├── .gitignore ├── LICENSE ├── README.md └── release-1 ├── README.md └── Sherlock-Holmes-Selected-Stories ├── Silver Blaze.txt ├── The Adventure of the Speckled Band.txt ├── The Adventures of the Six Napoleons.txt ├── The Naval Treaty.txt └── The Red Headed League.txt /.gitignore: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | # Logs 2 | logs 3 | *.log 4 | npm-debug.log* 5 | yarn-debug.log* 6 | yarn-error.log* 7 | lerna-debug.log* 8 | 9 | # Diagnostic reports (https://nodejs.org/api/report.html) 10 | report.[0-9]*.[0-9]*.[0-9]*.[0-9]*.json 11 | 12 | # Runtime data 13 | pids 14 | *.pid 15 | *.seed 16 | *.pid.lock 17 | 18 | # Directory for instrumented libs generated by jscoverage/JSCover 19 | lib-cov 20 | 21 | # Coverage directory used by tools like istanbul 22 | coverage 23 | *.lcov 24 | 25 | # nyc test coverage 26 | .nyc_output 27 | 28 | # Grunt intermediate storage (https://gruntjs.com/creating-plugins#storing-task-files) 29 | .grunt 30 | 31 | # Bower dependency directory (https://bower.io/) 32 | bower_components 33 | 34 | # node-waf configuration 35 | .lock-wscript 36 | 37 | # Compiled binary addons (https://nodejs.org/api/addons.html) 38 | build/Release 39 | 40 | # Dependency directories 41 | node_modules/ 42 | jspm_packages/ 43 | 44 | # TypeScript v1 declaration files 45 | typings/ 46 | 47 | # TypeScript cache 48 | *.tsbuildinfo 49 | 50 | # Optional npm cache directory 51 | .npm 52 | 53 | # Optional eslint cache 54 | .eslintcache 55 | 56 | # Microbundle cache 57 | .rpt2_cache/ 58 | .rts2_cache_cjs/ 59 | .rts2_cache_es/ 60 | .rts2_cache_umd/ 61 | 62 | # Optional REPL history 63 | .node_repl_history 64 | 65 | # Output of 'npm pack' 66 | *.tgz 67 | 68 | # Yarn Integrity file 69 | .yarn-integrity 70 | 71 | # dotenv environment variables file 72 | .env 73 | .env.test 74 | 75 | # parcel-bundler cache (https://parceljs.org/) 76 | .cache 77 | 78 | # Next.js build output 79 | .next 80 | 81 | # Nuxt.js build / generate output 82 | .nuxt 83 | dist 84 | 85 | # Gatsby files 86 | .cache/ 87 | # Comment in the public line in if your project uses Gatsby and *not* Next.js 88 | # https://nextjs.org/blog/next-9-1#public-directory-support 89 | # public 90 | 91 | # vuepress build output 92 | .vuepress/dist 93 | 94 | # Serverless directories 95 | .serverless/ 96 | 97 | # FuseBox cache 98 | .fusebox/ 99 | 100 | # DynamoDB Local files 101 | .dynamodb/ 102 | 103 | # TernJS port file 104 | .tern-port 105 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /LICENSE: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | BSD 2-Clause License 2 | 3 | Copyright (c) 2022, Centre for the Development of Open Technology 4 | All rights reserved. 5 | 6 | Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7 | modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 8 | 9 | 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this 10 | list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11 | 12 | 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, 13 | this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation 14 | and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 15 | 16 | THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" 17 | AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 18 | IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE 19 | DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 20 | FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 21 | DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR 22 | SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER 23 | CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, 24 | OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE 25 | OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. 26 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /README.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | # Topics in Open Source Development (Fall 2022) 2 | 3 | Course Code: [DPS909](http://www.senecacollege.ca/cgi-bin/subject?s1=DPS909) and [OSD600](http://www.senecacollege.ca/cgi-bin/subject?s1=OSD600) 4 | 5 | This course introduces Seneca students to the technological, social, and pragmatic aspects of developing open source software through direct involvement in large open source projects. Students will learn to use the tools, techniques, and strategies of open source developers. This is a project-based programming course. 6 | 7 | ## Course Outcomes 8 | 9 | Upon successful completion of this course students should be able to: 10 | 11 | - Discuss the issues and currents in open source and open source development 12 | - Describe the history and philosophy of an open source project 13 | - Choose between the various open source licenses understanding the implications for users, developers, and the software community in general 14 | - Use the communication modes particular to the open source world through participation in such things as GitHub, Slack, wikis, etc. 15 | - Use the tools of open source development, for example: distributed revision control; documentation tools; automated build and test systems; debuggers; source code utilities; tracking systems; on-line resources, etc. 16 | - Work with pre-existing, large source code bases 17 | - Write software that integrates and interacts with existing open source systems. For example: add-ons; bug fixes; new features; etc. 18 | - Work collaboratively with fellow students and members of the open source community. 19 | 20 | ## Major Project 21 | 22 | This is a project course, and the majority of each student's mark will come from work done on real development projects. The primary goal of these projects is to get students involved in the open source development community and its codebases. Through this experience students will learn about the processes, tools, and practices involved in developing software as part of a large open source community. Students will also have the opportunity to contribute their own code to real-world software projects, thereby gaining important experience. 23 | 24 | ## Philosophy 25 | 26 | Many of the practices inherent in open source development will seem to go against the structures often set in place for similar course work. For example, students are typically forbidden to collaborate with peers, to copy from the web, etc. However, these rules must be re-evaluated in the context of proper and pragmatic open source development practices. 27 | 28 | First, consider the typical rules around cheating and plagiarism. In this course, students are encouraged to work within the set of best practices natural to open source development. Open source developers do not write from scratch what already exists and is freely available for use. Students should be thinking in terms of code reuse. It is acceptable for students to use code from other open source projects, so long as the license is amenable to the use. 29 | 30 | Second, consider the typical restrictions on peer-collaboration. In this course students are encouraged to work together, to help one another, to look at each other's code, etc. Open source collaboration is about leveraging the collective knowledge of a community in order to help solve the problems of the individual. 31 | 32 | Third, consider the sharp dividing line between student projects in most programming courses. For the most part, students are evaluated on their ability to do a particular project or to solve a particular problem on their own. The outcome is measured against peer outcomes. However, in this course students are not in competition with their peers; rather, they are all working on one large project with many sub-projects within it. As a result, there is no clean line to divide one student's work from another, or even student work from that of the open source community. This means that collaboration between students and even other members of the open source community is acceptable practice. 33 | 34 | To summarize, students should: 35 | 36 | - Help each other, contribute to one another's projects 37 | - Work with and within the open source community 38 | - Give others encouragement and credit when they offer help 39 | - Use existing open source code whenever possible 40 | - Be open to helping others and to being helped 41 | 42 | ## Intellectual Property 43 | 44 | Given that this course is focused on open source development, and given that students work on real open source codebases, all student work will become open source. The particular license used will be determined based on the particular project and open source project. 45 | 46 | ## Grading 47 | 48 | Detailed grading information will be discussed later in the term. Below is a breakdown of how students will be graded, and [this blog post](http://blog.humphd.org/vocamus-680/?p=680) gives more details about the rationale: 49 | 50 | - 60% - Project Deliverables (e.g., code, Pull Requests, documentation), marked in terms of quality, quantity, process, etc. 51 | - 10% - [Release 0.1](https://github.com/Seneca-CDOT/topics-in-open-source-2022/wiki/release-0.1) due Sun, Sept 18 52 | - 20% - [Release 0.2](https://github.com/Seneca-CDOT/topics-in-open-source-2022/wiki/release-0.2) due Mon, Oct 31 53 | - 15% - [Release 0.3](https://github.com/Seneca-CDOT/topics-in-open-source-2022/wiki/release-0.3) due Sun, Nov 20 54 | - 15% - [Release 0.4](https://github.com/Seneca-CDOT/topics-in-open-source-2022/wiki/release-0.4) due Sun, Dec 11 55 | - 40% - Labs: There will be approximately 10 labs, each worth 4%. 56 | 57 | Students must satisfactorily complete all project deliverables and labs to pass the course. 58 | 59 | ## Course Notes: Wiki 60 | 61 | All course notes, links, and student submissions will happen via the [course wiki](https://github.com/Seneca-CDOT/topics-in-open-source-2022/wiki). 62 | 63 | ## Communication 64 | 65 | - [Seneca Open Source Slack](https://seneca-open-source.slack.com) - our main communication platform is Slack. You can sign-up with your _@myseneca.ca_ email address. 66 | - [Telescope Open Source Blog](https://telescope.cdot.systems/) - all student open source blogs are aggregated here in our custom blogging software 67 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /release-1/README.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | # Release 0.1 - Sample 2 | 3 | The `Sherlock-Holmes-Selected-Stories` folder is a sample for use in your Release 0.1. 4 | It contains five [Sherlock Holmes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes) stories by [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Conan_Doyle). These stories are in the [public domain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain), and were obtained from [Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org). 5 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /release-1/Sherlock-Holmes-Selected-Stories/Silver Blaze.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | Silver Blaze 2 | 3 | 4 | I am afraid, Watson, that I shall have to go,” said Holmes, as we 5 | sat down together to our breakfast one morning. 6 | 7 | “Go! Where to?” 8 | 9 | “To Dartmoor; to King’s Pyland.” 10 | 11 | I was not surprised. Indeed, my only wonder was that he had not 12 | already been mixed up in this extraordinary case, which was the 13 | one topic of conversation through the length and breadth of 14 | England. For a whole day my companion had rambled about the room 15 | with his chin upon his chest and his brows knitted, charging and 16 | recharging his pipe with the strongest black tobacco, and 17 | absolutely deaf to any of my questions or remarks. Fresh editions 18 | of every paper had been sent up by our news agent, only to be 19 | glanced over and tossed down into a corner. Yet, silent as he 20 | was, I knew perfectly well what it was over which he was 21 | brooding. There was but one problem before the public which could 22 | challenge his powers of analysis, and that was the singular 23 | disappearance of the favourite for the Wessex Cup, and the tragic 24 | murder of its trainer. When, therefore, he suddenly announced his 25 | intention of setting out for the scene of the drama it was only 26 | what I had both expected and hoped for. 27 | 28 | “I should be most happy to go down with you if I should not be in 29 | the way,” said I. 30 | 31 | “My dear Watson, you would confer a great favour upon me by 32 | coming. And I think that your time will not be misspent, for 33 | there are points about the case which promise to make it an 34 | absolutely unique one. We have, I think, just time to catch our 35 | train at Paddington, and I will go further into the matter upon 36 | our journey. You would oblige me by bringing with you your very 37 | excellent field-glass.” 38 | 39 | And so it happened that an hour or so later I found myself in the 40 | corner of a first-class carriage flying along en route for 41 | Exeter, while Sherlock Holmes, with his sharp, eager face framed 42 | in his ear-flapped travelling-cap, dipped rapidly into the bundle 43 | of fresh papers which he had procured at Paddington. We had left 44 | Reading far behind us before he thrust the last one of them under 45 | the seat, and offered me his cigar-case. 46 | 47 | “We are going well,” said he, looking out the window and glancing 48 | at his watch. “Our rate at present is fifty-three and a half 49 | miles an hour.” 50 | 51 | “I have not observed the quarter-mile posts,” said I. 52 | 53 | “Nor have I. But the telegraph posts upon this line are sixty 54 | yards apart, and the calculation is a simple one. I presume that 55 | you have looked into this matter of the murder of John Straker 56 | and the disappearance of Silver Blaze?” 57 | 58 | “I have seen what the _Telegraph_ and the _Chronicle_ have to 59 | say.” 60 | 61 | “It is one of those cases where the art of the reasoner should be 62 | used rather for the sifting of details than for the acquiring of 63 | fresh evidence. The tragedy has been so uncommon, so complete and 64 | of such personal importance to so many people, that we are 65 | suffering from a plethora of surmise, conjecture, and hypothesis. 66 | The difficulty is to detach the framework of fact—of absolute 67 | undeniable fact—from the embellishments of theorists and 68 | reporters. Then, having established ourselves upon this sound 69 | basis, it is our duty to see what inferences may be drawn and 70 | what are the special points upon which the whole mystery turns. 71 | On Tuesday evening I received telegrams from both Colonel Ross, 72 | the owner of the horse, and from Inspector Gregory, who is 73 | looking after the case, inviting my co-operation.” 74 | 75 | “Tuesday evening!” I exclaimed. “And this is Thursday morning. 76 | Why didn’t you go down yesterday?” 77 | 78 | “Because I made a blunder, my dear Watson—which is, I am afraid, 79 | a more common occurrence than any one would think who only knew 80 | me through your memoirs. The fact is that I could not believe it 81 | possible that the most remarkable horse in England could long 82 | remain concealed, especially in so sparsely inhabited a place as 83 | the north of Dartmoor. From hour to hour yesterday I expected to 84 | hear that he had been found, and that his abductor was the 85 | murderer of John Straker. When, however, another morning had 86 | come, and I found that beyond the arrest of young Fitzroy Simpson 87 | nothing had been done, I felt that it was time for me to take 88 | action. Yet in some ways I feel that yesterday has not been 89 | wasted.” 90 | 91 | “You have formed a theory, then?” 92 | 93 | “At least I have got a grip of the essential facts of the case. I 94 | shall enumerate them to you, for nothing clears up a case so much 95 | as stating it to another person, and I can hardly expect your 96 | co-operation if I do not show you the position from which we 97 | start.” 98 | 99 | I lay back against the cushions, puffing at my cigar, while 100 | Holmes, leaning forward, with his long, thin forefinger checking 101 | off the points upon the palm of his left hand, gave me a sketch 102 | of the events which had led to our journey. 103 | 104 | “Silver Blaze,” said he, “is from the Isonomy stock, and holds as 105 | brilliant a record as his famous ancestor. He is now in his fifth 106 | year, and has brought in turn each of the prizes of the turf to 107 | Colonel Ross, his fortunate owner. Up to the time of the 108 | catastrophe he was the first favourite for the Wessex Cup, the 109 | betting being three to one on him. He has always, however, been a 110 | prime favourite with the racing public, and has never yet 111 | disappointed them, so that even at those odds enormous sums of 112 | money have been laid upon him. It is obvious, therefore, that 113 | there were many people who had the strongest interest in 114 | preventing Silver Blaze from being there at the fall of the flag 115 | next Tuesday. 116 | 117 | “The fact was, of course, appreciated at King’s Pyland, where the 118 | Colonel’s training-stable is situated. Every precaution was taken 119 | to guard the favourite. The trainer, John Straker, is a retired 120 | jockey who rode in Colonel Ross’s colours before he became too 121 | heavy for the weighing-chair. He has served the Colonel for five 122 | years as jockey and for seven as trainer, and has always shown 123 | himself to be a zealous and honest servant. Under him were three 124 | lads; for the establishment was a small one, containing only four 125 | horses in all. One of these lads sat up each night in the stable, 126 | while the others slept in the loft. All three bore excellent 127 | characters. John Straker, who is a married man, lived in a small 128 | villa about two hundred yards from the stables. He has no 129 | children, keeps one maid-servant, and is comfortably off. The 130 | country round is very lonely, but about half a mile to the north 131 | there is a small cluster of villas which have been built by a 132 | Tavistock contractor for the use of invalids and others who may 133 | wish to enjoy the pure Dartmoor air. Tavistock itself lies two 134 | miles to the west, while across the moor, also about two miles 135 | distant, is the larger training establishment of Mapleton, which 136 | belongs to Lord Backwater, and is managed by Silas Brown. In 137 | every other direction the moor is a complete wilderness, 138 | inhabited only by a few roaming gypsies. Such was the general 139 | situation last Monday night when the catastrophe occurred. 140 | 141 | “On that evening the horses had been exercised and watered as 142 | usual, and the stables were locked up at nine o’clock. Two of the 143 | lads walked up to the trainer’s house, where they had supper in 144 | the kitchen, while the third, Ned Hunter, remained on guard. At a 145 | few minutes after nine the maid, Edith Baxter, carried down to 146 | the stables his supper, which consisted of a dish of curried 147 | mutton. She took no liquid, as there was a water-tap in the 148 | stables, and it was the rule that the lad on duty should drink 149 | nothing else. The maid carried a lantern with her, as it was very 150 | dark and the path ran across the open moor. 151 | 152 | “Edith Baxter was within thirty yards of the stables, when a man 153 | appeared out of the darkness and called to her to stop. As he 154 | stepped into the circle of yellow light thrown by the lantern she 155 | saw that he was a person of gentlemanly bearing, dressed in a 156 | grey suit of tweeds, with a cloth cap. He wore gaiters, and 157 | carried a heavy stick with a knob to it. She was most impressed, 158 | however, by the extreme pallor of his face and by the nervousness 159 | of his manner. His age, she thought, would be rather over thirty 160 | than under it. 161 | 162 | “‘Can you tell me where I am?’ he asked. ‘I had almost made up my 163 | mind to sleep on the moor, when I saw the light of your lantern.’ 164 | 165 | “‘You are close to the King’s Pyland training-stables,’ said she. 166 | 167 | “‘Oh, indeed! What a stroke of luck!’ he cried. ‘I understand 168 | that a stable-boy sleeps there alone every night. Perhaps that is 169 | his supper which you are carrying to him. Now I am sure that you 170 | would not be too proud to earn the price of a new dress, would 171 | you?’ He took a piece of white paper folded up out of his 172 | waistcoat pocket. ‘See that the boy has this to-night, and you 173 | shall have the prettiest frock that money can buy.’ 174 | 175 | “She was frightened by the earnestness of his manner, and ran 176 | past him to the window through which she was accustomed to hand 177 | the meals. It was already opened, and Hunter was seated at the 178 | small table inside. She had begun to tell him of what had 179 | happened, when the stranger came up again. 180 | 181 | “‘Good-evening,’ said he, looking through the window. ‘I wanted 182 | to have a word with you.’ The girl has sworn that as he spoke she 183 | noticed the corner of the little paper packet protruding from his 184 | closed hand. 185 | 186 | “‘What business have you here?’ asked the lad. 187 | 188 | “‘It’s business that may put something into your pocket,’ said 189 | the other. ‘You’ve two horses in for the Wessex Cup—Silver Blaze 190 | and Bayard. Let me have the straight tip and you won’t be a 191 | loser. Is it a fact that at the weights Bayard could give the 192 | other a hundred yards in five furlongs, and that the stable have 193 | put their money on him?’ 194 | 195 | “‘So, you’re one of those damned touts!’ cried the lad. ‘I’ll 196 | show you how we serve them in King’s Pyland.’ He sprang up and 197 | rushed across the stable to unloose the dog. The girl fled away 198 | to the house, but as she ran she looked back and saw that the 199 | stranger was leaning through the window. A minute later, however, 200 | when Hunter rushed out with the hound he was gone, and though he 201 | ran all round the buildings he failed to find any trace of him.” 202 | 203 | “One moment,” I asked. “Did the stable-boy, when he ran out with 204 | the dog, leave the door unlocked behind him?” 205 | 206 | “Excellent, Watson, excellent!” murmured my companion. “The 207 | importance of the point struck me so forcibly that I sent a 208 | special wire to Dartmoor yesterday to clear the matter up. The 209 | boy locked the door before he left it. The window, I may add, was 210 | not large enough for a man to get through. 211 | 212 | “Hunter waited until his fellow-grooms had returned, when he sent 213 | a message to the trainer and told him what had occurred. Straker 214 | was excited at hearing the account, although he does not seem to 215 | have quite realized its true significance. It left him, however, 216 | vaguely uneasy, and Mrs. Straker, waking at one in the morning, 217 | found that he was dressing. In reply to her inquiries, he said 218 | that he could not sleep on account of his anxiety about the 219 | horses, and that he intended to walk down to the stables to see 220 | that all was well. She begged him to remain at home, as she could 221 | hear the rain pattering against the window, but in spite of her 222 | entreaties he pulled on his large mackintosh and left the house. 223 | 224 | “Mrs. Straker awoke at seven in the morning, to find that her 225 | husband had not yet returned. She dressed herself hastily, called 226 | the maid, and set off for the stables. The door was open; inside, 227 | huddled together upon a chair, Hunter was sunk in a state of 228 | absolute stupor, the favourite’s stall was empty, and there were 229 | no signs of his trainer. 230 | 231 | “The two lads who slept in the chaff-cutting loft above the 232 | harness-room were quickly aroused. They had heard nothing during 233 | the night, for they are both sound sleepers. Hunter was obviously 234 | under the influence of some powerful drug, and as no sense could 235 | be got out of him, he was left to sleep it off while the two lads 236 | and the two women ran out in search of the absentees. They still 237 | had hopes that the trainer had for some reason taken out the 238 | horse for early exercise, but on ascending the knoll near the 239 | house, from which all the neighbouring moors were visible, they 240 | not only could see no signs of the missing favourite, but they 241 | perceived something which warned them that they were in the 242 | presence of a tragedy. 243 | 244 | “About a quarter of a mile from the stables John Straker’s 245 | overcoat was flapping from a furze-bush. Immediately beyond there 246 | was a bowl-shaped depression in the moor, and at the bottom of 247 | this was found the dead body of the unfortunate trainer. His head 248 | had been shattered by a savage blow from some heavy weapon, and 249 | he was wounded on the thigh, where there was a long, clean cut, 250 | inflicted evidently by some very sharp instrument. It was clear, 251 | however, that Straker had defended himself vigorously against his 252 | assailants, for in his right hand he held a small knife, which 253 | was clotted with blood up to the handle, while in his left he 254 | clasped a red and black silk cravat, which was recognised by the 255 | maid as having been worn on the preceding evening by the stranger 256 | who had visited the stables. 257 | 258 | “Hunter, on recovering from his stupor, was also quite positive 259 | as to the ownership of the cravat. He was equally certain that 260 | the same stranger had, while standing at the window, drugged his 261 | curried mutton, and so deprived the stables of their watchman. 262 | 263 | “As to the missing horse, there were abundant proofs in the mud 264 | which lay at the bottom of the fatal hollow that he had been 265 | there at the time of the struggle. But from that morning he has 266 | disappeared, and although a large reward has been offered, and 267 | all the gypsies of Dartmoor are on the alert, no news has come of 268 | him. Finally, an analysis has shown that the remains of his 269 | supper left by the stable-lad contain an appreciable quantity of 270 | powdered opium, while the people at the house partook of the same 271 | dish on the same night without any ill effect. 272 | 273 | “Those are the main facts of the case, stripped of all surmise, 274 | and stated as baldly as possible. I shall now recapitulate what 275 | the police have done in the matter. 276 | 277 | “Inspector Gregory, to whom the case has been committed, is an 278 | extremely competent officer. Were he but gifted with imagination 279 | he might rise to great heights in his profession. On his arrival 280 | he promptly found and arrested the man upon whom suspicion 281 | naturally rested. There was little difficulty in finding him, for 282 | he inhabited one of those villas which I have mentioned. His 283 | name, it appears, was Fitzroy Simpson. He was a man of excellent 284 | birth and education, who had squandered a fortune upon the turf, 285 | and who lived now by doing a little quiet and genteel book-making 286 | in the sporting clubs of London. An examination of his 287 | betting-book shows that bets to the amount of five thousand 288 | pounds had been registered by him against the favourite. 289 | 290 | “On being arrested he volunteered the statement that he had come 291 | down to Dartmoor in the hope of getting some information about 292 | the King’s Pyland horses, and also about Desborough, the second 293 | favourite, which was in charge of Silas Brown at the Mapleton 294 | stables. He did not attempt to deny that he had acted as 295 | described upon the evening before, but declared that he had no 296 | sinister designs, and had simply wished to obtain first-hand 297 | information. When confronted with his cravat, he turned very 298 | pale, and was utterly unable to account for its presence in the 299 | hand of the murdered man. His wet clothing showed that he had 300 | been out in the storm of the night before, and his stick, which 301 | was a Penang-lawyer weighted with lead, was just such a weapon as 302 | might, by repeated blows, have inflicted the terrible injuries to 303 | which the trainer had succumbed. 304 | 305 | “On the other hand, there was no wound upon his person, while the 306 | state of Straker’s knife would show that one at least of his 307 | assailants must bear his mark upon him. There you have it all in 308 | a nutshell, Watson, and if you can give me any light I shall be 309 | infinitely obliged to you.” 310 | 311 | I had listened with the greatest interest to the statement which 312 | Holmes, with characteristic clearness, had laid before me. Though 313 | most of the facts were familiar to me, I had not sufficiently 314 | appreciated their relative importance, nor their connection to 315 | each other. 316 | 317 | “Is it not possible,” I suggested, “that the incised wound upon 318 | Straker may have been caused by his own knife in the convulsive 319 | struggles which follow any brain injury?” 320 | 321 | “It is more than possible; it is probable,” said Holmes. “In that 322 | case one of the main points in favour of the accused disappears.” 323 | 324 | “And yet,” said I, “even now I fail to understand what the theory 325 | of the police can be.” 326 | 327 | “I am afraid that whatever theory we state has very grave 328 | objections to it,” returned my companion. “The police imagine, I 329 | take it, that this Fitzroy Simpson, having drugged the lad, and 330 | having in some way obtained a duplicate key, opened the stable 331 | door and took out the horse, with the intention, apparently, of 332 | kidnapping him altogether. His bridle is missing, so that Simpson 333 | must have put this on. Then, having left the door open behind 334 | him, he was leading the horse away over the moor, when he was 335 | either met or overtaken by the trainer. A row naturally ensued. 336 | Simpson beat out the trainer’s brains with his heavy stick 337 | without receiving any injury from the small knife which Straker 338 | used in self-defence, and then the thief either led the horse on 339 | to some secret hiding-place, or else it may have bolted during 340 | the struggle, and be now wandering out on the moors. That is the 341 | case as it appears to the police, and improbable as it is, all 342 | other explanations are more improbable still. However, I shall 343 | very quickly test the matter when I am once upon the spot, and 344 | until then I cannot really see how we can get much further than 345 | our present position.” 346 | 347 | It was evening before we reached the little town of Tavistock, 348 | which lies, like the boss of a shield, in the middle of the huge 349 | circle of Dartmoor. Two gentlemen were awaiting us in the 350 | station—the one a tall, fair man with lion-like hair and beard 351 | and curiously penetrating light blue eyes; the other a small, 352 | alert person, very neat and dapper, in a frock-coat and gaiters, 353 | with trim little side-whiskers and an eye-glass. The latter was 354 | Colonel Ross, the well-known sportsman; the other, Inspector 355 | Gregory, a man who was rapidly making his name in the English 356 | detective service. 357 | 358 | “I am delighted that you have come down, Mr. Holmes,” said the 359 | Colonel. “The Inspector here has done all that could possibly be 360 | suggested, but I wish to leave no stone unturned in trying to 361 | avenge poor Straker and in recovering my horse.” 362 | 363 | “Have there been any fresh developments?” asked Holmes. 364 | 365 | “I am sorry to say that we have made very little progress,” said 366 | the Inspector. “We have an open carriage outside, and as you 367 | would no doubt like to see the place before the light fails, we 368 | might talk it over as we drive.” 369 | 370 | A minute later we were all seated in a comfortable landau, and 371 | were rattling through the quaint old Devonshire city. Inspector 372 | Gregory was full of his case, and poured out a stream of remarks, 373 | while Holmes threw in an occasional question or interjection. 374 | Colonel Ross leaned back with his arms folded and his hat tilted 375 | over his eyes, while I listened with interest to the dialogue of 376 | the two detectives. Gregory was formulating his theory, which was 377 | almost exactly what Holmes had foretold in the train. 378 | 379 | “The net is drawn pretty close round Fitzroy Simpson,” he 380 | remarked, “and I believe myself that he is our man. At the same 381 | time I recognise that the evidence is purely circumstantial, and 382 | that some new development may upset it.” 383 | 384 | “How about Straker’s knife?” 385 | 386 | “We have quite come to the conclusion that he wounded himself in 387 | his fall.” 388 | 389 | “My friend Dr. Watson made that suggestion to me as we came down. 390 | If so, it would tell against this man Simpson.” 391 | 392 | “Undoubtedly. He has neither a knife nor any sign of a wound. The 393 | evidence against him is certainly very strong. He had a great 394 | interest in the disappearance of the favourite. He lies under 395 | suspicion of having poisoned the stable-boy, he was undoubtedly 396 | out in the storm, he was armed with a heavy stick, and his cravat 397 | was found in the dead man’s hand. I really think we have enough 398 | to go before a jury.” 399 | 400 | Holmes shook his head. “A clever counsel would tear it all to 401 | rags,” said he. “Why should he take the horse out of the stable? 402 | If he wished to injure it why could he not do it there? Has a 403 | duplicate key been found in his possession? What chemist sold him 404 | the powdered opium? Above all, where could he, a stranger to the 405 | district, hide a horse, and such a horse as this? What is his own 406 | explanation as to the paper which he wished the maid to give to 407 | the stable-boy?” 408 | 409 | “He says that it was a ten-pound note. One was found in his 410 | purse. But your other difficulties are not so formidable as they 411 | seem. He is not a stranger to the district. He has twice lodged 412 | at Tavistock in the summer. The opium was probably brought from 413 | London. The key, having served its purpose, would be hurled away. 414 | The horse may be at the bottom of one of the pits or old mines 415 | upon the moor.” 416 | 417 | “What does he say about the cravat?” 418 | 419 | “He acknowledges that it is his, and declares that he had lost 420 | it. But a new element has been introduced into the case which may 421 | account for his leading the horse from the stable.” 422 | 423 | Holmes pricked up his ears. 424 | 425 | “We have found traces which show that a party of gypsies encamped 426 | on Monday night within a mile of the spot where the murder took 427 | place. On Tuesday they were gone. Now, presuming that there was 428 | some understanding between Simpson and these gypsies, might he 429 | not have been leading the horse to them when he was overtaken, 430 | and may they not have him now?” 431 | 432 | “It is certainly possible.” 433 | 434 | “The moor is being scoured for these gypsies. I have also 435 | examined every stable and out-house in Tavistock, and for a 436 | radius of ten miles.” 437 | 438 | “There is another training-stable quite close, I understand?” 439 | 440 | “Yes, and that is a factor which we must certainly not neglect. 441 | As Desborough, their horse, was second in the betting, they had 442 | an interest in the disappearance of the favourite. Silas Brown, 443 | the trainer, is known to have had large bets upon the event, and 444 | he was no friend to poor Straker. We have, however, examined the 445 | stables, and there is nothing to connect him with the affair.” 446 | 447 | “And nothing to connect this man Simpson with the interests of 448 | the Mapleton stables?” 449 | 450 | “Nothing at all.” 451 | 452 | Holmes leaned back in the carriage, and the conversation ceased. 453 | A few minutes later our driver pulled up at a neat little 454 | red-brick villa with overhanging eaves which stood by the road. 455 | Some distance off, across a paddock, lay a long grey-tiled 456 | out-building. In every other direction the low curves of the 457 | moor, bronze-coloured from the fading ferns, stretched away to 458 | the sky-line, broken only by the steeples of Tavistock, and by a 459 | cluster of houses away to the westward which marked the Mapleton 460 | stables. We all sprang out with the exception of Holmes, who 461 | continued to lean back with his eyes fixed upon the sky in front 462 | of him, entirely absorbed in his own thoughts. It was only when I 463 | touched his arm that he roused himself with a violent start and 464 | stepped out of the carriage. 465 | 466 | “Excuse me,” said he, turning to Colonel Ross, who had looked at 467 | him in some surprise. “I was day-dreaming.” There was a gleam in 468 | his eyes and a suppressed excitement in his manner which 469 | convinced me, used as I was to his ways, that his hand was upon a 470 | clue, though I could not imagine where he had found it. 471 | 472 | “Perhaps you would prefer at once to go on to the scene of the 473 | crime, Mr. Holmes?” said Gregory. 474 | 475 | “I think that I should prefer to stay here a little and go into 476 | one or two questions of detail. Straker was brought back here, I 477 | presume?” 478 | 479 | “Yes; he lies upstairs. The inquest is to-morrow.” 480 | 481 | “He has been in your service some years, Colonel Ross?” 482 | 483 | “I have always found him an excellent servant.” 484 | 485 | “I presume that you made an inventory of what he had in his 486 | pockets at the time of his death, Inspector?” 487 | 488 | “I have the things themselves in the sitting-room, if you would 489 | care to see them.” 490 | 491 | “I should be very glad.” We all filed into the front room and sat 492 | round the central table while the Inspector unlocked a square tin 493 | box and laid a small heap of things before us. There was a box of 494 | vestas, two inches of tallow candle, an A.D.P. briar-root pipe, a 495 | pouch of seal-skin with half an ounce of long-cut Cavendish, a 496 | silver watch with a gold chain, five sovereigns in gold, an 497 | aluminium pencil-case, a few papers, and an ivory-handled knife 498 | with a very delicate, inflexible blade marked Weiss & Co., 499 | London. 500 | 501 | “This is a very singular knife,” said Holmes, lifting it up and 502 | examining it minutely. “I presume, as I see blood-stains upon it, 503 | that it is the one which was found in the dead man’s grasp. 504 | Watson, this knife is surely in your line?” 505 | 506 | “It is what we call a cataract knife,” said I. 507 | 508 | “I thought so. A very delicate blade devised for very delicate 509 | work. A strange thing for a man to carry with him upon a rough 510 | expedition, especially as it would not shut in his pocket.” 511 | 512 | “The tip was guarded by a disk of cork which we found beside his 513 | body,” said the Inspector. “His wife tells us that the knife had 514 | lain upon the dressing-table, and that he had picked it up as he 515 | left the room. It was a poor weapon, but perhaps the best that he 516 | could lay his hands on at the moment.” 517 | 518 | “Very possible. How about these papers?” 519 | 520 | “Three of them are receipted hay-dealers’ accounts. One of them 521 | is a letter of instructions from Colonel Ross. This other is a 522 | milliner’s account for thirty-seven pounds fifteen made out by 523 | Madame Lesurier, of Bond Street, to William Derbyshire. Mrs. 524 | Straker tells us that Derbyshire was a friend of her husband’s 525 | and that occasionally his letters were addressed here.” 526 | 527 | “Madam Derbyshire had somewhat expensive tastes,” remarked 528 | Holmes, glancing down the account. “Twenty-two guineas is rather 529 | heavy for a single costume. However there appears to be nothing 530 | more to learn, and we may now go down to the scene of the crime.” 531 | 532 | As we emerged from the sitting-room a woman, who had been waiting 533 | in the passage, took a step forward and laid her hand upon the 534 | Inspector’s sleeve. Her face was haggard and thin and eager, 535 | stamped with the print of a recent horror. 536 | 537 | “Have you got them? Have you found them?” she panted. 538 | 539 | “No, Mrs. Straker. But Mr. Holmes here has come from London to 540 | help us, and we shall do all that is possible.” 541 | 542 | “Surely I met you in Plymouth at a garden-party some little time 543 | ago, Mrs. Straker?” said Holmes. 544 | 545 | “No, sir; you are mistaken.” 546 | 547 | “Dear me! Why, I could have sworn to it. You wore a costume of 548 | dove-coloured silk with ostrich-feather trimming.” 549 | 550 | “I never had such a dress, sir,” answered the lady. 551 | 552 | “Ah, that quite settles it,” said Holmes. And with an apology he 553 | followed the Inspector outside. A short walk across the moor took 554 | us to the hollow in which the body had been found. At the brink 555 | of it was the furze-bush upon which the coat had been hung. 556 | 557 | “There was no wind that night, I understand,” said Holmes. 558 | 559 | “None; but very heavy rain.” 560 | 561 | “In that case the overcoat was not blown against the furze-bush, 562 | but placed there.” 563 | 564 | “Yes, it was laid across the bush.” 565 | 566 | “You fill me with interest, I perceive that the ground has been 567 | trampled up a good deal. No doubt many feet have been here since 568 | Monday night.” 569 | 570 | “A piece of matting has been laid here at the side, and we have 571 | all stood upon that.” 572 | 573 | “Excellent.” 574 | 575 | “In this bag I have one of the boots which Straker wore, one of 576 | Fitzroy Simpson’s shoes, and a cast horseshoe of Silver Blaze.” 577 | 578 | “My dear Inspector, you surpass yourself!” Holmes took the bag, 579 | and, descending into the hollow, he pushed the matting into a 580 | more central position. Then stretching himself upon his face and 581 | leaning his chin upon his hands, he made a careful study of the 582 | trampled mud in front of him. “Hullo!” said he, suddenly. “What’s 583 | this?” It was a wax vesta half burned, which was so coated with 584 | mud that it looked at first like a little chip of wood. 585 | 586 | “I cannot think how I came to overlook it,” said the Inspector, 587 | with an expression of annoyance. 588 | 589 | “It was invisible, buried in the mud. I only saw it because I was 590 | looking for it.” 591 | 592 | “What! You expected to find it?” 593 | 594 | “I thought it not unlikely.” 595 | 596 | He took the boots from the bag, and compared the impressions of 597 | each of them with marks upon the ground. Then he clambered up to 598 | the rim of the hollow, and crawled about among the ferns and 599 | bushes. 600 | 601 | “I am afraid that there are no more tracks,” said the Inspector. 602 | “I have examined the ground very carefully for a hundred yards in 603 | each direction.” 604 | 605 | “Indeed!” said Holmes, rising. “I should not have the 606 | impertinence to do it again after what you say. But I should like 607 | to take a little walk over the moor before it grows dark, that I 608 | may know my ground to-morrow, and I think that I shall put this 609 | horseshoe into my pocket for luck.” 610 | 611 | Colonel Ross, who had shown some signs of impatience at my 612 | companion’s quiet and systematic method of work, glanced at his 613 | watch. “I wish you would come back with me, Inspector,” said he. 614 | “There are several points on which I should like your advice, and 615 | especially as to whether we do not owe it to the public to remove 616 | our horse’s name from the entries for the Cup.” 617 | 618 | “Certainly not,” cried Holmes, with decision. “I should let the 619 | name stand.” 620 | 621 | The Colonel bowed. “I am very glad to have had your opinion, 622 | sir,” said he. “You will find us at poor Straker’s house when you 623 | have finished your walk, and we can drive together into 624 | Tavistock.” 625 | 626 | He turned back with the Inspector, while Holmes and I walked 627 | slowly across the moor. The sun was beginning to sink behind the 628 | stables of Mapleton, and the long, sloping plain in front of us 629 | was tinged with gold, deepening into rich, ruddy browns where the 630 | faded ferns and brambles caught the evening light. But the 631 | glories of the landscape were all wasted upon my companion, who 632 | was sunk in the deepest thought. 633 | 634 | “It’s this way, Watson,” said he at last. “We may leave the 635 | question of who killed John Straker for the instant, and confine 636 | ourselves to finding out what has become of the horse. Now, 637 | supposing that he broke away during or after the tragedy, where 638 | could he have gone to? The horse is a very gregarious creature. 639 | If left to himself his instincts would have been either to return 640 | to King’s Pyland or go over to Mapleton. Why should he run wild 641 | upon the moor? He would surely have been seen by now. And why 642 | should gypsies kidnap him? These people always clear out when 643 | they hear of trouble, for they do not wish to be pestered by the 644 | police. They could not hope to sell such a horse. They would run 645 | a great risk and gain nothing by taking him. Surely that is 646 | clear.” 647 | 648 | “Where is he, then?” 649 | 650 | “I have already said that he must have gone to King’s Pyland or 651 | to Mapleton. He is not at King’s Pyland. Therefore he is at 652 | Mapleton. Let us take that as a working hypothesis and see what 653 | it leads us to. This part of the moor, as the Inspector remarked, 654 | is very hard and dry. But it falls away towards Mapleton, and you 655 | can see from here that there is a long hollow over yonder, which 656 | must have been very wet on Monday night. If our supposition is 657 | correct, then the horse must have crossed that, and there is the 658 | point where we should look for his tracks.” 659 | 660 | We had been walking briskly during this conversation, and a few 661 | more minutes brought us to the hollow in question. At Holmes’ 662 | request I walked down the bank to the right, and he to the left, 663 | but I had not taken fifty paces before I heard him give a shout, 664 | and saw him waving his hand to me. The track of a horse was 665 | plainly outlined in the soft earth in front of him, and the shoe 666 | which he took from his pocket exactly fitted the impression. 667 | 668 | “See the value of imagination,” said Holmes. “It is the one 669 | quality which Gregory lacks. We imagined what might have 670 | happened, acted upon the supposition, and find ourselves 671 | justified. Let us proceed.” 672 | 673 | We crossed the marshy bottom and passed over a quarter of a mile 674 | of dry, hard turf. Again the ground sloped, and again we came on 675 | the tracks. Then we lost them for half a mile, but only to pick 676 | them up once more quite close to Mapleton. It was Holmes who saw 677 | them first, and he stood pointing with a look of triumph upon his 678 | face. A man’s track was visible beside the horse’s. 679 | 680 | “The horse was alone before,” I cried. 681 | 682 | “Quite so. It was alone before. Hullo, what is this?” 683 | 684 | The double track turned sharp off and took the direction of 685 | King’s Pyland. Holmes whistled, and we both followed along after 686 | it. His eyes were on the trail, but I happened to look a little 687 | to one side, and saw to my surprise the same tracks coming back 688 | again in the opposite direction. 689 | 690 | “One for you, Watson,” said Holmes, when I pointed it out. “You 691 | have saved us a long walk, which would have brought us back on 692 | our own traces. Let us follow the return track.” 693 | 694 | We had not to go far. It ended at the paving of asphalt which led 695 | up to the gates of the Mapleton stables. As we approached, a 696 | groom ran out from them. 697 | 698 | “We don’t want any loiterers about here,” said he. 699 | 700 | “I only wished to ask a question,” said Holmes, with his finger 701 | and thumb in his waistcoat pocket. “Should I be too early to see 702 | your master, Mr. Silas Brown, if I were to call at five o’clock 703 | to-morrow morning?” 704 | 705 | “Bless you, sir, if any one is about he will be, for he is always 706 | the first stirring. But here he is, sir, to answer your questions 707 | for himself. No, sir, no; it is as much as my place is worth to 708 | let him see me touch your money. Afterwards, if you like.” 709 | 710 | As Sherlock Holmes replaced the half-crown which he had drawn 711 | from his pocket, a fierce-looking elderly man strode out from the 712 | gate with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. 713 | 714 | “What’s this, Dawson!” he cried. “No gossiping! Go about your 715 | business! And you, what the devil do you want here?” 716 | 717 | “Ten minutes’ talk with you, my good sir,” said Holmes in the 718 | sweetest of voices. 719 | 720 | “I’ve no time to talk to every gadabout. We want no strangers 721 | here. Be off, or you may find a dog at your heels.” 722 | 723 | Holmes leaned forward and whispered something in the trainer’s 724 | ear. He started violently and flushed to the temples. 725 | 726 | “It’s a lie!” he shouted, “an infernal lie!” 727 | 728 | “Very good. Shall we argue about it here in public or talk it 729 | over in your parlour?” 730 | 731 | “Oh, come in if you wish to.” 732 | 733 | Holmes smiled. “I shall not keep you more than a few minutes, 734 | Watson,” said he. “Now, Mr. Brown, I am quite at your disposal.” 735 | 736 | It was twenty minutes, and the reds had all faded into greys 737 | before Holmes and the trainer reappeared. Never have I seen such 738 | a change as had been brought about in Silas Brown in that short 739 | time. His face was ashy pale, beads of perspiration shone upon 740 | his brow, and his hands shook until the hunting-crop wagged like 741 | a branch in the wind. His bullying, overbearing manner was all 742 | gone too, and he cringed along at my companion’s side like a dog 743 | with its master. 744 | 745 | “Your instructions will be done. It shall all be done,” said he. 746 | 747 | “There must be no mistake,” said Holmes, looking round at him. 748 | The other winced as he read the menace in his eyes. 749 | 750 | “Oh no, there shall be no mistake. It shall be there. Should I 751 | change it first or not?” 752 | 753 | Holmes thought a little and then burst out laughing. “No, don’t,” 754 | said he; “I shall write to you about it. No tricks, now, or—” 755 | 756 | “Oh, you can trust me, you can trust me!” 757 | 758 | “Yes, I think I can. Well, you shall hear from me to-morrow.” He 759 | turned upon his heel, disregarding the trembling hand which the 760 | other held out to him, and we set off for King’s Pyland. 761 | 762 | “A more perfect compound of the bully, coward, and sneak than 763 | Master Silas Brown I have seldom met with,” remarked Holmes as we 764 | trudged along together. 765 | 766 | “He has the horse, then?” 767 | 768 | “He tried to bluster out of it, but I described to him so exactly 769 | what his actions had been upon that morning that he is convinced 770 | that I was watching him. Of course you observed the peculiarly 771 | square toes in the impressions, and that his own boots exactly 772 | corresponded to them. Again, of course no subordinate would have 773 | dared to do such a thing. I described to him how, when according 774 | to his custom he was the first down, he perceived a strange horse 775 | wandering over the moor. How he went out to it, and his 776 | astonishment at recognising, from the white forehead which has 777 | given the favourite its name, that chance had put in his power 778 | the only horse which could beat the one upon which he had put his 779 | money. Then I described how his first impulse had been to lead 780 | him back to King’s Pyland, and how the devil had shown him how he 781 | could hide the horse until the race was over, and how he had led 782 | it back and concealed it at Mapleton. When I told him every 783 | detail he gave it up and thought only of saving his own skin.” 784 | 785 | “But his stables had been searched?” 786 | 787 | “Oh, an old horse-faker like him has many a dodge.” 788 | 789 | “But are you not afraid to leave the horse in his power now, 790 | since he has every interest in injuring it?” 791 | 792 | “My dear fellow, he will guard it as the apple of his eye. He 793 | knows that his only hope of mercy is to produce it safe.” 794 | 795 | “Colonel Ross did not impress me as a man who would be likely to 796 | show much mercy in any case.” 797 | 798 | “The matter does not rest with Colonel Ross. I follow my own 799 | methods, and tell as much or as little as I choose. That is the 800 | advantage of being unofficial. I don’t know whether you observed 801 | it, Watson, but the Colonel’s manner has been just a trifle 802 | cavalier to me. I am inclined now to have a little amusement at 803 | his expense. Say nothing to him about the horse.” 804 | 805 | “Certainly not without your permission.” 806 | 807 | “And of course this is all quite a minor point compared to the 808 | question of who killed John Straker.” 809 | 810 | “And you will devote yourself to that?” 811 | 812 | “On the contrary, we both go back to London by the night train.” 813 | 814 | I was thunderstruck by my friend’s words. We had only been a few 815 | hours in Devonshire, and that he should give up an investigation 816 | which he had begun so brilliantly was quite incomprehensible to 817 | me. Not a word more could I draw from him until we were back at 818 | the trainer’s house. The Colonel and the Inspector were awaiting 819 | us in the parlour. 820 | 821 | “My friend and I return to town by the night-express,” said 822 | Holmes. “We have had a charming little breath of your beautiful 823 | Dartmoor air.” 824 | 825 | The Inspector opened his eyes, and the Colonel’s lip curled in a 826 | sneer. 827 | 828 | “So you despair of arresting the murderer of poor Straker,” said 829 | he. 830 | 831 | Holmes shrugged his shoulders. “There are certainly grave 832 | difficulties in the way,” said he. “I have every hope, however, 833 | that your horse will start upon Tuesday, and I beg that you will 834 | have your jockey in readiness. Might I ask for a photograph of 835 | Mr. John Straker?” 836 | 837 | The Inspector took one from an envelope and handed it to him. 838 | 839 | “My dear Gregory, you anticipate all my wants. If I might ask you 840 | to wait here for an instant, I have a question which I should 841 | like to put to the maid.” 842 | 843 | “I must say that I am rather disappointed in our London 844 | consultant,” said Colonel Ross, bluntly, as my friend left the 845 | room. “I do not see that we are any further than when he came.” 846 | 847 | “At least you have his assurance that your horse will run,” said 848 | I. 849 | 850 | “Yes, I have his assurance,” said the Colonel, with a shrug of 851 | his shoulders. “I should prefer to have the horse.” 852 | 853 | I was about to make some reply in defence of my friend when he 854 | entered the room again. 855 | 856 | “Now, gentlemen,” said he, “I am quite ready for Tavistock.” 857 | 858 | As we stepped into the carriage one of the stable-lads held the 859 | door open for us. A sudden idea seemed to occur to Holmes, for he 860 | leaned forward and touched the lad upon the sleeve. 861 | 862 | “You have a few sheep in the paddock,” he said. “Who attends to 863 | them?” 864 | 865 | “I do, sir.” 866 | 867 | “Have you noticed anything amiss with them of late?” 868 | 869 | “Well, sir, not of much account; but three of them have gone 870 | lame, sir.” 871 | 872 | I could see that Holmes was extremely pleased, for he chuckled 873 | and rubbed his hands together. 874 | 875 | “A long shot, Watson; a very long shot,” said he, pinching my 876 | arm. “Gregory, let me recommend to your attention this singular 877 | epidemic among the sheep. Drive on, coachman!” 878 | 879 | Colonel Ross still wore an expression which showed the poor 880 | opinion which he had formed of my companion’s ability, but I saw 881 | by the Inspector’s face that his attention had been keenly 882 | aroused. 883 | 884 | “You consider that to be important?” he asked. 885 | 886 | “Exceedingly so.” 887 | 888 | “Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my 889 | attention?” 890 | 891 | “To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.” 892 | 893 | “The dog did nothing in the night-time.” 894 | 895 | “That was the curious incident,” remarked Sherlock Holmes. 896 | 897 | Four days later Holmes and I were again in the train, bound for 898 | Winchester to see the race for the Wessex Cup. Colonel Ross met 899 | us by appointment outside the station, and we drove in his drag 900 | to the course beyond the town. His face was grave, and his manner 901 | was cold in the extreme. 902 | 903 | “I have seen nothing of my horse,” said he. 904 | 905 | “I suppose that you would know him when you saw him?” asked 906 | Holmes. 907 | 908 | The Colonel was very angry. “I have been on the turf for twenty 909 | years, and never was asked such a question as that before,” said 910 | he. “A child would know Silver Blaze, with his white forehead and 911 | his mottled off-foreleg.” 912 | 913 | “How is the betting?” 914 | 915 | “Well, that is the curious part of it. You could have got fifteen 916 | to one yesterday, but the price has become shorter and shorter, 917 | until you can hardly get three to one now.” 918 | 919 | “Hum!” said Holmes. “Somebody knows something, that is clear.” 920 | 921 | As the drag drew up in the enclosure near the grand stand I 922 | glanced at the card to see the entries. It ran:— 923 | 924 | Wessex Plate. 50 sovs each h ft with 1000 sovs added for four and 925 | five year olds. Second, £300. Third, £200. New course (one mile 926 | and five furlongs). 927 | 1. Mr. Heath Newton’s The Negro (red cap, cinnamon jacket). 928 | 2. Colonel Wardlaw’s Pugilist (pink cap, blue and black jacket). 929 | 3. Lord Backwater’s Desborough (yellow cap and sleeves). 930 | 4. Colonel Ross’s Silver Blaze (black cap, red jacket). 931 | 5. Duke of Balmoral’s Iris (yellow and black stripes). 932 | 6. Lord Singleford’s Rasper (purple cap, black sleeves). 933 | 934 | “We scratched our other one, and put all hopes on your word,” 935 | said the Colonel. “Why, what is that? Silver Blaze favourite?” 936 | 937 | “Five to four against Silver Blaze!” roared the ring. “Five to 938 | four against Silver Blaze! Five to fifteen against Desborough! 939 | Five to four on the field!” 940 | 941 | “There are the numbers up,” I cried. “They are all six there.” 942 | 943 | “All six there? Then my horse is running,” cried the Colonel in 944 | great agitation. “But I don’t see him. My colours have not 945 | passed.” 946 | 947 | “Only five have passed. This must be he.” 948 | 949 | As I spoke a powerful bay horse swept out from the weighing 950 | enclosure and cantered past us, bearing on its back the 951 | well-known black and red of the Colonel. 952 | 953 | “That’s not my horse,” cried the owner. “That beast has not a 954 | white hair upon its body. What is this that you have done, Mr. 955 | Holmes?” 956 | 957 | “Well, well, let us see how he gets on,” said my friend, 958 | imperturbably. For a few minutes he gazed through my field-glass. 959 | “Capital! An excellent start!” he cried suddenly. “There they 960 | are, coming round the curve!” 961 | 962 | From our drag we had a superb view as they came up the straight. 963 | The six horses were so close together that a carpet could have 964 | covered them, but half way up the yellow of the Mapleton stable 965 | showed to the front. Before they reached us, however, 966 | Desborough’s bolt was shot, and the Colonel’s horse, coming away 967 | with a rush, passed the post a good six lengths before its rival, 968 | the Duke of Balmoral’s Iris making a bad third. 969 | 970 | “It’s my race, anyhow,” gasped the Colonel, passing his hand over 971 | his eyes. “I confess that I can make neither head nor tail of it. 972 | Don’t you think that you have kept up your mystery long enough, 973 | Mr. Holmes?” 974 | 975 | “Certainly, Colonel, you shall know everything. Let us all go 976 | round and have a look at the horse together. Here he is,” he 977 | continued, as we made our way into the weighing enclosure, where 978 | only owners and their friends find admittance. “You have only to 979 | wash his face and his leg in spirits of wine, and you will find 980 | that he is the same old Silver Blaze as ever.” 981 | 982 | “You take my breath away!” 983 | 984 | “I found him in the hands of a faker, and took the liberty of 985 | running him just as he was sent over.” 986 | 987 | “My dear sir, you have done wonders. The horse looks very fit and 988 | well. It never went better in its life. I owe you a thousand 989 | apologies for having doubted your ability. You have done me a 990 | great service by recovering my horse. You would do me a greater 991 | still if you could lay your hands on the murderer of John 992 | Straker.” 993 | 994 | “I have done so,” said Holmes quietly. 995 | 996 | The Colonel and I stared at him in amazement. “You have got him! 997 | Where is he, then?” 998 | 999 | “He is here.” 1000 | 1001 | “Here! Where?” 1002 | 1003 | “In my company at the present moment.” 1004 | 1005 | The Colonel flushed angrily. “I quite recognise that I am under 1006 | obligations to you, Mr. Holmes,” said he, “but I must regard what 1007 | you have just said as either a very bad joke or an insult.” 1008 | 1009 | Sherlock Holmes laughed. “I assure you that I have not associated 1010 | you with the crime, Colonel,” said he. “The real murderer is 1011 | standing immediately behind you.” He stepped past and laid his 1012 | hand upon the glossy neck of the thoroughbred. 1013 | 1014 | “The horse!” cried both the Colonel and myself. 1015 | 1016 | “Yes, the horse. And it may lessen his guilt if I say that it was 1017 | done in self-defence, and that John Straker was a man who was 1018 | entirely unworthy of your confidence. But there goes the bell, 1019 | and as I stand to win a little on this next race, I shall defer a 1020 | lengthy explanation until a more fitting time.” 1021 | 1022 | We had the corner of a Pullman car to ourselves that evening as 1023 | we whirled back to London, and I fancy that the journey was a 1024 | short one to Colonel Ross as well as to myself, as we listened to 1025 | our companion’s narrative of the events which had occurred at the 1026 | Dartmoor training-stables upon the Monday night, and the means by 1027 | which he had unravelled them. 1028 | 1029 | “I confess,” said he, “that any theories which I had formed from 1030 | the newspaper reports were entirely erroneous. And yet there were 1031 | indications there, had they not been overlaid by other details 1032 | which concealed their true import. I went to Devonshire with the 1033 | conviction that Fitzroy Simpson was the true culprit, although, 1034 | of course, I saw that the evidence against him was by no means 1035 | complete. It was while I was in the carriage, just as we reached 1036 | the trainer’s house, that the immense significance of the curried 1037 | mutton occurred to me. You may remember that I was distrait, and 1038 | remained sitting after you had all alighted. I was marvelling in 1039 | my own mind how I could possibly have overlooked so obvious a 1040 | clue.” 1041 | 1042 | “I confess,” said the Colonel, “that even now I cannot see how it 1043 | helps us.” 1044 | 1045 | “It was the first link in my chain of reasoning. Powdered opium 1046 | is by no means tasteless. The flavour is not disagreeable, but it 1047 | is perceptible. Were it mixed with any ordinary dish the eater 1048 | would undoubtedly detect it, and would probably eat no more. A 1049 | curry was exactly the medium which would disguise this taste. By 1050 | no possible supposition could this stranger, Fitzroy Simpson, 1051 | have caused curry to be served in the trainer’s family that 1052 | night, and it is surely too monstrous a coincidence to suppose 1053 | that he happened to come along with powdered opium upon the very 1054 | night when a dish happened to be served which would disguise the 1055 | flavour. That is unthinkable. Therefore Simpson becomes 1056 | eliminated from the case, and our attention centres upon Straker 1057 | and his wife, the only two people who could have chosen curried 1058 | mutton for supper that night. The opium was added after the dish 1059 | was set aside for the stable-boy, for the others had the same for 1060 | supper with no ill effects. Which of them, then, had access to 1061 | that dish without the maid seeing them? 1062 | 1063 | “Before deciding that question I had grasped the significance of 1064 | the silence of the dog, for one true inference invariably 1065 | suggests others. The Simpson incident had shown me that a dog was 1066 | kept in the stables, and yet, though some one had been in and had 1067 | fetched out a horse, he had not barked enough to arouse the two 1068 | lads in the loft. Obviously the midnight visitor was some one 1069 | whom the dog knew well. 1070 | 1071 | “I was already convinced, or almost convinced, that John Straker 1072 | went down to the stables in the dead of the night and took out 1073 | Silver Blaze. For what purpose? For a dishonest one, obviously, 1074 | or why should he drug his own stable-boy? And yet I was at a loss 1075 | to know why. There have been cases before now where trainers have 1076 | made sure of great sums of money by laying against their own 1077 | horses, through agents, and then preventing them from winning by 1078 | fraud. Sometimes it is a pulling jockey. Sometimes it is some 1079 | surer and subtler means. What was it here? I hoped that the 1080 | contents of his pockets might help me to form a conclusion. 1081 | 1082 | “And they did so. You cannot have forgotten the singular knife 1083 | which was found in the dead man’s hand, a knife which certainly 1084 | no sane man would choose for a weapon. It was, as Dr. Watson told 1085 | us, a form of knife which is used for the most delicate 1086 | operations known in surgery. And it was to be used for a delicate 1087 | operation that night. You must know, with your wide experience of 1088 | turf matters, Colonel Ross, that it is possible to make a slight 1089 | nick upon the tendons of a horse’s ham, and to do it 1090 | subcutaneously, so as to leave absolutely no trace. A horse so 1091 | treated would develop a slight lameness, which would be put down 1092 | to a strain in exercise or a touch of rheumatism, but never to 1093 | foul play.” 1094 | 1095 | “Villain! Scoundrel!” cried the Colonel. 1096 | 1097 | “We have here the explanation of why John Straker wished to take 1098 | the horse out on to the moor. So spirited a creature would have 1099 | certainly roused the soundest of sleepers when it felt the prick 1100 | of the knife. It was absolutely necessary to do it in the open 1101 | air.” 1102 | 1103 | “I have been blind!” cried the Colonel. “Of course that was why 1104 | he needed the candle, and struck the match.” 1105 | 1106 | “Undoubtedly. But in examining his belongings I was fortunate 1107 | enough to discover not only the method of the crime, but even its 1108 | motives. As a man of the world, Colonel, you know that men do not 1109 | carry other people’s bills about in their pockets. We have most 1110 | of us quite enough to do to settle our own. I at once concluded 1111 | that Straker was leading a double life, and keeping a second 1112 | establishment. The nature of the bill showed that there was a 1113 | lady in the case, and one who had expensive tastes. Liberal as 1114 | you are with your servants, one can hardly expect that they can 1115 | buy twenty-guinea walking dresses for their ladies. I questioned 1116 | Mrs. Straker as to the dress without her knowing it, and having 1117 | satisfied myself that it had never reached her, I made a note of 1118 | the milliner’s address, and felt that by calling there with 1119 | Straker’s photograph I could easily dispose of the mythical 1120 | Derbyshire. 1121 | 1122 | “From that time on all was plain. Straker had led out the horse 1123 | to a hollow where his light would be invisible. Simpson in his 1124 | flight had dropped his cravat, and Straker had picked it up—with 1125 | some idea, perhaps, that he might use it in securing the horse’s 1126 | leg. Once in the hollow, he had got behind the horse and had 1127 | struck a light; but the creature frightened at the sudden glare, 1128 | and with the strange instinct of animals feeling that some 1129 | mischief was intended, had lashed out, and the steel shoe had 1130 | struck Straker full on the forehead. He had already, in spite of 1131 | the rain, taken off his overcoat in order to do his delicate 1132 | task, and so, as he fell, his knife gashed his thigh. Do I make 1133 | it clear?” 1134 | 1135 | “Wonderful!” cried the Colonel. “Wonderful! You might have been 1136 | there!” 1137 | 1138 | “My final shot was, I confess a very long one. It struck me that 1139 | so astute a man as Straker would not undertake this delicate 1140 | tendon-nicking without a little practice. What could he practice 1141 | on? My eyes fell upon the sheep, and I asked a question which, 1142 | rather to my surprise, showed that my surmise was correct. 1143 | 1144 | “When I returned to London I called upon the milliner, who had 1145 | recognised Straker as an excellent customer of the name of 1146 | Derbyshire, who had a very dashing wife, with a strong partiality 1147 | for expensive dresses. I have no doubt that this woman had 1148 | plunged him over head and ears in debt, and so led him into this 1149 | miserable plot.” 1150 | 1151 | “You have explained all but one thing,” cried the Colonel. “Where 1152 | was the horse?” 1153 | 1154 | “Ah, it bolted, and was cared for by one of your neighbours. We 1155 | must have an amnesty in that direction, I think. This is Clapham 1156 | Junction, if I am not mistaken, and we shall be in Victoria in 1157 | less than ten minutes. If you care to smoke a cigar in our rooms, 1158 | Colonel, I shall be happy to give you any other details which 1159 | might interest you.” 1160 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /release-1/Sherlock-Holmes-Selected-Stories/The Adventure of the Speckled Band.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND 2 | 3 | 4 | On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I have 5 | during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Sherlock 6 | Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number merely strange, 7 | but none commonplace; for, working as he did rather for the love of his 8 | art than for the acquirement of wealth, he refused to associate himself 9 | with any investigation which did not tend towards the unusual, and even 10 | the fantastic. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any 11 | which presented more singular features than that which was associated 12 | with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. The 13 | events in question occurred in the early days of my association with 14 | Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors in Baker Street. It 15 | is possible that I might have placed them upon record before, but a 16 | promise of secrecy was made at the time, from which I have only been 17 | freed during the last month by the untimely death of the lady to whom 18 | the pledge was given. It is perhaps as well that the facts should now 19 | come to light, for I have reasons to know that there are wide-spread 20 | rumors as to the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the 21 | matter even more terrible than the truth. 22 | 23 | It was early in April in the year ’83 that I woke one morning to find 24 | Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my bed. He was 25 | a late riser as a rule, and as the clock on the mantel-piece showed 26 | me that it was only a quarter past seven, I blinked up at him in some 27 | surprise, and perhaps just a little resentment, for I was myself 28 | regular in my habits. 29 | 30 | “Very sorry to knock you up, Watson,” said he, “but it’s the common lot 31 | this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she retorted upon me, 32 | and I on you.” 33 | 34 | “What is it, then—a fire?” 35 | 36 | “No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a considerable 37 | state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She is waiting now in 38 | the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander about the metropolis 39 | at this hour of the morning, and knock sleepy people up out of their 40 | beds, I presume that it is something very pressing which they have to 41 | communicate. Should it prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am 42 | sure, wish to follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I 43 | should call you and give you the chance.” 44 | 45 | “My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything.” 46 | 47 | I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his professional 48 | investigations, and in admiring the rapid deductions, as swift as 49 | intuitions, and yet always founded on a logical basis, with which he 50 | unravelled the problems which were submitted to him. I rapidly threw on 51 | my clothes, and was ready in a few minutes to accompany my friend down 52 | to the sitting-room. A lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who 53 | had been sitting in the window, rose as we entered. 54 | 55 | “Good-morning, madam,” said Holmes, cheerily. “My name is Sherlock 56 | Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, before 57 | whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am glad to see 58 | that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the fire. Pray draw up 59 | to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot coffee, for I observe that 60 | you are shivering.” 61 | 62 | “It is not cold which makes me shiver,” said the woman, in a low voice, 63 | changing her seat as requested. 64 | 65 | “What, then?” 66 | 67 | “It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror.” She raised her veil as she 68 | spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable state of 69 | agitation, her face all drawn and gray, with restless, frightened eyes, 70 | like those of some hunted animal. Her features and figure were those of 71 | a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot with premature gray, and her 72 | expression was weary and haggard. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one 73 | of his quick, all-comprehensive glances. 74 | 75 | “You must not fear,” said he, soothingly, bending forward and patting 76 | her forearm. “We shall soon set matters right, I have no doubt. You 77 | have come in by train this morning, I see.” 78 | 79 | “You know me, then?” 80 | 81 | “No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm of 82 | your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had a good 83 | drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached the station.” 84 | 85 | The lady gave a violent start, and stared in bewilderment at my 86 | companion. 87 | 88 | “There is no mystery, my dear madam,” said he, smiling. “The left arm 89 | of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven places. The 90 | marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a dog-cart which 91 | throws up mud in that way, and then only when you sit on the left-hand 92 | side of the driver.” 93 | 94 | “Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct,” said she. “I 95 | started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at twenty past, and 96 | came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I can stand this strain no 97 | longer; I shall go mad if it continues. I have no one to turn to—none, 98 | save only one, who cares for me, and he, poor fellow, can be of little 99 | aid. I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. 100 | Farintosh, whom you helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from 101 | her that I had your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could 102 | help me, too, and at least throw a little light through the dense 103 | darkness which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward 104 | you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be married, 105 | with the control of my own income, and then at least you shall not 106 | find me ungrateful.” 107 | 108 | Holmes turned to his desk, and unlocking it, drew out a small 109 | case-book, which he consulted. 110 | 111 | “Farintosh,” said he. “Ah yes, I recall the case; it was concerned with 112 | an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Watson. I can only say, 113 | madam, that I shall be happy to devote the same care to your case as 114 | I did to that of your friend. As to reward, my profession is its own 115 | reward; but you are at liberty to defray whatever expenses I may be put 116 | to, at the time which suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay 117 | before us everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the 118 | matter.” 119 | 120 | “Alas!” replied our visitor, “the very horror of my situation lies 121 | in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions depend so 122 | entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to another, that 123 | even he to whom of all others I have a right to look for help and 124 | advice looks upon all that I tell him about it as the fancies of a 125 | nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can read it from his soothing 126 | answers and averted eyes. But I have heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can 127 | see deeply into the manifold wickedness of the human heart. You may 128 | advise me how to walk amid the dangers which encompass me.” 129 | 130 | “I am all attention, madam.” 131 | 132 | “My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my step-father, who is 133 | the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in England, the 134 | Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of Surrey.” 135 | 136 | Holmes nodded his head. “The name is familiar to me,” said he. 137 | 138 | “The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the 139 | estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, and 140 | Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four successive 141 | heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, and the family 142 | ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the days of the 143 | Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, and the 144 | two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under a heavy 145 | mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence there, living 146 | the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but his only son, my 147 | step-father, seeing that he must adapt himself to the new conditions, 148 | obtained an advance from a relative, which enabled him to take a 149 | medical degree, and went out to Calcutta, where, by his professional 150 | skill and his force of character, he established a large practice. 151 | In a fit of anger, however, caused by some robberies which had been 152 | perpetrated in the house, he beat his native butler to death, and 153 | narrowly escaped a capital sentence. As it was, he suffered a long 154 | term of imprisonment, and afterwards returned to England a morose and 155 | disappointed man. 156 | 157 | “When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, the 158 | young widow of Major-general Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. My sister 159 | Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old at the time of 160 | my mother’s re-marriage. She had a considerable sum of money—not less 161 | than £1000 a year—and this she bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely 162 | while we resided with him, with a provision that a certain annual sum 163 | should be allowed to each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly 164 | after our return to England my mother died—she was killed eight years 165 | ago in a railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his 166 | attempts to establish himself in practice in London, and took us to 167 | live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The money 168 | which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and there seemed 169 | to be no obstacle to our happiness. 170 | 171 | “But a terrible change came over our step-father about this time. 172 | Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our neighbors, who 173 | had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of Stoke Moran back in 174 | the old family seat, he shut himself up in his house, and seldom came 175 | out save to indulge in ferocious quarrels with whoever might cross his 176 | path. Violence of temper approaching to mania has been hereditary in 177 | the men of the family, and in my step-father’s case it had, I believe, 178 | been intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of 179 | disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the police-court, 180 | until at last he became the terror of the village, and the folks 181 | would fly at his approach, for he is a man of immense strength, and 182 | absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. 183 | 184 | “Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a stream, 185 | and it was only by paying over all the money which I could gather 186 | together that I was able to avert another public exposure. He had no 187 | friends at all save the wandering gypsies, and he would give these 188 | vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few acres of bramble-covered land 189 | which represent the family estate, and would accept in return the 190 | hospitality of their tents, wandering away with them sometimes for 191 | weeks on end. He has a passion also for Indian animals, which are sent 192 | over to him by a correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and 193 | a baboon, which wander freely over his grounds, and are feared by the 194 | villagers almost as much as their master. 195 | 196 | “You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I had no 197 | great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with us, and for a 198 | long time we did all the work of the house. She was but thirty at the 199 | time of her death, and yet her hair had already begun to whiten, even 200 | as mine has.” 201 | 202 | “Your sister is dead, then?” 203 | 204 | “She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish to 205 | speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I have 206 | described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own age and 207 | position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother’s maiden sister, Miss 208 | Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we were occasionally 209 | allowed to pay short visits at this lady’s house. Julia went there at 210 | Christmas two years ago, and met there a half-pay major of marines, 211 | to whom she became engaged. My step-father learned of the engagement 212 | when my sister returned, and offered no objection to the marriage; but 213 | within a fortnight of the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the 214 | terrible event occurred which has deprived me of my only companion.” 215 | 216 | Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed 217 | and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his lids now and 218 | glanced across at his visitor. 219 | 220 | “Pray be precise as to details,” said he. 221 | 222 | “It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful time is 223 | seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have already said, very 224 | old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The bedrooms in this wing are 225 | on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms being in the central block of 226 | the buildings. Of these bedrooms the first is Dr. Roylott’s, the second 227 | my sister’s, and the third my own. There is no communication between 228 | them, but they all open out into the same corridor. Do I make myself 229 | plain?” 230 | 231 | “Perfectly so.” 232 | 233 | “The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That fatal 234 | night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we knew that he 235 | had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled by the smell of 236 | the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom to smoke. She left 237 | her room, therefore, and came into mine, where she sat for some time, 238 | chatting about her approaching wedding. At eleven o’clock she rose to 239 | leave me but she paused at the door and looked back. 240 | 241 | “‘Tell me, Helen,’ said she, ‘have you ever heard any one whistle in 242 | the dead of the night?’ 243 | 244 | “‘Never,’ said I. 245 | 246 | “‘I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in your 247 | sleep?’ 248 | 249 | “‘Certainly not. But why?’ 250 | 251 | “‘Because during the last few nights I have always, about three in 252 | the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, and it 253 | has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from—perhaps from the 254 | next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would just ask you 255 | whether you had heard it.’ 256 | 257 | “‘No, I have not. It must be those wretched gypsies in the plantation.’ 258 | 259 | “‘Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you did 260 | not hear it also.’ 261 | 262 | “‘Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.’ 263 | 264 | “‘Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.’ She smiled back at 265 | me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her key turn in the 266 | lock.” 267 | 268 | “Indeed,” said Holmes. “Was it your custom always to lock yourselves in 269 | at night?” 270 | 271 | “Always.” 272 | 273 | “And why?” 274 | 275 | “I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah and a 276 | baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were locked.” 277 | 278 | “Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement.” 279 | 280 | “I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending misfortune 281 | impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, were twins, and you 282 | know how subtle are the links which bind two souls which are so closely 283 | allied. It was a wild night. The wind was howling outside, and the rain 284 | was beating and splashing against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the 285 | hubbub of the gale, there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified 286 | woman. I knew that it was my sister’s voice. I sprang from my bed, 287 | wrapped a shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my 288 | door I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and a 289 | few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had fallen. 290 | As I ran down the passage, my sister’s door was unlocked, and revolved 291 | slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it horror-stricken, not knowing 292 | what was about to issue from it. By the light of the corridor-lamp I 293 | saw my sister appear at the opening, her face blanched with terror, her 294 | hands groping for help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that 295 | of a drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that 296 | moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. She 297 | writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were dreadfully 298 | convulsed. At first I thought that she had not recognized me, but as I 299 | bent over her she suddenly shrieked out in a voice which I shall never 300 | forget, ‘Oh, my God! Helen! It was the band! The speckled band!’ There 301 | was something else which she would fain have said, and she stabbed with 302 | her finger into the air in the direction of the doctor’s room, but a 303 | fresh convulsion seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling 304 | loudly for my step-father, and I met him hastening from his room in his 305 | dressing-gown. When he reached my sister’s side she was unconscious, 306 | and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent for medical aid 307 | from the village, all efforts were in vain, for she slowly sank and 308 | died without having recovered her consciousness. Such was the dreadful 309 | end of my beloved sister.” 310 | 311 | “One moment,” said Holmes; “are you sure about this whistle and 312 | metallic sound? Could you swear to it?” 313 | 314 | “That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is my 315 | strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of the gale 316 | and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have been deceived.” 317 | 318 | “Was your sister dressed?” 319 | 320 | “No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the 321 | charred stump of a match, and in her left a matchbox.” 322 | 323 | “Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when the 324 | alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did the 325 | coroner come to?” 326 | 327 | “He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott’s conduct 328 | had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable to find any 329 | satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that the door had 330 | been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows were blocked by 331 | old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, which were secured every 332 | night. The walls were carefully sounded, and were shown to be quite 333 | solid all round, and the flooring was also thoroughly examined, with 334 | the same result. The chimney is wide, but is barred up by four large 335 | staples. It is certain, therefore, that my sister was quite alone when 336 | she met her end. Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her.” 337 | 338 | “How about poison?” 339 | 340 | “The doctors examined her for it, but without success.” 341 | 342 | “What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?” 343 | 344 | “It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, though 345 | what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine.” 346 | 347 | “Were there gypsies in the plantation at the time?” 348 | 349 | “Yes, there are nearly always some there.” 350 | 351 | “Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band—a speckled 352 | band?” 353 | 354 | “Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of delirium, 355 | sometimes that it may have referred to some band of people, perhaps to 356 | these very gypsies in the plantation. I do not know whether the spotted 357 | handkerchiefs which so many of them wear over their heads might have 358 | suggested the strange adjective which she used.” 359 | 360 | Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. 361 | 362 | “These are very deep waters,” said he; “pray go on with your narrative.” 363 | 364 | “Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until lately 365 | lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, whom I have 366 | known for many years, has done me the honor to ask my hand in marriage. 367 | His name is Armitage—Percy Armitage—the second son of Mr. Armitage, 368 | of Crane Water, near Reading. My step-father has offered no opposition 369 | to the match, and we are to be married in the course of the spring. Two 370 | days ago some repairs were started in the west wing of the building, 371 | and my bedroom wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into 372 | the chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in 373 | which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last night, 374 | as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I suddenly heard in 375 | the silence of the night the low whistle which had been the herald of 376 | her own death. I sprang up and lit the lamp, but nothing was to be 377 | seen in the room. I was too shaken to go to bed again, however, so I 378 | dressed, and as soon as it was daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart 379 | at the ‘Crown Inn,’ which is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from 380 | whence I have come on this morning with the one object of seeing you 381 | and asking your advice.” 382 | 383 | “You have done wisely,” said my friend. “But have you told me all?” 384 | 385 | “Yes, all.” 386 | 387 | “Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your step-father.” 388 | 389 | “Why, what do you mean?” 390 | 391 | For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which fringed the 392 | hand that lay upon our visitor’s knee. Five little livid spots, the 393 | marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed upon the white wrist. 394 | 395 | “You have been cruelly used,” said Holmes. 396 | 397 | The lady colored deeply and covered over her injured wrist. “He is a 398 | hard man,” she said, “and perhaps he hardly knows his own strength.” 399 | 400 | There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin upon his 401 | hands and stared into the crackling fire. 402 | 403 | “This is a very deep business,” he said, at last. “There are a thousand 404 | details which I should desire to know before I decide upon our course 405 | of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If we were to come to 406 | Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for us to see over these rooms 407 | without the knowledge of your step-father?” 408 | 409 | “As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some most 410 | important business. It is probable that he will be away all day, and 411 | that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a house-keeper 412 | now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily get her out of the 413 | way.” 414 | 415 | “Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?” 416 | 417 | “By no means.” 418 | 419 | “Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?” 420 | 421 | “I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am in 422 | town. But I shall return by the twelve o’clock train, so as to be there 423 | in time for your coming.” 424 | 425 | “And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some small 426 | business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and breakfast?” 427 | 428 | “No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have confided 429 | my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you again this 430 | afternoon.” She dropped her thick black veil over her face and glided 431 | from the room. 432 | 433 | “And what do you think of it all, Watson?” asked Sherlock Holmes, 434 | leaning back in his chair. 435 | 436 | “It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business.” 437 | 438 | “Dark enough and sinister enough.” 439 | 440 | “Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls are 441 | sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, then her 442 | sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her mysterious 443 | end.” 444 | 445 | “What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the very 446 | peculiar words of the dying woman?” 447 | 448 | “I cannot think.” 449 | 450 | “When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of a 451 | band of gypsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, the 452 | fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has an 453 | interest in preventing his step-daughter’s marriage, the dying allusion 454 | to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner heard a 455 | metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of those metal bars 456 | which secured the shutters falling back into their place, I think that 457 | there is good ground to think that the mystery may be cleared along 458 | those lines.” 459 | 460 | “But what, then, did the gypsies do?” 461 | 462 | “I cannot imagine.” 463 | 464 | “I see many objections to any such theory.” 465 | 466 | “And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going to 467 | Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are fatal, 468 | or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of the devil!” 469 | 470 | The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that our 471 | door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had framed 472 | himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar mixture of the 473 | professional and of the agricultural, having a black top-hat, a long 474 | frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, with a hunting-crop swinging in 475 | his hand. So tall was he that his hat actually brushed the cross bar 476 | of the doorway, and his breadth seemed to span it across from side to 477 | side. A large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with 478 | the sun, and marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the 479 | other of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, 480 | fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old bird 481 | of prey. 482 | 483 | “Which of you is Holmes?” asked this apparition. 484 | 485 | “My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me,” said my companion, 486 | quietly. 487 | 488 | “I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran.” 489 | 490 | “Indeed, doctor,” said Holmes, blandly. “Pray take a seat.” 491 | 492 | “I will do nothing of the kind. My step-daughter has been here. I have 493 | traced her. What has she been saying to you?” 494 | 495 | “It is a little cold for the time of the year,” said Holmes. 496 | 497 | “What has she been saying to you?” screamed the old man, furiously. 498 | 499 | “But I have heard that the crocuses promise well,” continued my 500 | companion, imperturbably. 501 | 502 | “Ha! You put me off, do you?” said our new visitor, taking a step 503 | forward and shaking his hunting-crop. “I know you, you scoundrel! I 504 | have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler.” 505 | 506 | My friend smiled. 507 | 508 | “Holmes, the busybody!” 509 | 510 | His smile broadened. 511 | 512 | “Holmes, the Scotland-yard Jack-in-office!” 513 | 514 | Holmes chuckled heartily. “Your conversation is most entertaining,” 515 | said he. “When you go out close the door, for there is a decided 516 | draught.” 517 | 518 | “I will go when I have said my say. Don’t you dare to meddle with my 519 | affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! I am a 520 | dangerous man to fall foul of! See here.” He stepped swiftly forward, 521 | seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with his huge brown hands. 522 | 523 | “See that you keep yourself out of my grip,” he snarled, and hurling 524 | the twisted poker into the fireplace, he strode out of the room. 525 | 526 | “He seems a very amiable person,” said Holmes, laughing. “I am not 527 | quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him that my 528 | grip was not much more feeble than his own.” As he spoke he picked up 529 | the steel poker, and with a sudden effort straightened it out again. 530 | 531 | “Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official 532 | detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, 533 | however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer from 534 | her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, Watson, 535 | we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk down to Doctors’ 536 | Commons, where I hope to get some data which may help us in this 537 | matter.” 538 | 539 | * * * * * 540 | 541 | It was nearly one o’clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his 542 | excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled over 543 | with notes and figures. 544 | 545 | “I have seen the will of the deceased wife,” said he. “To determine 546 | its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the present prices 547 | of the investments with which it is concerned. The total income, which 548 | at the time of the wife’s death was little short of £1100, is now, 549 | through the fall in agricultural prices, not more than £750. Each 550 | daughter can claim an income of £250, in case of marriage. It is 551 | evident, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would 552 | have had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to 553 | a very serious extent. My morning’s work has not been wasted, since it 554 | has proved that he has the very strongest motives for standing in the 555 | way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, this is too serious for 556 | dawdling, especially as the old man is aware that we are interesting 557 | ourselves in his affairs; so if you are ready, we shall call a cab and 558 | drive to Waterloo. I should be very much obliged if you would slip your 559 | revolver into your pocket. An Eley’s No. 2 is an excellent argument 560 | with gentlemen who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a 561 | tooth-brush are, I think, all that we need.” 562 | 563 | At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Leatherhead, 564 | where we hired a trap at the station inn, and drove for four or five 565 | miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a perfect day, with 566 | a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the heavens. The trees and 567 | way-side hedges were just throwing out their first green shoots, and 568 | the air was full of the pleasant smell of the moist earth. To me at 569 | least there was a strange contrast between the sweet promise of the 570 | spring and this sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion 571 | sat in the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over 572 | his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the deepest 573 | thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the shoulder, and 574 | pointed over the meadows. 575 | 576 | “Look there!” said he. 577 | 578 | A heavily-timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, thickening into 579 | a grove at the highest point. From amid the branches there jutted out 580 | the gray gables and high roof-tree of a very old mansion. 581 | 582 | “Stoke Moran?” said he. 583 | 584 | “Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott,” remarked the 585 | driver. 586 | 587 | “There is some building going on there,” said Holmes; “that is where we 588 | are going.” 589 | 590 | “There’s the village,” said the driver, pointing to a cluster of roofs 591 | some distance to the left; “but if you want to get to the house, you’ll 592 | find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by the foot-path over 593 | the fields. There it is, where the lady is walking.” 594 | 595 | “And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner,” observed Holmes, shading his 596 | eyes. “Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest.” 597 | 598 | We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way to 599 | Leatherhead. 600 | 601 | “I thought it as well,” said Holmes, as we climbed the stile, “that 602 | this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or on some 603 | definite business. It may stop his gossip. Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. 604 | You see that we have been as good as our word.” 605 | 606 | Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a face 607 | which spoke her joy. “I have been waiting so eagerly for you,” she 608 | cried, shaking hands with us warmly. “All has turned out splendidly. 609 | Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely that he will be back 610 | before evening.” 611 | 612 | “We have had the pleasure of making the doctor’s acquaintance,” said 613 | Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had occurred. Miss 614 | Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. 615 | 616 | “Good heavens!” she cried, “he has followed me, then.” 617 | 618 | “So it appears.” 619 | 620 | “He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What will 621 | he say when he returns?” 622 | 623 | “He must guard himself, for he may find that there is some one more 624 | cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself up from him 625 | to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to your aunt’s at 626 | Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our time, so kindly take us 627 | at once to the rooms which we are to examine.” 628 | 629 | The building was of gray, lichen-blotched stone, with a high central 630 | portion, and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, thrown out 631 | on each side. In one of these wings the windows were broken, and 632 | blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in, a 633 | picture of ruin. The central portion was in little better repair, but 634 | the right-hand block was comparatively modern, and the blinds in the 635 | windows, with the blue smoke curling up from the chimneys, showed that 636 | this was where the family resided. Some scaffolding had been erected 637 | against the end wall, and the stone-work had been broken into, but 638 | there were no signs of any workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes 639 | walked slowly up and down the ill-trimmed lawn, and examined with deep 640 | attention the outsides of the windows. 641 | 642 | “This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, the 643 | centre one to your sister’s, and the one next to the main building to 644 | Dr. Roylott’s chamber?” 645 | 646 | “Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one.” 647 | 648 | “Pending the alterations, as I understand. By-the-way, there does not 649 | seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end wall.” 650 | 651 | “There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from my 652 | room.” 653 | 654 | “Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow wing 655 | runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There are windows 656 | in it, of course?” 657 | 658 | “Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for any one to pass through.” 659 | 660 | “As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were unapproachable 661 | from that side. Now, would you have the kindness to go into your room 662 | and bar your shutters.” 663 | 664 | Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination through 665 | the open window, endeavored in every way to force the shutter open, 666 | but without success. There was no slit through which a knife could be 667 | passed to raise the bar. Then with his lens he tested the hinges, but 668 | they were of solid iron, built firmly into the massive masonry. “Hum!” 669 | said he, scratching his chin in some perplexity; “my theory certainly 670 | presents some difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they 671 | were bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon the 672 | matter.” 673 | 674 | A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which the 675 | three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third chamber, 676 | so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Stoner was now 677 | sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her fate. It was a 678 | homely little room, with a low ceiling and a gaping fireplace, after 679 | the fashion of old country-houses. A brown chest of drawers stood 680 | in one corner, a narrow white-counterpaned bed in another, and a 681 | dressing-table on the left-hand side of the window. These articles, 682 | with two small wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the 683 | room, save for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards 684 | round and the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so 685 | old and discolored that it may have dated from the original building of 686 | the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat silent, 687 | while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, taking in 688 | every detail of the apartment. 689 | 690 | “Where does that bell communicate with?” he asked, at last, pointing to 691 | a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the tassel actually 692 | lying upon the pillow. 693 | 694 | “It goes to the house-keeper’s room.” 695 | 696 | “It looks newer than the other things?” 697 | 698 | “Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago.” 699 | 700 | “Your sister asked for it, I suppose?” 701 | 702 | “No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we 703 | wanted for ourselves.” 704 | 705 | “Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. You 706 | will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to this 707 | floor.” He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in his hand, 708 | and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining minutely the cracks 709 | between the boards. Then he did the same with the wood-work with which 710 | the chamber was panelled. Finally he walked over to the bed, and spent 711 | some time in staring at it, and in running his eye up and down the 712 | wall. Finally he took the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. 713 | 714 | “Why, it’s a dummy,” said he. 715 | 716 | “Won’t it ring?” 717 | 718 | “No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. You 719 | can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where the little 720 | opening for the ventilator is.” 721 | 722 | “How very absurd! I never noticed that before.” 723 | 724 | “Very strange!” muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. “There are one or 725 | two very singular points about this room. For example, what a fool a 726 | builder must be to open a ventilator into another room, when, with the 727 | same trouble, he might have communicated with the outside air!” 728 | 729 | “That is also quite modern,” said the lady. 730 | 731 | “Done about the same time as the bell-rope?” remarked Holmes. 732 | 733 | “Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that time.” 734 | 735 | “They seem to have been of a most interesting character—dummy 736 | bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your 737 | permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into the 738 | inner apartment.” 739 | 740 | Dr. Grimesby Roylott’s chamber was larger than that of his 741 | step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small wooden 742 | shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an arm-chair 743 | beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a round table, 744 | and a large iron safe were the principal things which met the eye. 745 | Holmes walked slowly round and examined each and all of them with the 746 | keenest interest. 747 | 748 | “What’s in here?” he asked, tapping the safe. 749 | 750 | “My step-father’s business papers.” 751 | 752 | “Oh! you have seen inside, then?” 753 | 754 | “Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of papers.” 755 | 756 | “There isn’t a cat in it, for example?” 757 | 758 | “No. What a strange idea!” 759 | 760 | “Well, look at this!” He took up a small saucer of milk which stood on 761 | the top of it. 762 | 763 | “No; we don’t keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon.” 764 | 765 | “Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a 766 | saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I dare 767 | say. There is one point which I should wish to determine.” He squatted 768 | down in front of the wooden chair, and examined the seat of it with the 769 | greatest attention. 770 | 771 | “Thank you. That is quite settled,” said he, rising and putting his 772 | lens in his pocket. “Hello! Here is something interesting!” 773 | 774 | The object which had caught his eye was a small dog-lash hung on one 775 | corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself, and tied 776 | so as to make a loop of whip-cord. 777 | 778 | “What do you make of that, Watson?” 779 | 780 | “It’s a common enough lash. But I don’t know why it should be tied.” 781 | 782 | “That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it’s a wicked world, 783 | and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst of 784 | all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and with your 785 | permission we shall walk out upon the lawn.” 786 | 787 | I had never seen my friend’s face so grim or his brow so dark as it 788 | was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We had walked 789 | several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss Stoner nor myself 790 | liking to break in upon his thoughts before he roused himself from his 791 | reverie. 792 | 793 | “It is very essential, Miss Stoner,” said he, “that you should 794 | absolutely follow my advice in every respect.” 795 | 796 | “I shall most certainly do so.” 797 | 798 | “The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may depend 799 | upon your compliance.” 800 | 801 | “I assure you that I am in your hands.” 802 | 803 | “In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in your 804 | room.” 805 | 806 | Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. 807 | 808 | “Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the village 809 | inn over there?” 810 | 811 | “Yes, that is the ‘Crown.’” 812 | 813 | “Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?” 814 | 815 | “Certainly.” 816 | 817 | “You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a headache, 818 | when your step-father comes back. Then when you hear him retire for 819 | the night, you must open the shutters of your window, undo the hasp, 820 | put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then withdraw quietly with 821 | everything which you are likely to want into the room which you used to 822 | occupy. I have no doubt that, in spite of the repairs, you could manage 823 | there for one night.” 824 | 825 | “Oh yes, easily.” 826 | 827 | “The rest you will leave in our hands.” 828 | 829 | “But what will you do?” 830 | 831 | “We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate the 832 | cause of this noise which has disturbed you.” 833 | 834 | “I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind,” said 835 | Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion’s sleeve. 836 | 837 | “Perhaps I have.” 838 | 839 | “Then for pity’s sake tell me what was the cause of my sister’s death.” 840 | 841 | “I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak.” 842 | 843 | “You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and if she 844 | died from some sudden fright.” 845 | 846 | [Illustration: “‘GOOD-BYE, AND BE BRAVE’”] 847 | 848 | “No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more 849 | tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you, for if Dr. 850 | Roylott returned and saw us, our journey would be in vain. Good-bye, 851 | and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, you may rest 852 | assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers that threaten you.” 853 | 854 | Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and 855 | sitting-room at the “Crown Inn.” They were on the upper floor, and 856 | from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and of the 857 | inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw Dr. Grimesby 858 | Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside the little figure 859 | of the lad who drove him. The boy had some slight difficulty in undoing 860 | the heavy iron gates, and we heard the hoarse roar of the doctor’s 861 | voice, and saw the fury with which he shook his clinched fists at him. 862 | The trap drove on, and a few minutes later we saw a sudden light spring 863 | up among the trees as the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. 864 | 865 | “Do you know, Watson,” said Holmes, as we sat together in the gathering 866 | darkness, “I have really some scruples as to taking you to-night. There 867 | is a distinct element of danger.” 868 | 869 | “Can I be of assistance?” 870 | 871 | “Your presence might be invaluable.” 872 | 873 | “Then I shall certainly come.” 874 | 875 | “It is very kind of you.” 876 | 877 | “You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms than 878 | was visible to me.” 879 | 880 | “No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine that 881 | you saw all that I did.” 882 | 883 | “I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose that 884 | could answer I confess is more than I can imagine.” 885 | 886 | “You saw the ventilator, too?” 887 | 888 | “Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to have 889 | a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a rat could 890 | hardly pass through.” 891 | 892 | “I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to Stoke 893 | Moran.” 894 | 895 | “My dear Holmes!” 896 | 897 | “Oh yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her sister 898 | could smell Dr. Roylott’s cigar. Now, of course that suggested at once 899 | that there must be a communication between the two rooms. It could only 900 | be a small one, or it would have been remarked upon at the coroner’s 901 | inquiry. I deduced a ventilator.” 902 | 903 | “But what harm can there be in that?” 904 | 905 | “Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A ventilator 906 | is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the bed dies. Does 907 | not that strike you?” 908 | 909 | “I cannot as yet see any connection.” 910 | 911 | “Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?” 912 | 913 | “No.” 914 | 915 | “It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened like that 916 | before?” 917 | 918 | “I cannot say that I have.” 919 | 920 | “The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same 921 | relative position to the ventilator and to the rope—for so we may call 922 | it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull.” 923 | 924 | “Holmes,” I cried, “I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. We are 925 | only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible crime.” 926 | 927 | “Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong, he is 928 | the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Palmer and 929 | Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. This man strikes 930 | even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall be able to strike 931 | deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough before the night is 932 | over; for goodness’ sake let us have a quiet pipe, and turn our minds 933 | for a few hours to something more cheerful.” 934 | 935 | * * * * * 936 | 937 | About nine o’clock the light among the trees was extinguished, and all 938 | was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours passed slowly 939 | away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of eleven, a single 940 | bright light shone out right in front of us. 941 | 942 | “That is our signal,” said Holmes, springing to his feet; “it comes 943 | from the middle window.” 944 | 945 | As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, explaining 946 | that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, and that it was 947 | possible that we might spend the night there. A moment later we were 948 | out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing in our faces, and one yellow 949 | light twinkling in front of us through the gloom to guide us on our 950 | sombre errand. 951 | 952 | There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for unrepaired 953 | breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way among the trees, 954 | we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about to enter through the 955 | window, when out from a clump of laurel bushes there darted what seemed 956 | to be a hideous and distorted child, who threw itself upon the grass 957 | with writhing limbs, and then ran swiftly across the lawn into the 958 | darkness. 959 | 960 | “My God!” I whispered; “did you see it?” 961 | 962 | Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like a vice 963 | upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low laugh, and put 964 | his lips to my ear. 965 | 966 | “It is a nice household,” he murmured. “That is the baboon.” 967 | 968 | I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There was 969 | a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders at any 970 | moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, after following 971 | Holmes’s example and slipping off my shoes, I found myself inside the 972 | bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed the shutters, moved the lamp 973 | onto the table, and cast his eyes round the room. All was as we had 974 | seen it in the daytime. Then creeping up to me and making a trumpet of 975 | his hand, he whispered into my ear again so gently that it was all that 976 | I could do to distinguish the words: 977 | 978 | “The least sound would be fatal to our plans.” 979 | 980 | I nodded to show that I had heard. 981 | 982 | “We must sit without light. He would see it through the ventilator.” 983 | 984 | I nodded again. 985 | 986 | “Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your pistol 987 | ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of the bed, and 988 | you in that chair.” 989 | 990 | I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. 991 | 992 | Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon the bed 993 | beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the stump of a candle. 994 | Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left in darkness. 995 | 996 | How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a sound, 997 | not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my companion 998 | sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same state of nervous 999 | tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut off the least ray 1000 | of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. From outside came the 1001 | occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at our very window a long 1002 | drawn cat-like whine, which told us that the cheetah was indeed at 1003 | liberty. Far away we could hear the deep tones of the parish clock, 1004 | which boomed out every quarter of an hour. How long they seemed, those 1005 | quarters! Twelve struck, and one and two and three, and still we sat 1006 | waiting silently for whatever might befall. 1007 | 1008 | Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the direction 1009 | of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was succeeded by 1010 | a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Some one in the next 1011 | room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle sound of movement, and 1012 | then all was silent once more, though the smell grew stronger. For half 1013 | an hour I sat with straining ears. Then suddenly another sound became 1014 | audible—a very gentle, soothing sound, like that of a small jet of 1015 | steam escaping continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, 1016 | Holmes sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with 1017 | his cane at the bell-pull. 1018 | 1019 | “You see it, Watson?” he yelled. “You see it?” 1020 | 1021 | But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I heard 1022 | a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my weary eyes 1023 | made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which my friend lashed 1024 | so savagely. I could, however, see that his face was deadly pale, and 1025 | filled with horror and loathing. 1026 | 1027 | He had ceased to strike, and was gazing up at the ventilator, when 1028 | suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most horrible 1029 | cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder and louder, a 1030 | hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled in the one dreadful 1031 | shriek. They say that away down in the village, and even in the distant 1032 | parsonage, that cry raised the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold 1033 | to our hearts, and I stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the 1034 | last echoes of it had died away into the silence from which it rose. 1035 | 1036 | “What can it mean?” I gasped. 1037 | 1038 | “It means that it is all over,” Holmes answered. “And perhaps, after 1039 | all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will enter Dr. 1040 | Roylott’s room.” 1041 | 1042 | With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the corridor. 1043 | Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply from within. 1044 | Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his heels, with the cocked 1045 | pistol in my hand. 1046 | 1047 | It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a 1048 | dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant beam 1049 | of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. Beside this 1050 | table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott, clad in a long 1051 | gray dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding beneath, and his feet 1052 | thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. Across his lap lay the short 1053 | stock with the long lash which we had noticed during the day. His chin 1054 | was cocked upward and his eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare 1055 | at the corner of the ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow 1056 | band, with brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round 1057 | his head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. 1058 | 1059 | “The band! the speckled band!” whispered Holmes. 1060 | 1061 | I took a step forward. In an instant his strange head-gear began 1062 | to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat 1063 | diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. 1064 | 1065 | “It is a swamp adder!” cried Holmes; “the deadliest snake in India. He 1066 | has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence does, in truth, 1067 | recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he 1068 | digs for another. Let us thrust this creature back into its den, and 1069 | we can then remove Miss Stoner to some place of shelter, and let the 1070 | county police know what has happened.” 1071 | 1072 | As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man’s lap, and 1073 | throwing the noose round the reptile’s neck, he drew it from its horrid 1074 | perch, and carrying it at arm’s length, threw it into the iron safe, 1075 | which he closed upon it. 1076 | 1077 | * * * * * 1078 | 1079 | Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke 1080 | Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a narrative which has 1081 | already run to too great a length, by telling how we broke the sad news 1082 | to the terrified girl, how we conveyed her by the morning train to the 1083 | care of her good aunt at Harrow, of how the slow process of official 1084 | inquiry came to the conclusion that the doctor met his fate while 1085 | indiscreetly playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet 1086 | to learn of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled 1087 | back next day. 1088 | 1089 | “I had,” said he, “come to an entirely erroneous conclusion, which 1090 | shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from 1091 | insufficient data. The presence of the gypsies, and the use of the 1092 | word ‘band,’ which was used by the poor girl, no doubt to explain the 1093 | appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of by the light of 1094 | her match, were sufficient to put me upon an entirely wrong scent. I 1095 | can only claim the merit that I instantly reconsidered my position 1096 | when, however, it became clear to me that whatever danger threatened 1097 | an occupant of the room could not come either from the window or the 1098 | door. My attention was speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to 1099 | you, to this ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the 1100 | bed. The discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped 1101 | to the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was 1102 | there as bridge for something passing through the hole, and coming 1103 | to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, and when 1104 | I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was furnished with a 1105 | supply of creatures from India, I felt that I was probably on the right 1106 | track. The idea of using a form of poison which could not possibly be 1107 | discovered by any chemical test was just such a one as would occur to a 1108 | clever and ruthless man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity 1109 | with which such a poison would take effect would also, from his point 1110 | of view, be an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who 1111 | could distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where 1112 | the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the whistle. Of 1113 | course he must recall the snake before the morning light revealed it to 1114 | the victim. He had trained it, probably by the use of the milk which 1115 | we saw, to return to him when summoned. He would put it through this 1116 | ventilator at the hour that he thought best, with the certainty that it 1117 | would crawl down the rope and land on the bed. It might or might not 1118 | bite the occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but 1119 | sooner or later she must fall a victim. 1120 | 1121 | “I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his room. 1122 | An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in the habit of 1123 | standing on it, which of course would be necessary in order that he 1124 | should reach the ventilator. The sight of the safe, the saucer of milk, 1125 | and the loop of whip-cord were enough to finally dispel any doubts 1126 | which may have remained. The metallic clang heard by Miss Stoner was 1127 | obviously caused by her step-father hastily closing the door of his 1128 | safe upon its terrible occupant. Having once made up my mind, you know 1129 | the steps which I took in order to put the matter to the proof. I 1130 | heard the creature hiss, as I have no doubt that you did also, and I 1131 | instantly lit the light and attacked it.” 1132 | 1133 | “With the result of driving it through the ventilator.” 1134 | 1135 | “And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master at the 1136 | other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home, and roused its 1137 | snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person it saw. In this 1138 | way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. Grimesby Roylott’s 1139 | death, and I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my 1140 | conscience.” 1141 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /release-1/Sherlock-Holmes-Selected-Stories/The Adventures of the Six Napoleons.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | THE ADVENTURE OF THE SIX NAPOLEONS 2 | 3 | 4 | It was no very unusual thing for Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, 5 | to look in upon us of an evening, and his visits were welcome to 6 | Sherlock Holmes, for they enabled him to keep in touch with all 7 | that was going on at the police headquarters. In return for the 8 | news which Lestrade would bring, Holmes was always ready to 9 | listen with attention to the details of any case upon which the 10 | detective was engaged, and was able occasionally, without any 11 | active interference, to give some hint or suggestion drawn from 12 | his own vast knowledge and experience. 13 | 14 | On this particular evening, Lestrade had spoken of the weather 15 | and the newspapers. Then he had fallen silent, puffing 16 | thoughtfully at his cigar. Holmes looked keenly at him. 17 | 18 | “Anything remarkable on hand?” he asked. 19 | 20 | “Oh, no, Mr. Holmes—nothing very particular.” 21 | 22 | “Then tell me about it.” 23 | 24 | Lestrade laughed. 25 | 26 | “Well, Mr. Holmes, there is no use denying that there _is_ 27 | something on my mind. And yet it is such an absurd business, that 28 | I hesitated to bother you about it. On the other hand, although 29 | it is trivial, it is undoubtedly queer, and I know that you have 30 | a taste for all that is out of the common. But, in my opinion, it 31 | comes more in Dr. Watson’s line than ours.” 32 | 33 | “Disease?” said I. 34 | 35 | “Madness, anyhow. And a queer madness, too. You wouldn’t think 36 | there was anyone living at this time of day who had such a hatred 37 | of Napoleon the First that he would break any image of him that 38 | he could see.” 39 | 40 | Holmes sank back in his chair. 41 | 42 | “That’s no business of mine,” said he. 43 | 44 | “Exactly. That’s what I said. But then, when the man commits 45 | burglary in order to break images which are not his own, that 46 | brings it away from the doctor and on to the policeman.” 47 | 48 | Holmes sat up again. 49 | 50 | “Burglary! This is more interesting. Let me hear the details.” 51 | 52 | Lestrade took out his official notebook and refreshed his memory 53 | from its pages. 54 | 55 | “The first case reported was four days ago,” said he. “It was at 56 | the shop of Morse Hudson, who has a place for the sale of 57 | pictures and statues in the Kennington Road. The assistant had 58 | left the front shop for an instant, when he heard a crash, and 59 | hurrying in he found a plaster bust of Napoleon, which stood with 60 | several other works of art upon the counter, lying shivered into 61 | fragments. He rushed out into the road, but, although several 62 | passers-by declared that they had noticed a man run out of the 63 | shop, he could neither see anyone nor could he find any means of 64 | identifying the rascal. It seemed to be one of those senseless 65 | acts of hooliganism which occur from time to time, and it was 66 | reported to the constable on the beat as such. The plaster cast 67 | was not worth more than a few shillings, and the whole affair 68 | appeared to be too childish for any particular investigation. 69 | 70 | “The second case, however, was more serious, and also more 71 | singular. It occurred only last night. 72 | 73 | “In Kennington Road, and within a few hundred yards of Morse 74 | Hudson’s shop, there lives a well-known medical practitioner, 75 | named Dr. Barnicot, who has one of the largest practices upon the 76 | south side of the Thames. His residence and principal 77 | consulting-room is at Kennington Road, but he has a branch 78 | surgery and dispensary at Lower Brixton Road, two miles away. 79 | This Dr. Barnicot is an enthusiastic admirer of Napoleon, and his 80 | house is full of books, pictures, and relics of the French 81 | Emperor. Some little time ago he purchased from Morse Hudson two 82 | duplicate plaster casts of the famous head of Napoleon by the 83 | French sculptor, Devine. One of these he placed in his hall in 84 | the house at Kennington Road, and the other on the mantelpiece of 85 | the surgery at Lower Brixton. Well, when Dr. Barnicot came down 86 | this morning he was astonished to find that his house had been 87 | burgled during the night, but that nothing had been taken save 88 | the plaster head from the hall. It had been carried out and had 89 | been dashed savagely against the garden wall, under which its 90 | splintered fragments were discovered.” 91 | 92 | Holmes rubbed his hands. 93 | 94 | “This is certainly very novel,” said he. 95 | 96 | “I thought it would please you. But I have not got to the end 97 | yet. Dr. Barnicot was due at his surgery at twelve o’clock, and 98 | you can imagine his amazement when, on arriving there, he found 99 | that the window had been opened in the night and that the broken 100 | pieces of his second bust were strewn all over the room. It had 101 | been smashed to atoms where it stood. In neither case were there 102 | any signs which could give us a clue as to the criminal or 103 | lunatic who had done the mischief. Now, Mr. Holmes, you have got 104 | the facts.” 105 | 106 | “They are singular, not to say grotesque,” said Holmes. “May I 107 | ask whether the two busts smashed in Dr. Barnicot’s rooms were 108 | the exact duplicates of the one which was destroyed in Morse 109 | Hudson’s shop?” 110 | 111 | “They were taken from the same mould.” 112 | 113 | “Such a fact must tell against the theory that the man who breaks 114 | them is influenced by any general hatred of Napoleon. Considering 115 | how many hundreds of statues of the great Emperor must exist in 116 | London, it is too much to suppose such a coincidence as that a 117 | promiscuous iconoclast should chance to begin upon three 118 | specimens of the same bust.” 119 | 120 | “Well, I thought as you do,” said Lestrade. “On the other hand, 121 | this Morse Hudson is the purveyor of busts in that part of 122 | London, and these three were the only ones which had been in his 123 | shop for years. So, although, as you say, there are many hundreds 124 | of statues in London, it is very probable that these three were 125 | the only ones in that district. Therefore, a local fanatic would 126 | begin with them. What do you think, Dr. Watson?” 127 | 128 | “There are no limits to the possibilities of monomania,” I 129 | answered. “There is the condition which the modern French 130 | psychologists have called the _idée fixe_, which may be trifling 131 | in character, and accompanied by complete sanity in every other 132 | way. A man who had read deeply about Napoleon, or who had 133 | possibly received some hereditary family injury through the great 134 | war, might conceivably form such an _idée fixe_ and under its 135 | influence be capable of any fantastic outrage.” 136 | 137 | “That won’t do, my dear Watson,” said Holmes, shaking his head, 138 | “for no amount of _idée fixe_ would enable your interesting 139 | monomaniac to find out where these busts were situated.” 140 | 141 | “Well, how do _you_ explain it?” 142 | 143 | “I don’t attempt to do so. I would only observe that there is a 144 | certain method in the gentleman’s eccentric proceedings. For 145 | example, in Dr. Barnicot’s hall, where a sound might arouse the 146 | family, the bust was taken outside before being broken, whereas 147 | in the surgery, where there was less danger of an alarm, it was 148 | smashed where it stood. The affair seems absurdly trifling, and 149 | yet I dare call nothing trivial when I reflect that some of my 150 | most classic cases have had the least promising commencement. You 151 | will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the Abernetty 152 | family was first brought to my notice by the depth which the 153 | parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day. I can’t afford, 154 | therefore, to smile at your three broken busts, Lestrade, and I 155 | shall be very much obliged to you if you will let me hear of any 156 | fresh development of so singular a chain of events.” 157 | 158 | The development for which my friend had asked came in a quicker 159 | and an infinitely more tragic form than he could have imagined. I 160 | was still dressing in my bedroom next morning, when there was a 161 | tap at the door and Holmes entered, a telegram in his hand. He 162 | read it aloud: 163 | 164 | “Come instantly, 131, Pitt Street, Kensington.—LESTRADE.” 165 | 166 | “What is it, then?” I asked. 167 | 168 | “Don’t know—may be anything. But I suspect it is the sequel of 169 | the story of the statues. In that case our friend the 170 | image-breaker has begun operations in another quarter of London. 171 | There’s coffee on the table, Watson, and I have a cab at the 172 | door.” 173 | 174 | In half an hour we had reached Pitt Street, a quiet little 175 | backwater just beside one of the briskest currents of London 176 | life. No. 131 was one of a row, all flat-chested, respectable, 177 | and most unromantic dwellings. As we drove up, we found the 178 | railings in front of the house lined by a curious crowd. Holmes 179 | whistled. 180 | 181 | “By George! It’s attempted murder at the least. Nothing less will 182 | hold the London message-boy. There’s a deed of violence indicated 183 | in that fellow’s round shoulders and outstretched neck. What’s 184 | this, Watson? The top steps swilled down and the other ones dry. 185 | Footsteps enough, anyhow! Well, well, there’s Lestrade at the 186 | front window, and we shall soon know all about it.” 187 | 188 | The official received us with a very grave face and showed us 189 | into a sitting-room, where an exceedingly unkempt and agitated 190 | elderly man, clad in a flannel dressing-gown, was pacing up and 191 | down. He was introduced to us as the owner of the house—Mr. 192 | Horace Harker, of the Central Press Syndicate. 193 | 194 | “It’s the Napoleon bust business again,” said Lestrade. “You 195 | seemed interested last night, Mr. Holmes, so I thought perhaps 196 | you would be glad to be present now that the affair has taken a 197 | very much graver turn.” 198 | 199 | “What has it turned to, then?” 200 | 201 | “To murder. Mr. Harker, will you tell these gentlemen exactly 202 | what has occurred?” 203 | 204 | The man in the dressing-gown turned upon us with a most 205 | melancholy face. 206 | 207 | “It’s an extraordinary thing,” said he, “that all my life I have 208 | been collecting other people’s news, and now that a real piece of 209 | news has come my own way I am so confused and bothered that I 210 | can’t put two words together. If I had come in here as a 211 | journalist, I should have interviewed myself and had two columns 212 | in every evening paper. As it is, I am giving away valuable copy 213 | by telling my story over and over to a string of different 214 | people, and I can make no use of it myself. However, I’ve heard 215 | your name, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and if you’ll only explain this 216 | queer business, I shall be paid for my trouble in telling you the 217 | story.” 218 | 219 | Holmes sat down and listened. 220 | 221 | “It all seems to centre round that bust of Napoleon which I 222 | bought for this very room about four months ago. I picked it up 223 | cheap from Harding Brothers, two doors from the High Street 224 | Station. A great deal of my journalistic work is done at night, 225 | and I often write until the early morning. So it was to-day. I 226 | was sitting in my den, which is at the back of the top of the 227 | house, about three o’clock, when I was convinced that I heard 228 | some sounds downstairs. I listened, but they were not repeated, 229 | and I concluded that they came from outside. Then suddenly, about 230 | five minutes later, there came a most horrible yell—the most 231 | dreadful sound, Mr. Holmes, that ever I heard. It will ring in my 232 | ears as long as I live. I sat frozen with horror for a minute or 233 | two. Then I seized the poker and went downstairs. When I entered 234 | this room I found the window wide open, and I at once observed 235 | that the bust was gone from the mantelpiece. Why any burglar 236 | should take such a thing passes my understanding, for it was only 237 | a plaster cast and of no real value whatever. 238 | 239 | “You can see for yourself that anyone going out through that open 240 | window could reach the front doorstep by taking a long stride. 241 | This was clearly what the burglar had done, so I went round and 242 | opened the door. Stepping out into the dark, I nearly fell over a 243 | dead man, who was lying there. I ran back for a light and there 244 | was the poor fellow, a great gash in his throat and the whole 245 | place swimming in blood. He lay on his back, his knees drawn up, 246 | and his mouth horribly open. I shall see him in my dreams. I had 247 | just time to blow on my police-whistle, and then I must have 248 | fainted, for I knew nothing more until I found the policeman 249 | standing over me in the hall.” 250 | 251 | “Well, who was the murdered man?” asked Holmes. 252 | 253 | “There’s nothing to show who he was,” said Lestrade. “You shall 254 | see the body at the mortuary, but we have made nothing of it up 255 | to now. He is a tall man, sunburned, very powerful, not more than 256 | thirty. He is poorly dressed, and yet does not appear to be a 257 | labourer. A horn-handled clasp knife was lying in a pool of blood 258 | beside him. Whether it was the weapon which did the deed, or 259 | whether it belonged to the dead man, I do not know. There was no 260 | name on his clothing, and nothing in his pockets save an apple, 261 | some string, a shilling map of London, and a photograph. Here it 262 | is.” 263 | 264 | It was evidently taken by a snapshot from a small camera. It 265 | represented an alert, sharp-featured simian man, with thick 266 | eyebrows and a very peculiar projection of the lower part of the 267 | face, like the muzzle of a baboon. 268 | 269 | “And what became of the bust?” asked Holmes, after a careful 270 | study of this picture. 271 | 272 | “We had news of it just before you came. It has been found in the 273 | front garden of an empty house in Campden House Road. It was 274 | broken into fragments. I am going round now to see it. Will you 275 | come?” 276 | 277 | “Certainly. I must just take one look round.” He examined the 278 | carpet and the window. “The fellow had either very long legs or 279 | was a most active man,” said he. “With an area beneath, it was no 280 | mean feat to reach that window ledge and open that window. 281 | Getting back was comparatively simple. Are you coming with us to 282 | see the remains of your bust, Mr. Harker?” 283 | 284 | The disconsolate journalist had seated himself at a 285 | writing-table. 286 | 287 | “I must try and make something of it,” said he, “though I have no 288 | doubt that the first editions of the evening papers are out 289 | already with full details. It’s like my luck! You remember when 290 | the stand fell at Doncaster? Well, I was the only journalist in 291 | the stand, and my journal the only one that had no account of it, 292 | for I was too shaken to write it. And now I’ll be too late with a 293 | murder done on my own doorstep.” 294 | 295 | As we left the room, we heard his pen travelling shrilly over the 296 | foolscap. 297 | 298 | The spot where the fragments of the bust had been found was only 299 | a few hundred yards away. For the first time our eyes rested upon 300 | this presentment of the great emperor, which seemed to raise such 301 | frantic and destructive hatred in the mind of the unknown. It lay 302 | scattered, in splintered shards, upon the grass. Holmes picked up 303 | several of them and examined them carefully. I was convinced, 304 | from his intent face and his purposeful manner, that at last he 305 | was upon a clue. 306 | 307 | “Well?” asked Lestrade. 308 | 309 | Holmes shrugged his shoulders. 310 | 311 | “We have a long way to go yet,” said he. “And yet—and yet—well, 312 | we have some suggestive facts to act upon. The possession of this 313 | trifling bust was worth more, in the eyes of this strange 314 | criminal, than a human life. That is one point. Then there is the 315 | singular fact that he did not break it in the house, or 316 | immediately outside the house, if to break it was his sole 317 | object.” 318 | 319 | “He was rattled and bustled by meeting this other fellow. He 320 | hardly knew what he was doing.” 321 | 322 | “Well, that’s likely enough. But I wish to call your attention 323 | very particularly to the position of this house, in the garden of 324 | which the bust was destroyed.” 325 | 326 | Lestrade looked about him. 327 | 328 | “It was an empty house, and so he knew that he would not be 329 | disturbed in the garden.” 330 | 331 | “Yes, but there is another empty house farther up the street 332 | which he must have passed before he came to this one. Why did he 333 | not break it there, since it is evident that every yard that he 334 | carried it increased the risk of someone meeting him?” 335 | 336 | “I give it up,” said Lestrade. 337 | 338 | Holmes pointed to the street lamp above our heads. 339 | 340 | “He could see what he was doing here, and he could not there. 341 | That was his reason.” 342 | 343 | “By Jove! that’s true,” said the detective. “Now that I come to 344 | think of it, Dr. Barnicot’s bust was broken not far from his red 345 | lamp. Well, Mr. Holmes, what are we to do with that fact?” 346 | 347 | “To remember it—to docket it. We may come on something later 348 | which will bear upon it. What steps do you propose to take now, 349 | Lestrade?” 350 | 351 | “The most practical way of getting at it, in my opinion, is to 352 | identify the dead man. There should be no difficulty about that. 353 | When we have found who he is and who his associates are, we 354 | should have a good start in learning what he was doing in Pitt 355 | Street last night, and who it was who met him and killed him on 356 | the doorstep of Mr. Horace Harker. Don’t you think so?” 357 | 358 | “No doubt; and yet it is not quite the way in which I should 359 | approach the case.” 360 | 361 | “What would you do then?” 362 | 363 | “Oh, you must not let me influence you in any way. I suggest that 364 | you go on your line and I on mine. We can compare notes 365 | afterwards, and each will supplement the other.” 366 | 367 | “Very good,” said Lestrade. 368 | 369 | “If you are going back to Pitt Street, you might see Mr. Horace 370 | Harker. Tell him for me that I have quite made up my mind, and 371 | that it is certain that a dangerous homicidal lunatic, with 372 | Napoleonic delusions, was in his house last night. It will be 373 | useful for his article.” 374 | 375 | Lestrade stared. 376 | 377 | “You don’t seriously believe that?” 378 | 379 | Holmes smiled. 380 | 381 | “Don’t I? Well, perhaps I don’t. But I am sure that it will 382 | interest Mr. Horace Harker and the subscribers of the Central 383 | Press Syndicate. Now, Watson, I think that we shall find that we 384 | have a long and rather complex day’s work before us. I should be 385 | glad, Lestrade, if you could make it convenient to meet us at 386 | Baker Street at six o’clock this evening. Until then I should 387 | like to keep this photograph, found in the dead man’s pocket. It 388 | is possible that I may have to ask your company and assistance 389 | upon a small expedition which will have be undertaken to-night, 390 | if my chain of reasoning should prove to be correct. Until then 391 | good-bye and good luck!” 392 | 393 | Sherlock Holmes and I walked together to the High Street, where 394 | we stopped at the shop of Harding Brothers, whence the bust had 395 | been purchased. A young assistant informed us that Mr. Harding 396 | would be absent until afternoon, and that he was himself a 397 | newcomer, who could give us no information. Holmes’s face showed 398 | his disappointment and annoyance. 399 | 400 | “Well, well, we can’t expect to have it all our own way, Watson,” 401 | he said, at last. “We must come back in the afternoon, if Mr. 402 | Harding will not be here until then. I am, as you have no doubt 403 | surmised, endeavouring to trace these busts to their source, in 404 | order to find if there is not something peculiar which may 405 | account for their remarkable fate. Let us make for Mr. Morse 406 | Hudson, of the Kennington Road, and see if he can throw any light 407 | upon the problem.” 408 | 409 | A drive of an hour brought us to the picture-dealer’s 410 | establishment. He was a small, stout man with a red face and a 411 | peppery manner. 412 | 413 | “Yes, sir. On my very counter, sir,” said he. “What we pay rates 414 | and taxes for I don’t know, when any ruffian can come in and 415 | break one’s goods. Yes, sir, it was I who sold Dr. Barnicot his 416 | two statues. Disgraceful, sir! A Nihilist plot—that’s what I make 417 | it. No one but an anarchist would go about breaking statues. Red 418 | republicans—that’s what I call ’em. Who did I get the statues 419 | from? I don’t see what that has to do with it. Well, if you 420 | really want to know, I got them from Gelder & Co., in Church 421 | Street, Stepney. They are a well-known house in the trade, and 422 | have been this twenty years. How many had I? Three—two and one 423 | are three—two of Dr. Barnicot’s, and one smashed in broad 424 | daylight on my own counter. Do I know that photograph? No, I 425 | don’t. Yes, I do, though. Why, it’s Beppo. He was a kind of 426 | Italian piece-work man, who made himself useful in the shop. He 427 | could carve a bit, and gild and frame, and do odd jobs. The 428 | fellow left me last week, and I’ve heard nothing of him since. 429 | No, I don’t know where he came from nor where he went to. I had 430 | nothing against him while he was here. He was gone two days 431 | before the bust was smashed.” 432 | 433 | “Well, that’s all we could reasonably expect from Morse Hudson,” 434 | said Holmes, as we emerged from the shop. “We have this Beppo as 435 | a common factor, both in Kennington and in Kensington, so that is 436 | worth a ten-mile drive. Now, Watson, let us make for Gelder & 437 | Co., of Stepney, the source and origin of the busts. I shall be 438 | surprised if we don’t get some help down there.” 439 | 440 | In rapid succession we passed through the fringe of fashionable 441 | London, hotel London, theatrical London, literary London, 442 | commercial London, and, finally, maritime London, till we came to 443 | a riverside city of a hundred thousand souls, where the tenement 444 | houses swelter and reek with the outcasts of Europe. Here, in a 445 | broad thoroughfare, once the abode of wealthy City merchants, we 446 | found the sculpture works for which we searched. Outside was a 447 | considerable yard full of monumental masonry. Inside was a large 448 | room in which fifty workers were carving or moulding. The 449 | manager, a big blond German, received us civilly and gave a clear 450 | answer to all Holmes’s questions. A reference to his books showed 451 | that hundreds of casts had been taken from a marble copy of 452 | Devine’s head of Napoleon, but that the three which had been sent 453 | to Morse Hudson a year or so before had been half of a batch of 454 | six, the other three being sent to Harding Brothers, of 455 | Kensington. There was no reason why those six should be different 456 | from any of the other casts. He could suggest no possible cause 457 | why anyone should wish to destroy them—in fact, he laughed at the 458 | idea. Their wholesale price was six shillings, but the retailer 459 | would get twelve or more. The cast was taken in two moulds from 460 | each side of the face, and then these two profiles of plaster of 461 | Paris were joined together to make the complete bust. The work 462 | was usually done by Italians, in the room we were in. When 463 | finished, the busts were put on a table in the passage to dry, 464 | and afterwards stored. That was all he could tell us. 465 | 466 | But the production of the photograph had a remarkable effect upon 467 | the manager. His face flushed with anger, and his brows knotted 468 | over his blue Teutonic eyes. 469 | 470 | “Ah, the rascal!” he cried. “Yes, indeed, I know him very well. 471 | This has always been a respectable establishment, and the only 472 | time that we have ever had the police in it was over this very 473 | fellow. It was more than a year ago now. He knifed another 474 | Italian in the street, and then he came to the works with the 475 | police on his heels, and he was taken here. Beppo was his 476 | name—his second name I never knew. Serve me right for engaging a 477 | man with such a face. But he was a good workman—one of the best.” 478 | 479 | “What did he get?” 480 | 481 | “The man lived and he got off with a year. I have no doubt he is 482 | out now, but he has not dared to show his nose here. We have a 483 | cousin of his here, and I daresay he could tell you where he is.” 484 | 485 | “No, no,” cried Holmes, “not a word to the cousin—not a word, I 486 | beg of you. The matter is very important, and the farther I go 487 | with it, the more important it seems to grow. When you referred 488 | in your ledger to the sale of those casts I observed that the 489 | date was June 3rd of last year. Could you give me the date when 490 | Beppo was arrested?” 491 | 492 | “I could tell you roughly by the pay-list,” the manager answered. 493 | “Yes,” he continued, after some turning over of pages, “he was 494 | paid last on May 20th.” 495 | 496 | “Thank you,” said Holmes. “I don’t think that I need intrude upon 497 | your time and patience any more.” With a last word of caution 498 | that he should say nothing as to our researches, we turned our 499 | faces westward once more. 500 | 501 | The afternoon was far advanced before we were able to snatch a 502 | hasty luncheon at a restaurant. A news-bill at the entrance 503 | announced “Kensington Outrage. Murder by a Madman,” and the 504 | contents of the paper showed that Mr. Horace Harker had got his 505 | account into print after all. Two columns were occupied with a 506 | highly sensational and flowery rendering of the whole incident. 507 | Holmes propped it against the cruet-stand and read it while he 508 | ate. Once or twice he chuckled. 509 | 510 | “This is all right, Watson,” said he. “Listen to this: 511 | 512 | “It is satisfactory to know that there can be no difference of 513 | opinion upon this case, since Mr. Lestrade, one of the most 514 | experienced members of the official force, and Mr. Sherlock 515 | Holmes, the well-known consulting expert, have each come to the 516 | conclusion that the grotesque series of incidents, which have 517 | ended in so tragic a fashion, arise from lunacy rather than from 518 | deliberate crime. No explanation save mental aberration can cover 519 | the facts. 520 | 521 | “The Press, Watson, is a most valuable institution, if you only 522 | know how to use it. And now, if you have quite finished, we will 523 | hark back to Kensington and see what the manager of Harding 524 | Brothers has to say on the matter.” 525 | 526 | The founder of that great emporium proved to be a brisk, crisp 527 | little person, very dapper and quick, with a clear head and a 528 | ready tongue. 529 | 530 | “Yes, sir, I have already read the account in the evening papers. 531 | Mr. Horace Harker is a customer of ours. We supplied him with the 532 | bust some months ago. We ordered three busts of that sort from 533 | Gelder & Co., of Stepney. They are all sold now. To whom? Oh, I 534 | daresay by consulting our sales book we could very easily tell 535 | you. Yes, we have the entries here. One to Mr. Harker you see, 536 | and one to Mr. Josiah Brown, of Laburnum Lodge, Laburnum Vale, 537 | Chiswick, and one to Mr. Sandeford, of Lower Grove Road, Reading. 538 | No, I have never seen this face which you show me in the 539 | photograph. You would hardly forget it, would you, sir, for I’ve 540 | seldom seen an uglier. Have we any Italians on the staff? Yes, 541 | sir, we have several among our workpeople and cleaners. I daresay 542 | they might get a peep at that sales book if they wanted to. There 543 | is no particular reason for keeping a watch upon that book. Well, 544 | well, it’s a very strange business, and I hope that you will let 545 | me know if anything comes of your inquiries.” 546 | 547 | Holmes had taken several notes during Mr. Harding’s evidence, and 548 | I could see that he was thoroughly satisfied by the turn which 549 | affairs were taking. He made no remark, however, save that, 550 | unless we hurried, we should be late for our appointment with 551 | Lestrade. Sure enough, when we reached Baker Street the detective 552 | was already there, and we found him pacing up and down in a fever 553 | of impatience. His look of importance showed that his day’s work 554 | had not been in vain. 555 | 556 | “Well?” he asked. “What luck, Mr. Holmes?” 557 | 558 | “We have had a very busy day, and not entirely a wasted one,” my 559 | friend explained. “We have seen both the retailers and also the 560 | wholesale manufacturers. I can trace each of the busts now from 561 | the beginning.” 562 | 563 | “The busts,” cried Lestrade. “Well, well, you have your own 564 | methods, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and it is not for me to say a word 565 | against them, but I think I have done a better day’s work than 566 | you. I have identified the dead man.” 567 | 568 | “You don’t say so?” 569 | 570 | “And found a cause for the crime.” 571 | 572 | “Splendid!” 573 | 574 | “We have an inspector who makes a specialty of Saffron Hill and 575 | the Italian Quarter. Well, this dead man had some Catholic emblem 576 | round his neck, and that, along with his colour, made me think he 577 | was from the South. Inspector Hill knew him the moment he caught 578 | sight of him. His name is Pietro Venucci, from Naples, and he is 579 | one of the greatest cut-throats in London. He is connected with 580 | the Mafia, which, as you know, is a secret political society, 581 | enforcing its decrees by murder. Now, you see how the affair 582 | begins to clear up. The other fellow is probably an Italian also, 583 | and a member of the Mafia. He has broken the rules in some 584 | fashion. Pietro is set upon his track. Probably the photograph we 585 | found in his pocket is the man himself, so that he may not knife 586 | the wrong person. He dogs the fellow, he sees him enter a house, 587 | he waits outside for him, and in the scuffle he receives his own 588 | death-wound. How is that, Mr. Sherlock Holmes?” 589 | 590 | Holmes clapped his hands approvingly. 591 | 592 | “Excellent, Lestrade, excellent!” he cried. “But I didn’t quite 593 | follow your explanation of the destruction of the busts.” 594 | 595 | “The busts! You never can get those busts out of your head. After 596 | all, that is nothing; petty larceny, six months at the most. It 597 | is the murder that we are really investigating, and I tell you 598 | that I am gathering all the threads into my hands.” 599 | 600 | “And the next stage?” 601 | 602 | “Is a very simple one. I shall go down with Hill to the Italian 603 | Quarter, find the man whose photograph we have got, and arrest 604 | him on the charge of murder. Will you come with us?” 605 | 606 | “I think not. I fancy we can attain our end in a simpler way. I 607 | can’t say for certain, because it all depends—well, it all 608 | depends upon a factor which is completely outside our control. 609 | But I have great hopes—in fact, the betting is exactly two to 610 | one—that if you will come with us to-night I shall be able to 611 | help you to lay him by the heels.” 612 | 613 | “In the Italian Quarter?” 614 | 615 | “No, I fancy Chiswick is an address which is more likely to find 616 | him. If you will come with me to Chiswick to-night, Lestrade, 617 | I’ll promise to go to the Italian Quarter with you to-morrow, and 618 | no harm will be done by the delay. And now I think that a few 619 | hours’ sleep would do us all good, for I do not propose to leave 620 | before eleven o’clock, and it is unlikely that we shall be back 621 | before morning. You’ll dine with us, Lestrade, and then you are 622 | welcome to the sofa until it is time for us to start. In the 623 | meantime, Watson, I should be glad if you would ring for an 624 | express messenger, for I have a letter to send and it is 625 | important that it should go at once.” 626 | 627 | Holmes spent the evening in rummaging among the files of the old 628 | daily papers with which one of our lumber-rooms was packed. When 629 | at last he descended, it was with triumph in his eyes, but he 630 | said nothing to either of us as to the result of his researches. 631 | For my own part, I had followed step by step the methods by which 632 | he had traced the various windings of this complex case, and, 633 | though I could not yet perceive the goal which we would reach, I 634 | understood clearly that Holmes expected this grotesque criminal 635 | to make an attempt upon the two remaining busts, one of which, I 636 | remembered, was at Chiswick. No doubt the object of our journey 637 | was to catch him in the very act, and I could not but admire the 638 | cunning with which my friend had inserted a wrong clue in the 639 | evening paper, so as to give the fellow the idea that he could 640 | continue his scheme with impunity. I was not surprised when 641 | Holmes suggested that I should take my revolver with me. He had 642 | himself picked up the loaded hunting-crop, which was his 643 | favourite weapon. 644 | 645 | A four-wheeler was at the door at eleven, and in it we drove to a 646 | spot at the other side of Hammersmith Bridge. Here the cabman was 647 | directed to wait. A short walk brought us to a secluded road 648 | fringed with pleasant houses, each standing in its own grounds. 649 | In the light of a street lamp we read “Laburnum Villa” upon the 650 | gate-post of one of them. The occupants had evidently retired to 651 | rest, for all was dark save for a fanlight over the hall door, 652 | which shed a single blurred circle on to the garden path. The 653 | wooden fence which separated the grounds from the road threw a 654 | dense black shadow upon the inner side, and here it was that we 655 | crouched. 656 | 657 | “I fear that you’ll have a long wait,” Holmes whispered. “We may 658 | thank our stars that it is not raining. I don’t think we can even 659 | venture to smoke to pass the time. However, it’s a two to one 660 | chance that we get something to pay us for our trouble.” 661 | 662 | It proved, however, that our vigil was not to be so long as 663 | Holmes had led us to fear, and it ended in a very sudden and 664 | singular fashion. In an instant, without the least sound to warn 665 | us of his coming, the garden gate swung open, and a lithe, dark 666 | figure, as swift and active as an ape, rushed up the garden path. 667 | We saw it whisk past the light thrown from over the door and 668 | disappear against the black shadow of the house. There was a long 669 | pause, during which we held our breath, and then a very gentle 670 | creaking sound came to our ears. The window was being opened. The 671 | noise ceased, and again there was a long silence. The fellow was 672 | making his way into the house. We saw the sudden flash of a dark 673 | lantern inside the room. What he sought was evidently not there, 674 | for again we saw the flash through another blind, and then 675 | through another. 676 | 677 | “Let us get to the open window. We will nab him as he climbs 678 | out,” Lestrade whispered. 679 | 680 | But before we could move, the man had emerged again. As he came 681 | out into the glimmering patch of light, we saw that he carried 682 | something white under his arm. He looked stealthily all round 683 | him. The silence of the deserted street reassured him. Turning 684 | his back upon us he laid down his burden, and the next instant 685 | there was the sound of a sharp tap, followed by a clatter and 686 | rattle. The man was so intent upon what he was doing that he 687 | never heard our steps as we stole across the grass plot. With the 688 | bound of a tiger Holmes was on his back, and an instant later 689 | Lestrade and I had him by either wrist, and the handcuffs had 690 | been fastened. As we turned him over I saw a hideous, sallow 691 | face, with writhing, furious features, glaring up at us, and I 692 | knew that it was indeed the man of the photograph whom we had 693 | secured. 694 | 695 | But it was not our prisoner to whom Holmes was giving his 696 | attention. Squatted on the doorstep, he was engaged in most 697 | carefully examining that which the man had brought from the 698 | house. It was a bust of Napoleon, like the one which we had seen 699 | that morning, and it had been broken into similar fragments. 700 | Carefully Holmes held each separate shard to the light, but in no 701 | way did it differ from any other shattered piece of plaster. He 702 | had just completed his examination when the hall lights flew up, 703 | the door opened, and the owner of the house, a jovial, rotund 704 | figure in shirt and trousers, presented himself. 705 | 706 | “Mr. Josiah Brown, I suppose?” said Holmes. 707 | 708 | “Yes, sir; and you, no doubt, are Mr. Sherlock Holmes? I had the 709 | note which you sent by the express messenger, and I did exactly 710 | what you told me. We locked every door on the inside and awaited 711 | developments. Well, I’m very glad to see that you have got the 712 | rascal. I hope, gentlemen, that you will come in and have some 713 | refreshment.” 714 | 715 | However, Lestrade was anxious to get his man into safe quarters, 716 | so within a few minutes our cab had been summoned and we were all 717 | four upon our way to London. Not a word would our captive say, 718 | but he glared at us from the shadow of his matted hair, and once, 719 | when my hand seemed within his reach, he snapped at it like a 720 | hungry wolf. We stayed long enough at the police-station to learn 721 | that a search of his clothing revealed nothing save a few 722 | shillings and a long sheath knife, the handle of which bore 723 | copious traces of recent blood. 724 | 725 | “That’s all right,” said Lestrade, as we parted. “Hill knows all 726 | these gentry, and he will give a name to him. You’ll find that my 727 | theory of the Mafia will work out all right. But I’m sure I am 728 | exceedingly obliged to you, Mr. Holmes, for the workmanlike way 729 | in which you laid hands upon him. I don’t quite understand it all 730 | yet.” 731 | 732 | “I fear it is rather too late an hour for explanations,” said 733 | Holmes. “Besides, there are one or two details which are not 734 | finished off, and it is one of those cases which are worth 735 | working out to the very end. If you will come round once more to 736 | my rooms at six o’clock to-morrow, I think I shall be able to 737 | show you that even now you have not grasped the entire meaning of 738 | this business, which presents some features which make it 739 | absolutely original in the history of crime. If ever I permit you 740 | to chronicle any more of my little problems, Watson, I foresee 741 | that you will enliven your pages by an account of the singular 742 | adventure of the Napoleonic busts.” 743 | 744 | When we met again next evening, Lestrade was furnished with much 745 | information concerning our prisoner. His name, it appeared, was 746 | Beppo, second name unknown. He was a well-known ne’er-do-well 747 | among the Italian colony. He had once been a skilful sculptor and 748 | had earned an honest living, but he had taken to evil courses and 749 | had twice already been in jail—once for a petty theft, and once, 750 | as we had already heard, for stabbing a fellow-countryman. He 751 | could talk English perfectly well. His reasons for destroying the 752 | busts were still unknown, and he refused to answer any questions 753 | upon the subject, but the police had discovered that these same 754 | busts might very well have been made by his own hands, since he 755 | was engaged in this class of work at the establishment of Gelder 756 | & Co. To all this information, much of which we already knew, 757 | Holmes listened with polite attention, but I, who knew him so 758 | well, could clearly see that his thoughts were elsewhere, and I 759 | detected a mixture of mingled uneasiness and expectation beneath 760 | that mask which he was wont to assume. At last he started in his 761 | chair, and his eyes brightened. There had been a ring at the 762 | bell. A minute later we heard steps upon the stairs, and an 763 | elderly red-faced man with grizzled side-whiskers was ushered in. 764 | In his right hand he carried an old-fashioned carpet-bag, which 765 | he placed upon the table. 766 | 767 | “Is Mr. Sherlock Holmes here?” 768 | 769 | My friend bowed and smiled. “Mr. Sandeford, of Reading, I 770 | suppose?” said he. 771 | 772 | “Yes, sir, I fear that I am a little late, but the trains were 773 | awkward. You wrote to me about a bust that is in my possession.” 774 | 775 | “Exactly.” 776 | 777 | “I have your letter here. You said, ‘I desire to possess a copy 778 | of Devine’s Napoleon, and am prepared to pay you ten pounds for 779 | the one which is in your possession.’ Is that right?” 780 | 781 | “Certainly.” 782 | 783 | “I was very much surprised at your letter, for I could not 784 | imagine how you knew that I owned such a thing.” 785 | 786 | “Of course you must have been surprised, but the explanation is 787 | very simple. Mr. Harding, of Harding Brothers, said that they had 788 | sold you their last copy, and he gave me your address.” 789 | 790 | “Oh, that was it, was it? Did he tell you what I paid for it?” 791 | 792 | “No, he did not.” 793 | 794 | “Well, I am an honest man, though not a very rich one. I only 795 | gave fifteen shillings for the bust, and I think you ought to 796 | know that before I take ten pounds from you. 797 | 798 | “I am sure the scruple does you honour, Mr. Sandeford. But I have 799 | named that price, so I intend to stick to it.” 800 | 801 | “Well, it is very handsome of you, Mr. Holmes. I brought the bust 802 | up with me, as you asked me to do. Here it is!” He opened his 803 | bag, and at last we saw placed upon our table a complete specimen 804 | of that bust which we had already seen more than once in 805 | fragments. 806 | 807 | Holmes took a paper from his pocket and laid a ten-pound note 808 | upon the table. 809 | 810 | “You will kindly sign that paper, Mr. Sandeford, in the presence 811 | of these witnesses. It is simply to say that you transfer every 812 | possible right that you ever had in the bust to me. I am a 813 | methodical man, you see, and you never know what turn events 814 | might take afterwards. Thank you, Mr. Sandeford; here is your 815 | money, and I wish you a very good evening.” 816 | 817 | When our visitor had disappeared, Sherlock Holmes’s movements 818 | were such as to rivet our attention. He began by taking a clean 819 | white cloth from a drawer and laying it over the table. Then he 820 | placed his newly acquired bust in the centre of the cloth. 821 | Finally, he picked up his hunting-crop and struck Napoleon a 822 | sharp blow on the top of the head. The figure broke into 823 | fragments, and Holmes bent eagerly over the shattered remains. 824 | Next instant, with a loud shout of triumph he held up one 825 | splinter, in which a round, dark object was fixed like a plum in 826 | a pudding. 827 | 828 | “Gentlemen,” he cried, “let me introduce you to the famous black 829 | pearl of the Borgias.” 830 | 831 | Lestrade and I sat silent for a moment, and then, with a 832 | spontaneous impulse, we both broke at clapping, as at the 833 | well-wrought crisis of a play. A flush of colour sprang to 834 | Holmes’s pale cheeks, and he bowed to us like the master 835 | dramatist who receives the homage of his audience. It was at such 836 | moments that for an instant he ceased to be a reasoning machine, 837 | and betrayed his human love for admiration and applause. The same 838 | singularly proud and reserved nature which turned away with 839 | disdain from popular notoriety was capable of being moved to its 840 | depths by spontaneous wonder and praise from a friend. 841 | 842 | “Yes, gentlemen,” said he, “it is the most famous pearl now 843 | existing in the world, and it has been my good fortune, by a 844 | connected chain of inductive reasoning, to trace it from the 845 | Prince of Colonna’s bedroom at the Dacre Hotel, where it was 846 | lost, to the interior of this, the last of the six busts of 847 | Napoleon which were manufactured by Gelder & Co., of Stepney. You 848 | will remember, Lestrade, the sensation caused by the 849 | disappearance of this valuable jewel and the vain efforts of the 850 | London police to recover it. I was myself consulted upon the 851 | case, but I was unable to throw any light upon it. Suspicion fell 852 | upon the maid of the Princess, who was an Italian, and it was 853 | proved that she had a brother in London, but we failed to trace 854 | any connection between them. The maid’s name was Lucretia 855 | Venucci, and there is no doubt in my mind that this Pietro who 856 | was murdered two nights ago was the brother. I have been looking 857 | up the dates in the old files of the paper, and I find that the 858 | disappearance of the pearl was exactly two days before the arrest 859 | of Beppo, for some crime of violence—an event which took place in 860 | the factory of Gelder & Co., at the very moment when these busts 861 | were being made. Now you clearly see the sequence of events, 862 | though you see them, of course, in the inverse order to the way 863 | in which they presented themselves to me. Beppo had the pearl in 864 | his possession. He may have stolen it from Pietro, he may have 865 | been Pietro’s confederate, he may have been the go-between of 866 | Pietro and his sister. It is of no consequence to us which is the 867 | correct solution. 868 | 869 | “The main fact is that he _had_ the pearl, and at that moment, 870 | when it was on his person, he was pursued by the police. He made 871 | for the factory in which he worked, and he knew that he had only 872 | a few minutes in which to conceal this enormously valuable prize, 873 | which would otherwise be found on him when he was searched. Six 874 | plaster casts of Napoleon were drying in the passage. One of them 875 | was still soft. In an instant Beppo, a skilful workman, made a 876 | small hole in the wet plaster, dropped in the pearl, and with a 877 | few touches covered over the aperture once more. It was an 878 | admirable hiding-place. No one could possibly find it. But Beppo 879 | was condemned to a year’s imprisonment, and in the meanwhile his 880 | six busts were scattered over London. He could not tell which 881 | contained his treasure. Only by breaking them could he see. Even 882 | shaking would tell him nothing, for as the plaster was wet it was 883 | probable that the pearl would adhere to it—as, in fact, it has 884 | done. Beppo did not despair, and he conducted his search with 885 | considerable ingenuity and perseverance. Through a cousin who 886 | works with Gelder, he found out the retail firms who had bought 887 | the busts. He managed to find employment with Morse Hudson, and 888 | in that way tracked down three of them. The pearl was not there. 889 | Then, with the help of some Italian employee, he succeeded in 890 | finding out where the other three busts had gone. The first was 891 | at Harker’s. There he was dogged by his confederate, who held 892 | Beppo responsible for the loss of the pearl, and he stabbed him 893 | in the scuffle which followed.” 894 | 895 | “If he was his confederate, why should he carry his photograph?” 896 | I asked. 897 | 898 | “As a means of tracing him, if he wished to inquire about him 899 | from any third person. That was the obvious reason. Well, after 900 | the murder I calculated that Beppo would probably hurry rather 901 | than delay his movements. He would fear that the police would 902 | read his secret, and so he hastened on before they should get 903 | ahead of him. Of course, I could not say that he had not found 904 | the pearl in Harker’s bust. I had not even concluded for certain 905 | that it was the pearl, but it was evident to me that he was 906 | looking for something, since he carried the bust past the other 907 | houses in order to break it in the garden which had a lamp 908 | overlooking it. Since Harker’s bust was one in three, the chances 909 | were exactly as I told you—two to one against the pearl being 910 | inside it. There remained two busts, and it was obvious that he 911 | would go for the London one first. I warned the inmates of the 912 | house, so as to avoid a second tragedy, and we went down, with 913 | the happiest results. By that time, of course, I knew for certain 914 | that it was the Borgia pearl that we were after. The name of the 915 | murdered man linked the one event with the other. There only 916 | remained a single bust—the Reading one—and the pearl must be 917 | there. I bought it in your presence from the owner—and there it 918 | lies.” 919 | 920 | We sat in silence for a moment. 921 | 922 | “Well,” said Lestrade, “I’ve seen you handle a good many cases, 923 | Mr. Holmes, but I don’t know that I ever knew a more workmanlike 924 | one than that. We’re not jealous of you at Scotland Yard. No, 925 | sir, we are very proud of you, and if you come down to-morrow, 926 | there’s not a man, from the oldest inspector to the youngest 927 | constable, who wouldn’t be glad to shake you by the hand.” 928 | 929 | “Thank you!” said Holmes. “Thank you!” and as he turned away, it 930 | seemed to me that he was more nearly moved by the softer human 931 | emotions than I had ever seen him. A moment later he was the cold 932 | and practical thinker once more. “Put the pearl in the safe, 933 | Watson,” said he, “and get out the papers of the Conk-Singleton 934 | forgery case. Good-bye, Lestrade. If any little problem comes 935 | your way, I shall be happy, if I can, to give you a hint or two 936 | as to its solution.” 937 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /release-1/Sherlock-Holmes-Selected-Stories/The Red Headed League.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | The Red Headed League 2 | 3 | 4 | I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the autumn 5 | of last year, and found him in deep conversation with a very stout, 6 | florid-faced, elderly gentleman, with fiery red hair. With an apology 7 | for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw, when Holmes pulled me 8 | abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me. 9 | 10 | “You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Watson,” he 11 | said, cordially. 12 | 13 | “I was afraid that you were engaged.” 14 | 15 | “So I am. Very much so.” 16 | 17 | “Then I can wait in the next room.” 18 | 19 | “Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and helper 20 | in many of my most successful cases, and I have no doubt that he will 21 | be of the utmost use to me in yours also.” 22 | 23 | The stout gentleman half-rose from his chair and gave a bob of 24 | greeting, with a quick, little, questioning glance from his small, 25 | fat-encircled eyes. 26 | 27 | “Try the settee,” said Holmes, relapsing into his arm-chair and putting 28 | his finger-tips together, as was his custom when in judicial moods. “I 29 | know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and 30 | outside the conventions and humdrum routine of every-day life. You have 31 | shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm which has prompted you to 32 | chronicle, and, if you will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish 33 | so many of my own little adventures.” 34 | 35 | “Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me,” I 36 | observed. 37 | 38 | “You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we went 39 | into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Sutherland, that 40 | for strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go to 41 | life itself, which is always far more daring than any effort of the 42 | imagination.” 43 | 44 | “A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting.” 45 | 46 | “You did, doctor, but none the less you must come round to my view, 47 | for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you, until your 48 | reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to be right. Now, Mr. 49 | Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call upon me this morning, 50 | and to begin a narrative which promises to be one of the most singular 51 | which I have listened to for some time. You have heard me remark that 52 | the strangest and most unique things are very often connected not with 53 | the larger but with the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where 54 | there is room for doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. 55 | As far as I have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the 56 | present case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events 57 | is certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. 58 | Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to recommence 59 | your narrative. I ask you, not merely because my friend Dr. Watson has 60 | not heard the opening part, but also because the peculiar nature of the 61 | story makes me anxious to have every possible detail from your lips. 62 | As a rule, when I have heard some slight indication of the course of 63 | events, I am able to guide myself by the thousands of other similar 64 | cases which occur to my memory. In the present instance I am forced to 65 | admit that the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique.” 66 | 67 | The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some 68 | little pride, and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the inside 69 | pocket of his great-coat. As he glanced down the advertisement column, 70 | with his head thrust forward, and the paper flattened out upon his 71 | knee, I took a good look at the man, and endeavored, after the fashion 72 | of my companion, to read the indications which might be presented by 73 | his dress or appearance. 74 | 75 | I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor bore 76 | every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman, obese, 77 | pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy gray shepherd’s check trousers, 78 | a not over-clean black frock-coat, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab 79 | waistcoat with a heavy brassy Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of 80 | metal dangling down as an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown 81 | overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. 82 | Altogether, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man 83 | save his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and 84 | discontent upon his features. 85 | 86 | Sherlock Holmes’s quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook his 87 | head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. “Beyond the 88 | obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labor, that he takes 89 | snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China, and that he 90 | has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing 91 | else.” 92 | 93 | Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger upon the 94 | paper, but his eyes upon my companion. 95 | 96 | “How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Holmes?” 97 | he asked. “How did you know, for example, that I did manual labor. It’s 98 | as true as gospel, for I began as a ship’s carpenter.” 99 | 100 | “Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger than 101 | your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more developed.” 102 | 103 | “Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?” 104 | 105 | “I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, 106 | especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you use 107 | an arc-and-compass breastpin.” 108 | 109 | “Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?” 110 | 111 | “What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for five 112 | inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the elbow where you 113 | rest it upon the desk.” 114 | 115 | “Well, but China?” 116 | 117 | “The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right wrist 118 | could only have been done in China. I have made a small study of tattoo 119 | marks, and have even contributed to the literature of the subject. 120 | That trick of staining the fishes’ scales of a delicate pink is quite 121 | peculiar to China. When, in addition, I see a Chinese coin hanging from 122 | your watch-chain, the matter becomes even more simple.” 123 | 124 | Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. “Well, I never!” said he. “I thought 125 | at first that you had done something clever, but I see that there was 126 | nothing in it, after all.” 127 | 128 | “I begin to think, Watson,” said Holmes, “that I make a mistake in 129 | explaining. ‘Omne ignotum pro magnifico,’ you know, and my poor little 130 | reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I am so candid. Can 131 | you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?” 132 | 133 | “Yes, I have got it now,” he answered, with his thick, red finger 134 | planted half-way down the column. “Here it is. This is what began it 135 | all. You just read it for yourself, sir.” 136 | 137 | I took the paper from him, and read as follows: 138 | 139 | “TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the 140 | late Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pa., U.S.A., there is now 141 | another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League 142 | to a salary of £4 a week for purely nominal services. All 143 | red-headed men who are sound in body and mind, and above 144 | the age of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on 145 | Monday, at eleven o’clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of 146 | the League, 7 Pope’s Court, Fleet Street.” 147 | 148 | “What on earth does this mean?” I ejaculated, after I had twice read 149 | over the extraordinary announcement. 150 | 151 | Holmes chuckled, and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when in 152 | high spirits. “It is a little off the beaten track, isn’t it?” said 153 | he. “And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch, and tell us all about 154 | yourself, your household, and the effect which this advertisement had 155 | upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, doctor, of the paper 156 | and the date.” 157 | 158 | “It is _The Morning Chronicle_, of April 27, 1890. Just two months ago.” 159 | 160 | “Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?” 161 | 162 | “Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Holmes,” 163 | said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; “I have a small pawnbroker’s 164 | business at Coburg Square, near the city. It’s not a very large affair, 165 | and of late years it has not done more than just give me a living. I 166 | used to be able to keep two assistants, but now I only keep one; and I 167 | would have a job to pay him, but that he is willing to come for half 168 | wages, so as to learn the business.” 169 | 170 | “What is the name of this obliging youth?” asked Sherlock Holmes. 171 | 172 | “His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he’s not such a youth, either. It’s 173 | hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter assistant, Mr. Holmes; 174 | and I know very well that he could better himself, and earn twice what 175 | I am able to give him. But, after all, if he is satisfied, why should I 176 | put ideas in his head?” 177 | 178 | “Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an _employé_ who 179 | comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience among 180 | employers in this age. I don’t know that your assistant is not as 181 | remarkable as your advertisement.” 182 | 183 | “Oh, he has his faults, too,” said Mr. Wilson. “Never was such a fellow 184 | for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought to be 185 | improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar like a rabbit 186 | into its hole to develope his pictures. That is his main fault; but, on 187 | the whole, he’s a good worker. There’s no vice in him.” 188 | 189 | “He is still with you, I presume?” 190 | 191 | “Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple cooking, 192 | and keeps the place clean—that’s all I have in the house, for I am a 193 | widower, and never had any family. We live very quietly, sir, the three 194 | of us; and we keep a roof over our heads, and pay our debts, if we do 195 | nothing more. 196 | 197 | “The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. Spaulding, he 198 | came down into the office just this day eight weeks, with this very 199 | paper in his hand, and he says: 200 | 201 | “‘I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.’ 202 | 203 | “‘Why that?’ I asks. 204 | 205 | “‘Why,’ says he, ‘here’s another vacancy on the League of the 206 | Red-headed Men. It’s worth quite a little fortune to any man who gets 207 | it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than there are men, 208 | so that the trustees are at their wits’ end what to do with the money. 209 | If my hair would only change color, here’s a nice little crib all ready 210 | for me to step into.’ 211 | 212 | “‘Why, what is it, then?’ I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a very 213 | stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of my having 214 | to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting my foot over the 215 | door-mat. In that way I didn’t know much of what was going on outside, 216 | and I was always glad of a bit of news. 217 | 218 | “‘Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?’ he asked, 219 | with his eyes open. 220 | 221 | “‘Never.’ 222 | 223 | “‘Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one of the 224 | vacancies.’ 225 | 226 | “‘And what are they worth?’ I asked. 227 | 228 | “‘Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, and it 229 | need not interfere very much with one’s other occupations.’ 230 | 231 | “Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, for the 232 | business has not been over-good for some years, and an extra couple of 233 | hundred would have been very handy. 234 | 235 | “‘Tell me all about it,’ said I. 236 | 237 | “‘Well,’ said he, showing me the advertisement, ‘you can see for 238 | yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address 239 | where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, the 240 | League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins, who 241 | was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself red-headed, and he had a 242 | great sympathy for all red-headed men; so, when he died, it was found 243 | that he had left his enormous fortune in the hands of trustees, with 244 | instructions to apply the interest to the providing of easy berths to 245 | men whose hair is of that color. From all I hear it is splendid pay, 246 | and very little to do.’ 247 | 248 | “‘But,’ said I, ‘there would be millions of red-headed men who would 249 | apply.’ 250 | 251 | “‘Not so many as you might think,’ he answered. ‘You see it is really 252 | confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had started from 253 | London when he was young, and he wanted to do the old town a good turn. 254 | Then, again, I have heard it is no use your applying if your hair is 255 | light red, or dark red, or anything but real bright, blazing, fiery 256 | red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. Wilson, you would just walk in; 257 | but perhaps it would hardly be worth your while to put yourself out of 258 | the way for the sake of a few hundred pounds.’ 259 | 260 | “Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, that my 261 | hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed to me that, if 262 | there was to be any competition in the matter, I stood as good a chance 263 | as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Spaulding seemed to know so 264 | much about it that I thought he might prove useful, so I just ordered 265 | him to put up the shutters for the day, and to come right away with me. 266 | He was very willing to have a holiday, so we shut the business up, and 267 | started off for the address that was given us in the advertisement. 268 | 269 | “I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From 270 | north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in his 271 | hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. Fleet 272 | Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope’s Court looked 273 | like a coster’s orange barrow. I should not have thought there were 274 | so many in the whole country as were brought together by that single 275 | advertisement. Every shade of color they were—straw, lemon, orange, 276 | brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; but, as Spaulding said, there were 277 | not many who had the real vivid flame-colored tint. When I saw how many 278 | were waiting, I would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would 279 | not hear of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and 280 | pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up to 281 | the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream upon the 282 | stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back dejected; but we 283 | wedged in as well as we could, and soon found ourselves in the office.” 284 | 285 | “Your experience has been a most entertaining one,” remarked Holmes, as 286 | his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge pinch of snuff. 287 | “Pray continue your very interesting statement.” 288 | 289 | “There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs and a 290 | deal table, behind which sat a small man, with a head that was even 291 | redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate as he came 292 | up, and then he always managed to find some fault in them which would 293 | disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem to be such a very easy 294 | matter, after all. However, when our turn came, the little man was much 295 | more favorable to me than to any of the others, and he closed the door 296 | as we entered, so that he might have a private word with us. 297 | 298 | “‘This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,’ said my assistant, ‘and he is willing to 299 | fill a vacancy in the League.’ 300 | 301 | “‘And he is admirably suited for it,’ the other answered. ‘He has every 302 | requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so fine.’ He 303 | took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and gazed at my hair 304 | until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he plunged forward, wrung my 305 | hand, and congratulated me warmly on my success. 306 | 307 | “‘It would be injustice to hesitate,’ said he. ‘You will, however, I am 308 | sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.’ With that he seized 309 | my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I yelled with the pain. 310 | ‘There is water in your eyes,’ said he, as he released me. ‘I perceive 311 | that all is as it should be. But we have to be careful, for we have 312 | twice been deceived by wigs and once by paint. I could tell you tales 313 | of cobbler’s wax which would disgust you with human nature.’ He stepped 314 | over to the window, and shouted through it at the top of his voice that 315 | the vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, 316 | and the folk all trooped away in different directions, until there was 317 | not a red head to be seen except my own and that of the manager. 318 | 319 | “‘My name,’ said he, ‘is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of the 320 | pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are you a 321 | married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?’ 322 | 323 | “I answered that I had not. 324 | 325 | “His face fell immediately. 326 | 327 | “‘Dear me!’ he said, gravely, ‘that is very serious indeed! I am sorry 328 | to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the propagation 329 | and spread of the red-heads as well as for their maintenance. It is 330 | exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a bachelor.’ 331 | 332 | “My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was not 333 | to have the vacancy after all; but, after thinking it over for a few 334 | minutes, he said that it would be all right. 335 | 336 | “‘In the case of another,’ said he, ‘the objection might be fatal, but 337 | we must stretch a point in favor of a man with such a head of hair as 338 | yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your new duties?’ 339 | 340 | “‘Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,’ said I. 341 | 342 | “‘Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!’ said Vincent Spaulding. ‘I 343 | shall be able to look after that for you.’ 344 | 345 | “‘What would be the hours?’ I asked. 346 | 347 | “‘Ten to two.’ 348 | 349 | “Now a pawnbroker’s business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. Holmes, 350 | especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just before pay-day; 351 | so it would suit me very well to earn a little in the mornings. 352 | Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, and that he would see 353 | to anything that turned up. 354 | 355 | “‘That would suit me very well,’ said I. ‘And the pay?’ 356 | 357 | “‘Is £4 a week.’ 358 | 359 | “‘And the work?’ 360 | 361 | “‘Is purely nominal.’ 362 | 363 | “‘What do you call purely nominal?’ 364 | 365 | “‘Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the building, the 366 | whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole position forever. 367 | The will is very clear upon that point. You don’t comply with the 368 | conditions if you budge from the office during that time.’ 369 | 370 | “‘It’s only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,’ said 371 | I. 372 | 373 | “‘No excuse will avail,’ said Mr. Duncan Ross, ‘neither sickness nor 374 | business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose your 375 | billet.’ 376 | 377 | “‘And the work?’ 378 | 379 | “‘Is to copy out the “Encyclopædia Britannica.” There is the first 380 | volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and 381 | blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be ready 382 | to-morrow?’ 383 | 384 | “‘Certainly,’ I answered. 385 | 386 | “‘Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you once 387 | more on the important position which you have been fortunate enough to 388 | gain.’ He bowed me out of the room, and I went home with my assistant, 389 | hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased at my own good 390 | fortune. 391 | 392 | “Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in 393 | low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the whole 394 | affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its object might 395 | be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past belief that any one 396 | could make such a will, or that they would pay such a sum for doing 397 | anything so simple as copying out the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica.’ 398 | Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me up, but by bedtime I 399 | had reasoned myself out of the whole thing. However, in the morning 400 | I determined to have a look at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle 401 | of ink, and with a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I 402 | started off for Pope’s Court. 403 | 404 | “Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as possible. 405 | The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross was there to 406 | see that I got fairly to work. He started me off upon the letter A, and 407 | then he left me; but he would drop in from time to time to see that all 408 | was right with me. At two o’clock he bade me good-day, complimented me 409 | upon the amount that I had written, and locked the door of the office 410 | after me. 411 | 412 | “This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the manager 413 | came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my week’s work. 414 | It was the same next week, and the same the week after. Every morning 415 | I was there at ten, and every afternoon I left at two. By degrees Mr. 416 | Duncan Ross took to coming in only once of a morning, and then, after 417 | a time, he did not come in at all. Still, of course, I never dared to 418 | leave the room for an instant, for I was not sure when he might come, 419 | and the billet was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would 420 | not risk the loss of it. 421 | 422 | “Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about Abbots and 423 | Archery and Armor and Architecture and Attica, and hoped with diligence 424 | that I might get on to the B’s before very long. It cost me something 425 | in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly filled a shelf with my writings. 426 | And then suddenly the whole business came to an end.” 427 | 428 | “To an end?” 429 | 430 | “Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as usual 431 | at ten o’clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a little square 432 | of card-board hammered on to the middle of the panel with a tack. Here 433 | it is, and you can read for yourself.” 434 | 435 | He held up a piece of white card-board about the size of a sheet of 436 | note-paper. It read in this fashion: 437 | 438 | “THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 439 | IS 440 | DISSOLVED. 441 | _October 9, 1890._” 442 | 443 | Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the rueful 444 | face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so completely 445 | overtopped every other consideration that we both burst out into a roar 446 | of laughter. 447 | 448 | “I cannot see that there is anything very funny,” cried our client, 449 | flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. “If you can do nothing 450 | better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere.” 451 | 452 | “No, no,” cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from which he 453 | had half risen. “I really wouldn’t miss your case for the world. It is 454 | most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you will excuse my saying 455 | so, something just a little funny about it. Pray what steps did you 456 | take when you found the card upon the door?” 457 | 458 | “I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called at 459 | the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything about it. 460 | Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant living on the 461 | ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me what had become of 462 | the Red-headed League. He said that he had never heard of any such 463 | body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Ross was. He answered that the 464 | name was new to him. 465 | 466 | [Illustration: “THE DOOR WAS SHUT AND LOCKED”] 467 | 468 | “‘Well,’ said I, ‘the gentleman at No. 4.’ 469 | 470 | “‘What, the red-headed man?’ 471 | 472 | “‘Yes.’ 473 | 474 | “‘Oh,’ said he, ‘his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor, and 475 | was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new premises 476 | were ready. He moved out yesterday.’ 477 | 478 | “‘Where could I find him?’ 479 | 480 | “‘Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 King 481 | Edward Street, near St. Paul’s.’ 482 | 483 | “I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was a 484 | manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever heard of 485 | either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross.” 486 | 487 | “And what did you do then?” asked Holmes. 488 | 489 | “I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my 490 | assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say that 491 | if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite good enough, 492 | Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place without a struggle, so, 493 | as I had heard that you were good enough to give advice to poor folk 494 | who were in need of it, I came right away to you.” 495 | 496 | “And you did very wisely,” said Holmes. “Your case is an exceedingly 497 | remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. From what you 498 | have told me I think that it is possible that graver issues hang from 499 | it than might at first sight appear.” 500 | 501 | “Grave enough!” said Mr. Jabez Wilson. “Why, I have lost four pound a 502 | week.” 503 | 504 | “As far as you are personally concerned,” remarked Holmes, “I do not 505 | see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary league. On 506 | the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some £30, to say 507 | nothing of the minute knowledge which you have gained on every subject 508 | which comes under the letter A. You have lost nothing by them.” 509 | 510 | “No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, and what 511 | their object was in playing this prank—if it was a prank—upon me. It 512 | was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it cost them two and thirty 513 | pounds.” 514 | 515 | “We shall endeavor to clear up these points for you. And, first, one 516 | or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who first called 517 | your attention to the advertisement—how long had he been with you?” 518 | 519 | “About a month then.” 520 | 521 | “How did he come?” 522 | 523 | “In answer to an advertisement.” 524 | 525 | “Was he the only applicant?” 526 | 527 | “No, I had a dozen.” 528 | 529 | “Why did you pick him?” 530 | 531 | “Because he was handy, and would come cheap.” 532 | 533 | “At half-wages, in fact.” 534 | 535 | “Yes.” 536 | 537 | “What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?” 538 | 539 | “Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, 540 | though he’s not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon his 541 | forehead.” 542 | 543 | Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. “I thought as 544 | much,” said he. “Have you ever observed that his ears are pierced for 545 | earrings?” 546 | 547 | “Yes, sir. He told me that a gypsy had done it for him when he was a 548 | lad.” 549 | 550 | “Hum!” said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. “He is still with 551 | you?” 552 | 553 | “Oh yes, sir; I have only just left him.” 554 | 555 | “And has your business been attended to in your absence?” 556 | 557 | “Nothing to complain of, sir. There’s never very much to do of a 558 | morning.” 559 | 560 | “That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an opinion upon 561 | the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is Saturday, and I 562 | hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion.” 563 | 564 | “Well, Watson,” said Holmes, when our visitor had left us, “what do you 565 | make of it all?” 566 | 567 | “I make nothing of it,” I answered, frankly. “It is a most mysterious 568 | business.” 569 | 570 | “As a rule,” said Holmes, “the more bizarre a thing is the less 571 | mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes 572 | which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most 573 | difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this matter.” 574 | 575 | “What are you going to do, then?” I asked. 576 | 577 | “To smoke,” he answered. “It is quite a three-pipe problem, and I beg 578 | that you won’t speak to me for fifty minutes.” He curled himself up 579 | in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his hawk-like nose, and 580 | there he sat with his eyes closed and his black clay pipe thrusting out 581 | like the bill of some strange bird. I had come to the conclusion that 582 | he had dropped asleep, and indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly 583 | sprang out of his chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his 584 | mind, and put his pipe down upon the mantel-piece. 585 | 586 | “Sarasate plays at the St. James’s Hall this afternoon,” he remarked. 587 | “What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare you for a few 588 | hours?” 589 | 590 | “I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very absorbing.” 591 | 592 | “Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the city first, and 593 | we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that there is a good deal 594 | of German music on the programme, which is rather more to my taste than 595 | Italian or French. It is introspective, and I want to introspect. Come 596 | along!” 597 | 598 | We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short walk 599 | took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular story which we 600 | had listened to in the morning. It was a pokey, little, shabby-genteel 601 | place, where four lines of dingy two-storied brick houses looked out 602 | into a small railed-in enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and 603 | a few clumps of faded laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a 604 | smoke-laden and uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown 605 | board with “JABEZ WILSON” in white letters, upon a corner 606 | house, announced the place where our red-headed client carried on his 607 | business. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one 608 | side, and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between 609 | puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down again 610 | to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally he returned 611 | to the pawnbroker’s, and, having thumped vigorously upon the pavement 612 | with his stick two or three times, he went up to the door and knocked. 613 | It was instantly opened by a bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, 614 | who asked him to step in. 615 | 616 | “Thank you,” said Holmes, “I only wished to ask you how you would go 617 | from here to the Strand.” 618 | 619 | “Third right, fourth left,” answered the assistant, promptly, closing 620 | the door. 621 | 622 | “Smart fellow, that,” observed Holmes, as we walked away. “He is, in my 623 | judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring I am not 624 | sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known something of him 625 | before.” 626 | 627 | “Evidently,” said I, “Mr. Wilson’s assistant counts for a good deal in 628 | this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you inquired your 629 | way merely in order that you might see him.” 630 | 631 | “Not him.” 632 | 633 | “What then?” 634 | 635 | “The knees of his trousers.” 636 | 637 | “And what did you see?” 638 | 639 | “What I expected to see.” 640 | 641 | “Why did you beat the pavement?” 642 | 643 | “My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We are 644 | spies in an enemy’s country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg Square. 645 | Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it.” 646 | 647 | The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the corner 648 | from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a contrast to 649 | it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was one of the main 650 | arteries which convey the traffic of the city to the north and west. 651 | The roadway was blocked with the immense stream of commerce flowing 652 | in a double tide inward and outward, while the foot-paths were black 653 | with the hurrying swarm of pedestrians. It was difficult to realize 654 | as we looked at the line of fine shops and stately business premises 655 | that they really abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant 656 | square which we had just quitted. 657 | 658 | “Let me see,” said Holmes, standing at the corner, and glancing along 659 | the line, “I should like just to remember the order of the houses here. 660 | It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of London. There is 661 | Mortimer’s, the tobacconist, the little newspaper shop, the Coburg 662 | branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and 663 | McFarlane’s carriage-building depot. That carries us right on to the 664 | other block. And now, doctor, we’ve done our work, so it’s time we had 665 | some play. A sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, 666 | where all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no 667 | red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums.” 668 | 669 | My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a 670 | very capable performer, but a composer of no ordinary merit. All the 671 | afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect happiness, 672 | gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the music, while his 673 | gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes were as unlike those 674 | of Holmes, the sleuth-hound, Holmes the relentless, keen-witted, 675 | ready-handed criminal agent, as it was possible to conceive. In his 676 | singular character the dual nature alternately asserted itself, and 677 | his extreme exactness and astuteness represented, as I have often 678 | thought, the reaction against the poetic and contemplative mood which 679 | occasionally predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from 680 | extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was never 681 | so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been lounging in 682 | his arm-chair amid his improvisations and his black-letter editions. 683 | Then it was that the lust of the chase would suddenly come upon him, 684 | and that his brilliant reasoning power would rise to the level of 685 | intuition, until those who were unacquainted with his methods would 686 | look askance at him as on a man whose knowledge was not that of other 687 | mortals. When I saw him that afternoon so enrapt in the music at St. 688 | James’s Hall I felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom 689 | he had set himself to hunt down. 690 | 691 | “You want to go home, no doubt, doctor,” he remarked, as we emerged. 692 | 693 | “Yes, it would be as well.” 694 | 695 | “And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This 696 | business at Coburg Square is serious.” 697 | 698 | “Why serious?” 699 | 700 | “A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to 701 | believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being Saturday 702 | rather complicates matters. I shall want your help to-night.” 703 | 704 | “At what time?” 705 | 706 | “Ten will be early enough.” 707 | 708 | “I shall be at Baker Street at ten.” 709 | 710 | “Very well. And, I say, doctor, there may be some little danger, so 711 | kindly put your army revolver in your pocket.” He waved his hand, 712 | turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the crowd. 713 | 714 | [Illustration: “ALL AFTERNOON HE SAT IN THE STALLS”] 715 | 716 | I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbors, but I was always 717 | oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings with Sherlock 718 | Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had seen what he had 719 | seen, and yet from his words it was evident that he saw clearly not 720 | only what had happened, but what was about to happen, while to me the 721 | whole business was still confused and grotesque. As I drove home to 722 | my house in Kensington I thought over it all, from the extraordinary 723 | story of the red-headed copier of the “Encyclopædia” down to the visit 724 | to Saxe-Coburg Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted 725 | from me. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? 726 | Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from Holmes 727 | that this smooth-faced pawnbroker’s assistant was a formidable man—a 728 | man who might play a deep game. I tried to puzzle it out, but gave it 729 | up in despair, and set the matter aside until night should bring an 730 | explanation. 731 | 732 | It was a quarter past nine when I started from home and made my way 733 | across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Street. Two 734 | hansoms were standing at the door, and, as I entered the passage, I 735 | heard the sound of voices from above. On entering his room I found 736 | Holmes in animated conversation with two men, one of whom I recognized 737 | as Peter Jones, the official police agent, while the other was a long, 738 | thin, sad-faced man, with a very shiny hat and oppressively respectable 739 | frock-coat. 740 | 741 | “Ha! our party is complete,” said Holmes, buttoning up his pea-jacket, 742 | and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. “Watson, I think 743 | you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me introduce you to Mr. 744 | Merryweather, who is to be our companion in to-night’s adventure.” 745 | 746 | “We’re hunting in couples again, doctor, you see,” said Jones, in his 747 | consequential way. “Our friend here is a wonderful man for starting a 748 | chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do the running down.” 749 | 750 | “I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase,” 751 | observed Mr. Merryweather, gloomily. 752 | 753 | “You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir,” said the 754 | police agent, loftily. “He has his own little methods, which are, if he 755 | won’t mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical and fantastic, 756 | but he has the makings of a detective in him. It is not too much to 757 | say that once or twice, as in that business of the Sholto murder and 758 | the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly correct than the official 759 | force.” 760 | 761 | “Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right,” said the stranger, 762 | with deference. “Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. It is the 763 | first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I have not had my 764 | rubber.” 765 | 766 | “I think you will find,” said Sherlock Holmes, “that you will play for 767 | a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and that the play 768 | will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, the stake will be 769 | some £30,000; and for you, Jones, it will be the man upon whom you wish 770 | to lay your hands.” 771 | 772 | “John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He’s a young man, 773 | Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his profession, and I would 774 | rather have my bracelets on him than on any criminal in London. He’s a 775 | remarkable man, is young John Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, 776 | and he himself has been to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as 777 | his fingers, and though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never 778 | know where to find the man himself. He’ll crack a crib in Scotland one 779 | week, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. 780 | I’ve been on his track for years, and have never set eyes on him yet.” 781 | 782 | “I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. I’ve 783 | had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I agree with 784 | you that he is at the head of his profession. It is past ten, however, 785 | and quite time that we started. If you two will take the first hansom, 786 | Watson and I will follow in the second.” 787 | 788 | Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive, 789 | and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in the 790 | afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit streets 791 | until we emerged into Farringdon Street. 792 | 793 | “We are close there now,” my friend remarked. “This fellow Merryweather 794 | is a bank director, and personally interested in the matter. I thought 795 | it as well to have Jones with us also. He is not a bad fellow, though 796 | an absolute imbecile in his profession. He has one positive virtue. He 797 | is as brave as a bull-dog, and as tenacious as a lobster if he gets his 798 | claws upon any one. Here we are, and they are waiting for us.” 799 | 800 | We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had found 801 | ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, following 802 | the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a narrow passage 803 | and through a side door, which he opened for us. Within there was a 804 | small corridor, which ended in a very massive iron gate. This also was 805 | opened, and led down a flight of winding stone steps, which terminated 806 | at another formidable gate. Mr. Merryweather stopped to light a 807 | lantern, and then conducted us down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and 808 | so, after opening a third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was 809 | piled all round with crates and massive boxes. 810 | 811 | “You are not very vulnerable from above,” Holmes remarked, as he held 812 | up the lantern and gazed about him. 813 | 814 | “Nor from below,” said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon the 815 | flags which lined the floor. “Why, dear me, it sounds quite hollow!” he 816 | remarked, looking up in surprise. 817 | 818 | “I must really ask you to be a little more quiet,” said Holmes, 819 | severely. “You have already imperilled the whole success of our 820 | expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit down 821 | upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?” 822 | 823 | The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a very 824 | injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his knees 825 | upon the floor, and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, began to 826 | examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few seconds sufficed 827 | to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again, and put his glass in 828 | his pocket. 829 | 830 | “We have at least an hour before us,” he remarked; “for they can 831 | hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. 832 | Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their work 833 | the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at present, 834 | doctor—as no doubt you have divined—in the cellar of the city branch 835 | of one of the principal London banks. Mr. Merryweather is the chairman 836 | of directors, and he will explain to you that there are reasons why the 837 | more daring criminals of London should take a considerable interest in 838 | this cellar at present.” 839 | 840 | “It is our French gold,” whispered the director. “We have had several 841 | warnings that an attempt might be made upon it.” 842 | 843 | “Your French gold?” 844 | 845 | “Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources, and 846 | borrowed, for that purpose, 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of France. 847 | It has become known that we have never had occasion to unpack the 848 | money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The crate upon which 849 | I sit contains 2000 napoleons packed between layers of lead foil. Our 850 | reserve of bullion is much larger at present than is usually kept in a 851 | single branch office, and the directors have had misgivings upon the 852 | subject.” 853 | 854 | “Which were very well justified,” observed Holmes. “And now it is time 855 | that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an hour matters 856 | will come to a head. In the mean time, Mr. Merryweather, we must put 857 | the screen over that dark lantern.” 858 | 859 | “And sit in the dark?” 860 | 861 | “I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and I 862 | thought that, as we were a _partie carrée_, you might have your rubber 863 | after all. But I see that the enemy’s preparations have gone so far 864 | that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, first of all, we must 865 | choose our positions. These are daring men, and though we shall take 866 | them at a disadvantage, they may do us some harm unless we are careful. 867 | I shall stand behind this crate, and do you conceal yourselves behind 868 | those. Then, when I flash a light upon them, close in swiftly. If they 869 | fire, Watson, have no compunction about shooting them down.” 870 | 871 | I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case behind 872 | which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front of his 873 | lantern, and left us in pitch darkness—such an absolute darkness 874 | as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot metal remained 875 | to assure us that the light was still there, ready to flash out at 876 | a moment’s notice. To me, with my nerves worked up to a pitch of 877 | expectancy, there was something depressing and subduing in the sudden 878 | gloom, and in the cold, dank air of the vault. 879 | 880 | “They have but one retreat,” whispered Holmes. “That is back through 881 | the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have done what I 882 | asked you, Jones?” 883 | 884 | “I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door.” 885 | 886 | “Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent and 887 | wait.” 888 | 889 | What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but an 890 | hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must have 891 | almost gone, and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs were weary and 892 | stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my nerves were worked 893 | up to the highest pitch of tension, and my hearing was so acute that I 894 | could not only hear the gentle breathing of my companions, but I could 895 | distinguish the deeper, heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the 896 | thin, sighing note of the bank director. From my position I could look 897 | over the case in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught 898 | the glint of a light. 899 | 900 | At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then it 901 | lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, without any 902 | warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand appeared; a white, 903 | almost womanly hand, which felt about in the centre of the little area 904 | of light. For a minute or more the hand, with its writhing fingers, 905 | protruded out of the floor. Then it was withdrawn as suddenly as it 906 | appeared, and all was dark again save the single lurid spark which 907 | marked a chink between the stones. 908 | 909 | Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, tearing 910 | sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon its side, and 911 | left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed the light of a 912 | lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, boyish face, which 913 | looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand on either side of the 914 | aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and waist-high, until one knee 915 | rested upon the edge. In another instant he stood at the side of the 916 | hole, and was hauling after him a companion, lithe and small like 917 | himself, with a pale face and a shock of very red hair. 918 | 919 | “It’s all clear,” he whispered. “Have you the chisel and the bags. 920 | Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I’ll swing for it!” 921 | 922 | Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar. 923 | The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth 924 | as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed upon the barrel of a 925 | revolver, but Holmes’s hunting crop came down on the man’s wrist, and 926 | the pistol clinked upon the stone floor. 927 | 928 | “It’s no use, John Clay,” said Holmes, blandly. “You have no chance at 929 | all.” 930 | 931 | “So I see,” the other answered, with the utmost coolness. “I fancy that 932 | my pal is all right, though I see you have got his coat-tails.” 933 | 934 | “There are three men waiting for him at the door,” said Holmes. 935 | 936 | “Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I must 937 | compliment you.” 938 | 939 | “And I you,” Holmes answered. “Your red-headed idea was very new and 940 | effective.” 941 | 942 | “You’ll see your pal again presently,” said Jones. “He’s quicker at 943 | climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the derbies.” 944 | 945 | “I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands,” remarked 946 | our prisoner, as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. “You may not 947 | be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have the goodness, also, 948 | when you address me always to say ‘sir’ and ‘please.’” 949 | 950 | “All right,” said Jones, with a stare and a snigger. “Well, would you 951 | please, sir, march up-stairs, where we can get a cab to carry your 952 | highness to the police-station?” 953 | 954 | “That is better,” said John Clay, serenely. He made a sweeping bow to 955 | the three of us, and walked quietly off in the custody of the detective. 956 | 957 | “Really Mr. Holmes,” said Mr. Merryweather, as we followed them from 958 | the cellar, “I do not know how the bank can thank you or repay you. 959 | There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated in the most 960 | complete manner one of the most determined attempts at bank robbery 961 | that have ever come within my experience.” 962 | 963 | “I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. 964 | John Clay,” said Holmes. “I have been at some small expense over this 965 | matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond that I am 966 | amply repaid by having had an experience which is in many ways unique, 967 | and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of the Red-headed League.” 968 | 969 | * * * * * 970 | 971 | “You see, Watson,” he explained, in the early hours of the morning, 972 | as we sat over a glass of whiskey-and-soda in Baker Street, “it was 973 | perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible object of this 974 | rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the League, and the 975 | copying of the ‘Encyclopædia,’ must be to get this not over-bright 976 | pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hours every day. It was a 977 | curious way of managing it, but, really, it would be difficult to 978 | suggest a better. The method was no doubt suggested to Clay’s ingenious 979 | mind by the color of his accomplice’s hair. The £4 a week was a lure 980 | which must draw him, and what was it to them, who were playing for 981 | thousands? They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary 982 | office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and together 983 | they manage to secure his absence every morning in the week. From 984 | the time that I heard of the assistant having come for half wages, 985 | it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive for securing the 986 | situation.” 987 | 988 | “But how could you guess what the motive was?” 989 | 990 | “Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a mere 991 | vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The man’s 992 | business was a small one, and there was nothing in his house which 993 | could account for such elaborate preparations, and such an expenditure 994 | as they were at. It must, then, be something out of the house. What 995 | could it be? I thought of the assistant’s fondness for photography, 996 | and his trick of vanishing into the cellar. The cellar! There was the 997 | end of this tangled clue. Then I made inquiries as to this mysterious 998 | assistant, and found that I had to deal with one of the coolest 999 | and most daring criminals in London. He was doing something in the 1000 | cellar—something which took many hours a day for months on end. What 1001 | could it be, once more? I could think of nothing save that he was 1002 | running a tunnel to some other building. 1003 | 1004 | “So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I 1005 | surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was 1006 | ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. 1007 | It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the 1008 | assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had never 1009 | set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his face. His 1010 | knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have remarked how 1011 | worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of those hours of 1012 | burrowing. The only remaining point was what they were burrowing for. I 1013 | walked round the corner, saw that the City and Suburban Bank abutted on 1014 | our friend’s premises, and felt that I had solved my problem. When you 1015 | drove home after the concert I called upon Scotland Yard, and upon the 1016 | chairman of the bank directors, with the result that you have seen.” 1017 | 1018 | “And how could you tell that they would make their attempt to-night?” I 1019 | asked. 1020 | 1021 | “Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that they 1022 | cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson’s presence—in other words, 1023 | that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential that they 1024 | should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the bullion might 1025 | be removed. Saturday would suit them better than any other day, as it 1026 | would give them two days for their escape. For all these reasons I 1027 | expected them to come to-night.” 1028 | 1029 | “You reasoned it out beautifully,” I exclaimed, in unfeigned 1030 | admiration. “It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings true.” 1031 | 1032 | “It saved me from ennui,” he answered, yawning. “Alas! I already feel 1033 | it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort to escape 1034 | from the commonplaces of existence. These little problems help me to do 1035 | so.” 1036 | 1037 | “And you are a benefactor of the race,” said I. 1038 | 1039 | He shrugged his shoulders. “Well, perhaps, after all, it is of some 1040 | little use,” he remarked. “‘L’homme c’est rien—l’oeuvre c’est 1041 | tout,’ as Gustave Flaubert wrote to Georges Sand.” 1042 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------