64 | {% for post in site.posts %}
65 | {% include post-list-item.html %}
66 | {% endfor %}
67 |
68 |
69 | {% endif %}
70 |
71 |
72 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_sass/_base.scss:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | body {
2 | background: $brand-color;
3 | color: $text-color;
4 | font-family: $font-family;
5 | font-size: 1.3125em;
6 | line-height: 1.5;
7 | }
8 |
9 | h1 {
10 | font-size: 3em;
11 | margin: .5em auto;
12 | }
13 |
14 | h2 {
15 | font-size: 2em;
16 | margin: 1em auto;
17 | text-align: center;
18 | }
19 |
20 | h3 {
21 | font-size: 1.5em;
22 | margin: 1.3333em auto;
23 | text-align: center;
24 | }
25 |
26 | h4 {
27 | font-size: 1.25em;
28 | font-style: italic;
29 | margin: 1.875em auto;
30 | text-align: center;
31 | }
32 |
33 | h5 {
34 | font-size: 1em;
35 | font-style: italic;
36 | margin: 2em auto;
37 | text-align: center;
38 | }
39 |
40 | h6 {
41 | font-size: .875em;
42 | font-style: italic;
43 | margin: 2.25em auto;
44 | text-align: center;
45 | }
46 |
47 | em {
48 | font-style: italic;
49 | }
50 |
51 | strong {
52 | font-weight: bold;
53 | }
54 |
55 | a {
56 | color: $text-color;
57 | }
58 |
59 | a:focus {
60 | outline: 1px dashed $text-color;
61 | }
62 |
63 | blockquote {
64 | margin: 2em auto;
65 | opacity: .8;
66 | > * {
67 | padding: 0 3em;
68 | }
69 | }
70 |
71 | blockquote.epigraph {
72 | font-style: italic;
73 | }
74 |
75 | small {
76 | font-size: .75em;
77 | }
78 |
79 | p > cite {
80 | display: block;
81 | text-align: right;
82 | }
83 |
84 | hr {
85 | border: 0;
86 | height: 0;
87 | @include divider;
88 | margin: 4em 0;
89 | }
90 |
91 | img {
92 | display: flex;
93 | max-width: 100%;
94 | height: auto;
95 | margin: 2em auto;
96 | }
97 |
98 | figure img {
99 | margin: 2em auto 1em;
100 | }
101 |
102 | figcaption {
103 | font-size: .875em;
104 | font-style: italic;
105 | text-align: center;
106 | margin-bottom: 2em;
107 | opacity: .7;
108 | }
109 |
110 | .divided::after {
111 | content: "";
112 | @include divider;
113 | }
114 |
115 | .home {
116 | max-width: 24em;
117 | margin: auto;
118 | padding: 4em 1em;
119 | }
120 |
121 | .content-title {
122 | font-size: 2em;
123 | margin-bottom: 2em;
124 | text-align: center;
125 | }
126 |
127 | .post-date {
128 | color: $muted-text-color;
129 | display: block;
130 | font-size: .825em;
131 | white-space: nowrap;
132 | text-transform: uppercase;
133 | .post-link & {
134 | padding: .5em 0;
135 | }
136 | }
137 |
138 | .site-credits {
139 | margin: 0 auto 2em;
140 | padding: 0 2em;
141 | text-align: center;
142 | }
143 |
144 | .skip-navigation {
145 | background: $brand-color;
146 | border: 1px dashed transparent;
147 | display: block;
148 | font-size: .875em;
149 | font-weight: 700;
150 | margin-top: -2.625rem;
151 | padding: .5rem;
152 | text-align: center;
153 | text-decoration: none;
154 | text-transform: uppercase;
155 | &:hover,
156 | &:focus {
157 | background: lighten($brand-color, 2.5%);
158 | border-color: $text-color;
159 | margin-top: 0;
160 | }
161 | }
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | # Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct
2 |
3 | ## Our Pledge
4 |
5 | In the interest of fostering an open and welcoming environment, we as
6 | contributors and maintainers pledge to making participation in our project and
7 | our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body
8 | size, disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression,
9 | level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal
10 | appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.
11 |
12 | ## Our Standards
13 |
14 | Examples of behavior that contributes to creating a positive environment
15 | include:
16 |
17 | * Using welcoming and inclusive language
18 | * Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences
19 | * Gracefully accepting constructive criticism
20 | * Focusing on what is best for the community
21 | * Showing empathy towards other community members
22 |
23 | Examples of unacceptable behavior by participants include:
24 |
25 | * The use of sexualized language or imagery and unwelcome sexual attention or
26 | advances
27 | * Trolling, insulting/derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
28 | * Public or private harassment
29 | * Publishing others' private information, such as a physical or electronic
30 | address, without explicit permission
31 | * Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a
32 | professional setting
33 |
34 | ## Our Responsibilities
35 |
36 | Project maintainers are responsible for clarifying the standards of acceptable
37 | behavior and are expected to take appropriate and fair corrective action in
38 | response to any instances of unacceptable behavior.
39 |
40 | Project maintainers have the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or
41 | reject comments, commits, code, wiki edits, issues, and other contributions
42 | that are not aligned to this Code of Conduct, or to ban temporarily or
43 | permanently any contributor for other behaviors that they deem inappropriate,
44 | threatening, offensive, or harmful.
45 |
46 | ## Scope
47 |
48 | This Code of Conduct applies both within project spaces and in public spaces
49 | when an individual is representing the project or its community. Examples of
50 | representing a project or community include using an official project e-mail
51 | address, posting via an official social media account, or acting as an appointed
52 | representative at an online or offline event. Representation of a project may be
53 | further defined and clarified by project maintainers.
54 |
55 | ## Enforcement
56 |
57 | Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be
58 | reported by contacting the project team at hello@patdryburgh.com. All
59 | complaints will be reviewed and investigated and will result in a response that
60 | is deemed necessary and appropriate to the circumstances. The project team is
61 | obligated to maintain confidentiality with regard to the reporter of an incident.
62 | Further details of specific enforcement policies may be posted separately.
63 |
64 | Project maintainers who do not follow or enforce the Code of Conduct in good
65 | faith may face temporary or permanent repercussions as determined by other
66 | members of the project's leadership.
67 |
68 | ## Attribution
69 |
70 | This Code of Conduct is adapted from the [Contributor Covenant][homepage], version 1.4,
71 | available at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/1/4/code-of-conduct.html
72 |
73 | [homepage]: https://www.contributor-covenant.org
74 |
75 | For answers to common questions about this code of conduct, see
76 | https://www.contributor-covenant.org/faq
77 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_sass/_syntax-highlighting.scss:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | /**
2 | * Syntax highlighting styles
3 | */
4 |
5 | code.highlighter-rouge {
6 | background: $highlight;
7 | font-family: courier, monospace;
8 | font-size: .875em;
9 | }
10 |
11 | .highlight {
12 | background: #fff;
13 | font-family: courier, monospace;
14 | font-size: .875em;
15 | margin: 2rem auto;
16 |
17 | > * {
18 | padding: 0 1.5rem;
19 | }
20 |
21 | .highlighter-rouge & {
22 | background: $highlight;
23 | }
24 |
25 | .c { color: #998; font-style: italic } // Comment
26 | .err { color: #a61717; background-color: #e3d2d2 } // Error
27 | .k { font-weight: bold } // Keyword
28 | .o { font-weight: bold } // Operator
29 | .cm { color: #998; font-style: italic } // Comment.Multiline
30 | .cp { color: #999; font-weight: bold } // Comment.Preproc
31 | .c1 { color: #998; font-style: italic } // Comment.Single
32 | .cs { color: #999; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic } // Comment.Special
33 | .gd { color: #000; background-color: #fdd } // Generic.Deleted
34 | .gd .x { color: #000; background-color: #faa } // Generic.Deleted.Specific
35 | .ge { font-style: italic } // Generic.Emph
36 | .gr { color: #a00 } // Generic.Error
37 | .gh { color: #999 } // Generic.Heading
38 | .gi { color: #000; background-color: #dfd } // Generic.Inserted
39 | .gi .x { color: #000; background-color: #afa } // Generic.Inserted.Specific
40 | .go { color: #888 } // Generic.Output
41 | .gp { color: #555 } // Generic.Prompt
42 | .gs { font-weight: bold } // Generic.Strong
43 | .gu { color: #aaa } // Generic.Subheading
44 | .gt { color: #a00 } // Generic.Traceback
45 | .kc { font-weight: bold } // Keyword.Constant
46 | .kd { font-weight: bold } // Keyword.Declaration
47 | .kp { font-weight: bold } // Keyword.Pseudo
48 | .kr { font-weight: bold } // Keyword.Reserved
49 | .kt { color: #458; font-weight: bold } // Keyword.Type
50 | .m { color: #099 } // Literal.Number
51 | .s { color: #d14 } // Literal.String
52 | .na { color: #008080 } // Name.Attribute
53 | .nb { color: #0086B3 } // Name.Builtin
54 | .nc { color: #458; font-weight: bold } // Name.Class
55 | .no { color: #008080 } // Name.Constant
56 | .ni { color: #800080 } // Name.Entity
57 | .ne { color: #900; font-weight: bold } // Name.Exception
58 | .nf { color: #900; font-weight: bold } // Name.Function
59 | .nn { color: #555 } // Name.Namespace
60 | .nt { color: #000080 } // Name.Tag
61 | .nv { color: #008080 } // Name.Variable
62 | .ow { font-weight: bold } // Operator.Word
63 | .w { color: #bbb } // Text.Whitespace
64 | .mf { color: #099 } // Literal.Number.Float
65 | .mh { color: #099 } // Literal.Number.Hex
66 | .mi { color: #099 } // Literal.Number.Integer
67 | .mo { color: #099 } // Literal.Number.Oct
68 | .sb { color: #d14 } // Literal.String.Backtick
69 | .sc { color: #d14 } // Literal.String.Char
70 | .sd { color: #d14 } // Literal.String.Doc
71 | .s2 { color: #d14 } // Literal.String.Double
72 | .se { color: #d14 } // Literal.String.Escape
73 | .sh { color: #d14 } // Literal.String.Heredoc
74 | .si { color: #d14 } // Literal.String.Interpol
75 | .sx { color: #d14 } // Literal.String.Other
76 | .sr { color: #009926 } // Literal.String.Regex
77 | .s1 { color: #d14 } // Literal.String.Single
78 | .ss { color: #990073 } // Literal.String.Symbol
79 | .bp { color: #999 } // Name.Builtin.Pseudo
80 | .vc { color: #008080 } // Name.Variable.Class
81 | .vg { color: #008080 } // Name.Variable.Global
82 | .vi { color: #008080 } // Name.Variable.Instance
83 | .il { color: #099 } // Literal.Number.Integer.Long
84 | }
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/assets/fonts/OFL.txt:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | Copyright 2017 The EB Garamond Project Authors (https://github.com/octaviopardo/EBGaramond12)
2 |
3 | This Font Software is licensed under the SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1.
4 | This license is copied below, and is also available with a FAQ at:
5 | http://scripts.sil.org/OFL
6 |
7 |
8 | -----------------------------------------------------------
9 | SIL OPEN FONT LICENSE Version 1.1 - 26 February 2007
10 | -----------------------------------------------------------
11 |
12 | PREAMBLE
13 | The goals of the Open Font License (OFL) are to stimulate worldwide
14 | development of collaborative font projects, to support the font creation
15 | efforts of academic and linguistic communities, and to provide a free and
16 | open framework in which fonts may be shared and improved in partnership
17 | with others.
18 |
19 | The OFL allows the licensed fonts to be used, studied, modified and
20 | redistributed freely as long as they are not sold by themselves. The
21 | fonts, including any derivative works, can be bundled, embedded,
22 | redistributed and/or sold with any software provided that any reserved
23 | names are not used by derivative works. The fonts and derivatives,
24 | however, cannot be released under any other type of license. The
25 | requirement for fonts to remain under this license does not apply
26 | to any document created using the fonts or their derivatives.
27 |
28 | DEFINITIONS
29 | "Font Software" refers to the set of files released by the Copyright
30 | Holder(s) under this license and clearly marked as such. This may
31 | include source files, build scripts and documentation.
32 |
33 | "Reserved Font Name" refers to any names specified as such after the
34 | copyright statement(s).
35 |
36 | "Original Version" refers to the collection of Font Software components as
37 | distributed by the Copyright Holder(s).
38 |
39 | "Modified Version" refers to any derivative made by adding to, deleting,
40 | or substituting -- in part or in whole -- any of the components of the
41 | Original Version, by changing formats or by porting the Font Software to a
42 | new environment.
43 |
44 | "Author" refers to any designer, engineer, programmer, technical
45 | writer or other person who contributed to the Font Software.
46 |
47 | PERMISSION & CONDITIONS
48 | Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
49 | a copy of the Font Software, to use, study, copy, merge, embed, modify,
50 | redistribute, and sell modified and unmodified copies of the Font
51 | Software, subject to the following conditions:
52 |
53 | 1) Neither the Font Software nor any of its individual components,
54 | in Original or Modified Versions, may be sold by itself.
55 |
56 | 2) Original or Modified Versions of the Font Software may be bundled,
57 | redistributed and/or sold with any software, provided that each copy
58 | contains the above copyright notice and this license. These can be
59 | included either as stand-alone text files, human-readable headers or
60 | in the appropriate machine-readable metadata fields within text or
61 | binary files as long as those fields can be easily viewed by the user.
62 |
63 | 3) No Modified Version of the Font Software may use the Reserved Font
64 | Name(s) unless explicit written permission is granted by the corresponding
65 | Copyright Holder. This restriction only applies to the primary font name as
66 | presented to the users.
67 |
68 | 4) The name(s) of the Copyright Holder(s) or the Author(s) of the Font
69 | Software shall not be used to promote, endorse or advertise any
70 | Modified Version, except to acknowledge the contribution(s) of the
71 | Copyright Holder(s) and the Author(s) or with their explicit written
72 | permission.
73 |
74 | 5) The Font Software, modified or unmodified, in part or in whole,
75 | must be distributed entirely under this license, and must not be
76 | distributed under any other license. The requirement for fonts to
77 | remain under this license does not apply to any document created
78 | using the Font Software.
79 |
80 | TERMINATION
81 | This license becomes null and void if any of the above conditions are
82 | not met.
83 |
84 | DISCLAIMER
85 | THE FONT SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
86 | EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF
87 | MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT
88 | OF COPYRIGHT, PATENT, TRADEMARK, OR OTHER RIGHT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
89 | COPYRIGHT HOLDER BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
90 | INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
91 | DAMAGES, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
92 | FROM, OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE FONT SOFTWARE OR FROM
93 | OTHER DEALINGS IN THE FONT SOFTWARE.
94 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/README.md:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | ---
2 | layout: page
3 | title: "Hitchens"
4 | ---
5 |
6 | An inarguably well-designed [Jekyll](http://jekyllrb.com) theme by [Pat Dryburgh](https://patdryburgh.com).
7 |
8 | 
9 |
10 | Undoubtably one of the great minds of our time, [Christopher Hitchens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens) challenged his readers to think deeply on topics of politics, religion, war, and science. This Jekyll theme's design is inspired by the trade paperback version his book, [Arguably](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arguably), and is dedicated to his memory.
11 |
12 | Not comfortable with Jekyll? This theme has also been ported to other platforms:
13 |
14 | - [Hitchens for Hugo](https://github.com/pimoore/microdotblog-hitchens) by Pete Moore (also available to be used on [Micro.blog](https://micro.blog))
15 | - [Hitchens for Eleventy](https://github.com/shellen/hitchens-eleventy) by Jason Shellen
16 |
17 | **The following instructions pertain to Hitchens for Jekyll.**
18 |
19 | ## Quick Start
20 |
21 | This theme is, itself, a Jekyll blog, meaning the code base you see has everything you need to run a Jekyll powered blog!
22 |
23 | To get started quickly, follow the instructions below:
24 |
25 | 1. Click the `Fork` button at the top of [the repository](https://github.com/patdryburgh/hitchens/);
26 | 2. Go to your forked repo's `Settings` screen;
27 | 3. Scroll down to the `GitHub Pages` section;
28 | 4. Under `Source`, select the `Master` branch;
29 | 5. Hit `Save`.
30 | 6. Follow [Jekyll's instructions to configure your new Jekyll site](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/configuration/).
31 |
32 | ## Manual Installation
33 |
34 | If you've already created your Jekyll site or are comfortable with the command line, you can follow [Jekyll's Quickstart instructions](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/) add this line to your Jekyll site's `Gemfile`:
35 |
36 | ```ruby
37 | gem "hitchens-theme"
38 | ```
39 |
40 | And add the following lines to your Jekyll site's `_config.yml`:
41 |
42 | ```yaml
43 | theme: hitchens-theme
44 | ```
45 |
46 | Depending on your [site's configuration](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/configuration/options/), you may also need to add:
47 |
48 | ```yaml
49 | ignore_theme_config: true
50 | ```
51 |
52 | And then on the command line, execute:
53 |
54 | $ bundle
55 |
56 | Or install the theme yourself as:
57 |
58 | $ gem install hitchens-theme
59 |
60 | ## Usage
61 |
62 | ### Home Layout
63 |
64 | The `home` layout presents a list of articles ordered chronologically. The theme uses [Jekyll's built-in pagination](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/pagination/#enable-pagination) which can be configured in your `_config.yml` file.
65 |
66 | The masthead of the home page is derived from the `title` and `description` set in your site's `_config.yml` file.
67 |
68 | #### Navigation
69 |
70 | To include a navigation menu in your site's masthead and footer:
71 |
72 | 1. Create a `_data` directory in the root of your site.
73 | 2. Add a `menu.yml` file to the `_data` directory.
74 | 3. Use the following format to list your menu items:
75 |
76 | ```
77 | - title: About
78 | url: /about.html
79 |
80 | - title: Source
81 | url: https://github.com/patdryburgh/hitchens
82 | ```
83 |
84 | Be sure to start your `url`s with a `/`.
85 |
86 | #### Pagination
87 |
88 | To paginate your posts, add the following line to your site's `Gemfile`:
89 |
90 | ```
91 | gem "jekyll-paginate"
92 | ```
93 |
94 | Then, add the following lines to your site's `_config.yml` file:
95 |
96 | ```
97 | plugins:
98 | - jekyll-paginate
99 |
100 | paginate: 20
101 | paginate_path: "/page/:num/"
102 | ```
103 |
104 | You can set the `paginate` and `paginate_path` settings to whatever best suits you.
105 |
106 | #### Excerpts
107 |
108 | To show [excerpts](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/posts/#post-excerpts) of your blog posts on the home page, add the following settings to your site's `_config.yml` file:
109 |
110 | ```
111 | show_excerpts: true
112 | ```
113 |
114 | By default, excerpts that have more than 140 characters will be truncated to 20 words. In order to override the number of words you'd like to show for your excerpts, add the following setting to your site's `_config.yml` file:
115 |
116 | ```
117 | excerpt_length: 20
118 | ```
119 |
120 | To disable excerpt truncation entirely, simply set `excerpt_length` to `0` in your site's `_config.yml` file, like so:
121 |
122 | ```
123 | excerpt_length: 0
124 | ```
125 |
126 | If you do this, the theme will still respect Jekyll's `excerpt_separator` feature as [described in the Jekyll documentation](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/posts/#post-excerpts).
127 |
128 |
129 | #### Title-less Posts
130 |
131 | If you want to publish posts that don't have a title, add the following setting to the [front matter](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/frontmatter/) of the post:
132 |
133 | ```
134 | title: ""
135 | ```
136 |
137 | When you do this, the home page will display a truncated [excerpt](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/posts/#post-excerpts) of the first paragraph of your post.
138 |
139 | Note that setting `excerpt_length` in your site's `_config.yml` file will set the length of _all_ excerpts, regardless of whether the post has a title or not. For posts with a title, the excerpt will appear under the title and slightly lighter. For title-less posts, the excerpt will appear as if it were a title.
140 |
141 | ### Post Layout
142 |
143 | A sparsely decorated layout designed to present long-form writing in a manner that's pleasing to read.
144 |
145 | To use the post layout, add the following to your post's [front matter](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/frontmatter/):
146 |
147 | ```
148 | layout: post
149 | ```
150 |
151 | ### Icons
152 |
153 | The [JSON Feed spec](https://jsonfeed.org/version/1) states that feeds should include an icon. To add your icon, add the following line in your site's `_config.yml` file:
154 |
155 | ```
156 | feed_icon: /assets/images/icon-512.png
157 | ```
158 |
159 | Then, replace the `/assets/images/icon-512.png` file with your own image.
160 |
161 | ### Credits
162 |
163 | The theme credits that appear at the bottom of each page can be turned off by including the following line in your site's `_config.yml` file:
164 |
165 | ```
166 | hide_credits: true
167 | ```
168 |
169 | ### Search
170 |
171 | The theme uses a [custom DuckDuckGo Search Form](https://ddg.patdryburgh.com) that can be turned off by including the following line in your site's `_config.yml` file:
172 |
173 | ```
174 | hide_search: true
175 | ```
176 |
177 | ### Font
178 |
179 | I spent a good amount of time trying to identify the font used on the front cover of the trade paperback version of Arguably. Unfortunately, I failed to accurately identify the exact font used. If you happen to know what font is used on the book cover, I would appreciate you [letting me know](mailto:hello@patdryburgh.com) :)
180 |
181 | The theme includes a version of [EB Garamond](https://fonts.google.com/specimen/EB+Garamond), designed by Georg Duffner and Octavio Pardo. It's the closest alternative I could come up with that included an open license to include with the theme.
182 |
183 | A [copy of the license](https://github.com/patdryburgh/hitchens/blob/master/assets/fonts/OFL.txt) has been included in the `assets` folder and must be included with any distributions of this theme that include the EB Garamond font files.
184 |
185 | ## Contributing & Requesting Features
186 |
187 | Bug reports, feature requests, and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at [https://github.com/patdryburgh/hitchens](https://github.com/patdryburgh/hitchens).
188 |
189 | This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the [Contributor Covenant](http://contributor-covenant.org) code of conduct.
190 |
191 | ## Development
192 |
193 | To set up your environment to develop this theme, run `bundle install`.
194 |
195 | The theme is setup just like a normal Jekyll site. To test the theme, run `bundle exec jekyll serve` and open your browser at `http://localhost:4000`. This starts a Jekyll server using the theme. Add pages, documents, data, etc. like normal to test the theme's contents. As you make modifications to the theme and to your content, your site will regenerate and you should see the changes in the browser after a refresh, just like normal.
196 |
197 | ## License
198 |
199 | The code for this theme is available as open source under the terms of the [MIT License](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT).
200 |
201 | The font, EB Garamond, is Copyright 2017 The EB Garamond Project Authors and licensed under the [SIL Open Font License Version 1.1](https://github.com/patdryburgh/hitchens/blob/master/assets/fonts/OFL.txt).
202 |
203 | Graphics are released to the public domain.
204 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_posts/2012-07-24-the-adventure-of-the-veiled-lodger.md:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | ---
2 | title: ""
3 | layout: post
4 | author: "Arthur Conan Doyle"
5 | categories: literature
6 | ---
7 |
8 | When one considers that Mr. Sherlock Holmes was in active practice for twenty-three years, and that during seventeen of these I was allowed to cooperate with him and to keep notes of his doings, it will be clear that I have a mass of material at my command. The problem has always been not to find but to choose. There is the long row of year-books which fill a shelf, and there are the dispatch-cases filled with documents, a perfect quarry for the student not only of crime but of the social and official scandals of the late Victorian era. Concerning these latter, I may say that the writers of agonized letters, who beg that the honour of their families or the reputation of famous forebears may not be touched, have nothing to fear. The discretion and high sense of professional honour which have always distinguished my friend are still at work in the choice of these memoirs, and no confidence will be abused. I deprecate, however, in the strongest way the attempts which have been made lately to get at and to destroy these papers. The source of these outrages is known, and if they are repeated I have Mr. Holmes's authority for saying that the whole story concerning the politician, the lighthouse, and the trained cormorant will be given to the public. There is at least one reader who will understand.
9 |
10 | It is not reasonable to suppose that every one of these cases gave Holmes the opportunity of showing those curious gifts of instinct and observation which I have endeavoured to set forth in these memoirs. Sometimes he had with much effort to pick the fruit, sometimes it fell easily into his lap. But the most terrible human tragedies were often involved in those cases which brought him the fewest personal opportunities, and it is one of these which I now desire to record. In telling it, I have made a slight change of name and place, but otherwise the facts are as stated.
11 |
12 | One forenoon—it was late in 1896—I received a hurried note from Holmes asking for my attendance. When I arrived I found him seated in a smoke-laden atmosphere, with an elderly, motherly woman of the buxom landlady type in the corresponding chair in front of him.
13 |
14 | “This is Mrs. Merrilow, of South Brixton,” said my friend with a wave of the hand. “Mrs. Merrilow does not object to tobacco, Watson, if you wish to indulge your filthy habits. Mrs. Merrilow has an interesting story to tell which may well lead to further developments in which your presence may be useful.”
15 |
16 | “Anything I can do—”
17 |
18 | “You will understand, Mrs. Merrilow, that if I come to Mrs. Ronder I should prefer to have a witness. You will make her understand that before we arrive.”
19 |
20 | “Lord bless you, Mr. Holmes,” said our visitor, “she is that anxious to see you that you might bring the whole parish at your heels!”
21 |
22 | “Then we shall come early in the afternoon. Let us see that we have our facts correct before we start. If we go over them it will help Dr. Watson to understand the situation. You say that Mrs. Ronder has been your lodger for seven years and that you have only once seen her face.”
23 |
24 | “And I wish to God I had not!” said Mrs. Merrilow.
25 |
26 | “It was, I understand, terribly mutilated.”
27 |
28 | “Well, Mr. Holmes, you would hardly say it was a face at all. That's how it looked. Our milkman got a glimpse of her once peeping out of the upper window, and he dropped his tin and the milk all over the front garden. That is the kind of face it is. When I saw her—I happened on her unawares—she covered up quick, and then she said, ‘Now, Mrs. Merrilow, you know at last why it is that I never raise my veil.’”
29 |
30 | “Do you know anything about her history?”
31 |
32 | “Nothing at all.”
33 |
34 | “Did she give references when she came?”
35 |
36 | “No, sir, but she gave hard cash, and plenty of it. A quarter's rent right down on the table in advance and no arguing about terms. In these times a poor woman like me can't afford to turn down a chance like that.”
37 |
38 | “Did she give any reason for choosing your house?”
39 |
40 | “Mine stands well back from the road and is more private than most. Then, again, I only take the one, and I have no family of my own. I reckon she had tried others and found that mine suited her best. It's privacy she is after, and she is ready to pay for it.”
41 |
42 | “You say that she never showed her face from first to last save on the one accidental occasion. Well, it is a very remarkable story, most remarkable, and I don't wonder that you want it examined.”
43 |
44 | “I don't, Mr. Holmes. I am quite satisfied so long as I get my rent. You could not have a quieter lodger, or one who gives less trouble.”
45 |
46 | “Then what has brought matters to a head?”
47 |
48 | “Her health, Mr. Holmes. She seems to be wasting away. And there's something terrible on her mind. ‘Murder!’ she cries. ‘Murder!’ And once I heard her: ‘You cruel beast! You monster!’ she cried. It was in the night, and it fair rang through the house and sent the shivers through me. So I went to her in the morning. ‘Mrs. Ronder,’ I says, ‘if you have anything that is troubling your soul, there's the clergy,’ I says, ‘and there's the police. Between them you should get some help.’ ‘For God's sake, not the police!’ says she, ‘and the clergy can't change what is past. And yet,’ she says, ‘it would ease my mind if someone knew the truth before I died.’ ‘Well,’ says I, ‘if you won't have the regulars, there is this detective man what we read about’—beggin' your pardon, Mr. Holmes. And she, she fair jumped at it. ‘That's the man,’ says she. ‘I wonder I never thought of it before. Bring him here, Mrs. Merrilow, and if he won't come, tell him I am the wife of Ronder's wild beast show. Say that, and give him the name Abbas Parva. Here it is as she wrote it, Abbas Parva. ‘That will bring him if he's the man I think he is.’”
49 |
50 | “And it will, too,” remarked Holmes. “Very good, Mrs. Merrilow. I should like to have a little chat with Dr. Watson. That will carry us till lunch-time. About three o'clock you may expect to see us at your house in Brixton.”
51 |
52 | Our visitor had no sooner waddled out of the room—no other verb can describe Mrs. Merrilow's method of progression—than Sherlock Holmes threw himself with fierce energy upon the pile of commonplace books in the corner. For a few minutes there was a constant swish of the leaves, and then with a grunt of satisfaction he came upon what he sought. So excited was he that he did not rise, but sat upon the floor like some strange Buddha, with crossed legs, the huge books all round him, and one open upon his knees.
53 |
54 | “The case worried me at the time, Watson. Here are my marginal notes to prove it. I confess that I could make nothing of it. And yet I was convinced that the coroner was wrong. Have you no recollection of the Abbas Parva tragedy?”
55 |
56 | “None, Holmes.”
57 |
58 | “And yet you were with me then. But certainly my own impression was very superficial. For there was nothing to go by, and none of the parties had engaged my services. Perhaps you would care to read the papers?”
59 |
60 | “Could you not give me the points?”
61 |
62 | “That is very easily done. It will probably come back to your memory as I talk. Ronder, of course, was a household word. He was the rival of Wombwell, and of Sanger, one of the greatest showmen of his day. There is evidence, however, that he took to drink, and that both he and his show were on the down grade at the time of the great tragedy. The caravan had halted for the night at Abbas Parva, which is a small village in Berkshire, when this horror occurred. They were on their way to Wimbledon, travelling by road, and they were simply camping and not exhibiting, as the place is so small a one that it would not have paid them to open.
63 |
64 | “They had among their exhibits a very fine North African lion. Sahara King was its name, and it was the habit, both of Ronder and his wife, to give exhibitions inside its cage. Here, you see, is a photograph of the performance by which you will perceive that Ronder was a huge porcine person and that his wife was a very magnificent woman. It was deposed at the inquest that there had been some signs that the lion was dangerous, but, as usual, familiarity begat contempt, and no notice was taken of the fact.
65 |
66 | “It was usual for either Ronder or his wife to feed the lion at night. Sometimes one went, sometimes both, but they never allowed anyone else to do it, for they believed that so long as they were the food-carriers he would regard them as benefactors and would never molest them. On this particular night, seven years ago, they both went, and a very terrible happening followed, the details of which have never been made clear.
67 |
68 | “It seems that the whole camp was roused near midnight by the roars of the animal and the screams of the woman. The different grooms and employees rushed from their tents, carrying lanterns, and by their light an awful sight was revealed. Ronder lay, with the back of his head crushed in and deep claw-marks across his scalp, some ten yards from the cage, which was open. Close to the door of the cage lay Mrs. Ronder upon her back, with the creature squatting and snarling above her. It had torn her face in such a fashion that it was never thought that she could live. Several of the circus men, headed by Leonardo, the strong man, and Griggs, the clown, drove the creature off with poles, upon which it sprang back into the cage and was at once locked in. How it had got loose was a mystery. It was conjectured that the pair intended to enter the cage, but that when the door was loosed the creature bounded out upon them. There was no other point of interest in the evidence save that the woman in a delirium of agony kept screaming, ‘Coward! Coward!’ as she was carried back to the van in which they lived. It was six months before she was fit to give evidence, but the inquest was duly held, with the obvious verdict of death from misadventure.”
69 |
70 | “What alternative could be conceived?” said I.
71 |
72 | “You may well say so. And yet there were one or two points which worried young Edmunds, of the Berkshire Constabulary. A smart lad that! He was sent later to Allahabad. That was how I came into the matter, for he dropped in and smoked a pipe or two over it.”
73 |
74 | “A thin, yellow-haired man?”
75 |
76 | “Exactly. I was sure you would pick up the trail presently.”
77 |
78 | “But what worried him?”
79 |
80 | “Well, we were both worried. It was so deucedly difficult to reconstruct the affair. Look at it from the lion's point of view. He is liberated. What does he do? He takes half a dozen bounds forward, which brings him to Ronder. Ronder turns to fly—the claw-marks were on the back of his head—but the lion strikes him down. Then, instead of bounding on and escaping, he returns to the woman, who was close to the cage, and he knocks her over and chews her face up. Then, again, those cries of hers would seem to imply that her husband had in some way failed her. What could the poor devil have done to help her? You see the difficulty?”
81 |
82 | “Quite.”
83 |
84 | “And then there was another thing. It comes back to me now as I think it over. There was some evidence that just at the time the lion roared and the woman screamed, a man began shouting in terror.”
85 |
86 | “This man Ronder, no doubt.”
87 |
88 | “Well, if his skull was smashed in you would hardly expect to hear from him again. There were at least two witnesses who spoke of the cries of a man being mingled with those of a woman.”
89 |
90 | “I should think the whole camp was crying out by then. As to the other points, I think I could suggest a solution.”
91 |
92 | “I should be glad to consider it.”
93 |
94 | “The two were together, ten yards from the cage, when the lion got loose. The man turned and was struck down. The woman conceived the idea of getting into the cage and shutting the door. It was her only refuge. She made for it, and just as she reached it the beast bounded after her and knocked her over. She was angry with her husband for having encouraged the beast's rage by turning. If they had faced it they might have cowed it. Hence her cries of ‘Coward!’”
95 |
96 | “Brilliant, Watson! Only one flaw in your diamond.”
97 |
98 | “What is the flaw, Holmes?”
99 |
100 | “If they were both ten paces from the cage, how came the beast to get loose?”
101 |
102 | “Is it possible that they had some enemy who loosed it?”
103 |
104 | “And why should it attack them savagely when it was in the habit of playing with them, and doing tricks with them inside the cage?”
105 |
106 | “Possibly the same enemy had done something to enrage it.”
107 |
108 | Holmes looked thoughtful and remained in silence for some moments.
109 |
110 | “Well, Watson, there is this to be said for your theory. Ronder was a man of many enemies. Edmunds told me that in his cups he was horrible. A huge bully of a man, he cursed and slashed at everyone who came in his way. I expect those cries about a monster, of which our visitor has spoken, were nocturnal reminiscences of the dear departed. However, our speculations are futile until we have all the facts. There is a cold partridge on the sideboard, Watson, and a bottle of Montrachet. Let us renew our energies before we make a fresh call upon them.”
111 |
112 | When our hansom deposited us at the house of Mrs. Merrilow, we found that plump lady blocking up the open door of her humble but retired abode. It was very clear that her chief preoccupation was lest she should lose a valuable lodger, and she implored us, before showing us up, to say and do nothing which could lead to so undesirable an end. Then, having reassured her, we followed her up the straight, badly carpeted staircase and were shown into the room of the mysterious lodger.
113 |
114 | It was a close, musty, ill-ventilated place, as might be expected, since its inmate seldom left it. From keeping beasts in a cage, the woman seemed, by some retribution of fate, to have become herself a beast in a cage. She sat now in a broken armchair in the shadowy corner of the room. Long years of inaction had coarsened the lines of her figure, but at some period it must have been beautiful, and was still full and voluptuous. A thick dark veil covered her face, but it was cut off close at her upper lip and disclosed a perfectly shaped mouth and a delicately rounded chin. I could well conceive that she had indeed been a very remarkable woman. Her voice, too, was well modulated and pleasing.
115 |
116 | “My name is not unfamiliar to you, Mr. Holmes,” said she. “I thought that it would bring you.”
117 |
118 | “That is so, madam, though I do not know how you are aware that I was interested in your case.”
119 |
120 | “I learned it when I had recovered my health and was examined by Mr. Edmunds, the county detective. I fear I lied to him. Perhaps it would have been wiser had I told the truth.”
121 |
122 | “It is usually wiser to tell the truth. But why did you lie to him?”
123 |
124 | “Because the fate of someone else depended upon it. I know that he was a very worthless being, and yet I would not have his destruction upon my conscience. We had been so close—so close!”
125 |
126 | “But has this impediment been removed?”
127 |
128 | “Yes, sir. The person that I allude to is dead.”
129 |
130 | “Then why should you not now tell the police anything you know?”
131 |
132 | “Because there is another person to be considered. That other person is myself. I could not stand the scandal and publicity which would come from a police examination. I have not long to live, but I wish to die undisturbed. And yet I wanted to find one man of judgment to whom I could tell my terrible story, so that when I am gone all might be understood.”
133 |
134 | “You compliment me, madam. At the same time, I am a responsible person. I do not promise you that when you have spoken I may not myself think it my duty to refer the case to the police.”
135 |
136 | “I think not, Mr. Holmes. I know your character and methods too well, for I have followed your work for some years. Reading is the only pleasure which fate has left me, and I miss little which passes in the world. But in any case, I will take my chance of the use which you may make of my tragedy. It will ease my mind to tell it.”
137 |
138 | “My friend and I would be glad to hear it.”
139 |
140 | The woman rose and took from a drawer the photograph of a man. He was clearly a professional acrobat, a man of magnificent physique, taken with his huge arms folded across his swollen chest and a smile breaking from under his heavy moustache—the self-satisfied smile of the man of many conquests.
141 |
142 | “That is Leonardo,” she said.
143 |
144 | “Leonardo, the strong man, who gave evidence?”
145 |
146 | “The same. And this—this is my husband.”
147 |
148 | It was a dreadful face—a human pig, or rather a human wild boar, for it was formidable in its bestiality. One could imagine that vile mouth champing and foaming in its rage, and one could conceive those small, vicious eyes darting pure malignancy as they looked forth upon the world. Ruffian, bully, beast—it was all written on that heavy-jowled face.
149 |
150 | “Those two pictures will help you, gentlemen, to understand the story. I was a poor circus girl brought up on the sawdust, and doing springs through the hoop before I was ten. When I became a woman this man loved me, if such lust as his can be called love, and in an evil moment I became his wife. From that day I was in hell, and he the devil who tormented me. There was no one in the show who did not know of his treatment. He deserted me for others. He tied me down and lashed me with his riding-whip when I complained. They all pitied me and they all loathed him, but what could they do? They feared him, one and all. For he was terrible at all times, and murderous when he was drunk. Again and again he was had up for assault, and for cruelty to the beasts, but he had plenty of money and the fines were nothing to him. The best men all left us, and the show began to go downhill. It was only Leonardo and I who kept it up—with little Jimmy Griggs, the clown. Poor devil, he had not much to be funny about, but he did what he could to hold things together.
151 |
152 | “Then Leonardo came more and more into my life. You see what he was like. I know now the poor spirit that was hidden in that splendid body, but compared to my husband he seemed like the angel Gabriel. He pitied me and helped me, till at last our intimacy turned to love—deep, deep, passionate love, such love as I had dreamed of but never hoped to feel. My husband suspected it, but I think that he was a coward as well as a bully, and that Leonardo was the one man that he was afraid of. He took revenge in his own way by torturing me more than ever. One night my cries brought Leonardo to the door of our van. We were near tragedy that night, and soon my lover and I understood that it could not be avoided. My husband was not fit to live. We planned that he should die.
153 |
154 | “Leonardo had a clever, scheming brain. It was he who planned it. I do not say that to blame him, for I was ready to go with him every inch of the way. But I should never have had the wit to think of such a plan. We made a club—Leonardo made it—and in the leaden head he fastened five long steel nails, the points outward, with just such a spread as the lion's paw. This was to give my husband his death-blow, and yet to leave the evidence that it was the lion which we would loose who had done the deed.
155 |
156 | “It was a pitch-dark night when my husband and I went down, as was our custom, to feed the beast. We carried with us the raw meat in a zinc pail. Leonardo was waiting at the corner of the big van which we should have to pass before we reached the cage. He was too slow, and we walked past him before he could strike, but he followed us on tiptoe and I heard the crash as the club smashed my husband's skull. My heart leaped with joy at the sound. I sprang forward, and I undid the catch which held the door of the great lion's cage.
157 |
158 | “And then the terrible thing happened. You may have heard how quick these creatures are to scent human blood, and how it excites them. Some strange instinct had told the creature in one instant that a human being had been slain. As I slipped the bars it bounded out and was on me in an instant. Leonardo could have saved me. If he had rushed forward and struck the beast with his club he might have cowed it. But the man lost his nerve. I heard him shout in his terror, and then I saw him turn and fly. At the same instant the teeth of the lion met in my face. Its hot, filthy breath had already poisoned me and I was hardly conscious of pain. With the palms of my hands I tried to push the great steaming, blood-stained jaws away from me, and I screamed for help. I was conscious that the camp was stirring, and then dimly I remembered a group of men. Leonardo, Griggs, and others, dragging me from under the creature's paws. That was my last memory, Mr. Holmes, for many a weary month. When I came to myself and saw myself in the mirror, I cursed that lion—oh, how I cursed him!—not because he had torn away my beauty but because he had not torn away my life. I had but one desire, Mr. Holmes, and I had enough money to gratify it. It was that I should cover myself so that my poor face should be seen by none, and that I should dwell where none whom I had ever known should find me. That was all that was left to me to do—and that is what I have done. A poor wounded beast that has crawled into its hole to die—that is the end of Eugenia Ronder.”
159 |
160 | We sat in silence for some time after the unhappy woman had told her story. Then Holmes stretched out his long arm and patted her hand with such a show of sympathy as I had seldom known him to exhibit.
161 |
162 | “Poor girl!” he said. “Poor girl! The ways of fate are indeed hard to understand. If there is not some compensation hereafter, then the world is a cruel jest. But what of this man Leonardo?”
163 |
164 | “I never saw him or heard from him again. Perhaps I have been wrong to feel so bitterly against him. He might as soon have loved one of the freaks whom we carried round the country as the thing which the lion had left. But a woman's love is not so easily set aside. He had left me under the beast's claws, he had deserted me in my need, and yet I could not bring myself to give him to the gallows. For myself, I cared nothing what became of me. What could be more dreadful than my actual life? But I stood between Leonardo and his fate.”
165 |
166 | “And he is dead?”
167 |
168 | “He was drowned last month when bathing near Margate. I saw his death in the paper.”
169 |
170 | “And what did he do with this five-clawed club, which is the most singular and ingenious part of all your story?”
171 |
172 | “I cannot tell, Mr. Holmes. There is a chalk-pit by the camp, with a deep green pool at the base of it. Perhaps in the depths of that pool—”
173 |
174 | “Well, well, it is of little consequence now. The case is closed.”
175 |
176 | “Yes,” said the woman, “the case is closed.”
177 |
178 | We had risen to go, but there was something in the woman's voice which arrested Holmes's attention. He turned swiftly upon her.
179 |
180 | “Your life is not your own,” he said. “Keep your hands off it.”
181 |
182 | “What use is it to anyone?”
183 |
184 | “How can you tell? The example of patient suffering is in itself the most precious of all lessons to an impatient world.”
185 |
186 | The woman's answer was a terrible one. She raised her veil and stepped forward into the light.
187 |
188 | “I wonder if you would bear it,” she said.
189 |
190 | It was horrible. No words can describe the framework of a face when the face itself is gone. Two living and beautiful brown eyes looking sadly out from that grisly ruin did but make the view more awful. Holmes held up his hand in a gesture of pity and protest, and together we left the room.
191 |
192 | Two days later, when I called upon my friend, he pointed with some pride to a small blue bottle upon his mantelpiece. I picked it up. There was a red poison label. A pleasant almondy odour rose when I opened it.
193 |
194 | “Prussic acid?” said I.
195 |
196 | “Exactly. It came by post. ‘I send you my temptation. I will follow your advice.’ That was the message. I think, Watson, we can guess the name of the brave woman who sent it.”
197 |
198 | [Text taken from here](http://sherlock-holm.es/stories/html/veil.html)
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/_posts/2012-06-09-the-adventure-of-the-dying-detective.md:
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1 | ---
2 | layout: post
3 | title: "The Adventure of the Dying Detective"
4 | author: "Arthur Conan Doyle"
5 | categories: literature
6 | author: Arthur Conan Doyle
7 | ---
8 |
9 | Mrs. Hudson, the landlady of Sherlock Holmes, was a long-suffering woman. Not only was her first-floor flat invaded at all hours by throngs of singular and often undesirable characters but her remarkable lodger showed an eccentricity and irregularity in his life which must have sorely tried her patience. His incredible untidiness, his addiction to music at strange hours, his occasional revolver practice within doors, his weird and often malodorous scientific experiments, and the atmosphere of violence and danger which hung around him made him the very worst tenant in London. On the other hand, his payments were princely. I have no doubt that the house might have been purchased at the price which Holmes paid for his rooms during the years that I was with him.
10 |
11 | The landlady stood in the deepest awe of him and never dared to interfere with him, however outrageous his proceedings might seem. She was fond of him, too, for he had a remarkable gentleness and courtesy in his dealings with women. He disliked and distrusted the sex, but he was always a chivalrous opponent. Knowing how genuine was her regard for him, I listened earnestly to her story when she came to my rooms in the second year of my married life and told me of the sad condition to which my poor friend was reduced.
12 |
13 | “He's dying, Dr. Watson,” said she. “For three days he has been sinking, and I doubt if he will last the day. He would not let me get a doctor. This morning when I saw his bones sticking out of his face and his great bright eyes looking at me I could stand no more of it. ‘With your leave or without it, Mr. Holmes, I am going for a doctor this very hour,’ said I. ‘Let it be Watson, then,’ said he. I wouldn't waste an hour in coming to him, sir, or you may not see him alive.”
14 |
15 | I was horrified for I had heard nothing of his illness. I need not say that I rushed for my coat and my hat. As we drove back I asked for the details.
16 |
17 | “There is little I can tell you, sir. He has been working at a case down at Rotherhithe, in an alley near the river, and he has brought this illness back with him. He took to his bed on Wednesday afternoon and has never moved since. For these three days neither food nor drink has passed his lips.”
18 |
19 | “Good God! Why did you not call in a doctor?”
20 |
21 | “He wouldn't have it, sir. You know how masterful he is. I didn't dare to disobey him. But he's not long for this world, as you'll see for yourself the moment that you set eyes on him.”
22 |
23 | He was indeed a deplorable spectacle. In the dim light of a foggy November day the sick room was a gloomy spot, but it was that gaunt, wasted face staring at me from the bed which sent a chill to my heart. His eyes had the brightness of fever, there was a hectic flush upon either cheek, and dark crusts clung to his lips; the thin hands upon the coverlet twitched incessantly, his voice was croaking and spasmodic. He lay listlessly as I entered the room, but the sight of me brought a gleam of recognition to his eyes.
24 |
25 | “Well, Watson, we seem to have fallen upon evil days,” said he in a feeble voice, but with something of his old carelessness of manner.
26 |
27 | “My dear fellow!” I cried, approaching him.
28 |
29 | “Stand back! Stand right back!” said he with the sharp imperiousness which I had associated only with moments of crisis. “If you approach me, Watson, I shall order you out of the house.”
30 |
31 | “But why?”
32 |
33 | “Because it is my desire. Is that not enough?”
34 |
35 | Yes, Mrs. Hudson was right. He was more masterful than ever. It was pitiful, however, to see his exhaustion.
36 |
37 | “I only wished to help,” I explained.
38 |
39 | “Exactly! You will help best by doing what you are told.”
40 |
41 | “Certainly, Holmes.”
42 |
43 | He relaxed the austerity of his manner.
44 |
45 | “You are not angry?” he asked, gasping for breath.
46 |
47 | Poor devil, how could I be angry when I saw him lying in such a plight before me?
48 |
49 | “It's for your own sake, Watson,” he croaked.
50 |
51 | “For my sake?”
52 |
53 | “I know what is the matter with me. It is a coolie disease from Sumatra—a thing that the Dutch know more about than we, though they have made little of it up to date. One thing only is certain. It is infallibly deadly, and it is horribly contagious.”
54 |
55 | He spoke now with a feverish energy, the long hands twitching and jerking as he motioned me away.
56 |
57 | “Contagious by touch, Watson—that's it, by touch. Keep your distance and all is well.”
58 |
59 | “Good heavens, Holmes! Do you suppose that such a consideration weighs with me of an instant? It would not affect me in the case of a stranger. Do you imagine it would prevent me from doing my duty to so old a friend?”
60 |
61 | Again I advanced, but he repulsed me with a look of furious anger.
62 |
63 | “If you will stand there I will talk. If you do not you must leave the room.”
64 |
65 | I have so deep a respect for the extraordinary qualities of Holmes that I have always deferred to his wishes, even when I least understood them. But now all my professional instincts were aroused. Let him be my master elsewhere, I at least was his in a sick room.
66 |
67 | “Holmes,” said I, “you are not yourself. A sick man is but a child, and so I will treat you. Whether you like it or not, I will examine your symptoms and treat you for them.”
68 |
69 | He looked at me with venomous eyes.
70 |
71 | “If I am to have a doctor whether I will or not, let me at least have someone in whom I have confidence,” said he.
72 |
73 | “Then you have none in me?”
74 |
75 | “In your friendship, certainly. But facts are facts, Watson, and, after all, you are only a general practitioner with very limited experience and mediocre qualifications. It is painful to have to say these things, but you leave me no choice.”
76 |
77 | I was bitterly hurt.
78 |
79 | “Such a remark is unworthy of you, Holmes. It shows me very clearly the state of your own nerves. But if you have no confidence in me I would not intrude my services. Let me bring Sir Jasper Meek or Penrose Fisher, or any of the best men in London. But someone you must have, and that is final. If you think that I am going to stand here and see you die without either helping you myself or bringing anyone else to help you, then you have mistaken your man.”
80 |
81 | “You mean well, Watson,” said the sick man with something between a sob and a groan. “Shall I demonstrate your own ignorance? What do you know, pray, of Tapanuli fever? What do you know of the black Formosa corruption?”
82 |
83 | “I have never heard of either.”
84 |
85 | “There are many problems of disease, many strange pathological possibilities, in the East, Watson.” He paused after each sentence to collect his failing strength. “I have learned so much during some recent researches which have a medico-criminal aspect. It was in the course of them that I contracted this complaint. You can do nothing.”
86 |
87 | “Possibly not. But I happen to know that Dr. Ainstree, the greatest living authority upon tropical disease, is now in London. All remonstrance is useless, Holmes, I am going this instant to fetch him.” I turned resolutely to the door.
88 |
89 | Never have I had such a shock! In an instant, with a tiger-spring, the dying man had intercepted me. I heard the sharp snap of a twisted key. The next moment he had staggered back to his bed, exhausted and panting after his one tremendous outflame of energy.
90 |
91 | “You won't take the key from be by force, Watson, I've got you, my friend. Here you are, and here you will stay until I will otherwise. But I'll humour you.” (All this in little gasps, with terrible struggles for breath between.) “You've only my own good at heart. Of course I know that very well. You shall have your way, but give me time to get my strength. Not now, Watson, not now. It's four o'clock. At six you can go.”
92 |
93 | “This is insanity, Holmes.”
94 |
95 | “Only two hours, Watson. I promise you will go at six. Are you content to wait?”
96 |
97 | “I seem to have no choice.”
98 |
99 | “None in the world, Watson. Thank you, I need no help in arranging the clothes. You will please keep your distance. Now, Watson, there is one other condition that I would make. You will seek help, not from the man you mention, but from the one that I choose.”
100 |
101 | “By all means.”
102 |
103 | “The first three sensible words that you have uttered since you entered this room, Watson. You will find some books over there. I am somewhat exhausted; I wonder how a battery feels when it pours electricity into a non-conductor? At six, Watson, we resume our conversation.”
104 |
105 | But it was destined to be resumed long before that hour, and in circumstances which gave me a shock hardly second to that caused by his spring to the door. I had stood for some minutes looking at the silent figure in the bed. His face was almost covered by the clothes and he appeared to be asleep. Then, unable to settle down to reading, I walked slowly round the room, examining the pictures of celebrated criminals with which every wall was adorned. Finally, in my aimless perambulation, I came to the mantelpiece. A litter of pipes, tobacco-pouches, syringes, penknives, revolver-cartridges, and other debris was scattered over it. In the midst of these was a small black and white ivory box with a sliding lid. It was a neat little thing, and I had stretched out my hand to examine it more closely when—
106 |
107 | It was a dreadful cry that he gave—a yell which might have been heard down the street. My skin went cold and my hair bristled at that horrible scream. As I turned I caught a glimpse of a convulsed face and frantic eyes. I stood paralyzed, with the little box in my hand.
108 |
109 | “Put it down! Down, this instant, Watson—this instant, I say!” His head sank back upon the pillow and he gave a deep sigh of relief as I replaced the box upon the mantelpiece. “I hate to have my things touched, Watson. You know that I hate it. You fidget me beyond endurance. You, a doctor—you are enough to drive a patient into an asylum. Sit down, man, and let me have my rest!”
110 |
111 | The incident left a most unpleasant impression upon my mind. The violent and causeless excitement, followed by this brutality of speech, so far removed from his usual suavity, showed me how deep was the disorganization of his mind. Of all ruins, that of a noble mind is the most deplorable. I sat in silent dejection until the stipulated time had passed. He seemed to have been watching the clock as well as I, for it was hardly six before he began to talk with the same feverish animation as before.
112 |
113 | “Now, Watson,” said he. “Have you any change in your pocket?”
114 |
115 | “Yes.”
116 |
117 | “Any silver?”
118 |
119 | “A good deal.”
120 |
121 | “How many half-crowns?”
122 |
123 | “I have five.”
124 |
125 | “Ah, too few! Too few! How very unfortunate, Watson! However, such as they are you can put them in your watchpocket. And all the rest of your money in your left trouser pocket. Thank you. It will balance you so much better like that.”
126 |
127 | This was raving insanity. He shuddered, and again made a sound between a cough and a sob.
128 |
129 | “You will now light the gas, Watson, but you will be very careful that not for one instant shall it be more than half on. I implore you to be careful, Watson. Thank you, that is excellent. No, you need not draw the blind. Now you will have the kindness to place some letters and papers upon this table within my reach. Thank you. Now some of that litter from the mantelpiece. Excellent, Watson! There is a sugar-tongs there. Kindly raise that small ivory box with its assistance. Place it here among the papers. Good! You can now go and fetch Mr. Culverton Smith, of 13 Lower Burke Street.”
130 |
131 | To tell the truth, my desire to fetch a doctor had somewhat weakened, for poor Holmes was so obviously delirious that it seemed dangerous to leave him. However, he was as eager now to consult the person named as he had been obstinate in refusing.
132 |
133 | “I never heard the name,” said I.
134 |
135 | “Possibly not, my good Watson. It may surprise you to know that the man upon earth who is best versed in this disease is not a medical man, but a planter. Mr. Culverton Smith is a well-known resident of Sumatra, now visiting London. An outbreak of the disease upon his plantation, which was distant from medical aid, caused him to study it himself, with some rather far-reaching consequences. He is a very methodical person, and I did not desire you to start before six, because I was well aware that you would not find him in his study. If you could persuade him to come here and give us the benefit of his unique experience of this disease, the investigation of which has been his dearest hobby, I cannot doubt that he could help me.”
136 |
137 | I gave Holmes's remarks as a consecutive whole and will not attempt to indicate how they were interrupted by gaspings for breath and those clutchings of his hands which indicated the pain from which he was suffering. His appearance had changed for the worse during the few hours that I had been with him. Those hectic spots were more pronounced, the eyes shone more brightly out of darker hollows, and a cold sweat glimmered upon his brow. He still retained, however, the jaunty gallantry of his speech. To the last gasp he would always be the master.
138 |
139 | “You will tell him exactly how you have left me,” said he. “You will convey the very impression which is in your own mind—a dying man—a dying and delirious man. Indeed, I cannot think why the whole bed of the ocean is not one solid mass of oysters, so prolific the creatures seem. Ah, I am wondering! Strange how the brain controls the brain! What was I saying, Watson?”
140 |
141 | “My directions for Mr. Culverton Smith.”
142 |
143 | “Ah, yes, I remember. My life depends upon it. Plead with him, Watson. There is no good feeling between us. His nephew, Watson—I had suspicions of foul play and I allowed him to see it. The boy died horribly. He has a grudge against me. You will soften him, Watson. Beg him, pray him, get him here by any means. He can save me—only he!”
144 |
145 | “I will bring him in a cab, if I have to carry him down to it.”
146 |
147 | “You will do nothing of the sort. You will persuade him to come. And then you will return in front of him. Make any excuse so as not to come with him. Don't forget, Watson. You won't fail me. You never did fail me. No doubt there are natural enemies which limit the increase of the creatures. You and I, Watson, we have done our part. Shall the world, then, be overrun by oysters? No, no; horrible! You'll convey all that is in your mind.”
148 |
149 | I left him full of the image of this magnificent intellect babbling like a foolish child. He had handed me the key, and with a happy thought I took it with me lest he should lock himself in. Mrs. Hudson was waiting, trembling and weeping, in the passage. Behind me as I passed from the flat I heard Holmes's high, thin voice in some delirious chant. Below, as I stood whistling for a cab, a man came on me through the fog.
150 |
151 | “How is Mr. Holmes, sir?” he asked.
152 |
153 | It was an old acquaintance, Inspector Morton, of Scotland Yard, dressed in unofficial tweeds.
154 |
155 | “He is very ill,” I answered.
156 |
157 | He looked at me in a most singular fashion. Had it not been too fiendish, I could have imagined that the gleam of the fanlight showed exultation in his face.
158 |
159 | “I heard some rumour of it,” said he.
160 |
161 | The cab had driven up, and I left him.
162 |
163 | Lower Burke Street proved to be a line of fine houses lying in the vague borderland between Notting Hill and Kensington. The particular one at which my cabman pulled up had an air of smug and demure respectability in its old-fashioned iron railings, its massive folding-door, and its shining brasswork. All was in keeping with a solemn butler who appeared framed in the pink radiance of a tinted electrical light behind him.
164 |
165 | “Yes, Mr. Culverton Smith is in. Dr. Watson! Very good, sir, I will take up your card.”
166 |
167 | My humble name and title did not appear to impress Mr. Culverton Smith. Through the half-open door I heard a high, petulant, penetrating voice.
168 |
169 | “Who is this person? What does he want? Dear me, Staples, how often have I said that I am not to be disturbed in my hours of study?”
170 |
171 | There came a gentle flow of soothing explanation from the butler.
172 |
173 | “Well, I won't see him, Staples. I can't have my work interrupted like this. I am not at home. Say so. Tell him to come in the morning if he really must see me.”
174 |
175 | Again the gentle murmur.
176 |
177 | “Well, well, give him that message. He can come in the morning, or he can stay away. My work must not be hindered.”
178 |
179 | I thought of Holmes tossing upon his bed of sickness and counting the minutes, perhaps, until I could bring help to him. It was not a time to stand upon ceremony. His life depended upon my promptness. Before the apologetic butler had delivered his message I had pushed past him and was in the room.
180 |
181 | With a shrill cry of anger a man rose from a reclining chair beside the fire. I saw a great yellow face, coarse-grained and greasy, with heavy, double-chin, and two sullen, menacing gray eyes which glared at me from under tufted and sandy brows. A high bald head had a small velvet smoking-cap poised coquettishly upon one side of its pink curve. The skull was of enormous capacity, and yet as I looked down I saw to my amazement that the figure of the man was small and frail, twisted in the shoulders and back like one who has suffered from rickets in his childhood.
182 |
183 | “What's this?” he cried in a high, screaming voice. “What is the meaning of this intrusion? Didn't I send you word that I would see you to-morrow morning?”
184 |
185 | “I am sorry,” said I, “but the matter cannot be delayed. Mr. Sherlock Holmes—”
186 |
187 | The mention of my friend's name had an extraordinary effect upon the little man. The look of anger passed in an instant from his face. His features became tense and alert.
188 |
189 | “Have you come from Holmes?” he asked.
190 |
191 | “I have just left him.”
192 |
193 | “What about Holmes? How is he?”
194 |
195 | “He is desperately ill. That is why I have come.”
196 |
197 | The man motioned me to a chair, and turned to resume his own. As he did so I caught a glimpse of his face in the mirror over the mantelpiece. I could have sworn that it was set in a malicious and abominable smile. Yet I persuaded myself that it must have been some nervous contraction which I had surprised, for he turned to me an instant later with genuine concern upon his features.
198 |
199 | “I am sorry to hear this,” said he. “I only know Mr. Holmes through some business dealings which we have had, but I have every respect for his talents and his character. He is an amateur of crime, as I am of disease. For him the villain, for me the microbe. There are my prisons,” he continued, pointing to a row of bottles and jars which stood upon a side table. "Among those gelatine cultivations some of the very worst offenders in the world are now doing time."
200 |
201 | “It was on account of your special knowledge that Mr. Holmes desired to see you. He has a high opinion of you and thought that you were the one man in London who could help him.”
202 |
203 | The little man started, and the jaunty smoking-cap slid to the floor.
204 |
205 | “Why?” he asked. “Why should Mr. Homes think that I could help him in his trouble?”
206 |
207 | “Because of your knowledge of Eastern diseases.”
208 |
209 | “But why should he think that this disease which he has contracted is Eastern?”
210 |
211 | “Because, in some professional inquiry, he has been working among Chinese sailors down in the docks.”
212 |
213 | Mr. Culverton Smith smiled pleasantly and picked up his smoking-cap.
214 |
215 | “Oh, that's it—is it?” said he. “I trust the matter is not so grave as you suppose. How long has he been ill?”
216 |
217 | “About three days.”
218 |
219 | “Is he delirious?”
220 |
221 | “Occasionally.”
222 |
223 | “Tut, tut! This sounds serious. It would be inhuman not to answer his call. I very much resent any interruption to my work, Dr. Watson, but this case is certainly exceptional. I will come with you at once.”
224 |
225 | I remembered Holmes's injunction.
226 |
227 | “I have another appointment,” said I.
228 |
229 | “Very good. I will go alone. I have a note of Mr. Holmes's address. You can rely upon my being there within half an hour at most.”
230 |
231 | It was with a sinking heart that I reentered Holmes's bedroom. For all that I knew the worst might have happened in my absence. To my enormous relief, he had improved greatly in the interval. His appearance was as ghastly as ever, but all trace of delirium had left him and he spoke in a feeble voice, it is true, but with even more than his usual crispness and lucidity.
232 |
233 | “Well, did you see him, Watson?”
234 |
235 | “Yes; he is coming.”
236 |
237 | “Admirable, Watson! Admirable! You are the best of messengers.”
238 |
239 | “He wished to return with me.”
240 |
241 | “That would never do, Watson. That would be obviously impossible. Did he ask what ailed me?”
242 |
243 | “I told him about the Chinese in the East End.”
244 |
245 | “Exactly! Well, Watson, you have done all that a good friend could. You can now disappear from the scene.”
246 |
247 | “I must wait and hear his opinion, Holmes.”
248 |
249 | “Of course you must. But I have reasons to suppose that this opinion would be very much more frank and valuable if he imagines that we are alone. There is just room behind the head of my bed, Watson.”
250 |
251 | “My dear Holmes!”
252 |
253 | “I fear there is no alternative, Watson. The room does not lend itself to concealment, which is as well, as it is the less likely to arouse suspicion. But just there, Watson, I fancy that it could be done.” Suddenly he sat up with a rigid intentness upon his haggard face. “There are the wheels, Watson. Quick, man, if you love me! And don't budge, whatever happens—whatever happens, do you hear? Don't speak! Don't move! Just listen with all your ears.” Then in an instant his sudden access of strength departed, and his masterful, purposeful talk droned away into the low, vague murmurings of a semi-delirious man.
254 |
255 | From the hiding-place into which I had been so swiftly hustled I heard the footfalls upon the stair, with the opening and the closing of the bedroom door. Then, to my surprise, there came a long silence, broken only by the heavy breathings and gaspings of the sick man. I could imagine that our visitor was standing by the bedside and looking down at the sufferer. At last that strange hush was broken.
256 |
257 | “Holmes!” he cried. “Holmes!” in the insistent tone of one who awakens a sleeper. "Can't you hear me, Holmes?" There was a rustling, as if he had shaken the sick man roughly by the shoulder.
258 |
259 | “Is that you, Mr. Smith?” Holmes whispered. “I hardly dared hope that you would come.”
260 |
261 | The other laughed.
262 |
263 | “I should imagine not,” he said. “And yet, you see, I am here. Coals of fire, Holmes—coals of fire!”
264 |
265 | “It is very good of you—very noble of you. I appreciate your special knowledge.”
266 |
267 | Our visitor sniggered.
268 |
269 | “You do. You are, fortunately, the only man in London who does. Do you know what is the matter with you?”
270 |
271 | “The same,” said Holmes.
272 |
273 | “Ah! You recognize the symptoms?”
274 |
275 | “Only too well.”
276 |
277 | “Well, I shouldn't be surprised, Holmes. I shouldn't be surprised if it were the same. A bad lookout for you if it is. Poor Victor was a dead man on the fourth day—a strong, hearty young fellow. It was certainly, as you said, very surprising that he should have contracted and out-of-the-way Asiatic disease in the heart of London—a disease, too, of which I had made such a very special study. Singular coincidence, Holmes. Very smart of you to notice it, but rather uncharitable to suggest that it was cause and effect.”
278 |
279 | “I knew that you did it.”
280 |
281 | “Oh, you did, did you? Well, you couldn't prove it, anyhow. But what do you think of yourself spreading reports about me like that, and then crawling to me for help the moment you are in trouble? What sort of a game is that—eh?”
282 |
283 | I heard the rasping, laboured breathing of the sick man. “Give me the water!” he gasped.
284 |
285 | “You're precious near your end, my friend, but I don't want you to go till I have had a word with you. That's why I give you water. There, don't slop it about! That's right. Can you understand what I say?”
286 |
287 | Holmes groaned.
288 |
289 | “Do what you can for me. Let bygones be bygones,” he whispered. “I'll put the words out of my head—I swear I will. Only cure me, and I'll forget it.”
290 |
291 | “Forget what?”
292 |
293 | “Well, about Victor Savage's death. You as good as admitted just now that you had done it. I'll forget it.”
294 |
295 | “You can forget it or remember it, just as you like. I don't see you in the witnessbox. Quite another shaped box, my good Holmes, I assure you. It matters nothing to me that you should know how my nephew died. It's not him we are talking about. It's you.”
296 |
297 | “Yes, yes.”
298 |
299 | “The fellow who came for me—I've forgotten his name—said that you contracted it down in the East End among the sailors.”
300 |
301 | “I could only account for it so.”
302 |
303 | “You are proud of your brains, Holmes, are you not? Think yourself smart, don't you? You came across someone who was smarter this time. Now cast your mind back, Holmes. Can you think of no other way you could have got this thing?”
304 |
305 | “I can't think. My mind is gone. For heaven's sake help me!”
306 |
307 | “Yes, I will help you. I'll help you to understand just where you are and how you got there. I'd like you to know before you die.”
308 |
309 | “Give me something to ease my pain.”
310 |
311 | “Painful, is it? Yes, the coolies used to do some squealing towards the end. Takes you as cramp, I fancy.”
312 |
313 | “Yes, yes; it is cramp.”
314 |
315 | “Well, you can hear what I say, anyhow. Listen now! Can you remember any unusual incident in your life just about the time your symptoms began?”
316 |
317 | “No, no; nothing.”
318 |
319 | “Think again.”
320 |
321 | “I'm too ill to think.”
322 |
323 | “Well, then, I'll help you. Did anything come by post?”
324 |
325 | “By post?”
326 |
327 | “A box by chance?”
328 |
329 | “I'm fainting—I'm gone!”
330 |
331 | “Listen, Holmes!” There was a sound as if he was shaking the dying man, and it was all that I could do to hold myself quiet in my hiding-place. “You must hear me. You shall hear me. Do you remember a box—an ivory box? It came on Wednesday. You opened it—do you remember?”
332 |
333 | “Yes, yes, I opened it. There was a sharp spring inside it. Some joke—”
334 |
335 | “It was no joke, as you will find to your cost. You fool, you would have it and you have got it. Who asked you to cross my path? If you had left me alone I would not have hurt you.”
336 |
337 | “I remember,” Holmes gasped. “The spring! It drew blood. This box—this on the table.”
338 |
339 | “The very one, by George! And it may as well leave the room in my pocket. There goes your last shred of evidence. But you have the truth now, Holmes, and you can die with the knowledge that I killed you. You knew too much of the fate of Victor Savage, so I have sent you to share it. You are very near your end, Holmes. I will sit here and I will watch you die.”
340 |
341 | Holmes's voice had sunk to an almost inaudible whisper.
342 |
343 | “What is that?” said Smith. “Turn up the gas? Ah, the shadows begin to fall, do they? Yes, I will turn it up, that I may see you the better.” He crossed the room and the light suddenly brightened. "Is there any other little service that I can do you, my friend?"
344 |
345 | “A match and a cigarette.”
346 |
347 | I nearly called out in my joy and my amazement. He was speaking in his natural voice—a little weak, perhaps, but the very voice I knew. There was a long pause, and I felt that Culverton Smith was standing in silent amazement looking down at his companion.
348 |
349 | “What's the meaning of this?” I heard him say at last in a dry, rasping tone.
350 |
351 | “The best way of successfully acting a part is to be it,” said Holmes. “I give you my word that for three days I have tasted neither food nor drink until you were good enough to pour me out that glass of water. But it is the tobacco which I find most irksome. Ah, here are some cigarettes.” I heard the striking of a match. "That is very much better. Halloa! halloa! Do I hear the step of a friend?"
352 |
353 | There were footfalls outside, the door opened, and Inspector Morton appeared.
354 |
355 | “All is in order and this is your man,” said Holmes.
356 |
357 | The officer gave the usual cautions.
358 |
359 | “I arrest you on the charge of the murder of one Victor Savage,” he concluded.
360 |
361 | “And you might add of the attempted murder of one Sherlock Holmes,” remarked my friend with a chuckle. “To save an invalid trouble, Inspector, Mr. Culverton Smith was good enough to give our signal by turning up the gas. By the way, the prisoner has a small box in the right-hand pocket of his coat which it would be as well to remove. Thank you. I would handle it gingerly if I were you. Put it down here. It may play its part in the trial.”
362 |
363 | There was a sudden rush and a scuffle, followed by the clash of iron and a cry of pain.
364 |
365 | “You'll only get yourself hurt,” said the inspector. “Stand still, will you?” There was the click of the closing handcuffs.
366 |
367 | “A nice trap!” cried the high, snarling voice. “It will bring you into the dock, Holmes, not me. He asked me to come here to cure him. I was sorry for him and I came. Now he will pretend, no doubt, that I have said anything which he may invent which will corroborate his insane suspicions. You can lie as you like, Holmes. My word is always as good as yours.”
368 |
369 | “Good heavens!” cried Holmes. “I had totally forgotten him. My dear Watson, I owe you a thousand apologies. To think that I should have overlooked you! I need not introduce you to Mr. Culverton Smith, since I understand that you met somewhat earlier in the evening. Have you the cab below? I will follow you when I am dressed, for I may be of some use at the station.
370 |
371 | “I never needed it more,” said Holmes as he refreshed himself with a glass of claret and some biscuits in the intervals of his toilet. “However, as you know, my habits are irregular, and such a feat means less to me than to most men. It was very essential that I should impress Mrs. Hudson with the reality of my condition, since she was to convey it to you, and you in turn to him. You won't be offended, Watson? You will realize that among your many talents dissimulation finds no place, and that if you had shared my secret you would never have been able to impress Smith with the urgent necessity of his presence, which was the vital point of the whole scheme. Knowing his vindictive nature, I was perfectly certain that he would come to look upon his handiwork.”
372 |
373 | “But your appearance, Holmes—your ghastly face?”
374 |
375 | “Three days of absolute fast does not improve one's beauty, Watson. For the rest, there is nothing which a sponge may not cure. With vaseline upon one's forehead, belladonna in one's eyes, rouge over the cheek-bones, and crusts of beeswax round one's lips, a very satisfying effect can be produced. Malingering is a subject upon which I have sometimes thought of writing a monograph. A little occasional talk about half-crowns, oysters, or any other extraneous subject produces a pleasing effect of delirium.”
376 |
377 | “But why would you not let me near you, since there was in truth no infection?”
378 |
379 | “Can you ask, my dear Watson? Do you imagine that I have no respect for your medical talents? Could I fancy that your astute judgment would pass a dying man who, however weak, had no rise of pulse or temperature? At four yards, I could deceive you. If I failed to do so, who would bring my Smith within my grasp? No, Watson, I would not touch that box. You can just see if you look at it sideways where the sharp spring like a viper's tooth emerges as you open it. I dare say it was by some such device that poor Savage, who stood between this monster and a reversion, was done to death. My correspondence, however, is, as you know, a varied one, and I am somewhat upon my guard against any packages which reach me. It was clear to me, however, that by pretending that he had really succeeded in his design I might surprise a confession. That pretence I have carried out with the thoroughness of the true artist. Thank you, Watson, you must help me on with my coat. When we have finished at the police-station I think that something nutritious at Simpson's would not be out of place.”
380 |
381 | [Text taken from here](http://sherlock-holm.es/stories/html/dyin.html)
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/_posts/2018-08-11-the-adventure-of-charles-augustus-milverton.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton
3 | layout: post
4 | author: Arthur Conan Doyle
5 | category: literature
6 | ---
7 |
8 | It is years since the incidents of which I speak took place, and yet
9 | it is with diffidence that I allude to them. For a long time, even
10 | with the utmost discretion and reticence, it would have been
11 | impossible to make the facts public; but now the principal person
12 | concerned is beyond the reach of human law, and with due suppression
13 | the story may be told in such fashion as to injure no one. It records
14 | an absolutely unique experience in the career both of Mr. Sherlock
15 | Holmes and of myself. The reader will excuse me if I conceal the date
16 | or any other fact by which he might trace the actual occurrence.
17 |
18 | We had been out for one of our evening rambles, Holmes and I, and had
19 | returned about six o'clock on a cold, frosty winter's evening. As
20 | Holmes turned up the lamp the light fell upon a card on the table. He
21 | glanced at it, and then, with an ejaculation of disgust, threw it on
22 | the floor. I picked it up and read:--
23 |
24 | >Charles Augustus Milverton,
25 | >Appledore Towers,
26 | >Hampstead.
27 | >Agent.
28 |
29 | "Who is he?" I asked.
30 |
31 | "The worst man in London," Holmes answered, as he sat down and
32 | stretched his legs before the fire. "Is anything on the back of the
33 | card?"
34 |
35 | I turned it over.
36 |
37 | "Will call at 6.30--C.A.M.," I read.
38 |
39 | "Hum! He's about due. Do you feel a creeping, shrinking sensation,
40 | Watson, when you stand before the serpents in the Zoo and see the
41 | slithery, gliding, venomous creatures, with their deadly eyes and
42 | wicked, flattened faces? Well, that's how Milverton impresses me.
43 | I've had to do with fifty murderers in my career, but the worst of
44 | them never gave me the repulsion which I have for this fellow. And
45 | yet I can't get out of doing business with him--indeed, he is here at
46 | my invitation."
47 |
48 | "But who is he?"
49 |
50 | "I'll tell you, Watson. He is the king of all the blackmailers.
51 | Heaven help the man, and still more the woman, whose secret and
52 | reputation come into the power of Milverton. With a smiling face and
53 | a heart of marble he will squeeze and squeeze until he has drained
54 | them dry. The fellow is a genius in his way, and would have made his
55 | mark in some more savoury trade. His method is as follows: He allows
56 | it to be known that he is prepared to pay very high sums for letters
57 | which compromise people of wealth or position. He receives these
58 | wares not only from treacherous valets or maids, but frequently from
59 | genteel ruffians who have gained the confidence and affection of
60 | trusting women. He deals with no niggard hand. I happen to know that
61 | he paid seven hundred pounds to a footman for a note two lines in
62 | length, and that the ruin of a noble family was the result.
63 | Everything which is in the market goes to Milverton, and there are
64 | hundreds in this great city who turn white at his name. No one knows
65 | where his grip may fall, for he is far too rich and far too cunning
66 | to work from hand to mouth. He will hold a card back for years in
67 | order to play it at the moment when the stake is best worth winning.
68 | I have said that he is the worst man in London, and I would ask you
69 | how could one compare the ruffian who in hot blood bludgeons his mate
70 | with this man, who methodically and at his leisure tortures the soul
71 | and wrings the nerves in order to add to his already swollen
72 | money-bags?"
73 |
74 | I had seldom heard my friend speak with such intensity of feeling.
75 |
76 | "But surely," said I, "the fellow must be within the grasp of the
77 | law?"
78 |
79 | "Technically, no doubt, but practically not. What would it profit a
80 | woman, for example, to get him a few months' imprisonment if her own
81 | ruin must immediately follow? His victims dare not hit back. If ever
82 | he blackmailed an innocent person, then, indeed, we should have him;
83 | but he is as cunning as the Evil One. No, no; we must find other ways
84 | to fight him."
85 |
86 | "And why is he here?"
87 |
88 | "Because an illustrious client has placed her piteous case in my
89 | hands. It is the Lady Eva Brackwell, the most beautiful debutante of
90 | last season. She is to be married in a fortnight to the Earl of
91 | Dovercourt. This fiend has several imprudent letters--imprudent,
92 | Watson, nothing worse--which were written to an impecunious young
93 | squire in the country. They would suffice to break off the match.
94 | Milverton will send the letters to the Earl unless a large sum of
95 | money is paid him. I have been commissioned to meet him, and--to make
96 | the best terms I can."
97 |
98 | At that instant there was a clatter and a rattle in the street below.
99 | Looking down I saw a stately carriage and pair, the brilliant lamps
100 | gleaming on the glossy haunches of the noble chestnuts. A footman
101 | opened the door, and a small, stout man in a shaggy astrachan
102 | overcoat descended. A minute later he was in the room.
103 |
104 | Charles Augustus Milverton was a man of fifty, with a large,
105 | intellectual head, a round, plump, hairless face, a perpetual frozen
106 | smile, and two keen grey eyes, which gleamed brightly from behind
107 | broad, golden-rimmed glasses. There was something of Mr. Pickwick's
108 | benevolence in his appearance, marred only by the insincerity of the
109 | fixed smile and by the hard glitter of those restless and penetrating
110 | eyes. His voice was as smooth and suave as his countenance, as he
111 | advanced with a plump little hand extended, murmuring his regret for
112 | having missed us at his first visit. Holmes disregarded the
113 | outstretched hand and looked at him with a face of granite.
114 | Milverton's smile broadened; he shrugged his shoulders, removed his
115 | overcoat, folded it with great deliberation over the back of a chair,
116 | and then took a seat.
117 |
118 | "This gentleman?" said he, with a wave in my direction. "Is it
119 | discreet? Is it right?"
120 |
121 | "Dr. Watson is my friend and partner."
122 |
123 | "Very good, Mr. Holmes. It is only in your client's interests that I
124 | protested. The matter is so very delicate--"
125 |
126 | "Dr. Watson has already heard of it."
127 |
128 | "Then we can proceed to business. You say that you are acting for
129 | Lady Eva. Has she empowered you to accept my terms?"
130 |
131 | "What are your terms?"
132 |
133 | "Seven thousand pounds."
134 |
135 | "And the alternative?"
136 |
137 | "My dear sir, it is painful for me to discuss it; but if the money is
138 | not paid on the 14th there certainly will be no marriage on the
139 | 18th." His insufferable smile was more complacent than ever.
140 |
141 | Holmes thought for a little.
142 |
143 | "You appear to me," he said, at last, "to be taking matters too much
144 | for granted. I am, of course, familiar with the contents of these
145 | letters. My client will certainly do what I may advise. I shall
146 | counsel her to tell her future husband the whole story and to trust
147 | to his generosity."
148 |
149 | Milverton chuckled.
150 |
151 | "You evidently do not know the Earl," said he.
152 |
153 | From the baffled look upon Holmes's face I could see clearly that he
154 | did.
155 |
156 | "What harm is there in the letters?" he asked.
157 |
158 | "They are sprightly--very sprightly," Milverton answered. "The lady
159 | was a charming correspondent. But I can assure you that the Earl of
160 | Dovercourt would fail to appreciate them. However, since you think
161 | otherwise, we will let it rest at that. It is purely a matter of
162 | business. If you think that it is in the best interests of your
163 | client that these letters should be placed in the hands of the Earl,
164 | then you would indeed be foolish to pay so large a sum of money to
165 | regain them." He rose and seized his astrachan coat.
166 |
167 | Holmes was grey with anger and mortification.
168 |
169 | "Wait a little," he said. "You go too fast. We would certainly make
170 | every effort to avoid scandal in so delicate a matter."
171 |
172 | Milverton relapsed into his chair.
173 |
174 | "I was sure that you would see it in that light," he purred.
175 |
176 | "At the same time," Holmes continued, "Lady Eva is not a wealthy
177 | woman. I assure you that two thousand pounds would be a drain upon
178 | her resources, and that the sum you name is utterly beyond her power.
179 | I beg, therefore, that you will moderate your demands, and that you
180 | will return the letters at the price I indicate, which is, I assure
181 | you, the highest that you can get."
182 |
183 | Milverton's smile broadened and his eyes twinkled humorously.
184 |
185 | "I am aware that what you say is true about the lady's resources,"
186 | said he. "At the same time, you must admit that the occasion of a
187 | lady's marriage is a very suitable time for her friends and relatives
188 | to make some little effort upon her behalf. They may hesitate as to
189 | an acceptable wedding present. Let me assure them that this little
190 | bundle of letters would give more joy than all the candelabra and
191 | butter-dishes in London."
192 |
193 | "It is impossible," said Holmes.
194 |
195 | "Dear me, dear me, how unfortunate!" cried Milverton, taking out a
196 | bulky pocket-book. "I cannot help thinking that ladies are
197 | ill-advised in not making an effort. Look at this!" He held up a
198 | little note with a coat-of-arms upon the envelope. "That belongs
199 | to--well, perhaps it is hardly fair to tell the name until to-morrow
200 | morning. But at that time it will be in the hands of the lady's
201 | husband. And all because she will not find a beggarly sum which she
202 | could get by turning her diamonds into paste. It is such a pity. Now,
203 | you remember the sudden end of the engagement between the Honourable
204 | Miss Miles and Colonel Dorking? Only two days before the wedding
205 | there was a paragraph in the Morning Post to say that it was all off.
206 | And why? It is almost incredible, but the absurd sum of twelve
207 | hundred pounds would have settled the whole question. Is it not
208 | pitiful? And here I find you, a man of sense, boggling about terms
209 | when your client's future and honour are at stake. You surprise me,
210 | Mr. Holmes."
211 |
212 | "What I say is true," Holmes answered. "The money cannot be found.
213 | Surely it is better for you to take the substantial sum which I offer
214 | than to ruin this woman's career, which can profit you in no way?"
215 |
216 | "There you make a mistake, Mr. Holmes. An exposure would profit me
217 | indirectly to a considerable extent. I have eight or ten similar
218 | cases maturing. If it was circulated among them that I had made a
219 | severe example of the Lady Eva I should find all of them much more
220 | open to reason. You see my point?"
221 |
222 | Holmes sprang from his chair.
223 |
224 | "Get behind him, Watson! Don't let him out! Now, sir, let us see the
225 | contents of that note-book."
226 |
227 | Milverton had glided as quick as a rat to the side of the room, and
228 | stood with his back against the wall.
229 |
230 | "Mr. Holmes, Mr. Holmes," he said, turning the front of his coat and
231 | exhibiting the butt of a large revolver, which projected from the
232 | inside pocket. "I have been expecting you to do something original.
233 | This has been done so often, and what good has ever come from it? I
234 | assure you that I am armed to the teeth, and I am perfectly prepared
235 | to use my weapons, knowing that the law will support me. Besides,
236 | your supposition that I would bring the letters here in a note-book
237 | is entirely mistaken. I would do nothing so foolish. And now,
238 | gentlemen, I have one or two little interviews this evening, and it
239 | is a long drive to Hampstead." He stepped forward, took up his coat,
240 | laid his hand on his revolver, and turned to the door. I picked up a
241 | chair, but Holmes shook his head and I laid it down again. With bow,
242 | a smile, and a twinkle Milverton was out of the room, and a few
243 | moments after we heard the slam of the carriage door and the rattle
244 | of the wheels as he drove away.
245 |
246 | Holmes sat motionless by the fire, his hands buried deep in his
247 | trouser pockets, his chin sunk upon his breast, his eyes fixed upon
248 | the glowing embers. For half an hour he was silent and still. Then,
249 | with the gesture of a man who has taken his decision, he sprang to
250 | his feet and passed into his bedroom. A little later a rakish young
251 | workman with a goatee beard and a swagger lit his clay pipe at the
252 | lamp before descending into the street. "I'll be back some time,
253 | Watson," said he, and vanished into the night. I understood that he
254 | had opened his campaign against Charles Augustus Milverton; but I
255 | little dreamed the strange shape which that campaign was destined to
256 | take.
257 |
258 | For some days Holmes came and went at all hours in this attire, but
259 | beyond a remark that his time was spent at Hampstead, and that it was
260 | not wasted, I knew nothing of what he was doing. At last, however, on
261 | a wild, tempestuous evening, when the wind screamed and rattled
262 | against the windows, he returned from his last expedition, and having
263 | removed his disguise he sat before the fire and laughed heartily in
264 | his silent inward fashion.
265 |
266 | "You would not call me a marrying man, Watson?"
267 |
268 | "No, indeed!"
269 |
270 | "You'll be interested to hear that I am engaged."
271 |
272 | "My dear fellow! I congrat--"
273 |
274 | "To Milverton's housemaid."
275 |
276 | "Good heavens, Holmes!"
277 |
278 | "I wanted information, Watson."
279 |
280 | "Surely you have gone too far?"
281 |
282 | "It was a most necessary step. I am a plumber with a rising business,
283 | Escott by name. I have walked out with her each evening, and I have
284 | talked with her. Good heavens, those talks! However, I have got all I
285 | wanted. I know Milverton's house as I know the palm of my hand."
286 |
287 | "But the girl, Holmes?"
288 |
289 | He shrugged his shoulders.
290 |
291 | "You can't help it, my dear Watson. You must play your cards as best
292 | you can when such a stake is on the table. However, I rejoice to say
293 | that I have a hated rival who will certainly cut me out the instant
294 | that my back is turned. What a splendid night it is!"
295 |
296 | "You like this weather?"
297 |
298 | "It suits my purpose. Watson, I mean to burgle Milverton's house
299 | to-night."
300 |
301 | I had a catching of the breath, and my skin went cold at the words,
302 | which were slowly uttered in a tone of concentrated resolution. As a
303 | flash of lightning in the night shows up in an instant every detail
304 | of a wide landscape, so at one glance I seemed to see every possible
305 | result of such an action--the detection, the capture, the honoured
306 | career ending in irreparable failure and disgrace, my friend himself
307 | lying at the mercy of the odious Milverton.
308 |
309 | "For Heaven's sake, Holmes, think what you are doing," I cried.
310 |
311 | "My dear fellow, I have given it every consideration. I am never
312 | precipitate in my actions, nor would I adopt so energetic and indeed
313 | so dangerous a course if any other were possible. Let us look at the
314 | matter clearly and fairly. I suppose that you will admit that the
315 | action is morally justifiable, though technically criminal. To burgle
316 | his house is no more than to forcibly take his pocket-book--an action
317 | in which you were prepared to aid me."
318 |
319 | I turned it over in my mind.
320 |
321 | "Yes," I said; "it is morally justifiable so long as our object is to
322 | take no articles save those which are used for an illegal purpose."
323 |
324 | "Exactly. Since it is morally justifiable I have only to consider the
325 | question of personal risk. Surely a gentleman should not lay much
326 | stress upon this when a lady is in most desperate need of his help?"
327 |
328 | "You will be in such a false position."
329 |
330 | "Well, that is part of the risk. There is no other possible way of
331 | regaining these letters. The unfortunate lady has not the money, and
332 | there are none of her people in whom she could confide. To-morrow is
333 | the last day of grace, and unless we can get the letters to-night
334 | this villain will be as good as his word and will bring about her
335 | ruin. I must, therefore, abandon my client to her fate or I must play
336 | this last card. Between ourselves, Watson, it's a sporting duel
337 | between this fellow Milverton and me. He had, as you saw, the best of
338 | the first exchanges; but my self-respect and my reputation are
339 | concerned to fight it to a finish."
340 |
341 | "Well, I don't like it; but I suppose it must be," said I. "When do
342 | we start?"
343 |
344 | "You are not coming."
345 |
346 | "Then you are not going," said I. "I give you my word of honour--and
347 | I never broke it in my life--that I will take a cab straight to the
348 | police-station and give you away unless you let me share this
349 | adventure with you."
350 |
351 | "You can't help me."
352 |
353 | "How do you know that? You can't tell what may happen. Anyway, my
354 | resolution is taken. Other people beside you have self-respect and
355 | even reputations."
356 |
357 | Holmes had looked annoyed, but his brow cleared, and he clapped me on
358 | the shoulder.
359 |
360 | "Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so. We have shared the same room
361 | for some years, and it would be amusing if we ended by sharing the
362 | same cell. You know, Watson, I don't mind confessing to you that I
363 | have always had an idea that I would have made a highly efficient
364 | criminal. This is the chance of my lifetime in that direction. See
365 | here!" He took a neat little leather case out of a drawer, and
366 | opening it he exhibited a number of shining instruments. "This is a
367 | first-class, up-to-date burgling kit, with nickel-plated jemmy,
368 | diamond-tipped glass-cutter, adaptable keys, and every modern
369 | improvement which the march of civilization demands. Here, too, is my
370 | dark lantern. Everything is in order. Have you a pair of silent
371 | shoes?"
372 |
373 | "I have rubber-soled tennis shoes."
374 |
375 | "Excellent. And a mask?"
376 |
377 | "I can make a couple out of black silk."
378 |
379 | "I can see that you have a strong natural turn for this sort of
380 | thing. Very good; do you make the masks. We shall have some cold
381 | supper before we start. It is now nine-thirty. At eleven we shall
382 | drive as far as Church Row. It is a quarter of an hour's walk from
383 | there to Appledore Towers. We shall be at work before midnight.
384 | Milverton is a heavy sleeper and retires punctually at ten-thirty.
385 | With any luck we should be back here by two, with the Lady Eva's
386 | letters in my pocket."
387 |
388 | Holmes and I put on our dress-clothes, so that we might appear to be
389 | two theatre-goers homeward bound. In Oxford Street we picked up a
390 | hansom and drove to an address in Hampstead. Here we paid off our
391 | cab, and with our great-coats buttoned up, for it was bitterly cold
392 | and the wind seemed to blow through us, we walked along the edge of
393 | the Heath.
394 |
395 | "It's a business that needs delicate treatment," said Holmes. "These
396 | documents are contained in a safe in the fellow's study, and the
397 | study is the ante-room of his bed-chamber. On the other hand, like
398 | all these stout, little men who do themselves well, he is a plethoric
399 | sleeper. Agatha--that's my fiancee--says it is a joke in the
400 | servants' hall that it's impossible to wake the master. He has a
401 | secretary who is devoted to his interests and never budges from the
402 | study all day. That's why we are going at night. Then he has a beast
403 | of a dog which roams the garden. I met Agatha late the last two
404 | evenings, and she locks the brute up so as to give me a clear run.
405 | This is the house, this big one in its own grounds. Through the
406 | gate--now to the right among the laurels. We might put on our masks
407 | here, I think. You see, there is not a glimmer of light in any of the
408 | windows, and everything is working splendidly."
409 |
410 | With our black silk face-coverings, which turned us into two of the
411 | most truculent figures in London, we stole up to the silent, gloomy
412 | house. A sort of tiled veranda extended along one side of it, lined
413 | by several windows and two doors.
414 |
415 | "That's his bedroom," Holmes whispered. "This door opens straight
416 | into the study. It would suit us best, but it is bolted as well as
417 | locked, and we should make too much noise getting in. Come round
418 | here. There's a greenhouse which opens into the drawing-room."
419 |
420 | The place was locked, but Holmes removed a circle of glass and turned
421 | the key from the inside. An instant afterwards he had closed the door
422 | behind us, and we had become felons in the eyes of the law. The
423 | thick, warm air of the conservatory and the rich, choking fragrance
424 | of exotic plants took us by the throat. He seized my hand in the
425 | darkness and led me swiftly past banks of shrubs which brushed
426 | against our faces. Holmes had remarkable powers, carefully
427 | cultivated, of seeing in the dark. Still holding my hand in one of
428 | his he opened a door, and I was vaguely conscious that we had entered
429 | a large room in which a cigar had been smoked not long before. He
430 | felt his way among the furniture, opened another door, and closed it
431 | behind us. Putting out my hand I felt several coats hanging from the
432 | wall, and I understood that I was in a passage. We passed along it,
433 | and Holmes very gently opened a door upon the right-hand side.
434 | Something rushed out at us and my heart sprang into my mouth, but I
435 | could have laughed when I realized that it was the cat. A fire was
436 | burning in this new room, and again the air was heavy with tobacco
437 | smoke. Holmes entered on tiptoe, waited for me to follow, and then
438 | very gently closed the door. We were in Milverton's study, and a
439 | portiere at the farther side showed the entrance to his bedroom.
440 |
441 | It was a good fire, and the room was illuminated by it. Near the door
442 | I saw the gleam of an electric switch, but it was unnecessary, even
443 | if it had been safe, to turn it on. At one side of the fireplace was
444 | a heavy curtain, which covered the bay window we had seen from
445 | outside. On the other side was the door which communicated with the
446 | veranda. A desk stood in the centre, with a turning chair of shining
447 | red leather. Opposite was a large bookcase, with a marble bust of
448 | Athene on the top. In the corner between the bookcase and the wall
449 | there stood a tall green safe, the firelight flashing back from the
450 | polished brass knobs upon its face. Holmes stole across and looked at
451 | it. Then he crept to the door of the bedroom, and stood with slanting
452 | head listening intently. No sound came from within. Meanwhile it had
453 | struck me that it would be wise to secure our retreat through the
454 | outer door, so I examined it. To my amazement it was neither locked
455 | nor bolted! I touched Holmes on the arm, and he turned his masked
456 | face in that direction. I saw him start, and he was evidently as
457 | surprised as I.
458 |
459 | "I don't like it," he whispered, putting his lips to my very ear. "I
460 | can't quite make it out. Anyhow, we have no time to lose."
461 |
462 | "Can I do anything?"
463 |
464 | "Yes; stand by the door. If you hear anyone come, bolt it on the
465 | inside, and we can get away as we came. If they come the other way,
466 | we can get through the door if our job is done, or hide behind these
467 | window curtains if it is not. Do you understand?"
468 |
469 | I nodded and stood by the door. My first feeling of fear had passed
470 | away, and I thrilled now with a keener zest than I had ever enjoyed
471 | when we were the defenders of the law instead of its defiers. The
472 | high object of our mission, the consciousness that it was unselfish
473 | and chivalrous, the villainous character of our opponent, all added
474 | to the sporting interest of the adventure. Far from feeling guilty, I
475 | rejoiced and exulted in our dangers. With a glow of admiration I
476 | watched Holmes unrolling his case of instruments and choosing his
477 | tool with the calm, scientific accuracy of a surgeon who performs a
478 | delicate operation. I knew that the opening of safes was a particular
479 | hobby with him, and I understood the joy which it gave him to be
480 | confronted with this green and gold monster, the dragon which held in
481 | its maw the reputations of many fair ladies. Turning up the cuffs of
482 | his dress-coat--he had placed his overcoat on a chair--Holmes laid
483 | out two drills, a jemmy, and several skeleton keys. I stood at the
484 | centre door with my eyes glancing at each of the others, ready for
485 | any emergency; though, indeed, my plans were somewhat vague as to
486 | what I should do if we were interrupted. For half an hour Holmes
487 | worked with concentrated energy, laying down one tool, picking up
488 | another, handling each with the strength and delicacy of the trained
489 | mechanic. Finally I heard a click, the broad green door swung open,
490 | and inside I had a glimpse of a number of paper packets, each tied,
491 | sealed, and inscribed. Holmes picked one out, but it was hard to read
492 | by the flickering fire, and he drew out his little dark lantern, for
493 | it was too dangerous, with Milverton in the next room, to switch on
494 | the electric light. Suddenly I saw him halt, listen intently, and
495 | then in an instant he had swung the door of the safe to, picked up
496 | his coat, stuffed his tools into the pockets, and darted behind the
497 | window curtain, motioning me to do the same.
498 |
499 | It was only when I had joined him there that I heard what had alarmed
500 | his quicker senses. There was a noise somewhere within the house. A
501 | door slammed in the distance. Then a confused, dull murmur broke
502 | itself into the measured thud of heavy footsteps rapidly approaching.
503 | They were in the passage outside the room. They paused at the door.
504 | The door opened. There was a sharp snick as the electric light was
505 | turned on. The door closed once more, and the pungent reek of a
506 | strong cigar was borne to our nostrils. Then the footsteps continued
507 | backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, within a few yards of
508 | us. Finally, there was a creak from a chair, and the footsteps
509 | ceased. Then a key clicked in a lock and I heard the rustle of
510 | papers.
511 |
512 | So far I had not dared to look out, but now I gently parted the
513 | division of the curtains in front of me and peeped through. From the
514 | pressure of Holmes's shoulder against mine I knew that he was sharing
515 | my observations. Right in front of us, and almost within our reach,
516 | was the broad, rounded back of Milverton. It was evident that we had
517 | entirely miscalculated his movements, that he had never been to his
518 | bedroom, but that he had been sitting up in some smoking or billiard
519 | room in the farther wing of the house, the windows of which we had
520 | not seen. His broad, grizzled head, with its shining patch of
521 | baldness, was in the immediate foreground of our vision. He was
522 | leaning far back in the red leather chair, his legs outstretched, a
523 | long black cigar projecting at an angle from his mouth. He wore a
524 | semi-military smoking jacket, claret-coloured, with a black velvet
525 | collar. In his hand he held a long legal document, which he was
526 | reading in an indolent fashion, blowing rings of tobacco smoke from
527 | his lips as he did so. There was no promise of a speedy departure in
528 | his composed bearing and his comfortable attitude.
529 |
530 | I felt Holmes's hand steal into mine and give me a reassuring shake,
531 | as if to say that the situation was within his powers and that he was
532 | easy in his mind. I was not sure whether he had seen what was only
533 | too obvious from my position, that the door of the safe was
534 | imperfectly closed, and that Milverton might at any moment observe
535 | it. In my own mind I had determined that if I were sure, from the
536 | rigidity of his gaze, that it had caught his eye, I would at once
537 | spring out, throw my great-coat over his head, pinion him, and leave
538 | the rest to Holmes. But Milverton never looked up. He was languidly
539 | interested by the papers in his hand, and page after page was turned
540 | as he followed the argument of the lawyer. At least, I thought, when
541 | he has finished the document and the cigar he will go to his room;
542 | but before he had reached the end of either there came a remarkable
543 | development which turned our thoughts into quite another channel.
544 |
545 | Several times I had observed that Milverton looked at his watch, and
546 | once he had risen and sat down again, with a gesture of impatience.
547 | The idea, however, that he might have an appointment at so strange an
548 | hour never occurred to me until a faint sound reached my ears from
549 | the veranda outside. Milverton dropped his papers and sat rigid in
550 | his chair. The sound was repeated, and then there came a gentle tap
551 | at the door. Milverton rose and opened it.
552 |
553 | "Well," said he, curtly, "you are nearly half an hour late."
554 |
555 | So this was the explanation of the unlocked door and of the nocturnal
556 | vigil of Milverton. There was the gentle rustle of a woman's dress. I
557 | had closed the slit between the curtains as Milverton's face had
558 | turned in our direction, but now I ventured very carefully to open it
559 | once more. He had resumed his seat, the cigar still projecting at an
560 | insolent angle from the corner of his mouth. In front of him, in the
561 | full glare of the electric light, there stood a tall, slim, dark
562 | woman, a veil over her face, a mantle drawn round her chin. Her
563 | breath came quick and fast, and every inch of the lithe figure was
564 | quivering with strong emotion.
565 |
566 | "Well," said Milverton, "you've made me lose a good night's rest, my
567 | dear. I hope you'll prove worth it. You couldn't come any other
568 | time--eh?"
569 |
570 | The woman shook her head.
571 |
572 | "Well, if you couldn't you couldn't. If the Countess is a hard
573 | mistress you have your chance to get level with her now. Bless the
574 | girl, what are you shivering about? That's right! Pull yourself
575 | together! Now, let us get down to business." He took a note from the
576 | drawer of his desk. "You say that you have five letters which
577 | compromise the Countess d'Albert. You want to sell them. I want to
578 | buy them. So far so good. It only remains to fix a price. I should
579 | want to inspect the letters, of course. If they are really good
580 | specimens--Great heavens, is it you?"
581 |
582 | The woman without a word had raised her veil and dropped the mantle
583 | from her chin. It was a dark, handsome, clear-cut face which
584 | confronted Milverton, a face with a curved nose, strong, dark
585 | eyebrows shading hard, glittering eyes, and a straight, thin-lipped
586 | mouth set in a dangerous smile.
587 |
588 | "It is I," she said; "the woman whose life you have ruined."
589 |
590 | Milverton laughed, but fear vibrated in his voice. "You were so very
591 | obstinate," said he. "Why did you drive me to such extremities? I
592 | assure you I wouldn't hurt a fly of my own accord, but every man has
593 | his business, and what was I to do? I put the price well within your
594 | means. You would not pay."
595 |
596 | "So you sent the letters to my husband, and he--the noblest gentleman
597 | that ever lived, a man whose boots I was never worthy to lace--he
598 | broke his gallant heart and died. You remember that last night when I
599 | came through that door I begged and prayed you for mercy, and you
600 | laughed in my face as you are trying to laugh now, only your coward
601 | heart cannot keep your lips from twitching? Yes, you never thought to
602 | see me here again, but it was that night which taught me how I could
603 | meet you face to face, and alone. Well, Charles Milverton, what have
604 | you to say?"
605 |
606 | "Don't imagine that you can bully me," said he, rising to his feet.
607 | "I have only to raise my voice, and I could call my servants and have
608 | you arrested. But I will make allowance for your natural anger. Leave
609 | the room at once as you came, and I will say no more."
610 |
611 | The woman stood with her hand buried in her bosom, and the same
612 | deadly smile on her thin lips.
613 |
614 | "You will ruin no more lives as you ruined mine. You will wring no
615 | more hearts as you wrung mine. I will free the world of a poisonous
616 | thing. Take that, you hound, and that!--and that!--and that!"
617 |
618 | She had drawn a little, gleaming revolver, and emptied barrel after
619 | barrel into Milverton's body, the muzzle within two feet of his shirt
620 | front. He shrank away and then fell forward upon the table, coughing
621 | furiously and clawing among the papers. Then he staggered to his
622 | feet, received another shot, and rolled upon the floor. "You've done
623 | me," he cried, and lay still. The woman looked at him intently and
624 | ground her heel into his upturned face. She looked again, but there
625 | was no sound or movement. I heard a sharp rustle, the night air blew
626 | into the heated room, and the avenger was gone.
627 |
628 | No interference upon our part could have saved the man from his fate;
629 | but as the woman poured bullet after bullet into Milverton's
630 | shrinking body I was about to spring out, when I felt Holmes's cold,
631 | strong grasp upon my wrist. I understood the whole argument of that
632 | firm, restraining grip--that it was no affair of ours; that justice
633 | had overtaken a villain; that we had our own duties and our own
634 | objects which were not to be lost sight of. But hardly had the woman
635 | rushed from the room when Holmes, with swift, silent steps, was over
636 | at the other door. He turned the key in the lock. At the same instant
637 | we heard voices in the house and the sound of hurrying feet. The
638 | revolver shots had roused the household. With perfect coolness Holmes
639 | slipped across to the safe, filled his two arms with bundles of
640 | letters, and poured them all into the fire. Again and again he did
641 | it, until the safe was empty. Someone turned the handle and beat upon
642 | the outside of the door. Holmes looked swiftly round. The letter
643 | which had been the messenger of death for Milverton lay, all mottled
644 | with his blood, upon the table. Holmes tossed it in among the blazing
645 | papers. Then he drew the key from the outer door, passed through
646 | after me, and locked it on the outside. "This way, Watson," said he;
647 | "we can scale the garden wall in this direction."
648 |
649 | I could not have believed that an alarm could have spread so swiftly.
650 | Looking back, the huge house was one blaze of light. The front door
651 | was open, and figures were rushing down the drive. The whole garden
652 | was alive with people, and one fellow raised a view-halloa as we
653 | emerged from the veranda and followed hard at our heels. Holmes
654 | seemed to know the ground perfectly, and he threaded his way swiftly
655 | among a plantation of small trees, I close at his heels, and our
656 | foremost pursuer panting behind us. It was a six-foot wall which
657 | barred our path, but he sprang to the top and over. As I did the same
658 | I felt the hand of the man behind me grab at my ankle; but I kicked
659 | myself free and scrambled over a glass-strewn coping. I fell upon my
660 | face among some bushes; but Holmes had me on my feet in an instant,
661 | and together we dashed away across the huge expanse of Hampstead
662 | Heath. We had run two miles, I suppose, before Holmes at last halted
663 | and listened intently. All was absolute silence behind us. We had
664 | shaken off our pursuers and were safe.
665 |
666 | We had breakfasted and were smoking our morning pipe on the day after
667 | the remarkable experience which I have recorded when Mr. Lestrade, of
668 | Scotland Yard, very solemn and impressive, was ushered into our
669 | modest sitting-room.
670 |
671 | "Good morning, Mr. Holmes," said he; "good morning. May I ask if you
672 | are very busy just now?"
673 |
674 | "Not too busy to listen to you."
675 |
676 | "I thought that, perhaps, if you had nothing particular on hand, you
677 | might care to assist us in a most remarkable case which occurred only
678 | last night at Hampstead."
679 |
680 | "Dear me!" said Holmes. "What was that?"
681 |
682 | "A murder--a most dramatic and remarkable murder. I know how keen you
683 | are upon these things, and I would take it as a great favour if you
684 | would step down to Appledore Towers and give us the benefit of your
685 | advice. It is no ordinary crime. We have had our eyes upon this Mr.
686 | Milverton for some time, and, between ourselves, he was a bit of a
687 | villain. He is known to have held papers which he used for
688 | blackmailing purposes. These papers have all been burned by the
689 | murderers. No article of value was taken, as it is probable that the
690 | criminals were men of good position, whose sole object was to prevent
691 | social exposure."
692 |
693 | "Criminals!" said Holmes. "Plural!"
694 |
695 | "Yes, there were two of them. They were, as nearly as possible,
696 | captured red-handed. We have their foot-marks, we have their
697 | description; it's ten to one that we trace them. The first fellow was
698 | a bit too active, but the second was caught by the under-gardener and
699 | only got away after a struggle. He was a middle-sized, strongly-built
700 | man--square jaw, thick neck, moustache, a mask over his eyes."
701 |
702 | "That's rather vague," said Sherlock Holmes. "Why, it might be a
703 | description of Watson!"
704 |
705 | "It's true," said the inspector, with much amusement. "It might be a
706 | description of Watson."
707 |
708 | "Well, I am afraid I can't help you, Lestrade," said Holmes. "The
709 | fact is that I knew this fellow Milverton, that I considered him one
710 | of the most dangerous men in London, and that I think there are
711 | certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to
712 | some extent, justify private revenge. No, it's no use arguing. I have
713 | made up my mind. My sympathies are with the criminals rather than
714 | with the victim, and I will not handle this case."
715 |
716 | Holmes had not said one word to me about the tragedy which we had
717 | witnessed, but I observed all the morning that he was in his most
718 | thoughtful mood, and he gave me the impression, from his vacant eyes
719 | and his abstracted manner, of a man who is striving to recall
720 | something to his memory. We were in the middle of our lunch when he
721 | suddenly sprang to his feet. "By Jove, Watson; I've got it!" he
722 | cried. "Take your hat! Come with me!" He hurried at his top speed
723 | down Baker Street and along Oxford Street, until we had almost
724 | reached Regent Circus. Here on the left hand there stands a shop
725 | window filled with photographs of the celebrities and beauties of the
726 | day. Holmes's eyes fixed themselves upon one of them, and following
727 | his gaze I saw the picture of a regal and stately lady in Court
728 | dress, with a high diamond tiara upon her noble head. I looked at
729 | that delicately-curved nose, at the marked eyebrows, at the straight
730 | mouth, and the strong little chin beneath it. Then I caught my breath
731 | as I read the time-honoured title of the great nobleman and statesman
732 | whose wife she had been. My eyes met those of Holmes, and he put his
733 | finger to his lips as we turned away from the window.
734 |
735 | [Text taken from here](https://sherlock-holm.es/stories/html/chas.html)
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/_posts/2011-11-11-the-adventure-of-the-cardboard-box.md:
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1 | ---
2 | layout: post
3 | title: "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box"
4 | author: "Arthur Conan Doyle"
5 | categories: literature
6 | ---
7 |
8 | In choosing a few typical cases which illustrate the remarkable mental qualities of my friend, Sherlock Holmes[^1], I have endeavoured, as far as possible, to select those which presented the minimum of sensationalism, while offering a fair field for his talents. It is, however, unfortunately impossible entirely to separate the sensational from the criminal, and a chronicler is left in the dilemma that he must either sacrifice details which are essential to his statement and so give a false impression of the problem, or he must use matter which chance, and not choice, has provided him with. With this short preface I shall turn to my notes of what proved to be a strange, though a peculiarly terrible, chain of events.
9 |
10 | It was a blazing hot day in August. Baker Street was like an oven, and the glare of the sunlight upon the yellow brickwork of the house across the road was painful to the eye. It was hard to believe that these were the same walls which loomed so gloomily through the fogs of winter. Our blinds were half-drawn, and Holmes lay curled upon the sofa, reading and re-reading a letter which he had received by the morning post. For myself, my term of service in India had trained me to stand heat better than cold, and a thermometer at ninety was no hardship. But the morning paper was uninteresting. Parliament had risen. Everybody was out of town, and I yearned for the glades of the New Forest or the shingle of Southsea. A depleted bank account had caused me to postpone my holiday, and as to my companion, neither the country nor the sea presented the slightest attraction to him. He loved to lie in the very center of five millions of people, with his filaments stretching out and running through them, responsive to every little rumour or suspicion of unsolved crime. Appreciation of nature found no place among his many gifts, and his only change was when he turned his mind from the evil-doer of the town to track down his brother of the country.
11 |
12 | Finding that Holmes was too absorbed for conversation I had tossed side the barren paper, and leaning back in my chair I fell into a brown study. Suddenly my companion's voice broke in upon my thoughts:
13 |
14 | “You are right, Watson,” said he. “It does seem a most preposterous way of settling a dispute.”
15 |
16 | “Most preposterous!” I exclaimed, and then suddenly realizing how he had echoed the inmost thought of my soul, I sat up in my chair and stared at him in blank amazement.
17 |
18 | “What is this, Holmes?” I cried. “This is beyond anything which I could have imagined.”
19 |
20 | He laughed heartily at my perplexity.
21 |
22 | “You remember,” said he, “that some little time ago when I read you the passage in one of Poe's sketches in which a close reasoner follows the unspoken thoughts of his companion, you were inclined to treat the matter as a mere tour-de-force of the author. On my remarking that I was constantly in the habit of doing the same thing you expressed incredulity.”
23 |
24 | “Oh, no!”
25 |
26 | “Perhaps not with your tongue, my dear Watson, but certainly with your eyebrows. So when I saw you throw down your paper and enter upon a train of thought, I was very happy to have the opportunity of reading it off, and eventually of breaking into it, as a proof that I had been in rapport with you.”
27 |
28 | But I was still far from satisfied. “In the example which you read to me,” said I, “the reasoner drew his conclusions from the actions of the man whom he observed. If I remember right, he stumbled over a heap of stones, looked up at the stars, and so on. But I have been seated quietly in my chair, and what clues can I have given you?”
29 |
30 | “You do yourself an injustice. The features are given to man as the means by which he shall express his emotions, and yours are faithful servants.”
31 |
32 | “Do you mean to say that you read my train of thoughts from my features?”
33 |
34 | “Your features and especially your eyes. Perhaps you cannot yourself recall how your reverie commenced?”
35 |
36 | “No, I cannot.”
37 |
38 | “Then I will tell you. After throwing down your paper, which was the action which drew my attention to you, you sat for half a minute with a vacant expression. Then your eyes fixed themselves upon your newly framed picture of General Gordon, and I saw by the alteration in your face that a train of thought had been started. But it did not lead very far. Your eyes flashed across to the unframed portrait of Henry Ward Beecher which stands upon the top of your books. Then you glanced up at the wall, and of course your meaning was obvious. You were thinking that if the portrait were framed it would just cover that bare space and correspond with Gordon's picture there.”
39 |
40 | “You have followed me wonderfully!” I exclaimed.
41 |
42 | “So far I could hardly have gone astray. But now your thoughts went back to Beecher, and you looked hard across as if you were studying the character in his features. Then your eyes ceased to pucker, but you continued to look across, and your face was thoughtful. You were recalling the incidents of Beecher's career. I was well aware that you could not do this without thinking of the mission which he undertook on behalf of the North at the time of the Civil War, for I remember your expressing your passionate indignation at the way in which he was received by the more turbulent of our people. You felt so strongly about it that I knew you could not think of Beecher without thinking of that also. When a moment later I saw your eyes wander away from the picture, I suspected that your mind had now turned to the Civil War, and when I observed that your lips set, your eyes sparkled, and your hands clenched I was positive that you were indeed thinking of the gallantry which was shown by both sides in that desperate struggle. But then, again, your face grew sadder, you shook your head. You were dwelling upon the sadness and horror and useless waste of life. Your hand stole towards your own old wound and a smile quivered on your lips, which showed me that the ridiculous side of this method of settling international questions had forced itself upon your mind. At this point I agreed with you that it was preposterous and was glad to find that all my deductions had been correct.”
43 |
44 | “Absolutely!” said I. “And now that you have explained it, I confess that I am as amazed as before.”
45 |
46 | “It was very superficial, my dear Watson, I assure you. I should not have intruded it upon your attention had you not shown some incredulity the other day. But I have in my hands here a little problem which may prove to be more difficult of solution than my small essay I thought reading. Have you observed in the paper a short paragraph referring to the remarkable contents of a packet sent through the post to Miss Cushing, of Cross Street, Croydon?”
47 |
48 | “No, I saw nothing.”
49 |
50 | “Ah! then you must have overlooked it. Just toss it over to me. Here it is, under the financial column. Perhaps you would be good enough to read it aloud.”
51 |
52 | I picked up the paper which he had thrown back to me and read the paragraph indicated. It was headed, “A Gruesome Packet.”
53 |
54 | “Miss Susan Cushing, living at Cross Street, Croydon, has been made the victim of what must be regarded as a peculiarly revolting practical joke unless some more sinister meaning should prove to be attached to the incident. At two o'clock yesterday afternoon a small packet, wrapped in brown paper, was handed in by the postman. A cardboard box was inside, which was filled with coarse salt. On emptying this, Miss Cushing was horrified to find two human ears, apparently quite freshly severed. The box had been sent by parcel post from Belfast upon the morning before. There is no indication as to the sender, and the matter is the more mysterious as Miss Cushing, who is a maiden lady of fifty, has led a most retired life, and has so few acquaintances or correspondents that it is a rare event for her to receive anything through the post. Some years ago, however, when she resided at Penge, she let apartments in her house to three young medical students, whom she was obliged to get rid of on account of their noisy and irregular habits. The police are of opinion that this outrage may have been perpetrated upon Miss Cushing by these youths, who owed her a grudge and who hoped to frighten her by sending her these relics of the dissecting-rooms. Some probability is lent to the theory by the fact that one of these students came from the north of Ireland, and, to the best of Miss Cushing's belief, from Belfast. In the meantime, the matter is being actively investigated, Mr. Lestrade, one of the very smartest of our detective officers, being in charge of the case.”
55 | “So much for the Daily Chronicle,” said Holmes as I finished reading. “Now for our friend Lestrade. I had a note from him this morning, in which he says:
56 |
57 | “I think that this case is very much in your line. We have every hope of clearing the matter up, but we find a little difficulty in getting anything to work upon. We have, of course, wired to the Belfast post-office, but a large number of parcels were handed in upon that day, and they have no means of identifying this particular one, or of remembering the sender. The box is a half-pound box of honeydew tobacco and does not help us in any way. The medical student theory still appears to me to be the most feasible, but if you should have a few hours to spare I should be very happy to see you out here. I shall be either at the house or in the police-station all day.
58 | “What say you, Watson? Can you rise superior to the heat and run down to Croydon with me on the off chance of a case for your annals?”
59 |
60 | “I was longing for something to do.”
61 |
62 | “You shall have it then. Ring for our boots and tell them to order a cab. I'll be back in a moment when I have changed my dressing-gown and filled my cigar-case.”
63 |
64 | A shower of rain fell while we were in the train, and the heat was far less oppressive in Croydon than in town. Holmes had sent on a wire, so that Lestrade, as wiry, as dapper, and as ferret-like as ever, was waiting for us at the station. A walk of five minutes took us to Cross Street, where Miss Cushing resided.
65 |
66 | It was a very long street of two-story brick houses, neat and prim, with whitened stone steps and little groups of aproned women gossiping at the doors. Halfway down, Lestrade stopped and tapped at a door, which was opened by a small servant girl. Miss Cushing was sitting in the front room, into which we were ushered. She was a placid-faced woman, with large, gentle eyes, and grizzled hair curving down over her temples on each side. A worked antimacassar lay upon her lap and a basket of coloured silks stood upon a stool beside her.
67 |
68 | “They are in the outhouse, those dreadful things,” said she as Lestrade entered. “I wish that you would take them away altogether.”
69 |
70 | “So I shall, Miss Cushing. I only kept them here until my friend, Mr. Holmes, should have seen them in your presence.”
71 |
72 | “Why in my presence, sir?”
73 |
74 | “In case he wished to ask any questions.”
75 |
76 | “What is the use of asking me questions when I tell you I know nothing whatever about it?”
77 |
78 | “Quite so, madam,” said Holmes in his soothing way. “I have no doubt that you have been annoyed more than enough already over this business.”
79 |
80 | “Indeed I have, sir. I am a quiet woman and live a retired life. It is something new for me to see my name in the papers and to find the police in my house. I won't have those things I here, Mr. Lestrade. If you wish to see them you must go to the outhouse.”
81 |
82 | It was a small shed in the narrow garden which ran behind the house. Lestrade went in and brought out a yellow cardboard box, with a piece of brown paper and some string. There was a bench at the end of the path, and we all sat down while Homes examined one by one, the articles which Lestrade had handed to him.
83 |
84 | “The string is exceedingly interesting,” he remarked, holding it up to the light and sniffing at it. “What do you make of this string, Lestrade?”
85 |
86 | “It has been tarred.”
87 |
88 | “Precisely. It is a piece of tarred twine. You have also, no doubt, remarked that Miss Cushing has cut the cord with a scissors, as can be seen by the double fray on each side. This is of importance.”
89 |
90 | “I cannot see the importance,” said Lestrade.
91 |
92 | “The importance lies in the fact that the knot is left intact, and that this knot is of a peculiar character.”
93 |
94 | “It is very neatly tied. I had already made a note of that effect,” said Lestrade complacently.
95 |
96 | “So much for the string, then,” said Holmes, smiling, “now for the box wrapper. Brown paper, with a distinct smell of coffee. What, did you not observe it? I think there can be no doubt of it. Address printed in rather straggling characters: ‘Miss S. Cushing, Cross Street, Croydon.’ Done with a broad-pointed pen, probably a J, and with very inferior ink. The word ‘Croydon’ has been originally spelled with an ‘i’, which has been changed to ‘y’. The parcel was directed, then, by a man—the printing is distinctly masculine—of limited education and unacquainted with the town of Croydon. So far, so good! The box is a yellow, half-pound honeydew box, with nothing distinctive save two thumb marks at the left bottom corner. It is filled with rough salt of the quality used for preserving hides and other of the coarser commercial purposes. And embedded in it are these very singular enclosures.”
97 |
98 | He took out the two ears as he spoke, and laying a board across his knee he examined them minutely, while Lestrade and I, bending forward on each side of him, glanced alternately at these dreadful relics and at the thoughtful, eager face of our companion. Finally he returned them to the box once more and sat for a while in deep meditation.
99 |
100 | “You have observed, of course,” said he at last, “that the ears are not a pair.”
101 |
102 | “Yes, I have noticed that. But if this were the practical joke of some students from the dissecting-rooms, it would be as easy for them to send two odd ears as a pair.”
103 |
104 | “Precisely. But this is not a practical joke.”
105 |
106 | “You are sure of it?”
107 |
108 | “The presumption is strongly against it. Bodies in the dissecting-rooms are injected with preservative fluid. These ears bear no signs of this. They are fresh, too. They have been cut off with a blunt instrument, which would hardly happen if a student had done it. Again, carbolic or rectified spirits would be the preservatives which would suggest themselves to the medical mind, certainly not rough salt. I repeat that there is no practical joke here, but that we are investigating a serious crime.”
109 |
110 | A vague thrill ran through me as I listened to my companion's words and saw the stern gravity which had hardened his features. This brutal preliminary seemed to shadow forth some strange and inexplicable horror in the background. Lestrade, however, shook his head like a man who is only half convinced.
111 |
112 | “There are objections to the joke theory, no doubt,” said he, “but there are much stronger reasons against the other. We know that this woman has led a most quiet and respectable life at Penge and here for the last twenty years. She has hardly been away from her home for a day during that time. Why on earth, then, should any criminal send her the proofs of his guilt, especially as, unless she is a most consummate actress, she understands quite as little of the matter as we do?”
113 |
114 | “That is the problem which we have to solve,” Holmes answered, “and for my part I shall set about it by presuming that my reasoning is correct, and that a double murder has been committed. One of these ears is a woman's, small, finely formed, and pierced for an earring. The other is a man's, sun-burned, discoloured, and also pierced for an earring. These two people are presumably dead, or we should have heard their story before now. To-day is Friday. The packet was posted on Thursday morning. The tragedy, then, occurred on Wednesday or Tuesday, or earlier. If the two people were murdered, who but their murderer would have sent this sign of his work to Miss Cushing? We may take it that the sender of the packet is the man whom we want. But he must have some strong reason for sending Miss Cushing this packet. What reason then? It must have been to tell her that the deed was done! or to pain her, perhaps. But in that case she knows who it is. Does she know? I doubt it. If she knew, why should she call the police in? She might have buried the ears, and no one would have been the wiser. That is what she would have done if she had wished to shield the criminal. But if she does not wish to shield him she would give his name. There is a tangle here which needs straightening to.” He had been talking in a high, quick voice, staring blankly up over the garden fence, but now he sprang briskly to his feet and walked towards the house.
115 |
116 | “I have a few questions to ask Miss Cushing,” said he.
117 |
118 | “In that case I may leave you here,” said Lestrade, “for I have another small business on hand. I think that I have nothing further to learn from Miss Cushing. You will find me at the police-station.”
119 |
120 | “We shall look in on our way to the train,” answered Holmes. A moment later he and I were back in the front room, where the impassive lady was still quietly working away at her antimacassar. She put it down on her lap as we entered and looked at us with her frank, searching blue eyes.
121 |
122 | “I am convinced, sir,” she said, “that this matter is a mistake, and that the parcel was never meant for me at all. I have said this several times to the gentlemen from Scotland Yard, but he simply laughs at me. I have not an enemy in the world, as far as I know, so why should anyone play me such a trick?”
123 |
124 | “I am coming to be of the same opinion, Miss Cushing,” said Holmes, taking a seat beside her. “I think that it is more than probable—” He paused, and I was surprised, on glancing round to see that he was staring with singular intentness at the lady's profile. Surprise and satisfaction were both for an instant to be read upon his eager face, though when she glanced round to find out the cause of his silence he had become as demure as ever. I stared hard myself at her flat, grizzled hair, her trim cap, her little gilt earrings, her placid features; but I could see nothing which could account for my companion's evident excitement.
125 |
126 | “There were one or two questions—”
127 |
128 | “Oh, I am weary of questions!” cried Miss Cushing impatiently.
129 |
130 | “You have two sisters, I believe.”
131 |
132 | “How could you know that?”
133 |
134 | “I observed the very instant that I entered the room that you have a portrait group of three ladies upon the mantelpiece, one of whom is undoubtedly yourself, while the others are so exceedingly like you that there could be no doubt of the relationship.”
135 |
136 | “Yes, you are quite right. Those are my sisters, Sarah and Mary.”
137 |
138 | “And here at my elbow is another portrait, taken at Liverpool, of your younger sister, in the company of a man who appears to be a steward by his uniform. I observe that she was unmarried at the time.”
139 |
140 | “You are very quick at observing.”
141 |
142 | “That is my trade.”
143 |
144 | “Well, you are quite right. But she was married to Mr. Browner a few days afterwards. He was on the South American line when that was taken, but he was so fond of her that he couldn't abide to leave her for so long, and he got into the Liverpool and London boats.”
145 |
146 | “Ah, the Conqueror, perhaps?”
147 |
148 | “No, the May Day, when last I heard. Jim came down here to see me once. That was before he broke the pledge; but afterwards he would always take drink when he was ashore, and a little drink would send him stark, staring mad. Ah! it was a bad day that ever he took a glass in his hand again. First he dropped me, then he quarrelled with Sarah, and now that Mary has stopped writing we don't know how things are going with them.”
149 |
150 | It was evident that Miss Cushing had come upon a subject on which she felt very deeply. Like most people who lead a lonely life, she was shy at first, but ended by becoming extremely communicative. She told us many details about her brother-in-law the steward, and then wandering off on the subject of her former lodgers, the medical students, she gave us a long account of their delinquencies, with their names and those of their hospitals. Holmes listened attentively to everything, throwing in a question from time to time.
151 |
152 | “About your second sister, Sarah,” said he. “I wonder, since you are both maiden ladies, that you do not keep house together.”
153 |
154 | “Ah! you don't know Sarah's temper or you would wonder no more. I tried it when I came to Croydon, and we kept on until about two months ago, when we had to part. I don't want to say a word against my own sister, but she was always meddlesome and hard to please, was Sarah.”
155 |
156 | “You say that she quarrelled with your Liverpool relations.”
157 |
158 | “Yes, and they were the best of friends at one time. Why, she went up there to live in order to be near them. And now she has no word hard enough for Jim Browner. The last six months that she was here she would speak of nothing but his drinking and his ways. He had caught her meddling, I suspect, and given her a bit of his mind, and that was the start of it.”
159 |
160 | “Thank you, Miss Cushing,” said Holmes, rising and bowing. “Your sister Sarah lives, I think you said, at New Street, Wallington? Good-bye, and I am very sorry that you should have been troubled over a case with which, as you say, you have nothing whatever to do.”
161 |
162 | There was a cab passing as we came out, and Holmes hailed it.
163 |
164 | “How far to Wallington?” he asked.
165 |
166 | “Only about a mile, sir.”
167 |
168 | “Very good. Jump in, Watson. We must strike while the iron is hot. Simple as the case is, there have been one or two very instructive details in connection with it. Just pull up at a telegraph office as you pass, cabby.”
169 |
170 | Holmes sent off a short wire and for the rest of the drive lay back in the cab, with his hat tilted over his nose to keep the sun from his face. Our drive pulled up at a house which was not unlike the one which we had just quitted. My companion ordered him to wait, and had his hand upon the knocker, when the door opened and a grave young gentleman in black, with a very shiny hat, appeared on the step.
171 |
172 | “Is Miss Cushing at home?” asked Holmes.
173 |
174 | “Miss Sarah Cushing is extremely ill,” said he. “She has been suffering since yesterday from brain symptoms of great severity. As her medical adviser, I cannot possibly take the responsibility of allowing anyone to see her. I should recommend you to call again in ten days.” He drew on his gloves, closed the door, and marched off down the street.
175 |
176 | “Well, if we can't we can't,” said Holmes, cheerfully.
177 |
178 | “Perhaps she could not or would not have told you much.”
179 |
180 | “I did not wish her to tell me anything. I only wanted to look at her. However, I think that I have got all that I want. Drive us to some decent hotel, cabby, where we may have some lunch, and afterwards we shall drop down upon friend Lestrade at the police-station.”
181 |
182 | We had a pleasant little meal together, during which Holmes would talk about nothing but violins, narrating with great exultation how he had purchased his own Stradivarius, which was worth at least five hundred guineas, at a Jew broker's in Tottenham Court Road for fifty-five shillings. This led him to Paganini, and we sat for an hour over a bottle of claret while he told me anecdote after anecdote of that extraordinary man. The afternoon was far advanced and the hot glare had softened into a mellow glow before we found ourselves at the police-station. Lestrade was waiting for us at the door.
183 |
184 | “A telegram for you, Mr. Holmes,” said he.
185 |
186 | “Ha! It is the answer!” He tore it open, glanced his eyes over it, and crumpled it into his pocket. “That's all right,” said he.
187 |
188 | “Have you found out anything?”
189 |
190 | “I have found out everything!”
191 |
192 | “What!” Lestrade stared at him in amazement. “You are joking.”
193 |
194 | “I was never more serious in my life. A shocking crime has been committed, and I think I have now laid bare every detail of it.”
195 |
196 | “And the criminal?”
197 |
198 | Holmes scribbled a few words upon the back of one of his visiting cards and threw it over to Lestrade.
199 |
200 | “That is the name,” he said. “You cannot effect an arrest until to-morrow night at the earliest. I should prefer that you do not mention my name at all in connection with the case, as I choose to be only associated with those crimes which present some difficulty in their solution. Come on, Watson.” We strode off together to the station, leaving Lestrade still staring with a delighted face at the card which Holmes had thrown him.
201 |
202 | “The case,” said Sherlock Holmes as we chatted over or cigars that night in our rooms at Baker Street, “is one where, as in the investigations which you have chronicled under the names of ‘A Study in Scarlet’ and of ‘The Sign of Four,’ we have been compelled to reason backward from effects to causes. I have written to Lestrade asking him to supply us with the details which are now wanting, and which he will only get after he had secured his man. That he may be safely trusted to do, for although he is absolutely devoid of reason, he is as tenacious as a bulldog when he once understands what he has to do, and indeed, it is just this tenacity which has brought him to the top at Scotland Yard.”
203 |
204 | “Your case is not complete, then?” I asked.
205 |
206 | “It is fairly complete in essentials. We know who the author of the revolting business is, although one of the victims still escapes us. Of course, you have formed your own conclusions.”
207 |
208 | “I presume that this Jim Browner, the steward of a Liverpool boat, is the man whom you suspect?”
209 |
210 | “Oh! it is more than a suspicion.”
211 |
212 | “And yet I cannot see anything save very vague indications.”
213 |
214 | “On the contrary, to my mind nothing could be more clear. Let me run over the principal steps. We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind, which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations. What did we see first? A very placid and respectable lady, who seemed quite innocent of any secret, and a portrait which showed me that she had two younger sisters. It instantly flashed across my mind that the box might have been meant for one of these. I set the idea aside as one which could be disproved or confirmed at our leisure. Then we went to the garden, as you remember, and we saw the very singular contents of the little yellow box.
215 |
216 | “The string was of the quality which is used by sail-makers aboard ship, and at once a whiff of the sea was perceptible in our investigation. When I observed that the knot was one which is popular with sailors, that the parcel had been posted at a port, and that the male ear was pierced for an earring which is so much more common among sailors than landsmen, I was quite certain that all the actors in the tragedy were to be found among our seafaring classes.
217 |
218 | “When I came to examine the address of the packet I observed that it was to Miss S. Cushing. Now, the oldest sister would, of course, be Miss Cushing, and although her initial was ‘S’ it might belong to one of the others as well. In that case we should have to commence our investigation from a fresh basis altogether. I therefore went into the house with the intention of clearing up this point. I was about to assure Miss Cushing that I was convinced that a mistake had been made when you may remember that I came suddenly to a stop. The fact was that I had just seen something which filled me with surprise and at the same time narrowed the field of our inquiry immensely.
219 |
220 | “As a medical man, you are aware, Watson, that there is no part of the body which varies so much as the human ear. Each ear is as a rule quite distinctive and differs from all other ones. In last year's Anthropological Journal you will find two short monographs from my pen upon the subject. I had, therefore, examined the ears in the box with the eyes of an expert and had carefully noted their anatomical peculiarities. Imagine my surprise, then, when on looking at Miss Cushing I perceived that her ear corresponded exactly with the female ear which I had just inspected. The matter was entirely beyond coincidence. There was the same shortening of the pinna, the same broad curve of the upper lobe, the same convolution of the inner cartilage. In all essentials it was the same ear.
221 |
222 | “In the first place, her sister's name was Sarah, and her address had until recently been the same, so that it was quite obvious how the mistake had occurred and for whom the packet was meant. Then we heard of this steward, married to the third sister, and learned that he had at one time been so intimate with Miss Sarah that she had actually gone up to Liverpool to be near the Browners, but a quarrel had afterwards divided them. This quarrel had put a stop to all communications for some months, so that if Browner had occasion to address a packet to Miss Sarah, he would undoubtedly have done so to her old address.
223 |
224 | “And now the matter had begun to straighten itself out wonderfully. We had learned of the existence of this steward, an impulsive man, of strong passions—you remember that he threw up what must have been a very superior berth in order to be nearer to his wife—subject, too, to occasional fits of hard drinking. We had reason to believe that his wife had been murdered, and that a man—presumably a seafaring man—had been murdered at the same time. Jealousy, of course, at once suggests itself as the motive for the crime. And why should these proofs of the deed be sent to Miss Sarah Cushing? Probably because during her residence in Liverpool she had some hand in bringing about the events which led to the tragedy. You will observe that this line of boats call at Belfast, Dublin, and Waterford; so that, presuming that Browner had committed the deed and had embarked at once upon his steamer, the May Day, Belfast would be the first place at which he could post his terrible packet.
225 |
226 | “A second solution was at this stage obviously possible, and although I thought it exceedingly unlikely, I was determined to elucidate it before going further. An unsuccessful lover might have killed Mr. and Mrs. Browner, and the male ear might have belonged to the husband. There were many grave objections to this theory, but it was conceivable. I therefore sent off a telegram to my friend Algar, of the Liverpool force, and asked him to find out if Mrs. Browner were at home, and if Browner had departed in the May Day. Then we went on to Wallington to visit Miss Sarah.
227 |
228 | “I was curious, in the first place, to see how far the family ear had been reproduced in her. Then, of course, she might give us very important information, but I was not sanguine that she would. She must have heard of the business the day before, since all Croydon was ringing with it, and she alone could have understood for whom the packet was meant. If she had been willing to help justice she would probably have communicated with the police already. However, it was clearly our duty to see her, so we went. We found that the news of the arrival of the packet—for her illness dated from that time—had such an effect upon her as to bring on brain fever. It was clearer than ever that she understood its full significance, but equally clear that we should have to wait some time for any assistance from her.
229 |
230 | “However, we were really independent of her help. Our answers were waiting for us at the police-station, where I had directed Algar to send them. Nothing could be more conclusive. Mrs. Browner's house had been closed for more than three days, and the neighbours were of opinion that she had gone south to see her relatives. It had been ascertained at the shipping offices that Browner had left aboard of the May Day, and I calculate that she is due in the Thames tomorrow night. When he arrives he will be met by the obtuse but resolute Lestrade, and I have no doubt that we shall have all our details filled in.”
231 |
232 | Sherlock Holmes was not disappointed in his expectations. Two days later he received a bulky envelope, which contained a short note from the detective, and a typewritten document, which covered several pages of foolscap.
233 |
234 | “Lestrade has got him all right,” said Holmes, glancing up at me. “Perhaps it would interest you to hear what he says.
235 |
236 | “My dear Mr. Holmes:
237 | “In accordance with the scheme which we had formed in order to test our theories” [“the ‘we’ is rather fine, Watson, is it not?”] “I went down to the Albert Dock yesterday at 6 p.m., and boarded the S.S. May Day, belonging to the Liverpool, Dublin, and London Steam Packet Company. On inquiry, I found that there was a steward on board of the name of James Browner and that he had acted during the voyage in such an extraordinary manner that the captain had been compelled to relieve him of his duties. On descending to his berth, I found him seated upon a chest with his head sunk upon his hands, rocking himself to and fro. He is a big, powerful chap, clean-shaven, and very swarthy—something like Aldrige, who helped us in the bogus laundry affair. He jumped up when he heard my business, and I had my whistle to my lips to call a couple of river police, who were round the corner, but he seemed to have no heart in him, and he held out his hands quietly enough for the darbies. We brought him along to the cells, and his box as well, for we thought there might be something incriminating; but, bar a big sharp knife such as most sailors have, we got nothing for our trouble. However, we find that we shall want no more evidence, for on being brought before the inspector at the station he asked leave to make a statement, which was, of course, taken down, just as he made it, by our shorthand man. We had three copies typewritten, one of which I enclose. The affair proves, as I always thought it would, to be an extremely simple one, but I am obliged to you for assisting me in my investigation. With kind regards,
238 | “Yours very truly,
239 | “G. Lestrade.
240 | “Hum! The investigation really was a very simple one,” remarked Holmes, “but I don't think it struck him in that light when he first called us in. However, let us see what Jim Browner has to say for himself. This is his statement as made before Inspector Montgomery at the Shadwell Police Station, and it has the advantage of being verbatim.”
241 |
242 | “‘Have I anything to say? Yes, I have a deal to say. I have to make a clean breast of it all. You can hang me, or you can leave me alone. I don't care a plug which you do. I tell you I've not shut an eye in sleep since I did it, and I don't believe I ever will again until I get past all waking. Sometimes it's his face, but most generally it's hers. I'm never without one or the other before me. He looks frowning and black-like, but she has a kind o' surprise upon her face. Ay, the white lamb, she might well be surprised when she read death on a face that had seldom looked anything but love upon her before.
243 |
244 | “‘But it was Sarah's fault, and may the curse of a broken man put a blight on her and set the blood rotting in her veins! It's not that I want to clear myself. I know that I went back to drink, like the beast that I was. But she would have forgiven me; she would have stuck as close to me a rope to a block if that woman had never darkened our door. For Sarah Cushing loved me—that's the root of the business—she loved me until all her love turned to poisonous hate when she knew that I thought more of my wife's footmark in the mud than I did of her whole body and soul.
245 |
246 | “‘There were three sisters altogether. The old one was just a good woman, the second was a devil, and the third was an angel. Sarah was thirty-three, and Mary was twenty-nine when I married. We were just as happy as the day was long when we set up house together, and in all Liverpool there was no better woman than my Mary. And then we asked Sarah up for a week, and the week grew into a month, and one thing led to another, until she was just one of ourselves.
247 |
248 | “‘I was blue ribbon at that time, and we were putting a little money by, and all was as bright as a new dollar. My God, whoever would have thought that it could have come to this? Whoever would have dreamed it?
249 |
250 | “‘I used to be home for the week-ends very often, and sometimes if the ship were held back for cargo I would have a whole week at a time, and in this way I saw a deal of my sister-in-law, Sarah. She was a fine tall woman, black and quick and fierce, with a proud way of carrying her head, and a glint from her eye like a spark from a flint. But when little Mary was there I had never a thought of her, and that I swear as I hope for God's mercy.
251 |
252 | “‘It had seemed to me sometimes that she liked to be alone with me, or to coax me out for a walk with her, but I had never thought anything of that. But one evening my eyes were opened. I had come up from the ship and found my wife out, but Sarah at home. “Where's Mary?” I asked. “Oh, she has gone to pay some accounts.” I was impatient and paced up and down the room. “Can't you be happy for five minutes without Mary, Jim?” says she. “It's a bad compliment to me that you can't be contented with my society for so short a time.” “That's all right, my lass,” said I, putting out my hand towards her in a kindly way, but she had it in both hers in an instant, and they burned as if they were in a fever. I looked into her eyes and I read it all there. There was no need for her to speak, nor for me either. I frowned and drew my hand away. Then she stood by my side in silence for a bit, and then put up her hand and patted me on the shoulder. “Steady old Jim!” said she, and with a kind o' mocking laugh, she ran out of the room.
253 |
254 | “‘Well, from that time Sarah hated me with her whole heart and soul, and she is a woman who can hate, too. I was a fool to let her go on biding with us—a besotted fool—but I never said a word to Mary, for I knew it would grieve her. Things went on much as before, but after a time I began to find that there was a bit of a change in Mary herself. She had always been so trusting and so innocent, but now she became queer and suspicious, wanting to know where I had been and what I had been doing, and whom my letters were from, and what I had in my pockets, and a thousand such follies. Day by day she grew queerer and more irritable, and we had ceaseless rows about nothing. I was fairly puzzled by it all. Sarah avoided me now, but she and Mary were just inseparable. I can see now how she was plotting and scheming and poisoning my wife's mind against me, but I was such a blind beetle that I could not understand it at the time. Then I broke my blue ribbon and began to drink again, but I think I should not have done it if Mary had been the same as ever. She had some reason to be disgusted with me now, and the gap between us began to be wider and wider. And then this Alec Fairbairn chipped in, and things became a thousand times blacker.
255 |
256 | “‘It was to see Sarah that he came to my house first, but soon it was to see us, for he was a man with winning ways, and he made friends wherever he went. He was a dashing, swaggering chap, smart and curled, who had seen half the world and could talk of what he had seen. He was good company, I won't deny it, and he had wonderful polite ways with him for a sailor man, so that I think there must have been a time when he knew more of the poop than the forecastle. For a month he was in and out of my house, and never once did it cross my mind that harm might come of his soft, tricky ways. And then at last something made me suspect, and from that day my peace was gone forever.
257 |
258 | “‘It was only a little thing, too. I had come into the parlour unexpected, and as I walked in at the door I saw a light of welcome on my wife's face. But as she saw who it was it faded again, and she turned away with a look of disappointment. That was enough for me. There was no one but Alec Fairbairn whose step she could have mistaken for mine. If I could have seen him then I should have killed him, for I have always been like a madman when my temper gets loose. Mary saw the devil's light in my eyes, and she ran forward with her hands on my sleeve. “Don't, Jim, don't!” says she. “Where's Sarah?” I asked. “In the kitchen,” says she. “Sarah,” says I as I went in, “this man Fairbairn is never to darken my door again.” “Why not?” says she. “Because I order it.” “Oh!” says she, “if my friends are not good enough for this house, then I am not good enough for it either.” “You can do what you like,” says I, “but if Fairbairn shows his face here again I'll send you one of his ears for a keepsake.” She was frightened by my face, I think, for she never answered a word, and the same evening she left my house.
259 |
260 | “‘Well, I don't know now whether it was pure devilry on the part of this woman, or whether she thought that she could turn me against my wife by encouraging her to misbehave. Anyway, she took a house just two streets off and let lodgings to sailors. Fairbairn used to stay there, and Mary would go round to have tea with her sister and him. How often she went I don't know, but I followed her one day, and as I broke in at the door Fairbairn got away over the back garden wall, like the cowardly skunk that he was. I swore to my wife that I would kill her if I found her in his company again, and I led her back with me, sobbing and trembling, and as white as a piece of paper. There was no trace of love between us any longer. I could see that she hated me and feared me, and when the thought of it drove me to drink, then she despised me as well.
261 |
262 | “‘Well, Sarah found that she could not make a living in Liverpool, so she went back, as I understand, to live with her sister in Croydon, and things jogged on much the same as ever at home. And then came this week and all the misery and ruin.
263 |
264 | “‘It was in this way. We had gone on the May Day for a round voyage of seven days, but a hogshead got loose and started one of our plates, so that we had to put back into port for twelve hours. I left the ship and came home, thinking what a surprise it would be for my wife, and hoping that maybe she would be glad to see me so soon. The thought was in my head as I turned into my own street, and at that moment a cab passed me, and there she was, sitting by the side of Fairbairn, the two chatting and laughing, with never a thought for me as I stood watching them from the footpath.
265 |
266 | “‘I tell you, and I give you my word for it, that from that moment I was not my own master, and it is all like a dim dream when I look back on it. I had been drinking hard of late, and the two things together fairly turned my brain. There's something throbbing in my head now, like a docker's hammer, but that morning I seemed to have all Niagara whizzing and buzzing in my ears.
267 |
268 | “‘Well, I took to my heels, and I ran after the cab. I had a heavy oak stick in my hand, and I tell you I saw red from the first; but as I ran I got cunning, too, and hung back a little to see them without being seen. They pulled up soon at the railway station. There was a good crowd round the booking-office, so I got quite close to them without being seen. They took tickets for New Brighton. So did I, but I got in three carriages behind them. When we reached it they walked along the Parade, and I was never more than a hundred yards from them. At last I saw them hire a boat and start for a row, for it was a very hot day, and they thought, no doubt, that it would be cooler on the water.
269 |
270 | “‘It was just as if they had been given into my hands. There was a bit of a haze, and you could not see more than a few hundred yards. I hired a boat for myself, and I pulled after them. I could see the blur of their craft, but they were going nearly as fast as I, and they must have been a long mile from the shore before I caught them up. The haze was like a curtain all round us, and there were we three in the middle of it. My God, shall I ever forget their faces when they saw who was in the boat that was closing in upon them? She screamed out. He swore like a madman and jabbed at me with an oar, for he must have seen death in my eyes. I got past it and got one in with my stick that crushed his head like an egg. I would have spared her, perhaps, for all my madness, but she threw her arms round him, crying out to him, and calling him “Alec.” I struck again, and she lay stretched beside him. I was like a wild beast then that had tasted blood. If Sarah had been there, by the Lord, she should have joined them. I pulled out my knife, and—well, there! I've said enough. It gave me a kind of savage joy when I thought how Sarah would feel when she had such signs as these of what her meddling had brought about. Then I tied the bodies into the boat, stove a plank, and stood by until they had sunk. I knew very well that the owner would think that they had lost their bearings in the haze, and had drifted off out to sea. I cleaned myself up, got back to land, and joined my ship without a soul having a suspicion of what had passed. That night I made up the packet for Sarah Cushing, and next day I sent it from Belfast.
271 |
272 | “‘There you have the whole truth of it. You can hang me, or do what you like with me, but you cannot punish me as I have been punished already. I cannot shut my eyes but I see those two faces staring at me—staring at me as they stared when my boat broke through the haze. I killed them quick, but they are killing me slow; and if I have another night of it I shall be either mad or dead before morning. You won't put me alone into a cell, sir? For pity's sake don't, and may you be treated in your day of agony as you treat me now.’
273 |
274 | “What is the meaning of it, Watson?[^2]” said Holmes solemnly as he laid down the paper. “What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable. But what end? There is the great standing perennial problem to which human reason is as far from an answer as ever.”
275 |
276 | [Text taken from here](http://sherlock-holm.es/stories/html/card.html)
277 |
278 | [^1]: This is some text for a footnote.
279 | [^2]: Maecenas faucibus mollis interdum. Morbi leo risus, porta ac consectetur ac, vestibulum at eros. Duis mollis, est non commodo luctus, nisi erat porttitor ligula, eget lacinia odio sem nec elit. Integer posuere erat a ante venenatis dapibus posuere velit aliquet. Donec ullamcorper nulla non metus auctor fringilla.
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