds, but not more.
+His fortune was a considerable one, and such a loss could not in
+any way affect him.  He had played nearly every day at one club
+or other, but he was a cautious player, and usually rose a winner.
+It came out in evidence that in partnership with Colonel Moran
+he had actually won as much as four hundred and twenty pounds in
+a sitting some weeks before from Godfrey Milner and Lord Balmoral.
+So much for his recent history, as it came out at the inquest.
+
+On the evening of the crime he returned from the club exactly at
+ten.  His mother and sister were out spending the evening with a
+relation.  The servant deposed that she heard him enter the front
+room on the second floor, generally used as his sitting-room.
+She had lit a fire there, and as it smoked she had opened the window.
+No sound was heard from the room until eleven-twenty, the hour of
+the return of Lady Maynooth and her daughter.  Desiring to say
+good-night, she had attempted to enter her son's room.  The door
+was locked on the inside, and no answer could be got to their
+cries and knocking.  Help was obtained and the door forced.
+The unfortunate young man was found lying near the table.
+His head had been horribly mutilated by an expanding revolver
+bullet, but no weapon of any sort was to be found in the room.
+On the table lay two bank-notes for ten pounds each and seventeen
+pounds ten in silver and gold, the money arranged in little piles
+of varying amount.  There were some figures also upon a sheet of
+paper with the names of some club friends opposite to them,
+from which it was conjectured that before his death he was
+endeavouring to make out his losses or winnings at cards.
+
+A minute examination of the circumstances served only to make
+the case more complex.  In the first place, no reason could be
+given why the young man should have fastened the door upon the
+inside.  There was the possibility that the murderer had done
+this and had afterwards escaped by the window.  The drop was at
+least twenty feet, however, and a bed of crocuses in full bloom
+lay beneath.  Neither the flowers nor the earth showed any sign
+of having been disturbed, nor were there any marks upon the
+narrow strip of grass which separated the house from the road.
+Apparently, therefore, it was the young man himself who had
+fastened the door.  But how did he come by his death?
+No one could have climbed up to the window without leaving traces.
+Suppose a man had fired through the window, it would indeed be a
+remarkable shot who could with a revolver inflict so deadly a
+wound.  Again, Park Lane is a frequented thoroughfare, and there
+is a cab-stand within a hundred yards of the house.  No one had
+heard a shot.  And yet there was the dead man, and there the
+revolver bullet, which had mushroomed out, as soft-nosed bullets
+will, and so inflicted a wound which must have caused
+instantaneous death.  Such were the circumstances of the Park
+Lane Mystery, which were further complicated by entire absence
+of motive, since, as I have said, young Adair was not known to
+have any enemy, and no attempt had been made to remove the money
+or valuables in the room.
+
+All day I turned these facts over in my mind, endeavouring to
+hit upon some theory which could reconcile them all, and to find
+that line of least resistance which my poor friend had declared
+to be the starting-point of every investigation.  I confess that
+I made little progress.  In the evening I strolled across the
+Park, and found myself about six o'clock at the Oxford Street
+end of Park Lane.  A group of loafers upon the pavements, all
+staring up at a particular window, directed me to the house
+which I had come to see.  A tall, thin man with coloured
+glasses, whom I strongly suspected of being a plain-clothes
+detective, was pointing out some theory of his own, while the
+others crowded round to listen to what he said.  I got as near
+him as I could, but his observations seemed to me to be absurd,
+so I withdrew again in some disgust.  As I did so I struck
+against an elderly deformed man, who had been behind me, and I
+knocked down several books which he was carrying.  I remember
+that as I picked them up I observed the title of one of them,
+"The Origin of Tree Worship," and it struck me that the fellow
+must be some poor bibliophile who, either as a trade or as a
+hobby, was a collector of obscure volumes.  I endeavoured to
+apologize for the accident, but it was evident that these books
+which I had so unfortunately maltreated were very precious
+objects in the eyes of their owner.  With a snarl of contempt
+he turned upon his heel, and I saw his curved back and white
+side-whiskers disappear among the throng.
+
+My observations of No. 427, Park Lane did little to clear up the
+problem in which I was interested.  The house was separated from
+the street by a low wall and railing, the whole not more than
+five feet high.  It was perfectly easy, therefore, for anyone
+to get into the garden, but the window was entirely inaccessible,
+since there was no water-pipe or anything which could help the
+most active man to climb it.  More puzzled than ever I retraced
+my steps to Kensington.  I had not been in my study five minutes
+when the maid entered to say that a person desired to see me.
+To my astonishment it was none other than my strange old
+book-collector, his sharp, wizened face peering out from a frame
+of white hair, and his precious volumes, a dozen of them at least,
+wedged under his right arm.
+
+"You're surprised to see me, sir," said he, in a strange,
+croaking voice.
+
+I acknowledged that I was.
+
+"Well, I've a conscience, sir, and when I chanced to see you go
+into this house, as I came hobbling after you, I thought to myself,
+I'll just step in and see that kind gentleman, and tell him that
+if I was a bit gruff in my manner there was not any harm meant,
+and that I am much obliged to him for picking up my books."
+
+"You make too much of a trifle," said I.  "May I ask how you
+knew who I was?"
+
+"Well, sir, if it isn't too great a liberty, I am a neighbour
+of yours, for you'll find my little bookshop at the corner of
+Church Street, and very happy to see you, I am sure.  Maybe you
+collect yourself, sir; here's `British Birds,' and `Catullus,'
+and `The Holy War' -- a bargain every one of them.  With five
+volumes you could just fill that gap on that second shelf.
+It looks untidy, does it not, sir?"
+
+I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me.  When I turned
+again Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at me across my
+study table.  I rose to my feet, stared at him for some seconds
+in utter amazement, and then it appears that I must have fainted
+for the first and the last time in my life.  Certainly a grey
+mist swirled before my eyes, and when it cleared I found my
+collar-ends undone and the tingling after-taste of brandy upon
+my lips.  Holmes was bending over my chair, his flask in his hand.
+
+"My dear Watson," said the well-remembered voice, "I owe you a
+thousand apologies.  I had no idea that you would be so affected."
+
+I gripped him by the arm.
+
+"Holmes!" I cried.  "Is it really you?  Can it indeed be that
+you are alive?  Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing
+out of that awful abyss?"
+
+"Wait a moment," said he.  "Are you sure that you are really
+fit to discuss things?  I have given you a serious shock by my
+unnecessarily dramatic reappearance."
+
+"I am all right, but indeed, Holmes, I can hardly believe my
+eyes.  Good heavens, to think that you -- you of all men --
+should be standing in my study!"  Again I gripped him by the
+sleeve and felt the thin, sinewy arm beneath it.  "Well, you're
+not a spirit, anyhow," said I.  "My dear chap, I am overjoyed
+to see you.  Sit down and tell me how you came alive out of
+that dreadful chasm."
+
+He sat opposite to me and lit a cigarette in his old nonchalant
+manner.  He was dressed in the seedy frock-coat of the book
+merchant, but the rest of that individual lay in a pile of white
+hair and old books upon the table.  Holmes looked even thinner
+and keener than of old, but there was a dead-white tinge in his
+aquiline face which told me that his life recently had not been
+a healthy one.
+
+"I am glad to stretch myself, Watson," said he.  "It is no joke
+when a tall man has to take a foot off his stature for several
+hours on end.  Now, my dear fellow, in the matter of these
+explanations we have, if I may ask for your co-operation, a hard
+and dangerous night's work in front of us.  Perhaps it would be
+better if I gave you an account of the whole situation when that
+work is finished."
+
+"I am full of curiosity.  I should much prefer to hear now."
+
+"You'll come with me to-night?"
+
+"When you like and where you like."
+
+"This is indeed like the old days.  We shall have time for a
+mouthful of dinner before we need go.  Well, then, about that
+chasm.  I had no serious difficulty in getting out of it, for
+the very simple reason that I never was in it."
+
+"You never were in it?"
+
+"No, Watson, I never was in it.  My note to you was absolutely
+genuine.  I had little doubt that I had come to the end of my
+career when I perceived the somewhat sinister figure of the late
+Professor Moriarty standing upon the narrow pathway which led to
+safety.  I read an inexorable purpose in his grey eyes.
+I exchanged some remarks with him, therefore, and obtained his
+courteous permission to write the short note which you
+afterwards received.  I left it with my cigarette-box and my
+stick and I walked along the pathway, Moriarty still at my
+heels.  When I reached the end I stood at bay.  He drew no
+weapon, but he rushed at me and threw his long arms around me.
+He knew that his own game was up, and was only anxious to
+revenge himself upon me.  We tottered together upon the brink
+of the fall.  I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the
+Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very
+useful to me.  I slipped through his grip, and he with a
+horrible scream kicked madly for a few seconds and clawed the
+air with both his hands.  But for all his efforts he could not
+get his balance, and over he went.  With my face over the brink
+I saw him fall for a long way.  Then he struck a rock, bounded
+off, and splashed into the water."
+
+I listened with amazement to this explanation, which Holmes
+delivered between the puffs of his cigarette.
+
+"But the tracks!" I cried.  "I saw with my own eyes that two
+went down the path and none returned."
+
+"It came about in this way.  The instant that the Professor had
+disappeared it struck me what a really extraordinarily lucky
+chance Fate had placed in my way.  I knew that Moriarty was not
+the only man who had sworn my death.  There were at least three
+others whose desire for vengeance upon me would only be
+increased by the death of their leader.  They were all most
+dangerous men.  One or other would certainly get me.  On the
+other hand, if all the world was convinced that I was dead they
+would take liberties, these men, they would lay themselves open,
+and sooner or later I could destroy them.  Then it would be time
+for me to announce that I was still in the land of the living.
+So rapidly does the brain act that I believe I had thought this
+all out before Professor Moriarty had reached the bottom
+of the Reichenbach Fall.
+
+"I stood up and examined the rocky wall behind me.  In your
+picturesque account of the matter, which I read with great
+interest some months later, you assert that the wall was sheer.
+This was not literally true.  A few small footholds presented
+themselves, and there was some indication of a ledge.  The cliff
+is so high that to climb it all was an obvious impossibility,
+and it was equally impossible to make my way along the wet path
+without leaving some tracks.  I might, it is true, have reversed
+my boots, as I have done on similar occasions, but the sight of
+three sets of tracks in one direction would certainly have
+suggested a deception.  On the whole, then, it was best that I
+should risk the climb.  It was not a pleasant business, Watson.
+The fall roared beneath me.  I am not a fanciful person, but
+I give you my word that I seemed to hear Moriarty's voice
+screaming at me out of the abyss.  A mistake would have been fatal.
+More than once, as tufts of grass came out in my hand or my foot
+slipped in the wet notches of the rock, I thought that I was gone.
+But I struggled upwards, and at last I reached a ledge several feet
+deep and covered with soft green moss, where I could lie unseen
+in the most perfect comfort.  There I was stretched when you,
+my dear Watson, and all your following were investigating in the most
+sympathetic and inefficient manner the circumstances of my death.
+
+"At last, when you had all formed your inevitable and totally
+erroneous conclusions, you departed for the hotel and I was left
+alone.  I had imagined that I had reached the end of my adventures,
+but a very unexpected occurrence showed me that there were
+surprises still in store for me.  A huge rock, falling from above,
+boomed past me, struck the path, and bounded over into the chasm.
+For an instant I thought that it was an accident; but a moment later,
+looking up, I saw a man's head against the darkening sky, and
+another stone struck the very ledge upon which I was stretched,
+within a foot of my head.  Of course, the meaning of this was obvious.
+Moriarty had not been alone.  A confederate -- and even that one
+glance had told me how dangerous a man that confederate was --
+had kept guard while the Professor had attacked me.  From a distance,
+unseen by me, he had been a witness of his friend's death and of my
+escape.  He had waited, and then, making his way round to the top of
+the cliff, he had endeavoured to succeed where his comrade had failed.
+
+"I did not take long to think about it, Watson.  Again I saw
+that grim face look over the cliff, and I knew that it was the
+precursor of another stone.  I scrambled down on to the path.
+I don't think I could have done it in cold blood.  It was a
+hundred times more difficult than getting up.  But I had no time
+to think of the danger, for another stone sang past me as I hung
+by my hands from the edge of the ledge.  Halfway down I slipped,
+but by the blessing of God I landed, torn and bleeding, upon the
+path.  I took to my heels, did ten miles over the mountains in
+the darkness, and a week later I found myself in Florence with the
+certainty that no one in the world knew what had become of me.
+
+"I had only one confidant -- my brother Mycroft.  I owe you many
+apologies, my dear Watson, but it was all-important that it
+should be thought I was dead, and it is quite certain that you
+would not have written so convincing an account of my unhappy
+end had you not yourself thought that it was true.  Several
+times during the last three years I have taken up my pen to
+write to you, but always I feared lest your affectionate regard
+for me should tempt you to some indiscretion which would betray
+my secret.  For that reason I turned away from you this evening
+when you upset my books, for I was in danger at the time, and
+any show of surprise and emotion upon your part might have drawn
+attention to my identity and led to the most deplorable and
+irreparable results.  As to Mycroft, I had to confide in him in
+order to obtain the money which I needed.  The course of events
+in London did not run so well as I had hoped, for the trial of
+the Moriarty gang left two of its most dangerous members, my own
+most vindictive enemies, at liberty.  I travelled for two years
+in Tibet, therefore, and amused myself by visiting Lhassa and
+spending some days with the head Llama.  You may have read of
+the remarkable explorations of a Norwegian named Sigerson, but
+I am sure that it never occurred to you that you were receiving
+news of your friend.  I then passed through Persia, looked in at
+Mecca, and paid a short but interesting visit to the Khalifa at
+Khartoum, the results of which I have communicated to the
+Foreign Office.  Returning to France I spent some months in a
+research into the coal-tar derivatives, which I conducted in a
+laboratory at Montpelier, in the South of France.  Having
+concluded this to my satisfaction, and learning that only one of
+my enemies was now left in London, I was about to return when my
+movements were hastened by the news of this very remarkable Park
+Lane Mystery, which not only appealed to me by its own merits,
+but which seemed to offer some most peculiar personal
+opportunities.  I came over at once to London, called in my own
+person at Baker Street, threw Mrs. Hudson into violent hysterics,
+and found that Mycroft had preserved my rooms and my papers
+exactly as they had always been.  So it was, my dear Watson,
+that at two o'clock to-day I found myself in my old arm-chair in
+my own old room, and only wishing that I could have seen my old
+friend Watson in the other chair which he has so often adorned."
+
+Such was the remarkable narrative to which I listened on that
+April evening -- a narrative which would have been utterly
+incredible to me had it not been confirmed by the actual sight
+of the tall, spare figure and the keen, eager face, which I had
+never thought to see again.  In some manner he had learned of my
+own sad bereavement, and his sympathy was shown in his manner
+rather than in his words.  "Work is the best antidote to sorrow,
+my dear Watson," said he, "and I have a piece of work for us
+both to-night which, if we can bring it to a successful
+conclusion, will in itself justify a man's life on this planet."
+In vain I begged him to tell me more.  "You will hear and see
+enough before morning," he answered.  "We have three years of
+the past to discuss.  Let that suffice until half-past nine,
+when we start upon the notable adventure of the empty house."
+
+It was indeed like old times when, at that hour, I found myself
+seated beside him in a hansom, my revolver in my pocket and the
+thrill of adventure in my heart.  Holmes was cold and stern and
+silent.  As the gleam of the street-lamps flashed upon his
+austere features I saw that his brows were drawn down in thought
+and his thin lips compressed.  I knew not what wild beast we
+were about to hunt down in the dark jungle of criminal London,
+but I was well assured from the bearing of this master huntsman
+that the adventure was a most grave one, while the sardonic
+smile which occasionally broke through his ascetic gloom boded
+little good for the object of our quest.
+
+I had imagined that we were bound for Baker Street, but Holmes
+stopped the cab at the corner of Cavendish Square.  I observed
+that as he stepped out he gave a most searching glance to right
+and left, and at every subsequent street corner he took the
+utmost pains to assure that he was not followed.  Our route was
+certainly a singular one.  Holmes's knowledge of the byways of
+London was extraordinary, and on this occasion he passed rapidly,
+and with an assured step, through a network of mews and stables
+the very existence of which I had never known.  We emerged at
+last into a small road, lined with old, gloomy houses, which led
+us into Manchester Street, and so to Blandford Street.  Here he
+turned swiftly down a narrow passage, passed through a wooden
+gate into a deserted yard, and then opened with a key the back
+door of a house.  We entered together and he closed it behind us.
+
+The place was pitch-dark, but it was evident to me that it was
+an empty house.  Our feet creaked and crackled over the bare
+planking, and my outstretched hand touched a wall from which the
+paper was hanging in ribbons.  Holmes's cold, thin fingers
+closed round my wrist and led me forwards down a long hall,
+until I dimly saw the murky fanlight over the door.  Here Holmes
+turned suddenly to the right, and we found ourselves in a large,
+square, empty room, heavily shadowed in the corners, but faintly
+lit in the centre from the lights of the street beyond.  There was
+no lamp near and the window was thick with dust, so that we could
+only just discern each other's figures within.  My companion put
+his hand upon my shoulder and his lips close to my ear.
+
+"Do you know where we are?"  he whispered.
+
+"Surely that is Baker Street," I answered, staring through the
+dim window.
+
+"Exactly.  We are in Camden House, which stands opposite to our
+own old quarters."
+
+"But why are we here?"
+
+"Because it commands so excellent a view of that picturesque pile.
+Might I trouble you, my dear Watson, to draw a little nearer to
+the window, taking every precaution not to show yourself,
+and then to look up at our old rooms -- the starting-point of so
+many of our little adventures?  We will see if my three years of
+absence have entirely taken away my power to surprise you."
+
+I crept forward and looked across at the familiar window.
+As my eyes fell upon it I gave a gasp and a cry of amazement.
+The blind was down and a strong light was burning in the room.
+The shadow of a man who was seated in a chair within was thrown in
+hard, black outline upon the luminous screen of the window.
+There was no mistaking the poise of the head, the squareness of
+the shoulders, the sharpness of the features.  The face was
+turned half-round, and the effect was that of one of those black
+silhouettes which our grandparents loved to frame.  It was a
+perfect reproduction of Holmes.  So amazed was I that I threw
+out my hand to make sure that the man himself was standing
+beside me.  He was quivering with silent laughter.
+
+"Well?"  said he.
+
+"Good heavens!" I cried.  "It is marvellous."
+
+"I trust that age doth not wither nor custom stale my infinite
+variety,'" said he, and I recognised in his voice the joy and
+pride which the artist takes in his own creation.  "It really is
+rather like me, is it not?"
+
+"I should be prepared to swear that it was you."
+
+"The credit of the execution is due to Monsieur Oscar Meunier,
+of Grenoble, who spent some days in doing the moulding.  It is a
+bust in wax.  The rest I arranged myself during my visit to
+Baker Street this afternoon."
+
+"But why?"
+
+"Because, my dear Watson, I had the strongest possible reason
+for wishing certain people to think that I was there when I was
+really elsewhere."
+
+"And you thought the rooms were watched?"
+
+"I KNEW that they were watched."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"By my old enemies, Watson.  By the charming society whose leader
+lies in the Reichenbach Fall.  You must remember that they knew,
+and only they knew, that I was still alive.  Sooner or later they
+believed that I should come back to my rooms.  They watched them
+continuously, and this morning they saw me arrive."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Because I recognised their sentinel when I glanced out of my
+window.  He is a harmless enough fellow, Parker by name,
+a garroter by trade, and a remarkable performer upon the Jew's
+harp.  I cared nothing for him.  But I cared a great deal for
+the much more formidable person who was behind him, the bosom
+friend of Moriarty, the man who dropped the rocks over the cliff,
+the most cunning and dangerous criminal in London.  That is the
+man who is after me to-night, Watson, and that is the man who is
+quite unaware that we are after HIM."
+
+My friend's plans were gradually revealing themselves.
+From this convenient retreat the watchers were being watched and
+the trackers tracked.  That angular shadow up yonder was the bait
+and we were the hunters.  In silence we stood together in the
+darkness and watched the hurrying figures who passed and
+repassed in front of us.  Holmes was silent and motionless;
+but I could tell that he was keenly alert, and that his eyes were
+fixed intently upon the stream of passers-by.  It was a bleak
+and boisterous night, and the wind whistled shrilly down the
+long street.  Many people were moving to and fro, most of them
+muffled in their coats and cravats.  Once or twice it seemed to
+me that I had seen the same figure before, and I especially
+noticed two men who appeared to be sheltering themselves from
+the wind in the doorway of a house some distance up the street.
+I tried to draw my companion's attention to them, but he gave a
+little ejaculation of impatience and continued to stare into the
+street.  More than once he fidgeted with his feet and tapped
+rapidly with his fingers upon the wall.  It was evident to me
+that he was becoming uneasy and that his plans were not working
+out altogether as he had hoped.  At last, as midnight approached
+and the street gradually cleared, he paced up and down the room
+in uncontrollable agitation.  I was about to make some remark to
+him when I raised my eyes to the lighted window and again
+experienced almost as great a surprise as before.  I clutched
+Holmes's arm and pointed upwards.
+
+"The shadow has moved!"  I cried.
+
+It was, indeed, no longer the profile, but the back, which was
+turned towards us.
+
+Three years had certainly not smoothed the asperities of his temper
+or his impatience with a less active intelligence than his own.
+
+"Of course it has moved," said he.  "Am I such a farcical
+bungler, Watson, that I should erect an obvious dummy and expect
+that some of the sharpest men in Europe would be deceived by it?
+We have been in this room two hours, and Mrs. Hudson has made
+some change in that figure eight times, or once in every quarter
+of an hour.  She works it from the front so that her shadow may
+never be seen.  Ah!"  He drew in his breath with a shrill,
+excited intake.  In the dim light I saw his head thrown forward,
+his whole attitude rigid with attention.  Outside, the street
+was absolutely deserted.  Those two men might still be crouching
+in the doorway, but I could no longer see them.  All was still
+and dark, save only that brilliant yellow screen in front of us
+with the black figure outlined upon its centre. Again in the
+utter silence I heard that thin, sibilant note which spoke of
+intense suppressed excitement.  An instant later he pulled me
+back into the blackest corner of the room, and I felt his
+warning hand upon my lips.  The fingers which clutched me were
+quivering.  Never had I known my friend more moved, and yet the
+dark street still stretched lonely and motionless before us.
+
+But suddenly I was aware of that which his keener senses had
+already distinguished.  A low, stealthy sound came to my ears,
+not from the direction of Baker Street, but from the back of the
+very house in which we lay concealed.  A door opened and shut.
+An instant later steps crept down the passage -- steps which
+were meant to be silent, but which reverberated harshly through
+the empty house.  Holmes crouched back against the wall and I
+did the same, my hand closing upon the handle of my revolver.
+Peering through the gloom, I saw the vague outline of a man,
+a shade blacker than the blackness of the open door.  He stood
+for an instant, and then he crept forward, crouching, menacing,
+into the room.  He was within three yards of us, this sinister
+figure, and I had braced myself to meet his spring, before I
+realized that he had no idea of our presence.  He passed close
+beside us, stole over to the window, and very softly and
+noiselessly raised it for half a foot.  As he sank to the level
+of this opening the light of the street, no longer dimmed by the
+dusty glass, fell full upon his face.  The man seemed to be
+beside himself with excitement.  His two eyes shone like stars
+and his features were working convulsively.  He was an elderly
+man, with a thin, projecting nose, a high, bald forehead, and a
+huge grizzled moustache.  An opera-hat was pushed to the back of
+his head, and an evening dress shirt-front gleamed out through
+his open overcoat.  His face was gaunt and swarthy, scored with
+deep, savage lines.  In his hand he carried what appeared to be
+a stick, but as he laid it down upon the floor it gave a
+metallic clang.  Then from the pocket of his overcoat he drew a
+bulky object, and he busied himself in some task which ended
+with a loud, sharp click, as if a spring or bolt had fallen into
+its place.  Still kneeling upon the floor he bent forward and
+threw all his weight and strength upon some lever, with the
+result that there came a long, whirling, grinding noise, ending
+once more in a powerful click.  He straightened himself then,
+and I saw that what he held in his hand was a sort of gun, with
+a curiously misshapen butt.  He opened it at the breech, put
+something in, and snapped the breech-block.  Then, crouching
+down, he rested the end of the barrel upon the ledge of the open
+window, and I saw his long moustache droop over the stock and
+his eye gleam as it peered along the sights.  I heard a little
+sigh of satisfaction as he cuddled the butt into his shoulder,
+and saw that amazing target, the black man on the yellow ground,
+standing clear at the end of his fore sight.  For an instant he
+was rigid and motionless.  Then his finger tightened on the
+trigger.  There was a strange, loud whiz and a long, silvery
+tinkle of broken glass.  At that instant Holmes sprang like a
+tiger on to the marksman's back and hurled him flat upon his
+face.  He was up again in a moment, and with convulsive strength
+he seized Holmes by the throat; but I struck him on the head
+with the butt of my revolver and he dropped again upon the floor.
+I fell upon him, and as I held him my comrade blew a shrill call
+upon a whistle.  There was the clatter of running feet upon the
+pavement, and two policemen in uniform, with one plain-clothes
+detective, rushed through the front entrance and into the room.
+
+"That you, Lestrade?"  said Holmes.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes.  I took the job myself.  It's good to see you
+back in London, sir."
+
+"I think you want a little unofficial help.  Three undetected
+murders in one year won't do, Lestrade.  But you handled the
+Molesey Mystery with less than your usual -- that's to say, you
+handled it fairly well."
+
+We had all risen to our feet, our prisoner breathing hard,
+with a stalwart constable on each side of him.  Already a few
+loiterers had begun to collect in the street.  Holmes stepped up
+to the window, closed it, and dropped the blinds.  Lestrade had
+produced two candles and the policemen had uncovered their lanterns.
+I was able at last to have a good look at our prisoner.
+
+It was a tremendously virile and yet sinister face which was
+turned towards us.  With the brow of a philosopher above and the
+jaw of a sensualist below, the man must have started with great
+capacities for good or for evil.  But one could not look upon his
+cruel blue eyes, with their drooping, cynical lids, or upon the
+fierce, aggressive nose and the threatening, deep-lined brow,
+without reading Nature's plainest danger-signals.  He took no heed
+of any of us, but his eyes were fixed upon Holmes's face with an
+expression in which hatred and amazement were equally blended.
+"You fiend!" he kept on muttering.  "You clever, clever fiend!"
+
+"Ah, Colonel!" said Holmes, arranging his rumpled collar;
+"`journeys end in lovers' meetings,' as the old play says.
+I don't think I have had the pleasure of seeing you since you
+favoured me with those attentions as I lay on the ledge above
+the Reichenbach Fall."
+
+The Colonel still stared at my friend like a man in a trance.
+"You cunning, cunning fiend!" was all that he could say.
+
+"I have not introduced you yet," said Holmes.  "This, gentlemen,
+is Colonel Sebastian Moran, once of Her Majesty's Indian Army,
+and the best heavy game shot that our Eastern Empire has ever
+produced.  I believe I am correct, Colonel, in saying that your
+bag of tigers still remains unrivalled?"
+
+The fierce old man said nothing, but still glared at my companion;
+with his savage eyes and bristling moustache he was wonderfully
+like a tiger himself.
+
+"I wonder that my very simple stratagem could deceive so old
+a shikari," said Holmes.  "It must be very familiar to you.
+Have you not tethered a young kid under a tree, lain above it
+with your rifle, and waited for the bait to bring up your tiger?
+This empty house is my tree and you are my tiger.  You have
+possibly had other guns in reserve in case there should be
+several tigers, or in the unlikely supposition of your own aim
+failing you.  These," he pointed around, "are my other guns.
+The parallel is exact."
+
+Colonel Moran sprang forward, with a snarl of rage, but the
+constables dragged him back.  The fury upon his face was
+terrible to look at.
+
+"I confess that you had one small surprise for me," said Holmes.
+"I did not anticipate that you would yourself make use of this
+empty house and this convenient front window.  I had imagined
+you as operating from the street, where my friend Lestrade and
+his merry men were awaiting you.  With that exception all has
+gone as I expected."
+
+Colonel Moran turned to the official detective.
+
+"You may or may not have just cause for arresting me," said he,
+"but at least there can be no reason why I should submit to the
+gibes of this person.  If I am in the hands of the law let
+things be done in a legal way."
+
+"Well, that's reasonable enough," said Lestrade.  "Nothing
+further you have to say, Mr. Holmes, before we go?"
+
+Holmes had picked up the powerful air-gun from the floor and
+was examining its mechanism.
+
+"An admirable and unique weapon," said he, "noiseless and of
+tremendous power.  I knew Von Herder, the blind German mechanic,
+who constructed it to the order of the late Professor Moriarty.
+For years I have been aware of its existence, though I have
+never before had the opportunity of handling it.  I commend it
+very specially to your attention, Lestrade, and also the bullets
+which fit it."
+
+"You can trust us to look after that, Mr. Holmes," said Lestrade,
+as the whole party moved towards the door.  "Anything further to say?"
+
+"Only to ask what charge you intend to prefer?"
+
+"What charge, sir?  Why, of course, the attempted murder of Mr.
+Sherlock Holmes."
+
+"Not so, Lestrade.  I do not propose to appear in the matter at all.
+To you, and to you only, belongs the credit of the remarkable arrest
+which you have effected.  Yes, Lestrade, I congratulate you!  With
+your usual happy mixture of cunning and audacity you have got him."
+
+"Got him!  Got whom, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"The man that the whole force has been seeking in vain --
+Colonel Sebastian Moran, who shot the Honourable Ronald Adair
+with an expanding bullet from an air-gun through the open window
+of the second-floor front of No. 427, Park Lane, upon the 30th
+of last month.  That's the charge, Lestrade.  And now, Watson,
+if you can endure the draught from a broken window, I think that
+half an hour in my study over a cigar may afford you some
+profitable amusement."
+
+
+Our old chambers had been left unchanged through the supervision
+of Mycroft Holmes and the immediate care of Mrs. Hudson.
+As I entered I saw, it is true, an unwonted tidiness, but the old
+landmarks were all in their place.  There were the chemical
+corner and the acid-stained, deal-topped table.  There upon a
+shelf was the row of formidable scrap-books and books of reference
+which many of our fellow-citizens would have been so glad to burn.
+The diagrams, the violin-case, and the pipe-rack -- even the
+Persian slipper which contained the tobacco -- all met my eyes
+as I glanced round me.  There were two occupants of the room --
+one Mrs. Hudson, who beamed upon us both as we entered;
+the other the strange dummy which had played so important a part in
+the evening's adventures.  It was a wax-coloured model of my friend,
+so admirably done that it was a perfect facsimile.  It stood on a
+small pedestal table with an old dressing-gown of Holmes's so draped
+round it that the illusion from the street was absolutely perfect.
+
+"I hope you preserved all precautions, Mrs. Hudson?"  said Holmes.
+
+"I went to it on my knees, sir, just as you told me."
+
+"Excellent.  You carried the thing out very well.  Did you observe
+where the bullet went?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  I'm afraid it has spoilt your beautiful bust, for it
+passed right through the head and flattened itself on the wall.
+I picked it up from the carpet.  Here it is!"
+
+Holmes held it out to me.  "A soft revolver bullet, as you
+perceive, Watson.  There's genius in that, for who would expect
+to find such a thing fired from an air-gun.  All right, Mrs.
+Hudson, I am much obliged for your assistance.  And now, Watson,
+let me see you in your old seat once more, for there are
+several points which I should like to discuss with you."
+
+He had thrown off the seedy frock-coat, and now he was the
+Holmes of old in the mouse-coloured dressing-gown which he took
+from his effigy.
+
+"The old shikari's nerves have not lost their steadiness nor his
+eyes their keenness," said he, with a laugh, as he inspected the
+shattered forehead of his bust.
+
+"Plumb in the middle of the back of the head and smack through
+the brain.  He was the best shot in India, and I expect that
+there are few better in London.  Have you heard the name?"
+
+"No, I have not."
+
+"Well, well, such is fame!  But, then, if I remember aright,
+you had not heard the name of Professor James Moriarty, who had
+one of the great brains of the century.  Just give me down my
+index of biographies from the shelf."
+
+He turned over the pages lazily, leaning back in his chair and
+blowing great clouds from his cigar.
+
+"My collection of M's is a fine one," said he.
+"Moriarty himself is enough to make any letter illustrious,
+and here is Morgan the poisoner, and Merridew of abominable memory,
+and Mathews, who knocked out my left canine in the waiting-room
+at Charing Cross, and, finally, here is our friend of to-night."
+
+He handed over the book, and I read:
+"MORAN, SEBASTIAN, COLONEL.  Unemployed.  Formerly 1st Bengalore
+Pioneers.  Born London, 1840.  Son of Sir Augustus Moran, C.B.,
+once British Minister to Persia.  Educated Eton and Oxford.
+Served in Jowaki Campaign, Afghan Campaign, Charasiab (despatches),
+Sherpur, and Cabul.  Author of `Heavy Game of the Western Himalayas,'
+1881; `Three Months in the Jungle,' 1884.  Address:  Conduit Street.
+Clubs:  The Anglo-Indian, the Tankerville, the Bagatelle Card Club."
+
+On the margin was written, in Holmes's precise hand:
+"The second most dangerous man in London."
+
+"This is astonishing," said I, as I handed back the volume.
+"The man's career is that of an honourable soldier."
+
+"It is true," Holmes answered.  "Up to a certain point he did
+well.  He was always a man of iron nerve, and the story is still
+told in India how he crawled down a drain after a wounded
+man-eating tiger.  There are some trees, Watson, which grow to a
+certain height and then suddenly develop some unsightly
+eccentricity.  You will see it often in humans.  I have a theory
+that the individual represents in his development the whole
+procession of his ancestors, and that such a sudden turn to good
+or evil stands for some strong influence which came into the
+line of his pedigree.  The person becomes, as it were, the
+epitome of the history of his own family."
+
+"It is surely rather fanciful."
+
+"Well, I don't insist upon it.  Whatever the cause, Colonel
+Moran began to go wrong.  Without any open scandal, he still made
+India too hot to hold him.  He retired, came to London, and
+again acquired an evil name.  It was at this time that he was
+sought out by Professor Moriarty, to whom for a time he was
+chief of the staff.  Moriarty supplied him liberally with money
+and used him only in one or two very high-class jobs which no
+ordinary criminal could have undertaken.  You may have some
+recollection of the death of Mrs. Stewart, of Lauder, in 1887.
+Not?  Well, I am sure Moran was at the bottom of it; but nothing
+could be proved.  So cleverly was the Colonel concealed that
+even when the Moriarty gang was broken up we could not
+incriminate him.  You remember at that date, when I called upon
+you in your rooms, how I put up the shutters for fear of
+air-guns?  No doubt you thought me fanciful.  I knew exactly
+what I was doing, for I knew of the existence of this remarkable
+gun, and I knew also that one of the best shots in the world
+would be behind it.  When we were in Switzerland he followed us
+with Moriarty, and it was undoubtedly he who gave me that evil
+five minutes on the Reichenbach ledge.
+
+"You may think that I read the papers with some attention during
+my sojourn in France, on the look-out for any chance of laying
+him by the heels.  So long as he was free in London my life
+would really not have been worth living.  Night and day the
+shadow would have been over me, and sooner or later his chance
+must have come.  What could I do?  I could not shoot him at
+sight, or I should myself be in the dock.  There was no use
+appealing to a magistrate.  They cannot interfere on the
+strength of what would appear to them to be a wild suspicion.
+So I could do nothing.  But I watched the criminal news, knowing
+that sooner or later I should get him.  Then came the death of
+this Ronald Adair.  My chance had come at last!  Knowing what I
+did, was it not certain that Colonel Moran had done it?  He had
+played cards with the lad; he had followed him home from the
+club; he had shot him through the open window.  There was not a
+doubt of it.  The bullets alone are enough to put his head in a
+noose.  I came over at once.  I was seen by the sentinel, who
+would, I knew, direct the Colonel's attention to my presence. He
+could not fail to connect my sudden return with his crime and to
+be terribly alarmed.  I was sure that he would make an attempt
+to get me out of the way AT ONCE, and would bring round his
+murderous weapon for that purpose.  I left him an excellent mark
+in the window, and, having warned the police that they might be
+needed -- by the way, Watson, you spotted their presence in that
+doorway with unerring accuracy -- I took up what seemed to me to
+be a judicious post for observation, never dreaming that he
+would choose the same spot for his attack.  Now, my dear Watson,
+does anything remain for me to explain?"
+
+"Yes," said I.  "You have not made it clear what was Colonel
+Moran's motive in murdering the Honourable Ronald Adair."
+
+"Ah!  my dear Watson, there we come into those realms of
+conjecture where the most logical mind may be at fault.
+Each may form his own hypothesis upon the present evidence,
+and yours is as likely to be correct as mine."
+
+"You have formed one, then?"
+
+"I think that it is not difficult to explain the facts.
+It came out in evidence that Colonel Moran and young Adair had
+between them won a considerable amount of money.  Now, Moran
+undoubtedly played foul -- of that I have long been aware.
+I believe that on the day of the murder Adair had discovered that
+Moran was cheating.  Very likely he had spoken to him privately,
+and had threatened to expose him unless he voluntarily resigned
+his membership of the club and promised not to play cards again.
+It is unlikely that a youngster like Adair would at once make a
+hideous scandal by exposing a well-known man so much older than
+himself.  Probably he acted as I suggest.  The exclusion from
+his clubs would mean ruin to Moran, who lived by his ill-gotten
+card gains.  He therefore murdered Adair, who at the time was
+endeavouring to work out how much money he should himself return,
+since he could not profit by his partner's foul play.  He locked
+the door lest the ladies should surprise him and insist upon knowing
+what he was doing with these names and coins.  Will it pass?"
+
+"I have no doubt that you have hit upon the truth."
+
+"It will be verified or disproved at the trial.  Meanwhile,
+come what may, Colonel Moran will trouble us no more, the famous
+air-gun of Von Herder will embellish the Scotland Yard Museum,
+and once again Mr. Sherlock Holmes is free to devote his life to
+examining those interesting little problems which the complex
+life of London so plentifully presents."
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 26  NOVEMBER, 1903
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+II. -- The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.
+
+
+"FROM the point of view of the criminal expert," said Mr.
+Sherlock Holmes, "London has become a singularly uninteresting
+city since the death of the late lamented Professor Moriarty."
+
+"I can hardly think that you would find many decent citizens
+to agree with you," I answered.
+
+"Well, well, I must not be selfish," said he, with a smile,
+as he pushed back his chair from the breakfast-table.
+"The community is certainly the gainer, and no one the loser,
+save the poor out-of-work specialist, whose occupation has gone.
+With that man in the field one's morning paper presented
+infinite possibilities.  Often it was only the smallest trace,
+Watson, the faintest indication, and yet it was enough to tell
+me that the great malignant brain was there, as the gentlest
+tremors of the edges of the web remind one of the foul spider
+which lurks in the centre.  Petty thefts, wanton assaults,
+purposeless outrage -- to the man who held the clue all could
+be worked into one connected whole.  To the scientific student
+of the higher criminal world no capital in Europe offered
+the advantages which London then possessed.  But now ----"
+He shrugged his shoulders in humorous deprecation of the state
+of things which he had himself done so much to produce.
+
+At the time of which I speak Holmes had been back for some months,
+and I, at his request, had sold my practice and returned to share
+the old quarters in Baker Street.  A young doctor, named Verner,
+had purchased my small Kensington practice, and given with
+astonishingly little demur the highest price that I ventured to
+ask -- an incident which only explained itself some years later
+when I found that Verner was a distant relation of Holmes's, and
+that it was my friend who had really found the money.
+
+Our months of partnership had not been so uneventful as he had
+stated, for I find, on looking over my notes, that this period
+includes the case of the papers of Ex-President Murillo, and
+also the shocking affair of the Dutch steamship FRIESLAND, which
+so nearly cost us both our lives.  His cold and proud nature was
+always averse, however, to anything in the shape of public applause,
+and he bound me in the most stringent terms to say no further word
+of himself, his methods, or his successes -- a prohibition which,
+as I have explained, has only now been removed.
+
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes was leaning back in his chair after his
+whimsical protest, and was unfolding his morning paper in a
+leisurely fashion, when our attention was arrested by a
+tremendous ring at the bell, followed immediately by a hollow
+drumming sound, as if someone were beating on the outer door
+with his fist.  As it opened there came a tumultuous rush into
+the hall, rapid feet clattered up the stair, and an instant
+later a wild-eyed and frantic young man, pale, dishevelled,
+and palpitating, burst into the room.  He looked from one to the
+other of us, and under our gaze of inquiry he became conscious
+that some apology was needed for this unceremonious entry.
+
+"I'm sorry, Mr. Holmes," he cried.  "You mustn't blame me.
+I am nearly mad.  Mr. Holmes, I am the unhappy John Hector McFarlane."
+
+He made the announcement as if the name alone would explain both
+his visit and its manner; but I could see by my companion's
+unresponsive face that it meant no more to him than to me.
+
+"Have a cigarette, Mr. McFarlane," said he, pushing his case across.
+"I am sure that with your symptoms my friend Dr. Watson here would
+prescribe a sedative.  The weather has been so very warm these
+last few days.  Now, if you feel a little more composed, I should
+be glad if you would sit down in that chair and tell us very slowly
+and quietly who you are and what it is that you want.  You mentioned
+your name as if I should recognise it, but I assure you that,
+beyond the obvious facts that you are a bachelor, a solicitor,
+a Freemason, and an asthmatic, I know nothing whatever about you."
+
+Familiar as I was with my friend's methods, it was not difficult
+for me to follow his deductions, and to observe the untidiness of
+attire, the sheaf of legal papers, the watch-charm, and the breathing
+which had prompted them.  Our client, however, stared in amazement.
+
+"Yes, I am all that, Mr. Holmes, and in addition I am the most
+unfortunate man at this moment in London.  For Heaven's sake
+don't abandon me, Mr. Holmes!  If they come to arrest me before
+I have finished my story, make them give me time so that I may
+tell you the whole truth.  I could go to gaol happy if I knew
+that you were working for me outside."
+
+"Arrest you!" said Holmes.  "This is really most grati -- most
+interesting.  On what charge do you expect to be arrested?"
+
+"Upon the charge of murdering Mr. Jonas Oldacre, of Lower Norwood."
+
+My companion's expressive face showed a sympathy which was not,
+I am afraid, entirely unmixed with satisfaction.
+
+"Dear me," said he; "it was only this moment at breakfast that
+I was saying to my friend, Dr. Watson, that sensational cases had
+disappeared out of our papers."
+
+Our visitor stretched forward a quivering hand and picked up the
+DAILY TELEGRAPH, which still lay upon Holmes's knee.
+
+"If you had looked at it, sir, you would have seen at a glance
+what the errand is on which I have come to you this morning.
+I feel as if my name and my misfortune must be in every man's
+mouth."  He turned it over to expose the central page.  "Here it
+is, and with your permission I will read it to you.  Listen to
+this, Mr. Holmes.  The head-lines are:  `Mysterious Affair at
+Lower Norwood.  Disappearance of a Well-known Builder.  Suspicion
+of Murder and Arson.  A Clue to the Criminal.'  That is the clue
+which they are already following, Mr. Holmes, and I know that it
+leads infallibly to me.  I have been followed from London Bridge
+Station, and I am sure that they are only waiting for the warrant
+to arrest me.  It will break my mother's heart -- it will break
+her heart!"  He wrung his hands in an agony of apprehension,
+and swayed backwards and forwards in his chair.
+
+I looked with interest upon this man, who was accused of being
+the perpetrator of a crime of violence.  He was flaxen-haired
+and handsome in a washed-out negative fashion, with frightened
+blue eyes and a clean-shaven face, with a weak, sensitive mouth.
+His age may have been about twenty-seven; his dress and bearing
+that of a gentleman.  From the pocket of his light summer
+overcoat protruded the bundle of endorsed papers which
+proclaimed his profession.
+
+"We must use what time we have," said Holmes.  "Watson, would
+you have the kindness to take the paper and to read me the
+paragraph in question?"
+
+Underneath the vigorous head-lines which our client had quoted
+I read the following suggestive narrative:---
+
+
+Late last night, or early this morning, an incident occurred
+at Lower Norwood which points, it is feared, to a serious crime.
+Mr. Jonas Oldacre is a well-known resident of that suburb,
+where he has carried on his business as a builder for many years.
+Mr. Oldacre is a bachelor, fifty-two years of age, and lives in
+Deep Dene House, at the Sydenham end of the road of that name.
+He has had the reputation of being a man of eccentric habits,
+secretive and retiring.  For some years he has practically
+withdrawn from the business, in which he is said to have amassed
+considerable wealth.  A small timber-yard still exists, however,
+at the back of the house, and last night, about twelve o'clock,
+an alarm was given that one of the stacks was on fire.  The
+engines were soon upon the spot, but the dry wood burned with
+great fury, and it was impossible to arrest the conflagration
+until the stack had been entirely consumed.  Up to this point
+the incident bore the appearance of an ordinary accident, but
+fresh indications seem to point to serious crime.  Surprise was
+expressed at the absence of the master of the establishment from
+the scene of the fire, and an inquiry followed, which showed
+that he had disappeared from the house.  An examination of his
+room revealed that the bed had not been slept in, that a safe
+which stood in it was open, that a number of important papers
+were scattered about the room, and, finally, that there were
+signs of a murderous struggle, slight traces of blood being
+found within the room, and an oaken walking-stick, which also
+showed stains of blood upon the handle.  It is known that Mr.
+Jonas Oldacre had received a late visitor in his bedroom upon
+that night, and the stick found has been identified as the
+property of this person, who is a young London solicitor named
+John Hector McFarlane, junior partner of Graham and McFarlane,
+of 426, Gresham Buildings, E.C.  The police believe that they
+have evidence in their possession which supplies a very
+convincing motive for the crime, and altogether it cannot
+be doubted that sensational developments will follow.
+
+LATER. -- It is rumoured as we go to press that Mr. John Hector
+McFarlane has actually been arrested on the charge of the murder
+of Mr. Jonas Oldacre.  It is at least certain that a warrant has
+been issued.  There have been further and sinister developments
+in the investigation at Norwood.  Besides the signs of a
+struggle in the room of the unfortunate builder it is now known
+that the French windows of his bedroom (which is on the ground
+floor) were found to be open, that there were marks as if some
+bulky object had been dragged across to the wood-pile, and,
+finally, it is asserted that charred remains have been found
+among the charcoal ashes of the fire.  The police theory is that
+a most sensational crime has been committed, that the victim was
+clubbed to death in his own bedroom, his papers rifled, and his
+dead body dragged across to the wood-stack, which was then
+ignited so as to hide all traces of the crime.  The conduct of
+the criminal investigation has been left in the experienced
+hands of Inspector Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, who is following
+up the clues with his accustomed energy and sagacity.
+
+
+Sherlock Holmes listened with closed eyes and finger-tips
+together to this remarkable account.
+
+"The case has certainly some points of interest," said he,
+in his languid fashion.  "May I ask, in the first place,
+Mr. McFarlane, how it is that you are still at liberty, since
+there appears to be enough evidence to justify your arrest?"
+
+"I live at Torrington Lodge, Blackheath, with my parents,
+Mr. Holmes; but last night, having to do business very late
+with Mr. Jonas Oldacre, I stayed at an hotel in Norwood, and
+came to my business from there.  I knew nothing of this affair
+until I was in the train, when I read what you have just heard.
+I at once saw the horrible danger of my position, and I hurried
+to put the case into your hands.  I have no doubt that I should
+have been arrested either at my City office or at my home.
+A man followed me from London Bridge Station, and I have no
+doubt --- Great Heaven, what is that?"
+
+It was a clang of the bell, followed instantly by heavy steps
+upon the stair.  A moment later our old friend Lestrade
+appeared in the doorway.  Over his shoulder I caught a glimpse
+of one or two uniformed policemen outside.
+
+"Mr. John Hector McFarlane?" said Lestrade.
+
+Our unfortunate client rose with a ghastly face.
+
+"I arrest you for the wilful murder of Mr. Jonas Oldacre,
+of Lower Norwood."
+
+McFarlane turned to us with a gesture of despair, and sank into
+his chair once more like one who is crushed.
+
+"One moment, Lestrade," said Holmes.  "Half an hour more or less
+can make no difference to you, and the gentleman was about to
+give us an account of this very interesting affair, which might
+aid us in clearing it up."
+
+"I think there will be no difficulty in clearing it up,"
+said Lestrade, grimly.
+
+"None the less, with your permission, I should be much
+interested to hear his account."
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, it is difficult for me to refuse you anything,
+for you have been of use to the force once or twice in the past,
+and we owe you a good turn at Scotland Yard," said Lestrade.
+"At the same time I must remain with my prisoner, and I am
+bound to warn him that anything he may say will appear in
+evidence against him."
+
+"I wish nothing better," said our client.  "All I ask is that
+you should hear and recognise the absolute truth."
+
+Lestrade looked at his watch.  "I'll give you half an hour,"
+said he.
+
+"I must explain first," said McFarlane, "that I knew nothing of
+Mr. Jonas Oldacre.  His name was familiar to me, for many years
+ago my parents were acquainted with him, but they drifted apart.
+I was very much surprised, therefore, when yesterday, about
+three o'clock in the afternoon, he walked into my office in the
+City.  But I was still more astonished when he told me the object
+of his visit.  He had in his hand several sheets of a note-book,
+covered with scribbled writing -- here they are -- and he laid
+them on my table.
+
+"`Here is my will,' said he. `I want you, Mr. McFarlane, to cast
+it into proper legal shape.  I will sit here while you do so.'
+
+"I set myself to copy it, and you can imagine my astonishment
+when I found that, with some reservations, he had left all his
+property to me.  He was a strange little, ferret-like man, with
+white eyelashes, and when I looked up at him I found his keen
+grey eyes fixed upon me with an amused expression.  I could
+hardly believe my own senses as I read the terms of the will;
+but he explained that he was a bachelor with hardly any living
+relation, that he had known my parents in his youth, and that he
+had always heard of me as a very deserving young man, and was
+assured that his money would be in worthy hands.  Of course,
+I could only stammer out my thanks.  The will was duly finished,
+signed, and witnessed by my clerk.  This is it on the blue paper,
+and these slips, as I have explained, are the rough draft.
+Mr. Jonas Oldacre then informed me that there were a number of
+documents -- building leases, title-deeds, mortgages, scrip,
+and so forth -- which it was necessary that I should see
+and understand.  He said that his mind would not be easy until
+the whole thing was settled, and he begged me to come out to his
+house at Norwood that night, bringing the will with me, and to
+arrange matters.  `Remember, my boy, not one word to your
+parents about the affair until everything is settled.  We will
+keep it as a little surprise for them.'  He was very insistent
+upon this point, and made me promise it faithfully.
+
+"You can imagine, Mr. Holmes, that I was not in a humour to
+refuse him anything that he might ask.  He was my benefactor,
+and all my desire was to carry out his wishes in every particular.
+I sent a telegram home, therefore, to say that I had important
+business on hand, and that it was impossible for me to say how
+late I might be.  Mr. Oldacre had told me that he would like me
+to have supper with him at nine, as he might not be home before
+that hour.  I had some difficulty in finding his house, however,
+and it was nearly half-past before I reached it.  I found him ---"
+
+"One moment!" said Holmes.  "Who opened the door?"
+
+"A middle-aged woman, who was, I suppose, his housekeeper."
+
+"And it was she, I presume, who mentioned your name?"
+
+"Exactly," said McFarlane.
+
+"Pray proceed."
+
+McFarlane wiped his damp brow and then continued his narrative:--
+
+"I was shown by this woman into a sitting-room, where a frugal
+supper was laid out.  Afterwards Mr. Jonas Oldacre led me into
+his bedroom, in which there stood a heavy safe.  This he opened
+and took out a mass of documents, which we went over together.
+It was between eleven and twelve when we finished.  He remarked
+that we must not disturb the housekeeper.  He showed me out
+through his own French window, which had been open all this time."
+
+"Was the blind down?" asked Holmes.
+
+"I will not be sure, but I believe that it was only half down.
+Yes, I remember how he pulled it up in order to swing open the
+window.  I could not find my stick, and he said, `Never mind, my
+boy; I shall see a good deal of you now, I hope, and I will keep
+your stick until you come back to claim it.'  I left him there,
+the safe open, and the papers made up in packets upon the table.
+It was so late that I could not get back to Blackheath, so I
+spent the night at the Anerley Arms, and I knew nothing more
+until I read of this horrible affair in the morning."
+
+"Anything more that you would like to ask, Mr. Holmes?"
+said Lestrade, whose eyebrows had gone up once or twice
+during this remarkable explanation.
+
+"Not until I have been to Blackheath."
+
+"You mean to Norwood," said Lestrade.
+
+"Oh, yes; no doubt that is what I must have meant," said Holmes,
+with his enigmatical smile.  Lestrade had learned by more
+experiences than he would care to acknowledge that that
+razor-like brain could cut through that which was impenetrable
+to him.  I saw him look curiously at my companion.
+
+"I think I should like to have a word with you presently,
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said he.  "Now, Mr. McFarlane, two of
+my constables are at the door and there is a four-wheeler
+waiting."  The wretched young man arose, and with a last
+beseeching glance at us walked from the room.  The officers
+conducted him to the cab, but Lestrade remained.
+
+Holmes had picked up the pages which formed the rough draft
+of the will, and was looking at them with the keenest interest
+upon his face.
+
+"There are some points about that document, Lestrade, are there
+not?" said he, pushing them over.
+
+The official looked at them with a puzzled expression.
+
+"I can read the first few lines, and these in the middle of
+the second page, and one or two at the end.  Those are as clear
+as print," said he; "but the writing in between is very bad,
+and there are three places where I cannot read it at all."
+
+"What do you make of that?" said Holmes.
+
+"Well, what do YOU make of it?"
+
+"That it was written in a train; the good writing represents
+stations, the bad writing movement, and the very bad writing
+passing over points.  A scientific expert would pronounce at
+once that this was drawn up on a suburban line, since nowhere
+save in the immediate vicinity of a great city could there be so
+quick a succession of points.  Granting that his whole journey
+was occupied in drawing up the will, then the train was an
+express, only stopping once between Norwood and London Bridge."
+
+Lestrade began to laugh.
+
+"You are too many for me when you begin to get on your theories,
+Mr. Holmes," said he.  "How does this bear on the case?"
+
+"Well, it corroborates the young man's story to the extent that
+the will was drawn up by Jonas Oldacre in his journey yesterday.
+It is curious -- is it not? -- that a man should draw up so
+important a document in so haphazard a fashion.  It suggests
+that he did not think it was going to be of much practical
+importance.  If a man drew up a will which he did not intend
+ever to be effective he might do it so."
+
+"Well, he drew up his own death-warrant at the same time,"
+said Lestrade.
+
+"Oh, you think so?"
+
+"Don't you?"
+
+"Well, it is quite possible; but the case is not clear to me yet."
+
+"Not clear?  Well, if that isn't clear, what COULD be clear?
+Here is a young man who learns suddenly that if a certain older
+man dies he will succeed to a fortune.  What does he do?
+He says nothing to anyone, but he arranges that he shall go out
+on some pretext to see his client that night; he waits until
+the only other person in the house is in bed, and then in the
+solitude of a man's room he murders him, burns his body in the
+wood-pile, and departs to a neighbouring hotel.  The blood-stains
+in the room and also on the stick are very slight.  It is probable
+that he imagined his crime to be a bloodless one, and hoped that
+if the body were consumed it would hide all traces of the method
+of his death -- traces which for some reason must have pointed
+to him.  Is all this not obvious?"
+
+"It strikes me, my good Lestrade, as being just a trifle too
+obvious," said Holmes.  "You do not add imagination to your
+other great qualities; but if you could for one moment put
+yourself in the place of this young man, would you choose the
+very night after the will had been made to commit your crime?
+Would it not seem dangerous to you to make so very close a
+relation between the two incidents?  Again, would you choose
+an occasion when you are known to be in the house, when a servant
+has let you in?  And, finally, would you take the great pains
+to conceal the body and yet leave your own stick as a sign
+that you were the criminal?  Confess, Lestrade, that all this
+is very unlikely."
+
+"As to the stick, Mr. Holmes, you know as well as I do that
+a criminal is often flurried and does things which a cool man
+would avoid.  He was very likely afraid to go back to the room.
+Give me another theory that would fit the facts."
+
+"I could very easily give you half-a-dozen," said Holmes.
+"Here, for example, is a very possible and even probable one.
+I make you a free present of it.  The older man is showing
+documents which are of evident value.  A passing tramp sees
+them through the window, the blind of which is only half down.
+Exit the solicitor.  Enter the tramp!  He seizes a stick,
+which he observes there, kills Oldacre, and departs after
+burning the body."
+
+"Why should the tramp burn the body?"
+
+"For the matter of that why should McFarlane?"
+
+"To hide some evidence."
+
+"Possibly the tramp wanted to hide that any murder at all had
+been committed."
+
+"And why did the tramp take nothing?"
+
+"Because they were papers that he could not negotiate."
+
+Lestrade shook his head, though it seemed to me that his manner
+was less absolutely assured than before.
+
+"Well, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you may look for your tramp,
+and while you are finding him we will hold on to our man.
+The future will show which is right.  Just notice this point,
+Mr. Holmes:  that so far as we know none of the papers were
+removed, and that the prisoner is the one man in the world who
+had no reason for removing them, since he was heir-at-law and
+would come into them in any case."
+
+My friend seemed struck by this remark.
+
+"I don't mean to deny that the evidence is in some ways very
+strongly in favour of your theory," said he.  "I only wish to
+point out that there are other theories possible.  As you say,
+the future will decide.  Good morning!  I dare say that in the
+course of the day I shall drop in at Norwood and see how you
+are getting on."
+
+When the detective departed my friend rose and made his
+preparations for the day's work with the alert air of a man who
+has a congenial task before him.
+
+"My first movement, Watson," said he, as he bustled into his
+frock-coat, "must, as I said, be in the direction of Blackheath."
+
+"And why not Norwood?"
+
+"Because we have in this case one singular incident coming close
+to the heels of another singular incident.  The police are
+making the mistake of concentrating their attention upon the
+second, because it happens to be the one which is actually
+criminal.  But it is evident to me that the logical way to
+approach the case is to begin by trying to throw some light upon
+the first incident -- the curious will, so suddenly made, and to
+so unexpected an heir.  It may do something to simplify what
+followed.  No, my dear fellow, I don't think you can help me.
+There is no prospect of danger, or I should not dream of
+stirring out without you.  I trust that when I see you in the
+evening I will be able to report that I have been able to do
+something for this unfortunate youngster who has thrown himself
+upon my protection."
+
+It was late when my friend returned, and I could see by a glance
+at his haggard and anxious face that the high hopes with which
+he had started had not been fulfilled.  For an hour he droned
+away upon his violin, endeavouring to soothe his own ruffled
+spirits.  At last he flung down the instrument and plunged into
+a detailed account of his misadventures.
+
+"It's all going wrong, Watson -- all as wrong as it can go.
+I kept a bold face before Lestrade, but, upon my soul, I believe
+that for once the fellow is on the right track and we are on the
+wrong.  All my instincts are one way and all the facts are the
+other, and I much fear that British juries have not yet attained
+that pitch of intelligence when they will give the preference to
+my theories over Lestrade's facts."
+
+"Did you go to Blackheath?"
+
+"Yes, Watson, I went there, and I found very quickly that the
+late lamented Oldacre was a pretty considerable black-guard.
+The father was away in search of his son.  The mother was at
+home -- a little, fluffy, blue-eyed person, in a tremor of fear
+and indignation.  Of course, she would not admit even the
+possibility of his guilt.  But she would not express either
+surprise or regret over the fate of Oldacre.  On the contrary,
+she spoke of him with such bitterness that she was unconsciously
+considerably strengthening the case of the police, for, of course,
+if her son had heard her speak of the man in this fashion it would
+predispose him towards hatred and violence.  `He was more like
+a malignant and cunning ape than a human being,' said she,
+`and he always was, ever since he was a young man.'
+
+"`You knew him at that time?' said I.
+
+"`Yes, I knew him well; in fact, he was an old suitor of mine.
+Thank Heaven that I had the sense to turn away from him and
+to marry a better, if a poorer, man.  I was engaged to him,
+Mr. Holmes, when I heard a shocking story of how he had turned
+a cat loose in an aviary, and I was so horrified at his brutal
+cruelty that I would have nothing more to do with him.'
+She rummaged in a bureau, and presently she produced a photograph
+of a woman, shamefully defaced and mutilated with a knife.
+`That is my own photograph,' she said.  `He sent it to me in
+that state, with his curse, upon my wedding morning.'
+
+"`Well,' said I, `at least he has forgiven you now, since he has
+left all his property to your son.'
+
+"`Neither my son nor I want anything from Jonas Oldacre, dead
+or alive,' she cried, with a proper spirit.  `There is a God
+in Heaven, Mr. Holmes, and that same God who has punished that
+wicked man will show in His own good time that my son's hands
+are guiltless of his blood.'
+
+"Well, I tried one or two leads, but could get at nothing which
+would help our hypothesis, and several points which would make
+against it.  I gave it up at last and off I went to Norwood.
+
+"This place, Deep Dene House, is a big modern villa of staring
+brick, standing back in its own grounds, with a laurel-clumped
+lawn in front of it.  To the right and some distance back from
+the road was the timber-yard which had been the scene of the
+fire.  Here's a rough plan on a leaf of my note-book.  This
+window on the left is the one which opens into Oldacre's room.
+You can look into it from the road, you see.  That is about the
+only bit of consolation I have had to-day.  Lestrade was not
+there, but his head constable did the honours.  They had just
+made a great treasure-trove.  They had spent the morning raking
+among the ashes of the burned wood-pile, and besides the charred
+organic remains they had secured several discoloured metal
+discs.  I examined them with care, and there was no doubt that
+they were trouser buttons.  I even distinguished that one of
+them was marked with the name of `Hyams,' who was Oldacre's
+tailor.  I then worked the lawn very carefully for signs and
+traces, but this drought has made everything as hard as iron.
+Nothing was to be seen save that some body or bundle had been
+dragged through a low privet hedge which is in a line with the
+wood-pile.  All that, of course, fits in with the official
+theory.  I crawled about the lawn with an August sun on my back,
+but I got up at the end of an hour no wiser than before.
+
+"Well, after this fiasco I went into the bedroom and examined
+that also.  The blood-stains were very slight, mere smears and
+discolorations, but undoubtedly fresh.  The stick had been removed,
+but there also the marks were slight.  There is no doubt about
+the stick belonging to our client.  He admits it.  Footmarks of
+both men could be made out on the carpet, but none of any third
+person, which again is a trick for the other side.  They were
+piling up their score all the time and we were at a standstill.
+
+"Only one little gleam of hope did I get -- and yet it amounted
+to nothing.  I examined the contents of the safe, most of which
+had been taken out and left on the table.  The papers had been
+made up into sealed envelopes, one or two of which had been
+opened by the police.  They were not, so far as I could judge,
+of any great value, nor did the bank-book show that Mr. Oldacre
+was in such very affluent circumstances.  But it seemed to me
+that all the papers were not there.  There were allusions to
+some deeds -- possibly the more valuable -- which I could not
+find.  This, of course, if we could definitely prove it, would
+turn Lestrade's argument against himself, for who would steal
+a thing if he knew that he would shortly inherit it?
+
+"Finally, having drawn every other cover and picked up no scent,
+I tried my luck with the housekeeper.  Mrs. Lexington is her
+name, a little, dark, silent person, with suspicious and
+sidelong eyes.  She could tell us something if she would --
+I am convinced of it.  But she was as close as wax.  Yes, she
+had let Mr. McFarlane in at half-past nine.  She wished her
+hand had withered before she had done so.  She had gone to bed at
+half-past ten.  Her room was at the other end of the house, and
+she could hear nothing of what passed.  Mr. McFarlane had left
+his hat, and to the best of her belief his stick, in the hall.
+She had been awakened by the alarm of fire.  Her poor, dear
+master had certainly been murdered.  Had he any enemies?
+Well, every man had enemies, but Mr. Oldacre kept himself very
+much to himself, and only met people in the way of business.
+She had seen the buttons, and was sure that they belonged to the
+clothes which he had worn last night.  The wood-pile was very dry,
+for it had not rained for a month.  It burned like tinder, and by
+the time she reached the spot nothing could be seen but flames.
+She and all the firemen smelled the burned flesh from inside it.
+She knew nothing of the papers, nor of Mr. Oldacre's private affairs.
+
+"So, my dear Watson, there's my report of a failure.  And yet --
+and yet ---" -- he clenched his thin hands in a paroxysm of
+conviction -- "I KNOW it's all wrong.  I feel it in my bones.
+There is something that has not come out, and that housekeeper
+knows it.  There was a sort of sulky defiance in her eyes, which
+only goes with guilty knowledge.  However, there's no good
+talking any more about it, Watson; but unless some lucky chance
+comes our way I fear that the Norwood Disappearance Case will
+not figure in that chronicle of our successes which I foresee
+that a patient public will sooner or later have to endure."
+
+"Surely," said I, "the man's appearance would go far with any jury?"
+
+"That is a dangerous argument, my dear Watson.  You remember that
+terrible murderer, Bert Stevens, who wanted us to get him off in '87?
+Was there ever a more mild-mannered, Sunday-school young man?"
+
+"It is true."
+
+"Unless we succeed in establishing an alternative theory this
+man is lost.  You can hardly find a flaw in the case which can
+now be presented against him, and all further investigation has
+served to strengthen it.  By the way, there is one curious
+little point about those papers which may serve us as the
+starting-point for an inquiry.  On looking over the bank-book
+I found that the low state of the balance was principally due
+to large cheques which have been made out during the last year
+to Mr. Cornelius.  I confess that I should be interested to know
+who this Mr. Cornelius may be with whom a retired builder has
+such very large transactions.  Is it possible that he has had
+a hand in the affair?  Cornelius might be a broker, but we have
+found no scrip to correspond with these large payments.  Failing
+any other indication my researches must now take the direction
+of an inquiry at the bank for the gentleman who has cashed these
+cheques.  But I fear, my dear fellow, that our case will end
+ingloriously by Lestrade hanging our client, which will
+certainly be a triumph for Scotland Yard."
+
+I do not know how far Sherlock Holmes took any sleep that night,
+but when I came down to breakfast I found him pale and harassed,
+his bright eyes the brighter for the dark shadows round them.
+The carpet round his chair was littered with cigarette-ends and
+with the early editions of the morning papers.  An open telegram
+lay upon the table.
+
+"What do you think of this, Watson?" he asked, tossing it across.
+
+It was from Norwood, and ran as follows:--
+
+"IMPORTANT FRESH EVIDENCE TO HAND.  MCFARLANE'S GUILT DEFINITELY
+ESTABLISHED.  ADVISE YOU TO ABANDON CASE. -- LESTRADE."
+
+"This sounds serious," said I.
+
+"It is Lestrade's little cock-a-doodle of victory," Holmes answered,
+with a bitter smile.  "And yet it may be premature to abandon the
+case.  After all, important fresh evidence is a two-edged thing,
+and may possibly cut in a very different direction to that which
+Lestrade imagines.  Take your breakfast, Watson, and we will go out
+together and see what we can do.  I feel as if I shall need your
+company and your moral support to-day."
+
+My friend had no breakfast himself, for it was one of his
+peculiarities that in his more intense moments he would permit
+himself no food, and I have known him presume upon his iron
+strength until he has fainted from pure inanition.  "At present
+I cannot spare energy and nerve force for digestion," he would
+say in answer to my medical remonstrances.  I was not surprised,
+therefore, when this morning he left his untouched meal behind
+him and started with me for Norwood.  A crowd of morbid
+sightseers were still gathered round Deep Dene House, which was
+just such a suburban villa as I had pictured.  Within the gates
+Lestrade met us, his face flushed with victory, his manner
+grossly triumphant.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, have you proved us to be wrong yet?  Have you
+found your tramp?" he cried.
+
+"I have formed no conclusion whatever," my companion answered.
+
+"But we formed ours yesterday, and now it proves to be correct;
+so you must acknowledge that we have been a little in front of
+you this time, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"You certainly have the air of something unusual having occurred,"
+said Holmes.
+
+Lestrade laughed loudly.
+
+"You don't like being beaten any more than the rest of us do,"
+said he.  "A man can't expect always to have it his own way,
+can he, Dr. Watson?  Step this way, if you please, gentlemen,
+and I think I can convince you once for all that it was
+John McFarlane who did this crime."
+
+He led us through the passage and out into a dark hall beyond.
+
+"This is where young McFarlane must have come out to get his hat
+after the crime was done," said he.  "Now, look at this."  With
+dramatic suddenness he struck a match and by its light exposed
+a stain of blood upon the whitewashed wall.  As he held the
+match nearer I saw that it was more than a stain.  It was the
+well-marked print of a thumb.
+
+"Look at that with your magnifying glass, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"Yes, I am doing so."
+
+"You are aware that no two thumb marks are alike?"
+
+"I have heard something of the kind."
+
+"Well, then, will you please compare that print with this wax
+impression of young McFarlane's right thumb, taken by my orders
+this morning?"
+
+As he held the waxen print close to the blood-stain it did not
+take a magnifying glass to see that the two were undoubtedly
+from the same thumb.  It was evident to me that our unfortunate
+client was lost.
+
+"That is final," said Lestrade.
+
+"Yes, that is final," I involuntarily echoed.
+
+"It is final," said Holmes.
+
+Something in his tone caught my ear, and I turned to look at
+him.  An extraordinary change had come over his face.  It was
+writhing with inward merriment.  His two eyes were shining like
+stars.  It seemed to me that he was making desperate efforts to
+restrain a convulsive attack of laughter.
+
+"Dear me!  Dear me!" he said at last.  "Well, now, who would
+have thought it?  And how deceptive appearances may be, to be
+sure!  Such a nice young man to look at!  It is a lesson to us
+not to trust our own judgment, is it not, Lestrade?"
+
+"Yes, some of us are a little too much inclined to be cocksure,
+Mr. Holmes," said Lestrade.  The man's insolence was maddening,
+but we could not resent it.
+
+"What a providential thing that this young man should press his
+right thumb against the wall in taking his hat from the peg!
+Such a very natural action, too, if you come to think of it."
+Holmes was outwardly calm, but his whole body gave a wriggle
+of suppressed excitement as he spoke.  "By the way, Lestrade,
+who made this remarkable discovery?"
+
+"It was the housekeeper, Mrs. Lexington, who drew the night
+constable's attention to it."
+
+"Where was the night constable?"
+
+"He remained on guard in the bedroom where the crime was
+committed, so as to see that nothing was touched."
+
+"But why didn't the police see this mark yesterday?"
+
+"Well, we had no particular reason to make a careful examination
+of the hall.  Besides, it's not in a very prominent place,
+as you see."
+
+"No, no, of course not.  I suppose there is no doubt that the
+mark was there yesterday?"
+
+Lestrade looked at Holmes as if he thought he was going out of
+his mind.  I confess that I was myself surprised both at his
+hilarious manner and at his rather wild observation.
+
+"I don't know whether you think that McFarlane came out of gaol
+in the dead of the night in order to strengthen the evidence
+against himself," said Lestrade.  "I leave it to any expert in
+the world whether that is not the mark of his thumb."
+
+"It is unquestionably the mark of his thumb."
+
+"There, that's enough," said Lestrade.  "I am a practical man,
+Mr. Holmes, and when I have got my evidence I come to my
+conclusions.  If you have anything to say you will find me
+writing my report in the sitting-room."
+
+Holmes had recovered his equanimity, though I still seemed to
+detect gleams of amusement in his expression.
+
+"Dear me, this is a very sad development, Watson, is it not?"
+said he.  "And yet there are singular points about it which
+hold out some hopes for our client."
+
+"I am delighted to hear it," said I, heartily.  "I was afraid
+it was all up with him."
+
+"I would hardly go so far as to say that, my dear Watson.
+The fact is that there is one really serious flaw in this
+evidence to which our friend attaches so much importance."
+
+"Indeed, Holmes!  What is it?"
+
+"Only this:  that I KNOW that that mark was not there when
+I examined the hall yesterday.  And now, Watson, let us have
+a little stroll round in the sunshine."
+
+With a confused brain, but with a heart into which some warmth
+of hope was returning, I accompanied my friend in a walk round
+the garden.  Holmes took each face of the house in turn and
+examined it with great interest.  He then led the way inside and
+went over the whole building from basement to attics.  Most of
+the rooms were unfurnished, but none the less Holmes inspected
+them all minutely.  Finally, on the top corridor, which ran
+outside three untenanted bedrooms, he again was seized with
+a spasm of merriment.
+
+"There are really some very unique features about this case,
+Watson," said he.  "I think it is time now that we took our
+friend Lestrade into our confidence.  He has had his little
+smile at our expense, and perhaps we may do as much by him if
+my reading of this problem proves to be correct.  Yes, yes;
+I think I see how we should approach it."
+
+The Scotland Yard inspector was still writing in the parlour
+when Holmes interrupted him.
+
+"I understood that you were writing a report of this case," said he.
+
+"So I am."
+
+"Don't you think it may be a little premature?  I can't help
+thinking that your evidence is not complete."
+
+Lestrade knew my friend too well to disregard his words.
+He laid down his pen and looked curiously at him.
+
+"What do you mean, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Only that there is an important witness whom you have not seen."
+
+"Can you produce him?"
+
+"I think I can."
+
+"Then do so."
+
+"I will do my best.  How many constables have you?"
+
+"There are three within call."
+
+"Excellent!" said Holmes.  "May I ask if they are all large,
+able-bodied men with powerful voices?"
+
+"I have no doubt they are, though I fail to see what their
+voices have to do with it."
+
+"Perhaps I can help you to see that and one or two other things
+as well," said Holmes.  "Kindly summon your men, and I will try."
+
+Five minutes later three policemen had assembled in the hall.
+
+"In the outhouse you will find a considerable quantity of straw,"
+said Holmes.  "I will ask you to carry in two bundles of it.
+I think it will be of the greatest assistance in producing the
+witness whom I require.  Thank you very much.  I believe you
+have some matches in your pocket, Watson.  Now, Mr. Lestrade,
+I will ask you all to accompany me to the top landing."
+
+As I have said, there was a broad corridor there, which ran outside
+three empty bedrooms.  At one end of the corridor we were all
+marshalled by Sherlock Holmes, the constables grinning and Lestrade
+staring at my friend with amazement, expectation, and derision
+chasing each other across his features.  Holmes stood before us
+with the air of a conjurer who is performing a trick.
+
+"Would you kindly send one of your constables for two buckets
+of water?  Put the straw on the floor here, free from the wall
+on either side.  Now I think that we are all ready."
+
+Lestrade's face had begun to grow red and angry.
+
+"I don't know whether you are playing a game with us,
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said he.  "If you know anything,
+you can surely say it without all this tomfoolery."
+
+"I assure you, my good Lestrade, that I have an excellent reason
+for everything that I do.  You may possibly remember that you
+chaffed me a little some hours ago, when the sun seemed on your
+side of the hedge, so you must not grudge me a little pomp and
+ceremony now.  Might I ask you, Watson, to open that window,
+and then to put a match to the edge of the straw?"
+
+I did so, and, driven by the draught, a coil of grey smoke swirled
+down the corridor, while the dry straw crackled and flamed.
+
+"Now we must see if we can find this witness for you, Lestrade.
+Might I ask you all to join in the cry of `Fire!'?  Now, then;
+one, two, three ---"
+
+"Fire!" we all yelled.
+
+"Thank you.  I will trouble you once again."
+
+"Fire!"
+
+"Just once more, gentlemen, and all together."
+
+"Fire!"  The shout must have rung over Norwood.
+
+It had hardly died away when an amazing thing happened.  A door
+suddenly flew open out of what appeared to be solid wall at the
+end of the corridor, and a little, wizened man darted out of it,
+like a rabbit out of its burrow.
+
+"Capital!" said Holmes, calmly.  "Watson, a bucket of water over
+the straw.  That will do!  Lestrade, allow me to present you
+with your principal missing witness, Mr. Jonas Oldacre."
+
+The detective stared at the new-comer with blank amazement.
+The latter was blinking in the bright light of the corridor,
+and peering at us and at the smouldering fire.  It was an odious
+face -- crafty, vicious, malignant, with shifty, light-grey eyes
+and white eyelashes.
+
+"What's this, then?" said Lestrade at last.  "What have you
+been doing all this time, eh?"
+
+Oldacre gave an uneasy laugh, shrinking back from the furious
+red face of the angry detective.
+
+"I have done no harm."
+
+"No harm?  You have done your best to get an innocent man hanged.
+If it wasn't for this gentleman here, I am not sure that you
+would not have succeeded."
+
+The wretched creature began to whimper.
+
+"I am sure, sir, it was only my practical joke."
+
+"Oh! a joke, was it?  You won't find the laugh on your side,
+I promise you.  Take him down and keep him in the sitting-room
+until I come.  Mr. Holmes," he continued, when they had gone,
+"I could not speak before the constables, but I don't mind saying,
+in the presence of Dr. Watson, that this is the brightest thing
+that you have done yet, though it is a mystery to me how you did
+it.  You have saved an innocent man's life, and you have
+prevented a very grave scandal, which would have ruined my
+reputation in the Force."
+
+Holmes smiled and clapped Lestrade upon the shoulder.
+
+"Instead of being ruined, my good sir, you will find that
+your reputation has been enormously enhanced.  Just make
+a few alterations in that report which you were writing,
+and they will understand how hard it is to throw dust
+in the eyes of Inspector Lestrade."
+
+"And you don't want your name to appear?"
+
+"Not at all.  The work is its own reward.  Perhaps I shall get
+the credit also at some distant day when I permit my zealous
+historian to lay out his foolscap once more -- eh, Watson?
+Well, now, let us see where this rat has been lurking."
+
+A lath-and-plaster partition had been run across the passage
+six feet from the end, with a door cunningly concealed in it.
+It was lit within by slits under the eaves.  A few articles of
+furniture and a supply of food and water were within, together
+with a number of books and papers.
+
+"There's the advantage of being a builder," said Holmes,
+as we came out.  "He was able to fix up his own little
+hiding-place without any confederate -- save, of course,
+that precious housekeeper of his, whom I should lose no
+time in adding to your bag, Lestrade."
+
+"I'll take your advice.  But how did you know of this place,
+Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"I made up my mind that the fellow was in hiding in the house.
+When I paced one corridor and found it six feet shorter than
+the corresponding one below, it was pretty clear where he was.
+I thought he had not the nerve to lie quiet before an alarm of
+fire.  We could, of course, have gone in and taken him, but it
+amused me to make him reveal himself; besides, I owed you a
+little mystification, Lestrade, for your chaff in the morning."
+
+"Well, sir, you certainly got equal with me on that.  But how
+in the world did you know that he was in the house at all?"
+
+"The thumb-mark, Lestrade.  You said it was final; and so it was,
+in a very different sense.  I knew it had not been there the day
+before.  I pay a good deal of attention to matters of detail,
+as you may have observed, and I had examined the hall and was
+sure that the wall was clear.  Therefore, it had been put on
+during the night."
+
+"But how?"
+
+"Very simply.  When those packets were sealed up, Jonas Oldacre
+got McFarlane to secure one of the seals by putting his thumb
+upon the soft wax.  It would be done so quickly and so naturally
+that I dare say the young man himself has no recollection of it.
+Very likely it just so happened, and Oldacre had himself no
+notion of the use he would put it to.  Brooding over the case in
+that den of his, it suddenly struck him what absolutely damning
+evidence he could make against McFarlane by using that thumb-mark.
+It was the simplest thing in the world for him to take a wax
+impression from the seal, to moisten it in as much blood as he
+could get from a pin-prick, and to put the mark upon the wall
+during the night, either with his own hand or with that of his
+housekeeper.  If you examine among those documents which he took
+with him into his retreat I will lay you a wager that you find
+the seal with the thumb-mark upon it."
+
+"Wonderful!" said Lestrade.  "Wonderful!  It's all as clear as
+crystal, as you put it.  But what is the object of this deep
+deception, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+It was amusing to me to see how the detective's overbearing
+manner had changed suddenly to that of a child asking questions
+of its teacher.
+
+"Well, I don't think that is very hard to explain.  A very deep,
+malicious, vindictive person is the gentleman who is now awaiting
+us downstairs.  You know that he was once refused by McFarlane's
+mother?  You don't!  I told you that you should go to Blackheath
+first and Norwood afterwards.  Well, this injury, as he would
+consider it, has rankled in his wicked, scheming brain, and all
+his life he has longed for vengeance, but never seen his chance.
+During the last year or two things have gone against him --
+secret speculation, I think -- and he finds himself in a bad way.
+He determines to swindle his creditors, and for this purpose he
+pays large cheques to a certain Mr. Cornelius, who is, I imagine,
+himself under another name.  I have not traced these cheques yet,
+but I have no doubt that they were banked under that name at some
+provincial town where Oldacre from time to time led a double
+existence.  He intended to change his name altogether, draw this
+money, and vanish, starting life again elsewhere."
+
+"Well, that's likely enough."
+
+"It would strike him that in disappearing he might throw all
+pursuit off his track, and at the same time have an ample and
+crushing revenge upon his old sweetheart, if he could give the
+impression that he had been murdered by her only child.  It was
+a masterpiece of villainy, and he carried it out like a master.
+The idea of the will, which would give an obvious motive for the
+crime, the secret visit unknown to his own parents, the retention
+of the stick, the blood, and the animal remains and buttons in the
+wood-pile, all were admirable.  It was a net from which it seemed
+to me a few hours ago that there was no possible escape.  But he
+had not that supreme gift of the artist, the knowledge of when to
+stop.  He wished to improve that which was already perfect --
+to draw the rope tighter yet round the neck of his unfortunate
+victim -- and so he ruined all.  Let us descend, Lestrade.
+There are just one or two questions that I would ask him."
+
+The malignant creature was seated in his own parlour with a
+policeman upon each side of him.
+
+"It was a joke, my good sir, a practical joke, nothing more,"
+he whined incessantly.  "I assure you, sir, that I simply
+concealed myself in order to see the effect of my disappearance,
+and I am sure that you would not be so unjust as to imagine that
+I would have allowed any harm to befall poor young Mr. McFarlane."
+
+"That's for a jury to decide," said Lestrade.  "Anyhow, we shall
+have you on a charge of conspiracy, if not for attempted murder."
+
+"And you'll probably find that your creditors will impound the
+banking account of Mr. Cornelius," said Holmes.
+
+The little man started and turned his malignant eyes upon my friend.
+
+"I have to thank you for a good deal," said he.  "Perhaps I'll
+pay my debt some day."
+
+Holmes smiled indulgently.
+
+"I fancy that for some few years you will find your time very
+fully occupied," said he.  "By the way, what was it you put into
+the wood-pile besides your old trousers?  A dead dog, or rabbits,
+or what?  You won't tell?  Dear me, how very unkind of you!
+Well, well, I dare say that a couple of rabbits would account
+both for the blood and for the charred ashes.  If ever you write
+an account, Watson, you can make rabbits serve your turn."
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 26  DECEMBER, 1903
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+III. --- The Adventure of the Dancing Men.
+
+
+HOLMES had been seated for some hours in silence with his long,
+thin back curved over a chemical vessel in which he was brewing
+a particularly malodorous product.  His head was sunk upon his
+breast, and he looked from my point of view like a strange,
+lank bird, with dull grey plumage and a black top-knot.
+
+"So, Watson," said he, suddenly, "you do not propose to invest
+in South African securities?"
+
+I gave a start of astonishment.  Accustomed as I was to Holmes's
+curious faculties, this sudden intrusion into my most intimate
+thoughts was utterly inexplicable.
+
+"How on earth do you know that?" I asked.
+
+He wheeled round upon his stool, with a steaming test-tube
+in his hand and a gleam of amusement in his deep-set eyes.
+
+"Now, Watson, confess yourself utterly taken aback," said he.
+
+"I am."
+
+"I ought to make you sign a paper to that effect."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because in five minutes you will say that it is all so
+absurdly simple."
+
+"I am sure that I shall say nothing of the kind."
+
+"You see, my dear Watson" -- he propped his test-tube in the
+rack and began to lecture with the air of a professor addressing
+his class -- "it is not really difficult to construct a series
+of inferences, each dependent upon its predecessor and each
+simple in itself.  If, after doing so, one simply knocks out all
+the central inferences and presents one's audience with the
+starting-point and the conclusion, one may produce a startling,
+though possibly a meretricious, effect.  Now, it was not really
+difficult, by an inspection of the groove between your left
+forefinger and thumb, to feel sure that you did NOT propose
+to invest your small capital in the goldfields."
+
+"I see no connection."
+
+"Very likely not; but I can quickly show you a close connection.
+Here are the missing links of the very simple chain:  1. You had
+chalk between your left finger and thumb when you returned from the
+club last night.  2. You put chalk there when you play billiards to
+steady the cue.  3. You never play billiards except with Thurston.
+4. You told me four weeks ago that Thurston had an option on some
+South African property which would expire in a month, and which he
+desired you to share with him.  5. Your cheque-book is locked in my
+drawer, and you have not asked for the key.  6. You do not propose
+to invest your money in this manner."
+
+"How absurdly simple!" I cried.
+
+"Quite so!" said he, a little nettled.  "Every problem becomes
+very childish when once it is explained to you.  Here is an
+unexplained one.  See what you can make of that, friend Watson."
+He tossed a sheet of paper upon the table and turned once more
+to his chemical analysis.
+
+I looked with amazement at the absurd hieroglyphics upon the paper.
+
+"Why, Holmes, it is a child's drawing," I cried.
+
+"Oh, that's your idea!"
+
+"What else should it be?"
+
+"That is what Mr. Hilton Cubitt, of Riding Thorpe Manor, Norfolk,
+is very anxious to know.  This little conundrum came by the first
+post, and he was to follow by the next train.  There's a ring at the
+bell, Watson.  I should not be very much surprised if this were he."
+
+A heavy step was heard upon the stairs, and an instant later
+there entered a tall, ruddy, clean-shaven gentleman, whose clear
+eyes and florid cheeks told of a life led far from the fogs of
+Baker Street.  He seemed to bring a whiff of his strong, fresh,
+bracing, east-coast air with him as he entered.  Having shaken
+hands with each of us, he was about to sit down when his eye
+rested upon the paper with the curious markings, which I had
+just examined and left upon the table.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, what do you make of these?" he cried.
+"They told me that you were fond of queer mysteries, and I don't
+think you can find a queerer one than that.  I sent the paper on
+ahead so that you might have time to study it before I came."
+
+"It is certainly rather a curious production," said Holmes.
+"At first sight it would appear to be some childish prank.
+It consists of a number of absurd little figures dancing across
+the paper upon which they are drawn.  Why should you attribute
+any importance to so grotesque an object?"
+
+"I never should, Mr. Holmes.  But my wife does.  It is frightening
+her to death.  She says nothing, but I can see terror in her eyes.
+That's why I want to sift the matter to the bottom."
+
+Holmes held up the paper so that the sunlight shone full upon it.
+It was a page torn from a note-book.  The markings were done in
+pencil, and ran in this way:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Holmes examined it for some time, and then, folding it carefully up,
+he placed it in his pocket-book.
+
+"This promises to be a most interesting and unusual case," said he.
+"You gave me a few particulars in your letter, Mr. Hilton Cubitt,
+but I should be very much obliged if you would kindly go over it
+all again for the benefit of my friend, Dr. Watson."
+
+"I'm not much of a story-teller," said our visitor, nervously
+clasping and unclasping his great, strong hands.  "You'll just
+ask me anything that I don't make clear.  I'll begin at the time
+of my marriage last year; but I want to say first of all that,
+though I'm not a rich man, my people have been at Ridling Thorpe
+for a matter of five centuries, and there is no better known
+family in the County of Norfolk.  Last year I came up to London
+for the Jubilee, and I stopped at a boarding-house in Russell
+Square, because Parker, the vicar of our parish, was staying in
+it.  There was an American young lady there -- Patrick was the
+name -- Elsie Patrick.  In some way we became friends, until
+before my month was up I was as much in love as a man could be.
+We were quietly married at a registry office, and we returned to
+Norfolk a wedded couple.  You'll think it very mad, Mr. Holmes,
+that a man of a good old family should marry a wife in this
+fashion, knowing nothing of her past or of her people; but if
+you saw her and knew her it would help you to understand.
+
+"She was very straight about it, was Elsie.  I can't say
+that she did not give me every chance of getting out of it
+if I wished to do so.  `I have had some very disagreeable
+associations in my life,' said she; `I wish to forget all about
+them.  I would rather never allude to the past, for it is very
+painful to me.  If you take me, Hilton, you will take a woman who
+has nothing that she need be personally ashamed of; but you will
+have to be content with my word for it, and to allow me to be
+silent as to all that passed up to the time when I became yours.
+If these conditions are too hard, then go back to Norfolk and
+leave me to the lonely life in which you found me.'  It was only
+the day before our wedding that she said those very words to me.
+I told her that I was content to take her on her own terms, and
+I have been as good as my word.
+
+"Well, we have been married now for a year, and very happy we
+have been.  But about a month ago, at the end of June, I saw
+for the first time signs of trouble.  One day my wife received
+a letter from America.  I saw the American stamp.  She turned
+deadly white, read the letter, and threw it into the fire.
+She made no allusion to it afterwards, and I made none, for a
+promise is a promise; but she has never known an easy hour from
+that moment.  There is always a look of fear upon her face --
+a look as if she were waiting and expecting.  She would do
+better to trust me.  She would find that I was her best friend.
+But until she speaks I can say nothing.  Mind you, she is a
+truthful woman, Mr. Holmes, and whatever trouble there may have
+been in her past life it has been no fault of hers.  I am only
+a simple Norfolk squire, but there is not a man in England who
+ranks his family honour more highly than I do.  She knows it well,
+and she knew it well before she married me.  She would never
+bring any stain upon it -- of that I am sure.
+
+"Well, now I come to the queer part of my story.  About a week
+ago -- it was the Tuesday of last week -- I found on one of the
+window-sills a number of absurd little dancing figures, like
+these upon the paper.  They were scrawled with chalk.  I thought
+that it was the stable-boy who had drawn them, but the lad swore
+he knew nothing about it.  Anyhow, they had come there during
+the night.  I had them washed out, and I only mentioned the
+matter to my wife afterwards.  To my surprise she took it very
+seriously, and begged me if any more came to let her see them.
+None did come for a week, and then yesterday morning I found
+this paper lying on the sun-dial in the garden.  I showed it to
+Elsie, and down she dropped in a dead faint.  Since then she has
+looked like a woman in a dream, half dazed, and with terror
+always lurking in her eyes.  It was then that I wrote and sent
+the paper to you, Mr. Holmes.  It was not a thing that I could
+take to the police, for they would have laughed at me, but you
+will tell me what to do.  I am not a rich man; but if there is
+any danger threatening my little woman I would spend my last
+copper to shield her."
+
+He was a fine creature, this man of the old English soil,
+simple, straight, and gentle, with his great, earnest blue eyes
+and broad, comely face.  His love for his wife and his trust in
+her shone in his features.  Holmes had listened to his story
+with the utmost attention, and now he sat for some time in
+silent thought.
+
+"Don't you think, Mr. Cubitt," said he, at last, "that your best
+plan would be to make a direct appeal to your wife, and to ask
+her to share her secret with you?"
+
+Hilton Cubitt shook his massive head.
+
+"A promise is a promise, Mr. Holmes.  If Elsie wished to tell
+me she would.  If not, it is not for me to force her confidence.
+But I am justified in taking my own line -- and I will."
+
+"Then I will help you with all my heart.  In the first place,
+have you heard of any strangers being seen in your neighbourhood?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I presume that it is a very quiet place.  Any fresh face would
+cause comment?"
+
+"In the immediate neighbourhood, yes.  But we have several small
+watering-places not very far away.  And the farmers take in lodgers."
+
+"These hieroglyphics have evidently a meaning.  If it is a
+purely arbitrary one it may be impossible for us to solve it.
+If, on the other hand, it is systematic, I have no doubt that
+we shall get to the bottom of it.  But this particular sample
+is so short that I can do nothing, and the facts which you have
+brought me are so indefinite that we have no basis for an
+investigation.  I would suggest that you return to Norfolk,
+that you keep a keen look-out, and that you take an exact copy
+of any fresh dancing men which may appear.  It is a thousand
+pities that we have not a reproduction of those which were done
+in chalk upon the window-sill.  Make a discreet inquiry also as
+to any strangers in the neighbourhood.  When you have collected
+some fresh evidence come to me again.  That is the best advice
+which I can give you, Mr. Hilton Cubitt.  If there are any
+pressing fresh developments I shall be always ready to run down
+and see you in your Norfolk home."
+
+The interview left Sherlock Holmes very thoughtful, and several
+times in the next few days I saw him take his slip of paper from
+his note-book and look long and earnestly at the curious figures
+inscribed upon it.  He made no allusion to the affair, however,
+until one afternoon a fortnight or so later.  I was going out
+when he called me back.
+
+"You had better stay here, Watson."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I had a wire from Hilton Cubitt this morning -- you
+remember Hilton Cubitt, of the dancing men?  He was to reach
+Liverpool Street at one-twenty.  He may be here at any moment.
+I gather from his wire that there have been some new incidents
+of importance."
+
+We had not long to wait, for our Norfolk squire came straight from
+the station as fast as a hansom could bring him.  He was looking
+worried and depressed, with tired eyes and a lined forehead.
+
+"It's getting on my nerves, this business, Mr. Holmes," said he,
+as he sank, like a wearied man, into an arm-chair.  "It's bad
+enough to feel that you are surrounded by unseen, unknown folk,
+who have some kind of design upon you; but when, in addition to
+that, you know that it is just killing your wife by inches, then
+it becomes as much as flesh and blood can endure.  She's wearing
+away under it -- just wearing away before my eyes."
+
+"Has she said anything yet?"
+
+"No, Mr. Holmes, she has not.  And yet there have been times
+when the poor girl has wanted to speak, and yet could not quite
+bring herself to take the plunge.  I have tried to help her;
+but I dare say I did it clumsily, and scared her off from it.
+She has spoken about my old family, and our reputation in the county,
+and our pride in our unsullied honour, and I always felt it was
+leading to the point; but somehow it turned off before we got there."
+
+"But you have found out something for yourself?"
+
+"A good deal, Mr. Holmes. I have several fresh dancing men
+pictures for you to examine, and, what is more important,
+I have seen the fellow."
+
+"What, the man who draws them?"
+
+"Yes, I saw him at his work.  But I will tell you everything
+in order.  When I got back after my visit to you, the very first
+thing I saw next morning was a fresh crop of dancing men.
+They had been drawn in chalk upon the black wooden door of the
+tool-house, which stands beside the lawn in full view of the
+front windows.  I took an exact copy, and here it is."
+He unfolded a paper and laid it upon the table.  Here is a copy
+of the hieroglyphics:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"Excellent!" said Holmes.  "Excellent!  Pray continue."
+
+"When I had taken the copy I rubbed out the marks;
+but two mornings later a fresh inscription had appeared.
+I have a copy of it here":--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Holmes rubbed his hands and chuckled with delight.
+
+"Our material is rapidly accumulating," said he.
+
+"Three days later a message was left scrawled upon paper,
+and placed under a pebble upon the sun-dial.  Here it is.
+The characters are, as you see, exactly the same as the last one.
+After that I determined to lie in wait; so I got out my revolver
+and I sat up in my study, which overlooks the lawn and garden.
+About two in the morning I was seated by the window, all being
+dark save for the moonlight outside, when I heard steps behind
+me, and there was my wife in her dressing-gown.  She implored me
+to come to bed.  I told her frankly that I wished to see who it
+was who played such absurd tricks upon us.  She answered that it
+was some senseless practical joke, and that I should not take
+any notice of it.
+
+"`If it really annoys you, Hilton, we might go and travel,
+you and I, and so avoid this nuisance.'
+
+"`What, be driven out of our own house by a practical joker?'
+said I. `Why, we should have the whole county laughing at us.'
+
+"`Well, come to bed,' said she, `and we can discuss it
+in the morning.'
+
+"Suddenly, as she spoke, I saw her white face grow whiter yet
+in the moonlight, and her hand tightened upon my shoulder.
+Something was moving in the shadow of the tool-house.  I saw a
+dark, creeping figure which crawled round the corner and
+squatted in front of the door.  Seizing my pistol I was rushing
+out, when my wife threw her arms round me and held me with
+convulsive strength.  I tried to throw her off, but she clung
+to me most desperately.  At last I got clear, but by the time
+I had opened the door and reached the house the creature was gone.
+He had left a trace of his presence, however, for there on the
+door was the very same arrangement of dancing men which had
+already twice appeared, and which I have copied on that paper.
+There was no other sign of the fellow anywhere, though I ran all
+over the grounds.  And yet the amazing thing is that he must have
+been there all the time, for when I examined the door again in
+the morning he had scrawled some more of his pictures under the
+line which I had already seen."
+
+"Have you that fresh drawing?"
+
+"Yes; it is very short, but I made a copy of it, and here it is."
+
+Again he produced a paper.  The new dance was in this form:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"Tell me," said Holmes -- and I could see by his eyes that
+he was much excited -- "was this a mere addition to the first,
+or did it appear to be entirely separate?"
+
+"It was on a different panel of the door."
+
+"Excellent!  This is far the most important of all for our
+purpose.  It fills me with hopes.  Now, Mr. Hilton Cubitt,
+please continue your most interesting statement."
+
+"I have nothing more to say, Mr. Holmes, except that I was angry
+with my wife that night for having held me back when I might
+have caught the skulking rascal.  She said that she feared that
+I might come to harm.  For an instant it had crossed my mind
+that perhaps what she really feared was that HE might come to
+harm, for I could not doubt that she knew who this man was and
+what he meant by these strange signals.  But there is a tone in
+my wife's voice, Mr. Holmes, and a look in her eyes which forbid
+doubt, and I am sure that it was indeed my own safety that was
+in her mind.  There's the whole case, and now I want your advice
+as to what I ought to do.  My own inclination is to put
+half-a-dozen of my farm lads in the shrubbery, and when this
+fellow comes again to give him such a hiding that he will leave
+us in peace for the future."
+
+"I fear it is too deep a case for such simple remedies,"
+said Holmes.  "How long can you stay in London?"
+
+"I must go back to-day.  I would not leave my wife alone all night
+for anything.  She is very nervous and begged me to come back."
+
+"I dare say you are right.  But if you could have stopped I
+might possibly have been able to return with you in a day or
+two.  Meanwhile you will leave me these papers, and I think
+that it is very likely that I shall be able to pay you a visit
+shortly and to throw some light upon your case."
+
+Sherlock Holmes preserved his calm professional manner until our
+visitor had left us, although it was easy for me, who knew him
+so well, to see that he was profoundly excited.  The moment that
+Hilton Cubitt's broad back had disappeared through the door my
+comrade rushed to the table, laid out all the slips of paper
+containing dancing men in front of him, and threw himself into
+an intricate and elaborate calculation.  For two hours I watched
+him as he covered sheet after sheet of paper with figures and
+letters, so completely absorbed in his task that he had
+evidently forgotten my presence.  Sometimes he was making
+progress and whistled and sang at his work; sometimes he was
+puzzled, and would sit for long spells with a furrowed brow and
+a vacant eye.  Finally he sprang from his chair with a cry of
+satisfaction, and walked up and down the room rubbing his hands
+together.  Then he wrote a long telegram upon a cable form.  "If
+my answer to this is as I hope, you will have a very pretty case
+to add to your collection, Watson," said he.  "I expect that we
+shall be able to go down to Norfolk to-morrow, and to take our
+friend some very definite news as to the secret of his annoyance."
+
+I confess that I was filled with curiosity, but I was aware that
+Holmes liked to make his disclosures at his own time and in his
+own way; so I waited until it should suit him to take me into
+his confidence.
+
+But there was a delay in that answering telegram, and two days
+of impatience followed, during which Holmes pricked up his ears
+at every ring of the bell.  On the evening of the second there
+came a letter from Hilton Cubitt.  All was quiet with him,
+save that a long inscription had appeared that morning upon the
+pedestal of the sun-dial.  He inclosed a copy of it, which is
+here reproduced:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Holmes bent over this grotesque frieze for some minutes,
+and then suddenly sprang to his feet with an exclamation
+of surprise and dismay.  His face was haggard with anxiety.
+
+"We have let this affair go far enough," said he.
+"Is there a train to North Walsham to-night?"
+
+I turned up the time-table.  The last had just gone.
+
+"Then we shall breakfast early and take the very first in the
+morning," said Holmes.  "Our presence is most urgently needed.
+Ah! here is our expected cablegram.  One moment, Mrs. Hudson;
+there may be an answer.  No, that is quite as I expected.
+This message makes it even more essential that we should not
+lose an hour in letting Hilton Cubitt know how matters stand,
+for it is a singular and a dangerous web in which our simple
+Norfolk squire is entangled."
+
+So, indeed, it proved, and as I come to the dark conclusion of
+a story which had seemed to me to be only childish and bizarre
+I experience once again the dismay and horror with which I was
+filled.  Would that I had some brighter ending to communicate
+to my readers, but these are the chronicles of fact, and I must
+follow to their dark crisis the strange chain of events which
+for some days made Ridling Thorpe Manor a household word through
+the length and breadth of England.
+
+We had hardly alighted at North Walsham, and mentioned the name
+of our destination, when the station-master hurried towards us.
+"I suppose that you are the detectives from London?" said he.
+
+A look of annoyance passed over Holmes's face.
+
+"What makes you think such a thing?"
+
+"Because Inspector Martin from Norwich has just passed through.
+But maybe you are the surgeons.  She's not dead -- or wasn't by
+last accounts.  You may be in time to save her yet -- though it
+be for the gallows."
+
+Holmes's brow was dark with anxiety.
+
+"We are going to Ridling Thorpe Manor," said he, "but we have
+heard nothing of what has passed there."
+
+"It's a terrible business," said the station-master.  "They are
+shot, both Mr. Hilton Cubitt and his wife.  She shot him and
+then herself -- so the servants say.  He's dead and her life
+is despaired of.  Dear, dear, one of the oldest families in the
+County of Norfolk, and one of the most honoured."
+
+Without a word Holmes hurried to a carriage, and during the long
+seven miles' drive he never opened his mouth.  Seldom have I
+seen him so utterly despondent.  He had been uneasy during all
+our journey from town, and I had observed that he had turned
+over the morning papers with anxious attention; but now this
+sudden realization of his worst fears left him in a blank
+melancholy. He leaned back in his seat, lost in gloomy
+speculation.  Yet there was much around to interest us,
+for we were passing through as singular a country-side as
+any in England, where a few scattered cottages represented
+the population of to-day, while on every hand enormous
+square-towered churches bristled up from the flat, green
+landscape and told of the glory and prosperity of old East
+Anglia.  At last the violet rim of the German Ocean appeared
+over the green edge of the Norfolk coast, and the driver pointed
+with his whip to two old brick and timber gables which projected
+from a grove of trees.  "That's Ridling Thorpe Manor," said he.
+
+As we drove up to the porticoed front door I observed in front
+of it, beside the tennis lawn, the black tool-house and the
+pedestalled sun-dial with which we had such strange associations.
+A dapper little man, with a quick, alert manner and a waxed
+moustache, had just descended from a high dog-cart.
+He introduced himself as Inspector Martin, of the Norfolk
+Constabulary, and he was considerably astonished when he heard
+the name of my companion.
+
+"Why, Mr. Holmes, the crime was only committed at three this
+morning.  How could you hear of it in London and get to the spot
+as soon as I?"
+
+"I anticipated it.  I came in the hope of preventing it."
+
+"Then you must have important evidence of which we are ignorant,
+for they were said to be a most united couple."
+
+"I have only the evidence of the dancing men," said Holmes.
+"I will explain the matter to you later.  Meanwhile, since it
+is too late to prevent this tragedy, I am very anxious that I
+should use the knowledge which I possess in order to ensure that
+justice be done.  Will you associate me in your investigation,
+or will you prefer that I should act independently?"
+
+"I should be proud to feel that we were acting together,
+Mr. Holmes," said the inspector, earnestly.
+
+"In that case I should be glad to hear the evidence and to
+examine the premises without an instant of unnecessary delay."
+
+Inspector Martin had the good sense to allow my friend to do
+things in his own fashion, and contented himself with carefully
+noting the results.  The local surgeon, an old, white-haired
+man, had just come down from Mrs. Hilton Cubitt's room, and he
+reported that her injuries were serious, but not necessarily
+fatal.  The bullet had passed through the front of her brain,
+and it would probably be some time before she could regain
+consciousness.  On the question of whether she had been shot or
+had shot herself he would not venture to express any decided
+opinion.  Certainly the bullet had been discharged at very close
+quarters.  There was only the one pistol found in the room,
+two barrels of which had been emptied.  Mr. Hilton Cubitt had
+been shot through the heart.  It was equally conceivable that he
+had shot her and then himself, or that she had been the criminal,
+for the revolver lay upon the floor midway between them.
+
+"Has he been moved?" asked Holmes.
+
+"We have moved nothing except the lady.  We could not leave her
+lying wounded upon the floor."
+
+"How long have you been here, doctor?"
+
+"Since four o'clock."
+
+"Anyone else?"
+
+"Yes, the constable here."
+
+"And you have touched nothing?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"You have acted with great discretion.  Who sent for you?"
+
+"The housemaid, Saunders."
+
+"Was it she who gave the alarm?"
+
+"She and Mrs. King, the cook."
+
+"Where are they now?"
+
+"In the kitchen, I believe."
+
+"Then I think we had better hear their story at once."
+
+The old hall, oak-panelled and high-windowed, had been turned
+into a court of investigation.  Holmes sat in a great,
+old-fashioned chair, his inexorable eyes gleaming out of his
+haggard face.  I could read in them a set purpose to devote his
+life to this quest until the client whom he had failed to save
+should at last be avenged.  The trim Inspector Martin, the old,
+grey-headed country doctor, myself, and a stolid village
+policeman made up the rest of that strange company.
+
+The two women told their story clearly enough.  They had been
+aroused from their sleep by the sound of an explosion, which had
+been followed a minute later by a second one.  They slept in
+adjoining rooms, and Mrs. King had rushed in to Saunders.
+Together they had descended the stairs.  The door of the study
+was open and a candle was burning upon the table.  Their master
+lay upon his face in the centre of the room.  He was quite dead.
+Near the window his wife was crouching, her head leaning against
+the wall.  She was horribly wounded, and the side of her face
+was red with blood.  She breathed heavily, but was incapable of
+saying anything.  The passage, as well as the room, was full of
+smoke and the smell of powder.  The window was certainly shut
+and fastened upon the inside.  Both women were positive upon
+the point.  They had at once sent for the doctor and for the
+constable.  Then, with the aid of the groom and the stable-boy,
+they had conveyed their injured mistress to her room.  Both she
+and her husband had occupied the bed.  She was clad in her dress
+-- he in his dressing-gown, over his night clothes.  Nothing had
+been moved in the study.  So far as they knew there had never
+been any quarrel between husband and wife.  They had always
+looked upon them as a very united couple.
+
+These were the main points of the servants' evidence.  In answer
+to Inspector Martin they were clear that every door was fastened
+upon the inside, and that no one could have escaped from the
+house.  In answer to Holmes they both remembered that they were
+conscious of the smell of powder from the moment that they ran
+out of their rooms upon the top floor.  "I commend that fact
+very carefully to your attention," said Holmes to his
+professional colleague.  "And now I think that we are in a
+position to undertake a thorough examination of the room."
+
+The study proved to be a small chamber, lined on three sides
+with books, and with a writing-table facing an ordinary window,
+which looked out upon the garden.  Our first attention was given
+to the body of the unfortunate squire, whose huge frame lay
+stretched across the room.  His disordered dress showed that he
+had been hastily aroused from sleep.  The bullet had been fired
+at him from the front, and had remained in his body after
+penetrating the heart.  His death had certainly been instantaneous
+and painless.  There was no powder-marking either upon his
+dressing-gown or on his hands.  According to the country surgeon
+the lady had stains upon her face, but none upon her hand.
+
+"The absence of the latter means nothing, though its presence
+may mean everything," said Holmes.  "Unless the powder from
+a badly-fitting cartridge happens to spurt backwards, one may
+fire many shots without leaving a sign.  I would suggest that
+Mr. Cubitt's body may now be removed.  I suppose, doctor,
+you have not recovered the bullet which wounded the lady?"
+
+"A serious operation will be necessary before that can be done.
+But there are still four cartridges in the revolver.  Two have
+been fired and two wounds inflicted, so that each bullet can be
+accounted for."
+
+"So it would seem," said Holmes. "Perhaps you can account also for
+the bullet which has so obviously struck the edge of the window?"
+
+He had turned suddenly, and his long, thin finger was pointing
+to a hole which had been drilled right through the lower
+window-sash about an inch above the bottom.
+
+"By George!" cried the inspector.  "How ever did you see that?"
+
+"Because I looked for it."
+
+"Wonderful!" said the country doctor.  "You are certainly right,
+sir.  Then a third shot has been fired, and therefore a third
+person must have been present.  But who could that have been
+and how could he have got away?"
+
+"That is the problem which we are now about to solve," said
+Sherlock Holmes.  "You remember, Inspector Martin, when the
+servants said that on leaving their room they were at once
+conscious of a smell of powder I remarked that the point was
+an extremely important one?"
+
+"Yes, sir; but I confess I did not quite follow you."
+
+"It suggested that at the time of the firing the window as well
+as the door of the room had been open.  Otherwise the fumes of
+powder could not have been blown so rapidly through the house.
+A draught in the room was necessary for that.  Both door and
+window were only open for a very short time, however."
+
+"How do you prove that?"
+
+"Because the candle has not guttered."
+
+"Capital!" cried the inspector.  "Capital!"
+
+"Feeling sure that the window had been open at the time of the
+tragedy I conceived that there might have been a third person in
+the affair, who stood outside this opening and fired through it.
+Any shot directed at this person might hit the sash.  I looked,
+and there, sure enough, was the bullet mark!"
+
+"But how came the window to be shut and fastened?"
+
+"The woman's first instinct would be to shut and fasten the window.
+But, halloa! what is this?"
+
+It was a lady's hand-bag which stood upon the study table --
+a trim little hand-bag of crocodile-skin and silver.  Holmes
+opened it and turned the contents out.  There were twenty
+fifty-pound notes of the Bank of England, held together by an
+india-rubber band -- nothing else.
+
+"This must be preserved, for it will figure in the trial," said
+Holmes, as he handed the bag with its contents to the inspector.
+"It is now necessary that we should try to throw some light upon
+this third bullet, which has clearly, from the splintering of
+the wood, been fired from inside the room.  I should like to see
+Mrs. King, the cook, again.  You said, Mrs. King, that you were
+awakened by a LOUD explosion.  When you said that, did you mean
+that it seemed to you to be louder than the second one?"
+
+"Well, sir, it wakened me from my sleep, and so it is hard to judge.
+But it did seem very loud."
+
+"You don't think that it might have been two shots fired almost
+at the same instant?"
+
+"I am sure I couldn't say, sir."
+
+"I believe that it was undoubtedly so.  I rather think,
+Inspector Martin, that we have now exhausted all that this room
+can teach us.  If you will kindly step round with me, we shall
+see what fresh evidence the garden has to offer."
+
+A flower-bed extended up to the study window, and we all broke
+into an exclamation as we approached it.  The flowers were
+trampled down, and the soft soil was imprinted all over with
+footmarks.  Large, masculine feet they were, with peculiarly long,
+sharp toes.  Holmes hunted about among the grass and leaves like a
+retriever after a wounded bird.  Then, with a cry of satisfaction,
+he bent forward and picked up a little brazen cylinder.
+
+"I thought so," said he; "the revolver had an ejector, and here
+is the third cartridge.  I really think, Inspector Martin, that
+our case is almost complete."
+
+The country inspector's face had shown his intense amazement
+at the rapid and masterful progress of Holmes's investigation.
+At first he had shown some disposition to assert his own position;
+but now he was overcome with admiration and ready to follow
+without question wherever Holmes led.
+
+"Whom do you suspect?" he asked.
+
+"I'll go into that later.  There are several points in this
+problem which I have not been able to explain to you yet.
+Now that I have got so far I had best proceed on my own lines,
+and then clear the whole matter up once and for all."
+
+"Just as you wish, Mr. Holmes, so long as we get our man."
+
+"I have no desire to make mysteries, but it is impossible at the
+moment of action to enter into long and complex explanations.
+I have the threads of this affair all in my hand.  Even if this
+lady should never recover consciousness we can still reconstruct
+the events of last night and ensure that justice be done.
+First of all I wish to know whether there is any inn in this
+neighbourhood known as `Elrige's'?"
+
+The servants were cross-questioned, but none of them had heard
+of such a place.  The stable-boy threw a light upon the matter
+by remembering that a farmer of that name lived some miles off
+in the direction of East Ruston.
+
+"Is it a lonely farm?"
+
+"Very lonely, sir."
+
+"Perhaps they have not heard yet of all that happened here
+during the night?"
+
+"Maybe not, sir."
+
+Holmes thought for a little and then a curious smile played
+over his face.
+
+"Saddle a horse, my lad," said he.  "I shall wish you to take
+a note to Elrige's Farm."
+
+He took from his pocket the various slips of the dancing men.
+With these in front of him he worked for some time at the
+study-table.  Finally he handed a note to the boy, with
+directions to put it into the hands of the person to whom it was
+addressed, and especially to answer no questions of any sort
+which might be put to him.  I saw the outside of the note,
+addressed in straggling, irregular characters, very unlike
+Holmes's usual precise hand.  It was consigned to Mr. Abe
+Slaney, Elrige's Farm, East Ruston, Norfolk.
+
+"I think, inspector," Holmes remarked, "that you would do well
+to telegraph for an escort, as, if my calculations prove to be
+correct, you may have a particularly dangerous prisoner to
+convey to the county gaol.  The boy who takes this note could
+no doubt forward your telegram.  If there is an afternoon train
+to town, Watson, I think we should do well to take it, as I have
+a chemical analysis of some interest to finish, and this
+investigation draws rapidly to a close."
+
+When the youth had been dispatched with the note, Sherlock
+Holmes gave his instructions to the servants.  If any visitor
+were to call asking for Mrs. Hilton Cubitt no information should
+be given as to her condition, but he was to be shown at once
+into the drawing-room.  He impressed these points upon them with
+the utmost earnestness.  Finally he led the way into the
+drawing-room with the remark that the business was now out of our
+hands, and that we must while away the time as best we might until
+we could see what was in store for us.  The doctor had departed
+to his patients, and only the inspector and myself remained.
+
+"I think that I can help you to pass an hour in an interesting
+and profitable manner," said Holmes, drawing his chair up to the
+table and spreading out in front of him the various papers upon
+which were recorded the antics of the dancing men.  "As to you,
+friend Watson, I owe you every atonement for having allowed your
+natural curiosity to remain so long unsatisfied.  To you,
+inspector, the whole incident may appeal as a remarkable
+professional study.  I must tell you first of all the
+interesting circumstances connected with the previous
+consultations which Mr. Hilton Cubitt has had with me in Baker
+Street."  He then shortly recapitulated the facts which have
+already been recorded.  "I have here in front of me these
+singular productions, at which one might smile had they not
+proved themselves to be the fore-runners of so terrible a
+tragedy.  I am fairly familiar with all forms of secret
+writings, and am myself the author of a trifling monograph upon
+the subject, in which I analyze one hundred and sixty separate
+ciphers; but I confess that this is entirely new to me.
+The object of those who invented the system has apparently been
+to conceal that these characters convey a message, and to give
+the idea that they are the mere random sketches of children.
+
+"Having once recognised, however, that the symbols stood for
+letters, and having applied the rules which guide us in all
+forms of secret writings, the solution was easy enough.
+The first message submitted to me was so short that it was
+impossible for me to do more than to say with some confidence
+that the symbol XXX stood for E.  As you are aware, E is the
+most common letter in the English alphabet, and it predominates
+to so marked an extent that even in a short sentence one would
+expect to find it most often.  Out of fifteen symbols in the
+first message four were the same, so it was reasonable to set
+this down as E.  It is true that in some cases the figure was
+bearing a flag and in some cases not, but it was probable from
+the way in which the flags were distributed that they were used
+to break the sentence up into words.  I accepted this as a
+hypothesis, and noted that E was represented by XXX.
+
+"But now came the real difficulty of the inquiry.  The order of
+the English letters after E is by no means well marked, and any
+preponderance which may be shown in an average of a printed
+sheet may be reversed in a single short sentence.  Speaking
+roughly, T, A, O, I, N, S, H, R, D, and L are the numerical
+order in which letters occur; but T, A, O, and I are very nearly
+abreast of each other, and it would be an endless task to try
+each combination until a meaning was arrived at.  I, therefore,
+waited for fresh material.  In my second interview with Mr.
+Hilton Cubitt he was able to give me two other short sentences
+and one message, which appeared -- since there was no flag --
+to be a single word.  Here are the symbols.  Now, in the single
+word I have already got the two E's coming second and fourth in
+a word of five letters.  It might be `sever,' or `lever,' or
+`never.'  There can be no question that the latter as a reply
+to an appeal is far the most probable, and the circumstances
+pointed to its being a reply written by the lady.  Accepting it
+as correct, we are now able to say that the symbols XXX stand
+respectively for N, V, and R.
+
+"Even now I was in considerable difficulty, but a happy thought
+put me in possession of several other letters.  It occurred to
+me that if these appeals came, as I expected, from someone who
+had been intimate with the lady in her early life, a combination
+which contained two E's with three letters between might very
+well stand for the name `ELSIE.'  On examination I found that
+such a combination formed the termination of the message which
+was three times repeated.  It was certainly some appeal to `Elsie.'
+In this way I had got my L, S, and I.  But what appeal could it be?
+There were only four letters in the word which preceded `Elsie,'
+and it ended in E.  Surely the word must be `COME.'  I tried all
+other four letters ending in E, but could find none to fit the case.
+So now I was in possession of C, O, and M, and I was in a position
+to attack the first message once more, dividing it into words
+and putting dots for each symbol which was still unknown.
+So treated it worked out in this fashion:--
+
+        .M  .ERE  ..E  SL.NE.
+
+"Now the first letter CAN only be A, which is a most useful
+discovery, since it occurs no fewer than three times in this
+short sentence, and the H is also apparent in the second word.
+Now it becomes:--
+
+        AM  HERE  A.E  SLANE.
+
+Or, filling in the obvious vacancies in the name:--
+
+        AM  HERE  ABE  SLANEY.
+
+I had so many letters now that I could proceed with considerable
+confidence to the second message, which worked out in this
+fashion:--
+
+        A.  ELRI.ES.
+
+Here I could only make sense by putting T and G for the missing
+letters, and supposing that the name was that of some house or
+inn at which the writer was staying."
+
+Inspector Martin and I had listened with the utmost interest to
+the full and clear account of how my friend had produced results
+which had led to so complete a command over our difficulties.
+
+"What did you do then, sir?" asked the inspector.
+
+"I had every reason to suppose that this Abe Slaney was an
+American, since Abe is an American contraction, and since a
+letter from America had been the starting-point of all the
+trouble.  I had also every cause to think that there was some
+criminal secret in the matter.  The lady's allusions to her past
+and her refusal to take her husband into her confidence both
+pointed in that direction.  I therefore cabled to my friend,
+Wilson Hargreave, of the New York Police Bureau, who has more
+than once made use of my knowledge of London crime.  I asked him
+whether the name of Abe Slaney was known to him.  Here is his
+reply:  `The most dangerous crook in Chicago.'  On the very
+evening upon which I had his answer Hilton Cubitt sent me the
+last message from Slaney.  Working with known letters it took
+this form:--
+
+         ELSIE  .RE.ARE  TO  MEET  THY  GO.
+
+The addition of a P and a D completed a message which showed me
+that the rascal was proceeding from persuasion to threats, and
+my knowledge of the crooks of Chicago prepared me to find that
+he might very rapidly put his words into action.  I at once came
+to Norfolk with my friend and colleague, Dr. Watson, but, unhappily,
+only in time to find that the worst had already occurred."
+
+"It is a privilege to be associated with you in the handling of
+a case," said the inspector, warmly.  "You will excuse me,
+however, if I speak frankly to you.  You are only answerable to
+yourself, but I have to answer to my superiors.  If this Abe
+Slaney, living at Elrige's, is indeed the murderer, and if he
+has made his escape while I am seated here, I should certainly
+get into serious trouble."
+
+"You need not be uneasy.  He will not try to escape."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"To fly would be a confession of guilt."
+
+"Then let us go to arrest him."
+
+"I expect him here every instant."
+
+"But why should he come?"
+
+"Because I have written and asked him."
+
+"But this is incredible, Mr. Holmes!  Why should he come because
+you have asked him?  Would not such a request rather rouse his
+suspicions and cause him to fly?"
+
+"I think I have known how to frame the letter," said Sherlock
+Holmes.  "In fact, if I am not very much mistaken, here is the
+gentleman himself coming up the drive."
+
+A man was striding up the path which led to the door.  He was a
+tall, handsome, swarthy fellow, clad in a suit of grey flannel,
+with a Panama hat, a bristling black beard, and a great,
+aggressive hooked nose, and flourishing a cane as he walked.
+He swaggered up the path as if the place belonged to him,
+and we heard his loud, confident peal at the bell.
+
+"I think, gentlemen," said Holmes, quietly, "that we had best
+take up our position behind the door.  Every precaution is
+necessary when dealing with such a fellow.  You will need your
+handcuffs, inspector.  You can leave the talking to me."
+
+We waited in silence for a minute -- one of those minutes which
+one can never forget.  Then the door opened and the man stepped
+in.  In an instant Holmes clapped a pistol to his head and Martin
+slipped the handcuffs over his wrists.  It was all done so swiftly
+and deftly that the fellow was helpless before he knew that he was
+attacked.  He glared from one to the other of us with a pair of
+blazing black eyes.  Then he burst into a bitter laugh.
+
+"Well, gentlemen, you have the drop on me this time.  I seem to
+have knocked up against something hard.  But I came here in
+answer to a letter from Mrs. Hilton Cubitt.  Don't tell me that she
+is in this?  Don't tell me that she helped to set a trap for me?"
+
+"Mrs. Hilton Cubitt was seriously injured and is at death's door."
+
+The man gave a hoarse cry of grief which rang through the house.
+
+"You're crazy!" he cried, fiercely.  "It was he that was hurt,
+not she.  Who would have hurt little Elsie?  I may have
+threatened her, God forgive me, but I would not have touched
+a hair of her pretty head.  Take it back -- you!  Say that she
+is not hurt!"
+
+"She was found badly wounded by the side of her dead husband."
+
+He sank with a deep groan on to the settee and buried his face in
+his manacled hands.  For five minutes he was silent.  Then he raised
+his face once more, and spoke with the cold composure of despair.
+
+"I have nothing to hide from you, gentlemen," said he.
+"If I shot the man he had his shot at me, and there's no murder
+in that.  But if you think I could have hurt that woman, then you
+don't know either me or her.  I tell you there was never a man
+in this world loved a woman more than I loved her.  I had a
+right to her.  She was pledged to me years ago.  Who was this
+Englishman that he should come between us?  I tell you that I
+had the first right to her, and that I was only claiming my own."
+
+"She broke away from your influence when she found the man that
+you are," said Holmes, sternly.  "She fled from America to avoid
+you, and she married an honourable gentleman in England.
+You dogged her and followed her and made her life a misery to her
+in order to induce her to abandon the husband whom she loved and
+respected in order to fly with you, whom she feared and hated.
+You have ended by bringing about the death of a noble man and
+driving his wife to suicide.  That is your record in this
+business, Mr. Abe Slaney, and you will answer for it to the law."
+
+"If Elsie dies I care nothing what becomes of me," said the
+American.  He opened one of his hands and looked at a note
+crumpled up in his palm.  "See here, mister, he cried, with a
+gleam of suspicion in his eyes, "you're not trying to scare me
+over this, are you?  If the lady is hurt as bad as you say, who was
+it that wrote this note?"  He tossed it forwards on to the table.
+
+"I wrote it to bring you here."
+
+"You wrote it?  There was no one on earth outside the Joint who
+knew the secret of the dancing men.  How came you to write it?"
+
+"What one man can invent another can discover," said Holmes.
+There is a cab coming to convey you to Norwich, Mr. Slaney.
+But, meanwhile, you have time to make some small reparation for
+the injury you have wrought.  Are you aware that Mrs. Hilton
+Cubitt has herself lain under grave suspicion of the murder
+of her husband, and that it was only my presence here and the
+knowledge which I happened to possess which has saved her from
+the accusation?  The least that you owe her is to make it clear
+to the whole world that she was in no way, directly or
+indirectly, responsible for his tragic end."
+
+"I ask nothing better," said the American.  "I guess the very
+best case I can make for myself is the absolute naked truth."
+
+"It is my duty to warn you that it will be used against you,"
+cried the inspector, with the magnificent fair-play of the
+British criminal law.
+
+Slaney shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I'll chance that," said he.  "First of all, I want you
+gentlemen to understand that I have known this lady since she
+was a child. There were seven of us in a gang in Chicago, and
+Elsie's father was the boss of the Joint.  He was a clever man,
+was old Patrick.  It was he who invented that writing, which
+would pass as a child's scrawl unless you just happened to have
+the key to it.  Well, Elsie learned some of our ways; but she
+couldn't stand the business, and she had a bit of honest money
+of her own, so she gave us all the slip and got away to London.
+She had been engaged to me, and she would have married me,
+I believe, if I had taken over another profession; but she would
+have nothing to do with anything on the cross.  It was only
+after her marriage to this Englishman that I was able to find
+out where she was.  I wrote to her, but got no answer.  After
+that I came over, and, as letters were no use, I put my messages
+where she could read them.
+
+"Well, I have been here a month now.  I lived in that farm,
+where I had a room down below, and could get in and out every
+night, and no one the wiser.  I tried all I could to coax Elsie
+away.  I knew that she read the messages, for once she wrote an
+answer under one of them.  Then my temper got the better of me,
+and I began to threaten her.  She sent me a letter then,
+imploring me to go away and saying that it would break her heart
+if any scandal should come upon her husband.  She said that she
+would come down when her husband was asleep at three in the
+morning, and speak with me through the end window, if I would
+go away afterwards and leave her in peace.  She came down and
+brought money with her, trying to bribe me to go.  This made
+me mad, and I caught her arm and tried to pull her through the
+window.  At that moment in rushed the husband with his revolver
+in his hand.  Elsie had sunk down upon the floor, and we were
+face to face.  I was heeled also, and I held up my gun to scare
+him off and let me get away.  He fired and missed me.  I pulled
+off almost at the same instant, and down he dropped.  I made
+away across the garden, and as I went I heard the window shut
+behind me.  That's God's truth, gentlemen, every word of it,
+and I heard no more about it until that lad came riding up with
+a note which made me walk in here, like a jay, and give myself
+into your hands."
+
+A cab had driven up whilst the American had been talking.
+Two uniformed policemen sat inside.  Inspector Martin rose
+and touched his prisoner on the shoulder.
+
+"It is time for us to go."
+
+"Can I see her first?"
+
+"No, she is not conscious.  Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I only hope
+that if ever again I have an important case I shall have the
+good fortune to have you by my side."
+
+We stood at the window and watched the cab drive away.  As I
+turned back my eye caught the pellet of paper which the prisoner
+had tossed upon the table.  It was the note with which Holmes
+had decoyed him.
+
+"See if you can read it, Watson," said he, with a smile.
+
+It contained no word, but this little line of dancing men:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"If you use the code which I have explained," said Holmes,
+"you will find that it simply means `Come here at once.'  I was
+convinced that it was an invitation which he would not refuse,
+since he could never imagine that it could come from anyone but
+the lady.  And so, my dear Watson, we have ended by turning the
+dancing men to good when they have so often been the agents of
+evil, and I think that I have fulfilled my promise of giving you
+something unusual for your note-book.  Three-forty is our train,
+and I fancy we should be back in Baker Street for dinner.
+
+
+Only one word of epilogue.  The American, Abe Slaney, was
+condemned to death at the winter assizes at Norwich; but his
+penalty was changed to penal servitude in consideration of
+mitigating circumstances, and the certainty that Hilton Cubitt
+had fired the first shot.  Of Mrs. Hilton Cubitt I only know
+that I have heard she recovered entirely, and that she still
+remains a widow, devoting her whole life to the care of the
+poor and to the administration of her husband's estate.
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                    Vol. 27  JANUARY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+IV. --- The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist.
+
+
+FROM the years 1894 to 1901 inclusive Mr. Sherlock Holmes was a
+very busy man.  It is safe to say that there was no public case
+of any difficulty in which he was not consulted during those
+eight years, and there were hundreds of private cases, some of
+them of the most intricate and extraordinary character, in which
+he played a prominent part.  Many startling successes and a few
+unavoidable failures were the outcome of this long period of
+continuous work.  As I have preserved very full notes of all
+these cases, and was myself personally engaged in many of them,
+it may be imagined that it is no easy task to know which I
+should select to lay before the public.  I shall, however,
+preserve my former rule, and give the preference to those cases
+which derive their interest not so much from the brutality of
+the crime as from the ingenuity and dramatic quality of the
+solution.  For this reason I will now lay before the reader the
+facts connected with Miss Violet Smith, the solitary cyclist of
+Charlington, and the curious sequel of our investigation, which
+culminated in unexpected tragedy.  It is true that the
+circumstances did not admit of any striking illustration of those
+powers for which my friend was famous, but there were some
+points about the case which made it stand out in those long
+records of crime from which I gather the material for these
+little narratives.
+
+On referring to my note-book for the year 1895 I find that it
+was upon Saturday, the 23rd of April, that we first heard of
+Miss Violet Smith.  Her visit was, I remember, extremely
+unwelcome to Holmes, for he was immersed at the moment in a very
+abstruse and complicated problem concerning the peculiar
+persecution to which John Vincent Harden, the well-known tobacco
+millionaire, had been subjected.  My friend, who loved above all
+things precision and concentration of thought, resented anything
+which distracted his attention from the matter in hand.  And yet
+without a harshness which was foreign to his nature it was
+impossible to refuse to listen to the story of the young and
+beautiful woman, tall, graceful, and queenly, who presented
+herself at Baker Street late in the evening and implored his
+assistance and advice.  It was vain to urge that his time was
+already fully occupied, for the young lady had come with the
+determination to tell her story, and it was evident that nothing
+short of force could get her out of the room until she had done
+so.  With a resigned air and a somewhat weary smile, Holmes
+begged the beautiful intruder to take a seat and to inform us
+what it was that was troubling her.
+
+"At least it cannot be your health," said he, as his keen eyes
+darted over her; "so ardent a bicyclist must be full of energy."
+
+She glanced down in surprise at her own feet, and I observed the
+slight roughening of the side of the sole caused by the friction
+of the edge of the pedal.
+
+"Yes, I bicycle a good deal, Mr. Holmes, and that has something
+to do with my visit to you to-day."
+
+My friend took the lady's ungloved hand and examined it with as
+close an attention and as little sentiment as a scientist would
+show to a specimen.
+
+"You will excuse me, I am sure.  It is my business," said he,
+as he dropped it.  "I nearly fell into the error of supposing
+that you were typewriting.  Of course, it is obvious that it is
+music.  You observe the spatulate finger-end, Watson, which is
+common to both professions?  There is a spirituality about the
+face, however" -- he gently turned it towards the light -- "which
+the typewriter does not generate.  This lady is a musician."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes, I teach music."
+
+"In the country, I presume, from your complexion."
+
+"Yes, sir; near Farnham, on the borders of Surrey."
+
+"A beautiful neighbourhood and full of the most interesting
+associations.  You remember, Watson, that it was near there that
+we took Archie Stamford, the forger.  Now, Miss Violet, what has
+happened to you near Farnham, on the borders of Surrey?"
+
+The young lady, with great clearness and composure, made the
+following curious statement:--
+
+"My father is dead, Mr. Holmes.  He was James Smith, who
+conducted the orchestra at the old Imperial Theatre.  My mother
+and I were left without a relation in the world except one
+uncle, Ralph Smith, who went to Africa twenty-five years ago,
+and we have never had a word from him since.  When father died
+we were left very poor, but one day we were told that there was
+an advertisement in the TIMES inquiring for our whereabouts.  You
+can imagine how excited we were, for we thought that someone had
+left us a fortune.  We went at once to the lawyer whose name was
+given in the paper.  There we met two gentlemen, Mr. Carruthers
+and Mr. Woodley, who were home on a visit from South Africa.
+They said that my uncle was a friend of theirs, that he died
+some months before in great poverty in Johannesburg, and that he
+had asked them with his last breath to hunt up his relations and
+see that they were in no want.  It seemed strange to us that
+Uncle Ralph, who took no notice of us when he was alive, should
+be so careful to look after us when he was dead; but Mr. Carruthers
+explained that the reason was that my uncle had just heard of the
+death of his brother, and so felt responsible for our fate."
+
+"Excuse me," said Holmes; "when was this interview?"
+
+"Last December -- four months ago."
+
+"Pray proceed."
+
+"Mr. Woodley seemed to me to be a most odious person.
+He was for ever making eyes at me -- a coarse, puffy-faced,
+red-moustached young man, with his hair plastered down on each
+side of his forehead.  I thought that he was perfectly hateful --
+and I was sure that Cyril would not wish me to know such a person."
+
+"Oh, Cyril is his name!" said Holmes, smiling.
+
+The young lady blushed and laughed.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes; Cyril Morton, an electrical engineer,
+and we hope to be married at the end of the summer.  Dear me,
+how DID I get talking about him?  What I wished to say was that
+Mr. Woodley was perfectly odious, but that Mr. Carruthers, who
+was a much older man, was more agreeable.  He was a dark, sallow,
+clean-shaven, silent person; but he had polite manners and a
+pleasant smile.  He inquired how we were left, and on finding
+that we were very poor he suggested that I should come and teach
+music to his only daughter, aged ten.  I said that I did not
+like to leave my mother, on which he suggested that I should go
+home to her every week-end, and he offered me a hundred a year,
+which was certainly splendid pay.  So it ended by my accepting,
+and I went down to Chiltern Grange, about six miles from
+Farnham.  Mr. Carruthers was a widower, but he had engaged
+a lady-housekeeper, a very respectable, elderly person, called
+Mrs. Dixon, to look after his establishment.  The child was
+a dear, and everything promised well.  Mr. Carruthers was very
+kind and very musical, and we had most pleasant evenings
+together.  Every week-end I went home to my mother in town.
+
+"The first flaw in my happiness was the arrival of the
+red-moustached Mr. Woodley.  He came for a visit of a week,
+and oh, it seemed three months to me!  He was a dreadful person,
+a bully to everyone else, but to me something infinitely worse.
+He made odious love to me, boasted of his wealth, said that if
+I married him I would have the finest diamonds in London, and
+finally, when I would have nothing to do with him, he seized me
+in his arms one day after dinner -- he was hideously strong --
+and he swore that he would not let me go until I had kissed him.
+Mr. Carruthers came in and tore him off from me, on which he
+turned upon his own host, knocking him down and cutting his face
+open.  That was the end of his visit, as you can imagine.
+Mr. Carruthers apologized to me next day, and assured me that
+I should never be exposed to such an insult again.  I have not
+seen Mr. Woodley since.
+
+"And now, Mr. Holmes, I come at last to the special thing which
+has caused me to ask your advice to-day.  You must know that
+every Saturday forenoon I ride on my bicycle to Farnham Station
+in order to get the 12.22 to town.  The road from Chiltern
+Grange is a lonely one, and at one spot it is particularly so,
+for it lies for over a mile between Charlington Heath upon one
+side and the woods which lie round Charlington Hall upon the
+other.  You could not find a more lonely tract of road anywhere,
+and it is quite rare to meet so much as a cart, or a peasant,
+until you reach the high road near Crooksbury Hill.  Two weeks
+ago I was passing this place when I chanced to look back over
+my shoulder, and about two hundred yards behind me I saw a man,
+also on a bicycle.  He seemed to be a middle-aged man, with
+a short, dark beard.  I looked back before I reached Farnham,
+but the man was gone, so I thought no more about it.  But you
+can imagine how surprised I was, Mr. Holmes, when on my return
+on the Monday I saw the same man on the same stretch of road.
+My astonishment was increased when the incident occurred again,
+exactly as before, on the following Saturday and Monday.
+He always kept his distance and did not molest me in any way,
+but still it certainly was very odd.  I mentioned it to Mr.
+Carruthers, who seemed interested in what I said, and told me
+that he had ordered a horse and trap, so that in future I should
+not pass over these lonely roads without some companion.
+
+"The horse and trap were to have come this week, but for some
+reason they were not delivered, and again I had to cycle to the
+station.  That was this morning.  You can think that I looked
+out when I came to Charlington Heath, and there, sure enough,
+was the man, exactly as he had been the two weeks before.
+He always kept so far from me that I could not clearly see
+his face, but it was certainly someone whom I did not know.
+He was dressed in a dark suit with a cloth cap.  The only thing
+about his face that I could clearly see was his dark beard.
+To-day I was not alarmed, but I was filled with curiosity,
+and I determined to find out who he was and what he wanted.
+I slowed down my machine, but he slowed down his.  Then I stopped
+altogether, but he stopped also.  Then I laid a trap for him.
+There is a sharp turning of the road, and I pedalled very
+quickly round this, and then I stopped and waited.  I expected
+him to shoot round and pass me before he could stop.  But he
+never appeared.  Then I went back and looked round the corner.
+I could see a mile of road, but he was not on it.  To make it
+the more extraordinary, there was no side road at this point
+down which he could have gone."
+
+Holmes chuckled and rubbed his hands.  "This case certainly
+presents some features of its own," said he.  "How much time
+elapsed between your turning the corner and your discovery
+that the road was clear?"
+
+"Two or three minutes."
+
+"Then he could not have retreated down the road, and you say
+that there are no side roads?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Then he certainly took a footpath on one side or the other."
+
+"It could not have been on the side of the heath or I should
+have seen him."
+
+"So by the process of exclusion we arrive at the fact that he
+made his way towards Charlington Hall, which, as I understand,
+is situated in its own grounds on one side of the road.
+Anything else?"
+
+"Nothing, Mr. Holmes, save that I was so perplexed that I felt
+I should not be happy until I had seen you and had your advice."
+
+Holmes sat in silence for some little time.
+
+"Where is the gentleman to whom you are engaged?" he asked,
+at last.
+
+"He is in the Midland Electrical Company, at Coventry."
+
+"He would not pay you a surprise visit?"
+
+"Oh, Mr. Holmes!  As if I should not know him!"
+
+"Have you had any other admirers?"
+
+"Several before I knew Cyril."
+
+"And since?"
+
+"There was this dreadful man, Woodley, if you can call him
+an admirer."
+
+"No one else?"
+
+Our fair client seemed a little confused.
+
+"Who was he?" asked Holmes.
+
+"Oh, it may be a mere fancy of mine; but it has seemed to me
+sometimes that my employer, Mr. Carruthers, takes a great deal
+of interest in me.  We are thrown rather together.  I play his
+accompaniments in the evening.  He has never said anything.
+He is a perfect gentleman.  But a girl always knows."
+
+"Ha!"  Holmes looked grave.  "What does he do for a living?"
+
+"He is a rich man."
+
+"No carriages or horses?"
+
+"Well, at least he is fairly well-to-do.  But he goes into the
+City two or three times a week.  He is deeply interested in
+South African gold shares."
+
+"You will let me know any fresh development, Miss Smith.  I am
+very busy just now, but I will find time to make some inquiries
+into your case.  In the meantime take no step without letting me
+know.  Good-bye, and I trust that we shall have nothing but good
+news from you."
+
+"It is part of the settled order of Nature that such a girl
+should have followers," said Holmes, as he pulled at his meditative
+pipe, "but for choice not on bicycles in lonely country roads.
+Some secretive lover, beyond all doubt.  But there are curious
+and suggestive details about the case, Watson."
+
+"That he should appear only at that point?"
+
+"Exactly.  Our first effort must be to find who are the tenants
+of Charlington Hall.  Then, again, how about the connection
+between Carruthers and Woodley, since they appear to be men of
+such a different type?  How came they BOTH to be so keen upon
+looking up Ralph Smith's relations?  One more point.  What sort
+of a MENAGE is it which pays double the market price for a
+governess, but does not keep a horse although six miles from the
+station?  Odd, Watson -- very odd!"
+
+"You will go down?"
+
+"No, my dear fellow, YOU will go down.  This may be some
+trifling intrigue, and I cannot break my other important
+research for the sake of it.  On Monday you will arrive early
+at Farnham; you will conceal yourself near Charlington Heath;
+you will observe these facts for yourself, and act as your
+own judgment advises.  Then, having inquired as to the occupants
+of the Hall, you will come back to me and report.  And now,
+Watson, not another word of the matter until we have a few solid
+stepping-stones on which we may hope to get across to our solution."
+
+We had ascertained from the lady that she went down upon the
+Monday by the train which leaves Waterloo at 9.50, so I started
+early and caught the 9.13.  At Farnham Station I had no
+difficulty in being directed to Charlington Heath.  It was
+impossible to mistake the scene of the young lady's adventure,
+for the road runs between the open heath on one side and an old
+yew hedge upon the other, surrounding a park which is studded
+with magnificent trees.  There was a main gateway of
+lichen-studded stone, each side pillar surmounted by mouldering
+heraldic emblems; but besides this central carriage drive
+I observed several points where there were gaps in the hedge
+and paths leading through them.  The house was invisible from
+the road, but the surroundings all spoke of gloom and decay.
+
+The heath was covered with golden patches of flowering gorse,
+gleaming magnificently in the light of the bright spring sunshine.
+Behind one of these clumps I took up my position, so as to command
+both the gateway of the Hall and a long stretch of the road upon
+either side.  It had been deserted when I left it,
+but now I saw a cyclist riding down it from the opposite
+direction to that in which I had come.  He was clad in a dark
+suit, and I saw that he had a black beard.  On reaching the end
+of the Charlington grounds he sprang from his machine and led it
+through a gap in the hedge, disappearing from my view.
+
+A quarter of an hour passed and then a second cyclist appeared.
+This time it was the young lady coming from the station.
+I saw her look about her as she came to the Charlington hedge.
+An instant later the man emerged from his hiding-place, sprang upon
+his cycle, and followed her.  In all the broad landscape those
+were the only moving figures, the graceful girl sitting very
+straight upon her machine, and the man behind her bending low
+over his handle-bar, with a curiously furtive suggestion in
+every movement.  She looked back at him and slowed her pace.
+He slowed also.  She stopped.  He at once stopped too, keeping two
+hundred yards behind her.  Her next movement was as unexpected
+as it was spirited.  She suddenly whisked her wheels round and
+dashed straight at him!  He was as quick as she, however, and
+darted off in desperate flight.  Presently she came back up the
+road again, her head haughtily in the air, not deigning to take
+any further notice of her silent attendant.  He had turned also,
+and still kept his distance until the curve of the road hid them
+from my sight.
+
+I remained in my hiding-place, and it was well that I did so,
+for presently the man reappeared cycling slowly back.
+He turned in at the Hall gates and dismounted from his machine.
+For some few minutes I could see him standing among the trees.
+His hands were raised and he seemed to be settling his necktie.
+Then he mounted his cycle and rode away from me down the drive
+towards the Hall.  I ran across the heath and peered through the
+trees.  Far away I could catch glimpses of the old grey building
+with its bristling Tudor chimneys, but the drive ran through a
+dense shrubbery, and I saw no more of my man.
+
+However, it seemed to me that I had done a fairly good morning's
+work, and I walked back in high spirits to Farnham.  The local
+house-agent could tell me nothing about Charlington Hall, and
+referred me to a well-known firm in Pall Mall.  There I halted
+on my way home, and met with courtesy from the representative.
+No, I could not have Charlington Hall for the summer.
+I was just too late.  It had been let about a month ago.
+Mr. Williamson was the name of the tenant.  He was a respectable
+elderly gentleman.  The polite agent was afraid he could say no
+more, as the affairs of his clients were not matters which he
+could discuss.
+
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes listened with attention to the long report
+which I was able to present to him that evening, but it did not
+elicit that word of curt praise which I had hoped for and should
+have valued.  On the contrary, his austere face was even more
+severe than usual as he commented upon the things that I had
+done and the things that I had not.
+
+"Your hiding-place, my dear Watson, was very faulty.  You should
+have been behind the hedge; then you would have had a close view
+of this interesting person.  As it is you were some hundreds
+of yards away, and can tell me even less than Miss Smith.
+She thinks she does not know the man; I am convinced she does.
+Why, otherwise, should he be so desperately anxious that she
+should not get so near him as to see his features?  You describe
+him as bending over the handle-bar.  Concealment again, you see.
+You really have done remarkably badly.  He returns to the house and
+you want to find out who he is.  You come to a London house-agent!"
+
+"What should I have done?" I cried, with some heat.
+
+"Gone to the nearest public-house.  That is the centre of
+country gossip.  They would have told you every name, from the
+master to the scullery-maid.  Williamson!  It conveys nothing to
+my mind.  If he is an elderly man he is not this active cyclist
+who sprints away from that athletic young lady's pursuit.  What
+have we gained by your expedition?  The knowledge that the
+girl's story is true.  I never doubted it.  That there is a
+connection between the cyclist and the Hall.  I never doubted
+that either.  That the Hall is tenanted by Williamson.
+Who's the better for that?  Well, well, my dear sir, don't
+look so depressed.  We can do little more until next Saturday,
+and in the meantime I may make one or two inquiries myself."
+
+Next morning we had a note from Miss Smith, recounting shortly
+and accurately the very incidents which I had seen, but the pith
+of the letter lay in the postscript:--
+
+"I am sure that you will respect my confidence, Mr. Holmes,
+when I tell you that my place here has become difficult owing
+to the fact that my employer has proposed marriage to me.  I am
+convinced that his feelings are most deep and most honourable.
+At the same time my promise is, of course, given.  He took my
+refusal very seriously, but also very gently.  You can
+understand, however, that the situation is a little strained."
+
+"Our young friend seems to be getting into deep waters,"
+said Holmes, thoughtfully, as he finished the letter.
+"The case certainly presents more features of interest and
+more possibility of development than I had originally thought.
+I should be none the worse for a quiet, peaceful day in the
+country, and I am inclined to run down this afternoon and test
+one or two theories which I have formed."
+
+Holmes's quiet day in the country had a singular termination,
+for he arrived at Baker Street late in the evening with a cut
+lip and a discoloured lump upon his forehead, besides a general
+air of dissipation which would have made his own person the
+fitting object of a Scotland Yard investigation.  He was
+immensely tickled by his own adventures, and laughed heartily
+as he recounted them.
+
+"I get so little active exercise that it is always a treat,"
+said he.  "You are aware that I have some proficiency in the
+good old British sport of boxing.  Occasionally it is of
+service.  To-day, for example, I should have come to very
+ignominious grief without it."
+
+I begged him to tell me what had occurred.
+
+"I found that country pub which I had already recommended to
+your notice, and there I made my discreet inquiries.  I was in
+the bar, and a garrulous landlord was giving me all that I
+wanted.  Williamson is a white-bearded man, and he lives alone
+with a small staff of servants at the Hall.  There is some rumour
+that he is or has been a clergyman; but one or two incidents of
+his short residence at the Hall struck me as peculiarly
+unecclesiastical.  I have already made some inquiries at a
+clerical agency, and they tell me that there WAS a man of that
+name in orders whose career has been a singularly dark one.
+The landlord further informed me that there are usually week-end
+visitors -- `a warm lot, sir' -- at the Hall, and especially one
+gentleman with a red moustache, Mr. Woodley by name, who was
+always there.  We had got as far as this when who should walk in
+but the gentleman himself, who had been drinking his beer in the
+tap-room and had heard the whole conversation.  Who was I?
+What did I want?  What did I mean by asking questions?  He had
+a fine flow of language, and his adjectives were very vigorous.
+He ended a string of abuse by a vicious back-hander which I failed
+to entirely avoid.  The next few minutes were delicious.  It was
+a straight left against a slogging ruffian.  I emerged as you
+see me.  Mr. Woodley went home in a cart.  So ended my country trip,
+and it must be confessed that, however enjoyable, my day on the
+Surrey border has not been much more profitable than your own."
+
+The Thursday brought us another letter from our client.
+
+"You will not be surprised, Mr. Holmes," said she, "to hear
+that I am leaving Mr. Carruthers's employment.  Even the high
+pay cannot reconcile me to the discomforts of my situation.
+On Saturday I come up to town and I do not intend to return.
+Mr. Carruthers has got a trap, and so the dangers of the lonely
+road, if there ever were any dangers, are now over.
+
+"As to the special cause of my leaving, it is not merely the
+strained situation with Mr. Carruthers, but it is the
+reappearance of that odious man, Mr. Woodley.  He was always
+hideous, but he looks more awful than ever now, for he appears
+to have had an accident and he is much disfigured.  I saw him
+out of the window, but I am glad to say I did not meet him.
+He had a long talk with Mr. Carruthers, who seemed much excited
+afterwards.  Woodley must be staying in the neighbourhood, for
+he did not sleep here, and yet I caught a glimpse of him again
+this morning slinking about in the shrubbery.  I would sooner
+have a savage wild animal loose about the place.  I loathe and
+fear him more than I can say.  How CAN Mr. Carruthers endure
+such a creature for a moment?  However, all my troubles will be
+over on Saturday."
+
+"So I trust, Watson; so I trust," said Holmes, gravely.
+"There is some deep intrigue going on round that little woman,
+and it is our duty to see that no one molests her upon that last
+journey.  I think, Watson, that we must spare time to run down
+together on Saturday morning, and make sure that this curious
+and inconclusive investigation has no untoward ending."
+
+I confess that I had not up to now taken a very serious view
+of the case, which had seemed to me rather grotesque and bizarre
+than dangerous.  That a man should lie in wait for and follow
+a very handsome woman is no unheard-of thing, and if he had so
+little audacity that he not only dared not address her, but even
+fled from her approach, he was not a very formidable assailant.
+The ruffian Woodley was a very different person, but, except on
+one occasion, he had not molested our client, and now he visited
+the house of Carruthers without intruding upon her presence.
+The man on the bicycle was doubtless a member of those week-end
+parties at the Hall of which the publican had spoken; but who
+he was or what he wanted was as obscure as ever.  It was the
+severity of Holmes's manner and the fact that he slipped a
+revolver into his pocket before leaving our rooms which
+impressed me with the feeling that tragedy might prove to
+lurk behind this curious train of events.
+
+A rainy night had been followed by a glorious morning, and the
+heath-covered country-side with the glowing clumps of flowering
+gorse seemed all the more beautiful to eyes which were weary of
+the duns and drabs and slate-greys of London.  Holmes and I
+walked along the broad, sandy road inhaling the fresh morning
+air, and rejoicing in the music of the birds and the fresh
+breath of the spring.  From a rise of the road on the shoulder
+of Crooksbury Hill we could see the grim Hall bristling out from
+amidst the ancient oaks, which, old as they were, were still
+younger than the building which they surrounded.  Holmes pointed
+down the long tract of road which wound, a reddish yellow band,
+between the brown of the heath and the budding green of the
+woods.  Far away, a black dot, we could see a vehicle moving
+in our direction.  Holmes gave an exclamation of impatience.
+
+"I had given a margin of half an hour," said he.  "If that is
+her trap she must be making for the earlier train.  I fear,
+Watson, that she will be past Charlington before we can possibly
+meet her."
+
+From the instant that we passed the rise we could no longer see
+the vehicle, but we hastened onwards at such a pace that my
+sedentary life began to tell upon me, and I was compelled to
+fall behind.  Holmes, however, was always in training, for he
+had inexhaustible stores of nervous energy upon which to draw.
+His springy step never slowed until suddenly, when he was a
+hundred yards in front of me, he halted, and I saw him throw
+up his hand with a gesture of grief and despair.  At the same
+instant an empty dog-cart, the horse cantering, the reins
+trailing, appeared round the curve of the road and rattled
+swiftly towards us.
+
+"Too late, Watson; too late!" cried Holmes, as I ran panting to
+his side.  "Fool that I was not to allow for that earlier train!
+It's abduction, Watson -- abduction!  Murder!  Heaven knows what!
+Block the road!  Stop the horse!  That's right.  Now, jump in,
+and let us see if I can repair the consequences of my own blunder."
+
+We had sprung into the dog-cart, and Holmes, after turning the
+horse, gave it a sharp cut with the whip, and we flew back along
+the road.  As we turned the curve the whole stretch of road
+between the Hall and the heath was opened up.  I grasped
+Holmes's arm.
+
+"That's the man!" I gasped.
+
+A solitary cyclist was coming towards us.  His head was down
+and his shoulders rounded as he put every ounce of energy that
+he possessed on to the pedals.  He was flying like a racer.
+Suddenly he raised his bearded face, saw us close to him, and
+pulled up, springing from his machine.  That coal-black beard
+was in singular contrast to the pallor of his face, and his eyes
+were as bright as if he had a fever.  He stared at us and at the
+dog-cart.  Then a look of amazement came over his face.
+
+"Halloa!  Stop there!" he shouted, holding his bicycle to block
+our road.  "Where did you get that dog-cart?  Pull up, man!"
+he yelled, drawing a pistol from his side pocket.  "Pull up,
+I say, or, by George, I'll put a bullet into your horse."
+
+Holmes threw the reins into my lap and sprang down from the cart.
+
+"You're the man we want to see.  Where is Miss Violet Smith?"
+he said, in his quick, clear way.
+
+"That's what I am asking you.  You're in her dog-cart.
+You ought to know where she is."
+
+"We met the dog-cart on the road.  There was no one in it.
+We drove back to help the young lady."
+
+"Good Lord!  Good Lord! what shall I do?" cried the stranger,
+in an ecstasy of despair.  "They've got her, that hellhound Woodley
+and the blackguard parson.  Come, man, come, if you really are
+her friend.  Stand by me and we'll save her, if I have to leave
+my carcass in Charlington Wood."
+
+He ran distractedly, his pistol in his hand, towards a gap
+in the hedge.  Holmes followed him, and I, leaving the horse
+grazing beside the road, followed Holmes.
+
+"This is where they came through," said he, pointing to the marks
+of several feet upon the muddy path.  "Halloa!  Stop a minute!
+Who's this in the bush?"
+
+It was a young fellow about seventeen, dressed like an ostler,
+with leather cords and gaiters.  He lay upon his back, his knees
+drawn up, a terrible cut upon his head.  He was insensible, but
+alive.  A glance at his wound told me that it had not penetrated
+the bone.
+
+"That's Peter, the groom," cried the stranger.  "He drove her.
+The beasts have pulled him off and clubbed him.  Let him lie;
+we can't do him any good, but we may save her from the worst
+fate that can befall a woman."
+
+We ran frantically down the path, which wound among the trees.
+We had reached the shrubbery which surrounded the house when
+Holmes pulled up.
+
+"They didn't go to the house.  Here are their marks on the left
+-- here, beside the laurel bushes!  Ah, I said so!"
+
+As he spoke a woman's shrill scream -- a scream which vibrated
+with a frenzy of horror -- burst from the thick green clump of
+bushes in front of us.  It ended suddenly on its highest note
+with a choke and a gurgle.
+
+"This way!  This way!  They are in the bowling alley," cried the
+stranger, darting through the bushes.  "Ah, the cowardly dogs!
+Follow me, gentlemen!  Too late! too late! by the living Jingo!"
+
+We had broken suddenly into a lovely glade of greensward
+surrounded by ancient trees.  On the farther side of it, under
+the shadow of a mighty oak, there stood a singular group of
+three people.  One was a woman, our client, drooping and faint,
+a handkerchief round her mouth.  Opposite her stood a brutal,
+heavy-faced, red-moustached young man, his gaitered legs parted
+wide, one arm akimbo, the other waving a riding-crop, his whole
+attitude suggestive of triumphant bravado.  Between them an
+elderly, grey-bearded man, wearing a short surplice over a light
+tweed suit, had evidently just completed the wedding service,
+for he pocketed his prayer-book as we appeared and slapped the
+sinister bridegroom upon the back in jovial congratulation.
+
+"They're married!" I gasped.
+
+"Come on!" cried our guide; "come on!"  He rushed across the
+glade, Holmes and I at his heels.  As we approached, the lady
+staggered against the trunk of the tree for support.
+Williamson, the ex-clergyman, bowed to us with mock politeness,
+and the bully Woodley advanced with a shout of brutal and
+exultant laughter.
+
+"You can take your beard off, Bob," said he. "I know you right
+enough.  Well, you and your pals have just come in time for me
+to be able to introduce you to Mrs. Woodley."
+
+Our guide's answer was a singular one.  He snatched off the
+dark beard which had disguised him and threw it on the ground,
+disclosing a long, sallow, clean-shaven face below it.
+Then he raised his revolver and covered the young ruffian,
+who was advancing upon him with his dangerous riding-crop
+swinging in his hand.
+
+"Yes," said our ally, "I AM Bob Carruthers, and I'll see this
+woman righted if I have to swing for it.  I told you what I'd do
+if you molested her, and, by the Lord, I'll be as good as my word!"
+
+"You're too late.  She's my wife!"
+
+"No, she's your widow."
+
+His revolver cracked, and I saw the blood spurt from the front
+of Woodley's waistcoat.  He spun round with a scream and fell
+upon his back, his hideous red face turning suddenly to a
+dreadful mottled pallor.  The old man, still clad in his
+surplice, burst into such a string of foul oaths as I have never
+heard, and pulled out a revolver of his own, but before he could
+raise it he was looking down the barrel of Holmes's weapon.
+
+"Enough of this," said my friend, coldly.  "Drop that pistol!
+Watson, pick it up!  Hold it to his head!  Thank you.  You,
+Carruthers, give me that revolver.  We'll have no more violence.
+Come, hand it over!"
+
+"Who are you, then?"
+
+"My name is Sherlock Holmes."
+
+"Good Lord!"
+
+"You have heard of me, I see.  I will represent the official
+police until their arrival.  Here, you!" he shouted to a
+frightened groom who had appeared at the edge of the glade.
+"Come here.  Take this note as hard as you can ride to Farnham."
+He scribbled a few words upon a leaf from his note-book.  "Give
+it to the superintendent at the police-station.  Until he comes
+I must detain you all under my personal custody."
+
+The strong, masterful personality of Holmes dominated the tragic
+scene, and all were equally puppets in his hands.  Williamson
+and Carruthers found themselves carrying the wounded Woodley
+into the house, and I gave my arm to the frightened girl.
+The injured man was laid on his bed, and at Holmes's request I
+examined him.  I carried my report to where he sat in the old
+tapestry-hung dining-room with his two prisoners before him.
+
+"He will live," said I.
+
+"What!" cried Carruthers, springing out of his chair.  "I'll go
+upstairs and finish him first.  Do you tell me that that girl,
+that angel, is to be tied to Roaring Jack Woodley for life?"
+
+"You need not concern yourself about that," said Holmes.
+"There are two very good reasons why she should under no
+circumstances be his wife.  In the first place, we are very safe
+in questioning Mr. Williamson's right to solemnize a marriage."
+
+"I have been ordained," cried the old rascal.
+
+"And also unfrocked."
+
+"Once a clergyman, always a clergyman."
+
+"I think not.  How about the license?"
+
+"We had a license for the marriage.  I have it here in my pocket."
+
+"Then you got it by a trick.  But in any case a forced marriage
+is no marriage, but it is a very serious felony, as you will
+discover before you have finished.  You'll have time to think
+the point out during the next ten years or so, unless I am
+mistaken.  As to you, Carruthers, you would have done better
+to keep your pistol in your pocket."
+
+"I begin to think so, Mr. Holmes; but when I thought of all the
+precaution I had taken to shield this girl -- for I loved her,
+Mr. Holmes, and it is the only time that ever I knew what love
+was -- it fairly drove me mad to think that she was in the power
+of the greatest brute and bully in South Africa, a man whose
+name is a holy terror from Kimberley to Johannesburg.  Why, Mr.
+Holmes, you'll hardly believe it, but ever since that girl has
+been in my employment I never once let her go past this house,
+where I knew these rascals were lurking, without following her
+on my bicycle just to see that she came to no harm.  I kept my
+distance from her, and I wore a beard so that she should not
+recognise me, for she is a good and high-spirited girl, and she
+wouldn't have stayed in my employment long if she had thought
+that I was following her about the country roads."
+
+"Why didn't you tell her of her danger?"
+
+"Because then, again, she would have left me, and I couldn't
+bear to face that.  Even if she couldn't love me it was a great
+deal to me just to see her dainty form about the house, and to
+hear the sound of her voice."
+
+"Well," said I, "you call that love, Mr. Carruthers,
+but I should call it selfishness."
+
+"Maybe the two things go together.  Anyhow, I couldn't let her
+go.  Besides, with this crowd about, it was well that she should
+have someone near to look after her.  Then when the cable came
+I knew they were bound to make a move."
+
+"What cable?"
+
+Carruthers took a telegram from his pocket.
+
+"That's it," said he.
+
+It was short and concise:--
+
+"The old man is dead."
+
+"Hum!" said Holmes.  "I think I see how things worked, and I can
+understand how this message would, as you say, bring them to a
+head.  But while we wait you might tell me what you can."
+
+The old reprobate with the surplice burst into a volley of bad
+language.
+
+"By Heaven," said he, "if you squeal on us, Bob Carruthers,
+I'll serve you as you served Jack Woodley.  You can bleat about
+the girl to your heart's content, for that's your own affair,
+but if you round on your pals to this plain-clothes copper
+it will be the worst day's work that ever you did."
+
+"Your reverence need not be excited," said Holmes, lighting a
+cigarette.  "The case is clear enough against you, and all I ask
+is a few details for my private curiosity.  However, if there's
+any difficulty in your telling me I'll do the talking, and then
+you will see how far you have a chance of holding back your secrets.
+In the first place, three of you came from South Africa on this
+game -- you Williamson, you Carruthers, and Woodley."
+
+"Lie number one," said the old man; "I never saw either of
+them until two months ago, and I have never been in Africa
+in my life, so you can put that in your pipe and smoke it,
+Mr. Busybody Holmes!"
+
+"What he says is true," said Carruthers.
+
+"Well, well, two of you came over.  His reverence is our own
+home-made article.  You had known Ralph Smith in South Africa.
+You had reason to believe he would not live long.  You found out
+that his niece would inherit his fortune.  How's that -- eh?"
+
+Carruthers nodded and Williamson swore.
+
+"She was next-of-kin, no doubt, and you were aware that the old
+fellow would make no will."
+
+"Couldn't read or write," said Carruthers.
+
+"So you came over, the two of you, and hunted up the girl.
+The idea was that one of you was to marry her and the other have
+a share of the plunder.  For some reason Woodley was chosen as
+the husband.  Why was that?"
+
+"We played cards for her on the voyage.  He won."
+
+"I see.  You got the young lady into your service, and there
+Woodley was to do the courting.  She recognised the drunken
+brute that he was, and would have nothing to do with him.
+Meanwhile, your arrangement was rather upset by the fact that
+you had yourself fallen in love with the lady.  You could no
+longer bear the idea of this ruffian owning her."
+
+"No, by George, I couldn't!"
+
+"There was a quarrel between you.  He left you in a rage,
+and began to make his own plans independently of you."
+
+"It strikes me, Williamson, there isn't very much that we can
+tell this gentleman," cried Carruthers, with a bitter laugh.
+"Yes, we quarreled, and he knocked me down.  I am level with him
+on that, anyhow.  Then I lost sight of him.  That was when he
+picked up with this cast padre here.  I found that they had set
+up house-keeping together at this place on the line that she
+had to pass for the station.  I kept my eye on her after that,
+for I knew there was some devilry in the wind.  I saw them from
+time to time, for I was anxious to know what they were after.
+Two days ago Woodley came up to my house with this cable, which
+showed that Ralph Smith was dead.  He asked me if I would stand
+by the bargain.  I said I would not.  He asked me if I would
+marry the girl myself and give him a share.  I said I would
+willingly do so, but that she would not have me.  He said,
+`Let us get her married first, and after a week or two she may
+see things a bit different.'  I said I would have nothing to do
+with violence.  So he went off cursing, like the foul-mouthed
+blackguard that he was, and swearing that he would have her yet.
+She was leaving me this week-end, and I had got a trap to take
+her to the station, but I was so uneasy in my mind that I
+followed her on my bicycle.  She had got a start, however,
+and before I could catch her the mischief was done.  The first
+thing I knew about it was when I saw you two gentlemen driving
+back in her dog-cart."
+
+Holmes rose and tossed the end of his cigarette into the grate.
+"I have been very obtuse, Watson," said he.  "When in your
+report you said that you had seen the cyclist as you thought
+arrange his necktie in the shrubbery, that alone should have
+told me all.  However, we may congratulate ourselves upon a
+curious and in some respects a unique case.  I perceive three
+of the county constabulary in the drive, and I am glad to see
+that the little ostler is able to keep pace with them; so it is
+likely that neither he nor the interesting bridegroom will be
+permanently damaged by their morning's adventures.  I think,
+Watson, that in your medical capacity you might wait upon Miss
+Smith and tell her that if she is sufficiently recovered we
+shall be happy to escort her to her mother's home.  If she is
+not quite convalescent you will find that a hint that we were
+about to telegraph to a young electrician in the Midlands would
+probably complete the cure.  As to you, Mr. Carruthers, I think
+that you have done what you could to make amends for your share
+in an evil plot.  There is my card, sir, and if my evidence can
+be of help to you in your trial it shall be at your disposal."
+
+
+In the whirl of our incessant activity it has often been
+difficult for me, as the reader has probably observed, to round
+off my narratives, and to give those final details which the
+curious might expect.  Each case has been the prelude to
+another, and the crisis once over the actors have passed for
+ever out of our busy lives.  I find, however, a short note at
+the end of my manuscripts dealing with this case, in which
+I have put it upon record that Miss Violet Smith did indeed
+inherit a large fortune, and that she is now the wife of Cyril
+Morton, the senior partner of Morton & Kennedy, the famous
+Westminster electricians.  Williamson and Woodley were both
+tried for abduction and assault, the former getting seven years
+and the latter ten.  Of the fate of Carruthers I have no record,
+but I am sure that his assault was not viewed very gravely by
+the Court, since Woodley had the reputation of being a most
+dangerous ruffian, and I think that a few months were sufficient
+to satisfy the demands of justice.
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 27  FEBRUARY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+V. --- The Adventure of the Priory School.
+
+
+WE have had some dramatic entrances and exits upon our small
+stage at Baker Street, but I cannot recollect anything more
+sudden and startling than the first appearance of Thorneycroft
+Huxtable, M.A., Ph.D., etc.  His card, which seemed too small to
+carry the weight of his academic distinctions, preceded him by a
+few seconds, and then he entered himself -- so large, so pompous,
+and so dignified that he was the very embodiment of self-possession
+and solidity.  And yet his first action when the door had closed
+behind him was to stagger against the table, whence he slipped
+down upon the floor, and there was that majestic figure prostrate
+and insensible upon our bearskin hearthrug.
+
+We had sprung to our feet, and for a few moments we stared in
+silent amazement at this ponderous piece of wreckage, which told
+of some sudden and fatal storm far out on the ocean of life.
+Then Holmes hurried with a cushion for his head and I with
+brandy for his lips.  The heavy white face was seamed with lines
+of trouble, the hanging pouches under the closed eyes were
+leaden in colour, the loose mouth drooped dolorously at the corners,
+the rolling chins were unshaven.  Collar and shirt bore the grime
+of a long journey, and the hair bristled unkempt from the
+well-shaped head.  It was a sorely-stricken man who lay before us.
+
+"What is it, Watson?" asked Holmes.
+
+"Absolute exhaustion -- possibly mere hunger and fatigue," said I,
+with my finger on the thready pulse, where the stream of life
+trickled thin and small.
+
+"Return ticket from Mackleton, in the North of England," said Holmes,
+drawing it from the watch-pocket.  "It is not twelve o'clock yet.
+He has certainly been an early starter."
+
+The puckered eyelids had begun to quiver, and now a pair of
+vacant, grey eyes looked up at us.  An instant later the man
+had scrambled on to his feet, his face crimson with shame.
+
+"Forgive this weakness, Mr. Holmes; I have been a little
+overwrought.  Thank you, if I might have a glass of milk and
+a biscuit I have no doubt that I should be better.  I came
+personally, Mr. Holmes, in order to ensure that you would return
+with me.  I feared that no telegram would convince you of the
+absolute urgency of the case."
+
+"When you are quite restored ----"
+
+"I am quite well again.  I cannot imagine how I came to be so weak.
+I wish you, Mr. Holmes, to come to Mackleton with me by the next train."
+
+My friend shook his head.
+
+"My colleague, Dr. Watson, could tell you that we are very busy
+at present.  I am retained in this case of the Ferrers Documents,
+and the Abergavenny murder is coming up for trial.  Only a very
+important issue could call me from London at present."
+
+"Important!"  Our visitor threw up his hands.  "Have you heard
+nothing of the abduction of the only son of the Duke of Holdernesse?"
+
+"What! the late Cabinet Minister?"
+
+"Exactly.  We had tried to keep it out of the papers, but there
+was some rumour in the GLOBE last night.  I thought it might
+have reached your ears."
+
+Holmes shot out his long, thin arm and picked out Volume "H"
+in his encyclopaedia of reference.
+
+"`Holdernesse, 6th Duke, K.G., P.C.' -- half the alphabet!
+`Baron Beverley, Earl of Carston' -- dear me, what a list!
+`Lord Lieutenant of Hallamshire since 1900.  Married Edith,
+daughter of Sir Charles Appledore, 1888.  Heir and only child,
+Lord Saltire.  Owns about two hundred and fifty thousand acres.
+Minerals in Lancashire and Wales.  Address: Carlton House
+Terrace; Holdernesse Hall, Hallamshire; Carston Castle, Bangor,
+Wales.  Lord of the Admiralty, 1872; Chief Secretary of State
+for --'  Well, well, this man is certainly one of the greatest
+subjects of the Crown!"
+
+"The greatest and perhaps the wealthiest.  I am aware, Mr. Holmes,
+that you take a very high line in professional matters, and that
+you are prepared to work for the work's sake.  I may tell you,
+however, that his Grace has already intimated that a cheque for five
+thousand pounds will be handed over to the person who can tell him
+where his son is, and another thousand to him who can name the man,
+or men, who have taken him."
+
+"It is a princely offer," said Holmes.  "Watson, I think that
+we shall accompany Dr. Huxtable back to the North of England.
+And now, Dr. Huxtable, when you have consumed that milk you
+will kindly tell me what has happened, when it happened,
+how it happened, and, finally, what Dr. Thorneycroft Huxtable,
+of the Priory School, near Mackleton, has to do with the matter,
+and why he comes three days after an event -- the state of your
+chin gives the date -- to ask for my humble services."
+
+Our visitor had consumed his milk and biscuits.  The light had
+come back to his eyes and the colour to his cheeks as he set
+himself with great vigour and lucidity to explain the situation.
+
+"I must inform you, gentlemen, that the Priory is a preparatory
+school, of which I am the founder and principal.  `Huxtable's
+Sidelights on Horace' may possibly recall my name to your
+memories.  The Priory is, without exception, the best and most
+select preparatory school in England.  Lord Leverstoke, the Earl
+of Blackwater, Sir Cathcart Soames -- they all have entrusted
+their sons to me.  But I felt that my school had reached its
+zenith when, three weeks ago, the Duke of Holdernesse sent
+Mr. James Wilder, his secretary, with the intimation that young
+Lord Saltire, ten years old, his only son and heir, was about
+to be committed to my charge.  Little did I think that this
+would be the prelude to the most crushing misfortune of my life.
+
+"On May 1st the boy arrived, that being the beginning of the
+summer term.  He was a charming youth, and he soon fell into
+our ways.  I may tell you -- I trust that I am not indiscreet,
+but half-confidences are absurd in such a case -- that he was
+not entirely happy at home.  It is an open secret that the Duke's
+married life had not been a peaceful one, and the matter had
+ended in a separation by mutual consent, the Duchess taking up
+her residence in the South of France.  This had occurred very
+shortly before, and the boy's sympathies are known to have been
+strongly with his mother.  He moped after her departure from
+Holdernesse Hall, and it was for this reason that the Duke
+desired to send him to my establishment.  In a fortnight the boy
+was quite at home with us, and was apparently absolutely happy.
+
+"He was last seen on the night of May 13th -- that is,
+the night of last Monday.  His room was on the second floor,
+and was approached through another larger room in which two
+boys were sleeping.  These boys saw and heard nothing, so that
+it is certain that young Saltire did not pass out that way.
+His window was open, and there is a stout ivy plant leading to
+the ground.  We could trace no footmarks below, but it is sure
+that this is the only possible exit.
+
+"His absence was discovered at seven o'clock on Tuesday morning.
+His bed had been slept in.  He had dressed himself fully before
+going off in his usual school suit of black Eton jacket and dark
+grey trousers.  There were no signs that anyone had entered the
+room, and it is quite certain that anything in the nature of cries,
+or a struggle, would have been heard, since Caunter, the elder boy
+in the inner room, is a very light sleeper.
+
+"When Lord Saltire's disappearance was discovered I at once
+called a roll of the whole establishment, boys, masters,
+and servants.  It was then that we ascertained that Lord Saltire
+had not been alone in his flight.  Heidegger, the German master,
+was missing.  His room was on the second floor, at the farther
+end of the building, facing the same way as Lord Saltire's.
+His bed had also been slept in; but he had apparently gone away
+partly dressed, since his shirt and socks were lying on the floor.
+He had undoubtedly let himself down by the ivy, for we could see
+the marks of his feet where he had landed on the lawn.
+His bicycle was kept in a small shed beside this lawn,
+and it also was gone.
+
+"He had been with me for two years, and came with the best
+references; but he was a silent, morose man, not very popular
+either with masters or boys.  No trace could be found of the
+fugitives, and now on Thursday morning we are as ignorant as
+we were on Tuesday.  Inquiry was, of course, made at once at
+Holdernesse Hall.  It is only a few miles away, and we imagined
+that in some sudden attack of home-sickness he had gone back
+to his father; but nothing had been heard of him.  The Duke is
+greatly agitated -- and as to me, you have seen yourselves the
+state of nervous prostration to which the suspense and the
+responsibility have reduced me.  Mr. Holmes, if ever you put
+forward your full powers, I implore you to do so now, for never
+in your life could you have a case which is more worthy of them."
+
+Sherlock Holmes had listened with the utmost intentness to the
+statement of the unhappy schoolmaster.  His drawn brows and the
+deep furrow between them showed that he needed no exhortation to
+concentrate all his attention upon a problem which, apart from
+the tremendous interests involved, must appeal so directly to
+his love of the complex and the unusual.  He now drew out his
+note-book and jotted down one or two memoranda.
+
+"You have been very remiss in not coming to me sooner," said he,
+severely.  "You start me on my investigation with a very serious
+handicap.  It is inconceivable, for example, that this ivy and
+this lawn would have yielded nothing to an expert observer."
+
+"I am not to blame, Mr. Holmes.  His Grace was extremely
+desirous to avoid all public scandal.  He was afraid of
+his family unhappiness being dragged before the world.
+He has a deep horror of anything of the kind."
+
+"But there has been some official investigation?"
+
+"Yes, sir, and it has proved most disappointing.  An apparent
+clue was at once obtained, since a boy and a young man were
+reported to have been seen leaving a neighbouring station by
+an early train.  Only last night we had news that the couple
+had been hunted down in Liverpool, and they prove to have no
+connection whatever with the matter in hand.  Then it was that
+in my despair and disappointment, after a sleepless night,
+I came straight to you by the early train."
+
+"I suppose the local investigation was relaxed while this false
+clue was being followed up?"
+
+"It was entirely dropped."
+
+"So that three days have been wasted.  The affair has been most
+deplorably handled."
+
+"I feel it, and admit it."
+
+"And yet the problem should be capable of ultimate solution.
+I shall be very happy to look into it.  Have you been able to trace
+any connection between the missing boy and this German master?"
+
+"None at all."
+
+"Was he in the master's class?"
+
+"No; he never exchanged a word with him so far as I know."
+
+"That is certainly very singular.  Had the boy a bicycle?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Was any other bicycle missing?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Is that certain?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"Well, now, you do not mean to seriously suggest that this
+German rode off upon a bicycle in the dead of the night bearing
+the boy in his arms?"
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"Then what is the theory in your mind?"
+
+"The bicycle may have been a blind.  It may have been hidden
+somewhere and the pair gone off on foot."
+
+"Quite so; but it seems rather an absurd blind, does it not?
+Were there other bicycles in this shed?"
+
+"Several."
+
+"Would he not have hidden A COUPLE had he desired to give the
+idea that they had gone off upon them?"
+
+"I suppose he would."
+
+"Of course he would.  The blind theory won't do.  But the
+incident is an admirable starting-point for an investigation.
+After all, a bicycle is not an easy thing to conceal or to destroy.
+One other question.  Did anyone call to see the boy on the day
+before he disappeared?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did he get any letters?"
+
+"Yes; one letter."
+
+"From whom?"
+
+"From his father."
+
+"Do you open the boys' letters?"
+
+"No."
+
+"How do you know it was from the father?"
+
+"The coat of arms was on the envelope, and it was addressed
+in the Duke's peculiar stiff hand.  Besides, the Duke remembers
+having written."
+
+"When had he a letter before that?"
+
+"Not for several days."
+
+"Had he ever one from France?"
+
+"No; never.
+
+"You see the point of my questions, of course.  Either the
+boy was carried off by force or he went of his own free will.
+In the latter case you would expect that some prompting from
+outside would be needed to make so young a lad do such a thing.
+If he has had no visitors, that prompting must have come in
+letters.  Hence I try to find out who were his correspondents."
+
+"I fear I cannot help you much.  His only correspondent,
+so far as I know, was his own father."
+
+"Who wrote to him on the very day of his disappearance.
+Were the relations between father and son very friendly?"
+
+"His Grace is never very friendly with anyone.  He is completely
+immersed in large public questions, and is rather inaccessible
+to all ordinary emotions.  But he was always kind to the boy in
+his own way."
+
+"But the sympathies of the latter were with the mother?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did he say so?"
+
+"No."
+
+"The Duke, then?"
+
+"Good heavens, no!"
+
+"Then how could you know?"
+
+"I have had some confidential talks with Mr. James Wilder,
+his Grace's secretary.  It was he who gave me the information
+about Lord Saltire's feelings."
+
+"I see.  By the way, that last letter of the Duke's -- was it
+found in the boy's room after he was gone?"
+
+"No; he had taken it with him.  I think, Mr. Holmes, it is time
+that we were leaving for Euston."
+
+"I will order a four-wheeler.  In a quarter of an hour we shall
+be at your service.  If you are telegraphing home, Mr. Huxtable,
+it would be well to allow the people in your neighbourhood to
+imagine that the inquiry is still going on in Liverpool, or
+wherever else that red herring led your pack.  In the meantime
+I will do a little quiet work at your own doors, and perhaps
+the scent is not so cold but that two old hounds like Watson
+and myself may get a sniff of it."
+
+
+That evening found us in the cold, bracing atmosphere of the
+Peak country, in which Dr. Huxtable's famous school is situated.
+It was already dark when we reached it.  A card was lying on the
+hall table, and the butler whispered something to his master,
+who turned to us with agitation in every heavy feature.
+
+"The Duke is here," said he.  "The Duke and Mr. Wilder are
+in the study.  Come, gentlemen, and I will introduce you."
+
+I was, of course, familiar with the pictures of the famous
+statesman, but the man himself was very different from his
+representation.  He was a tall and stately person, scrupulously
+dressed, with a drawn, thin face, and a nose which was
+grotesquely curved and long.  His complexion was of a dead
+pallor, which was more startling by contrast with a long,
+dwindling beard of vivid red, which flowed down over his white
+waistcoat, with his watch-chain gleaming through its fringe.
+Such was the stately presence who looked stonily at us from the
+centre of Dr. Huxtable's hearthrug.  Beside him stood a very
+young man, whom I understood to be Wilder, the private
+secretary.  He was small, nervous, alert, with intelligent,
+light-blue eyes and mobile features.  It was he who at once,
+in an incisive and positive tone, opened the conversation.
+
+"I called this morning, Dr. Huxtable, too late to prevent you
+from starting for London.  I learned that your object was to
+invite Mr. Sherlock Holmes to undertake the conduct of this
+case.  His Grace is surprised, Dr. Huxtable, that you should
+have taken such a step without consulting him."
+
+"When I learned that the police had failed ----"
+
+"His Grace is by no means convinced that the police have failed."
+
+"But surely, Mr. Wilder ----"
+
+"You are well aware, Dr. Huxtable, that his Grace is particularly
+anxious to avoid all public scandal.  He prefers to take as few
+people as possible into his confidence."
+
+"The matter can be easily remedied," said the brow-beaten doctor;
+"Mr. Sherlock Holmes can return to London by the morning train."
+
+"Hardly that, Doctor, hardly that," said Holmes, in his
+blandest voice.  "This northern air is invigorating and pleasant,
+so I propose to spend a few days upon your moors, and to occupy
+my mind as best I may.  Whether I have the shelter of your roof
+or of the village inn is, of course, for you to decide."
+
+I could see that the unfortunate doctor was in the last stage
+of indecision, from which he was rescued by the deep, sonorous
+voice of the red-bearded Duke, which boomed out like a dinner-gong.
+
+"I agree with Mr. Wilder, Dr. Huxtable, that you would have done
+wisely to consult me.  But since Mr. Holmes has already been
+taken into your confidence, it would indeed be absurd that we
+should not avail ourselves of his services.  Far from going to
+the inn, Mr. Holmes, I should be pleased if you would come and
+stay with me at Holdernesse Hall."
+
+"I thank your Grace.  For the purposes of my investigation
+I think that it would be wiser for me to remain at the scene
+of the mystery."
+
+"Just as you like, Mr. Holmes.  Any information which Mr. Wilder
+or I can give you is, of course, at your disposal."
+
+"It will probably be necessary for me to see you at the Hall,"
+said Holmes.  "I would only ask you now, sir, whether you have
+formed any explanation in your own mind as to the mysterious
+disappearance of your son?"
+
+"No, sir, I have not."
+
+"Excuse me if I allude to that which is painful to you,
+but I have no alternative.  Do you think that the Duchess
+had anything to do with the matter?"
+
+The great Minister showed perceptible hesitation.
+
+"I do not think so," he said, at last.
+
+"The other most obvious explanation is that the child
+has been kidnapped for the purpose of levying ransom.
+You have not had any demand of the sort?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"One more question, your Grace.  I understand that you wrote
+to your son upon the day when this incident occurred."
+
+"No; I wrote upon the day before."
+
+"Exactly.  But he received it on that day?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was there anything in your letter which might have unbalanced
+him or induced him to take such a step?"
+
+"No, sir, certainly not."
+
+"Did you post that letter yourself?"
+
+The nobleman's reply was interrupted by his secretary,
+who broke in with some heat.
+
+"His Grace is not in the habit of posting letters himself,"
+said he. "This letter was laid with others upon the study table,
+and I myself put them in the post-bag."
+
+"You are sure this one was among them?"
+
+"Yes; I observed it."
+
+"How many letters did your Grace write that day?"
+
+"Twenty or thirty.  I have a large correspondence.
+But surely this is somewhat irrelevant?"
+
+"Not entirely," said Holmes.
+
+"For my own part," the Duke continued, "I have advised the
+police to turn their attention to the South of France.
+I have already said that I do not believe that the Duchess would
+encourage so monstrous an action, but the lad had the most
+wrong-headed opinions, and it is possible that he may have fled
+to her, aided and abetted by this German.  I think, Dr. Huxtable,
+that we will now return to the Hall."
+
+I could see that there were other questions which Holmes would
+have wished to put; but the nobleman's abrupt manner showed that
+the interview was at an end.  It was evident that to his
+intensely aristocratic nature this discussion of his intimate
+family affairs with a stranger was most abhorrent, and that he
+feared lest every fresh question would throw a fiercer light
+into the discreetly shadowed corners of his ducal history.
+
+When the nobleman and his secretary had left, my friend flung
+himself at once with characteristic eagerness into the
+investigation.
+
+The boy's chamber was carefully examined, and yielded nothing
+save the absolute conviction that it was only through the window
+that he could have escaped.  The German master's room and
+effects gave no further clue.  In his case a trailer of ivy had
+given way under his weight, and we saw by the light of a lantern
+the mark on the lawn where his heels had come down.  That one
+dint in the short green grass was the only material witness left
+of this inexplicable nocturnal flight.
+
+Sherlock Holmes left the house alone, and only returned after
+eleven.  He had obtained a large ordnance map of the
+neighbourhood, and this he brought into my room, where he laid
+it out on the bed, and, having balanced the lamp in the middle
+of it, he began to smoke over it, and occasionally to point out
+objects of interest with the reeking amber of his pipe.
+
+"This case grows upon me, Watson," said he.  "There are decidedly
+some points of interest in connection with it.  In this early
+stage I want you to realize those geographical features which may
+have a good deal to do with our investigation.
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"Look at this map.  This dark square is the Priory School.
+I'll put a pin in it.  Now, this line is the main road.
+You see that it runs east and west past the school, and you
+see also that there is no side road for a mile either way.
+If these two folk passed away by road it was THIS road."
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"By a singular and happy chance we are able to some extent to
+check what passed along this road during the night in question.
+At this point, where my pipe is now resting, a country constable
+was on duty from twelve to six.  It is, as you perceive, the
+first cross road on the east side.  This man declares that he
+was not absent from his post for an instant, and he is positive
+that neither boy nor man could have gone that way unseen.
+I have spoken with this policeman to-night, and he appears to
+me to be a perfectly reliable person.  That blocks this end.
+We have now to deal with the other.  There is an inn here,
+the Red Bull, the landlady of which was ill.  She had sent
+to Mackleton for a doctor, but he did not arrive until morning,
+being absent at another case.  The people at the inn were alert
+all night, awaiting his coming, and one or other of them seems
+to have continually had an eye upon the road.  They declare that
+no one passed.  If their evidence is good, then we are fortunate
+enough to be able to block the west, and also to be able to say
+that the fugitives did NOT use the road at all."
+
+"But the bicycle?" I objected.
+
+"Quite so.  We will come to the bicycle presently.  To continue
+our reasoning:  if these people did not go by the road, they
+must have traversed the country to the north of the house or
+to the south of the house.  That is certain.  Let us weigh the
+one against the other.  On the south of the house is, as you
+perceive, a large district of arable land, cut up into small
+fields, with stone walls between them.  There, I admit that a
+bicycle is impossible.  We can dismiss the idea.  We turn to the
+country on the north.  Here there lies a grove of trees, marked
+as the `Ragged Shaw,' and on the farther side stretches a great
+rolling moor, Lower Gill Moor, extending for ten miles and
+sloping gradually upwards.  Here, at one side of this
+wilderness, is Holdernesse Hall, ten miles by road, but only six
+across the moor.  It is a peculiarly desolate plain.  A few moor
+farmers have small holdings, where they rear sheep and cattle.
+Except these, the plover and the curlew are the only inhabitants
+until you come to the Chesterfield high road.  There is a church
+there, you see, a few cottages, and an inn.  Beyond that the
+hills become precipitous.  Surely it is here to the north that
+our quest must lie."
+
+"But the bicycle?" I persisted.
+
+"Well, well!" said Holmes, impatiently.  "A good cyclist does
+not need a high road.  The moor is intersected with paths and
+the moon was at the full.  Halloa! what is this?"
+
+There was an agitated knock at the door, and an instant
+afterwards Dr. Huxtable was in the room.  In his hand he held
+a blue cricket-cap, with a white chevron on the peak.
+
+"At last we have a clue!" he cried.  "Thank Heaven! at last
+we are on the dear boy's track!  It is his cap."
+
+"Where was it found?"
+
+"In the van of the gipsies who camped on the moor.
+They left on Tuesday.  To-day the police traced them
+down and examined their caravan.  This was found."
+
+"How do they account for it?"
+
+"They shuffled and lied -- said that they found it on the
+moor on Tuesday morning.  They know where he is, the rascals!
+Thank goodness, they are all safe under lock and key.  Either
+the fear of the law or the Duke's purse will certainly get out
+of them all that they know."
+
+"So far, so good," said Holmes, when the doctor had at last
+left the room.  "It at least bears out the theory that it is
+on the side of the Lower Gill Moor that we must hope for results.
+The police have really done nothing locally, save the arrest
+of these gipsies.  Look here, Watson!  There is a watercourse
+across the moor.  You see it marked here in the map.  In some
+parts it widens into a morass.  This is particularly so in the
+region between Holdernesse Hall and the school.  It is vain to
+look elsewhere for tracks in this dry weather; but at THAT point
+there is certainly a chance of some record being left.  I will
+call you early to-morrow morning, and you and I will try if we
+can throw some little light upon the mystery."
+
+The day was just breaking when I woke to find the long, thin form
+of Holmes by my bedside.  He was fully dressed, and had apparently
+already been out.
+
+"I have done the lawn and the bicycle shed," said he.
+"I have also had a ramble through the Ragged Shaw.  Now, Watson,
+there is cocoa ready in the next room. I must beg you to hurry,
+for we have a great day before us."
+
+His eyes shone, and his cheek was flushed with the exhilaration
+of the master workman who sees his work lie ready before him.
+A very different Holmes, this active, alert man, from the
+introspective and pallid dreamer of Baker Street.  I felt,
+as I looked upon that supple figure, alive with nervous energy,
+that it was indeed a strenuous day that awaited us.
+
+And yet it opened in the blackest disappointment.  With high
+hopes we struck across the peaty, russet moor, intersected with
+a thousand sheep paths, until we came to the broad, light-green
+belt which marked the morass between us and Holdernesse.
+Certainly, if the lad had gone homewards, he must have passed
+this, and he could not pass it without leaving his traces.
+But no sign of him or the German could be seen.  With a darkening
+face my friend strode along the margin, eagerly observant of
+every muddy stain upon the mossy surface.  Sheep-marks there
+were in profusion, and at one place, some miles down, cows had
+left their tracks.  Nothing more.
+
+"Check number one," said Holmes, looking gloomily over the
+rolling expanse of the moor.  "There is another morass down
+yonder and a narrow neck between.  Halloa! halloa! halloa!
+what have we here?"
+
+We had come on a small black ribbon of pathway.  In the middle of it,
+clearly marked on the sodden soil, was the track of a bicycle.
+
+"Hurrah!" I cried.  "We have it."
+
+But Holmes was shaking his head, and his face was puzzled and
+expectant rather than joyous.
+
+"A bicycle, certainly, but not THE bicycle," said he.
+"I am familiar with forty-two different impressions left by tyres.
+This, as you perceive, is a Dunlop, with a patch upon the outer cover.
+Heidegger's tyres were Palmer's, leaving longitudinal stripes.
+Aveling, the mathematical master, was sure upon the point.
+Therefore, it is not Heidegger's track."
+
+"The boy's, then?"
+
+"Possibly, if we could prove a bicycle to have been in his
+possession.  But this we have utterly failed to do.  This track,
+as you perceive, was made by a rider who was going from the
+direction of the school."
+
+"Or towards it?"
+
+"No, no, my dear Watson.  The more deeply sunk impression is,
+of course, the hind wheel, upon which the weight rests.
+You perceive several places where it has passed across and
+obliterated the more shallow mark of the front one.  It was
+undoubtedly heading away from the school.  It may or may not
+be connected with our inquiry, but we will follow it backwards
+before we go any farther."
+
+We did so, and at the end of a few hundred yards lost the tracks
+as we emerged from the boggy portion of the moor.  Following the
+path backwards, we picked out another spot, where a spring
+trickled across it.  Here, once again, was the mark of the
+bicycle, though nearly obliterated by the hoofs of cows.  After
+that there was no sign, but the path ran right on into Ragged
+Shaw, the wood which backed on to the school.  From this wood
+the cycle must have emerged.  Holmes sat down on a boulder and
+rested his chin in his hands.  I had smoked two cigarettes
+before he moved.
+
+"Well, well," said he, at last.  "It is, of course, possible
+that a cunning man might change the tyre of his bicycle in order
+to leave unfamiliar tracks.  A criminal who was capable of such
+a thought is a man whom I should be proud to do business with.
+We will leave this question undecided and hark back to our
+morass again, for we have left a good deal unexplored."
+
+We continued our systematic survey of the edge of the sodden
+portion of the moor, and soon our perseverance was gloriously
+rewarded.  Right across the lower part of the bog lay a miry
+path.  Holmes gave a cry of delight as he approached it.
+An impression like a fine bundle of telegraph wires ran down
+the centre of it.  It was the Palmer tyre.
+
+"Here is Herr Heidegger, sure enough!" cried Holmes, exultantly.
+"My reasoning seems to have been pretty sound, Watson."
+
+"I congratulate you."
+
+"But we have a long way still to go.  Kindly walk clear
+of the path.  Now let us follow the trail.  I fear that
+it will not lead very far."
+
+We found, however, as we advanced that this portion of the moor
+is intersected with soft patches, and, though we frequently lost
+sight of the track, we always succeeded in picking it up once more.
+
+"Do you observe," said Holmes, "that the rider is now
+undoubtedly forcing the pace?  There can be no doubt of it.
+Look at this impression, where you get both tyres clear.
+The one is as deep as the other.  That can only mean that
+the rider is throwing his weight on to the handle-bar,
+as a man does when he is sprinting.  By Jove! he has had a fall."
+
+There was a broad, irregular smudge covering some yards of the
+track.  Then there were a few footmarks, and the tyre reappeared
+once more.
+
+"A side-slip," I suggested.
+
+Holmes held up a crumpled branch of flowering gorse.  To my
+horror I perceived that the yellow blossoms were all dabbled
+with crimson.  On the path, too, and among the heather were dark
+stains of clotted blood.
+
+"Bad!" said Holmes.  "Bad!  Stand clear, Watson!  Not an
+unnecessary footstep!  What do I read here?  He fell wounded,
+he stood up, he remounted, he proceeded.  But there is no other
+track.  Cattle on this side path.  He was surely not gored by a
+bull?  Impossible!  But I see no traces of anyone else.  We must
+push on, Watson.  Surely with stains as well as the track to
+guide us he cannot escape us now."
+
+Our search was not a very long one.  The tracks of the tyre
+began to curve fantastically upon the wet and shining path.
+Suddenly, as I looked ahead, the gleam of metal caught my eye
+from amid the thick gorse bushes.  Out of them we dragged a
+bicycle, Palmer-tyred, one pedal bent, and the whole front of it
+horribly smeared and slobbered with blood.  On the other side of
+the bushes a shoe was projecting.  We ran round, and there lay
+the unfortunate rider.  He was a tall man, full bearded, with
+spectacles, one glass of which had been knocked out.  The cause
+of his death was a frightful blow upon the head, which had
+crushed in part of his skull.  That he could have gone on after
+receiving such an injury said much for the vitality and courage
+of the man.  He wore shoes, but no socks, and his open coat
+disclosed a night-shirt beneath it.  It was undoubtedly the
+German master.
+
+Holmes turned the body over reverently, and examined it with
+great attention.  He then sat in deep thought for a time, and I
+could see by his ruffled brow that this grim discovery had not,
+in his opinion, advanced us much in our inquiry.
+
+"It is a little difficult to know what to do, Watson," said he,
+at last.  "My own inclinations are to push this inquiry on,
+for we have already lost so much time that we cannot afford to
+waste another hour.  On the other hand, we are bound to inform
+the police of the discovery, and to see that this poor fellow's
+body is looked after."
+
+"I could take a note back."
+
+"But I need your company and assistance.  Wait a bit!
+There is a fellow cutting peat up yonder.  Bring him over here,
+and he will guide the police."
+
+I brought the peasant across, and Holmes dispatched the
+frightened man with a note to Dr. Huxtable.
+
+"Now, Watson," said he, "we have picked up two clues this morning.
+One is the bicycle with the Palmer tyre, and we see what that
+has led to.  The other is the bicycle with the patched Dunlop.
+Before we start to investigate that, let us try to realize what
+we DO know so as to make the most of it, and to separate the
+essential from the accidental."
+
+"First of all I wish to impress upon you that the boy certainly
+left of his own free will.  He got down from his window and he
+went off, either alone or with someone.  That is sure."
+
+I assented.
+
+"Well, now, let us turn to this unfortunate German master.
+The boy was fully dressed when he fled.  Therefore, he foresaw
+what he would do.  But the German went without his socks.
+He certainly acted on very short notice."
+
+"Undoubtedly."
+
+"Why did he go?  Because, from his bedroom window, he saw the
+flight of the boy.  Because he wished to overtake him and bring
+him back.  He seized his bicycle, pursued the lad, and in
+pursuing him met his death."
+
+"So it would seem."
+
+"Now I come to the critical part of my argument.  The natural
+action of a man in pursuing a little boy would be to run after him.
+He would know that he could overtake him.  But the German does not
+do so.  He turns to his bicycle.  I am told that he was an
+excellent cyclist.  He would not do this if he did not see that
+the boy had some swift means of escape."
+
+"The other bicycle."
+
+"Let us continue our reconstruction.  He meets his death five
+miles from the school -- not by a bullet, mark you, which even
+a lad might conceivably discharge, but by a savage blow dealt
+by a vigorous arm.  The lad, then, HAD a companion in his flight.
+And the flight was a swift one, since it took five miles before
+an expert cyclist could overtake them.  Yet we survey the ground
+round the scene of the tragedy.  What do we find?  A few cattle
+tracks, nothing more.  I took a wide sweep round, and there is no
+path within fifty yards.  Another cyclist could have had nothing
+to do with the actual murder.  Nor were there any human footmarks."
+
+"Holmes," I cried, "this is impossible."
+
+"Admirable!" he said.  "A most illuminating remark.
+It IS impossible as I state it, and therefore I must in some
+respect have stated it wrong.  Yet you saw for yourself.
+Can you suggest any fallacy?"
+
+"He could not have fractured his skull in a fall?"
+
+"In a morass, Watson?"
+
+"I am at my wit's end."
+
+"Tut, tut; we have solved some worse problems.  At least we have
+plenty of material, if we can only use it.  Come, then, and,
+having exhausted the Palmer, let us see what the Dunlop with the
+patched cover has to offer us."
+
+We picked up the track and followed it onwards for some distance;
+but soon the moor rose into a long, heather-tufted curve, and we
+left the watercourse behind us.  No further help from tracks could
+be hoped for.  At the spot where we saw the last of the Dunlop tyre
+it might equally have led to Holdernesse Hall, the stately towers
+of which rose some miles to our left, or to a low, grey village
+which lay in front of us, and marked the position of the
+Chesterfield high road.
+
+As we approached the forbidding and squalid inn, with the
+sign of a game-cock above the door, Holmes gave a sudden groan
+and clutched me by the shoulder to save himself from falling.
+He had had one of those violent strains of the ankle which leave
+a man helpless.  With difficulty he limped up to the door, where
+a squat, dark, elderly man was smoking a black clay pipe.
+
+"How are you, Mr. Reuben Hayes?" said Holmes.
+
+"Who are you, and how do you get my name so pat?" the countryman
+answered, with a suspicious flash of a pair of cunning eyes.
+
+"Well, it's printed on the board above your head.  It's easy to
+see a man who is master of his own house.  I suppose you haven't
+such a thing as a carriage in your stables?"
+
+"No; I have not."
+
+"I can hardly put my foot to the ground."
+
+"Don't put it to the ground."
+
+"But I can't walk."
+
+"Well, then, hop."
+
+Mr. Reuben Hayes's manner was far from gracious, but Holmes took
+it with admirable good-humour.
+
+"Look here, my man," said he.  "This is really rather an awkward
+fix for me.  I don't mind how I get on."
+
+"Neither do I," said the morose landlord.
+
+"The matter is very important.  I would offer you a sovereign
+for the use of a bicycle."
+
+The landlord pricked up his ears.
+
+"Where do you want to go?"
+
+"To Holdernesse Hall."
+
+"Pals of the Dook, I suppose?" said the landlord, surveying our
+mud-stained garments with ironical eyes.
+
+Holmes laughed good-naturedly.
+
+"He'll be glad to see us, anyhow."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because we bring him news of his lost son."
+
+The landlord gave a very visible start.
+
+"What, you're on his track?"
+
+"He has been heard of in Liverpool.  They expect to get him
+every hour."
+
+Again a swift change passed over the heavy, unshaven face.
+His manner was suddenly genial.
+
+"I've less reason to wish the Dook well than most men," said he,
+"for I was his head coachman once, and cruel bad he treated me.
+It was him that sacked me without a character on the word of a
+lying corn-chandler.  But I'm glad to hear that the young lord
+was heard of in Liverpool, and I'll help you to take the news
+to the Hall."
+
+"Thank you," said Holmes.  "We'll have some food first.
+Then you can bring round the bicycle."
+
+"I haven't got a bicycle."
+
+Holmes held up a sovereign.
+
+"I tell you, man, that I haven't got one.  I'll let you have two
+horses as far as the Hall."
+
+"Well, well," said Holmes, "we'll talk about it when we've had
+something to eat."
+
+When we were left alone in the stone-flagged kitchen it was
+astonishing how rapidly that sprained ankle recovered.  It was
+nearly nightfall, and we had eaten nothing since early morning,
+so that we spent some time over our meal.  Holmes was lost in
+thought, and once or twice he walked over to the window and
+stared earnestly out.  It opened on to a squalid courtyard.
+In the far corner was a smithy, where a grimy lad was at work.
+On the other side were the stables.  Holmes had sat down again
+after one of these excursions, when he suddenly sprang out of
+his chair with a loud exclamation.
+
+"By Heaven, Watson, I believe that I've got it!" he cried.
+"Yes, yes, it must be so.  Watson, do you remember seeing any
+cow-tracks to-day?"
+
+"Yes, several."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Well, everywhere.  They were at the morass, and again
+on the path, and again near where poor Heidegger met his death."
+
+"Exactly.  Well, now, Watson, how many cows did you see on the moor?"
+
+"I don't remember seeing any."
+
+"Strange, Watson, that we should see tracks all along our line,
+but never a cow on the whole moor; very strange, Watson, eh?"
+
+"Yes, it is strange."
+
+"Now, Watson, make an effort; throw your mind back!
+Can you see those tracks upon the path?"
+
+"Yes, I can."
+
+"Can you recall that the tracks were sometimes like that,
+Watson" -- he arranged a number of bread-crumbs in this fashion
+-- : : : : : -- "and sometimes like this" -- : . : . : . : .  --
+"and occasionally like this" -- . ` . ` . ` .  "Can you remember that?"
+
+"No, I cannot."
+
+"But I can.  I could swear to it.  However, we will go back at
+our leisure and verify it.  What a blind beetle I have been not
+to draw my conclusion!"
+
+"And what is your conclusion?"
+
+"Only that it is a remarkable cow which walks, canters, and gallops.
+By George, Watson, it was no brain of a country publican that
+thought out such a blind as that!  The coast seems to be clear,
+save for that lad in the smithy.  Let us slip out and see what
+we can see."
+
+There were two rough-haired, unkempt horses in the tumble-down
+stable.  Holmes raised the hind leg of one of them and laughed aloud.
+
+"Old shoes, but newly shod -- old shoes, but new nails.  This
+case deserves to be a classic.  Let us go across to the smithy."
+
+The lad continued his work without regarding us.  I saw Holmes's
+eye darting to right and left among the litter of iron and wood
+which was scattered about the floor.  Suddenly, however, we
+heard a step behind us, and there was the landlord, his heavy
+eyebrows drawn over his savage eyes, his swarthy features
+convulsed with passion.  He held a short, metal-headed stick
+in his hand, and he advanced in so menacing a fashion that I was
+right glad to feel the revolver in my pocket.
+
+"You infernal spies!" the man cried.  "What are you doing there?"
+
+"Why, Mr. Reuben Hayes," said Holmes, coolly, "one might think
+that you were afraid of our finding something out."
+
+The man mastered himself with a violent effort, and his grim mouth
+loosened into a false laugh, which was more menacing than his frown.
+
+"You're welcome to all you can find out in my smithy," said he.
+"But look here, mister, I don't care for folk poking about my
+place without my leave, so the sooner you pay your score and get
+out of this the better I shall be pleased."
+
+"All right, Mr. Hayes -- no harm meant," said Holmes.
+"We have been having a look at your horses, but I think I'll
+walk after all.  It's not far, I believe."
+
+"Not more than two miles to the Hall gates.  That's the road
+to the left."  He watched us with sullen eyes until we had
+left his premises.
+
+We did not go very far along the road, for Holmes stopped
+the instant that the curve hid us from the landlord's view.
+
+"We were warm, as the children say, at that inn," said he.
+"I seem to grow colder every step that I take away from it.
+No, no; I can't possibly leave it."
+
+"I am convinced," said I, "that this Reuben Hayes knows
+all about it.  A more self-evident villain I never saw."
+
+"Oh! he impressed you in that way, did he?  There are the horses,
+there is the smithy.  Yes, it is an interesting place,
+this Fighting Cock.  I think we shall have another look at it
+in an unobtrusive way."
+
+A long, sloping hillside, dotted with grey limestone boulders,
+stretched behind us.  We had turned off the road, and were
+making our way up the hill, when, looking in the direction
+of Holdernesse Hall, I saw a cyclist coming swiftly along.
+
+"Get down, Watson!" cried Holmes, with a heavy hand upon my
+shoulder.  We had hardly sunk from view when the man flew past
+us on the road.  Amid a rolling cloud of dust I caught a glimpse
+of a pale, agitated face -- a face with horror in every
+lineament, the mouth open, the eyes staring wildly in front.
+It was like some strange caricature of the dapper James Wilder
+whom we had seen the night before.
+
+"The Duke's secretary!" cried Holmes.  "Come, Watson, let us see
+what he does."
+
+We scrambled from rock to rock until in a few moments we had
+made our way to a point from which we could see the front door
+of the inn.  Wilder's bicycle was leaning against the wall
+beside it.  No one was moving about the house, nor could we
+catch a glimpse of any faces at the windows.  Slowly the
+twilight crept down as the sun sank behind the high towers of
+Holdernesse Hall.  Then in the gloom we saw the two side-lamps
+of a trap light up in the stable yard of the inn, and shortly
+afterwards heard the rattle of hoofs, as it wheeled out into the
+road and tore off at a furious pace in the direction of Chesterfield.
+
+"What do you make of that, Watson?" Holmes whispered.
+
+"It looks like a flight."
+
+"A single man in a dog-cart, so far as I could see.  Well, it
+certainly was not Mr. James Wilder, for there he is at the door."
+
+A red square of light had sprung out of the darkness.  In the
+middle of it was the black figure of the secretary, his head
+advanced, peering out into the night.  It was evident that he
+was expecting someone.  Then at last there were steps in the
+road, a second figure was visible for an instant against the
+light, the door shut, and all was black once more.  Five minutes
+later a lamp was lit in a room upon the first floor.
+
+"It seems to be a curious class of custom that is done by the
+Fighting Cock," said Holmes.
+
+"The bar is on the other side."
+
+"Quite so.  These are what one may call the private guests.
+Now, what in the world is Mr. James Wilder doing in that den at
+this hour of night, and who is the companion who comes to meet
+him there?  Come, Watson, we must really take a risk and try to
+investigate this a little more closely."
+
+Together we stole down to the road and crept across to the
+door of the inn.  The bicycle still leaned against the wall.
+Holmes struck a match and held it to the back wheel, and I
+heard him chuckle as the light fell upon a patched Dunlop tyre.
+Up above us was the lighted window.
+
+"I must have a peep through that, Watson.  If you bend your back
+and support yourself upon the wall, I think that I can manage."
+
+An instant later his feet were on my shoulders.
+But he was hardly up before he was down again.
+
+"Come, my friend," said he, "our day's work has been quite long
+enough.  I think that we have gathered all that we can.  It's a
+long walk to the school, and the sooner we get started the better."
+
+He hardly opened his lips during that weary trudge across the moor,
+nor would he enter the school when he reached it, but went on to
+Mackleton Station, whence he could send some telegrams.
+Late at night I heard him consoling Dr. Huxtable, prostrated by the
+tragedy of his master's death, and later still he entered my room
+as alert and vigorous as he had been when he started in the morning.
+"All goes well, my friend," said he.  "I promise that before
+to-morrow evening we shall have reached the solution of the mystery."
+
+
+At eleven o'clock next morning my friend and I were walking
+up the famous yew avenue of Holdernesse Hall.  We were ushered
+through the magnificent Elizabethan doorway and into his Grace's
+study.  There we found Mr. James Wilder, demure and courtly, but
+with some trace of that wild terror of the night before still
+lurking in his furtive eyes and in his twitching features.
+
+"You have come to see his Grace?  I am sorry; but the fact is
+that the Duke is far from well.  He has been very much upset
+by the tragic news.  We received a telegram from Dr. Huxtable
+yesterday afternoon, which told us of your discovery."
+
+"I must see the Duke, Mr. Wilder."
+
+"But he is in his room."
+
+"Then I must go to his room."
+
+"I believe he is in his bed."
+
+"I will see him there."
+
+Holmes's cold and inexorable manner showed the secretary that
+it was useless to argue with him.
+
+"Very good, Mr. Holmes; I will tell him that you are here."
+
+After half an hour's delay the great nobleman appeared.
+His face was more cadaverous than ever, his shoulders had rounded,
+and he seemed to me to be an altogether older man than he had been
+the morning before.  He greeted us with a stately courtesy and seated
+himself at his desk, his red beard streaming down on to the table.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes?" said he.
+
+But my friend's eyes were fixed upon the secretary, who stood by
+his master's chair.
+
+"I think, your Grace, that I could speak more freely in
+Mr. Wilder's absence."
+
+The man turned a shade paler and cast a malignant glance at Holmes.
+
+"If your Grace wishes ----"
+
+"Yes, yes; you had better go.  Now, Mr. Holmes, what have you to say?"
+
+My friend waited until the door had closed behind the
+retreating secretary.
+
+"The fact is, your Grace," said he, "that my colleague,
+Dr. Watson, and myself had an assurance from Dr. Huxtable
+that a reward had been offered in this case.  I should like
+to have this confirmed from your own lips."
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"It amounted, if I am correctly informed, to five thousand pounds
+to anyone who will tell you where your son is?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"And another thousand to the man who will name the person
+or persons who keep him in custody?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"Under the latter heading is included, no doubt, not only those
+who may have taken him away, but also those who conspire to keep
+him in his present position?"
+
+"Yes, yes," cried the Duke, impatiently.  "If you do your work
+well, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you will have no reason to complain
+of niggardly treatment."
+
+My friend rubbed his thin hands together with an appearance of
+avidity which was a surprise to me, who knew his frugal tastes.
+
+"I fancy that I see your Grace's cheque-book upon the table,"
+said he.  "I should be glad if you would make me out a cheque
+for six thousand pounds.  It would be as well, perhaps, for you
+to cross it.  The Capital and Counties Bank, Oxford Street branch,
+are my agents."
+
+His Grace sat very stern and upright in his chair, and looked
+stonily at my friend.
+
+"Is this a joke, Mr. Holmes?  It is hardly a subject for pleasantry."
+
+"Not at all, your Grace.  I was never more earnest in my life."
+
+"What do you mean, then?"
+
+"I mean that I have earned the reward.  I know where your son is,
+and I know some, at least, of those who are holding him."
+
+The Duke's beard had turned more aggressively red than ever
+against his ghastly white face.
+
+"Where is he?" he gasped.
+
+"He is, or was last night, at the Fighting Cock Inn, about two
+miles from your park gate."
+
+The Duke fell back in his chair.
+
+"And whom do you accuse?"
+
+Sherlock Holmes's answer was an astounding one.  He stepped
+swiftly forward and touched the Duke upon the shoulder.
+
+"I accuse YOU," said he.  "And now, your Grace, I'll trouble you
+for that cheque."
+
+Never shall I forget the Duke's appearance as he sprang up and
+clawed with his hands like one who is sinking into an abyss.
+Then, with an extraordinary effort of aristocratic self-command,
+he sat down and sank his face in his hands.  It was some minutes
+before he spoke.
+
+"How much do you know?" he asked at last, without raising his head.
+
+"I saw you together last night."
+
+"Does anyone else besides your friend know?"
+
+"I have spoken to no one."
+
+The Duke took a pen in his quivering fingers and opened
+his cheque-book.
+
+"I shall be as good as my word, Mr. Holmes.  I am about to write
+your cheque, however unwelcome the information which you have
+gained may be to me.  When the offer was first made I little
+thought the turn which events might take.  But you and your
+friend are men of discretion, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"I hardly understand your Grace."
+
+"I must put it plainly, Mr. Holmes.  If only you two know of
+this incident, there is no reason why it should go any farther.
+I think twelve thousand pounds is the sum that I owe you, is it not?"
+
+But Holmes smiled and shook his head.
+
+"I fear, your Grace, that matters can hardly be arranged so easily.
+There is the death of this schoolmaster to be accounted for."
+
+"But James knew nothing of that.  You cannot hold him
+responsible for that.  It was the work of this brutal ruffian
+whom he had the misfortune to employ."
+
+"I must take the view, your Grace, that when a man embarks
+upon a crime he is morally guilty of any other crime which
+may spring from it."
+
+"Morally, Mr. Holmes.  No doubt you are right.  But surely not
+in the eyes of the law.  A man cannot be condemned for a murder
+at which he was not present, and which he loathes and abhors
+as much as you do.  The instant that he heard of it he made
+a complete confession to me, so filled was he with horror and
+remorse.  He lost not an hour in breaking entirely with the
+murderer.  Oh, Mr. Holmes, you must save him -- you must save
+him!  I tell you that you must save him!"  The Duke had dropped
+the last attempt at self-command, and was pacing the room with
+a convulsed face and with his clenched hands raving in the air.
+At last he mastered himself and sat down once more at his desk.
+"I appreciate your conduct in coming here before you spoke to
+anyone else," said he.  "At least, we may take counsel how far
+we can minimize this hideous scandal."
+
+"Exactly," said Holmes.  "I think, your Grace, that this can
+only be done by absolute and complete frankness between us.
+I am disposed to help your Grace to the best of my ability; but
+in order to do so I must understand to the last detail how the
+matter stands.  I realize that your words applied to Mr. James
+Wilder, and that he is not the murderer."
+
+"No; the murderer has escaped."
+
+Sherlock Holmes smiled demurely.
+
+"Your Grace can hardly have heard of any small reputation which
+I possess, or you would not imagine that it is so easy to escape me.
+Mr. Reuben Hayes was arrested at Chesterfield on my information
+at eleven o'clock last night.  I had a telegram from the head
+of the local police before I left the school this morning."
+
+The Duke leaned back in his chair and stared with amazement
+at my friend.
+
+"You seem to have powers that are hardly human," said he.
+"So Reuben Hayes is taken?  I am right glad to hear it,
+if it will not react upon the fate of James."
+
+"Your secretary?"
+
+"No, sir; my son."
+
+It was Holmes's turn to look astonished.
+
+"I confess that this is entirely new to me, your Grace.
+I must beg you to be more explicit."
+
+"I will conceal nothing from you.  I agree with you that
+complete frankness, however painful it may be to me, is the
+best policy in this desperate situation to which James's folly
+and jealousy have reduced us.  When I was a very young man,
+Mr. Holmes, I loved with such a love as comes only once in
+a lifetime.  I offered the lady marriage, but she refused
+it on the grounds that such a match might mar my career.
+Had she lived I would certainly never have married anyone else.
+She died, and left this one child, whom for her sake I have
+cherished and cared for.  I could not acknowledge the paternity
+to the world; but I gave him the best of educations, and since
+he came to manhood I have kept him near my person.  He surprised
+my secret, and has presumed ever since upon the claim which he
+has upon me and upon his power of provoking a scandal, which
+would be abhorrent to me.  His presence had something to do with
+the unhappy issue of my marriage.  Above all, he hated my young
+legitimate heir from the first with a persistent hatred.
+You may well ask me why, under these circumstances, I still kept
+James under my roof.  I answer that it was because I could see
+his mother's face in his, and that for her dear sake there was
+no end to my long-suffering.  All her pretty ways, too -- there
+was not one of them which he could not suggest and bring back
+to my memory.  I COULD not send him away.  But I feared so much
+lest he should do Arthur -- that is, Lord Saltire -- a mischief
+that I dispatched him for safety to Dr. Huxtable's school.
+
+"James came into contact with this fellow Hayes because the man
+was a tenant of mine, and James acted as agent.  The fellow was
+a rascal from the beginning; but in some extraordinary way
+James became intimate with him.  He had always a taste for low
+company.  When James determined to kidnap Lord Saltire it was
+of this man's service that he availed himself.  You remember
+that I wrote to Arthur upon that last day.  Well, James opened
+the letter and inserted a note asking Arthur to meet him in a
+little wood called the Ragged Shaw, which is near to the school.
+He used the Duchess's name, and in that way got the boy to come.
+That evening James bicycled over -- I am telling you what he has
+himself confessed to me -- and he told Arthur, whom he met in
+the wood, that his mother longed to see him, that she was
+awaiting him on the moor, and that if he would come back into
+the wood at midnight he would find a man with a horse, who would
+take him to her.  Poor Arthur fell into the trap.  He came to
+the appointment and found this fellow Hayes with a led pony.
+Arthur mounted, and they set off together.  It appears -- though
+this James only heard yesterday -- that they were pursued,
+that Hayes struck the pursuer with his stick, and that the man
+died of his injuries.  Hayes brought Arthur to his public-house,
+the Fighting Cock, where he was confined in an upper room,
+under the care of Mrs. Hayes, who is a kindly woman,
+but entirely under the control of her brutal husband.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, that was the state of affairs when I first
+saw you two days ago.  I had no more idea of the truth than you.
+You will ask me what was James's motive in doing such a deed.
+I answer that there was a great deal which was unreasoning and
+fanatical in the hatred which he bore my heir.  In his view he
+should himself have been heir of all my estates, and he deeply
+resented those social laws which made it impossible.  At the
+same time he had a definite motive also.  He was eager that
+I should break the entail, and he was of opinion that it lay
+in my power to do so.  He intended to make a bargain with me --
+to restore Arthur if I would break the entail, and so make it
+possible for the estate to be left to him by will.  He knew well
+that I should never willingly invoke the aid of the police
+against him.  I say that he would have proposed such a bargain
+to me, but he did not actually do so, for events moved too quickly
+for him, and he had not time to put his plans into practice.
+
+"What brought all his wicked scheme to wreck was your discovery
+of this man Heidegger's dead body.  James was seized with horror
+at the news.  It came to us yesterday as we sat together in
+this study.  Dr. Huxtable had sent a telegram.  James was so
+overwhelmed with grief and agitation that my suspicions, which
+had never been entirely absent, rose instantly to a certainty,
+and I taxed him with the deed.  He made a complete voluntary
+confession.  Then he implored me to keep his secret for three
+days longer, so as to give his wretched accomplice a chance of
+saving his guilty life.  I yielded -- as I have always yielded
+-- to his prayers, and instantly James hurried off to the
+Fighting Cock to warn Hayes and give him the means of flight.
+I could not go there by daylight without provoking comment,
+but as soon as night fell I hurried off to see my dear Arthur.
+I found him safe and well, but horrified beyond expression by the
+dreadful deed he had witnessed.  In deference to my promise, and
+much against my will, I consented to leave him there for three
+days under the charge of Mrs. Hayes, since it was evident that
+it was impossible to inform the police where he was without
+telling them also who was the murderer, and I could not see how
+that murderer could be punished without ruin to my unfortunate
+James.  You asked for frankness, Mr. Holmes, and I have taken
+you at your word, for I have now told you everything without
+an attempt at circumlocution or concealment.  Do you in turn
+be as frank with me."
+
+"I will," said Holmes.  "In the first place, your Grace,
+I am bound to tell you that you have placed yourself in a most
+serious position in the eyes of the law.  You have condoned a
+felony and you have aided the escape of a murderer; for I cannot
+doubt that any money which was taken by James Wilder to aid his
+accomplice in his flight came from your Grace's purse."
+
+The Duke bowed his assent.
+
+"This is indeed a most serious matter.  Even more culpable in my
+opinion, your Grace, is your attitude towards your younger son.
+You leave him in this den for three days."
+
+"Under solemn promises ----"
+
+"What are promises to such people as these?  You have no guarantee
+that he will not be spirited away again.  To humour your guilty
+elder son you have exposed your innocent younger son to imminent
+and unnecessary danger.  It was a most unjustifiable action."
+
+The proud lord of Holdernesse was not accustomed to be so rated
+in his own ducal hall.  The blood flushed into his high forehead,
+but his conscience held him dumb.
+
+"I will help you, but on one condition only.  It is that you
+ring for the footman and let me give such orders as I like."
+
+Without a word the Duke pressed the electric bell.
+A servant entered.
+
+"You will be glad to hear," said Holmes, "that your young master
+is found.  It is the Duke's desire that the carriage shall go at
+once to the Fighting Cock Inn to bring Lord Saltire home.
+
+"Now," said Holmes, when the rejoicing lackey had disappeared,
+"having secured the future, we can afford to be more lenient
+with the past.  I am not in an official position, and there
+is no reason, so long as the ends of justice are served, why I
+should disclose all that I know.  As to Hayes I say nothing.
+The gallows awaits him, and I would do nothing to save him from
+it.  What he will divulge I cannot tell, but I have no doubt
+that your Grace could make him understand that it is to his
+interest to be silent.  From the police point of view he will
+have kidnapped the boy for the purpose of ransom.  If they do
+not themselves find it out I see no reason why I should prompt
+them to take a broader point of view.  I would warn your Grace,
+however, that the continued presence of Mr. James Wilder in
+your household can only lead to misfortune."
+
+"I understand that, Mr. Holmes, and it is already settled that
+he shall leave me for ever and go to seek his fortune in Australia."
+
+"In that case, your Grace, since you have yourself stated that
+any unhappiness in your married life was caused by his presence,
+I would suggest that you make such amends as you can to the
+Duchess, and that you try to resume those relations which have
+been so unhappily interrupted."
+
+"That also I have arranged, Mr. Holmes.  I wrote to the Duchess
+this morning."
+
+"In that case," said Holmes, rising, "I think that my friend and
+I can congratulate ourselves upon several most happy results
+from our little visit to the North.  There is one other small
+point upon which I desire some light.  This fellow Hayes had
+shod his horses with shoes which counterfeited the tracks of cows.
+Was it from Mr. Wilder that he learned so extraordinary a device?"
+
+The Duke stood in thought for a moment, with a look of intense
+surprise on his face.  Then he opened a door and showed us into
+a large room furnished as a museum.  He led the way to a glass
+case in a corner, and pointed to the inscription.
+
+"These shoes," it ran, "were dug up in the moat of Holdernesse
+Hall.  They are for the use of horses; but they are shaped below
+with a cloven foot of iron, so as to throw pursuers off the
+track.  They are supposed to have belonged to some of the
+marauding Barons of Holdernesse in the Middle Ages."
+
+Holmes opened the case, and moistening his finger he passed it
+along the shoe.  A thin film of recent mud was left upon his skin.
+
+"Thank you," said he, as he replaced the glass.  "It is the
+second most interesting object that I have seen in the North."
+
+"And the first?"
+
+Holmes folded up his cheque and placed it carefully in his
+note-book.  "I am a poor man," said he, as he patted it
+affectionately and thrust it into the depths of his inner pocket.
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 27  MARCH, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+VI. --- The Adventure of Black Peter.
+
+
+I HAVE never known my friend to be in better form, both mental
+and physical, than in the year '95.  His increasing fame had
+brought with it an immense practice, and I should be guilty of
+an indiscretion if I were even to hint at the identity of some
+of the illustrious clients who crossed our humble threshold in
+Baker Street.  Holmes, however, like all great artists, lived
+for his art's sake, and, save in the case of the Duke of
+Holdernesse, I have seldom known him claim any large reward
+for his inestimable services.  So unworldly was he -- or so
+capricious -- that he frequently refused his help to the
+powerful and wealthy where the problem made no appeal to his
+sympathies, while he would devote weeks of most intense
+application to the affairs of some humble client whose case
+presented those strange and dramatic qualities which appealed
+to his imagination and challenged his ingenuity.
+
+In this memorable year '95 a curious and incongruous succession
+of cases had engaged his attention, ranging from his famous
+investigation of the sudden death of Cardinal Tosca -- an
+inquiry which was carried out by him at the express desire of
+His Holiness the Pope -- down to his arrest of Wilson, the
+notorious canary-trainer, which removed a plague-spot from the
+East-End of London.  Close on the heels of these two famous
+cases came the tragedy of Woodman's Lee, and the very obscure
+circumstances which surrounded the death of Captain Peter Carey.
+No record of the doings of Mr. Sherlock Holmes would be complete
+which did not include some account of this very unusual affair.
+
+During the first week of July my friend had been absent so often
+and so long from our lodgings that I knew he had something on
+hand.  The fact that several rough-looking men called during
+that time and inquired for Captain Basil made me understand that
+Holmes was working somewhere under one of the numerous disguises
+and names with which he concealed his own formidable identity.
+He had at least five small refuges in different parts of London in
+which he was able to change his personality.  He said nothing of
+his business to me, and it was not my habit to force a confidence.
+The first positive sign which he gave me of the direction
+which his investigation was taking was an extraordinary one.
+He had gone out before breakfast, and I had sat down to mine,
+when he strode into the room, his hat upon his head and a huge
+barbed-headed spear tucked like an umbrella under his arm.
+
+"Good gracious, Holmes!" I cried.  "You don't mean to say
+that you have been walking about London with that thing?"
+
+"I drove to the butcher's and back."
+
+"The butcher's?"
+
+"And I return with an excellent appetite.  There can be no
+question, my dear Watson, of the value of exercise before
+breakfast.  But I am prepared to bet that you will not guess
+the form that my exercise has taken."
+
+"I will not attempt it."
+
+He chuckled as he poured out the coffee.
+
+"If you could have looked into Allardyce's back shop you would
+have seen a dead pig swung from a hook in the ceiling, and a
+gentleman in his shirt-sleeves furiously stabbing at it with
+this weapon.  I was that energetic person, and I have satisfied
+myself that by no exertion of my strength can I transfix the pig
+with a single blow.  Perhaps you would care to try?"
+
+"Not for worlds.  But why were you doing this?"
+
+"Because it seemed to me to have an indirect bearing upon the
+mystery of Woodman's Lee.  Ah, Hopkins, I got your wire last
+night, and I have been expecting you.  Come and join us."
+
+Our visitor was an exceedingly alert man, thirty years of age,
+dressed in a quiet tweed suit, but retaining the erect bearing
+of one who was accustomed to official uniform.  I recognised him
+at once as Stanley Hopkins, a young police inspector for whose
+future Holmes had high hopes, while he in turn professed the
+admiration and respect of a pupil for the scientific methods of
+the famous amateur.  Hopkins's brow was clouded, and he sat down
+with an air of deep dejection.
+
+"No, thank you, sir.  I breakfasted before I came round.
+I spent the night in town, for I came up yesterday to report."
+
+"And what had you to report?"
+
+"Failure, sir; absolute failure."
+
+"You have made no progress?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Dear me!  I must have a look at the matter."
+
+"I wish to heavens that you would, Mr. Holmes.  It's my first
+big chance, and I am at my wit's end.  For goodness' sake come
+down and lend me a hand."
+
+"Well, well, it just happens that I have already read all the
+available evidence, including the report of the inquest, with
+some care.  By the way, what do you make of that tobacco-pouch
+found on the scene of the crime?  Is there no clue there?"
+
+Hopkins looked surprised.
+
+"It was the man's own pouch, sir.  His initials were inside it.
+And it was of seal-skin -- and he an old sealer."
+
+"But he had no pipe."
+
+"No, sir, we could find no pipe; indeed, he smoked very little.
+And yet he might have kept some tobacco for his friends."
+
+"No doubt.  I only mention it because if I had been handling the
+case I should have been inclined to make that the starting-point
+of my investigation.  However, my friend Dr. Watson knows
+nothing of this matter, and I should be none the worse for
+hearing the sequence of events once more.  Just give us some
+short sketch of the essentials."
+
+Stanley Hopkins drew a slip of paper from his pocket.
+
+"I have a few dates here which will give you the career of the
+dead man, Captain Peter Carey.  He was born in '45 -- fifty
+years of age.  He was a most daring and successful seal and
+whale fisher.  In 1883 he commanded the steam sealer SEA UNICORN,
+of Dundee.  He had then had several successful voyages
+in succession, and in the following year, 1884, he retired.
+After that he travelled for some years, and finally he bought
+a small place called Woodman's Lee, near Forest Row, in Sussex.
+There he has lived for six years, and there he died just a week
+ago to-day.
+
+"There were some most singular points about the man.
+In ordinary life he was a strict Puritan -- a silent, gloomy
+fellow.  His household consisted of his wife, his daughter,
+aged twenty, and two female servants.  These last were continually
+changing, for it was never a very cheery situation, and sometimes
+it became past all bearing.  The man was an intermittent drunkard,
+and when he had the fit on him he was a perfect fiend.
+He has been known to drive his wife and his daughter out of doors
+in the middle of the night, and flog them through the park until
+the whole village outside the gates was aroused by their screams.
+
+"He was summoned once for a savage assault upon the old vicar,
+who had called upon him to remonstrate with him upon his
+conduct.  In short, Mr. Holmes, you would go far before you
+found a more dangerous man than Peter Carey, and I have heard
+that he bore the same character when he commanded his ship.
+He was known in the trade as Black Peter, and the name was given
+him, not only on account of his swarthy features and the colour
+of his huge beard, but for the humours which were the terror of
+all around him.  I need not say that he was loathed and avoided
+by every one of his neighbours, and that I have not heard one
+single word of sorrow about his terrible end.
+
+"You must have read in the account of the inquest about the
+man's cabin, Mr. Holmes; but perhaps your friend here has not
+heard of it.  He had built himself a wooden outhouse -- he
+always called it `the cabin' -- a few hundred yards from his
+house, and it was here that he slept every night.  It was a
+little, single-roomed hut, sixteen feet by ten.  He kept the key
+in his pocket, made his own bed, cleaned it himself, and allowed
+no other foot to cross the threshold.  There are small windows
+on each side, which were covered by curtains and never opened.
+One of these windows was turned towards the high road, and when
+the light burned in it at night the folk used to point it out
+to each other and wonder what Black Peter was doing in there.
+That's the window, Mr. Holmes, which gave us one of the few bits
+of positive evidence that came out at the inquest.
+
+"You remember that a stonemason, named Slater, walking from
+Forest Row about one o'clock in the morning -- two days before
+the murder -- stopped as he passed the grounds and looked at the
+square of light still shining among the trees.  He swears that
+the shadow of a man's head turned sideways was clearly visible
+on the blind, and that this shadow was certainly not that of
+Peter Carey, whom he knew well.  It was that of a bearded man,
+but the beard was short and bristled forwards in a way very
+different from that of the captain.  So he says, but he had
+been two hours in the public-house, and it is some distance from
+the road to the window.  Besides, this refers to the Monday,
+and the crime was done upon the Wednesday.
+
+"On the Tuesday Peter Carey was in one of his blackest moods,
+flushed with drink and as savage as a dangerous wild beast.
+He roamed about the house, and the women ran for it when they
+heard him coming.  Late in the evening he went down to his own hut.
+About two o'clock the following morning his daughter, who slept
+with her window open, heard a most fearful yell from that
+direction, but it was no unusual thing for him to bawl and shout
+when he was in drink, so no notice was taken.  On rising at
+seven one of the maids noticed that the door of the hut was open,
+but so great was the terror which the man caused that it
+was midday before anyone would venture down to see what had
+become of him.  Peeping into the open door they saw a sight
+which sent them flying with white faces into the village.
+Within an hour I was on the spot and had taken over the case.
+
+"Well, I have fairly steady nerves, as you know, Mr. Holmes,
+but I give you my word that I got a shake when I put my head into
+that little house.  It was droning like a harmonium with the
+flies and bluebottles, and the floor and walls were like a
+slaughter-house.  He had called it a cabin, and a cabin it was
+sure enough, for you would have thought that you were in a ship.
+There was a bunk at one end, a sea-chest, maps and charts,
+a picture of the SEA UNICORN, a line of log-books on a shelf,
+all exactly as one would expect to find it in a captain's room.
+And there in the middle of it was the man himself, his face twisted
+like a lost soul in torment, and his great brindled beard stuck
+upwards in his agony.  Right through his broad breast a steel
+harpoon had been driven, and it had sunk deep into the wood of
+the wall behind him.  He was pinned like a beetle on a card.
+Of course, he was quite dead, and had been so from the instant
+that he had uttered that last yell of agony.
+
+"I know your methods, sir, and I applied them.
+Before I permitted anything to be moved I examined most
+carefully the ground outside, and also the floor of the room.
+There were no footmarks."
+
+"Meaning that you saw none?"
+
+"I assure you, sir, that there were none."
+
+"My good Hopkins, I have investigated many crimes, but I have
+never yet seen one which was committed by a flying creature.
+As long as the criminal remains upon two legs so long must there
+be some indentation, some abrasion, some trifling displacement
+which can be detected by the scientific searcher.  It is
+incredible that this blood-bespattered room contained no trace
+which could have aided us.  I understand, however, from the
+inquest that there were some objects which you failed to overlook?"
+
+The young inspector winced at my companion's ironical comments.
+
+"I was a fool not to call you in at the time, Mr. Holmes.
+However, that's past praying for now.  Yes, there were several
+objects in the room which called for special attention.
+One was the harpoon with which the deed was committed.
+It had been snatched down from a rack on the wall.
+Two others remained there, and there was a vacant place for
+the third.  On the stock was engraved `Ss. SEA UNICORN, Dundee.'
+This seemed to establish that the crime had been done in a moment
+of fury, and that the murderer had seized the first weapon which
+came in his way.  The fact that the crime was committed at two
+in the morning, and yet Peter Carey was fully dressed, suggested
+that he had an appointment with the murderer, which is borne out
+by the fact that a bottle of rum and two dirty glasses stood upon
+the table."
+
+"Yes," said Holmes; "I think that both inferences are permissible.
+Was there any other spirit but rum in the room?"
+
+"Yes; there was a tantalus containing brandy and whisky on the
+sea-chest.  It is of no importance to us, however, since the
+decanters were full, and it had therefore not been used."
+
+"For all that its presence has some significance," said Holmes.
+"However, let us hear some more about the objects which do seem
+to you to bear upon the case."
+
+"There was this tobacco-pouch upon the table."
+
+"What part of the table?"
+
+"It lay in the middle.  It was of coarse seal-skin --
+the straight-haired skin, with a leather thong to bind it.
+Inside was `P.C.' on the flap.  There was half an ounce of
+strong ship's tobacco in it."
+
+"Excellent!  What more?"
+
+Stanley Hopkins drew from his pocket a drab-covered note-book.
+The outside was rough and worn, the leaves discoloured.
+On the first page were written the initials "J.H.N." and the
+date "1883."  Holmes laid it on the table and examined it in
+his minute way, while Hopkins and I gazed over each shoulder.
+On the second page were the printed letters "C.P.R.," and then
+came several sheets of numbers.  Another heading was Argentine,
+another Costa Rica, and another San Paulo, each with pages of
+signs and figures after it.
+
+"What do you make of these?" asked Holmes.
+
+"They appear to be lists of Stock Exchange securities.
+I thought that `J.H.N.' were the initials of a broker,
+and that `C.P.R.' may have been his client."
+
+"Try Canadian Pacific Railway," said Holmes.
+
+Stanley Hopkins swore between his teeth and struck his thigh
+with his clenched hand.
+
+"What a fool I have been!" he cried.  "Of course, it is as
+you say.  Then `J.H.N.' are the only initials we have to solve.
+I have already examined the old Stock Exchange lists, and I can
+find no one in 1883 either in the House or among the outside
+brokers whose initials correspond with these.  Yet I feel that
+the clue is the most important one that I hold.  You will admit,
+Mr. Holmes, that there is a possibility that these initials are
+those of the second person who was present -- in other words,
+of the murderer.  I would also urge that the introduction into
+the case of a document relating to large masses of valuable
+securities gives us for the first time some indication of a
+motive for the crime."
+
+Sherlock Holmes's face showed that he was thoroughly taken aback
+by this new development.
+
+"I must admit both your points," said he.  "I confess that this
+note-book, which did not appear at the inquest, modifies any
+views which I may have formed.  I had come to a theory of the
+crime in which I can find no place for this.  Have you
+endeavoured to trace any of the securities here mentioned?"
+
+"Inquiries are now being made at the offices, but I fear that
+the complete register of the stockholders of these South
+American concerns is in South America, and that some weeks must
+elapse before we can trace the shares."
+
+Holmes had been examining the cover of the note-book with his
+magnifying lens.
+
+"Surely there is some discolouration here," said he.
+
+"Yes, sir, it is a blood-stain.  I told you that I picked
+the book off the floor."
+
+"Was the blood-stain above or below?"
+
+"On the side next the boards."
+
+"Which proves, of course, that the book was dropped after
+the crime was committed."
+
+"Exactly, Mr. Holmes.  I appreciated that point,
+and I conjectured that it was dropped by the murderer
+in his hurried flight.  It lay near the door."
+
+"I suppose that none of these securities have been found among
+the property of the dead man?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Have you any reason to suspect robbery?"
+
+"No, sir.  Nothing seemed to have been touched."
+
+"Dear me, it is certainly a very interesting case.
+Then there was a knife, was there not?"
+
+"A sheath-knife, still in its sheath.  It lay at the feet
+of the dead man.  Mrs. Carey has identified it as being her
+husband's property."
+
+Holmes was lost in thought for some time.
+
+"Well," said he, at last, "I suppose I shall have to come out
+and have a look at it."
+
+Stanley Hopkins gave a cry of joy.
+
+"Thank you, sir.  That will indeed be a weight off my mind."
+
+Holmes shook his finger at the inspector.
+
+"It would have been an easier task a week ago," said he.
+"But even now my visit may not be entirely fruitless.  Watson,
+if you can spare the time I should be very glad of your company.
+If you will call a four-wheeler, Hopkins, we shall be ready to
+start for Forest Row in a quarter of an hour."
+
+
+Alighting at the small wayside station, we drove for some miles
+through the remains of widespread woods, which were once part of
+that great forest which for so long held the Saxon invaders at
+bay -- the impenetrable "weald," for sixty years the bulwark of
+Britain.  Vast sections of it have been cleared, for this is the
+seat of the first iron-works of the country, and the trees have
+been felled to smelt the ore.  Now the richer fields of the
+North have absorbed the trade, and nothing save these ravaged
+groves and great scars in the earth show the work of the past.
+Here in a clearing upon the green slope of a hill stood a long,
+low stone house, approached by a curving drive running through
+the fields.  Nearer the road, and surrounded on three sides
+by bushes, was a small outhouse, one window and the door facing
+in our direction.  It was the scene of the murder!
+
+Stanley Hopkins led us first to the house, where he introduced
+us to a haggard, grey-haired woman, the widow of the murdered
+man, whose gaunt and deep-lined face, with the furtive look of
+terror in the depths of her red-rimmed eyes, told of the years
+of hardship and ill-usage which she had endured.  With her was
+her daughter, a pale, fair-haired girl, whose eyes blazed
+defiantly at us as she told us that she was glad that her father
+was dead, and that she blessed the hand which had struck him
+down.  It was a terrible household that Black Peter Carey had
+made for himself, and it was with a sense of relief that we
+found ourselves in the sunlight again and making our way along
+a path which had been worn across the fields by the feet of
+the dead man.
+
+The outhouse was the simplest of dwellings, wooden-walled,
+shingle-roofed, one window beside the door and one on the
+farther side.  Stanley Hopkins drew the key from his pocket,
+and had stooped to the lock, when he paused with a look of
+attention and surprise upon his face.
+
+"Someone has been tampering with it," he said.
+
+There could be no doubt of the fact.  The woodwork was cut and
+the scratches showed white through the paint, as if they had
+been that instant done.  Holmes had been examining the window.
+
+"Someone has tried to force this also.  Whoever it was has failed
+to make his way in.  He must have been a very poor burglar."
+
+"This is a most extraordinary thing," said the inspector;
+"I could swear that these marks were not here yesterday evening."
+
+"Some curious person from the village, perhaps," I suggested.
+
+"Very unlikely.  Few of them would dare to set foot in the
+grounds, far less try to force their way into the cabin.
+What do you think of it, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"I think that fortune is very kind to us."
+
+"You mean that the person will come again?"
+
+"It is very probable.  He came expecting to find the door open.
+He tried to get in with the blade of a very small penknife.
+He could not manage it.  What would he do?"
+
+"Come again next night with a more useful tool."
+
+"So I should say.  It will be our fault if we are not there
+to receive him.  Meanwhile, let me see the inside of the cabin."
+
+The traces of the tragedy had been removed, but the furniture
+within the little room still stood as it had been on the night
+of the crime.  For two hours, with most intense concentration,
+Holmes examined every object in turn, but his face showed that
+his quest was not a successful one.  Once only he paused in his
+patient investigation.
+
+"Have you taken anything off this shelf, Hopkins?"
+
+"No; I have moved nothing."
+
+"Something has been taken.  There is less dust in this corner of
+the shelf than elsewhere.  It may have been a book lying on its
+side.  It may have been a box.  Well, well, I can do nothing
+more.  Let us walk in these beautiful woods, Watson, and give a
+few hours to the birds and the flowers.  We shall meet you here
+later, Hopkins, and see if we can come to closer quarters with
+the gentleman who has paid this visit in the night."
+
+It was past eleven o'clock when we formed our little ambuscade.
+Hopkins was for leaving the door of the hut open, but Holmes
+was of the opinion that this would rouse the suspicions of the
+stranger.  The lock was a perfectly simple one, and only a
+strong blade was needed to push it back.  Holmes also suggested
+that we should wait, not inside the hut, but outside it among
+the bushes which grew round the farther window.  In this way we
+should be able to watch our man if he struck a light, and see
+what his object was in this stealthy nocturnal visit.
+
+It was a long and melancholy vigil, and yet brought with it
+something of the thrill which the hunter feels when he lies
+beside the water pool and waits for the coming of the thirsty
+beast of prey.  What savage creature was it which might steal
+upon us out of the darkness?  Was it a fierce tiger of crime,
+which could only be taken fighting hard with flashing fang and
+claw, or would it prove to be some skulking jackal, dangerous
+only to the weak and unguarded?
+
+In absolute silence we crouched amongst the bushes, waiting
+for whatever might come.  At first the steps of a few belated
+villagers, or the sound of voices from the village, lightened
+our vigil; but one by one these interruptions died away and an
+absolute stillness fell upon us, save for the chimes of the
+distant church, which told us of the progress of the night,
+and for the rustle and whisper of a fine rain falling amid the
+foliage which roofed us in.
+
+Half-past two had chimed, and it was the darkest hour which
+precedes the dawn, when we all started as a low but sharp click
+came from the direction of the gate.  Someone had entered the
+drive.  Again there was a long silence, and I had begun to fear
+that it was a false alarm, when a stealthy step was heard upon
+the other side of the hut, and a moment later a metallic
+scraping and clinking.  The man was trying to force the lock!
+This time his skill was greater or his tool was better,
+for there was a sudden snap and the creak of the hinges.
+Then a match was struck, and next instant the steady light from
+a candle filled the interior of the hut.  Through the gauze
+curtain our eyes were all riveted upon the scene within.
+
+The nocturnal visitor was a young man, frail and thin, with a
+black moustache which intensified the deadly pallor of his face.
+He could not have been much above twenty years of age.  I have
+never seen any human being who appeared to be in such a pitiable
+fright, for his teeth were visibly chattering and he was shaking
+in every limb.  He was dressed like a gentleman, in Norfolk
+jacket and knickerbockers, with a cloth cap upon his head.
+We watched him staring round with frightened eyes.  Then he laid
+the candle-end upon the table and disappeared from our view into
+one of the corners.  He returned with a large book, one of the
+log-books which formed a line upon the shelves.  Leaning on the
+table he rapidly turned over the leaves of this volume until he
+came to the entry which he sought.  Then, with an angry gesture
+of his clenched hand, he closed the book, replaced it in the
+corner, and put out the light.  He had hardly turned to leave
+the hut when Hopkins's hand was on the fellow's collar, and I
+heard his loud gasp of terror as he understood that he was
+taken.  The candle was re-lit, and there was our wretched
+captive shivering and cowering in the grasp of the detective.
+He sank down upon the sea-chest, and looked helplessly from one
+of us to the other.
+
+"Now, my fine fellow," said Stanley Hopkins, "who are you,
+and what do you want here?"
+
+The man pulled himself together and faced us with an effort
+at self-composure.
+
+"You are detectives, I suppose?" said he.  "You imagine I am
+connected with the death of Captain Peter Carey.  I assure you
+that I am innocent."
+
+"We'll see about that," said Hopkins.
+"First of all, what is your name?"
+
+"It is John Hopley Neligan."
+
+I saw Holmes and Hopkins exchange a quick glance.
+
+"What are you doing here?"
+
+"Can I speak confidentially?"
+
+"No, certainly not."
+
+"Why should I tell you?"
+
+"If you have no answer it may go badly with you at the trial."
+
+The young man winced.
+
+"Well, I will tell you," he said.  "Why should I not?  And yet
+I hate to think of this old scandal gaining a new lease of life.
+Did you ever hear of Dawson and Neligan?"
+
+I could see from Hopkins's face that he never had; but Holmes
+was keenly interested.
+
+"You mean the West-country bankers," said he.  "They failed
+for a million, ruined half the county families of Cornwall,
+and Neligan disappeared."
+
+"Exactly.  Neligan was my father."
+
+At last we were getting something positive, and yet it seemed
+a long gap between an absconding banker and Captain Peter Carey
+pinned against the wall with one of his own harpoons.  We all
+listened intently to the young man's words.
+
+"It was my father who was really concerned.  Dawson had retired.
+I was only ten years of age at the time, but I was old enough to
+feel the shame and horror of it all.  It has always been said
+that my father stole all the securities and fled.  It is not
+true.  It was his belief that if he were given time in which to
+realize them all would be well and every creditor paid in full.
+He started in his little yacht for Norway just before the
+warrant was issued for his arrest.  I can remember that last
+night when he bade farewell to my mother.  He left us a list of
+the securities he was taking, and he swore that he would come
+back with his honour cleared, and that none who had trusted him
+would suffer.  Well, no word was ever heard from him again.
+Both the yacht and he vanished utterly.  We believed, my mother
+and I, that he and it, with the securities that he had taken
+with him, were at the bottom of the sea.  We had a faithful
+friend, however, who is a business man, and it was he who
+discovered some time ago that some of the securities which my
+father had with him have reappeared on the London market.
+You can imagine our amazement.  I spent months in trying to
+trace them, and at last, after many doublings and difficulties,
+I discovered that the original seller had been Captain Peter
+Carey, the owner of this hut.
+
+"Naturally, I made some inquiries about the man.  I found that
+he had been in command of a whaler which was due to return from
+the Arctic seas at the very time when my father was crossing to
+Norway.  The autumn of that year was a stormy one, and there was
+a long succession of southerly gales.  My father's yacht may
+well have been blown to the north, and there met by Captain
+Peter Carey's ship.  If that were so, what had become of my
+father?  In any case, if I could prove from Peter Carey's
+evidence how these securities came on the market it would be a
+proof that my father had not sold them, and that he had no view
+to personal profit when he took them.
+
+"I came down to Sussex with the intention of seeing the captain,
+but it was at this moment that his terrible death occurred.
+I read at the inquest a description of his cabin, in which it
+stated that the old log-books of his vessel were preserved in it.
+It struck me that if I could see what occurred in the month
+of August, 1883, on board the SEA UNICORN, I might settle the
+mystery of my father's fate.  I tried last night to get at these
+log-books, but was unable to open the door.  To-night I tried
+again, and succeeded; but I find that the pages which deal with
+that month have been torn from the book.  It was at that moment
+I found myself a prisoner in your hands."
+
+"Is that all?" asked Hopkins.
+
+"Yes, that is all."  His eyes shifted as he said it.
+
+"You have nothing else to tell us?"
+
+He hesitated.
+
+"No; there is nothing."
+
+"You have not been here before last night?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then how do you account for THAT?" cried Hopkins, as he held up
+the damning note-book, with the initials of our prisoner on the
+first leaf and the blood-stain on the cover.
+
+The wretched man collapsed.  He sank his face in his hands and
+trembled all over.
+
+"Where did you get it?" he groaned.  "I did not know.
+I thought I had lost it at the hotel."
+
+"That is enough," said Hopkins, sternly.  "Whatever else you
+have to say you must say in court.  You will walk down with me
+now to the police-station.  Well, Mr. Holmes, I am very much
+obliged to you and to your friend for coming down to help me.
+As it turns out your presence was unnecessary, and I would have
+brought the case to this successful issue without you; but none
+the less I am very grateful.  Rooms have been reserved for you
+at the Brambletye Hotel, so we can all walk down to the village
+together."
+
+"Well, Watson, what do you think of it?" asked Holmes,
+as we travelled back next morning.
+
+"I can see that you are not satisfied."
+
+"Oh, yes, my dear Watson, I am perfectly satisfied.  At the same
+time Stanley Hopkins's methods do not commend themselves to me.
+I am disappointed in Stanley Hopkins.  I had hoped for better
+things from him.  One should always look for a possible
+alternative and provide against it.  It is the first rule of
+criminal investigation."
+
+"What, then, is the alternative?"
+
+"The line of investigation which I have myself been pursuing.
+It may give us nothing.  I cannot tell.  But at least I shall
+follow it to the end."
+
+Several letters were waiting for Holmes at Baker Street.
+He snatched one of them up, opened it, and burst out into
+a triumphant chuckle of laughter.
+
+"Excellent, Watson.  The alternative develops.  Have you
+telegraph forms?  Just write a couple of messages for me:
+`Sumner, Shipping Agent, Ratcliff Highway.  Send three men on,
+to arrive ten to-morrow morning. -- Basil.'  That's my name in
+those parts.  The other is:  `Inspector Stanley Hopkins, 46,
+Lord Street, Brixton.  Come breakfast to-morrow at nine-thirty.
+Important.  Wire if unable to come. -- Sherlock Holmes.'
+There, Watson, this infernal case has haunted me for ten days.
+I hereby banish it completely from my presence.  To-morrow
+I trust that we shall hear the last of it for ever."
+
+Sharp at the hour named Inspector Stanley Hopkins appeared,
+and we sat down together to the excellent breakfast which
+Mrs. Hudson had prepared.  The young detective was in high
+spirits at his success.
+
+"You really think that your solution must be correct?" asked Holmes.
+
+"I could not imagine a more complete case."
+
+"It did not seem to me conclusive."
+
+"You astonish me, Mr. Holmes.  What more could one ask for?"
+
+"Does your explanation cover every point?"
+
+"Undoubtedly.  I find that young Neligan arrived at the
+Brambletye Hotel on the very day of the crime.  He came on
+the pretence of playing golf.  His room was on the ground-floor,
+and he could get out when he liked.  That very night he went down
+to Woodman's Lee, saw Peter Carey at the hut, quarrelled with him,
+and killed him with the harpoon.  Then, horrified by what he had
+done, he fled out of the hut, dropping the note-book which he
+had brought with him in order to question Peter Carey about
+these different securities.  You may have observed that some of
+them were marked with ticks, and the others -- the great
+majority -- were not.  Those which are ticked have been traced
+on the London market; but the others presumably were still in
+the possession of Carey, and young Neligan, according to his own
+account, was anxious to recover them in order to do the right
+thing by his father's creditors.  After his flight he did not
+dare to approach the hut again for some time; but at last he
+forced himself to do so in order to obtain the information
+which he needed.  Surely that is all simple and obvious?"
+
+Holmes smiled and shook his head.
+
+"It seems to me to have only one drawback, Hopkins, and that
+is that it is intrinsically impossible.  Have you tried to drive
+a harpoon through a body?  No?  Tut, tut, my dear sir, you must
+really pay attention to these details.  My friend Watson could
+tell you that I spent a whole morning in that exercise.
+It is no easy matter, and requires a strong and practised arm.
+But this blow was delivered with such violence that the head of
+the weapon sank deep into the wall.  Do you imagine that this
+anaemic youth was capable of so frightful an assault?  Is he the
+man who hobnobbed in rum and water with Black Peter in the dead
+of the night?  Was it his profile that was seen on the blind two
+nights before?  No, no, Hopkins; it is another and a more
+formidable person for whom we must seek."
+
+The detective's face had grown longer and longer during Holmes's
+speech.  His hopes and his ambitions were all crumbling about him.
+But he would not abandon his position without a struggle.
+
+"You can't deny that Neligan was present that night, Mr. Holmes.
+The book will prove that.  I fancy that I have evidence enough
+to satisfy a jury, even if you are able to pick a hole in it.
+Besides, Mr. Holmes, I have laid my hand upon MY man.  As to
+this terrible person of yours, where is he?"
+
+"I rather fancy that he is on the stair," said Holmes, serenely.
+"I think, Watson, that you would do well to put that revolver
+where you can reach it."  He rose, and laid a written paper
+upon a side-table.  "Now we are ready," said he.
+
+There had been some talking in gruff voices outside, and now
+Mrs. Hudson opened the door to say that there were three men
+inquiring for Captain Basil.
+
+"Show them in one by one," said Holmes.
+
+The first who entered was a little ribston-pippin of a man,
+with ruddy cheeks and fluffy white side-whiskers.  Holmes had
+drawn a letter from his pocket.
+
+"What name?" he asked.
+
+"James Lancaster."
+
+"I am sorry, Lancaster, but the berth is full.  Here is half a
+sovereign for your trouble.  Just step into this room and wait
+there for a few minutes."
+
+The second man was a long, dried-up creature, with lank hair and
+sallow cheeks.  His name was Hugh Pattins.  He also received his
+dismissal, his half-sovereign, and the order to wait.
+
+The third applicant was a man of remarkable appearance.
+A fierce bull-dog face was framed in a tangle of hair and beard,
+and two bold dark eyes gleamed behind the cover of thick, tufted,
+overhung eyebrows.  He saluted and stood sailor-fashion, turning
+his cap round in his hands.
+
+"Your name?" asked Holmes.
+
+"Patrick Cairns."
+
+"Harpooner?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  Twenty-six voyages."
+
+"Dundee, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And ready to start with an exploring ship?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"What wages?"
+
+"Eight pounds a month."
+
+"Could you start at once?"
+
+"As soon as I get my kit."
+
+"Have you your papers?"
+
+"Yes, sir."  He took a sheaf of worn and greasy forms from
+his pocket.  Holmes glanced over them and returned them.
+
+"You are just the man I want," said he.  "Here's the agreement
+on the side-table.  If you sign it the whole matter will be settled."
+
+The seaman lurched across the room and took up the pen.
+
+"Shall I sign here?" he asked, stooping over the table.
+
+Holmes leaned over his shoulder and passed both hands over his neck.
+
+"This will do," said he.
+
+I heard a click of steel and a bellow like an enraged bull.
+The next instant Holmes and the seaman were rolling on the
+ground together.  He was a man of such gigantic strength that,
+even with the handcuffs which Holmes had so deftly fastened upon
+his wrists, he would have very quickly overpowered my friend had
+Hopkins and I not rushed to his rescue.  Only when I pressed the
+cold muzzle of the revolver to his temple did he at last
+understand that resistance was vain.  We lashed his ankles with
+cord and rose breathless from the struggle.
+
+"I must really apologize, Hopkins," said Sherlock Holmes;
+"I fear that the scrambled eggs are cold.  However, you will
+enjoy the rest of your breakfast all the better, will you not,
+for the thought that you have brought your case to a triumphant
+conclusion."
+
+Stanley Hopkins was speechless with amazement.
+
+"I don't know what to say, Mr. Holmes," he blurted out at last,
+with a very red face.  "It seems to me that I have been making
+a fool of myself from the beginning.  I understand now, what I
+should never have forgotten, that I am the pupil and you are the
+master.  Even now I see what you have done, but I don't know how
+you did it, or what it signifies."
+
+"Well, well," said Holmes, good-humouredly.  "We all learn by
+experience, and your lesson this time is that you should never
+lose sight of the alternative.  You were so absorbed in young
+Neligan that you could not spare a thought to Patrick Cairns,
+the true murderer of Peter Carey."
+
+The hoarse voice of the seaman broke in on our conversation.
+
+"See here, mister," said he, "I make no complaint of
+being man-handled in this fashion, but I would have you call
+things by their right names.  You say I murdered Peter Carey;
+I say I KILLED Peter Carey, and there's all the difference.
+Maybe you don't believe what I say.  Maybe you think I am just
+slinging you a yarn."
+
+"Not at all," said Holmes.  "Let us hear what you have to say."
+
+"It's soon told, and, by the Lord, every word of it is truth.
+I knew Black Peter, and when he pulled out his knife I whipped
+a harpoon through him sharp, for I knew that it was him or me.
+That's how he died.  You can call it murder.  Anyhow, I'd as
+soon die with a rope round my neck as with Black Peter's knife
+in my heart."
+
+"How came you there?" asked Holmes.
+
+"I'll tell it you from the beginning.  Just sit me up a little
+so as I can speak easy.  It was in '83 that it happened --
+August of that year.  Peter Carey was master of the SEA UNICORN,
+and I was spare harpooner.  We were coming out of the ice-pack
+on our way home, with head winds and a week's southerly gale,
+when we picked up a little craft that had been blown north.
+There was one man on her -- a landsman.  The crew had thought
+she would founder, and had made for the Norwegian coast in the
+dinghy.  I guess they were all drowned.  Well, we took him on
+board, this man, and he and the skipper had some long talks in
+the cabin.  All the baggage we took off with him was one tin box.
+So far as I know, the man's name was never mentioned, and on the
+second night he disappeared as if he had never been.  It was
+given out that he had either thrown himself overboard or fallen
+overboard in the heavy weather that we were having.  Only one
+man knew what had happened to him, and that was me, for with my
+own eyes I saw the skipper tip up his heels and put him over the
+rail in the middle watch of a dark night, two days before we
+sighted the Shetland lights.
+
+"Well, I kept my knowledge to
+myself and waited to see what would come of it.  When we got
+back to Scotland it was easily hushed up, and nobody asked any
+questions.  A stranger died by an accident, and it was nobody's
+business to inquire.  Shortly after Peter Carey gave up the sea,
+and it was long years before I could find where he was.
+I guessed that he had done the deed for the sake of what was in
+that tin box, and that he could afford now to pay me well for
+keeping my mouth shut.
+
+"I found out where he was through a sailor man that had met him
+in London, and down I went to squeeze him.  The first night he
+was reasonable enough, and was ready to give me what would make
+me free of the sea for life.  We were to fix it all two nights
+later.  When I came I found him three parts drunk and in a vile
+temper.  We sat down and we drank and we yarned about old times,
+but the more he drank the less I liked the look on his face.
+I spotted that harpoon upon the wall, and I thought I might
+need it before I was through.  Then at last he broke out at me,
+spitting and cursing, with murder in his eyes and a great
+clasp-knife in his hand.  He had not time to get it from the
+sheath before I had the harpoon through him.  Heavens! what
+a yell he gave; and his face gets between me and my sleep!
+I stood there, with his blood splashing round me, and I waited
+for a bit; but all was quiet, so I took heart once more.
+I looked round, and there was the tin box on a shelf.  I had as
+much right to it as Peter Carey, anyhow, so I took it with me and
+left the hut.  Like a fool I left my baccy-pouch upon the table.
+
+"Now I'll tell you the queerest part of the whole story.
+I had hardly got outside the hut when I heard someone coming,
+and I hid among the bushes.  A man came slinking along,
+went into the hut, gave a cry as if he had seen a ghost,
+and legged it as hard as he could run until he was out of sight.
+Who he was or what he wanted is more than I can tell.
+For my part I walked ten miles, got a train at Tunbridge Wells,
+and so reached London, and no one the wiser.
+
+"Well, when I came to examine the box I found there was no money
+in it, and nothing but papers that I would not dare to sell.
+I had lost my hold on Black Peter, and was stranded in London
+without a shilling.  There was only my trade left.  I saw these
+advertisements about harpooners and high wages, so I went to
+the shipping agents, and they sent me here.  That's all I know,
+and I say again that if I killed Black Peter the law should give
+me thanks, for I saved them the price of a hempen rope."
+
+"A very clear statement," said Holmes, rising and lighting
+his pipe.  "I think, Hopkins, that you should lose no time
+in conveying your prisoner to a place of safety.  This room
+is not well adapted for a cell, and Mr. Patrick Cairns occupies
+too large a proportion of our carpet."
+
+"Mr. Holmes," said Hopkins, "I do not know how to express
+my gratitude.  Even now I do not understand how you attained
+this result."
+
+"Simply by having the good fortune to get the right clue from
+the beginning.  It is very possible if I had known about this
+note-book it might have led away my thoughts, as it did yours.
+But all I heard pointed in the one direction.  The amazing
+strength, the skill in the use of the harpoon, the rum and
+water, the seal-skin tobacco-pouch, with the coarse tobacco --
+all these pointed to a seaman, and one who had been a whaler.
+I was convinced that the initials `P.C.' upon the pouch were
+a coincidence, and not those of Peter Carey, since he seldom
+smoked, and no pipe was found in his cabin.  You remember that
+I asked whether whisky and brandy were in the cabin.  You said
+they were.  How many landsmen are there who would drink rum when
+they could get these other spirits?  Yes, I was certain it was
+a seaman."
+
+"And how did you find him?"
+
+"My dear sir, the problem had become a very simple one.  If it
+were a seaman, it could only be a seaman who had been with him
+on the SEA UNICORN.  So far as I could learn he had sailed in no
+other ship.  I spent three days in wiring to Dundee, and at the
+end of that time I had ascertained the names of the crew of the
+SEA UNICORN in 1883.  When I found Patrick Cairns among the
+harpooners my research was nearing its end.  I argued that the
+man was probably in London, and that he would desire to leave
+the country for a time.  I therefore spent some days in the
+East-end, devised an Arctic expedition, put forth tempting terms
+for harpooners who would serve under Captain Basil -- and behold
+the result!"
+
+"Wonderful!" cried Hopkins.  "Wonderful!"
+
+"You must obtain the release of young Neligan as soon as possible,"
+said Holmes.  "I confess that I think you owe him some apology.
+The tin box must be returned to him, but, of course, the securities
+which Peter Carey has sold are lost for ever.  There's the cab,
+Hopkins, and you can remove your man.  If you want me for the trial,
+my address and that of Watson will be somewhere in Norway --
+I'll send particulars later."
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 27  APRIL, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+VII. --- The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.
+
+
+IT is years since the incidents of which I speak took place,
+and yet it is with diffidence that I allude to them.  For a long
+time, even with the utmost discretion and reticence, it would
+have been impossible to make the facts public; but now the
+principal person concerned is beyond the reach of human law,
+and with due suppression the story may be told in such fashion
+as to injure no one.  It records an absolutely unique experience
+in the career both of Mr. Sherlock Holmes and of myself.  The
+reader will excuse me if I conceal the date or any other fact
+by which he might trace the actual occurrence.
+
+We had been out for one of our evening rambles, Holmes and I,
+and had returned about six o'clock on a cold, frosty winter's
+evening.  As Holmes turned up the lamp the light fell upon
+a card on the table.  He glanced at it, and then, with an
+ejaculation of disgust, threw it on the floor.
+I picked it up and read:--
+
+             CHARLES AUGUSTUS MILVERTON,
+                  APPLEDORE TOWERS,
+            AGENT.              HAMPSTEAD.
+
+"Who is he?" I asked.
+
+"The worst man in London," Holmes answered, as he sat down and
+stretched his legs before the fire.  "Is anything on the back
+of the card?"
+
+I turned it over.
+
+"Will call at 6.30 -- C.A.M.," I read.
+
+"Hum!  He's about due.  Do you feel a creeping, shrinking
+sensation, Watson, when you stand before the serpents in the
+Zoo and see the slithery, gliding, venomous creatures, with
+their deadly eyes and wicked, flattened faces?  Well, that's how
+Milverton impresses me.  I've had to do with fifty murderers in
+my career, but the worst of them never gave me the repulsion
+which I have for this fellow.  And yet I can't get out of doing
+business with him -- indeed, he is here at my invitation."
+
+"But who is he?"
+
+"I'll tell you, Watson.  He is the king of all the blackmailers.
+Heaven help the man, and still more the woman, whose secret and
+reputation come into the power of Milverton.  With a smiling
+face and a heart of marble he will squeeze and squeeze until he
+has drained them dry.  The fellow is a genius in his way, and
+would have made his mark in some more savoury trade.  His method
+is as follows:  He allows it to be known that he is prepared to
+pay very high sums for letters which compromise people of wealth
+or position.  He receives these wares not only from treacherous
+valets or maids, but frequently from genteel ruffians who have
+gained the confidence and affection of trusting women.
+He deals with no niggard hand.  I happen to know that he paid
+seven hundred pounds to a footman for a note two lines in length,
+and that the ruin of a noble family was the result.  Everything
+which is in the market goes to Milverton, and there are hundreds
+in this great city who turn white at his name.  No one knows
+where his grip may fall, for he is far too rich and far too
+cunning to work from hand to mouth.  He will hold a card back
+for years in order to play it at the moment when the stake is
+best worth winning.  I have said that he is the worst man in
+London, and I would ask you how could one compare the ruffian
+who in hot blood bludgeons his mate with this man, who
+methodically and at his leisure tortures the soul and wrings
+the nerves in order to add to his already swollen money-bags?"
+
+I had seldom heard my friend speak with such intensity of feeling.
+
+"But surely," said I, "the fellow must be within the grasp
+of the law?"
+
+"Technically, no doubt, but practically not.  What would it
+profit a woman, for example, to get him a few months'
+imprisonment if her own ruin must immediately follow?  His
+victims dare not hit back.  If ever he blackmailed an innocent
+person, then, indeed, we should have him; but he is as cunning
+as the Evil One.  No, no; we must find other ways to fight him."
+
+"And why is he here?"
+
+"Because an illustrious client has placed her piteous case
+in my hands.  It is the Lady Eva Brackwell, the most beautiful
+DEBUTANTE of last season.  She is to be married in a fortnight
+to the Earl of Dovercourt.  This fiend has several imprudent
+letters -- imprudent, Watson, nothing worse -- which were
+written to an impecunious young squire in the country.
+They would suffice to break off the match.  Milverton will send
+the letters to the Earl unless a large sum of money is paid him.
+I have been commissioned to meet him, and -- to make the best
+terms I can."
+
+At that instant there was a clatter and a rattle in the street
+below.  Looking down I saw a stately carriage and pair, the
+brilliant lamps gleaming on the glossy haunches of the noble
+chestnuts.  A footman opened the door, and a small, stout man
+in a shaggy astrachan overcoat descended.  A minute later he
+was in the room.
+
+Charles Augustus Milverton was a man of fifty, with a large,
+intellectual head, a round, plump, hairless face, a perpetual
+frozen smile, and two keen grey eyes, which gleamed brightly
+from behind broad, golden-rimmed glasses.  There was something
+of Mr. Pickwick's benevolence in his appearance, marred only by
+the insincerity of the fixed smile and by the hard glitter of
+those restless and penetrating eyes.  His voice was as smooth
+and suave as his countenance, as he advanced with a plump little
+hand extended, murmuring his regret for having missed us at his
+first visit.  Holmes disregarded the outstretched hand and
+looked at him with a face of granite.  Milverton's smile
+broadened; he shrugged his shoulders, removed his overcoat,
+folded it with great deliberation over the back of a chair,
+and then took a seat.
+
+"This gentleman?" said he, with a wave in my direction.
+"Is it discreet?  Is it right?"
+
+"Dr. Watson is my friend and partner."
+
+"Very good, Mr. Holmes.  It is only in your client's interests
+that I protested.  The matter is so very delicate ----"
+
+"Dr. Watson has already heard of it."
+
+"Then we can proceed to business.  You say that you are acting
+for Lady Eva.  Has she empowered you to accept my terms?"
+
+"What are your terms?"
+
+"Seven thousand pounds."
+
+"And the alternative?"
+
+"My dear sir, it is painful for me to discuss it; but if the
+money is not paid on the 14th there certainly will be no
+marriage on the 18th."  His insufferable smile was more
+complacent than ever.
+
+Holmes thought for a little.
+
+"You appear to me," he said, at last, "to be taking matters too
+much for granted.  I am, of course, familiar with the contents
+of these letters.  My client will certainly do what I may
+advise.  I shall counsel her to tell her future husband the
+whole story and to trust to his generosity."
+
+Milverton chuckled.
+
+"You evidently do not know the Earl," said he.
+
+From the baffled look upon Holmes's face I could see clearly
+that he did.
+
+"What harm is there in the letters?" he asked.
+
+"They are sprightly -- very sprightly," Milverton answered.
+"The lady was a charming correspondent.  But I can assure you
+that the Earl of Dovercourt would fail to appreciate them.
+However, since you think otherwise, we will let it rest at that.
+It is purely a matter of business.  If you think that it is in
+the best interests of your client that these letters should
+be placed in the hands of the Earl, then you would indeed be
+foolish to pay so large a sum of money to regain them."
+He rose and seized his astrachan coat.
+
+Holmes was grey with anger and mortification.
+
+"Wait a little," he said.  "You go too fast.  We would certainly
+make every effort to avoid scandal in so delicate a matter."
+
+Milverton relapsed into his chair.
+
+"I was sure that you would see it in that light," he purred.
+
+"At the same time," Holmes continued, "Lady Eva is not a wealthy
+woman.  I assure you that two thousand pounds would be a drain
+upon her resources, and that the sum you name is utterly beyond
+her power.  I beg, therefore, that you will moderate your
+demands, and that you will return the letters at the price I
+indicate, which is, I assure you, the highest that you can get."
+
+Milverton's smile broadened and his eyes twinkled humorously.
+
+"I am aware that what you say is true about the lady's
+resources," said he.  "At the same time, you must admit that
+the occasion of a lady's marriage is a very suitable time for
+her friends and relatives to make some little effort upon her
+behalf.  They may hesitate as to an acceptable wedding present.
+Let me assure them that this little bundle of letters would give
+more joy than all the candelabra and butter-dishes in London."
+
+"It is impossible," said Holmes.
+
+"Dear me, dear me, how unfortunate!" cried Milverton, taking out
+a bulky pocket-book.  "I cannot help thinking that ladies are
+ill-advised in not making an effort.  Look at this!"  He held up
+a little note with a coat-of-arms upon the envelope.  "That
+belongs to -- well, perhaps it is hardly fair to tell the name
+until to-morrow morning.  But at that time it will be in the
+hands of the lady's husband.  And all because she will not find
+a beggarly sum which she could get by turning her diamonds into
+paste.  It IS such a pity.  Now, you remember the sudden end of
+the engagement between the Honourable Miss Miles and Colonel
+Dorking?  Only two days before the wedding there was a
+paragraph in the MORNING POST to say that it was all off.
+And why?  It is almost incredible, but the absurd sum of twelve
+hundred pounds would have settled the whole question.
+Is it not pitiful?  And here I find you, a man of sense,
+boggling about terms when your client's future and honour are
+at stake.  You surprise me, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"What I say is true," Holmes answered.  "The money cannot be
+found.  Surely it is better for you to take the substantial sum
+which I offer than to ruin this woman's career, which can profit
+you in no way?"
+
+"There you make a mistake, Mr. Holmes.  An exposure would profit
+me indirectly to a considerable extent.  I have eight or ten
+similar cases maturing.  If it was circulated among them that
+I had made a severe example of the Lady Eva I should find all of
+them much more open to reason.  You see my point?"
+
+Holmes sprang from his chair.
+
+"Get behind him, Watson!  Don't let him out!  Now, sir, let us
+see the contents of that note-book."
+
+Milverton had glided as quick as a rat to the side of the room,
+and stood with his back against the wall.
+
+"Mr. Holmes, Mr. Holmes," he said, turning the front of his coat
+and exhibiting the butt of a large revolver, which projected
+from the inside pocket.  "I have been expecting you to do
+something original.  This has been done so often, and what good
+has ever come from it?  I assure you that I am armed to the
+teeth, and I am perfectly prepared to use my weapons, knowing
+that the law will support me.  Besides, your supposition that
+I would bring the letters here in a note-book is entirely
+mistaken.  I would do nothing so foolish.  And now, gentlemen,
+I have one or two little interviews this evening, and it is a
+long drive to Hampstead."  He stepped forward, took up his coat,
+laid his hand on his revolver, and turned to the door.  I picked
+up a chair, but Holmes shook his head and I laid it down again.
+With bow, a smile, and a twinkle Milverton was out of the room,
+and a few moments after we heard the slam of the carriage door
+and the rattle of the wheels as he drove away.
+
+Holmes sat motionless by the fire, his hands buried deep in his
+trouser pockets, his chin sunk upon his breast, his eyes fixed
+upon the glowing embers.  For half an hour he was silent and
+still.  Then, with the gesture of a man who has taken his
+decision, he sprang to his feet and passed into his bedroom.
+A little later a rakish young workman with a goatee beard and a
+swagger lit his clay pipe at the lamp before descending into the
+street.  "I'll be back some time, Watson," said he, and vanished
+into the night.  I understood that he had opened his campaign
+against Charles Augustus Milverton; but I little dreamed the
+strange shape which that campaign was destined to take.
+
+For some days Holmes came and went at all hours in this attire,
+but beyond a remark that his time was spent at Hampstead,
+and that it was not wasted, I knew nothing of what he was doing.
+At last, however, on a wild, tempestuous evening, when the wind
+screamed and rattled against the windows, he returned from his
+last expedition, and having removed his disguise he sat before
+the fire and laughed heartily in his silent inward fashion.
+
+"You would not call me a marrying man, Watson?"
+
+"No, indeed!"
+
+"You'll be interested to hear that I am engaged."
+
+"My dear fellow!  I congrat ----"
+
+"To Milverton's housemaid."
+
+"Good heavens, Holmes!"
+
+"I wanted information, Watson."
+
+"Surely you have gone too far?"
+
+"It was a most necessary step.  I am a plumber with a rising
+business, Escott by name.  I have walked out with her each
+evening, and I have talked with her.  Good heavens, those talks!
+However, I have got all I wanted.  I know Milverton's house as
+I know the palm of my hand."
+
+"But the girl, Holmes?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"You can't help it, my dear Watson.  You must play your cards
+as best you can when such a stake is on the table.  However,
+I rejoice to say that I have a hated rival who will certainly
+cut me out the instant that my back is turned.  What a splendid
+night it is!"
+
+"You like this weather?"
+
+"It suits my purpose.  Watson, I mean to burgle Milverton's
+house to-night."
+
+I had a catching of the breath, and my skin went cold at the
+words, which were slowly uttered in a tone of concentrated
+resolution.  As a flash of lightning in the night shows up in
+an instant every detail of a wide landscape, so at one glance
+I seemed to see every possible result of such an action -- the
+detection, the capture, the honoured career ending in
+irreparable failure and disgrace, my friend himself lying at
+the mercy of the odious Milverton.
+
+"For Heaven's sake, Holmes, think what you are doing," I cried.
+
+"My dear fellow, I have given it every consideration.  I am
+never precipitate in my actions, nor would I adopt so energetic
+and indeed so dangerous a course if any other were possible.
+Let us look at the matter clearly and fairly.  I suppose that
+you will admit that the action is morally justifiable, though
+technically criminal.  To burgle his house is no more than to
+forcibly take his pocket-book -- an action in which you were
+prepared to aid me."
+
+I turned it over in my mind.
+
+"Yes," I said; "it is morally justifiable so long as our object
+is to take no articles save those which are used for an illegal
+purpose."
+
+"Exactly.  Since it is morally justifiable I have only to
+consider the question of personal risk.  Surely a gentleman
+should not lay much stress upon this when a lady is in most
+desperate need of his help?"
+
+"You will be in such a false position."
+
+"Well, that is part of the risk.  There is no other possible way
+of regaining these letters.  The unfortunate lady has not the
+money, and there are none of her people in whom she could
+confide.  To-morrow is the last day of grace, and unless we can
+get the letters to-night this villain will be as good as his
+word and will bring about her ruin.  I must, therefore, abandon
+my client to her fate or I must play this last card.  Between
+ourselves, Watson, it's a sporting duel between this fellow
+Milverton and me.  He had, as you saw, the best of the first
+exchanges; but my self-respect and my reputation are concerned
+to fight it to a finish."
+
+"Well, I don't like it; but I suppose it must be," said I.
+"When do we start?"
+
+"You are not coming."
+
+"Then you are not going," said I.  "I give you my word of honour
+-- and I never broke it in my life -- that I will take a cab
+straight to the police-station and give you away unless you let
+me share this adventure with you."
+
+"You can't help me."
+
+"How do you know that?  You can't tell what may happen.
+Anyway, my resolution is taken.  Other people beside you
+have self-respect and even reputations."
+
+Holmes had looked annoyed, but his brow cleared, and he clapped
+me on the shoulder.
+
+"Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so.  We have shared the
+same room for some years, and it would be amusing if we ended
+by sharing the same cell.  You know, Watson, I don't mind
+confessing to you that I have always had an idea that I would
+have made a highly efficient criminal.  This is the chance of my
+lifetime in that direction.  See here!"  He took a neat little
+leather case out of a drawer, and opening it he exhibited
+a number of shining instruments.  "This is a first-class,
+up-to-date burgling kit, with nickel-plated jemmy, diamond-tipped
+glass-cutter, adaptable keys, and every modern improvement which
+the march of civilization demands.  Here, too, is my dark lantern.
+Everything is in order.  Have you a pair of silent shoes?"
+
+"I have rubber-soled tennis shoes."
+
+"Excellent.  And a mask?"
+
+"I can make a couple out of black silk."
+
+"I can see that you have a strong natural turn for this sort
+of thing.  Very good; do you make the masks.  We shall have some
+cold supper before we start.  It is now nine-thirty.  At eleven
+we shall drive as far as Church Row.  It is a quarter of an
+hour's walk from there to Appledore Towers.  We shall be at work
+before midnight.  Milverton is a heavy sleeper and retires
+punctually at ten-thirty.  With any luck we should be back here
+by two, with the Lady Eva's letters in my pocket."
+
+Holmes and I put on our dress-clothes, so that we might
+appear to be two theatre-goers homeward bound.  In Oxford Street
+we picked up a hansom and drove to an address in Hampstead.
+Here we paid off our cab, and with our great-coats buttoned up,
+for it was bitterly cold and the wind seemed to blow through us,
+we walked along the edge of the Heath.
+
+"It's a business that needs delicate treatment," said Holmes.
+"These documents are contained in a safe in the fellow's study,
+and the study is the ante-room of his bed-chamber.  On the other
+hand, like all these stout, little men who do themselves well,
+he is a plethoric sleeper.  Agatha -- that's my FIANCEE -- says
+it is a joke in the servants' hall that it's impossible to wake
+the master.  He has a secretary who is devoted to his interests
+and never budges from the study all day.  That's why we are
+going at night.  Then he has a beast of a dog which roams the
+garden.  I met Agatha late the last two evenings, and she locks
+the brute up so as to give me a clear run.  This is the house,
+this big one in its own grounds.  Through the gate -- now to
+the right among the laurels.  We might put on our masks here,
+I think.  You see, there is not a glimmer of light in any of
+the windows, and everything is working splendidly."
+
+With our black silk face-coverings, which turned us into two of
+the most truculent figures in London, we stole up to the silent,
+gloomy house.  A sort of tiled veranda extended along one side
+of it, lined by several windows and two doors.
+
+"That's his bedroom," Holmes whispered.  "This door opens
+straight into the study.  It would suit us best, but it is
+bolted as well as locked, and we should make too much noise
+getting in.  Come round here.  There's a greenhouse which
+opens into the drawing-room."
+
+The place was locked, but Holmes removed a circle of glass and
+turned the key from the inside.  An instant afterwards he had
+closed the door behind us, and we had become felons in the eyes
+of the law.  The thick, warm air of the conservatory and the
+rich, choking fragrance of exotic plants took us by the throat.
+He seized my hand in the darkness and led me swiftly past banks
+of shrubs which brushed against our faces.  Holmes had
+remarkable powers, carefully cultivated, of seeing in the dark.
+Still holding my hand in one of his he opened a door, and I was
+vaguely conscious that we had entered a large room in which a
+cigar had been smoked not long before.  He felt his way among
+the furniture, opened another door, and closed it behind us.
+Putting out my hand I felt several coats hanging from the wall,
+and I understood that I was in a passage.  We passed along it,
+and Holmes very gently opened a door upon the right-hand side.
+Something rushed out at us and my heart sprang into my mouth,
+but I could have laughed when I realized that it was the cat.
+A fire was burning in this new room, and again the air was heavy
+with tobacco smoke.  Holmes entered on tiptoe, waited for me
+to follow, and then very gently closed the door.  We were in
+Milverton's study, and a PORTIERE at the farther side showed
+the entrance to his bedroom.
+
+It was a good fire, and the room was illuminated by it.
+Near the door I saw the gleam of an electric switch, but it
+was unnecessary, even if it had been safe, to turn it on.
+At one side of the fireplace was a heavy curtain, which covered
+the bay window we had seen from outside.  On the other side was
+the door which communicated with the veranda.  A desk stood in the
+centre, with a turning chair of shining red leather.  Opposite
+was a large bookcase, with a marble bust of Athene on the top.
+In the corner between the bookcase and the wall there stood a
+tall green safe, the firelight flashing back from the polished
+brass knobs upon its face.  Holmes stole across and looked at
+it.  Then he crept to the door of the bedroom, and stood with
+slanting head listening intently.  No sound came from within.
+Meanwhile it had struck me that it would be wise to secure our
+retreat through the outer door, so I examined it.  To my
+amazement it was neither locked nor bolted!  I touched Holmes
+on the arm, and he turned his masked face in that direction.
+I saw him start, and he was evidently as surprised as I.
+
+"I don't like it," he whispered, putting his lips to my very ear.
+"I can't quite make it out.  Anyhow, we have no time to lose."
+
+"Can I do anything?"
+
+"Yes; stand by the door.  If you hear anyone come, bolt it
+on the inside, and we can get away as we came.  If they come
+the other way, we can get through the door if our job is done,
+or hide behind these window curtains if it is not.  Do you
+understand?"
+
+I nodded and stood by the door.  My first feeling of fear had
+passed away, and I thrilled now with a keener zest than I had
+ever enjoyed when we were the defenders of the law instead of
+its defiers.  The high object of our mission, the consciousness
+that it was unselfish and chivalrous, the villainous character
+of our opponent, all added to the sporting interest of the
+adventure.  Far from feeling guilty, I rejoiced and exulted
+in our dangers.  With a glow of admiration I watched Holmes
+unrolling his case of instruments and choosing his tool with the
+calm, scientific accuracy of a surgeon who performs a delicate
+operation.  I knew that the opening of safes was a particular
+hobby with him, and I understood the joy which it gave him to be
+confronted with this green and gold monster, the dragon which
+held in its maw the reputations of many fair ladies.  Turning up
+the cuffs of his dress-coat -- he had placed his overcoat on a
+chair -- Holmes laid out two drills, a jemmy, and several
+skeleton keys.  I stood at the centre door with my eyes glancing
+at each of the others, ready for any emergency; though, indeed,
+my plans were somewhat vague as to what I should do if we were
+interrupted.  For half an hour Holmes worked with concentrated
+energy, laying down one tool, picking up another, handling each
+with the strength and delicacy of the trained mechanic.  Finally
+I heard a click, the broad green door swung open, and inside
+I had a glimpse of a number of paper packets, each tied, sealed,
+and inscribed.  Holmes picked one out, but it was hard to read
+by the flickering fire, and he drew out his little dark lantern,
+for it was too dangerous, with Milverton in the next room, to
+switch on the electric light.  Suddenly I saw him halt, listen
+intently, and then in an instant he had swung the door of the
+safe to, picked up his coat, stuffed his tools into the pockets,
+and darted behind the window curtain, motioning me to do the same.
+
+It was only when I had joined him there that I heard what had
+alarmed his quicker senses.  There was a noise somewhere within
+the house.  A door slammed in the distance.  Then a confused,
+dull murmur broke itself into the measured thud of heavy
+footsteps rapidly approaching.  They were in the passage outside
+the room.  They paused at the door.  The door opened.  There was
+a sharp snick as the electric light was turned on.  The door
+closed once more, and the pungent reek of a strong cigar was
+borne to our nostrils.  Then the footsteps continued backwards
+and forwards, backwards and forwards, within a few yards of us.
+Finally, there was a creak from a chair, and the footsteps ceased.
+Then a key clicked in a lock and I heard the rustle of papers.
+
+So far I had not dared to look out, but now I gently parted the
+division of the curtains in front of me and peeped through.
+From the pressure of Holmes's shoulder against mine I knew
+that he was sharing my observations.  Right in front of us,
+and almost within our reach, was the broad, rounded back of
+Milverton.  It was evident that we had entirely miscalculated
+his movements, that he had never been to his bedroom, but that
+he had been sitting up in some smoking or billiard room in the
+farther wing of the house, the windows of which we had not seen.
+His broad, grizzled head, with its shining patch of baldness,
+was in the immediate foreground of our vision.  He was leaning
+far back in the red leather chair, his legs outstretched, a long
+black cigar projecting at an angle from his mouth.  He wore a
+semi-military smoking jacket, claret-coloured, with a black
+velvet collar.  In his hand he held a long legal document, which
+he was reading in an indolent fashion, blowing rings of tobacco
+smoke from his lips as he did so.  There was no promise of a
+speedy departure in his composed bearing and his comfortable
+attitude.
+
+I felt Holmes's hand steal into mine and give me a reassuring
+shake, as if to say that the situation was within his powers and
+that he was easy in his mind.  I was not sure whether he had
+seen what was only too obvious from my position, that the door
+of the safe was imperfectly closed, and that Milverton might at
+any moment observe it.  In my own mind I had determined that if
+I were sure, from the rigidity of his gaze, that it had caught
+his eye, I would at once spring out, throw my great-coat
+over his head, pinion him, and leave the rest to Holmes.
+But Milverton never looked up.  He was languidly interested
+by the papers in his hand, and page after page was turned as he
+followed the argument of the lawyer.  At least, I thought, when
+he has finished the document and the cigar he will go to his
+room; but before he had reached the end of either there came
+a remarkable development which turned our thoughts into quite
+another channel.
+
+Several times I had observed that Milverton looked at his
+watch, and once he had risen and sat down again, with a gesture
+of impatience.  The idea, however, that he might have an
+appointment at so strange an hour never occurred to me until
+a faint sound reached my ears from the veranda outside.
+Milverton dropped his papers and sat rigid in his chair.
+The sound was repeated, and then there came a gentle tap
+at the door.  Milverton rose and opened it.
+
+"Well," said he, curtly, "you are nearly half an hour late."
+
+So this was the explanation of the unlocked door and of the
+nocturnal vigil of Milverton.  There was the gentle rustle of
+a woman's dress.  I had closed the slit between the curtains as
+Milverton's face had turned in our direction, but now I ventured
+very carefully to open it once more.  He had resumed his seat,
+the cigar still projecting at an insolent angle from the corner
+of his mouth.  In front of him, in the full glare of the
+electric light, there stood a tall, slim, dark woman, a veil
+over her face, a mantle drawn round her chin.  Her breath came
+quick and fast, and every inch of the lithe figure was quivering
+with strong emotion.
+
+"Well," said Milverton, "you've made me lose a good night's rest,
+my dear.  I hope you'll prove worth it.  You couldn't come any
+other time -- eh?"
+
+The woman shook her head.
+
+"Well, if you couldn't you couldn't.  If the Countess is a
+hard mistress you have your chance to get level with her now.
+Bless the girl, what are you shivering about?  That's right!
+Pull yourself together!  Now, let us get down to business."
+He took a note from the drawer of his desk.  "You say that
+you have five letters which compromise the Countess d'Albert.
+You want to sell them.  I want to buy them.  So far so good.
+It only remains to fix a price.  I should want to inspect the
+letters, of course.  If they are really good specimens ---
+Great heavens, is it you?"
+
+The woman without a word had raised her veil and dropped the
+mantle from her chin.  It was a dark, handsome, clear-cut face
+which confronted Milverton, a face with a curved nose, strong,
+dark eyebrows shading hard, glittering eyes, and a straight,
+thin-lipped mouth set in a dangerous smile.
+
+"It is I," she said; "the woman whose life you have ruined."
+
+Milverton laughed, but fear vibrated in his voice.  "You were
+so very obstinate," said he.  "Why did you drive me to such
+extremities?  I assure you I wouldn't hurt a fly of my own
+accord, but every man has his business, and what was I to do?
+I put the price well within your means.  You would not pay."
+
+"So you sent the letters to my husband, and he -- the noblest
+gentleman that ever lived, a man whose boots I was never worthy
+to lace -- he broke his gallant heart and died.  You remember
+that last night when I came through that door I begged and
+prayed you for mercy, and you laughed in my face as you are
+trying to laugh now, only your coward heart cannot keep your
+lips from twitching?  Yes, you never thought to see me here
+again, but it was that night which taught me how I could meet
+you face to face, and alone.  Well, Charles Milverton, what have
+you to say?"
+
+"Don't imagine that you can bully me," said he, rising to
+his feet.  "I have only to raise my voice, and I could call
+my servants and have you arrested.  But I will make allowance
+for your natural anger.  Leave the room at once as you came,
+and I will say no more."
+
+The woman stood with her hand buried in her bosom, and the same
+deadly smile on her thin lips.
+
+"You will ruin no more lives as you ruined mine.  You will wring
+no more hearts as you wrung mine.  I will free the world of a
+poisonous thing.  Take that, you hound, and that! -- and that!
+-- and that!"
+
+She had drawn a little, gleaming revolver, and emptied barrel
+after barrel into Milverton's body, the muzzle within two feet
+of his shirt front.  He shrank away and then fell forward upon
+the table, coughing furiously and clawing among the papers.
+Then he staggered to his feet, received another shot, and rolled
+upon the floor.  "You've done me," he cried, and lay still.
+The woman looked at him intently and ground her heel into his
+upturned face.  She looked again, but there was no sound or
+movement.  I heard a sharp rustle, the night air blew into the
+heated room, and the avenger was gone.
+
+No interference upon our part could have saved the man from
+his fate; but as the woman poured bullet after bullet into
+Milverton's shrinking body I was about to spring out, when I
+felt Holmes's cold, strong grasp upon my wrist.  I understood
+the whole argument of that firm, restraining grip -- that it was
+no affair of ours; that justice had overtaken a villain; that we
+had our own duties and our own objects which were not to be lost
+sight of.  But hardly had the woman rushed from the room when
+Holmes, with swift, silent steps, was over at the other door.
+He turned the key in the lock.  At the same instant we heard
+voices in the house and the sound of hurrying feet.  The
+revolver shots had roused the household.  With perfect coolness
+Holmes slipped across to the safe, filled his two arms with
+bundles of letters, and poured them all into the fire.  Again
+and again he did it, until the safe was empty.  Someone turned
+the handle and beat upon the outside of the door.  Holmes looked
+swiftly round.  The letter which had been the messenger of death
+for Milverton lay, all mottled with his blood, upon the table.
+Holmes tossed it in among the blazing papers.  Then he drew the
+key from the outer door, passed through after me, and locked it
+on the outside.  "This way, Watson," said he; "we can scale the
+garden wall in this direction."
+
+I could not have believed that an alarm could have spread so
+swiftly.  Looking back, the huge house was one blaze of light.
+The front door was open, and figures were rushing down the
+drive.  The whole garden was alive with people, and one fellow
+raised a view-halloa as we emerged from the veranda and followed
+hard at our heels.  Holmes seemed to know the ground perfectly,
+and he threaded his way swiftly among a plantation of small
+trees, I close at his heels, and our foremost pursuer panting
+behind us.  It was a six-foot wall which barred our path, but he
+sprang to the top and over.  As I did the same I felt the hand
+of the man behind me grab at my ankle; but I kicked myself free
+and scrambled over a glass-strewn coping.  I fell upon my face
+among some bushes; but Holmes had me on my feet in an instant,
+and together we dashed away across the huge expanse of Hampstead
+Heath.  We had run two miles, I suppose, before Holmes at last
+halted and listened intently.  All was absolute silence behind us.
+We had shaken off our pursuers and were safe.
+
+
+We had breakfasted and were smoking our morning pipe on the
+day after the remarkable experience which I have recorded when
+Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, very solemn and impressive,
+was ushered into our modest sitting-room.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Holmes," said he; "good morning.
+May I ask if you are very busy just now?"
+
+"Not too busy to listen to you."
+
+"I thought that, perhaps, if you had nothing particular on hand,
+you might care to assist us in a most remarkable case which
+occurred only last night at Hampstead."
+
+"Dear me!" said Holmes.  "What was that?"
+
+"A murder -- a most dramatic and remarkable murder.  I know how
+keen you are upon these things, and I would take it as a great
+favour if you would step down to Appledore Towers and give us
+the benefit of your advice.  It is no ordinary crime.  We have
+had our eyes upon this Mr. Milverton for some time, and, between
+ourselves, he was a bit of a villain.  He is known to have held
+papers which he used for blackmailing purposes.  These papers
+have all been burned by the murderers.  No article of value was
+taken, as it is probable that the criminals were men of good
+position, whose sole object was to prevent social exposure."
+
+"Criminals!" said Holmes.  "Plural!"
+
+"Yes, there were two of them.  They were, as nearly as possible,
+captured red-handed.  We have their foot-marks, we have their
+description; it's ten to one that we trace them.  The first
+fellow was a bit too active, but the second was caught by the
+under-gardener and only got away after a struggle.  He was a
+middle-sized, strongly-built man -- square jaw, thick neck,
+moustache, a mask over his eyes."
+
+"That's rather vague," said Sherlock Holmes.
+"Why, it might be a description of Watson!"
+
+"It's true," said the inspector, with much amusement.
+"It might be a description of Watson."
+
+"Well, I am afraid I can't help you, Lestrade," said Holmes.
+"The fact is that I knew this fellow Milverton, that I
+considered him one of the most dangerous men in London, and that
+I think there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch,
+and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge.
+No, it's no use arguing.  I have made up my mind.  My sympathies
+are with the criminals rather than with the victim, and I will
+not handle this case."
+
+
+Holmes had not said one word to me about the tragedy which we
+had witnessed, but I observed all the morning that he was in his
+most thoughtful mood, and he gave me the impression, from his
+vacant eyes and his abstracted manner, of a man who is striving
+to recall something to his memory.  We were in the middle of our
+lunch when he suddenly sprang to his feet.  "By Jove, Watson;
+I've got it!" he cried.  "Take your hat!  Come with me!"
+He hurried at his top speed down Baker Street and along Oxford
+Street, until we had almost reached Regent Circus.  Here on the
+left hand there stands a shop window filled with photographs of
+the celebrities and beauties of the day.  Holmes's eyes fixed
+themselves upon one of them, and following his gaze I saw the
+picture of a regal and stately lady in Court dress, with a high
+diamond tiara upon her noble head.  I looked at that
+delicately-curved nose, at the marked eyebrows, at the straight
+mouth, and the strong little chin beneath it.  Then I caught my
+breath as I read the time-honoured title of the great nobleman
+and statesman whose wife she had been.  My eyes met those of Holmes,
+and he put his finger to his lips as we turned away from the window.
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 27  MAY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+VIII. --- The Adventure of the Six Napoleons.
+
+
+IT was no very unusual thing for Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard,
+to look in upon us of an evening, and his visits were welcome to
+Sherlock Holmes, for they enabled him to keep in touch with all
+that was going on at the police head-quarters.  In return for
+the news which Lestrade would bring, Holmes was always ready to
+listen with attention to the details of any case upon which the
+detective was engaged, and was able occasionally, without any
+active interference, to give some hint or suggestion drawn from
+his own vast knowledge and experience.
+
+On this particular evening Lestrade had spoken of the weather
+and the newspapers.  Then he had fallen silent, puffing
+thoughtfully at his cigar.  Holmes looked keenly at him.
+
+"Anything remarkable on hand?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, no, Mr. Holmes, nothing very particular."
+
+"Then tell me about it."
+
+Lestrade laughed.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, there is no use denying that there IS
+something on my mind.  And yet it is such an absurd business
+that I hesitated to bother you about it.  On the other hand,
+although it is trivial, it is undoubtedly queer, and I know that
+you have a taste for all that is out of the common.  But in my
+opinion it comes more in Dr. Watson's line than ours."
+
+"Disease?" said I.
+
+"Madness, anyhow.  And a queer madness too!  You wouldn't think
+there was anyone living at this time of day who had such a
+hatred of Napoleon the First that he would break any image of
+him that he could see."
+
+Holmes sank back in his chair.
+
+"That's no business of mine," said he.
+
+"Exactly.  That's what I said.  But then, when the man commits
+burglary in order to break images which are not his own, that
+brings it away from the doctor and on to the policeman."
+
+Holmes sat up again.
+
+"Burglary!  This is more interesting.  Let me hear the details."
+
+Lestrade took out his official note-book and refreshed his
+memory from its pages.
+
+"The first case reported was four days ago," said he.  "It was
+at the shop of Morse Hudson, who has a place for the sale of
+pictures and statues in the Kennington Road.  The assistant had
+left the front shop for an instant when he heard a crash, and
+hurrying in he found a plaster bust of Napoleon, which stood
+with several other works of art upon the counter, lying shivered
+into fragments.  He rushed out into the road, but, although
+several passers-by declared that they had noticed a man run out
+of the shop, he could neither see anyone nor could he find any
+means of identifying the rascal.  It seemed to be one of those
+senseless acts of Hooliganism which occur from time to time,
+and it was reported to the constable on the beat as such.
+The plaster cast was not worth more than a few shillings,
+and the whole affair appeared to be too childish for any
+particular investigation.
+
+"The second case, however, was more serious and also more
+singular.  It occurred only last night.
+
+"In Kennington Road, and within a few hundred yards of Morse
+Hudson's shop, there lives a well-known medical practitioner,
+named Dr. Barnicot, who has one of the largest practices upon
+the south side of the Thames.  His residence and principal
+consulting-room is at Kennington Road, but he has a branch
+surgery and dispensary at Lower Brixton Road, two miles away.
+This Dr. Barnicot is an enthusiastic admirer of Napoleon, and
+his house is full of books, pictures, and relics of the French
+Emperor.  Some little time ago he purchased from Morse Hudson
+two duplicate plaster casts of the famous head of Napoleon by
+the French sculptor, Devine.  One of these he placed in his
+hall in the house at Kennington Road, and the other on the
+mantelpiece of the surgery at Lower Brixton.  Well, when Dr.
+Barnicot came down this morning he was astonished to find that
+his house had been burgled during the night, but that nothing
+had been taken save the plaster head from the hall.  It had been
+carried out and had been dashed savagely against the garden
+wall, under which its splintered fragments were discovered."
+
+Holmes rubbed his hands.
+
+"This is certainly very novel," said he.
+
+"I thought it would please you.  But I have not got to the end
+yet.  Dr. Barnicot was due at his surgery at twelve o'clock,
+and you can imagine his amazement when, on arriving there,
+he found that the window had been opened in the night, and that
+the broken pieces of his second bust were strewn all over the room.
+It had been smashed to atoms where it stood.  In neither case
+were there any signs which could give us a clue as to the
+criminal or lunatic who had done the mischief.  Now, Mr. Holmes,
+you have got the facts."
+
+"They are singular, not to say grotesque," said Holmes.
+"May I ask whether the two busts smashed in Dr. Barnicot's
+rooms were the exact duplicates of the one which was destroyed
+in Morse Hudson's shop?"
+
+"They were taken from the same mould."
+
+"Such a fact must tell against the theory that the man who
+breaks them is influenced by any general hatred of Napoleon.
+Considering how many hundreds of statues of the great Emperor
+must exist in London, it is too much to suppose such a
+coincidence as that a promiscuous iconoclast should chance
+to begin upon three specimens of the same bust."
+
+"Well, I thought as you do," said Lestrade.  "On the other hand,
+this Morse Hudson is the purveyor of busts in that part of
+London, and these three were the only ones which had been in his
+shop for years.  So, although, as you say, there are many
+hundreds of statues in London, it is very probable that these
+three were the only ones in that district.  Therefore, a local
+fanatic would begin with them.  What do you think, Dr. Watson?"
+
+"There are no limits to the possibilities of monomania,"
+I answered.  "There is the condition which the modern French
+psychologists have called the `idee fixe,' which may be trifling
+in character, and accompanied by complete sanity in every other
+way.  A man who had read deeply about Napoleon, or who had
+possibly received some hereditary family injury through the
+great war, might conceivably form such an `idee fixe' and under
+its influence be capable of any fantastic outrage."
+
+"That won't do, my dear Watson," said Holmes, shaking his head;
+"for no amount of `idee fixe' would enable your interesting
+monomaniac to find out where these busts were situated."
+
+"Well, how do YOU explain it?"
+
+"I don't attempt to do so.  I would only observe that there is a
+certain method in the gentleman's eccentric proceedings.  For
+example, in Dr. Barnicot's hall, where a sound might arouse the
+family, the bust was taken outside before being broken, whereas
+in the surgery, where there was less danger of an alarm, it was
+smashed where it stood.  The affair seems absurdly trifling, and
+yet I dare call nothing trivial when I reflect that some of my
+most classic cases have had the least promising commencement.
+You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the
+Abernetty family was first brought to my notice by the depth
+which the parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day.
+I can't afford, therefore, to smile at your three broken busts,
+Lestrade, and I shall be very much obliged to you if you will
+let me hear of any fresh developments of so singular a chain
+of events."
+
+
+The development for which my friend had asked came in a quicker
+and an infinitely more tragic form than he could have imagined.
+I was still dressing in my bedroom next morning when there was
+a tap at the door and Holmes entered, a telegram in his hand.
+He read it aloud:--
+
+"Come instantly, 131, Pitt Street, Kensington. -- Lestrade."
+
+"What is it, then?" I asked.
+
+"Don't know -- may be anything.  But I suspect it is the
+sequel of the story of the statues.  In that case our friend,
+the image-breaker, has begun operations in another quarter of
+London.  There's coffee on the table, Watson, and I have a cab
+at the door."
+
+In half an hour we had reached Pitt Street, a quiet little
+backwater just beside one of the briskest currents of London
+life.  No. 131 was one of a row, all flat-chested, respectable,
+and most unromantic dwellings.  As we drove up we found the
+railings in front of the house lined by a curious crowd.
+Holmes whistled.
+
+"By George! it's attempted murder at the least.  Nothing less
+will hold the London message-boy.  There's a deed of violence
+indicated in that fellow's round shoulders and outstretched
+neck.  What's this, Watson?  The top steps swilled down and the
+other ones dry.  Footsteps enough, anyhow!  Well, well, there's
+Lestrade at the front window, and we shall soon know all about it."
+
+The official received us with a very grave face and showed us
+into a sitting-room, where an exceedingly unkempt and agitated
+elderly man, clad in a flannel dressing-gown, was pacing up and
+down.  He was introduced to us as the owner of the house --
+Mr. Horace Harker, of the Central Press Syndicate.
+
+"It's the Napoleon bust business again," said Lestrade.
+"You seemed interested last night, Mr. Holmes, so I thought
+perhaps you would be glad to be present now that the affair
+has taken a very much graver turn."
+
+"What has it turned to, then?"
+
+"To murder.  Mr. Harker, will you tell these gentlemen exactly
+what has occurred?"
+
+The man in the dressing-gown turned upon us with a most
+melancholy face.
+
+"It's an extraordinary thing," said he, "that all my life I have
+been collecting other people's news, and now that a real piece
+of news has come my own way I am so confused and bothered that
+I can't put two words together.  If I had come in here as a
+journalist I should have interviewed myself and had two columns
+in every evening paper.  As it is I am giving away valuable copy
+by telling my story over and over to a string of different people,
+and I can make no use of it myself.  However, I've heard your name,
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and if you'll only explain this queer business
+I shall be paid for my trouble in telling you the story."
+
+Holmes sat down and listened.
+
+"It all seems to centre round that bust of Napoleon which I
+bought for this very room about four months ago.  I picked it up
+cheap from Harding Brothers, two doors from the High Street
+Station.  A great deal of my journalistic work is done at night,
+and I often write until the early morning.  So it was to-day.
+I was sitting in my den, which is at the back of the top of the
+house, about three o'clock, when I was convinced that I heard
+some sounds downstairs.  I listened, but they were not repeated,
+and I concluded that they came from outside.  Then suddenly,
+about five minutes later, there came a most horrible yell -- the
+most dreadful sound, Mr. Holmes, that ever I heard.  It will
+ring in my ears as long as I live.  I sat frozen with horror for
+a minute or two.  Then I seized the poker and went downstairs.
+When I entered this room I found the window wide open, and I at
+once observed that the bust was gone from the mantelpiece.
+Why any burglar should take such a thing passes my understanding,
+for it was only a plaster cast and of no real value whatever.
+
+"You can see for yourself that anyone going out through that
+open window could reach the front doorstep by taking a long
+stride.  This was clearly what the burglar had done, so I went
+round and opened the door.  Stepping out into the dark I nearly
+fell over a dead man who was lying there.  I ran back for a
+light, and there was the poor fellow, a great gash in his throat
+and the whole place swimming in blood.  He lay on his back, his
+knees drawn up, and his mouth horribly open.  I shall see him in
+my dreams.  I had just time to blow on my police-whistle, and
+then I must have fainted, for I knew nothing more until I found
+the policeman standing over me in the hall."
+
+"Well, who was the murdered man?" asked Holmes.
+
+"There's nothing to show who he was," said Lestrade.  "You shall
+see the body at the mortuary, but we have made nothing of it up
+to now.  He is a tall man, sunburned, very powerful, not more
+than thirty.  He is poorly dressed, and yet does not appear to
+be a labourer.  A horn-handled clasp knife was lying in a pool
+of blood beside him.  Whether it was the weapon which did the
+deed, or whether it belonged to the dead man, I do not know.
+There was no name on his clothing, and nothing in his pockets
+save an apple, some string, a shilling map of London, and a
+photograph.  Here it is."
+
+It was evidently taken by a snap-shot from a small camera.
+It represented an alert, sharp-featured simian man with thick
+eyebrows, and a very peculiar projection of the lower part of
+the face like the muzzle of a baboon.
+
+"And what became of the bust?" asked Holmes, after a careful
+study of this picture.
+
+"We had news of it just before you came.  It has been found
+in the front garden of an empty house in Campden House Road.
+It was broken into fragments.  I am going round now to see it.
+Will you come?"
+
+"Certainly.  I must just take one look round."  He examined the
+carpet and the window.  "The fellow had either very long legs or
+was a most active man," said he.  "With an area beneath, it was
+no mean feat to reach that window-ledge and open that window.
+Getting back was comparatively simple.  Are you coming with us
+to see the remains of your bust, Mr. Harker?"
+
+The disconsolate journalist had seated himself at a writing-table.
+
+"I must try and make something of it," said he, "though I have
+no doubt that the first editions of the evening papers are out
+already with full details.  It's like my luck!  You remember
+when the stand fell at Doncaster?  Well, I was the only
+journalist in the stand, and my journal the only one that had
+no account of it, for I was too shaken to write it.  And now
+I'll be too late with a murder done on my own doorstep."
+
+As we left the room we heard his pen travelling shrilly over
+the foolscap.
+
+The spot where the fragments of the bust had been found was only
+a few hundred yards away.  For the first time our eyes rested
+upon this presentment of the great Emperor, which seemed to
+raise such frantic and destructive hatred in the mind of the
+unknown.  It lay scattered in splintered shards upon the
+grass.  Holmes picked up several of them and examined them
+carefully.  I was convinced from his intent face and his
+purposeful manner that at last he was upon a clue.
+
+"Well?" asked Lestrade.
+
+Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"We have a long way to go yet," said he.  "And yet -- and yet --
+well, we have some suggestive facts to act upon.  The possession
+of this trifling bust was worth more in the eyes of this
+strange criminal than a human life.  That is one point.
+Then there is the singular fact that he did not break it in the
+house, or immediately outside the house, if to break it was his
+sole object."
+
+"He was rattled and bustled by meeting this other fellow.
+He hardly knew what he was doing."
+
+"Well, that's likely enough.  But I wish to call your attention
+very particularly to the position of this house in the garden
+of which the bust was destroyed."
+
+Lestrade looked about him.
+
+"It was an empty house, and so he knew that he would not be
+disturbed in the garden."
+
+"Yes, but there is another empty house farther up the street
+which he must have passed before he came to this one.  Why did
+he not break it there, since it is evident that every yard that
+he carried it increased the risk of someone meeting him?"
+
+"I give it up," said Lestrade.
+
+Holmes pointed to the street lamp above our heads.
+
+"He could see what he was doing here and he could not there.
+That was his reason."
+
+"By Jove! that's true," said the detective.  "Now that I come to
+think of it, Dr. Barnicot's bust was broken not far from his red
+lamp.  Well, Mr. Holmes, what are we to do with that fact?"
+
+"To remember it -- to docket it.  We may come on something
+later which will bear upon it.  What steps do you propose
+to take now, Lestrade?"
+
+"The most practical way of getting at it, in my opinion, is to
+identify the dead man.  There should be no difficulty about
+that.  When we have found who he is and who his associates are,
+we should have a good start in learning what he was doing in
+Pitt Street last night, and who it was who met him and killed
+him on the doorstep of Mr. Horace Harker.  Don't you think so?"
+
+"No doubt; and yet it is not quite the way in which I should
+approach the case."
+
+"What would you do, then?"
+
+"Oh, you must not let me influence you in any way!  I suggest
+that you go on your line and I on mine.  We can compare notes
+afterwards, and each will supplement the other."
+
+"Very good," said Lestrade.
+
+"If you are going back to Pitt Street you might see Mr. Horace
+Harker.  Tell him from me that I have quite made up my mind,
+and that it is certain that a dangerous homicidal lunatic with
+Napoleonic delusions was in his house last night.  It will be
+useful for his article."
+
+Lestrade stared.
+
+"You don't seriously believe that?"
+
+Holmes smiled.
+
+"Don't I?  Well, perhaps I don't.  But I am sure that it will
+interest Mr. Horace Harker and the subscribers of the Central
+Press Syndicate.  Now, Watson, I think that we shall find that
+we have a long and rather complex day's work before us.
+I should be glad, Lestrade, if you could make it convenient to
+meet us at Baker Street at six o'clock this evening.  Until then
+I should like to keep this photograph found in the dead man's
+pocket.  It is possible that I may have to ask your company and
+assistance upon a small expedition which will have be undertaken
+to-night, if my chain of reasoning should prove to be correct.
+Until then, good-bye and good luck!"
+
+Sherlock Holmes and I walked together to the High Street, where
+he stopped at the shop of Harding Brothers, whence the bust had
+been purchased.  A young assistant informed us that Mr. Harding
+would be absent until after noon, and that he was himself a
+newcomer who could give us no information.  Holmes's face
+showed his disappointment and annoyance.
+
+"Well, well, we can't expect to have it all our own way,
+Watson," he said, at last.  "We must come back in the afternoon
+if Mr. Harding will not be here until then.  I am, as you have
+no doubt surmised, endeavouring to trace these busts to their
+source, in order to find if there is not something peculiar
+which may account for their remarkable fate.  Let us make for
+Mr. Morse Hudson, of the Kennington Road, and see if he can
+throw any light upon the problem."
+
+A drive of an hour brought us to the picture-dealer's
+establishment.  He was a small, stout man with a red face
+and a peppery manner.
+
+"Yes, sir.  On my very counter, sir," said he.  "What we pay
+rates and taxes for I don't know, when any ruffian can come in
+and break one's goods.  Yes, sir, it was I who sold Dr. Barnicot
+his two statues.  Disgraceful, sir!  A Nihilist plot, that's
+what I make it.  No one but an Anarchist would go about breaking
+statues.  Red republicans, that's what I call 'em.  Who did I
+get the statues from?  I don't see what that has to do with it.
+Well, if you really want to know, I got them from Gelder and Co.,
+in Church Street, Stepney.  They are a well-known house in the
+trade, and have been this twenty years.  How many had I?
+Three -- two and one are three -- two of Dr. Barnicot's and one
+smashed in broad daylight on my own counter.  Do I know that
+photograph?  No, I don't.  Yes, I do, though.  Why, it's Beppo.
+He was a kind of Italian piece-work man, who made himself useful
+in the shop.  He could carve a bit and gild and frame, and do
+odd jobs.  The fellow left me last week, and I've heard nothing
+of him since.  No, I don't know where he came from nor where he
+went to.  I have nothing against him while he was here.  He was
+gone two days before the bust was smashed."
+
+"Well, that's all we could reasonably expect to get from Morse
+Hudson," said Holmes, as we emerged from the shop.  "We have this
+Beppo as a common factor, both in Kennington and in Kensington,
+so that is worth a ten-mile drive.  Now, Watson, let us make
+for Gelder and Co., of Stepney, the source and origin of busts.
+I shall be surprised if we don't get some help down there."
+
+In rapid succession we passed through the fringe of fashionable
+London, hotel London, theatrical London, literary London,
+commercial London, and, finally, maritime London, till we came
+to a riverside city of a hundred thousand souls, where the
+tenement houses swelter and reek with the outcasts of Europe.
+Here, in a broad thoroughfare, once the abode of wealthy City
+merchants, we found the sculpture works for which we searched.
+Outside was a considerable yard full of monumental masonry.
+Inside was a large room in which fifty workers were carving or
+moulding.  The manager, a big blond German, received us civilly,
+and gave a clear answer to all Holmes's questions.  A reference
+to his books showed that hundreds of casts had been taken from
+a marble copy of Devine's head of Napoleon, but that the three
+which had been sent to Morse Hudson a year or so before had been
+half of a batch of six, the other three being sent to Harding
+Brothers, of Kensington.  There was no reason why those six
+should be different to any of the other casts.  He could
+suggest no possible cause why anyone should wish to destroy
+them -- in fact, he laughed at the idea.  Their wholesale price
+was six shillings, but the retailer would get twelve or more.
+The cast was taken in two moulds from each side of the face, and
+then these two profiles of plaster of Paris were joined together
+to make the complete bust.  The work was usually done by
+Italians in the room we were in.  When finished the busts were
+put on a table in the passage to dry, and afterwards stored.
+That was all he could tell us.
+
+But the production of the photograph had a remarkable effect
+upon the manager.  His face flushed with anger, and his brows
+knotted over his blue Teutonic eyes.
+
+"Ah, the rascal!" he cried.  "Yes, indeed, I know him very well.
+This has always been a respectable establishment, and the only
+time that we have ever had the police in it was over this very
+fellow.  It was more than a year ago now.  He knifed another
+Italian in the street, and then he came to the works with the
+police on his heels, and he was taken here.  Beppo was his
+name -- his second name I never knew.  Serve me right for
+engaging a man with such a face.  But he was a good workman,
+one of the best."
+
+"What did he get?"
+
+"The man lived and he got off with a year.  I have no doubt he is
+out now; but he has not dared to show his nose here.  We have a
+cousin of his here, and I dare say he could tell you where he is."
+
+"No, no," cried Holmes, "not a word to the cousin -- not a word,
+I beg you.  The matter is very important, and the farther I go
+with it the more important it seems to grow.  When you referred
+in your ledger to the sale of those casts I observed that the
+date was June 3rd of last year.  Could you give me the date when
+Beppo was arrested?"
+
+"I could tell you roughly by the pay-list," the manager
+answered.  "Yes," he continued, after some turning over of
+pages, "he was paid last on May 20th."
+
+"Thank you," said Holmes. "I don't think that I need intrude
+upon your time and patience any more."  With a last word of
+caution that he should say nothing as to our researches we
+turned our faces westward once more.
+
+The afternoon was far advanced before we were able to snatch
+a hasty luncheon at a restaurant.  A news-bill at the entrance
+announced "Kensington Outrage.  Murder by a Madman," and the
+contents of the paper showed that Mr. Horace Harker had got his
+account into print after all.  Two columns were occupied with
+a highly sensational and flowery rendering of the whole incident.
+Holmes propped it against the cruet-stand and read it while he ate.
+Once or twice he chuckled.
+
+"This is all right, Watson," said he.  "Listen to this:
+`It is satisfactory to know that there can be no difference
+of opinion upon this case, since Mr. Lestrade, one of the most
+experienced members of the official force, and Mr. Sherlock
+Holmes, the well-known consulting expert, have each come to the
+conclusion that the grotesque series of incidents, which have
+ended in so tragic a fashion, arise from lunacy rather than from
+deliberate crime.  No explanation save mental aberration can
+cover the facts.'  The Press, Watson, is a most valuable
+institution if you only know how to use it.  And now, if you
+have quite finished, we will hark back to Kensington and see
+what the manager of Harding Brothers has to say to the matter."
+
+The founder of that great emporium proved to be a brisk,
+crisp little person, very dapper and quick, with a clear head
+and a ready tongue.
+
+"Yes, sir, I have already read the account in the evening
+papers.  Mr. Horace Harker is a customer of ours.  We supplied
+him with the bust some months ago.  We ordered three busts of
+that sort from Gelder and Co., of Stepney.  They are all sold now.
+To whom?  Oh, I dare say by consulting our sales book we could
+very easily tell you.  Yes, we have the entries here.  One to
+Mr. Harker, you see, and one to Mr. Josiah Brown, of Laburnum
+Lodge, Laburnum Vale, Chiswick, and one to Mr. Sandeford, of
+Lower Grove Road, Reading.  No, I have never seen this face
+which you show me in the photograph.  You would hardly forget
+it, would you, sir, for I've seldom seen an uglier.  Have we any
+Italians on the staff?  Yes, sir, we have several among our
+workpeople and cleaners.  I dare say they might get a peep at
+that sales book if they wanted to.  There is no particular
+reason for keeping a watch upon that book.  Well, well, it's a
+very strange business, and I hope that you'll let me know if
+anything comes of your inquiries."
+
+Holmes had taken several notes during Mr. Harding's evidence,
+and I could see that he was thoroughly satisfied by the turn
+which affairs were taking.  He made no remark, however, save
+that, unless we hurried, we should be late for our appointment
+with Lestrade.  Sure enough, when we reached Baker Street the
+detective was already there, and we found him pacing up and down
+in a fever of impatience.  His look of importance showed that
+his day's work had not been in vain.
+
+"Well?" he asked.  "What luck, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"We have had a very busy day, and not entirely a wasted one,"
+my friend explained.  "We have seen both the retailers and also
+the wholesale manufacturers.  I can trace each of the busts now
+from the beginning."
+
+"The busts!" cried Lestrade.  "Well, well, you have your own
+methods, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and it is not for me to say a
+word against them, but I think I have done a better day's work
+than you.  I have identified the dead man."
+
+"You don't say so?"
+
+"And found a cause for the crime."
+
+"Splendid!"
+
+"We have an inspector who makes a specialty of Saffron Hill and
+the Italian quarter.  Well, this dead man had some Catholic
+emblem round his neck, and that, along with his colour, made me
+think he was from the South.  Inspector Hill knew him the moment
+he caught sight of him.  His name is Pietro Venucci, from Naples,
+and he is one of the greatest cut-throats in London.
+He is connected with the Mafia, which, as you know, is a secret
+political society, enforcing its decrees by murder.  Now you
+see how the affair begins to clear up.  The other fellow is
+probably an Italian also, and a member of the Mafia.  He has
+broken the rules in some fashion.  Pietro is set upon his track.
+Probably the photograph we found in his pocket is the man
+himself, so that he may not knife the wrong person.  He dogs
+the fellow, he sees him enter a house, he waits outside for him,
+and in the scuffle he receives his own death-wound.  How is that,
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes?"
+
+Holmes clapped his hands approvingly.
+
+"Excellent, Lestrade, excellent!" he cried.  "But I didn't quite
+follow your explanation of the destruction of the busts."
+
+"The busts!  You never can get those busts out of your head.
+After all, that is nothing; petty larceny, six months at the most.
+It is the murder that we are really investigating, and I tell
+you that I am gathering all the threads into my hands."
+
+"And the next stage?"
+
+"Is a very simple one.  I shall go down with Hill to the Italian
+quarter, find the man whose photograph we have got, and arrest
+him on the charge of murder.  Will you come with us?"
+
+"I think not.  I fancy we can attain our end in a simpler way.
+I can't say for certain, because it all depends -- well, it all
+depends upon a factor which is completely outside our control.
+But I have great hopes -- in fact, the betting is exactly two
+to one -- that if you will come with us to-night I shall be able
+to help you to lay him by the heels."
+
+"In the Italian quarter?"
+
+"No; I fancy Chiswick is an address which is more likely to find
+him.  If you will come with me to Chiswick to-night, Lestrade,
+I'll promise to go to the Italian quarter with you to-morrow,
+and no harm will be done by the delay.  And now I think that a
+few hours' sleep would do us all good, for I do not propose to
+leave before eleven o'clock, and it is unlikely that we shall
+be back before morning.  You'll dine with us, Lestrade, and then
+you are welcome to the sofa until it is time for us to start.
+In the meantime, Watson, I should be glad if you would ring for
+an express messenger, for I have a letter to send, and it is
+important that it should go at once."
+
+Holmes spent the evening in rummaging among the files of the
+old daily papers with which one of our lumber-rooms was packed.
+When at last he descended it was with triumph in his eyes,
+but he said nothing to either of us as to the result of his
+researches.  For my own part, I had followed step by step the
+methods by which he had traced the various windings of this
+complex case, and, though I could not yet perceive the goal
+which we would reach, I understood clearly that Holmes expected
+this grotesque criminal to make an attempt upon the two
+remaining busts, one of which, I remembered, was at Chiswick.
+No doubt the object of our journey was to catch him in the very
+act, and I could not but admire the cunning with which my friend
+had inserted a wrong clue in the evening paper, so as to give
+the fellow the idea that he could continue his scheme with
+impunity.  I was not surprised when Holmes suggested that
+I should take my revolver with me.  He had himself picked up
+the loaded hunting-crop which was his favourite weapon.
+
+A four-wheeler was at the door at eleven, and in it we drove to
+a spot at the other side of Hammersmith Bridge.  Here the cabman
+was directed to wait.  A short walk brought us to a secluded
+road fringed with pleasant houses, each standing in its own
+grounds.  In the light of a street lamp we read "Laburnum Villa"
+upon the gate-post of one of them.  The occupants had evidently
+retired to rest, for all was dark save for a fanlight over the
+hall door, which shed a single blurred circle on to the garden
+path.  The wooden fence which separated the grounds from the
+road threw a dense black shadow upon the inner side, and here
+it was that we crouched.
+
+"I fear that you'll have a long wait," Holmes whispered.
+"We may thank our stars that it is not raining.  I don't think we
+can even venture to smoke to pass the time.  However, it's a two
+to one chance that we get something to pay us for our trouble."
+
+It proved, however, that our vigil was not to be so long as
+Holmes had led us to fear, and it ended in a very sudden and
+singular fashion.  In an instant, without the least sound to
+warn us of his coming, the garden gate swung open, and a lithe,
+dark figure, as swift and active as an ape, rushed up the garden
+path.  We saw it whisk past the light thrown from over the door
+and disappear against the black shadow of the house.  There was
+a long pause, during which we held our breath, and then a very
+gentle creaking sound came to our ears.  The window was being
+opened.  The noise ceased, and again there was a long silence.
+The fellow was making his way into the house.  We saw the sudden
+flash of a dark lantern inside the room.  What he sought was
+evidently not there, for again we saw the flash through another
+blind, and then through another.
+
+"Let us get to the open window.  We will nab him as he climbs out,"
+Lestrade whispered.
+
+But before we could move the man had emerged again.  As he came
+out into the glimmering patch of light we saw that he carried
+something white under his arm.  He looked stealthily all round
+him.  The silence of the deserted street reassured him.  Turning
+his back upon us he laid down his burden, and the next instant
+there was the sound of a sharp tap, followed by a clatter and
+rattle.  The man was so intent upon what he was doing that he
+never heard our steps as we stole across the grass plot.  With
+the bound of a tiger Holmes was on his back, and an instant
+later Lestrade and I had him by either wrist and the handcuffs
+had been fastened.  As we turned him over I saw a hideous,
+sallow face, with writhing, furious features, glaring up at us,
+and I knew that it was indeed the man of the photograph whom we
+had secured.
+
+But it was not our prisoner to whom Holmes was giving his
+attention.  Squatted on the doorstep, he was engaged in most
+carefully examining that which the man had brought from the
+house.  It was a bust of Napoleon like the one which we had
+seen that morning, and it had been broken into similar
+fragments.  Carefully Holmes held each separate shard to the
+light, but in no way did it differ from any other shattered
+piece of plaster.  He had just completed his examination when
+the hall lights flew up, the door opened, and the owner of the
+house, a jovial, rotund figure in shirt and trousers, presented
+himself.
+
+"Mr. Josiah Brown, I suppose?" said Holmes.
+
+"Yes, sir; and you, no doubt, are Mr. Sherlock Holmes?  I had
+the note which you sent by the express messenger, and I did
+exactly what you told me.  We locked every door on the inside
+and awaited developments.  Well, I'm very glad to see that you
+have got the rascal.  I hope, gentlemen, that you will come in
+and have some refreshment."
+
+However, Lestrade was anxious to get his man into safe quarters,
+so within a few minutes our cab had been summoned and we were
+all four upon our way to London.  Not a word would our captive
+say; but he glared at us from the shadow of his matted hair, and
+once, when my hand seemed within his reach, he snapped at it
+like a hungry wolf.  We stayed long enough at the police-station
+to learn that a search of his clothing revealed nothing save a
+few shillings and a long sheath knife, the handle of which bore
+copious traces of recent blood.
+
+"That's all right," said Lestrade, as we parted.  "Hill knows
+all these gentry, and he will give a name to him.  You'll find
+that my theory of the Mafia will work out all right.  But I'm
+sure I am exceedingly obliged to you, Mr. Holmes, for the
+workmanlike way in which you laid hands upon him.  I don't quite
+understand it all yet."
+
+"I fear it is rather too late an hour for explanations," said
+Holmes.  "Besides, there are one or two details which are not
+finished off, and it is one of those cases which are worth
+working out to the very end.  If you will come round once more
+to my rooms at six o'clock to-morrow I think I shall be able to
+show you that even now you have not grasped the entire meaning
+of this business, which presents some features which make it
+absolutely original in the history of crime.  If ever I permit
+you to chronicle any more of my little problems, Watson,
+I foresee that you will enliven your pages by an account of
+the singular adventure of the Napoleonic busts."
+
+
+When we met again next evening Lestrade was furnished with much
+information concerning our prisoner.  His name, it appeared, was
+Beppo, second name unknown.  He was a well-known ne'er-do-well
+among the Italian colony.  He had once been a skilful sculptor
+and had earned an honest living, but he had taken to evil
+courses and had twice already been in gaol -- once for a petty
+theft and once, as we had already heard, for stabbing a
+fellow-countryman.  He could talk English perfectly well.
+His reasons for destroying the busts were still unknown, and he
+refused to answer any questions upon the subject; but the police
+had discovered that these same busts might very well have been
+made by his own hands, since he was engaged in this class of
+work at the establishment of Gelder and Co.  To all this
+information, much of which we already knew, Holmes listened with
+polite attention; but I, who knew him so well, could clearly see
+that his thoughts were elsewhere, and I detected a mixture of
+mingled uneasiness and expectation beneath that mask which he
+was wont to assume.  At last he started in his chair and his
+eyes brightened.  There had been a ring at the bell.  A minute
+later we heard steps upon the stairs, and an elderly, red-faced
+man with grizzled side-whiskers was ushered in.  In his right
+hand he carried an old-fashioned carpet-bag, which he placed
+upon the table.
+
+"Is Mr. Sherlock Holmes here?"
+
+My friend bowed and smiled.  "Mr. Sandeford, of Reading, I suppose?"
+said he.
+
+"Yes, sir, I fear that I am a little late; but the trains were
+awkward.  You wrote to me about a bust that is in my possession."
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"I have your letter here.  You said, `I desire to possess a copy
+of Devine's Napoleon, and am prepared to pay you ten pounds for
+the one which is in your possession.'  Is that right?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"I was very much surprised at your letter, for I could not
+imagine how you knew that I owned such a thing."
+
+"Of course you must have been surprised, but the explanation is
+very simple.  Mr. Harding, of Harding Brothers, said that they
+had sold you their last copy, and he gave me your address."
+
+"Oh, that was it, was it?  Did he tell you what I paid for it?"
+
+"No, he did not."
+
+"Well, I am an honest man, though not a very rich one.
+I only gave fifteen shillings for the bust, and I think
+you ought to know that before I take ten pounds from you."
+
+"I am sure the scruple does you honour, Mr. Sandeford.
+But I have named that price, so I intend to stick to it."
+
+"Well, it is very handsome of you, Mr. Holmes.  I brought the
+bust up with me, as you asked me to do.  Here it is!"  He opened
+his bag, and at last we saw placed upon our table a complete
+specimen of that bust which we had already seen more than once
+in fragments.
+
+Holmes took a paper from his pocket and laid a ten-pound note
+upon the table.
+
+"You will kindly sign that paper, Mr. Sandeford, in the presence
+of these witnesses.  It is simply to say that you transfer every
+possible right that you ever had in the bust to me.  I am a
+methodical man, you see, and you never know what turn events
+might take afterwards.  Thank you, Mr. Sandeford; here is your
+money, and I wish you a very good evening."
+
+When our visitor had disappeared Sherlock Holmes's movements
+were such as to rivet our attention.  He began by taking a clean
+white cloth from a drawer and laying it over the table.  Then he
+placed his newly-acquired bust in the centre of the cloth.
+Finally, he picked up his hunting-crop and struck Napoleon a
+sharp blow on the top of the head.  The figure broke into
+fragments, and Holmes bent eagerly over the shattered remains.
+Next instant, with a loud shout of triumph, he held up one
+splinter, in which a round, dark object was fixed like a plum
+in a pudding.
+
+"Gentlemen," he cried, "let me introduce you to the famous
+black pearl of the Borgias."
+
+Lestrade and I sat silent for a moment, and then, with a
+spontaneous impulse, we both broke out clapping as at the
+well-wrought crisis of a play.  A flush of colour sprang to
+Holmes's pale cheeks, and he bowed to us like the master
+dramatist who receives the homage of his audience.  It was at
+such moments that for an instant he ceased to be a reasoning
+machine, and betrayed his human love for admiration and
+applause.  The same singularly proud and reserved nature which
+turned away with disdain from popular notoriety was capable
+of being moved to its depths by spontaneous wonder and praise
+from a friend.
+
+"Yes, gentlemen," said he, "it is the most famous pearl
+now existing in the world, and it has been my good fortune,
+by a connected chain of inductive reasoning, to trace it from
+the Prince of Colonna's bedroom at the Dacre Hotel, where it was
+lost, to the interior of this, the last of the six busts of
+Napoleon which were manufactured by Gelder and Co., of Stepney.
+You will remember, Lestrade, the sensation caused by the
+disappearance of this valuable jewel, and the vain efforts of the
+London police to recover it.  I was myself consulted upon the
+case; but I was unable to throw any light upon it.  Suspicion
+fell upon the maid of the Princess, who was an Italian, and it
+was proved that she had a brother in London, but we failed to
+trace any connection between them.  The maid's name was Lucretia
+Venucci, and there is no doubt in my mind that this Pietro who
+was murdered two nights ago was the brother.  I have been
+looking up the dates in the old files of the paper, and I find
+that the disappearance of the pearl was exactly two days before
+the arrest of Beppo for some crime of violence, an event which
+took place in the factory of Gelder and Co., at the very moment
+when these busts were being made.  Now you clearly see the
+sequence of events, though you see them, of course, in the
+inverse order to the way in which they presented themselves to
+me.  Beppo had the pearl in his possession.  He may have stolen
+it from Pietro, he may have been Pietro's confederate, he may
+have been the go-between of Pietro and his sister.  It is of no
+consequence to us which is the correct solution.
+
+"The main fact is that he HAD the pearl, and at that moment,
+when it was on his person, he was pursued by the police.
+He made for the factory in which he worked, and he knew that
+he had only a few minutes in which to conceal this enormously
+valuable prize, which would otherwise be found on him when he
+was searched.  Six plaster casts of Napoleon were drying in
+the passage.  One of them was still soft.  In an instant Beppo,
+a skilful workman, made a small hole in the wet plaster, dropped
+in the pearl, and with a few touches covered over the aperture
+once more.  It was an admirable hiding-place.  No one could
+possibly find it.  But Beppo was condemned to a year's
+imprisonment, and in the meanwhile his six busts were scattered
+over London.  He could not tell which contained his treasure.
+Only by breaking them could he see.  Even shaking would tell him
+nothing, for as the plaster was wet it was probable that the
+pearl would adhere to it -- as, in fact, it has done.  Beppo did
+not despair, and he conducted his search with considerable
+ingenuity and perseverance.  Through a cousin who works with
+Gelder he found out the retail firms who had bought the busts.
+He managed to find employment with Morse Hudson, and in that
+way tracked down three of them.  The pearl was not there.
+Then, with the help of some Italian EMPLOYE, he succeeded in
+finding out where the other three busts had gone.  The first was
+at Harker's.  There he was dogged by his confederate, who held
+Beppo responsible for the loss of the pearl, and he stabbed him
+in the scuffle which followed."
+
+"If he was his confederate why should he carry his photograph?"
+I asked.
+
+"As a means of tracing him if he wished to inquire about him
+from any third person.  That was the obvious reason.  Well,
+after the murder I calculated that Beppo would probably hurry
+rather than delay his movements.  He would fear that the police
+would read his secret, and so he hastened on before they should
+get ahead of him.  Of course, I could not say that he had not
+found the pearl in Harker's bust.  I had not even concluded for
+certain that it was the pearl; but it was evident to me that he
+was looking for something, since he carried the bust past the
+other houses in order to break it in the garden which had a lamp
+overlooking it.  Since Harker's bust was one in three the
+chances were exactly as I told you, two to one against the pearl
+being inside it.  There remained two busts, and it was obvious
+that he would go for the London one first.  I warned the inmates
+of the house, so as to avoid a second tragedy, and we went down
+with the happiest results.  By that time, of course, I knew
+for certain that it was the Borgia pearl that we were after.
+The name of the murdered man linked the one event with the other.
+There only remained a single bust -- the Reading one -- and the
+pearl must be there.  I bought it in your presence from the
+owner -- and there it lies."
+
+We sat in silence for a moment.
+
+"Well," said Lestrade, "I've seen you handle a good many cases,
+Mr. Holmes, but I don't know that I ever knew a more workmanlike
+one than that.  We're not jealous of you at Scotland Yard.
+No, sir, we are very proud of you, and if you come down to-morrow
+there's not a man, from the oldest inspector to the youngest
+constable, who wouldn't be glad to shake you by the hand."
+
+"Thank you!" said Holmes.  "Thank you!" and as he turned away
+it seemed to me that he was more nearly moved by the softer
+human emotions than I had ever seen him.  A moment later he was
+the cold and practical thinker once more.  "Put the pearl in the
+safe, Watson," said he, "and get out the papers of the
+Conk-Singleton forgery case.  Good-bye, Lestrade.  If any little
+problem comes your way I shall be happy, if I can, to give you
+a hint or two as to its solution."
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                       THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                       Vol. 27  JUNE, 1904
+                 THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                      By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+IX. -- The Adventure of the Three Students.
+
+
+IT was in the year '95 that a combination of events, into which
+I need not enter, caused Mr. Sherlock Holmes and myself to spend
+some weeks in one of our great University towns, and it was
+during this time that the small but instructive adventure which
+I am about to relate befell us.  It will be obvious that any
+details which would help the reader to exactly identify the
+college or the criminal would be injudicious and offensive.
+So painful a scandal may well be allowed to die out.  With due
+discretion the incident itself may, however, be described, since
+it serves to illustrate some of those qualities for which my
+friend was remarkable.  I will endeavour in my statement to avoid
+such terms as would serve to limit the events to any particular
+place, or give a clue as to the people concerned.
+
+We were residing at the time in furnished lodgings close to a
+library where Sherlock Holmes was pursuing some laborious
+researches in early English charters -- researches which led to
+results so striking that they may be the subject of one of my
+future narratives.  Here it was that one evening we received a
+visit from an acquaintance, Mr. Hilton Soames, tutor and lecturer
+at the College of St. Luke's.  Mr. Soames was a tall, spare man,
+of a nervous and excitable temperament.  I had always known him
+to be restless in his manner, but on this particular occasion he
+was in such a state of uncontrollable agitation that it was clear
+something very unusual had occurred.
+
+"I trust, Mr. Holmes, that you can spare me a few hours of your
+valuable time.  We have had a very painful incident at St. Luke's,
+and really, but for the happy chance of your being in the town,
+I should have been at a loss what to do."
+
+"I am very busy just now, and I desire no distractions,"
+my friend answered.  "I should much prefer that you called
+in the aid of the police."
+
+"No, no, my dear sir; such a course is utterly impossible.
+When once the law is evoked it cannot be stayed again, and this
+is just one of those cases where, for the credit of the college,
+it is most essential to avoid scandal.  Your discretion is as
+well known as your powers, and you are the one man in the world
+who can help me.  I beg you, Mr. Holmes, to do what you can."
+
+My friend's temper had not improved since he had been deprived
+of the congenial surroundings of Baker Street.  Without his
+scrap-books, his chemicals, and his homely untidiness, he was
+an uncomfortable man.  He shrugged his shoulders in ungracious
+acquiescence, while our visitor in hurried words and with much
+excitable gesticulation poured forth his story.
+
+"I must explain to you, Mr. Holmes, that to-morrow is the first
+day of the examination for the Fortescue Scholarship.  I am one
+of the examiners.  My subject is Greek, and the first of the
+papers consists of a large passage of Greek translation which
+the candidate has not seen.  This passage is printed on the
+examination paper, and it would naturally be an immense advantage
+if the candidate could prepare it in advance.  For this reason
+great care is taken to keep the paper secret.
+
+"To-day about three o'clock the proofs of this paper arrived
+from the printers.  The exercise consists of half a chapter of
+Thucydides.  I had to read it over carefully, as the text must
+be absolutely correct.  At four-thirty my task was not yet
+completed.  I had, however, promised to take tea in a friend's
+rooms, so I left the proof upon my desk.  I was absent rather
+more than an hour.
+
+"You are aware, Mr. Holmes, that our college doors are double
+-- a green baize one within and a heavy oak one without.
+As I approached my outer door I was amazed to see a key in it.
+For an instant I imagined that I had left my own there, but on
+feeling in my pocket I found that it was all right.  The only
+duplicate which existed, so far as I knew, was that which belonged
+to my servant, Bannister, a man who has looked after my room
+for ten years, and whose honesty is absolutely above suspicion.
+I found that the key was indeed his, that he had entered my room
+to know if I wanted tea, and that he had very carelessly left
+the key in the door when he came out.  His visit to my room
+must have been within a very few minutes of my leaving it.
+His forgetfulness about the key would have mattered little
+upon any other occasion, but on this one day it has produced
+the most deplorable consequences.
+
+"The moment I looked at my table I was aware that someone had
+rummaged among my papers.  The proof was in three long slips.
+I had left them all together.  Now, I found that one of them was
+lying on the floor, one was on the side table near the window,
+and the third was where I had left it."
+
+Holmes stirred for the first time.
+
+"The first page on the floor, the second in the window,
+the third where you left it," said he.
+
+"Exactly, Mr. Holmes.  You amaze me.  How could you possibly
+know that?"
+
+"Pray continue your very interesting statement."
+
+"For an instant I imagined that Bannister had taken the
+unpardonable liberty of examining my papers.  He denied it,
+however, with the utmost earnestness, and I am convinced that
+he was speaking the truth.  The alternative was that someone
+passing had observed the key in the door, had known that I was
+out, and had entered to look at the papers.  A large sum of money
+is at stake, for the scholarship is a very valuable one, and an
+unscrupulous man might very well run a risk in order to gain an
+advantage over his fellows.
+
+"Bannister was very much upset by the incident.  He had nearly
+fainted when we found that the papers had undoubtedly been
+tampered with.  I gave him a little brandy and left him collapsed
+in a chair while I made a most careful examination of the room.
+I soon saw that the intruder had left other traces of his
+presence besides the rumpled papers.  On the table in the window
+were several shreds from a pencil which had been sharpened.
+A broken tip of lead was lying there also.  Evidently the rascal
+had copied the paper in a great hurry, had broken his pencil,
+and had been compelled to put a fresh point to it."
+
+"Excellent!" said Holmes, who was recovering his good-humour
+as his attention became more engrossed by the case.
+"Fortune has been your friend."
+
+"This was not all.  I have a new writing-table with a fine
+surface of red leather.  I am prepared to swear, and so is
+Bannister, that it was smooth and unstained.  Now I found a
+clean cut in it about three inches long -- not a mere scratch,
+but a positive cut.  Not only this, but on the table I found
+a small ball of black dough, or clay, with specks of something
+which looks like sawdust in it.  I am convinced that these marks
+were left by the man who rifled the papers.  There were no footmarks
+and no other evidence as to his identity.  I was at my wits'
+ends, when suddenly the happy thought occurred to me that you
+were in the town, and I came straight round to put the matter
+into your hands.  Do help me, Mr. Holmes!  You see my dilemma.
+Either I must find the man or else the examination must be
+postponed until fresh papers are prepared, and since this cannot
+be done without explanation there will ensue a hideous scandal,
+which will throw a cloud not only on the college, but on the
+University.  Above all things I desire to settle the matter
+quietly and discreetly."
+
+"I shall be happy to look into it and to give you such advice
+as I can," said Holmes, rising and putting on his overcoat.
+"The case is not entirely devoid of interest.  Had anyone visited
+you in your room after the papers came to you?"
+
+"Yes; young Daulat Ras, an Indian student who lives on the same
+stair, came in to ask me some particulars about the examination."
+
+"For which he was entered?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And the papers were on your table?"
+
+"To the best of my belief they were rolled up."
+
+"But might be recognised as proofs?"
+
+"Possibly."
+
+"No one else in your room?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did anyone know that these proofs would be there?"
+
+"No one save the printer."
+
+"Did this man Bannister know?"
+
+"No, certainly not.  No one knew."
+
+"Where is Bannister now?"
+
+"He was very ill, poor fellow.  I left him collapsed
+in the chair.  I was in such a hurry to come to you."
+
+"You left your door open?"
+
+"I locked up the papers first."
+
+"Then it amounts to this, Mr. Soames, that unless the Indian
+student recognised the roll as being proofs, the man who tampered
+with them came upon them accidentally without knowing that they
+were there."
+
+"So it seems to me."
+
+Holmes gave an enigmatic smile.
+
+"Well," said he, "let us go round.  Not one of your cases,
+Watson -- mental, not physical.  All right; come if you want to.
+Now, Mr. Soames -- at your disposal!"
+
+
+The sitting-room of our client opened by a long, low, latticed
+window on to the ancient lichen-tinted court of the old college.
+A Gothic arched door led to a worn stone staircase.  On the
+ground floor was the tutor's room.  Above were three students,
+one on each story.  It was already twilight when we reached the
+scene of our problem.  Holmes halted and looked earnestly at the
+window.  Then he approached it, and, standing on tiptoe with his
+neck craned, he looked into the room.
+
+"He must have entered through the door.  There is no opening
+except the one pane," said our learned guide.
+
+"Dear me!" said Holmes, and he smiled in a singular way as he
+glanced at our companion.  "Well, if there is nothing to be
+learned here we had best go inside."
+
+The lecturer unlocked the outer door and ushered us into his
+room.  We stood at the entrance while Holmes made an examination
+of the carpet.
+
+"I am afraid there are no signs here," said he.  "One could
+hardly hope for any upon so dry a day.  Your servant seems to
+have quite recovered.  You left him in a chair, you say; which
+chair?"
+
+"By the window there."
+
+"I see.  Near this little table.  You can come in now.  I have
+finished with the carpet.  Let us take the little table first.
+Of course, what has happened is very clear.  The man entered
+and took the papers, sheet by sheet, from the central table.
+He carried them over to the window table, because from there he
+could see if you came across the courtyard, and so could effect
+an escape."
+
+"As a matter of fact he could not," said Soames, "for I entered
+by the side door."
+
+"Ah, that's good!  Well, anyhow, that was in his mind.  Let me
+see the three strips.  No finger impressions -- no!  Well, he
+carried over this one first and he copied it.  How long would it
+take him to do that, using every possible contraction?  A quarter
+of an hour, not less.  Then he tossed it down and seized the
+next.  He was in the midst of that when your return caused him
+to make a very hurried retreat -- VERY hurried, since he had not
+time to replace the papers which would tell you that he had been
+there.  You were not aware of any hurrying feet on the stair as
+you entered the outer door?"
+
+"No, I can't say I was."
+
+"Well, he wrote so furiously that he broke his pencil, and had,
+as you observe, to sharpen it again.  This is of interest,
+Watson.  The pencil was not an ordinary one.  It was above the
+usual size, with a soft lead; the outer colour was dark blue,
+the maker's name was printed in silver lettering, and the piece
+remaining is only about an inch and a half long.  Look for such a
+pencil, Mr. Soames, and you have got your man.  When I add that he
+possesses a large and very blunt knife, you have an additional aid."
+
+Mr. Soames was somewhat overwhelmed by this flood of information.
+"I can follow the other points," said he, "but really, in this
+matter of the length ----"
+
+Holmes held out a small chip with the letters NN and a space of
+clear wood after them.
+
+"You see?"
+
+"No, I fear that even now ----"
+
+"Watson, I have always done you an injustice.  There are others.
+What could this NN be?  It is at the end of a word.
+You are aware that Johann Faber is the most common maker's name.
+Is it not clear that there is just as much of the pencil left
+as usually follows the Johann?"  He held the small table sideways
+to the electric light.  "I was hoping that if the paper on which
+he wrote was thin some trace of it might come through upon this
+polished surface.  No, I see nothing.  I don't think there is
+anything more to be learned here.  Now for the central table.
+This small pellet is, I presume, the black, doughy mass you spoke
+of.  Roughly pyramidal in shape and hollowed out, I perceive.
+As you say, there appear to be grains of sawdust in it.  Dear me,
+this is very interesting.  And the cut -- a positive tear, I see.
+It began with a thin scratch and ended in a jagged hole.  I am
+much indebted to you for directing my attention to this case,
+Mr. Soames.  Where does that door lead to?"
+
+"To my bedroom."
+
+"Have you been in it since your adventure?"
+
+"No; I came straight away for you."
+
+"I should like to have a glance round.  What a charming,
+old-fashioned room!  Perhaps you will kindly wait a minute until
+I have examined the floor.  No, I see nothing.  What about this
+curtain?  You hang your clothes behind it.  If anyone were forced
+to conceal himself in this room he must do it there, since the
+bed is too low and the wardrobe too shallow.  No one there,
+I suppose?"
+
+As Holmes drew the curtain I was aware, from some little
+rigidity and alertness of his attitude, that he was prepared for
+an emergency.  As a matter of fact the drawn curtain disclosed
+nothing but three or four suits of clothes hanging from a line
+of pegs.  Holmes turned away and stooped suddenly to the floor.
+
+"Halloa!  What's this?" said he.
+
+It was a small pyramid of black, putty-like stuff, exactly like
+the one upon the table of the study.  Holmes held it out on his
+open palm in the glare of the electric light.
+
+"Your visitor seems to have left traces in your bedroom as well
+as in your sitting-room, Mr. Soames."
+
+"What could he have wanted there?"
+
+"I think it is clear enough.  You came back by an unexpected
+way, and so he had no warning until you were at the very door.
+What could he do?  He caught up everything which would betray
+him and he rushed into your bedroom to conceal himself."
+
+"Good gracious, Mr. Holmes, do you mean to tell me that all the
+time I was talking to Bannister in this room we had the man
+prisoner if we had only known it?"
+
+"So I read it."
+
+"Surely there is another alternative, Mr. Holmes.  I don't know
+whether you observed my bedroom window?"
+
+"Lattice-paned, lead framework, three separate windows,
+one swinging on hinge and large enough to admit a man."
+
+"Exactly.  And it looks out on an angle of the courtyard
+so as to be partly invisible.  The man might have effected his
+entrance there, left traces as he passed through the bedroom,
+and, finally, finding the door open have escaped that way."
+
+Holmes shook his head impatiently.
+
+"Let us be practical," said he.  "I understand you to say
+that there are three students who use this stair and are
+in the habit of passing your door?"
+
+"Yes, there are."
+
+"And they are all in for this examination?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Have you any reason to suspect any one of them more than
+the others?"
+
+Soames hesitated.
+
+"It is a very delicate question," said he.  "One hardly likes
+to throw suspicion where there are no proofs."
+
+"Let us hear the suspicions.  I will look after the proofs."
+
+"I will tell you, then, in a few words the character of the
+three men who inhabit these rooms.  The lower of the three is
+Gilchrist, a fine scholar and athlete; plays in the Rugby team
+and the cricket team for the college, and got his Blue for the
+hurdles and the long jump.  He is a fine, manly fellow.  His
+father was the notorious Sir Jabez Gilchrist, who ruined himself
+on the turf.  My scholar has been left very poor, but he is
+hard-working and industrious.  He will do well.
+
+"The second floor is inhabited by Daulat Ras, the Indian.
+He is a quiet, inscrutable fellow, as most of those Indians are.
+He is well up in his work, though his Greek is his weak subject.
+He is steady and methodical.
+
+"The top floor belongs to Miles McLaren.  He is a brilliant
+fellow when he chooses to work -- one of the brightest
+intellects of the University, but he is wayward, dissipated,
+and unprincipled.  He was nearly expelled over a card scandal
+in his first year.  He has been idling all this term, and he
+must look forward with dread to the examination."
+
+"Then it is he whom you suspect?"
+
+"I dare not go so far as that.  But of the three he is perhaps
+the least unlikely."
+
+"Exactly.  Now, Mr. Soames, let us have a look at your servant,
+Bannister."
+
+He was a little, white-faced, clean-shaven, grizzly-haired
+fellow of fifty.  He was still suffering from this sudden
+disturbance of the quiet routine of his life.  His plump face
+was twitching with his nervousness, and his fingers could not
+keep still.
+
+"We are investigating this unhappy business, Bannister,"
+said his master.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I understand," said Holmes, "that you left your key in the door?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Was it not very extraordinary that you should do this on the
+very day when there were these papers inside?"
+
+"It was most unfortunate, sir.  But I have occasionally done
+the same thing at other times."
+
+"When did you enter the room?"
+
+"It was about half-past four.  That is Mr. Soames's tea time."
+
+"How long did you stay?"
+
+"When I saw that he was absent I withdrew at once."
+
+"Did you look at these papers on the table?"
+
+"No, sir; certainly not."
+
+"How came you to leave the key in the door?"
+
+"I had the tea-tray in my hand.  I thought I would come back
+for the key.  Then I forgot."
+
+"Has the outer door a spring lock?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then it was open all the time?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Anyone in the room could get out?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"When Mr. Soames returned and called for you, you were very
+much disturbed?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  Such a thing has never happened during the many
+years that I have been here.  I nearly fainted, sir."
+
+"So I understand.  Where were you when you began to feel bad?"
+
+"Where was I, sir?  Why, here, near the door."
+
+"That is singular, because you sat down in that chair over
+yonder near the corner.  Why did you pass these other chairs?"
+
+"I don't know, sir.  It didn't matter to me where I sat."
+
+"I really don't think he knew much about it, Mr. Holmes.
+He was looking very bad -- quite ghastly."
+
+"You stayed here when your master left?"
+
+"Only for a minute or so.  Then I locked the door and went
+to my room."
+
+"Whom do you suspect?"
+
+"Oh, I would not venture to say, sir.  I don't believe there
+is any gentleman in this University who is capable of profiting
+by such an action.  No, sir, I'll not believe it."
+
+"Thank you; that will do," said Holmes.  "Oh, one more word.
+You have not mentioned to any of the three gentlemen whom you
+attend that anything is amiss?"
+
+"No, sir; not a word."
+
+"You haven't seen any of them?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Very good.  Now, Mr. Soames, we will take a walk in the
+quadrangle, if you please."
+
+Three yellow squares of light shone above us in the gathering
+gloom.
+
+"Your three birds are all in their nests," said Holmes, looking up.
+"Halloa!  What's that?  One of them seems restless enough."
+
+It was the Indian, whose dark silhouette appeared suddenly
+upon his blind.  He was pacing swiftly up and down his room.
+
+"I should like to have a peep at each of them," said Holmes.
+"Is it possible?"
+
+"No difficulty in the world," Soames answered.  "This set of
+rooms is quite the oldest in the college, and it is not unusual
+for visitors to go over them.  Come along, and I will personally
+conduct you."
+
+"No names, please!" said Holmes, as we knocked at Gilchrist's
+door.  A tall, flaxen-haired, slim young fellow opened it, and
+made us welcome when he understood our errand.  There were some
+really curious pieces of mediaeval domestic architecture within.
+Holmes was so charmed with one of them that he insisted on
+drawing it on his note-book, broke his pencil, had to borrow one
+from our host, and finally borrowed a knife to sharpen his own.
+The same curious accident happened to him in the rooms of the
+Indian -- a silent, little, hook-nosed fellow, who eyed us
+askance and was obviously glad when Holmes's architectural
+studies had come to an end.  I could not see that in either
+case Holmes had come upon the clue for which he was searching.
+Only at the third did our visit prove abortive.  The outer door
+would not open to our knock, and nothing more substantial than
+a torrent of bad language came from behind it.  "I don't care
+who you are.  You can go to blazes!" roared the angry voice.
+"To-morrow's the exam, and I won't be drawn by anyone."
+
+"A rude fellow," said our guide, flushing with anger as we
+withdrew down the stair.  "Of course, he did not realize that it
+was I who was knocking, but none the less his conduct was very
+uncourteous, and, indeed, under the circumstances rather
+suspicious."
+
+Holmes's response was a curious one.
+
+"Can you tell me his exact height?" he asked.
+
+"Really, Mr. Holmes, I cannot undertake to say.  He is taller
+than the Indian, not so tall as Gilchrist.  I suppose five foot
+six would be about it."
+
+"That is very important," said Holmes.  "And now, Mr. Soames,
+I wish you good-night."
+
+Our guide cried aloud in his astonishment and dismay.  "Good
+gracious, Mr. Holmes, you are surely not going to leave me in
+this abrupt fashion!  You don't seem to realize the position.
+To-morrow is the examination.  I must take some definite action
+to-night.  I cannot allow the examination to be held if one of
+the papers has been tampered with.  The situation must be faced."
+
+"You must leave it as it is.  I shall drop round early to-morrow
+morning and chat the matter over.  It is possible that I may
+be in a position then to indicate some course of action.
+Meanwhile you change nothing -- nothing at all."
+
+"Very good, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"You can be perfectly easy in your mind.  We shall certainly
+find some way out of your difficulties.  I will take the black
+clay with me, also the pencil cuttings.  Good-bye."
+
+When we were out in the darkness of the quadrangle we again
+looked up at the windows.  The Indian still paced his room.
+The others were invisible.
+
+"Well, Watson, what do you think of it?" Holmes asked, as we
+came out into the main street.  "Quite a little parlour game --
+sort of three-card trick, is it not?  There are your three men.
+It must be one of them.  You take your choice.  Which is yours?"
+
+"The foul-mouthed fellow at the top.  He is the one with the
+worst record.  And yet that Indian was a sly fellow also.
+Why should he be pacing his room all the time?"
+
+"There is nothing in that.  Many men do it when they are trying
+to learn anything by heart."
+
+"He looked at us in a queer way."
+
+"So would you if a flock of strangers came in on you when you
+were preparing for an examination next day, and every moment was
+of value.  No, I see nothing in that.  Pencils, too, and knives
+-- all was satisfactory.  But that fellow DOES puzzle me."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Why, Bannister, the servant.  What's his game in the matter?"
+
+"He impressed me as being a perfectly honest man."
+
+"So he did me.  That's the puzzling part.  Why should a
+perfectly honest man -- well, well, here's a large stationer's.
+We shall begin our researches here."
+
+There were only four stationers of any consequence in the town,
+and at each Holmes produced his pencil chips and bid high for a
+duplicate.  All were agreed that one could be ordered, but that
+it was not a usual size of pencil and that it was seldom kept in
+stock.  My friend did not appear to be depressed by his failure,
+but shrugged his shoulders in half-humorous resignation.
+
+"No good, my dear Watson.  This, the best and only final clue,
+has run to nothing.  But, indeed, I have little doubt that we can
+build up a sufficient case without it.  By Jove! my dear fellow,
+it is nearly nine, and the landlady babbled of green peas at
+seven-thirty.  What with your eternal tobacco, Watson, and your
+irregularity at meals, I expect that you will get notice to quit
+and that I shall share your downfall -- not, however, before we
+have solved the problem of the nervous tutor, the careless
+servant, and the three enterprising students."
+
+
+Holmes made no further allusion to the matter that day, though
+he sat lost in thought for a long time after our belated dinner.
+At eight in the morning he came into my room just as I finished
+my toilet.
+
+"Well, Watson," said he, "it is time we went down to St. Luke's.
+Can you do without breakfast?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Soames will be in a dreadful fidget until we are able to tell
+him something positive."
+
+"Have you anything positive to tell him?"
+
+"I think so."
+
+"You have formed a conclusion?"
+
+"Yes, my dear Watson; I have solved the mystery."
+
+"But what fresh evidence could you have got?"
+
+"Aha!  It is not for nothing that I have turned myself out
+of bed at the untimely hour of six.  I have put in two hours'
+hard work and covered at least five miles, with something
+to show for it.  Look at that!"
+
+He held out his hand.  On the palm were three little pyramids
+of black, doughy clay.
+
+"Why, Holmes, you had only two yesterday!"
+
+"And one more this morning.  It is a fair argument that wherever
+No. 3 came from is also the source of Nos. 1 and 2.  Eh, Watson?
+Well, come along and put friend Soames out of his pain."
+
+
+The unfortunate tutor was certainly in a state of pitiable
+agitation when we found him in his chambers.  In a few hours the
+examination would commence, and he was still in the dilemma
+between making the facts public and allowing the culprit to
+compete for the valuable scholarship.  He could hardly stand
+still, so great was his mental agitation, and he ran towards
+Holmes with two eager hands outstretched.
+
+"Thank Heaven that you have come!  I feared that you had given it
+up in despair.  What am I to do?  Shall the examination proceed?"
+
+"Yes; let it proceed by all means."
+
+"But this rascal ----?"
+
+"He shall not compete."
+
+"You know him?"
+
+"I think so.  If this matter is not to become public we must
+give ourselves certain powers, and resolve ourselves into a small
+private court-martial.  You there, if you please, Soames!  Watson,
+you here!  I'll take the arm-chair in the middle.  I think that
+we are now sufficiently imposing to strike terror into a guilty
+breast.  Kindly ring the bell!"
+
+Bannister entered, and shrunk back in evident surprise and fear
+at our judicial appearance.
+
+"You will kindly close the door," said Holmes.  "Now, Bannister,
+will you please tell us the truth about yesterday's incident?"
+
+The man turned white to the roots of his hair.
+
+"I have told you everything, sir."
+
+"Nothing to add?"
+
+"Nothing at all, sir."
+
+"Well, then, I must make some suggestions to you.  When you sat
+down on that chair yesterday, did you do so in order to conceal
+some object which would have shown who had been in the room?"
+
+Bannister's face was ghastly.
+
+"No, sir; certainly not."
+
+"It is only a suggestion," said Holmes, suavely.  "I frankly
+admit that I am unable to prove it.  But it seems probable
+enough, since the moment that Mr. Soames's back was turned
+you released the man who was hiding in that bedroom."
+
+Bannister licked his dry lips.
+
+"There was no man, sir."
+
+"Ah, that's a pity, Bannister.  Up to now you may have spoken
+the truth, but now I know that you have lied."
+
+The man's face set in sullen defiance.
+
+"There was no man, sir."
+
+"Come, come, Bannister!"
+
+"No, sir; there was no one."
+
+"In that case you can give us no further information.
+Would you please remain in the room?  Stand over there near
+the bedroom door.  Now, Soames, I am going to ask you to have
+the great kindness to go up to the room of young Gilchrist,
+and to ask him to step down into yours."
+
+An instant later the tutor returned, bringing with him the
+student.  He was a fine figure of a man, tall, lithe, and agile,
+with a springy step and a pleasant, open face.  His troubled blue
+eyes glanced at each of us, and finally rested with an expression
+of blank dismay upon Bannister in the farther corner.
+
+"Just close the door," said Holmes.  "Now, Mr. Gilchrist,
+we are all quite alone here, and no one need ever know one word
+of what passes between us.  We can be perfectly frank with each
+other.  We want to know, Mr. Gilchrist, how you, an honourable
+man, ever came to commit such an action as that of yesterday?"
+
+The unfortunate young man staggered back and cast a look full
+of horror and reproach at Bannister.
+
+"No, no, Mr. Gilchrist, sir; I never said a word -- never one
+word!" cried the servant.
+
+"No, but you have now," said Holmes.  "Now, sir, you must
+see that after Bannister's words your position is hopeless,
+and that your only chance lies in a frank confession."
+
+For a moment Gilchrist, with upraised hand, tried to control
+his writhing features.  The next he had thrown himself on his
+knees beside the table and, burying his face in his hands,
+he had burst into a storm of passionate sobbing.
+
+"Come, come," said Holmes, kindly; "it is human to err,
+and at least no one can accuse you of being a callous criminal.
+Perhaps it would be easier for you if I were to tell Mr. Soames
+what occurred, and you can check me where I am wrong.  Shall I
+do so?  Well, well, don't trouble to answer.  Listen, and see
+that I do you no injustice.
+
+"From the moment, Mr. Soames, that you said to me that no one,
+not even Bannister, could have told that the papers were in
+your room, the case began to take a definite shape in my mind.
+The printer one could, of course, dismiss.  He could examine the
+papers in his own office.  The Indian I also thought nothing of.
+If the proofs were in a roll he could not possibly know what they
+were.  On the other hand, it seemed an unthinkable coincidence
+that a man should dare to enter the room, and that by chance on
+that very day the papers were on the table.  I dismissed that.
+The man who entered knew that the papers were there.  How did
+he know?
+
+"When I approached your room I examined the window.  You amused
+me by supposing that I was contemplating the possibility of
+someone having in broad daylight, under the eyes of all these
+opposite rooms, forced himself through it.  Such an idea was
+absurd.  I was measuring how tall a man would need to be in order
+to see as he passed what papers were on the central table.  I am
+six feet high, and I could do it with an effort.  No one less
+than that would have a chance.  Already you see I had reason to
+think that if one of your three students was a man of unusual
+height he was the most worth watching of the three.
+
+"I entered and I took you into my confidence as to the
+suggestions of the side table.  Of the centre table I could make
+nothing, until in your description of Gilchrist you mentioned
+that he was a long-distance jumper.  Then the whole thing came to
+me in an instant, and I only needed certain corroborative proofs,
+which I speedily obtained.
+
+"What happened was this.  This young fellow had employed his
+afternoon at the athletic grounds, where he had been practising
+the jump.  He returned carrying his jumping shoes, which are
+provided, as you are aware, with several sharp spikes.  As he
+passed your window he saw, by means of his great height, these
+proofs upon your table, and conjectured what they were.  No harm
+would have been done had it not been that as he passed your door
+he perceived the key which had been left by the carelessness of
+your servant.  A sudden impulse came over him to enter and see
+if they were indeed the proofs.  It was not a dangerous exploit,
+for he could always pretend that he had simply looked in to ask
+a question.
+
+"Well, when he saw that they were indeed the proofs, it was
+then that he yielded to temptation.  He put his shoes on the
+table.  What was it you put on that chair near the window?"
+
+"Gloves," said the young man.
+
+Holmes looked triumphantly at Bannister.  "He put his gloves on
+the chair, and he took the proofs, sheet by sheet, to copy them.
+He thought the tutor must return by the main gate, and that he
+would see him.  As we know, he came back by the side gate.
+Suddenly he heard him at the very door.  There was no possible
+escape.  He forgot his gloves, but he caught up his shoes and
+darted into the bedroom.  You observe that the scratch on that
+table is slight at one side, but deepens in the direction of the
+bedroom door.  That in itself is enough to show us that the shoe
+had been drawn in that direction and that the culprit had taken
+refuge there.  The earth round the spike had been left on the
+table, and a second sample was loosened and fell in the bedroom.
+I may add that I walked out to the athletic grounds this morning,
+saw that tenacious black clay is used in the jumping-pit, and
+carried away a specimen of it, together with some of the fine tan
+or sawdust which is strewn over it to prevent the athlete from
+slipping.  Have I told the truth, Mr. Gilchrist?"
+
+The student had drawn himself erect.
+
+"Yes, sir, it is true," said he.
+
+"Good heavens, have you nothing to add?" cried Soames.
+
+"Yes, sir, I have, but the shock of this disgraceful exposure has
+bewildered me.  I have a letter here, Mr. Soames, which I wrote
+to you early this morning in the middle of a restless night.
+It was before I knew that my sin had found me out.  Here it is,
+sir.  You will see that I have said, `I have determined not to go
+in for the examination.  I have been offered a commission in the
+Rhodesian Police, and I am going out to South Africa at once."'
+
+"I am indeed pleased to hear that you did not intend to profit
+by your unfair advantage," said Soames.  "But why did you change
+your purpose?"
+
+Gilchrist pointed to Bannister.
+
+"There is the man who set me in the right path," said he.
+
+"Come now, Bannister," said Holmes.  "It will be clear to you
+from what I have said that only you could have let this young
+man out, since you were left in the room, and must have locked
+the door when you went out.  As to his escaping by that window,
+it was incredible.  Can you not clear up the last point in this
+mystery, and tell us the reasons for your action?"
+
+"It was simple enough, sir, if you only had known; but with all
+your cleverness it was impossible that you could know.  Time was,
+sir, when I was butler to old Sir Jabez Gilchrist, this young
+gentleman's father.  When he was ruined I came to the college as
+servant, but I never forgot my old employer because he was down
+in the world.  I watched his son all I could for the sake of the
+old days.  Well, sir, when I came into this room yesterday when
+the alarm was given, the very first thing I saw was Mr. Gilchrist's
+tan gloves a-lying in that chair.  I knew those gloves well,
+and I understood their message.  If Mr. Soames saw them the game
+was up.  I flopped down into that chair, and nothing would budge
+me until Mr. Soames he went for you.  Then out came my poor young
+master, whom I had dandled on my knee, and confessed it all to me.
+Wasn't it natural, sir, that I should save him, and wasn't it
+natural also that I should try to speak to him as his dead father
+would have done, and make him understand that he could not profit
+by such a deed?  Could you blame me, sir?"
+
+"No, indeed," said Holmes, heartily, springing to his feet.
+"Well, Soames, I think we have cleared your little problem up, and
+our breakfast awaits us at home.  Come, Watson!  As to you, sir,
+I trust that a bright future awaits you in Rhodesia.  For once you
+have fallen low.  Let us see in the future how high you can rise."
+----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 28  JULY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
+
+X. --- The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez.
+
+
+WHEN I look at the three massive manuscript volumes which
+contain our work for the year 1894 I confess that it is very
+difficult for me, out of such a wealth of material, to select
+the cases which are most interesting in themselves and at the
+same time most conducive to a display of those peculiar powers
+for which my friend was famous.  As I turn over the pages I see
+my notes upon the repulsive story of the red leech and the
+terrible death of Crosby the banker.  Here also I find an
+account of the Addleton tragedy and the singular contents
+of the ancient British barrow.  The famous Smith-Mortimer
+succession case comes also within this period, and so does
+the tracking and arrest of Huret, the Boulevard assassin --
+an exploit which won for Holmes an autograph letter of thanks
+from the French President and the Order of the Legion of Honour.
+Each of these would furnish a narrative, but on the whole I am
+of opinion that none of them unite so many singular points of
+interest as the episode of Yoxley Old Place, which includes not
+only the lamentable death of young Willoughby Smith, but also
+those subsequent developments which threw so curious a light
+upon the causes of the crime.
+
+It was a wild, tempestuous night towards the close of November.
+Holmes and I sat together in silence all the evening, he engaged
+with a powerful lens deciphering the remains of the original
+inscription upon a palimpsest, I deep in a recent treatise upon
+surgery.  Outside the wind howled down Baker Street, while the
+rain beat fiercely against the windows.  It was strange there
+in the very depths of the town, with ten miles of man's
+handiwork on every side of us, to feel the iron grip of Nature,
+and to be conscious that to the huge elemental forces all London
+was no more than the molehills that dot the fields.
+I walked to the window and looked out on the deserted street.
+The occasional lamps gleamed on the expanse of muddy road and
+shining pavement.  A single cab was splashing its way from the
+Oxford Street end.
+
+"Well, Watson, it's as well we have not to turn out to-night,"
+said Holmes, laying aside his lens and rolling up the palimpsest.
+"I've done enough for one sitting.  It is trying work for the eyes.
+So far as I can make out it is nothing more exciting than an Abbey's
+accounts dating from the second half of the fifteenth century.
+Halloa! halloa! halloa!  What's this?"
+
+Amid the droning of the wind there had come the stamping of a
+horse's hoofs and the long grind of a wheel as it rasped against
+the kerb.  The cab which I had seen had pulled up at our door.
+
+"What can he want?" I ejaculated, as a man stepped out of it.
+
+"Want!  He wants us.  And we, my poor Watson, want overcoats and
+cravats and goloshes, and every aid that man ever invented to
+fight the weather.  Wait a bit, though!  There's the cab off again!
+There's hope yet.  He'd have kept it if he had wanted us to come.
+Run down, my dear fellow, and open the door, for all virtuous
+folk have been long in bed."
+
+When the light of the hall lamp fell upon our midnight visitor
+I had no difficulty in recognising him.  It was young Stanley
+Hopkins, a promising detective, in whose career Holmes had
+several times shown a very practical interest.
+
+"Is he in?" he asked, eagerly.
+
+"Come up, my dear sir," said Holmes's voice from above.
+"I hope you have no designs upon us on such a night as this."
+
+
+The detective mounted the stairs, and our lamp gleamed upon his
+shining waterproof.  I helped him out of it while Holmes
+knocked a blaze out of the logs in the grate.
+
+"Now, my dear Hopkins, draw up and warm your toes," said he.
+"Here's a cigar, and the doctor has a prescription containing hot
+water and a lemon which is good medicine on a night like this.
+It must be something important which has brought you out
+in such a gale."
+
+"It is indeed, Mr. Holmes.  I've had a bustling afternoon,
+I promise you.  Did you see anything of the Yoxley case in
+the latest editions?"
+
+"I've seen nothing later than the fifteenth century to-day."
+
+"Well, it was only a paragraph, and all wrong at that, so you
+have not missed anything.  I haven't let the grass grow under
+my feet.  It's down in Kent, seven miles from Chatham and three
+from the railway line.  I was wired for at three-fifteen, reached
+Yoxley Old Place at five, conducted my investigation, was back
+at Charing Cross by the last train, and straight to you by cab."
+
+"Which means, I suppose, that you are not quite clear about your case?"
+
+"It means that I can make neither head nor tail of it.
+So far as I can see it is just as tangled a business as ever I
+handled, and yet at first it seemed so simple that one couldn't
+go wrong.  There's no motive, Mr. Holmes.  That's what bothers
+me -- I can't put my hand on a motive.  Here's a man dead --
+there's no denying that -- but, so far as I can see, no reason
+on earth why anyone should wish him harm."
+
+Holmes lit his cigar and leaned back in his chair.
+
+"Let us hear about it," said he.
+
+"I've got my facts pretty clear," said Stanley Hopkins.
+"All I want now is to know what they all mean.  The story,
+so far as I can make it out, is like this.  Some years ago this
+country house, Yoxley Old Place, was taken by an elderly man,
+who gave the name of Professor Coram.  He was an invalid,
+keeping his bed half the time, and the other half hobbling round
+the house with a stick or being pushed about the grounds by the
+gardener in a bath-chair.  He was well liked by the few neighbours
+who called upon him, and he has the reputation down there of
+being a very learned man.  His household used to consist of an
+elderly housekeeper, Mrs. Marker, and of a maid, Susan Tarlton.
+These have both been with him since his arrival, and they seem
+to be women of excellent character.  The Professor is writing
+a learned book, and he found it necessary about a year ago to
+engage a secretary.  The first two that he tried were not
+successes; but the third, Mr. Willoughby Smith, a very young man
+straight from the University, seems to have been just what his
+employer wanted.  His work consisted in writing all the morning
+to the Professor's dictation, and he usually spent the evening
+in hunting up references and passages which bore upon the next
+day's work.  This Willoughby Smith has nothing against him
+either as a boy at Uppingham or as a young man at Cambridge.
+I have seen his testimonials, and from the first he was a decent,
+quiet, hardworking fellow, with no weak spot in him at all.
+And yet this is the lad who has met his death this morning in the
+Professor's study under circumstances which can point only to murder."
+
+The wind howled and screamed at the windows.  Holmes and I drew
+closer to the fire while the young inspector slowly and point
+by point developed his singular narrative.
+
+"If you were to search all England," said he, "I don't suppose
+you could find a household more self-contained or free from
+outside influences.  Whole weeks would pass and not one of them
+go past the garden gate.  The Professor was buried in his work
+and existed for nothing else.  Young Smith knew nobody in the
+neighbourhood, and lived very much as his employer did.  The two
+women had nothing to take them from the house.  Mortimer the
+gardener, who wheels the bath-chair, is an Army pensioner -- an
+old Crimean man of excellent character.  He does not live in the
+house, but in a three-roomed cottage at the other end of the
+garden.  Those are the only people that you would find within
+the grounds of Yoxley Old Place.  At the same time, the gate
+of the garden is a hundred yards from the main London to Chatham
+road.  It opens with a latch, and there is nothing to prevent
+anyone from walking in.
+
+"Now I will give you the evidence of Susan Tarlton, who is the
+only person who can say anything positive about the matter.
+It was in the forenoon, between eleven and twelve.
+She was engaged at the moment in hanging some curtains in
+the upstairs front bedroom.  Professor Coram was still in bed,
+for when the weather is bad he seldom rises before midday.
+The housekeeper was busied with some work in the back of the house.
+Willoughby Smith had been in his bedroom, which he uses as a
+sitting-room; but the maid heard him at that moment pass along
+the passage and descend to the study immediately below her.
+She did not see him, but she says that she could not be mistaken
+in his quick, firm tread.  She did not hear the study door close,
+but a minute or so later there was a dreadful cry in the room below.
+It was a wild, hoarse scream, so strange and unnatural that it
+might have come either from a man or a woman.  At the same instant
+there was a heavy thud, which shook the old house, and then all
+was silence.  The maid stood petrified for a moment, and then,
+recovering her courage, she ran downstairs.  The study door was shut,
+and she opened it.  Inside young Mr. Willoughby Smith was stretched
+upon the floor.  At first she could see no injury, but as she tried
+to raise him she saw that blood was pouring from the underside of
+his neck.  It was pierced by a very small but very deep wound,
+which had divided the carotid artery.  The instrument with which
+the injury had been inflicted lay upon the carpet beside him.
+It was one of those small sealing-wax knives to be found on
+old-fashioned writing-tables, with an ivory handle and a stiff
+blade.  It was part of the fittings of the Professor's own desk.
+
+"At first the maid thought that young Smith was already dead,
+but on pouring some water from the carafe over his forehead he
+opened his eyes for an instant.  `The Professor,' he murmured --
+`it was she.'  The maid is prepared to swear that those were
+the exact words.  He tried desperately to say something else,
+and he held his right hand up in the air.  Then he fell back dead.
+
+"In the meantime the housekeeper had also arrived upon the scene,
+but she was just too late to catch the young man's dying words.
+Leaving Susan with the body, she hurried to the Professor's room.
+He was sitting up in bed horribly agitated, for he had heard
+enough to convince him that something terrible had occurred.
+Mrs. Marker is prepared to swear that the Professor was still
+in his night-clothes, and, indeed, it was impossible for him to
+dress without the help of Mortimer, whose orders were to come
+at twelve o'clock.  The Professor declares that he heard the
+distant cry, but that he knows nothing more.  He can give no
+explanation of the young man's last words, `The Professor --
+it was she,' but imagines that they were the outcome of delirium.
+He believes that Willoughby Smith had not an enemy in the world,
+and can give no reason for the crime.  His first action was to
+send Mortimer the gardener for the local police.  A little later
+the chief constable sent for me.  Nothing was moved before I
+got there, and strict orders were given that no one should walk
+upon the paths leading to the house.  It was a splendid chance
+of putting your theories into practice, Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
+There was really nothing wanting."
+
+"Except Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said my companion, with a somewhat
+bitter smile.  "Well, let us hear about it.  What sort of job
+did you make of it?"
+
+"I must ask you first, Mr. Holmes, to glance at this rough plan,
+which will give you a general idea of the position of the
+Professor's study and the various points of the case.
+It will help you in following my investigation."
+
+He unfolded the rough chart, which I here reproduce, and he laid
+it across Holmes's knee.  I rose, and, standing behind Holmes,
+I studied it over his shoulder.
+
+ GRAPHIC
+
+"It is very rough, of course, and it only deals with the points
+which seem to me to be essential.  All the rest you will see
+later for yourself.  Now, first of all, presuming that the
+assassin entered the house, how did he or she come in?
+Undoubtedly by the garden path and the back door, from which
+there is direct access to the study.  Any other way would have
+been exceedingly complicated.  The escape must have also been
+made along that line, for of the two other exits from the room
+one was blocked by Susan as she ran downstairs and the other
+leads straight to the Professor's bedroom.  I therefore directed
+my attention at once to the garden path, which was saturated
+with recent rain and would certainly show any footmarks.
+
+"My examination showed me that I was dealing with a cautious
+and expert criminal.  No footmarks were to be found on the path.
+There could be no question, however, that someone had passed
+along the grass border which lines the path, and that he had
+done so in order to avoid leaving a track.  I could not find
+anything in the nature of a distinct impression, but the grass
+was trodden down and someone had undoubtedly passed.  It could
+only have been the murderer, since neither the gardener nor
+anyone else had been there that morning and the rain had only
+begun during the night."
+
+"One moment," said Holmes.  "Where does this path lead to?"
+
+"To the road."
+
+"How long is it?"
+
+"A hundred yards or so."
+
+"At the point where the path passes through the gate you could
+surely pick up the tracks?"
+
+"Unfortunately, the path was tiled at that point."
+
+"Well, on the road itself?"
+
+"No; it was all trodden into mire."
+
+"Tut-tut!  Well, then, these tracks upon the grass,
+were they coming or going?"
+
+"It was impossible to say.  There was never any outline."
+
+"A large foot or a small?"
+
+"You could not distinguish."
+
+Holmes gave an ejaculation of impatience.
+
+"It has been pouring rain and blowing a hurricane ever since,"
+said he.  "It will be harder to read now than that palimpsest.
+Well, well, it can't be helped.  What did you do, Hopkins,
+after you had made certain that you had made certain of nothing?"
+
+"I think I made certain of a good deal, Mr. Holmes.
+I knew that someone had entered the house cautiously from without.
+I next examined the corridor.  It is lined with cocoanut matting
+and had taken no impression of any kind.  This brought me into the
+study itself.  It is a scantily-furnished room.  The main article
+is a large writing-table with a fixed bureau.  This bureau
+consists of a double column of drawers with a central small
+cupboard between them.  The drawers were open, the cupboard locked.
+The drawers, it seems, were always open, and nothing of value was
+kept in them.  There were some papers of importance in the cupboard,
+but there were no signs that this had been tampered with, and the
+Professor assures me that nothing was missing.  It is certain that
+no robbery has been committed.
+
+"I come now to the body of the young man.
+It was found near the bureau, and just to the left of it,
+as marked upon that chart. The stab was on the right side
+of the neck and from behind forwards, so that it is almost
+impossible that it could have been self-inflicted."
+
+"Unless he fell upon the knife," said Holmes.
+
+"Exactly.  The idea crossed my mind.  But we found the knife some
+feet away from the body, so that seems impossible.  Then, of course,
+there are the man's own dying words.  And, finally, there was this
+very important piece of evidence which was found clasped in the
+dead man's right hand."
+
+From his pocket Stanley Hopkins drew a small paper packet.
+He unfolded it and disclosed a golden pince-nez, with two broken
+ends of black silk cord dangling from the end of it.
+"Willoughby Smith had excellent sight," he added.  "There can be
+no question that this was snatched from the face or the person
+of the assassin."
+
+Sherlock Holmes took the glasses into his hand and examined
+them with the utmost attention and interest.  He held them on
+his nose, endeavoured to read through them, went to the window
+and stared up the street with them, looked at them most minutely
+in the full light of the lamp, and finally, with a chuckle,
+seated himself at the table and wrote a few lines upon a sheet
+of paper, which he tossed across to Stanley Hopkins.
+
+"That's the best I can do for you," said he.
+"It may prove to be of some use."
+
+The astonished detective read the note aloud.  It ran as follows:--
+
+"Wanted, a woman of good address, attired like a lady.
+She has a remarkably thick nose, with eyes which are set close
+upon either side of it.  She has a puckered forehead, a peering
+expression, and probably rounded shoulders.  There are
+indications that she has had recourse to an optician at least
+twice during the last few months.  As her glasses are of
+remarkable strength and as opticians are not very numerous,
+there should be no difficulty in tracing her."
+
+Holmes smiled at the astonishment of Hopkins, which must have
+been reflected upon my features.
+
+"Surely my deductions are simplicity itself," said he.
+"It would be difficult to name any articles which afford a finer
+field for inference than a pair of glasses, especially so
+remarkable a pair as these.  That they belong to a woman I
+infer from their delicacy, and also, of course, from the last
+words of the dying man.  As to her being a person of refinement
+and well dressed, they are, as you perceive, handsomely mounted
+in solid gold, and it is inconceivable that anyone who wore such
+glasses could be slatternly in other respects.  You will find
+that the clips are too wide for your nose, showing that the
+lady's nose was very broad at the base.  This sort of nose is
+usually a short and coarse one, but there are a sufficient number
+of exceptions to prevent me from being dogmatic or from insisting
+upon this point in my description.  My own face is a narrow one,
+and yet I find that I cannot get my eyes into the centre, or
+near the centre, of these glasses.  Therefore the lady's eyes
+are set very near to the sides of the nose.  You will perceive,
+Watson, that the glasses are concave and of unusual strength.
+A lady whose vision has been so extremely contracted all her
+life is sure to have the physical characteristics of such vision,
+which are seen in the forehead, the eyelids, and the shoulders."
+
+"Yes," I said, "I can follow each of your arguments.  I confess,
+however, that I am unable to understand how you arrive at the
+double visit to the optician."
+
+Holmes took the glasses in his hand.
+
+"You will perceive," he said, "that the clips are lined with
+tiny bands of cork to soften the pressure upon the nose.  One of
+these is discoloured and worn to some slight extent, but the
+other is new.  Evidently one has fallen off and been replaced.
+I should judge that the older of them has not been there more
+than a few months.  They exactly correspond, so I gather that
+the lady went back to the same establishment for the second."
+
+"By George, it's marvellous!" cried Hopkins, in an ecstasy of
+admiration.  "To think that I had all that evidence in my hand
+and never knew it!  I had intended, however, to go the round of
+the London opticians."
+
+"Of course you would.  Meanwhile, have you anything more to tell
+us about the case?"
+
+"Nothing, Mr. Holmes.  I think that you know as much as I do
+now -- probably more.  We have had inquiries made as to any
+stranger seen on the country roads or at the railway station.
+We have heard of none.  What beats me is the utter want of all
+object in the crime.  Not a ghost of a motive can anyone suggest."
+
+"Ah! there I am not in a position to help you.  But I suppose
+you want us to come out to-morrow?"
+
+"If it is not asking too much, Mr. Holmes.  There's a train from
+Charing Cross to Chatham at six in the morning, and we should be
+at Yoxley Old Place between eight and nine."
+
+"Then we shall take it.  Your case has certainly some features
+of great interest, and I shall be delighted to look into it.
+Well, it's nearly one, and we had best get a few hours' sleep.
+I dare say you can manage all right on the sofa in front of the
+fire.  I'll light my spirit-lamp and give you a cup of coffee
+before we start."
+
+
+The gale had blown itself out next day, but it was a bitter
+morning when we started upon our journey.  We saw the cold
+winter sun rise over the dreary marshes of the Thames and the
+long, sullen reaches of the river, which I shall ever associate
+with our pursuit of the Andaman Islander in the earlier days of
+our career.  After a long and weary journey we alighted at a
+small station some miles from Chatham.  While a horse was being
+put into a trap at the local inn we snatched a hurried breakfast,
+and so we were all ready for business when we at last arrived
+at Yoxley Old Place.  A constable met us at the garden gate.
+
+"Well, Wilson, any news?"
+
+"No, sir, nothing."
+
+"No reports of any stranger seen?"
+
+"No, sir.  Down at the station they are certain that no stranger
+either came or went yesterday."
+
+"Have you had inquiries made at inns and lodgings?"
+
+"Yes, sir; there is no one that we cannot account for."
+
+"Well, it's only a reasonable walk to Chatham.  Anyone might
+stay there, or take a train without being observed.  This is the
+garden path of which I spoke, Mr. Holmes.  I'll pledge my word
+there was no mark on it yesterday."
+
+"On which side were the marks on the grass?"
+
+"This side, sir.  This narrow margin of grass between the path
+and the flower-bed.  I can't see the traces now, but they were
+clear to me then."
+
+"Yes, yes; someone has passed along," said Holmes, stooping over
+the grass border.  "Our lady must have picked her steps carefully,
+must she not, since on the one side she would leave a track on
+the path, and on the other an even clearer one on the soft bed?"
+
+"Yes, sir, she must have been a cool hand."
+
+I saw an intent look pass over Holmes's face.
+
+"You say that she must have come back this way?"
+
+"Yes, sir; there is no other."
+
+"On this strip of grass?"
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"Hum!  It was a very remarkable performance -- very remarkable.
+Well, I think we have exhausted the path.  Let us go farther.
+This garden door is usually kept open, I suppose?  Then this
+visitor had nothing to do but to walk in.  The idea of murder
+was not in her mind, or she would have provided herself with
+some sort of weapon, instead of having to pick this knife off
+the writing-table.  She advanced along this corridor, leaving no
+traces upon the cocoanut matting.  Then she found herself in this
+study.  How long was she there?  We have no means of judging."
+
+"Not more than a few minutes, sir.  I forgot to tell you that
+Mrs. Marker, the housekeeper, had been in there tidying not very
+long before -- about a quarter of an hour, she says."
+
+"Well, that gives us a limit.  Our lady enters this room and
+what does she do?  She goes over to the writing-table.
+What for?  Not for anything in the drawers.  If there had been
+anything worth her taking it would surely have been locked up.
+No; it was for something in that wooden bureau.  Halloa! what
+is that scratch upon the face of it?  Just hold a match, Watson.
+Why did you not tell me of this, Hopkins?"
+
+The mark which he was examining began upon the brass work on
+the right-hand side of the keyhole, and extended for about four
+inches, where it had scratched the varnish from the surface.
+
+"I noticed it, Mr. Holmes.  But you'll always find scratches
+round a keyhole."
+
+"This is recent, quite recent.  See how the brass shines where
+it is cut.  An old scratch would be the same colour as the surface.
+Look at it through my lens.  There's the varnish, too, like earth
+on each side of a furrow.  Is Mrs. Marker there?"
+
+A sad-faced, elderly woman came into the room.
+
+"Did you dust this bureau yesterday morning?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Did you notice this scratch?"
+
+"No, sir, I did not."
+
+"I am sure you did not, for a duster would have swept away
+these shreds of varnish.  Who has the key of this bureau?"
+
+"The Professor keeps it on his watch-chain."
+
+"Is it a simple key?"
+
+"No, sir; it is a Chubb's key."
+
+"Very good.  Mrs. Marker, you can go.  Now we are making a
+little progress.  Our lady enters the room, advances to the
+bureau, and either opens it or tries to do so.  While she is
+thus engaged young Willoughby Smith enters the room.  In her
+hurry to withdraw the key she makes this scratch upon the door.
+He seizes her, and she, snatching up the nearest object, which
+happens to be this knife, strikes at him in order to make him
+let go his hold.  The blow is a fatal one.  He falls and she
+escapes, either with or without the object for which she has
+come.  Is Susan the maid there?  Could anyone have got away
+through that door after the time that you heard the cry, Susan?"
+
+"No sir; it is impossible.  Before I got down the stair I'd have
+seen anyone in the passage.  Besides, the door never opened,
+for I would have heard it."
+
+"That settles this exit.  Then no doubt the lady went out the
+way she came.  I understand that this other passage leads only
+to the Professor's room.  There is no exit that way?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"We shall go down it and make the acquaintance of the Professor.
+Halloa, Hopkins! this is very important, very important indeed.
+The Professor's corridor is also lined with cocoanut matting."
+
+"Well, sir, what of that?"
+
+"Don't you see any bearing upon the case?  Well, well, I don't
+insist upon it.  No doubt I am wrong.  And yet it seems to me to
+be suggestive.  Come with me and introduce me."
+
+We passed down the passage, which was of the same length as that
+which led to the garden.  At the end was a short flight of steps
+ending in a door.  Our guide knocked, and then ushered us into
+the Professor's bedroom.
+
+It was a very large chamber, lined with innumerable volumes,
+which had overflowed from the shelves and lay in piles in the
+corners, or were stacked all round at the base of the cases.
+The bed was in the centre of the room, and in it, propped up
+with pillows, was the owner of the house.  I have seldom seen a
+more remarkable-looking person.  It was a gaunt, aquiline face
+which was turned towards us, with piercing dark eyes, which
+lurked in deep hollows under overhung and tufted brows.  His
+hair and beard were white, save that the latter was curiously
+stained with yellow around his mouth.  A cigarette glowed amid
+the tangle of white hair, and the air of the room was fetid
+with stale tobacco-smoke.  As he held out his hand to Holmes
+I perceived that it also was stained yellow with nicotine.
+
+"A smoker, Mr. Holmes?" said he, speaking well-chosen English
+with a curious little mincing accent.  "Pray take a cigarette.
+And you, sir?  I can recommend them, for I have them
+especially prepared by Ionides of Alexandria.  He sends me a
+thousand at a time, and I grieve to say that I have to arrange
+for a fresh supply every fortnight.  Bad, sir, very bad, but an
+old man has few pleasures.  Tobacco and my work -- that is all
+that is left to me."
+
+Holmes had lit a cigarette, and was shooting little darting
+glances all over the room.
+
+"Tobacco and my work, but now only tobacco," the old man exclaimed.
+"Alas! what a fatal interruption!  Who could have foreseen such a
+terrible catastrophe?  So estimable a young man!  I assure you that
+after a few months' training he was an admirable assistant.
+What do you think of the matter, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"I have not yet made up my mind."
+
+"I shall indeed be indebted to you if you can throw a light
+where all is so dark to us.  To a poor bookworm and invalid like
+myself such a blow is paralyzing.  I seem to have lost the
+faculty of thought.  But you are a man of action -- you are a
+man of affairs.  It is part of the everyday routine of your life.
+You can preserve your balance in every emergency.  We are
+fortunate indeed in having you at our side."
+
+Holmes was pacing up and down one side of the room whilst the
+old Professor was talking.  I observed that he was smoking with
+extraordinary rapidity.  It was evident that he shared our
+host's liking for the fresh Alexandrian cigarettes.
+
+"Yes, sir, it is a crushing blow," said the old man.  "That is
+my MAGNUM OPUS -- the pile of papers on the side table yonder.
+It is my analysis of the documents found in the Coptic monasteries
+of Syria and Egypt, a work which will cut deep at the very
+foundations of revealed religion.  With my enfeebled health
+I do not know whether I shall ever be able to complete it now
+that my assistant has been taken from me.  Dear me,  Mr. Holmes;
+why, you are even a quicker smoker than I am myself."
+
+Holmes smiled.
+
+"I am a connoisseur," said he, taking another cigarette from the
+box -- his fourth -- and lighting it from the stub of that which
+he had finished.  "I will not trouble you with any lengthy
+cross-examination, Professor Coram, since I gather that you were
+in bed at the time of the crime and could know nothing about it.
+I would only ask this.  What do you imagine that this poor
+fellow meant by his last words:  `The Professor -- it was she'?"
+
+The Professor shook his head.
+
+"Susan is a country girl," said he, "and you know the incredible
+stupidity of that class.  I fancy that the poor fellow murmured
+some incoherent delirious words, and that she twisted them into
+this meaningless message."
+
+"I see.  You have no explanation yourself of the tragedy?"
+
+"Possibly an accident; possibly -- I only breathe it among
+ourselves -- a suicide.  Young men have their hidden troubles --
+some affair of the heart, perhaps, which we have never known.
+It is a more probable supposition than murder."
+
+"But the eye-glasses?"
+
+"Ah!  I am only a student -- a man of dreams.  I cannot explain
+the practical things of life.  But still, we are aware, my friend,
+that love-gages may take strange shapes.  By all means take
+another cigarette.  It is a pleasure to see anyone appreciate
+them so.  A fan, a glove, glasses -- who knows what article may
+be carried as a token or treasured when a man puts an end to his
+life?  This gentleman speaks of footsteps in the grass; but, after
+all, it is easy to be mistaken on such a point.  As to the knife,
+it might well be thrown far from the unfortunate man as he fell.
+It is possible that I speak as a child, but to me it seems that
+Willoughby Smith has met his fate by his own hand."
+
+Holmes seemed struck by the theory thus put forward, and he
+continued to walk up and down for some time, lost in thought
+and consuming cigarette after cigarette.
+
+"Tell me, Professor Coram," he said, at last, "what is in that
+cupboard in the bureau?"
+
+"Nothing that would help a thief.  Family papers, letters from
+my poor wife, diplomas of Universities which have done me honour.
+Here is the key.  You can look for yourself."
+
+Holmes picked up the key and looked at it for an instant;
+then he handed it back.
+
+"No; I hardly think that it would help me," said he.  "I should
+prefer to go quietly down to your garden and turn the whole
+matter over in my head.  There is something to be said for the
+theory of suicide which you have put forward.  We must apologize
+for having intruded upon you, Professor Coram, and I promise
+that we won't disturb you until after lunch.  At two o'clock
+we will come again and report to you anything which may have
+happened in the interval."
+
+Holmes was curiously distrait, and we walked up and down the
+garden path for some time in silence.
+
+"Have you a clue?" I asked, at last.
+
+"It depends upon those cigarettes that I smoked," said he.
+"It is possible that I am utterly mistaken.  The cigarettes
+will show me."
+
+"My dear Holmes," I exclaimed, "how on earth ----"
+
+"Well, well, you may see for yourself.  If not, there's no harm
+done.  Of course, we always have the optician clue to fall back
+upon, but I take a short cut when I can get it.  Ah, here is the
+good Mrs. Marker!  Let us enjoy five minutes of instructive
+conversation with her."
+
+I may have remarked before that Holmes had, when he liked,
+a peculiarly ingratiating way with women, and that he very readily
+established terms of confidence with them.  In half the time
+which he had named he had captured the housekeeper's goodwill,
+and was chatting with her as if he had known her for years.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes, it is as you say, sir.  He does smoke
+something terrible.  All day and sometimes all night, sir.
+I've seen that room of a morning -- well, sir, you'd have thought
+it was a London fog.  Poor young Mr. Smith, he was a smoker also,
+but not as bad as the Professor.  His health -- well, I don't
+know that it's better nor worse for the smoking."
+
+"Ah!" said Holmes, "but it kills the appetite."
+
+"Well, I don't know about that, sir."
+
+"I suppose the Professor eats hardly anything?"
+
+"Well, he is variable.  I'll say that for him."
+
+"I'll wager he took no breakfast this morning, and won't face
+his lunch after all the cigarettes I saw him consume."
+
+"Well, you're out there, sir, as it happens, for he ate a remarkable
+big breakfast this morning.  I don't know when I've known him make
+a better one, and he's ordered a good dish of cutlets for his lunch.
+I'm surprised myself, for since I came into that room yesterday
+and saw young Mr. Smith lying there on the floor I couldn't bear
+to look at food.  Well, it takes all sorts to make a world, and the
+Professor hasn't let it take his appetite away."
+
+We loitered the morning away in the garden.  Stanley Hopkins had
+gone down to the village to look into some rumours of a strange
+woman who had been seen by some children on the Chatham Road the
+previous morning.  As to my friend, all his usual energy seemed
+to have deserted him.  I had never known him handle a case in
+such a half-hearted fashion.  Even the news brought back by
+Hopkins that he had found the children and that they had
+undoubtedly seen a woman exactly corresponding with Holmes's
+description, and wearing either spectacles or eye-glasses, failed
+to rouse any sign of keen interest.  He was more attentive when
+Susan, who waited upon us at lunch, volunteered the information
+that she believed Mr. Smith had been out for a walk yesterday
+morning, and that he had only returned half an hour before the
+tragedy occurred.  I could not myself see the bearing of this
+incident, but I clearly perceived that Holmes was weaving it
+into the general scheme which he had formed in his brain.
+Suddenly he sprang from his chair and glanced at his watch.
+"Two o'clock, gentlemen," said he.  "We must go up and have
+it out with our friend the Professor."
+
+The old man had just finished his lunch, and certainly his empty
+dish bore evidence to the good appetite with which his
+housekeeper had credited him.  He was, indeed, a weird figure
+as he turned his white mane and his glowing eyes towards us.
+The eternal cigarette smouldered in his mouth.  He had been
+dressed and was seated in an arm-chair by the fire.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, have you solved this mystery yet?"  He shoved
+the large tin of cigarettes which stood on a table beside him
+towards my companion.  Holmes stretched out his hand at the same
+moment, and between them they tipped the box over the edge.
+For a minute or two we were all on our knees retrieving stray
+cigarettes from impossible places.  When we rose again I observed
+that Holmes's eyes were shining and his cheeks tinged with colour.
+Only at a crisis have I seen those battle-signals flying.
+
+"Yes," said he, "I have solved it."
+
+Stanley Hopkins and I stared in amazement.  Something like a
+sneer quivered over the gaunt features of the old Professor.
+
+"Indeed!  In the garden?"
+
+"No, here."
+
+"Here!  When?"
+
+"This instant."
+
+"You are surely joking, Mr. Sherlock Holmes.  You compel me to tell
+you that this is too serious a matter to be treated in such a fashion."
+
+"I have forged and tested every link of my chain, Professor Coram,
+and I am sure that it is sound.  What your motives are or what
+exact part you play in this strange business I am not yet able to
+say.  In a few minutes I shall probably hear it from your own lips.
+Meanwhile I will reconstruct what is past for your benefit, so that
+you may know the information which I still require.
+
+"A lady yesterday entered your study.  She came with the intention
+of possessing herself of certain documents which were in your
+bureau.  She had a key of her own.  I have had an opportunity
+of examining yours, and I do not find that slight discolouration
+which the scratch made upon the varnish would have produced.
+You were not an accessory, therefore, and she came, so far as
+I can read the evidence, without your knowledge to rob you."
+
+The Professor blew a cloud from his lips.  "This is most
+interesting and instructive," said he.  "Have you no more to add?
+Surely, having traced this lady so far, you can also say what has
+become of her."
+
+"I will endeavour to do so.  In the first place she was
+seized by your secretary, and stabbed him in order to escape.
+This catastrophe I am inclined to regard as an unhappy accident,
+for I am convinced that the lady had no intention of inflicting
+so grievous an injury.  An assassin does not come unarmed.
+Horrified by what she had done she rushed wildly away from the
+scene of the tragedy.  Unfortunately for her she had lost her
+glasses in the scuffle, and as she was extremely short-sighted
+she was really helpless without them.  She ran down a corridor,
+which she imagined to be that by which she had come -- both were
+lined with cocoanut matting -- and it was only when it was too
+late that she understood that she had taken the wrong passage
+and that her retreat was cut off behind her.  What was she to do?
+She could not go back.  She could not remain where she was.
+She must go on.  She went on.  She mounted a stair, pushed open
+a door, and found herself in your room."
+
+The old man sat with his mouth open staring wildly at Holmes.
+Amazement and fear were stamped upon his expressive features.
+Now, with an effort, he shrugged his shoulders and burst into
+insincere laughter.
+
+"All very fine, Mr. Holmes," said he.  "But there is one
+little flaw in your splendid theory.  I was myself in my room,
+and I never left it during the day."
+
+"I am aware of that, Professor Coram."
+
+"And you mean to say that I could lie upon that bed and not
+be aware that a woman had entered my room?"
+
+"I never said so.  You WERE aware of it.  You spoke with her.
+You recognised her.  You aided her to escape."
+
+Again the Professor burst into high-keyed laughter.
+He had risen to his feet and his eyes glowed like embers.
+
+"You are mad!" he cried.  "You are talking insanely.
+I helped her to escape?  Where is she now?"
+
+"She is there," said Holmes, and he pointed to a high bookcase
+in the corner of the room.
+
+I saw the old man throw up his arms, a terrible convulsion
+passed over his grim face, and he fell back in his chair.
+At the same instant the bookcase at which Holmes pointed swung
+round upon a hinge, and a woman rushed out into the room.
+"You are right!" she cried, in a strange foreign voice.
+"You are right!  I am here."
+
+She was brown with the dust and draped with the cobwebs which
+had come from the walls of her hiding-place.  Her face, too,
+was streaked with grime, and at the best she could never have been
+handsome, for she had the exact physical characteristics which
+Holmes had divined, with, in addition, a long and obstinate chin.
+What with her natural blindness, and what with the change from
+dark to light, she stood as one dazed, blinking about her to see
+where and who we were.  And yet, in spite of all these disadvantages,
+there was a certain nobility in the woman's bearing, a gallantry
+in the defiant chin and in the upraised head, which compelled
+something of respect and admiration.  Stanley Hopkins had laid
+his hand upon her arm and claimed her as his prisoner, but she
+waved him aside gently, and yet with an overmastering dignity
+which compelled obedience.  The old man lay back in his chair,
+with a twitching face, and stared at her with brooding eyes.
+
+"Yes, sir, I am your prisoner," she said.  "From where I stood
+I could hear everything, and I know that you have learned the
+truth.  I confess it all.  It was I who killed the young man.
+But you are right, you who say it was an accident.  I did not
+even know that it was a knife which I held in my hand, for in my
+despair I snatched anything from the table and struck at him to
+make him let me go.  It is the truth that I tell."
+
+"Madam," said Holmes, "I am sure that it is the truth.
+I fear that you are far from well."
+
+She had turned a dreadful colour, the more ghastly under the
+dark dust-streaks upon her face.  She seated herself on the
+side of the bed; then she resumed.
+
+"I have only a little time here," she said, "but I would have
+you to know the whole truth.  I am this man's wife.  He is not
+an Englishman.  He is a Russian.  His name I will not tell."
+
+For the first time the old man stirred.  "God bless you, Anna!"
+he cried.  "God bless you!"
+
+She cast a look of the deepest disdain in his direction.
+"Why should you cling so hard to that wretched life of yours,
+Sergius?" said she.  "It has done harm to many and good to
+none -- not even to yourself.  However, it is not for me to
+cause the frail thread to be snapped before God's time.
+I have enough already upon my soul since I crossed the threshold
+of this cursed house.  But I must speak or I shall be too late.
+
+"I have said, gentlemen, that I am this man's wife.  He was
+fifty and I a foolish girl of twenty when we married.  It was
+in a city of Russia, a University -- I will not name the place."
+
+"God bless you, Anna!" murmured the old man again.
+
+"We were reformers -- revolutionists -- Nihilists, you understand.
+He and I and many more.  Then there came a time of trouble,
+a police officer was killed, many were arrested, evidence was
+wanted, and in order to save his own life and to earn a great
+reward my husband betrayed his own wife and his companions.
+Yes, we were all arrested upon his confession.  Some of us found
+our way to the gallows and some to Siberia.  I was among these
+last, but my term was not for life.  My husband came to England
+with his ill-gotten gains, and has lived in quiet ever since,
+knowing well that if the Brotherhood knew where he was not
+a week would pass before justice would be done."
+
+The old man reached out a trembling hand and helped himself
+to a cigarette.  "I am in your hands, Anna," said he.
+"You were always good to me."
+
+"I have not yet told you the height of his villainy," said she.
+"Among our comrades of the Order there was one who was the
+friend of my heart.  He was noble, unselfish, loving -- all that
+my husband was not.  He hated violence.  We were all guilty --
+if that is guilt -- but he was not.  He wrote for ever dissuading
+us from such a course.  These letters would have saved him.
+So would my diary, in which from day to day I had entered both
+my feelings towards him and the view which each of us had taken.
+My husband found and kept both diary and letters.  He hid them,
+and he tried hard to swear away the young man's life.  In this
+he failed, but Alexis was sent a convict to Siberia, where now,
+at this moment, he works in a salt mine.  Think of that, you
+villain, you villain; now, now, at this very moment, Alexis,
+a man whose name you are not worthy to speak, works and lives like
+a slave, and yet I have your life in my hands and I let you go."
+
+"You were always a noble woman, Anna," said the old man, puffing
+at his cigarette.
+
+She had risen, but she fell back again with a little cry of pain.
+
+"I must finish," she said.  "When my term was over I set myself
+to get the diary and letters which, if sent to the Russian
+Government, would procure my friend's release.  I knew that my
+husband had come to England.  After months of searching I
+discovered where he was.  I knew that he still had the diary,
+for when I was in Siberia I had a letter from him once
+reproaching me and quoting some passages from its pages.
+Yet I was sure that with his revengeful nature he would never
+give it to me of his own free will.  I must get it for myself.
+With this object I engaged an agent from a private detective firm,
+who entered my husband's house as secretary -- it was your
+second secretary, Sergius, the one who left you so hurriedly.
+He found that papers were kept in the cupboard, and he got an
+impression of the key.  He would not go farther.  He furnished
+me with a plan of the house, and he told me that in the forenoon
+the study was always empty, as the secretary was employed up here.
+So at last I took my courage in both hands and I came down to
+get the papers for myself.  I succeeded, but at what a cost!
+
+"I had just taken the papers and was locking the cupboard when
+the young man seized me.  I had seen him already that morning.
+He had met me in the road and I had asked him to tell me where
+Professor Coram lived, not knowing that he was in his employ."
+
+"Exactly! exactly!" said Holmes.  "The secretary came back and
+told his employer of the woman he had met.  Then in his last
+breath he tried to send a message that it was she -- the she whom
+he had just discussed with him."
+
+"You must let me speak," said the woman, in an imperative voice,
+and her face contracted as if in pain.  "When he had fallen
+I rushed from the room, chose the wrong door, and found myself
+in my husband's room.  He spoke of giving me up.  I showed him
+that if he did so his life was in my hands.  If he gave me to
+the law I could give him to the Brotherhood.  It was not that
+I wished to live for my own sake, but it was that I desired to
+accomplish my purpose.  He knew that I would do what I said --
+that his own fate was involved in mine.  For that reason
+and for no other he shielded me.  He thrust me into that dark
+hiding-place, a relic of old days, known only to himself.
+He took his meals in his own room, and so was able to give me
+part of his food.  It was agreed that when the police left
+the house I should slip away by night and come back no more.
+But in some way you have read our plans."  She tore from the
+bosom of her dress a small packet.  "These are my last words,"
+said she; "here is the packet which will save Alexis.
+I confide it to your honour and to your love of justice.
+Take it!  You will deliver it at the Russian Embassy.
+Now I have done my duty, and ----"
+
+"Stop her!" cried Holmes.  He had bounded across the room
+and had wrenched a small phial from her hand.
+
+"Too late!" she said, sinking back on the bed.  "Too late!
+I took the poison before I left my hiding-place.  My head swims!
+I am going!  I charge you, sir, to remember the packet."
+
+
+"A simple case, and yet in some ways an instructive one,"
+Holmes remarked, as we travelled back to town.  "It hinged from
+the outset upon the pince-nez.  But for the fortunate chance of
+the dying man having seized these I am not sure that we could
+ever have reached our solution.  It was clear to me from the
+strength of the glasses that the wearer must have been very
+blind and helpless when deprived of them.  When you asked me to
+believe that she walked along a narrow strip of grass without
+once making a false step I remarked, as you may remember, that
+it was a noteworthy performance.  In my mind I set it down as an
+impossible performance, save in the unlikely case that she had a
+second pair of glasses.  I was forced, therefore, to seriously
+consider the hypothesis that she had remained within the house.
+On perceiving the similarity of the two corridors it became
+clear that she might very easily have made such a mistake,
+and in that case it was evident that she must have entered
+the Professor's room.  I was keenly on the alert, therefore,
+for whatever would bear out this supposition, and I examined
+the room narrowly for anything in the shape of a hiding-place.
+The carpet seemed continuous and firmly nailed, so I dismissed
+the idea of a trap-door.  There might well be a recess behind
+the books.  As you are aware, such devices are common in old
+libraries.  I observed that books were piled on the floor at all
+other points, but that one bookcase was left clear.  This, then,
+might be the door.  I could see no marks to guide me, but the
+carpet was of a dun colour, which lends itself very well to
+examination.  I therefore smoked a great number of those
+excellent cigarettes, and I dropped the ash all over the space
+in front of the suspected bookcase.  It was a simple trick, but
+exceedingly effective.  I then went downstairs and I ascertained,
+in your presence, Watson, without your perceiving the drift of my
+remarks, that Professor Coram's consumption of food had increased
+-- as one would expect when he is supplying a second person.
+We then ascended to the room again, when, by upsetting the
+cigarette-box, I obtained a very excellent view of the floor,
+and was able to see quite clearly, from the traces upon the
+cigarette ash, that the prisoner had, in our absence, come out
+from her retreat.  Well, Hopkins, here we are at Charing Cross,
+and I congratulate you on having brought your case to a successful
+conclusion.  You are going to head-quarters, no doubt.  I think,
+Watson, you and I will drive together to the Russian Embassy."
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 28  AUGUST, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+XI. --- The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter.
+
+
+WE were fairly accustomed to receive weird telegrams at Baker
+Street, but I have a particular recollection of one which reached
+us on a gloomy February morning some seven or eight years ago and
+gave Mr. Sherlock Holmes a puzzled quarter of an hour.  It was
+addressed to him, and ran thus:--
+
+"Please await me.  Terrible misfortune.  Right wing three-quarter
+missing; indispensable to morrow. -- OVERTON."
+
+"Strand post-mark and dispatched ten-thirty-six," said Holmes,
+reading it over and over.  "Mr. Overton was evidently considerably
+excited when he sent it, and somewhat incoherent in consequence.
+Well, well, he will be here, I dare say, by the time I have looked
+through the TIMES, and then we shall know all about it.  Even the
+most insignificant problem would be welcome in these stagnant days."
+
+Things had indeed been very slow with us, and I had learned
+to dread such periods of inaction, for I knew by experience
+that my companion's brain was so abnormally active that it was
+dangerous to leave it without material upon which to work.
+For years I had gradually weaned him from that drug mania which
+had threatened once to check his remarkable career.  Now I knew
+that under ordinary conditions he no longer craved for this
+artificial stimulus, but I was well aware that the fiend was
+not dead, but sleeping; and I have known that the sleep was a
+light one and the waking near when in periods of idleness I have
+seen the drawn look upon Holmes's ascetic face, and the brooding
+of his deep-set and inscrutable eyes.  Therefore I blessed this
+Mr. Overton, whoever he might be, since he had come with his
+enigmatic message to break that dangerous calm which brought more
+peril to my friend than all the storms of his tempestuous life.
+
+As we had expected, the telegram was soon followed by its
+sender, and the card of Mr. Cyril Overton, of Trinity College,
+Cambridge, announced the arrival of an enormous young man,
+sixteen stone of solid bone and muscle, who spanned the doorway
+with his broad shoulders and looked from one of us to the other
+with a comely face which was haggard with anxiety.
+
+"Mr. Sherlock Holmes?"
+
+My companion bowed.
+
+"I've been down to Scotland Yard, Mr. Holmes.
+I saw Inspector Stanley Hopkins.  He advised me to come to you.
+He said the case, so far as he could see, was more in your line
+than in that of the regular police."
+
+"Pray sit down and tell me what is the matter."
+
+"It's awful, Mr. Holmes, simply awful!  I wonder my hair isn't grey.
+Godfrey Staunton -- you've heard of him, of course? He's simply the
+hinge that the whole team turns on.  I'd rather spare two from the
+pack and have Godfrey for my three-quarter line. Whether it's
+passing, or tackling, or dribbling, there's no one to touch him;
+and then, he's got the head and can hold us all together.
+What am I to do?  That's what I ask you, Mr.  Holmes.
+There's Moorhouse, first reserve, but he is trained as a half,
+and he always edges right in on to the scrum instead of keeping
+out on the touch-line.  He's a fine place-kick, it's true, but,
+then, he has no judgment, and he can't sprint for nuts.
+Why, Morton or Johnson, the Oxford fliers, could romp round him.
+Stevenson is fast enough, but he couldn't drop from the twenty-five
+line, and a three-quarter who can't either punt or drop isn't worth
+a place for pace alone.  No, Mr. Holmes, we are done unless you can
+help me to find Godfrey Staunton."
+
+My friend had listened with amused surprise to this long speech,
+which was poured forth with extraordinary vigour and earnestness,
+every point being driven home by the slapping of a brawny hand
+upon the speaker's knee.  When our visitor was silent Holmes
+stretched out his hand and took down letter "S" of his
+commonplace book.  For once he dug in vain into that mine of
+varied information.
+
+"There is Arthur H. Staunton, the rising young forger,"
+said he, "and there was Henry Staunton, whom I helped to hang,
+but Godfrey Staunton is a new name to me."
+
+It was our visitor's turn to look surprised.
+
+"Why, Mr. Holmes, I thought you knew things," said he.
+"I suppose, then, if you have never heard of Godfrey Staunton
+you don't know Cyril Overton either?"
+
+Holmes shook his head good-humouredly.
+
+"Great Scot!" cried the athlete.  "Why, I was first reserve
+for England against Wales, and I've skippered the 'Varsity all
+this year.  But that's nothing!  I didn't think there was a
+soul in England who didn't know Godfrey Staunton, the crack
+three-quarter, Cambridge, Blackheath, and five Internationals.
+Good Lord!  Mr. Holmes, where HAVE you lived?"
+
+Holmes laughed at the young giant's naive astonishment.
+
+"You live in a different world to me, Mr. Overton, a sweeter
+and healthier one.  My ramifications stretch out into many
+sections of society, but never, I am happy to say, into amateur
+sport, which is the best and soundest thing in England.  However,
+your unexpected visit this morning shows me that even in that
+world of fresh air and fair play there may be work for me to do;
+so now, my good sir, I beg you to sit down and to tell me slowly
+and quietly exactly what it is that has occurred, and how you
+desire that I should help you."
+
+Young Overton's face assumed the bothered look of the man who
+is more accustomed to using his muscles than his wits; but by
+degrees, with many repetitions and obscurities which I may omit
+from his narrative, he laid his strange story before us.
+
+
+"It's this way, Mr. Holmes.  As I have said, I am the skipper
+of the Rugger team of Cambridge 'Varsity, and Godfrey Staunton
+is my best man.  To-morrow we play Oxford.  Yesterday we
+all came up and we settled at Bentley's private hotel.  At ten
+o'clock I went round and saw that all the fellows had gone to
+roost, for I believe in strict training and plenty of sleep to
+keep a team fit.  I had a word or two with Godfrey before he
+turned in.  He seemed to me to be pale and bothered.  I asked him
+what was the matter.  He said he was all right -- just a touch
+of headache.  I bade him good-night and left him.  Half an hour
+later the porter tells me that a rough-looking man with a beard
+called with a note for Godfrey.  He had not gone to bed and the
+note was taken to his room.  Godfrey read it and fell back in a
+chair as if he had been pole-axed.  The porter was so scared that
+he was going to fetch me, but Godfrey stopped him, had a drink of
+water, and pulled himself together.  Then he went downstairs,
+said a few words to the man who was waiting in the hall, and the
+two of them went off together.  The last that the porter saw of
+them, they were almost running down the street in the direction
+of the Strand.  This morning Godfrey's room was empty, his bed
+had never been slept in, and his things were all just as I had
+seen them the night before.  He had gone off at a moment's notice
+with this stranger, and no word has come from him since.  I don't
+believe he will ever come back.  He was a sportsman, was Godfrey,
+down to his marrow, and he wouldn't have stopped his training and
+let in his skipper if it were not for some cause that was too
+strong for him.  No; I feel as if he were gone for good and we
+should never see him again."
+
+
+Sherlock Holmes listened with the deepest attention to this
+singular narrative.
+
+"What did you do?" he asked.
+
+"I wired to Cambridge to learn if anything had been heard
+of him there.  I have had an answer.  No one has seen him."
+
+"Could he have got back to Cambridge?"
+
+"Yes, there is a late train -- quarter-past eleven."
+
+"But so far as you can ascertain he did not take it?"
+
+"No, he has not been seen."
+
+"What did you do next?"
+
+"I wired to Lord Mount-James."
+
+"Why to Lord Mount-James?"
+
+"Godfrey is an orphan, and Lord Mount-James is his nearest
+relative -- his uncle, I believe."
+
+"Indeed.  This throws new light upon the matter.
+Lord Mount-James is one of the richest men in England."
+
+"So I've heard Godfrey say."
+
+"And your friend was closely related?"
+
+"Yes, he was his heir, and the old boy is nearly eighty --
+cram full of gout, too.  They say he could chalk his billiard-cue
+with his knuckles.  He never allowed Godfrey a shilling in his
+life, for he is an absolute miser, but it will all come to him
+right enough."
+
+"Have you heard from Lord Mount-James?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What motive could your friend have in going to Lord Mount-James?"
+
+"Well, something was worrying him the night before, and if
+it was to do with money it is possible that he would make for his
+nearest relative who had so much of it, though from all I have
+heard he would not have much chance of getting it.  Godfrey was
+not fond of the old man.  He would not go if he could help it."
+
+"Well, we can soon determine that.  If your friend was going
+to his relative, Lord Mount-James, you have then to explain
+the visit of this rough-looking fellow at so late an hour,
+and the agitation that was caused by his coming."
+
+Cyril Overton pressed his hands to his head.  "I can make
+nothing of it," said he.
+
+"Well, well, I have a clear day, and I shall be happy to look
+into the matter," said Holmes.  "I should strongly recommend
+you to make your preparations for your match without reference
+to this young gentleman.  It must, as you say, have been an
+overpowering necessity which tore him away in such a fashion,
+and the same necessity is likely to hold him away.  Let us step
+round together to this hotel, and see if the porter can throw
+any fresh light upon the matter."
+
+Sherlock Holmes was a past-master in the art of putting a
+humble witness at his ease, and very soon, in the privacy of
+Godfrey Staunton's abandoned room, he had extracted all that
+the porter had to tell.  The visitor of the night before was not
+a gentleman, neither was he a working man.  He was simply what
+the porter described as a "medium-looking chap"; a man of fifty,
+beard grizzled, pale face, quietly dressed.  He seemed himself
+to be agitated.  The porter had observed his hand trembling when
+he had held out the note.  Godfrey Staunton had crammed the note
+into his pocket.  Staunton had not shaken hands with the man in
+the hall.  They had exchanged a few sentences, of which the
+porter had only distinguished the one word "time."  Then they
+had hurried off in the manner described.  It was just half-past
+ten by the hall clock.
+
+"Let me see," said Holmes, seating himself on Staunton's bed.
+"You are the day porter, are you not?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I go off duty at eleven."
+
+"The night porter saw nothing, I suppose?"
+
+"No, sir; one theatre party came in late.  No one else."
+
+"Were you on duty all day yesterday?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Did you take any messages to Mr. Staunton?"
+
+"Yes, sir; one telegram."
+
+"Ah! that's interesting.  What o'clock was this?"
+
+"About six."
+
+"Where was Mr. Staunton when he received it?"
+
+"Here in his room."
+
+"Were you present when he opened it?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I waited to see if there was an answer."
+
+"Well, was there?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  He wrote an answer."
+
+"Did you take it?"
+
+"No; he took it himself."
+
+"But he wrote it in your presence?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  I was standing by the door, and he with his
+back turned at that table.  When he had written it he said,
+`All right, porter, I will take this myself.'"
+
+"What did he write it with?"
+
+"A pen, sir."
+
+"Was the telegraphic form one of these on the table?"
+
+"Yes, sir; it was the top one."
+
+Holmes rose.  Taking the forms he carried them over to the
+window and carefully examined that which was uppermost.
+
+"It is a pity he did not write in pencil," said he, throwing
+them down again with a shrug of disappointment.  "As you have no
+doubt frequently observed, Watson, the impression usually goes
+through -- a fact which has dissolved many a happy marriage.
+However, I can find no trace here.  I rejoice, however,
+to perceive that he wrote with a broad-pointed quill pen,
+and I can hardly doubt that we will find some impression upon
+this blotting-pad.  Ah, yes, surely this is the very thing!"
+
+He tore off a strip of the blotting-paper and turned towards
+us the following hieroglyphic:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Cyril Overton was much excited.  "Hold it to the glass!" he cried.
+
+"That is unnecessary," said Holmes.  "The paper is thin,
+and the reverse will give the message.  Here it is."
+He turned it over and we read:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"So that is the tail end of the telegram which Godfrey Staunton
+dispatched within a few hours of his disappearance.
+There are at least six words of the message which have escaped us;
+but what remains -- `Stand by us for God's sake!' -- proves that
+this young man saw a formidable danger which approached him,
+and from which someone else could protect him.  `US,' mark you!
+Another person was involved.  Who should it be but the pale-faced,
+bearded man, who seemed himself in so nervous a state?
+What, then, is the connection between Godfrey Staunton and the
+bearded man?  And what is the third source from which each of
+them sought for help against pressing danger?  Our inquiry has
+already narrowed down to that."
+
+"We have only to find to whom that telegram is addressed,"
+I suggested.
+
+"Exactly, my dear Watson.  Your reflection, though profound,
+had already crossed my mind.  But I dare say it may have come to
+your notice that if you walk into a post-office and demand to
+see the counterfoil of another man's message there may be some
+disinclination on the part of the officials to oblige you.  There
+is so much red tape in these matters!  However, I have no doubt
+that with a little delicacy and finesse the end may be attained.
+Meanwhile, I should like in your presence, Mr. Overton, to go
+through these papers which have been left upon the table."
+
+There were a number of letters, bills, and note-books, which
+Holmes turned over and examined with quick, nervous fingers and
+darting, penetrating eyes.  "Nothing here," he said, at last.
+"By the way, I suppose your friend was a healthy young fellow --
+nothing amiss with him?"
+
+"Sound as a bell."
+
+"Have you ever known him ill?"
+
+"Not a day.  He has been laid up with a hack, and once he
+slipped his knee-cap, but that was nothing."
+
+"Perhaps he was not so strong as you suppose.  I should think
+he may have had some secret trouble.  With your assent I will
+put one or two of these papers in my pocket, in case they
+should bear upon our future inquiry."
+
+"One moment! one moment!" cried a querulous voice, and we
+looked up to find a queer little old man, jerking and twitching
+in the doorway.  He was dressed in rusty black, with a very
+broad brimmed top-hat and a loose white necktie -- the whole
+effect being that of a very rustic parson or of an undertaker's
+mute.  Yet, in spite of his shabby and even absurd appearance,
+his voice had a sharp crackle, and his manner a quick intensity
+which commanded attention.
+
+"Who are you, sir, and by what right do you touch this
+gentleman's papers?" he asked.
+
+"I am a private detective, and I am endeavouring to explain
+his disappearance."
+
+"Oh, you are, are you?  And who instructed you, eh?"
+
+"This gentleman, Mr. Staunton's friend, was referred to me
+by Scotland Yard."
+
+"Who are you, sir?"
+
+"I am Cyril Overton."
+
+"Then it is you who sent me a telegram.  My name is Lord Mount-James.
+I came round as quickly as the Bayswater 'bus would bring me.
+So you have instructed a detective?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And are you prepared to meet the cost?"
+
+"I have no doubt, sir, that my friend Godfrey, when we find him,
+will be prepared to do that."
+
+"But if he is never found, eh?  Answer me that!"
+
+"In that case no doubt his family ----"
+
+"Nothing of the sort, sir!" screamed the little man.
+"Don't look to me for a penny -- not a penny!  You understand that,
+Mr. Detective!  I am all the family that this young man has got,
+and I tell you that I am not responsible.  If he has any expectations
+it is due to the fact that I have never wasted money, and I do
+not propose to begin to do so now.  As to those papers with which
+you are making so free, I may tell you that in case there should
+be anything of any value among them you will be held strictly
+to account for what you do with them."
+
+"Very good, sir," said Sherlock Holmes.  "May I ask in the
+meanwhile whether you have yourself any theory to account for
+this young man's disappearance?"
+
+"No, sir, I have not.  He is big enough and old enough to look
+after himself, and if he is so foolish as to lose himself I
+entirely refuse to accept the responsibility of hunting for him."
+
+"I quite understand your position," said Holmes, with a
+mischievous twinkle in his eyes.  "Perhaps you don't quite
+understand mine.  Godfrey Staunton appears to have been a poor
+man.  If he has been kidnapped it could not have been for
+anything which he himself possesses.  The fame of your wealth has
+gone abroad, Lord Mount-James, and it is entirely possible that a
+gang of thieves have secured your nephew in order to gain from him
+some information as to your house, your habits, and your treasure."
+
+The face of our unpleasant little visitor turned as white as
+his neckcloth.
+
+"Heavens, sir, what an idea!  I never thought of such villainy!
+What inhuman rogues there are in the world!  But Godfrey is a
+fine lad -- a staunch lad.  Nothing would induce him to give
+his old uncle away.  I'll have the plate moved over to the bank
+this evening.  In the meantime spare no pains, Mr. Detective!
+I beg you to leave no stone unturned to bring him safely back.
+As to money, well, so far as a fiver, or even a tenner, goes,
+you can always look to me."
+
+Even in his chastened frame of mind the noble miser could give
+us no information which could help us, for he knew little of
+the private life of his nephew.  Our only clue lay in the
+truncated telegram, and with a copy of this in his hand Holmes
+set forth to find a second link for his chain.  We had shaken off
+Lord Mount-James, and Overton had gone to consult with the other
+members of his team over the misfortune which had befallen them.
+
+There was a telegraph-office at a short distance from the hotel.
+We halted outside it.
+
+"It's worth trying, Watson," said Holmes.  "Of course, with
+a warrant we could demand to see the counterfoils, but we have
+not reached that stage yet.  I don't suppose they remember faces
+in so busy a place.  Let us venture it."
+
+"I am sorry to trouble you," said he, in his blandest manner,
+to the young woman behind the grating; "there is some small
+mistake about a telegram I sent yesterday.  I have had no answer,
+and I very much fear that I must have omitted to put my name
+at the end.  Could you tell me if this was so?"
+
+The young woman turned over a sheaf of counterfoils.
+
+"What o'clock was it?" she asked.
+
+"A little after six."
+
+"Whom was it to?"
+
+Holmes put his finger to his lips and glanced at me.
+"The last words in it were `for God's sake,'" he whispered,
+confidentially; "I am very anxious at getting no answer."
+
+The young woman separated one of the forms.
+
+"This is it.  There is no name," said she, smoothing it out
+upon the counter.
+
+"Then that, of course, accounts for my getting no answer,"
+said Holmes.  "Dear me, how very stupid of me, to be sure!
+Good morning, miss, and many thanks for having relieved my mind."
+He chuckled and rubbed his hands when we found ourselves in the
+street once more.
+
+"Well?" I asked.
+
+"We progress, my dear Watson, we progress.  I had seven
+different schemes for getting a glimpse of that telegram,
+but I could hardly hope to succeed the very first time."
+
+"And what have you gained?"
+
+"A starting-point for our investigation."  He hailed a cab.
+"King's Cross Station," said he.
+
+"We have a journey, then?"
+
+"Yes; I think we must run down to Cambridge together.
+All the indications seem to me to point in that direction."
+
+"Tell me," I asked, as we rattled up Gray's Inn Road,
+"have you any suspicion yet as to the cause of the disappearance?
+I don't think that among all our cases I have known one where the
+motives are more obscure.  Surely you don't really imagine that
+he may be kidnapped in order to give information against his
+wealthy uncle?"
+
+"I confess, my dear Watson, that that does not appeal to
+me as a very probable explanation.  It struck me, however,
+as being the one which was most likely to interest that
+exceedingly unpleasant old person."
+
+"It certainly did that.  But what are your alternatives?"
+
+"I could mention several.  You must admit that it is curious
+and suggestive that this incident should occur on the eve of this
+important match, and should involve the only man whose presence
+seems essential to the success of the side.  It may, of course,
+be coincidence, but it is interesting.  Amateur sport is free
+from betting, but a good deal of outside betting goes on among
+the public, and it is possible that it might be worth someone's
+while to get at a player as the ruffians of the turf get at a
+race-horse.  There is one explanation.  A second very obvious one
+is that this young man really is the heir of a great property,
+however modest his means may at present be, and it is not
+impossible that a plot to hold him for ransom might be concocted."
+
+"These theories take no account of the telegram."
+
+"Quite true, Watson.  The telegram still remains the only
+solid thing with which we have to deal, and we must not permit
+our attention to wander away from it.  It is to gain light upon
+the purpose of this telegram that we are now upon our way to
+Cambridge.  The path of our investigation is at present obscure,
+but I shall be very much surprised if before evening we have not
+cleared it up or made a considerable advance along it."
+
+It was already dark when we reached the old University city.
+Holmes took a cab at the station, and ordered the man to drive to
+the house of Dr. Leslie Armstrong.  A few minutes later we had
+stopped at a large mansion in the busiest thoroughfare.  We were
+shown in, and after a long wait were at last admitted into the
+consulting-room, where we found the doctor seated behind his table.
+
+It argues the degree in which I had lost touch with my
+profession that the name of Leslie Armstrong was unknown to me.
+Now I am aware that he is not only one of the heads of the
+medical school of the University, but a thinker of European
+reputation in more than one branch of science.  Yet even without
+knowing his brilliant record one could not fail to be impressed
+by a mere glance at the man, the square, massive face, the
+brooding eyes under the thatched brows, and the granite moulding
+of the inflexible jaw.  A man of deep character, a man with an
+alert mind, grim, ascetic, self-contained, formidable -- so I read
+Dr. Leslie Armstrong.  He held my friend's card in his hand, and
+he looked up with no very pleased expression upon his dour features.
+
+"I have heard your name, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and I am aware
+of your profession, one of which I by no means approve."
+
+"In that, doctor, you will find yourself in agreement with
+every criminal in the country," said my friend, quietly.
+
+"So far as your efforts are directed towards the suppression
+of crime, sir, they must have the support of every reasonable
+member of the community, though I cannot doubt that the official
+machinery is amply sufficient for the purpose.  Where your
+calling is more open to criticism is when you pry into the
+secrets of private individuals, when you rake up family matters
+which are better hidden, and when you incidentally waste the time
+of men who are more busy than yourself.  At the present moment,
+for example, I should be writing a treatise instead of conversing
+with you."
+
+"No doubt, doctor; and yet the conversation may prove more
+important than the treatise.  Incidentally I may tell you that
+we are doing the reverse of what you very justly blame, and that
+we are endeavouring to prevent anything like public exposure of
+private matters which must necessarily follow when once the case
+is fairly in the hands of the official police.  You may look
+upon me simply as an irregular pioneer who goes in front of the
+regular forces of the country.  I have come to ask you about
+Mr. Godfrey Staunton."
+
+"What about him?"
+
+"You know him, do you not?"
+
+"He is an intimate friend of mine."
+
+"You are aware that he has disappeared?"
+
+"Ah, indeed!"  There was no change of expression in the
+rugged features of the doctor.
+
+"He left his hotel last night.  He has not been heard of."
+
+"No doubt he will return."
+
+"To-morrow is the 'Varsity football match."
+
+"I have no sympathy with these childish games.  The young
+man's fate interests me deeply, since I know him and like him.
+The football match does not come within my horizon at all."
+
+"I claim your sympathy, then, in my investigation of Mr.
+Staunton's fate.  Do you know where he is?"
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"You have not seen him since yesterday?"
+
+"No, I have not."
+
+"Was Mr. Staunton a healthy man?"
+
+"Absolutely."
+
+"Did you ever know him ill?"
+
+"Never."
+
+Holmes popped a sheet of paper before the doctor's eyes.
+"Then perhaps you will explain this receipted bill for thirteen
+guineas, paid by Mr. Godfrey Staunton last month to Dr. Leslie
+Armstrong of Cambridge.  I picked it out from among the papers
+upon his desk."
+
+The doctor flushed with anger.
+
+"I do not feel that there is any reason why I should render
+an explanation to you, Mr. Holmes."
+
+Holmes replaced the bill in his note-book.  "If you prefer
+a public explanation it must come sooner or later," said he.
+"I have already told you that I can hush up that which others
+will be bound to publish, and you would really be wiser to
+take me into your complete confidence."
+
+"I know nothing about it."
+
+"Did you hear from Mr. Staunton in London?"
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"Dear me, dear me; the post-office again!" Holmes sighed,
+wearily.  "A most urgent telegram was dispatched to you from
+London by Godfrey Staunton at six-fifteen yesterday evening --
+a telegram which is undoubtedly associated with his disappearance
+-- and yet you have not had it.  It is most culpable.  I shall
+certainly go down to the office here and register a complaint."
+
+Dr. Leslie Armstrong sprang up from behind his desk, and his
+dark face was crimson with fury.
+
+"I'll trouble you to walk out of my house, sir," said he.
+"You can tell your employer, Lord Mount-James, that I do not
+wish to have anything to do either with him or with his agents.
+No, sir, not another word!"  He rang the bell furiously.
+"John, show these gentlemen out!"  A pompous butler ushered
+us severely to the door, and we found ourselves in the street.
+Holmes burst out laughing.
+
+"Dr. Leslie Armstrong is certainly a man of energy and
+character," said he.  "I have not seen a man who, if he turned
+his talents that way, was more calculated to fill the gap left by
+the illustrious Moriarty.  And now, my poor Watson, here we are,
+stranded and friendless in this inhospitable town, which we
+cannot leave without abandoning our case.  This little inn just
+opposite Armstrong's house is singularly adapted to our needs.
+If you would engage a front room and purchase the necessaries
+for the night, I may have time to make a few inquiries."
+
+These few inquiries proved, however, to be a more lengthy
+proceeding than Holmes had imagined, for he did not return to
+the inn until nearly nine o'clock.  He was pale and dejected,
+stained with dust, and exhausted with hunger and fatigue.
+A cold supper was ready upon the table, and when his needs were
+satisfied and his pipe alight he was ready to take that half comic
+and wholly philosophic view which was natural to him when his
+affairs were going awry.  The sound of carriage wheels caused him
+to rise and glance out of the window.  A brougham and pair of greys
+under the glare of a gas-lamp stood before the doctor's door.
+
+"It's been out three hours," said Holmes; "started at half-past
+six, and here it is back again.  That gives a radius of ten or
+twelve miles, and he does it once, or sometimes twice, a day."
+
+"No unusual thing for a doctor in practice."
+
+"But Armstrong is not really a doctor in practice.  He is a
+lecturer and a consultant, but he does not care for general
+practice, which distracts him from his literary work.
+Why, then, does he make these long journeys, which must be
+exceedingly irksome to him, and who is it that he visits?"
+
+"His coachman ----"
+
+"My dear Watson, can you doubt that it was to him that I
+first applied?  I do not know whether it came from his own innate
+depravity or from the promptings of his master, but he was rude
+enough to set a dog at me.  Neither dog nor man liked the look of
+my stick, however, and the matter fell through.  Relations were
+strained after that, and further inquiries out of the question.
+All that I have learned I got from a friendly native in the yard
+of our own inn.  It was he who told me of the doctor's habits and
+of his daily journey.  At that instant, to give point to his
+words, the carriage came round to the door."
+
+"Could you not follow it?"
+
+"Excellent, Watson!  You are scintillating this evening.
+The idea did cross my mind.  There is, as you may have observed,
+a bicycle shop next to our inn.  Into this I rushed, engaged a
+bicycle, and was able to get started before the carriage was
+quite out of sight.  I rapidly overtook it, and then, keeping at
+a discreet distance of a hundred yards or so, I followed its
+lights until we were clear of the town.  We had got well out on
+the country road when a somewhat mortifying incident occurred.
+The carriage stopped, the doctor alighted, walked swiftly back to
+where I had also halted, and told me in an excellent sardonic
+fashion that he feared the road was narrow, and that he hoped his
+carriage did not impede the passage of my bicycle.  Nothing could
+have been more admirable than his way of putting it.  I at once
+rode past the carriage, and, keeping to the main road, I went on
+for a few miles, and then halted in a convenient place to see if
+the carriage passed.  There was no sign of it, however, and so it
+became evident that it had turned down one of several side roads
+which I had observed.  I rode back, but again saw nothing of the
+carriage, and now, as you perceive, it has returned after me.
+Of course, I had at the outset no particular reason to connect
+these journeys with the disappearance of Godfrey Staunton,
+and was only inclined to investigate them on the general grounds
+that everything which concerns Dr. Armstrong is at present of
+interest to us; but, now that I find he keeps so keen a look-out
+upon anyone who may follow him on these excursions, the affair
+appears more important, and I shall not be satisfied until
+I have made the matter clear."
+
+"We can follow him to-morrow."
+
+"Can we?  It is not so easy as you seem to think.  You are
+not familiar with Cambridgeshire scenery, are you?  It does not
+lend itself to concealment.  All this country that I passed over
+to-night is as flat and clean as the palm of your hand, and the
+man we are following is no fool, as he very clearly showed
+to-night.  I have wired to Overton to let us know any fresh
+London developments at this address, and in the meantime we can
+only concentrate our attention upon Dr. Armstrong, whose name
+the obliging young lady at the office allowed me to read upon
+the counterfoil of Staunton's urgent message.  He knows where
+the young man is -- to that I'll swear -- and if he knows,
+then it must be our own fault if we cannot manage to know also.
+At present it must be admitted that the odd trick is in his
+possession, and, as you are aware, Watson, it is not my habit
+to leave the game in that condition."
+
+And yet the next day brought us no nearer to the solution of
+the mystery.  A note was handed in after breakfast, which Holmes
+passed across to me with a smile.
+
+"Sir," it ran, "I can assure you that you are wasting your time
+in dogging my movements.  I have, as you discovered last night,
+a window at the back of my brougham, and if you desire a
+twenty-mile ride which will lead you to the spot from which you
+started, you have only to follow me.  Meanwhile, I can inform you
+that no spying upon me can in any way help Mr. Godfrey Staunton,
+and I am convinced that the best service you can do to that
+gentleman is to return at once to London and to report to your
+employer that you are unable to trace him.  Your time in
+Cambridge will certainly be wasted.
+                    "Yours faithfully,
+                         "LESLIE ARMSTRONG."
+
+"An outspoken, honest antagonist is the doctor," said Holmes.
+"Well, well, he excites my curiosity, and I must really know
+more before I leave him."
+
+"His carriage is at his door now," said I.  "There he is stepping
+into it.  I saw him glance up at our window as he did so.
+Suppose I try my luck upon the bicycle?"
+
+"No, no, my dear Watson!  With all respect for your natural
+acumen I do not think that you are quite a match for the worthy
+doctor.  I think that possibly I can attain our end by some
+independent explorations of my own.  I am afraid that I must
+leave you to your own devices, as the appearance of TWO inquiring
+strangers upon a sleepy countryside might excite more gossip than
+I care for.  No doubt you will find some sights to amuse you in
+this venerable city, and I hope to bring back a more favourable
+report to you before evening."
+
+Once more, however, my friend was destined to be disappointed.
+He came back at night weary and unsuccessful.
+
+"I have had a blank day, Watson.  Having got the doctor's
+general direction, I spent the day in visiting all the villages
+upon that side of Cambridge, and comparing notes with publicans
+and other local news agencies.  I have covered some ground:
+Chesterton, Histon, Waterbeach, and Oakington have each been
+explored and have each proved disappointing.  The daily
+appearance of a brougham and pair could hardly have been
+overlooked in such Sleepy Hollows.  The doctor has scored once
+more.  Is there a telegram for me?"
+
+"Yes; I opened it.  Here it is: `Ask for Pompey from Jeremy
+Dixon, Trinity College.'  I don't understand it."
+
+"Oh, it is clear enough.  It is from our friend Overton,
+and is in answer to a question from me.  I'll just send round
+a note to Mr. Jeremy Dixon, and then I have no doubt that our
+luck will turn.  By the way, is there any news of the match?"
+
+"Yes, the local evening paper has an excellent account in its
+last edition.  Oxford won by a goal and two tries.  The last
+sentences of the description say:  `The defeat of the Light Blues
+may be entirely attributed to the unfortunate absence of the crack
+International, Godfrey Staunton, whose want was felt at every
+instant of the game.  The lack of combination in the three-quarter
+line and their weakness both in attack and defence more than
+neutralized the efforts of a heavy and hard-working pack.'"
+
+"Then our friend Overton's forebodings have been justified,"
+said Holmes.  "Personally I am in agreement with Dr. Armstrong,
+and football does not come within my horizon.  Early to bed to-night,
+Watson, for I foresee that to-morrow may be an eventful day."
+
+
+I was horrified by my first glimpse of Holmes next morning,
+for he sat by the fire holding his tiny hypodermic syringe.
+I associated that instrument with the single weakness of his
+nature, and I feared the worst when I saw it glittering in his
+hand.  He laughed at my expression of dismay, and laid it upon
+the table.
+
+"No, no, my dear fellow, there is no cause for alarm.  It is
+not upon this occasion the instrument of evil, but it will rather
+prove to be the key which will unlock our mystery.  On this
+syringe I base all my hopes.  I have just returned from a small
+scouting expedition and everything is favourable.  Eat a good
+breakfast, Watson, for I propose to get upon Dr. Armstrong's
+trail to-day, and once on it I will not stop for rest or food
+until I run him to his burrow."
+
+"In that case," said I, "we had best carry our breakfast with us,
+for he is making an early start.  His carriage is at the door."
+
+"Never mind.  Let him go.  He will be clever if he can drive
+where I cannot follow him.  When you have finished come
+downstairs with me, and I will introduce you to a detective who
+is a very eminent specialist in the work that lies before us."
+
+When we descended I followed Holmes into the stable yard, where
+he opened the door of a loose-box and led out a squat, lop-eared,
+white-and-tan dog, something between a beagle and a foxhound.
+
+"Let me introduce you to Pompey," said he.  "Pompey is the
+pride of the local draghounds, no very great flier, as his build
+will show, but a staunch hound on a scent.  Well, Pompey, you may
+not be fast, but I expect you will be too fast for a couple of
+middle-aged London gentlemen, so I will take the liberty of
+fastening this leather leash to your collar.  Now, boy, come
+along, and show what you can do."  He led him across to the
+doctor's door.  The dog sniffed round for an instant, and then
+with a shrill whine of excitement started off down the street,
+tugging at his leash in his efforts to go faster.  In half an hour,
+we were clear of the town and hastening down a country road.
+
+"What have you done, Holmes?" I asked.
+
+"A threadbare and venerable device, but useful upon occasion.
+I walked into the doctor's yard this morning and shot my
+syringe full of aniseed over the hind wheel.  A draghound will
+follow aniseed from here to John o' Groat's, and our friend
+Armstrong would have to drive through the Cam before he would
+shake Pompey off his trail.  Oh, the cunning rascal!
+This is how he gave me the slip the other night."
+
+The dog had suddenly turned out of the main road into a
+grass-grown lane.  Half a mile farther this opened into another
+broad road, and the trail turned hard to the right in the
+direction of the town, which we had just quitted.  The road took
+a sweep to the south of the town and continued in the opposite
+direction to that in which we started.
+
+"This DETOUR has been entirely for our benefit, then?" said
+Holmes.  "No wonder that my inquiries among those villages led
+to nothing.  The doctor has certainly played the game for all
+it is worth, and one would like to know the reason for such
+elaborate deception.  This should be the village of Trumpington
+to the right of us.  And, by Jove! here is the brougham coming
+round the corner.  Quick, Watson, quick, or we are done!"
+
+He sprang through a gate into a field, dragging the
+reluctant Pompey after him.  We had hardly got under the shelter
+of the hedge when the carriage rattled past.  I caught a glimpse
+of Dr. Armstrong within, his shoulders bowed, his head sunk on
+his hands, the very image of distress.  I could tell by my
+companion's graver face that he also had seen.
+
+"I fear there is some dark ending to our quest," said he.
+"It cannot be long before we know it.  Come, Pompey!
+Ah, it is the cottage in the field!"
+
+There could be no doubt that we had reached the end of our
+journey.  Pompey ran about and whined eagerly outside the gate
+where the marks of the brougham's wheels were still to be seen.
+A footpath led across to the lonely cottage.  Holmes tied the dog
+to the hedge, and we hastened onwards.  My friend knocked at the
+little rustic door, and knocked again without response.  And yet
+the cottage was not deserted, for a low sound came to our ears --
+a kind of drone of misery and despair, which was indescribably
+melancholy.  Holmes paused irresolute, and then he glanced back
+at the road which we had just traversed.  A brougham was coming
+down it, and there could be no mistaking those grey horses.
+
+"By Jove, the doctor is coming back!" cried Holmes.  "That
+settles it.  We are bound to see what it means before he comes."
+
+He opened the door and we stepped into the hall.  The droning
+sound swelled louder upon our ears until it became one long,
+deep wail of distress.  It came from upstairs.  Holmes darted
+up and I followed him.  He pushed open a half-closed door
+and we both stood appalled at the sight before us.
+
+A woman, young and beautiful, was lying dead upon the bed.
+Her calm, pale face, with dim, wide-opened blue eyes, looked
+upward from amid a great tangle of golden hair.  At the foot of
+the bed, half sitting, half kneeling, his face buried in the
+clothes, was a young man, whose frame was racked by his sobs.
+So absorbed was he by his bitter grief that he never looked
+up until Holmes's hand was on his shoulder.
+
+"Are you Mr. Godfrey Staunton?"
+
+"Yes, yes; I am -- but you are too late.  She is dead."
+
+The man was so dazed that he could not be made to understand
+that we were anything but doctors who had been sent to his
+assistance.  Holmes was endeavouring to utter a few words of
+consolation, and to explain the alarm which had been caused to
+his friends by his sudden disappearance, when there was a step
+upon the stairs, and there was the heavy, stern, questioning
+face of Dr. Armstrong at the door.
+
+"So, gentlemen," said he, "you have attained your end, and
+have certainly chosen a particularly delicate moment for your
+intrusion.  I would not brawl in the presence of death, but I can
+assure you that if I were a younger man your monstrous conduct
+would not pass with impunity."
+
+"Excuse me, Dr. Armstrong, I think we are a little at
+cross-purposes," said my friend, with dignity.  "If you could
+step downstairs with us we may each be able to give some light
+to the other upon this miserable affair."
+
+A minute later the grim doctor and ourselves were in the
+sitting-room below.
+
+"Well, sir?" said he.
+
+"I wish you to understand, in the first place, that I am not
+employed by Lord Mount-James, and that my sympathies in this
+matter are entirely against that nobleman.  When a man is lost it
+is my duty to ascertain his fate, but having done so the matter
+ends so far as I am concerned; and so long as there is nothing
+criminal, I am much more anxious to hush up private scandals than
+to give them publicity.  If, as I imagine, there is no breach of
+the law in this matter, you can absolutely depend upon my discretion
+and my co-operation in keeping the facts out of the papers."
+
+Dr. Armstrong took a quick step forward and wrung Holmes by the hand.
+
+"You are a good fellow," said he.  "I had misjudged you.
+I thank Heaven that my compunction at leaving poor Staunton
+all alone in this plight caused me to turn my carriage back,
+and so to make your acquaintance.  Knowing as much as you do,
+the situation is very easily explained.  A year ago Godfrey Staunton
+lodged in London for a time, and became passionately attached to
+his landlady's daughter, whom he married.  She was as good as she
+was beautiful, and as intelligent as she was good.  No man need
+be ashamed of such a wife.  But Godfrey was the heir to this
+crabbed old nobleman, and it was quite certain that the news of
+his marriage would have been the end of his inheritance.  I knew
+the lad well, and I loved him for his many excellent qualities.
+I did all I could to help him to keep things straight.  We did
+our very best to keep the thing from everyone, for when once such
+a whisper gets about it is not long before everyone has heard it.
+Thanks to this lonely cottage and his own discretion, Godfrey has
+up to now succeeded.  Their secret was known to no one save to me
+and to one excellent servant who has at present gone for
+assistance to Trumpington.  But at last there came a terrible
+blow in the shape of dangerous illness to his wife.  It was
+consumption of the most virulent kind.  The poor boy was half
+crazed with grief, and yet he had to go to London to play this
+match, for he could not get out of it without explanations which
+would expose his secret.  I tried to cheer him up by a wire, and
+he sent me one in reply imploring me to do all I could.  This was
+the telegram which you appear in some inexplicable way to have
+seen.  I did not tell him how urgent the danger was, for I knew
+that he could do no good here, but I sent the truth to the girl's
+father, and he very injudiciously communicated it to Godfrey.
+The result was that he came straight away in a state bordering on
+frenzy, and has remained in the same state, kneeling at the end
+of her bed, until this morning death put an end to her sufferings.
+That is all, Mr. Holmes, and I am sure that I can rely upon your
+discretion and that of your friend."
+
+Holmes grasped the doctor's hand.
+
+"Come, Watson," said he, and we passed from that house of grief
+into the pale sunlight of the winter day.
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 28  SEPTEMBER, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+XII.  --- The Adventure of the Abbey Grange.
+
+
+It was on a bitterly cold and frosty morning during the winter
+of '97 that I was awakened by a tugging at my shoulder.  It was
+Holmes.  The candle in his hand shone upon his eager, stooping
+face and told me at a glance that something was amiss.
+
+"Come, Watson, come!" he cried.  "The game is afoot.  Not a word!
+Into your clothes and come!"
+
+Ten minutes later we were both in a cab and rattling through the
+silent streets on our way to Charing Cross Station.  The first
+faint winter's dawn was beginning to appear, and we could dimly
+see the occasional figure of an early workman as he passed us,
+blurred and indistinct in the opalescent London reek.  Holmes
+nestled in silence into his heavy coat, and I was glad to do the
+same, for the air was most bitter and neither of us had broken
+our fast.  It was not until we had consumed some hot tea at the
+station, and taken our places in the Kentish train, that we were
+sufficiently thawed, he to speak and I to listen.  Holmes drew a
+note from his pocket and read it aloud:--
+
+      "Abbey Grange, Marsham, Kent,
+                         "3.30 a.m.
+"MY DEAR MR. HOLMES, --- I should be very glad of your immediate
+assistance in what promises to be a most remarkable case.
+It is something quite in your line.  Except for releasing the lady
+I will see that everything is kept exactly as I have found it,
+but I beg you not to lose an instant, as it is difficult to leave
+Sir Eustace there.
+      "Yours faithfully, STANLEY HOPKINS."
+
+"Hopkins has called me in seven times, and on each occasion
+his summons has been entirely justified," said Holmes.
+"I fancy that every one of his cases has found its way into your
+collection, and I must admit, Watson, that you have some power
+of selection which atones for much which I deplore in your
+narratives.  Your fatal habit of looking at everything from the
+point of view of a story instead of as a scientific exercise has
+ruined what might have been an instructive and even classical
+series of demonstrations.  You slur over work of the utmost
+finesse and delicacy in order to dwell upon sensational details
+which may excite, but cannot possibly instruct, the reader."
+
+"Why do you not write them yourself?" I said, with some bitterness.
+
+"I will, my dear Watson, I will.  At present I am, as you know,
+fairly busy, but I propose to devote my declining years to the
+composition of a text-book which shall focus the whole art of
+detection into one volume.  Our present research appears to be
+a case of murder."
+
+"You think this Sir Eustace is dead, then?"
+
+"I should say so.  Hopkins's writing shows considerable
+agitation, and he is not an emotional man.  Yes, I gather there
+has been violence, and that the body is left for our inspection.
+A mere suicide would not have caused him to send for me.
+As to the release of the lady, it would appear that she has been
+locked in her room during the tragedy.  We are moving in high life,
+Watson; crackling paper, `E.B.' monogram, coat-of-arms,
+picturesque address.  I think that friend Hopkins will live up
+to his reputation and that we shall have an interesting
+morning.  The crime was committed before twelve last night."
+
+"How can you possibly tell?"
+
+"By an inspection of the trains and by reckoning the time.
+The local police had to be called in, they had to communicate
+with Scotland Yard, Hopkins had to go out, and he in turn had
+to send for me.  All that makes a fair night's work.
+Well, here we are at Chislehurst Station, and we shall soon
+set our doubts at rest."
+
+A drive of a couple of miles through narrow country lanes
+brought us to a park gate, which was opened for us by an old
+lodge-keeper, whose haggard face bore the reflection of some
+great disaster.  The avenue ran through a noble park, between
+lines of ancient elms, and ended in a low, widespread house,
+pillared in front after the fashion of Palladio.  The central
+part was evidently of a great age and shrouded in ivy, but the
+large windows showed that modern changes had been carried out,
+and one wing of the house appeared to be entirely new.
+The youthful figure and alert, eager face of Inspector Stanley
+Hopkins confronted us in the open doorway.
+
+"I'm very glad you have come, Mr. Holmes.  And you too,
+Dr. Watson!  But, indeed, if I had my time over again I
+should not have troubled you, for since the lady has come to
+herself she has given so clear an account of the affair that
+there is not much left for us to do.  You remember that
+Lewisham gang of burglars?"
+
+"What, the three Randalls?"
+
+"Exactly; the father and two sons.  It's their work.
+I have not a doubt of it.  They did a job at Sydenham a
+fortnight ago, and were seen and described.  Rather cool
+to do another so soon and so near, but it is they,
+beyond all doubt.  It's a hanging matter this time."
+
+"Sir Eustace is dead, then?"
+
+"Yes; his head was knocked in with his own poker."
+
+"Sir Eustace Brackenstall, the driver tells me."
+
+"Exactly -- one of the richest men in Kent.
+Lady Brackenstall is in the morning-room.  Poor lady,
+she has had a most dreadful experience.  She seemed half
+dead when I saw her first.  I think you had best see her
+and hear her account of the facts.  Then we will examine
+the dining-room together."
+
+Lady Brackenstall was no ordinary person.  Seldom have I seen
+so graceful a figure, so womanly a presence, and so beautiful
+a face.  She was a blonde, golden-haired, blue-eyed, and would,
+no doubt, have had the perfect complexion which goes with such
+colouring had not her recent experience left her drawn and
+haggard.  Her sufferings were physical as well as mental, for
+over one eye rose a hideous, plum-coloured swelling, which her
+maid, a tall, austere woman, was bathing assiduously with
+vinegar and water.  The lady lay back exhausted upon a couch,
+but her quick, observant gaze as we entered the room, and the
+alert expression of her beautiful features, showed that neither
+her wits nor her courage had been shaken by her terrible
+experience.  She was enveloped in a loose dressing-gown of blue
+and silver, but a black sequin-covered dinner-dress was hung
+upon the couch beside her.
+
+"I have told you all that happened, Mr. Hopkins," she said,
+wearily; "could you not repeat it for me?  Well, if you think
+it necessary, I will tell these gentlemen what occurred.
+Have they been in the dining-room yet?"
+
+"I thought they had better hear your ladyship's story first."
+
+"I shall be glad when you can arrange matters.  It is horrible
+to me to think of him still lying there."  She shuddered and
+buried her face in her hands.  As she did so the loose gown
+fell back from her forearms.  Holmes uttered an exclamation.
+
+"You have other injuries, madam!  What is this?"
+Two vivid red spots stood out on one of the white, round limbs.
+She hastily covered it.
+
+"It is nothing.  It has no connection with the hideous business
+of last night.  If you and your friend will sit down I will
+tell you all I can.
+
+"I am the wife of Sir Eustace Brackenstall.  I have been married
+about a year.  I suppose that it is no use my attempting to
+conceal that our marriage has not been a happy one.
+I fear that all our neighbours would tell you that, even if I
+were to attempt to deny it.  Perhaps the fault may be partly mine.
+I was brought up in the freer, less conventional atmosphere of
+South Australia, and this English life, with its proprieties and
+its primness, is not congenial to me.  But the main reason lies
+in the one fact which is notorious to everyone, and that is that
+Sir Eustace was a confirmed drunkard.  To be with such a man for
+an hour is unpleasant.  Can you imagine what it means for a
+sensitive and high-spirited woman to be tied to him for day and
+night?  It is a sacrilege, a crime, a villainy to hold that such
+a marriage is binding.  I say that these monstrous laws of yours
+will bring a curse upon the land -- Heaven will not let such
+wickedness endure."  For an instant she sat up, her cheeks flushed,
+and her eyes blazing from under the terrible mark upon her brow.
+Then the strong, soothing hand of the austere maid drew her head
+down on to the cushion, and the wild anger died away into
+passionate sobbing.  At last she continued:--
+
+"I will tell you about last night.  You are aware, perhaps,
+that in this house all servants sleep in the modern wing.
+This central block is made up of the dwelling-rooms, with the
+kitchen behind and our bedroom above.  My maid Theresa sleeps
+above my room.  There is no one else, and no sound could alarm
+those who are in the farther wing.  This must have been well
+known to the robbers, or they would not have acted as they did.
+
+"Sir Eustace retired about half-past ten.  The servants had
+already gone to their quarters.  Only my maid was up, and she
+had remained in her room at the top of the house until I needed
+her services.  I sat until after eleven in this room, absorbed
+in a book.  Then I walked round to see that all was right before
+I went upstairs.  It was my custom to do this myself, for,
+as I have explained, Sir Eustace was not always to be trusted.
+I went into the kitchen, the butler's pantry, the gun-room,
+the billiard-room, the drawing-room, and finally the dining-room.
+As I approached the window, which is covered with thick curtains,
+I suddenly felt the wind blow upon my face and realized that it
+was open.  I flung the curtain aside and found myself face to
+face with a broad-shouldered, elderly man who had just stepped
+into the room.  The window is a long French one, which really
+forms a door leading to the lawn.  I held my bedroom candle
+lit in my hand, and, by its light, behind the first man I saw
+two others, who were in the act of entering.  I stepped back,
+but the fellow was on me in an instant.  He caught me first by
+the wrist and then by the throat.  I opened my mouth to scream,
+but he struck me a savage blow with his fist over the eye,
+and felled me to the ground.  I must have been unconscious for
+a few minutes, for when I came to myself I found that they
+had torn down the bell-rope and had secured me tightly to the
+oaken chair which stands at the head of the dining-room table.
+I was so firmly bound that I could not move, and a handkerchief
+round my mouth prevented me from uttering any sound.  It was at
+this instant that my unfortunate husband entered the room.
+He had evidently heard some suspicious sounds, and he came
+prepared for such a scene as he found.  He was dressed in his
+shirt and trousers, with his favourite blackthorn cudgel in his
+hand.  He rushed at one of the burglars, but another -- it was
+the elderly man -- stooped, picked the poker out of the grate,
+and struck him a horrible blow as he passed.  He fell without
+a groan, and never moved again.  I fainted once more, but again
+it could only have been a very few minutes during which I was
+insensible.  When I opened my eyes I found that they had
+collected the silver from the sideboard, and they had drawn
+a bottle of wine which stood there.  Each of them had a glass
+in his hand.  I have already told you, have I not, that one
+was elderly, with a beard, and the others young, hairless lads.
+They might have been a father with his two sons.  They talked
+together in whispers.  Then they came over and made sure that
+I was still securely bound.  Finally they withdrew, closing
+the window after them.  It was quite a quarter of an hour
+before I got my mouth free.  When I did so my screams brought
+the maid to my assistance.  The other servants were soon alarmed,
+and we sent for the local police, who instantly communicated
+with London.  That is really all that I can tell you, gentlemen,
+and I trust that it will not be necessary for me to go over so
+painful a story again."
+
+"Any questions, Mr. Holmes?" asked Hopkins.
+
+"I will not impose any further tax upon Lady Brackenstall's
+patience and time," said Holmes.  "Before I go into the
+dining-room I should like to hear your experience."
+He looked at the maid.
+
+"I saw the men before ever they came into the house," said she.
+"As I sat by my bedroom window I saw three men in the moonlight
+down by the lodge gate yonder, but I thought nothing of it at
+the time.  It was more than an hour after that I heard my
+mistress scream, and down I ran, to find her, poor lamb, just as
+she says, and him on the floor with his blood and brains over
+the room.  It was enough to drive a woman out of her wits, tied
+there, and her very dress spotted with him; but she never wanted
+courage, did Miss Mary Fraser of Adelaide, and Lady Brackenstall
+of Abbey Grange hasn't learned new ways.  You've questioned her
+long enough, you gentlemen, and now she is coming to her own room,
+just with her old Theresa, to get the rest that she badly needs."
+
+With a motherly tenderness the gaunt woman put her arm round her
+mistress and led her from the room.
+
+"She has been with her all her life," said Hopkins.
+"Nursed her as a baby, and came with her to England
+when they first left Australia eighteen months ago.
+Theresa Wright is her name, and the kind of maid you don't
+pick up nowadays.  This way, Mr. Holmes, if you please!"
+
+The keen interest had passed out of Holmes's expressive face,
+and I knew that with the mystery all the charm of the case had
+departed.  There still remained an arrest to be effected,
+but what were these commonplace rogues that he should soil his
+hands with them?  An abstruse and learned specialist who finds
+that he has been called in for a case of measles would experience
+something of the annoyance which I read in my friend's eyes.
+Yet the scene in the dining-room of the Abbey Grange was
+sufficiently strange to arrest his attention and to recall
+his waning interest.
+
+It was a very large and high chamber, with carved oak ceiling,
+oaken panelling, and a fine array of deer's heads and ancient
+weapons around the walls.  At the farther end from the door was
+the high French window of which we had heard.  Three smaller
+windows on the right-hand side filled the apartment with cold
+winter sunshine.  On the left was a large, deep fireplace, with
+a massive, over-hanging oak mantelpiece.  Beside the fireplace
+was a heavy oaken chair with arms and cross-bars at the bottom.
+In and out through the open woodwork was woven a crimson cord,
+which was secured at each side to the crosspiece below.
+In releasing the lady the cord had been slipped off her,
+but the knots with which it had been secured still remained.
+These details only struck our attention afterwards, for our
+thoughts were entirely absorbed by the terrible object which
+lay upon the tiger-skin hearthrug in front of the fire.
+
+It was the body of a tall, well-made man, about forty years of
+age.  He lay upon his back, his face upturned, with his white
+teeth grinning through his short black beard.  His two clenched
+hands were raised above his head, and a heavy blackthorn stick
+lay across them.  His dark, handsome, aquiline features were
+convulsed into a spasm of vindictive hatred, which had set his
+dead face in a terribly fiendish expression.  He had evidently
+been in his bed when the alarm had broken out, for he wore a
+foppish embroidered night-shirt, and his bare feet projected from
+his trousers.  His head was horribly injured, and the whole room
+bore witness to the savage ferocity of the blow which had struck
+him down.  Beside him lay the heavy poker, bent into a curve by
+the concussion.  Holmes examined both it and the indescribable
+wreck which it had wrought.
+
+"He must be a powerful man, this elder Randall," he remarked.
+
+"Yes," said Hopkins.  "I have some record of the fellow,
+and he is a rough customer."
+
+"You should have no difficulty in getting him."
+
+"Not the slightest.  We have been on the look-out for him,
+and there was some idea that he had got away to America.
+Now that we know the gang are here I don't see how they
+can escape.  We have the news at every seaport already,
+and a reward will be offered before evening.  What beats
+me is how they could have done so mad a thing, knowing
+that the lady could describe them, and that we could not
+fail to recognise the description."
+
+"Exactly.  One would have expected that they would have
+silenced Lady Brackenstall as well."
+
+"They may not have realized," I suggested, "that she had
+recovered from her faint."
+
+"That is likely enough.  If she seemed to be senseless they
+would not take her life.  What about this poor fellow, Hopkins?
+I seem to have heard some queer stories about him."
+
+"He was a good-hearted man when he was sober, but a perfect
+fiend when he was drunk, or rather when he was half drunk,
+for he seldom really went the whole way.  The devil seemed
+to be in him at such times, and he was capable of anything.
+From what I hear, in spite of all his wealth and his title,
+he very nearly came our way once or twice.  There was a
+scandal about his drenching a dog with petroleum and setting
+it on fire -- her ladyship's dog, to make the matter worse --
+and that was only hushed up with difficulty.  Then he threw
+a decanter at that maid, Theresa Wright; there was trouble
+about that.  On the whole, and between ourselves, it will be
+a brighter house without him.  What are you looking at now?"
+
+Holmes was down on his knees examining with great attention the
+knots upon the red cord with which the lady had been secured.
+Then he carefully scrutinized the broken and frayed end where
+it had snapped off when the burglar had dragged it down.
+
+"When this was pulled down the bell in the kitchen must have
+rung loudly," he remarked.
+
+"No one could hear it.  The kitchen stands right at the back
+of the house."
+
+"How did the burglar know no one would hear it?  How dared he
+pull at a bell-rope in that reckless fashion?"
+
+"Exactly, Mr. Holmes, exactly.  You put the very question which
+I have asked myself again and again.  There can be no doubt that
+this fellow must have known the house and its habits.  He must
+have perfectly understood that the servants would all be in bed
+at that comparatively early hour, and that no one could possibly
+hear a bell ring in the kitchen.  Therefore he must have been in
+close league with one of the servants.  Surely that is evident.
+But there are eight servants, and all of good character."
+
+"Other things being equal," said Holmes, "one would suspect the
+one at whose head the master threw a decanter.  And yet that
+would involve treachery towards the mistress to whom this woman
+seems devoted.  Well, well, the point is a minor one, and when
+you have Randall you will probably find no difficulty in
+securing his accomplice.  The lady's story certainly seems to be
+corroborated, if it needed corroboration, by every detail which
+we see before us."  He walked to the French window and threw it
+open.  "There are no signs here, but the ground is iron hard,
+and one would not expect them.  I see that these candles on the
+mantelpiece have been lighted."
+
+"Yes; it was by their light and that of the lady's bedroom
+candle that the burglars saw their way about."
+
+"And what did they take?"
+
+"Well, they did not take much -- only half-a-dozen articles of
+plate off the sideboard.  Lady Brackenstall thinks that they
+were themselves so disturbed by the death of Sir Eustace that
+they did not ransack the house as they would otherwise have done."
+
+"No doubt that is true.  And yet they drank some wine, I understand."
+
+"To steady their own nerves."
+
+"Exactly.  These three glasses upon the sideboard have been
+untouched, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes; and the bottle stands as they left it."
+
+"Let us look at it.  Halloa! halloa! what is this?"
+
+The three glasses were grouped together, all of them tinged
+with wine, and one of them containing some dregs of bees-wing.
+The bottle stood near them, two-thirds full, and beside it lay
+a long, deeply-stained cork.  Its appearance and the dust upon
+the bottle showed that it was no common vintage which the
+murderers had enjoyed.
+
+A change had come over Holmes's manner.  He had lost his listless
+expression, and again I saw an alert light of interest in his keen,
+deep-set eyes.  He raised the cork and examined it minutely.
+
+"How did they draw it?" he asked.
+
+Hopkins pointed to a half-opened drawer.  In it lay some table
+linen and a large cork-screw.
+
+"Did Lady Brackenstall say that screw was used?"
+
+"No; you remember that she was senseless at the moment when the
+bottle was opened."
+
+"Quite so.  As a matter of fact that screw was NOT used.
+This bottle was opened by a pocket-screw, probably contained
+in a knife, and not more than an inch and a half long.  If you
+examine the top of the cork you will observe that the screw was
+driven in three times before the cork was extracted.  It has never
+been transfixed.  This long screw would have transfixed it and
+drawn it with a single pull.  When you catch this fellow you will
+find that he has one of these multiplex knives in his possession."
+
+"Excellent!" said Hopkins.
+
+"But these glasses do puzzle me, I confess.  Lady Brackenstall
+actually SAW the three men drinking, did she not?"
+
+"Yes; she was clear about that."
+
+"Then there is an end of it.  What more is to be said?
+And yet you must admit that the three glasses are very
+remarkable, Hopkins.  What, you see nothing remarkable!
+Well, well, let it pass.  Perhaps when a man has special
+knowledge and special powers like my own it rather encourages
+him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand.
+Of course, it must be a mere chance about the glasses.
+Well, good morning, Hopkins.  I don't see that I can be of
+any use to you, and you appear to have your case very clear.
+You will let me know when Randall is arrested, and any further
+developments which may occur.  I trust that I shall soon have
+to congratulate you upon a successful conclusion.  Come, Watson,
+I fancy that we may employ ourselves more profitably at home."
+
+During our return journey I could see by Holmes's face that
+he was much puzzled by something which he had observed.
+Every now and then, by an effort, he would throw off the
+impression and talk as if the matter were clear, but then his
+doubts would settle down upon him again, and his knitted brows
+and abstracted eyes would show that his thoughts had gone back
+once more to the great dining-room of the Abbey Grange in which
+this midnight tragedy had been enacted.  At last, by a sudden
+impulse, just as our train was crawling out of a suburban station,
+he sprang on to the platform and pulled me out after him.
+
+"Excuse me, my dear fellow," said he, as we watched the rear
+carriages of our train disappearing round a curve; "I am sorry
+to make you the victim of what may seem a mere whim, but on my
+life, Watson, I simply CAN'T leave that case in this condition.
+Every instinct that I possess cries out against it.
+It's wrong -- it's all wrong -- I'll swear that it's wrong.
+And yet the lady's story was complete, the maid's corroboration
+was sufficient, the detail was fairly exact.  What have I to put
+against that?  Three wine-glasses, that is all.  But if I had
+not taken things for granted, if I had examined everything with the
+care which I would have shown had we approached the case DE NOVO
+and had no cut-and-dried story to warp my mind, would I not then
+have found something more definite to go upon?  Of course I should.
+Sit down on this bench, Watson, until a train for Chislehurst
+arrives, and allow me to lay the evidence before you, imploring
+you in the first instance to dismiss from your mind the idea that
+anything which the maid or her mistress may have said must
+necessarily be true.  The lady's charming personality must not
+be permitted to warp our judgment.
+
+"Surely there are details in her story which, if we looked at it
+in cold blood, would excite our suspicion.  These burglars made
+a considerable haul at Sydenham a fortnight ago.  Some account
+of them and of their appearance was in the papers, and would
+naturally occur to anyone who wished to invent a story in which
+imaginary robbers should play a part.  As a matter of fact,
+burglars who have done a good stroke of business are, as a rule,
+only too glad to enjoy the proceeds in peace and quiet without
+embarking on another perilous undertaking.  Again, it is unusual
+for burglars to operate at so early an hour; it is unusual for
+burglars to strike a lady to prevent her screaming, since one
+would imagine that was the sure way to make her scream; it is
+unusual for them to commit murder when their numbers are
+sufficient to overpower one man; it is unusual for them to be
+content with a limited plunder when there is much more within
+their reach; and finally I should say that it was very unusual
+for such men to leave a bottle half empty.  How do all these
+unusuals strike you, Watson?"
+
+"Their cumulative effect is certainly considerable, and yet each
+of them is quite possible in itself.  The most unusual thing of all,
+as it seems to me, is that the lady should be tied to the chair."
+
+"Well, I am not so clear about that, Watson; for it is evident
+that they must either kill her or else secure her in such a
+way that she could not give immediate notice of their escape.
+But at any rate I have shown, have I not, that there is a certain
+element of improbability about the lady's story?  And now
+on the top of this comes the incident of the wine-glasses."
+
+"What about the wine-glasses?"
+
+"Can you see them in your mind's eye?"
+
+"I see them clearly."
+
+"We are told that three men drank from them.
+Does that strike you as likely?"
+
+"Why not?  There was wine in each glass."
+
+"Exactly; but there was bees-wing only in one glass.  You must
+have noticed that fact.  What does that suggest to your mind?"
+
+"The last glass filled would be most likely to contain bees-wing."
+
+"Not at all.  The bottle was full of it, and it is inconceivable
+that the first two glasses were clear and the third heavily
+charged with it.  There are two possible explanations, and only
+two.  One is that after the second glass was filled the bottle
+was violently agitated, and so the third glass received the
+bees-wing.  That does not appear probable.  No, no; I am sure
+that I am right."
+
+"What, then, do you suppose?"
+
+"That only two glasses were used, and that the dregs of
+both were poured into a third glass, so as to give the false
+impression that three people had been here.  In that way all
+the bees-wing would be in the last glass, would it not?  Yes,
+I am convinced that this is so.  But if I have hit upon the true
+explanation of this one small phenomenon, then in an instant the
+case rises from the commonplace to the exceedingly remarkable,
+for it can only mean that Lady Brackenstall and her maid have
+deliberately lied to us, that not one word of their story is to
+be believed, that they have some very strong reason for covering
+the real criminal, and that we must construct our case for
+ourselves without any help from them.  That is the mission which
+now lies before us, and here, Watson, is the Chislehurst train."
+
+The household of the Abbey Grange were much surprised at our
+return, but Sherlock Holmes, finding that Stanley Hopkins had
+gone off to report to head-quarters, took possession of the
+dining-room, locked the door upon the inside, and devoted
+himself for two hours to one of those minute and laborious
+investigations which formed the solid basis on which his
+brilliant edifices of deduction were reared.  Seated in a
+corner like an interested student who observes the demonstration
+of his professor, I followed every step of that remarkable research.
+The window, the curtains, the carpet, the chair, the rope -- each
+in turn was minutely examined and duly pondered.  The body of
+the unfortunate baronet had been removed, but all else remained
+as we had seen it in the morning.  Then, to my astonishment,
+Holmes climbed up on to the massive mantelpiece.  Far above his
+head hung the few inches of red cord which were still attached
+to the wire.  For a long time he gazed upward at it, and then in
+an attempt to get nearer to it he rested his knee upon a wooden
+bracket on the wall.  This brought his hand within a few inches
+of the broken end of the rope, but it was not this so much as
+the bracket itself which seemed to engage his attention.
+Finally he sprang down with an ejaculation of satisfaction.
+
+"It's all right, Watson," said he.  "We have got our case --
+one of the most remarkable in our collection.  But, dear me,
+how slow-witted I have been, and how nearly I have committed
+the blunder of my lifetime!  Now, I think that with a few
+missing links my chain is almost complete."
+
+"You have got your men?"
+
+"Man, Watson, man.  Only one, but a very formidable person.
+Strong as a lion -- witness the blow that bent that poker.
+Six foot three in height, active as a squirrel, dexterous
+with his fingers; finally, remarkably quick-witted, for this
+whole ingenious story is of his concoction.  Yes, Watson,
+we have come upon the handiwork of a very remarkable individual.
+And yet in that bell-rope he has given us a clue which should
+not have left us a doubt."
+
+"Where was the clue?"
+
+"Well, if you were to pull down a bell-rope, Watson, where would
+you expect it to break?  Surely at the spot where it is attached
+to the wire.  Why should it break three inches from the top as
+this one has done?"
+
+"Because it is frayed there?"
+
+"Exactly.  This end, which we can examine, is frayed.  He was
+cunning enough to do that with his knife.  But the other end is
+not frayed.  You could not observe that from here, but if you
+were on the mantelpiece you would see that it is cut clean off
+without any mark of fraying whatever.  You can reconstruct what
+occurred.  The man needed the rope.  He would not tear it down
+for fear of giving the alarm by ringing the bell.  What did he do?
+He sprang up on the mantelpiece, could not quite reach it,
+put his knee on the bracket -- you will see the impression in the
+dust -- and so got his knife to bear upon the cord.  I could not
+reach the place by at least three inches, from which I infer
+that he is at least three inches a bigger man than I.  Look at
+that mark upon the seat of the oaken chair!  What is it?"
+
+"Blood."
+
+"Undoubtedly it is blood.  This alone puts the lady's story out
+of court.  If she were seated on the chair when the crime was
+done, how comes that mark?  No, no; she was placed in the chair
+AFTER the death of her husband.  I'll wager that the black dress
+shows a corresponding mark to this.  We have not yet met our
+Waterloo, Watson, but this is our Marengo, for it begins in
+defeat and ends in victory.  I should like now to have a few
+words with the nurse Theresa.  We must be wary for awhile,
+if we are to get the information which we want."
+
+She was an interesting person, this stern Australian nurse.
+Taciturn, suspicious, ungracious, it took some time before
+Holmes's pleasant manner and frank acceptance of all that she
+said thawed her into a corresponding amiability.  She did not
+attempt to conceal her hatred for her late employer.
+
+"Yes, sir, it is true that he threw the decanter at me.
+I heard him call my mistress a name, and I told him that he
+would not dare to speak so if her brother had been there.
+Then it was that he threw it at me.  He might have thrown a
+dozen if he had but left my bonny bird alone.  He was for ever
+illtreating her, and she too proud to complain.  She will not
+even tell me all that he has done to her.  She never told me
+of those marks on her arm that you saw this morning, but I know
+very well that they come from a stab with a hat-pin.
+The sly fiend -- Heaven forgive me that I should speak of him so,
+now that he is dead, but a fiend he was if ever one walked the earth.
+He was all honey when first we met him, only eighteen months ago,
+and we both feel as if it were eighteen years.  She had only just
+arrived in London.  Yes, it was her first voyage -- she had never
+been from home before.  He won her with his title and his money
+and his false London ways.  If she made a mistake she has paid
+for it, if ever a woman did.  What month did we meet him?  Well,
+I tell you it was just after we arrived.  We arrived in June,
+and it was July.  They were married in January of last year.
+Yes, she is down in the morning-room again, and I have no doubt
+she will see you, but you must not ask too much of her, for she
+has gone through all that flesh and blood will stand."
+
+Lady Brackenstall was reclining on the same couch, but looked
+brighter than before.  The maid had entered with us, and began
+once more to foment the bruise upon her mistress's brow.
+
+"I hope," said the lady, "that you have not come to
+cross-examine me again?"
+
+"No," Holmes answered, in his gentlest voice, "I will not cause
+you any unnecessary trouble, Lady Brackenstall, and my whole
+desire is to make things easy for you, for I am convinced that
+you are a much-tried woman.  If you will treat me as a friend
+and trust me you may find that I will justify your trust."
+
+"What do you want me to do?"
+
+"To tell me the truth."
+
+"Mr. Holmes!"
+
+"No, no, Lady Brackenstall, it is no use.  You may have heard
+of any little reputation which I possess.  I will stake it all
+on the fact that your story is an absolute fabrication."
+
+Mistress and maid were both staring at Holmes with pale faces
+and frightened eyes.
+
+"You are an impudent fellow!" cried Theresa.  "Do you mean to
+say that my mistress has told a lie?"
+
+Holmes rose from his chair.
+
+"Have you nothing to tell me?"
+
+"I have told you everything."
+
+"Think once more, Lady Brackenstall.  Would it not be better
+to be frank?"
+
+For an instant there was hesitation in her beautiful face.
+Then some new strong thought caused it to set like a mask.
+
+"I have told you all I know."
+
+Holmes took his hat and shrugged his shoulders.  "I am sorry,"
+he said, and without another word we left the room and the
+house.  There was a pond in the park, and to this my friend
+led the way.  It was frozen over, but a single hole was left
+for the convenience of a solitary swan.  Holmes gazed at it and
+then passed on to the lodge gate.  There he scribbled a short
+note for Stanley Hopkins and left it with the lodge-keeper.
+
+"It may be a hit or it may be a miss, but we are bound to do
+something for friend Hopkins, just to justify this second visit,"
+said he.  "I will not quite take him into my confidence yet.
+I think our next scene of operations must be the shipping office
+of the Adelaide-Southampton line, which stands at the end of
+Pall Mall, if I remember right.  There is a second line of
+steamers which connect South Australia with England, but we
+will draw the larger cover first."
+
+Holmes's card sent in to the manager ensured instant attention,
+and he was not long in acquiring all the information which he
+needed.  In June of '95 only one of their line had reached a
+home port.  It was the ROCK OF GIBRALTAR, their largest and best
+boat.  A reference to the passenger list showed that Miss Fraser
+of Adelaide, with her maid, had made the voyage in her.  The
+boat was now on her way to Australia, somewhere to the south of
+the Suez Canal.  Her officers were the same as in '95, with one
+exception.  The first officer, Mr. Jack Croker, had been made a
+captain and was to take charge of their new ship, the BASS ROCK,
+sailing in two days' time from Southampton.  He lived at Sydenham,
+but he was likely to be in that morning for instructions, if we
+cared to wait for him.
+
+No; Mr. Holmes had no desire to see him, but would be glad to
+know more about his record and character.
+
+His record was magnificent.  There was not an officer in the
+fleet to touch him.  As to his character, he was reliable on
+duty, but a wild, desperate fellow off the deck of his ship,
+hot-headed, excitable, but loyal, honest, and kind-hearted.
+That was the pith of the information with which Holmes left the
+office of the Adelaide-Southampton company.  Thence he drove to
+Scotland Yard, but instead of entering he sat in his cab with
+his brows drawn down, lost in profound thought.  Finally he
+drove round to the Charing Cross telegraph office, sent off a
+message, and then, at last, we made for Baker Street once more.
+
+"No, I couldn't do it, Watson," said he, as we re-entered our
+room.  "Once that warrant was made out nothing on earth would
+save him.  Once or twice in my career I feel that I have done
+more real harm by my discovery of the criminal than ever he had
+done by his crime.  I have learned caution now, and I had rather
+play tricks with the law of England than with my own conscience.
+Let us know a little more before we act."
+
+Before evening we had a visit from Inspector Stanley Hopkins.
+Things were not going very well with him.
+
+"I believe that you are a wizard, Mr. Holmes.  I really do
+sometimes think that you have powers that are not human.
+Now, how on earth could you know that the stolen silver was
+at the bottom of that pond?"
+
+"I didn't know it."
+
+"But you told me to examine it."
+
+"You got it, then?"
+
+"Yes, I got it."
+
+"I am very glad if I have helped you."
+
+"But you haven't helped me.  You have made the affair far more
+difficult.  What sort of burglars are they who steal silver and
+then throw it into the nearest pond?"
+
+"It was certainly rather eccentric behaviour.  I was merely
+going on the idea that if the silver had been taken by persons
+who did not want it, who merely took it for a blind as it were,
+then they would naturally be anxious to get rid of it."
+
+"But why should such an idea cross your mind?"
+
+"Well, I thought it was possible.  When they came out through
+the French window there was the pond, with one tempting little
+hole in the ice, right in front of their noses.  Could there be
+a better hiding-place?"
+
+"Ah, a hiding-place -- that is better!" cried Stanley Hopkins.
+"Yes, yes, I see it all now!  It was early, there were folk
+upon the roads, they were afraid of being seen with the silver,
+so they sank it in the pond, intending to return for it when
+the coast was clear.  Excellent, Mr. Holmes -- that is better
+than your idea of a blind."
+
+"Quite so; you have got an admirable theory.  I have no doubt
+that my own ideas were quite wild, but you must admit that they
+have ended in discovering the silver."
+
+"Yes, sir, yes.  It was all your doing.  But I have had
+a bad set-back."
+
+"A set-back?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes.  The Randall gang were arrested in New York
+this morning."
+
+"Dear me, Hopkins!  That is certainly rather against your
+theory that they committed a murder in Kent last night."
+
+"It is fatal, Mr. Holmes, absolutely fatal.  Still, there are
+other gangs of three besides the Randalls, or it may be some
+new gang of which the police have never heard."
+
+"Quite so; it is perfectly possible.  What, are you off?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes; there is no rest for me until I have got to the
+bottom of the business.  I suppose you have no hint to give me?"
+
+"I have given you one."
+
+"Which?"
+
+"Well, I suggested a blind."
+
+"But why, Mr. Holmes, why?"
+
+"Ah, that's the question, of course.  But I commend the idea
+to your mind.  You might possibly find that there was something
+in it.  You won't stop for dinner?  Well, good-bye, and let us
+know how you get on."
+
+Dinner was over and the table cleared before Holmes alluded to
+the matter again.  He had lit his pipe and held his slippered
+feet to the cheerful blaze of the fire.  Suddenly he looked at
+his watch.
+
+"I expect developments, Watson."
+
+"When?"
+
+"Now -- within a few minutes.  I dare say you thought I acted
+rather badly to Stanley Hopkins just now?"
+
+"I trust your judgment."
+
+"A very sensible reply, Watson.  You must look at it this way:
+what I know is unofficial; what he knows is official.  I have
+the right to private judgment, but he has none.  He must disclose
+all, or he is a traitor to his service.  In a doubtful case I
+would not put him in so painful a position, and so I reserve my
+information until my own mind is clear upon the matter."
+
+"But when will that be?"
+
+"The time has come.  You will now be present at the last scene
+of a remarkable little drama."
+
+There was a sound upon the stairs, and our door was opened to
+admit as fine a specimen of manhood as ever passed through it.
+He was a very tall young man, golden-moustached, blue-eyed,
+with a skin which had been burned by tropical suns, and a springy
+step which showed that the huge frame was as active as it was
+strong.  He closed the door behind him, and then he stood with
+clenched hands and heaving breast, choking down some
+overmastering emotion.
+
+"Sit down, Captain Croker.  You got my telegram?"
+
+Our visitor sank into an arm-chair and looked from one to the
+other of us with questioning eyes.
+
+"I got your telegram, and I came at the hour you said.  I heard
+that you had been down to the office.  There was no getting away
+from you.  Let's hear the worst.  What are you going to do with me?
+Arrest me?  Speak out, man!  You can't sit there and play with me
+like a cat with a mouse."
+
+"Give him a cigar," said Holmes.  "Bite on that, Captain Croker,
+and don't let your nerves run away with you.  I should not sit
+here smoking with you if I thought that you were a common criminal,
+you may be sure of that.  Be frank with me, and we may do some good.
+Play tricks with me, and I'll crush you."
+
+"What do you wish me to do?"
+
+"To give me a true account of all that happened at the Abbey
+Grange last night -- a TRUE account, mind you, with nothing added
+and nothing taken off.  I know so much already that if you go
+one inch off the straight I'll blow this police whistle from my
+window and the affair goes out of my hands for ever."
+
+The sailor thought for a little.  Then he struck his leg with
+his great, sun-burned hand.
+
+"I'll chance it," he cried.  "I believe you are a man of your
+word, and a white man, and I'll tell you the whole story.
+But one thing I will say first.  So far as I am concerned I regret
+nothing and I fear nothing, and I would do it all again and be
+proud of the job.  Curse the beast, if he had as many lives as a
+cat he would owe them all to me!  But it's the lady, Mary --
+Mary Fraser -- for never will I call her by that accursed name.
+When I think of getting her into trouble, I who would give my life
+just to bring one smile to her dear face, it's that that turns my
+soul into water.  And yet -- and yet -- what less could I do?
+I'll tell you my story, gentlemen, and then I'll ask you as man
+to man what less could I do.
+
+"I must go back a bit.  You seem to know everything, so I expect
+that you know that I met her when she was a passenger and I was
+first officer of the ROCK OF GIBRALTAR.  From the first day I
+met her she was the only woman to me.  Every day of that voyage
+I loved her more, and many a time since have I kneeled down in
+the darkness of the night watch and kissed the deck of that ship
+because I knew her dear feet had trod it.  She was never engaged
+to me.  She treated me as fairly as ever a woman treated a man.
+I have no complaint to make.  It was all love on my side, and
+all good comradeship and friendship on hers.  When we parted she
+was a free woman, but I could never again be a free man.
+
+"Next time I came back from sea I heard of her marriage.
+Well, why shouldn't she marry whom she liked?  Title and money --
+who could carry them better than she?  She was born for all
+that is beautiful and dainty.  I didn't grieve over her marriage.
+I was not such a selfish hound as that.  I just rejoiced that good
+luck had come her way, and that she had not thrown herself away
+on a penniless sailor.  That's how I loved Mary Fraser.
+
+"Well, I never thought to see her again; but last voyage I was
+promoted, and the new boat was not yet launched, so I had to
+wait for a couple of months with my people at Sydenham.
+One day out in a country lane I met Theresa Wright, her old maid.
+She told me about her, about him, about everything.  I tell you,
+gentlemen, it nearly drove me mad.  This drunken hound, that he
+should dare to raise his hand to her whose boots he was not worthy
+to lick!  I met Theresa again.  Then I met Mary herself --
+and met her again.  Then she would meet me no more.  But the
+other day I had a notice that I was to start on my voyage within
+a week, and I determined that I would see her once before I left.
+Theresa was always my friend, for she loved Mary and hated this
+villain almost as much as I did.  From her I learned
+the ways of the house.  Mary used to sit up reading in her own
+little room downstairs.  I crept round there last night and
+scratched at the window.  At first she would not open to me,
+but in her heart I know that now she loves me, and she could not
+leave me in the frosty night.  She whispered to me to come round
+to the big front window, and I found it open before me so as to
+let me into the dining-room.  Again I heard from her own lips
+things that made my blood boil, and again I cursed this brute
+who mishandled the woman that I loved.  Well, gentlemen, I was
+standing with her just inside the window, in all innocence,
+as Heaven is my judge, when he rushed like a madman into the room,
+called her the vilest name that a man could use to a woman, and
+welted her across the face with the stick he had in his hand.
+I had sprung for the poker, and it was a fair fight between us.
+See here on my arm where his first blow fell.  Then it was my
+turn, and I went through him as if he had been a rotten pumpkin.
+Do you think I was sorry?  Not I!  It was his life or mine,
+but far more than that it was his life or hers, for how could I
+leave her in the power of this madman?  That was how I killed him.
+Was I wrong?  Well, then, what would either of you gentlemen
+have done if you had been in my position?"
+
+"She had screamed when he struck her, and that brought old
+Theresa down from the room above.  There was a bottle of wine
+on the sideboard, and I opened it and poured a little between
+Mary's lips, for she was half dead with the shock.  Then I took
+a drop myself.  Theresa was as cool as ice, and it was her plot
+as much as mine.  We must make it appear that burglars had done
+the thing.  Theresa kept on repeating our story to her mistress,
+while I swarmed up and cut the rope of the bell.  Then I lashed
+her in her chair, and frayed out the end of the rope to make it
+look natural, else they would wonder how in the world a burglar
+could have got up there to cut it.  Then I gathered up a few
+plates and pots of silver, to carry out the idea of a robbery,
+and there I left them with orders to give the alarm when I had
+a quarter of an hour's start.  I dropped the silver into the
+pond and made off for Sydenham, feeling that for once in my life
+I had done a real good night's work.  And that's the truth and
+the whole truth, Mr. Holmes, if it costs me my neck."
+
+Holmes smoked for some time in silence.  Then he crossed
+the room and shook our visitor by the hand.
+
+"That's what I think," said he.  "I know that every word is
+true, for you have hardly said a word which I did not know.
+No one but an acrobat or a sailor could have got up to that
+bell-rope from the bracket, and no one but a sailor could have
+made the knots with which the cord was fastened to the chair.
+Only once had this lady been brought into contact with sailors,
+and that was on her voyage, and it was someone of her own class
+of life, since she was trying hard to shield him and so showing
+that she loved him.  You see how easy it was for me to lay my
+hands upon you when once I had started upon the right trail."
+
+"I thought the police never could have seen through our dodge."
+
+"And the police haven't; nor will they, to the best of my belief.
+Now, look here, Captain Croker, this is a very serious matter,
+though I am willing to admit that you acted under the most extreme
+provocation to which any man could be subjected.  I am not sure
+that in defence of your own life your action will not be pronounced
+legitimate.  However, that is for a British jury to decide.
+Meanwhile I have so much sympathy for you that if you choose to
+disappear in the next twenty-four hours I will promise you that
+no one will hinder you."
+
+"And then it will all come out?"
+
+"Certainly it will come out."
+
+The sailor flushed with anger.
+
+"What sort of proposal is that to make a man?  I know enough
+of law to understand that Mary would be had as accomplice.
+Do you think I would leave her alone to face the music while
+I slunk away?  No, sir; let them do their worst upon me,
+but for Heaven's sake, Mr. Holmes, find some way of keeping
+my poor Mary out of the courts."
+
+Holmes for a second time held out his hand to the sailor.
+
+"I was only testing you, and you ring true every time.
+Well, it is a great responsibility that I take upon myself,
+but I have given Hopkins an excellent hint, and if he can't
+avail himself of it I can do no more.  See here, Captain Croker,
+we'll do this in due form of law.  You are the prisoner.
+Watson, you are a British jury, and I never met a man who was
+more eminently fitted to represent one.  I am the judge.
+Now, gentleman of the jury, you have heard the evidence.
+Do you find the prisoner guilty or not guilty?"
+
+"Not guilty, my lord," said I.
+
+"Vox populi, vox Dei.  You are acquitted, Captain Croker.
+So long as the law does not find some other victim you are
+safe from me.  Come back to this lady in a year, and may her
+future and yours justify us in the judgment which we have
+pronounced this night."
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 28  DECEMBER, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+XIII. --- The Adventure of the Second Stain.
+
+
+I HAD intended "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange" to be the
+last of those exploits of my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, which
+I should ever communicate to the public.  This resolution of
+mine was not due to any lack of material, since I have notes of
+many hundreds of cases to which I have never alluded, nor was it
+caused by any waning interest on the part of my readers in the
+singular personality and unique methods of this remarkable man.
+The real reason lay in the reluctance which Mr. Holmes has shown
+to the continued publication of his experiences.  So long as he
+was in actual professional practice the records of his successes
+were of some practical value to him; but since he has definitely
+retired from London and betaken himself to study and bee-farming
+on the Sussex Downs, notoriety has become hateful to him, and he
+has peremptorily requested that his wishes in this matter should
+be strictly observed.  It was only upon my representing to him
+that I had given a promise that "The Adventure of the Second
+Stain" should be published when the times were ripe, and
+pointing out to him that it is only appropriate that this long
+series of episodes should culminate in the most important
+international case which he has ever been called upon to handle,
+that I at last succeeded in obtaining his consent that a
+carefully-guarded account of the incident should at last be laid
+before the public.  If in telling the story I seem to be
+somewhat vague in certain details the public will readily
+understand that there is an excellent reason for my reticence.
+
+
+It was, then, in a year, and even in a decade, that shall be
+nameless, that upon one Tuesday morning in autumn we found two
+visitors of European fame within the walls of our humble room
+in Baker Street.  The one, austere, high-nosed, eagle-eyed,
+and dominant, was none other than the illustrious Lord Bellinger,
+twice Premier of Britain.  The other, dark, clear-cut, and
+elegant, hardly yet of middle age, and endowed with every beauty
+of body and of mind, was the Right Honourable Trelawney Hope,
+Secretary for European Affairs, and the most rising statesman
+in the country.  They sat side by side upon our paper-littered
+settee, and it was easy to see from their worn and anxious faces
+that it was business of the most pressing importance which had
+brought them.  The Premier's thin, blue-veined hands were
+clasped tightly over the ivory head of his umbrella, and his
+gaunt, ascetic face looked gloomily from Holmes to me.
+The European Secretary pulled nervously at his moustache and
+fidgeted with the seals of his watch-chain.
+
+"When I discovered my loss, Mr. Holmes, which was at eight
+o'clock this morning, I at once informed the Prime Minister.
+It was at his suggestion that we have both come to you."
+
+"Have you informed the police?"
+
+"No, sir," said the Prime Minister, with the quick, decisive
+manner for which he was famous.  "We have not done so, nor is
+it possible that we should do so.  To inform the police must,
+in the long run, mean to inform the public.  This is what we
+particularly desire to avoid."
+
+"And why, sir?"
+
+"Because the document in question is of such immense importance
+that its publication might very easily -- I might almost say
+probably -- lead to European complications of the utmost moment.
+It is not too much to say that peace or war may hang upon the
+issue.  Unless its recovery can be attended with the utmost
+secrecy, then it may as well not be recovered at all, for all
+that is aimed at by those who have taken it is that its contents
+should be generally known."
+
+"I understand.  Now, Mr. Trelawney Hope, I should be much
+obliged if you would tell me exactly the circumstances under
+which this document disappeared."
+
+"That can be done in a very few words, Mr. Holmes.
+The letter -- for it was a letter from a foreign potentate --
+was received six days ago.  It was of such importance that I have
+never left it in my safe, but I have taken it across each evening
+to my house in Whitehall Terrace, and kept it in my bedroom in a
+locked despatch-box.  It was there last night.  Of that I am
+certain.  I actually opened the box while I was dressing for
+dinner, and saw the document inside.  This morning it was gone.
+The despatch-box had stood beside the glass upon my dressing-table
+all night.  I am a light sleeper, and so is my wife.  We are both
+prepared to swear that no one could have entered the room during
+the night.  And yet I repeat that the paper is gone."
+
+"What time did you dine?"
+
+"Half-past seven."
+
+"How long was it before you went to bed?"
+
+"My wife had gone to the theatre.  I waited up for her.
+It was half-past eleven before we went to our room."
+
+"Then for four hours the despatch-box had lain unguarded?"
+
+"No one is ever permitted to enter that room save the housemaid
+in the morning, and my valet, or my wife's maid, during the rest
+of the day.  They are both trusty servants who have been with us
+for some time.  Besides, neither of them could possibly have
+known that there was anything more valuable than the ordinary
+departmental papers in my despatch-box."
+
+"Who did know of the existence of that letter?"
+
+"No one in the house."
+
+"Surely your wife knew?"
+
+"No, sir; I had said nothing to my wife until I missed the
+paper this morning."
+
+The Premier nodded approvingly.
+
+"I have long known, sir, how high is your sense of public duty,"
+said he.  "I am convinced that in the case of a secret of this
+importance it would rise superior to the most intimate domestic ties."
+
+The European Secretary bowed.
+
+"You do me no more than justice, sir.  Until this morning I have
+never breathed one word to my wife upon this matter."
+
+"Could she have guessed?"
+
+"No, Mr. Holmes, she could not have guessed -- nor could anyone
+have guessed."
+
+"Have you lost any documents before?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Who is there in England who did know of the existence of this letter?"
+
+"Each member of the Cabinet was informed of it yesterday;
+but the pledge of secrecy which attends every Cabinet meeting
+was increased by the solemn warning which was given by the Prime
+Minister.  Good heavens, to think that within a few hours I
+should myself have lost it!"  His handsome face was distorted
+with a spasm of despair, and his hands tore at his hair.
+For a moment we caught a glimpse of the natural man, impulsive,
+ardent, keenly sensitive.  The next the aristocratic mask was
+replaced, and the gentle voice had returned.  "Besides the
+members of the Cabinet there are two, or possibly three,
+departmental officials who know of the letter.  No one else
+in England, Mr. Holmes, I assure you."
+
+"But abroad?"
+
+"I believe that no one abroad has seen it save the man who wrote it.
+I am well convinced that his Ministers -- that the usual official
+channels have not been employed."
+
+Holmes considered for some little time.
+
+"Now, sir, I must ask you more particularly what this document is,
+and why its disappearance should have such momentous consequences?"
+
+The two statesmen exchanged a quick glance and the Premier's
+shaggy eyebrows gathered in a frown.
+
+"Mr. Holmes, the envelope is a long, thin one of pale blue colour.
+There is a seal of red wax stamped with a crouching lion.
+It is addressed in large, bold handwriting to ---"
+
+"I fear, sir," said Holmes, "that, interesting and indeed
+essential as these details are, my inquiries must go more to the
+root of things.  What WAS the letter?"
+
+"That is a State secret of the utmost importance, and I fear
+that I cannot tell you, nor do I see that it is necessary.
+If by the aid of the powers which you are said to possess you
+can find such an envelope as I describe with its enclosure,
+you will have deserved well of your country, and earned any
+reward which it lies in our power to bestow."
+
+Sherlock Holmes rose with a smile.
+
+"You are two of the most busy men in the country," said he,
+"and in my own small way I have also a good many calls upon me.
+I regret exceedingly that I cannot help you in this matter,
+and any continuation of this interview would be a waste of time."
+
+The Premier sprang to his feet with that quick, fierce gleam of
+his deep-set eyes before which a Cabinet has cowered.  "I am not
+accustomed, sir ----" he began, but mastered his anger and
+resumed his seat.  For a minute or more we all sat in silence.
+Then the old statesman shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"We must accept your terms, Mr. Holmes.  No doubt you are right,
+and it is unreasonable for us to expect you to act unless we
+give you our entire confidence."
+
+"I agree with you, sir," said the younger statesman.
+
+"Then I will tell you, relying entirely upon your honour and
+that of your colleague, Dr. Watson.  I may appeal to your
+patriotism also, for I could not imagine a greater misfortune
+for the country than that this affair should come out."
+
+"You may safely trust us."
+
+"The letter, then, is from a certain foreign potentate who has
+been ruffled by some recent Colonial developments of this
+country.  It has been written hurriedly and upon his own
+responsibility entirely.  Inquiries have shown that his
+Ministers know nothing of the matter.  At the same time it is
+couched in so unfortunate a manner, and certain phrases in it
+are of so provocative a character, that its publication would
+undoubtedly lead to a most dangerous state of feeling in this
+country.  There would be such a ferment, sir, that I do not
+hesitate to say that within a week of the publication of that
+letter this country would be involved in a great war."
+
+Holmes wrote a name upon a slip of paper and handed it to the
+Premier.
+
+"Exactly.  It was he.  And it is this letter -- this letter which
+may well mean the expenditure of a thousand millions and the
+lives of a hundred thousand men -- which has become lost in this
+unaccountable fashion."
+
+"Have you informed the sender?"
+
+"Yes, sir, a cipher telegram has been despatched."
+
+"Perhaps he desires the publication of the letter."
+
+"No, sir, we have strong reason to believe that he already
+understands that he has acted in an indiscreet and hot-headed
+manner.  It would be a greater blow to him and to his country
+than to us if this letter were to come out."
+
+"If this is so, whose interest is it that the letter should
+come out?  Why should anyone desire to steal it or to publish it?"
+
+"There, Mr. Holmes, you take me into regions of high
+international politics.  But if you consider the European
+situation you will have no difficulty in perceiving the motive.
+The whole of Europe is an armed camp.  There is a double league
+which makes a fair balance of military power.  Great Britain
+holds the scales.  If Britain were driven into war with one
+confederacy, it would assure the supremacy of the other
+confederacy, whether they joined in the war or not.  Do you follow?"
+
+"Very clearly.  It is then the interest of the enemies of this
+potentate to secure and publish this letter, so as to make a
+breach between his country and ours?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And to whom would this document be sent if it fell into the
+hands of an enemy?"
+
+"To any of the great Chancelleries of Europe.  It is probably
+speeding on its way thither at the present instant as fast as
+steam can take it."
+
+Mr. Trelawney Hope dropped his head on his chest and groaned
+aloud.  The Premier placed his hand kindly upon his shoulder.
+
+"It is your misfortune, my dear fellow.  No one can blame you.
+There is no precaution which you have neglected.
+Now, Mr. Holmes, you are in full possession of the facts.
+What course do you recommend?"
+
+Holmes shook his head mournfully.
+
+"You think, sir, that unless this document is recovered there
+will be war?"
+
+"I think it is very probable."
+
+"Then, sir, prepare for war."
+
+"That is a hard saying, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"Consider the facts, sir.  It is inconceivable that it was taken
+after eleven-thirty at night, since I understand that Mr. Hope
+and his wife were both in the room from that hour until the loss
+was found out.  It was taken, then, yesterday evening between
+seven-thirty and eleven-thirty, probably near the earlier hour,
+since whoever took it evidently knew that it was there and would
+naturally secure it as early as possible.  Now, sir, if a
+document of this importance were taken at that hour, where can
+it be now?  No one has any reason to retain it.  It has been
+passed rapidly on to those who need it.  What chance have we now
+to overtake or even to trace it?  It is beyond our reach."
+
+The Prime Minister rose from the settee.
+
+"What you say is perfectly logical, Mr. Holmes.  I feel that the
+matter is indeed out of our hands."
+
+"Let us presume, for argument's sake, that the document was
+taken by the maid or by the valet ----"
+
+"They are both old and tried servants."
+
+"I understand you to say that your room is on the second floor,
+that there is no entrance from without, and that from within no
+one could go up unobserved.  It must, then, be somebody in the
+house who has taken it.  To whom would the thief take it?
+To one of several international spies and secret agents, whose
+names are tolerably familiar to me.  There are three who may be
+said to be the heads of their profession.  I will begin my
+research by going round and finding if each of them is at his
+post.  If one is missing -- especially if he has disappeared
+since last night -- we will have some indication as to where
+the document has gone."
+
+"Why should he be missing?" asked the European Secretary.
+"He would take the letter to an Embassy in London, as likely as not."
+
+"I fancy not.  These agents work independently, and their
+relations with the Embassies are often strained."
+
+The Prime Minister nodded his acquiescence.
+
+"I believe you are right, Mr. Holmes.  He would take so valuable
+a prize to head-quarters with his own hands.  I think that your
+course of action is an excellent one.  Meanwhile, Hope,
+we cannot neglect all our other duties on account of this one
+misfortune.  Should there be any fresh developments during the
+day we shall communicate with you, and you will no doubt let us
+know the results of your own inquiries."
+
+The two statesmen bowed and walked gravely from the room.
+
+When our illustrious visitors had departed Holmes lit his pipe
+in silence, and sat for some time lost in the deepest thought.
+I had opened the morning paper and was immersed in a sensational
+crime which had occurred in London the night before, when my
+friend gave an exclamation, sprang to his feet, and laid his
+pipe down upon the mantelpiece.
+
+"Yes," said he, "there is no better way of approaching it.
+The situation is desperate, but not hopeless.  Even now,
+if we could be sure which of them has taken it, it is just
+possible that it has not yet passed out of his hands.
+After all, it is a question of money with these fellows,
+and I have the British Treasury behind me.  If it's on the
+market I'll buy it -- if it means another penny on the income-tax.
+It is conceivable that the fellow might hold it back to see what
+bids come from this side before he tries his luck on the other.
+There are only those three capable of playing so bold a game;
+there are Oberstein, La Rothiere, and Eduardo Lucas.
+I will see each of them."
+
+I glanced at my morning paper.
+
+"Is that Eduardo Lucas of Godolphin Street?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You will not see him."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"He was murdered in his house last night."
+
+My friend has so often astonished me in the course of our
+adventures that it was with a sense of exultation that I
+realized how completely I had astonished him.  He stared in
+amazement, and then snatched the paper from my hands.  This was
+the paragraph which I had been engaged in reading when he rose
+from his chair:--
+
+
+                    "MURDER IN WESTMINSTER.
+
+"A crime of mysterious character was committed last night at 16,
+Godolphin Street, one of the old-fashioned and secluded rows of
+eighteenth-century houses which lie between the river and the
+Abbey, almost in the shadow of the great Tower of the Houses of
+Parliament.  This small but select mansion has been inhabited
+for some years by Mr. Eduardo Lucas, well known in society
+circles both on account of his charming personality and because
+he has the well-deserved reputation of being one of the best
+amateur tenors in the country.  Mr. Lucas is an unmarried man,
+thirty-four years of age, and his establishment consists of
+Mrs. Pringle, an elderly housekeeper, and of Mitton, his valet.
+The former retires early and sleeps at the top of the house.
+The valet was out for the evening, visiting a friend at Hammersmith.
+From ten o'clock onwards Mr. Lucas had the house to himself.
+What occurred during that time has not yet transpired, but at
+a quarter to twelve Police-constable Barrett, passing along
+Godolphin Street, observed that the door of No. 16 was ajar.
+He knocked, but received no answer.  Perceiving a light in
+the front room he advanced into the passage and again knocked,
+but without reply.  He then pushed open the door and entered.
+The room was in a state of wild disorder, the furniture being
+all swept to one side, and one chair lying on its back in the
+centre.  Beside this chair, and still grasping one of its legs,
+lay the unfortunate tenant of the house.  He had been stabbed
+to the heart and must have died instantly.  The knife with which
+the crime had been committed was a curved Indian dagger, plucked
+down from a trophy of Oriental arms which adorned one of the
+walls.  Robbery does not appear to have been the motive of the
+crime, for there had been no attempt to remove the valuable
+contents of the room.  Mr. Eduardo Lucas was so well known and
+popular that his violent and mysterious fate will arouse painful
+interest and intense sympathy in a wide-spread circle of friends."
+
+"Well, Watson, what do you make of this?" asked Holmes,
+after a long pause.
+
+"It is an amazing coincidence."
+
+"A coincidence!  Here is one of the three men whom we had named
+as possible actors in this drama, and he meets a violent death
+during the very hours when we know that that drama was being
+enacted.  The odds are enormous against its being coincidence.
+No figures could express them.  No, my dear Watson, the two
+events are connected -- MUST be connected.  It is for us to find
+the connection."
+
+"But now the official police must know all."
+
+"Not at all.  They know all they see at Godolphin Street.
+They know -- and shall know -- nothing of Whitehall Terrace.
+Only WE know of both events, and can trace the relation between them.
+There is one obvious point which would, in any case, have turned
+my suspicions against Lucas.  Godolphin Street, Westminster,
+is only a few minutes' walk from Whitehall Terrace.  The other
+secret agents whom I have named live in the extreme West-end.
+It was easier, therefore, for Lucas than for the others to
+establish a connection or receive a message from the European
+Secretary's household -- a small thing, and yet where events are
+compressed into a few hours it may prove essential.
+Halloa! what have we here?"
+
+Mrs. Hudson had appeared with a lady's card upon her salver.
+Holmes glanced at it, raised his eyebrows, and handed it over to me.
+
+"Ask Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope if she will be kind enough to
+step up," said he.
+
+A moment later our modest apartment, already so distinguished
+that morning, was further honoured by the entrance of the most
+lovely woman in London.  I had often heard of the beauty of the
+youngest daughter of the Duke of Belminster, but no description
+of it, and no contemplation of colourless photographs, had
+prepared me for the subtle, delicate charm and the beautiful
+colouring of that exquisite head.  And yet as we saw it that
+autumn morning, it was not its beauty which would be the first
+thing to impress the observer.  The cheek was lovely, but it
+was paled with emotion; the eyes were bright, but it was the
+brightness of fever; the sensitive mouth was tight and drawn in
+an effort after self-command.  Terror -- not beauty -- was what
+sprang first to the eye as our fair visitor stood framed for an
+instant in the open door.
+
+"Has my husband been here, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Yes, madam, he has been here."
+
+"Mr. Holmes, I implore you not to tell him that I came here."
+Holmes bowed coldly, and motioned the lady to a chair.
+
+"Your ladyship places me in a very delicate position.
+I beg that you will sit down and tell me what you desire;
+but I fear that I cannot make any unconditional promise."
+
+She swept across the room and seated herself with her back
+to the window.  It was a queenly presence -- tall, graceful,
+and intensely womanly.
+
+"Mr. Holmes," she said, and her white-gloved hands clasped and
+unclasped as she spoke -- "I will speak frankly to you in the
+hope that it may induce you to speak frankly in return.  There
+is complete confidence between my husband and me on all matters
+save one.  That one is politics.  On this his lips are sealed.
+He tells me nothing.  Now, I am aware that there was a most
+deplorable occurrence in our house last night.  I know that a
+paper has disappeared.  But because the matter is political my
+husband refuses to take me into his complete confidence.  Now it
+is essential -- essential, I say -- that I should thoroughly
+understand it.  You are the only other person, save only these
+politicians, who knows the true facts.  I beg you, then,
+Mr. Holmes, to tell me exactly what has happened and what it
+will lead to.  Tell me all, Mr. Holmes.  Let no regard for your
+client's interests keep you silent, for I assure you that his
+interests, if he would only see it, would be best served by
+taking me into his complete confidence.  What was this paper
+which was stolen?"
+
+"Madam, what you ask me is really impossible."
+
+She groaned and sank her face in her hands.
+
+"You must see that this is so, madam.  If your husband thinks
+fit to keep you in the dark over this matter, is it for me, who
+has only learned the true facts under the pledge of professional
+secrecy, to tell what he has withheld?  It is not fair to ask it.
+It is him whom you must ask."
+
+"I have asked him.  I come to you as a last resource.  But without
+your telling me anything definite, Mr. Holmes, you may do a great
+service if you would enlighten me on one point."
+
+"What is it, madam?"
+
+"Is my husband's political career likely to suffer through
+this incident?"
+
+"Well, madam, unless it is set right it may certainly have
+a very unfortunate effect."
+
+"Ah!"  She drew in her breath sharply as one whose doubts
+are resolved.
+
+"One more question, Mr. Holmes.  From an expression which my
+husband dropped in the first shock of this disaster I understood
+that terrible public consequences might arise from the loss of
+this document."
+
+"If he said so, I certainly cannot deny it."
+
+"Of what nature are they?"
+
+"Nay, madam, there again you ask me more than I can possibly answer."
+
+"Then I will take up no more of your time.  I cannot blame you,
+Mr. Holmes, for having refused to speak more freely, and you on
+your side will not, I am sure, think the worse of me because
+I desire, even against his will, to share my husband's anxieties.
+Once more I beg that you will say nothing of my visit."
+She looked back at us from the door, and I had a last impression
+of that beautiful haunted face, the startled eyes, and the drawn
+mouth.  Then she was gone.
+
+"Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department," said Holmes,
+with a smile, when the dwindling frou-frou of skirts had ended
+in the slam of the front door.  "What was the fair lady's game?
+What did she really want?"
+
+"Surely her own statement is clear and her anxiety very natural."
+
+"Hum!  Think of her appearance, Watson -- her manner,
+her suppressed excitement, her restlessness, her tenacity
+in asking questions.  Remember that she comes of a caste
+who do not lightly show emotion."
+
+"She was certainly much moved."
+
+"Remember also the curious earnestness with which she assured
+us that it was best for her husband that she should know all.
+What did she mean by that?  And you must have observed, Watson,
+how she manoeuvred to have the light at her back.  She did not
+wish us to read her expression."
+
+"Yes; she chose the one chair in the room."
+
+"And yet the motives of women are so inscrutable.  You remember
+the woman at Margate whom I suspected for the same reason.
+No powder on her nose -- that proved to be the correct solution.
+How can you build on such a quicksand?  Their most trivial action
+may mean volumes, or their most extraordinary conduct may depend
+upon a hairpin or a curling-tongs.  Good morning, Watson."
+
+"You are off?"
+
+"Yes; I will wile away the morning at Godolphin Street with our
+friends of the regular establishment.  With Eduardo Lucas lies
+the solution of our problem, though I must admit that I have not
+an inkling as to what form it may take.  It is a capital mistake
+to theorize in advance of the facts.  Do you stay on guard, my
+good Watson, and receive any fresh visitors.  I'll join you at
+lunch if I am able."
+
+
+All that day and the next and the next Holmes was in a mood
+which his friends would call taciturn, and others morose.
+He ran out and ran in, smoked incessantly, played snatches on
+his violin, sank into reveries, devoured sandwiches at irregular
+hours, and hardly answered the casual questions which I put to
+him.  It was evident to me that things were not going well with
+him or his quest.  He would say nothing of the case, and it was
+from the papers that I learned the particulars of the inquest,
+and the arrest with the subsequent release of John Mitton,
+the valet of the deceased.  The coroner's jury brought in the
+obvious "Wilful Murder," but the parties remained as unknown as
+ever.  No motive was suggested.  The room was full of articles
+of value, but none had been taken.  The dead man's papers had
+not been tampered with.  They were carefully examined,
+and showed that he was a keen student of international politics,
+an indefatigable gossip, a remarkable linguist, and an untiring
+letter-writer.  He had been on intimate terms with the leading
+politicians of several countries.  But nothing sensational was
+discovered among the documents which filled his drawers.  As to
+his relations with women, they appeared to have been promiscuous
+but superficial.  He had many acquaintances among them, but few
+friends, and no one whom he loved.  His habits were regular,
+his conduct inoffensive.  His death was an absolute mystery,
+and likely to remain so.
+
+As to the arrest of John Mitton, the valet, it was a counsel
+of despair as an alternative to absolute inaction.  But no case
+could be sustained against him.  He had visited friends in
+Hammersmith that night.  The ALIBI was complete.  It is true
+that he started home at an hour which should have brought him
+to Westminster before the time when the crime was discovered,
+but his own explanation that he had walked part of the way
+seemed probable enough in view of the fineness of the night.
+He had actually arrived at twelve o'clock, and appeared to be
+overwhelmed by the unexpected tragedy.  He had always been on
+good terms with his master.  Several of the dead man's
+possessions -- notably a small case of razors -- had been found in
+the valet's boxes, but he explained that they had been presents
+from the deceased, and the housekeeper was able to corroborate
+the story.  Mitton had been in Lucas's employment for three
+years.  It was noticeable that Lucas did not take Mitton on the
+Continent with him.  Sometimes he visited Paris for three months
+on end, but Mitton was left in charge of the Godolphin Street
+house.  As to the housekeeper, she had heard nothing on the
+night of the crime.  If her master had a visitor he had himself
+admitted him.
+
+So for three mornings the mystery remained, so far as I could
+follow it in the papers.  If Holmes knew more he kept his own
+counsel, but, as he told me that Inspector Lestrade had taken
+him into his confidence in the case, I knew that he was in
+close touch with every development.  Upon the fourth day there
+appeared a long telegram from Paris which seemed to solve the
+whole question.
+
+"A discovery has just been made by the Parisian police," said
+the DAILY TELEGRAPH, "which raises the veil which hung round the
+tragic fate of Mr. Eduardo Lucas, who met his death by violence
+last Monday night at Godolphin Street, Westminster.  Our readers
+will remember that the deceased gentleman was found stabbed in
+his room, and that some suspicion attached to his valet, but
+that the case broke down on an ALIBI.  Yesterday a lady, who has
+been known as Mme. Henri Fournaye, occupying a small villa in
+the Rue Austerlitz, was reported to the authorities by her
+servants as being insane.  An examination showed that she had
+indeed developed mania of a dangerous and permanent form.
+On inquiry the police have discovered that Mme. Henri Fournaye
+only returned from a journey to London on Tuesday last, and there
+is evidence to connect her with the crime at Westminster.
+A comparison of photographs has proved conclusively that M. Henri
+Fournaye and Eduardo Lucas were really one and the same person,
+and that the deceased had for some reason lived a double life
+in London and Paris.  Mme. Fournaye, who is of Creole origin,
+is of an extremely excitable nature, and has suffered in the
+past from attacks of jealousy which have amounted to frenzy.
+It is conjectured that it was in one of these that she committed
+the terrible crime which has caused such a sensation in London.
+Her movements upon the Monday night have not yet been traced,
+but it is undoubted that a woman answering to her description
+attracted much attention at Charing Cross Station on Tuesday
+morning by the wildness of her appearance and the violence of
+her gestures.  It is probable, therefore, that the crime was
+either committed when insane, or that its immediate effect was
+to drive the unhappy woman out of her mind.  At present she
+is unable to give any coherent account of the past, and the
+doctors hold out no hopes of the re-establishment of her reason.
+There is evidence that a woman, who might have been Mme. Fournaye,
+was seen for some hours on Monday night watching the house in
+Godolphin Street."
+
+"What do you think of that, Holmes?"  I had read the account
+aloud to him, while he finished his breakfast.
+
+"My dear Watson," said he, as he rose from the table and paced
+up and down the room, "you are most long-suffering, but if I
+have told you nothing in the last three days it is because there
+is nothing to tell.  Even now this report from Paris does not
+help us much."
+
+"Surely it is final as regards the man's death."
+
+"The man's death is a mere incident -- a trivial episode -- in
+comparison with our real task, which is to trace this document
+and save a European catastrophe.  Only one important thing has
+happened in the last three days, and that is that nothing has
+happened.  I get reports almost hourly from the Government,
+and it is certain that nowhere in Europe is there any sign of
+trouble.  Now, if this letter were loose -- no, it CAN'T be
+loose -- but if it isn't loose, where can it be?  Who has it?
+Why is it held back?  That's the question that beats in my brain
+like a hammer.  Was it, indeed, a coincidence that Lucas should
+meet his death on the night when the letter disappeared?
+Did the letter ever reach him?  If so, why is it not among his
+papers?  Did this mad wife of his carry it off with her?  If so,
+is it in her house in Paris?  How could I search for it without
+the French police having their suspicions aroused?  It is a case,
+my dear Watson, where the law is as dangerous to us as the
+criminals are.  Every man's hand is against us, and yet the
+interests at stake are colossal.  Should I bring it to a
+successful conclusion it will certainly represent the crowning
+glory of my career.  Ah, here is my latest from the front!"
+He glanced hurriedly at the note which had been handed in.
+"Halloa!  Lestrade seems to have observed something of interest.
+Put on your hat, Watson, and we will stroll down together to
+Westminster."
+
+It was my first visit to the scene of the crime -- a high, dingy,
+narrow-chested house, prim, formal, and solid, like the century
+which gave it birth.  Lestrade's bulldog features gazed out at
+us from the front window, and he greeted us warmly when a big
+constable had opened the door and let us in.  The room into
+which we were shown was that in which the crime had been
+committed, but no trace of it now remained, save an ugly,
+irregular stain upon the carpet.  This carpet was a small square
+drugget in the centre of the room, surrounded by a broad expanse
+of beautiful, old-fashioned wood-flooring in square blocks
+highly polished.  Over the fireplace was a magnificent trophy
+of weapons, one of which had been used on that tragic night.
+In the window was a sumptuous writing-desk, and every detail of
+the apartment, the pictures, the rugs, and the hangings, all
+pointed to a taste which was luxurious to the verge of effeminacy.
+
+"Seen the Paris news?" asked Lestrade.
+
+Holmes nodded.
+
+"Our French friends seem to have touched the spot this time.
+No doubt it's just as they say.  She knocked at the door --
+surprise visit, I guess, for he kept his life in water-tight
+compartments.  He let her in -- couldn't keep her in the street.
+She told him how she had traced him, reproached him, one thing
+led to another, and then with that dagger so handy the end soon
+came.  It wasn't all done in an instant, though, for these
+chairs were all swept over yonder, and he had one in his hand as
+if he had tried to hold her off with it.  We've got it all clear
+as if we had seen it."
+
+Holmes raised his eyebrows.
+
+"And yet you have sent for me?"
+
+"Ah, yes, that's another matter -- a mere trifle, but the sort
+of thing you take an interest in -- queer, you know, and what
+you might call freakish.  It has nothing to do with the main
+fact -- can't have, on the face of it."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+"Well, you know, after a crime of this sort we are very careful
+to keep things in their position.  Nothing has been moved.
+Officer in charge here day and night.  This morning, as the man
+was buried and the investigation over -- so far as this room is
+concerned -- we thought we could tidy up a bit.  This carpet.
+You see, it is not fastened down; only just laid there.  We had
+occasion to raise it.  We found ----"
+
+"Yes?  You found ----"
+
+Holmes's face grew tense with anxiety.
+
+"Well, I'm sure you would never guess in a hundred years what we
+did find.  You see that stain on the carpet?  Well, a great deal
+must have soaked through, must it not?"
+
+"Undoubtedly it must."
+
+"Well, you will be surprised to hear that there is no stain on
+the white woodwork to correspond."
+
+"No stain!  But there must ----"
+
+"Yes; so you would say.  But the fact remains that there isn't."
+
+He took the corner of the carpet in his hand and, turning it over,
+he showed that it was indeed as he said.
+
+"But the underside is as stained as the upper.  It must have
+left a mark."
+
+Lestrade chuckled with delight at having puzzled the famous expert.
+
+"Now I'll show you the explanation.  There IS a second stain,
+but it does not correspond with the other.  See for yourself."
+As he spoke he turned over another portion of the carpet, and
+there, sure enough, was a great crimson spill upon the square
+white facing of the old-fashioned floor.  "What do you make of
+that, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Why, it is simple enough.  The two stains did correspond,
+but the carpet has been turned round.  As it was square and
+unfastened it was easily done."
+
+"The official police don't need you, Mr. Holmes, to tell them
+that the carpet must have been turned round.  That's clear enough,
+for the stains lie above each other -- if you lay it over this way.
+But what I want to know is, who shifted the carpet, and why?"
+
+I could see from Holmes's rigid face that he was vibrating with
+inward excitement.
+
+"Look here, Lestrade," said he, "has that constable in the
+passage been in charge of the place all the time?"
+
+"Yes, he has."
+
+"Well, take my advice.  Examine him carefully.  Don't do it
+before us.  We'll wait here.  You take him into the back room.
+You'll be more likely to get a confession out of him alone.
+Ask him how he dared to admit people and leave them alone in this
+room.  Don't ask him if he has done it.  Take it for granted.
+Tell him you KNOW someone has been here.  Press him.  Tell him
+that a full confession is his only chance of forgiveness.
+Do exactly what I tell you!"
+
+"By George, if he knows I'll have it out of him!" cried Lestrade.
+He darted into the hall, and a few moments later his bullying
+voice sounded from the back room.
+
+"Now, Watson, now!" cried Holmes, with frenzied eagerness.
+All the demoniacal force of the man masked behind that listless
+manner burst out in a paroxysm of energy.  He tore the drugget
+from the floor, and in an instant was down on his hands and
+knees clawing at each of the squares of wood beneath it.
+One turned sideways as he dug his nails into the edge of it.
+It hinged back like the lid of a box.  A small black cavity
+opened beneath it.  Holmes plunged his eager hand into it,
+and drew it out with a bitter snarl of anger and disappointment.
+It was empty.
+
+"Quick, Watson, quick!  Get it back again!"  The wooden lid was
+replaced, and the drugget had only just been drawn straight when
+Lestrade's voice was heard in the passage.  He found Holmes
+leaning languidly against the mantelpiece, resigned and patient,
+endeavouring to conceal his irrepressible yawns.
+
+"Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Holmes.  I can see that you are
+bored to death with the whole affair.  Well, he has confessed,
+all right.  Come in here, MacPherson.  Let these gentlemen hear
+of your most inexcusable conduct."
+
+The big constable, very hot and penitent, sidled into the room.
+
+"I meant no harm, sir, I'm sure.  The young woman came to the
+door last evening -- mistook the house, she did.  And then we
+got talking.  It's lonesome, when you're on duty here all day."
+
+"Well, what happened then?"
+
+"She wanted to see where the crime was done -- had read about
+it in the papers, she said.  She was a very respectable,
+well-spoken young woman, sir, and I saw no harm in letting her
+have a peep.  When she saw that mark on the carpet, down she
+dropped on the floor, and lay as if she were dead.  I ran to the
+back and got some water, but I could not bring her to.  Then I
+went round the corner to the Ivy Plant for some brandy, and by
+the time I had brought it back the young woman had recovered and
+was off -- ashamed of herself, I dare say, and dared not face me."
+
+"How about moving that drugget?"
+
+"Well, sir, it was a bit rumpled, certainly, when I came back.
+You see, she fell on it, and it lies on a polished floor with
+nothing to keep it in place.  I straightened it out afterwards."
+
+"It's a lesson to you that you can't deceive me, Constable
+MacPherson," said Lestrade, with dignity.  "No doubt you thought
+that your breach of duty could never be discovered, and yet a
+mere glance at that drugget was enough to convince me that
+someone had been admitted to the room.  It's lucky for you,
+my man, that nothing is missing, or you would find yourself in
+Queer Street.  I'm sorry to have called you down over such a
+petty business, Mr. Holmes, but I thought the point of the second
+stain not corresponding with the first would interest you."
+
+"Certainly, it was most interesting.  Has this woman only been
+here once, constable?"
+
+"Yes, sir, only once."
+
+"Who was she?"
+
+"Don't know the name, sir.  Was answering an advertisement about
+type-writing, and came to the wrong number -- very pleasant,
+genteel young woman, sir."
+
+"Tall?  Handsome?"
+
+"Yes, sir; she was a well-grown young woman.  I suppose you
+might say she was handsome.  Perhaps some would say she was
+very handsome.  `Oh, officer, do let me have a peep!' says she.
+She had pretty, coaxing ways, as you might say, and I thought there
+was no harm in letting her just put her head through the door."
+
+"How was she dressed?"
+
+"Quiet, sir -- a long mantle down to her feet."
+
+"What time was it?"
+
+"It was just growing dusk at the time.  They were lighting the
+lamps as I came back with the brandy."
+
+"Very good," said Holmes.  "Come, Watson, I think that we have
+more important work elsewhere."
+
+As we left the house Lestrade remained in the front room,
+while the repentant constable opened the door to let us out.
+Holmes turned on the step and held up something in his hand.
+The constable stared intently.
+
+"Good Lord, sir!" he cried, with amazement on his face.
+Holmes put his finger on his lips, replaced his hand in his
+breast-pocket, and burst out laughing as we turned down the street.
+"Excellent!" said he.  "Come, friend Watson, the curtain rings
+up for the last act.  You will be relieved to hear that there
+will be no war, that the Right Honourable Trelawney Hope will
+suffer no set-back in his brilliant career, that the indiscreet
+Sovereign will receive no punishment for his indiscretion, that
+the Prime Minister will have no European complication to deal
+with, and that with a little tact and management upon our part
+nobody will be a penny the worse for what might have been a very
+ugly incident."
+
+My mind filled with admiration for this extraordinary man.
+
+"You have solved it!" I cried.
+
+"Hardly that, Watson.  There are some points which are as dark
+as ever.  But we have so much that it will be our own fault if
+we cannot get the rest.  We will go straight to Whitehall
+Terrace and bring the matter to a head."
+
+When we arrived at the residence of the European Secretary it
+was for Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope that Sherlock Holmes inquired.
+We were shown into the morning-room.
+
+"Mr. Holmes!" said the lady, and her face was pink with her
+indignation,  "this is surely most unfair and ungenerous upon
+your part.  I desired, as I have explained, to keep my visit to
+you a secret, lest my husband should think that I was intruding
+into his affairs.  And yet you compromise me by coming here and
+so showing that there are business relations between us."
+
+"Unfortunately, madam, I had no possible alternative.  I have
+been commissioned to recover this immensely important paper.
+I must therefore ask you, madam, to be kind enough to place
+it in my hands."
+
+The lady sprang to her feet, with the colour all dashed in an
+instant from her beautiful face.  Her eyes glazed -- she
+tottered -- I thought that she would faint.  Then with a grand
+effort she rallied from the shock, and a supreme astonishment
+and indignation chased every other expression from her features.
+
+"You -- you insult me, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"Come, come, madam, it is useless.  Give up the letter."
+
+She darted to the bell.
+
+"The butler shall show you out."
+
+"Do not ring, Lady Hilda.  If you do, then all my earnest efforts
+to avoid a scandal will be frustrated.  Give up the letter and
+all will be set right.  If you will work with me I can arrange
+everything.  If you work against me I must expose you."
+
+She stood grandly defiant, a queenly figure, her eyes fixed upon
+his as if she would read his very soul.  Her hand was on the
+bell, but she had forborne to ring it.
+
+"You are trying to frighten me.  It is not a very manly thing,
+Mr. Holmes, to come here and browbeat a woman.  You say that you
+know something.  What is it that you know?"
+
+"Pray sit down, madam.  You will hurt yourself there if you fall.
+I will not speak until you sit down.  Thank you."
+
+"I give you five minutes, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"One is enough, Lady Hilda.  I know of your visit to Eduardo
+Lucas, of your giving him this document, of your ingenious
+return to the room last night, and of the manner in which you
+took the letter from the hiding-place under the carpet."
+
+She stared at him with an ashen face and gulped twice before she
+could speak.
+
+"You are mad, Mr. Holmes -- you are mad!" she cried, at last.
+
+He drew a small piece of cardboard from his pocket.  It was the
+face of a woman cut out of a portrait.
+
+"I have carried this because I thought it might be useful,"
+said he.  "The policeman has recognised it."
+
+She gave a gasp and her head dropped back in the chair.
+
+"Come, Lady Hilda.  You have the letter.  The matter may
+still be adjusted.  I have no desire to bring trouble to you.
+My duty ends when I have returned the lost letter to your husband.
+Take my advice and be frank with me; it is your only chance."
+
+Her courage was admirable.  Even now she would not own defeat.
+
+"I tell you again, Mr. Holmes, that you are under some absurd
+illusion."
+
+Holmes rose from his chair.
+
+"I am sorry for you, Lady Hilda.  I have done my best for you;
+I can see that it is all in vain."
+
+He rang the bell.  The butler entered.
+
+"Is Mr. Trelawney Hope at home?"
+
+"He will be home, sir, at a quarter to one."
+
+Holmes glanced at his watch.
+
+"Still a quarter of an hour," said he.  "Very good, I shall wait."
+
+The butler had hardly closed the door behind him when Lady Hilda
+was down on her knees at Holmes's feet, her hands out-stretched,
+her beautiful face upturned and wet with her tears.
+
+"Oh, spare me, Mr. Holmes!  Spare me!" she pleaded, in a frenzy
+of supplication.  "For Heaven's sake, don't tell him!  I love
+him so!  I would not bring one shadow on his life, and this I
+know would break his noble heart."
+
+Holmes raised the lady.  "I am thankful, madam, that you have
+come to your senses even at this last moment!  There is not an
+instant to lose.  Where is the letter?"
+
+She darted across to a writing-desk, unlocked it, and drew out
+a long blue envelope.
+
+"Here it is, Mr. Holmes.  Would to Heaven I had never seen it!"
+
+"How can we return it?" Holmes muttered.  "Quick, quick,
+we must think of some way!  Where is the despatch-box?"
+
+"Still in his bedroom."
+
+"What a stroke of luck!  Quick, madam, bring it here!"
+
+A moment later she had appeared with a red flat box in her hand.
+
+"How did you open it before?  You have a duplicate key?
+Yes, of course you have.  Open it!"
+
+From out of her bosom Lady Hilda had drawn a small key.
+The box flew open.  It was stuffed with papers.  Holmes thrust
+the blue envelope deep down into the heart of them, between
+the leaves of some other document.  The box was shut, locked,
+and returned to the bedroom.
+
+"Now we are ready for him," said Holmes; "we have still ten
+minutes.  I am going far to screen you, Lady Hilda.  In return
+you will spend the time in telling me frankly the real meaning
+of this extraordinary affair."
+
+"Mr. Holmes, I will tell you everything," cried the lady.
+"Oh, Mr. Holmes, I would cut off my right hand before I gave him
+a moment of sorrow!  There is no woman in all London who loves her
+husband as I do, and yet if he knew how I have acted -- how I have
+been compelled to act -- he would never forgive me.  For his own
+honour stands so high that he could not forget or pardon a lapse
+in another.  Help me, Mr. Holmes!  My happiness, his happiness,
+our very lives are at stake!"
+
+"Quick, madam, the time grows short!"
+
+"It was a letter of mine, Mr. Holmes, an indiscreet letter
+written before my marriage -- a foolish letter, a letter of an
+impulsive, loving girl.  I meant no harm, and yet he would have
+thought it criminal.  Had he read that letter his confidence
+would have been for ever destroyed.  It is years since I wrote it.
+I had thought that the whole matter was forgotten.  Then at last
+I heard from this man, Lucas, that it had passed into his hands,
+and that he would lay it before my husband.  I implored his mercy.
+He said that he would return my letter if I would bring him a
+certain document which he described in my husband's despatch-box.
+He had some spy in the office who had told him of its existence.
+He assured me that no harm could come to my husband.  Put yourself
+in my position, Mr. Holmes!  What was I to do?"
+
+"Take your husband into your confidence."
+
+"I could not, Mr. Holmes, I could not!  On the one side seemed
+certain ruin; on the other, terrible as it seemed to take my
+husband's paper, still in a matter of politics I could not
+understand the consequences, while in a matter of love and trust
+they were only too clear to me.  I did it, Mr. Holmes!  I took
+an impression of his key; this man Lucas furnished a duplicate.
+I opened his despatch-box, took the paper, and conveyed it to
+Godolphin Street."
+
+"What happened there, madam?"
+
+"I tapped at the door as agreed.  Lucas opened it.  I followed
+him into his room, leaving the hall door ajar behind me, for I
+feared to be alone with the man.  I remember that there was a
+woman outside as I entered.  Our business was soon done.  He had
+my letter on his desk; I handed him the document.  He gave me
+the letter.  At this instant there was a sound at the door.
+There were steps in the passage.  Lucas quickly turned back the
+drugget, thrust the document into some hiding-place there, and
+covered it over.
+
+"What happened after that is like some fearful dream.
+I have a vision of a dark, frantic face, of a woman's voice,
+which screamed in French, `My waiting is not in vain.  At last,
+at last I have found you with her!'  There was a savage struggle.
+I saw him with a chair in his hand, a knife gleamed in hers.
+I rushed from the horrible scene, ran from the house, and only
+next morning in the paper did I learn the dreadful result.
+That night I was happy, for I had my letter, and I had not seen
+yet what the future would bring.
+
+"It was the next morning that I realized that I had only
+exchanged one trouble for another.  My husband's anguish at the
+loss of his paper went to my heart.  I could hardly prevent
+myself from there and then kneeling down at his feet and telling
+him what I had done.  But that again would mean a confession of
+the past.  I came to you that morning in order to understand the
+full enormity of my offence.  From the instant that I grasped it
+my whole mind was turned to the one thought of getting back my
+husband's paper.  It must still be where Lucas had placed it,
+for it was concealed before this dreadful woman entered the
+room.  If it had not been for her coming, I should not have
+known where his hiding-place was.  How was I to get into the
+room?  For two days I watched the place, but the door was never
+left open.  Last night I made a last attempt.  What I did and
+how I succeeded, you have already learned.  I brought the paper
+back with me, and thought of destroying it since I could see no
+way of returning it, without confessing my guilt to my husband.
+Heavens, I hear his step upon the stair!"
+
+The European Secretary burst excitedly into the room.
+
+"Any news, Mr. Holmes, any news?" he cried.
+
+"I have some hopes."
+
+"Ah, thank heaven!"  His face became radiant.  "The Prime
+Minister is lunching with me.  May he share your hopes?  He has
+nerves of steel, and yet I know that he has hardly slept since
+this terrible event.  Jacobs, will you ask the Prime Minister
+to come up?  As to you, dear, I fear that this is a matter of
+politics.  We will join you in a few minutes in the dining-room."
+
+The Prime Minister's manner was subdued, but I could see by
+the gleam of his eyes and the twitchings of his bony hands
+that he shared the excitement of his young colleague.
+
+"I understand that you have something to report, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Purely negative as yet," my friend answered.  "I have inquired
+at every point where it might be, and I am sure that there is no
+danger to be apprehended."
+
+"But that is not enough, Mr. Holmes.  We cannot live for ever
+on such a volcano.  We must have something definite."
+
+"I am in hopes of getting it.  That is why I am here.
+The more I think of the matter the more convinced I am
+that the letter has never left this house."
+
+"Mr. Holmes!"
+
+"If it had it would certainly have been public by now."
+
+"But why should anyone take it in order to keep it in his house?"
+
+"I am not convinced that anyone did take it."
+
+"Then how could it leave the despatch-box?"
+
+"I am not convinced that it ever did leave the despatch-box."
+
+"Mr. Holmes, this joking is very ill-timed.  You have my
+assurance that it left the box."
+
+"Have you examined the box since Tuesday morning?"
+
+"No; it was not necessary."
+
+"You may conceivably have overlooked it."
+
+"Impossible, I say."
+
+"But I am not convinced of it; I have known such things to happen.
+I presume there are other papers there.  Well, it may have got
+mixed with them."
+
+"It was on the top."
+
+"Someone may have shaken the box and displaced it."
+
+"No, no; I had everything out."
+
+"Surely it is easily decided, Hope," said the Premier.
+"Let us have the despatch-box brought in."
+
+The Secretary rang the bell.
+
+"Jacobs, bring down my despatch-box.  This is a farcical waste
+of time, but still, if nothing else will satisfy you, it shall
+be done.  Thank you, Jacobs; put it here.  I have always had the
+key on my watch-chain.  Here are the papers, you see.  Letter
+from Lord Merrow, report from Sir Charles Hardy, memorandum from
+Belgrade, note on the Russo-German grain taxes, letter from
+Madrid, note from Lord Flowers -- good heavens! what is this?
+Lord Bellinger!  Lord Bellinger!"
+
+The Premier snatched the blue envelope from his hand.
+
+"Yes, it is it -- and the letter is intact.  Hope, I congratulate you."
+
+"Thank you!  Thank you!  What a weight from my heart.  But this
+is inconceivable -- impossible.  Mr. Holmes, you are a wizard,
+a sorcerer!  How did you know it was there?"
+
+"Because I knew it was nowhere else."
+
+"I cannot believe my eyes!"  He ran wildly to the door.
+"Where is my wife?  I must tell her that all is well.
+Hilda!  Hilda!" we heard his voice on the stairs.
+
+The Premier looked at Holmes with twinkling eyes.
+
+"Come, sir," said he.  "There is more in this than meets the eye.
+How came the letter back in the box?"
+
+Holmes turned away smiling from the keen scrutiny of those
+wonderful eyes.
+
+"We also have our diplomatic secrets," said he, and picking up
+his hat he turned to the door.
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+End of Project Gutenberg etext of "The Return of Sherlock Holmes"
+[Magazine Edition]
+
+
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