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The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes..............................................................................................1

I fear that Mr. Sherlock Holmes may become like one of those popular tenors who, having outlived

their time, are still tempted to make repeated farewell bows to their indulgent audiences. This must

cease and he must go the way of all flesh, material or imaginary. One likes to think that there is

some fantastic limbo for the children of imagination, some strange, impossible place where the

beaux of Fielding may still make love to the belles of Richardson, where Scott's heroes still may

strut, Dickens's delightful Cockneys still raise a laugh, and Thackeray's worldlings continue to carry

on their reprehensible careers. Perhaps in some humble corner of such a Valhalla, Sherlock and

his Watson may for a time find a place, while some more astute sleuth with some even less astute

His career has been a long one though it is possible to exaggerate it; decrepit gentlemen who

approach me and declare that his adventures formed the reading of their boyhood do not meet the

response from me which they seem to expect. One is not anxious to have one's personal dates

handled so unkindly. As a matter of cold fact, Holmes made his debut in A Study in Scarlet and in

The Sign of Four, two small booklets which appeared between 1887 and 1889. It was in 1891 that

"A Scandal in Bohemia," the first of the long series of short stories, appeared in The Strand

Magazine. The public seemed appreciative and desirous of more, so that from that date, thirtynine

years ago, they have been produced in a broken series which now contains no fewer than fiftysix

stories, republished in The Adventures, The Memoirs, The Return, and His Last Bow. and there

remain these twelve published during the last few years which are here produced under the title of

The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes. He began his adventures in the very heart of the later

Victorian era, carried it through the alltooshort reign of Edward, and has managed to hold his

own little niche even in these feverish days. Thus it would be true to say that those who first read of

him, as young men, have lived to see their own grownup children following the same adventures

in the same magazine. It is a striking example of the patience and loyalty of the British public.

I had fully determined at the conclusion of The Memoirs to bring Holmes to an end, as I felt that my

literary energies should not be directed too much into one channel. That pale, clearcut face and

looselimbed figure were taking up an undue share of my imagination. I did the deed, but

fortunately no coroner had pronounced upon the remains, and so, after a long interval, it was not

difficult for me to respond to the flattering demand and to explain my rash act away. I have never

regretted it, for I have not in actual practice found that these lighter sketches have prevented me

from exploring and finding my limitations in such varied branches of literature as history, poetry,

historical novels, psychic research, and the drama. Had Holmes never existed I could not have

done more, though he may perhaps have stood a little in the way of the recognition of my more

And so, reader, farewell to Sherlock Holmes! I thank you for your past constancy, and can but hope

that some return has been made in the shape of that distraction from the worries of life and

stimulating change of thought which can only be found in the fairy kingdom of romance.

It was pleasant to Dr. Watson to find himself once more in the untidy room of the first floor in Baker

Street which had been the startingpoint of so many remarkable adventures. He looked round him

at the scientific charts upon the wall, the acidcharred bench of chemicals, the violincase leaning

in the corner, the coalscuttle, which contained of old the pipes and tobacco. Fi nally, his eyes

came round to the fresh and smiling face of Billy, the young but very wise and tactful page, who

had helped a little to fill up the gap of loneliness and isolation which surrounded the saturnine figure

"It all seems very unchanged, Billy. You don't change, ei ther. I hope the same can be said of

It was seven in the evening of a lovely summer's day, but Dr. Watson was sufficiently familiar with

"Yes, sir, he is very hard at it just now. I'm frightened for his health. He gets paler and thinner, and

he eats nothing. 'When will you be pleased to dine, Mr. Holmes?' Mrs. Hudson asked.

'Seventhirty, the day after tomorrow,' said he. You know his way when he is keen on a case."

"He's following someone. Yesterday he was out as a work man looking for a job. Today he was

an old woman. Fairly took me in, he did, and I ought to know his ways by now." Billy pointed with a

grin to a very baggy parasol which leaned against the sofa. "That's part of the old woman's outfit,"

Billy sank his voice, as one who discusses great secrets of State. "I don't mind telling you, sir, but it

"Yes, sir. They must get it back, sir. Why, we had the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary both

sitting on that very sofa. Mr. Holmes was very nice to them. He soon put them at their ease and

"Yes, sir, you know what that means. He's a stiff'un, sir, if I may say so. I can get along with the

Prime Minister, and I've nothing against the Home Secretary, who seemed a civil, oblig ing sort of

man, but I can't stand his Lordship. Neither can Mr. Holmes, sir. You see, he don't believe in Mr.

"Well, we'll hope he won't fail and that Lord Cantlemere will be confounded. But I say, Billy, what is

"Mr. Holmes had it put up there three days ago. We've got something funny behind it."

Billy advanced and drew away the drapery which screened the alcove of the bow window.

Dr. Watson could not restrain a cry of amazement. There was a facsimile of his old friend,

dressinggown and all, the face turned threequarters towards the window and downward, as

though reading an invisible book, while the body was sunk deep in an armchair. Billy detached the

"We put it at different angles, so that it may seem more lifelike. I wouldn't dare touch it if the blind

"Before my time," said Billy. He drew the window curtains apart and looked out into the street.

"There are folk who watch us from over yonder. I can see a fellow now at the window. Have a look

Watson had taken a step forward when the bedroom door opened, and the long, thin form of

Holmes emerged, his face pale and drawn, but his step and bearing as active as ever. With a

"That will do, Billy," said he. "You were in danger of your life then, my boy, and I can't do without

you just yet. Well, Watson, it is good to see you in your old quarters once again. You come at a

"You can go, Billy. That boy is a problem, Watson. How far am I justified in allowing him to be in

"Even my limited sense of humour could evolve a better joke than that. But we may be comfortable

in the meantime, may we not? Is alcohol permitted? The gasogene and cigars are in the old place.

Let me see you once more in the customary armchair. You have not, I hope, learned to despise my

"Because the faculties become refined when you starve them. Why, surely, as a doctor, my dear

Watson, you must admit that what your digestion gains in the way of blood supply is so much lost

to the brain. I am a brain, Watson. The rest of me is a mere appendix. Therefore, it is the brain I

"Ah. yes, in case it should come off, it would perhaps be as well that you should burden your

memory with the name and address of the murderer. You can give it to Scotland Yard, with my love

and a parting blessing. Sylvius is the name Count Negretto Sylvius. Write it down, man, write it

Watson's honest face was twitching with anxiety. He knew only too well the immense risks taken by

Holmes and was well aware that what he said was more likely to be understatement than

"Your morals don't improve, Watson. You have added fib bing to your other vices. You bear every

"Yes, the great yellow Mazarin stone. I've cast my net and I have my fish. But I have not got the

stone. What is the use of taking them? We can make the world a better place by laying them by the

"Yes, and he's a shark. He bites. The other is Sam Merton the boxer. Not a bad fellow, Sam, but

the Count has used him. Sam's not a shark. He is a great big silly bullheaded gudgeon. But he is

"I've been at his very elbow all the morning. You've seen me as an old lady, Watson. I was never

more convincing. He actually picked up my parasol for me once. 'By your leave, madame,' said he

halfltalian, you know, and with the South ern graces of manner when in the mood, but a devil

"Well, perhaps it might. I followed him to old Straubenzee's workshop in the Minories. Straubenzee

made the airgun a very pretty bit of work, as I understand, and I rather fancy it is in the

opposite window at the present moment. Have you seen the dummy? Of course, Billy showed it to

you. Well, it may get a bullet through its beautiful head at any moment. Ah, Billy, what is it?"

The boy had reappeared in the room with a card upon a tray. Holmes glanced at it with raised

"The man himself. I had hardly expected this. Grasp the nettle, Watson! A man of nerve. Possibly

you have heard of his reputation as a shooter of big game. It would indeed be a triumphant ending

to his excellent sporting record if he added me to his bag. This is a proof that he feels my toe very

"I probably shall. But not just yet. Would you glance care fully out of the window, Watson, and see

"That will be Sam Merton the faithful but rather fatuous Sam. Where is this gentleman, Billy?"

Watson waited until the door was closed, and then he turned earnestly to his companion.

"Look here, Holmes, this is simply impossible. This is a desperate man, who sticks at nothing. He

"Yes, you can, Watson. And you will, for you have never failed to play the game. I am sure you will

play it to the end. This man has come for his own purpose, but he may stay for mine."

Holmes took out his notebook and scribbled a few lines. "Take a cab to Scotland Yard and give this

to Youghal of the C. I. D. Come back with the police. The fellow's arrest will follow."

"Before you return I may have just time enough to find out where the stone is." He touched the bell.

"I think we will go out through the bedroom. This second exit is exceedingly useful. I rather want to

see my shark without his seeing me, and I have, as you will remember, my own way of doing it."

It was, therefore, an empty room into which Billy, a minute later, ushered Count Sylvius. The

famous gameshot, sportsman, and manabouttown was a big, swarthy fellow, with a formida

ble dark moustache shading a cruel, thinlipped mouth, and surmounted by a long, curved nose

like the beak of an eagle. He was well dressed, but his brilliant necktie, shining pin, and glittering

rings were flamboyant in their effect. As the door closed behind him he looked round him with

fierce, startled eyes, like one who suspects a trap at every turn. Then he gave a violent start as he

saw the impassive head and the collar of the dressinggown which projected above the armchair in

the win dow. At first his expression was one of pure amazement. Then the light of a horrible hope

gleamed in his dark, murderous eyes. He took one more glance round to see that there were no

witnesses, and then, on tiptoe, his thick stick half raised, he approached the silent figure. He was

crouching for his final spring and blow when a cool, sardonic voice greeted him from the open

The assassin staggered back, amazement in his convulsed face. For an instant he half raised his

loaded cane once more, as if he would turn his violence from the effigy to the original; but there

was something in that steady gray eye and mocking smile which caused his hand to sink to his

"It's a pretty little thing," said Holmes, advancing towards the image. "Tavernier, the French

modeller, made it. He is as good at waxworks as your friend Straubenzee is at airguns."

"Put your hat and stick on the sidetable. Thank you! Pray take a seat. Would you care to put your

revolver out also? Oh, very good, if you prefer to sit upon it. Your visit is really most opportune, for I

"I, too, wished to have some words with you, Holmes. That is why I am here. I won't deny that I

"I rather gathered that you had some idea of the sort in your head," said he. "But why these

"Because you have gone out of your way to annoy me. Because you have put your creatures upon

"It is a small point, Count Sylvius, but perhaps you would kindly give me my prefix when you

address me. You can understand that, with my routine of work, I should find myself on familiar

terms with half the rogues' gallery, and you will agree that exceptions are invidious."

"Other people can observe as well as you. Yesterday there was an old sporting man. Today it was

"Really, sir, you compliment me. Old Baron Dowson said the night before he was hanged that in my

case what the law had gained the stage had lost. And now you give my little impersona tions your

Holmes shrugged his shoulders. "You can see in the corner the parasol which you so politely

"Have seen this humble home again. I was well aware of it. We all have neglected opportunities to

The Count's knotted brows gathered more heavily over his menacing eyes. "What you say only

makes the matter worse. It was not your agents but your playacting, busybody self! You admit that

The Count sprang to his feet, and his hand involuntarily moved back to his hippocket.

"Sit down, sir, sit down! There was another, more practical, reason. I want that yellow diamond!"

"You knew that I was after you for that. The real reason why you are here tonight is to find out

how much I know about the matter and how far my removal is absolutely essential. Well, I should

say that, from your point of view, it is absolutely essen tial, for I know all about it, save only one

The Count looked sharply at his companion. "Oh, you want to know that, do you? How the devil

"You can't bluff me, Count Sylvius." Holmes's eyes, as he gazed at him, contracted and lightened

until they were like two menacing points of steel. "You are absolute plateglass. I see to the very

Holmes clapped his hands with amusement, and then pointed a derisive finger. "Then you do know.

"Now, Count, if you will be reasonable we can do business. If not, you will get hurt."

Count Sylvius threw up his eyes to the ceiling. "And you talk about bluff!" said he.

Holmes looked at him thoughtfully like a master chessplayer who meditates his crowning move.

"Damn you, Holmes!" cried the Count with blazing eyes. "There are limits to my patience!"

"It's all here, Count. The real facts as to the death of old Mrs. Harold, who left you the Blymer

"Plenty more here, Count. Here is the robbery in the train deluxe to the Riviera on February 13,

"Then I am right on the others! Now, Count, you are a cardplayer. When the other fellow has all

"Gently, Count. Restrain that eager mind! Let me get to the points in my own humdrum fashion. I

have all this against you; but, above all, I have a clear case against both you and your fighting bully

"I have the cabman who took you to Whitehall and the cabman who brought you away. I have the

commissionaire who saw you near the case. I have Ikey Sanders, who refused to cut it up for you.

The veins stood out on the Count's forehead. His dark, hairy hands were clenched in a convulsion

of restrained emotion. He tried to speak, but the words would not shape themselves.

"That's the hand I play from," said Holmes. "I put it all upon the table. But one card is missing. It's

"No? Now, be reasonable, Count. Consider the situation. You are going to be locked up for twenty

years. So is Sam Merton. What good are you going to get out of your diamond? None in the world.

But if you hand it over well, I'll compound a felony. We don't want you or Sam. We want the

stone. Give that up, and so far as I am concerned you can go free so long as you behave yourself

in the future. If you make another slip well, it will be the last. But this time my commission is to get

"I think, Count, that it would be as well to have your friend Sam at this conference. After all, his

interests should be repre sented. Billy, you will see a large and ugly gentleman outside the front

"No violence, Billy. Don't be rough with him. If you tell him that Count Sylvius wants him he will

"My friend Watson was with me just now. I told him that I had a shark and a gudgeon in my net;

The Count had risen from his chair, and his hand was behind his back. Holmes held something half

"I have often had the same idea. Does it matter very much? Aher all, Count, your own exit is more

likely to be perpendicular than horizontal. But these anticipations of the future are morbid. Why not

A sudden wildbeast light sprang up in the dark, menacing eyes of the master criminal. Holmes's

"It is no use your fingering your revolver, my friend," he said in a quiet voice. "You know perfectly

well that you dare not use it, even if I gave you time to draw it. Nasty, noisy things, revolvers,

Count. Better stick to airguns. Ah! I think I hear the fairy footstep of your estimable partner. Good

The prizefighter, a heavily built young man with a stupid, obstinate, slabsided face, stood

awkwardly at the door, looking about him with a puzzled expression. Holmes's debonair manner

was a new experience, and though he vaguely felt that it was hostile, he did not know how to

"What's the game now, Count? What's this fellow want? What's up?" His voice was deep and

"No, I expect not," said Holmes. "I think I can promise you that you will feel even less humorous as

the evening advances. Now, look here, Count Sylvius. I'm a busy man and I can't waste time. I'm

going into that bedroom. Pray make yourselves quite at home in my absence. You can explain to

your friend how the matter lies without the restraint of my presence. I shall try over the Hoffman

'Barcarole' upon my violin. In five min utes I shall return for your final answer. You quite grasp the

Holmes withdrew, picking up his violin from the corner as he passed. A few moments later the

longdrawn, wailing notes of that most haunting of tunes came faintly through the closed door of

"What is it, then?" asked Merton anxiously as his companion turned to him. "Does he know about

"He knows a damned sight too much about it. I'm not sure that he doesn't know all about it."

"Half a mo'," said the boxer, looking suspiciously at the bedroom door. "He's a leary cove that

"That's right. Maybe somebody's behind a curtain. Too many curtains in this room." As he looked

round he suddenly saw for the first time the effigy in the window, and stood staring and pointing,

"A fake, is it? Well, strike me! Madame Tussaud ain't in it. It's the living spit of him, gown and all.

"Oh, confound the curtains! We are wasting our time, and there is none too much. He can lag us

"He's alone in there. Let's do him in. If his light were out we should have nothing to fear."

"He is armed and ready. If we shot him we could hardly get away in a place like this. Besides, it's

likely enough that the police know whatever evidence he has got. Hallo! What was that?"

There was a vague sound which seemed to come from the window. Both men sprang round, but all

was quiet. Save for the one strange figure seated in the chair, the room was certainly empty.

"Something in the street," said Merton. "Now look here, guv'nor, you've got the brains. Surely you

"I've fooled better men than he," the Count answered. "The stone is here in my secret pocket. I take

no chances leaving it about. It can be out of England tonight and cut into four pieces in

"He was. But now he must get off by the next boat. One or other of us must slip round with the

"Well, he must take it as it is and chance it. There's not a moment to lose." Again, with the sense of

danger which be comes an instinct with the sportsman, he paused and looked hard at the window.

"As to Holmes," he continued, "we can fool him easily enough. You see, the damned fool won't

arrest us if he can get the stone. Well, we'll promise him the stone. We'll put him on the wrong track

about it, and before he finds that it is the wrong track it will be in Holland and we out of the country."

"You go on and tell the Dutchman to get a move on him. I'll see this sucker and fill him up with a

bogus confession. I'll tell him that the stone is in Liverpool. Confound that whining music; it gets on

my nerves! By the time he finds it isn't in Liverpool it will be in quarters and we on the blue water.

"Where could I have it safer? If we could take it out of Whitehall someone else could surely take it

Count Sylvius cast a somewhat unflattering glance at his associate and disregarded the unwashed

"What d'ye think I'm going to snatch it off you? See here, mister, I'm getting a bit tired of your

"Well, well, no offence, Sam. We can't afford to quarrel. Come over to the window if you want to

With a single spring Holmes had leaped from the dummy's chair and had grasped the precious

jewel. He held it now in one hand, while his other pointed a revolver at the Count's head. The two

villains staggered back in utter amazement. Before they had recovered Holmes had pressed the

"No violence, gentlemen no violence, I beg of you! Con sider the furniture! It must be very clear

"Your surprise is very natural. You are not aware that a second door from my bedroom leads

behind that curtain. I fancied that you must have heard me when I displaced the figure, but luck

was on my side. It gave me a chance of listening to your racy conversation which would have been

Sam Merton's slow intellect had only gradually appreciated the situation. Now, as the sound of

"A fair cop!" said he. "But, I say, what about that bloomin' fiddle! I hear it yet."

"Tut, tut!" Holmes answered. "You are perfectly right. Let it play! These modern gramophones are a

There was an inrush of police, the handcuffs clicked and the criminals were led to the waiting cab.

Watson lingered with Holmes, congratulating him upon this fresh leaf added to his laurels. Once

more their conversation was interrupted by the imperturbable Billy with his cardtray.

"Show him up, Biily. This is the eminent peer who represents the very highest interests," said

Holmes. "He is an excellent and loyal person, but rather of the old regime. Shall we make him

unbend? Dare we venture upon a slight liberty? He knows, we may conjecture, nothing of what has

The door opened to admit a thin, austere figure with a hatchet face and drooping midVictorian

whiskers of a glossy blackness which hardly corresponded with the rounded shoulders and fee ble

"How do you do, Lord Cantlemere? It is chilly for the time of year, but rather warm indoors. May I

"Pray allow me! My friend Dr. Watson would assure you that these changes of temperature are

"I am quite comfortable, sir. I have no need to stay. I have simply looked in to know how your

"Every man finds his limitations, Mr. Holmes, but at least it cures us of the weakness of

"You apply for my advice rather late in the day. I thought that you had your own allsufficient

"You see, Lord Cantlemere, we can no doubt frame a case against the actual thieves."

"It is as well to have our plans ready. Now, what would you regard as final evidence against the

Holmes seldom laughed, but he got as near it as his old friend Watson could remember.

"In that case, my dear sir, I shall be under the painful necessity of advising your arrest."

Lord Cantlemere was very angry. Some of the ancient fires flickered up into his sallow cheeks.

"You take a great liberty, Mr. Holmes. In fifty years of official life I cannot recall such a case. I am a

busy man, sir engaged upon important affairs, and I have no time or taste for foolish jokes. I may

tell you frankly, sir, that I have never been a believer in your powers, and that I have always been

of the opinion that the matter was far safer in the hands of the regular police force. Your conduct

"One moment, sir," said he. "To actually go off with the Mazarin stone would be a more serious

An instant later the amazed peer was standing, blinking and stammering, with the great yellow

"Too bad, Lord Cantlemere, too bad!" cried Holmes. "My old friend here will tell you that I have an

impish habit of practical joking. Also that I can never resist a dramatic situation. I took the liberty

the very great liberty, I admit of putting the stone into your pocket at the beginning of our

"Sir, I am bewildered. But yes it is indeed the Mazarin stone. We are greatly your debtors,

Mr. Holmes. Your sense of humour may, as you admit, be somewhat perverted, and its exhibition

remarkably untimely, but at least I withdraw any reflection I have made upon your amazing

"The case is but half finished; the details can wait. No doubt, Lord Cantlemere, your pleasure in

telling of this successful result in the exalted circle to which you return will be some small

atonement for my practical joke. Billy, you will show his Lord ship out, and tell Mrs. Hudson that I

Somewhere in the vaults of the bank of Cox and Co., at Charing Cross, there is a travelworn and

battered tin dispatch box with my name, John H. Watson, M. D., Late Indian Army, painted upon

the lid. It is crammed with papers, nearly all of which are records of cases to illustrate the curious

problems which Mr. Sherlock Holmes had at various times to examine. Some, and not the least

interesting, were complete failures, and as such will hardly bear narrating, since no final

explanation is forthcoming. A problem without a solution may interest the student, but can hardly

fail to annoy the casual reader. Among these unfinished tales is that of Mr. James Phillimore, who,

stepping back into his own house to get his umbrella, was never more seen in this world. No less

remarkable is that of the cutter Alicia, which sailed one spring morning into a small patch of mist

from where she never again emerged, nor was anything further ever heard of herself and her crew.

A third case worthy of note is that of Isadora Persano, the wellknown journalist and duellist, who

was found stark staring mad with a match box in front of him which contained a remarkable worm

said to be unknown to science. Apart from these unfathomed cases, there are some which involve

the secrets of private families to an extent which would mean consternation in many exalted

quarters if it were thought possible that they might find their way into print. I need not say that such

a breach of confidence is unthink able, and that these records will be separated and destroyed

now that my friend has time to turn his energies to the matter. There remain a considerable residue

of cases of greater or less interest which I might have edited before had I not feared to give the

public a surfeit which might react upon the reputation of the man whom above all others I revere. In

some I was myself concerned and can speak as an eyewitness, while in others I was either not

present or played so small a part that they could only be told as by a third person. The following

It was a wild morning in October, and I observed as I was dressing how the last remaining leaves

were being whirled from the solitary plane tree which graces the yard behind our house. I

descended to breakfast prepared to find my companion in de pressed spirits, for, like all great

artists, he was easily impressed by his surroundings. On the contrary, I found that he had nearly

finished his meal, and that his mood was particularly bright and joyous, with that somewhat sinister

"The faculty of deduction is certainly contagious, Watson," he answered. "It has enabled you to

probe my secret. Yes, I have a case. After a month of trivialities and stagnation the wheels move

"There is little to share, but we may discuss it when you have consumed the two hardboiled eggs

with which our new cook has favoured us. Their condition may not be unconnected with the copy of

the Family Herald which I observed yesterday upon the halltable. Even so trivial a matter as

cooking an egg demands an attention which is conscious of the passage of time and incom

A quarter of an hour later the table had been cleared and we were face to face. He had drawn a

"Well, he was once Senator for some Western state, but is better known as the greatest

"Yes, I know of him. He has surely lived in England for some time. His name is very familiar."

"Yes, he bought a considerable estate in Hampshire some five years ago. Possibly you have

"Of course. I remember it now. That is why the name is familiar. But I really know nothing of the

Holmes waved his hand towards some papers on a chair. "I had no idea that the case was coming

my way or I should have had my extracts ready," said he. "The fact is that the problem, though

exceedingly sensational, appeared to present no diffi culty. The interesting personality of the

accused does not obscure the clearness of the evidence. That was the view taken by the coroner's

jury and also in the policecourt proceedings. It is now referred to the Assizes at Winchester. I fear

it is a thankless business. I can discover facts, Watson, but I cannot change them. Unless some

entirely new and unexpected ones come to light I do not see what my client can hope for."

"Ah, I forgot I had not told you. I am getting into your involved habit, Watson, of telling a story

The letter which he handed to me, written in a bold, masterful hand, ran as follows:

"There you have it," said Sherlock Holmes, knocking out the ashes of his afterbreakfast pipe and

slowly refilling it. "That is the gentleman I await. As to the story, you have hardly time to master all

these papers, so I must give it to you in a nutshell if you are to take an intelligent interest in the

proceedings. This man is the greatest financial power in the world, and a man, as I understand, of

most violent and formidable character. He mar ried a wife, the victim of this tragedy, of whom I

know nothing save that she was past her prime, which was the more unfortu nate as a very

attractive governess superintended the education of two young children. These are the three

people concerned, and the scene is a grand old manor house, the centre of a historical English

state. Then as to the tragedy. The wife was found in the grounds nearly half a mile from the house,

late at night, clad in her dinner dress, with a shawl over her shoulders and a revolver bullet through

her brain. No weapon was found near her and there was no local clue as to the murder. No weapon

near her, Watson mark that! The crime seems to have been committed late in the evening, and

the body was found by a gamekeeper about eleven o'clock, when it was examined by the police

and by a doctor before being carried up to the house. Is this too con densed, or can you follow it

"Well, in the first place there is some very direct evidence. A revolver with one discharged chamber

and a calibre which cor responded with the bullet was found on the floor of her ward robe." His

eyes fixed and he repeated in broken words, "On the floor of her wardrobe." Then

he sank into si lence, and I saw that some train of thought had been set moving which I should be

foolish to interrupt. Suddenly with a start he emerged into brisk life once more. "Yes, Watson, it was

found. Pretty damning, eh? So the two juries thought. Then the dead woman had a note upon her

making an appointment at that very place and signed by the governess. How's that? Finally there is

the motive. Senator Gibson is an attractive person. If his wife dies, who more likely to succeed her

than the young lady who had already by all accounts received pressing attentions from her

employer? Love, fortune, power, all depending upon one middle aged life. Ugly, Watson very

"Nor could she prove an alibi. On the contrary, she had to admit that she was down near Thor

Bridge that was the scene of the tragedy about that hour. She couldn't deny it, for some

"And yet, Watson and yet! This bridge a single broad span of stone with balustraded sides

carries the drive over the nar rowest part of a long, deep, reedgirt sheet of water. Thor Mere it

is called. In the mouth of the bridge lay the dead woman. Such are the main facts. But here, if I

Billy had opened the door, but the name which he announced was an unexpected one. Mr. Marlow

Bates was a stranger to both of us. He was a thin, nervous wisp of a man with frightened eyes and

a twitching, hesitating manner a man whom my own professional eye would judge to be on the

"You seem agitated, Mr. Bates," said Holmes. "Pray sit down. I fear I can only give you a short

"I know you have," our visitor gasped, shooting out short sentences like a man who is out of breath.

"Mr. Gibson is coming. Mr. Gibson is my employer. I am manager of his estate. Mr. Holmes, he is a

"I have to be emphatic, Mr. Holmes, for the time is so limited. I would not have him find me here for

the world. He is almost due now. But I was so situated that I could not come earlier. His secretary,

"I have given him notice. In a couple of weeks I shall have shaken off his accursed slavery. A hard

man, Mr. Holmes, hard to all about him. Those public charities are a screen to cover his private

iniquities. But his wife was his chief victim. He was brutal to her yes, sir, brutal! How she came

by her death I do not know, but I am sure that he had made her life a misery to her. She was a

"Tropical by birth and tropical by nature. A child of the sun and of passion. She had loved him as

such women can love, but when her own physical charms had faded I am told that they once

were great there was nothing to hold him. We all liked her and felt for her and hated him for the

way that he treated her. But he is plausible and cunning. That is all I have to say to you. Don't take

him at his face value. There is more behind. Now I'll go. No, no, don't detain me! He is almost due."

With a frightened look at the clock our strange visitor literally ran to the door and disappeared.

"Well! Well!" said Holmes after an interval of silence. "Mr. Gibson seems to have a nice loyal

household. But the warning is a useful one, and now we can only wait till the man himself appears."

Sharp at the hour we heard a heavy step upon the stairs, and the famous millionaire was shown

into the room. As I looked upon him I understood not only the fears and dislike of his manager but

also the execrations which so many business rivals have heaped upon his head. If I were a sculptor

and desired to idealize the successful man of affairs, iron of nerve and leathery of conscience, I

should choose Mr. Neil Gibson as my model. His tall, gaunt, craggy figure had a suggestion of

hunger and rapacity. An Abraham Lincoln keyed to base uses instead of high ones would give

some idea of the man. His face might have been chiselled in granite, hardset, craggy,

remorseless, with deep lines upon it, the scars of many a crisis. Cold gray eyes, looking shrewdly

out from under bristling brows, surveyed us each in turn. He bowed in perfunctory fashion as

Holmes mentioned my name, and then with a masterful air of possession he drew a chair up to my

"Let me say right here, Mr. Holmes," he began, "that money is nothing to me in this case. You can

burn it if it's any use in lighting you to the truth. This woman is innocent and this woman has to be

"My professional charges are upon a fixed scale," said Holmes coldly. "I do not vary them, save

"Well, if dollars make no difference to you, think of the reputation. If you pull this off every paper in

"Thank you, Mr. Gibson, I do not think that I am in need of booming. It may surprise you to know

that I prefer to work anonymously, and that it is the problem itself which attracts me. But we are

"I think that you will find all the main ones in the press reports. I don't know that I can add anything

which will help you. But if there is anything you would wish more light upon well, I am here to

The Gold King gave a violent start and half rose from his chair. Then his massive calm came back

"I suppose you are within your rights and maybe doing your duty in asking such a question,

"Then I can assure you that our relations were entirely and always those of an employer towards a

young lady whom he never conversed with, or ever saw, save when she was in the company of his

"I am a rather busy man, Mr. Gibson," said he, "and I have no time or taste for aimless

Our visitor had risen also, and his great loose figure towered above Holmes. There was an angry

gleam from under those bristling brows and a tinge of colour in the sallow cheeks.

"Well, Mr. Gibson, at least I dismiss you. I should have thought my words were plain."

"Plain enough, but what's at the back of it? Raising the price on me, or afraid to tackle it, or what?

"Well, perhaps you have," said Holmes. "I'll give you one. This case is quite sufficiently complicated

"Well, I was trying to express it as delicately as I could, but if you insist upon the word I will not

I sprang to my feet, for the expression upon the millionaire's face was fiendish in its intensity, and

he had raised his great knotted fist. Holmes smiled languidly and reached his hand out for his pipe.

"Don't be noisy, Mr. Gibson. I find that after breakfast even the smallest argument is unsettling. I

suggest that a stroll in the morning air and a little quiet thought will be greatly to your advantage."

With an effort the Gold King mastered his fury. I could not but admire him, for by a supreme

selfcommand he had turned in a minute from a hot flame of anger to a frigid and contemptuous

"Well, it's your choice. I guess you know how to run your own business. I can't make you touch the

case against your will. You've done yourself no good this morning, Mr. Holmes, for I have broken

"So many have said so, and yet here I am," said Holmes, smiling. "Well, goodmorning, Mr.

Our visitor made a noisy exit, but Holmes smoked in imper turbable silence with dreamy eyes

"Well, Holmes, I must confess that when I consider that this is a man who would certainly brush any

obstacle from his path, and when I remember that his wife may have been an obstacle and an

"But what were his relations with the governess, and how did you discover them?"

"Bluff, Watson, bluff! When I considered the passionate, unconventional, unbusinesslike tone of his

letter and contrasted it with his selfcontained manner and appearance, it was pretty clear that

there was some deep emotion which centred upon the accused woman rather than upon the victim.

We've got to under stand the exact relations of those three people if we are to reach the truth. You

saw the frontal attack which I made upon him, and how imperturbably he received it. Then I bluffed

him by giving him the impression that I was absolutely certain, when in reality I was only extremely

"He is sure to come back. He must come back. He can't leave it where it is. Ha! isn't that a ring?

Yes, there is his footstep. Well, Mr. Gibson, I was just saying to Dr. Watson that you were

The Gold King had reentered the room in a more chastened mood than he had left it. His wounded

pride still showed in his resentful eyes, but his common sense had shown him that he must yield if

"I've been thinking it over, Mr. Holmes, and I feel that I have been hasty in taking your remarks

amiss. You are justified in getting down to the facts, whatever they may be, and I think the more of

you for it. I can assure you, however, that the relations between Miss Dunbar and me don't really

"Yes, I guess that is so. You're like a surgeon who wants every symptom before he can give his

"Exactly. That expresses it. And it is only a patient who has an object in deceiving his surgeon who

"That may be so, but you will admit, Mr. Holmes, that most men would shy off a bit when they are

asked pointblank what their relations with a woman may be if there is really some serious

feeling in the case. I guess most men have a little private reserve of their own in some corner of

their souls where they don't welcome intruders. And you burst suddenly into it. But the object

excuses you, since it was to try and save her. Well, the stakes are down and the reserve open, and

The Gold King paused for a moment as one who marshals his thoughts. His grim, deeplined face

"I can give it to you in a very few words, Mr. Holmes," said he at last. "There are some things that

are painful as well as difficult to say, so I won't go deeper than is needful. I met my wife when I was

goldhunting in Brazil. Maria Pinto was the daughter of a government official at Manaos, and she

was very beautiful. I was young and ardent in those days, but even now, as I look back with colder

blood and a more critical eye, I can see that she was rare and wonderful in her beauty. It was a

deep rich nature, too, passionate, wholehearted, tropical, illbalanced, very different from the

American women whom I had known. Well, to make a long story short, I loved her and I married

her. It was only when the romance had passed and it lingered for years that I realized that

we had nothing absolutely nothing in common. My love faded. If hers had faded also it might

have been easier. But you know the wonderful way of women! Do what I might, nothing could turn

her from me. If I have been harsh to her, even brutal as some have said, it has been because I

knew that if I could kill her love, or if it turned to hate, it would be easier for both of us. But nothing

changed her. She adored me in those English woods as she had adored me twenty years ago on

"Then came Miss Grace Dunbar. She answered our advertise ment and became governess to our

two children. Perhaps you have seen her portrait in the papers. The whole world has pro claimed

that she also is a very beautiful woman. Now, I make no pretence to be more moral than my

neighbours, and I will admit to you that I could not live under the same roof with such a woman and

in daily contact with her without feeling a passionate regard for her. Do you blame me, Mr.

"I do not blame you for feeling it. I should blame you if you expressed it, since this young lady was

"Well, maybe so," said the millionaire, though for a moment the reproof had brought the old angry

gleam into his eyes. "I'm not pretending to be any better than I am. I guess all my life I've been a

man that reached out his hand for what he wanted, and I never wanted anything more than the love

"I said to her that if I could marry her I would, but that it was out of my power. I said that money was

no object and that all I could do to make her happy and comfortable would be done."

"See here, Mr. Holmes. I came to you on a question of evidence, not on a question of morals. I'm

"It is only for the young lady's sake that I touch your case at all," said Holmes sternly. "I don't know

that anything she is accused of is really worse than what you have yourself admitted, that you have

tried to ruin a defenceless girl who was under your roof. Some of you rich men have to be taught

"That's how I feel myself about it now. I thank God that my plans did not work out as I intended.

"Well, in the first place, others were dependent upon her, and it was no light matter for her to let

them all down by sacrificing her living. When I had sworn as I did that she should never be

molested again, she consented to remain. But there was another reason. She knew the influence

she had over me, and that it was stronger than any other influence in the world. She wanted to use

"Well, she knew something of my affairs. They are large, Mr. Holmes large beyond the belief of

an ordinary man. I can make or break and it is usually break. It wasn't individuals only. It was

communities, cities, even nations. Business is a hard game, and the weak go to the wall. I played

the game for all it was worth. I never squealed myself, and I never cared if the other fellow

squealed. But she saw it different. I guess she was right. She believed and said that a fortune for

one man that was more than he needed should not be built on ten thousand ruined men who were

left without the means of life. That was how she saw it, and I guess she could see past the dollars

to something that was more lasting. She found that I listened to what she said, and she believed

she was serving the world by influencing my actions. So she stayed and then this came along."

The Gold King paused for a minute or more, his head sunk in his hands, lost in deep thought.

"It's very black against her. I can't deny that. And women lead an inward life and may do things

beyond the judgment of a man. At first I was so rattled and taken aback that I was ready to think

she had been led away in some extraordinary fashion that was clean against her usual nature. One

explanation came into my head. I give it to you, Mr. Holmes, for what it is worth. There is no doubt

that my wife was bitterly jealous. There is a souljealousy that can be as frantic as any

bodyjealousy, and though my wife had no cause and I think she understood this for the

latter, she was aware that this English girl exerted an influence upon my mind and my acts that she

herself never had. It was an influence for good, but that did not mend the matter. She was crazy

with hatred and the heat of the Amazon was always in her blood. She might have planned to

murder Miss Dunbar or we will say to threaten her with a gun and so frighten her into leaving us.

Then there might have been a scuffle and the gun gone off and shot the woman who held it."

"That possibility had already occurred to me," said Holmes. "Indeed, it is the only obvious

"Well, that is not final is it? One can understand that a woman placed in so awful a position

might hurry home still in her bewilderment holding the revolver. She might even throw it down

among her clothes, hardly knowing what she was doing, and when it was found she might try to lie

her way out by a total denial, since all explanation was impossible. What is against such a

Holmes looked at his watch. "I have no doubt we can get the necessary permits this morning and

reach Winchester by the evening train. When I have seen this young lady it is very possible that I

may be of more use to you in the matter, though I cannot promise that my conclusions will

There was some delay in the official pass, and instead of reaching Winchester that day we went

down to Thor Place, the Hampshire estate of Mr. Neil Gibson. He did not accompany us himself,

but we had the address of Sergeant Coventry, of the local police, who had first examined into the

affair. He was a tall, thin, cadaverous man, with a secretive and mysterious manner which

conveyed the idea that he knew or suspected a very great deal more than he dared say. He had a

trick, too, of suddenly sinking his voice to a whisper as if he had come upon something of vital

importance, though the information was usu ally commonplace enough. Behind these tricks of

manner he soon showed himself to be a decent, honest fellow who was not too proud to admit that

"Anyhow, I'd rather have you than Scotland Yard, Mr. Holmes," said he. "If the Yard gets called into

a case, then the local loses all credit for success and may be blamed for failure. Now, you play

"I need not appear in the matter at all," said Holmes to the evident relief of our melancholy

"Well, it's very handsome of you, I am sure. And your friend, Dr. Watson, can be trusted, I know.

Now, Mr. Holmes, as we walk down to the place there is one question I should like to ask you. I'd

breathe it to no soul but you." He looked round as though he hardly dare utter the words. "Don't you

"You've not seen Miss Dunbar. She is a wonderful fine woman in every way. He may well have

wished his wife out of the road. And these Americans are readier with pistols than our folk are. It

"Well, the gentleman has a lot of firearms of one sort and another. We never quite matched that

"Well, we have them all laid out at the house if you would care to look them over."

"Later, perhaps. I think we will walk down together and have a look at the scene of the tragedy."

This conversation had taken place in the little front room of Sergeant Coventry's humble cottage

which served as the local policestation. A walk of half a mile or so across a windswept heath, all

gold and bronze with the fading ferns, brought us to a sidegate opening into the grounds of the

Thor Place estate. A path led us through the pheasant preserves, and then from a clearing we saw

the widespread, halftimbered house, half Tudor and half Georgian, upon the crest of the hill.

Beside us there was a long, reedy pool, constricted in the centre where the main carriage drive

passed over a stone bridge, but swelling into small lakes on either side. Our guide paused at the

"Mr. Gibson himself. The moment the alarm was given and he had rushed down with others from

the house, he insisted that nothing should be moved until the police should arrive."

"That was sensible. I gathered from the newspaper report that the shot was fired from close

"On the back, sir. No trace of a struggle. No marks. No weapon. The short note from Miss Dunbar

"That is of great importance. It excludes the idea that anyone could have placed the note there after

death in order to furnish a false clue. Dear me! The note, as I remember, was quite short:

"The problem is certainly a very interesting one. The point of the letter is very obscure, is it not?"

"Well, sir," said the guide, "it seemed, if I may be so bold as to say so, the only really clear point in

"Granting that the letter is genuine and was really written, it was certainly received some time

before say one hour or two. Why, then, was this lady still clasping it in her left hand? Why

should she carry it so carefully? She did not need to refer to it in the interview. Does it not seem

"I think I should like to sit quietly for a few minutes and think it out." He seated himself upon the

stone ledge of the bridge, and I could see his quick gray eyes darting their questioning glances in

every direction. Suddenly he sprang up again and ran across to the opposite parapet, whipped his

"Yes, sir, we saw the chip on the ledge. I expect it's been done by some passerby."

The stonework was gray, but at this one point it showed white for a space not larger than a

sixpence. When examined closely one could see that the surface was chipped as by a sharp blow.

"It took some violence to do that," said Holmes thoughtfully. With his cane he struck the ledge

several times without leaving a mark. "Yes, it was a hard knock. In a curious place, too. It was not

from above but from below, for you see that it is on the lower edge of the parapet."

"Yes, it is fifteen feet from the body. It may have nothing to do with the matter, but it is a point worth

noting. I do not think that we have anything more to learn here. There were no foot steps, you

"Then we can go. We will go up to the house first and look over these weapons of which you speak.

Then we shall get on to Winchester, for I should desire to see Miss Dunbar before we go farther."

Mr. Neil Gibson had not returned from town, but we saw in the house the neurotic Mr. Bates who

had called upon us in the morning. He showed us with a sinister relish the formidable array of

firearms of various shapes and sizes which his employer had accumulated in the course of an

"Mr. Gibson has his enemies, as anyone would expect who knew him and his methods," said he.

"He sleeps with a loaded revolver in the drawer beside his bed. He is a man of violence, sir, and

there are times when all of us are afraid of him. I am sure that the poor lady who has passed was

"No, I cannot say that. But I have heard words which were nearly as bad words of cold, cutting

"Our millionaire does not seem to shine in private life," remarked Holmes as we made our way to

the station. "Well, Watson, we have come on a good many facts, some of them new ones, and yet I

seem some way from my conclusion. In spite of the very evident dislike which Mr. Bates has to his

employer, I gather from him that when the alarm came he was undoubtedly in his library. Dinner

was over at 8:30 and all was normal up to then. It is true that the alarm was somewhat late in the

evening, but the tragedy certainly occurred about the hour named in the note. There is no evidence

at all that Mr. Gibson had been out of doors since his return from town at five o'clock. On the other

hand, Miss Dunbar, as I understand it, admits that she had made an appointment to meet Mrs.

Gibson at the bridge. Beyond this she would say nothing, as her lawyer had advised her to reserve

her defence. We have several very vital questions to ask that young lady, and my mind will not be

easy until we have seen her. I must confess that the case would seem to me to be very black

"Dear me, Holmes!" I cried, "that seemed to me to be the most damning incident of all."

"Not so, Watson. It had struck me even at my first perfunc tory reading as very strange, and now

that I am in closer touch with the case it is my only firm ground for hope. We must look for

"Well now, Watson, suppose for a moment that we visualize you in the character of a woman who,

in a cold, premeditated fashion, is about to get rid of a rival. You have planned it. A note has been

written. The victim has come. You have your weapon. The crime is done. It has been workmanlike

and com plete. Do you tell me that after carrying out so crafty a crime you would now ruin your

reputation as a criminal by forgetting to fling your weapon into those adjacent reedbeds which

would forever cover it, but you must needs carry it carefully home and put it in your own wardrobe,

the very first place that would be searched? Your best friends would hardly call you a schemer,

"No, no, Watson, I will not admit that it is possible. Where a crime is coolly premeditated, then the

means of covering it are coolly premeditated also. I hope, therefore, that we are in the presence of

"Well, we shall set about explaining it. When once your point of view is changed, the very thing

which was so damning becomes a clue to the truth. For example, there is this revolver. Miss

Dunbar disclaims all knowledge of it. On our new theory she is speaking truth when she says so.

Therefore, it was placed in her wardrobe. Who placed it there? Someone who wished to incriminate

her. Was not that person the actual criminal? You see how we come at once upon a most fruitful

We were compelled to spend the night at Winchester, as the formalities had not yet been

completed, but next morning, in the company of Mr. Joyce Cummings, the rising barrister who was

entrusted with the defence, we were allowed to see the young lady in her cell. I had expected from

all that we had heard to see a beautiful woman, but I can never forget the effect which Miss Dunbar

produced upon me. It was no wonder that even the masterful millionaire had found in her

something more powerful than himself something which could control and guide him. One felt,

too, as one looked at the strong, clearcut, and yet sensitive face, that even should she be capable

of some impetu ous deed, none the less there was an innate nobility of character which would

make her influence always for the good. She was a brunette, tall, with a noble figure and

commanding presence, but her dark eyes had in them the appealing, helpless expression of the

hunted creature who feels the nets around it, but can see no way out from the toils. Now, as she

realized the presence and the help of my famous friend, there came a touch of colour in her wan

cheeks and a light of hope began to glimmer in the glance which she turned upon us.

"Perhaps Mr. Neil Gibson has told you something of what occurred between us?" she asked in a

"Yes," Holmes answered, "you need not pain yourself by entering into that part of the story. After

seeing you, I am prepared to accept Mr. Gibson's statement both as to the influ ence which you

had over him and as to the innocence of your relations with him. But why was the whole situation

"It seemed to me incredible that such a charge could be sustained. I thought that if we waited the

whole thing must clear itself up without our being compelled to enter into painful details of the inner

life of the family. But I understand that far from clearing it has become even more serious."

"My dear young lady," cried Holmes earnestly, "I beg you to have no illusions upon the point. Mr.

Cummings here would assure you that all the cards are at present against us, and that we must do

everything that is possible if we are to win clear. It would be a cruel deception to pretend that you

are not in very great danger. Give me all the help you can, then, to get at the truth."

"She hated me, Mr. Holmes. She hated me with all the fervour of her tropical nature. She was a

woman who would do nothing by halves, and the measure of her love for her husband was the

measure also of her hatred for me. It is probable that she misunderstood our relations. I would not

wish to wrong her, but she loved so vividly in a physical sense that she could hardly understand the

mental, and even spiritual, tie which held her husband to me, or imagine that it was only my desire

to influ ence his power to good ends which kept me under his roof. I can see now that I was

wrong. Nothing could justify me in remaining where I was a cause of unhappiness, and yet it is

"Now, Miss Dunbar," said Holmes, "I beg you to tell us exactly what occurred that evening."

"I can tell you the truth so far as I know it, Mr. Holmes, but I am in a position to prove nothing, and

there are points the most vital points which I can neither explain nor can I imagine any

"With regard, then, to my presence at Thor Bridge that night, I received a note from Mrs. Gibson in

the morning. It lay on the table of the schoolroom, and it may have been left there by her own hand.

It implored me to see her there after dinner, said she had something important to say to me, and

asked me to leave an answer on the sundial in the garden, as she desired no one to be in our

confidence. I saw no reason for such secrecy, but I did as she asked, accepting the appointment.

She asked me to destroy her note and I burned it in the schoolroom grate. She was very much

afraid of her husband, who treated her with a harshness for which I frequently reproached him, and

I could only imagine that she acted in this way because she did not wish him to know of our

"I went down as I had promised. When I reached the bridge she was waiting for me. Never did I

realize till that moment how this poor creature hated me. She was like a mad woman indeed, I

think she was a mad woman, subtly mad with the deep power of deception which insane people

may have. How else could she have met me with unconcern every day and yet had so raging a

hatred of me in her heart? I will not say what she said. She poured her whole wild fury out in

burning and horrible words. I did not even answer I could not. It was dreadful to see her. I put

my hands to my ears and rushed away. When I left her she was standing, still shrieking out her

"And yet, presuming that she met her death shortly after you left her, you heard no shot?"

"No, I heard nothing. But, indeed, Mr. Holmes, I was so agitated and horrified by this terrible

outbreak that I rushed to get back to the peace of my own room, and I was incapable of noticing

"You say that you returned to your room. Did you leave it again before next morning?"

"Yes, when the alarm came that the poor creature had met her death I ran out with the others "

"Yes, he had just returned from the bridge when I saw him. He had sent for the doctor and the

"Mr. Gibson is a very strong, selfcontained man. I do not think that he would ever show his

emotions on the surface. But I, who knew him so well, could see that he was deeply concerned."

"Then we come to the allimportant point. This pistol that was found in your room. Had you ever

"That is final. Then someone came into your room and placed the pistol there in order to inculpate

"It could only have been at mealtime, or else at the hours when I would be in the schoolroom with

"Thank you, Miss Dunbar. Is there any other point which could help me in the investigation?"

"There was some sign of violence on the stonework of the bridge a perfectly fresh chip just

"Curious, Miss Dunbar, very curious. Why should it appear at the very time of the tragedy, and why

Holmes did not answer. His pale, eager face had suddenly assumed that tense, faraway

expression which I had learned to associate with the supreme manifestations of his genius. So

evident was the crisis in his mind that none of us dared to speak, and we sat, barrister, prisoner,

and myself, watching him in a concentrated and absorbed silence. Suddenly he sprang from his

"Never mind, my dear lady. You will hear from me, Mr. Cummings. With the help of the god of

justice I will give you a case which will make England ring. You will get news by tomorrow, Miss

Dunbar, and meanwhile take my assurance that the clouds are lifting and that I have every hope

It was not a long journey from Winchester to Thor Place, but it was long to me in my impatience,

while for Holmes it was evident that it seemed endless; for, in his nervous restlessness he could

not sit still, but paced the carriage or drummed with his long, sensitive fingers upon the cushions

beside him. Suddenly, however, as we neared our destination he seated himself opposite to me

we had a firstclass carriage to ourselves and laying a hand upon each of my knees he looked

into my eyes with the peculiarly mischievous gaze which was charactenstic of his more implike

"Watson," said he, "I have some recollection that you go armed upon these excursions of ours."

It was as well for him that I did so, for he took little care for his own safety when his mind was once

absorbed by a problem so that more than once my revolver had been a good friend in need. I

"Yes, yes, I am a little absentminded in such matters. But have you your revolver on you?"

I produced it from my hippocket, a short, handy, but very serviceable little weapon. He undid the

"Do you know, Watson," said he, "I believe your revolver is going to have a very intimate

"No, Watson, I am very serious. There is a test before us. If the test comes off, all will be clear. And

the test will depend upon the conduct of this little weapon. One cartridge out. Now we will replace

the other five and put on the safetycatch. So! That increases the weight and makes it a better

I had no glimmer of what was in his mind, nor did he enlighten me, but sat lost in thought until we

pulled up in the little Hampshire station. We secured a ramshackle trap, and in a quarter of an hour

"It all depends upon the behaviour of Dr. Watson's revolver," said my friend. "Here it is. Now,

"I think that this is all we will need," said Holmes. "Now, if you please, we will get off on what I hope

The sun was setting and turning the rolling Hampshire moor into a wonderful autumnal panorama.

The sergeant, with many critical and incredulous glances, which showed his deep doubts of the

sanity of my companion, lurched along beside us. As we approached the scene of the crime I could

see that my friend under all his habitual coolness was in truth deeply agitated.

"Yes," he said in answer to my remark, "you have seen me miss my mark before, Watson. I have

an instinct for such things, and yet it has sometimes played me false. It seemed a certainty when

first it flashed across my mind in the cell at Winchester, but one drawback of an active mind is that

one can always conceive alternative explanations which would make our scent a false one. And yet

As he walked he had firmly tied one end of the string to the handle of the revolver. We had now

reached the scene of the tragedy. With great care he marked out under the guidance of the

policeman the exact spot where the body had been stretched. He then hunted among the heather

and the ferns until he found a considerable stone. This he secured to the other end of his line of

string, and he hung it over the parapet of the bridge so that it swung clear above the water. He then

stood on the fatal spot, some distance from the edge of the bridge, with my revolver in his hand, the

At the words he raised the pistol to his head, and then let go his grip. In an instant it had been

whisked away by the weight of the stone, had struck with a sharp crack against the parapet, and

had vanished over the side into the water. It had hardly gone before Holmes was kneeling beside

"Was there ever a more exact demonstration?" he cried. "See, Watson, your revolver has solved

the problem!" As he spoke he pointed to a second chip of the exact size and shape of the first

"We'll stay at the inn tonight," he continued as he rose and faced the astonished sergeant. "You

will, of course, get a grapplinghook and you will easily restore my friend's revolver. You will also

find beside it the revolver, string and weight with which this vindictive woman attempted to disguise

her own crime and to fasten a charge of murder upon an innocent victim. You can let Mr. Gibson

know that I will see him in the morning, when steps can be taken for Miss Dunbar's vindication."

Late that evening, as we sat together smoking our pipes in the village inn, Holmes gave me a brief

"I fear, Watson," said he, "that you will not improve any reputation which I may have acquired by

adding the case of the Thor Bridge mystery to your annals. I have been sluggish in mind and

wanting in that mixture of imagination and reality which is the basis of my art. I confess that the chip

in the stonework was a sufficient clue to suggest the true solution, and that I blame myself for not

"It must be admitted that the workings of this unhappy wom an's mind were deep and subtle, so

that it was no very simple matter to unravel her plot. I do not think that in our adventures we have

ever come across a stranger example of what perverted love can bring about. Whether Miss

Dunbar was her rival in a physical or in a merely mental sense seems to have been equally

unforgivable in her eyes. No doubt she blamed this innocent lady for all those harsh dealings and

unkind words with which her husband tried to repel her too demonstrative affection. Her first

resolution was to end her own life. Her second was to do it in such a way as to involve her victim in

"We can follow the various steps quite clearly, and they show a remarkable subtlety of mind. A note

was extracted very clev erly from Miss Dunbar which would make it appear that she had chosen

the scene of the crime. In her anxiety that it should be discovered she somewhat overdid it by

holding it in her hand to the last. This alone should have excited my suspicions earlier than it did.

"Then she took one of her husband's revolvers there was, as you saw, an arsenal in the house

and kept it for her own use. A similar one she concealed that morning in Miss Dunbar's ward

robe after discharging one barrel, which she could easily do in the woods without attracting

attention. She then went down to the bridge where she had contrived this exceedingly ingenious

method for getting rid of her weapon. When Miss Dunbar ap peared she used her last breath in

pouring out her hatred, and then, when she was out of hearing, carried out her terrible purpose.

Every link is now in its place and the chain is complete. The papers may ask why the mere was not

dragged in the first instance, but it is easy to be wise after the event, and in any case the expanse

of a reedfilled lake is no easy matter to drag unless you have a clear perception of what you are

looking for and where. Well, Watson, we have helped a remark able woman, and also a

formidable man. Should they in the future join their forces, as seems not unlikely, the financial

world may find that Mr. Neil Gibson has learned something in that schoolroom of sorrow where our

Mr. Sherlock Holmes was always of opinion that I should publish the singular facts connected with

Professor Presbury, if only to dispel once for all the ugly rumours which some twenty years ago

agitated the university and were echoed in the learned societies of London. There were, however,

certain obstacles in the way, and the true history of this curious case remained entombed in the tin

box which contains so many records of my friend's adventures. Now we have at last obtained

permission to ventilate the facts which formed one of the very last cases handled by Holmes before

his retirement from practice. Even now a certain reticence and discretion have to be observed in

It was one Sunday evening early in September of the year 1903 that I received one of Holmes's

The relations between us in those latter days were peculiar. He was a man of habits, narrow and

concentrated habits, and I had become one of them. As an institution I was like the violin, the shag

tobacco, the old black pipe, the index books, and others perhaps less excusable. When it was a

case of active work and a comrade was needed upon whose nerve he could place some reliance,

my role was obvious. But apart from this I had uses. I was a whetstone for his mind. I stimulated

him. He liked to think aloud in my presence. His remarks could hardly be said to be made to me

many of them would have been as appropriately addressed to his bedstead but none the less,

having formed the habit, it had become in some way helpful that I should register and interject. If I

irritated him by a certain methodical slowness in my mentality, that irritation served only to make his

own flamelike intuitions and impressions flash up the more vividly and swiftly. Such was my

When I arrived at Baker Street I found him huddled up in his armchair with updrawn knees, his pipe

in his mouth and his brow furrowed with thought. It was clear that he was in the throes of some

vexatious problem. With a wave of his hand he indicated my old armchair, but otherwise for half an

hour he gave no sign that he was aware of my presence. Then with a start he seemed to come

from his reverie, and with his usual whimsi cal smile he greeted me back to what had once been

"You will excuse a certain abstraction of mind, my dear Watson," said he. "Some curious facts have

been submitted to me within the last twentyfour hours, and they in turn have given rise to some

speculations of a more general character. I have serious thoughts of writing a small monograph

"But surely, Holmes, this has been explored," said I. "Bloodhounds sleuthhounds "

"No, no, Watson, that side of the matter is, of course, obvious. But there is another which is far

more subtle. You may recollect that in the case which you, in your sensational way, coupled with

the Copper Beeches, I was able, by watching the mind of the child, to form a deduction as to the

"My line of thoughts about dogs is analogous. A dog reflects the family life. Whoever saw a frisky

dog in a gloomy family, or a sad dog in a happy one? Snarling people have snarling dogs,

dangerous people have dangerous ones. And their passing moods may reflect the passing moods

"The practical application of what I have said is very close to the problem which I am investigating.

It is a tangled skein, you understand. and I am looking for a loose end. One possible loose end lies

in the question: Why does Professor Presbury's wolf hound, Roy, endeavour to bite him?"

I sank back in my chair in some disappointment. Was it for so trivial a question as this that I had

"The same old Watson!" said he. "You never learn that the gravest issues may depend upon the

smallest things. But is it not on the face of it strange that a staid, elderly philosopher you've

heard of Presbury, of course, the famous Camford physiologist? that such a man, whose friend

has been his devoted wolf hound, should now have been twice attacked by his own dog? What do

"Well, that has to be considered. But he attacks no one else, nor does he apparently molest his

master, save on very special occasions. Curious, Watson very curious. But young Mr. Ben nett

is before his time if that is his ring. I had hoped to have a longer chat with you before he came."

There was a quick step on the stairs, a sharp tap at the door and a moment later the new client

presented himself. He was a tall, handsome youth about thirty, well dressed and elegant, but with

something in his bearing which suggested the shyness of the student rather than the

selfpossession of the man of the world. He shook hands with Holmes, and then looked with some

"This matter is very delicate, Mr. Holmes," he said. "Con sider the relation in which I stand to

Professor Presbury both privately and publicly. I really can hardly justify myself if I speak before

"Have no fear, Mr. Bennett. Dr. Watson is the very soul of discretion, and I can assure you that this

"As you like, Mr. Holmes. You will, I am sure, understand my having some reserves in the matter."

"You will appreciate it, Watson, when I tell you that this gentleman, Mr. Trevor Bennett, is

professional assistant to the great scientist, lives under his roof, and is engaged to his only

daughter. Certainly we must agree that the professor has every claim upon his loyalty and

devotion. But it may best be shown by taking the necessary steps to clear up this strange mystery."

"I hope so, Mr. Holmes. That is my one object. Does Dr. Watson know the situation?"

"Then perhaps I had better go over the ground again before explaining some fresh developments."

"I will do so myself," said Holmes, "in order to show that I have the events in their due order. The

professor, Watson, is a man of European reputation. His life has been academic. There has never

been a breath of scandal. He is a widower with one daughter, Edith. He is, I gather, a man of very

virile and positive, one might almost say combative, character. So the matter stood until a very few

"Then the current of his life was broken. He is sixtyone years of age, but he became engaged to

the daughter of Professor Morphy, his colleague in the chair of comparative anatomy. It was not, as

I understand, the reasoned courting of an elderly man but rather the passionate frenzy of youth, for

no one could have shown himself a more devoted lover. The lady, Alice Morphy, was a very perfect

girl both in mind and body, so that there was every excuse for the professor's infatuation. None the

"Exactly. Excessive and a little violent and unnatural. Profes sor Presbury was rich, however, and

there was no objection upon the part of the father. The daughter, however, had other views, and

there were already several candidates for her hand, who, if they were less eligible from a worldly

point of view, were at least more of an age. The girl seemed to like the professor in spite of his

"About this time a little mystery suddenly clouded the normal routine of the professor's life. He did

what he had never done before. He left home and gave no indication where he was going. He was

away a fortnight and returned looking rather travelworn. He made no allusion to where he had

been, al though he was usually the frankest of men. It chanced, however, that our client here, Mr.

Bennett, received a letter from a fellow student in Prague, who said that he was glad to have seen

Professor Presbury there, although he had not been able to talk to him. Only in this way did his own

"Now comes the point. From that time onward a curious change came over the professor. He

became furtive and sly. Those around him had always the feeling that he was not the man that they

had known, but that he was under some shadow which had darkened his higher qualities. His

intellect was not affected. His lectures were as brilliant as ever. But always there was something

new, something sinister and unexpected. His daughter, who was devoted to him, tried again and

again to resume the old relations and to penetrate this mask which her father seemed to have put

on. You, sir, as I understand, did the same but all was in vain. And now, Mr. Bennett, tell in your

"You must understand, Dr. Watson, that the professor had no secrets from me. If I were his son or

his younger brother I could not have more completely enjoyed his confidence. As his secre tary I

handled every paper which came to him, and I opened and subdivided his letters. Shortly after his

return all this was changed. He told me that certain letters might come to him from London which

would be marked by a cross under the stamp. These were to be set aside for his own eyes only. I

may say that several of these did pass through my hands, that they had the E. C. mark, and were

in an illiterate handwriting. If he answered them at all the answers did not pass through my hands

"Ah, yes, the box. The professor brought back a little wooden box from his travels. It was the one

thing which suggested a Continental tour, for it was one of those quaint carved things which one

associates with Germany. This he placed in his instru ment cupboard. One day, in looking for a

canula, I took up the box. To my surprise he was very angry, and reproved me in words which were

quite savage for my curiosity. It was the first time such a thing had happened, and I was deeply

hurt. I endeavoured to explain that it was a mere accident that I had touched the box, but all the

evening I was conscious that he looked at me harshly and that the incident was rankling in his

mind." Mr. Bennett drew a little diary book from his pocket. "That was on July 2d," said he.

"You are certainly an admirable witness," said Holmes. "I may need some of these dates which you

"I learned method among other things from my great teacher. From the time that I observed

abnormality in his behaviour I felt that it was my duty to study his case. Thus I have it here that it

was on that very day, July 2d, that Roy attacked the professor as he came from his study into the

hall. Again, on July 11th, there was a scene of the same sort, and then I have a note of yet another

upon July 20th. After that we had to banish Roy to the stables. He was a dear, affectionate animal

Mr. Bennett spoke in a tone of reproach, for it was very clear that Holmes was not listening. His

face was rigid and his eyes gazed abstractedly at the ceiling. With an effort he recovered himself.

"Singular! Most singular!" he murmured. "These details were new to me, Mr. Bennett. I think we

have now fairly gone over the old ground, have we not? But you spoke of some fresh

The pleasant, open face of our visitor clouded over, shadowed by some grim remembrance. "What

I speak of occurred the night before last," said he. "I was lying awake about two in the morning,

when I was aware of a dull muffled sound coming from the passage. I opened my door and peeped

"He sleeps at the end of the passage and would have to pass my door in order to reach the

staircase. It was a really terrifying experience, Mr. Holmes. I think that I am as strongnerved as my

neighbours, but I was shaken by what I saw. The passage was dark save that one window halfway

along it threw a patch of light. I could see that something was coming along the passage,

something dark and crouching. Then suddenly it emerged into the light, and I saw that it was he.

He was crawling, Mr. Holmes crawling! He was not quite on his hands and knees. I should

rather say on his hands and feet, with his face sunk between his hands. Yet he seemed to move

with ease. I was so paralyzed by the sight that it was not until he had reached my door that I was

able to step forward and ask if I could assist him. His answer was extraordinary. He sprang up, spat

out some atrocious word at me, and hurried on past me, and down the staircase. I waited about for

an hour, but he did not come back. It must have been daylight before he regained his room."

"Well, Watson, what make you of that?" asked Holmes with the air of the pathologist who presents

"Lumbago, possibly. I have known a severe attack make a man walk in just such a way, and

"Good, Watson! You always keep us flatfooted on the ground. But we can hardly accept lumbago,

"He was never better in health," said Bennett. "In fact, he is stronger than I have known him for

years. But there are the facts, Mr. Holmes. It is not a case in which we can consult the police, and

yet we are utterly at our wit's end as to what to do, and we feel in some strange way that we are

drifting towards disaster. Edith Miss Presbury feels as I do, that we cannot wait passively any

"It is certainly a very curious and suggestive case. What do you think, Watson?"

"Speaking as a medical man," said I, "it appears to be a case for an alienist. The old gentleman's

cerebral processes were disturbed by the love affair. He made a journey abroad in the hope of

breaking himself of the passion. His letters and the box may be connected with some other private

"And the wolfhound no doubt disapproved of the financial bargain. No, no, Watson, there is more in

What Sherlock Holmes was about to suggest will never be known, for at this moment the door

opened and a young lady was shown into the room. As she appeared Mr. Bennett sprang up with a

cry and ran forward with his hands out to meet those which she had herself outstretched.

"I felt I must follow you. Oh, Jack, I have been so dreadfully frightened! It is awful to be there

"We were gradually coming to that conclusion, were we not, Watson?" Holmes answered with a

smile. "I take it, Miss Presbury, that there is some fresh development in the case, and that you

Our new visitor, a bright, handsome girl of a conventional English type, smiled back at Holmes as

"When I found Mr. Bennett had left his hotel I thought I should probably find him here. Of course, he

had told me that he would consult you. But, oh, Mr. Holmes, can you do nothing for my poor

"I have hopes, Miss Presbury, but the case is still obscure. Perhaps what you have to say may

"It was last night, Mr. Holmes. He had been very strange all day. I am sure that there are times

when he has no recollection of what he does. He lives as in a strange dream. Yesterday was such

a day. It was not my father with whom I lived. His outward shell was there, but it was not really he."

"I was awakened in the night by the dog barking most furi ously. Poor Roy, he is chained now

near the stable. I may say that I always sleep with my door locked; for, as Jack as Mr. Bennett

will tell you, we all have a feeling of impending danger. My room is on the second floor. It

happened that the blind was up in my window, and there was bright moonlight outside. As I lay with

my eyes fixed upon the square of light, listening to the frenzied barkings of the dog, I was amazed

to see my father's face looking in at me. Mr. Holmes, I nearly died of surprise and horror. There it

was pressed against the window pane, and one hand seemed to be raised as if to push up the

window. If that window had opened, I think I should have gone mad. It was no delusion, Mr.

Holmes. Don't deceive yourself by thinking so. I dare say it was twenty seconds or so that I lay

paralyzed and watched the face. Then it vanished, but I could not I could not spring out of bed

and look out after it. I lay cold and shivering till morning. At breakfast he was sharp and fierce in

manner, and made no allusion to the adventure of the night. Neither did I, but I gave an excuse for

"My dear young lady, you say that your room is on the second floor. Is there a long ladder in the

"No, Mr. Holmes, that is the amazing part of it. There is no possible way of reaching the window

"The date being September 5th," said Holmes. "That cer tainly complicates matters."

It was the young lady's turn to look surprised. "This is the second time that you have alluded to the

date, Mr. Holmes," said Bennett. "Is it possible that it has any bearing upon the case?"

"Possibly you are thinking of the connection between insanity and phases of the moon?"

"No, I assure you. It was quite a different line of thought. Possibly you can leave your notebook with

me, and I will check the dates. Now I think, Watson, that our line of action is perfectly clear. This

young lady has informed us and I have the greatest confidence in her intuition that her father

remembers little or nothing which occurs upon certain dates. We will there fore call upon him as if

he had given us an appointment upon such a date. He will put it down to his own lack of memory.

"That is excellent," said Mr. Bennett. "I warn you, however, that the professor is irascible and

Holmes smiled. "There are reasons why we should come at once very cogent reasons if my

theories hold good. Tomorrow, Mr. Bennett, will certainly see us in Camford. There is, if I

remember right, an inn called the Chequers where the port used to be above mediocrity and the

linen was above reproach. I think, Watson, that our lot for the next few days might lie in less

Monday morning found us on our way to the famous univer sity town an easy effort on the part

of Holmes, who had no roots to pull up, but one which involved frantic planning and hurrying on my

part, as my practice was by this time not inconsiderable. Holmes made no allusion to the case until

after we had deposited our suitcases at the ancient hostel of which he had spoken.

"I think, Watson, that we can catch the professor just before lunch. He lectures at eleven and

"There was a period of excitement upon August 26th. We will assume that he is a little hazy as to

what he does at such times. If we insist that we are there by appointment I think he will hardly

"Excellent, Watson! Compound of the Busy Bee and Excel sior. We can but try the motto of the

Such a one on the back of a smart hansom swept us past a row of ancient colleges and, finally

turning into a treelined drive, pulled up at the door of a charming house, girt round with lawns and

covered with purple wistaria. Professor Presbury was cer tainly surrounded with every sign not

only of comfort but of luxury. Even as we pulled up, a grizzled head appeared at the front window,

and we were aware of a pair of keen eyes from under shaggy brows which surveyed us through

large horn glasses. A moment later we were actually in his sanctum, and the myste rious scientist,

whose vagaries had brought us from London, was standing before us. There was certainly no sign

of eccentricity either in his manner or appearance, for he was a portly, large featured man, grave,

tall, and frockcoated, with the dignity of bearing which a lecturer needs. His eyes were his most

"Possibly there is some mistake. I heard through a second person that Professor Presbury of

"Oh, indeed!" It seemed to me that there was a malicious sparkle in the intense gray eyes. "You

"I am sorry, Professor, but the matter was rather confidential. If I have made a mistake there is no

"Not at all. I should wish to go funher into this matter. It interests me. Have you any scrap of writing,

"No, I dare say not," said the professor with asperity. "How ever, that particular one can be

He walked across the room to the bell. Our London friend Mr. Bennett, answered the call.

"Come in, Mr. Bennett. These two gentlemen have come from London under the impression that

they have been sum moned. You handle all my correspondence. Have you a note of anything

"That is conclusive," said the professor, glaring angrily at my companion. "Now, sir" he leaned

forward with his two hands upon the table " it seems to me that your position is a very

"Hardly enough, Mr. Holmes!" the old man cried in a high screaming voice, with extraordinary

malignancy upon his face. He got between us and the door as he spoke, and he shook his two

hands at us with furious passion. "You can hardly get out of it so easily as that." His face was

convulsed, and he grinned and gibbered at us in his senseless rage. I am convinced that we should

"My dear Professor," he cried, "consider your position! Consider the scandal at the university! Mr.

Holmes is a well known man. You cannot possibly treat him with such discourtesy."

Sulkily our host if I may call him so cleared the path to the door. We were glad to find

ourselves outside the house and in the quiet of the treelined drive. Holmes seemed great!y

"Our learned friend's nerves are somewhat out of order," said he. "Perhaps our intrusion was a little

crude, and yet we have gained that personal contact which I desired. But, dear me, Watson, he is

There were the sounds of running feet behind, but it was, to my relief, not the formidable professor

but his assistant who appeared round the curve of the drive. He came panting up to us.

"My dear sir, there is no need. It is all in the way of professional experience."

"I have never seen him in a more dangerous mood. But he grows more sinister. You can

understand now why his daughter and I are alarmed. And yet his mind is perfectly clear."

"Too clear!" said Holmes. "That was my miscalculation. It is evident that his memory is much more

reliable than I had thought. By the way, can we, before we go, see the window of Miss Presbury's

Mr. Bennett pushed his way through some shrubs, and we had a view of the side of the house.

"Dear me, it seems hardly accessible. And yet you will observe that there is a creeper below and a

"There was one other thing I wish to tell you, Mr. Holmes. I have the address of the man in London

to whom the professor writes. He seems to have written this morning, and I got it from his

blottingpaper. It is an ignoble position for a trusted secre tary, but what else can I do?"

"Dorak a curious name. Slavonic, I imagine. Well, it is an important link in the chain. We return

to London this afternoon, Mr. Bennett. I see no good purpose to be served by our remain ing. We

cannot arrest the professor because he has done no crime, nor can we place him under constraint,

"A little patience, Mr. Bennett. Things will soon develop. Unless I am mistaken, next Tuesday may

mark a crisis. Certainly we shall be in Camford on that day. Meanwhile, the general position is

"Then let her stay till we can assure her that all danger is past. Meanwhile, let him have his way

"There he is!" said Bennett in a startled whisper. Looking between the branches we saw the tall,

erect figure emerge from the hall door and look around him. He stood leaning forward, his hands

swinging straight before him, his head turning from side to side. The secretary with a last wave

slipped off among the trees, and we saw him presently rejoin his employer, the two entering the

"I expect the old gentleman has been putting two and two together," said Holmes as we walked

hotelward. "He struck me as having a particularly clear and logical brain from the little I saw of him.

Explosive, no doubt, but then from his point of view he has something to explode about if detectives

are put on his track and he suspects his own household of doing it. I rather fancy that friend

Holmes stopped at a postoffice and sent off a telegram on our way. The answer reached us in the

"Mercer is since your time," said Holmes. "He is my general utility man who looks up routine

business. It was important to know something of the man with whom our professor was so secretly

"Thank goodness that something connects with something," said I. "At present we seem to be

faced by a long series of inexplicable incidents with no bearing upon each other."For example, what

possible connection can there be between an angry wolfhound and a visit to Bohemia, or either of

them with a man crawling down a passage at night? As to your dates, that is the biggest

Holmes smiled and rubbed his hands. We were, I may say, seated in the old sittingroom of the

ancient hotel, with a bottle of the famous vintage of which Holmes had spoken on the table

"Well, now, let us take the dates first," said he, his finger tips together and his manner as if he

were addressing a class. "This excellent young man's diary shows that there was trouble upon July

2d, and from then onward it seems to have been at nineday intervals, with, so far as I remember,

only one excep tion. Thus the last outbreak upon Friday was on September 3d, which also falls

into the series, as did August 26th, which preceded it. The thing is beyond coincidence."

"Let us, then, form the provisional theory that every nine days the professor takes some strong drug

which has a passing but highly poisonous effect. His naturally violent nature is inten sified by it.

He learned to take this drug while he was in Prague, and is now supplied with it by a Bohemian

"Well, well, we have made a beginning. I should not expect any fresh developments until next

Tuesday. In the meantime we can only keep in touch with friend Bennett and enjoy the ameni ties

In the morning Mr. Bennett slipped round to bring us the latest report. As Holmes had imagined,

times had not been easy with him. Without exactly accusing him of being responsible for our

presence, the professor had been very rough and rude in his speech, and evidently felt some

strong grievance. This morning he was quite himself again, however, and had delivered his usual

brilliant lecture to a crowded class. "Apart from his queer fits," said Bennett, "he has actually more

energy and vitality than I can ever remember, nor was his brain ever clearer. But it's not he it's

"I don't think you have anything to fear now for a week at least," Holmes answered. "I am a busy

man, and Dr. Watson has his patients to attend to. Let us agree that we meet here at this hour next

Tuesday, and I shall be surprised if before we leave you again we are not able to explain, even if

we cannot perhaps put an end to, your troubles. Meanwhile, keep us posted in what occurs."

I saw nothing of my friend for the next few days, but on the following Monday evening I had a short

note asking me to meet him next day at the train. From what he told me as we travelled up to

Camford all was well, the peace of the professor's house had been unruffled, and his own conduct

perfectly normal. This also was the report which was given us by Mr. Bennett himself when he

called upon us that evening at our old quarters in the Chequers. "He heard from his London

correspondent today. There was a letter and there was a small packet, each with the cross under

"That may prove quite enough," said Holmes grimly. "Now, Mr. Bennett, we shall, I think, come to

some conclusion to night. If my deductions are correct we should have an opportu nity of

bringing matters to a head. In order to do so it is necessary to hold the professor under

observation. I would sug gest, therefore, that you remain awake and on the lookout. Should you

hear him pass your door, do not interrupt him, but follow him as discreetly as you can. Dr. Watson

and I will not be far off. By the way, where is the key of that little box of which you spoke?"

"I fancy our researches must lie in that direction. At the worst the lock should not be very

"We might possibly want him. Well, we can do no more until we see how things develop, Goodbye

It was nearly midnight before we took our station among some bushes immediately opposite the

hall door of the professor. It was a fine night, but chilly, and we were glad of our warm overcoats.

There was a breeze, and clouds were scudding across the sky, obscuring from time to time the

halfmoon. It would have been a dismal vigil were it not for the expectation and excitement which

carried us along, and the assurance of my comrade that we had probably reached the end of the

"If the cycle of nine days holds good then we shall have the professor at his worst tonight," said

Holmes. "The fact that these strange symptoms began after his visit to Prague, that he is in secret

correspondence with a Bohemian dealer in London, who presumably represents someone in

Prague, and that he received a packet from him this very day, all point in one direction. What he

takes and why he takes it are still beyond our ken, but that it emanates in some way from Prague is

clear enough. He takes it under definite directions which regulate this ninthday system, which was

the first point which attracted my attention. But his symptoms are most remarkable. Did you ob

"Thick and horny in a way which is quite new in my experi ence. Always look at the hands first,

Watson. Then cuffs, trouser knees, and boots. Very curious knuckles which can only be explained

by the mode of progression observed by " Holmes paused and suddenly clapped his hand to his

forehead. "Oh, Watson, Watson, what a fool I have been! It seems incredible, and yet it must be

true. All points in one direction. How could I miss seeing the connection of ideas? Those knuckles

how could I have passed those knuckles? And the dog! And the ivy! It's surely time that I

disappeared into that little farm of my dreams. Look out, Watson! Here he is! We shall have the

The hall door had slowly opened, and against the lamplit background we saw the tall figure of

Professor Presbury. He was clad in his dressing gown. As he stood outlined in the doorway he was

Now he stepped forward into the drive, and an extraordinary change came over him. He sank down

into a crouching position and moved along upon his hands and feet, skipping every now and then

as if he were overflowing with energy and vitality. He moved along the face of the house and then

round the corner. As he disappeared Bennett slipped through the hall door and softly followed him.

"Come, Watson, come!" cried Holmes, and we stole as softly as we could through the bushes until

we had gained a spot whence we could see the other side of the house, which was bathed in the

light of the halfmoon. The professor was clearly visible crouching at the foot of the ivycovered

wall. As we watched him he suddenly began with incredible agility to ascend it. From branch to

branch he sprang, sure of foot and firm of grasp, climbing apparently in mere joy at his own

powers, with no definite object in view. With his dressinggown flapping on each side of him, he

looked like some huge bat glued against the side of his own house, a great square dark patch upon

the moonlit wall. Presently he tired of this amusement, and, drop ping from branch to branch, he

squatted down into the old attitude and moved towards the stables, creeping along in the same

strange way as before. The wolfhound was out now, barking furiously, and more excited than ever

when it actually caught sight of its master. It was straining on its chain and quivering with

eagerness and rage. The professor squatted down very deliberately just out of reach of the hound

and began to provoke it in every possible way. He took handfuls of pebbles from the drive and

threw them in the dog's face, prodded him with a stick which he had picked up, flicked his hands

about only a few inches from the gaping mouth, and endeavoured in every way to increase the

animal's fury, which was already beyond all control. In all our adventures I do not know that I have

ever seen a more strange sight than this impassive and still dignified figure crouching froglike

upon the ground and goading to a wilder exhibition of passion the maddened hound, which ramped

And then in a moment it happened! It was not the chain that broke, but it was the collar that slipped,

for it had been made for a thicknecked Newfoundland. We heard the rattle of falling metal, and the

next instant dog and man were rolling on the ground together, the one roaring in rage, the other

screaming in a strange shrill falsetto of terror. It was a very narrow thing for the professor's life. The

savage creature had him fairly by the throat, its fangs had bitten deep, and he was senseless

before we could reach them and drag the two apart. It might have been a danger ous task for us,

but Bennett's voice and presence brought the great wolflhound instantly to reason. The uproar had

brought the sleepy and astonished coachman from his room above the sta bles. "I'm not

surprised," said he, shaking his head. "I've seen him at it before. I knew the dog would get him

The hound was secured, and together we carried the professor up to his room, where Bennett, who

had a medical degree, helped me to dress his torn throat. The sharp teeth had passed dangerously

near the carotid artery, and the haemorrhage was serious. In half an hour the danger was past, I

had given the patient an injection of morphia, and he had sunk into deep sleep. Then, and only

"For God's sake, no!" cried Bennett. "At present the scandal is confined to our own household. It is

safe with us. If it gets beyond these walls it will never stop. Consider his position at the university,

"Quite so," said Holmes. "I think it may be quite possible to keep the matter to ourselves, and also

to prevent its recurrence now that we have a free hand. The key from the watchchain, Mr.

Bennett. Macphail will guard the patient and let us know if there is any change. Let us see what we

There was not much, but there was enough an empty phial, another nearly full, a hypodermic

syringe, several letters in a crabbed, foreign hand. The marks on the envelopes showed that they

were those which had disturbed the routine of the secretary, and each was dated from the

Commercial Road and signed "A. Dorak." They were mere invoices to say that a fresh bottle was

being sent to Professor Presbury, or receipt to acknowledge money. There was one other

envelope, however, in a more educated hand and bearing the Austrian stamp with the postmark of

HONOURED COLLEAGUE [it ran]: Since your esteemed visit I have thought much of your case,

and though in your circumstances there are some special reasons for the treatment, I would none

the less enjoin caution, as my results have shown that it is not without danger of a kind. It is

possible that the serum of anthropoid would have been better. I have, as I explained to you, used

blackfaced langur because a specimen was accessible. Langur is, of course, a crawler and

climber, while anthropoid walks erect and is in all ways nearer. I beg you to take every possible

precaution that there be no premature revelation of the process. I have one other client in England,

and Dorak is my agent for both. Weekly reports will oblige. Yours with high esteem, H.

Lowenstein! The name brought back to me the memory of some snippet from a newspaper which

spoke of an obscure scientist who was striving in some unknown way for the secret of

rejuvenescence and the elixir of life. Lowenstein of Prague! Lowenstein with the wondrous

strengthgiving serum, tabooed by the profession because he refused to reveal its source. In a few

words I said what I remembered. Bennett had taken a manual of zoology from the shelves. "

'Langur.' " he read. " 'the great blackfaced monkey of the Himalayan slopes, big gest and most

human of climbing monkeys. Many details are added. Well, thanks to you, Mr. Holmes, it is very

"The real source," said Holmes, "lies, of course, in that untimely love affair which gave our

impetuous professor the idea that he could only gain his wish by turning himself into a younger

man. When one tries to rise above Nature one is liable to fall below it. The highest type of man may

revert to the animal if he leaves the straight road of destiny." He sat musing for a little with the phial

in his hand, looking at the clear liquid within. "When I have written to this man and told him that I

hold him criminally responsible for the poisons which he cir culates, we will have no more trouble.

But it may recur. Others may find a better way. There is danger there a very real danger to

humanity. Consider, Watson, that the material, the sensual, the worldly would all prolong their

worthless lives. The spiritual would not avoid the call to something higher. It would be the survival

of the least fit. What sort of cesspool may not our poor world become?" Suddenly the dreamer

disappeared, and Holmes, the man of action, sprang from his chair. "I think there is nothing more to

be said, Mr. Bennett. The various incidents will now fit themselves easily into the general scheme.

The dog, of course, was aware of the change far more quickly than you. His smell would insure

that. It was the monkey, not the professor, whom Roy attacked, just as it was the monkey who

teased Roy. Climbing was a joy to the creature, and it was a mere chance, I take it, that the

pastime brought him to the young lady's win dow. There is an early train to town, Watson, but I

think we shall just have time for a cup of tea at the Chequers before we catch it."

Holmes had read carefully a note which the last post had brought him. Then, with the dry chuckle

"For a mixture of the modern and the mediaeval, of the practical and of the wildly fanciful, I think

"Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Wat son," said Holmes in a reminiscent

voice. "It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is

not yet prepared. But what do we know about vampires? Does it come within our purview either?

Anything is better than stagnation, but really we seem to have been switched on to a Grimms' fairy

I leaned back and took down the great index volume to which he referred. Holmes balanced it on

his knee, and his eyes moved slowly and lovingly over the record of old cases, mixed with the

"Voyage of the Gloria Scott," he read. "That was a bad business. I have some recollection that you

made a record of it, Watson, though I was unable to congratulate you upon the result. Victor Lynch,

the forger. Venomous lizard or gila. Remarkable case, that! Vittoria, the circus belle. Vanderbilt and

the Yegg man. Vipers. Vigor, the Hammersmith wonder. Hullo! Hullo! Good old index. You can't

beat it. Listen to this, Watson. Vampirism in Hungary. And again, Vampires in Transylvania." He

turned over the pages with eagerness, but after a short intent perusal he threw down the great

"Rubbish, Watson, rubbish! What have we to do with walking corpses who can only be held in their

"But surely," said I, "the vampire was not necessarily a dead man? A living person might have the

habit. I have read, for example, of the old sucking the blood of the young in order to retain their

"You are right, Watson. It mentions the legend in one of these references. But are we to give

serious attention to such things? This agency stands flatfooted upon the ground, and there it must

remain. The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply. I fear that we cannot take Mr.

Robert Ferguson very seriously. Possibly this note may be from him and may throw some light

He took up a second letter which had lain unnoticed upon the table while he had been absorbed

with the first. This he began to read with a smile of amusement upon his face which gradually faded

away into an expression of intense interest and concentra tion. When he had finished he sat for

some little time lost in thought with the letter dangling from his fingers. Finally, with a start, he

"I know that country, Holmes. It is full of old houses which are named after the men who built them

centuries ago. You get Odley's and Harvey's and Carriton's the folk are forgotten but their

"Precisely," said Holmes coldly. It was one of the peculiari ties of his proud, selfcontained nature

that though he docketed any fresh information very quietly and accurately in his brain, he seldom

made any acknowledgment to the giver. "I rather fancy we shall know a good deal more about

Cheeseman's, Lamberley, before we are through. The letter is, as I had hoped, from Robert

"Of course I remembered him," said I as I laid down the letter. "Big Bob Ferguson, the finest

threequarter Richmond ever had. He was always a goodnatured chap. It's like him to be so

"I never get your limits, Watson," said he. "There are unexplored possibilities about you. Take a

"We must not let him think that this agency is a home for the weakminded. Of course it is his case.

Promptly at ten o'clock next morning Ferguson strode into our room. I had remembered him as a

long, slabsided man with loose limbs and a fine turn of speed which had carried him round many

an opposing back. There is surely nothing in life more painful than to meet the wreck of a fine

athlete whom one has known in his prime. His great frame had fallen in, his flaxen hair was scanty,

and his shoulders were bowed. I fear that I roused corresponding emotions in him.

"Hullo, Watson," said he, and his voice was still deep and hearty. "You don't look quite the man you

did when I threw you over the ropes into the crowd at the Old Deer Park. I expect I have changed a

bit also. But it's this last day or two that has aged me. I see by your telegram, Mr. Holmes, that it is

"Of course it is. But you can imagine how difficult it is when you are speaking of the one woman

whom you are bound to protect and help. What can I do? How am I to go to the police with such a

story? And yet the kiddies have got to be protected. Is it madness, Mr. Holmes? Is it something in

the blood? Have you any similar case in your experience? For God's sake, give me some advice,

"Very naturally, Mr. Ferguson. Now sit here and pull your self together and give me a few clear

answers. I can assure you that I am very far from being at my wit's end, and that I am confident we

shall find some solution. First of all, tell me what steps you have taken. Is your wife still near the

"We had a dreadful scene. She is a most loving woman, Mr. Holmes. If ever a woman loved a man

with all her heart and soul, she loves me. She was cut to the heart that I should have discovered

this horrible, this incredible, secret. She would not even speak. She gave no answer to my

reproaches, save to gaze at me with a sort of wild, despairing look in her eyes. Then she rushed to

her room and locked herself in. Since then she has refused to see me. She has a maid who was

with her before her marriage, Dolores by name a friend rather than a servant. She takes her

"Mrs. Mason, the nurse, has sworn that she will not leave it night or day. I can absolutely trust her. I

am more uneasy about poor little Jack, for, as I told you in my note, he has twice been assaulted by

"No, she struck him savagely. It is the more terrible as he is a poor little inoffensive cripple."

Ferguson's gaunt features soft ened as he spoke of his boy. "You would think that the dear lad's

condition would soften anyone's heart. A fall in childhood and a twisted spine, Mr. Holmes. But the

Holmes had picked up the letter of yesterday and was reading it over. "What other inmates are

"Two servants who have not been long with us. One stable hand, Michael, who sleeps in the

house. My wife, myself, my boy Jack, baby, Dolores, and Mrs. Mason. That is all."

"Then your wife's character would really be better known by Dolores than by you?"

"I fancy," said he, "that I may be of more use at Lamberley than here. It is eminently a case for

personal investigation. If the lady remains in her room, our presence could not annoy or

"It is what I hoped, Mr. Holmes. There is an excellent train at two from Victoria if you could come."

"Of course we could come. There is a lull at present. I can give you my undivided energies.

Watson, of course, comes with us. But there are one or two points upon which I wish to be very

sure before I start. This unhappy lady, as I understand it, has appeared to assault both the children,

"Well, that is not unknown among stepmothers. A posthu mous jealousy, we will say. Is the lady

"Yes, she is very jealous jealous with all the strength of her fiery tropical love."

"But the boy he is fifteen, I understand, and probably very developed in mind, since his body

has been circumscribed in action. Did he give you no explanation of these assaults?"

"Never in the world could there be so devoted a son. My life is his life. He is absorbed in what I say

"No doubt you and the boy were great comrades before this second marriage. You were thrown

"And the boy, having so affectionate a nature, was devoted, no doubt, to the memory of his

"He would certainly seem to be a most interesting lad. There is one other point about these

assaults. Were the strange attacks upon the baby and the assaults upon yow son at the same

"In the first case it was so. It was as if some frenzy had seized her, and she had vented her rage

upon both. In the second case it was only Jack who suffered. Mrs. Mason had no complaint to

"Possibly not. One forms provisional theories and waits for time or fuller knowledge to explode

them. A bad habit, Mr. Ferguson, but human nature is weak. I fear that your old friend here has

given an exaggerated view of my scientific methods. However, I will only say at the present stage

that your problem does not appear to me to be insoluble, and that you may expect to find us at

It was evening of a dull, foggy November day when, having left our bags at the Chequers,

Lamberley, we drove through the Sussex clay of a long winding lane and finally reached the

isolated and ancient farmhouse in which Ferguson dwelt. It was a large, straggling building, very

old in the centre, very new at the wings with towering Tudor chimneys and a lichenspotted,

highpitched roof of Horsham slabs. The doorsteps were worn into curves, and the ancient tiles

which lined the porch were marked with the rebus of a cheese and a man after the original builder.

Within, the ceilings were corrugated with heavy oaken beams, and the uneven floors sagged into

There was one very large central room into which Ferguson led us. Here, in a huge oldfashioned

fireplace with an iron screen behind it dated 1670, there blazed and spluttered a splen did log fire.

The room, as I gazed round, was a most singular mixture of dates and of places. The halfpanelled

walls may well have belonged to the original yeoman farmer of the seventeenth cen tury. They

were ornamented, however, on the lower part by a line of wellchosen modern watercolours;

while above, where yellow plaster took the place of oak, there was hung a fine collection of South

American utensils and weapons, which had been brought, no doubt, by the Peruvian lady upstairs.

Holmes rose, with that quick curiosity which sprang from his eager mind, and examined them with

A spaniel had lain in a basket in the corner. It came slowly forward towards its master, walking with

difficulty. Its hind legs moved irregularly and its tail was on the ground. It licked Ferguson's hand.

"That's what puzzled the vet. A sort of paralysis. Spinal meningitis, he thought. But it is passing.

A shiver of assent passed through the drooping tail. The dog's mournful eyes passed from one of

"For God's sake, what do you think, Mr. Holmes? It may be a mere intellectual puzzle to you, but it

is life and death to me! My wife a wouldbe murderer my child in constant danger! Don't play

The big Rugby threequarter was trembling all over. Holmes put his hand soothingly upon his arm.

"I fear that there is pain for you, Mr. Ferguson, whatever the solution may be," said he. "I would

spare you all I can. I cannot say more for the instant, but before I leave this house I hope I may

"Please God you may! If you will excuse me, gentlemen, I will go up to my wife's room and see if

He was away some minutes, during which Holmes resumed his examination of the curiosities upon

the wall. When our host returned it was clear from his downcast face that he had made no

"The tea is ready, Dolores," said Ferguson. "See that your mistress has everything she can wish."

"She verra ill," cried the girl, looking with indignant eyes at her master. "She no ask for food. She

I followed the girl, who was quivering with strong emotion, up the staircase and down an ancient

corridor. At the end was an ironclamped and massive door. It struck me as I looked at it that if

Ferguson tried to force his way to his wife he would find it no easy matter. The girl drew a key from

her pocket, and the heavy oaken planks creaked upon their old hinges. I passed in and she swiftly

On the bed a woman was lying who was clearly in a high fever. She was only half conscious, but as

I entered she raised a pair of frightened but beautiful eyes and glared at me in appre hension.

Seeing a stranger, she appeared to be relieved and sank back with a sigh upon the pillow. I

stepped up to her with a few reassuring words, and she lay still while I took her pulse and

temperature. Both were high, and yet my impression was that the condition was rather that of

"I will not see him. I will not see him." Then she seemed to wander off into delirium. "A fiend! A

"No. No one can help. It is finished. All is destroyed. Do what I will, all is destroyed."

The woman must have some strange delusion. I could not see honest Bob Ferguson in the

"Madame," I said, "your husband loves you dearly. He is deeply grieved at this happening."

"He loves me. Yes. But do I not love him? Do I not love him even to sacrifice myself rather than

break his dear heart? That is how I love him. And yet he could think of me he could speak of me

"No, no, I cannot forget those terrible words nor the look upon his face. I will not see him. Go now.

You can do nothing for me. Tell him only one thing. I want my child. I have a right to my child. That

is the only message I can send him." She turned her face to the wall and would say no more.

I returned to the room downstairs, where Ferguson and Holmes still sat by the fire. Ferguson

"How can I send her the child?" he said. "How do I know what strange impulse might come upon

her? How can I ever forget how she rose from beside it with its blood upon her lips?" He shuddered

at the recollection. "The child is safe with Mrs. Mason, and there he must remain."

A smart maid, the only modern thing which we had seen in the house, had brought in some tea. As

she was serving it the door opened and a youth entered the room. He was a remarkable lad,

palefaced and fairhaired, with excitable light blue eyes which blazed into a sudden flame of

emotion and joy as they rested upon his father. He rushed forward and threw his arms round his

"Oh, daddy," he cried, "I did not know that you were due yet. I should have been here to meet you.

Ferguson gently disengaged himself from the embrace with some little show of embarrassment.

"Dear old chap," said he, patting the flaxen head with a very tender hand. "I came early because

my friends, Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson, have been persuaded to come down and spend an

The youth looked at us with a very penetrating and, as it seemed to me, unfriendly gaze.

"What about your other child, Mr. Ferguson?" asked Holmes. "Might we make the acquaintance of

"Ask Mrs. Mason to bring baby down," said Ferguson. The boy went off with a curious, shambling

gait which told my surgical eyes that he was suffering from a weak spine. Presently he returned,

and behind him came a tall, gaunt woman bearing in her arms a very beautiful child, darkeyed,

goldenhaired, a wonderful mixture of the Saxon and the Latin. Ferguson was evidently devoted to

"Fancy anyone having the heart to hurt him," he muttered as he glanced down at the small, angry

It was at this moment that I chanced to glance at Holmes and saw a most singular intentness in his

expression. His face was as set as if it had been carved out of old ivory, and his eyes, which had

glanced for a moment at father and child, were now fixed with eager curiosity upon something at

the other side of the room. Following his gaze I could only guess that he was looking out through

the window at the melancholy, dripping garden. It is true that a shutter had half closed outside and

obstructed the view, but none the less it was certainly at the window that Holmes was fixing his

concentrated attention. Then he smiled, and his eyes came back to the baby. On its chubby neck

there was this small puckered mark. Without speaking, Holmes exam ined it with care. Finally he

"Goodbye, little man. You have made a strange start in life. Nurse, I should wish to have a word

He took her aside and spoke earnestly for a few minutes. I only heard the last words, which were:

"Your anxiety will soon, I hope, be set at rest." The woman, who seemed to be a sour, silent kind of

"Not very prepossessing externally, as you can see, but a heart of gold, and devoted to the child."

"Do you like her, Jack?" Holmes turned suddenly upon the boy. His expressive mobile face

"Jacky has very strong likes and dislikes," said Ferguson, putting his arm round the boy. "Luckily I

The boy cooed and nestled his head upon his father's breast. Ferguson gently disengaged him.

"Run away, little Jacky," said he, and he watched his son with loving eyes until he disappeared.

"Now, Mr. Holmes," he continued when the boy was gone, "I really feel that I have brought you on a

fool's errand, for what can you possibly do save give me your sympathy? It must be an exceedingly

"It is certainly delicate," said my friend with an amused smile, "but I have not been struck up to now

with its complex ity. It has been a case for intellectual deduction, but when this original intellectual

deduction is confirmed point by point by quite a number of independent incidents, then the

subjective becomes objective and we can say confidently that we have reached our goal. I had, in

fact, reached it before we left Baker Street, and the rest has merely been observation and

"For heaven's sake, Holmes," he said hoarsely; "if you can see the truth in this matter, do not keep

me in suspense. How do I stand? What shall I do? I care nothing as to how you have found your

"Certainly I owe you an explanation, and you shall have it. But you will permit me to handle the

"Very good. It is only in her presence that we can clear the matter up. Let us go up to her."

"Oh, yes, she will," said Holmes. He scribbled a few lines upon a sheet of paper."You at least have

I ascended again and handed the note to Dolores, who cau tiously opened the door. A minute

later I heard a cry from within, a cry in which joy and surprise seemed to be blended. Dolores

At my summons Ferguson and Holmes came up. As we entered the room Ferguson took a step or

two towards his wife, who had raised herself in the bed, but she held out her hand to repulse him.

He sank into an armchair, while Holmes seated himself beside him, after bowing to the lady, who

"I think we can dispense with Dolores," said Holmes. "Oh, very well, madame, if you would rather

she stayed I can see no objection. Now, Mr. Ferguson, I am a busy man wlth many calls, and my

methods have to be short and direct. The swiftest surgery is the least painful. Let me first say what

will ease your mind. Your wife is a very good, a very loving, and a very illused woman."

"I care nothing so long as you clear my wife. Everything on earth is insignificant compared to that."

"Let me tell you, then, the train of reasoning which passed through my mind in Baker Street. The

idea of a vampire was to me absurd. Such things do not happen in criminal practice in England.

And yet your observation was precise. You had seen the lady rise from beside the child's cot with

"Did it not occur to you that a bleeding wound may be sucked for some other purpose than to draw

the blood from it? Was there not a queen in English history who sucked such a wound to draw

"A South American household. My instinct felt the presence of those weapons upon the wall before

my eyes ever saw them. It might have been other poison, but that was what occurred to me. When

I saw that little empty quiver beside the small bird bow, it was just what I expected to see. If the

child were pricked with one of those arrows dipped in curare or some other devilish drug, it would

"And the dog! If one were to use such a poison, would one not try it first in order to see that it had

not lost its power? I did not foresee the dog, but at least I understand him and he fitted into my

"Now do you understand? Your wife feared such an attack. She saw it made and saved the child's

life, and yet she shrank from telling you all the truth, for she knew how you loved the boy and

"I watched him as you fondled the child just now. His face was clearly reflected in the glass of the

window where the shutter formed a background. I saw such jealousy, such cruel hatred, as I have

"You have to face it, Mr. Ferguson. It is the more painful because it is a distorted love, a maniacal

exaggerated love for you, and possibly for his dead mother, which has prompted his action. His

very soul is consumed with hatred for this splendid child, whose health and beauty are a contrast to

The lady was sobbing, with her face buried in the pillows. Now she turned to her husband.

"How could I tell you, Bob? I felt the blow it would be to you. It was better that I should wait and that

it should come from some other lips than mine. When this gentleman, who seems to have powers

"I think a year at sea would be my prescription for Master Jacky," said Holmes, rising from his chair.

"Only one thing is still clouded, madame. We can quite understand your attacks upon Master

Jacky. There is a limit to a mother's patience. But how did you dare to leave the child these last two

Ferguson was standing by the bed, choking, his hands out stretched and quivering.

"This, I fancy, is the time for our exit, Watson," said Holmes in a whisper. "If you will take one elbow

of the too faithful Dolores, I will take the other. There, now," he added as he closed the door behind

I have only one further note of this case. It is the letter which Holmes wrote in final answer to that

It may have been a comedy, or it may have been a tragedy. It cost one man his reason, it cost me

a bloodletting, and it cost yet another man the penalties of the law. Yet there was certainly an

I remember the date very well, for it was in the same month that Holmes refused a knighthood for

services which may per haps some day be described. I only refer to the matter in passing, for in

my position of partner and confidant I am obliged to be particularly careful to avoid any indiscretion.

I repeat, however, that this enables me to fix the date, which was the latter end of June, 1902,

shortly after the conclusion of the South African War. Holmes had spent several days in bed, as

was his habit from time to time, but he emerged that morning with a long foolscap document in his

"There is a chance for you to make some money. friend Watson," said he. "Have you ever heard

"Ah, that's a long story rather a whimsical one, too. I don't think in all our explorations of human

complexities we have ever come upon anything more singular. The fellow will be here presently for

crossexamination, so I won't open the matter up till he comes. But, meanwhile, that's the name we

The telephone directory lay on the table beside me, and I turned over the pages in a rather

hopeless quest. But to my amazement there was this strange name in its due place. I gave a cry of

" 'Garrideb, N.,' " he read, " '136 Little Ryder Street, W.' Sorry to disappoint you, my dear Watson,

but this is the man himself. That is the address upon his letter. We want another to match him."

Mrs. Hudson had come in with a card upon a tray. I took it up and glanced at it.

"Why, here it is!" I cried in amazement. "This is a different initial. John Garrideb, Counsellor at Law,

Holmes smiled as he looked at the card. "I am afraid you must make yet another effort, Watson,"

said he. "This gentle man is also in the plot already, though I certainly did not expect to see him

this morning. However, he is in a position to tell us a good deal which I want to know."

A moment later he was in the room. Mr. John Garrideb, Counsellor at Law, was a short, powerful

man with the round, fresh, cleanshaven face characteristic of so many American men of affairs.

The general effect was chubby and rather childlike, so that one received the impression of quite a

young man with a broad set smile upon his face. His eyes, however, were arrest ing. Seldom in

any human head have I seen a pair which be spoke a more intense inward life, so bright were

they, so alert, so responsive to every change of thought. His accent was Ameri can, but was not

"Mr. Holmes?" he asked, glancing from one to the other. "Ah, yes! Your pictures are not unlike you,

sir, if I may say so. I believe you have had a letter from my namesake, Mr. Nathan Garrideb, have

"Pray sit down," said Sherlock Holmes. "We shall, I fancy, have a good deal to discuss." He took up

his sheets of foolscap. "You are, of course, the Mr. John Garrideb mentioned in this document. But

"Why do you say that, Mr. Holmes?" I seemed to read sudden suspicion in those expressive eyes.

Mr. Garrideb forced a laugh. "I've read of your tricks, Mr. Holmes, but I never thought I would be the

"Well, well, I had no idea I was so obvious a Britisher. But business brought me over here some

time ago, and so, as you say, my outfit is nearly all London. However, I guess your time is of value,

and we did not meet to talk about the cut of my socks. What about getting down to that paper you

Holmes had in some way ruffled our visitor, whose chubby face had assumed a far less amiable

"Patience! Patience, Mr. Garrideb!" said my friend in a soothing voice. "Dr. Watson would tell you

that these little digressions of mine sometimes prove in the end to have some bearing on the

"Why did he ever drag you into it at all?" asked our visitor with a sudden outflame of anger. "What

in thunder had you to do with it? Here was a bit of professional business between two gentlemen,

and one of them must needs call in a detective! I saw him this morning, and he told me this

fooltrick he had played me, and that's why I am here. But I feel bad about it, all the same."

"There was no reflection upon you, Mr. Garrideb. It was simply zeal upon his part to gain your end

an end which is, I understand, equally vital for both of you. He knew that I had means of getting

"Well, that puts it different," said he. "When I went to see him this morning and he told me he had

sent to a detective, I just asked for your address and came right away. I don't want police butting

into a private matter. But if you are content just to help us find the man, there can be no harm in

"Well, that is just how it stands," said Holmes. "And now, sir, since you are here, we had best have

a clear account from your own lips. My friend here knows nothing of the details."

"Well, there's no reason it should be kept a secret. I'll give you the facts as short as I can make

them. If you came from Kansas I would not need to explain to you who Alexander Hamilton

Garrideb was. He made his money in real estate, and afterwards in the wheat pit at Chicago, but he

spent it in buying up as much land as would make one of your counties, lying along the Arkansas

mineralizedland, and just every sort of land that brings dollars to the man that owns it.

"He had no kith nor kin or, if he had, I never heard of it. But he took a kind of pride in the

queerness of his name. That was what brought us together. I was in the law at Topeka, and one

day I had a visit from the old man, and he was tickled to death to meet another man with his own

name. It was his pet fad, and he was dead set to find out if there were any more Garridebs in the

world. 'Find me another!' said he. I told him I was a busy man and could not spend my life hiking

round the world in search of Garridebs. 'None the less,' said he, 'that is just what you will do if

things pan out as I planned them.' I thought he was joking, but there was a powerful lot of meaning

"For he died within a year of saying them, and he left a will behind him. It was the queerest will that

has ever been filed in the State of Kansas. His property was divided into three parts and I was to

have one on condition that I found two Garridebs who would share the remainder. It's five million

dollars for each if it is a cent, but we can't lay a finger on it until we all three stand in a row.

"It was so big a chance that I just let my legal practice slide and I set forth looking for Garridebs.

There is not one in the United States. I went through it, sir, with a finetoothed comb and never a

Garrideb could I catch. Then I tried the old country. Sure enough there was the name in the London

telephone direc tory. I went after him two days ago and explained the whole matter to him. But he

is a lone man, like myself, with some women relations, but no men. It says three adult men in the

will. So you see we still have a vacancy, and if you can help to fill it we will be very ready to pay

"Well, Watson," said Holmes with a smile, "l said it was rather whimsical, did I not? I should have

thought, sir, that your obvious way was to advertise in the agony columns of the papers."

"Dear me! Well, it is certainly a most curious little problem. I may take a glance at it in my leisure.

By the way, it is curious that you should have come from Topeka. I used to have a correspondent

"Good old Dr. Starr!" said our visitor. "His name is still honoured. Well, Mr. Holmes, I suppose all

we can do is to report to you and let you know how we progress. I reckon you will hear within a day

Holmes had lit his pipe, and he sat for some time with a curious smile upon his face.

"I was wondering, Watson, what on earth could be the object of this man in telling us such a

rigmarole of lies. I nearly asked him so for there are times when a brutal frontal attack is the

best policy but I judged it better to let him think he had fooled us. Here is a man with an English

coat frayed at the elbow and trousers bagged at the knee with a year's wear, and yet by this

document and by his own account he is a provincial American lately landed in London. There have

been no advertisements in the agony columns. You know that I miss nothing there. They are my

favourite covert for putting up a bird, and I would never have overlooked such a cock pheasant as

that. I never knew a Dr. Lysander Starr, of Topeka. Touch him where you would he was false. I

think the fellow is really an American, but he has worn his accent smooth with years of London.

What is his game, then, and what motive lies behind this preposterous search for Garridebs? It's

worth our attention, for, granting that the man is a rascal, he is certainly a complex and ingenious

one. We must now find out if our other correspondent is a fraud also. Just ring him up, Watson."

"Yes, yes, I am Mr. Nathan Garrideb. Is Mr. Holmes there? I should very much like to have a word

"Yes, he has been here. I understand that you don't know him.... How long? ... Only two days! ...

Yes, yes, of course, it is a most captivating prospect. Will you be at home this evening? I suppose

your namesake will not be there? . . . Very good, we will come then, for I would rather have a chat

without him.... Dr. Watson will come with me.... I under stand from your note that you did not go

out often.... Well, we shall be round about six. You need not mention it to the American lawyer....

It was twilight of a lovely spring evening, and even Little Ryder Street, one of the smaller offshoots

from the Edgware Road, within a stonecast of old Tyburn Tree of evil memory, looked golden and

wonderful in the slanting rays of the setting sun. The particular house to which we were directed

was a large, oldfashioned, Early Georgian edifice, with a flat brick face broken only by two deep

bay windows on the ground floor. It was on this ground floor that our client lived, and, indeed, the

low windows proved to be the front of the huge room in which he spent his waking hours. Holmes

"Up some years, Watson," he remarked, indicating its discoloured surface. "It's his real name,

The house had a common stair, and there were a number of names painted in the hall, some

indicating offices and some private chambers. It was not a collection of residential flats, but rather

the abode of Bohemian bachelors. Our client opened the door for us himself and apologized by

saying that the woman in charge left at four o'clock. Mr. Nathan Garrideb proved to be a very tall,

loosejointed, roundbacked person, gaunt and bald, some sixtyodd years of age. He had a

cadaverous face, with the dull dead skin of a man to whom exercise was unknown. Large round

spectacles and a small projecting goat's beard combined with his stooping attitude to give him an

expression of peering curiosity. The general effect, however, was amiable, though eccentric.

The room was as curious as its occupant. It looked like a small museum. It was both broad and

deep, with cupboards and cabi nets all round, crowded with specimens, geological and anatomi

cal. Cases of butterflies and moths flanked each side of the entrance. A large table in the centre

was littered with all sorts of debris, while the tall brass tube of a powerful microscope bris tled up

among them. As I glanced round I was surprised at the universality of the man's interests. Here

was a case of ancient coins. There was a cabinet of flint instruments. Behind his central table was

a large cupboard of fossil bones. Above was a line of plaster skulls with such names as

"Neanderthal," "Hei delberg," "CroMagnon" printed beneath them. It was clear that he was a

student of many subjects. As he stood in front of us now, he held a piece of chamois leather in his

"Syracusan of the best period," he explained, holding it up. "They degenerated greatly towards

the end. At their best I hold them supreme, though some prefer the Alexandrian school. You will

find a chair here, Mr. Holmes. Pray allow me to clear these bones. And you, sir ah, yes, Dr.

Watson if you would have the goodness to put the Japanese vase to one side. You see round

me my little interests in life. My doctor lectures me about never going out, but why should I go out

when I have so much to hold me here? I can assure you that the adequate cataloguing of one of

"Now and again I drive down to Sotheby's or Christie's. Otherwise I very seldom leave my room. I

am not too strong, and my researches are very absorbing. But you can imagine, Mr. Holmes, what

a terrific shock pleasant but terrific it was for me when I heard of this unparalleled good

fortune. It only needs one more Garrideb to complete the matter, and surely we can find one. I had

a brother, but he is dead, and female relatives are disqualified. But there must surely be others in

the world. I had heard that you handled strange cases, and that was why I sent to you. Of course,

this American gentleman is quite right, and I should have taken his advice first, but I acted for the

"I think you acted very wisely indeed," said Holmes. "But are you really anxious to acquire an estate

"Certainly not, sir. Nothing would induce me to leave my collection. But this gentleman has assured

me that he will buy me out as soon as we have established our claim. Five million dollars was the

sum named. There are a dozen specimens in the market at the present moment which fill gaps in

my collection, and which I am unable to purchase for want of a few hundred pounds. Just think

what I could do with five million dollars. Why, I have the nucleus of a national collection. I shall be

His eyes gleamed behind his great spectacles. It was very clear that no pains would be spared by

"I merely called to make your acquaintance, and there is no reason why I should interrupt your

studies," said Holmes. "I prefer to establish personal touch with those with whom I do business.

There are few questions I need ask, for I have your very clear narrative in my pocket, and I filled up

the blanks when this American gentleman called. I understand that up to this week you were

"He seemed to think it was some reflection on his honour. But he was quite cheerful again when he

"No, sir. I am not a rich man. It is a good collection, but not a very valuable one."

Holmes's crossexamination was interrupted by an imperative knocking at the door. No sooner had

"Here you are!" he cried, waving a paper over his head. "I thought I should be in time to get you.

Mr. Nathan Garrideb, my congratulations! You are a rich man, sir. Our business is happily finished

and all is well. As to you, Mr. Holmes, we can only say we are sorry if we have given you any

He handed over the paper to our client, who stood staring at a marked advertisement. Holmes and

"I had opened up inquiries in Birmingham," said the Ameri cn, "and my agent there has sent me

this advertisement from a local paper. We must hustle and put the thing through. I have written to

this man and told him that you will see him in his office tomorrow afternoon at four o'clock."

"What do you say, Mr. Holmes? Don't you think it would be wiser? Here am I, a wandering

American with a wonderful tale. Why should he believe what I tell him? But you are a Britisher wth

solid references, and he is bound to take notice of what you say. I would go with you if you wished,

but I have a very busy day tomorrow, and I could always follow you if you are in any trouble."

"It is nothing, Mr. Garrideb. I have figured out our connec tions. You leave at twelve and should be

there soon after two. Then you can be back the same night. All you have to do is to see this man,

explain the matter, and get an affidavit of his existence. By the Lord!" he added hotly, "considering

I've come all the way from the centre of America, it is surely little enough if you go a hundred miles

Mr. Nathan Garrideb shrugged his shoulders with a disconso late air. "Well, if you insist I shall go,"

said he. "It is certainly hard for me to refuse you anything, considering the glory of hope that you

"Then that is agreed," said Holmes, "and no doubt you will let me have a report as soon as you

"I'll see to that," said the American. "Well," he added looking at his watch, "I'll have to get on. I'll call

tomorrow, Mr. Nathan, and see you off to Birmingham. Coming my way, Mr. Holmes? Well, then,

I noticed that my friend's face cleared when the American left the room, and the look of thoughtful

"I wish I could look over your collection, Mr. Garrideb," said he. "In my profession all sorts of odd

Our client shone with pleasure and his eyes gleamed from behind his big glasses.

"I had always heard, sir, that you were a very intelligent man," said he. "I could take you round now

"Unfortunately, I have not. But these specimens are so well labelled and classified that they hardly

need your personal expla nation. If I should be able to look in tomorrow, I presume that there

"None at all. You are most welcome. The place will, of course, be shut up, but Mrs. Saunders is in

"Well, I happen to be clear tomorrow afternoon. If you would say a word to Mrs. Saunders it would

"I am a bit of an archaeologist myself when it comes to houses," said Holmes, laughing. "I was

"Really. I should have thought a little earlier. However, it is easily ascertained. Well, goodbye, Mr.

The houseagent's was close by, but we found that it was closed for the day, so we made our way

back to Baker Street. It was not till after dinner that Holmes reverted to the subject.

"Our little problem draws to a close," said he. "No doubt you have outlined the solution in your own

"The head is surely clear enough and the tail we should see tomorrow. Did you notice nothing

"Oh, you did notice that, did you? Come, Watson, you improve all the time. Yes, it was bad English

but good Ameri can. The printer had set it up as received. Then the buckboards. That is American

also. And artesian wells are commoner with them than with us. It was a typical American

advertisement, but purporting to be from an English firm. What do you make of that?"

"I can only suppose that this American lawyer put it in himself. What his object was I fail to

"Well, there are alternative explanations. Anyhow, he wanted to get this good old fossil up to

Birmingham. That is very clear. I might have told him that he was clearly going on a wildgoose

chase, but, on second thoughts, it seemed better to clear the stage by letting him go. Tomorrow,

Holmes was up and out early. When he returned at lunchtime I noticed that his face was very

"This is a more serious matter than I had expected, Watson," said he. "It is fair to tell you so,

though I know it will only be an additional reason to you for running your head into danger. I should

"Well, it is not the first we have shared, Holmes. I hope it may not be the last. What is the particular

"We are up against a very hard case. I have identified Mr. John Garrideb, Counsellor at Law. He is

"Ah, it is not part of your profession to carry about a portable Newgate Calendar in your memory. I

have been down to see friend Lestrade at the Yard. There may be an occasional want of

imaginative intuition down there, but they lead the world for thoroughness and method. I had an

idea that we might get on the track of our American friend in their records. Sure enough, I found his

chubby face smiling up at me from the rogues' portrait gallery. 'James Winter, alias Morecroft, alias

Killer Evans,' was the inscription below." Holmes drew an envelope from his pocket. "I scribbled

down a few points from his dossier: Aged fortyfour. Native of Chicago. Known to have shot three

men in the States. Escaped from penitentiary through political influ ence. Came to London in

1893. Shot a man over cards in a nightclub in the Waterloo Road in January, 1895. Man died, but

he was shown to have been the aggressor in the row. Dead man was identified as Rodger

Prescott, famous as forger and coiner in Chicago. Killer Evans released in 1901. Has been under

police supervision since, but so far as known has led an honest life. Very dangerous man, usually

carries arms and is prepared to use them. That is our bird, Watson a sporting bird, as you must

"Well, it begins to define itself. I have been to the house agent's. Our client, as he told us, has

been there five years. It was unlet for a year before then. The previous tenant was a gentleman at

large named Waldron. Waldron's appearance was well remembered at the office. He had suddenly

vanished and nothing more been heard of him. He was a tall, bearded man with very dark features.

Now, Prescott, the man whom Killer Evans had shot, was, according to Scotland Yard, a tall, dark

man with a beard. As a working hypothesis, I think we may take it that Prescott, the American

criminal, used to live in the very room which our innocent friend now devotes to his museum. So at

"I have my old favourite with me. If our Wild West friend tries to live up to his nickname, we must be

ready for him. I'll give you an hour for a siesta, Watson, and then I think it will be time for our Ryder

It was just four o'clock when we reached the curious apart ment of Nathan Garrideb. Mrs.

Saunders, the caretaker, was about to leave, but she had no hesitation in admitting us, for the door

shut with a spring lock, and Holmes promised to see that all was safe before we left. Shortly

afterwards the outer door closed, her bonnet passed the bow window, and we knew that we were

alone in the lower floor of the house. Holmes made a rapid examina tion of the premises. There

was one cupboard in a dark corner which stood out a little from the wall. It was behind this that we

"He wanted to get our amiable friend out of his room that is very clear, and, as the collector

never went out, it took some planning to do it. The whole of this Garrideb invention was apparently

for no other end. I must say, Watson, that there is a certain devilish ingenuity about it, even if the

queer name of the tenant did give him an opening which he could hardly have expected. He wove

"Well, that is what we are here to find out. It has nothing whatever to do with our client, so far as I

can read the situation. It is something connected with the man he murdered the man who may

have been his confederate in crime. There is some guilty secret in the room. That is how I read it.

At first I thought our friend might have something in his collection more valuable than he knew

something worth the attention of a big criminal. But the fact that Rodger Prescott of evil memory

inhabited these rooms points to some deeper reason. Well, Watson, we can but possess our souls

That hour was not long in striking. We crouched closer in the shadow as we heard the outer door

open and shut. Then came the sharp, metallic snap of a key, and the American was in the room.

He closed the door softly behind him, took a sharp glance around him to see that all was safe,

threw off his overcoat, and walked up to the central table with the brisk manner of one who knows

exactly what he has to do and how to do it. He pushed the table to one side, tore up the square of

carpet on which it rested, rolled it completely back, and then, drawing a jemmy from his inside

pocket, he knelt down and worked vigorously upon the floor. Presently we heard the sound of

sliding boards, and an instant later a square had opened in the planks. Killer Evans struck a match,

Clearly our moment had come. Holmes touched my wrist as a signal, and together we stole across

to the open trapdoor. Gently as we moved, however, the old floor must have creaked under our

feet, for the head of our American, peering anxiously round, emerged suddenly from the open

space. His face turned upon us with a glare of baffled rage, which gradually softened into a rather

"Well, well!" said he coolly as he scrambled to the surface. "I guess you have been one too many

for me, Mr. Holmes. Saw through my game, I suppose, and played me for a sucker from the first.

In an instant he had whisked out a revolver from his breast and had fired two shots. I felt a sudden

hot sear as if a redhot iron had been pressed to my thigh. There was a crash as Holmes's pistol

came down on the man's head. I had a vision of him sprawling upon the floor with blood running

down his face while Holmes rummaged him for weapons. Then my friend's wiry arms were round

It was worth a wound it was worth many wounds to know the depth of loyalty and love which

lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were

shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain.

All my years of humble but singleminded service culminated in that moment of revelation.

"You are right," he cried with an immense sigh of relief. "It is quite superficial." His face set like flint

as he glared at our prisoner, who was sitting up with a dazed face. "By the Lord, it is as well for

you. If you had killed Watson, you would not have got out of this room alive. Now, sir, what have

He had nothing to say for himself. He only sat and scowled. I leaned on Holmes's arm, and

together we looked down into the small cellar which had been disclosed by the secret flap. It was

still illuminated by the candle which Evans had taken down with him. Our eyes fell upon a mass of

rusted machinery, great rolls of paper, a litter of bottles, and, neatly arranged upon a small table, a

"Yes, sir," said our prisoner, staggering slowly to his feet and then sinking into the chair. "The

greatest counterfeiter London ever saw. That's Prescott's machine, and those bundles on the table

are two thousand of Prescott's notes worth a hundred each and fit to pass anywhere. Help

"We don't do things like that, Mr. Evans. There is no bolt hole for you in this country. You shot this

"Yes, sir, and got five years for it, though it was he who pulled on me. Five years when I should

have had a medal the size of a soup plate. No living man could tell a Prescott from a Bank of

England, and if I hadn't put him out he would have flooded London with them. I was the only one in

the world who knew where he made them. Can you wonder that I wanted to get to the place? And

can you wonder that when I found this crazy boob of a bughunter with the queer name squatting

right on the top of it, and never quitting his room, I had to do the best I could to shift him? Maybe I

would have been wiser if I had put him away. It would have been easy enough, but I'm a

softhearted guy that can't begin shooting unless the other man has a gun also. But say, Mr.

Holmes, what have I done wrong, anyhow? I've not used this plant. I've not hurt this old stiff. Where

"Only attempted murder, so far as I can see," said Holmes. "But that's not our job. They take that at

the next stage. What we wanted at present was just your sweet self. Please give the Yard a call,

So those were the facts about Killer Evans and his remarkable invention of the three Garridebs. We

heard later that our poor old friend never got over the shock of his dissipated dreams. When his

castle in the air fell down, it buried him beneath the ruins. He was last heard of at a nursinghome

in Brixton. It was a glad day at the Yard when the Prescott outfit was discovered, for, though they

knew that it existed, they had never been able, after the death of the man, to find out where it was.

Evans had indeed done great service and caused several worthy C. I. D. men to sleep the sounder,

for the counterfeiter stands in a class by himself as a public danger. They would willingly have sub

scribed to that soupplate medal of which the criminal had spoken, but an unappreciative bench

took a less favourable view, and the Killer returned to those shades from which he had just

"It can't hurt now," was Mr. Sherlock Holmes's comment when, for the tenth time in as many years,

I asked his leave to reveal the following narrative. So it was that at last I obtained permission to put

Both Holmes and I had a weakness for the Turkish bath. It was over a smoke in the pleasant

lassitude of the dryingroom that I have found him less reticent and more human than anywhere

else. On the upper floor of the Northumberland Avenue establishment there is an isolated corner

where two couches lie side by side, and it was on these that we lay upon September 3, 1902, the

day when my narrative begins. I had asked him whether anything was stirring, and for answer he

had shot his long, thin, nervous arm out of the sheets which enveloped him and had drawn an

"It may be some fussy, selfimportant fool; it may be a matter of life or death," said he as he

"I need not say that I have confirmed it, Watson," said Holmes as I returned the paper. "Do you

"Well, I can tell you a little more than that. He has rather a reputation for arranging delicate matters

which are to be kept out of the papers. You may remember his negotiations with Sir George Lewis

over the Hammerford Will case. He is a man of the world with a natural turn for diplomacy. I am

bound, therefore, to hope that it is not a false scent and that he has some real need for our

"Then you have the hour 4:30. Until then we can put the matter out of our heads."

I was living in my own rooms in Queen Anne Street at the time, but I was round at Baker Street

before the time named. Sharp to the halfhour, Colonel Sir James Damery was announced. It is

hardly necessary to describe him, for many will remember that large, bluff, honest personality, that

broad, cleanshaven face, and, above all, that pleasant, mellow voice. Frankness shone from his

gray Irish eyes, and good humour played round his mobile, smiling lips. His lucent tophat, his dark

frockcoat, indeed, every detail, from the pearl pin in the black satin cravat to the lavender spats

over the varnished shoes, spoke of the meticulous care in dress for which he was famous. The big,

"Of course, I was prepared to find Dr. Watson," he remarked with a courteous bow. "His

collaboration may be very necessary, for we are dealing on this occasion, Mr. Holmes, with a man

to whom violence is familiar and who will, literally, stick at nothing. I should say that there is no

"I have had several opponents to whom that flattering term has been applied," said Holmes with a

smile. "Don't you smoke? Then you will excuse me if I light my pipe. If your man is more dangerous

than the late Professor Moriarty, or than the living Colonel Sebastian Moran, then he is indeed

Colonel Damery threw up his kidgloved hands with a laugh. "There is no getting past you, Mr.

"It is my business to follow the details of Continental crime. Who could possibly have read what

happened at Prague and have any doubts as to the man's guilt! It was a purely technical legal point

and the suspicious death of a witness that saved him! I am as sure that he killed his wife when the

so called 'accident' happened in the Splugen Pass as if I had seen him do it. I knew, also, that he

had come to England and had a presentiment that sooner or later he would find me some work to

do. Well, what has Baron Gruner been up to? I presume it is not this old tragedy which has come

"No, it is more serious than that. To revenge crime is important, but to prevent it is more so. It is a

terrible thing, Mr. Holmes, to see a dreadful event, an atrocious situation, preparing itself before

your eyes, to clearly understand whither it will lead and yet to be utterly unable to avert it. Can a

"I did not understand that you were merely an intermediary. Who is the principal?"

"Mr. Holmes, I must beg you not to press that question. It is important that I should be able to

assure him that his honoured name has been in no way dragged into the matter. His motives are,

to the last degree, honourable and chivalrous, but he prefers to remain unknown. I need not say

that your fees will be assured and that you will be given a perfectly free hand. Surely the actual

"I am sorry," said Holmes. "I am accustomed to have mystery at one end of my cases, but to have it

Our visitor was greatly disturbed. His large, sensitive face was darkened with emotion and

"You hardly realize the effect of your own action, Mr. Holmes," said he. "You place me in a most

serious dilemma for I am perfectly certain that you would be proud to take over the case if I could

give you the facts, and yet a promise forbids me from revealing them all. May I, at least, lay all that

"That is understood. In the first place, you have no doubt heard of General de Merville?"

"He has a daughter, Violet de Merville, young, rich, beautiful, accomplished, a wonderwoman in

every way. It is this daughter, this lovely, innocent girl, whom we are endeavouring to save from the

"The strongest of all holds where a woman is concerned the hold of love. The fellow is, as you

may have heard, extraordinarily handsome, with a most fascinating manner. a gentle voice and that

air of romance and mystery which means so much to a woman. He is said to have the whole sex at

"But how came such a man to meet a lady of the standing of Miss Violet de Merville?"

"It was on a Mediterranean yachting voyage. The company, though select, paid their own

passages. No doubt the promoters hardly realized the Baron's true character until it was too late.

The villain attached himself to the lady, and with such effect that he has completely and absolutely

won her heart. To say that she loves him hardly expresses it. She dotes upon him, she is obsessed

by him. Outside of him there is nothing on earth. She will not hear one word against him.

Everything has been done to cure her of her madness, but in vain. To sum up, she proposes to

marry him next month. As she is of age and has a will of iron, it is hard to know how to prevent her."

"The cunning devil has told her every unsavoury public scandal of his past life, but always in such a

way as to make himself out to be an innocent martyr. She absolutely accepts his version and will

"Dear me! But surely you have inadvertently let out the name of your client? It is no doubt General

"I could deceive you by saying so, Mr. Holmes, but it would not be true. De Merville is a broken

man. The strong soldier has been utterly demoralized by this incident. He has lost the nerve which

never failed him on the battlefield and has become a weak, doddering old man, utterly incapable of

contending with a brilliant, forceful rascal like this Austrian. My client however is an old friend, one

who has known the General intimately for many years and taken a paternal interest in this young

girl since she wore short frocks. He cannot see this tragedy consummated without some attempt to

stop it. There is nothing in which Scotland Yard can act. It was his own suggestion that you should

be called in, but it was, as I have said, on the express stipulation that he should not be personally

involved in the matter. I have no doubt, Mr. Holmes, with your great powers you could easily trace

my client back through me, but I must ask you, as a point of honour, to refrain from doing so, and

"I think I may safely promise that," said he. "I may add that your problem interests me, and that I

"The Carlton Club will find me. But in case of emergency, there is a private telephone call, 'XX.31.' "

Holmes noted it down and sat, still smiling, with the open memorandumbook upon his knee.

"Vernon Lodge, near Kingston. It is a large house. He has been fortunate in some rather shady

speculations and is a rich man, which naturally makes him a more dangerous antagonist."

"Apart from what you have told me, can you give me any further information about the man?"

"He has expensive tastes. He is a horse fancier. For a short time he played polo at Hurlingham, but

then this Prague affair got noised about and he had to leave. He collects books and pictures. He is

a man with a considerable artistic side to his nature. He is, I believe, a recognized authority upon

"A complex mind," said Holmes. "All great criminals have that. My old friend Charlie Peace was a

violin virtuoso. Wainwright was no mean artist. I could quote many more. Well, Sir James, you will

inform your client that I am turning my mind upon Baron Gruner. I can say no more. I have some

sources of information of my own, and I dare say we may find some means of opening the matter

When our visitor had left us Holmes sat so long in deep thought that it seemed to me that he had

"My dear Watson, if her poor old broken father cannot move her, how shall I, a stranger, prevail?

And yet there is something in the suggestion if all else fails. But I think we must begin from a

I have not had occasion to mention Shinwell Johnson in these memoirs because I have seldom

drawn my cases from the latter phases of my friend's career . During the first years of the century

he became a valuable assistant. Johnson, I grieve to say, made his name first as a very dangerous

villain and served two terms at Parkhurst. Finally he repented and allied himself to Holmes, acting

as his agent in the huge criminal underworld of London and obtaining information which often

proved to be of vital importance. Had Johnson been a "nark" of the police he would soon have

been exposed, but as he dealt with cases which never came directly into the courts, his activities

were never realized by his companions. With the glamour of his two convictions upon him, he had

the entree of every nightclub, doss house, and gambling den in the town, and his quick

observation and active brain made him an ideal agent for gaining information. It was to him that

It was not possible for me to follow the immediate steps taken by my friend, for I had some pressing

professional business of my own, but I met him by appointment that evening at Simpson's, where,

sitting at a small table in the front window and looking down at the rushing stream of life in the

"Johnson is on the prowl," said he. "He may pick up some garbage in the darker recesses of the

underworld, for it is down there, amid the black roots of crime, that we must hunt for this man's

"But if the lady will not accept what is already known, why should any fresh discovery of yours turn

"Who knows, Watson? Woman's heart and mind are insoluble puzzles to the male. Murder might

be condoned or explained, and yet some smaller offence might rankle. Baron Gruner remarked to

"Oh, to be sure, I had not told you of my plans. Well, Watson, I love to come to close grips with my

man. I like to meet him eye to eye and read for myself the stuff that he is made of. When I had

given Johnson his instructions I took a cab out to Kingston and found the Baron in a most affable

"There was no difficulty about that, for I simply sent in my card. He is an excellent antagonist, cool

as ice, silky voiced and soothing as one of your fashionable consultants, and poisonous as a cobra.

He has breeding in him a real aristocrat of crime with a superficial suggestion of afternoon tea

and all the cruelty of the grave behind it. Yes, I am glad to have had my attention called to Baron

"A purring cat who thinks he sees prospective mice. Some people's affability is more deadly than

the violence of coarser souls. His greeting was characteristic. 'I rather thought I should see you

sooner or later, Mr. Holmes,' said he. 'You have been engaged, no doubt by General de Merville, to

endeavour to stop my marriage with his daughter, Violet. That is so, is it not?'

" 'My dear man,' said he. 'you will only ruin your own welldeserved reputation. It is not a case in

which you can possibly succeed. You will have barren work, to say nothing of incurring some

" 'It is curious,' I answered, 'but that was the very advice which I had intended to give you. I have a

respect for your brains, Baron, and the little which I have seen of your personality has not lessened

it. Let me put it to you as man to man. No one wants to rake up your past and make you unduly

uncomfortable. It is over, and you are now in smooth waters, but if you persist in this marriage you

will raise up a swarm of powerful enemies who will never leave you alone until they have made

England too hot to hold you. Is the game worth it? Surely you would be wiser if you left the lady

alone. It would not be pleasant for you if these facts of your past were brought to her notice.'

"The Baron has little waxed tips of hair under his nose, like the short antennae of an insect. These

quivered with amusement as he listened, and he finally broke into a gentle chuckle.

" 'Excuse my amusement, Mr. Holmes,' said he, 'but it is really funny to see you trying to play a

hand with no cards in it. I don't think anyone could do it better, but it is rather pathetic all the same.

" 'So I know. Iet me make the thing clear to you, for my own hand is so strong that I can afford to

show it. I have been fortunate enough to win the entire affection of this lady. This was given to me

in spite of the fact that I told her very clearly of all the unhappy incidents in my past life. I also told

her that certain wicked and designing persons I hope you recognize yourself would come to

her and tell her these things. and I warned her how to treat them. You have heard of posthypnotic

suggestion. Mr. Holmes ' Well you will see how it works for a man of personality can use hypnotism

without any vulgar passes or tomfoolery. So she is ready for you and, I have no doubt, would give

you an appointment, for she is quite amenable to her father's will save only in the one little

"Well, Watson, there seemed to be no more to say, so I took my leave with as much cold dignity as

"'I heard that he was beaten by some Apaches in the Montmartre district and crippled for life.'

" 'Quite true, Mr. Holmes. By a curious coincidence he had been inquiring into my affairs only a

week before. Don't do it, Mr. Holmes; it's not a lucky thing to do. Several have found that out. My

"Mighty dangerous. I disregard the blusterer, but this is the sort of man who says rather less than

"Considering that he undoubtedly murdered his last wife, I should say it mattered very much.

Besides, the client! Well, well, we need not discuss that. When you have finished your coffee you

had best come home with me, for the blithe Shinwell will be there with his report."

We found him sure enough, a huge, coarse, redfaced, scorbutic man, with a pair of vivid black

eyes which were the only external sign of the very cunning mind within. It seems that he had dived

down into what was peculiarly his kingdom, and beside him on the settee was a brand which he

had brought up in the shape of a slim, flamelike young woman with a pale, intense face, youthful,

and yet so worn with sin and sorrow that one read the terrible years which had left their leprous

"This is Miss Kitty Winter," said Shinwell Johnson, waving his fat hand as an introduction. "What

she don't know well, there, she'll speak for herself. Put my hand right on her, Mr. Holmes, within

"I'm easy to find," said the young woman. "Hell, London, gets me every time. Same address for

Porky Shinwell. We're old mates, Porky, you and I. But, by cripes! there is another who ought to be

down in a lower hell than we if there was any justice in the world! That is the man you are after, Mr.

"If I can help to put him where he belongs, I'm yours to the rattle," said our visitor with fierce energy.

There was an intensity of hatred in her white, set face and her blazing eyes such as woman seldom

"You needn't go into my past, Mr. Holmes. That's neither here nor there. But what I am Adelbert

Gruner made me. If I could pull him down!" She clutched frantically with her hands into the air. "Oh,

"Porky Shinwell has been telling me. He's after some other poor fool and wants to marry her this

time. You want to stop it. Well, you surely know enough about this devil to prevent any decent girl

"She is not in her senses. She is madly in love. She has been told all about him. She cares

"Well, it might be worth trying. But he has told her most of his sins and had pardon from her, and I

"I'll lay he didn't tell her all," said Miss Winter. "I caught a glimpse of one or two murders besides

the one that made such a fuss. He would speak of someone in his velvet way and then look at me

with a steady eye and say: 'He died within a month.' It wasn't hot air, either. But I took little notice

you see, I loved him myself at that time. Whatever he did went with me, same as with this poor

fool! There was just one thing that shook me. Yes, by cripes! if it had not been for his poisonous,

lying tongue that explains and soothes. I'd have left him that very night. It's a book he has a

brown leather book with a lock, and his arms in gold on the outside. I think he was a bit drunk that

"I tell you. Mr. Holmes. this man collects women, and takes a pride in his collection. as some men

collect moths or butterflies. He had it all in that book. Snapshot photographs. names, details,

everything about them. It was a beastly book a book no man, even if he had come from the

gutter, could have put together. But it was Adelbert Gruner's book all the same. 'Souls I have

ruined.' He could have put that on the outside if he had been so minded. However, that's neither

here nor there, for the book would not serve you, and, if it would, you can't get it."

"How can I tell you where it is now? It's more than a year since I left him. I know where he kept it

then. He's a precise, tidy cat of a man in many of his ways, so maybe it is still in the pigeonhole of

"Have you. though? You haven't been slow on the job if you only started this morning. Maybe dear

Adelbert has met his match this time. The outer study is the one with the Chinese crockery in it

big glass cupboard between the windows. Then behind his desk is the door that leads to the inner

"Adelbert is no coward. His worst enemy couldn't say that of him. He can look after himself. There's

a burglar alarm at night. Besides, what is there for a burglar unless they got away with all this

"No good," said Shinwell Johnson with the decided voice of the expert. "No fence wants stuff of that

"Quite so," said Holmes. "Well, now, Miss Winter. if you would call here to morrow evening at five.

I would consider in the meanwhile whether your suggestion of seeing this lady personally may not

be arranged. I am exceedingly obliged to you lor vour cooperation. I need not say that my clients

"None of that, Mr. Holmes," cried the young woman. "I am not out for money. Let me see this man

in the mud, and I've got all I've worked for in the mud with my foot on his cursed face. That's my

price. I'm with you to morrow or any other day so long as you are on his track. Porky here can tell

I did not see Holmes again until the following evening when we dined once more at our Strand

restaurant. He shrugged his shoulders when I asked him what luck he had had in his interview.

Then he told the story, which I would repeat in this way. His hard, dry statement needs some little

"There was no difficulty at all about the appointment," said Holmes, "for the girl glories in showing

abject filial obedience in all secondary things in an attempt to atone for her flagrant breach of it in

her engagement. The General phoned that all was ready, and the fiery Miss W. turned up

according to schedule, so that at halfpast five a cab deposited us outside 104 Berkeley Square,

where the old soldier resides one of those awful gray London castles which would make a

church seem frivolous. A footman showed us into a great yellowcurtained drawingroom, and

there was the lady awaiting us, demure, pale, selfcontained, as inflexible and remote as a snow

"I don't quite know how to make her clear to you, Watson. Perhaps you may meet her before we

are through, and you can use your own gift of words. She is beautiful, but with the ethereal

otherworld beauty of some fanatic whose thoughts are set on high. I have seen such faces in the

pictures of the old masters of the Middle Ages. How a beastman could have laid his vile paws upon

such a being of the beyond I cannot imagine. You may have noticed how extremes call to each

other, the spiritual to the animal, the caveman to the angel. You never saw a worse case than

"She knew what we had come for, of course that villain had lost no time in poisoning her mind

against us. Miss Winter's advent rather amazed her, I think, but she waved us into our respective

chairs like a reverend abbess receiving two rather leprous mendicants. If your head is inclined to

" 'Well, sir,' said she in a voice like the wind from an iceberg, 'your name is familiar to me. You have

called. as I understand, to malign my fiance, Baron Gruner. It is only by my father's request that I

see you at all, and I warn you in advance that anything you can say could not possibly have the

"I was sorry for her, Watson. I thought of her for the moment as I would have thought of a daughter

of my own. I am not often eloquent. I use my head, not my heart. But I really did plead with her with

all the warmth of words that I could find in my nature. I pictured to her the awful position of the

woman who only wakes to a man's character after she is his wife a woman who has to submit to

be caressed by bloody hands and lecherous lips. I spared her nothing the shame, the fear, the

agony, the hopelessness of it all. All my hot words could not bring one tinge of colour to those ivory

cheeks or one gleam of emotion to those abstracted eyes. I thought of what the rascal had said

about a posthypnotic influence. One could really believe that she was living above the earth in

" 'I have listened to you with patience, Mr. Holmes,' said she. 'The effect upon my mind is exactly

as predicted. I am aware that Adelbert, that my fiance, has had a stormy life in which he has

incurred bitter hatreds and most unjust aspersions. You are only the last of a series who have

brought their slanders before me. Possibly you mean well, though I learn that you are a paid agent

who would have been equally willing to act for the Baron as against him. But in any case I wish you

to understand once for all that I love him and that he loves me, and that the opinion of all the world

is no more to me than the twitter of those birds outside the window. If his noble nature has ever for

an instant fallen, it may be that I have been specially sent to raise it to its true and lofty level. I am

"I was about to answer when the girl broke in like a whirlwind. If ever you saw flame and ice face to

" 'I'll tell you who I am,' she cried, springing out of her chair, her mouth all twisted with passion 'I

am his last mistress. I am one of a hundred that he has tempted and used and ruined and thrown

into the refuse heap, as he will you also. Your refuse heap is more likely to be a grave, and maybe

that's the best. I tell you, you foolish woman, if you marry this man he'll be the death of you. It may

be a broken heart or it may be a broken neck, but he'll have you one way or the other. It's not out of

love for you I'm speaking. I don't care a tinker's curse whether you live or die. It's out of hate for him

and to spite him and to get back on him for what he did to me. But it's all the same, and you needn't

look at me like that, my fine lady, for you may be lower than I am before you are through with it.'

" 'I should prefer not to discuss such matters,' said Miss de Merville coldly. 'Let me say once for all

that I am aware of three passages in my fiance's life in which he became entangled with designing

women, and that I am assured of his hearty repentance for any evil that he may have done.'

" 'Mr. Holmes, I beg that you will bring this interview to an end,' said the icy voice. 'I have obeyed

my father's wish in seeing you, but I am not compelled to listen to the ravings of this person.'

"With an oath Miss Winter darted forward, and if I had not caught her wrist she would have clutched

this maddening woman by the hair. I dragged her towards the door and was lucky to get her back

into the cab without a public scene, for she was beside herself with rage. In a cold way I felt pretty

furious myself, Watson, for there was something indescribably annoying in the calm aloofness and

supreme selfcomplaisance of the woman whom we were trying to save. So now once again you

know exactly how we stand, and it is clear that I must plan some fresh opening move, for this

gambit won't work. I'll keep in touch with you, Watson, for it is more than likely that you will have

your part to play, though it is just possible that the next move may lie with them rather than with us."

And it did. Their blow fell or his blow rather, for never could I believe that the lady was privy to it.

I think I could show you the very pavingstone upon which I stood when my eyes fell upon the

placard, and a pang of horror passed through my very soul. It was between the Grand Hotel and

Charing Cross Station, where a onelegged newsvender displayed his evening papers. The date

was just two days after the last conversation. There, black upon yellow, was the terrible

I think I stood stunned for some moments. Then I have a confused recollection of snatching at a

paper. of the remonstrance of the man, whom I had not paid, and, finally, of standing in the

doorway of a chemist's shop while I turned up the fateful paragraph. This was how it ran:

I need not say that my eyes had hardly glanced over the paragraph before I had sprung into a

hansom and was on my way to Baker Street. I found Sir Leslie Oakshott, the famous surgeon, in

"No immediate danger," was his report. "Two lacerated scalp wounds and some considerable

bruises. Several stitches have been necessary. Morphine has been injected and quiet is essential,

With this permission I stole into the darkened room. The sufferer was wide awake, and I heard my

name in a hoarse whisper. The blind was threequarters down, but one ray of sunlight slanted

through and struck the bandaged head of the injured man. A crimson patch had soaked through the

"All right, Watson. Don't look so scared," he muttered in a very weak voice. "It's not as bad as it

"I'm a bit of a singlestick expert. as you know. I took most of them on my guard. It was the second

"What can I do, Holmes? Of course, it was that damned fellow who set them on. I'll go and thrash

"Good old Watson! No, we can do nothing there unless the police lay their hands on the men. But

their getaway had been well prepared. We may be sure of that. Wait a little. I have my plans. The

first thing is to exaggerate my injuries. They'll come to you for news. Put it on thick, Watson. Lucky

"Yes. Tell Shinwell Johnson to get that girl out of the way. Those beauties will be after her now.

They know, of course, that she was with me in the case. If they dared to do me in it is not likely they

"Put my pipe on the table and the tobaccoslipper. Right! Come in each morning and we will

I arranged with Johnson that evening to take Miss Winter to a quiet suburb and see that she lay low

For six days the public were under the impression that Holmes was at the door of death. The

bulletins were very grave and there were sinister paragraphs in the papers. My continual visits

assured me that it was not so bad as that. His wiry constitution and his determined will were

working wonders. He was recovering fast, and I had suspicions at times that he was really finding

himself faster than he pretended even to me. There was a curious secretive streak in the man

which led to many dramatic effects, but left even his closest friend guessing as to what his exact

plans might be. He pushed to an extreme the axiom that the only safe plotter was he who plotted

alone. I was nearer him than anyone else, and yet I was always conscious of the gap between.

On the seventh day the stitches were taken out, in spite of which there was a report of erysipelas in

the evening papers. The same evening papers had an announcement which I was bound, sick or

well, to carry to my friend. It was simply that among the passengers on the Cunard boat Ruritania,

starting from Liverpool on Friday, was the Baron Adelbert Gruner, who had some important

financial business to settle in the States before his impending wedding to Miss Violet de Merville,

only daughter of, etc., etc. Holmes listened to the news with a cold, concentrated look upon his pale

"Friday!" he cried. "Only three clear days. I believe the rascal wants to put himself out of danger's

way. But he won't, Watson! By the Lord Harry, he won't! Now, Watson, I want you to do something

"Well, then, spend the next twentyfour hours in an intensive study of Chinese pottery."

He gave no explanations and I asked for none. By long experience I had learned the wisdom of

obedience. But when I had left his room I walked down Baker Street, revolving in my head how on

earth I was to carry out so strange an order. Finally I drove to the London Library in St. James's

Square, put the matter to my friend Lomax, the sublibrarian, and departed to my rooms with a

It is said that the barrister who crams up a case with such care that he can examine an expert

witness upon the Monday has forgotten all his forced knowledge before the Saturday. Certainly I

should not like now to pose as an authority upon ceramics. And yet all that evening, and all that

night with a short interval for rest, and all next morning, I was sucking in knowledge and committing

names to memory. There I learned of the hallmarks of the great artistdecorators, of the mystery

of cyclical dates, the marks of the Hungwu and the beauties of the Yunglo, the writings of

Tangying, and the glories of the primitive period of the Sung and the Yuan. I was charged with all

this information when I called upon Holmes next evening. He was out of bed now, though you

would not have guessed it from the published reports, and he sat with his muchbandaged head

"That," said he, "is the very impression which I intended to convey. And now, Watson, have you

He opened the lid and took out a small object most carefully wrapped in some fine Eastern silk.

This he unfolded, and disclosed a delicate little saucer of the most beautiful deepblue colour.

"It needs careful handling, Watson. This is the real eggshell pottery of the Ming dynasty. No finer

piece ever passed through Christie's. A complete set of this would be worth a king's ransom in

fact, it is doubtful if there is a complete set outside the imperial palace of Peking. The sight of this

Holmes handed me a card upon which was printed: "Dr. Hill Barton, 369 Half Moon Street."

"That is your name for the evening, Watson. You will call upon Baron Gruner. I know something of

his habits, and at halfpast eight he would probably be disengaged. A note will tell him in advance

that you are about to call, and you will say that you are bringing him a specimen of an absolutely

unique set of Ming china. You may as well be a medical man, since that is a part which you can

play without duplicity. You are a collector this set has come your way, you have heard of the

"Well asked, Watson. You would certainly fall down badly if you did not know the value of your own

wares. This saucer was got for me by Sir James, and comes, I understand, from the collection of

his client. You will not exaggerate if you say that it could hardly be matched in the world."

"Excellent, Watson! You scintillate today. Suggest Christie or Sotheby. Your delicacy prevents

"Oh, yes, he will see you. He has the collection mania in its most acute form and especially on

this subject, on which he is an acknowledged authority. Sit down, Watson, and I will dictate the

It was an admirable document, short, courteous, and stimulating to the curiosity of the connoisseur.

A district messenger was duly dispatched with it. On the same evening, with the precious saucer in

my hand and the card of Dr. Hill Barton in my pocket, I set off on my own adventure.

The beautiful house and grounds indicated that Baron Gruner was, as Sir James had said, a man

of considerable wealth. A long winding drive, with banks of rare shrubs on either side, opened out

into a great gravelled square adorned with statues. The place had been built by a South African

gold king in the days of the great boom, and the long, low house with the turrets at the corners,

though an architectural nightmare, was imposing in its size and solidity. A butler, who would have

adorned a bench of bishops, showed me in and handed me over to a plushclad footman, who

He was standing at the open front of a great case which stood between the windows and which

contained part of his Chinese collection. He turned as I entered with a small brown vase in his

"Pray sit down, Doctor," said he. "I was looking over my own treasures and wondering whether I

could really afford to add to them. This little Tang specimen, which dates from the seventh century,

would probably interest you. I am sure you never saw finer workmanship or a richer glaze. Have

I carefully unpacked it and handed it to him. He seated himself at his desk, pulled over the lamp, for

it was growing dark, and set himself to examine it. As he did so the yellow light beat upon his own

He was certainly a remarkably handsome man. His European reputation for beauty was fully

deserved. In figure he was not more than of middle size, but was built upon graceful and active

lines. His face was swarthy, almost Oriental, with large, dark, languorous eyes which might easily

hold an irresistible fascination for women. His hair and moustache were raven black, the latter

short, pointed, and carefully waxed. His features were regular and pleasing, save only his straight,

thinlipped mouth. If ever I saw a murderer's mouth it was there a cruel, hard gash in the face,

compressed, inexorable, and terrible. He was illadvised to train his moustache away from it, for it

was Nature's dangersignal, set as a warning to his victims. His voice was engaging and his

manners perfect. In age I should have put him at little over thirty, though his record afterwards

"Very fine very fine indeed!" he said at last. "And you say you have a set of six to correspond.

What puzzles me is that I should not have heard of such magnificent specimens. I only know of one

in England to match this, and it is certainly not likely to be in the market. Would it be indiscreet if I

"You can see that the piece is genuine, and, as to the value, I am content to take an expert's

"Very mysterious," said he with a quick, suspicious flash of his dark eyes. "In dealing with objects of

such value, one naturally wishes to know all about the transaction. That the piece is genuine is

certain. I have no doubts at all about that. But suppose I am bound to take every possibility into

"That, of course, would open up the question as to what your guarantee was worth."

"You can do business or not," said I with indifference. "I have given you the first offer as I

understood that you were a connoisseur, but I shall have no difficulty in other quaerers."

"Dear me, this becomes more and more difficult for me to understand! You are a connoisseur and

collector with a very valuable piece in your collection, and yet you have never troubled to consult

the one book which would have told you of the real meaning and value of what you held. How do

"That is no answer. If a man has a hobby he follows it up, whatever his other pursuits may be. You

"Might I ask you a few questions to test you? I am obliged to tell you, Doctor if you are indeed a

doctor that the incident becomes more and more suspicious. I would ask you what do you know

of the Emperor Shomu and how do you associate him with the Shosoin near Nara? Dear me,

does that puzzle you? Tell me a little about the Nonhern Wei dynasty and its place in the history of

"This is intolerable, sir," said I. "I came here to do you a favour, and not to be examined as if I were

a schoolboy. My knowledge on these subjects may be second only to your own, but I certainly shall

He looked at me steadily. The languor had gone from his eyes. They suddenly glared. There was a

"What is the game? You are here as a spy. You are an emissary of Holmes. This is a trick that you

are playing upon me. The fellow is dying I hear, so he sends his tools to keep watch upon me.

You've made your way in here without leave, and, by God! you may find it harder to get out than to

He had sprung to his feet, and I stepped back, bracing myself for an attack, for the man was beside

himself with rage. He may have suspected me from the first; certainly this crossexamination had

shown him the truth; but it was clear that I could not hope to deceive him. He dived his hand into a

sidedrawer and rummaged furiously. Then something struck upon his ear, for he stood listening

Two steps took me to the open door, and my mind will ever carry a clear picture of the scene

within. The window leading out to the garden was wide open. Beside it, looking like some terrible

ghost, his head gin with bloody bandages, his face drawn and white, stood Sherlock Holmes. The

next instant he was through the gap, and I heard the crash of his body among the laurel bushes

outside. With a howl of rage the master of the house rushed after him to the open window.

And then! It was done in an instant, and yet I clearly saw it. An arm a woman's arm shot out

from among the leaves. At the same instant the Baron uttered a horrible cry a yell which will

always ring in my memory. He clapped his two hands to his face and rushed round the room,

beating his head horribly against the walls. Then he fell upon the carpet, rolling and writhing, while

I seized a carafe from a sidetable and rushed to his aid. At the same moment the butler and

several footmen ran in from the hall. I remember that one of them fainted as I knelt by the injured

man and turned that awful face to the light of the lamp. The vitriol was eating into it everywhere and

dripping from the ears and the chin. One eye was already white and glazed. The other was red and

inflamed. The features which I had admired a few minutes before were now like some beautiful

painting over which the artist has passed a wet and foul sponge. They were blurred, discoloured,

In a few words I explained exactly what had occurred, so far as the vitriol attack was concerned.

Some had climbed through the window and others had rushed out on to the lawn, but it was dark

and it had begun to rain. Between his screams the victim raged and raved against the avenger. "It

was that hellcat, Kitty Winter!" he cried. "Oh, the shedevil! She shall pay for it! She shall pay! Oh,

I bathed his face in oil, put cotton wadding on the raw surfaces, and administered a hypodermic of

morphia. All suspicion of me had passed from his mind in the presence of this shock, and he clung

to my hands as if I might have the power even yet to clear those deadfish eyes which glazed up at

me. I could have wept over the ruin had l not remembered very clearly the vile life which had led up

to so hideous a change. It was loathsome to feel the pawing of his burning hands, and I was

relieved when his family surgeon, closely followed by a specialist, came to relieve me of my charge.

An inspector of police had also arrived, and to him I handed my real card. It would have been

useless as well as foolish to do otherwise, for I was nearly as well known by sight at the Yard as

Holmes himself. Then I left that house of gloom and terror. Within an hour I was at Baker Street.

Holmes was seated in his familiar chair, looking very pale and exhausted. Apart from his injuries,

even his iron nerves had been shocked by the events of the evening, and he listened with horror to

"The wages of sin, Watson the wages of sin!" said he. "Sooner or later it will always come. God

knows, there was sin enough," he added, taking up a brown volume from the table. "Here is the

book the woman talked of. If this will not break off the marriage, nothing ever could. But it will,

"Or his lust diary. Call it what you will. The moment the woman told us of it I realized what a

tremendous weapon was there if we could but lay our hands on it. I said nothing at the time to

indicate my thoughts, for this woman might have given it away. But I brooded over it. Then this

assault upon me gave me the chance of letting the Baron think that no precautions need be taken

against me. That was all to the good. I would have waited a little longer, but his visit to America

forced my hand. He would never have left so compromising a document behind him. Therefore we

had to act at once. Burglary at night is impossible. He takes precautions. But there was a chance in

the evening if I could only be sure that his attention was engaged. That was where you and your

blue saucer came in. But I had to be sure of the position of the book, and I knew I had only a few

minutes in which to act, for my time was limited by your knowledge of Chinese pottery. Therefore I

gathered the girl up at the last moment. How could I guess what the little packet was that she

carried so carefully under her cloak? I thought she had come altogether on my business, but it

"I feared he would. But you held him in play just long enough for me to get the book, though not

long enough for an unobserved escape. Ah, Sir James, I am very glad you have come!"

Our courtly friend had appeared in answer to a previous summons. He listened with the deepest

"You have done wonders wonders!" he cried when he had heard the narrative. "But if these

injuries are as terrible as Dr. Watson describes, then surely our purpose of thwarting the marriage

"Women of the De Merville type do not act like that. She would love him the more as a disfigured

martyr. No, no. It is his moral side, not his physical, which we have to destroy. That book will bring

her back to earth and I know nothing else that could. It is in his own writing. She cannot get past

Sir James carried away both it and the precious saucer. As I was myself overdue, I went down with

him into the street. A brougham was waiting for him. He sprang in, gave a hurried order to the

cockaded coachman, and drove swiftly away. He flung his overcoat half out of the window to cover

the armorial bearings upon the panel, but I had seen them in the glare of our fanlight none the less.

I gasped with surprise. Then I turned back and ascended the stair to Holmes's room.

"I have found out who our client is," I cried, bursting with my great news. "Why, Holmes, it is "

"It is a loyal friend and a chivalrous gentleman," said Holmes, holding up a restraining hand. "Let

I do not know how the incriminating book was used. Sir James may have managed it. Or it is more

probable that so delicate a task was entrusted to the young lady's father. The effect, at any rate,

Three days later appeared a paragraph in the Morning Post to say that the marriage between

Baron Adelbert Gruner and Miss Violet de Merville would not take place. The same paper had the

first policecourt hearing of the proceedings against Miss Kitty Winter on the grave charge of

vitriolthrowing. Such extenuating circumstances came out in the trial that the sentence, as will be

remembered was the lowest that was possible for such an offence. Sherlock Holmes was

threatened with a prosecution for burglary, but when an object is good and a client is sufficiently

illustrious, even the rigid British law becomes human and elastic. My friend has not yet stood in the

I don't think that any of my adventures with Mr. Sherlock Holmes opened quite so abruptly, or so

dramatically, as that which I associate with The Three Gables. I had not seen Holmes for some

days and had no idea of the new channel into which his activities had been directed. He was in a

chatty mood that morning, however, and had just settled me into the wellworn low armchair on

one side of the fire, while he had curled down with his pipe in his mouth upon the opposite chair,

when our visitor arrived. If I had said that a mad bull had arrived it would give a clearer impression

The door had flown open and a huge negro had burst into the room. He would have been a comic

figure if he had not been terrific, for he was dressed in a very loud gray check suit with a flowing

salmoncoloured tie. His broad face and flattened nose were thrust forward, as his sullen dark

eyes, with a smouldering gleam of malice in them, turned from one of us to the other.

"Oh! it's you, is it?" said our visitor, coming with an un pleasant, stealthy step round the angle of

the table. "See here, Masser Holmes, you keep your hands out of other folks' busi ness. Leave

"Oh! it's fine, is it?" growled the savage. "It won't be so damn fine if I have to trim you up a bit. I've

handled your kind before now, and they didn't look fine when I was through with them. Look at that,

He swung a huge knotted lump of a fist under my friend's nose. Holmes examined it closely with an

It may have been the icy coolness of my friend, or it may have been the slight clatter which I made

as I picked up the poker. In any case, our visitor's manner became less flamboyant.

"Well, I've given you fair warnin'," said he. "I've a friend that's interested out Harrow way you

know what I'm meaning and he don't intend to have no buttin' in by you. Got that? You ain't the

law, and I ain't the law either, and if you come in I'll be on hand also. Don't you forget it."

"I've wanted to meet you for some time," said Holmes. "I won't ask you to sit down, for I don't like

"That's my name, Masser Holmes, and you'll get put through it for sure if you give me any lip."

"It is certainly the last thing you need," said Holmes, staring at our visitor's hideous mouth. "But it

was the killing of young Perkins outside the Holborn Bar What! you're not going?"

The negro had sprung back, and his face was leaden. "I won't listen to no such talk," said he.

"What have I to do with this 'ere Perkins, Masser Holmes? I was trainin' at the Bull Ring in

"Yes, you'll tell the magistrate about it, Steve," said Holmes. "I've been watching you and Barney

"Goodmornin', Masser Holmes. I hope there ain't no hard feelin's about this 'ere visit?"

"Why, there ain't no secret about that, Masser Holmes. It was that same gen'l'man that you have

"S'elp me. I don't know, Masser Holmes. He just say, 'Steve, you go see Mr. Holmes, and tell him

his life ain't safe if he go down Harrow way.' That's the whole truth." Without waiting for any further

questioning, our visitor bolted out of the room almost as precipitately as he had entered. Holmes

"I am glad you were not forced to break his woolly head, Watson. I observed your manoeuvres with

the poker. But he is really rather a harmless fellow, a great muscular, foolish, blus tering baby,

and easily cowed, as you have seen. He is one of the Spencer John gang and has taken part in

some dirty work of late which I may clear up when I have time. His immediate principal, Barney, is a

more astute person. They specialize in assaults, intimidation, and the like. What I want to know is,

"It is this Harrow Weald case. It decides me to look into the matter, for if it is worth anyone's while

"I was going to tell you when we had this comic interlude. Here is Mrs. Maberley's note. If you care

"So that's that!" said Holmes. "And now, if you can spare the time, Watson, we will get upon our

A short railway journey, and a shorter drive, brought us to the house, a brick and timber villa,

standing in its own acre of undeveloped grassland. Three small projections above. the upper

windows made a feeble attempt to justify its name. Behind was a grove of melancholy, halfgrown

pines, and the whole aspect of the place was poor and depressing. None the less, we found the

house to be well furnished, and the lady who received us was a most engaging elderly person, who

"I remember your husband well, madam," said Holmes, "though it is some years since he used my

"Dear me! Are you the mother of Douglas Maberley? I knew him slightly. But of course all London

"Dead, Mr. Holmes, dead! He was attache at Rome, and he died there of pneumonia last month."

"I am sorry. One could not connect death with such a man. I have never known anyone so vitally

"Too intensely, Mr. Holmes. That was the ruin of him. You remember him as he was debonair

and splendid. You did not see the moody, morose, brooding creature into which he devel oped.

His heart was broken. In a single month I seemed to see my gallant boy turn into a wornout

"Or a fiend. Well, it was not to talk of my poor lad that I asked you to come, Mr. Holmes."

"There have been some very strange happenings. I have been in this house more than a year now,

and as I wished to lead a retired life I have seen little of my neighbours. Three days ago I had a call

from a man who said that he was a house agent. He said that this house would exactly suit a client

of his, and that if I would part with it money would be no object. It seemed to me very strange as

there are several empty houses on the market which appear to be equally eligible, but naturally I

was interested in what he said. I therefore named a price which was five hundred pounds more

than I gave. He at once closed with the offer, but added that his client desired to buy the furniture

as well and would I put a price upon it. Some of this furniture is from my old home, and it is, as you

see, very good, so that I named a good round sum. To this also he at once agreed. I had always

wanted to travel, and the bargain was so good a one that it really seemed that I should be my own

"Yesterday the man arrived with the agreement all drawn out. Luckily I showed it to Mr. Sutro, my

lawyer, who lives in Harrow. He said to me, 'This is a very strange document. Are you aware that if

you sign it you could not legally take anything out of the house not even your own private

possessions?' When the man came again in the evening I pointed this out, and I said that I meant

" 'Well, well, some concession might be made for your per sonal effects. But nothing shall go out

of the house unchecked. My client is a very liberal man, but he has his fads and his own way of

" 'Then it must be nothing,' said I. And there the matter was left, but the whole thing seemed to me

Holmes raised his hand for silence. Then he strode across the room, flung open the door, and

dragged in a great gaunt woman whom he had seized by the shoulder. She entered with ungainly

"Well, ma'am, I was comin' in to ask if the visitors was stayin' for lunch when this man jumped out

"I have been listening to her for the last five minutes, but did not wish to interrupt your most

interesting narrative. Just a little wheezy, Susan, are you not? You breathe too heavily for that kind

Susan turned a sulky but amazed face upon her captor. "Who be you, anyhow, and what right have

"It was merely that I wished to ask a question in your presence. Did you, Mrs. Maberley, mention to

"Exactly. Now, Susan, to whom was it that you wrote or sent a message to say that your mistress

"Now, Susan, wheezy people may not live long, you know. It's a wicked thing to tell fibs. Whom did

"Susan!" cried her mistress, "I believe you are a bad, treach erous woman. I remember now that I

"Suppose I tell you that it was Barney Stockdale to whom you spoke?" said Holmes.

"I was not sure, but I know now. Well now, Susan, it will be worth ten pounds to you if you will tell

"Someone that could lay down a thousand pounds for every ten you have in the world."

"So, a rich man? No; you smiled a rich woman. Now we have got so far, you may as well give

"I am clearing out of here. I've had enough of you all. I'll send for my box tomorrow." She flounced

"Goodbye, Susan. Paregoric is the stuff.... Now," he continued, turning suddenly from lively to

severe when the door had closed behind the flushed and angry woman, "this gang means

business. Look how close they play the game. Your letter to me had the 10 P.M. postmark. And yet

Susan passes the word to Barney. Barney has time to go to his employer and get instructions; he

or she I incline to the latter from Susan's grin when she thought I had blundered forms a

plan. Black Steve is called in, and I am warned off by eleven o'clock next morning. That's quick

"I was wondering whether he could have buried something. Of course, when people bury treasure

nowadays they do it in the PostOffice bank. But there are always some lunatics about. It would be

a dull world without them. At first I thought of some buried valuable. But why, in that case, should

they want your furniture? You don't happen to have a Raphael or a first folio Shakespeare without

"That would hardly justify all this mystery. Besides, why should they not openly state what they

want? If they covet your teaset, they can surely offer a price for it without buying you out, lock,

stock, and barrel. No, as I read it, there is something which you do not know that you have, and

"Let us see whether by this purely mental analysis we can get it to a finer point. You have been in

"All the better. During this long period no one wants anything from you. Now suddenly within three

"It can only mean," said I, "that the object, whatever it may be, has only just come into the house."

"Settled once again," said Holmes. "Now, Mrs. Maberley has any object just arrived?"

"Indeed! That is very remarkable. Well, I think we had best let matters develop a little further until

"Have you another maid, or was the fair Susan, who has just banged your front door alone?"

"Try and get Sutro to spend a night or two in the house. You might possibly want protection."

"Who knows? The matter is certainly obscure. If I can't find what they are after, I must approach the

matter from the other end and try to get at the principal. Did this houseagent man give any

"I don't think we shall find him in the directory. Honest business men don't conceal their place of

business. Well, you will let me know any fresh development. I have taken up your case, and you

As we passed through the hall Holmes's eyes, which missed nothing, lighted upon several trunks

"But you said why, surely this might be the missing link. How do we know that there is not

"There could not possibly be, Mr. Holmes. Poor Douglas had only his pay and a small annuity.

"Delay no longer, Mrs. Maberley," he said at last. "Have these things taken upstairs to your

bedroom. Examine them as soon as possible and see what they cohtain. I will come to morrow

It was quite evident that The Three Gables was under very close surveillance, for as we came

round the high hedge at the end of the lane there was the negro prizefighter standing in the

shadow. We came on him quite suddenly, and a grim and menacing figure he looked in that lonely

"It won't be funny for you, Steve, if I get after you. I gave you fair warning this morning."

"Well, Masser Holmes, I done gone think over what you said, and I don't want no more talk about

"So help me the Lord! Masser Holmes, I told you the truth before. I don't know. My boss Barney

"Well, just bear in mind, Steve, that the lady in that house, and everything under that roof, is under

"I've got him thoroughly frightened for his own skin, Wat son," Holmes remarked as we walked on.

"I think he would doublecross his employer if he knew who he was. It was lucky I had some

knowledge of the Spencer John crowd, and that Steve was one of them. Now, Watson, this is a

case for Langdale Pike, and I am going to see him now. When I get back I may be clearer in the

I saw no more of Holmes during the day, but I could well imagine how he spent it, for Langdale Pike

was his human book of reference upon all matters of social scandal. This strange, languid creature

spent his waking hours in the bow window of a St. James's Street club and was the receiving

station as well as the transmitter for all the gossip of the metropolis. He made, it was said, a

fourfigure income by the paragraphs which he contributed every week to the gar bage papers

which cater to an inquisitive public. If ever, far down in the turbid depths of London life, there was

some strange swirl or eddy, it was marked with automatic exact ness by this human dial upon the

surface. Holmes discreetly helped Langdale to knowledge, and on occasion was helped in turn.

When I met my friend in his room early next morning, I was conscious from his bearing that all was

well, but none the less a most unpleasant surprise was awaiting us. It took the shape of the

Holmes whistled. "The drama has come to a crisis, and quicker than I had expected. There is a

great drivingpower at the back of this business, Watson, which does not surprise me after what I

have heard. This Sutro, of course, is her lawyer. I made a mistake, I fear, in not asking you to

spend the night on guard. This fellow has clearly proved a broken reed. Well, there is nothing for it

We found The Three Gables a very different establishment to the orderly household of the previous

day. A small group of idlers had assembled at the garden gate, while a couple of constables were

examining the windows and the geranium beds. Within we met a gray old gentleman, who

introduced himself as the lawyer together with a bustling, rubicund inspector, who greeted Hoimes

"Well, Mr. Holmes, no chance for you in this case, I'm afraid. Just a common, ordinary burglary,

"I am sure the case is in very good hands," said Holmes. "Merely a common burglary, you say?"

"Quite so. We know pretty well who the men are and where to find them. It is that gang of Barney

"Well, they don't seem to have got much. Mrs. Maberley was chloroformed and the house was

Our friend of yesterday, looking very pale and ill, had entered the room, leaning upon a little

"You gave me good advice, Mr. Holmes," said she, smiling ruefully. "Alas, I did not take it! I did not

"Mr. Holmes advised me to have some friend in the house. I neglected his advice, and I have paid

"You look wretchedly ill," said Holmes. "Perhaps you are hardly equal to telling me what occurred."

"There is really so little to tell. I have no doubt that wicked Susan had planned an entrance for

them. They must have known the house to an inch. I was conscious for a moment of the chloroform

rag which was thrust over my mouth, but I have no notion how long I may have been senseless.

When I woke, one man was at the bedside and another was rising with a bundle in his hand from

among my son's baggage, which was partially opened and littered over the floor. Before he could

"I clung to him, but he shook me off, and the other may have struck me, for I can remember no

more. Mary the maid heard the noise and began screaming out of the window. That brought the

"Well, I don't think there is anything of value missing. I am sure there was nothing in my son's

"There was one sheet of paper which I may have torn from the man that I grasped. It was lying all

"Which means that it is not of much use," said the inspector. "Now if it had been in the burglar's "

"Exactly," said Holmes. "What rugged common sense! None the less, I should be curious to see it."

"I never pass anything, however trifling," said he with some pomposity. "That is my advice to you,

Mr. Holmes. In twenty five years' experience I have learned my lesson. There is always the

"It may certainly prove to be the end of a queer tale," said Holmes. "You have noticed the number

on the top of the page. It is two hundred and fortyfive. Where are the odd two hundred and

"It seems a queer thing to break into a house in order to steal such papers as that. Does it suggest

"Yes, sir, it suggests that in their hurry the rascals just grabbed at what came first to hand. I wish

"Well, they found nothing valuable downstairs, so they tried their luck upstairs. That is how I read it.

"I must think it over, Inspector. Come to the window, Wat son." Then, as we stood together, he

read over the fragment of paper. It began in the middle of a sentence and ran like this:

"Queer grammar!" said Holmes with a smile as he handed the paper back to the inspector. "Did you

notice how the 'he' suddenly changed to 'my'? The writer was so carried away by his own story that

"It seemed mighty poor stuff," said the inspector as he re placed it in his book. "What! are you off,

"I don't think there is anything more for me to do now that the case is in such capable hands. By the

"Quite so. Round the world. Well, goodmorning. I may drop you a line in the evening." As we

passed the window I caught a glimpse of the inspector's smile and shake of the head. "These

clever fellows have always a touch of madness." That was what I read in the inspector's smile.

"Now, Watson, we are at the last lap of our little journey," said Holmes when we were back in the

roar of central London once more. "I think we had best clear the matter up at once, and it would be

well that you should come with me, for it is safer to have a witness when you are dealing with such

We had taken a cab and were speeding to some address in Grosvenor Square. Holmes had been

"No, I can't say that I do. I only gather that we are going to see the lady who is behind all this

"Exactly! But does the name Isadora Klein convey nothing to you? She was, of course, the

celebrated beauty. There was never a woman to touch her. She is pure Spanish, the real blood of

the masterfui Conquistadors, and her people have been leaders in Pernambuco for generations.

She married the aged German sugar king, Klein, and presently found herself the richest as well as

the most lovely widow upon earth. Then there was an interval of adventure when she pleased her

own tastes. She had several lovers, and Douglas Maberley, one of the most striking men in

London, was one of them. It was by all accounts more than an adventure with him. He was not a

society butterfly but a strong, proud man who gave and expected all. But she is the 'belle dame

sans merci' of fiction. When her caprice is satisfied the matter is ended, and if the other party in the

"Ah! you are piecing it together now. I hear that she is about to marry the young Duke of Lomond,

who might almost be her son. His Grace's ma might overlook the age, but a big scandal would be a

It was one of the finest cornerhouses of the West End. A machinelike footman took up our cards

and returned with word that the lady was not at home. "Then we shall wait until she is," said

"Good," Holmes answered. "That means that we shall not have to wait. Kindly give this note to your

He scribbled three or four words upon a sheet of his notebook, folded it, and handed it to the man.

"I simply wrote: 'Shall it be the police, then?' I think that should pass us in."

It did with amazing celerity. A minute later we were in an Arabian Nights drawingroom, vast

and wonderful, in a half gloom, picked out with an occasional pink electric light. The lady had come,

I felt, to that time of life when even the proudest beauty finds the half light more welcome. She rose

from a settee as we entered: tall, queenly, a perfect figure, a lovely masklike face, with two

"What is this intrusion and this insulting message?" she asked, holding up the slip of paper.

"I need not explain, madame. I have too much respect for your intelligence to do so though I

"By supposing that your hired bullies could frighten me from my work. Surely no man would take up

my profession if it were not that danger attracts him. It was you, then, who forced me to examine

"I have no idea what you are talking about. What have I to do with hired bullies?"

We had not got halfway to the door before she had overtaken us and was holding his arm. She had

"Come and sit down, gentlemen. Let us talk this matter over. I feel that I may be frank with you, Mr.

Holmes. You have the feelings of a gentleman. How quick a woman's instinct is to find it out. I will

"I cannot promise to reciprocate, madame. I am not the law, but I represent justice so far as my

feeble powers go. I am ready to listen, and then I will tell you how I will act."

"What was really foolish, madame, is that you have placed yourself in the power of a band of

"No, no! I am not so simple. Since I have promised to be frank, I may say that no one, save Barney

Stockdale and Susan, his wife, have the least idea who their employer is. As to them, well, it is not

"Such hounds have a way sooner or later of biting the hand that feeds them. They will be arrested

"They will take what comes to them. That is what they are paid for. I shall not appear in the matter."

She broke into a ripple of laughter and walked to the fireplace. There was a calcined mass which

she broke up with the poker. "Shall I give this back?" she asked. So roguish and exquisite did she

look as she stood before us with a challenging smile that I felt of all Holmes's criminals this was the

one whom he would find it hardest to face. However, he was immune from sentiment.

"That seals your fate," he said coldly. "You are very prompt in your actions, madame, but you have

"But you must look at it with my eyes, Mr. Holmes. You must realize it from the point of view of a

woman who sees all her life's ambition about to be ruined at the last moment. Is such a woman to

"Yes, yes! I admit it. He was a dear boy, Douglas, but it so chanced that he could not fit into my

plans. He wanted marriage marriage, Mr. Holmes with a penniless commoner. Nothing less

would serve him. Then he became pertinacious. Because I had given he seemed to think that I still

must give, and to him only. It was intolerable. At last I had to make him realize it."

"You do indeed seem to know everything. Well, it is true. Barney and the boys drove him away, and

were, I admit, a little rough in doing so. But what did he do then? Could I have believed that a

gentleman would do such an act? He wrote a book in which he described his own story. I, of

course, was the wolf; he the lamb. It was all there, under different names, of course; but who in all

"It was as if the air of Italy had got into his blood and brought with it the old cruel Italian spirit. He

wrote to me and sent me a copy of his book that I might have the torture of anticipation. There were

"I knew who his publisher was. It is not his only novel, you know. I found out that he had not heard

from Italy. Then came Douglas's sudden death. So long as that other manuscript was in the world

there was no safety for me. Of course, it must be among his effects, and these would be returned

to his mother. I set the gang at work. One of them got into the house as servant. I wanted to do the

thing honestly. I really and truly did. I was ready to buy the house and everything in it. I offered any

price she cared to ask. I only tried the other way when everything else had failed. Now, Mr.

Holmes, granting that I was too hard on Douglas and, God knows, I am sorry for it! what else

"Well, well," said he, "I suppose I shall have to compound a felony as usual. How much does it cost

"Very good. I think you will sign me a check for that, and I will see that it comes to Mrs. Maberley.

You owe her a little change of air. Meantime, lady" he wagged a cautionary forefinger "have

a care! Have a care! You can't play with edged tools forever without cutting those dainty hands."

The ideas of my friend Watson, though limited, are exceed ingly pertinacious. For a long time he

has worried me to write an experience of my own. Perhaps I have rather invited this perse cution,

since I have often had occasion to point out to him how superficial are his own accounts and to

accuse him of pandering to popular taste instead of confining himself rigidly to facts and figures.

"Try it yourself, Holmes!" he has retorted, and I am compelled to admit that, having taken my pen in

my hand, I do begin to realize that the matter must be presented in such a way as may interest the

reader. The following case can hardly fail to do so, as it is among the strangest happenings in my

collection though it chanced that Watson had no note of it in his collection. Speaking of my old

friend and biographer, I would take this opportunity to remark that if I burden myself with a

companion in my various little inquiries it is not done out of sentiment or caprice, but it is that

Watson has some remarkable characteristics of his own to which in his modesty he has given small

attention amid his exaggerated estimates of my own performances. A confederate who foresees

your conclusions and course of action is always dangerous, but one to whom each development

comes as a perpetual surprise, and to whom the future is always a closed book, is indeed an ideal

I find from my notebook that it was in January, 1903, just after the conclusion of the Boer War, that

I had my visit from Mr. James M. Dodd, a big, fresh, sunburned, upstanding Briton. The good

Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I can recall in our

It is my habit to sit with my back to the window and to place my visitors in the opposite chair, where

the light falls full upon them. Mr. James M. Dodd seemed somewhat at a loss how to begin the

interview. I did not attempt to help him, for his silence gave me more time for observation. I have

found it wise to impress clients with a sense of power, and so I gave him some of my conclusions.

"When a gentleman of virile appearance enters my room with such tan upon his face as an English

sun could never give, and with his handkerchief in his sleeve instead of in his pocket, it is not

difficult to place him. You wear a short beard, which shows that you were not a regular. You have

the cut of a ridingman. As to Middlesex, your card has already shown me that you are a

"I see no more than you, but I have trained myself to notice what I see. However, Mr. Dodd, it was

not to discuss the science of observation that you called upon me this morning. What has been

"My dear sir, there is no mystery. Your letter came with that heading, and as you fixed this

appointment in very pressing terms it was clear that something sudden and important had

"Yes, indeed. But the letter was written in the afternoon, and a good deal has happened since then.

"Well, that was what it amounted to. He is a hard nail, is Colonel Emsworth. The greatest martinet

in the Army in his day, and it was a day of rough language, too. I couldn't have stuck the colonel if it

"I had got into the way of supposing that you knew every thing without being told," said he. "But I

will give you the facts, and I hope to God that you will be able to tell me what they mean. I've been

awake all night puzzling my brain, and the more I think the more incredible does it become.

"When I joined up in January, 1901 just two years ago young Godfrey Emsworth had joined

the same squadron. He was Colonel Emsworth's only son Emsworth the Crimean V. C. and

he had the fighting blood in him, so it is no wonder he volunteered. There was not a finer lad in the

regiment. We formed a friendship the sort of friendship which can only be made when one lives

the same life and shares the same joys and sorrows. He was my mate and that means a good

deal in the Army. We took the rough and the smooth together for a year of hard fighting. Then he

was hit with a bullet from an elephant gun in the action near Diamond Hill outsidePretoria. I got

one letter from the hospital at Cape Town and one from Southampton. Since then not a word

"Well, when the war was over, and we all got back, I wrote to his father and asked where Godfrey

was. No answer. I waited a bit and then I wrote again. This time I had a reply, short and gruff.

Godfrey had gone on a voyage round the world, and it was not likely that he would be back for a

"I wasn't satisfied, Mr. Holmes. The whole thing seemed to me so damned unnatural. He was a

good lad, and he would not drop a pal like that. It was not like him. Then, again, I happened to

know that he was heir to a lot of money, and also that his father and he did not always hit it off too

well. The old man was sometimes a bully, and young Godfrey had too much spirit to stand it. No, I

wasn't satisfied, and I determined that I would get to the root of the matter. It happened, however,

that my own affairs needed a lot of straightening out, after two years' ab sence, and so it is only

this week that I have been able to take up Godfrey's case again. But since I have taken it up I mean

Mr. James M. Dodd appeared to be the sort of person whom it would be better to have as a friend

than as an enemy. His blue eyes were stern and his square jaw had set hard as he spoke.

"My first move was to get down to his home, Tuxbury Old Park, near Bedford, and to see for myself

how the ground lay. I wrote to the mother, therefore I had had quite enough of the curmudgeon

of a father and I made a clean frontal attack: Godfrey was my chum, I had a great deal of

interest which I might tell her of our common experiences, I should be in the neighbourhood, would

there be any objection, et cetera? In reply I had quite an amiable answer from her and an offer to

"Tuxbury Old Hall is inaccessible five miles from any where. There was no trap at the station,

so I had to walk, carrying my suitcase, and it was nearly dark before I arrived. It is a great

wandering house, standing in a considerable park. I should judge it was of all sorts of ages and

styles, starting on a halftimbered Elizabethan foundation and ending in a Victorian portico. Inside

it was all panelling and tapestry and halfeffaced old pictures, a house of shadows and mystery.

There was a butler, old Ralph, who seemed about the same age as the house, and there was his

wife, who might have been older. She had been Godfrey's nurse, and I had heard him speak of her

as second only to his mother in his affections, so I was drawn to her in spite of her queer

appearance. The mother I liked also a gentle little white mouse of a woman. It was only the

"We had a bit of barney right away, and I should have walked back to the station if I had not felt that

it might be playing his game for me to do so. I was shown straight into his study, and there I found

him, a huge, bowbacked man with a smoky skin and a straggling gray beard, seated behind his

littered desk. A redveined nose jutted out like a vulture's beak, and two fierce gray eyes glared at

me from under tufted brows. I could under stand now why Godfrey seldom spoke of his father.

" 'Well, sir,' said he in a rasping voice, 'I should be inter ested to know the real reasons for this

" 'Yes, yes, you said that you had known Godfrey in Africa. We have, of course, only your word for

" 'I was fond of your son Godfrey, sir. Many ties and memo ries united us. Is it not natural that I

should wonder at his sudden silence and should wish to know what has become of him?'

" 'I have some recollections, sir, that I had already corres ponded with you and had told you what

had become of him. He has gone upon a voyage round the world. His health was in a poor way

after his African experiences, and both his mother and I were of opinion that camplete rest and

change were needed. Kindly pass that explanation on to any other friends who may be interested in

" 'Certainly,' I answered. 'But perhaps you would have the goodness to let me have the name of the

steamer and of the line by which he sailed, together with the date. I have no doubt that I should be

"My request seemed both to puzzle and to irritate my host. His great eyebrows came down over his

eyes, and he tapped his fingers impatiently on the table. He looked up at last with the expression of

one who has seen his adversary make a dangerous move at chess, and has decided how to meet

" 'Many people, Mr. Dodd,' said he, 'would take offence at your infernal pertinacity and would think

" 'Exactly. I have already made every allowance upon that score. I must ask you, however, to drop

these inquiries. Every family has its own inner knowledge and its own motives, which cannot

always be made clear to outsiders, however wellintentioned. My wife is anxious to hear something

of Godfrey's past which you are in a position to tell her, but I would ask you to let the present and

the future alone. Such inquiries serve no useful purpose, sir, and place us in a delicate and difficult

"So I came to a dead end, Mr. Holmes. There was no getting past it. I could only pretend to accept

the situation and register a vow inwardly that I would never rest until my friend's fate had been

cleared up. It was a dull evening. We dined quietly, the three of us, in a gloomy, faded old room.

The lady questioned me eagerly about her son, but the old man seemed morose and depressed. I

was so bored by the whole proceeding that I made an excuse as soon as I decently could and

retired to my bedroom. It was a large, bare room on the ground floor, as gloomy as the rest of the

house, but after a year of sleeping upon the veldt, Mr. Holmes, one is not too particular about one's

quarters. I opened the curtains and looked out into the garden, remarking that it was a fine night

with a bright halfmoon. Then I sat down by the roaring fire with the lamp on a table beside me,

and endeavoured to distract my mind with a novel. I was interrupted, however, by Ralph, the old

" 'I thought you might run short in the nighttime, sir. It is bitter weather and these rooms are cold.'

"He hesitated before leaving the room, and when I looked round he was standing facing me with a

" 'Beg your pardon, sir, but I could not help hearing what you said of young Master Godfrey at

dinner. You know, sir, that my wife nursed him, and so I may say I am his fosterfather. It's natural

" 'There was no braver man in the regiment. He pulled me out once from under the rifles of the

" 'Yes, sir, yes, that is Master Godfrey all over. He was always courageous. There's not a tree in the

park, sir, that he has not climbed. Nothing would stop him. He was a fine boy and oh, sir, he

" 'Look here!' I cried. 'You say he was. You speak as if he were dead. What is all this mystery?

" 'I don't know what you mean, sir. Ask the master about Master Godfrey. He knows. It is not for me

" 'Listen,' I said. 'You are going to answer one question before you leave if I have to hold you all

"He could not face my eyes. He was like a man hypnotized The answer was dragged from his lips.

" 'I wish to God he was!' he cried, and, tearing himself free he dashed from the room.

"You will think, Mr. Holmes, that I returned to my chair in no very happy state of mind. The old

man's words seemed to me to bear only one interpretation. Clearly my poor friend had become

involved in some criminal or, at the least, disreputable transaction which touched the family honour.

That stern old man had sent his son away and hidden him from the world lest some scandal should

come to light. Godfrey was a reckless fellow. He was easily influenced by those around him. No

doubt he had fallen into bad hands and been misled to his ruin. It was a piteous business, if it was

indeed so, but even now it was my duty to hunt him out and see if I could aid him. I was anxiously

pondering the matter when I looked up, and there was Godfrey Emsworth standing before me."

"He was outside the window, Mr. Holmes, with his face pressed against the glass. I have told you

that I looked out at the night. When I did so I left the curtains partly open. His figure was framed in

this gap. The window came down to the ground and I could see the whole length of it, but it was his

face which held my gaze. He was deadly pale never have I seen a man so white. I reckon

ghosts may look like that; but his eyes met mine, and they were the eyes of a living man. He

sprang back when he saw that I was looking at him, and he vanished into the darkness.

"There was something shocking about the man, Mr. Holmes. It wasn't merely that ghastly face

glimmering as white as cheese in the darkness. It was more subtle than that something slink

ing, something furtive, something guilty something very unlike the frank, manly lad that I had

"But when a man has been soldiering for a year or two with brother Boer as a playmate, he keeps

his nerve and acts quickly. Godfrey had hardly vanished before I was at the window. There was an

awkward catch, and I was some little time before I could throw it up. Then I nipped through and ran

"It was a long path and the light was not very good, but it seemed to me something was moving

ahead of me. I ran on and called his name, but it was no use. When I got to the end of the path

there were several others branching in different directions to various outhouses. I stood hesitating,

and as I did so I heard distinctly the sound of a closing door. It was not behind me in the house, but

ahead of me, somewhere in the darkness. That was enough, Mr. Holmes, to assure me that what I

had seen was not a vision. Godfrey had run away from me, and he had shut a door behind him. Of

"There was nothing more I could do, and I spent an uneasy night turning the matter over in my

mind and trying to find some theory which would cover the facts. Next day I found the colonel rather

more conciliatory, and as his wife remarked that there were some places of interest in the

neighbourhood, it gave me an opening to ask whether my presence for one more night would

incommode them. A somewhat grudging acquiescence from the old man gave me a clear day in

which to make my observations. I was already perfectly convinced that Godfrey was in hiding

"The house was so large and so rambling that a regiment might be hid away in it and no one the

wiser. If the secret lay there it was difficult for me to penetrate it. But the door which I had heard

close was certainly not in the house. I must explore the garden and see what I could find. There

was no difficulty in the way, for the old people were busy in their own fashion and left me to my own

"There were several small outhouses, but at the end of the garden there was a detached building of

some size large enough for a gardener's or a gamekeeper's residence. Could this be the place

whence the sound of that shutting door had come? I approached it in a careless fashion as though I

were strolling aimlessly round the grounds. As I did so, a small, brisk, bearded man in a black coat

and bowler hat not at all the gardener type came out of the door. To my surprise, he locked it

after him and put the key in his pocket. Then he looked at me with some surprise on his face.

" 'What a pity that he should be away on his travels, for he would have so liked to see me,' I

" 'Quite so. Exactly,' said he with a rather guilty air. 'No doubt you will renew your visit at some

more propitious time.' He passed on, but when I turned I observed that he was standing watching

"I had a good look at the little house as I passed it, but the windows were heavily curtained, and, so

far as one could see, it was empty. I might spoil my own game and even be ordered off the

premises if I were too audacious, for I was still conscious that I was being watched. Therefore, I

strolled back to the house and waited for night before I went on with my inquiry. When all was dark

and quiet I slipped out of my window and made my way as silently as possible to the mysterious

"I have said that it was heavily curtained, but now I found that the windows were shuttered as well.

Some light, however, was breaking through one of them, so I concentrated my attention upon this. I

was in luck, for the curtain had not been quite closed, and there was a crack in the shutter, so that I

could see the inside of the room. It was a cheery place enough, a bright lamp and a blazing fire.

Opposite to me was seated the little man whom I had seen in the morning. He was smoking a pipe

"Possibly you observed whether it was a broadleafed paper or of that smaller type which one

"Now that you mention it, it was not large. It might have been the Spectator. However, I had little

thought to spare upon such details, for a second man was seated with his back to the window, and

I could swear that this second man was Godfrey. I could not see his face, but I knew the familiar

slope of his shoulders. He was leaning upon his elbow in an attitude of great melancholy, his body

turned towards the fire. I was hesitating as to what I should do when there was a sharp tap on my

" 'This way, sir!' said he in a low voice. He walked in silence to the house, and I followed him into

" There is a train to London at 8:30,' said he. 'The trap will be at the door at eight.'

"He was white with rage, and, indeed, I felt myself in so difficult a position that I could only stammer

out a few incoher ent apologies in which I tried to excuse myself by urging my anxiety for my

" 'The matter will not bear discussion,' said he abruptly. 'You have made a most damnable intrusion

into the privacy of our family. You were here as a guest and you have become a spy. I have

" 'I have seen your son, and I am convinced that for some reason of your own you are concealing

him from the world. I have no idea what your motives are in cutting him off in this fashion, but I am

sure that he is no longer a free agent. I warn you, Colonel Emsworth, that until I am assured as to

the safety and wellbeing of my friend I shall never desist in my efforts to get to the bottom of the

mystery, and I shall certainly not allow myself to be intimidated by anything which you may say or

"The old fellow looked diabolical, and I really thought he was about to attack me. I have said that he

was a gaunt, fierce old giant, and though I am no weakling I might have been hard put to it to hold

my own against him. However, after a long glare of rage he turned upon his heel and walked out of

the room. For my part, I took the appointed train in the morning, with the full intention of coming

straight to you and asking for your advice and assistance at the appointment for which I had

Such was the problem which my visitor laid before me. It presented, as the astute reader will have

already perceived, few difficulties in its solution, for a very limited choice of alterna tives must get

to the root of the matter. Still, elementary as it was, there were points of interest and novelty about

it which may excuse my placing it upon record. I now proceeded, using my familiar method of

"To the best of my belief there were only the old butler and his wife. They seemed to live in the

"None, unless the little man with the beard acted as such. He seemed, however, to be quite a

"That seems very suggestive. Had you any indication that food was conveyed from the one house

"Now that you mention it, I did see old Ralph carrying a basket down the garden walk and going in

the direction of this house. The idea of food did not occur to me at the moment."

"Yes, I did. I spoke to the stationmaster and also to the innkeeper in the village. I simply asked if

they knew anything of my old comrade, Godfrey Emsworth. Both of them assured me that he had

gone for a voyage round the world. He had come home and then had almost at once started off

"That was very wise. The matter should certainly be inquired into. I will go back with you to Tuxbury

It happened that at the moment I was clearing up the case which my friend Watson has described

as that of the Abbey School, in which the Duke of Greyminster was so deeply in volved. I had also

a commission from the Sultan of Turkey which called for immediate action, as political

consequences of the gravest kind might arise from its neglect. Therefore it was not until the

beginning of the next week, as my diary records, that I was able to start forth on my mission to

Bedfordshire in company with Mr. James M. Dodd. As we drove to Eustonn we picked up a grave

and tacitum gentleman of irongray aspect, with whom I had made the necessary arrangements.

"This is an old friend," said I to Dodd. "It is possible that his presence may be entirely unnecessary,

and, on the other hand, it may be essential. It is not necessary at the present stage to go further

The narratives of Watson have accustomed the reader, no doubt, to the fact that I do not waste

words or disclose my thoughts while a case is actually under consideration. Dodd seemed

surprised, but nothing more was said, and the three of us continued our journey together. In the

"You say that you saw your friend's face quite clearly at the window, so clearly that you are sure of

"I have no doubt about it whatever. His nose was pressed against the glass. The lamplight shone

"Only in colour. His face was how shall I describe it? it was of a fishbelly whiteness. It was

"I think not. It was his brow which I saw so clearly as it was pressed against the window."

"I was too startled and horrified for the moment. Then I pursued him, as I have told you, but without

My case was practically complete, and there was only one small incident needed to round it off.

When, after a considerable drive, we arrived at the strange old rambling house which my client had

described, it was Ralph, the elderly butler, who opened the door. I had requisitioned the carriage for

the day and had asked my elderly friend to remain within it unless we should summon him. Ralph,

a little wrinkled old fellow, was in the conventional costume of black coat and pepperandsalt

trousers, with only one curious variant. He wore brown leather gloves, which at sight of us he

instantly shuffled off, laying them down on the halltable as we passed in. I have, as my friend

Watson may have remarked, an abnormally acute set of senses, and a faint but incisive scent was

apparent. It seemed to centre on the hall table. I turned, placed my hat there, knocked it off,

stooped to pick it up, and contrived to bring my nose within a foot of the gloves. Yes, it was

undoubtedly from them that the curious tarry odour was oozing. I passed on into the study with my

case complete. Alas, that I should have to show my hand so when I tell my own story! It was by

concealing such links in the chain that Watson was enabled to produce his meretricious finales.

Colonel Emsworth was not in his room, but he came quickly enough on receipt of Ralph's message.

We heard his quick, heavy step in the passage. The door was flung open and he rushed in with

bristling beard and twisted features, as terrible an old man as ever I have seen. He held our cards

"Have I not told you, you infernal busybody, that you are warned off the premises? Never dare to

show your damned face here again. If you enter again without my leave I shall be within my rights if

I use violence. I'll shoot you, sir! By God, I will! As to you, sir," turning upon me, "I extend the same

warning to you. I am familiar with your ignoble profession, but you must take your reputed talents to

"I cannot leave here," said my client firmly, "until I hear from Godfrey's own lips that he is under no

"Ralph," he said, "telephone down to the county police and ask the inspector to send up two

"One moment," said I. "You must be aware, Mr. Dodd, that Colonel Emsworth is within his rights

and that we have no legal status within his house. On the other hand, he should recognize that

your action is prompted entirely by solicitude for his son. I venture to hope that if I were allowed to

have five minutes conversation with Colonel Emsworth I could certainly alter his view of the matter."

"I am not so easily altered," said the old soldier. "Ralph, do what I have told you. What the devil are

"Nothing of the sort," I said, putting my back to the door. "Any police interference would bring about

the very catastrophe which you dread." I took out my notebook and scribbled one word upon a

loose sheet. "That," said I as I handed it to Colonel Emsworth, "is what has brought us here."

He stared at the writing with a face from which every expres sion save amazement had vanished.

He sat in deep thought, his gaunt hand tugging at his strag gling beard. Then he made a gesture

"Well, if you wish to see Godfrey, you shall. It is no doing of mine, but you have forced my hand.

Ralph, tell Mr. Godfrey and Mr. Kent that in five minutes we shall be with them."

At the end of that time we passed down the garden path and found ourselves in front of the mystery

house at the end. A small bearded man stood at the door with a look of considerable astonishment

"This is very sudden, Colonel Emsworth," said he. "This will disarrange all our plans."

"I can't help it, Mr. Kent. Our hands have been forced. Can Mr. Godfrey see us?"

"Yes, he is waiting inside." He turned and led us into a large plainly furnished front room. A man

was standing with his back to the fire, and at the sight of him my client sprang forward with

"Don't touch me, Jimmie. Keep your distance. Yes, you may well stare! I don't quite look the smart

His appearance was certainly extraordinary. One could see that he had indeed been a handsome

man with clearcut features sunburned by an African sun, but mottled in patches over this darker

"That's why I don't court visitors," said he. "I don't mind you, Jimmie, but I could have done without

your friend. I suppose there is some good reason for it, but you have me at a disadvantage."

"I wanted to be sure that all was well with you, Godfrey. I saw you that night when you looked into

"Old Ralph told me you were there, and I couldn't help taking a peep at you. I hoped you would not

"Well, it's not a long story to tell," said he, lighting a cigarette. "You remember that morning fight at

Buffelsspruit, outside Pretoria, on the Eastern railway line? You heard I was hit?"

"Three of us got separated from the others. It was very broken country, you may remember. There

was Simpson the fellow we called Baldy Simpson and Anderson, and I. We were clear ing

brother Boer, but he lay low and got the three of us. The other two were killed. I got an elephant

bullet through my shoulder. I stuck on to my horse, however, and he galloped several miles before I

"When I came to myself it was nightfall, and I raised myself up, feeling very weak and ill. To my

surprise there was a house close beside me, a fairly large house with a broad stoep and many

windows. It was deadly cold. You remember the kind of numb cold which used to come at evening,

a deadly, sickening sort of cold, very different from a crisp healthy frost. Well, I was chilled to the

bone, and my only hope seemed to lie in reaching that house. I staggered to my feet and dragged

myself along, hardly conscious of what I did. I have a dim memory of slowly ascending the steps,

entering a wideopened door, passing into a large room which contained several beds, and

throwing myself down with a gasp of satisfaction upon one of them. It was unmade, but that

troubled me not at all. I drew the clothes over my shivering body and in a moment I was in a deep

"It was morning when I wakened, and it seemed to me that instead of coming out into a world of

sanity I had emerged into some extraordinary nightmare. The African sun flooded through the big,

curtainless windows, and every detail of the great, bare, whitewashed dormitory stood out hard and

clear. In front of me was standing a small, dwarflike man with a huge, bulbous head, who was

jabbering excitedly in Dutch, waving two horrible hands which looked to me like brown sponges.

Behind him stood a group of people who seemed to be intensely amused by the situation, but a

chill came over me as I looked at them. Not one of them was a normal human being. Every one

was twisted or swollen or disfigured in some strange way. The laughter of these strange

"It seemed that none of them could speak English, but the situation wanted clearing up, for the

creature with the big head was growing furiously angry, and, uttering wildbeast cries, he had laid

his deformed hands upon me and was dragging me out of bed, regardless of the fresh flow of blood

from my wound. The little monster was as strong as a bull, and I don't know what he might have

done to me had not an elderly man who was clearly in authority been attracted to the room by the

hubbub; He said a few stern words in Dutch, and my persecutor shrank away. Then he turned upon

" 'How in the world did you come here?' he asked in amaze ment. 'Wait a bit! I see that you are

tired out and that wounded shoulder of yours wants looking after. I am a doctor, and I'll soon have

you tied up. But, man alive! you are in far greater danger here than ever you were on the battlefield.

"Need I tell you more, Jimmie? It seems that in view of the approaching battle all these poor

creatures had been evacuated the day before. Then, as the British advanced, they had been

brought back by this, their medical superintendent, who assured me that, though he believed he

was immune to the disease, he would none the less never have dared to do what I had done. He

put me in a private room, treated me kindly, and within a week or so I was removed to the general

"So there you have my tragedy. I hoped against hope, but it was not until I had reached home that

the terrible signs which you see upon my face told me that I had not escaped. What was I to do? I

was in this lonely house. We had two servants whom we could utterly trust. There was a house

where I could live. Under pledge of secrecy, Mr. Kent, who is a surgeon, was prepared to stay with

me. It seemed simple enough on those lines. The alternative was a dreadful one segregation for

life among strang ers with never a hope of release. But absolute secrecy was necessary, or even

in this quiet countryside there would have been an outcry, and I should have been dragged to my

horrible doom. Even you, Jimmie even you had to be kept in the dark. Why my father has

"This is the gentleman who forced my hand." He unfolded the scrap of paper on which I had written

the word "Leprosy." "It seemed to me that if he knew so much as that it was safer that he should

"And so it was," said I. "Who knows but good may come of it? I understand that only Mr. Kent has

seen the patient. May I ask, sir, if you are an authority on such complaints, which are, I understand,

"I have the ordinary knowledge of the educated medical man," he observed with some stiffness.

"I have no doubt, sir, that you are fully competent, but I am sure that you will agree that in such a

case a second opinion is valuable. You have avoided this, I understand, for fear that pressure

"I foresaw this situation," I explained, "and I have brought with me a friend whose discretion may

absolutely be trusted. I was able once to do him a professional service, and he is ready to advise

The prospect of an interview with Lord Roberts would not have excited greater wonder and

"Then I will ask Sir James to step this way. He is at present in the carriage outside the door.

Meanwhile, Colonel Emsworth, we may perhaps assemble in your study, where I could give the

And here it is that I miss my Watson. By cunning questions and ejaculations of wonder he could

elevate my simple art, which is but systematized common sense, into a prodigy. When I tell my own

story I have no such aid. And yet I will give my process of thought even as I gave it to my small

"That process," said I, "starts upon the supposition that when you have eliminated all which is

impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. It may well be that

several explanations remain, in which case one tries test after test until one or other of them has a

convincing amount of support. We will now apply this principle to the case in point. As it was first

presented to me, there were three possible expla nations of the seclusion or incarceration of this

gentleman in an outhouse of his father's mansion. There was the explanation that he was in hiding

for a crime, or that he was mad and that they wished to avoid an asylum, or that he had some

disease which caused his segregation. I could think of no other adequate solu tions. These, then,

"The criminal solution would not bear inspection. No un solved crime had been reported from that

district. I was sure of that. If it were some crime not yet discovered, then clearly it would be to the

interest of the family to get rid of the delinquent and send him abroad rather than keep him

"Insanity was more plausible. The presence of the second person in the outhouse suggested a

keeper. The fact that he locked the door when he came out strengthened the supposition and gave

the idea of constraint. On the other hand, this con straint could not be severe or the young man

could not have got loose and come down to have a look at his friend. You will remember, Mr. Dodd,

that I felt round for points, asking you, for example, about the paper which Mr. Kent was reading.

Had it been the Lancet or the British Medical Journal it would have helped me. It is not illegal,

however, to keep a lunatic upon private premises so long as there is a qualified person in atten

dance and that the authorities have been duly notified. Why, then, all this desperate desire for

"There remained the third possibility, into which, rare and unlikely as it was, everything seemed to

fit. Leprosy is not uncommon in South Africa. By some extraordinary chance this youth might have

contracted it. His people would be placed in a very dreadful position, since they would desire to

save him from segregation. Great secrecy would be needed to prevent rumours from getting about

and subsequent interference by the authori ties. A devoted medical man, if sufficiently paid, would

easily be found to take charge of the sufferer. There would be no reason why the latter should not

be allowed freedom after dark. Bleaching of the skin is a common result of the disease. The case

was a strong one so strong that I determined to act as if it were actually proved. When on

arriving here I noticed that Ralph, who carries out the meals, had gloves which are impregnated

with disinfectants, my last doubts were removed. A single word showed you, sir, that your secret

was discovered, and if I wrote rather than said it, it was to prove to you that my discretion was to be

I was finishing this little analysis of the case when the door was opened and the austere figure of

the great dermatologist was ushered in. But for once his sphinxlike features had relaxed and there

was a warm humanity in his eyes. He strode up to Colonel Emsworth and shook him by the hand.

"It is often my lot to bring illtidings and seldom good," said he. "This occasion is the more

"A wellmarked case of pseudoleprosy or ichthyosis, a scale like affection of the skin, unsightly,

obstinate, but possibly curable, and certainly noninfective. Yes, Mr. Holmes, the coin cidence is a

remarkable one. But is it coincidence? Are there not subtle forces at work of which we know little?

Are we assured that the apprehension from which this young man has no doubt suffered terribly

since his exposure to its contagion may not produce a physical effect which simulates that which it

fears? At any rate, I pledge my professional reputation But the lady has fainted! I think that Mr.

It is a most singular thing that a problem which was certainly as abstruse and unusual as any which

I have faced in my long professional career should have come to me after my retirement, and be

brought, as it were, to my very door. It occurred after my withdrawal to my little Sussex home, when

I had given myself up entirely to that soothing life of Nature for which I had so often yearned during

the long years spent amid the gloom of London. At this period of my life the good Watson had

passed almost beyond my ken. An occasional weekend visit was the most that I ever saw of him.

Thus I must act as my own chronicler. Ah! had he but been with me, how much he might have

made of so wonderful a happening and of my eventual triumph against every difficulty! As it is,

however, I must needs tell my tale in my own plain way, showing by my words each step upon the

difficult road which lay before me as I searched for the mystery of the Lion's Mane.

My villa is situated upon the southern slope of the downs, commanding a great view of the

Channel. At this point the coastline is entirely of chalk cliffs, which can only be descended by a

single, long, tortuous path, which is steep and slippery. At the bottom of the path lie a hundred

yards of pebbles and shingle, even when the tide is at full. Here and there, however, there are

curves and hollows which make splendid swimming pools filled afresh with each flow. This

admirable beach extends for some miles in each direction, save only at one point where the little

My house is lonely. I, my old housekeeper, and my bees have the estate all to ourselves. Half a

mile off, however, is Harold Stackhurst's wellknown coaching establishment, The Gables, quite a

large place, which contains some score of young fellows preparing for various professions, with a

staff of several masters. Stackhurst himself was a wellknown rowing Blue in his day, and an

excellent allround scholar. He and I were always friendly from the day I came to the coast, and he

was the one man who was on such terms with me that we could drop in on each other in the

Towards the end of July, 1907, there was a severe gale, the wind blowing upchannel, heaping the

seas to the base of the cliffs and leaving a lagoon at the turn of the tide. On the morning of which I

speak the wind had abated, and all Nature was newly washed and fresh. It was impossible to work

upon so delightful a day, and I strolled out before breakfast to enjoy the exquisite air. I walked

along the cliff path which led to the steep descent to the beach. As I walked I heard a shout behind

"At your old tricks again," he laughed, patting his bulging pocket. "Yes. McPherson started early,

Fitzroy McPherson was the science master, a fine upstanding young fellow whose life had been

crippled by heart trouble following rheumatic fever. He was a natural athlete, however, and excelled

in every game which did not throw too great a strain upon him. Summer and winter he went for his

At this moment we saw the man himself. His head showed above the edge of the cliff where the

path ends. Then his whole figure appeared at the top, staggering like a drunken man. The next

instant he threw up his hands and, with a terrible cry, fell upon his face. Stackhurst and I rushed

forward it may have been fifty yards and turned him on his back. He was obviously dying.

Those glazed sunken eyes and dreadful livid cheeks could mean nothing else. One glimmer of life

came into his face for an instant, and he uttered two or three words with an eager air of warning.

They were slurred and indistinct, but to my ear the last of them, which burst in a shriek from his lips,

were "the Lion's Mane." It was utterly irrelevant and unintelligible, and yet I could twist the sound

into no other sense. Then he half raised himself from the ground, threw his arms into the air, and

My companion was paralyzed by the sudden horror of it, but I, as may well be imagined, had every

sense on the alert. And I had need, for it was speedily evident that we were in the presence of an

extraordinary case. The man was dressed only in his Burberry overcoat, his trousers, and an

unlaced pair of canvas shoes. As he fell over, his Burberry, which had been simply thrown round

his shoulders, slipped off, exposing his trunk. We stared at it in amazement. His back was covered

with dark red lines as though he had been terribly flogged by a thin wire scourge. The instrument

with which this punishment had been inflicted was clearly flexible, for the long, angry weals curved

round his shoulders and ribs. There was blood dripping down his chin, for he had bitten through his

lower lip in the paroxysm of his agony. His drawn and distorted face told how terrible that agony

I was kneeling and Stackhurst standing by the body when a shadow fell across us, and we found

that Ian Murdoch was by our side. Murdoch was the mathematical coach at the establish ment, a

tall, dark, thin man, so taciturn and aloof that none can be said to have been his friend. He seemed

to live in some high abstract region of surds and conic sections, with little to connect him with

ordinary life. He was looked upon as an oddity by the students, and would have been their butt, but

there was some strange outlandish blood in the man, which showed itself not only in his coalblack

eyes and swarthy face but also in occa sional outbreaks of temper, which could only be described

as ferocious. On one occasion, being plagued by a little dog be longing to McPherson, he had

caught the creature up and hurled it through the plateglass window, an action for which

Stackhurst would certainly have given him his dismissal had he not been a very valuable teacher.

Such was the strange complex man who now appeared beside us. He seemed to be honestly

shocked at the sight before him, though the incident of the dog may show that there was no great

"No, no, I was late this morning. I was not on the beach at all. I have come straight from The

Without a word he made off at top speed, and I proceeded to take the matter in hand, while

Stackhurst, dazed at this tragedy, remained by the body. My first task naturally was to note who

was on the beach. From the top of the path I could see the whole sweep of it, and it was absolutely

deserted save that two or three dark figures could be seen far away moving towards the village of

Fulworth. Having satisfied myself upon this point, I walked slowly down the path. There was clay or

soft marl mixed with the chalk, and every here and there I saw the same footstep, both ascending

and descending. No one else had gone down to the beach by this track that morning. At one place I

observed the print of an open hand with the fingers towards the incline. This could only mean that

poor McPherson had fallen as he ascended. There were rounded depressions, too, which

suggested that he had come down upon his knees more than once. At the bottom of the path was

the considerable lagoon left by the retreating tide. At the side of it McPherson had undressed, for

there lay his towel on a rock. It was folded and dry, so that it would seem that, after all, he had

never entered the water. Once or twice as I hunted round amid the hard shingle I came on little

patches of sand where the print of his canvas shoe, and also of his naked foot, could be seen. The

latter fact proved that he had made all ready to bathe, though the towel indicated that he had not

And here was the problem clearly defined as strange a one as had ever confronted me. The

man had not been on the beach more than a quarter of an hour at the most. Stackhurst had

followed him from The Gables, so there could be no doubt about that. He had gone to bathe and

had stripped, as the naked foot steps showed. Then he had suddenly huddled on his clothes

again they were all dishevelled and unfastened and he had returned without bathing, or at

any rate without drying himself. And the reason for his change of purpose had been that he had

been scourged in some savage, inhuman fashion, tortured until he bit his lip through in his agony,

and was left with only strength enough to crawl away and to die. Who had done this barbarous

deed? There were, it is true, small grottos and caves in the base of the cliffs, but the low sun shone

directly into them, and there was no place for concealment. Then, again, there were those distant

figures on the beach. They seemed too far away to have been connected with the crime, and the

broad lagoon in which McPherson had intended to bathe lay between him and them, lapping up to

the rocks. On the sea two or three fishing boats were at no great distance. Their occupants might

be exam ined at our leisure. There were several roads for inquiry, but none which led to any very

When I at last returned to the body I found that a little group of wondering folk had gathered round

it. Stackhurst was, of course, still there, and Ian Murdoch had just arrived with Ander son, the

village constable, a big, gingermoustached man of the slow, solid Sussex breed a breed which

covers much good sense under a heavy, silent exterior. He listened to everything, took note of all

"I'd be glad of your advice, Mr. Holmes. This is a big thing for me to handle, and I'll hear of it from

I advised him to send for his immediate superior, and for a doctor; also to allow nothing to be

moved, and as few fresh footmarks as possible to be made, until they came. In the meantime I

searched the dead man's pockets. There were his handkerchief, a large knife, and a small folding

cardcase. From this projected a slip of paper, which I unfolded and handed to the constable.

It read like a love affair, an assignation, though when and where were a blank. The constable

replaced it in the cardcase and returned it with the other things to the pockets of the Burberry.

Then, as nothing more suggested itself, I walked back to my house for breakfast, having first

Stackhurst was round in an hour or two to tell me that the body had been removed to The Gables,

where the inquest would be held. He brought with him some serious and definite news. As I

expected, nothing had been found in the small caves below the cliff, but he had examined the

papers in McPherson's desk and there were several which showed an intimate correspondence

with a certain Miss Maud Bellamy, of Fulworth. We had then established the identity of the writer of

"The police have the letters," he explained. "I could not bring them. But there is no doubt that it was

a serious love affair. I see no reason, however, to connect it with that horrible happening save,

"But hardly at a bathingpool which all of you were in the habit of using," I remarked.

"It is mere chance," said he, "that several of the students were not with McPherson."

"Ian Murdoch held them back," said he. "He would insist upon some algebraic demonstration

"At one time they were not. But for a year or more Murdoch has been as near to McPherson as he

ever could be to anyone. He is not of a very sympathetic disposition by nature."

"So I understand. I seem to remember your telling me once about a quarrel over the illusage of a

"Everyone knows her. She is the beauty of the neighbourhood a real beauty, Holmes, who

would draw attention everywhere. I knew that McPherson was attracted by her, but I had no notion

"She is the daughter of old Tom Bellamy who owns all the boats and bathingcots at Fulworth. He

was a fisherman to start with, but is now a man of some substance. He and his son William run the

"Oh, we can easily find a pretext. After all, this poor man did not illuse himself in this outrageous

way. Some human hand was on the handle of that scourge, if indeed it was a scourge which

inflicted the injuries. His circle of acquaintances in this lonely place was surely limited. Let us follow

it up in every direction and we can hardly fail to come upon the motive, which in turn should lead us

It would have been a pleasant walk across the thymescented downs had our minds not been

poisoned by the tragedy we had witnessed. The village of Fulworth lies in a hollow curving in a

semicircle round the bay. Behind the oldfashioned hamlet sev eral modern houses have been

"That's The Haven, as Bellamy called it. The one with the corner tower and slate roof. Not bad for a

The garden gate of The Haven had opened and a man had emerged. There was no mistaking that

tall, angular, straggling figure. It was Ian Murdoch, the mathematician. A moment later we

"Hullo!" said Stackhurst. The man nodded, gave us a side ways glance from his curious dark

Murdoch's face flushed with anger. "I am your subordinate, sir, under your roof. I am not aware that

Stackhurst's nerves were near the surface after all he had endured. Otherwise, perhaps, he would

"This is not the first time that I have had to overlook your insubordinate ways. It will certainly be the

last. You will kindly make fresh arrangements for your future as speedily as you can."

"I had intended to do so. I have lost today the only person who made The Gables habitable."

He strode off upon his way, while Stackhurst, with angry eyes, stood glaring after him. "Is he not an

The one thing that impressed itself forcibly upon my mind was that Mr. Ian Murdoch was taking the

first chance to open a path of escape from the scene of the crime. Suspicion, vague and nebulous,

was now beginning to take outline in my mind. Per haps the visit to the Bellamys might throw

some further light upon the matter. Stackhurst pulled himself together, and we went forward to the

Mr. Bellamy proved to be a middleaged man with a flaming red beard. He seemed to be in a very

"No, sir, I do not desire any particulars. My son here" indicating a powerful young man, with a

heavy, sullen face, in the corner of the sittingroom "is of one mind with me that Mr.

McPherson's attentions to Maud were insulting. Yes, sir, the word 'marriage' was never mentioned,

and yet there were letters and meetings, and a great deal more of which neither of us could

But the words were taken from his mouth by the appearance of the lady herself. There was no

gainsaying that she would have graced any assembly in the world. Who could have imagined that

so rare a flower would grow from such a root and in such an atmosphere? Women have seldom

been an attraction to me, for my brain has always governed my heart, but I could not look upon her

perfect clearcut face, with all the soft freshness of the downlands in her delicate colouring, without

realizing that no young man would cross her path unscathed. Such was the girl who had pushed

open the door and stood now, wideeyed and intense, in front of Harold Stackhurst.

"I know already that Fitzroy is dead," she said. "Do not be afraid to tell me the particulars."

"There is no reason why my sister should be brought into the matter," growled the younger man.

The sister turned a sharp, fierce look upon him. "This is my business, William. Kindly leave me to

manage it in my own way. By all accounts there has been a crime committed. If I can help to show

She listened to a short account from my companion, with a composed concentration which showed

me that she possessed strong character as well as great beauty. Maud Bellamy will always remain

in my memory as a most complete and remark able woman. It seems that she already knew me

"Bring them to justice, Mr. Holmes. You have my sympathy and my help, whoever they may be." It

"Thank you," said I. "I value a woman's instinct in such matters. You use the word 'they.' You think

"I knew Mr. McPherson well enough to be aware that he was a brave and a strong man. No single

"I tell you, Maud, not to mix yourself up in the matter," cried her father angrily.

"The whole world will know the facts presently, so there can be no harm if I discuss them here,"

said I. "I should have preferred privacy, but if your father will not allow it he must share the

deliberations." Then I spoke of the note which had been found in the dead man's pocket. "It is sure

to be produced at the inquest. May I ask you to throw any light upon it that you can?"

"I see no reason for mystery," she answered. "We were engaged to be married, and we only kept it

secret because Fitzroy's uncle, who is very old and said to be dying, might have disinherited him if

"It was your prejudice against him which prevented us from telling you. As to this appointment"

she fumbled in her dress and produced a crumpled note "it was in answer to this."

"I would rather not answer that question. It has really nothing to do with the matter which you are

She was as good as her word, but there was nothing which was helpful in our investigation. She

had no reason to think that her fiance had any hidden enemy, but she admitted that she had had

"There was a time when I thought he was. But that was all changed when he understood the

Again the shadow round this strange man seemed to me to be taking more definite shape. His

record must be examined. His rooms must be privately searched. Stackhurst was a willing

collaborator, for in his mind also suspicions were forming. We returned from our visit to The Haven

A week passed. The inquest had thrown no light upon the matter and had been adjourned for

further evidence. Stackhurst had made discreet inquiry about his subordinate, and there had been

a superficial search of his room, but without result. Person ally, I had gone over the whole ground

again, both physically and mentally, but with no new conclusions. In all my chronicles the reader

will find no case which brought me so completely to the limit of my powers. Even my imagination

could conceive no solution to the mystery. And then there came the incident of the dog.

It was my old housekeeper who heard of it first by that strange wireless by which such people

"Why, sir, everyone is talking of it. It took on terrible, and has eaten nothing for a week. Then

today two of the young gentlemen from The Gables found it dead down on the beach, sir, at

"At the very place." The words stood out clear in my mem ory. Some dim perception that the

matter was vital rose in my mind. That the dog should die was after the beautiful, faithful nature of

dogs. But "in the very place"! Why should this lonely beach be fatal to it? Was it possible that it also

had been sacrificed to some revengeful feud? Was it possible ? Yes, the perception was dim,

but already something was building up in my mind. In a few minutes I was on my way to The

Gables, where I found Stackhurst in his study. At my request he sent for Sudbury and Blount, the

"Yes, it lay on the very edge of the pool," said one of them. "It must have followed the trail of its

I saw the faithful little creature, an Airedale terrier, laid out upon the mat in the hall. The body was

stiff and rigid, the eyes projecting, and the limbs contorted. There was agony in every line of it.

From The Gables I walked down to the bathingpool. The sun had sunk and the shadow of the

great cliff lay black across the water, which glimmered dully like a sheet of lead. The place was

deserted and there was no sign of life save for two seabirds circling and screaming overhead. In

the fading light I could dimly make out the little dog's spoor upon the sand round the very rock on

which his master's towel had been laid. For a long time I stood in deep meditation while the

shadows grew darker around me. My mind was filled with racing thoughts. You have known what it

was to be in a nightmare in which you feel that there is some allimportant thing for which you

search and which you know is there, though it remains forever just beyond your reach. That was

how I felt that evening as I stood alone by that place of death. Then at last I turned and walked

I had just reached the top of the path when it came to me. Like a flash, I remembered the thing for

which I had so eagerly and vainly grasped. You will know, or Watson has written in vain, that I hold

a vast store of outoftheway knowledge with out scientific system, but very available for the

needs of my work. My mind is like a crowded boxroom with packets of all sorts stowed away

therein so many that I may well have but a vague perception of what was there. I had known

that there was something which might bear upon this matter. It was still vague, but at least I knew

how I could make it clear. It was monstrous, incredible, and yet it was always a possibility. I would

There is a great garret in my little house which is stuffed with books. It was into this that I plunged

and rummaged for an hour. At the end of that time I emerged with a little chocolate and silver

volume. Eagerly I turned up the chapter of which I had a dim remembrance. Yes, it was indeed a

farfetched and unlikely proposition, and yet I could not be at rest until I had made sure if it might,

indeed, be so. It was late when I retired, with my mind eagerly awaiting the work of the morrow.

But that work met with an annoying interruption. I had hardly swallowed my early cup of tea and

was starting for the beach when_ I had a call from Inspector Bardle of the Sussex Con stabulary

a steady, solid, bovine man with thoughtful eyes, which looked at me now with a very troubled

"I know your immense experience, sir," said he. "This is quite unofficial, of course, and need go no

farther. But I am fairly up against it in this McPherson case. The question is, shall I make an arrest,

"Yes, sir. There is really no one else when you come to think of it. That's the advantage of this

solitude. We narrow it down to a very small compass. If he did not do it, then who did?"

He had gleaned along the same furrows as I had. There was Murdoch's character and the mystery

which seemed to hang round the man. His furious bursts of temper, as shown in the incident of the

dog. The fact that he had quarrelled with McPher son in the past, and that there was some reason

to think that he might have resented his attentions to Miss Bellamy. He had all my points, but no

fresh ones, save that Murdoch seemed to be making every preparation for departure.

"What would my position be if I let him slip away with all this evidence against him?" The burly,

"Consider," I said, "all the essential gaps in your case. On the morning of the crime he can surely

prove an alibi. He had been with his scholars till the last moment, and within a few minutes of

McPherson's appearance he came upon us from behind. Then bear in mind the absolute

impossibility that he could singlehanded have inflicted this outrage upon a man quite as strong as

himself. Finally, there is this question of the instru ment with which these injuries were inflicted."

I stepped to my bureau and brought out an enlarged photo graph. "This is my method in such

"I should hardly be what I am if I did not. Now let us consider this weal which extends round the

"Surely it is evident that it is unequal in its intensity. There is a dot of extravasated blood here, and

another there. There are similar indications in this other weal down here. What can that mean?"

"Perhaps I have. Perhaps I haven't. I may be able to say more soon. Anything which will define

"It is, of course, an absurd idea," said the policeman, "but if a redhot net of wire had been laid

across the back, then these better marked points would represent where the meshes crossed each

"A most ingenious comparison. Or shall we say a very stiff cato'ninetails with small hard knots

"Or there may be some very different cause, Mr. Bardle. But your case is far too weak for an arrest.

"Yes, I have considered that. If the second word had borne any resemblance to Murdoch but it

"Perhaps I have. But I do not care to discuss it until there is something more solid to discuss."

"I wish I could see what was in your mind, Mr. Holmes. Perhaps it's those fishingboats."

"Well, then, is it Bellamy and that big son of his? They were not too sweet upon Mr. McPherson.

"No, no, you won't draw me until I am ready," said I with a smile. "Now, Inspector, we each have

So far we had got when there came the tremendous interrup tion which was the beginning of the

My outer door was flung open, there were blundering foot steps in the passage, and Ian Murdoch

staggered into the room, pallid, dishevelled, his clothes in wild disorder, clawing with his bony

hands at the furniture to hold himself erect. "Brandy! Brandy!" he gasped, and fell groaning upon

He was not alone. Behind him came Stackhurst, hatless and panting, almost as distrait as his

"Yes, yes, brandy!" he cried. "The man is at his last gasp. It was all I could do to bring him here. He

Half a tumbler of the raw spirit brought about a wondrous change. He pushed himself up on one

arm and swung his coat from his shoulders. "For God's sake oil, opium, morphia!" he cried.

The inspector and I cried out at the sight. There, crisscrossed upon the man's naked shoulder, was

the same strange reticulated pattern of red, inflamed lines which had been the deathmark of

The pain was evidently terrible and was more than local, for the sufferer's breathing would stop for

a time, his face would turn black, and then with loud gasps he would clap his hand to his heart,

while his brow dropped beads of sweat. At any moment he might die. More and more brandy was

poured down his throat, each fresh dose bringing him back to life. Pads of cottonwool soaked in

saladoil seemed to take the agony from the strange wounds. At last his head fell heavily upon the

cushion. Ex hausted Nature had taken refuge in its last storehouse of vitality. It was half a sleep

To question him had been impossible, but the moment we were assured of his condition Stackhurst

"Down on the beach. Exactly where poor McPherson met his end. If this man's heart had been

weak as McPherson's was, he would not be here now. More than once I thought he was gone as I

"I was walking on the cliff when I heard his cry. He was at the edge of the water, reeling about like a

drunken man. I ran down, threw some clothes about him, and brought him up. For heaven's sake,

Holmes, use all the powers you have and spare no pains to lift the curse from this place, for life is

becoming unendurable. Can you, with all your worldwide reputation, do nothing for us?"

"I think I can, Stackhurst. Come with me now! And you, Inspector, come along! We will see if we

Leaving the unconscious man in the charge of my house keeper, we all three went down to the

deadly lagoon. On the shingle there was piled a little heap of towels and clothes left by the stricken

man. Slowly I walked round the edge of the water, my comrades in Indian file behind me. Most of

the pool was quite shallow, but under the cliff where the beach was hollowed out it was four or five

feet deep. It was to this part that a swimmer would naturally go, for it formed a beautiful pellucid

green pool as clear as crystal. A line of rocks lay above it at the base of the cliff, and along this I led

the way, peering eagerly into the depths beneath me. I had reached the deepest and stillest pool

when my eyes caught that for which they were searching, and I burst into a shout of triumph.

The strange object at which I pointed did indeed look like a tangled mass torn from the mane of a

lion. It lay upon a rocky shelf some three feet under the water, a curious waving, vibrat ing, hairy

creature with streaks of silver among its yellow tresses. It pulsated with a slow, heavy dilation and

"It has done mischief enough. Its day is over!" I cried. "Help me, Stackhurst! Let us end the

There was a big boulder just above the ledge, and we pushed it until it fell with a tremendous

splash into the water. When the ripples had cleared we saw that it had settled upon the ledge

below. One flapping edge of yellow membrane showed that our victim was beneath it. A thick oily

scum oozed out from below the stone and stained the water round, rising slowly to the surface.

"Well, this gets me!" cried the inspector. "What was it, Mr. Holmes? I'm born and bred in these

"Just as well for Sussex," I remarked. "It may have been the southwest gale that brought it up.

Come back to my house, both of you, and I will give you the terrible experience of one who has

When we reached my study we found that Murdoch was so far recovered that he could sit up. He

was dazed in mind, and every now and then was shaken by a paroxysm of pain. In broken words

he explained that he had no notion what had occurred to him, save that terrific pangs had suddenly

"Here is a book," I said, taking up the little volume, "which first brought light into what might have

been forever dark. It is Out of Doors, by the famous observer, J. G. Wood. Wood himself very

nearly perished from contact with this vile creature, so he wrote with a very full knowledge. Cyanea

capillata is the miscreant's full name, and he can be as dangerous to life as, and far more painful

the fearful stinger, Cyanea capillata. Could our sinister acquaintance be more clearly described?

"He goes on to tell of his own encounter with one when swimming off the coast of Kent. He found

that the creature radiated almost invisible filaments to the distance of fifty feet, and that anyone

within that circumference from the deadly centre was in danger of death. Even at a distance the

"It nearly killed him, although he had only been exposed to it in the disturbed ocean and not in the

narrow calm waters of a bathingpool. He says that he could hardly recognize himself afterwards,

so white, wrinkled and shrivelled was his face. He gulped down brandy, a whole bottleful, and it

seems to have saved his life. There is the book, Inspector. I leave it with you, and you cannot doubt

"And incidentally exonerates me," remarked Ian Murdoch with a wry smile. "I do not blame you,

Inspector, nor you, Mr. Holmes, for your suspicions were natural. I feel that on the very eve of my

"No, Mr. Murdoch. I was already upon the track, and had I been out as early as I intended I might

"I am an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive mem ory for trifles. That phrase 'the Lion's

Mane' haunted my mind. I knew that I had seen it somewhere in an unexpected context. You have

seen that it does describe the creature. I have no doubt that it was floating on the water when

McPherson saw it, and that this phrase was the only one by which he could convey to us a warning

"Then I, at least, am cleared," said Murdoch, rising slowly to his feet. "There are one or two words

of explanation which I should give, for I know the direction in which your inquiries have run. It is true

that I loved this lady, but from the day when she chose my friend McPherson my one desire was to

help her to happiness. I was well content to stand aside and act as their gobetween. Often I

carried their messages, and it was because I was in their confidence and because she was so dear

to me that I hastened to tell her of my friend's death, lest someone should forestall me in a more

sudden and heartless manner. She would not tell you, sir, of our relations lest you should

disapprove and I might suffer. But with your leave I must try to get back to The Gables, for my bed

Stackhurst held out his hand. "Our nerves have all been at concertpitch," said he. "Forgive what is

past, Murdoch. We shall understand each other better in the future." They passed out together with

their arms linked in friendly fashion. The inspector remained, staring at me in silence with his

"Well, you've done it!" he cried at last. "I had read of you, but I never believed it. It's wonderful!"

I was forced to shake my head. To accept such praise was to lower one's own standards.

"I was slow at the outset culpably slow. Had the body been found in the water I could hardly

have missed it. It was the towel which misled me. The poor fellow had never thought to dry himself,

and so I in turn was led to believe that he had never been in the water. Why, then, should the

attack of any water creature suggest itself to me? That was where I went astray. Well, well,

Inspector, I often ventured to chaff you gentlemen of the police force, but Cyanea capillata very

Sherlock Holmes was in a melancholy and philosophic mood that morning. His alert practical

"Exactly, Watson. Pathetic and futile. But is not all life pathetic and futile? Is not his story a

microcosm of the whole? We reach. We grasp. And what is left in our hands at the end? A shadow.

"Well, I suppose I may call him so. He has been sent on by the Yard. Just as medical men

occasionally send their incurables to a quack. They argue that they can do nothing more, and that

Holmes took a rather soiled card from the table. "Josiah Amberley. He says he was junior partner of

Brickfall and Amberley, who are manufacturers of artistic materials. You will see their names upon

paintboxes. He made his little pile, retired from business at the age of sixtyone, bought a house

at Lewisham. and settled down to rest after a life of ceaseless grind. One would think his future was

Holmes glanced over some notes which he had scribbled upon the back of an envelope.

"Retired in 1896, Watson. Early in 1897 he married a woman twenty years younger than himself

a goodlooking woman, too. if the photograph does not flatter. A competence, a wife, leisure it

seemed a straight road which lay before him. And yet within two years he is, as you have seen, as

"The old story, Watson. A treacherous friend and a fickle wife. It would appear that Amberley has

one hobby in life, and it is chess. Not far from him at Lewisham there lives a young doctor who is

also a chessplayer. I have noted his name as Dr. Ray Ernest. Ernest was frequently in the house,

and an intimacy between him and Mrs. Amberley was a natural sequence, for you must admit that

our unfortunate client has few outward graces, whatever his inner virtues may be. The couple went

off together last week destination untraced. What is more, the faithless spouse carried off the

old man's deedbox as her personal lug gage with a good part of his life's savings within. Can we

find the lady? Can we save the money? A commonplace problem so far as it has developed, and

"Well, the immediate question, my dear Watson, happens to be, What will you do? if you will be

good enough to under study me. You know that I am preoccupied with this case of the two Coptic

Patriarchs, which should come to a head today. I really have not time to go out to Lewisham, and

yet evidence taken on the spot has a special value. The old fellow was quite insistent that I should

"By all means," I answered. "I confess I don't see that I can be of much service, but I am willing to

do my best." And so it was that on a summer afternoon I set forth to Lewisham, little dreaming that

within a week the affair in which I was engaging would be the eager debate of all England.

It was late that evening before I returned to Baker Street and gave an account of my mission.

Holmes lay with his gaunt figure stretched in his deep chair, his pipe curling forth slow wreaths of

acrid tobacco, while his eyelids drooped over his eyes so lazily that he might almost have been

asleep were it not that at any halt or questionable passage of my narrative they half lifted, and two

gray eyes, as bright and keen as rapiers, transfixed me with their searching glance.

"The Haven is the name of Mr. Josiah Amberley's house," I explained. "I think it would interest you,

Holmes. It is like some penurious patrician who has sunk into the company of his inferi ors. You

know that particular quarter, the monotonous brick streets, the weary suburban highways. Right in

the middle of them, a little island of ancient culture and comfort, lies this old home, surrounded by a

high sunbaked wall mottled with lichens and topped with moss, the sort of wall "

"Cut out the poetry, Watson," said Holmes severely. "I note that it was a high brick wall."

"Exactly. I should not have known which was The Haven had I not asked a lounger who was

smoking in the street. I have a reason for mentioning him. He was a tall, dark, heavily moustached,

rather militarylooking man. He nodded in answer to my inquiry and gave me a curiously

"I had hardly entered the gateway before I saw Mr. Amberley coming down the drive. I only had a

glimpse of him this morning, and he certainly gave me the impression of a strange creature, but

"I have, of course, studied it, and yet I should be interested to have your impression," said Holmes.

"He seemed to me like a man who was literally bowed down by care. His back was curved as

though he carried a heavy burden. Yet he was not the weakling that I had at first imagined, for his

shoulders and chest have the framework of a giant, though his figure tapers away into a pair of

"I was struck by the snaky locks of grizzled hair which curled from under his old straw hat, and his

"He began pouring out the story of his grievances. We walked down the drive together, and of

course I took a good look round. I have never seen a worsekept place. The garden was all run

ning to seed, giving me an impression of wild neglect in which the plants had been allowed to find

the way of Nature rather than of art. How any decent woman could have tolerated such a state of

things, I don't know. The house, too, was slatternly to the last degree, but the poor man seemed

himself to be aware of it and to be trying to remedy it, for a great pot of green paint stood in the

centre of the hall, and he was carrying a thick brush in his left hand. He had been working on the

"He took me into his dingy sanctum, and we had a long chat. Of course, he was disappointed that

you had not come yourself. 'I hardly expected,' he said, 'that so humble an individual as myself,

especially after my heavy financial loss, could obtain the complete attention of so famous a man as

"I assured him that the financial question did not arise. 'No of course, it is art for art's sake with

him,' said he, 'but even on the artistic side of crime he might have found something here to study.

And human nature, Dr. Watson the black ingratitude of it all! When did I ever refuse one of her

requests? Was ever a woman so pampered? And that young man he might have been my own

son. He had the run of my house. And yet see how they have treated me! Oh, Dr. Watson, it is a

"That was the burden of his song for an hour or more. He had, it seems, no suspicion of an intrigue.

They lived alone save for a woman who comes in by the day and leaves every evening at six. On

that particular evening old Amberley, wishing to give his wife a treat, had taken two upper circle

seats at the Haymarket Theatre. At the last moment she had complained of a headache and had

refused to go. He had gone alone. There seemed to be no doubt about the fact, for he produced

"That is remarkable most remarkable," said Holmes, whose interest in the case seemed to be

rising. "Pray continue, Watson. I find your narrative most arresting. Did you personally examine this

"It so happens that I did," I answered with some pride. "It chanced to be my old school number,

"He showed me his strongroom, as he called it. It really is a strongroom like a bank with

iron door and shutter burglar proof, as he claimed. However, the woman seems to have had a

duplicate key, and between them they had carried off some seven thousand pounds' worth of cash

"He said that he had given the police a list and that he hoped they would be unsaleable. He had got

back from the theatre about midnight and found the place plundered, the door and window open,

and the fugitives gone. There was no letter or message, nor has he heard a word since. He at once

"Well, he was painting the passage. But he had already painted the door and woodwork of this

" 'One must do something to ease an aching heart.' That was his own explanation. It was eccentric,

no doubt, but he is clearly an eccentric man. He tore up one of his wife's photographs in my

presence tore it up furiously in a tempest of passion. 'I never wish to see her damned face

"Yes, one thing which struck me more than anything else. I had driven to the Blackheath Station

and had caught my train there when, just as it was starting, I saw a man dart into the carriage next

to my own. You know that I have a quick eye for faces, Holmes. It was undoubtedly the tall, dark

man whom I had addressed in the street. I saw him once more at London Bridge, and then I lost

"No doubt! No doubt!" said Holmes. "A tall, dark, heavily moustached man, you say, with

"Quite simple, my dear Watson. But let us get down to what is practical. I must admit to you that the

case, which seemed to me to be so absurdly simple as to be hardly worth my notice, is rapidly

assuming a very different aspect. It is true that though in your mission you have missed everything

of importance, yet even those things which have obtruded themselves upon your notice give rise to

"Don't be hurt, my dear fellow. You know that I am quite impersonal. No one else would have done

better. Some possibly not so well. But clearly you have missed some vital points. What is the

opinion of the neighbours about this man Amberley and his wife? That surely is of importance.

What of Dr. Ernest? Was he the gay Lothario one would expect? With your natural advan tages,

Watson, every lady is your helper and accomplice. What about the girl at the postoffice, or the

wife of the greengrocer? I can picture you whispering soft nothings with the young lady at the Blue

Anchor, and receiving hard somethings in exchange. All this you have left undone."

"It has been done. Thanks to the telephone and the help of the Yard, I can usually get my

essentials without leaving this room. As a matter of fact, my information confirms the man's story.

He has the local repute of being a miser as well as a harsh and exacting husband. That he had a

large sum of money in that strongroom of his is certain. So also is it that young Dr. Ernest, an

unmarried man, played chess with Amberley, and probably played the fool with his wife. All this

seems plain sailing, and one would think that there was no more to be said and yet! and yet!"

"In my imagination, perhaps. Well, leave it there, Watson. Let us escape from this weary workaday

world by the side door of music. Carina sings tonight at the Albert Hall, and we still have time to

In the morning I was up betimes, but some toast crumbs and two empty eggshells told me that my

I saw nothing of Holmes all day, but at the hour named he returned, grave, preoccupied, and aloof.

He was not disappointed, for presently the old fellow arrived with a very worried and puzzled

"I've had a telegram, Mr. Holmes. I can make nothing of it." He handed it over, and Holmes read it

"Dispatched at 2:10 from Little Purlington," said Holmes. "Little Purlington is in Essex, I believe, not

far from Frinton. Well, of course you will start at once. This is evidently from a responsible person,

the vicar of the place. Where is my Crockford? Yes, here we have him: 'J. C. Elman, M. A., Living

"Excellent. You had best go with him, Watson. He may need help or advice. Clearly we have come

"It's perfectly absurd, Mr. Holmes," he said. "What can this man possibly know of what has

"He would not have telegraphed to you if he did not know something. Wire at once that you are

"It would make the worst possible impression both on the police and upon myself, Mr. Amberley, if

when so obvious a clue arose you should refuse to follow it up. We should feel that you were not

"Why, of course I shall go if you look at it in that way," said he. "On the face of it, it seems absurd to

"I do think," said Holmes with emphasis, and so we were launched upon our journey. Holmes took

me aside before we left the room and gave me one word of counsel, which showed that he

considered the matter to be of importance. "Whatever you do, see that he really does go," said he.

"Should he break away or return, get to the nearest telephone exchange and send the single word

Little Purlington is not an easy place to reach, for it is on a branch line. My remembrance of the

journey is not a pleasant one, for the weather was hot, the train slow, and my companion sullen

and silent, hardly talking at all save to make an occasional sardonic remark as to the futility of our

proceedings. When we at last reached the little station it was a twomile drive before we came to

the Vicarage, where a big, solemn, rather pompous clergyman received us in his study. Our

"I mean the wire which you sent to Mr. Josiah Amberley about his wife and his money."

"If this is a joke, sir, it is a very questionable one," said the vicar angrily. "I have never heard of the

"Perhaps there is some mistake," said I; "are there perhaps two vicarages? Here is the wire itself,

"There is only one vicarage, sir, and only one vicar, and this wire is a scandalous forgery, the origin

of which shall certainly be investigated by the police. Meanwhile, I can see no possible object in

So Mr. Amberley and I found ourselves on the roadside in what seemed to me to be the most

primitive village in England. We made for the telegraph office, but it was already closed. There was

a telephone, however, at the little Railway Arms, and by it I got into touch with Holmes, who shared

"Most singular!" said the distant voice. "Most remarkable! I much fear, my dear Watson, that there

is no return train tonight. I have unwittingly condemned you to the horrors of a country inn.

However, there is always Nature, Watson Nature and Josiah Amberley you can be in close

It was soon apparent to me that my companion's reputation as a miser was not undeserved. He

had grumbled at the expense of the journey, had insisted upon travelling thirdclass, and was now

clamorous in his objections to the hotel bill. Next morning, when we did at last arrive in London, it

"You had best take Baker Street as we pass," said I. "Mr. Holmes may have some fresh

"If they are not worth more than the last ones they are not of much use," said Amberley with a

malevolent scowl. None the less, he kept me company. I had already warned Holmes by telegram

of the hour of our arrival, but we found a message waiting that he was at Lewisham and would

expect us there. That was a surprise, but an even greater one was to find that he was not alone in

the sittingroom of our client. A sternlooking, impassive man sat beside him, a dark man with

"This is my friend Mr. Barker," said Holmes. "He has been interesting himself also in your business,

Mr. Josiah Amberley, though we have been working independently. But we both have the same

Mr. Amberley sat down heavily. He sensed impending dan ger. I read it in his straining eyes and

The man sprang to his feet with a hoarse scream. He clawed into the air with his bony hands. His

mouth was open, and for the instant he looked like some horrible bird of prey. In a flash we got a

glimpse of the real Josiah Amberley, a misshapen demon with a soul as distorted as his body. As

he fell back into his chair he clapped his hand to his lips as if to stifle a cough. Holmes sprang at his

throat like a tiger and twisted his face towards the ground. A white pellet fell from between his

"No short cuts, Josiah Amberley. Things must be done de cently and in order. What about it,

"It is only a few hundred yards to the station. We will go together. You can stay here, Watson. I

The old colourman had the strength of a lion in that great trunk of his, but he was helpless in the

hands of the two experienced manhandlers. Wriggling and twisting he was dragged to the waiting

cab, and I was left to my solitary vigil in the illomened house. In less time than he had named,

"I've left Barker to look after the formalities," said Holmes. "You had not met Barker, Watson. He is

my hated rival upon the Surrey shore. When you said a tall dark man it was not difficult for me to

complete the picture. He has several good cases to his credit, has he not, Inspector?"

"He has certainly interfered several times," the inspector answered with reserve.

"His methods are irregular, no doubt, like my own. The irregulars are useful sometimes, you know.

You, for example, with your compulsory warning about whatever he said being used against him,

"Perhaps not. But we get there all the same, Mr. Holmes. Don't imagine that we had not formed our

own views of this case, and that we would not have laid our hands on our man. You will excuse us

for feeling sore when you jump in with methods which we cannot use, and so rob us of the credit."

"There shall be no such robbery, MacKinnon. I assure you that I efface myself from now onward,

"That is very handsome of you, Mr. Holmes. Praise or blame can matter little to you, but it is very

"Quite so. But they are pretty sure to ask questions anyhow, so it would be as well to have

answers. What will you say, for example, when the intelligent and enterprising reporter asks you

what the exact points were which aroused your suspicion, and finally gave you a certain conviction

"We don't seem to have got any real facts yet, Mr. Holmes. You say that the prisoner, in the

presence of three witnesses, practically confessed by trying to commit suicide, that he had

"Then you will soon get the clearest fact of all. The bodies cannot be far away. Try the cellars and

the garden. It should not take long to dig up the likely places. This house is older than the

"I'll show you first how it was done, and then I will give the explanation which is due to you, and

even more to my long suffering friend here, who has been invaluable throughout. But, first, I would

give you an insight into this man's mentality. It is a very unusual one so much so that I think his

destination is more likely to be Broadmoor than the scaffold. He has, to a high degree, the sort of

mind which one associates with the mediaeval Italian nature rather than with the modern Briton. He

was a miserable miser who made his wife so wretched by his niggardly ways that she was a ready

prey for any adventurer. Such a one came upon the scene in the person of this chessplaying

doctor. Amberley excelled at chess one mark, Watson, of a scheming mind. Like all misers, he

was a jealous man, and his jealousy became a frantic mania. Rightly or wrongly, he suspected an

intrigue. He determined to have his revenge, and he planned it with diabolical cleverness. Come

Holmes led us along the passage with as much certainty as if he had lived in the house and halted

"That was our first clue," said Holmes. "You can thank Dr. Watson's observation for that, though he

failed to draw the inference. It set my foot upon the trail. Why should this man at such a time be

filling his house with strong odours? Obviously, to cover some other smell which he wisfhed to

conceal some guilty smell which would suggest suspicions. Then came the idea of a room such

as you see here with iron door and shutter a hermetically sealed room. Put those two facts

together, and whither do they lead? I could only determine that by examining the house myself. I

was already certain that the case was serious, for I had examined the boxoffice chart at the

Haymarket Theatre another of Dr. Watson's bull'seyes and ascertained that nei ther B

thirty nor thirtytwo of the upper circle had been occupied that night. Therefore, Amberley had not

been to the theatre, and his alibi fell to the ground. He made a bad slip when he allowed my astute

friend to notice the number of the seat taken for his wife. The question now arose how I might be

able to examine the house. I sent an agent to the most impossible village I could think of, and

summoned my man to it at such an hour that he could not possibly get back. To prevent any

miscarriage, Dr. Watson accompanied him. The good vicar's name I took, of course, out of my

"There being no fear of interruption I proceeded to burgle the house. Burglary has always been an

alternative profession had I cared to adopt it, and I have little doubt that I should have come to the

front. Observe what I found. You see the gaspipe along the skirting here. Very good. It rises in the

angle of the wall, and there is a tap here in the corner. The pipe runs out into the strongroom, as

you can see, and ends in that plaster rose in the centre of the ceiling, where it is concealed by the

ornamentation. That end is wide open. At any moment by turning the outside tap the room could be

flooded with gas. With door and shutter closed and the tap full on I would not give two minutes of

conscious sensation to anyone shut up in that little chamber. By what devilish device he decoyed

The inspector examined the pipe with interest. "One of our officers mentioned the smell of gas,"

said he, "but of course the window and door were open then, and the paint or some of it was

already about. He had begun the work of painting the day before, according to his story. But what

"Well, then came an incident which was rather unexpected to myself. I was slipping through the

pantry window in the early dawn when I felt a hand inside my collar, and a voice said: 'Now, you

rascal, what are you doing in there?' When I could twist my head round I looked into the tinted

spectacles of my friend and rival, Mr. Barker. It was a curious foregathering and set us both smiling.

It seems that he had been engaged by Dr. Ray Ernest's family to make some investigations and

had come to the same conclusion as to foul play. He had watched the house for some days and

had spotted Dr. Watson as one of the obvi ously suspicious characters who had called there. He

could hardly arrest Watson, but when he saw a man actually climbing out of the pantry window

there came a limit to his restraint. Of course, I told him how matters stood and we continued the

"Because it was in my mind to put that little test which answered so admirably. I fear you would not

"Well, maybe not. I understand that I have your word, Mr. Holmes, that you step right out of the

"Well, in the name of the force I thank you. It seems a clear case, as you put it, and there can't be

"I'll show you a grim little bit of evidence," said Holmes, "and I am sure Amberley himself never

observed it. You'll get results, Inspector, by always putting yourself in the other fel low's place, and

thinking what you would do yourself. It takes some imagination, but it pays. Now, we will suppose

that you were shut up in this little room, had not two minutes to live, but wanted to get even with the

fiend who was probably mocking at you from the other side of the door. What would you do?"

"Exactly. You would like to tell people how you died. No use writing on paper. That would be seen.

If you wrote on the wall someone might rest upon it. Now, look here! Just above the skirting is

"Well, it's only a foot above the ground. The poor devil was on the floor dying when he wrote it. He

"We'll look out for it, you may be sure. But those securities? Clearly there was no robbery at all.

"You may be sure he has them hidden in a safe place. When the whole elopement had passed into

history, he would suddenly discover them and announce that the guilty couple had relented and

"You certainly seem to have met every difficulty," said the inspector. "Of course, he was bound to

"Pure swank!" Holmes answered. "He felt so clever and so sure of himself that he imagined no one

could touch him. He could say to any suspicious neighbour, 'Look at the steps I have taken. I have

"We must forgive you your 'even,' Mr. Holmes," said he "it's as workmanlike a job as I can

A couple of days later my friend tossed across to me a copy of the biweekly North Surrey

Observer. Under a series of flaming headlines, which began with "The Haven Horror" and ended

with "Brilliant Police Investigation," there was a packed col umn of print which gave the first

consecutive account of the affair. The concluding paragraph is typical of the whole. It ran thus:

"Well, well, MacKinnon is a good fellow," said Holmes with a tolerant smile. "You can file it in our

When one considers that Mr. Sherlock Holmes was in active practice for twentythree 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 yearbooks which fill a shelf and there are the

dispatchcases 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 distin guished my friend are still at work in the choice of these mem

oirs, 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.

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.

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 smokeladen atmosphere, with an elderly,

moth erly woman of the buxom landlady type in the corresponding chair in front of him.

"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

"You will understand, Mrs. Merrilow, that if I come to Mrs. Ronder I should prefer to have a witness.

"Lord bless you, Mr. Holmes," said our visitor, "she is that anxious to see you that you might bring

"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."

"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

"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

"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

"You say that she never showed her face from first to last save on the one accidental occasion.

Well, it is a very remark able story, most remarkable, and I don't wonder that you want it

"I don't, Mr. Holmes. I am quite satisfied so long as I get my rent. You could not have a quieter

"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 mon ster!' 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

"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 lunchtime. About three o'clock you may expect to see us at your

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

"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

"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

"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

Wimble don, travelling by road, and they were simply camping and not exhibiting, as the place is

"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

"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

foodcarriers 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 fol lowed, the

"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 clawmarks 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 thc 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

"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

"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 clawmarks 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

"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

"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."

"I should think the whole camp was crying out by then. As to the other points, I think I could suggest

"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!' "

"And why should it attack them savagely when it was in the habit of playing with them, and doing

"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

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.

It was a close, musty, illventilated place, as might be ex pected, 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 arm chair 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

"My name is not unfamiliar to you, Mr. Holmes," said she. "I thought that it would bring you."

"That is so, madam, though I do not know how you are aware that I was interested in your case."

"l learned it when I had recovered my health and was exam ined by Mr. Edmunds, the county

detective. I fear I lied to him. Perhaps it would have been wiser had I told the truth."

"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!"

"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

"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."

"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.

The woman rose and took from a drawer the photograph of a man. He was clearly a professional

acrobat, a man of magnifi cent physique, taken with his huge arms folded across his swollen chest

and a smile breaking from under his heavy moustache the selfsatisfied smile of the man of

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.

"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.

"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

"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 deathblow, and yet to leave the evidence that it was the lion which we would loose

"It was a pitchdark 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

"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, bloodstained 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

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

"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?"

"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

"He was drowned last month when bathing near Margate. I saw his death in the paper."

"And what did he do with this fiveclawed club, which is the most singular and ingenious part of all

"I cannot tell, Mr. Holmes. There is a chalkpit by the camp, with a deep green pool at the base of

We had risen to go, but there was something in the woman's voice which arrested Holmes's

"How can you tell? The example of patient suffering is in itself the most precious of all lessons to an

The woman's answer was a terrible one. She raised her veil and stepped forward into the light.

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.

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

"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."

Sherlock Holmes had been bending for a long time over a lowpower microscope. Now he

"It is glue, Watson," said he. "Unquestionably it is glue. Have a look at these scattered objects in

"Those hairs are threads from a tweed coat. The irregular gray masses are dust. There are

epithelial scales on the left. Those brown blobs in the centre are undoubtedly glue."

"Well," I said, laughing, "I am prepared to take your word for it. Does anything depend upon it?"

"It is a very fine demonstration," he answered. "In the St. Pancras case you may remember that a

cap was found beside the dead policeman. The accused man denies that it is his. But he is a

"No; my friend, Merivale, of the Yard, asked me to look into the case. Since I ran down that coiner

by the zinc and copper filings in the seam of his cuff they have begun to realize the importance of

the microscope." He looked impatiently at his watch. "I had a new client calling, but he is overdue.

"Then I'll make you my 'Handy Guide to the Turf.' What about Sir Robert Norberton? Does the

"Well, I should say so. He lives at Shoscombe Old Place, and I know it well, for my summer

quarters were down there once. Norberton nearly came within your province once."

"It was when he horsewhipped Sam Brewer, the wellknown Curzon Street moneylender, on

"Well, he has the name of being a dangerous man. He is about the most daredevil rider in England

second in the Grand National a few years back. He is one of those men who have overshot their

true generation. He should have been a buck in the days of the Regency a boxer, an athlete, a

plunger. on the turf, a lover of fair ladies, and, by all account, so far down Queer Street that he may

"Capital, Watson! A thumbnail sketch. I seem to know the man. Now, can you give me some idea

"Only that it is in the centre of Shoscombe Park, and that the famous Shoscombe stud and training

"And the head trainer," said Holmes, "is John Mason. You need not look surprised at my

knowledge, Watson, for this is a letter from him which I am unfolding. But let us have some more

"There are the Shoscombe spaniels," said I. "You hear of them at every dog show. The most

exclusive breed in England. They are the special pride of the lady of Shoscombe Old Place."

"Sir Robert has never married. Just as well, I think, consider ing his prospects. He lives with his

"No, no. The place belonged to her late husband, Sir James. Norberton has no claim on it at all. It

is only a life interest and reverts to her husband's brother. Meantime, she draws the rents every

"That is about the size of it. He is a devil of a fellow and must lead her a most uneasy life. Yet I

"Ah, that is just what I want to know. And here, I expect, is the man who can tell us."

The door had opened and the page had shown in a tall, cleanshaven man with the firm, austere

expression which is only seen upon those who have to control horses or boys. Mr. John Mason had

many of both under his sway, and he looked equal to the task. He bowed with cold selfpossession

"It was too delicate a thing for me to put the details on paper. And too complicated. It was only face

Holmes raised his eyebrows. "This is Baker Street, not Harley Street," said he. "But why do you say

"Well, sir, when a man does one queer thing, or two queer things, there may be a meaning to it, but

when everything he does is queer, then you begin to wonder. I believe Shoscombe Prince and the

"The best in England, Mr. Holmes. I should know, if anyone does. Now, I'll be plain with you, for I

know you are gentlemen of honour and that it won't go beyond the room. Sir Robert has got to win

this Derby. He's up to the neck, and it's his last chance. Everything he could raise or borrow is on

the horse and at fine odds, too! You can get forties now, but it was nearer the hundred when he

"The public don't know how good he is. Sir Robert has been too clever for the touts. He has the

Prince's halfbrother out for spins. You can't tell 'em apart. But there are two lengths in a furlong

between them when it comes to a gallop. He thinks of nothing but the horse and the race. His

whole life is on it. He's holding off the Jews till then. If the Prince fails him he is done. "

"Well, first of all, you have only to look at him. I don't believe he sleeps at night. He is down at the

stables at all hours. His eyes are wild. It has all been too much for his nerves. Then there is his

"They have always been the best of friends. They had the same tastes, the two of them, and she

loved the horses as much as he did. Every day at the same hour she would drive down to see them

and, above all, she loved the Prince. He would prick up his ears when he heard the wheels on

the gravel, and he would trot out each morning to the carriage to get his lump of sugar. But that's all

"Well, she seems to have lost all interest in the horses. For a week now she has driven past the

"And a bitter, savage, spitelful quarrel at that. Why else would he give away her pet spaniel that she

loved as if he were her child? He gave it a few days ago to old Barnes, what keeps the Green

"Of course, with her weak heart and dropsy one couldn't expect that she could get about with him,

but he spent two hours every evening in her room. He might well do what he could, for she has

been a rare good friend to him. But that's all over, too. He never goes near her. And she takes it to

heart. She is brooding and sulky and drinking, Mr. Holmes drinking like a fish."

"Well, she took her glass, but now it is often a whole bottle of an evening. So Stephens, the butler,

told me. It's all changed, Mr. Holmes, and there is something damned rotten about it. But then,

again, what is master doing down at the old church crypt at night? And who is the man that meets

"It was the butler who saw him go. Twelve o'clock at night and raining hard. So next night I was up

at the house and, sure enough, master was off again. Stephens and I went after him, but it was

jumpy work, for it would have been a bad job if he had seen us. He's a terrible man with his fists if

he gets started, and no respecter of persons. So we were shy of getting too near, but we marked

him down all light. It was the haunted crypt that he was making for, and there was a man waiting for

"Well, sir, there is an old ruined chapel in the park. It is so old that nobody could fix its date. And

under it there's a crypt which has a bad name among us. It's a dark, damp, lonely place by day, but

there are few in that county that would have the nerve to go near it at night. But master's not afraid.

He never feared anything in his life. But what is he doing there in the nighttime?"

"Wait a bit!" said Holmes. "You say there is another man there. It must be one of your own

stablemen, or someone from the house! Surely you have only to spot who it is and question him?"

"Because I have seen him, Mr. Holmes. It was on that second night. Sir Robert turned and passed

us me and Stephens, quak ing in the bushes like two bunnyrabbits, for there was a bit of

moon that night. But we could hear the other moving about behind. We were not afraid of him. So

we up when Sir Robert was gone and pretended we were just having a walk like in the moonlight,

and so we came right on him as casual and innocent as you please. 'Hullo, mate! who may you

be?' says I. I guess he had not heard us coming, so he looked over his shoulder with a face as if he

had seen the devil coming out of hell. He let out a yell, and away he went as hard as he could lick it

in the darkness. He could run! I'll give him that. In a minute he was out of sight and hearing, and

"Yes, I would swear to his yellow face a mean dog, I should say. What could he have in

"I quite understand, Mr. Mason. Of course, the situation is clear enough. From Dr. Watson's

description of Sir Robert I can realize that no woman is safe from him. Don't you think the quarrel

"But she may not have seen it before. Let us suppose that she has suddenly found it out. She

wants to get rid of the woman. Her brother will not permit it. The invalid, with her weak heart and

inability to get about, has no means of enforcing her will. The hated maid is still tied to her. The lady

refuses to speak, sulks, takes to drink. Sir Robert in his anger takes her pet spaniel away from her.

"Exactly! As far as it goes. How would all that bear upon the visits by night to the old crypt? We

"No, sir, and there is something more that I can't fit in. Why should Sir Robert want to dig up a dead

"We only found it out yesterday after I had written to you. Yesterday Sir Robert had gone to

London, so Stephens and I went down to the crypt. It was all in order, sir, except that in one corner

"Well, sir, I think it would hardly interest them. It was just the head and a few bones of a mummy. It

may have been a thousand years old. But it wasn't there before. That I'll swear, and so will

Stephens. It had been stowed away in a corner and covered over with a board, but that corner had

"It was just a week ago today. The creature was howling outside the old wellhouse, and Sir Robert

was in one of his tantrums that morning. He caught it up, and I thought he would have killed it.

Then he gave it to Sandy Bain, the jockey, and told him to take the dog to old Barnes at the Green

Holmes sat for some time in silent thought. He had lit the oldest and foulest of his pipes.

"I am not clear yet what you want me to do in this matter, Mr. Mason," he said at last. "Can't you

He took a paper from his pocket, and, unwrapping it care fully, he exposed a charred fragment of

"There is a central heating furnace in the cellar under Lady Beatrice's room. It's been off for some

Harvey runs it he's one of my lads. This very morning he came to me with this which he found

It was burned to a black cinder, but there could be no question as to its anatomical significance.

"Exactly!" Holmes had become very serious. "When does this lad tend to the furnace?"

"There is one door from outside. There is another which leads up by a stair to the passage in which

"These are deep waters, Mr. Mason; deep and rather dirty. You say that Sir Robert was not at

"Is there good fishing in that part of Berkshire?" The honest trainer showed very clearly upon his

face that he was convinced that yet another lunatic had come into his harassed life.

"Well, sir, I've heard there are trout in the millstream and pike in the Hall lake."

"That's good enough. Watson and I are famous fishermen are we not, Watson? You may

address us in future at the Green Dragon. We should reach it tonight. I need not say that we don't

want to see you, Mr. Mason, but a note will reach us, and no doubt I could find you if I want you.

When we have gone a little farther into the matter I will let you have a considered opinion."

Thus it was that on a bright May evening Holmes and I found ourselves alone in a firstclass

carriage and bound for the little "haltondemand" station of Shoscombe. The rack above us was

covered with a formidable litter of rods, reels, and baskets. On reaching our destination a short

drive took us to an oldfashioned tavern, where a sporting host, Josiah Barnes, entered eagerly

"That wouldn't do, sir. You might chance to find yourself in the lake before you were through."

"It's Sir Robert, sir. He's terrible jealous of touts. If you two strangers were as near his training

quarters as that he'd be after you as sure as fate. He ain't taking no chances, Sir Robert ain't."

"Yes, and a good colt, too. He carries all our money for the race, and all Sir Robert's into the

bargain. By the way" he looked at us with thoughtful eyes "I suppose you ain't on the turf

"Well, you are in the right place for that. There is a deal of it lying about. But mind what I have told

you about Sir Robert. He's the sort that strikes first and speaks afterwards. Keep clear of the park."

"Surely, Mr. Barnes! We certainly shall. By the way, that was a most beautiful spaniel that was

"I should say it was. That was the real Shoscombe breed. There ain't a better in England."

"I am a dogfancier myself," said Holmes. "Now, if it is a fair question, what would a prize dog like

"More than I could pay, sir. It was Sir Robert himself who gave me this one. That's why I have to

keep it on a lead. It would be off to the Hall in a jiffy if I gave it its head."

"We are getting some cards in our hand, Watson," said Holmes when the landlord had left us. "It's

not an easy one to play, but we may see our way in a day or two. By the way, Sir Robert is still in

London, I hear. We might, perhaps, enter the sacred domain tonight without fear of bodily assault.

"Only this, Watson, that something happened a week or so ago which has cut deep into the life of

the Shoscombe house hold. What is that something? We can only guess at it from its effects.

They seem to be of a curiously mixed character. But that should surely help us. It is only the

"Let us consider our data. The brother no longer visits the beloved invalid sister. He gives away her

"Well, it might be so. Or well, there is an alternative. Now to continue our review of the situation

from the time that the quarrel, if there is a quarrel, began. The lady keeps her room, alters her

habits, is not seen save when she drives out with her maid, refuses to stop at the stables to greet

her favourite horse and apparently takes to drink. That covers the case, does it not?"

"That is another line of thought. There are two, and I beg you will not tangle them. Line A, which

"Well, now, let us take up line B, which concerns Sir Robert. He is mad keen upon winning the

Derby. He is in the hands of the Jews, and may at any moment be sold up and his racing stables

seized by his creditors. He is a daring and desperate man. He derives his income from his sister.

His sister's maid is his willing tool. So far we seem to be on fairly safe ground, do we not?"

"Ah, yes, the crypt! Let us suppose, Watson it is merely a scandalous supposition, a hypothesis

"Very possibly, Watson. Sir Robert is a man of an honourable stock. But you do occasionally find a

carrion crow among the eagles. Let us for a moment argue upon this supposition. He could not fly

the country until he had realized his fortune, and that fortune could only be realized by bringing off

this coup with Shoscombe Prince. Therefore, he has still to stand his ground. To do this he would

have to dispose of the body of his victim, and he would also have to find a substitute who would

imperson ate her. With the maid as his confidante that would not be impossible. The woman's

body might be conveyed to the crypt, which is a place so seldom visited, and it might be secretly

destroyed at night in the furnace, leaving behind it such evidence as we have already seen. What

"I think that there is a small experiment which we may try tomorrow, Watson, in order to throw

some light on the matter. Meanwhile, if we mean to keep up our characters, I suggest that we have

our host in for a glass of his own wine and hold some high converse upon eels and dace, which

seems to be the straight road to his affections. We may chance to come upon some useful local

In the morning Holmes discovered that we had come without our spoonbait for jack, which

absolved us from fishing for the day. About eleven o'clock we started for a walk, and he obtained

"This is the place," said he as we came to two high park gates with heraldic griffins towering above

them. "About mid day, Mr Barnes informs me, the old lady takes a drive, and the carriage must

slow down while the gates are opened. When it comes through, and before it gathers speed, I want

you, Watson, to stop the coachman with some question. Never mind me. I shall stand behind this

It was not a long vigil. Within a quarter of an hour we saw the big open yellow barouche coming

down the long avenue, with two splendid, highstepping gray carriage horses in the shafts. Holmes

crouched behind his bush with the dog. I stood uncon cemedly swinging a cane in the roadway. A

The carriage had slowed to a walk, and I was able to get a good look at the occupants. A highly

coloured young woman with flaxen hair and impudent eyes sat on the left. At her right was an

elderly person with rounded back and a huddle of shawls about her face and shoulders which

proclaimed the invalid. When the horses reached the highroad I held up my hand with an

authoritative gesture, and as the coachman pulled up I inquired if Sir Robert was at Shoscombe

At the same moment Holmes stepped out and released the spaniel. With a joyous cry it dashed

forward to the carriage and sprang upon the step. Then in a moment its eager greeting changed to

"Drive on! Drive on!" shrieked a harsh voice. The coachman lashed the horses, and we were left

"Well, Watson, that's done it," said Holmes as he fastened the lead to the neck of the excited

spaniel. "He thought it was his mistress, and he found it was a stranger. Dogs don't make

"Exactly! We have added one card to our hand, Watson, but it needs careful playing, all the same."

My companion seemed to have no further plans for the day, and we did actually use our fishing

tackle in the millstream with the result that we had a dish of trout for our supper. It was only after

that meal that Holmes showed signs of renewed activ ity. Once more we found ourselves upon

the same road as in the morning, which led us to the park gates. A tall, dark figure was awaiting us

"Goodevening, gentlemen," said he. "I got your note, Mr. Holmes. Sir Robert has not returned yet,

"I can't afford to do that, Mr. Holmes. The moment he arrives he will want to see me to get the last

"I see! In that case we must work without you, Mr. Mason. You can show us the crypt and then

It was pitchdark and without a moon, but Mason led us over the grasslands until a dark mass

loomed up in front of us which proved to be the ancient chapel. We entered the broken gap which

was once the porch, and our guide, stumbling among heaps of loose masonry, picked his way to

the corner of the building, where a steep stair led down into the crypt. Striking a match, he

illuminated the melancholy place dismal and evilsmelling, with ancient crumbling walls of

roughhewn stone, and piles of cof fins, some of lead and some of stone, extending upon one

side right up to the arched and groined roof which lost itself in the shadows above our heads.

Holmes had lit his lantern, which shot a tiny tunnel of vivid yellow light upon the mournful scene. Its

rays were reflected back from the coffinplates, many of them adorned with the griffin and coronet

"They are here in this corner." The trainer strode across and then stood in silent surprise as our

"So I expected," said Holmes, chuckling. "I fancy the ashes of them might even now be found in

"But why in the world would anyone want to burn the bones of a man who has been dead a

"That is what we are here to find out," said Holmes. "It may mean a long search, and we need not

When John Mason had left us, Holmes set to work making a very careful examination of the

graves, ranging from a very ancient one, which appeared to be Saxon, in the centre, through a long

line of Norman Hugos and Odos, until we reached the Sir William and Sir Denis Falder of the

eighteenth century. It was an hour or more before Holmes came to a leaden coffin standing on end

before the entrance to the vault. I heard his little cry of satisfaction and was aware from his hurried

but purposeful move ments that he had reached a goal. With his lens he was eagerly examining

the edges of the heavy lid. Then he drew from his pocket a short jemmy, a boxopener, which he

thrust into a chink, levering back the whole front, which seemed to be se cured by only a couple of

clamps. There was a rending, tearing sound as it gave way, but it had hardly hinged back and

Someone was walking in the chapel above. It was the firm, rapid step of one who came with a

definite purpose and knew well the ground upon which he walked. A light streamed down the stairs,

and an instant later the man who bore it was framed in the Gothic archway. He was a terrible

figure, huge in stature and fierce in manner. A large stablelantern which he held in front of him

shone upward upon a strong, heavily moustached face and angry eyes, which glared round him

into every recess of the vault, finally fixing themselves with a deadly stare upon my companion and

"Who the devil are you?" he thundered. "And what are you doing upon my property?" Then, as

Holmes returned no answer he took a couple of steps forward and raised a heavy stick which he

carried. "Do you hear me?" he cried. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" His cudgel

"I also have a question to ask you, Sir Robert," he said in his sternest tone. "Who is this? And what

He turned and tore open the coffinlid behind him. In the glare of the lantern I saw a body swathed

in a sheet from head to foot with dreadful, witchlike features, all nose and chin, projecting at one

The baronet had staggered back with a cry and supported himself against a stone sarcophagus.

"How came you to know of this?" he cried. And then, with some return of his truculent manner:

"My name is Sherlock Holmes," said my companion. "Pos sibly it is familiar to you. In any case,

my business is that of every other good citizen to uphold the law. It seems to me that you have

Sir Robert glared for a moment, but Holmes's quiet voice and cool, assured manner had their

" 'Fore God, Mr. Holmes, it's all right," said he. "Appear ances are against me, I'll admit, but I

"I should be happy to think so, but I fear your explanations must be before the police."

"Well, if it must be, it must. Come up to the house and you can judge for yourself how the matter

A quarter of an hour later we found ourselves in what I judge, from the lines of polished barrels

behind glass covers, to be the gunroom of the old house. It was comfortably furnished, and here

Sir Robert left us for a few moments. When he returned he had two companions with him; the one,

the florid young woman whom we had seen in the carriage; the other, a small ratfaced man with a

disagreeably furtive manner. These two wore an appearance of utter bewilderment, which showed

that the baronet had not yet had time to explain to them the turn events had taken.

"There," said Sir Robert with a wave of his hand, "are Mr. and Mrs. Norlett. Mrs. Norlett, under her

maiden name of Evans, has for some years been my sister's confidential maid. I have brought them

here because I feel that my best course is to explain the true position to you, and they are the two

"Is this necessary, Sir Robert? Have you thought what you are doing?" cried the woman.

Sir Robert gave him a glance of contempt. "I will take all responsibility," said he. "Now, Mr. Holmes,

"You have clearly gone pretty deeply into my affairs or I should not have found you where I did.

Therefore, you know already, in all probability, that I am running a dark horse for the Derby and that

everything depends upon my success. If I win, all is easy. If I lose well, I dare not think of that!"

"I am dependent upon my sister, Lady Beatrice, for every thing. But it is well known that her

interest in the estate is for her own life only. For myself, I am deeply in the hands of the Jews. I

have always known that if my sister were to die my creditors would be on to my estate like a flock

of vultures. Everything would be seized my stables, my horses everything. Well, Mr. Holmes,

"What could I do? Absolute ruin faced me. If I could stave things off for three weeks all would be

well. Her maid's husband this man here is an actor. It came into our heads it came into

my head that he could for that short period personate my sister. It was but a case of appearing

daily in the carriage, for no one need enter her room save the maid. It was not difficult to arrange.

"Her doctor would certify that for months her symptoms have threatened such an end."

"The body could not remain there. On the first night Norlett and I carried it out to the old

wellhouse, which is now never used. We were followed, however, by her pet spaniel, which

yapped continually at the door, so I felt some safer place was needed. I got rid of the spaniel, and

we carried the body to the crypt of the church. There was no indignity or irreverence, Mr. Holmes. I

The baronet shook his head impatiently. "It is easy to preach," said he. "Perhaps you would have

felt differently if you had been in my position. One cannot see all one's hopes and all one's plans

shattered at the last moment and make no effort to save them. It seemed to me that it would be no

unworthy restingplace if we put her for the time in one of the coffins of her husband's ancestors

lying in what is still consecrated ground. We opened such a coffin, removed the contents, and

placed her as you have seen her. As to the old relics which we took out, we could not leave them

on the floor of the crypt. Norlett and I removed them, and he descended at night and burned them

in the central furnace. There is my story, Mr. Holmes, though how you forced my hand so that I

"There is one flaw in your narrative, Sir Robert," he said at last. "Your bets on the race, and

therefore your hopes for the future, would hold good even if your creditors seized your estate."

"The horse would be part of the estate. What do they care for my bets? As likely as not they would

not run him at all. My chief creditor is, unhappily, my most bitter enemy a rascally fellow, Sam

Brewer, whom I was once compelled to horsewhip on Newmarket Heath. Do you suppose that he

"Well, Sir Robert," said Holmes, rising, "this matter must, of course, be referred to the police. It was

my duty to bring the facts to light, and there I must leave it. As to the morality or decency of your

conduct, it is not for me to express an opinion. It is nearly midnight, Watson, and I think we may

It is generally known now that this singular episode ended upon a happier note than Sir Robert's

actions deserved. Shoscombe Prince did win the Derby, the sporting owner did net eighty thousand

pounds in bets, and the creditors did hold their hand until the race was over, when they were paid

in full, and enough was left to reestablish Sir Robert in a fair position in life. Both police and coroner

took a lenient view of the transaction, and beyond a mild censure for the delay in registering the

lady's decease, the lucky owner got away scatheless from this strange incident in a career which